Songwoven presents Ira Brin Dawnbreak, a level
up advanced 5th edition actual play campaign.
Episode 20, The Fuel. You can catch us live every
Sunday at 8pm Eastern Time on twitch .tv slash
songwovenshow. Or, watch the video version of
this podcast on YouTube. Thanks for listening!
Hello everyone and welcome back to Ira Brin...
Dawn break. Song woven. I'm a little rusty there.
I usually do the song woven first. But I am your
narrator, Tim Dontran. And we are so excited
to come back to you. Who are we? Well, they're
going to introduce themselves right now. What's
up? I'm Jenny. And Valora Avanlea. And Valora
does remember that. Unlike some people. Well,
actually, everyone remembers who they are, I
think. Maybe not one of us, but... But yeah,
that's me. What's up? I'm Emma. I play Lucia,
who remembers who she is, but not what she does.
And we're going real deep today with the slam
poetry vibes. This is practice for the Melody
Bowl, all right? Yes. Oh, slam poetry. Poetry
does bludgeoning damage, for real. Poetry does
bludgeoning damage? I hope. Slam poetry, of course.
Oh my god, you're right. Beat her up. Beat up
Melody Fidelity. Oh, it's me. Hi. I'm Albert.
I'm playing Cole. I'm just a guy and I'm here
to say... Yippee -ki -yay. It's like when they
were in the drama club and Cole was like... Hello
everybody, welcome back! It's been a month and
we miss you all so, so much. So much has happened
in this month. But now to date this episode,
today is Mother's Day! And hey, I will say every
time we say, every time we talk about any kind
of mom, mom, mother, mommies, anything on this
stream has always been very positive. So if there's
anything that really loves mothers, it's song
woven. And you know what I like to do to give
a gift for my mother is that I go on ianpublishingrpg
.com I put in all the funny little things that
I really like in my cart, and I make sure to
use affiliate code SONGWOVEN at my cart to get
a nifty little 5 % off. That's what I make sure
to do to give my mom. That's right. Good Mother's
Day gift. Great Mother's Day gift. Give mom the
gift of A5E. Yeah. That's right, folks. Give
your mother the gift she deserves at enpublishingrpg
.com using affiliate code SONGOVEN to get 5%.
You know what we should have done? We should
have built Sabine in A5E and then released that
for Mother's Day. Since I actually have a character
with a good mom in this game. Yeah. Not to brag.
It's dope. And she's hot. Can confirm. Name one
bad mom in this game. In any games. Oh, well,
that's easy. Well, side eyes, Vivian. I totally
forgot about her. I was thinking of a different
character. I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, that was
also a bad mom. She's, like, done a lot of really
bad things that have impacted us in games. But
not in this game. I haven't had a bad mom on
Songwoven yet. You haven't had a mom. Yes, you
did. Fucking thank you. Adopted mothers are moms
too. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I misspoke.
Happy Mother's Day to Aura. That makes me cry.
Happy Mother's Day to Aura. And really, happy
Mother's Day to Hildren, the real mom. Yeah,
that's true. Aura's the one who throws the baby
up into the sky. Or it gives more dad vibes,
honestly. Yeah, and Hilton's the one with, like,
the apron on, vacuuming the ship. Yep, yep, yep,
yep, yep. It's like, I have our schedule planned.
I bought the Mother's Day card for your mother.
And he's working four jobs to support everyone.
He's working four jobs. He's catching everyone's
dinner fishing. Yes, that's true. That's true.
Shout out to Victor Storyweaver, our Hildren,
a .k .a. our pirate campaign's mom. Victor, I
don't want to be dramatic, but I love you. So,
with that out of the way. Now you might be noticing,
hey, the preamble's a little bit quick today.
It's because we gotta do something called remembering.
We gotta remember what happened the last time
we played. Oh yeah, it's not gonna be quick today.
Sorry. So... What happened last time is that
we forgot. Yeah, exactly. I quite literally forgot,
which is really great as a person and player
that forgets a lot of shit. Oh, you know, I think
this is the perfect time for me to slip in some
things so that, like, we'd all just gaslight
to me into saying that they happened, like, some
good things for us. Like, be like, oh, yeah,
I remember how you found, like, that magic item.
Oh, of course. While you were searching the temple.
Remember when we went to level 15? Oh, I didn't
think that was in my notes, but I believe you
guys. Well, yeah. So. Lucia is captured by the
consortium. I think nobody here really knows
it's the consortium, though. No clue. No fucking
clue. I know it's the consortium because I'm
Jenny and I have all the lore. Because I'm Jenny.
Because I'm Jenny. And here's the sentence done.
That's right. I have the lore. Does Cole know
it's the consortium? Oh, yeah. Yeah, he does.
Okay, okay. Cole knows. But I don't know jack
shit. The consortium. of mages is has got her
and they're like we need to change we need to
fix her memories and they're like oh my gosh
the curse is gone and cole's watching them like
he he he um but but so the curse is gone i'm
sorry i don't know if he's ever he he'd Well,
that's how I picture him. Now he does. So when
I do the recaps, I picture everyone kind of chibi.
And, like, reenacting it. And so I picture Chibi
-Koal going, hee -hee -hee, while they, like,
the curse is gone. Because they don't know why.
They're like, did he leave this plane? We didn't
find a body. He's not dead. Now I need chibi
song woven. We also, what only Koal would have
heard, I think, we did find out, out of character,
though, that the mold. In the room. Was a mage's
poor job. Of trying to. Control Lucia. And spy
on Lucia. I didn't remember that. I had it in
my notes. That's why I remembered. Jesus Christ.
And so it wasn't actually mold. And they were
like. They were upset that Valora noticed it.
And that guy got in trouble for doing a bad job.
Of making it too noticeable. Wild. But they.
so they do that so they're messing with her memories
um but also cole sees quincy sneaking around
but he gets caught and we don't know what happened
to him quincy um but lucia while she is under
she's talking she hears a voice in her head who
she recognizes as the person she ran into both
at the naming ceremony and at um the shrine to
a dune in the temple and his name he gave himself
a different name when he talked to her before
but he did reintroduce himself as eri here i'm
pretty sure and eri basically offered to help
change her fortune and help her she was she's
trying to cover up their memories um so that
they don't to in order to protect people so that
they don't go wiping their memories too In order
to cover up her memories, he gives her the chance
to get a free natural 20 in exchange for him
being able to influence with a free natural 20
as well. And she takes the deal, does it a few
times. I think twice it happened. But both got
spent. Meanwhile, Valora heard a knock on her
door. answered nothing was there. Then she woke
up again to a Pomeranian scratching on her door
who turns out to talk and is totally not Tamsin,
but Valora has no idea. That's right. And so
the talking dog leads her. They run into a guy
in robes with a scarred face, I believe. And
she makes up some excuse for being out there
and gets out of his way, but she noticed something
suspicious was going on. And the dog wants to
go to the faculty building. She goes to the faculty
building. They teleport in. Koal also spots them
and starts seeing what she's up to. But she notices
her dad leaving from one of the rooms deeper
in, and he arcane locks the door. And so Tamsin
undoes that, dispels that, and they're able to
go deeper in, but they get caught by Aurier.
I remember that. They get caught by Aurier, who
fortunately does believe them, though, because
ERA wanted her to fail against Velora's two natural
one deception checks about what they were doing
in there. And Velora got into a bit of an argument
with Aurier because Aurier was insisting on her
going to bed but not telling her anything. And
so Velora then... See, Valora also found out
from Aurier that Arnalda never met up with Lucia,
and they don't know where he is, which concerns
Valora, and she's suspicious, so she decides
to take Phantom to go investigate. Well, she
wants to try to go investigate, but she can't
do it with Aurier around, so she tabled it for
the morning. And, spoiler alert, he's dead. Yay!
Not really. Not really? No, not really. I said,
yay, not really. I was like, Cole fucking killed
his ass! He kind of deserved it. Probably missing
some pretty important stuff there, but I don't
know. I mean, that's, I think, you did a great
job, Jenny. There's a fucking lot. There is a
lot. They also said they can't redo the curse
because Lucia can't go missing. It's too suspicious
now that she's in the public eye. I think they
talked about rebinding her to Aurier. I think
there's an idea that was floated. God damn it.
I don't know if it's happened or if it's something
that they're going to need to take time to do.
I don't know. But they're scrambling. Yes. And
Lucia has no parents anymore. All dead. And she
doesn't even remember her positive memories,
last memories with him. She thinks that he left.
But they didn't get a time to hang up. It was
like there was a positive memory about Arnalda
and Lucia asked to keep it. ERA said, it's better
this way, and completely erased it. Oh! That
little trauma baby! Trauma baby. Trauma baby.
Okay, give me one more second. Folks, I'm gonna
get this thing going. So, sorry, just to reiterate,
like, Arnaldo came to visit, but then he had
to leave, and that's it, right? Okay, I have
a question. What was that? So what Lucia now
remembers, right, in her weird memory -wiped
brain, is that Arnaldo had to, was going to visit,
he came, but then he had to leave earlier. Then
he left early, yes. Yeah, so she didn't get to
see him. He left abruptly. Abruptly. Okay. So
like something was up. So she's like, oh, it's
fine. I'll see him next time is like her head.
Okay. Or he talked to you about it. And Ori was
like, oh, he's going to be back next time. And
she's like, oh yeah. And they don't know that
he spilled the beans to Lucia. They still changed
the memory, but I think you hid that part. The
him telling Lucia everything. So are these memories
like locked away? I guess. Is that what this
is? Cause. She obviously doesn't remember these.
One second. We'll find out. Sorry, guys. My brain.
All right. Are you ready? Jenny should have played
Lucia. We should do a game where we make characters
for each other, though. That would be fun. We
get the art and everything. That's a surprise.
Is this going to be a perfect Jenny character?
Because Jenny's notes are meticulous. Emma doesn't
take jack shit notes. Well, that's part of why
it's better for Lucia. Jenny would have to be
like, well, let me just... Cross out. Okay. I'm
going to find out if I can still... Gosh. Here
we go. Get the hair on point. Let's go. White.
We are beholden to a new scene where none of
our three None of our three wayward souls are
present. As we are blanketed by a all -encompassing
powdery white. A snowstorm. Typical case for
Aurora. We travel across the open white plains,
where typically it's hard to see through the
blanket of white, the almost hostile nature that
the Warrens have lived in for so long. You see
a glimpse in the distance of something different,
something that rebels against the surrounding
white. A small flickering crown of orange. Fire.
As we begin to close the distance, as the fire
grows, as it does, louder and possibly louder,
one of the only natural things in the world that
has an appetite of its own. we began to hear
a singular voice. Beneath the endless skies of
white, where snow forever gleams, and multiple
voices begin to pick up as we see a multitude
of individuals, Aurorans from different walks
of life, joined in hand over this large fire
behemoths in front of them. Voices began to pick
up. Our hearts beat strong with warriors' might
through valleys, hills, and streams. Aurora,
land of brave and bold, united, fierce, and free,
in ice and storm our stories told. We begin to
see what they are singing at. Their faces combined
in a fierce unity. An encampment ablaze. Where
tall wooden walls used to hold an assortment
of individuals. It's not possible to tell what
this encampment was made for. But in its structure,
in its organization, it seemed like it was a
well -appointed encampment. As the fire begins
to consume the wood, the canvas, everything within,
as the song of Aurora grows in its strength,
We look into one of the tents. A burned body.
Completely charred. Belonging to... Well, it's
impossible to tell. As everything begins to burn
around this singular body, as... The fire threatens
to turn everything around to join the large nothing
in the heartlands. We look towards the bottom
half of this individual. Around their ankle,
a pair of shackles. Tied to the cot. What was
once a cot. And before we know it. As it always
tends to happen. A story as old as time. Fire
consumes all. Fire. Choking black miasma fills
the air. It makes your lungs heavy. You cough.
You heave. Your body is telling you you do not
want this in your body. You've never felt this
heat before. Your vision swims as your eyes blink.
blink awake. What just happened? Your young mind
searches for any of your pillars of strength
that you usually rely on. Your father, your mother.
A voice murmurs in the distance. Just a slight
murmur. Is everyone out? Like, I don't know.
I ain't found him. He says, Driscoll, you need
to find your brother. And then you hear a voice
stomp. A silhouette swims in the distance. Um.
And a familiar figure, arm around his mouth and
nose as he braves the smoke and fire, rushes
in to what was once her house. And you hear,
Koal! Koal, where are you? It did not seem to
be loud enough. No one can hear you. I try to
bang on whatever is nearby to try and make noise.
Make a strength check. Oh, jeez. Am I using my
stats? It is a plus zero. It's a straight roll.
Okay. Ten. The wooden pillars of the house, sadly,
are made of stronger things than you. The timber
in these lands were always a bark of pride, sadly.
Your brother looks around with a desperate need
in his eyes. He goes, Kawal! Dresuko! That time,
a little louder. You see his eyes look towards
your general direction in a panic. He begins
to cough. And as he sees you, as he sees you
in your unmistakable... unmistakable eyes buried
in your little pile. His eyes widen. He gasps,
taking in an intake of air. It causes him to
heave as he begins to expel the suit that he
just inhaled. But he recovers as he begins on
both hand and knees to crawl over to you. And
you feel yourself begin to fade. As you see,
he begins to desperately claw at the debris that
surrounds you. He just goes, It's alright, Koa.
It's okay. Your brother's here for you, alright?
Hey, keep your eyes open. Koa? Koa? Koa? and
knock on the door. Your eyes flash open. The
heat from your cheeks gone completely. As you
hear the voice of Reinwald at the door. Yeah?
Can I help you? Just thought it would be pertinent
to wake you up. You're not still sleeping now,
are you? No, no, not at all. Give me just a sec,
please. I'll be right out. Tula has offered to
cook us breakfast. I figured you wouldn't want
to miss it. No, not at all. I'll be right there.
Just give me a second. Of course. Take your time,
friend. Kind of sit up and wipe my face a little
bit. Another day. Get dressed real quick. Head
out and see with him. As you make your way and
open the door, you see Reinwald beginning to
put on his tie. He's kind of like assembling
his outfit. This is not the song that I want,
by the way. I was like, God damn. It's so light.
I was like, it's some good, happy feelings. It's
not going to be a set episode. Yay. How was that?
I feel like we're going for a hoedown or something.
I could see Reinwald. I feel like he had a Bluetooth
speaker listening to that kind of music, though.
I'm trying to connect with him. It's our morning
music, you know, Cole? I made this playlist for
you. I made this playlist for you, Cole. He made
me a mixtape. Um, Reinwald is putting his tie
together. He just goes, no, typically I'm not
very good at making sure these are on right.
No, I got you. I'll just fix it for him. Apologies
for that weakness of my own. He says, you think
a noble would have it figured out by themselves
at this point? Yeah, I mean, it's kind of harder
when you're doing it on yourself. There you go.
I give him, like, a pat on the shoulder after
it's straightened. All right. Well, it feels
right. Tool is still out at the moment, but did
you have a good night's sleep? Yeah. Sleep? Sorry,
that really got me. That got me. Like... About
to hear... Uh... I didn't get to... I didn't
get to attend to you at all yesterday. I got
caught up with... I got caught up with affairs
within the equipment warehouse. Gotcha. Lucia
and I were kind of busy all day yesterday, so...
Oh, truly. Yeah, we were... Valora had a date
we kind of had to watch over, so we're a little
busy with that. And... We also maybe picked a
fight with the drama club. It's a long story.
I think there's already flyers. What? It's a
long story. It really is. I'll tell you over
breakfast. You started drama with the drama club.
Yeah, well, not the drama club specifically.
Just the person in charge of it. There's layers
to this? Yeah, surprisingly. So the drama club
is... It's not just the drama club. If you want
to be part of the drama club, you also need to
be part of... I think it's called the Saucy Society
and the... Like the Tasty Group or something.
Oh, the Sizzle Society. That's what it was. And
the Saucy Squad. It's a long story. I think it's
like a... I don't know. I don't really get it
either. There's some woman named... I think her
name is... Like... It's like... What's her name?
Harmony or something? Go on. Allow me to try
and strike at the heart of this matter. Is anyone
menacing you in any way? Oh, no. I'm not scared
of her at all. No. I don't think she really...
She had a gun? I don't think she knows how to
use it. I'm going to be honest. The fucking gun.
The fact she doesn't know how to use it is what
you said. No, she pointed it at her own face
at one point. You know what I mean? I'm more
worried for her than I am for me. I feel like
that's more cause for fear. I hope everything
is all right. You know, I don't really know.
She pointed at me. She pointed at Lucia. She
pointed at herself. I think she was just using
it as a prop, but it was a loaded gun. I don't
really get it. What is her name again? Dorothy?
Dorothy. No. No? Something like that. Dorothy.
It's like Melanie, maybe? Falsetto. You don't
have to. It's fine. Sing along. Soprano? Some
sort of music term, I think. Well, let it be.
Mandy. That's what it was. It was Mandy. Mandy.
I see. Mandy Dandy. I think that's what it was.
Well, if anyone needs a stern talking to you,
I don't care what their status is or how rich
they are. I'll set them straight if you want
me to. Yeah, I think I saw she had like a bodyguard.
I saw at one point he was like reaching towards
like a metal chair or something. I don't really
get what he was doing with it, but... So Tula
is currently... I believe she's about to return
from her venture. She woke up early in the morning
and did her morning marathon, she told me. Oh,
well. Like she's doing extra what? Yes. Yes.
To be honest, it makes me a little envious. I
should... I need to do my due diligence in getting
my cardio up. Well, I mean, we got our workout,
our weekly workout and stuff. That was chaotic.
And I'm not sure how sustainable that was. Was
it? Yes. I thought it was fine. He was attacking
students. I mean, he didn't hit me. He clotheslined
a poor young... Girl, right next to me. Well,
why didn't you save her? Oh. I suppose I didn't
consider that it was my fault. I mean, that's
not what I mean. I suppose I didn't consider
it was my fault. I suppose I didn't consider
that. I mean, I don't mean it that way. I'm just
saying, like, I don't know, maybe she should
have ducked. Oh, right. I feel like that's what
he's kind of like trying to teach us. You know
what I mean? Like to expect the unexpected. You
know what I mean? Defense. Right. I like karate
chopping. Go ahead and make a just a dexterity
check with proficiency. Oh, it's only a 10. Okay,
I'll take it. With proficiency? With proficiency,
yes. Oh, uh, 12. And he is going to make a initiative
against you. A not natural 20. It goes, oh, it
catches your hand. See? That's what we were looking
for. Ah. I see the true lessons are to be taught
in here. Well, thank you for your endless knowledge.
Well... Calm down, Bella. Now kiss. And he just
goes... Well, now, I suppose it's... I suppose
it's time for... And then he's gonna try to...
He's gonna try to cry chop you. Make an initiative.
I just dodge it. Oh, you just... Okay. initiative.
Oh, that's a 15. Don't mind the advantage. It's
a 9. Yeah, I just ducked back. I almost had you
there. No, you didn't. Well, I thought you'd
give me some leeway, but I suppose I'm not as
quick as you in that regard. I don't think the
professor would be... Or the drill instructor.
What's his name again? One second. It feels like
it's been three years. Give me a second. What
was his name? No. I also forgot. What was this
woman's name? Wait a second. Let me know once
you find out. I got it. Ronan Sharp. Ronan Sharp.
Yeah. I think that's just kind of what he's trying
to teach you. I don't think he'd... I don't think
he'd sugarcoat it, you know what I mean? So it
feels like I'd be doing a disservice if I sugarcoated.
Right. Well, don't account for my feelings. I'm
here too, and then the door is knocked on, and
then it opens. And you hear, shoo -hoo! Good
morning, everyone! Well, shoo -hoo to you, Tula.
How you doing? Who do you? Says, I'm doing quite
well. I have ostrich eggs. Ostriches? Are they?
Yes! Apparently they are these big birds. Are
they native to around here? Oh, I don't... Says,
I don't know. I asked where I could hunt one
and then they laughed at me. What? So you bought
these ones? I bought a dozen, yes. Oh, okay.
She's carrying in, like, a huge sack of, like,
behind her, over her shoulder. I feel like we're
going to be eating eggs for a week. Reinwald
is just like, I feel like one could feed all
of us about now. Yeah. It seems like an excessive
amount of eggs. I mean, it's good protein. Yes,
protein. I love protein. She goes, as she just
gets to settle down, she just goes, oh, by the
way, there is a, oh, she's slightly German for
some reason. You know Tula, yeah. Tula, everything
is. She goes, by the way, there is, I found out
there was quite a commotion within the, within
the place, within the Havan. and I found out
that everyone has been reading this newspaper.
He goes, so I took one for myself. She puts it,
she reaches into the bag and puts it down, and
she just goes, she doesn't read it out loud,
but I'm going to go ahead and give this handout
to everybody. Okay. As she begins to go ahead
and tend, to cooking and uh she just goes i figured
i must do a lot of i must do a lot of reading
in order to catch myself up to uh the typical
standards of common with scott with scholars
i feel as if my common isn't still strong enough
um as she just continues uh quality uh are you
so are folks reading this because i see people
yeah i'm reading i could say read out loud Okay.
Let's see. So I will say the conversation between
Tula and Reinwald fades in the background as
you kind of focus in on this. Okay. Auroran's
attack in Lariva. On Saturday, Eleusis 12, 1471,
violent Auroran agitators in Lariva have attacked
and destroyed a mercy encampment at the settlement's
bounds. Despite the sudden and violent nature
of this attack, ministry forces were present.
and were able to save a majority of the encampment's
patrons. Only one casualty has been counted among
the masses. The casualty was identified as a
patient named Fletcher Harvison, a single father
of two daughters who was seeking care for an
injured leg from working in the Crown Mine. This
assault comes from a series of similar attacks
throughout the Auroran heartlands, all conducted
by the Ahas. The Ahas, an Auroran insurgent group,
entirely consisting of... of Esevarian Aurorans
has not claimed responsibility for this attack.
Lord Calvire, who has previously damned the actions
of this group, planned to cooperate with both
House Winifred and the Anorian Inquisition towards
fighting and persecuting those responsible. It
is important to note that House Calvire still
maintains its close relations with House Rius.
Despite the Crown and Ministry's attempt to keep
peace and alleviate tension, House Reyes seemingly
maintains their insistence on secession. Huh.
At this point, as you're reading it out loud,
Reinwald, hearing you read it, kind of goes by
your side and stands by you as he's looking down
at the paper as well. Madam Crowleycore, how
can any of us be surprised? When the Esevarian
Aurorans chose a place to live, they chose a
place where no voice or warmth can reach them.
A place perpetrated by constant snowstorms and
blizzards. Why would anyone impose that on themselves?
To that, my reader, we have an answer. Arrogance.
They live in a blizzard, so no one can hear or
speak to them. They don't want to be challenged,
nor do they want to teach. They are the complete
antithesis of neighborly. Yes, there has always
been something arrogant about the Esevarian Aurorans,
and now it has festered into something palpable.
The aggression, the unpleasantness, the isolation,
the secrecy regarding their traditions is all
festered, and the name of the infection is Lord
Gabriel Reyes. Him and all who follow him are
responsible for this disorder. For this negative
sentiment to the kingdom and the ministry to
reach such heights that now benevolent organizations
such as the Mercy Syndicate are within their
targets, There is one undeniable truth. The Acevarians
are incompatible with us, and some severe corrections
must take place in order for a Nor to be whole
once more. The noisy crow calls on the Lord Paramount
of the North to take drastic and effective action
immediately. Well, that's a whole lot. cool and
there's this nagging feeling that this not necessarily
the content of the article but how it's framed
this feels eerily familiar in some way and tula
goes Oh, was there something interesting in the
paper? Uh... Kinda. It's rather, um... Dramatic.
The Aesivarians, that's the leadership of the...
That's the leadership of the Blue Wolves, are
they not? I think so? Something like that. I'm
afraid I don't know too much about the blue wolves
themselves. We haven't really interacted with
them all that much since I got here. It seems
rather important for someone to unleash a scathing
opinion like that in a paper, is it not? Yeah.
Food is placed down on the table. And Zula goes,
oh, may I see? Yeah. Flip it around, kind of
push it towards her. See her eyes diligently
follow along. She goes, oh, make sure to get
yourself a plate. Her eyes follow along. The
eyebrows slowly become knitted together. She
goes, Oh no. That's not good. I knew there was
already issues with S -Variance. But... I reckon
this is not going to alleviate things further.
But it's important to maintain our connection.
Who's this, like, Rius fella? Is he, like, the
leader over there in Aurora, was it? Oh, Rius?
Yeah, this Lord Gabriel Rius? I believe that
is Lord of House Rius. Now, from what I've studied,
this has gone on long before we've even come
here, but... There was some... There was some
tension in regards to this lord and... It says,
and the crown. From what I believe, from what
I've heard, they had accused the... They accused
the crown of something. That's not coming to
my memory at the moment. But they had maintained
this sort of locked state of tension between
them and the crown, and they had brought up the
idea of secession from the kingdom. And from
what it seems like, it seems to be the heart
of the issues here at Ivor Brynn in regards to
the Blue Wolves. It seems like there's a loyal
lot that follows. House Rios. Do we have any
idea what the Nosy Crow is? You do. You absolutely
do know what the Nosy Crow is. In fact, I'm going
to give it all to you because Koal would know.
The Nosy Crow is this news publication that works
within the confines of Anor. They craft newspapers
for every single town within Anor, except Aurora.
And they got really popular throughout the past
few years just because now the presence of the
Madam Crowley corner, which is like this sort
of editorial, someone gives a scathing opinion.
It's like gossip for everyone, which is why everyone
really picks it up. Think of Madam Whistledown.
Whistledown is her name from Bidgerton? Yes,
Lady Whistledown. Lady Whistledown. And you know,
Koal, that every town has their own Madam Crowley,
who is an anonymous person that works within
the publication who writes this. So every Madam
Crowley is different. But their job is just to
spread gossip. You know, Koal, I'll go ahead
and whisper this to you. Someone, please! So
Tula, these eggs, they're great. We really salted
them well. It's really weird because it's almost
entirely yolk. Are ostrich eggs, what? Isn't
there more like, isn't there like a little yolk
in ostrich eggs? I take it back, it's almost
entirely white. I feel like this one just didn't
have a yolk at all, actually. I think your ostrich
eggs are broken. Well, hold on. Now I need to
see how they actually look. Like, ostrich egg.
Now we're not vamping. Now we're just ostrich
eggs cooked. That's just a really big fucking
egg. Jesus. Yeah, she was carrying on 12 of those.
It's like the size of a steak. Yeah. All right.
I sent the thing. Okay. Yeah. Interesting. Well.
I don't like it. I know that. Um... Well, come
with me. I don't tend... The person seems like
they're making a hasty judgment when it comes
to a people, and we should know... At the very
least, I know better than to make a judgment
about a whole people from a handful of incidents.
And I'm not going to treat them any different.
Maybe I'll... I mean, we're with the Silver Lions
right now, but maybe next... We should check
out the Blue Wolves next time. I would not mind.
Two Legos. Tula, why did you make four of these?
Oh, I wanted two of them, and I made one for
each of you. That's a lot of egg, Tula. I am
very hungry. I hope you are too. Yeah, I mean,
it's good. I like it. Reminds me of back home,
but bigger. I guess everything's bigger out here,
you know what I mean? I must admit, my appetite
has shrunken quite a little bit from reading
such things. I will just fold the newspaper in
half, kind of pull it off the table. Put it away.
Let's focus on better things. Not like we can
do anything about it right now. Yes. When it's
a threat, we have food in front of us, cooked
by a good friend. Tula Evangale. Yes. That friend
is me. Tula. Yeah, you're Tula. Correct. And
the three of you enjoy this food. It's huge.
It's a lot. Tula finishes one of them. She just
goes, let me pack this one away. Perhaps it could
be a snack during our next training. That's tomorrow,
Evangel. Perhaps since it is so big, it can sustain
themselves. We do not know the magical properties
of these. Is an ostrich a magical bird? Well,
it must be, because it is so big. I don't think
it's magical, Tula, I'm going to be honest. That
disheartens me. You know what? I think in a way
the beauty of something so big is magical in
a way. You know what I mean? Yes. Like bears.
Yep. Or elephants. What? Some of my favorite
magical creatures. Or wyverns. The leader Valora
has a wyvern. What do you think it tastes like?
Well, perhaps that's not the most... We don't
have to... I mean, they're poisonous and all
that, so don't... Maybe don't bite it. He doesn't
seem so poisonous. He seems loyal and cute and
striking. If you ask really nicely, maybe he'll
let you, like, lick him? Maybe? But I would ask
for Laura first. Oh, no, I am not in the business
of licking. When I hunt, I go in for the bite.
I pounce. Okay, maybe don't pounce on Phantom.
I don't think you want to pounce on Phantom.
You are an endless assortment of wonders, Tula.
You truly are. Oh, thank you. And Rhino gives
you a look of like, who are we with? As there's
a knock on the door. We're busy today. All right.
I'll go get it. There you go. Yeah, that's how
it goes. Olive House? As you open the door, two
individuals stand before you, sort of like Regal
in the posture. One of them, a pale, elvish woman
with sort of like brown hair that crests. That
crest behind her ears, like perfectly straight
curves behind her ears. A rapier by her side,
and she's wearing the uniform of the Olive House.
And another woman, human. uh human she has a
dark skin these striking sort of like yellow
uh eyes and sort of like a mess of like almost
kind of like white blonde hair uh she wears like
like a knight's like outfit with the knights
at the academy wears um is this um have i seen
this individual before You haven't seen either
of them, but you think you might have heard of
one of them. You can assume. Yes, yes, yes, yes.
I'm just scrolling to find. I have the name.
Oh, you must be a... I kind of like look at her
uniform, look up at her. Melia? Melia Carousel.
Nice to meet you. Hey. She holds out her hand
towards you. Gives a shake. Yep. Um, and she
has a very strong handshake. Like, she almost
tries to pull, like, the arm out of your, out
of your socket. Oh, sorry. That's, it's all right.
It's all right. And, um, you are? Uh, Kowal.
Kowal. Nice to meet, uh, nice to meet you. Um,
and of course, Reinwald. Reinwald kind of like,
everyone's kind of like cleaning themselves up
real quick as they stand at attention and come
over to shake. Reinwald, to the, um. He goes,
yes, um, Melia Karazil. Hello, everyone. Sorry
for being so late. I was out at my squireship
with Sir Salamo here. And you see the woman,
the dark -skinned woman, kind of like arms crossed,
kind of like taking measure of everyone. She
has this sort of like... uh kind of like proud
look about her a little half smirk there's a
scar across her lip uh the old scar across her
lip um actually just kind of gives everyone a
hard look um and uh milia goes we were off on
a oh well i should let the shalom will speak
Stand at attention. The woman goes. Stand up
straight. Straighter. Feet equal distance apart.
Proper. I'm just kidding. I don't know how to
talk. Hey, you three. Nice to meet y 'all. I
am Tyra Salamo. Or you can refer to me as Sir
Salamo if you want. And I will be taking over
your sort of mastership for the rest of your
time here. I know it's a little bit of an emergency.
And I probably wasn't what you were expecting.
But, okay. Hey, you can loosen up. Don't pass
out on me looking at Tula. Oh, I thought it was
a test. I don't think Cole hasn't broken either.
Goodness, guys. Listen, I'm not reading you right
now. I'm just introducing myself. Hey, your step's
in front of you. Okay, well, I know you guys
pay attention to directions. That's not a bad
thing. That's not a bad thing at all. So basically,
I'm going to be supervising you and your... So
your tenure here at Irobrin, so all your academics,
whatever, it's going to be reported to me. And
as stated before, I'm sort of a substitute, perhaps
until I find someone better. But, you know, hopefully
you guys like me enough that I can stay the whole
time. I like the looks of the three of you. The
three of you look like you got moxie. You could
stand still for hours on end when you're told
to. Are you breathing? You can breathe. Is he
all right? Looking towards the others. And Ryanwell
goes, I believe you can. It's quite a red coal.
You can. Is this a test? I think it's a test.
And Tula straightens out at that. And she just
kind of laughs. She goes, all right. If this
was a test, you'd be passing with flying colors.
I think. I don't know. I'm testing you right
now on how well you can breathe. She puts her
hands - I was an air genasi, so. Oh, yeah. Oh,
yeah, you're an air genasi. So you kind of just
naturally - Alright. Well... I'm a knight here
at... It says I am an Anorian knight. It says
I directly serve the crown. Typically knights
serve lords or crowns. So if you have any questions
in regards to knighthood, you can talk to me.
But I will be here after you guys get back from
class. What time is that? It's about three. The
bell will ring. Okay, around three I'll be here.
And then... Yeah. Any questions? At all? No,
ma 'am. I'll make sure to account for what's
going on when I grade you all. You are grading
us, are you? Well, I have to report how well
you guys are taking in our written, so... The
fact that one of you is not standing at attention
right now, and then Reinwald is like, oh, wait,
stands at attention. He goes, I'm joking. Oh,
my goodness. Where am I? Strains out. I'm joking.
I don't want to loosen up. Good, don't. He goes,
Millie, here's my squire. My squire in training
in the meantime before she goes back to her home
in Slytherin. He goes. And yes, I've been here
at Irobrin. I've competed two years here so far.
So if any of you need any pointers or need to
know anything about the academy or how it's run,
feel free to come to me. I'll help you with anything
and everything. It's nice to have you all. It's
nice to have other people in our lovehouse. It's
a little lonely here. All right. Loose. And that's
an order. There you go. What class are you all
attending at the moment, each of you? We are
currently working with the Silver Lions. Oh,
Silver Lions. Oh, you're going to meet my husband
today. Yeah, he's currently subbing in for the
typical professor. I heard the professor had
a... He's out at the moment, so... You get to
be my husband. Take care of him, alright? Yes,
ma 'am. And Millie goes, I'm currently shadowing
the Crimson Griffins, but I would like to...
Good to know you all. We've all been staying
in the same place. Yay! Good. We have eggs if
you want some. Peaks inside. Oh, those are big
eggs. Yes, they come from a non -magical pig
bird. I see. And then Sir Salamo goes, Alright,
well... I'm going to go do my thing. Have fun.
I'll see you all here at the class. All right.
She's backing away. You got any more questions
at all? This is the last chance. And I'm gone.
And she turns around and walks. And Milia turns
towards the three of you. All right, well, leadership
does tend to change often, and different nights
attend to you all, but I assure you Sir Salamo
is among the most nightly. Disregarding her want
to go to drink at a bar in the morning, she is
a very nightly and very honorable individual.
Are you all finished? I think so. Well, I have
to go get breakfast on my own, so I'm going to
go to the mess hall, but I'll see you all back
here then. Yeah. All right. And just so I can
remember, Quo? Quo, yeah. Quo. Reinwald? Yes.
And Tula. Shoo -hoo! Yes. Does that mean yes?
Mm -hmm. Okay. Understood. And she goes, Well,
I'm gonna go get settled in. And she walks around
and heads into the bungalow. I was wondering
when we were gonna meet her. Well... I don't
believe we are in desperate need of an upperclassman
at the moment, but... Because we've guided ourselves
enough. That's what I meant. What is this to
have? Well, we have the time out of us, so we
should begin our ascent upwards. Yeah, sure.
I have something I gotta do real quick, though,
but I'll catch up to you guys in just a minute.
Of course. I'll see you around. See you in class.
And I am beelining to Lucia's. Before we get
to Lucia, Valora, in your room, it feels dreary.
There is a slight pounding in the middle of your
head. Can you describe how Valora is feeling
at the moment? Is this before or after I take
Phantom out? This is after. Okay. Because I didn't
know she'd have time. That's okay. She... I think
she's mostly just she's confused and trying to
figure something out but exhausted. And it's
hard to shake what she saw because if it's something
so horrifying that it causes strife upon looking
at it then I think she can't quite shake it.
as that starts as as an unsettling thought that
refuses to leave constantly plays back and forth
in your mind and not only that but a mystery
that just refuses to be solved bounces uh back
and forth um you are almost so you are almost
Maybe not surprised, but something in you jumps
as you hear movement on the outside of your room.
Nothing towards your room, just like passing
movement. And you look up to see that, oh, the
mess hall is open. People are out. No. Go ahead.
Sorry. No. Yeah, she'll go get ready to go to
class then. As you get yourself ready, you get
up and as you open the door, the light kind of
stings a little bit. And you kind of like get
yourself situated. And you head out. As you head
out into the open campus, I'm going to put the
music. You are struck by the morning rays and
commotion from all about. In some students' hands,
you see people kind of huddled around small papers.
But as you begin your walk towards the mess hall,
you see the back of one of your classmates, Robin
Atlee. Currently... propped up with two elbows
against like a small stone -like henge, talking
to two other students from Christian Griffin's,
two girls. And he just goes, and you hear him,
he doesn't know you're there. You hear him as
you walk by. He just goes, yeah, my leader. I
can definitely kick your ass. I've watched your
fight. He jumps a little bit and freezes as you
come by. And his head whips over. Oh, hey. When
have you watched me fight? You know, I've watched
you sparred a bit. Wait, but when? You just,
like, got here. Uh... Fucking rough, bro. Oh,
you know, she's just like, she's just giving
me a, and then the two girls are like, kind of
like, laugh a bit. Just looks at you, just goes,
he said he can kick your ass. Whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa. I didn't, like, in a fun way. I'm
sure he'll get the chance to try. And you know,
that's what I'm asking for. It's just a chance
to just prove myself. You know what I mean? That's
what anyone is asking for here. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
you should prove yourself. But don't be too disappointed
when you lose. Well, you know, I've been kind
of doing the mercenary footwork for a long time
and I want to brag. You know, I've been kind
of up and down the ladder, if you know what I
mean. I know, and you took down that war beast.
I heard about that. Yeah, I did. You know, it
had armor and... And, like, towards the other
girls, like, these war beasts, they have, like,
armor plates. And, like, hey, where are you going?
As they talk away. We're going to go get breakfast.
See you around. And they just detach themselves
immediately. Good morning. Good morning, Av and
Leia. Good morning. They didn't say good morning
to me. Well, I mean, how did you start the conversation?
Did you say good morning to them? They were just
standing right here, and then I kind of leaned
in between them and then propped myself right
here and just started talking. Oh, yeah, my go
-to. Really? So it worked. I mean, yeah, I do
jump into conversations sometimes, but I don't
get between two people who are already having
one. I figured that's, like, the move to do to,
like, really establish yourself, you know? I
think it's a little too far. I don't... I mean,
yeah, I guess. You nobles wouldn't really know
how to... What do you mean? No. I sense I made
a mistake of some kind. No, no, no. I want to
know what you mean. Like, what's... Wouldn't
know how to... Talk to people, or... It'll work.
So how's your morning? How have you been? Oh,
I've been good. I did some training with Phantom
early, so. You're Wyvern? Yes. Yes. Oh, yeah.
You haven't really met him yet. I'm sure you
will, especially when we fight. They're awesome.
They're awesome creatures, Wyverns. They got,
like, scales and, like, the stingers and stuff.
Oh, yeah, yeah. You know, not all of them actually.
have predominantly scales a lot of them actually
have feathers still um but most of the ones that
we see here no yeah the further north you go
um well no sorry it's um nor when you go north
a little bit you start to get into varieties
that have feathers too but then you go way further
north and then they actually have it goes back
to scales but then some of them actually have
blubber in the really frigid environments they're
pretty well adapted ah like whales yeah kind
of like get it i get it i think so i get it i
think whales have blubber i think so too like
you know like like like the seals do yeah yeah
like i read books about animals like i i think
yeah like i think that they do yeah seals and
whales you think they're kind of like siblings
those two i mean i don't know i'm not an expert
um yeah I just think, you know, there's mostly
cold and water climate kind of animals that have...
You're actually like a smarty. You read up. That's
pretty cool. Oh, well, I mean, I don't really
know what I'm talking about in that regard. I've
got the flying creatures down, but... Yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah. That's so interesting. Wait, I'm
going to go get some breakfast. Can't fucking
stand Robin sometimes. It's so painful. It's
like every dude I went to college with. It really
is. Yeah, you want to join my rugby team? Get
it. He goes, hey, you know what? Yeah, I was
going to go in. I was going to grab some food,
too. Yeah, let's go. Hey, we got a posse. Hell
yeah. Yeah. A posse of two. Yeah. It's way better
than a posse of one. Yeah, that's like not a
posse at all, actually, you know, if it's just
one, I think. I mean, yeah, but some people would
argue a posse isn't two either. I mean, I guess
I'd argue it's like basically means group, right?
And you could have a posse group of two. Yeah.
I mean, yeah, but like it's kind of like about
the vibes of it. Like, you know, a squad is four
because it has quad in it. I knew that. He didn't
know that. That's just... She's having trouble
concentrating for some reason. Like, the basic
conversation. But... Doesn't help that her scene
partner is Robin. I was just about to say, Robin
is a feat in itself. That's interesting, he says,
when he hasn't been listening to anything she
said. That's interesting. He says five seconds
of silence after five seconds. All right. Hey,
the missile is this way. So, well, that's the
way you're going. So let's just go that way then.
Yeah. Yeah, this way. Yeah, that way. Let's pause
on over. So, like, you're rich, huh? Yeah. Yeah.
I've heard you're interested in that. Oh, you
heard? Well, like, Cole. Well, like... Oh, yeah,
that guy. Yeah, Cole's cool. He stabbed the War
Beast, too. And he's kind of like... He's basically
my best friend in that whole thing. You know
what I mean? I'm glad you guys bonded. What the
fuck? I am his number one hype man. Robin has
no friends. I can't. Oh, by the way, you know,
people, like, I'm Robin, but people call me Robbie.
Oh, Robbie? Yeah. Do people ever call you Rob?
Uh, no. Do you want to? What about, well, like,
what about, do people ever say, bin no bin it
sounds like a trash bin that's not good yeah
and i'm not i'm not trash you know oh no no i
wasn't calling you trash i was just trying to
think of it yeah yeah i know i was just kind
of like bb like like but but like the like rob
bin oh no but bin bin doesn't know i don't know
no no no i love that i love that you don't have
to pretend it's fine yeah no i i yeah You know,
just any nickname. Just fine. But, you know,
I'm not hunting for anything. I'm just telling
you what people call me. Oh, obviously not. Who
makes up their own nicknames? Oh, well, I mean,
if it's something you're more comfortable being
called. Do people call you anything? Um, well,
yeah. Yeah, I mean, a lot of people called me,
like, Val or something. I don't know. That one's
always a little bit weird. Someone tried to do
Lori, which was also weird. Oh, that's like an
old woman. Yeah, they'd be like, oh, Laura. Because
people normally take the vowel part, but then
instead of doing the Laura, it's weird. What
if I call you V? Sure. I don't care. Yeah, V's
cool, huh? I kind of let people call me whatever,
so. You can call me B. B? Yeah, for like... The
BB thing. Raw B. Yeah, exactly. Yep. All right,
B. If Valora's crush counter has gone up, I quit
this game. I fucking quit this game. Staring
at the crush counter like that better not go
up. If it goes up, I swear to fucking Christ.
All right, V. Sweet. Do you think people get
confused? They rhyme like B and V. No, I think
that's great. I think it adds to it. Yeah, you're
right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what's up with that
Marcellus guy? He looks like a jerk. Oh, no.
Marcellus is great. Yeah, he just kind of rubs
me the wrong way, though. Is he a noble? Really?
Yeah. Oh, no. No, no, no. His family is knights.
But they're knights for the crown. Oh, okay.
But, you know, like, Marcellus is... He's really
nice. he's really kind he's really thoughtful
um but also he he overestimates his abilities
a lot oh yeah i know i know i noticed that yeah
right yeah yeah yeah yeah and then we'll cut
you as you're making your way to the vessel we'll
get we'll get into that Okay, I know Robin makes
people cringe, but he's so funny to me. No, no,
no, no. It's funny in a good way. He's so funny.
He's so... He just, it's just, it's just good
to know that I'm validated in that, like, these
men that I dealt with in college, like, I wasn't,
I wasn't like, man, they really rubbed me the
wrong way. It wasn't just me. It makes you feel
better. I am absolutely channeling just any basic
male insecurities. Like, I know them. I know,
I see, I see them from other people. I'm just
copying all of them. She said, like, trash bin,
and he went, I'm not trash. I don't want to make
up any nicknames for myself. Who does that? Oh,
you call me B though. You're the only one here
who hasn't heard about the date yet. I don't
pay attention to other people's lives. I'm worried
for, I worry for Robin. I worry for this character.
I'm his number one hype man. Cole is his best
friend. Yeah, he's my best friend. We're really
close. Oh, Robin. Cole would let him think that.
But you don't have nicknames for each other.
Not yet. Not yet. My hero. Bro. I want to tell
everyone, like, I shared, like, a little bit
of writing, like, oh, like, Fire Emblem quotes,
but I wrote them for Irobrin people, like, just
some fun writing. And, like, you know how, like,
in Fire Emblem, when an ally defeats another
enemy and another ally is nearby, sometimes the
ally will be like, yeah, go get him. Robin has
one towards... Towards Marcellus, where he just
goes, whatever, man. I'm not impressed. I'm not
impressed. Whatever. Support up. Support up with
Robin. Whatever, man. Lucia. Oh, no. Ow. Pain
pricks. on different parts of your mind as your
consciousness comes to and the light and the
light that streams through your window hits you.
It is a wave of just pain. As you kind of get
up with a heavy head, you let your head hang
a moment as you just come to terms with your
current state of mind. Bernardo left abruptly,
and he didn't explain it to you. Thank goodness
Aurier was there to help you with that letter,
but it was supposed to be him. He's not around
to He wasn't around to explain or for you to
ask questions. Like, there was some clarity.
You wanted clarity. But it seems like right now,
you're not going to get it. And it does sting
a little bit that something familiar to you,
something familiar to you from... a home, something
that you were way more comfortable with, is now
as fast as it came, it seemingly took itself
away. As you take a deep breath and collect yourself,
it's time for school. How does, in your mind's
eye, like, how does Lucia feel and see, how does
she, like, move? What's on her state of mind?
I think at first, you know, she's kind of trying
to track, like, wow, it must be really sick or
something, right? Or she's, like, coming down
with something. Because she has no idea why her
body would be so sore, you know. from the day
before. Because I think the last thing she remembers
was going on a picnic and then seeing Aurea in
the church, right? So, like, no combat was had
yesterday. She must be coming down with something.
So I think she probably, like, you know, takes
a little mortar and pestle and splashes some
herbs together and, you know, makes up a little
tincture to drink in the mess hall with some
tea. Probably something Arnalda taught her to
help soothe bones or just to help relax the body.
I think she's just tired. I think she's just
very tired. I think she'd been really looking
forward to seeing her dad and getting some answers
and seeing a piece of home. But much like when,
you know, you're about to go on break, right?
And then, oh, can you stay a few more hours right
at work? I think she's just kind of like, that's
okay, right? She can just back to clocking in.
But she'll get ready. She still has, she needs
to mail off the letter in her pocket. And she's
kind of starting to shift focus to Melody. She's
got to get ready for Melody. The path that she
cannot unwalk. She's kind of got to gear up.
So I think she makes her little tincture to bring
to the mess hall. And then it's going to drop
off her letter before heading out. but just,
just a little under the weather, a little tired.
As all is ready, and you have everything prepared,
uh, Cole, you, you're there, a knock, a gentle,
with a gentle knock on her door. She would be
ready at this point, I think, or just like finish.
She's like finishing tying like the kerchief
in her hair. And she goes, oh, one second. And
she'll, you know, grab her letter, grab her tincture,
maybe grab her book bag that she has her sketches
of her practicing her common, you know, in just
like. stack of papers of her night, like, really
trying to work on her common. She'll, like, shove
them into her bag and then open the door and
go, Oh! Cole, good morning! Good morning, Lucille.
How you feeling? Um... And she kind of, like,
puts her hand to her forehead. I'm okay. I'm
alright. I think I'm getting, like... I don't
know. Maybe I'm not used to the weather or something.
I'm starting to get a little sick, so be careful.
I don't think I have anything, but... I'm okay.
How are you? Did you sleep well last night? Yeah,
I'm doing alright. Sorry I had to cut and run
a little early last night. It seemed like you
needed... It seemed like something kind of personal,
so I figured I'd just kind of... She kind of,
like, blinks slowly. Uh, yeah. It's okay. Yeah,
listen, it's all good. You know, my dad, he had
to... He's like the only gothi in our town, so
sometimes he's gotta go. You know, he's gotta
go, and, you know, I'll see him for the holiday.
You know, so... Oh, you didn't meet up with him
up at the... No, no, but Orie was there, and
she helped me write my letter, and she'll, you
know, fish out the letter that she has. uh, cause
we've got to start preparing for, uh, and she
kind of like gently taps the letter on his shoulder,
the melody, whatever. Thawne. Yeah. The melody
bowl. Bowl. That's what it is. I don't know what
I thought it was, but. So actually I was thinking
about that, but what are your thoughts on, I,
I feel like there's going to be like some physical
stuff in there. I was thinking maybe we could
work on a little bit of training. this week if
you're up for it? I could really use the help.
I'm going to honestly need all the help I can
get. So training would be great. I'm also trying
to build numbers too. I don't know if connections
help. That's why I'm writing a letter to the
Cadwallader. I'm going to go talk to some other
people today because I don't know. Melody seems
like the kind of person who numbers matter to
her. A show matters to her. I was thinking we
could probably maybe get you involved in level
three for the week. Just to try it out. There's
like a... Um... You mean with the guy who was...
Throwing people? Off the cliffs? I guess? I don't
know if anyone got thrown off a cliff. I don't
think that happened. Isn't that what... Never
mind. What Robin said? No, he just makes stuff
up sometimes. Oh, okay. Fair enough. Should I
go to level two first or you really think I'm
ready for level three? I don't know if you're
ready for level three, but I mean, Melody's going
to be, she's got a loaded gun. All right. So
I think, I think it's sink or swim really is
what it is. She's got a loaded gun. She's got
a gun. She's going to ride to the point. She's
got a gun. So I think it's a little sink or swim.
You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, you're right.
Just for the week, I figured you could try it
out. You don't have to. Yeah, yeah. You know
what? And no, it's a good thing is that, like,
if, like, I'm prepared for level three or if,
you know, if level three turns out to be really
rough, then, like, my expectations, you know,
are already set so that when it comes to the
Melody Bowl, it won't even be that bad, right?
I think that's a great idea. All right. Actually,
I was thinking also later after class, did you
want to go somewhere? I was kind of, you know,
um, you know, like a date or something. Right.
Cause I don't, I'm really sorry. No, no, no.
That's not what I, that's not what I mean. Okay,
good, because I was going to say, like, I'm really
sorry, Cole, but, like, I really don't share
those. Like, I see you, like, if I had a brother.
Like, that's how I think of you, you know? And
I didn't, and I don't want to feel like, I can
see how us S hanging out might have felt like
I was leading you on, but I promise you, like,
that's not at all my intention. Because, like,
I just got here, and I'm trying to figure. Lucy,
Lucy, Professor, our professor, remember how
he was all, like, upset? I figured. Oh my gosh,
yeah. So I think I want to take a look around
at the cemetery and just take a look around,
see if I can figure out. Yeah, you're right.
Maybe something happened here, right? Maybe.
So I think we can take a look and two eyes are
better than one. I think that's a great idea.
Two sets of eyes are better. Yeah. Something
must have happened though, right? Yeah, I mean,
he seemed kind of... I think we have a substitute
today. Because he was so upset? Yeah, I think
he's just kind of out of it. And then didn't
they say the other teacher was sad, too? Like
the Griffin's teacher? I think so. I don't fully
know. I feel a little nosy, so I just kind of
want to do a little digging. You know, maybe
if we can find anything out, maybe we could...
I don't know. Get something for him or something
like that? Get him a little... Oh. Like a gift
basket or something? Yeah, I think that's a great
idea, Cole. Man, you're a really thoughtful guy.
Oh, well, what can I try? Anyway, you sure you're
feeling all right? I'll be okay. You said you
weren't. Do you mind if I? Oh, sure. I just checked
my temperature earlier. It's just. She hot or
anything? No. Okay. When she had those little
symbols on her skin, they were only really visible
when they were doing shit, right? When they were
doing things, yes. Alright. Okay. Well, did you
just come back here after you were hanging out
with Aurier? Yeah, I came and went to bed. Why?
Was I supposed to do something? Was I supposed
to be somewhere? No, I was just wondering. I
feel like I missed something. Should I have been
training? Should I have been reading? We'll work
on a training course. We'll get a training regimen
all together. Yeah, I think I passed out right
when I got home. I don't know about you, Cole,
but there's a lot coming to school here. And
I feel like they've started making their way
into town. You didn't happen to see Quincy, did
you? I know he didn't show up for our kind of
stakeout session. I was just wondering if, what's
it called, if maybe you ran into him afterwards.
Hold on, pause. Sorry, Emma, didn't we run into
him? You, no. No, I didn't, but you don't know.
Oh, you did, and Valora did. Valora did. The
last thing you know, Lucia, is that... Quincy
was supposed to be with you at the drama club.
He didn't meet up. Oh, he had a letter. Someone
sent a letter, though. Who was supposed to give
me a letter? Tamsin? Yes, it was Tamsin. Did
I get that letter? And she basically explained
the letter, I believe. Oh, gosh. But yeah, Tamsin
does have the letter. And that was it. But we'll
just say that your memories of a little bit.
Lucy's memory is a little bit shaky on it right
now. Yeah. No, I haven't. I mean, Tamsin said
she had a letter for me, and I think she told
me what... We should check on him, though, shouldn't
we? Yeah. We could take a quick peek. Yeah, why
don't we go pick him up before breakfast? Sounds
good. Okay. And they'll head over to where they
think Quincy's room is. As you head out of the
dormitory, you can't help but feel a louder commotion
drawing people in the distance. We cut over back
to Valora. And Robin? And Robin. Oh, my God.
A .K .A. B and V. B and V. No, no, no. Robin
goes, like, oh, yeah, by the way, the tournaments,
kind of like the Wormwood tournaments open up
and sign me up for the singles. But, like, there's
duos and stuff, too, you know. Oh, yeah. Yeah,
yeah, yeah. So, you know, we could. And then.
You hear, as you're making your way across the
downstairs, you can't help but hear that there's
a commotion drawing of the people. Not again.
As you look over to the mess hall, there is a
circle of people. Sort of like huddled around.
It's a scattered group, nothing tightly knit
around. As you see a man with orange, kind of
like orange -brownish hair, kind of like holding
up a paper, and you hear his voice traveling
across, though you can't catch what it is. And
you see at the center of this four individuals
standing firm, that they're being surrounded.
And you can tell who one of them is immediately.
From all the way from this distance. And it helps
you infer the rest. A large, white, dragonborn
Skaan Barakas, one of the blue wolves. And it
seems like there's a standoff going on. She walks
up. And then you start, and then you begin to
catch it. Commotion. Why do we have these Escavarians
in the heart? In the heart of this kingdom? Oh,
no. Now, Koala Lucia, you are also hearing this.
Oh, dear. Escavarians? Like horses? No, I think
they're like people from... What's it called?
Aurora? Oh, no, that's Vesper's friends. Wait,
okay. And Archie. The wolves. She'll kind of
drag him over to where that's happening. Yeah.
Says, we have these, we have this lot in the
heart of this kingdom. Says, how long before
they plot to do something here? Hey, hey, why
are we yelling? It's too early to yell. She walks
up. Um, and. Your yell, go ahead and make a charisma
check for me because there's commotion. It's
going to be hard to get through. Are they lower
CR than me? This guy? No. I have disadvantage
because I have disadvantage on all mental related
checks. Is it straight charisma or? Um, it's
going to be straight charisma at your proficiency.
So I'll just roll like one of my other checks.
Uh, 13. What is up with the music change? 13.
Not the vibe. Your voice attempts to come out.
You attempt to make yourself large. You're holding
your hand over the crowd and it's just not getting
through. It seems like people are rallied around
this person at the moment. If it's not getting
through, I'd trade places with him. Okay. He's
got to make a Christmas saving throw, I believe.
Yes. 17. I'm sure that succeeds. If that doesn't
work... Am I close enough to give you guidance?
It doesn't matter. Damn it. Here. So it fails.
I'm pretty sure he succeeds. So this light sort
of like shifts over him for a moment as it does.
It's kind of like this sort of like shimmer as
he just kind of like, he kind of like jumps a
bit at it, but ultimately resist it. And you
see Skaan. Like, kind of like forming a physical
barrier between them and his three friends. As
you see this, this man just kind of like jumps
a little bit. And he just goes, they tried to
do something to me. No, when it didn't work,
she wants to teleport instead herself just up
to him. And then you teleport in front of him.
He backs up a bit. Surprised just at the pure,
like, appearance of you. I asked, why are we
yelling? They didn't do anything to you. That
was me. He goes, says, this lot. Did you not
hear about what happened earlier this week? Read
the paper. What? She just goes. It's a gossip.
You know it's a gossip column, right? Can I?
How far away are we? You're getting there. You
can be there if you wish. Can I use my Genasi
jump thing to just jump over the crowd to where
she is? I also have calm emotions that I low
-key would like to use. Would you like to use
that now? I would say you can hold on to it,
and you can just say calm emotions. Yeah, I'm
going to hold it. I'm going to hold it, but that's
what I'm holding. She takes it, but she's like,
you know, that's like a gossip thing. She goes
to skim through it, at least, since he's so mad
about it. I read the paper, and last I checked,
they were here at the school, so I don't think
that they're at fault. But those are their people.
They're from there. Everyone here knows it. What
is that? Are you... Do you do everything that
everyone where you're from does? Are you empathizing
with them? I don't get why you're accusing them
of doing anything when they haven't done anything.
They've been here at school like all of us. Archibald
kind of like goes, it's fine. We're all leaving.
And then another voice, another voice calls out.
Yeah, leave the academy. Don't come back here.
Come motions. Calm emotions. Okay. Let me go
ahead and look that up real quick. Are you casting
it on me, too? She's probably in a panic casting
it on everyone. It's a sphere, a 20 -foot sphere.
Oh, okay. I thought it said the only creatures
you choose, though. In a group of people. Yeah,
each humanoid in a 20 -foot radius sphere. Oh,
okay. So, Koal, you're there too. Yeah. So, both
of you make charisma saves. And I'm going to
make three. For three certain individuals. And
I feel like, very anime style, like it smells
like cherry blossoms and like little apple, little
cherry blossom petals fill the air. Just so that
they're not like, it's them. It's the Aurorans.
It's like, nope, it's this bitch in the corner.
Okay, what's your DC? Is this a charm or a proficiency?
What's your wisdom score, Lucia? Is it a four?
It's like DC 15. A wisdom score? DC 15? Yeah.
Yeah, spell save to 15. Okay. I'm going to roll
in front of everybody. How the fuck? 13. Okay.
18. Two success, one fail. We'll just softly
call it. Can we? It's okay, everyone. Let's just
take it down a little bit. I'm going to use my
saving face to add three to it. assuming I have
three allies here? Yes. I'll say yes. So you
succeed. So the person who just called out, get
out of here, basically, you see that they kind
of like calm down to like, it's still their shoulders
drop. But you see the noble, whom you all see
is a golden moose, a conic and noble. Just goes,
Did you not see who they attacked? What happened?
They didn't do anything. And Archibald goes,
We're leaving. And then you see Vesper come around
and just goes, Please, everyone, listen. Says,
We are not here to cause anyone harm. Says, We
are a varied people. Says, We cannot be measured
by... We're putting an eye out if anyone goes
to throw anything or anything like that. I was
just going to... Good call, because everyone
make a perception check. I have receptive stance
on... Lucia probably notices. Dirty 20. I have
13. 12. My passive's 20, but... Okay, your passive
is 20? Okay, the DC is 20. Lucy and Koala, you
see one person kind of, like, slinking to the
back. And you see... You see they kind of, like...
He has a small assortment of students with him.
And they... They're also golden booze. And you
see they kind of, like, go over to the side of,
like, a building where there are, like, some
kind of, like, torn ups. They're like brick hinges.
And you watch as one of them like slowly, subtly,
try not to draw attention to themselves, pick
up a brick. Oh, no. Okay. So I will... I wonder
if I could do this. Can I... So this is kind
of interesting. I don't know if people have done
this before, but can I cast Shield of Faith right
in front of him? So it creates like this little
barrier. I'll say... I'll say it has a good attendant
effect, even though it's not the written effect.
I'll say I'll flavor it for you. Yeah. As he
picks up the brick... I'm going to try to parry
it if he goes to throw it. Try and... And then
he just screams, For an oar! And then attempts
to throw the brick. The shield comes up, and
as he throws it... you pop it up immediately.
It bounces off the shoe of fate and it smashes
against his own face as he just goes, oh! He
holds his face. And I think at that, she'll sprint
up and she'll go, will you cut it out? You're
not helping! At the guy throwing the brick. At
that, commotion gathers. A temper is flared.
Vesper's voice is drowned out. And you see, Archibald
go, come on, let's go. Come on. Yelling out to
his three friends. And you see Vesper kind of
like pulls on, hold Archibald's arm, just goes,
wait, let me speak to them, please. Because I
can appeal to them. Like, no, you can't. Come
on. And at that. You see the man, the man on
the forefront, kind of like seeing the temper
flare as people are focused on what's happening
behind them. Valora and Cole, you see this man
kind of like look with scorn towards them. And
he puts a step forward. He just goes, no, you're
not getting away from this. Okay. All right.
I just kind of step in his way. Out of my way.
No. Let's keep it calm, alright? Do you know
who I am? Frankly, I don't really care. Olive
House Garbage? I can have your admission stricken
from here. Wait, House Garbage? Sorry, I didn't
hear that. Can you say it again? No, do I...
I know. Do I know who these people are? Um...
They're newer... They're from House Garbage?
Olive House Garbage. Oh, I thought he said I'm
from house garbage. We both heard I'm from house
garbage. No, no, that would be that would be
a bold thing to say. No, all of house garbage.
All of house garbage. Which is a thousand times
more offensive towards you. I was going to say,
we love the classism. We love it. Okay. I fully
just respond, you're from house garbage? What?
Yeah, dude, I suck. Okay. So, Valora, these Konica
nobles, who are typically, not too many of them
are marked, but this one in particular, you don't
know. Who he is, but... Because there's so many
of them that just have money. She's gonna keep
intervening then. She's like... She's like, I
need you all to listen. And who are you? I'm
Valora Avanlea. And I don't know who you are.
Because you know how many nobles cycle through
in Konica every year? Don't you have a love for
your kingdom? Don't you see what's going on here?
Don't you see? I... Shh. Quiet. They haven't
done anything. You are not going to... They haven't
done anything. We're classmates. And until they
do something to you, they do something to anyone
here, you're not getting any sympathy for me
for the way you're treating them. Or you're treating
the Olive House, who are our guests, I'll remind
you. So you're going to throw yourselves in with
this lot? They're our classmates. They're not
involved in whatever's going on in Aurora right
now. Get out of my way. No, fuck that. Who are
you? What's your name? I think he's from House
Garbage, is what he said. Just shut your mouth.
I am Adrian Vrkoa. Adrian Vakoa. Have I ever
heard of Vakoa? Sadly... Aw, shit. This motherfucker's
family is one of the main sponsors of Irobrin.
They put so much money in this place. Uh -huh.
Okay, Vakoa. I... Really... I want to get along
with you. I don't see how harassing them has
anything to do with pride for our kingdom, though.
I can't get along with... Empathizers of our
enemy. I... I don't know what to tell you then,
but all I can tell you right now is that they're
students under Irobrin, and I know that... He
puts a hand out very rudely. He puts it on your
shoulder, and he's about to, like, push you aside.
I sacred flame. Action taken against them does
go against our school's policies. And maybe you
aren't too worried about getting into trouble
at school with the amount of money your family
gives here. But I'll have you know that if you
touch me, you're going to be in a lot bigger
trouble than anything else you would have done.
Make an intimidation check. Damn your strife.
It's with advantage. Okay. I rolled two 10s.
Do you have an inspiration or something? I do.
I'm going to use my inspiration. I will take
guidance. Okay. Instead of Sacred Flame, I'm
going to take that back. Lucia had sprinted forward
and been like, Laura, no! And she quickly cast
guidance on you. I have a lot of inspiration.
I'll use another inspiration. Watch it be worse,
I'm telling you. If you need me to, I can reroll
time. I'm 16. His hand, it almost shoots back
once he realizes he's touching a self -destruct
button for his status. But there's some part
of him that's trying to keep tough. So it doesn't
shoot back immediately. But his hand moves back.
His eyes look up away from you, trying to disengage
from you to try and see where those four are
going. I'm trying to stand in the way on the
other side to just kind of form a wall. And you
guys do see that part. Of the mob. Is following.
Them too. Um. But it seems like a majority of
them. A majority of people are trying to disperse.
And you do see that. Nights are coming along
now. It seems. She goes. It's about time for
class. Pay attention to the facts, Evan Leia.
Oh, when was your last visit to Aurora? Just
curious. Because if you want to talk about facts,
I can talk about my personal experience. And
all that snow. Yeah. And? And then... As he's
about to respond, you hear one of the knights
go, All right, break it up! And he just kind
of, like, backs off. And he just turns and walks
away. And you see some other people join behind
him as people begin to disperse. And everything
seems clear as the four of you are there. You
see as he turns and walks away, Robin stands
in front of him. And you see Adrian just goes,
out of my way. And Robin just kind of like smiles
a little bit, kind of leans in, just goes, hey.
Go fuck yourself. Here, let's go, B. He just
goes... And then he just goes, move around me.
Move around me, jackass. Come on. And then Adrian
just... Adrian just really pissed. Kind of like...
You see he's clutching a fist like he's gonna
punch. And he's a knight there. He sees authority.
And just walks around Robin. Oh boy, he's going
to be a problem. And Robin goes, geez, who is
that guy? And Adrian turns around and spits at
Robin before trying to walk away faster. Just
an absolute coward shit move. Oh, I was going
to say, I was going to flash light in his eyes.
As like a quick reaction. I'll give that to you.
I'll give that to you. Make an initiative roll
as an ability check for me. Yeah. And I think
it's just like, it's automatic. She can't even
like, doesn't even help it. Where is my initiative?
Dirty 20. And he just kind of like holds his
face for a second. You little shit. Don't fuck
with my house, Vekoa. Or you're going to have
an actual problem with me. He is shaking. Before
he just turns and just continues to walk. He's
fully retreated. Fully retreating now. I was
more intimidated by, by, what was her name? Velocity
or whatever yesterday? Melody, Melody. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. She was more intimidating. She wasn't really
that intimidating. She had a loaded gun. He didn't
even have a loaded gun. He didn't even have a
loaded gun. Actually, give me one second. I'll
be right back. I'm going to, I'm going to kind
of, I want to tell him a little to the side.
Wait, where are you going? I'll be back. I'll
be right back. Don't worry. Don't worry. What
the heck just happened? He just goes back. Just
real quick for Cole. He just goes back to his
friends. And you see one of them. This is super
frustrating to say and to see. But you see one
of his friends goes, you're really brave there.
You're really brave, Adrian. Ew. I'm going to
wait until they start to walk away or whatever.
I'm going to try and post up somewhere. Because
I want to do something to them. But I'm going
to wait until they're a little ways away. Okay.
Say that they move as a group a little ways away.
They don't go into the mess hall? They don't
go into the mess hall? Yeah, they're just moseying
off. Perfect. I want to go down some alleys,
maybe hop up on a building or something and follow
after. Try to stay behind cover to get until
they're away from other people for a little bit.
And then kill them. No. Blood everywhere. It
was them! It was the Aurorans! Those damn Escavorans!
Those damn Escavorans! Um... So... You head on
over, and I will say that you're definitely keeping
pace with them. They are too huddled up within
themselves. It is a group of, like, five, and
they seem to be older students. Okay. I wait
till they're, like, away from, like, knights
or any of the other students. Try and, like,
get ahead of them in the direction they're going
to find, like, a nice hiding spot or whatever.
Yeah. Because I want to throw a paint pot at
them. A pot of paint? So I have a paint pot.
It's a small clay pot that when it shatters,
it splatters paint all over the place. Please
make it like the Olive House colors or something.
Yeah, I'm going to color bomb them. You're going
to color rot? Yes! 20 feet, shattering impact.
And they're just covered in bright paint. Guys,
we need to do something about this. We can't
let people like that disrupt our peace. As you
begin to hear, oh, oh, and one of them goes,
oh, heavens, what is this? As a myriad of colors
covers their pristine, dark, tailored uniforms.
I'm out of there. It clashes. Oh, God, it clashes.
They're just going to have to deal with that.
And you hear, who did this? As you rush up. While
you're away, Valora was here. What just happened?
I only walked in on part of it. It has something
to do with the paper and something that happened.
They're overreacting, obviously. What happened
in the paper to make them turn on our Vesper
and Archie still with us? They're gone. They
moved somewhere else away from the mess hall,
away from crowds. Apparently there was an attack
in Lariva. A mercy encampment. That's what it
says. And someone died. And they're blaming...
Well, they're blaming the people from where Archibald
and Vesper are from. I think Lucy is putting,
like, the little pieces together of all of the
flashback or flash -forwards she's had of, you
know, the Silver Wolves, of Vesper dead, of Cole
dead in the snow, right? Of Archie dead in the
snow. And she pieces them all together and she
just goes... Velora, it's gonna be really bad,
isn't it? Well, hopefully it doesn't get further,
but it does. But it can, though. It's gonna get
really bad, Velora. We have to figure out a way
to stop it now before it gets... Well... It's
gonna get really bad. I don't know what... I
mean, yeah, I want to help, but I don't know
what we can do. The House Rias is trying to secede,
they say, and... Because if we can't stop it,
all our friends, they're going to die. She kind
of looks at Robin, who's here a little bit. Oh,
no. He has enough tact to be on the inside. He's
like, damn. But he's not saying anything on the
outside. He doesn't, he doesn't, he's not happy
about it. I'll say that, I'll say that much.
She goes, look, they, they're here. They can't
be connected to that. Um, and. I think she goes
to say no. And then she notices Robin is right
there. She goes, no. Oh. Right. Hi, Robin. Hey,
listen. You don't got to be nervous about the,
like, the chicken shits. They're not going to
do anything. All right? Those blue wolves guys,
they're tougher than, they're tougher than your
natural, like, they're going to be fine. All
right? Yeah, but Adrian Vicoa is not going to
get in trouble for any shit he does because his
family donates so much money to Ivor Brain. Oh,
so he's a prissy little rich kid. Didn't even
earn his place. Yeah. I mean, all those, well,
not all, but almost all those lords in the world.
He's dealt with. Huh? What do you mean? Did you
kill him? No. What? Oh, okay. I think he's going
to be late to class. That's all. I never see
you. I didn't hardly see you come back. what
what even okay so someone got hurt or someone
died and they think it's the blue okay okay she's
kind of like like you know really like massaging
her temples it's a lot about house rius um yeah
this person wrote like a like an article saying
like how people from aurora are bad or something
Just generalizing and bullshit and... Yeah, I
mean, these are basically never worth reading
anyways. They're all gossip. Well, but clearly
people are reading them. Yeah, it's stupid. We
have them in Roran Adam, too. But... I just hope
they're okay and... Should we, like... I don't
know, make a show of solidarity or something?
Oh yeah, I'm not gonna stop. I just - I just
don't want - I have a feeling that this isn't
gonna be the last time that they try to pull
something on the blue wolves. Yeah, it's definitely
not, but we'll keep an eye on them. And our -
With Robin and Cole around, she maybe doesn't
want to ask yet, but she goes, Um, are you okay,
though? She, like, looks around her, like, very
confused. I ran into Aurier, and she told me
that Arnalda left. Yeah. It's okay. I'm alright.
I'll see him on the holiday. Do you know why
he left, though? Did he say anything? No. But,
I mean, sometimes that happens when you're the
only Gothi of a small village. Does that happen
very much with him? Where he just, like, makes
plans with you and then leaves without saying
a word to anybody? Tim? Not something well -known
of him. It had to be an emergency of some kind.
I mean, it must have been something really bad,
like a funeral or, you know, something. Maybe
someone's really sick. It probably was definitely
an emergency. But it's okay. I'll get to see
him soon. It probably was a funeral or something.
Um. Well. As long as you're alright. I imagine
if it was something, he'll come back pretty quickly.
But, um, have you seen Garvey, by the way? She
points to Cole. We were just going to go check
on him because he was supposed to meet with us
for the drama. Well, anyway, that's a whole other
story. Oh, I told you that I ran into him yesterday
and he had some family business. Oh, that's right.
That's right. Well, should we go check on him
regardless? Is it, like, really bad family stuff?
Oh, he didn't tell me. I just... I don't know.
You know, his family's kind of a... Always has
something going on, it seems like, too. So...
I'm kind of noticing that as a trend with a lot
of the noble families. Oh, yeah. Some are a little
too obsessed with drama or doing things that
cause... You'd think it'd be the other way around.
With so much money, they could just kind of relax.
You know what I mean? Yeah, I think so. But they've
got to put their fingers into everything, too.
And I think I'm about out of time. I mean, my
baby sister used to do that, too. But, you know,
I always say this, but, like, hey, more money
is more problems. Lucia goes. Do you say that?
Whoa. Yeah. Robin, that was good. I know, right?
Yeah. Wait, Robin. Less problems and it's more.
I guess there's kind of both ways. Well, I guess
you just assume that if someone's got money,
that everything's going to be easier for them.
But I guess people are people at the end of the
day, so you never know what's going on behind
closed doors. I think we ran out of time for
breakfast, B. B? Yeah, you're right, V. V? B
and V. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You're C. Am I missing
something? You could be C. I'm C? Okay. And you're
Cia. Lucy. Lucy. Yeah, Cia. Wouldn't I be L?
Wait, where did the B come from? Her name is
Robin. No, it's all rhymes. It rhymes. But he
said he goes by Robbie, and so we took it from
Robbie. People call me Robbie. Then why aren't
you just calling him Robbie? Because it's shorter.
We have a nickname. Yeah. Why do you have nicknames
for each other? Valora, why didn't we ever have
nicknames for each other? Am I being replaced?
No, no, no, no, no. Oh, my goddess. No, I don't
want to be a retainer. I want to make that very
clear. I've been calling you Cotton Candy behind
your back. It's kind of a nickname. D for candy.
Wait, that's kind of adorable. And her, like,
stress tears turn into, like, admiration tears.
Why are you Are you sure hey, let's go I think
we're gonna have time for breakfast. Let's go
to class Wiping the studio Ghibli tears that
are This is fine. They're fine. As you pass,
as a lot of you move, you see a call that, despite
the commotion, Reinwald and Tula seemingly beat
you there, seemingly unaware of the drama that
had just taken place. You walk up towards the
classroom. And naturally, walking up here, you
see the other... You see the other classrooms.
People haven't pulled in front around just yet.
You guys know, like, in school when... Oh, it's
minutes before class, so everyone's, like, huddled
around doing things before they actually go to
class. There seems to be a board. uh that's that
every that people seem to be interested in or
the sort of students um and you begin to and
you see preliminary tournaments uh uh acorn league
uh and it's just uh people putting their names
up for like to take place in little scraps and
skirmishes on the Proving Grounds, and it's divided
by years, and it seems to be organized as, like,
there are some third years up at front taking
down names, and people seem really interested
to see what names are on there. What's the Acorn
League? No, I think it has to do with, like,
the tournaments and stuff. They do them for all
different kinds of fighting in general and stuff,
too. Yeah, it's like the start. The acorn stuff,
you know? And Robin wants to kick my ass, so
I guess we're signing up. Okay, like... Yeah.
Is it like a duo or like a team thing? Oh, there's
solo, and then there's duos, and then there's
trios. And then there's squads, which, by the
way, it's called that because a squad has quad
in it, which means four. Wow, Robin, you know
a lot. Yeah, yeah. Mercenary, you know, I get
around. I didn't have to go to school for that.
That's right. She just kind of looks at him perplexed
because he's just saying this in front of her,
which she literally told him earlier. Like he's
not even trying to hide it from her. Oh, not
even, not even. Hey, trust me with his life.
I'm kind of a smarty. Ignoring Robin. Looking
at the stuff here, is there like a date or like
when this is happening kind of thing? It says
this one is happening on, this one's happening
tomorrow. tomorrow so that's before the melody
bowl yes it's before the middle lucia wait this
could be this could be good uh like training
what could be good training for the melody bowl
because you're gonna have to like smack her around
a few times i mean so it's right this could be
like a cool like you know like you know get get
the vibe of it have you ever fought someone like
one -on -one before We fought one -on -one. Yes,
we did. I fought Valora. And who won? Valora.
Okay. But she actually did... She hurt me pretty
bad, though. Yeah. She felt kind of bad about
it. I kind of got swung in there, and then I
felt awful about it. And then I went down. Okay,
well... And the world went black. Okay, well,
we're gonna be... And I couldn't remember, but
then I woke up and then Valora was smiling above
me. So I wasn't that sad about it, but it did
kind of hurt. Not that it really hurt that bad,
but you know. I think if you go down in the fight
with Melody, when you wake up, she's going to
be like looking down at you with her gun. So
I think you can't lose. Are you implying that
she's going to kill her? I don't know. She can't
do that at school. Well, I know she's not supposed
to, but she doesn't seem like she follows the
rules. Melody does a lot of things that she shouldn't
do at school, honestly. Okay, but even if she
shouldn't, she's just not going to do that. She
pointed a loaded gun at me and her... Melody
Wilson? Melody Wilson? I forgot her name was
Wilson. Yeah, that's her actual last name. She's
a noble in Conica. Her last name is Wilson? Mandy
Wilson? Yeah, Melody Wilson. Melody is her real
name, but not Fidelity. Interesting. Why did
you change your name? I don't know, because it's
Wilson. Though it is weird. Normally, noble families
don't like to mess with their last name. Okay.
All right. Well, anyway, Lucy, you want to sign
up? Yeah, I've got to sign up. And then I've
got to send this letter. So, good idea. Do you
want to do... Like, solos is, like, a test, or
do you want to do, like, duos? We can do a whole
squad. Yeah. You guys also see up at the board,
taking deep interest in this, is Reinwald. Arms
crossed, like, looking at the board. A .K .A.
here's a quad. But we can't exclude Robin right
in front of him. I'm doing the solo because I'm
awesome. You know what I mean? Well, you and
Delora are going to go head -to -head, right?
So you can't be on our team. Yeah, we can't be
on the same team if you're going to kick my ass.
Well, you know, the ass -kicking will come, but
it doesn't have to come at a tournament. I wouldn't
want to blow your place up. You know what I mean?
Oh, no, no, no. I mean, I think we should...
You should ask Marcellus to join your team. since
maybe it would be a good bonding for you since
you kind of well you know i'm dealing with solos
so like i could just i i i could or maybe maybe
you wouldn't like losing together can you sign
up for multiple multiple things or is it just
one or the other it's just one oh i thought you
could do multiple well if i'm training against
if i'm gonna be fighting just melody shouldn't
i just do like a 1v1 kind of thing well it depends
on i mean maybe Maybe that's a good idea. Or
you do like a duo just to kind of get, since
it's training and not like a full. Yeah, I just
feel like I'm going to rely on whoever my partner
is. And when it comes down to it, it's just going
to be me out there. Well, I mean, teamwork is
part of that. Do you think Melody will let me?
Do you think Melody will let me bring in a duo?
I'm going to be honest. I think she's going to
have a squad with her. I don't think she's gonna
play by the rules. I think she's gonna cheat
the whole way through. Oh. Well. I think she's
gonna have, like, snipers in the crowd, you know
what I mean? What? I wouldn't put her past her.
Um, I mean... I mean, Konikens are used to buying
everything. Including victories. A sniper? I
don't even know what... that is but it sounds
so dangerous it's like a guy with a like a gun
or a bow and like i know there's not that many
guns here you know i i play this kind of snapper
role and the you know the kind of mercenary army
that i'm in you know one of the most effective
mercenary armies and he is he's one of the most
effective yeah i've seen him yeah especially
since you're best friends yeah you know in an
oar um what was that it's true oh yeah my bro
uh bro all oh yeah so bro this is my this is
this is bro uh so like the thing we'll bring
that up later but like but like okay so a sniper
so they are like very deadly sort of like accurate
you guys you guys don't want him to like continue
um so anyway what do you what do you think what
did you want to do i like take lucia away from
the conversation and leave the lore with him
All right, so, Valora, uh... Whatever you think
is best, Cole. I mean, I'm fine with whatever.
I mean, I think it'd be fun. So, you know...
Yeah, let's do that. It's up to you, whatever
you want to do. I don't know what I'm doing,
Cole. I have no clue what I'm doing. So whatever
you think is best, please sign me up for it.
Wait, wait, wait. If you guys are doing partners,
I want to do partners, too. Um... Um... We can
do a squad. No, no, no, no, no, no. You guys
do partners, so that way Lucia gets a chance
to, like, do half. And then you have to do partners,
too, with someone. You need to find someone who's
not me, though. She points to Robin. And she
scans the crowd for someone to partner up with.
There's Robin. No, no, no, but he's trying to
kick my ass. There's Reinwald. And I will kick
your ass. Oh, hey, Reinwald. I heard my name.
Hey, the god. Jenny wants so badly to just get
his... Yeah, you suggested it, so I'm taking
it. Hello. Yes. Oh, good morning. Good morning.
Are you signing up for the tournament? Well,
I was planning to get over. Well, I'm looking
for a partner. No pressure, but I think it would
be fun. Is that an offer for a dance, leader?
Absolutely. Well, I wouldn't mind at all. Are
we dancing? She whispers to Cole. Well, I think
that's going to be part of the melody fight,
so we're going to have to dance while we fight,
yeah. I was thinking about... I was thinking
about what partner I could bring. And, well,
since I have the Valora Ivanlea, I can't help
but have full confidence in our chances of victory
now. That's a lot of confidence for someone you've
just met, but I have the same for you. Also...
We gotta help train my retainer and your fellow
Olive House member. Well, I bet he's... We need
to train my retainer. Lucia gives a small wave,
like the chibi hand. Robin's honorary Olive House
member. And this guy's out to get me, yeah. She
points at Robin. Out to get you, looks at Robin.
And he just goes... Says... Says, misfortune
for you, my friend. I'm her partner now. He goes,
so if you want to get to her, you're going to
have to blow past me. That's going to be very
difficult. I love how committed you are to the
team so fast. This is going to work awesome.
I love this. And Robin just goes, yeah, well,
I'm going to kick your ass too. Yeah, tell him,
Robin. Yeah. I think Robin's the one to beat.
I'm going to be honest. Yeah, like, what are
you, like... The sword guy? Well, now that that's...
Go ahead. I was just... I'm gonna go send my
letter, but you guys keep it up. Oh, wait, Lucia.
Let me see your letter. Okay. I won't read it,
I promise. Okay. She literally just holds it
for a little bit and then gives it back to you.
Everything okay? Yes, it's a weird thing. I...
Literally, if I come into contact with the letter
or the bird, the bird will fly faster. That's
incredible! It's not much faster, but it's enough
to be noticeable. So if you ever need anything,
to get sent faster, that's my... Well, maybe
I'll write one to my dad to make sure everything's
okay, and I'll have you touch it, and then we'll
send it to him. Oh my gosh! Okay, okay. I'll
help you wrap that if you want, Lucia. Yes, please.
Yes, please. Okay. I'll be right back. You guys
keep doing what you're doing. And she's going
to go run off to send a letter. Hmm. As you...
I'm going to sign a set real quick for her. Seems
like you and I are destined to be opponents.
Cool. Yeah. Well, steal a shop and steal. I can't
wait. I'm gonna be honest, Reinwald, can you
do me a favor? This is kind of, if we run up
against each other, this is a training thing
for Lucia, so can you go easy on her at least
to just kind of get her started a little bit,
you know what I mean? I do hear you, my friend,
but I also don't want to do disservice to my
partner. I mean, Vlora's down for it too, I'm
sure. Looking up on Cole when it happens. Oh
boy. I'm warning you. I am warning you. You deserve
my best. And I do not want to dishonor you by
doing any less. I hope you bring it. You can
rely on me to. And he holds out a hand to you
to shake. And Robin is like, ah, look at the
both of you. Oh, harmonizing. Why don't you start
singing together? All right, I gotta go find
a partner. You should ask Marcellus. And then
you see a short, like, it's still a human, but
like a short, like, young -looking human man
wearing a golden moose outfit walk up to Robin
and just goes, hey, what's your name? Oh, yeah,
I'm Robin, but people call me Robbie. Oh, okay.
And then... People also call him V. Oh, like
an actual bee? Like buzz, buzz, buzz? Yeah. Oh
my god, it's so badass. He fights so quick, it
stings, you know what I mean? Oh, wow. It's like
the sound of his arrow flying. That's so cool.
You guys are making a monster. And then... Robin
just goes, yeah, you know, I just... It's just
kind of like, I am quick, and I was talking to
Valora about a sniper earlier, and you see that
this young man walks away, goes up to the board,
writes Robin's name, and then his own name, which
is Dresden VPA. I will write down the name. Dresden...
VPA. I don't trust a lot of the sweet summer
children in this campaign. Now I feel like Dresden's
going to be like, and then I'll suck the life
from him. What you know, Valora, is another noble.
Probably a small one. So Robin does not see this
guy walk up and put his name in the duos. Oh,
looks like you've got a partner. Oh, yeah. What?
Who? Oh, you? Hey, man, you and me are partners
now. What? Did you sign my name? Yup. And I can't
believe I got the best partner. Everything's
coming up, VP. Robin's like, what are you talking
about? And then Dresden just goes, wait, can
I have that? Points at his sword. Like, no, you
can't have this. Aw. Everything's not coming
up, VP. Robin. Hey, this is my sword. Yeah, he
shouldn't just give up his sword. You can't just
go on and around and ask people for things. Well,
no, but you gotta, like, you know. Well, can
I have that? Points at your, uh... Points at
your... Oh, my God, no. Points at your, like,
hat. Points at Lucia. Points at your, like, little,
like... Lucia's gone. Lucia's gone? Yeah. Oh,
my God, that's so badass. Points at your, like,
golden cords on your shoulder, Valora. Yeah.
That's giving off, like, aura. Like, I'm getting
chills. Like, I got goosebumps. Look. I'm glad.
Nice to meet you, VP. Here, I'll give you something.
VP and Robin. I'm going to give VP... A knife.
No, I'm going to give him a bag of 1 ,000 ball
bearings. Another one? Ooh! Can I have that?
Yeah, for you. Yes, everything's coming up, VP.
Opens up the bag. I'm going to leave while he's
doing this. He just goes, oh, I used to play
with these. I used to throw these down the stairs
and see what it would do to people. Oh, there's
a lot more stairs here. What is wrong with this
guy? I have written down a whole thing of notes
about him, but I've underlined three times. Unmedicated.
I love him. I've been there. I've been there,
VP. I've been there. I love him. He just goes,
have you guys ever pushed off a person from a
moving horse to see what would happen? Okay,
what kind of unmedicated, though? However, because
this is really violent. Yeah. I have, actually,
yeah. Yeah. Isn't it so cool? Like, when I was
young, I just wanted to see what would happen,
you know? So I pushed him off. I mean, yeah,
not to see what happened. To hurt somebody on
purpose. You know, Robin is a really talented
writer. Right, Robin? I bet you couldn't knock
him off. We're partners? I still haven't gotten
past that yet. Yeah, you're partners. Yeah, we're
partners. It says right here. Yeah, I wrote that.
Anyway, he's real talented. and I don't think
you could knock him off. Anyway, I'm getting
class. Yeah, we gotta go to class. And then Dresden
goes like, oh my god, I can't believe it. I have
a partner now. I have chills. Excelsior. And
then walks towards his classroom. Is he Gen Alpha?
What is he? And then he walks towards his classroom.
Excelsior? Is he gonna say, like, Sigma at some
point? Sigma Rismus. Skibbity. Yo, Skibbity whatever
whatever. I can't believe I did this. I got chills.
Excelsior. I love him. And I think he and Robin
are going to be good. I think they're the ones
to beat. I'm not going to lie. I'm scared of
him. I think they're the ones to beat. What if
he's really OP? i think he is i think this is
sid from toy story you know hangs his dolls for
fun ever thought about if you like hung your
teddy bear from the ceiling and just like let
it swing there for a while and like with the
blood brush to its feet if it had blood like
that's what i feel like what if he's a cleric
like really into blood and stuff i got you is
he a cleric Oh, God. Oh, no. Wait, can I have
that? We were having a serious scene earlier
and then VP and VPA came on. VP? VP. VP. He's
the vice president of the Saga Dondarris. No,
I'm kidding. No. Fan club part two. So in the
chat, Zenny, what does that rank on your favorite
NPC list? I'm kidding. NPC is with Black. Is
that? That's how you craft the characters? That's
what it's like interacting with Zenny on a daily
basis. I can say that. Who would Zenny like the
most? That's what I got to do from now on. Melody.
Every character's melody now. Please, no. Please,
no. But does that diminish melody if everybody's
melody? That's true. If everyone is a melody,
doesn't that make her lose her power as melody?
No one is melody. If everyone is melody, no one
is melody. So, as you start walking, so, Lucia,
we get to you as you start to send off the letter.
You walk off. And I will state that as you were
walking away, you hear the telltale voice. It's
Melody. And this is how I would laugh if I heard
a very funny joke. I've been touched. I would
add that little touch, a signature melody touch,
I would call it. We should trademark that. Where
is she? Oh no. Oh no. I think Lucia has like
her letter. in her pot like 24 hours and she
can't fucking get a break she goes melody hi
oh are you ignoring me Oh, there you are, you
cute little thing. Oh, God, you're so small.
You're so tiny. Absolutely delectable. Okay.
Hi. Melody, listen. I'm listening. You are? Perhaps
you should listen. I am going to utterly crush
you into dust beneath my gorgeous pink heels.
You are going to be ground into a pink spice,
and I will use you to spice a roast dedicated
to you. It'll be a pig. That's great, Melody.
What I was going to say is that I think my friends
are a little worried this is getting out of hand,
but clearly they should stay worried. Melody,
you good? You're on the floor, Melody. Melody,
your dress is getting dirty on the floor. I'm
not lifting you up. You can get up yourself.
And then both Doremi and Robert lift her up.
Hi, Robert. Hi, Doremi. Hey, how are you doing?
I'm good. How are you? Oh, oh, oh. I'm good,
thank you. Okay, you were talking. Making words.
Listen. Absolutely. This has gotten a little...
Regardless of what happens tomorrow, I'm sure
you have... Oh, Sunday. Sorry. Is it Sunday?
Is it Sunday? Wait, what day is it today? Monday.
Monday. Okay. This weekend. Sorry. Timeline.
Regardless of what happens this weekend... Listen,
I don't know what it's like to be you, right?
I don't know what you've dealt with. I don't
know what you've grown up with. I don't know
what this drama club means to you, but clearly
it means a lot. I just hope that with whatever
happens, other people will feel like the drama
club gives them what it gives you. Be quiet.
Goodness. Goodness. The string of silence. You
disrupted it. It would have been beautiful. Who
hurt you? You. No. Someone really hurt you. You
disrupt me. And I have to correct you. I have
to fix you. No, Melody, like you, for some reason,
I represent something to you. I don't know what
it is. Dirt. Dirt. You're dirt, darling. Listen,
I've got my own mommy issues, so you can figure
out that on your own. So I'll see you on Sunday.
I don't have mommy issues. Insight check. My
mommy loves me. Insight check. Go ahead. Insight
check. I am beloved by my mother. I don't know
what you're talking about. 25. She believes that
shit. God damn it. Okay. I wouldn't love her.
My mother is... She loves me. And I bet she misses
me. Oh, God, I bet they miss me so much. And
they love me so much. That's as much as a given.
Oh, goodness gracious. I hope they come and they
see you demise. I'd make them so proud. Goodbye,
Melody. Goodbye, Rod. Bye, Dory, me. All right,
see you around. See you around. She'll go off
to send her letter. Jesus Christ. Melody goes,
off to class. Cartwheels. I can't fix her, and
I'm not going to try. She doesn't need fixing.
She clearly doesn't need fixing. Happy Mother's
Day to Lady... What was their last name again?
Wilson. Lady Wilson. That's true, Zenny. Melody
did make her a mother. In a way. It really is
Melody's mother's day. Melody's mother owes her.
Owes her a gift on Mother's Day. Oh, goodness.
Just the very thought of me is known to make
people quite fertile. Ew! Is that why she worships
a dune? She dies. It's all coming together now.
It's all coming together now. I don't want her
anymore. This is bad. This is bad. Lucia? You
make your way to the quick... You have to hurry
now because of that stupid little distraction.
As you are making your way towards, as you make
your way there, and not a lot of people are out
in the greeting halls right now because people,
you know, letters are, you know, this is a last
second edition. You're running. Anime school
girl. And you see, as you make your way into
the mess hall, you see walking out about to cross
paths with you is Archibald. Letter in hand.
Just goes, excuse me. Archie, wait, come with
me. And she locks arm with him and goes, I have
to send this letter, but I need to talk to you.
And she's, like, dragging him with the letter.
It's like you just ask me. You don't have to
force me. As you, thank you so much, Zeddy. I
really needed that for my soul. Thanks, Zeddy.
I needed that. As you just kind of, like, just
goes, I shouldn't be, I need to get the call.
And then you make your way to the bird, to the
bird swath. And then you see the older man and
he says, you know it's almost class, right? Yes,
but please, please, please send this, please.
Where's this going to? This is going to Todd
Codwallader. Okay. Go to class. Thank you so
much. Wait, your letter. Quick, Archie. It's
not going to get sent. Why not? I'll do it right
now. Letters can't be sent to Lurva at the moment.
Why not? It's a ban. Well, can I send it? No.
No letters. No outgoing letters. Why? Archibald
goes. Archibald goes. Come on. Come on. And she'll
tag along with him, following his lead. I'm not
much of a dragger. Come on. I know, I'm coming,
I'm coming. Don't make a sick man drag you. I
found a book on that. Thank you. That's sweet.
But I'm afraid it's... Never say never. Medicine
is always advancing in new and different ways.
I see you for your common lesson. Yes, and are
you okay? This equation has been written a long
time ago. You don't have to worry. I'm not worried.
I'm just asking if you're okay. Yes. I don't
want to hold you anymore. You're not. I was technically
holding you to begin with. I'll see you at the
lessons. I'll see you later. Lucia, was that
a letter you've written? And she opens up her
bag and all of the letters that she's been practicing,
like really poorly written, but you know, she's
doing a rest, like tumble out. She's like, I
had help, but I did write most of it. I'm proud
of you. And she gives him a big hug. Okay. They're
going to be so late to class. We're fucked. We're
fucked. Remember class. Remember this class.
Class, class, class, class, class. Wait, wait,
wait, wait, wait, wait. Gotta, gotta, gotta,
gotta, gotta, gotta. Pulling up her papers. Wait,
are we in the same class? What class am I in?
Do you know what class you're in? I forget what
class I'm in, so Jake, right now. You're in the
Silver Lions. That's right! Okay! And she goes
back and fucking fucks it. He walks too. I hope
she at least... Brightens his day. You're a highlight.
And then you make your way to class. Cool. Valora,
as you're inside class, there is a... There is
a noticeable sort of like different air permeating.
People can't help but... Motherfucker. People
can't help but... you can tell people can't help
but just talk about the drama that occurred earlier
and what occurred in the paper seemingly whatever
goes on in the the nosy um the nosy raven always
seems to permeate throughout and it just so happens
that the news and what's been presented is just
so so incendiary um but people are keeping to
hushes you see students have students have like
their own like folded up like papers about few
and far in between, but people are sharing by
huddling around. I, like, lean over to one of
them. I can't believe Melody already has an ad
in the paper advertising the bowl. It's been
24 hours. It takes up the entire third page.
I will admit the illustrations is quite colorful.
I almost wanted to go see it because of that.
Everyone, you should turn to page three. It's
real important. Lucia's gonna be putting the
beat down on... What was her name? Felicia or
something? Yeah, her. The image has Lucia getting
crushed into the ground. And then you see as
one person just goes, Lucia doesn't seem very
victorious in this illustration. It's an underdog
story. She's got to make a comeback. Exactly.
I'm just saying we should all be there to cheer
on on Sunday. You know what I mean? And you hear
one student just goes, you know what? You're
right. She goes, we all need to show up to cheer
on our retainer. Yeah. Laura's a little worried
about it still, but she's like, okay, whatever.
She should be. She should be. You see standing
up is Tamsin and just goes, Lucia! Lucia! Lucia!
Lucia! Lucia! Like six people do it. No! Is Quincy
here? Good thing you just asked that. You keep
predicting what I'm going to do. Walking in,
I call Valora, you see holding a small bag of
something, like a bundle of something to his
head. You see Quincy walk in. Sheesh, are you
okay? Quincy sits. next to evil aura this goes
i did not see fall in the forest yesterday i
thought it was a good idea to take a hike in
the in the dark it's a hobby but detect thoughts
i fell um detect thoughts so let's see that's
a what kind of save is that It is a wisdom saving
throw. He doesn't know that I'm doing this. This
is just the surface thoughts. It's a start. Okay.
That's a fail. I'm reading the surface thoughts,
trying to piece together, because I know he's
not a big talker, so trying to see what he remembers.
It's almost like he doesn't believe it. Like,
it's almost like he's almost ready to deflect
anyone who's like, you climbed the tree and fell.
He seems almost angry at himself. That's what
you feel mostly. Anger and just like a little
bit of resentment aimed at himself. We were climbing
a tree? That doesn't sound right. In the forest?
Well, trees are meant for climbing, and forest
has a lot of trees. That's really weird. I just,
I thought, I could have swore I saw you last
night around campus. Probably when I was heading
back. Well, did you have anyone heal it at least?
Apparently I thought it was a good idea to use...
To use Goodberry... Goodberry paste in order
to heal it. It's fine. I don't need anyone to
look at it. I'm sure Lucia's gonna throw a fit
when she sees you. Yeah. When Lucia's mentioned,
what... Any changes in surface thoughts? Um...
Curiosity. That turns to... And where is she,
by the way? She's mail. Yeah, it's been a letter.
She was looking for you last night. Guess you
didn't see her, did you? He truly believes that.
Yeah, he does. You see that he doesn't remember.
Like, it should be on the surface thoughts, but
it's not. All right. I'll leave him and just,
like, quickly just pop around the class for the
rest of the duration of the spell just to see
if there's anything interesting that pops up
other than that. Everyone's thinking it's about
10 % Melody Bowl. Most people are just, like,
focused on what's going to happen. Most people
are just focused on, okay, I'm here at Irobrin.
I need to, like, really, like, focus and do my
work. Fuck all that noise outside. And, like,
a very few other percentage. It's a very small
minority that are just like, man, what's going
on in this kingdom? What's going on? Any that
are thinking about that, I'm going to be like,
hey, page three, real important, and just try
and get their mind off of it. Yeah. Valora's
thinking about a horrific image. Oh, yeah. Oh,
wait. Yeah, I spoke to Valora. Can I have a wisdom
save? Valora, give a wisdom save. Okay. I also
wanted to know what the fuck Valora saw. Yeah,
when we're talking about last night. Were you
out, Laura? I'd stop by your room, too, and you
weren't there. Wait, why'd you stop by my room?
I just wanted to check how your date went. Oh,
were you the one who knocked? No. Oh, someone
knocked on my door, I thought, but then there
was this dog. Um, which, yeah. Yeah. You see,
if she's thinking right through, there was a
dog scratching at her door, Pomeranian. And she
says that she was spent all night looking for
its owner and then it got away. But obviously
that's not true from what you saw and both what
she's actively thinking of a lie to tell. That's
not too weird. And yeah, the horrific exploding
into worms and leeches. You found a dog? Because
that's all she can really think about. Yeah,
it was like scratching on my door. It woke me
up. and so i went and tried to catch it because
i figured it was someone's pet and i didn't want
it to get lost and then i caught it and then
it eventually it got free again and i kind of
spent a lot of the night i got fandom to try
to track him down but we never found him again
what does she think about when she's talking
about phantom um how surf What is surface exactly?
Gain insight into the creature's motivations,
emotional state, and something that looms large
in its mind. Yeah. So because of the strife,
a lot of that is thinking about just how gruesome
the images were that she saw. Maybe there's a
glimpse there too of her and Phantom did go up
to the church. And she is very worried about
that. But they did it at night and then they
did it at morning again. You look tired. Yeah,
I didn't get much sleep after that to be honest.
I figured after It was good training for Phantom,
at least, but we weren't able to catch it again.
I hope it's okay. Yeah, I'm sure the dogs have
a way of just kind of, you know, doing stuff.
It's a little fluff dog, though, you know? Like,
those guys don't survive in the wild. They get
picked up by a hawk. And by this point, Lucia,
no professor in sight. You're safe. The bill
has rung. The bill has rung. Open chair! Open
chair! Open chair! Where's the closest open chair?
Your side seat. She fucking flings herself into
it. Fucking collapses over the table. Oh, you
got it mailed? Yeah, but they're not sending
letters to... The blue wolves. They're not sending
letters there. Yeah. Maybe it's a shortage of
of the Hawks? No, he said it was a ban. Huh.
Aw, isn't that great? It's not looking great.
Speaking of that, what the heck happened to your
face? Um, she says to Garvey. Locked my head
into a wall thinking about you last night. I
fell off a tree. Oh, okay. Good. That's good.
That's what I presumed you meant. Because, like,
why would you? You got me there on that one.
Lucia. Tail end of the spell. Swap it over to
Lucia. Oh, my God. I'm getting good stuff. That's
a fail. That's a fail. You see in her head a
scene of them dancing at a ball with his arm
gently over around her lower waist and her feeling
for the first time in an oddly long time truly
safe. So you bumped and you fell off a tree?
Oh my... Gosh, like, you're so clumsy that way,
and I'm gonna fix you because what the fuck.
Okay. Oh, no, you don't have to. Smacks her hand
on his face. I know you're gonna do it. I guess
we're starting to get to know her. Cast Cure
Wounds. Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. By the
way, Lucia, what are you doing after class? Is
it Tuesday or Monday I have lessons with Archie?
I think it's Monday. Monday and Tuesday. I've
got common lessons with Archie. Do you want to
come along? Oh, well, I could. We have that thing
real quick, too. Are you going right after class?
Oh, the training is right after class? No, not
the training. The... The... You know, the...
Cemetery. Oh! The cemetery? Well... What are
you doing at the cemetery? Oh my gosh. Okay,
so... Okay, there's a lot going on. I always
thought you'd kill someone before the end of
the week. Before the end of the month. What is...
No! What is... No! No! So we ran into the professor.
And he was like really drunk and really upset.
And like, and Cole and I were talking and like,
we think that something must have happened like
recently, or it's like an anniversary of something.
Cause all the teachers are actually really upset.
It's weird. I just, cause is it where, where
phantom scent went to? Isn't that the cemetery?
It was to the back of the, The church. The back
of the... Okay, so not the cemetery. Not the
cemetery. It did go there. Okay, okay. But it
did not stop there. Okay. For some reason, I
was imagining it right there. Okay. She... I'm
just trying to decide if it's enough to pique
her interest in coal here. I could do... I don't
know if it's... I might do an insight to see
if she thinks that that is the real reason they
want to go there. On me? No, she trusts Lucia.
I think on Cole. Because he seemed excited to
go back to the cemetery. And she's thinking,
Arnalda was there. Why are they going to the
cemetery? Cole whispered to me, persuasion or
deception. Your choice. All right. Would Laura
make it inside? Okay. I think I would have this.
I will use my inspiration on that. Okay. Not
much better. I would give you guidance, but I
don't think Lucia knows that you're being insightful
right now. So, Cole, how do you... Let me message
you real quick. With birth, with birth, with
birth. This is what happens when you play out
a Vanisher. I smacked my mic. I mean, Cole seems
concerned for the professor. Kind of checks out
as far as... That goes? Yeah. Okay. Do you know
if something happened? It's hard to say. I mean,
like, I'm sure there's been casualties in the
past. A foot stomps as a sound resounds throughout
the classroom. Oh, no. Is it the guy who trained
you guys in level three? As you hear. As you
hear. It wouldn't be. Enough chit -chat. I demand
attention. As everyone turns towards the entrance
of the room, where you see a sort of medium height
man who doesn't stand at a directly imposing
stature. You would say a 5 '9", 5 '10", kind
of stature with blonde hair tied up into a ponytail.
He wears regalia that you don't... That Velour,
even you kind of, like, don't tell right away
what it is. Like, it seems like halfway between
knight, between a knight's typography and ministry.
Like, there's some kind of, like, white and blue
sort of, like, sort of, like, kind of, like,
grandness to it. But despite his stature and
uniform, he stands completely firm, expression
straight. And he just goes. Everyone, you will
refer to me as Sir Ansgar. I am going to be your
substitute in the meantime. Your professor has
called for a leave. He is attending to important
business at the moment. Now, allow me to make
myself perfectly clear. I am here to offer my
guidance and my teachings unto you. Whatever
whispers you carry outside of whatever news from
whatever papers, He says, I will not suffer any
infractions on the learning experience here.
He walks in and he starts walking in with complete
and utter regalness. And he just goes, if you
offer unto me distractions, then I will offer
you a severe and justified correction. and Valora
Valora I think you see very visibly Marcellus
kind of like a dude like a genuine gasp as he
covers his mouth as he realizes who it is she
kind of looks at him but turns back to focus
and as he's He steps in down the line and just
goes, says, be seated, respect the process, learn,
and we will get along just fine. Flora, Evan,
Leah, says, may you please take your place at
the front alongside me. Yes. Just goes, Evan,
Leah, says, Attendance, please. She'll take the
role. Call here when your name is called. And
then you go through it. Uh -huh, but she goes
through it in reverse order so all the nobles
are last this time. Last time she did it in the
order, now she's shaking it up. As... as you
start talking uh as you as you go in reverse
order you see that there's a like a little bit
of murmur uh a little bit of murmur uh from the
nobles like you typically their names go first
you see you see this um this man looks towards
him he just goes hush she goes i just think we
should do it a little bit different is all okay
and she continues she's your leader and you will
follow along with her And then you continue to
do... You continue to do... You continue to speak,
and as soon as you take attendance, he just goes,
Farewell, fine job. Thank you, Valora. Avonlea.
She goes to sit down. Today, our lessons will
denote doctrines. Rules of engagement. It says...
Laws of war. It says... Quickly bring out your
notes, and we will begin briefly. Uh... And...
As everyone starts bringing out notes, it just
goes... Bring out... And he pulls out like a
little like, you know, the teacher folder, like
the rubric. Bring out elements of war. Go to
chapter two, section one. I lean over and I'm
trying to help Lucia get to the right page. Do
I have a copy in Celestial? No. I'm going to
pretend that I'm opening up to the right page.
She gives your hand a little thank you squeeze.
And then as he flips along, he just goes, Cecil,
the behavior you exhibited is within the mess
hall today. Do you think that your behavior is
indicative of... is representative of what the
Silver Lions and what everyone here believes.
Wait, who the fuck is Cecil? Um... A dick, probably.
And you see a noble man, one of the ones who
was murmuring. He suddenly sits at attention.
And then the knight, and then Sir Onscar just
goes, Don't do that again. It says, I will not
tolerate intolerance. When you speak, when you
act, you represent each other. You represent
the silver lions. It says, you represent the
crown. It says, ensure you calibrate your enthusiasm.
All right. Now. Someone. First years. From the
first year rank. Call upon yourself. And begin
reading. And begin reading the article. And then
class. Ensues. Running a type ship. Sir Ansgar.
Sir Ansgar. Not an iron fist. But. continues
to but goes ahead and just gets everyone on track
you're learning what the professor was probably
going to teach you anyways you learn about different
doctrines like about the rules of law when was
it established and Lucia you're trying to get
along you're using this as practice too even
though it's hard and you're probably going to
have to try to get some clarity on it in the
future anytime stuff is being read I think like
Cole is like taking notes with one hand and the
other hand is like on her book, kind of pointing
to the words as they're being read aloud for
her. To kind of like subtitle it. And I think
she's like, I know that one. Okay, I didn't know
that one, but I did know that one. Like very
quietly under her breath, like putting two and
two together. Valora's not really in tune to
it at all. She, one of the disadvantages of level
two stripe is um disadvantage on concentration
checks so i think she's kind of zoned out most
of the time where did she get the strike from
again was it from tamsin blowing up tamsin staying
up all night and yeah i do have a level of fatigue
too um what what is covered is uh doctor's rules
of what was established, that kind of history.
What not to do in war. Koala, you actually know
some of this stuff already. You're pretty intimate
with it. Yep. Don't attack unarmed medics. Civilians
are a no -go. This and that, this and that, this
and that. She's like, yes! Yes! If the medic
attacks first, they're fair game, so don't. and
then fire emblem you have to rep the enemy a
lot so that's true it's true i mean clerics i
mean healers are free are free experience in
those games so i'm just saying um but um but
with this authority on hold he kind of like he
like he goes on through there's a thing you learn
called rules of engagement which means what what
circumstances must occur before you are allowed
to use force to either defend yourself or to
or to attack um it is a it is a productive it
is a productive time with no with no um input
from other groups he's keeping it locked down
before um the time for physical training comes
uh comes to be as As everyone kind of, like,
shakes off the stupor of, like, the sort of,
like, static stasis atmosphere, and everyone's,
like, getting ready to head out, you see this...
You see Sir Ansgar just kind of, like, closes
up the book, and as everyone's ready, just goes,
Evan Leia? Yes. Yes. And leans in towards you.
Lucy, uh, hand on his chest. He goes, my apologies.
Uh, surname, please. Um, you can just use, uh,
uh, Lusardi? Lusardi. That's my apologies. May
I please speak with the both of you? Sure. I
think Lucy is a little, like, awestruck. Like,
this is like a storybook prince, almost. The
two of you walk up to him. He just goes, is my
way? He says, I'm just speaking this because
I just want to know, and I want things to be
as efficient for the both of you as soon as possible.
I notice some difficulties following along with
the material, and is there anything I can do
to help? Is my teaching style abrasive? While
they're over there, I swap my notes with Lucia's.
I go, no, this is so embarrassing. No, no, no,
sir. Please, if you're referring to me, sir,
I have it all under control. Thank you, sir.
Yes, sir. There's no need to be. Please speak
freely with me. I want to ensure that this is
the best learning environment for you. It is
the best learning environment, and I'm learning
really well, and I have a tutor, which is helping
us make alliances with the other houses. Well,
Lucia is working really hard, but she's also
learning how to read common. I see. So the material
is a little less accessible. I do know Celestial,
though. I can read it. I can speak Common, but
the reading's a little tough. But I can read
Celestial very well, sir. But I'm getting there,
sir. Sorry. There's no shame in learning. As
long as you're learning at your own pace. I wanted
to hold that against you. Thank you, sir. In
that case, you were doing very well. And thank
you for being here. Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.
Of course. I apologize if my countenance is making
you tense. No, sir, I just... Sir, who are you,
sir? I'm a substitute, in the meantime. Before
that, sir, you have... She points to, like, the
church symbol. You said it was a mixture of church
and crown, right? I am an apprentice knight underneath
the... Under the stewardship. Of the sword saint
of Anor. Do I know what that is? Sword saint,
you would know, Lucia. The sword saint of Anor
is every kingdom on this continent has a sword
saint who are basically warriors dedicated to
the art of the sword that are so dedicated to
one single path that they become like basically
legendary warriors of a sword. Okay, she almost
passes out. That's really impressive. He kind
of like holds your hand, Lucia. Oh my god, she's
holding my hand! Listen, you can take a seat
now. Thank you, sir! She goes and like passes
out in her chair. Avonlea, if it's quite alright,
I would like to speak with you a little bit further.
Of course. And call you seat. Lucia kind of like,
sit down in the chair. Everything all right?
He's a holy knight. He's like the top. He's like,
oh, my God, you need help, my God. Marcellus
leans over. That is Thunderheart Ansgar, one
of the most stellar knights out there, a young
prodigy. Oh, wow. Oh, my God. I met his wife
this morning, so. Lucia, you see the slow boom.
The world is shattered. His wife's overseeing
the Olive House, I think, for the rest of the
year. Of course he has a wife. A beautiful man
like that. How could you not? Give us your luck,
Cole. Marcellus was saying that. Yeah, this is
Marcellus and Lucia actually synergizing. They
have the same vibe. Our bi -king, Marcella's
our bi -king. She's like, she's like, oh my gosh,
he was just like so kind and understanding, but
also so firm. And then, and so like, and so like,
no, it doesn't take no for an answer kind of
thing. All right. Isn't it amazing? They seem
like a professor. The tales of his deeds. Quite
amazing. Oh my gosh! You have to tell us more!
They call him Thunderheart. Ow! All the students
are in love. And Robin's like, I don't know this
guy. He's so anime guy. And Valora. Here she
goes. Had a laugh in Leia. Now, I simply wanted
to ask you, since I don't know how long I'll
be here, but I wanted to ask you just for, because
I believe in this case you are the leader of
this classroom, therefore I believe you're more
fluent in just how everything and everyone runs
here. If there are anybody, is there anybody
that I should know about? Any of note? trouble
seekers or any of the sort. Well, I mean Todd
Cadwallader, but he's suspended right now. That's
the first thought. It's a shame to see young
Sir Cadwallader in such a way. I was once their
knight. Oh, really? Yes. Well... How long ago?
It's quite a ways. I was 16 years old. Oh. Well,
I was going to ask if Todd was always like this,
but you might have been before his time. Oh,
no offense. I'm not saying you look old or anything.
You're clearly very experienced. It would be
quite refreshing. Very well. I can give Todd
a candid speaking to. Whenever they come back.
I'm going to rely on you, Avanlea, in the future
for anyone's proficiencies, areas of improvement.
I'm sure you spoke about this with your professor.
Absolutely. Right. Ages goes. Very well. And
of course, if anything ever comes up, please
speak to me. Of course. Right. Also, you don't
have to, but you can call me Valora if you want.
That's what most people do. I don't know if it
messes with your... With your whole image, though,
you know? I do tend to upkeep decorum. You deserve
my absolute respect. And from my upbringing,
that requires rendering unto you your surname.
Alright. Farewell. Please be prepared to go outside.
Absolutely. And you make your way back. Mm -hmm.
See Marcellus goes, Do you know who this is,
Valora? Um, well, sir... Onsgar? I'll go ahead
and write. He's Sir Thunderheart Onsgar. Onsgar.
I was expecting him to be going by... I guess
I would have assumed he had the same last name
as his wife, but I guess not. Well, sometimes
knights, they keep their original suit. It's
not like there's their both, sir. It gets confusing.
He's a real knight. He's a knight's knight. He's
a knight's knight. You're right, Marcel. Yes.
Yeah. Thunderheart. Thunderheart. I feel like
I shouldn't be here. No, you're in the right
place at the right time. You get to witness the
gloriousness. The majesty. I mean, he seems like
a good teacher. How are they not seeing what
we're seeing, Marcellus? It's blowing my mind.
I mean, he's really impressive. I just, like...
I just... I guess you're gonna have this to brag
about back at home, huh, Marcellus? Unless they've
met him. Your folks. But I'm the one who met
him most recently. Yeah, and you got to spend
time under his... his study. Oh my god! Not the
competition in every aspect of his life! Yeah,
but I died first. I did first. Um... Uh... And
you see, as he, as everyone gets ready and goes
out, and starts hiding out, you all see, well,
you already saw her, but another knight standing
in, just within the doorway of the class. Sir
Saloma. Saloma, I'm sorry. It just goes, how
do you soldier? And then you see he kind of smile.
Sir Ansgar smiles at her. He's a wife guy. He's
a wife man and we're so proud of him. And you
see as the two of them meet, is anyone eavesdropping?
Clearly Marcellus and Lucy are. You see the two
of them kind of, like, walk up to each other.
I can read lips. I can also read lips. They walk
up to each other. They, like, curl their fingers.
I wonder what another, like, a small, like, finger
curl. And they kind of, like, touch foreheads.
What the fuck? And then she goes, says, hey,
Lightning. I'm relaying this all to the group.
and he goes lucia's kind of personal yeah you
shouldn't ease up on people's personal conversations
you see it and marcelos goes you too please it's
a short exchange he just goes says yeah i'm working
and he just just goes soon as just wanted to
see you before tonight and and then just goes
I have quite a dinner prepared. Just goes, can't
wait for you to see it. Lucia stops halfway through
and her face is bright red and her face is in
the desk. And then Marcella just goes, oh my
god, he can cook. I think you guys are a little
young to get added into the relationship, she
says to Marcellus. Especially. Marcellus, if
you want, since his wife's kind of like my advisor,
I guess, kind of here at the school, I could,
like, introduce you. Maybe they could, like,
vote you over for, like, dinner or something.
Okay, I'll see what I can do. I accept. I owe
you a thousand favors, my friend. Alright. A
thousand. I'll see what I can do. A hundred.
Nope, we're going with a thousand. I meant what
I said. As Sir Ansgar leads everyone to the training
field. So everyone is divvied up and of course
training occurs. This is training, so no sparring
happens. This is just the basics of swords. This
is not Ronin Sharp's training. This is a different
training. Ronin Sharp training is on Tuesdays.
Okay, got it. And I will say, because we could
just make this fast. Lucia, you want to do anything
in regards to your training with Melody? This
is just basics and drills. Actually, let me see.
I think she only has a crossbow. We got to teach
her how to dodge bullets. So crossbow bolts are
kind of like bullets, right? Jesus. Lucia only
has a light crossbow in terms of her martial
weapons. I think... too, like, throughout the
training. Like, Valora kept her energy up in
the morning, and then it's just been... After
a lecture, it starts waning, and then especially
with the physical stuff on top of it, she's just
getting wiped a lot faster than normal. Would
I notice that? Go ahead and make an insight check.
Eleven. And Valora, you're trying to just keep
your energy up? I think, yeah, she's trying to
get through more than anything. I think I have
something, though, in terms of trying to incite.
I thought I could add something. Heightened awareness
of the feelings and motivations of those around
me. Expertise dice on insight checks made against
other creatures. Okay, cool. So how much do I,
what do I add? For usually it's a d4, but for
this game, the plus twos, each level of expertise
is a plus two. Okay, so then 13. I would say
that you do see just some kind of like obvious
signs of like, oh yeah, she's tired. Hmm. I think
Lucia will reach into her bag and take out her
little blanket that she has. and kind of wrap
it around Valora's shoulders and goes, It's okay
to take a break sometimes. Oh, um... Thanks.
Oh, I'm... Oh, you know, not too long before
we'll... Just gotta get through class. Yeah,
but you can take a rest. Oh, I'm good. Thank
you. You sure? I'm sure that stuff earlier took
a lot out of you. You know, in the town square.
Oh, yeah. Plus chasing a Pomeranian around. A
what? Yeah, this dog showed up at my room last
night. And then I couldn't catch it. And then
it was a whole thing. Oh, no. Okay. Can I, like,
pull Valora a little aside? We have to talk about
retainer stuff. One second. Have you seen that,
though? Colt! What? She doesn't know that he
knows, right? No, okay. Call one second. We'll
be right back, okay? And I'll just lead Valora
away. I'm going to try and train closer so I
can listen in. Do you know who's dog it is? Valora.
And she looks over at Tamsin to see what Tamsin's
doing. I noticed that. I definitely noticed that.
What are we doing? I have a 22 passive. Yeah,
I'm just trying to train, but a little bit closer.
That's all. Koala is positioned closer, but he
is trying to train. Tamsin waves at you when
you look at her. As Lucia waves back at Tamsin,
she goes, That's the dog. What? The dog is Tamsin.
She's trying to be very quiet. Tamsin is the
dog. How do you know that? What do you mean?
Because Tamsin takes on the little Pomeranian,
right? And then she comes and talks to you as
the Pomeranian. So she sent that to you? She
wouldn't tell me who she was. That's Tamsin.
Okay. Velora goes back because she knows Tamsin
doesn't want her to know, so she doesn't want
Tamsin to get too suspicious. Anyway, this fidelity
ball is going to be a... Ball of Fidelis. Yeah,
here, catch. Ah! She full -on dusts and covers
her head. All right, no check there. Did I catch
it? Did I catch it? Well, we got some work in
front of us. I dodged it! That's true, that's
true. Right? But what you miss is that... It's
a boomerang dagger, so it's coming back the other
way. It doesn't, actually. Oh, god damn. That
would be fun if it did. Robin sees this and goes,
hey, let me help. Throws a ball. Well, I threw
a knife at her, but... Robin, what the heck?
Alright, if that was a knife, that would have
been really bad. And she throws it back, or she
tries to. Dodges. Guys, we're training. Measure
up. That's where Ansgar goes. Yes, sir. Yes,
sir. Fiddles with her hair. Straightens out her
skirt. And training is had. As you are going
through drills and as somebody in the first year
leads drills, you watch as Sir Ansgar takes to
the other side of the field and goes to basically
get to know the third years and spar with them,
giving them more personal attention. You see
that he spars a few times. There is like a seamless
energy to him. He's very agile in his fight and
the sword technique, of course. is follows there's
a lot to learn there and lucy it just gives you
a lot to think like oh man maybe i could be that
one day that could be me right like she's like
she's like i didn't realize you could combine
your holy order with blah blah blah blah um but
i will say just for the fucking fan service because
people i see people are getting a little bit
crazy uh as he Before he fights, you see that
he undoes the band in his hair, and as he takes
it off, it flows long. It's like golden locks.
It's genuinely beautiful. There is genuinely
some femininity to him when he does that, legitimately.
Is there, like, a moment where he does, like,
a sweep and then slow -mos and, like, a little
bit of sweat off his brow starts to, like, float?
He typically has good cardio, so, you know, maybe
not. But maybe for this time, yeah, for the freaks.
Here on Songwoven. For the freaks. Pride month
is every month. Happy Pride, everyone. Happy
Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day! He loves knitting.
Especially if you have two moms. He loves it.
Mom woven. Mom woven. Welcome to mom woven. Wink
wink. But yeah. You watch. There's a seam. There's
a fucking seamlessness to him. And. We're getting
to the. We're getting to the part where. And
the back half. Where the drills seem to be over.
Akos. Or Sir. Sir Angar. Tells everyone. Right,
well, Avonlea, may I please pull on your ear
for a second? Of course. We've gone through every
drill for today in the rubric. What do we do
when there is an abundance of free time? Um...
Well, I mean, we can really do anything. Anything
extra? I mean, we haven't really run into that
much. I see. Would it be pertinent for me to
tell everyone that it's just train with each
other and spa and whatnot? I think that's a great
idea. Very well. Thank you. Everyone, for the
rest of your remaining time, do as you will.
Train, spa, steal, strap and steal. And then
you see Ridewall just kind of looks at you, Cole,
just goes... She's like, yup. And she goes, I'll
leave you to it. And Robin looks at you, Valora,
like, hey, I'm just trying to keep myself fresh
for the tournament. Yeah, we'll have tomorrow.
Yeah, me and my partner. We'll see ya. What's
his name again? What? Wait, wait, wait. Sorry,
she was saying Lucille, but he is. What's his
name again? It's... Day. Just call him Day. Or
VP, yeah. VP. Is it B? VP. VP. Oh, VP! Oh my
god. That's so damn weird. Alright. Um... Isn't
your name B? It's just one extra letter. It's
Robbie. Robin. Whatever. Yeah, it's only V to
me. Yeah, she's V to me. Gotcha, gotcha. And
Marcellus goes, when did this development occur?
Why, are you jealous? Oh yeah, did you want to
call me V? If anyone's going to get jealous,
it's probably going to be Saga. Well, Saga already
has a nickname for me. And what's that? Head's
turn. I thought everyone knew by now. And by
the way, I just take a front. I've never met
her. I just watched her from a distance. With
you. We were there together. Oh, yeah, yeah.
That makes more sense. Oh, yeah, when you guys.
I am taking issue with the nickname V because
I fear that Valora's going to let that get to
her head. V for victory. Yo, you're right, actually.
I didn't even think of that. I just thought I'd
rather deflate you now before you inflate yourself
later. Well, you don't have to worry about that.
It's all Vs for me. I will get the victory. I
will get the victory. Just wait until you get
a taste of defeat. Ooh. Real clever. I felt that
one. Oh, yeah. My proudest moment. Well, I was
going to see, Lucia, if you wanted to help practicing
the drills from earlier. Oh, yeah. I'm locked
in, baby. She's been at a dummy. We have her
do it at, you know, at a moving target now. The
moving target hits her. I lean in to Valora.
We got a lot of work ahead of us. Her magic's
really good. Yeah, yeah, that's true. Melody's
just gonna be a lot, that's all. That was, it's
all the way over here, Lucia. Yeah, that's right.
Hi -ya! And then Quincy goes, wow, so close.
Quincy, why don't you try and help her with her
form? I'm not sure if I can do anything about
that. Oh, come on. Here. Yeah, what's wrong,
Garvey? You intimidated? Path of least resistance,
you know? You don't want to go, like, least resistance
closest. But don't you got to get all that power
in your swing and you go... You're going to throw
out your arm that way. Ow, ow, ow, ow. Yeah,
there you go. Ow. Ow. Okay, never mind. I'm so
frightened. Well, Garvey, wait until magic comes
into play. I saved your butt in that mock battle.
That's true. You did. It is true. So... Just
you wait. The moment they allow magic, watch
out. Ayun's gonna bless me, and I'm gonna be
a holy knight, too. Don't throw out your arm
again. You're doing a lot of wrong motions there.
Let's try to ignore it! Hey, Valora, question.
Are those two, like, kissing or something? Cuz
I'm just getting a vibe off. No What are you
talking about? Don't worry about it. Keep focused
on your swing. Yeah, Garby, Garby eyes on me.
I am the threat here Not really. Eyes on the
dummy Wait, am I hitting Garby or the dummy?
I can't hit both. Both of the dummy Well, I mean
you could you have two arms. Okay. All right.
Let's go with the okay And she closes her which
you should not do, friends, if she's like a fish.
She puts her thumb inside her hand, and she goes
to punch. No, no, no. He makes a demi -dodge.
Garby, stop. I'm trying to hit it. You're going
to hurt yourself. We all fix her thumb. What?
I thought that protects my thumb. One thumb each.
No, that keeps it safe, doesn't it? No, you're
going to break your thumb. Yeah. All right. Maybe
we try for like range stuff. You know, if you
can't, if you know, if you got to keep away from
her and then she can't hit you. Think about that.
Well, she does have a gun. Maybe it'd be better
to get up and up close and personal. Who has
a gun? Melody Wilson. Yeah, her. Apparently.
We've kind of got this big fight on Sunday. I've
kind of waged the entire future of the drama
club and my servitude to her. Wait, Melody Wilson?
Yeah. You're fighting my ex? No, I'm kidding.
Quincy! Insight check. Insight check. You would
never you would never ever ever but we're still
yelling at him. You would never should he call
the energy back in her He's joking. He's joking
He's getting in check He's just kind of like
slowly like inching away Lucio's on her hands
and knees, just almost like face in the dirt,
like, oh my God. You just said it so seriously.
Oh my God. Come on. Wait. And then her head pops
up. Who is Melody's ex? Does Melody have an ex?
Well, let's see it. You want to do a little bit
of digging on that? Yeah, I've been going about
this the wrong way. I've been trying to train
my body, but really I should have been training
my mind. Psychological warfare. That's right.
How about you be an ex -bad fighter and be a
good one? So let's just go ahead and just focus
on that. No, but now I'm really thinking, guys.
Now I'm having a brain blast. That's not good.
That sounds awful. I think we could... I think
we might... You know how we had our last operation?
Yeah. I think we should do another one. I know.
I think so, too. And if I can get into her head,
right? Knowing your enemy is half the battle.
Quincy goes over to Valora. I'm going to whisper
to you just because they're doing it. Okay, yeah.
Let's look at them. On three. One, two, three.
And then look back. Perfect. I just don't know.
Remember how we got those disguises? Yes. All
right. But, like, the cloaks or whatever. Mm
-hmm. How about... Sometime this week, we can
try and, like, sneak into her room and try and,
like, get some dirt on her or something. Yeah,
yeah, and see what her weakness is. Exactly.
Also, she's 100 % going to cheat, and knowing
what she's going to do, we can avoid it. That's
a good point. And honestly, when it comes to
a gun, I have no hope. So this is the only way
to go. I have no hope for you either. I'm going
to be honest. That's okay. But this makes the
most sense. Okay. We'll find what her deal is.
Maybe her mother hates her or something. No,
her mother loves her. I already checked. Check.
All right. All right. We'll find something. Melody
Fidelity has no insecurities. I'm quite secure.
I'm like a fortress after me. I'm so emotionally
secure. Go on, say anything to me. Go on, say
more. My psychiatrist loves me. My therapist
thinks I'm incredible. My therapist begs me to
come. I make quite a lot from therapists. Alright,
so we'll plan it maybe like tomorrow night or
something. Tomorrow night after training, please.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, actually, we have the...
We have the battle. Well, let's, well, yeah.
Okay, so let's do it tonight. Let's go to the
graveyard. Let's do the graveyard tonight after
my lesson, because that's important. And then
we can do Wednesday night. We can do the operation.
All right, sounds good. And I'll collect stuff
so that we were ready for it. Okay. You ever
sneak in a window? What? No. Maybe you just,
maybe you'll be the lookout. Yeah, yeah, I can
be the scout. Yeah, you'll be the, just the lookout.
Yeah, yeah, just to look out. Whisper, whisper,
whisper, Lucia. Whisper, whisper, whisper. What
are you two whispering about? She turns around.
Lucia, whisper, whisper, whisper. They're not,
they're just trying to, they're not whispering
anything. They're saying whisper over and over
again, then saying their names. Wait, how do
you know that? I can hear. Oh, I can't. No, you're
crazy. Okay, that I've learned. That's gaslighting,
Garvey. I can't tell the difference between him
gaslighting and him just existing. It's like
his whole existence is like a lit lamp. You know,
Garvey, gaslighting's not very nice. I disagree.
Really funny to me. Melody Fidelity, a delight
to have in therapy. Uh, Valora. You here? From
behind. Hi. I don't want to... Sneak up on you.
I don't want to scare you. Oh. Um. Of course
not. It's Tamsin. How are you? Haven't gotten
to talk to you much today. It's been... It's
been an eventful few days for me, definitely.
Oh, yeah? Yeah. What's going on? Lots of time
to think. You know, of course I've been nervous.
I wanted to just check up on you. Has anyone
asked how you are? Oh, yeah. Lucia just did.
I bet. Do I look that bad? Oh. Like. No, no.
No, no. I didn't mean to offend you. I'm sorry.
Oh, no, no, no, no. I just thought maybe it's
nice that someone asked you once in a while.
You know? Well, thanks. Mm -hmm. Um, and I thank
you, of course, for everything. I don't think
I've done all that much yet, but... I just want
to let you know that I've been feeling a lot
braver. Since the start of the year. Is this
a threat? Insight check. Really?! Uh, no. Uh,
it's a disadvantage anyways, but, um. I don't
think it's a threat. Uh, no. You feel like it's
completely genuine. Okay. I've been getting a
lot, I feel like I've been getting a lot braver
than the start of the year. I've been getting
to know more people, and I don't think you're
the kind of person to take credit for that, but,
like, I do want to do you feel like that, um.
You do give off a wonderful feeling. I thought
I had this ready before I came up to you. Well,
I'm glad you think so. Thank you. Yeah, of course.
Thank you for being in my class. Can I talk to
you privately? Of course. She walks off. She
follows and looks at Lucia. This is the most
sad slash serious I think we've ever seen, Tamsin.
Quincy goes, lost my whisper partner. Well, now
you're going to have to be mine. No. Why do you
know? Shrugs. Fine, then I'll whisper at you.
What happened the other day? And that will be
so that Valora and, um, can go talk. Cole's just
awkwardly standing there while the two of them
are... He's holding the training dummy. Um...
Takes you off a little bit. Just goes... No...
Listen, no mystery. That was me yesterday. Last
night. And Lucille already knew. Mm -hmm. I figured
once your voice got higher, I realized you were
covering up your voice and I realized it must
be someone whose voice I would recognize. That's
why I wasn't... I narrowed it down to you and
someone else. I really did try to keep it secret.
And I'm really sorry for the effect it has on
you, it looks like. I just don't understand.
Like, okay, you wouldn't explain anything to
me yesterday. And then, like, what even is that?
How do you even do that? Valora, I know you're
not going to like this answer, but it really
is complicated. I'm sure it is. But it is just
a part of who I am. And I feel like you would
be very accepting of that. Okay, it's part of
who you are, then who are you? What are you?
I don't know. i don't know you don't know i know
lucia told you um and it's like i i truly don't
know how to explain but it seems like You're
being invited into the fold in some way. In regards
to Bade and what's happening with Lucia. I just
want to make it very clear where I stand in all
of this. I just want to help. I'm figuring out
my place. I'm figuring out who I am. It's all
a big process to me. Okay, but why do you want
to help? It's a place where I'm told to go. To
make a difference. Told by who? That's a very
complicated answer. Okay. Hands from beyond,
I'll give you a name. What? What do you mean?
Like, hands? What's a... Is it like some organization?
It's a cosmic entity that exists beyond imagination
in the far distances of cold space where it's
uninhabitable space outside of the world. They
create the cosmos, they create the atmosphere,
they have their fingers among fate, and then
they sit outside in the outer bounds of existence
and they just kind of meander out there. It is
a pair of two hands. Okay, so you take orders
from two pairs of space hands? Yes. Why? That's
personal. like why does a bird flap its wings
i just i mean i don't know i don't know what
i'm supposed to think like i don't know how you
did any of that I'm not human. And that's all
the explanation I can give. Why, because the
hands say so? Because there's a lot of sensitive
things. I have to get you on a point of understanding
with me with the least amount of information.
as possible just because you can't fathom it
and when you try to fathom things your mind becomes
scarred a little bit This is crazy. I... It's
like I have to believe you because of what happened.
Should we be... I know you say you're helping,
but like for how long? What if these... As long
as I'm put here... Why would they... But like
why... Why do they actually want you here? Like...
They're like some bigger reason? Do you know
about anyone named ERI? This thing stopped. Lucia,
you feel it. As time stops. You look over to
Valora and Tamsin. And Tamsin... We step back
in time. Tamsin, wait! We go back. I can't say,
but I'm here for a purpose. I don't know how
my phone didn't scare you. I mean, yeah, it did.
Who wouldn't? You seem annoyed. Well, yeah, I
mean, I tried to ask you. I tried... And I just
feel like I don't... You're still not telling
me hardly anything. Like I said, I can't. I don't
know. Is it dangerous? Things just won't let
me. Are you in danger? I'm going to save you
time, Valora. It is difficult for me to have
a conversation where I can elucidate things for
you. And I know it's hard to say that just to
ask for you to trust in these things, that these
things are sort of cosmic out there on a scale
that you don't have any control of or you don't
know of. Okay, well, I don't trust it. Okay?
Okay. You're right. I don't trust it. I don't
trust whatever your hands things are. And if
you decide that you can tell me more, let me
know. You can trust them. They're unbiased. They're
unbiased orbiters to ensure that the cosmic scale
of things are correct. I don't think anything's
unbiased. Tim, did I notice Lucia's head, like,
snap towards Tamsin? I'll say yeah. Okay. But
fine, like, okay, if that's all you can tell
me, let me know when that changes, I guess. But
no, I don't trust it. I mean, I would love to
trust you, but like... Do you hate me now? I...
I don't know, I don't... It's okay. He goes to
walk back. Walks away. Quincy was in the middle
of explaining to you, Lucia. You see, I was just
worried about family at home, and that's why
I had to, and then all that stuff happened. So,
Sorry, real quick to clarify. Did I know time
was stopped and then it restarted? Yes, you felt
it. You saw it happen. I saw it happen. Okay,
so I saw Tamsin stop it. Or something stop it.
Did I hear ERI or I just saw the time stop? You
didn't hear ERI. Did we, since when I first used
my detect thoughts before, did we, over the course
of the class, get a short rest? Yes. Okay, if
her head like snaps like that, I'm going to detect
thoughts on Lucia. Okay. Wisdom save Lucia. 15.
Okay, that's a pass. She'll try to refocus on
what Garvey was saying. Are you all right? Are
you all right? Something's up with your family?
You don't come? None of your faces hurt? I was
worried about my sister. I took a walk in the
woods to clear my mind. And you tripped and fell?
Well, I'm not familiar with these parts of the
woods yet. The shrubbery is different than what
I'm used to. I think she'll... Because she's
already healed it, technically. But she'll reach
out and gently... put her finger on where the
mark was on his face and say you know you don't
have to go through it alone make a persuasion
check he's just chilling in the background um
persuasion do i have hold on let me see if i
can add anything When using a social skill and
making a charisma check against another creature
on a roll of 19, that's fucking useless. Okay,
never mind then. Well, here we go. Persuasion.
Oh! 19. Holy shit. Actually, which makes it a
crit. Because, because, because, because I have
the empathetic feat. When I use a social skill
and make a charisma check against another creature,
I score a critical success on a roll of 19 to
20. Natural. Is it a natural 19 to 20? I think
it's just beyond the die. Yeah. Oh, damn it.
Still really good. Still really good. It's still
really good. Get off me. I'm just kidding. He
goes, he goes, You see he mows it over for a
second. Where he just kind of like, gently grabs
your hand. And kind of like, just kind of like,
gently puts it down. Not a rejection. Any acknowledgement.
He just goes, Well, thank you. Well, thank you.
That's what friends are for. You don't just get
to help me and then get away with being on your
own all the time. I want to help you, too. I
know you do. Hello, Valora. Hey. She looks kind
of annoyed, though, now. You okay? Did I know
Valor was talking with Tamsin when it paused?
Yeah. And you see Tamsin was talking. You didn't
hear what it was saying, but you see that Tamsin
just seemed kind of annoyed when the time stopped.
She just kind of sighed really hard. Is everything
okay? Everything okay? How's the training going?
Well, right, Cole? Yeah. Yeah, look at this.
I'm just kind of like pushing it into her fists
at this point. We're great. She's like missing
and I'm like, eh, there you go. That was really
wide. We're going a different strategy than just
combat. There is a chess match as part of it.
In a rap battle? Yeah, in a dance battle too,
so some dancing lessons might come in handy.
Do any of us know how to dance? I look over at
Quincy. At that question, Quincy disengages.
Quincy was her first teacher. Oh, really? Quincy?
You free for dancing lessons? Like a cat. The
ear twitch, basically, but not acknowledging.
It's fine. He's got a laugh on his plate. I'll
find another dance teacher. I can always help
you. That's appreciated, Valora. I'm sure we
could probably also ask some people in the...
I don't know what kind of dance it is, but we
could ask over in the drama club. Well, actually,
Rod and Doremi have... No, not during me. Rod
has been pretty nice recently, so maybe... I
mean, she's technically his girlfriend, but maybe
he'd be willing to help? Oh, yeah. He left a
book stabbed to the front door of the Olive House.
What? What do you mean? He left a full book.
Oh, wait. I got left a book that I couldn't read,
but there was a book on my front porch, too.
What? Okay. I read it and... What was it about?
He went to... Rod apparently has gone to the
underworld. He died once. And then he rose back
to life. That's just what the book was about.
I don't know. I gave it to Tula. So he he's stabbed
his fan fiction about his dream life into your
door. It was like a whole book, too. And like
it was like a whole book. But like it was only
like a few words on each page. Like he could
have used that book for more. I have it, too.
I thought it was a gift or something. I just
couldn't read it because it was all in common.
It was barely in common. Well, maybe we can,
if that's what, you know, if Rod really wants
to be a published author, maybe we can offer
him a deal of some sort to maybe, I don't know,
publish one of his works in exchange for dance
lessons or maybe some intel or something. Maybe.
Rod's good at dancing, too, which is a bold assumption.
I was more talking about, um, what was his face?
Um, my God, I'm bad at names. No, not that. Oh,
the piano player? No, I don't know if he can
dance. I'm talking about, um... Was it Ben Bridget?
No. No. Bucks? Brecky? No. Those were our codenames
for a second. Rewind. Throw them back. No way.
Ronin? No, he's the old man. Orwin? Orwin? No.
Rusa? Jogger? No. It'd be after the Ronin. Rhino,
Rhino, Honey, Honey Fury. Oh, no, Reno. Reno,
Rhino. Oh, Reno. Yeah, Reno. He did a whole song
and dance number. Maybe Reno could teach me how
to dance. Why do I have Reno showing hole in
my notes? Because he wanted to show us a hole
and I see Reno. Oh, backstage. He wanted to show
us his hole backstage. That's right. I remember
that. Okay. You said it. You said it, Timmy.
Those are your words. I am forced to reckon with
the choices that I've made. That Reno has made.
The fucking bell rings. Rod, my second beloved.
The bell rings and... Everyone gathers themselves
and heads back into the classroom. On that note,
we end the day. Sir Ansgar goes, very well. A
satisfactory day. I see room for improvement
everywhere. He goes, I do not expect perfection.
I do expect improvements. The bell rings once
more, which goes, dismissed. And everyone's free
from class. I need to talk to you at some point,
Lucia, but it sounds like you're pretty busy
today, so. Just letting you know. Oh, you said
that to Lucia? Yeah. We can talk before my lesson.
I've got a little bit of time. No, I think it's
going to be a bit. Well, I can move something.
I can move my lesson. No, no, no, no. It's fine.
It's fine. I just... We'll just talk later. Okay,
you seem a little upset. No, it's not about...
It's fine. I'm just letting you know that I...
Either... I don't know, maybe... Maybe tomorrow
or whatever, but... tomorrow morning sure first
thing in the morning i'll be there sounds good
okay what does everyone have enough to i've got
to go to my lesson yeah i mean i'll be meeting
with her for the cemetery after um i don't know
what i'm doing until then It's also past midnight
on the East Coast. Yes. So we can do all that
fun stuff. Next time. Before that, if you guys
would allow one more thing to happen. Valora.
Making your way out. You're so tired. Tired.
Frustrated. It's been a loaded days. Not day.
Days. You find relief in Some relief in the bell
being called, letting you leave to do your own
things, but from right now, that just looks like
what your own thing entails, more work and more
looking into things. You... You have to mull
over your talk. Think about Lucia. Do you find
your way to a thinking place? Do you find your
way to your room, perhaps? I think she wants
to go to her room. But she has more she wants
to get done at this point now. Because there's
other things to do. I think she'll go to her
room to at least drop off her gym clothes and
stuff. Start figuring out what she wants to do
next. I think she actually is going to go to
her room because she wants to write everything
down. Because she's worried about memories still.
As you head up towards your room, there is a
door that's open. Someone just recently went
into the room. Vesper's door. As you kind of
pass by, of course, nothing like, you know, you
don't want to be too into someone's personal
business. You see that the door has always been
closed to you. uh but you see but you see vesper
just seated a chair moved to the middle of the
room they are you see they have been taken off
like they have their like i don't go taking off
their uniform it's just a white it's just the
the shirt underneath and they seem oh go ahead
not you All that happened earlier, and naturally
they would seem deterred. Um, hey. There's an
exhale, as they turn towards you. And, despite
everything, a show of strength shows in the form
of a small smile, acknowledging you. My friend.
She was gonna ask if... Are you alright? But
then she changes her mind and she just goes...
Do you want a hug? I feel... that would be good
for the heart all right she comes in and hugs
them they hug you back and as you see they kind
of like openly they're not hiding it like they
kind of like dry their eyes Your heart is immeasurable.
Thank you. I'm gonna try to find a way to help.
Lucia's determined to too. It must be hard for
you with so much out of your hands. May I take
your hand? She gives it. I gently take your hand.
And two. It is... my duty. It's a self -imposed
duty to fight against the inevitable. And I can
recognize wonderful grand spirits that are defiant
against things that life say is true. Perhaps
it is our duty as leaders. Or perhaps it is just
us as people. I admire your heart so much. I
thank you. But I do not want you to be harmed
in any way. Do this. You will refuse me. I know
it. It's not in your nature. But... I will make
this plea only once, knowing. You do not have
to. You didn't have to put yourself in the harm's
way. For us. I... Can't guarantee... how much
help I can be. But I am going to do my best.
And I know that... I know you don't want to see
me get hurt, but... I can take it. They bring
your hand that they're holding gently up to their
forehead. And then gently releases it back into
your side. She squeezes their hand a bit before,
but she is. And I know you'd do the same for
me. Of course. That doesn't make a difference
to me, but I know you wouldn't be so worried
about the harm you'd face if I were going through
the same thing. You are unfathomable. Truly,
you are. I may extend an invitation to you, then.
Tonight, the blue wolves are gathering out in
the Fonset Forest. The very edge. you will know
that we are there. We're going to sing a song.
It is a source of pride for us. It wishes well
upon everybody the love and everything we cherish.
And it is within our own language. It is not
uncommon. But I'm hoping that if you do come
that perhaps it will strike a chord with you
and The words will come to you and perhaps you
will feel them Only if you wish I will be there
And I want you to know that if you need me but
you don't ask for me, I will take it as a greater
offense than anything anyone has ever said or
done to me. So anything you need, let me know.
Perhaps you are not knowing of this, but you
are providing me with that. Thank you. I'll see
you tonight, then. If I were to give you a name
in line with certain traditions within my own,
within my own echelon of people, Perhaps I would
call you Dawnheart. I cannot help but smile at
the thought of a new dawn hanging overhead that
brings in a promise of a new day and new times.
And I feel as if I see that through you. That
means a lot to me. Tonight then, Valora. I'll
see you tonight. Very well. And that's where
we're going to end today's session. Aww. So sad.
This is breaking my heart. We're so fucking sad.
Vesper will never die. Vesper's just a baby.
Guys, we're all gonna die. No, stop. Don't think
like that. That's enough to make Valora go cry
in her room now. Poor fucking Vesper. They're
doing their best, okay? I wanna help, but I don't
think I can help with the thing that actually
you need help with. No. But you're so sweet the
whole time. There's only so much systemically
we can do right now. I'm broken. That got me
really bad. Yeah, no shit. I was like, we're
fucking locked in. This is sadness. We're back,
baby. We're back. Alright. Hey. We start off
next time with Lucia and Archibald and then a
visit to a cemetery. Doesn't feel happy. And
then we're getting really close to the Melody
Bowl! No! First we need to beat each other up.
And then we can do the Melody Bowl. We're building
it up, baby. It's time. Fucking Melody Bowl.
We'll get to the Melody Bowl by July. We got
to beat each other up. We have to pull a heist
on her room. Yeah, we got to get the intel. We
got to build the troops. Got to build support.
You guys are not going to make it to her room.
That heist is not going to work. You saw the
perfume department in SpongeBob. You saw how
that affected them. You guys are not. It ain't
going to happen. I am not worried. Her entire
floor is awful. That perfume, it permeates. It
actually pierces through all planes of existence.
Yes, mask. You're not going to hide. I have protection
from poison. The hands from beyond takes off
your mask, sprays the perfume in your face. Melody
is important to the timeline. Oh, okay. She is.
This is Jane. Damn it. So I'm going to lose anyway.
YOLO. YOLO. I gotta go watch back when Quincy
said that that was his ex. That was so fucking
funny. I was like, what? We all were like...
People were so ready to accept it. Well, at first
my brain was like, how? Like, I get he's kind
of like quite in reserve, but like, and opposite
the track, but that's like a full -on, like...
I went, maybe it was an arranged marriage. Alright,
everyone. We're back. We'll see you next time.
Bye! Bye. Thank you. Whispers, whispers to thunder
your castle.