Songwolven presents Ira Brynn Dawnbreak, a level
-up advanced 5th edition actual play campaign.
Episode 21, Whiplash. You can catch us live every
Sunday at 8pm Eastern Time on twitch .tv slash
songwolvenshow, or watch the video version of
this podcast on YouTube. Thanks for listening.
Hello! Everyone, and welcome back to song -woven
Ira Brin Dawnbreak. I am your, of course, your
ever -present, ever -here, ever -kind -of -loud
narrator, Tim Dontran. And, of course, I am also
here with my three other fellow cast members.
Can we please introduce ourselves, starting with
Emma. Hey guys, it's me, I'm Bum Emma, and I
play Luzia Luzardi, a little cleric of - Wait,
you're calling her Luzia, that's like something
Melody would do. Yeah. I play Luzia Luzardi.
Oh, Luzer, Luzer Luzardi, that's her name. Luznerdy.
Luznerdy. I know you're laughing at me, Tim.
Luzia Luzardi, a cleric of, what the fuck? Cause
she's doing with the apple. I'm sorry. I have
my voice is not really here today, fam, but I'm
with you in the chat and in spirit. For the people
listening on audio. That is Emma. That is not
anyone trying to do like a... I did a villain
turn. I turned into a villain and I got scarred
before because of it. Kind of like character
transformation. Lucy got punched in the throat.
Formality! Thank you for being here, Emma. Love
you all. I'm Cole. I play Albert. I'm an Albert.
My name is Albert, and I play Cole. And I'm a
little hickey boy, you know, hickster rogue.
Little trickster hickster. What's up? Am I supposed
to be mouthing? Your eyes are doing a lot for
me. Every time we mouth something, Timmy has
to fill it in and dub in. Oh, yeah. Fuck you!
Yeah, that's what I'm... Yeah, exactly. Yeah,
but that's what... Oh, Timmy's a fucking bitch.
I hate this motherfucker. But the people listening
in audio... I'm just being crazy right now. But
I'm Jenny. I'm with Valora. The queen of the
silver lions. That's what Valora often says.
Exactly. What was that? What was that again,
Jenny? Oh, yeah. I can't do this shit. I can't
do it. Your bit is collapsing. I can't do this.
I don't want to be left in silence by myself.
This is bad. He's up to me in a room to talk
to himself. Yeah, this session, Tim is voicing
all our characters, and we're just going to watch
and nod. We try to lead him on based on what
we do with our body. Like he'll be like, he'll
get it. Yeah. Okay. Let's just do this. And then
we'll upload it as a podcast. Okay. Audio listeners.
You can't, you can tell I am thinking about you.
Okay. Then we got through that torture. So just
so you guys know, we're adding Emma in and posts.
Emma, I know... You don't want to hear this the
entire time. This beautiful, illustrious sound
that's just so gorgeous and just makes you really
want to lean into it. I'm surprised this doesn't
happen to Lucia more often. The way she tends
to talk. I know. Isn't it weird that her voice
doesn't do this to me when screaming on a rollercoaster
does? So I guess we're just going to go ahead
and let's start doing the recap. So last time
there was a newspaper that came out called the
Hafan Korant and talking about an attack in Lariva.
saying that auroran agitators attacked a mercy
encampment and killed someone and um people are
really mad about it and there was this opinion
piece too that called them like horror all these
saying like why did they live in the cold isolation
because they don't like people and they suck
basically and um Was pretty racist, to be honest.
I do think people that like the cold are probably
bad people. Yeah, to me. Anyways. You're like
the person who likes the cold the most here,
I think. Why am I being acted upon? Listen, if
you keep it cold in your house, you're a terrible
person. Basically a terrorist. It's me. Yeah,
now you're coming against two of us. This is
how Songwolf would split. It's me. It's me. That's
what I was trying to do. I can tell. Okay, Emma,
hit it. It's me. No, no, no, no, no, no. No,
no, no, stop, stop, stop. Someone silence her.
You're going to hurt yourself. Silence her. Someone
silence her now. Chat. Unfortunately, that's
a cleric spell. mods get her but then so there
were a bunch of angry students bullying vesper
and the other blue wolves and so we were all
like guys stop you're stupid and ugly and um
i didn't say that but we told them to stop and
got between them and um then the knights broke
it up and were like go to class go to class and
then cole followed them and through Was it paint
on them? It was like one of those like paint
bombs. Oh, yeah. He threw a paint bomb on them.
And we went to class and found out about the
tournament starting tomorrow. So we all entered
the duos tournaments. Valora's with Reinwald.
Robin is with VBA, a noble from Konica. Cole
and Lucia are gonna work together as part of
their also their training Lucia for the Melody
Bowl this weekend and they also made plans to
go investigate the graveyard because they remembered
that the professor had been really upset the
prior day and the professor had been having a
really hard time the prior day and had to call
out even today so they were Going to see if they
could find out if maybe a student died on that
day or something by looking in the cemetery.
And then Lucia told Valora that Tamsin was the
Pomeranian she saw the night before. So Tamsin
had to kind of confess to Valora, but then couldn't
really explain anything, which made Valora really
mad. And she was very frustrated by it. But she
was also on a level of exhaustion and two levels
of strife. So she's not really that great right
now. But then we left class so that Lucia can
go off to her tutoring for reading lessons. But
Cole and Lucia are planning to break into Melody's
room at some point. And try to get an edge up
for the Melody Bowl. And Valora walked by Vesper's
room on the way to her room. And gave them a
hug. And they talked. And Vesper called her...
Oh my gosh, Dawnheart. They called her Dawnheart.
And then Valora was like, Wow, they're just so
sweet despite everything. Now I'm going to go
cry in my room. And that's where we left off.
Oh, and they invited her to a gathering with
the blue wolves that night that they're having.
Hell yeah. And just a real quick amazing recap.
Thank you so much, Jenny. But real quick on the
top of the session. I need to speak from the
heart for a second. So, guys, burnout is a thing.
It happens. And a lot of... And it's something
that, you know, I have kind of, like, definitely
suffered from over time. You know, the chase
for just getting things done and some kind of,
like, unnatural climb to perfection that's way
more harmful than it is gratifying. And, like,
you guys, you really need to, like, take care
of yourself. So, like, what I would do is that
I would go to ianpublishingrpg .com, and then
I would go look up great products that I think
could help alleviate my tensions. Good, high
-quality products. And then I would... And then
I would use affiliate code Songwoven for a funny
little 5 % off that not only saves me money,
but puts money into the pockets of people that
put a lot of time and work really hard and tell
good stories objectively. You could see me eyeing
him skeptically the second he started that whole
thing because I was like, is this leading to
the promo? I was thinking it too. I was like...
He would have talked to us first if we're taking
a break or something. That's what I thought.
But also in my head, though, I was like, but
if Tim needs a break, we'll give it to him. You
know, I was just like, normally he would have
said something before. I looked upon all three
thinly veiled skepticism. I am not trusted by
anyone. I knew the second you said one more thing,
I was like, it's the promo. But then you started
talking about the burnout thing and I was like,
okay, it needs to say you should go shop. Okay.
Treat yourself. That's what Tim's trying to say.
But hey, legitimately, in all honesty, I would
go to empublishingrpg .com, put all the funny
little products and then use affiliate code Sangovan
for 5 % off and get money into the pockets of
other people that I really care about and save
myself money. That's what I would do, honestly.
And A5E is cool. That's why we've been playing
it for years now. It's been like two years now?
Yes. Oh gosh, it has to be. It was the start
of 2023 in Blackguards. It started with Blackguards.
Our stream has been an A5E stream longer than
it was a 5E stream. That's how cool we are. All
right, everyone. Are we ready? Yes. To go to
E and... I'm just kidding. Melody Fidelity always
gets her vocal rest. That's what Zenny said.
All right. The day has turned at Iverbren. Into
a tense affair. But naturally. As there are.
There is an order. Of knights. And typically.
In such a rigid. In such a place of just rigid.
Of social rigidity. I should say. Order is had.
But. Order acts as a cap. Things are simmering
underneath. But nonetheless, quiet and calm has
come over Irobrin in the meantime. Because people
are occupied with the things that they are obligated
to do. Cool. It's been a tense day. No doubt.
A day full of new things, new revelations and
such. What are you doing right now? I think I
have run a few little errands and I'm making
my way kind of across the kind of campus of Irenbrin.
up towards the cemetery where I'm going to be
waiting for Lucia. Yeah, just making my way there.
As you make your way, as you make your way there,
the scene before you presents, it unfolds before
you. As you can see, dotted throughout people
both people within uniform uh older individuals
uh with uh who are not wearing any sort of like
um any sort of like proper attire that shows
that they're um either brand so probably people
visiting from the outside um just a small amount
of people just like here to pay respects um rose
upon rose of headstones where the length of numbers
that go from start to end just seems, for a lot
of them, seems a bit too short. It feels a bit
too small. Some of these graves also look a bit
too small. A flower, a basket, of flowers, has
placed itself against the side of the entrance.
A small note is attached to it. It says, take
one. In it, an array of fresh flowers of varying
colors and uh you can assume too many people
have different meanings another thing that you
spot i would say uh amongst the people is that
there is a young man uh black uh so black hair
has uh has sort of like a source has a very youthful
um has a very youthful appearance despite being
in such a sort of like downcasted place um he
is he has a small bucket a pail of water um and
has a sort of like abrasive material like a sponge
and you see he's going around uh kneeling between
uh kneeling before raves and just basically giving
giving and cleaning them There's just one young
man doing that. And as you sit there in silence,
there's a very nice breeze here. There is a beautiful
view over the mountainside. The placement of
this place, you... kind of surmise um these are
people that are buried on the top of a mountain
with a beautiful view effort has gone into bearing
each and every single one of these people so
that there has to be some semblance of reverence
and seeing how clean and maintained some of these
are not all but some this is a place where people
are not forgotten so that they will never die
a true death. I think Cole... I think he kind
of looks down at the basket, kind of just adjusted
a little bit. Not much to do, so he just kind
of makes it look a little bit nicer. It was a
little tilted, a little crooked. fixes some of
the flowers in it. And I think he probably just
will probably just walk amongst the graves a
little bit in silence. Just wander. As you walk
amongst the grave, you see that there is a small
sort of like stone sort of like partition in
the middle of the In the middle of the place.
You see that there are sort of like wooden fixtures
to this where there are like lanterns and such.
Equipment for people to seek over the... Maybe
for people to watch over it at night. You see
that there are multiple buckets under there.
Buckets that... buff buckets that um the exact
kind that the the boy cleaning the grave is holding
and sponges and things like that um and you see
that there is a small sort of like note there
as well uh and it says pay your respects As you're...
As you're going about, the young man sort of
passes by you. Just a complete solemn affair.
Does he look familiar at all? I will say yes
to you, just in passing. Because spending the
past few weeks here, you've been around sort
of the knighthood here. This boy is a squire
here. Usually a lot more motivated, but right
now, just sticking to duty. His name is Bell.
Is that Bear Trap Boy? That's Bear Trap Boy.
okay he's cleaning i don't know where chip boy
but he's just cleaning up being respectful was
he focusing on any one particular grave or just
kind of just cleaning um you see that he is cleaning
specific uh it is important to note that and
i'm just communicating to you albert So you can
kind of get what I'm eating. So I'm trying to
evade these two other two a little bit. But you
first saw them cleaning ones with specific names.
Do the names look familiar? They do. They do.
They sound familiar. Spends a moment over them.
But then he continues to go down the row. Excuse
me. Looking at the date on those graves, does
it line up with the day we saw? I have the date
written down. Where is it? Picnic. 8 -8 -14 -71.
Yes. Or that's current here, but same same date,
though, right? Yeah. Yes. Is today the anniversary?
Kind of like look at one of the graves. Oh, um.
For these individuals, no. But this one specifically
was about, like, a week prior. Gotcha, gotcha.
Do you know what happened? Oh dear, just, um...
You know, the process. Attending the academy.
It gets dangerous. Um... It's a pretty common
story that you can find throughout this portion
of the graveyard here. They, like, died here
at the school? No. They were out somewhere else,
and they were brave. Sorry if I'm not getting
any specifics. It's just... That should be it.
That's what people should remember them by. They're
brave. Can I use detect thoughts? Yes. Okay.
Oh, no. I mean, one moment, so this is Surface
Thoughts? Yeah, Surface Thoughts, DC -13. He
fails. Oh, no. Yeah, so it is Surface. Okay.
Why is this a bad thing? What's happening? I
mean, you could say it out loud. You don't want
all of us to know? What Belle's thinking? It's
up to you. I'm going to type, and then you can
say it out loud if you wish, Albert. Type it
to me. I'm not going to say it out loud. Today,
we're vamping. Emma, take it away. If I were
a bell, I'd go ding dong. Oh, I was thinking,
I can hear the bells. I can hear the bells. Thoughts.
Thoughts. Good job, Jenny. It was your idea.
Sing the bells. Bells. Bells. Bells. Bells. My
mic has turned up so loud, if I try to sing it
in my octave, it'll be like screech. They gotta
work faster. Emma's voice. I typed everything.
Yeah, I gotcha. I'm just trying to say, I don't
have any inspiration, do I? You try to probe
and you fail the DC. They become aware of you
and they can kick you out of their brain. Yeah,
but I can make it so that when I probe, they
might not know. You're not like other boys. I'm
not like other boys. That's true. When it's said
with conviction, I believe. Can I sing whistle
notes? Dragmire asks. And not really. Like, I've
done it a couple times. I don't have very good
control over it. I think you could do it. Do
some. Okay. Practice. Fuck it. I'm going to probe.
Or go deeper. In the brain. One day. Okay. So
he gets to make a wisdom saving throw. To see
if that even happens. He has strife. He has strife.
How did I know? How did I know that the fucking
bear trap NPC was going to be the most fucking
damaged one? He fails. Okay. And then I also
get to... Because normally... Pass or fail, he
would know. But I get to make a sleight of hand
check opposed by his insight check on his part.
Tell us what you're reading. To hide it. I want
to know, can you show me? Okay, so just tell
me, does he feel it? So no, I get to make a sleight
of hand check versus his insight check. If I
succeed, he feels nothing. He knows nothing.
Okay. I leave no trace. Okay. Let's go ahead.
Make a sleight of hand. Okay. Sleight of hand.
I have a D6 on this. Number to beat is 12. Okay.
19. So he does not know. Alright, guys. I'm going
to type real quick, but it's going to be quick.
So, yeah. So, I'm probing deeper, so I get to
know insight into the creature's motivations,
emotional state, something that looms large in
its mind. I wanna... Can you show us? We want
to know what the typing in the chat is. So he
does not know that I am probing deeper because
of my subclass. Surgically probing through his
brain. But can I know? I succeeded my insight
check. I also succeeded my insight check. Can
the players know, but the characters not know?
How long does this... Can we have a hint? I'm
so sorry. I'm so sorry. It's okay. I'll hack
into Timmy's Discord real quick. Did he bypass
the system? Get us in. Chat, we're going in.
I'm in. Okay, I pause. Your name was Bell, right?
I think I've seen you around. Like a gnat? Yeah,
I'm a squire here. Bell what? Bell D 'Alessandro.
Bell D 'Alessandro. D 'Alessandro. You been here
long? Oh, this place? Well, only a year. I feel
like I'm making good progress. I mean, we could
talk about this about the time. I think I just
get to just know... Am I just in for the rest
of the duration of the spell? Uh, fuck, yeah.
Okay, cool. All right, cool, cool, cool. So,
yeah, I'm just, like, confirming if any of these
things are truth or if he's coming up with any
lies or anything like that as we talk for the
next minute. Okay. That part is true? Okay. The
name? Oh, uh, Belle, that is a lie. Okay, give
me the name. Give me one second. Sorry. Gotta
pull out my notes. Uh, I'm gonna make this super
fast. Yadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadad
Did you know with the code song woven? Thank
you. Did you know? Hold on. Wait, what's the
fucking promo again? Hold on. I'll type it in.
There you go. Did you know if you check out the
level up a five E and support our stream with
our affiliate link, this sounds so bad with my
voice. You could also sound like Emma. You could
also sound like me and use the coupon code to
get Songwoven to get 5 % off your order. It's
a horn buster. Yeah, I have no idea how this
is gonna work. I'm so sorry, Emma. It's okay.
Are we still vamping? Nope. Okay. Good. Remember?
Oh, we're not vamping anymore. Never mind. Okay.
We're back. Shit. Okay. We're back. That name
sound familiar? No. Okay. Where are you from?
Where are you from? I'm from the Folger. Well.
A Veritas Crest. Sorry, I just wasn't ready.
Is that where he's from? No. Alright. Well, it's
a pleasure to meet you. You come here often to
clean up graves? Even though I don't know, even
though I don't think I personally know everyone
here, I still like to pay my respects. That's
fair, that's fair. I think the dad deserves respect,
too. You know? That's true. Um... Huh. That's
a big graveyard. A lot of love to give. Yeah.
Oh, sorry. I don't want to take up too much of
your time. They have a system here, if you'd
like. They have buckets and sponges over there.
Everything here is maintained through just people
volunteering. Seems nice. They really want people
to come here and pay respects. Yeah, I get you.
I get you. Well, I'm waiting for some people.
I think we're going to be taking a look around
here, but... Oh, is that one over there? He kind
of, like, ducks his head. He goes, I'll leave
you two to it. All right. Take it easy. He gives
a naughty smile. He just goes... and nods and
walks away. As you look behind you to see, kind
of like, approaching already. Carving, she already
carves her own sort of shape in this place. Aurier
Vorlouin. He goes, Hello there. Yeah. Mary? Sorry,
your name escapes me. May I have your name again?
Oh, uh, Carl? Have we met? I've seen you around.
Oh, I think I've seen you with Lucia once or
twice, right? Yeah. Nice to meet you. She gracefully
gives you a handshake. She just goes, I've spotted
you around, Lucia, and she has told me a little
bit about you. Oh, wow. Certainly hope nice things.
I'm still kind of getting used to the place,
so... Sorry if things have been a little weird.
She is quite glowing when she speaks of others.
She's a nice girl. Yes, she is. Just... I know
this is not quite the place for, um, to have
quite, uh, to have my introduction to you, but
this is a place I visit quite often. I see that
you are also here. Um... I don't got anyone that
I really know here, but, you know, still kind
of looking around. I believe it speaks a different
kind of volume that you chose to come here anyways.
You are from... Oh, I'm from over in East Room.
East Room. Quite far. Yeah, real far. My village
doesn't even really have a... Well... We don't
really have a cemetery. It's not even that big
enough for that, but... We got, like, little
things, but not really. You know. Nothing like
this. To have the ability to be able to find
a place in order to build tributes and to remember
the dead. Many don't know this, but it's a luxury.
Um... No. Forgive myself. I haven't properly
introduced myself. And I figured... You would
like to meet, you would like to get some greater
insight into the workings of this kingdom. Yeah,
I think that's what I'm here to do, kind of.
You know, I kind of pointed the pen. Of course.
My name is Aurier Vorluane. Aurier Vorluane.
People refer to me as High Executor. What now?
My title. High Executor. Got it. Okay, got it.
Alright. He kind of smiles at that. Sensing that
you didn't get it. Um... Here he goes. My place
is within the Ministry, which you will find they're
influenced far... quite far -reaching here. Damn.
They seem like they got... Well, I guess I...
kind of, like, look off towards the, like, big
fucking church thing. We haven't gotten out of
that back home, so, uh, I mean, we do, but not
where I'm from. Not in this big. There's quite
an important distinction when it comes here to
the presence and influence of the pantheon, the
champions, us. Has... Has Lucia ever spoken about
me? Um... She's mentioned you. But not, like,
in depth, I don't think. I see. I don't think
it's really come up. I've been with her since...
Since she was very, very young. Watched over
her as she bloomed the two. The very wonderful
young lady. Huh. So you're like a... Like a guardian
kind of thing, right? Like a... Certainly. You're
kind of like her mom or something. In a way.
I wouldn't exactly say that. Mother was too generous.
I think she said she doesn't really know her
family, really. So, you know. You're kind of...
You and... What's his name? Sorry, I'm real bad
with names. Um... Arnold? Oh. Arnold Alussardi.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. She said that's her dad. So,
are you like a thing? Blinks. Is she like 30?
She just kind of laughs at that. She goes, no.
I'm still kind of getting the idea of like, there's
so many people around here that are just like,
there's some weird relationships, you know what
I mean? I suppose there is a sort of cultural
shock when it comes to this, but you'll find
that here that love translates freely. Though
that is not to support the thesis that I am I'm
currently not seeing anyone. I am married to
duty at the moment. To my position as executor.
Gotcha. You're a working girl. Cool. Not how
I've ever heard of it before. But yes, I am a
working girl. I'm sure, due to the nature of
the word, that you might have some idea of what
I do. I... Some... Do you like... Are there chickens
involved? Do you like... Do you like cook? No.
Some with eggs. Nothing with... I'm beginning
to see the disparity here. I am a warrior of
the ministry. That makes sense why you got that
sword. All right. That makes more sense. I feel
as if warrior begets certain thoughts. We are
not violent, I would say. people who seek glory
and battle in it. Our purpose is a much more
noble one. Oh, you like one of the knights? Kind
of, right? All right, got it. Yeah, we ran into
a few on the way here and since I got here and
stuff. I saw one getting skewered by a boar on
the way here. Anyway. Forgettable. Yeah. Well,
hopefully we don't see anymore like that. That
is helping. But people here, there is a constant
fight against evil. We fight in different ways.
Executors fight to protect the name, to protect
the reputation of the pantheon that champions
our society. But to call us warriors would beget
violent thoughts. I wouldn't call us that. How
it was described to me was that we are healthcare
providers. What? We treat sickness. What? One
moment. She goes, we treat sickness. We identify
symptoms. We locate germs, whether they arise
from within or have come from the outside, and
we treat the disease. That sounds like a doctor.
We fight to heal. Gotcha. And then you protect
Lucia. Yes. I will continue to do so. You just
care about her a whole lot, don't you? I'll admit.
I do have some semblance of personal attachment
to her. Well, she trusts you a whole lot. She's
only talked to you about you, like I said, only
a little bit here and there, but she always seems
real happy when she talks about you. So she must
like you a whole lot. You must have done a lot
to earn her trust. High executor. A person kind
of approaches very curtly from behind. Or he
had a sort of graze. This person's coming in
with some kind of objective. Someone who's wearing
a ministry getup. And he just goes... He just
goes... He's ready to speak. I see. Cool. It
was nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, too.
Something wrong? I have duties to attend to.
Oh, okay. Someone that's sick, you gotta go here?
Oh, gotcha, yeah. Alright. She takes a step off
and just goes, You can speak to Lucia in regards
to a lot of the ministries and the working. She's
very... She has been very diligent throughout
her whole life. Yeah. Sounds like she was taught
a whole lot about the ministry. She knows a lot
about it. Yes. And thank you. He needs a friend.
Oh, well. I'll try. Very well for now, Cole.
And walks away. Alongside the other... member
of the ministry. Does he look familiar at all?
Have I seen him? This one, no. Where are they
heading, direction -wise? You see that they're
heading upwards, cresting towards the upper part
of the school, which is where the church and
the administration buildings are. What time is
it? How long do I have before Lucia is supposed
to meet me? Right after... Right after Squishy
should be finishing up with Archibald. So not
very long. Shit. Alright. I just watch the two
of them leave. Okay. And we are going to go...
What is happening alongside this? Let me rewind
time a little bit. We go to Lucia. Lucia, there's
no doubt in your mind that there is heaviness
in the air. There's a sort of heftiness in the
air. And I'm going to take a gamble on a song
real quick. It's very sweet. I was going to say,
it's very sweet. I thought you were about to
start singing, Lucia. You took a breath. right
as it felt like someone's about to come in and
i was like don't do that don't do that lucy as
you make your way to the usual place there is
um there's archibald who's who is honest lonesome
but despite everything he is uh despite everything
surrounding him and uh what's going on in this
home He still made the time and effort to come
here, material all splayed out. He's ready to
teach. Um, go ahead. Yeah, I think instead of...
You know how when some people are going through
a tragedy, instead of talking about it and being
reminded of it, they like to have something else
to focus on? Yes. I think Lucia understands that
in this moment, perhaps studying and tutoring
and education is where Archie can escape for
a moment from all that's happening. So she won't
try to question. She won't try to, you know,
push. She's just very receptive and really trying
to make sure she can provide a space where he
feels like he can escape. As you sort of situate
yourself, as you come in prepared to do this,
you are immediately met with, like, yes, you
were right. You were right to do that. Because
there was no small talk. Nothing. Archibald wasn't
that kind of a person anyway. You launch right
into it. And there is... Though you don't know
Archibald that much yet, where you feel an answer
where he appreciates it, you do feel some semblance
of like, you did the exact right thing here.
He gets caught up in these things. He loves being
busy. The day goes on like nothing else. You
do notice with your natural insight. Despite
everything, Archibald isn't invincible in that
regard. There are pauses in his thought. There
are times where he sort of stutters and takes
time to recollect himself. There is something
definitely on his mind. I think in the moments
that he stutters or stumbles, she doesn't make
a big deal out of it. But it will be like a light
touch of her hand on his. Just a physical presence
to be reminded that he's not sitting there alone.
That if he wants to speak, he can. But she's
not yet again. She is opening the door. Leaving
the door open for him to walk through if he wants
or to walk by. Everything spoken so far has been
objective. It has been, we're getting this done.
But everything unspoken has been about the deeper
parts. It has been empathy and understanding.
He acknowledges your door, that your door is
open with just a nod. And maybe for the first
time speaking from then, he just goes, thank
you. She did. Go ahead. No, you go. And then.
Just goes on and continues. Just goes. When you
reach a certain point, about like 40 minutes
in, it just, it just goes. I think for today,
we've been really efficient. So, I believe it
is pertinent for us to section this off. I think
we are living you off at a satisfactory point.
I think you're doing very well. Well, I've got
a good teacher. And if we've done so well today,
do you think we can go get ice cream? I think
you've earned the right to reward yourself. Can
you come get it with me so I don't feel bad about
going by myself and eating ice cream on my own?
Make a persuasion check. Making you come with
me, bitch. Is a nine. Ice cream seems a bit much.
Okay. Not yet. Another time then. Though... In
the... In better circumstances, I wouldn't scoff
at the idea of perpetuating your presence. I
don't know what that means, but I like hanging
out with you, too. I know. Okay, that's good.
I'm exposing you. You're exposing me? How so?
She looks down at her shirt. I'm not exposing
him. He doesn't look up. He's writing. He doesn't
look up. As you look down, his finger comes out
to your forehead and tilts it up. And then he
continues writing. How? Why? It is over her head.
All of it. It will come to you in due time. Right
now, I'm writing a report on your progress so
far. My honest, unfiltered thoughts. It is going
to be a trial for you to read through. Okay.
But I hope as you get better. And as you learn,
that when you read this, you'll fully grasp everything.
Yeah, make sure you put nice stuff in there about
me, like how I smell nice. No. What do you mean,
no? He folds the letter. And as he pushes the
letter towards you, he just goes, Thank you for
your patience. Okay, so you... I'll go ahead.
I will give you, Tim, and Archibald a moment
to dodge. Take the dodge action, some may say.
But I think she's been trying really hard to
give him space. But when he says thank you for
her patience, she just wants to give him a big
hug. As you give him a hug, he just kind of like
takes a breath. He doesn't hug back. You know
he's not much of a hugger, but he's not rejecting
it. Careful. People can see. She just hugs tighter
and she'll say softly, I'm so glad we're friends.
Be careful. People might be able to hear too.
And then she's going to push back a little and
shout, I'm so glad we're friends. In the library.
Um... Listen, Lucia... And I'm urging you on
this. If there is an... If I have ever had an
ask for anyone... I typically don't ask much
of people. But consider this one of the rare
times that I do. I feel as if I have a read on
your heart. And it is not... It is a taxing thing
to ask someone to betray themselves. To betray
their own heart. But... To stand up for us. For
all of this. To support us openly. It is detrimental
to you. It is detrimental to Valora. She shakes
her head. Valora's already doing it, so... Shrugs
her shoulders. You want me to defy my leader?
That's a Valora question. That's not a me question.
I'm just the retainer. You see, there's a sense
of resignation to him. Because he just closes
his eyes. Because he just goes. This was an equation
that's been written a very long time ago. I'm
asking Ryu to not fight the inevitable. What
if I told you I could change the numbers I should
You shouldn't but what I'm saying is The equation
might be have numbers changing so the answer
might be different It's hard from your natural
insight it's hard for him to speak in such Latent
optimism to him He's not catching the complete
meaning. He sees it as just pure, driven optimism
that you can change the impossible. He just goes...
I suppose there's going... Convincing is a waiting
game. He stands up. And just goes. You're doing
very well. You are too. Thank you. You're welcome.
He just goes. He picks up his material. Of course,
everything. You can see the stuff is really heavy
on the mind. Very seldom Archibald wears just
so much armor on him. It's impossible to tell
whether things seep through, whether the words
are really marinating on him. So guarded. I think
she's drawn like little ducks and flowers on
his papers. He kind of points at them and goes,
those aren't words. No, but they're pretty, aren't
they? And they still tell a story, just in a
different way. Like, for example, this duck is
named Jim. And this duck is named... Penny. And
they're in love. And they go on adventures together.
And Jim and Penny were once best friends. And
now they... Enthralling. Keeping this note. He
just goes... He just quickly snaps a finger towards
you. Interrupting your speech. He just goes...
Write this down instead. to me the next time
we speak. She gives him a salute. Yes, sir. Yes,
sir. Okay. That should be off. And you see as
he turns, he just goes goodbye for now. As he
walks off, As he just kind of, like, curls around
the corner of a bookcase, you hear a sharp shatter
sound. The sound of impact. As all of a sudden,
you see, uh, you hear Subba go, OH! Um, a sound
of celebration. There is a raucous crowd of approval
as you didn't see what happened. Um. Are you
coming around to check? If someone fucked with
Archie, this library is going to be set on fire.
I go around to check. As you go around, Archibald
is clutching his head, kneeling. Ceramic shards
in his head. Someone threw a mug directly at
his head. Okay, who was it? You see, there is
a crowd. There's a crowd of people. By the way,
just to remind you, you can rewind time if you
want. Oh, wait, yes, hold on. Can I please rewind
time? Because there's no way I'm going to be
able to stop this mob. He just goes, okay. Goodbye
for now. No, no, no, no, no. Just stay right
here. I'll walk out with you. And this time,
much more attuned to your surroundings. You hear
very hushed, shh, shh, shh, he's coming around,
he's coming around. He kind of looks at you,
just goes. If you'd like. I think it would be
safer this way. And she loops her arm in his.
And goes, so anyway, Jim and Penny were once
friends. Then they started to fall for each other,
but they were so shy and nervous. As I said,
writing this down would be more pertinent to
your skills. As you walk around the corner, you
see the guy he's about to... It's a golden moose
individual, seemingly an upperclassman, who is
a dwarven. In nature. Braided beard, everything.
He was really good for the pitch. And as he sees
you, he just goes, oh. Puts it down. He just
goes. What were you doing? What was that? What
were you doing? Were you initiating? I thought
we were allowed to fight in the library. I thought
that was only on the grounds. Did you want to
fight with me? Was that what you were looking
for? A challenge? Beat him up. Beat him up. Intimidation
check? Get him! I think it's too because I can't
get loud. Everything's just in a quiet threat.
What a nat 20 so bad. I know. I honestly might
just make it one. Don't make it one! Do I have
inspiration? I think we got one last. Oh, wait.
You also have your bandwagon re -roll. Oh, yeah.
That's right. So can I have a re -roll? Yes.
Although she can't fucking fight for shit. Not
bad. 15. For a plus zero? For a plus zero? Hey.
I was just, come on. I wasn't going to do any
of that. I would hope you wouldn't. That would
be a big problem, wouldn't it? And you wouldn't
do that. You seem like you're really smart. You
seem like you know exactly, you know, your way
around the school, like you wouldn't do anything
like that. You seem like a good guy, right? Yeah,
I'm a good guy. Yeah. I'm Lucia, by the way.
This is Archie. I don't think we've met yet.
Yeah, name's Devron. Nice to meet you. Hi, Devron.
Nice to meet you, too. We were just studying.
Are you studying, too? No, I'm just here with
my friends. Oh, getting tea? She points to the
mug. Yeah, something like that. And you see the
other guys are just kind of like giggling. Like,
oh, he's getting this. He's backing off. He's
being a coward. Can I? Oh, she'll turn. Let's
go. You sure? She says quietly. There's no need
for this. Let's go. Okay. Bye, guys. She'll wave
at the table of guys giggling. And you see, it's
such a disgusting chorus of, like, people being
coy. Like, oh, see you. Things like that. It's
so disingenuous. It's so disgusting. It doesn't
matter. It doesn't matter. She has the high ground.
As you walk off, Archibald does this thing where
he kind of like taps your arm, just an unspoken,
like, okay, you don't have to loop around it.
She lets go. Ew. Icky. Archie jerks. I suppose
that's my fault. It's fine. I mean, like, Archie
jerks aren't the worst. They just make you talk
in really, really long sentences. I suppose that's
the essence of my being, yes. And sometimes words
that I really don't understand. I'm not sure
many people understand, but... The point is,
maybe exposing you to that, that you'll have
a better... Never mind. Thank you. Again. But
you really shouldn't have. I don't know what
you're talking about. Anyway, Jim and Penny.
One day, Penny decided to - Yes. What's happening
now is something that's completely beyond our
control. It's beyond anything. Not even the strongest
lords in this place can do anything about it.
It's an equation that's been written a million
times. She nods. I don't want you to feel like...
I don't want you to have that hope that you can't
change things. And maybe I can't. It would be
cruel of me to let you believe that. She shakes
her head. No, you're right. I can't control those
things. But what I can control is me and the
way that I care for my friends. That's under
my control. That's my equation to write. That
in itself. Could be a recipe for pain. She kind
of shrugs. That's kind of life. I should be off
now. Can I walk you to your dorm? I'm not going
there. Can I walk you to wherever you're going
to? And if you're going to get ice cream without
me, I'm going to be really upset. I wouldn't
dream of that. Good. Can I drop you off wherever
you're going to, then? Well, I have a feeling
you're going to be rather persistent about it.
Yeah, I'm not done with my story. I haven't gotten
to act two of Jim and Penny's love. Oh, goodness,
there's more. Yeah, anyway, so, as I was saying...
And he just kind of puts a hand up as he looks
down the bridge connecting to the library to
the rest of the school. His eyes lock onto the
approaching figure of a person you've met once.
As you see, Junior Executor Solanasi. Is that
the weird church one? The one who met you on
the little arena training ground? Yes. I hate
them. Sorry, I don't hate them because of this
game. They've been in the other game a bit more.
They approach with a smile on their face. And
Archibald... Just quietly says to you, just whispers.
Just whispers enough, like probably talking to
himself, but for you to hear, he just goes. And
they always approach with a smile on their face.
Who? That person? The ones who want our destruction.
And then Solanasi approaches. of hands behind
their back. They just go, Hello, Lucia. Hello,
Junior Executor. Archibald Raimondi. You want
to speak to me. Is that it? That is why I came
here. Let's drop our pretense. There are things
I must attend. Take me where you want to speak
with me, and let's do it quick. I sense that
there is a... tenseness. Hmm? Not a sudden. I
sense that there is a tenseness in the air. Perhaps
the situation calls for it. Lu... Lucia, if you
will please excuse us. Um... Um... There are
just... There are some questions I... We have
to... Watch what Raymondi on. It doesn't help
that Archie had literally just said those who
want are downfall. And it's like, can I talk
to him alone? And now Lucia's got to be like,
sure. Can I just stand here? Okay. Well, I'll
be over here if you need me. Not far. at all.
Just over here. I think perhaps the situation
I believe you should get ice cream. I think the
progress you've made so far warrants that. Okay.
We'll see you tomorrow? I'll see you tomorrow.
Good night, Archie. Good night, Junior Executor.
To you as well, Lucia. Ramonde, please. And before
I go, can I cast real quick on Archie? Can I
cast? I'm just gonna cast. Sorry, sorry, sorry,
sorry, sorry. Spells. Spells are hard. Spells
are hard. Aid. Aid? Okay. No, not aid. No, not
aid. Sorry. Guidance. Guidance. Guidance. Yeah,
because cantrip, that should be quick just to
tap and go. Gives you a nod. And he just goes,
There's one thing. I'll give you homework. I
just want you to think about what this means.
And next time we speak, I want you to tell me
what you believe it means. Okay. The axe forgets,
but the tree remembers. That's it. Okay. Next
time. It's already. Clanging around in her head.
He just goes, goodbye. Goodbye. And the two of
them walk off. It's bad being a blue wolf right
now. It's really hard. It's really hard to be
a blue wolf right now. And... Well, of course,
your plan's there, but... You gotta meet Cole.
Well, I gotta meet up with Cole and Valora in
the cemetery anyway. And you head there. Valora.
Fresh off your chat with Vesper. You should head
there. Yeah, she goes to get her school stuff
put away in her room and stuff and gather what
she wanted. For. The evening. Um. So like not
anything. I don't think she's getting anything
like particularly. Special but she has. I think
she's going to go out. With um. Her like. Backpack
that she takes with Phantom. And she's going
to go get Phantom. To go meet with them. Okay.
You go ahead and. Get Phantom, who is so happy
to see you. And as he goes through, you see he's
straightening himself out. He is being a proper,
proper, proper animal right now. He's making
a show of it. You're heading to the cemetery?
Yeah. She'll go to the cemetery and they're not
going to fly in there because it's a cemetery.
But she will walk him up to there. Koal, you
see a fork in the path ahead of you. There are
multiple ways to get here to the cemetery. Each
fourth is occupied by a person of interest, one
of them Lucia, the other Valora. They don't know
that each other's on a parallel path. They're
about to converge and see each other at the same
time. Under my breath, I go, she brought the
fucking dragon. Okay. I'm not leaving him cooped
up all day. It's her emotional support, Wyvern.
Lucy and Valora, you both... Lucy, I would say
you first come across, as you come across this
path, you see Wyvern cross your path. Big wave.
And gives the rest of her... ice cream cone to
Phantom. Oh, hey, I guess I made good timing.
As you're holding up the ice cream cone, Phantom
doesn't go for it, but looks towards you, Valora.
She's like, Aksun, which means yes. Gone. She
gives Phantom a pet and goes, We timed that well.
Now it's time to investigate. So, you have to
remind me what exactly you guys were investigating
again? Well, something's kind of... Is Cole here
too? Yeah, you guys are getting there. Walk the
rest of the way up. I'm waiting to walk up at
the gate. We'll walk and talk. She'll say. Well,
the professors were really upset one night. So
upset that one of them got really drunk. And
so, Cole and I... We just wanted to know what
was going on because no one would tell us. And
also since we just got here, you know, we thought
maybe there's like a special holiday or like
a remembrance day or something, but no one said
anything. So we figured that if we went into
the graveyard and we like maybe look at the tombstones,
we might be able to figure out like what happened
or maybe what's going on kind of thing, unless
you know why the professors are so upset. No,
I don't know specifically, but. Yeah, if there
is something here, I guess that would explain
it. Yeah. Um, by the way, it's not doing so good
for the blue wolves. I know. Yeah, I talked to
Vesper a bit. Someone tried to throw a mug at
Archie. Really? Yeah. Who? Uh... He was part
of the Golden Moose. He was a dwarf. I can't
remember his name. Why am I not surprised? Devron?
Do I know the name Devron? No. It feels like
it's always the Golden Moose. I was gonna say,
are the Golden Moose, like... Are they good?
Should we talk to Brimstone or something? Well,
yeah, we should definitely talk to Brim, but,
like... You know, like... It's not that like,
you know, there's plenty of people in Kanaka
who I really, really like. But a lot of, you
have to understand, a lot of the richest people
from Kanaka come to school here. And they feel
very, very important because of that and all
their money. And they think they're entitled
to. I think it makes them feel better to go stomp
on old houses like the Vangas and stuff when
they get a chance. It makes them feel like they're
climbing the ladder up to power or something.
Oh. Yeah, it gives them an excuse kind of thing.
But I'm sure it's not just them. So we saw Cole,
right? Yeah, you're there. Okay. Hi, Cole. Did
you find out anything? Not yet. I've been looking
around. I haven't been here that long, so...
Well, the first thing we should do is what you
recommended, right? Which is look and see the
date that matches closest with the ones where
we found the professor. So yesterday's date then?
And then maybe we can mark down those that might
have passed on that date and see if there's like
a correlation between them all. If there's something
that relates to them or something. I think maybe
we can look it up in the library or something,
right? Yeah, like once we get the year, we can
see the news archives and stuff, too. Ooh, now
we're really detectives. Assuming they have it,
but... Yeah. Well, should we get on it, junior
detectives? Yeah, let's go. All right. So...
I pretend I don't immediately know what graves.
We're going to. I was like, Cole fucking knows.
I'm not suspicious of him, so. He starts searching,
like, elsewhere in the thing, like, away from
where they are. Give me one moment here to bust
out the good old -fashioned notes. I should just
have these fucking things ready by this point.
The names? Yes. I have them. They're pinned.
Thank you. You're welcome. They're pinned. Second
message. Second message pinned from the top.
So... Taking a moment to... Taking a moment to
go through and, of course, moving in respect.
A place of respect. And silence. You keep your
whispers to each other. Um, you, uh, so tell
me for, uh, Lucy and Laura, but mostly like,
what are we working with? The date. Yeah. Okay.
I think we're just looking the, the date that
the professor was super upset. That's what they're
looking for. Anniversary. And since the date
was yesterday, I'm looking at spaces that have
like refreshed flowers or more going on with
them. Because if anyone was mourning and visiting
yesterday, they would probably still be a parent.
So that's where I go to where my eyes drawn to
first for that. There are fresh flowers and I
would say that doesn't take you too long. To
spot something. Because they're thorough with
their dates. With the date of birth, date of
death. Cole, you walked towards the place where
you knew where they were going to go eventually.
They figured it out. A row of... A row of headstones
before you. Flowers. Fresh flowers, not from
the... Not taken from the ones on the front gate
where it says take one. But ones that seemingly
seem less fresh than the others, as if age has
touched it. An array of names play out in front
of you, all of them with the same date of death.
How many years ago? This one is... This one,
let me see, sorry. Give me one moment, because
I do have the fucking information. Because we
are 1471 right now. Yes. This is 1464. So seven
years ago. Maybe it was this seven years ago.
1464. So early in the school year. And you see
that it is four names, four different headstones.
I'm going to say them, and I'm also going to
type them. Dietrich Althaus, Varen Ophondris,
Ivanka Luder, and Granita Birchmane. Granita
Birchmane sounds familiar. Is that just me? None
of them sound familiar to me. Yeah, I've never
heard them before. Liar. Birchmane sounds from
another game. I was like, Granita sounds really
familiar was the part that was getting me. Huh.
Seven years ago. Did something happen seven years
ago? Something must have happened. That would
have been like... I mean, whatever it is, Professor
Grantham would know about it. Yeah, but they're
probably not going to tell us about it. No, definitely
not. But, I mean, we could ask around elsewhere,
or just... The library's in my bed, too. Yeah.
It's a starting point. Yeah, I think so. And
if they keep... Records of the school newspaper
or the local newspaper, that would be something
that would come up there. So none of these are
noble names, right? None. I figured even if they
were a noble, they wouldn't be buried at Iribren.
They'd be buried with their family plot anyways.
Yes. So. So where next? Do we want to try the
library? Well, let's see if there's any others
real quick that might... Yeah, okay. Good point.
Cole's gonna wander a little bit. There's a specific
grave he's going to, but he doesn't want to go
straight there. After a few minutes, he stops
at one. Huh. Hey, Lucia. Yeah? She calls from
a couple rows down. Can I wave you over? Coming.
Did you discover something, Junior Detective?
Um, I mean, I don't know if it's related. This
one just, I don't know, something about it kind
of spoke to me. Seemed a little sad. Something
seems sad. She'll peer over his shoulder. I gotta
look, too, when I see them looking at it. A short
span. Three years between the date of birth and
the date of death. Begonia Lusardi. Hey. Do you
think... Oh, no. Maybe it was, like, his niece
or something? Maybe. Does he have... Yeah, that's
your last name, right? Yeah. Do you have any
siblings or anything? No, it's always just been
me and my dad. So maybe this was like his niece
or cousin. She was only three years old. Hey,
Lucia. Yeah? I saw a basket of flowers by the
front. Do you want to put some here? She nods.
I think that's a good idea. Mine wanders for
a bit. Let's see it. Arnold has never talked
about any of this to you. Right? No. No, he's
never talked about this to you before. Ever.
I don't think it even crosses her head that it
would be a daughter. Like, that's just out of
the question. You know what I mean? Still, you
can't feel some sense of... I mean, the situation's
sad, but there's just melancholy to be had here.
As you wrap a flower. Forget me not. Did... phantom
linger here at all this morning when we were
trying to track yes okay so I think she maybe
didn't pick up on the grave before he pointed
it out though but now it makes sense I think
while Lucy is making her way back to go get the
thing I think Cole's gonna go grab one of the
buckets it is cracked It is aged. But it's not
eroded. It's clean. At the very least. But it's
good to maintain it. Now, because no one else
will. That's only for you. That's only information
that you know. We'll all return in silence while
waiting for Lucia. Lucia returns. She goes, okay
well begonia she talks to the grave we're gonna
make it all pretty for you okay so don't you
worry cole and i are on it and she's gonna like
get down her hands and knees and start weeding
you know start sprucing it up she'll put the
flowers at the head of the grave and start to
druidcraft them into the ground so that they
can grow roots And a little bush will be there.
A little just smattering of wildflowers will
always grow there. Should we clean it up, Cole?
She points to the bucket. Yeah. Yeah, we can.
Okay. She dunks, you know, whatever it is, and
right. Getting you nice and clean, Begonia. You'll
be shiny as a penny. if pennies existed in this
world shiny as a copper there you go there you
go and she's just she's just talking to the grave
because as a cleric i think they're taught that
the dead are always present you know there's
a more of a connection than them being on another
plane kind of thing So I think she's just going,
this is my friend Cole. He had a crazy first
day, didn't she, Cole? Anyway, Begonia, I have
written a new story. And she's just full on like
cleaning the, you know, getting it all through
step ready to go. I haven't spoken with your
father. You haven't spoken with your father in
a while. This is family time. This is family
time. Yeah, actually, on that note, she'll say,
I'm really glad I'm not alone at school anymore.
As folks watch Lucia deal with this in the way
she knows how. Grace, friendliness. Always with
a personal touch. With optimism. It's clean.
It's remembered. And eventually the moment beckons
that Well, you have to move on eventually. But
you feel like even though this person hasn't
spoken back to you, you feel like you've gotten
to know them. Somewhat. Well, certainly they've
gotten to know you. And I think before she leaves,
just because Idun is the goddess of youth, right?
I think she'll take a moment. In spring, I think
she'll take a moment. She says her, you know,
prayer out loud. You know, blessed be the fruit,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Right, right, right, right. And then as she gets
to the end of the prayer, she'll start to riff
a little bit and be and say, I used to think
that there is a reason that the gods would take
those who are so small from this world. That
maybe you were needed elsewhere. So, wherever
you are, Begonia, I know Dune is taking good
care of you. And that in turn, you're going to
take care of us. But I would have liked to meet
you. We will, one day. Another moment. solidifying
in solemn prayer. If... Oh no, there's always
talked about the importance of remembering. Another
form of affection. That's awful. Wait, that's
awful. The importance of remembering. She can't
remember jack shit. Awful. That's awful. The
importance of remembering. That's another form
of affection. As long as you remember, then a
person will never actually truly die. I think
while Lucia is, what's it called, is saying her
prayer, I think Cole is going to collect the
bucket and get up and return it while she's doing
the prayer. Like halfway through, he just gets
up and is going to take it away to go. Get rid
of that stuff. One thing has solidified in your
mind, Cole. Lucia does not remember. I think
when he puts the stuff back, you know, he picks
up like a rag to kind of like wipe his hands
off a little bit. I think he spends a little,
maybe a little longer than he needs to wiping
his hands. Just wipe your hands clean. You do
so. Yesterday is far away now. It's time to move
on. Is Cole crying? Is Cole crying? No. And Lucia,
it's time. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. It's okay. I know
it's a little sad. Yeah. Um, we should get going.
We only have a little bit, a lot left. Library
closes at a certain point, right? Yeah. Do you
want to hear about my story that I've been writing
about two ducks named Jim and Penny? Two ducks
named Jim and Penny? They fell in love. And she's
trying to, she senses that he's upset. So she's
trying to, you know, distract. The three of you
walk off. I'll say, are you going to go ahead
and head to the library? If you want to conversate
that. Tells him the story of Jim and Penny, which
may or may not be based off of Jenny and Tim.
Yeah, you know, I had that feeling. This almost
reminds me of the whole boat thing. The ships
with the water and thing that you talked about.
The boat thing? So my dad always says that ships,
they don't stay in the harbor, right? Uh -huh.
They set off into the water. And when there's
so much water between you and the shore, you
know, they're not made to just sit in the harbor.
They're made with all the water around them.
She had it so good last time. She had it. Is
this like your favorite metaphor? It's my favorite
one. Okay. Do you have a favorite metaphor? Well.
Yeah, actually. It's like a little poetic phrase.
I heard it once and it's one I kind of think
of sometimes. I think it goes... I don't know
if it's a favorite. It's just one I kind of think
about sometimes. But I wouldn't call it a favorite.
It's, uh... The axe forgets, but the tree remembers.
Oh my gosh! She grabs your shoulders. Oh my...
my gosh, Archie just told me that. What does
it mean? And she shakes you even harder. Well,
I think people means like, you remember when
people do things to you. Like bad things or good
things? When you remember things. I think the
idea of it is if a person hurts you, you remember
it. They might not really think about it all
that much. Yeah, what does, like, a tree do to
an axe, you know? But what does an axe do to
a tree? That's the difference, right? Yeah. Okay,
but see, that's, I think... That's your favorite?
No, it's one I kind of think about. It's one
I think about sometimes because I think that
people kind of get it wrong, actually. Really?
What do you think it's about, Cole? Well, when
an axe chops down the tree, the tree's gone.
You know what I mean? Like, it's not going to
remember much of anything. But an axe, it's going
to get chipped. It's going to get damaged. It's
going to get real dull and you're going to have
to sharpen it down. You know, eventually the
axe is going to need to be fully replaced because
it's going to get so damaged over time. Oh, so
by people's wicked deeds, they slowly erode over
time is what you're saying. Something like that.
That's kind of sad for the axe, isn't it? Well,
I mean, they're chopping down trees, so... Yeah,
like maybe the axe deserves it at that point.
Yeah. Anyway, we're almost to the library. What
a fucking... The players are sitting here going,
Jesus Christ! Anyway, we're almost to the library.
Anyway. To be fair, I don't think an axe or a
tree remembers anything. No, not really, actually.
I guess they were doing it that way. Thank you.
As you guys go to the library, first we're going
to take the perspective off of all the characters.
And we're going to go to a place quickly away
from everyone's perspectives. Aurier walks down
a hall, a hallway in the administration building,
going towards a place that she knows is her designation.
As she walks past the building where professors
are working, knights are discussing new... new
bits of security, what to look after, who to
look after. Wherever she's walking to, it's away
from the chatter. It gets quieter and quieter.
It's almost unsettling. As we deal with the enormity
of this building, not every bit of it is actually
used. She walks into empty parts. Empty, quiet
parts. And then walks further. Until eventually,
life. Solanasi is there. At the end of one such
hallway where they are. sat next to where they
are, stationed next to a door. Jorge walks forward.
Solanasi just goes, Raimondi's in there. I found
him speaking with... I found him speaking with
Lucia. He goes, I went in the head and... I went
ahead and got a few others to go and look after
him. There's a scribe in there as well to transcribe
any pertinent information that has occurred.
Raimondi is aware of the presence of the scribe.
Thank you. Aurier walks in. to a presence of
three others. Archibald sitting on a chair in
front of a desk and paper. There is another member
of the there's a member of the knighthood in
there. He's just standing to the side, arms crossed.
And there is a scribe. pen at the ready, has
already written down a few things. Archibald
goes, Hello, Executor. And... Aurier's face does
not move. Aurier looks towards the scribe and
just goes, This won't be necessary. Exit the
room. And. Ask any transcript. Of this. And then
the knight goes. The secutor. Your presence is
not necessary. As well. Feel free to title this
down as a personal conversation. That does not
need to be engrossed in any sort of bureaucracy.
The night goes. We already went through all the
effort. I mean, we might as well. Listen to what
I'm saying. I want the room to myself now, please.
A pause. The scribe has already read the room
and gets up to leave. The knight gives her a
side glance, but knows the chain of command,
knows what happens if... a knight wants to disobey
a high executor and he leaves the door closes
an archibald goes this can't be a productive
use of time does not regard him. She listens
for the footsteps down the hall. She waits for
them to be quiet. And Archibald goes, I can tell
from the posturing that you're going to do something
disagreeable. Can I ask before anything happens?
Are you sure that you want to do this? There
is something to fight here. It's not. Me And
Aurea goes Where is your father? He lets out
a shaky breath. She's trying to maintain composure.
And then something in her straightens out. It
is a sudden snap in posture, in her facial. A
chill has come over her. I don't have anything
to do with my father. I am a Ramoni now. And
I know he's hurt a lot of people. But I haven't
seen him since. And then all of a sudden, the
distance between the two of them is cleared in
a moment. Aurier is strangling. Archibald. It
is quiet. It is violent. A vice grip takes over
his neck. He is lifted from the chair, legs kicking,
before Aurier thrusts him against a wall. Aurier,
with a coldness in his eyes, just goes, I think
I have forgiven what you and your family have
done to mine. He says, are you listening to me?
He goes, it's, it's a noticeable feeling when
someone is focused on something else and they're
not listening to you. So I want you to listen
to me and I know that the words aren't going
through your mind. I'll break your neck here
right now and I'll deal with the consequences.
I know who you are. I know what you are. And
I'm not going to let it spread. Oh, it's disease.
And then Aurea takes a moment. Archibald has
been on the cusp of going unconscious. There
was a spell where he did. Before Aurier. Let's
go. Archibald takes a moment to gasp. And just
goes. I don't know what you're thinking. But
you're plotting by coming here. And bringing
all of your friends with you. That's not going
to free you from the things happening in your
home. Justice comes, it always does. Archibald
goes, This isn't justice. It's not. The distance
between what is said and what is true. It's become
an abyss. And you know that. This is my final
warning. A reckoning is coming for you. And I
will be there. And then, just like that, this
private moment of anger, Aurier just turns and
begins to walk. Before Archibald goes, This is
not noble. You're not serving a noble purpose.
You're perpetuating hurt. If you were, and as
he stands to speak, Aurier spins around, comes
over, a knife is drawn immediately. And it plunges
directly into Archibald's stomach. She allows
the moment to pass. She allows the moment to
hang. Archibald already weakened earlier, can't
even stand. Before she draws the blade. And then...
Castleon hands on him to heal the wound. Ardwell
collapses to the ground, and the High Executor
relieves herself of his presence and walks away.
We're going to the library. Yay. Yay. Can I please
go pee real quick? Not allowed. Because I've
been so stressed out, but I could not leave during
that scene because it's Archie died. I would
be so upset. You know how he dies. He's going
to get killed by Aurier. He's not going to die.
We're going to save him. We're going to have
a five minute break, everyone. Thank you, break.
We'll be right back. See you then. People peed.
It was crazy. Five minutes went by. Lives changed.
We were just discussing philosophy and how awesome
certain people are. Do with that what you will.
Anyways. Oh gosh, I'm so tired. I don't know
why I'm so tired today. Maybe a short second
half, then. Uh, you know, we got four more hours
to go. We got four more hours to burn. No! Emma's
like, please, no. We've done it before. I'll
do it again. No! When I live on the west coast.
We'll go. We're going for broke. We'll go for
broke, baby. Right. The three of you... Sorry,
the four. Phantom's there, too. Began to head
to the library. Phantom's especially allowed
in the library, right? As you get to the library,
one of the librarians seeing Phantom just goes...
Just wags a finger like, no, no, please. Like,
almost desperate. Okay, fine, Phantom. You should
wait outside. You can fly around the bridge if
you want, though. Immediately. Jump up at people.
Like, a phantom should... I should have him do
this. Literally, he hides under the bridge and
then jump scares people on the sky bridge to
the library. He's gonna get stabbed. He can take
it. Um... So... Making your way into the library.
Now on your own. uh now you're not on your own
free times uh i'll go ahead and i'll go ahead
and say that um there are you you definitely
you definitely go to places that uh you feel
strongly will get you there and your instincts
are right there are books on the lives of different
students that i render our accomplishment books
there's there's detailed records um that are
monitored but you can't access them about certain
like students uh and names so beginning to uh
beginning to look for these certain names that
you you guys have already have down um i'm going
to go ahead and give i'm gonna go ahead and give
this to you uh velora i would say that you're
the one you're the one who finds it um There
is a book. It's a bit macabre, but it talks about
the lives of students who have died at Ironbrand.
It's constantly updated. It's a fresh book that
gets written in and displayed and redone every
month for updates. And as you look through, there
are depicted on these. It's mostly their dates
of death. But very briefly, very rarely do they,
I mean, from time to time, not very rarely, but
from time to time, they detail how or what event
occurred. And you see mostly it happens for students
who go on missions. Missions assigned by the
ministry to the classes. You look back seven
years and you find it. Sorry, one second again.
Dietrich, Varen, Ivanka, Granita. The same date.
All of them with the same text underneath it.
Died with bravery, which is what you know is
the code for died on while doing something, died
on a mission. Well, that's vague. Died with bravery.
8 -8. Which you know is very early in the school
year. So what you can surmise is that they're
not first years, at the very least. They couldn't
be. You don't go on missions that early, but
no one's supposed to go on missions that early.
Are we able to find the news archive? This is
gonna require... Go ahead and give me an investigation
check, all three of you. Guidance! In real life,
I know how to search for newspaper archives.
I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. It makes
no difference. Investigation. That's a nat 20
for a total of 32. I think you'll find it. You're
crazy. I rolled a 13. I'll give you guidance.
Guidance. You want to give Albert guidance? 15.
Didn't Albert just roll a nat 20? I rolled max
on expertise. I just decided. We're on nat 20s,
but I just decided this is a DC thing. Okay,
32. Yeah, you get 36. I'm sorry. I will also
give you guidance. Sure. Oh, drat. Oh, drat.
I can use saving face to add another two to that
if I want to. If it's a fail. Okay, but there's
something that's instinctive to you, Cole, as
you go ahead and sift through. So probably know
a little bit more of what I'm looking for. You
catch You catch a theme with these articles bouncing
about. If there's anything referencing anything
bad or anything that makes the Ira Brin life
look less than glamorous, it's always towards
the back in small boxes. They're never, like,
presented up front. So eventually you know where
to look as you look through, like, multiple of
the same articles of the same, like, because
there's so many, there's so many, like, news,
like, news, like, organizations throughout the
times here at Iriburn. But eventually you find
it. Something that's immediately pertinent to
you goes, Students perish on a special deployment.
And throughout learning the details of this,
reading the details provided to you, it can be
summarized as this. Four students were specially
handpicked, chosen by the professor. At the time.
Professor Lambert Grantham. To head towards.
A special deployment. That was going towards.
That was going towards. Linwin. Arnador. Which
is not. Which is not immediately recognizable
to you. What that place is. But it continues
to state that the four students were slain by
an unknown aggressor. The article talks about
each and every single one of them. They're lengthy.
It's talking about their lives, sisters, brothers.
This person's leaving behind a wonderful family.
And they all died heroes of the academy. And
that the professor is the sole survivor and was
heavily injured by the aggressor. The special
deployment was dealing with a local monster population.
Any specification on... What kind of monsters
there was? In the article, no. I'll like check
surrounding articles to see if there's just like
news of monster attacks or anything around that
time. They all use the same designation, which
was probably what they've been fed. It's called
like a special creature deployment. uh which
you surmise is something that the ministry has
deemed it the ministry itself has deemed it like
okay this is of our interest we need to send
someone else to go after it yes is there um is
there still a lot of monster activity there um
i would probably know you would probably yeah
you would know If you're reading this, it's like,
okay, this could be faintly familiar to you,
but places in Honordor are fairly, like, civilized,
so something like this would stand out. And this
is something that's interesting to your family,
but you would know that Linwin's, like, a pretty
decent, like, place now. It's, like, a well -civilized
place. It should be now. It is a little off the
beaten track. Okay. How far is it from, like,
the capital? There's another thing to point out.
It is close to the capital. How'd I call it?
This is the king's fault. That's the Jenny theory.
The king killed them? That's just the Jenny theory.
Velora has no reason to think. I hope that the
king's like, let me kill these four children.
Is it though? Jimmy's face. Is it wild? Miss
Lucia Lusardi? It's not. We gotta let you in
on some stuff that's been going on. Yeah, I'd
let them if they get caught up on the article.
I'll let you guys know what I know too. Well,
that sounds kind of sad. I wonder what kind of
monster that was. Kind of vague. I can't find
anything about any details about the monster.
Maybe it was the one that you saw, Cole. Remember
the one that you saw? Maybe it was that. The
big boar? Well, that was an Inaran war boar,
right? Oh, I guess so. I think is what we were
told. Unknown aggressor, does that mean, like,
a person? A thing. Because, like, I feel like
they would say a monster if it was a monster,
right? Does it, looking, like, later, any later
newspapers, did someone else go to deal with
that monster? Did it ever get dealt with? Um,
this hasn't been capitalized on, you start to
find. But Valora's knowledge, Who might be thinking
about the same thing? Is that, like, Linwood's
a place that's habitable. It's been inhabited.
Like... Weird. Yeah, like, it's nice enough.
Yeah, people live there now. I've been there.
Yes. I mean, I guess... If we really wanted to
know more, we'd have to speak with Lambert. Professor
Lambert. I don't think he's going to really say
much. No wonder he was having a hard time. Yeah.
Maybe we should let on that we pride then. No,
I mean, I was thinking maybe we originally were
going to do this so we could maybe do something
for him. I don't know if this really helps with
that. I'm not sure if there's anything we can
do. We could make like a gift basket or something.
Maybe later in the year we get everyone to write
some nice notes to him or something. Yeah, or
maybe celebrate his... About his impact as a
teacher. Yeah, and say like, thank you for being
such a good teacher kind of thing. And I will
say for you, Valora, just as a... rehash from
something earlier, just something to remember,
is that Lambert being the sole survivor of a
harrowing experience and being the only one alive
is something that has famously happened to him
before. As in this situation? Or is it another
one? In his military history. Before he's become
a professor. His military career ended. When
he was, when his troop, that he was the commander
of, was faced with an ambush by Anera. And he
was the only one that survived. Honestly, I'm
impressed he keeps teaching after going through
something like that. Man, they really like to
hide all the bad stuff in the back of these newspapers,
don't they? You think they put, like, bad stuff
in the front as, like, a headline or something?
But they're... I guess it's kind of... And they
don't write it so vague sometimes. I bet if we
looked in the... I bet if we looked in the town
newspapers, it would be different. But the ones
for the school, I mean, people spend a lot of
money to come here. Do you think... I don't want
to highlight that. Do you think we'd be able
to find any in Hifan? That would be any different?
Or not really because it's kind of right here.
Maybe. If not there. I'm sure somewhere else
like probably their hometown would report on
it. Does it say where they were from? The students?
From Arnador at least. I mean if they didn't
want Like, information getting out. The family's
probably just got told the same story. Yeah,
I guess. Student deaths are probably a sensitive
thing here, too. You're probably right. Man,
I know more rats than newspapers. So weird sometimes.
How do they write them different than the ones
back home? Oh, well, I mean, we didn't really
get newspapers back in Tender Breeze. It was
more just like, you know, we asked the neighbors
and then they said, you know, my cow gave birth
and then everyone went, yay? You know what I
mean? I do, yeah. That's kind of like home. It
was like word of mouth, kind of. We were kind
of small, so it wasn't really like a... we didn't
get like a newspaper news like sometimes word
would come in through like uh somebody traveling
me now through but i just thought you know i
heard of newspapers but i don't know they all
just seem uh it's the ones i've read here they
just seem kind of weird not like you expected
yeah what's weird about them i don't know they
just seem vague or like i don't know Kind of
biased, I guess, maybe, is what I'm saying. Like
that one article this morning, you know what
I mean? Well, that's that specific publication,
in my opinion. I wouldn't hardly call it a newspaper.
I'm just saying these are really vague, too.
These ones right here. Yeah, I guess. I don't
know. The local press for Anatom is better, in
my opinion. Well, I can't read either of them
right now, so whatever you guys say sounds about
right. Yeah. I forgot that's when we were all
searching. Out of character, I forgot when we
were all searching that you couldn't read them.
It explains why she got a seven. That's why I
didn't really bet on that roll. I was like, why
are you doing guidance on someone else when we're
all rolling? And now it only just occurred to
me. Oh, well. She can't read that well. She's
getting better. She's just looking at the pretty
pictures. She could tell the numbers. She was
like, oh, I can't. Dates. You were looking at
dates. She's learning numbers. She's currently
going through peahonics. Peahonics. Peahonics.
Well. I guess that's kind of where this. this
investigation kind of comes to a close. Seems
like it. I mean, if we wanted to get anything
more, we'd have to talk to Lambert, and I don't
think we wanna. Or we'd have to dig in somewhere
else, but I feel like the school would not like
that. I think you're right. Well, now we know.
Well, as for other investigations... Lucia, we
have to do a little bit of digging. That's right.
Did we tell Valora this? No, we did not. I don't
think we did. A light bubble has gone on between
the two of them. Valora, it's concerning. Lucia's
eyes slowly slide over to Valora and then slide
back. Yeah, should we, um... Should we go take
a walk, Cole? Yeah, maybe we should. What are
you guys investigating? Oh, nothing really. You
know, what I always like to say, you know, you
asked for a metaphor before and I forget how
it goes, but it was something like battles won
not on the field but in the planning you know
what i mean it's it's you win with your mind
yeah kind of thing right so sometimes it's important
to like know your enemy you know okay anyway
lucy we should get going bye valoria Well, bye,
I guess. Wait, Lucia, question. Yeah. Do you
think Valora could like... Wait, Valora's really
good at being dexterous more than I am, so hold
on. Valora? Yeah? Anyway, wait, hold on. Never
mind. What, Cole? Okay. I was gonna... She's
not listening again. I was gonna say, maybe she
also is good at talking, right? And she's important.
she's like she's got she's a big name so maybe
maybe she could run like interference or something
yeah yeah yeah yeah hold on okay flora for real
this time you would like to talk to me this time
yeah i can listen i can listen now okay you can
listen now cole and i are undergoing a very secret
mission to get intel on melody fidelity and we
need your help okay what do you what do you need
Well, we need her to not be in her room. Are
you breaking into her room? No. We're investigating
her room. Yeah. Okay, well, I'm breaking into
my dad's office sometime this week, so I can't
really criticize you. Why are you breaking into
your dad's office? Need help with that? Well,
she... takes from her pocket she pulls out the
key briefly shows it in puts it away she goes
but i mean can i see that yeah i wouldn't i wouldn't
turn down somehow but you know you know just
about like the stuff it's just about the stuff
that we learned you know and she kind of gestures
her head like down down what'd she look down
at like underground Oh. What? Oh, I gotcha, I
gotcha. Uh, what? Does Lucia remember this? Yeah,
does she? She does? Yeah. Right, right, right,
right, right, right. Okay, alright. But I'm gonna
frame it like I'm pulling a prank on him, so
I need to get some stuff from in town first.
Do you need paint? That's very specific. That's
very specific, Cole. I've got a lot of it, that's
all. I was gonna get the, like, the magic glue
that doesn't come off, and I was gonna put it
on his pens. The magic glue that doesn't come
off? Yeah, have you ever heard of it? No, it
sounds awful. My mom sent me all this money,
so I think I can afford it. Whoa. My mom sent
me more money yesterday. Where can we buy magic
glue? Well, I'm gonna check, like, the Artificers
Guilds and stuff. Okay. Alright. Alright, so
you... You help us with this. Wait, wait, wait,
wait, wait. Lucia. Yeah? This is negotiating.
Yeah, yeah. You help us with our heist. You help
us with our heist. We're gonna help you. We're
in a library still. Sorry. So... We scratch your
back, you scratch our back. You know what I mean?
And then maybe we'll give you a massage on the
shoulders if you like that. That's not what that
means. Does it? It just means she helps us, we
help her. Oh, yeah. That makes sense. Sure, yeah.
I'll take the back scratch and the massage. Can
I see that key, by the way, real quick? Uh, why?
I just want to take a look at it. She hands it.
Do I think I can make a copy of this? You could.
Okay. You know somebody who could, too. When
were you planning on doing this? I don't know.
I still need to go get the supplies and stuff
in town. I got kind of distracted, and I didn't
sleep much last night. Okay. Gotcha. But hopefully
this week. I think that's the plan, is we break
in. We're not breaking in. We investigate. Yeah,
so what we need is we need to get her out of
her room, and you've got to keep her busy for
a while. Okay. So I just need to talk to Melody?
I believe in you! But not in her room. You've
got to get her somewhere else. Yeah. Just ask
about her. Just ask about her. I promise you.
She loves to talk about herself. You're a really
important rat, so, like... Yeah. Like, maybe...
Say, like, maybe your family is looking to possibly
start, like, a show or something. Oh, no! And
they were considering her for, like, the main
role or something. You guys are not true friends.
Yeah, sure. I'll figure something out. I'll figure
something out. You guys are not true friends.
True friends would not let these people do this.
Tim, by the way, I fully changed the topic after
she gave me the key, and I just pocketed the
key. I was just about to say, I was literally
just about to say I need the key back. Shit.
Yeah. Question, can I keep this for a moment?
I'm borrowing it from someone. I really, really
can't afford to lose it. I'm not going to lose
it, I promise. I promise. Well, what do you need
it for? Well, if you're going to give it back...
You're going to need to be able to cover your
trail, right? I think I can make an extra. Okay,
well, why don't we do... VP. Hi, hi. Is it VP?
Is it fucking VP? Hi. How long has he been here?
He just showed up. Oh, my God. Hi, VP. Oh, hi.
Hi. Oh, my gosh. So good to see you guys again.
Yeah, I keep running into you. Mm -hmm. I just
thought, I just, I just saw you guys in here.
I thought, oh, I know those people's faces. So
I thought I'd come in here. Uh -huh. Uh -huh.
Well. Yeah. We were just heading out. Oh, yeah.
What's up? Oh, we're just doing some stuff. Boring
stuff. We were doing studying, you know. I like
keys. Yeah. Can I have that? I like keys. No.
That's the key to my room. I put it in my pocket.
No, she was taking it, but then you put it in
her pocket. She's like, oh, my gosh. That's my
room key. I can't give that away to anyone. Yeah,
we got it. It was nice to see you, VB. I hope
you and Robin are training well. Oh, no, no,
yeah, he's been avoiding me. He's been avoiding
me, like, really bad. I can't wait to fight you
tomorrow. That's part of his training style.
Oh, yeah, he likes to hide a lot. He likes to
be, like, oh, Snoopy, like a stick in the bush.
Yeah, he likes to, ah! Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There's a really scary dragon thing on the bridge
right now. It's scaring people. Oh, that's Phantom.
Valor, you should probably go get that. It's
a ghost? VBA? I hid something somewhere in the
library far away from where we're currently standing.
Whoa! That's so badass. If you're not the first
one to find it, if you don't hurry, I don't think
you're going to find it. But if you find it,
you can have it. Yeah. My dad said I had the
best nose growing up. Well, then get going. Okay.
Wait, I can't find it. Nicole, yes, I will water
your plants while you're busy today, so I'll
take the key back. Oh, yeah, of course. There
you go. Wait, what does it smell like? It smells
like metal. Walks away. Okay, smells like metal.
Okay, guys, let's go. As they're walking away,
Lisu goes, Wait, what was it, though? It was
a lie. You lied? Can I note where she put it?
And if there's any point that she's not looking,
can I slip the key out of her pocket? She was
gonna say, but then he showed up. She was like,
After I'm done. If you want to do something with
it, whatever, but I just have to get it back
to the person who loaned it. Yeah, I'm just saying
it's like an alibi situation, you know what I
mean? Like, you didn't have it. The key never
left their place, you know what I mean? Well,
I'm not too worried about that. And then you
have an extra key if you ever want to break in
again. I'm really not too worried about it. This
might be a multiple break -in kind of situation,
you know what I mean? It's just no offense, I
haven't known you very long. Oh, well, I guess
that's fair. And, like, I really don't want to
get them in trouble after they did something
like this for me. No, that's fair, that's fair.
So, when it comes to Melody, though, how are
we gonna do this? So you just want me to go talk
to her? Yeah, so we have to make sure she's not
in her room? Yep. You keep her busy? Mm -hmm.
Uh, Lucia, you've got great eyes, you keep watch.
Yeah. I'll sneak in and see what I can find.
Yeah. Real quick and easy like. Yeah. In and
out. Sounds good to me. Does that work for you,
Valora? Sure. I mean, how are you guys going
to let me know when you're done? Should we set
up like a signal or something? Yeah. Well, you
got to keep her busy like away. Away, yeah. So
like when will you guys like, when will I know
you're done? You could send Phantom to me. I
was going to say you take her on a - Phantom
might be too big by your room. I was going to
say you take her on a Phantom ride. You know
what I mean? So she can't go anywhere. She's
stuck in the sky. You know what I mean? I don't
know if Melody would get on Phantom, though.
Who wouldn't? Phantom's so cool. You make it
dramatic enough. It's Melody. You say the role's
supposed to be for a dragon tamer or something.
You know what I mean? I've never met Melody,
but I don't think she - I mean, she sounds crazy
from what you guys have told me, but she can't
be that crazy. She's insane. I don't think she's
that smart. And she's not very nice. She's very
driven. She likes herself. Okay. And sweets.
She likes pastries. And she likes to make other
people feel like crap. Yeah. Well, I'll talk
to her and I'll distract her. But you're real
important. So you're the only one that I think
could maybe lie. She might be a little nasty.
Okay. So... Sure. Why not? Should we do it now?
Should we do it tomorrow? Give us a day to prepare?
I mean, it's already kind of late, isn't it?
That's the point. We do it late. So no one knows
we went in. Oh my gosh, investigating is so nerve
-wracking. Okay, I guess that makes sense. But
wouldn't she be in her bed? It's not that late.
It's not that late. No, yeah, I have plans tonight.
Wait, what are your plans? Well, Vesper invited
me to go along with them and the blue wolves
for something. Invite Melody Fidelity to that.
No! We can invite Melody Fidelity to that. No!
No! But as long as this happens before that,
I'm free to help. Wait, they're having a party?
I don't think it's a party. I think it's kind
of more solemn. Why didn't we get invited? Well,
I... I don't think we talked to any of them.
I think they're trying to keep it on the down
low. That's okay. I'm sure Archie will invite
me to the next one. Anyway, alright. Alright,
I'll get the costumes and we'll meet back up
in... I guess we could just all go to the...
I'll go knock on Melody's door. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We'll meet you there. We'll meet you there. Okay.
Yeah. All right. Oh, and I will send Phantom
to tap on the window if there's like an emergency
and she's coming back. Good idea, Valora. Smart
move. Okay. Okay. Getting over to Melody's door.
I go to Melody's. And I'm collecting our... Because
we have two. One for you, one for me. The capes?
The black cloaks with the masks. The black cloaks.
Oh my god. Fucking plague doctor. I make sure
I'm wearing the one that I wore before. So you're
not wearing that. And I'm just... I do not give
you the one I killed your dad in. Oh! Jesus Christ.
Albert. The funny music is playing right now.
Okay. Exactly. It's cleaned. I cleaned it. Valora,
you make your way into the noble rich people
dormitory. You make your way to Melody's room.
What floor is she on? Huh? What floor is she
on? She is on the floor beneath yours. So just
right beneath the top floor. Right. How high
is that from the ground? What was that? How high
is that from the ground? Lethal. It's a good
distance. I don't think it'll kill a level four
or five character, though. Okay, if she's right
below yours, like directly below? Not directly
below, just a floor below. Okay, got it. See
if you get perch. Go from the perch to the room.
We climb, we dangle, you dangle down. We take
her perch down. Alright, Valora, you make room.
It smells so intensely floral. It's almost kind
of choking already from the outside. There is
a pinkish sort of like glow that sort of like
radiating from the bottom of the door. I know
she's there. And you think, oh, that's strange
because the noble dormitories, they have the
extra privacy thing so you're not supposed to
see light coming out from below. So she made
a conscious decision to do that. I knock. Opens
up immediately. Oh. Hello there. No. Like literally,
your second knock and it's open. Oh, hello. Your
melody, correct? I see my reputation already
precedes me. Oh, it sure does. I just thought
I should introduce myself since I'm the new Silver
Lions leader here. Naturally, that's what people
tend to do to Silver Lions leader. Oh, that's
so adorable. I'm Valora Avonlea. It's a pleasure
to meet you. She holds out her hand to shake.
Your name has... Your name has the same amount
of syllables as mine. I can instantly recognize
that. What the fuck? Yeah, you're right. Wow.
She pinky swears you immediately upon your handshake.
You hold your handshake. She just does a pinky
swear. Now we are bonded together. I fate by
the pink strings of fate. Something like that.
Wow. You look inside her room. Can I just say,
I'm sorry, you look inside her room, just, oh
gosh, there's so much pink. Like, you know those
pillows where you put a hand down and it makes
an image and you put it up and it's like, I forgot
what they're called. There's a lot of ritzy stuff
in here. But you notice that there's something
really peculiar. In the middle of her room is
a hole with a pole. That goes down. What? Wait,
what? Does she have a double -decker room? What
the fuck is this bullshit? Or is Rod's room right
below hers and they put a hole in it? Ew, that's
fucking weird if Rod's room is right below hers.
Or since... Or since you have bequeathed yourself
upon... Uponst my presence, I'll go ahead and
humble myself as well. I'm Melody Fidelity, but
you already knew that. I did know that. Yes,
you did. So I was wondering... Oh, really? Yeah,
I was wondering if you by chance had some spare
time tonight if you didn't want to go into town?
Get to know each other? I heard there's this
wonderful bakery in town with delightful pastries.
I give you the name of the bakery. I have it.
That one's on campus. Oh, okay. Got it. Never
mind. Never mind. That's a date. No. I don't
think you want. I don't think Valora wants to
be anywhere near that date. Are you asking me
out? On an adventure. Oh, thank God. Yes. Just
the two of us think about the possibilities.
You. Well. The leader of the Silver Lions. And
you. The talented performer. The question mark
in her voice. She's trying to say something she
thinks will make her happy. Yes, yes, I'm glad
you recognize that. I was so fatigued from the
earlier interviews about the upcoming Melody
Bowl. By the way, Lucia did not show. Oh, no,
Tim. Melody turned into a Vocaloid. Oh, no. Melody
Hatsune. Hello? Melody Hatsune? Okay. Try now.
Melody is overpowering my internet. Help me.
You're good. Melody is hacking your internet.
She just... Oh, gosh. My mind blanks when I play
Melody. I need to remember what she's saying.
She literally takes over. You call her a talented
performer. Gosh, she said something crazy and
I just completely forgot. Adventure. They're
going on an adventure. Oh, I'm glad Cream recognizes
Cream. Well, I'm glad you recognize me as Cream.
Because I've only heard the creamiest of things
from you. Stop! The absolute creamiest. You're
speaking your language. Ew, stop! Stop! Well,
then we should be off. The sunset will be lovely.
Oh, goodness. I thought I was so fatigued from
earlier because we had an interview for the upcoming
Melody Bowl, but Lucia did not show. My opponent
did not show up to conduct the interview. So
many people were waiting for her to answer questions
in regards to her origin and things like that.
Did anyone tell her about this interview? It
was on the posters. Oh, well, yeah, I've seen
the posters. I didn't see anything about the
interview, though. I must have missed it. Okay,
look at this. I have each poster from each event,
from each promotional period. She goes back into
her room. She walks up. She goes, oh, I love
my room. And then picks up a poster. She holds
it towards you. It says, Melody Fidelity interview.
Come bring your most hot, burning -est questions.
Oh, wow. Yeah, well, why don't we go put it up
in town? You know, before the bakery closes.
But why do you think that Lucia did not attend
such an event? I mean, she turns it around. It
was on the back. And the back says, Lucia will
also be there. Get her. Get her? No, it's...
Really hard to say. It perplexes me, too. You
think the other participant in the main event
would try, but, you know, I'm obviously carrying
all of this. I mean, with my gravitas and poise.
Yes. Well, she's my retainer, but... Did you
know she can't read? Anyways, are you ready?
Let's go. Wow, we love making fun of illiterate
people. Oh, here. I've decided to grace you with
a blanket. You can carry this with you. Oh, a
blanket? Yes. It's a blanket with sequins that
says, I am in love with Melody Fidelity. Wow,
that's very thoughtful of you. The sequence on
both sides. Oh. You know, I never liked overly
soft blankets anyways. I know, right? And now
you know that something has my embrace. My gravitas.
Well, I'm honored. Come on. Let's go. Hold on
one second. My gravitas. This can't ever be interrupted.
I interrupted myself. Goodness. You know, the
best performer I've ever seen in person before
you did the most impressive flips down the stairs.
Like five flights of stairs. Are you going to
have her fucking break her leg? I wish I knew
how they did that. Perhaps it did something like
this. That's kind of weird. Is she okay? She
gets up. She's bleeding from the head. What the
fuck? That's just a warm up. Oh yeah, are you
alright? Idun! Lucy, this might be easier than
we thought it was. Oh, Idun! Idun! Heals herself.
Eww! Oh wow! Impressive. Alright, let's continue
down the stairs. There's a lot more steps. I
know! Fucking shit! I'm imagining the scene of
fucking from Death Becomes Her of her just like
falling down the stairs. If I ever want to pay
anyone to make an animatic, it's Melody falling
down the stairs. Car wheeling down the stairs.
It's falling down the stairs and Scatman is playing.
Oh my god. I love her. She makes me... Never
mind. I love her so much. She walks out. She
walks out. You see that she approaches the door
with like, oh, wonder. And then she looks up
at the sky. She just goes, I reprain. It's beautiful,
isn't it? Doesn't it want to make you... Sing.
Oh, well, maybe if I could sing. Good evening,
Irobrin. I love that she rushes down the stairs.
I'm following. Good morning, Irobrin. Irobrin.
It's night. It's night. Oh, boy. They're seeing
coal or in a fucking bush waiting for this. You
can hear her coming down the stairs. I'm sure.
Good morning. They're falling down. Is Valora
okay? I think she is. She's walking. It sounds
like they got to fight. Melody walks by a chess
game. Oh, sorry. Oh no, my internet's so bad.
Oh no. Oh no. Hello. Melody killed him. Oh gosh,
Melody fell down the stairs too. Melody has killed
Tim. Melody has taken over Tim. She has. We're
just having a little bit of technical issues.
Welcome back to my wonderful domain. I have the
most beautiful concussions. Oh, God. Albert did
this to me. I did. Did you know that my brain
is pink as well? Ew, ew. What the fuck? What?
Alright. So real quick, real quick, everyone,
some technical devotees going on. So we'll probably
have to call it a little bit sooner than usual.
That's just my Internet's fault. I don't know
why it's doing this to me. I didn't do anything
wrong ever in my life. Sometimes. Melody, just
be like that. Anyways, I was in the middle of
a cool melody joke. As you're walking, as you're
walking for Laura. Melody just keeps skipping
everywhere. This fucking asshole does not stay
on the ground often. You see, as you're walking
down, you pass one of my recreationers. She just
goes, oh, look at this. She walks over to a chessboard
that two people are playing. She moves a piece
and she just goes, checkmate. And then walks
away. And then the person just goes, that was
an illegal move. Sorry. I call Phantom to follow
us. And I'm like, oh, do you want to ride Phantom
down there? Oh my goodness, a creature. It's
my wyvern. Oh, in that case, what's up? He's
extremely well -trained. For example, you could
tell him to roll over or to spin. Kneel. And
then Phantom kind of, like, looks at you. She...
sits. Oh! Oh, it's in Draconic. Oh, I'm fluent
in Draconic. Oh, yeah, he takes commands way
better in Draconic. He knows a lot of the common
ones, but yeah. And then she starts speaking
in fluent Draconic. Oh, what absolutely wonderful.
All right, in that case, I will communicate to
this creature in a language that he knows. Is
there anything she can't do? I love shortening
the barriers between and connecting different
all kinds of creatures. That's how I feel too.
Yeah, that's amazing. I have a dog. Best friends.
You speak dog too? She has a dog? She has a dog?
His name is Bravo. Oh, Jesus Christ. Oh. So you
could say bravo to him, but shouldn't he be saying
that to you? You understand me. She's actually
kind of alarmed when she says this, because she's
like, oh god, I understood her too fast. This
is horrible. Ask me anything. What kind of dog
is... What kind of dog is bravo? Oh, four legs.
Yeah, usually. Yes. Very smart. Like big, small.
Oh, smart. And of a size. I'm allowed to pet
him. Yeah. Can I pet your wyvern? Yes. He likes
on the neck, especially. The snout. Ah, checkmate.
Anyway, shall we go ahead and peruse the bakery?
That would be fantastic. We could have him fly
us down to Hafan very quick. It's a lot of fun.
Have you ever gone flying before? Of course I've
went flying before. Well, I'd imagine so. If
you look towards the western sky, you can see
me. Every time. No, no. No. I tend to travel
about in bubbles. Oh, um, I've never seen that
before. Of course you haven't. Alright, well,
if you get on, I can strap you in and we can
get going. Need help up? Yes, a piece, please.
She goes to lift her up. Wee! Wee! And I strap
her in. She starts waving it past him and I was
like, I know. Yes. And you made her fly. She
goes, well, since you know Draconic, you'd know
the word for sore. Oh, yes, of course. VP? That's
not the word. VP? Is there a secret affair? I'll
just be speaking gibberish, but she says the
word for sure. VA? His VA. His VA. And you win
the fly. As you fly, in almost record time, Valora,
as you hit the air, you hear the straps begin
to unbuckle. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. No,
we leave them buckled. No, no, really. It's quite
fine. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I want people
to see what I'm going to do. What are you going
to do? I'm going to dance. In the sky? Yes, of
course. Okay, but why don't we... Okay, she goes
a little bit lower. What did we do to her? What
did we do to Valora? There's so much square footage.
You did this! There's so much square footage
on this wyvern. Okay, um, you know... Oh, well,
um... If you're gonna be dancing, though, like,
you know, a fall could kill you. I can summon
a bubble. I would love to see that. All right.
You... So, guess what? I registered that. So,
go. So, rise. Higher, higher, higher. I have
my teleports, so she's just going to do it for
now. Watching her like a hawk, though, and letting
Phantom self -navigate. You know how people in
the Olympics, you know how they do these big
athleticisms over a mushroom or a stool? They
spin around with their legs and such. That's
what she's doing. She's breakdancing. I'm trying
to watch if she's going to teeter off so I can
just teleport her just ready to action the whole
time. And as she's basically breakdancing top
of the wyvern, people are like, Valora, you've
never been so scared flying. You fly through
the worst storms ever. This is the most harrowing.
Because her pink heels constantly threaten to
clash against the back of your head. And I'm
worried about her brain, her head hitting the
floor and her brain scattering. And then, oops,
I've killed a noble. No more Melody Bowl. And
then you see, as she's spinning around, a sphere
drops out of her clothes and falls. A ball falls
out of her clothes and just falls to the side.
She just goes, oh, drat, I dropped something.
Oh, well, I can fly down and start flying down.
I believe that would be most important, I guess.
Okay. As you fly down, it's an ember plant. She
goes and picks it up. It's a black sphere. It
has a fuse on it. And she... Wait, what is that?
Oh, it's a bomb. A black powder bomb. You have
a black powder bomb in your pocket? Puts it away.
Wait, wait, wait, wait. Can I see that? Can I
see that? Of course. Our bombs are meant for
sharing. Oh, yeah. You're right. That's what
I always say. You want it? Sure. It has my name
on it. Wow, you're so generous. A blanket and
a bomb. The bomb has sequins on it. She brought
her good backpack today, so she's going to try
to secure it safely in her backpack. You know,
if you light the fuse and you throw it, if you
throw it at certain animal populations, it's...
Fascinating results. Right. Wow, you know, this
conversation with you has been so enlightening,
Melody. I can't believe we've never met before,
Iribrin. Ah, yes. But fate brought us together
now. Yeah, fate. That, uh, did. Um, so... Can't
be changed. So the bakery, um... Yes, we should
mark this occasion. She pulls out a gun. Oh!
What are you... How are we marking it with that?
Like this, she starts spinning it around her
finger. She does like cool gun tricks. Is it
loaded? Yes, of course. Can I also see that by
chance? Wow, that's so cool. Wow, thanks. She
takes it. Wow. Beautiful, beautiful. It has sex.
It has six. It's like a pepper box, like a revolver.
It has six barrels on the reloading thing. It
says M -E -L -O -D -Y. Wow, it even says Melody
on there. Wow, that's amazing. Whoa, whoa, whoa,
look over there. Is that like... Do you think
that's like a Pegasus? Or is that like a griffin?
Oh my word. When she looks, I try to unload it
real quick. As fast as I can. Where is this wondrous
creature that you spotted? Oh, did it fly away
already? That was so fast. I've never seen one
move that quickly. We'll have to keep an eye
out. Did she manage to get the bullets out? Yeah.
Okay. Thankfully, because you have experience
with Saga's firearm, it's like the same one.
It's the same one. Except it has been melodied.
She shoves the ammo away in a pouch as discreetly
as possible and goes to hand her the gun back.
She grabs it. It's wonderful being able to share
these things with people. It's been so lonely.
Really? Even for someone like you? Yes, even
someone as popular and handsome as me. It must
be lonely at the top. It is. You know, my parents
loved me. Oh? But I've gone through so much struggles
in my life. Really? Yes. Like what? I was absconded
by a pink -haired individual the other day. Lucia?
I didn't say that. But... Her breath stunk of
geekleberry and... I go through many things.
How did that all make you feel? She looks at
the gun in her head. Sunday. Sunday, I'll enact
vengeance. i um wow uh that i'm still failing
to see um what exactly did she do that hurt you
so bad well she came in and first of all she
looked at me and that she said well quite frankly
she said something along the lines of like you're
nothing You are a foolish brat, and I am never
going to be able to recognize any of your work.
And then she spat at me. Really? Yes. Lucia.
I know the horror. But do you believe what she
said? Of course not. It is the talk of the delusional.
Then why does it bother you so much? Perhaps
you can relate in some way. People saying horrible,
absolutely untrue. The opposite of true, actually.
The synonyms of lie. Yeah. Just things about
you. I mean, yeah, it's frustrating, but I, you
know, it's one of those things, it's like, when
people have to stoop so low, I'm above that,
I'm better than that. Like, if they have to...
say things about me to make themselves feel better,
that's because they aren't worth my attention
or my time at all. Melody gets an inspiration
point from that. Are you shitting me? And she
just goes, so true, my best friend. Best friend.
Yeah. Oh, we're best friends. Didn't you get
the message? We pinky sweared. Oh. Yeah, right.
Um, the handshake. Um, yeah. Um. Cool. Um. Well.
I always knew you were loyal. Ew. Oh, best friend
to best friend. Um. I have to tell you, I think
Lucia. Maybe you wasn't trying to hurt you. From
what I know about her, I think she was trying
to help people. No. Well... I'm just telling
you that because of my time with her. Like...
Maybe... Maybe... Someone like you needs to strive
to be the better person and offer some grace
and mercy. That's what I'm doing. That's why
I set up the Melty Bowl. How's that offering
mercy if you're going to look at the gun? She
can surrender. This is terrifying. Laura's having
a conversation with a sociopath. She can surrender
if she chose. She has the option to do it. Yes,
but wouldn't it be just so much more? Imagine
what a show it would be for someone as high up
as Melody Fidelity to come to the Melody Bowl
and say I want to leave this. As friends. That
you could turn even your greatest enemy into
a friend. Make a persuasion check. Disadvantage,
because I have strife. Oh, shit. She's not lower
CR than me, is she? Darn it. She's an upperclassman.
She's an upperclassman? I'm pretty sure. Nope.
Do you have an inspiration? I have one inspiration
left and I'm not using it on this. Oh wait, I
could use Intrepid to get advantage though. But
it'd still be a nine. Because it's just normal.
If I do that, so. Yeah, it's a nine. Or perhaps
this new Friendship can be tested through many
square feet of barbed wire and piranha. Is that
what you're doing for the Melody Bowl? Oh, yes,
of course. There's lots of stages to this. Okay,
what other spoilers can you give me? Let's see.
My friends are going to operate a mechanical
dragon. But I made sure it needs to be unbiased,
so it is going to attack the both of us. Of course,
but you can handle it. My friends will be borrowing
some of the trebuchets at Ironbread, even though
they don't ever give it to us. We simply persuade
them with a little bit of classic Hanukkah persuasion.
Oh, money. Yes, of course, that was applied.
Oh, yep, yep, yep, yep. Yeah. They're going to
be used to fire flaming catapults at the stage
at us. Oh. That's going to be spectacular. And,
of course, I'll be performing. While fighting.
What song are you going to do, though? She pulls
out a piece of paper. It's the full, like...
like, fully written out, like, music, everything.
She just gives it to you. She... looks at it.
And it just... Is it very good? Are you asking
me, Timmy Tran? Timmy. Of course... No! Uh...
It is what is essentially like a disc performance
on Lucia. Okay. You have it memorized already,
right? I mean, yes, of course. And I made multiple
copies so people could follow along in the audience.
Perfect. So is it okay if I keep this one? I
want to be prepared for the sing -along. Of course.
Wait, one second. She snatches it from you, writes
something in it, and then gives it back. But
she changed. To my shining star. Wow. Wow. She's
trying to cover up that her face looks really...
However, she doesn't know how her face looks.
She just assumes it's bad. So she instead pretends
like she's so touched that she has to wipe a
tear away. I'm touched. This is a master class
right now, everyone. I think I left someone behind
in my room. Oh. Well, we're already in town.
We should get the pastries first. On me, of course.
Yes, of course. On you? Ooh, this will be interesting.
Evening. She walks off. A dragon? Like, literally
on me, right? She walks off the dragon? No, they're
on the ground. They had to go pick up her body.
Oh, okay. Oh, I was like, I'm sorry. I thought
they were back in the air. I think I kept us
on the ground walking the rest of the way after
that while she was distracted so that she wouldn't
do anything else crazy. I've got the song for
you to anticipate her disses. I'll write a counter
melody. Yes. Counter melody! Oh no. Okay, finally,
merciful, we can go over to Cole and Luzia. Alright,
so they just left. Yes. The two of us are dressed
like the Phantom of the Opera. That's not going
to look sketchy for Lucia on watch at all. Well,
no, it's dark. It's dark. So, you know, we blend
in. Scared the shit out of the nobles. All right,
Lucia, you just got to keep watch. Keep an eye
out. Make sure Lucia doesn't come back. Make
sure Lucia doesn't come back. Or not Lucia, Melody.
Melody, yes. If you see Rod Roddale. You know,
we got to keep him. Yeah. Okay. All right. And
if you see anything, do you know how to whistle?
Okay. Not bad. Not bad. All right. Okay. That'll
do. That'll do. All right. All right. Just keep
an eye out. Okay. Good luck. Off to go sneak
in. It's a little phantom creature. Make a con
saving throw as you make your way in. Question.
Poison? No, it's the... Can I drink an antitoxin
before I go in? Okay, don't make a sound. You
drink it. I start to smell something and I go...
Alright, we're good. Also... While no one's watching
me, I'm going to cast see invisibility and detect
magic. Okay. Just to have those up. It's really
good to have those. You take a lot of magic immediately.
Oh, boy. All right. I think I'm probably going,
like, trying to go into the window, I think,
is my plan. As you go in through the window,
okay, it is really high up. I have second story
worker. You do. I have that feat. And also I
can jump up. So as you start leaping upwards,
and I assume you're very stealthy. You've worked
this so many times. You make your way to Melody's
window and you know it's her because of the pink
curtains. There's like a spotlight on it or something.
As you open up the window, you notice it's a
different window too. A lot of the other windows
you can pull upwards on it. Melody's windows
are the kind that you... push open from outside
because she likes to break into song um and as
you sort of like open up the window you get an
immediate like waft of like oh something intense
and floral is in here it is like someone it is
like a perfume factory that leaked oh shit alright
You make your way in? Okay. Yeah. Melody is what
makes him break. As you... As you... Get in...
Okay. As you brace yourself... There is a...
Pink bed. pink draperies pink markers it's so
it it it's so good it's so good in here bro there's
so many boxes there's like boxes stacked up to
the ceiling multiple uh multiple uh bags and
such there is it is uh luxury and also very suffocating
in here but one thing you can't you can't deny
is that this is Melody Fidelity. Also, you notice
there's a pit in the middle of the room with
a pole that slides downwards. All right, then.
Do I see any magic? Just a quick glance, or anything
invisible? There is magic. There is a perpetual,
like... druidcraft in a few places that's making
the smell come through. There's flowers and stuff
about... There's flowers and everything, but
they're all magical. There is a glyph of warding
that you're right in front of, right by the window.
The glyph of warding has thaumaturgy set on it.
To open and shut the windows. Love that. And
you hear... Oh, Jesus, it's loud. Girl. And you
hear... Wait, is someone there? I don't see anyone,
like, up here. Does that come from the hole?
It comes from the hole. And then you hear another
voice going, Help! It's Robin. What? Help! Fuck.
All right. What? Sneak closer. Where is he? He's
in the hole? He's in the hole. Yeah, I, like,
look. I look down. God damn it. You look down,
it's like a much more, it's another melody coded
room. Basically, the floor, she broke it and
then it went down and then she basically connected
two rooms with each other and made it a room.
I know it's not because Robin is not a noble,
but I really wish it was she just installed this
into his room down below. She forced it, forced
it, kidnapped him. But if it's not... Okay, yeah,
I peek down. As you peek down, there is another...
Give me a stealth check. Yeah. Okay. Jesus. Stealth,
stealth, stealth. This would be plus a d4. 24.
Okay. There is a... There is a... There is a
human... A human young man. Someone you didn't...
Someone that you don't... You don't recognize.
You haven't seen them part of the procession,
but, like, they are... This is, like, but they're
wearing, like, they're wearing, like, a uniform.
You also get to see Robin tied up, like, like,
hogtied, like, tied, ropes around, tied around
his wrist. And you see the guy's, like, pulling
out, like, pulling on, like, a roll of tape to,
like, cover his mouth. He kind of, like, looks
up and just goes, he just goes, something's disturbing
the scent. Fuck it. I drop down and I just, Straight
onto this person that's tying him up. Straight
onto the person? Yeah, I want to just drop down
and just attack the person that's tying him up.
Okay. Right? It's a person tying Robin up. Yes,
go ahead and make an attack roll. Okay. I'm going
to make this a dangerous strikes. So it's got
the crit. Is this attacking from unseen? Yes,
it is. I'll say yes. And attacking from above
gives a bonus too. Yeah, plus another d4. So
yeah, 24 to hit. That hits. Okay, this is going
to be a sneak attack. Carver. Alright. 7 piercing
damage and 15. I'm going to make it psychic damage
so he'll forget that somebody jumped him. As
you slam down ready with the dagger, his instincts
For some reason, you get the idea. This guy is
a crazy combatant. He brings his arms up. Your
dagger plunges. It gives him a good cut. It just
goes, ah! Damn! Second attack. Go ahead. This
is not... 18 to hit? That does not hit. It does
not hit. Wait, don't forget his AC is lowered
by two, I think. In that case, yes, it does hit.
Okay, nine more piercing damage. Okay. And then
offhand, how is this guy looking? Does he look
like he's at all super injured? He's up. This
man has a countenance of a warrior. He's going
to fight you. okay got it uh bonus action i'm
gonna use my bonus action swing can i just like
spin around and cut the rope on uh whatever is
tying robin absolutely there's two there's two
ropes there's one around his body uh yeah i cut
the body one okay um go ahead and make an attack
roll there And this guy's going to try to menace
you, so he is going to make an attack roll against
your attack roll. Okay. Is this an advantage
because Robin's prone? What was that? Is this
an advantage because Robin's prone? Yes, actually.
Okay. That's a 19. 11. You cut the rope, he goes,
oh my god, oh my god, this place is crazy, I
don't want to be here anymore. Yeah, I spin around
on this guy. And then, is that the end of your
turn? That's my turn, yeah. And then this guy's
gonna go, Charlie, kick! And he's gonna attack
you. Charlie, kick. Okay. What is happening?
Okay. Natural one. No. Nope. He's going to attack
again. Wait. I think I have something. Do I have
a thing that someone misses me? Is that a thing?
One second. Reaction. No, we're good. 27? To
hit? It's a crit as well. Oh, okay. Got it. Okay.
Let me see. You take a total of plus six. So
you take 12 points of bludgeoning damage. Okay.
12 points of bludgeoning damage. I'm going to,
as his, I guess, fist impacts with me, to mist
for a moment, I'm going to use blear to negate
all the damage. uh as you negate the damage um
his fist run his his fist runs through fog as
you just kind of like disappear from it and then
you reform and he just goes nice trick what's
your name is it my turn He has a bonus action
where he's using the time to talk, unless you're
not. No. No response. Bonus action. He just goes,
silent. Cool. And he's going to use a bonus action
to flurry of blows. Oh, boy. You're in Melody
Fidelity's room. Where are the dramatics? I guess
I can talk. He's going to forget this shit. 22
will hit. Okay. You take eight points of bludgeoning
damage. Okay. He's so skillful. He's like a classic
martial artist in your mind. He's just so deftly
proficient with his blows as a kick lands on
your arm. You can call me the Phantom. I adjust
the mask. Hey, we're in this room. And you can
call me Charlie. Charlie Fidelity. And I'm going
to kick your ass. Roll initiative. And that is
where we're going to pick it off next time. Charlie
Fidelity. God damn it. Is it her brother or her
dad? I didn't even get to heist. I immediately
am fighting a man in her room. Is it her brother
or her dad? Charlie Fidelity. This is horrible.
This is awful. And what the fuck is Robin doing
there? Trying to help. My note just says Robin
in the hole. What a place where we started. Versus
to where we ended. I cannot... It's like when...
It's like, you know how like a Breaking Bad Better
Call Saul, they kind of like... have a dichotomy
of like the criminal world and the whatever else
wrote the lawyer world when you when it was brought
up like yeah bring melody to the to the bonfire
uh the the blue wolves tonight i was like that
that was me like thinking like oh my god i do
not want these two worlds to meet there's the
melody there's the melody storyline and then
there's the very the melody storyline and there's
the very intense very like Like, very intense,
like, actual, like, main plot. I don't think
Vesper would let me be their friend anymore.
Oh, you have, um, really interesting friends.
Oh. Best friends, apparently. Wow. Besties now.
Not judging. Okay, I maintain concentration.
Alright. Oh, dear. I've gotten a lot of intel
for you, though. Mm -hmm. That's true. You know,
I had plans going in here. This was not the plan.
I believe in you. When you plunging attacked
him, I was like, it's on. Uh -huh. Charlie V.
The Phantom. I also have that in my notes. I
have versus the Phantom. Char. Early fidelity.
I had just taken all my things that would help
in sneaking around and investigating. I had opened
them up so I had them ready and handy. And immediately
I walked in and you were like, yeah, Robin's
hogtied. You need Lucia in here. Okay. Help fight.
I literally was like, oh shit. I think there
will be an opportunity when The dog shows up.
The dog. The dog. Bravo. Is Lucia going to have
to fight a dog? A dog of a certain size, by the
way, who she's allowed to pet. Yeah. You said
there was a dog and I was like, I'm so glad the
poison I have handy can help with that. I wasn't
expecting a brother. Like a rat dog. Rat dog
V. Lucia. The rat dog is going to take Lucia
down. Straight up a rhinoceros. Melody's definition
of a dog is a pet. A little creature. A creature
that you lord over. A fucking buffalo. What kind
of dog do you have? A four -legged kind. Look,
I need Robin to get up and smack this man. You
fucking will. You brothers in arms. He doesn't
know it's me, but yeah. I'm not going to let
him know it's me. Tell the tale of the Phantom.
The Phantom. All right, wait. So what are my
active war bonds right now? I should have that
just ready. Lucia. I guess that'd be it, right?
I was willing to end this on a very solemn note
with the bonfire. Because that's going to be
like a very significant kind of like, you know,
meaningful moment. And then you guys did the...
And then I was like, I don't know why I was taken
off guard by the melody. The melody heist, I
was like, oh, fuck, it's now. Are you in a war
bond with me since I'm involved in your heist?
We make them at the beginning of the day, right?
Yes. The Warbonds? You guys haven't really...
I mean, no. You have because class has happened.
I guess because we were in class together, like
training and stuff, right? So I guess it would
make sense for the three of us. Would you be
generous and say yes that you are? You can have
my Warbond ability then. Okay. Does that make
anything I did more crit? No, I rolled a 17.
I would have had to rolled an 18. Yeah. Yeah.
I do want to just set up the next time. All around
the bottom is like her spell casting stuff. There's
like scrolls of like varying spells like on tables
all about. So yeah, go for it. Whatever happens,
happens. You know, this was gonna be a sneaky
in and out. No one was gonna know I was in there.
Good thing you wore a disguise. Well, that doesn't
really matter. That's just to make sure no one
saw me go in. He's not gonna remember who I was
when I leave. He won't even remember the name
of the phantom. At least Robin won't now, too.
He's probably just gonna think that Robin fucking...
escaped on his own yeah actually i could get
rid of robin robin from his memory too so robin
of his memory robin robin was training with us
can robin be in our in our war bond since he
was training with us in class sure yay what's
this war bond ability again i'll find it give
me a sec I think that would have actually helped
with the heist. Oh, and I think his is more about
ambushing people. Yeah, it gives you... You get
a plus five to initiative, and a creature doesn't
get advantage from attacking you from unseen.
Oh, cool. Alright, everyone. Thank you so much.
We're doing this rollercoaster of a session.
Oh, it was something. We went from talking about,
you know, Archibald's struggle and Cole going
through a couple of revelations on his own and
visiting Begonia to Aurier, very darkly confronting
her past against Archibald and his family to
whatever happened here at the end. Melody. My
best friend. Thanks for coming. Thanks for coming.
Thanks for coming, everyone. Alright, everyone.
See you all next time. Bye. Bye. Let me mark
down he still has... The winds have been whispering
of what's to come, but every time the words are
bound to leave my tongue, some obstacle arises,
some unstoppable force. My deepest fear awakens,
fates unstoppable course, but there's so much
I still don't see. I never thought a second in
command would be in the mountains where they
train the elite. I've seen it amongst all this
nobility. Thank you for watching! What's right?
Somebody call me.