Songwoven presents Ira Brin Dawnbreak, a level
of advanced 5th edition actual play campaign.
Episode 23, Heartbeat. You can catch us live
every Sunday at 8pm ET on twitch .tv slash songwovenshow,
or you can watch the video version of this podcast
on YouTube. Thanks for listening! from stripes
and white stars through the hairless fight or
rambarts we watch Rome gets red glare, baby!
Oh, say can you see I'm going to be, I have to
be honest. I went to go, I pulled the lyrics
up just so I didn't embarrass myself. And then
I realized there are more verses that are normally
sang at a football game or whatever. And I was
in the, like just in a verse I've never heard
before. And I was like, I was like, wait, how
does this go again? My dad just texted me. What
the fuck? Oh my gosh, thanks for the gift subs!
Oh my god! Thank you so much! My camera fell.
Oh, goodbye, Jenny. Goodbye, Jenny. Goodbye.
That was... Hello, everyone, and welcome to Songwoven.
I am Don Break. I, of course, am your ever -humble
and ever -present narrator, Tim Don Train. Of
course, I am joined by my three lovely co -hosts
who have introduced themselves in order that
I tell them to Emma! Ah! Um, a cleric of a dune.
She's just a dooney dooney gal. She's just a
little gal. Hell yeah. And then the next. And
her dad is dead. Happy Father's Day. Happy Father's
Day. And speaking of someone with a very good
father, of course, we're going to talk about
Jenny Gerard. Oh, okay. Yeah, my dad's good.
Um, hi, I'm Jenny Gerard. I play Valora Avonlea,
whose dad is bad. We give him thumbs down here.
Master at arms sucks. I couldn't think of a rhyme
for master at lame. And that doesn't work. I
don't know. Master of being an idiot. Master
of being an absolute dork. Dorkasaurus Rex. No,
no, dork is too late. Too late. I mean, once
you start human trafficking, that puts you in
a certain category, I feel like. Have you considered
that maybe he had a reason? Kicked out. Goodbye.
No, no, no. Everyone give him the floor. I want
to see Albert defend against human traffickers.
JT said master of arms, master of harms. Oh!
Yeah. That's a good one. Have you considered
maybe he said he's sorry? Never. Ever. Ever.
Okay. Maybe he will. One day he might. Lucia?
Lucia, you've seen that, right? What if he's
the master of parm? He makes a really good parmesan.
Porn? Parm! Parm! Parmesan! Okay, my dad's getting
into some other issues now. Your East Coast accent
hits so hard right there. Parm! And you said,
you said like porn. And I was like, what? Valora's
dad. Yep. I'm going to head to the movie theater
and watch a horror movie. A horror movie. Listen,
the Avonlea's got to make their money somehow,
you know? What do you think? If Eric had an OnlyFans.
What do you think the generational wealth comes
from? Eric shows feet. from OF honestly though
like I feel like he would get a following because
he's like a dick and an asshole so he's like
they'd be like ooh like daddy like eat and they'd
be like shut the fuck up I can fix him I can
fix him yes for a happy father's day we start
talking about bad dads getting only fans bad
dads should get only fans Dude, if you say any
of that stuff to Eric, he would be like, correct
your behavior right now. And people would be
into that. Yes, sir. Yes, professor. Calibrate
your enthusiasm. In his comment section. I think
the only good song woven dad we have is Aura's
dad because all the other dads in song, well,
I mean, Cecilia's dad is good. It's just he's
having some problems. Yeah. My dad hasn't gotten
any screen time, so. Yeah. If your dad is alive.
Is he alive? And of course. Probably. And segue
from that, is your dad alive? Introducing himself
last is Albert. Hi. It's me. I play Cole, just
a cute little farm boy from off over there in
East Rune. Just that. That's me. I don't got
much else to say about me. I'm just, you know,
I like to, you know, look at the stars and climb
trees. I know who you are. Anyway, I love fathers.
Fathers are one of my favorite subjects. You
know what I mean? Especially Lucia's dad. He
and I, we've had many an interaction before.
You guys, you got really under the skin. Really
got to the heart of the matter with him. I did.
I got straight to the heart. Straight to the
heart. I saw, he bared it all to me. We're talking
about him getting stabbed, Tim. Why are we in
Italy? Why isn't the Jean -Claude music playing?
France? This is the Jean -Claude music. Oh yeah,
France, yeah. We're playing the Jean -Claude
music? You can't hear it? Actually, I forgot
to put up Roll20. I'm just trying to find my
music. Okay, so let's see. Real quick, JT did
bring up a point. JT, who played our guest in
Lanaya. Also has a significantly turbulent father
figure. Yeah, he was kind of really bad. So let's
do a father tier list real quick before we get
into everything else. I would say Arnold. I would
say Aura's father at the very top. Okay. And
then it's Arnolda. Okay. No, no, no, no. Then
it's Cecilia's dad. Then Cecilia's dad. Adaro,
I think. Adaro. Adaro. Yep. And then. And then,
and then we get to, and then we get to like a
kind of like gray territory. Here comes, here
comes, here comes Lucia, Lusardi, and all the
Lusardi. What about Aura? Since Hilgen is, well,
Hilgen is mom. Oh, that's true. Aura. That's
right. Aura would be, would you say Aura is more
of a dad than her own dad? No. I think her dad
tops dad. Yeah. Because her dad kept it all secret
that he was help. And that's just a very dad
thing. Like, I'm going to take care of you, but
you don't need to know. Yeah. That's really cool.
Okay. So, or I would say number two and number
three. It's contentious. I'm being a lot of arguments
right now. And the floor is heated. I think Jane
has the worst dad. Yeah. Yeah. I think he's really
got ahead. He's really getting ahead of his competition.
Dalmar's dad. Dalmar's dad was bad, too, but
Jane's dad was homophobic. That's right. That
never happens in this world. During Pride Month.
Oh, that's true. That does never happen in this
world. Yeah. And Daphne's dad is also bad, but
we never saw him. His brother, the brother was
enough. Mm -hmm. Daphne's gonna kill her dad,
but. And Eric sucks, but Eric's kind of like,
in comparison to these other dads, Eric kind
of actually falls in the middle most. Surprisingly,
yeah, because I'm trying to think of what other
characters have we streamed? That have dads?
um that are that are good dads um jt's character
became a dad in our christmas is coming one shot
oh yeah chase he got indoctrinated into a cult
i put chase at like number three he betrayed
his friends yeah but like dad yeah yeah yeah
yeah true they didn't quite you know they weren't
feeling christmas in their hearts you know in
their hearts who had oh no no no it wasn't holly
who had a kid it was it was robin it was robin
right robin had the kid yeah or robin had his
uh niece his niece can i just say I remember,
like, everything else about the game. I remember
all the other, like, characters and stuff. I've
forgotten my character's name. Like, I'm trying
to gather it, and it's not coming to me. He was
the veteran. You had the saddest fucking ending.
You were a dog dad. Yeah, you were a dog dad.
Yeah, and Nietzsche was left alone. I remember
my character's dog's name. I can't think of your
character's name either right now. Jeff! Jeff!
Jeff, that's right. Jeff and his dog Nietzsche,
and then Jenny's character escaped off into the
woods. Thumbs up. Damn. Damn. Father's Day be
popping off here in Songwoven. So I think what
we've come to is that, Tim, we need more dad
representation on this stream. Hey, you know
what? Where are the good dads? Hey, you know
what? Jean -Claude. You know what? By the end...
Of today, by the end of this session, after I
say, and this session's over, let's see if we
can do a reorganization of the bad tier list.
Is Eric going down the tier list? Is he not going
up? He's going to apologize in heels. With ukulele.
But he won't mean it because he's trying to avoid
his divorce. Not his YouTube apology. Not his
YouTube apology. I didn't mean to steal people
off the street. And now I'm gonna sing about
human trafficking. It's bad. It's sad. Really?
My playing close police were kind of a bad D
.I .D. I can't believe people are trying to cancel
Eric Avonlea. He's just trying to keep this school
running and you guys are trying to cancel. You're
trying to cancel. You guys are the problem. You
guys are the problem. Sydney goes, write better
dads. I have good dads in other games, kind of,
sometimes. Oh, I have the wrong Twitch channel
open. I was like, what the fuck? Why am I not
getting any chat? Yeah, you missed Sydney calling
Cornball. Yeah, that's what he refers to me.
Alright, everyone. I think next game I'll play
my dad. I was on the wrong channel's chat. I'm
going to commit mitosis. Okay. Everyone, I'm
pouncing down. I'm going to put Tim, but if Tim
was a dad. Aw, Tim would make a really good dad.
I'd be a sick -ass dad. Tim would be the dad
that, like, he's like, they're like, let's go
on the roller coaster seven more times. And he'd
be like, okay, locking in. All right. Six? It'll
be six? Okay, let's do it. Okay. Everyone, let's
do the recap. Last time was Valora distracted
Melody and they went to a cafe where everything
was good before Melody arrived. And then the
entire nation attacked. The happiness went down
immediately. The woman named Rina. But meanwhile,
while we harassed Rina, Cole had to fight Melody's
brother, stepbrother, Charlie. And defeated him
with some help from Robin. And then, so he knows
that now, because of his sneak attack ability,
that everyone's going to think that Robin did
this, because no one will remember that Koala
was there. Fucking Robin. Who is disguised as
the Phantom. The Phantom of the Drama Club. That's
right. Tazai the Phantom. Actually, you know
what? I didn't realize he's very much like, what's
his name? The Phantom of the Opera movie. Who
plays him? Who's the Irish actor? I don't remember.
Danny DeVito? Yeah. The Irish actor Danny DeVito,
the most Italian mother. Stop going after me.
No one was guessing. I had to put one out there
to represent the people. Hold on. I'll find it.
Continue, Jenny. But yeah, so then Cole sabotaged
a bunch of Melody's stuff, like replacing potions
and sticking needles in her shoes. I stole the
potions, actually. Yeah. Oh, Timmy, you're supposed
to give me the list of potions. Um... Yeah. Later,
later. But... But yeah, so he sabotaged a bunch
of stuff. Meanwhile, Valora tried to get Melody
out of the cafe harassing the lady while they
waited for their stuff by getting a pup cup for
Phantom and ran into Quincy. And she dragged
Quincy in with her. And he reluctantly went along
with it. And then Melody got all serious and
was like, are you actually? betraying lucia like
are you actually on my side and valora lied to
her and said yep i like you we're best friends
and melody's like you're my first real friend
um she mentioned in her diary that cole found
that she doesn't actually love rod she's using
him and she also told valora that her other friends
are just tools and all this stuff and It's bad
she doesn't have anyone who's truly on her level
like Valora. And now she does. And then I went
to go. Melody just turned around and said bye
and left when she was done. And so we went to
go fly back to reconvene with Lucia. And cool.
My question is, is Melody like an actual textbook
narcissist? I think so, yeah. Or is she a sociopath?
Both. Both? I think both, maybe. Did you consider
that, one, she did it in heels, and two, that,
you know, she's just never had someone really
understand what it's like to be... Don't say
that so fucking tenderly with the music. I did
feel bad for her. At one point, I was like, damn,
she's just a product of her environment. And
then the more I listened, I'm like, no, she's
not. No, she's not. Oh, and Quincy gave me a
house coin that he stole, which didn't get explained,
but house coins. They make these coins with the
house insignia of the noble houses. And if they
were to give it away to someone, that person
or whoever gets the house coin down the line
can turn it in for a favor from the house. Which
is a really, really big deal. Especially from
a house like House Garvey, which works directly
for the king. And so... The fact that he stole
it and gave it to me is pretty powerful. Sad
music. I'm just thinking about Melody right now.
What she must be going through. And to render
a real quick correction on the jabber that was
occurring earlier. Sociopath or narcissist? Uh
-huh. Gorgeous sociopath. Gorgeous narcissist.
So both. Do you think, Melody, as she's walking
back home, maybe there's a little bit of, maybe
she pays somebody to, like, sprinkle, like, a
garden hose in the air so it's raining while
she's walking. Like, Sakura Blossoms, like, anime,
and she's, like, touching her hair behind her
ear. No, no, no. Like, she's walking home and
she's, like, she's in her emotions. She's, like,
I need somebody to, like, make it rain as I'm
walking so that way I can be, like, walking in
the rain while I cry just for, like, a minute.
And on terrible days. So I can show some vulnerability.
On on terrible days, the gel pad that she has,
like, pre -laid before her, she sinks on her
knees onto the gel pad and looks up at the air.
The gel pad! She's not gonna put her fucking
knees on the ground. Are you kidding me? That
hurts. The gel pad! She doesn't have skin on
her knees. That shit hurts. Melody occasionally...
I can't. I'd like to imagine Melody writes in
moments of vulnerability for herself. You know?
But she writes them, so they're not really vulnerability.
But, you know. She needs to show that vulnerability
that the judges are looking for. That's what
people cast you for. Oh my god, that's right.
She has my resume. Really impressive. Emma, have
you realized that this is just an Emma impersonation?
No! That's too mean! Too mean! No! No, no, no!
I wish, I wish I had Melody's delusion. What
a crazy way for anyone to find out what I really
think about Emma Romantico. Be like, yeah, Emma,
we love playing with you. Anyway, here's this
bitch. That's what I think about you. When I
think of Emma. I think of her. I think of narcissistic.
Gorgeous. I think of her. A pose on a heart locket
opens it up. It's Melody. It's a picture of Melody
falling down the fucking stairs. Thank you, Dragmire.
Thank you. I don't have the Delulu. I have a
different form of Delulu. My Delulu hopefully
does not impact the lives of others. Okay, everyone.
Self -contained, Delulu. Are we ready? Yes. We're
ready. I'm afraid I have to cut the banter short,
even though this is our longest banter, I think,
yet. Cool. You had just... You had just escaped
from... um the scene of whatever that was um
that whole cacophony of just chicagery just whatever
had happened the the things that you were cursed
to uh find out you would carry with you forever
um as you make your way outside it's gonna take
me like four baths to get this perfume It's designed
to stick with you forever. Melody's forever in
your mind. She doesn't carry around business
cards. Perfume does it for her. You're heading
back towards your rendezvous with Lucia? Yeah,
go back out the window, re -close it from behind.
Down in the darkness. Lucia, I will say that
during your... During your wait time, you heard
a bunch of noises from within the room. What
sounds like sounds of struggle. That sounds like
Robin's voice shouting obscenities. Robin? And
then you see Robin exit the room. Like, just
like, like, I assume you're hiding. Yeah. And
she also has her mask and her cloak on. And then...
So you're hiding? Yeah. Give me a stealth with
advantage. Hell yeah. You've been hiding for
a while. Yeah, I believe I helped her hide because
I had my scout leader thing, so I think I gave
her my result before, which was like 20 -something,
but that was when we first went in. So I'll roll
just in case. 11? With advantage. Oh, right.
It's advantage. Advantage. Advantage. Worse.
It's not even worse. So we're going to 9 -11.
Remember when we started this episode singing
the National Anthem? We had to go again, guys.
Three, two, I'm kidding. No, no, no, no, no.
We're already on a list somewhere. It's too late.
Yeah, the awesome list. No, we're not. Anyways.
So, you see Robin eventually leave. And as he
walks, as he's walking out, he just kind of like
looks in your general direction. It kind of,
like, squints. And you see he kind of, like,
makes it out for a second. You're, like, hiding.
You're, like, you're, like, it's, like, it would
have been better if you didn't have the bigger,
like, clothes and the mask. Cloak and fucking
white mask. She's wearing the same outfit that
I am. It kind of enlarges your outline. You're
wearing the same outfit as he sees you. He just
goes, like, wait, what the fuck? I just. How
did you do that? She slowly rises. And then he
just goes, wait. Phantom, again, thank you for
everything. I wish I knew your ways, but I want
to get out of here. Silent wave. And then he
walks away. And he just goes, I gotta take a
fucking bath. This shit sucks. Where the hell's
this glitter coming from? As he walks down the
stairs. So your identity is safe. She was scared
to speak. She had no fucking clue what was going
on. And then she's like looking for Cole. Tap,
tap on back of my shoulder. Body jumps like two
feet in the air. Cole, what the? And she pisses
up her... Mission complete. You did it? She says
quietly as she lifts up her mask. It was a lot,
and I'll tell you about it later. What the heck
is Robin doing? As she kind of follows after
you. He was, uh... Kidnapped. Don't worry about
it. What? Don't worry about it. He's safe now.
He was in there. He had already broken in. Why
was he breaking in? I don't know. He was doing
something in there. It's crazy. What? So Robin
tried to break in and he got capped. Okay. Yeah,
I guess so. Did you get anything good? Oh. I
got a lot, don't worry. Okay, all right. I hope
Valora's okay. And speaking of Valora, jumping
over to Valora, riding on top of Phantom, you
find your place to land at Irobrin. Quincy gets
off. He just goes, well, I assume you're up to
more of whatever you do, so. Yeah, I guess you
can technically say that. You want to come find
Lucia with me? And Cole? I just feel like if
I do that, I'm going to get caught up in the
typical things that you guys do. And is that
such a bad thing? I didn't say that. But I have
a book club to attend tonight. Alright, well.
Enjoy. Yeah, see you around. Oh, by the way.
They put up the postings. Postings? Yeah, for
your little tournament tomorrow. Saw your name
up there. Oh! Yeah. Oh, I'm excited. Yeah, go
take a look. Yeah. I'll be root - I'll be betting
for you. Good. You make some money. Alright,
see you around. And box away. Go to make sure
I can signal to Lucia and them that if they're
still in there, that Melody's coming back. And
we'll find them. Yeah, would she run into us
at this point? I would say that eventually, because
you guys established a place where we're going
to get together. Yeah. And if you didn't, we'll
say you did. You eventually find each other.
All right. We do not. Do we get out of our disguises?
That's a good question, did we? Or are we just
two freaks in cloaks? You see just two people
waddling down the street with giant billowing
cloaks. There's a difference between them. One
of them is covered in pink glitter. Glitter,
that's true. Oh, that's true. Yeah, no, I've
taken... Yeah, we're... Probably took them off
then put them in their bags. Yeah, but I will
say some of it... There's a part of you, Cole,
where you feel like a part of yourself was left
in there and it feels like... You've been marked.
People know that you've been into Melody's place.
It's very subtle. I think Lucia, when she tries
to talk to you, starts coughing a little bit
because the perfume is still so strong. It's
like how Hollister used to be. So you guys did
what you wanted to do? Yeah. I think we got what
we needed. And Cole also freed Robin? What? Wait,
what? Robin broke in. Why? He was like busting
the room up. It was crazy. Robin did? Why? I
don't really know. I think he has beef with Melody.
So... Where would he have beef with Melody from?
I don't know. Because he's a real stand -up guy,
and he knows she's been kind of mean to Lucia,
so I think he's just... He's kind of, you know...
But yeah, he was in there, and he was... I don't
even know what he was doing. He broke stuff and
made a whole business. Robin, that's not the
way to do it. Well, um... I am Melody's best
friend. What? Oh, wow. And she gave me some...
She gave me some gifts. Oh, I'm glad you're friends.
No, no, I'm just... I'll reveal to her that I
wasn't actually on her side at the Melody Bowl
or something. I don't know. Oh, no. So she's
gonna find out that you were lying to her? Yeah.
She really hates you, like, bad. Like, it's actually
alarming. Well, no, but, like, she really has
it out for you, Lucia. And did you know that
you were supposed to go to an interview today?
An interview for what? Well, okay, so there's
these posters up about... There's a poster nearby
for you, like, right there. And it says, on the
front, all it says is it's interviewing... Melody,
Fidelity, but if you look on the back... How
would anyone know to look on the back? This is
like... Yeah, it's like glued down. You can't
even get off the wall! Well, on the back, supposedly,
it says that Lucia will be there too. And now
she's telling everyone that you were too scared
to show up to the interview. Yeah, Lucia, it
says right here. It says what? Why'd you miss
it? Where was it? The time is clearly posted
right here. This poster shows Lucia drawn as
like a sack of potatoes. On the front, there's
this nice like minimalist art of like Melody
and all her glory on the back. It's like someone
else drew it. Is there a reason? I mean, like
I know I stood up to her technically, but I'm
sure a lot of people have done that. I don't
think as many people have done it as you think.
And also, I mean, this isn't the first time a
Melody Bowl thing has happened. So yeah, it has
happened. But I think she just feels really...
I think somehow she feels like the foundation
she stands on is really fragile. And she's worried
about you coming in and stealing her thunder
or something. I think you're like the caltrop
that's under her mattress that keeps her from
sleeping at night. You know what I mean? No,
I don't even know what that is. It's like a little
spike. Oh, wow. I saw Robin put one under her
mattress. It was crazy. Oh my gosh, Robin. Poor
Robin. He's gonna get him killed. He's gonna
get him killed. Poor guy. Oh, I did get some
intel though. um i asked her for more details
about the melody bowl and she showed me her song
um lyrics and um also she told me about the rounds
there's going to be the barbed wires the piranhas
the mechanical dragon um trebuchet with flaming
objects um that was some of it And she's been
making these bombs. She gave me one. Yeah, there
were a lot of bombs in there. Bombs? Yeah. Here.
She just cracks open her backpack to show you.
A whole bunch just like that. Oh, wait. Let me
take out the blanket. She throws the blanket
out. Yeah, don't worry. I kind of ruined all
the ones she got in there. So we don't have to
worry about the bombs at least. And you can use
this one against her if you want. I'm going to
die. No, you're not. You're not going to die.
I think I'm going to die. Someone's going to
die, but I don't think it's going to be you.
So I think it's fine. What? Well, I mean. I don't
want Melody to die. I mean, metaphorically speaking.
Oh, metaphorically. It might be Robin, actually.
Why would Robin die? Because he broke into her
room. No, Robin just needs a friend. We'll cover
for Robin. Yeah, yeah, we'll cover for Robin.
Oh, my gosh. Well, I really appreciate you guys
doing this. Also, he doesn't know I was in there,
so. Oh, he doesn't? No. Oh, he said something
about the Phantom. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't worry
about it. The Phantom was there, yeah. Was that?
No, the Phantom of the Drama Club was in there.
Oh. Oh, is that? Oh, you didn't tell him it was
you? Yeah, Defender of Justice and stuff here
on campus, you know what I mean? Interesting.
So you're like a superhero. Yeah, something like
that. What if the Phantom of the Drama Club win
in my place? You mean to the Melody Bowl? What
if you dress up as the Phantom of the Drama Club
and then you reveal it was you? Oh! Wait, wait,
yeah. So we do have matching things. We could
swap at some point during the competition. And
we could have the Phantom do various things throughout
the week, gain some notoriety, but then Melody,
you can't drag down your name because she doesn't
know it's you until you reveal it at the Melody
Bowl. And Cole could do all the physical stuff
that I can't do really well. Exactly. Yeah. Hmm.
It's technically cheating. And then we swap,
and then you whip your mask off at the end, and...
Think about it. It is cheating. Is it though?
I'll tell you this. It's like a showmanship in
the. Exactly. It's honestly, the main competition
of the melody bowl is being dramatic, right?
And what's more dramatic than ripping your mask
and your wig off at the last second and revealing
your true identity. People do like body doubles
on stage all the time, right? It's like a stunt
double. I'm sure she's got stunt doubles. That's
true. What is she going to do? Throw herself
down the stairs? No, she'd hire someone else
to do that. She's kind of experienced that. I
think she does her own stunts, actually. Well,
I don't know how I feel about it, but at the
same time, I mean, she's kind of... Cheating,
I guess. She's fully cheating. Every ounce of
the way. Oh, well. She had like a hammer. I mean,
look at this poster. The poster itself is cheating.
She put your invitation on the back. She had
like a dartboard with your picture on it. She
had. Wow. Yeah. She really doesn't like me. She
had like a training mannequin wearing like a
pink wig. And there were like knives stabbed
into it. I think she wants you dead. Listen,
Melody bugs me, but I don't ever want, I don't
want her hurt. I just think she needs to. Well,
no, exactly. So that's why we need to make sure
that you survive. This is an assassination attempt
on your life is what she's trying to do. And
I think we just need to, we're like security
guards kind of at this point. Yeah, basically.
Well, when you say it like that. Okay. I think
we'll be good. I would hate to ask you to do
that, Cole, because I don't want you to get hurt.
I'm not worried. You sure? Yeah, she had the
place booby -trapped and stuff, and I was fine.
Oh my gosh. She has her room booby -trapped?
Yeah, her room is booby -trapped. Lucia, knowing
what's ahead of you. Knowing the trials that
you have to face this coming Sunday, Sunday,
Sunday, this coming Sunday. Knowing the height
of the giant that you must overcome. You are
filled with determination. You get an inspiration
point. Me? I'm giving you an inspiration point.
Why? You're going to need it. And seeing your
friends come together to help you. Oh, it is
true. She's got good friends. She's very lucky.
I think I'm going to wear the I love Melody Fidelity
blanket in when I come with her. Because I bet
she'll ask me to be on her team. And then I'm
going to burn it. Oh, my God. Oh, like live in
front of the thing? Yeah. Look, it's horrible.
It's all it's bejeweled on both sides. That's
not very comfortable. That looks so heavy. It
is. You do notice, Valora, that, like, whatever
is not bejeweled on the inside, which is, like,
I would say 0 .1%, is cashmere. And this is,
like, it's, look, it's soft there, but that never
will touch your body. Huh. Did she? Did she put
jewels inside the blanket too? I feel like you
could swing this around and take somebody's like,
take someone out. It's like putting a rock in
a sock or something. Yeah, basically. Well, I
don't know. What if we like drop this on her
during the Melody Bowl? Melody still wants like
a part of the drama club. Maybe she can be like
the treasurer or something. And I will say. I
will say by this point. Just so people have a
grasp in character of time. Dinner's being served.
The sun's setting. Dinner's being served in the
mess hall at the moment. Just to give people
an idea of what time is it now in the world.
Oh shit, I have to go. Yeah, we should get out
of here. Put some distance because I get the
feeling in a few... Probably a few seconds if
she gets back soon. We're going to hear a really
loud scream, so we should just get going. Oh,
okay. I need to go to the vigil thing anyways.
Oh, a vigil for who? Well, not exactly. It's
the blue wolves are having just a quiet thing.
I bet you guys could come. Well, it sounds very
private. So just tell them we say hi. Yeah. On
cue, Koel, a small keet sort of like builds up
within your coat. You know what that means. You
have something all of a sudden that you need
to tend to. All right. Well... I just remembered
I got some things I got to do in preparation
for tomorrow. And also, I got to get some of
this glitter and perfume off. I need to take,
like, eight baths. So I'll see you guys later.
All right. Bye -bye. Thank you. Bye. And get
away from here. You don't want to get, you know,
caught at the scene of the crime. Okay, bye.
Bye -bye. And she'll just sprint off. You sprint
off. Valora, you're heading to the wake? Yes.
Okay. Well, you head off. I assume, too, it's
a private place? Mm -hmm. Does it take too long
to separate yourself from the crowds heading
towards the mess hall as you reach into your
coat and pull out a letter? As you read it, it
says, requesting your presence at the Apollyon,
which you know is an inn within Havan. And then
it says, new directive. directive. Kill the other
bad dad. Happy Father's Day. Are you heading
to school? Yeah. We'll switch over real quick
to Lucia. Lucia, as you dash off, being prepared
to handle anything else, maybe getting dinner,
as of on cue, you spot someone walking against
the crowd. And it's almost as if you're drawn
to pain. It's strange just how much it just stands
out to you in the crowd. But you see someone
with an expression furrowed brows. He has his
hand clutching his sort of like midsection. You
see Archibald walking down the steps. He's struggling.
He's walking with, currently he has a cane, a
walking stick that you haven't seen him hold
before. You do know that he's rather sickly.
Go up and go, Archie, are you okay? What happened?
You see he's taking a seated position on the
stair, taking a break as he sees you come up.
I'm okay. Clearly you're not. And she'll kneel
down and take off her satchel and start pulling
out little ointments and tinctures and stuff.
You don't have to do that. Well, I'm gonna anyway.
She starts to open up different jars, start to
mix together some different compounds and whatnot.
His resistance stops there. As you're focused
on your task, you don't catch sight of people
walking by and giving looks. As... You are focused
at the task at hand, quickly affixing your concoction
together. As he just goes, you're not finished
yet, but he already goes. Thank you. Yeah. You've
been very kind. Well, I could say the same to
you. And what is this exactly? This? Well, it's
a bit of creams. Well, first, well, I was just
going to try to help first. I assume there's
inflammation, she points to the cane. But then
I saw you clutching your midsection. What exactly?
Do you mind if I take a look? It's been healed,
but I suppose something got in the way of it
healing. Something magical? Yes. I received magical
healing for my wound. I received it during practice.
You got hurt during practice this bad? He puts
his hand up with confidence, showing you. There
is... A small bit of blood on his shirt. You
see that he's pulled his pants up a bit and tucked
his shirt down. But you do see at the hem of
his pants that there is a tear at his shirt.
But no active bleeding. And what he said was
right. There is no wound going on. There's no
active huge. like grievous thing but he's still
in pain it seems okay so you've already received
magical healing well at least i can help you
with some preventative stuff and she kind of
like dips her hand into um this uh uh you know
cream that smells of um Like, it's fresh and
it's very floral, almost like eucalyptus. And
she's gently going to, if he allows her, to rub
it on his wound and cast protection from poison.
Because what she's trying to do is prevent infection,
essentially. Prevent the wound from getting further
infected. And then after... Go ahead. Well, as
I was saying after that, she would say, like,
give a little healing. Well, he's already been
healed magically, but she'll give a little healing
word too, which is just like a soft prayer under
her breath. You do get, as you're progressing
and, of course, keeping your mind out for him,
you do feel the limit on his comfort is when
he kind of like puts a hand out for when you
reach out your hand. He instead skips the ointment
out of your hand and applies it himself. Mm -hmm.
And then allows the rest to happen magical -wise.
And you see he just goes to stand using the cane
for assistance again. The thing is, is when he
stands and when his clothes straightens out,
when everything is as he wants it to be, you
wouldn't be able to tell. You wouldn't be able
to tell that he's wounded or anything of his
clothes is... Anything of his clothes is, like,
out of place or anything. All right. I feel like
I have to do more to express my thanks, but...
I really don't have anything right now. You've
been tutoring me for free, and she's closing
up her jars and, you know... Putting them...
There's a jam jar that's out. Goes, oops. Puts
it back in her bag. Do you want this? Pulls out
the jam. I'm fine. Okay. Puts it back in. Starts
packing up the rest of them. As long as it wasn't
part of the medicine. The jam? No, that's just
a snack. I see. And you don't have to thank me
for tutoring. That's what I've done so far. I
feel like it's been something that should have
been done a long time ago. Yeah, well, listen.
That's what friends are for, right? We do things
we don't even know why. And she slings her bag,
you know, over her back. Well, first I consider
it a courtesy between retainers. I can see that
you want to do what's best for your leader, and
I have the ability to help. Well, I do have to
be off. There's something I have to attend. Yeah,
give everyone... Valora told me. Give everyone
my condolences. There's a moment of thought.
Where you see he confirmed he's thinking about
leaving. Before he just goes... Do you want to
come too? Oh. Well, she kind of looks around.
Would that be okay? You're a friend. Friends
are allowed. She smiled because he had started
off with saying, like, I wanted to help you because
there's a fellow retainer, right? And then he
goes, well, you're a friend. So she just nods.
And even though I feel like this is going to
fall to the wayside, considering the nature of
the advice, I would recommend that we leave.
We both leave at different times, so it doesn't
seem like you're going with me. If that's what
you're comfortable with. Thank you. It would
be nice to have you there. It would be nice to
be there. It's better to grieve together than
alone. And he simply always curt, always a little
curt with his dismissals. He just walks down
the stairs. And then he turns back. I haven't
said where it was at. It's in the Vonda Forest.
And then he walks away. Oh, okay. Didn't tell
you where. Anyway, enjoy. And then he walks off.
Aww. Little Archie. So you're gonna be making
your way there? Yeah, and I think as she makes
her way there, Um, she's going to find, uh, um,
you know, a patch of grass and quickly Druidcraft
some flowers. Um, she'll Druidcraft a bunch of
red poppies, uh, which, uh, symbolize, uh, remembrance
or respect for the fallen. Um, she'll sprinkle
in, um, a couple of, uh, lilies, which like represent
like purity. and uh rebirth uh and then she'll
so she's got these red flowers white and then
she'll like top it off with these tiny little
blue forget -me -nots um just to to convey that
like the dead will not be forgotten and then
as you're doing that again focused on your task
a voice that always seems to sneak up on you
suddenly oh my god what are you doing there Dad?
Oh. Whoa. Sorry, Aurier. Whoa. She kind of, like,
shakes her stupor. Just, whoa. For a second,
I thought you were Dad. You know, you sound nothing
like him. Deeply on your mind, I see. Yeah, I
was just missing him a little bit. That she's
like, you know, collecting the flowers into her
arms. I would say that this is some of the longest
stretches of times I haven't seen him as well.
It's okay. He must be busy. I mean, he's the
only Gulfie in the town. So. I was just coming
to check up on you. After our talk last night.
How are you feeling? I'm good. Just got invited
to a friend's place, so I was going to bring
some flowers. What's the occasion? They lost
someone. I'm sorry. I am too, but you know? That
you'll be a comforting presence to have. Yeah.
And I'm glad to hear that you have friends. I
do. It's really cool. I have really good friends
too, which is even wilder. Like, not only do
I have, like, friends where you're like, oh,
cool, let's go get breakfast. Like, that's great.
I was like, that was, like, the top, right? My
friends have even gone, like, above and beyond.
They're like, no, like, we're going to help you
because we care about you. That's wild. That's,
like, something you read about, you know? It
seems as if throughout your life you have a habit
of attracting fine people to you. I'm just really
blessed in that way. I was wondering... I don't
want to keep you for too long, but... Do you
have any other letters that you're thinking about
writing? Maybe I should write one to Dad. Checking
on him. because he left so quickly so yeah maybe
after this or maybe tomorrow can i give you a
letter for him you want me to help you with that
yeah that would be yeah that'll be that would
be really helpful just checking in on him see
if he's doing okay say that i miss him but it's
okay if he's busy and then maybe if there's like
a holiday he wants to come by on that we could
plan for just so that i can see him or i could
even go home because that might be easier She
smiles and nods and she just goes, Very well.
Do you want to say I wouldn't want to keep you
too late? You do have bed because it is a school
night. It is going to be a school day tomorrow.
Eight o 'clock in the courtyard of the church.
What time is the vigil? It's not before. It's
not my age. Okay, it's not gonna, I was like,
fuck, I need my fantasy schedule. I'll see you
then. Oh, and hold on. And she plucks one of
the forget -me -nots from her bouquet and extends
it to Aurier. Don't forget. He takes it from
you graciously, Jesus goes, you're so kind. I'm
just lucky. I won't forget. She waves. Unlike
you. She didn't say that. Unlike you, you dumb
bitch! As she walks off. Real quick. We're gonna
go back over to... Hello? Do I find the right
music first? I just realized I didn't even mean
to wear blue for blue wolves, but... Wait, me
too! And we're the two going to the vigil! And
Albert has a fox on it. And that's kind of like
a wolf. And that's kind of like Cole. Cole's
a little fox. A little fox guy. It's more I'm
wearing green. Green for the olive house. I'd
wear a scarf, but it's not right now. Yeah. Too
hot. Too hot. Okay. Cole. You. Make your way
towards Hafan, keeping a low profile as you make
your way towards the location detailed on the
letter. You make your way towards a much more
quieter and less populated... A little bit...
This place is a little bit more crowded. The
buildings are so... Haffan is so like purposely
designed, wide open, wide open streets, a huge
array of like colorful buildings with each with
like their distinct shapes. And, you know, it's
meant to be committed to memory. You feel like
you reach a more forgotten part of Haffan where
things were just built for function. Where if
you felt like you didn't come here with a purpose,
you did not know what any of these places would
do. The place of residence that you reach is
manned by a singular wooden outpost. You see
with a half -orc man simply just... Eyes glazed
over looking at a book. Boredom just decorates
his posture. He's in a uniform that is not straightened
out. There is no care for what his appearance
is. He regards you. And then that's it. He looks
back to his book. As you walk past him. You head
towards the room, allotted in. And you feel like
your presence is already known. As you spot a
shadow at the window, flit as soon as you...
Almost as if it reacts to you looking at it.
The shadow flits away from the window. And as
you reach... As it's ripped into your mere presence,
you see the door open up. Directly in front of
you, a half -elven young woman, scars, like old,
old scars decorating her face. You've seen her
before. The woman at the entangled basket shop
who served you your basket. who served Saga and
Valora their basket at the front. She regards
you with the flat regard of just, like, a reptile
as you just, like, professionally just, like,
walk in. There is nothing but, like, cold professionality
between the both of you as she closes the door
behind you. She just goes, follow me. She walks
past this, like, well -appointed sort of, like,
rundown room. Opens up, like, a trap door and
goes down a ladder. And as you follow along...
you begin to recognize the environment better.
As she goes down into this much colder stone
of room lit by a single torch, you see that there
is a circle drawn on the ground, which you realize
it is a traditional vanisher teleportation circle
meant for one -way travel. which we have seen
before on the stream. Laid out beneath candlelight,
she has herself a little setup where she's creating...
You see vials filled with viscous, thick -looking
liquids, which you recognize are poisons. Um,
and there is, there is a sort of, there is a
red sort of like ornate looking box. Uh, which
she immediately retrieves and hands it over to
you. You open it up to fine -looking, sharp,
black knives sit in it. I'll go ahead and share
to you what it is. But for the crowd, recall,
this is what you recognize as this is the standard
issue. This is what you should have had all along.
But, of course, going into Ira Brint, you had
to numb yourself down. You've had to come equipped
with... You've had to have something that would
go along with your story. But this, this is something
better fit for the things that you have, that
you've come here to do, your primary directive.
And she just goes, I have a secondary directive
assigned to me by the director. She pulls out
a small sphere and places it on a groove in the
ground. and she just goes i have another one
for you as well um i guess i'll follow through
the first one uh the first one the voice begins
to echo through um as a small as a small sort
of like captured illusion of a woman in robes
mask for for being anonymous sake. But you know
who she is. She goes, Agent, attend carefully.
You are hereby assigned a secondary directive.
Though let there be no doubt as to its significance.
You are to orchestrate the complete and utter
destruction of one Evania Everecho. Formerly
a court magistrate, now an irritant with illusions
of residual power. This is not a mission for
theatrics. It will be carried out with speed,
discretion, and finality. There will be no proclamation,
no trial. No ripples left in the pond. Should
the task falter, should incompetence, hesitation,
or sentimentality compromise its success, then
you will report to me, directly, in person. Dismissed.
And the illusion has a way. So that was a Vanya
Evarestra. That's the drow lady from down. Yes.
Okay. And what does it say she was? She was an
illusionist. What was it? A court magistrate.
Court magistrate. So to explain to you, she was
a court mage for the Anarian Empire. And now
she's here and obviously in over her head. Got
it. Got it. Okay. So, and then you have the one
in your hand. It plays. Same woman. Agent, I
have reviewed the report concerning the elimination
of Arnolda Lusardi. While he was not your primary
target, the removal of such a figure, strategically
aligned, if not formally affiliated, represents
a meaningful disruption to Lucia Lusardi's operational
support structure. You acted with discretion,
finality, and crucially, initiative. That is
not only commendable, it is correct. Lucia is
unstable, volatile. and ideologically unmoored.
Continue your efforts. Do not swoop in yet. And
remember, the primary directive, whenever the
time comes, is to capture her. Preferably whole,
but not necessarily intact. That would be all.
Damn. Calling my ass unstable. How fucking dare.
Is he wrong? Young! As you... As that registers
and it's finished, the two new daggers in your
hand, which you realize probably shouldn't be
seen around with, but it's just nicer to do things
with when you don't have to rely on discretion
in that regard. hear your fellow uh your fellow
operative goes i want your opinion on something
all right you see she heads over to a mannequin
or you see a pristine looking iron uniform is
on i know i did not receive instructions To infiltrate.
That is your... That is your avenue. But I had
figured... That perhaps I could... If ever...
Another tool to add to your chest. You see that
she puts... You see that she... Begins to put
it on. And as she does... Um... It's... You've
seen it before. Even you can do it. As... Her
body begins to like... morph and shift very subtly.
The scars fall away into just clean, textured
skin, orange hair. She eventually picks up a
little wyvern hairpin, puts it on her hair. Valora
Avanlea. Any trick? She tries to speak in her
voice. I was wondering if you have any criticisms
for how this looks. I've been studying her for
a while now. You're being infiltrated. No! You're
standing a little bit... Well, you're standing
a little bit too straight, honestly. She's a
little bit more relaxed. She may be a noble,
but she... Well, Lara may be a noble, but she's...
She's not uppity. Understood. Hmm. I can tell
from the company that she gives. Um... The form
reverts quickly. Um... She just goes. Do you
have any other business for the night? Did Valora
say where this vigil was? I don't think so. She
didn't give any information? No, she didn't mention
it because she didn't even know until Archie
turned around and was like, by the way! I might
have said in the woods earlier when I mentioned
it the first time. I need to do a little bit
more digging on it, but, uh... We're not the
only Vanishers here on campus. There's another.
Maybe more than one. What the fuck? Who else?
Allies or foe? Foe. Is it Tamsin? Melody? I see.
I don't think they necessarily know we're here,
but, uh... Let's say more traitor than outright
enemy. Traitor. She says that with venom. I see.
I act only on your command. Tell me whatever
I need to do. I'll do a little bit more digging
first before we go. I wanted you to come here
because I was also requesting... Let's see if
I can request your assistance in the Avanya directive.
Sure. I am not familiar with where this Avanya
is located, and I must... I wanted to prompt
you. Well, I've already told the director. I
assumed the message got passed, but I guess not.
There's a... Underground place. I was hoping
if you would guide me there for a brief moment.
Sure. I know of two entrances. One's a little
bit more guarded than the other, so... Do you
like mushrooms? The silence is actually her thinking
about what you're trying to say, if it's code
or something. For what you know about Kira, she
is so professional and straightforward. And the
fact that you're the one in command is kind of
throwing her a bit. Here she goes. Mushrooms.
Do you have an allergy or something? No. Good.
One of the entrances is guarded by a bunch of
them. Easy to cut, I presume? Easy enough. Easy
to cut, easy to cook. They do punch back, though.
I did see that in your report, yes. The other
entrance is... It has a more normal support.
Less guard. I don't think people are expecting
it. It's behind a waterfall. I can show you.
You have a map? Yes. I'll mark on the map where
that entrance was. The underground. And I believe
I took detailed notes on what the guard situation
was there. Very helpful for her. She looks it
over. Understood. She begins carving it down.
The people in there, um, they're not all related
to Avania. They're, uh, I believe the school
here knows about them being under there, especially,
uh, one Eric Avanlea. Yes. So, uh, if we're gonna
do something, gotta keep it quiet. The director
also expressed interest in that regard, but...
I'm sure she did. Has not offered any directive
in that matter. Another inquiry. What is this
melody bowl? It'd be easier to ask what isn't
the Melody Bowl. Long story. A threat to our
Prime Directive, I guess you'd say. I see. Is
there any action that I can take? You know how
to bake? Yes. And you have a lot more of those
flowers, right? I do. Wonderful. I have some
ideas. Right, well... Let me ask you a quick
question. Has Coel ever wrote about the Melody
Bowl in any of his reports? Um... I. It's OK.
I don't think. No, because the Melody Bowl. Yesterday.
Yesterday morning is when. We didn't find out
about the Melody Bowl. Like the challenge happening
happened yesterday morning, right? Yeah. Yeah.
Arnalda died last night. On the same day we had
our meeting with Melody. The date, the theater,
everything was yesterday. A lot happened yesterday.
I don't know if the Melody Bowl was the most
pressing thing to write about last night. And
I haven't given my report for today. And you
feel like the director would not appreciate.
could extremely was detailed no i don't think
i think she needs to know exactly what's going
on i think i think the only thing that i would
say about melody fidelity like i i might give
i mean i didn't say anything in last night's
report it wasn't important um if I got any like
important blackmail, but I nothing that would
be relevant for the director. So no, I don't
think so. Okay. I don't think I said anything.
Why are we doing recaps? We just need Cole's
reports. Oh, that's a great idea. The recap is
now Cole's report. So like, hey, yeah, I killed
Arnalda, but the most important thing is there's
going to be this melody bowl next week. Hear
me out. Hear me out about the melody bowl. She
goes, In regards to your assistance with my inquiry,
can I have... When do you think is the best time
to perform this? For this Avania woman? Yes.
Well, right now, she doesn't know that, uh...
That the curse on Lucie is broken. So we need
to do it before she would find out. Otherwise
she'd try and snatch her up. Very well. So soon
then. Soon. And I suppose communicating in our
coded language is unheeded because of this extra
presence. This vanisher. I'd avoid using any
of the signals yet. Probably best to contact
me with someone you did. Very well. May I ask
who this person is? What their name is? You can't
hide it in chat because you're alone. So you
gotta say it. Cole is trying to decide whether
he actually wants to say it or not. Say it. Say
it. I'm not sure on his actual name yet. I'll
need to do a little bit dimmer digging. But I'll
get back to you on it. Very well. It's a man.
I'm lying about that. Also, I'm lying to her.
I know who it is. Deception check. Yeah. She
still say very well, but she is the insight check.
Yeah. Deception. This would be concealing emotions,
right? Say yes. 18. If it's a fail, I can use
my inspiration feature. Eight. Total. Okay. Very
well. Damn. On the way here, I don't know if
it's the same one. There may be more, like I
said. On the way here, I already wrote it in
my report, but there was another Vanisher over
in... What was the name of the place again? What
was that place called? Brindle... I think Brindle
Hill. Brindle Hill. Yes. Back in the events in
Brindle Hill. There was another Vanisher there.
Oh, yeah. We knew that, though. I'm keeping an
eye out for reports in regards to the identity
of that person. I don't think it's the same one.
Didn't seem like it was. They are still trying
to find the position of Octavius. Shall we then?
By the way, are you any good at chess? Or counting
eggs? Or trebuchets? We'll go over it later.
The answer to all of that is yes. She wants to
ask questions, but she knows better. She said
she's good at counting eggs. What can't you do,
Kira? Love it. Emma. It's Lucius. How do you
know? Remember when you found the mask in his
house? That's my bet. It's Lucius. And he's a
rogue vanisher? He's a monk. I know. No, no,
no. I mean, like, he's a rogue. Like, he's gone
off. Oh, yeah. I think he would be. I don't know,
though. This is just my guess. This is not 100%.
This is my guess. That'd be luscious. As you
make your way off with Kier, ready for your first,
like, secondary operation. Official operation.
Within Irobrin. We switch over. To Valora. What's
up? Melody is a vanisher. Melody is a vanisher.
Melody the vanisher. In my mind I was like. How
dare you. Melody would not want to vanish. She
wants to stay in presence. But honestly. The
best cover though. People are like, that's the
last person. That's the Vanisher. There's no
place that's darkest than in the shadow of a
spotlight. It was Melody all along. It was I.
Melody and Fidelity. Valora. You step into the
forest clearing. You already know whatever, what
the event was. You're already drawn to it because
you already see the small smokestack rising into
the air. As you step into the small forest clearing,
quiet and secluded beneath these tall, tall brooding
pines. Um, you see that you are greeted with
the sight of a bonfire burning at the center.
Um, it's tall and controlled. Um, and you can
see that there's, people are still gathering,
you see. Around it sits, um, you see a group
of, you see a group of students, but you also
see among the ranks that there are knights. Knights
who are from Aurora. You would assume. No one
is speaking loudly. It's already a solemn affair.
Some folks are sitting with their heads bowed
towards the fire. Their heads hanging in just
sort of like a solemn silence at the moment.
You catch a few lost, people who look lost, who
are looking to the fire, and there's people supporting
each other. Each of them seems to be clutching
something. Of some regard, some small fits into
the palm of their hands, some are larger, some
are holding, like, necklaces or bracelets, some
sort of trinket or scrap of something. The first
person that you recognize is Skaan, the dragonborn
that fought alongside you in the skirmish, in
the house battle. You see that he is kneeling
in front of the fire, his forehead pressed against
the earth, just in deep silence. And you see
Fidelia. sitting on a log, writing something
down. She's just writing something down fiercely.
There seems to be some folks waiting around her.
As you come into view, people see you and then
you do hold people's looks. You're the only,
for right now, you are the only person That doesn't
seem to be from Aurora or a blue wolf here. She
just tries to be respectful and not draw a lot
of attention like she sometimes tends to. And
give space, but also be there, be present. And
Phantom keep... keep phantom around the outskirts
a young man with sharp eyes presumably a first
year um uh black hair tied up in like a like
a spiky like ponytail uh pale skin kind of like
starts making his way up to you And he just speaks
very sharply, just goes, Were you invited here?
I was. This is no roaring affair. I... I wanted
to support you all if I could. Make a persuasion
check for me. Could you imagine if you were like,
make a deception? She's lying. I hate them. I
have disadvantage because I still have strife.
Unless this person is a lower level than me.
No. Okay. Uh, 15. That just succeeds. Well, in
that case, keep your distance. She nods. Um.
There is a very unfriendly prickliness to him,
but that could be excused for now. As he sort
of just walks away. She doesn't blame anyone
right now. You see Fidelia catches sight of you
for a second and she does a double take. She
gathers her papers up. and makes her way towards
you. She just goes, she just goes, Avelia. Hi.
There's a sort of like, you haven't spoke with
her much. There's a warmness to her immediately.
Seeing you there, it's a flip -flop from the
last person who did not want you there. You see
that very visibly, Fidelia sees you and is like,
really happy and, like, glad that you're there.
And even though you're not too familiar with
her, she comes in, and you see that her, like,
posture already comes in with, like, she's coming
in with, like, a very small, like, one -armed
hug. It's good to see you. It's good to see you,
too. I know it may seem like an exclusive affair,
what's happening right now, but... It does mean
a lot to people that you are here. I'm glad.
I... I can only imagine what it's like... The
past day. Um... Well... Imagining it would be
an unkindness that I wouldn't want you to go
through, but... It is nice to know that there
is someone out there that can hear us. Here.
She gives you one of the pieces of paper. She
looks at it. It is a... What seems to be like...
A sheet of like... like of like lyrics but words
you don't recognize um it seems elvish in nature
but she has she has gone ahead and written fun
like a phonetic spelling of it like beneath the
words there are many aurorans here who don't
know um they don't speak in the eskavar dialect
of of Elvish, but they wanted to come to show
respect anyways. So, I was looking to see if
I could help people with this. Thank you. That's
really thoughtful that you prepared that for
everybody. I don't have much, so feel free to
share. And thank you again. Um... And she just
goes, yeah, come sit with me by the fire. I would
love to. Um, she walks. Um, there's just so much
like she's hiding. Um, you remember reading in
the reports that whatever had happened had happened
in her house's region and had, there was like.
direct things that was going on within her uh
with within her like her mom which the lord of
the house so as far as hiding things it's really
impressive for her noble noble training um as
you as you come to um she as she sits and you
moving along with fidelia There seems to be,
you feel as if her presence adds some, takes
away some friction from your presence. And you
see she greets the others with a smile. She goes,
this is Flora Avanlea. And there seems to be
like some more like, it immediately feels like,
okay, not everybody doesn't want me here. But
that individual who dressed you earlier still...
Can I dress you with a side glance? Like a glare?
That's fine. Don't bother her. I'm here for Vesper.
So... She goes, We're having a fire tonight.
It's customary. Typically, it happens at the
end of every year before the grand dawn break.
We would hold a fire within our community. And
to grant good fortunes upon us and everyone that
we love, we would throw something of great significance
to us into the fire. The more significance it
has. It is said that the more luck, the more
fortune it would bring. I see. I think because
she didn't come prepared for that. But she wants
to take part. She says that. Uh, heads turn,
Archibald walks into the mix. And then you see
the boy who addressed you earlier, the sharp
eyed man, young man just goes, you're here. And
then Archibald just goes, of course, I wasn't
going to miss this. walks over and then behind,
maintaining some distance, but coming behind,
another person walks in. It's Lucia. Oh, Lucia.
She's got her arm full of flowers. Maybe some
are kind of like falling out as she, you know,
comes up. She goes, Hi, Valora! Tries waves with
her elbow. You see as she comes in, With the
flowers. Fidelia just kind of like smiles, just
kind of like looks at you, just goes, Oh, did
you tell her? Well, I did, but I thought you
said you weren't going to come. Well, Archie
invited me. Oh. So I felt like with the personal
invitation, I felt like that was okay. Hope you
don't mind. Of course I don't mind, but. And
Fidelia's been very prepared. She shows Lucia
the paper, even though she knows you can't really
read it. But she's like, she prepared these for
everybody to sing along. Oh, that's a great idea.
Also, good to see you again. Because I think
Fidelia and her fought at the... At the mock
battle? At the mock battle. And she's with you
some of the time. She was with you very briefly
during one of the tutor sections. That's right.
She's very nice. As she just goes, here, come,
sit over here. She makes some space for you.
She still has her giant bundle of flowers in
her arms. She goes, is there somewhere I can
put these? You can go ahead and place that. Just
put that in a pile. Like, anywhere you want.
It's nice of you to bring flowers. It's very
significant to us. Oh, is it? You didn't know?
She blinks in confusion. Well, I mean, the flowers
have a language of their own, but is there something
specific with them? That's true. That's extremely
true, yes. She's kind of like... She's kind of
like laughing at that a little bit, and you don't
know why. She kind of like side -eyes Valora,
like... What do these ones mean? Oh, each of
these? Yeah. Well, the poppies are for remembrance.
the lilies and she's pointing each one the lilies
are for those who have left us and of course
the forget -me -nots and she picks up the little
blue ones and kind of swivels them around so
that memories will be live on in you um another
a girl who is a girl a blue wolf girl who was
kneeling and but paying attention to you um through
this you see that Um, like, you again, Lucy,
are focused, but, like, there's genuine, like,
levity. You get the sense that there is, like,
this overwhelming, like, actual, like, feeling
of significance that you achieved that you didn't
know about when you brought these flowers. What
the fuck did she do? Because, like, you did something
of significance, and you feel people are, like,
actually pretty happy with that as you come in
with it. Um, this kneeling girl, um... who uh
who's who's kneeling alongside another girl they
seem to be like twins but the two of them have
like uh appearances differ in some way um sort
of like long like bright blonde hair tied neatly
he just reaches for one of the forget -me -nots
um and he just goes this flower is the one that
my my mom says that mom gave dad looks towards
the other uh girl and the other girl just nods
um and she just and she just looks at you she's
with a smile she goes really you didn't know
that says every auroran speaks in a language
of flowers the flowers are extremely significant
to us that every auroran plants a garden she
literally looks around she goes you plant a garden
Specifically. People are kind of. Is this true?
Are you making this up, Tim? No, this is true.
Yeah. This is in the lore? Yes. Valora knows
this too. Yes. Oh my God. She was like, oh, what
a great idea. The player and the character just
fucking stumbled into this. This is flower field
for Aurorans. Like, they plant flower fields.
They plant one for every single, like, person
that they love currently. And they have one for
they lost. Wait, that's so cute. Nobles have
huge, like, flower fields for family, for everything.
They keep the connections. That's so sweet. I
didn't know that. It's really significant to
them because, like, it's the winter, so it's
hard to keep them alive. But they do it because
they maintain that connection. And the people
have duels on flower fields, too. That's wild.
Yo. So the fact that you brought all these flowers,
everyone's like, oh, you didn't even know. She's
just like, it's just something you do. And then
your, you see that your gift, like it completely
just initiates a dialogue immediately. Someone,
people pointing flowers. Oh, this one, this flower
means to me, this flower represents. um this
flower represents my my baby brother things like
that as they kind of like point this color represents
you assign people to the flowers of course memories
everything she starts crying it is it is said
that the only time that someone ever dies a true
death is when a memory of them is When all memories
of them is forgotten. When their name is forgotten.
So we in Aurora, we are a society of immortality.
We ensure that everyone is remembered through
and through. It's true. Because also our loved
ones live on through us as well. Are you sure
you don't know? I have no idea. She says, and
she's like, I think she's arranging the flowers
in like a, you know, she's finding somewhere
to, you know, arrange it around, you know, find
somewhere for them to, I don't know, be on display
or somewhere that's not going to be in the way
of people crunching on them. She didn't know,
but I think you understand a lot of these things
kind of in a different way. You know? Where...
You don't necessarily have to know about a tradition
to understand the meaning behind where it derives.
And it kind of ends up working out. Same thing
with faith. Beautifully spoken. My name is Lailani
Pasinodo. And I'm going to be your opponent for
tomorrow. Oh! Oh boy! Well, I'm Lucia. Me and
that prickly guy over there gestures towards
the unfriendly young man from earlier. He's a
sweetheart. Don't take anything he says too personally.
And don't tell him I said this because he's going
to act all grumpy towards me. Well, hold on.
And she'll pick up She'll pick up one of each
flower from the bouquet she's arranged and, you
know, go over to the, is he sitting by himself?
Yeah, his arm crossed. He's standing in front
of the fire. He's probably very hot right now,
but he's trying to act really cool. She'll go,
she'll clear her throat. Hello. There's a chill
immediately. His eyes are so sharp as he just
looks at you. Over her head. I wanted to see
if you would like a flower, or if there's one
that has significance to you, I could quickly
grow it. Which flower did you offer? She brought
all three, so he could pick. He looks. He seems,
he just seems so angry just as by his nature.
But seeing the offering of flowers, he's just
disarmed. He just reaches towards a poppy and
picks it up. And you see as he just, he kind
of like finagles like some kind of like the color
of his shirt from under his coat. And you see
he already has a bunch of flowers like on his
lapel, like pinned. And he just assigns that
as a spot. Do I get to see what the other ones
are? The other flowers? Yes, damn. I have my
notes right here. Did you write it down? That's
impressive. Tomorrow you're going to beat him
up. I'm going to use it against him. No, I'm
kidding. Okay, you see that he has an anemone?
A large one and an orchid. Hold on. Anemone.
Anemone. Anemone. And an orchid, you said. Because
Lucia would know this. She kind of peeks over
and says, Oh, well, I know that one. I can't
pronounce it because I always mess it up, but
it's kind of like anticipation. It means like
the arrival of spring and something good's coming.
It's what my mother assigned to me. That's your
flower? Yes. Oh. So you must be, you know, very...
Someone who's very, like, anticipatory and excited
and, you know, ready to go and protective. He,
straight up, does not know what to do with you
at this moment. I wanted to judge you, but she
won't shut the fuck up. It's been a constant
thing where you come across the unfriendly types.
There's like, okay, well, I don't want to be
in. Jerk. But also tell this bitch to leave.
She goes, I don't have a flower, but my personal
favorite, I love cherry blossoms. You know, sometimes
they mean like renewal and hope and they don't
really live long. They kind of have short lives,
but they're beautiful when they do. So like to
like treasure the little moments, I guess. I'll
do that. You should return to your friends. It
seemed like they want you over there. Yeah, do
you want to come with us? I'm fine. Okay, it
just seems like you're a little hot over here.
This fire is nothing compared to the fire that
burns within me. This is so fucking itchy. I'm
sorry, but he said that seriously. He'd be friends
with Lucio. I was like, so Lucio -coded. She
nods. I'll let you feel that fire in your own
time. While Lucio was talking to him, I think
Valora listens just a little bit from afar, but
She kind of, she looks at Fidelia and she just
goes, isn't she amazing? She has a lot of heart.
I really admire her for that. I think she connects
with people because she's always just so genuine.
Yes, exactly. And that's naturally going to connect
with anyone. I see a lot of Vesper in her, actually.
In that regard. I can see that too. Well, I don't
know Vesper that well yet. Well, I've only known
Lucia a little bit longer, but... I'd say Vesper
is much... They have a lot more in common than
you think. Not that I know Lucia much, but...
Vesper was a very quiet... Was a very quiet child
before. He would hide. He would hide whenever
we would attend things together when we were
young. And when they spoke, they spoke very briefly.
But despite everything, despite them seemingly
not being up to everyone else's parameters, there
was an instant connection that you felt with
them because They were genuine. And believe it
or not, it's a commodity that a lot of people
seek and don't get. It's... I think it's something
that's hard for most of us. It seems like something
that comes very naturally to them. Yes. That's
not true. Valora's very genuine! This goes. Maybe
experiencing life that we've had, hardships that
we've faced, and everything that we've had to
come up to terms with. Maybe we've had to harden,
in my case, I think I've had to harden myself
to expect lies, to maybe wield it on my own.
Vesper didn't have that. They just live love
truthfully. I guess I can see where that's probably
the same for her. Take comfort in the fact that
despite everything going on right now, we, all
of us, here, We know that you are our allies.
We'll do everything we can to protect you. I
feel as though I should be saying that to you.
You don't have to. That's inferred. Your presence
here already speaks that to us. Well, I'm glad.
Something... A presence... As people are... gathering
more and more blue wolves and you see a smattering
of other houses as well people being invited
um lucia seemed to be the first one to bring
an assortment of flowers uh but you see us begin
coming in people bring in their own personal
um small bouquets of flowers people are gather
people gather around and they begin to like place
them on as the gathering sort of like continues
to amass, but it still maintains a bit of quietude
to it. You feel a sudden spike, like a presence
nearby. As if, and it kind of makes you jump
a little bit, but as you turn, it's Vesper. They're
just there. Oh, Vesper. As always, it's good
to see you. It's good to see you too. Thank you
for inviting me. Thank you for coming. She sees
Lucia and their smile grows a bit wider. They
just go, should I explain to you? I understand
you will travel, but I'm not sure if anyone has
ever told you about specific Eskavar traditions.
We're going to sing our plane song tonight. I've
heard a little bit about that. I would love any
explanations, though. They begin to go into it.
Most of what you heard about Fidelia already.
Your performing will usually be at the end of
the year or this bonfire would basically act
as like, okay, we need a prayer. We want good
fortunes now. And so that's basically what Fidelia
has explained to you. People wear flowers of...
who they think represent or for themselves who
who should the good fortune go to um and you
see people are beginning to like head up to the
fire to put things in there um all kinds of assortment
of items uh from small knickknacks you see the
man the young man from earlier whom you learn
his name is antonello uh He goes ahead and pulls
out a completely sheathed short sword. And he
just throws the whole thing in there. Into the
fire. Laura knows what to do. I think purely
because... I don't think she would normally part
with it. But... The way things have been and
the stress of just the past 24 hours, too. And
everything. I think she'll take her earring that
has the phantom's first baby tooth. No! What
the fuck? No! I don't like that. And she'll offer
that. No. It has a lot of love in it, too. Sad.
It's in the art. No. No. But it's just, I think,
ever since she found out what the tradition was,
and she didn't come prepared to give anything,
but I think she ends up realizing that, well,
of course, only something she wears on her all
the time is important enough. To achieve what.
What they're all. Praying for to achieve. And.
Even though she's. Sad to part with it. She does.
I think Lucia will see that. And start to immediately
go through her bag. It's all. Like, you know,
sentimental. But you do feel as if the fire flares
at your offering. As this thing that you have
worn, that you have so much sentimentality towards,
is taken by fire and becomes a black outline
within the flames. It almost as if it accepts
it with... and recognizes just how important
this is to you, how much it means to you. When
Valora comes back, Lucia goes, Valora, what did
you put in the fire? What are we supposed to
put in? Well, basically, it's kind of like a
prayer giving up something important to you.
And the more important it is, the more good fortune
it's supposed to bring. And obviously with this
event, there's a lot of will going towards everything
with the Esquivarians and everything worsening,
so... That was Phantom's first baby tooth, actually.
Aww. So it needs to be something pretty powerful
then, huh? That's what I think. Personally. And
she'll reach into her pocket and pull out the
pocket watch her dad gave her. Aww. And she goes,
He can always give me another one. No! Yeah,
Laura, who has her own suspicions, she doesn't
think he's dead yet, but she thinks something
weird's going on. She nods a bit. You did this
to me. You've made me into the monster I am!
And, um, she'll go up to the fire and, you know,
give a little kiss on it. You know, this is how
we met, too. At a fire? Well, no, the... Oh!
Your pocket watch. That's right. Oh my gosh,
it feels like forever ago. I know so much has
happened. Well, not only is it a gift from my
dad, but it was the first sign of friendship
between the house leader and her retainer. Me
and my friend. The both of you, as you offer
up this gift of sentimentality, who in your mind,
you can name three, two or one, the amount of
significance, you know, it becomes more when
if the less names there are, but who do you want
to give all this luck to? You can give you can
give it to an idea to a people. That's completely
fine. But if there's anything of any one person
of significance, any specific people, let me
know. Or don't. You don't have to. Yes, it's
like broadly the Escavarians, but I think Felora
is mostly thinking of Vesper and Lucia. Especially
with Lucia, while she watches Lucia with the
second. I think she was thinking, of Vesper specifically
when she gave hers, but her mind has shifted
a lot to Lucia, knowing what she knows, not knowing
what she doesn't know and being scared of it
and being very, very worried for Lucia. I think
it's primarily Vesper and Lucia on her mind now.
Yeah, I think Lucia's thinking just like of the
blue wolves as an entity. Yes. And then... Archie
in particular. Because he would have never asked
for anything. So in her head, she's like, well,
he's never going to ask for it. So I'll just
give all that to him. Okay. Am I back on? I think
we're quiet. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. And
I think Valora doesn't, I mean, sorry, Lucy doesn't
think of Valora because in her head she's like,
we'll be friends no matter what, right? She feels
very confident in their friendship. Heck yeah.
Fuck yeah. Except when this fucking doppelganger
pulls up. The two of you. Whoa, whoa. Hey, don't
do this to me. Now I'm blessing Timmy's microphone
abilities. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. So
in the meantime, let me tell you about EN Publishing.
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It's better. It is just better, especially if
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what? Buy your dad something too. Buy your dad
from EN Publishing. Happy Father's Day from EN
Publishing. Albert, you get the special sponsorship
die for this session. Yay! I thought people knew
about this. I don't know why people weren't reading
the sponsorship. Is it true? If we have a good
plug for the sponsorship, we get inspiration
or something? You get a free natural 20. What
the fuck? Oh, damn. I was like, damn, I'm going
to start writing up it right now. If you naturally
incorporate an ad in -game. Oh, wait. I like
this. Laura's like, Really, like, I feel so good
right now. I feel like I've practically leveled
up. I will say, I will say, we have been teasing
this since the beginning when Valora, one of
her first interactions was dealing with somebody
who wants to get a sponsorship from her. I'm
gonna make like a banner that people can hold
up in the audience during the melody Bowl and
it's like Okay There seems to be in this crowd
as the two of you are huddled within each other,
and you move towards, like, the presence of the
general blue wolves that you've always been around.
Fidelia, Vesper, and Archibald. Skaan, who is
normally so loud, is also quiet here. You watch
as... people are passing around fidelius papers
you see that they're they're looking down their
lips forming the words as uh people got a huddle
around uh paper um and you get the feeling as
everyone starts to stand up um that it's about
to begin lucia You've gone through phonics. Yeah.
So you're getting it. Heck yeah. And as you read
song, as you read song, as you read just the
phonetic spelling, you don't know what these
words mean. Though no one has sung yet. You feel
as if something begins to move through you. Clarity
sort of, like, unlocks in the mind. Thanks, Zidane.
As the wind blows through the area, as everyone
is quiet, Lucia... You are the first one to hear
a distant song. You and only you. And you know
it. You know it's not anybody here. The words
spoken, you know what they mean. You know how
significant they are. As... Trembling voices
start. Without prompt, without signal, a voice
begins low and steady. And others begin to join
in. Oh! As Valora tumbles forward. My thing has
been unstable this whole game for some reason.
Is it your phone or your camera? It's my phone,
which is my camera. as by this point whatever
you oh my god come on this is bad why is it doing
this to me okay because not enough people are
going to en publishing not enough people you
need to go right now if you want the show to
continue um it might be the wire it might be
the cord yeah oh gosh okay we'll see if i can
get through this yeah without You all begin.
My God. You all begin to join in. Give me one
second, guys. Is it your processing thing again?
Oh. That's given him problems before. It used
to be a lot more often. Is that the song? Could
you imagine if that was the song they start singing?
The song about you and Valora. Yeah. That's their
national anthem. But it's the tune. The words
are different, but the tune. It's the tune. It
would be a very anime moment. Like, Lucia, this
is our song. This is our song. Do you feel it?
Our hearts might be closer. Okay, let's try this
again. The two of you, from what you can muster,
join in. In this language that you don't... understand,
and that you're only speaking phonetically, you
feel it. It doesn't matter what the words literally
mean. You feel it coming from the people around
you. It builds slowly, like a tide rolling in.
Soft at first, as if the memory of the song was
buried under too much grief. But as the verse
rises, as do they. Voices gathering strength
one by one until the clearing rings with a single,
unified sound. The harmony is raw. It's not perfect.
It doesn't have to be. It's honest. People singing
with clenched jaws, some with cracked voices,
some barely louder than a whisper. And yet, They're
together. Cadence locked. Tone reverent. Grief
being shared. This is not... This is partially
grief for what had happened. But through this,
maybe, the two of you discover a much more sadder
truth. This is... Grief for what's going to happen
in the future. It's not joyful. It's not clean.
It's real. A storm of sorrow and pride held together
in song. Lucia. You feel, during this, everything
shifts around you. Usually when this happens,
you are to be revealed something. Some kind of
vision, whichever. But this time something is
different Do you want it or not you have a choice
do you want this vision or not Oh I think her
first instinct is to shy away from it because
every time she's got it, it's kind of been like
a slap in her face. But then she realizes that
there has been some power in having that information
as well. So I think she accepts it. This vision
does not come to you visually. You are to interpret
this, you feel. It's always been up to interpretation.
Is this one of those words? No. You feel this
song is so strong, this anthem currently lingering
within you. But you see the people around you
turn into outlines of themselves. The song continues.
It's sung. You hear disparate voices stretching
from afar. But you feel that with the passage
of time, the voices get quieter. And we have
spoken on the topic of what a true death is.
When the memory of everything is completely forgotten.
And despite the claim of being a society that
immortalizes one another, you feel the volume
of the song dies down. And it then grows into
a solitary voice. And then eventually, it is
quiet. One day, you feel, maybe if things go
on as they do, this song that you hear right
now. will be completely forgotten. I think under
her breath, she can't even help but she says,
They're gonna be wiped out. They're gonna kill
all of them. The voices still ring. But, Valora,
you're close enough. I think when she doesn't
necessarily hear the first part that much singing
along, and when she hears the second, she'll
just go to take her hand and squeeze a bit. Does
that kind of snap her out? Yes. If you wanted
to. Yeah. She's trying to just be comforting.
I think she doesn't necessarily realize you're
having a vision. As much as I think she might
realize that you... I think she thinks you might
be understanding the context of what's been happening.
Yeah. I think she'll squeeze her hand back and
Lucia falls silent and she turns to look at her
and you see that her eyes are just full of like
horror. She's just kind of I think she'll mouth
It'll be okay. Lucia slowly shakes her head and
mouths. Despite this, almost as if in rebellion,
direct rebellion to your statement, even though
no one's hearing you. As the song concludes,
a voice rings out. Skawn. Proud. proudly as one
as people begin to chant and a fever pitch has
hit as a chant breaks out unity absolute unity
that overshadows the two of you you the two of
you having this private moment on the outskirts
of this crowd as lucia shares to you This. Her
thoughts. You have. You see people gathered together.
United very strongly. And showcasing nothing
but love. But despite that. The fear on her face
continues. I think it's hard. Because I think
Valora knows it too. It's not going to be alright
for everyone. But she just keeps holding a hand
and joining the chant. Lucia, despite what you
know, despite despair, There is so much hope
around you. And you can't help but feel that
maybe that stokes something terrible. A terrible
feeling within you. And we're gonna go on break.
We'll see you all in ten minutes. I love happy
little vigils. We'll see you in ten minutes.
See you around. See you in ten minutes. And we're
back! And the rock gets... I am so sorry to the
people on the podcast. You're welcome to the
people on the podcast. So is Melody Fidelity
singing the Anor National Anthem before the Melody
Bowl? My heart goes out to you. Thoughts and
prayers. My country, tis of thee. And make sure
to vote for me. I will say in the Melody Bowl,
the people, the audience chooses who wins. for
each one. Oh. So we're just going to pay people.
I have money to pay people from a fond to come
and vote for you. Jenny, you can't. You can't
do that. I'm just going to rig the voting box.
Rig the voting box. Or is it like a cheer? Cheer
if you want so and so. And then she's going to
be like, cast silence. Cast silence. Let's write
me. Well, mine sounded louder. It's louder, definitely
louder. Silence is not allowed at the Melody
Bowl, according to the rules. Oh, true. Actually,
you can't cast silence at Melody, is the rule.
Oh. I think we're going to learn a lot about
voter suppression at the Melody Bowl. Very topical.
Very topical. Alright. We left off on a pretty
happy chipper. Really happy. I love. And the
rock gets red glare. Yeah. Okay. Valora. Valora
Lucia. Now comes the moment in this wake where
you feel as if it's personal moments between
people talking with one another. And you see
that some individuals are leaving, so that could
prompt you to like, okay, it's okay to leave
now. But a few people are remaining. Vesper comes
over, not detecting the dread at the moment,
but comes to you both, their eyes a bit puffy.
They go ahead and reach their hands out towards
either of you. She hugs them again. They hug
you back. And says it's loud enough for Lucy
to hear. Even though everything, it feels shrap.
I feel an optimism for us. Thank you for coming.
I... I don't know how to help these people. I've
never been taught how. But I'm trying my best.
I don't think anyone knows how. But... We all
have to do the best we can. Thank you. Again.
I have thanked you an endless amount of times
already. But... Thank you, Dawnheart. Thank you.
My elvish name is Loveno. Which, you know Valora.
The sharing of they're given a common name and
an elvish name. The elvish name is reserved for
those people who are close. It means you're married
now. Wedding bells are ringing. She goes, Loveno?
Loveno, yes. Lucia, not understanding the significance,
goes, And I'm Lucia. That's wonderful, yes. introducing
ourselves completely over her head. It's beautiful.
It suits you. Thank you. It means love from afar.
Aww. You're not gonna say, oh, if you know the
meaning, if you know why. If you what? If you
know why. I was like, you're like, oh, I was
like, ooh. Because it was love from afar is what
he said, right? Yes. Or what they said. Kind
of like a pining. Like someone's got a crush
on you, which may or may not be true. Oh, no.
Oh, no. Shuts you down immediately. Never mind.
Well, your love has always. Even in the short
time I've known you, it's always felt very close
to me. If someone were, though, to have feelings
for you, would you be receptive to them? Oh.
I don't know how to... I'm asking for a friend.
I don't know if anyone's ever loved me like that
before. I can assure you there is someone. That
really sounds quite exciting. She nods. Someone
to share and make memories with? I would love
that. Okay, I'll let them know. Damn it. I must
contend with this first. I know. I've always
had to contend with the idea of romance in my
life. I am the keeper of souls of my family.
And to Lucia, that's a concept that maybe you
wouldn't understand. What do you think? Love
is between two people who want to be together.
The end. You know, like marriage for alliances
is what? That doesn't sound right. They just
go. And being the keeper of souls, it has been
drilled into me the burden of continuing a bloodline.
Sorry. It's interesting. Do you have to do that,
Valora? I'm sure that's what would be preferred
by the ministry and whatnot, but my family's
never pressured me. But I'm sure with the amount
of love you give, it'll return to you in kind.
Yes, and help that comes in the form. The prosperity
of the Escovars. Oh. Me too. My mother knew.
Perhaps I was doomed to be a keeper of souls.
The moment I was born. I believe she named me
that because she wanted to know that she would
still love me even though she was so far away.
I think that's beautiful. But there's so much
place for love in this world. How can I not see
a future that's built entirely on love? Something
that transcends time and space. I should allow...
I've spoken the both of your ears off. It means
so much to us that you've come. I'm so glad to
be here. I have optimism. And... Valora, I believe
that there is some redemption that must occur
for our first duel. And it seems like we are
slotted against one another tomorrow in the second
round, because I am assuming already that you
are going to be victorious in the first. Oh!
Gotta go beat VP. We don't know. VP gonna be
coming out of fucking left field. Though, Robin
has assured me that he's going to kick my ass,
so... I know you will not allow that to happen.
Because it is me who is going to have to be kicking
thee your ass. It's me. Deal. Kick the your ass.
Well, I hope to see your best efforts. You will.
I'm going to kill you. Okay, maybe not that.
And then I will have to only love you from afar.
In the afterlife. Okay! They hug you again. She
hugs them. Was I scary? Very. You've got a terrifying
image. Scott, who was listening in the conference,
just goes, By the way, Vesper, because you're
my partner, it's not kick thee your ass, it's
kick your ass. You don't put the the. He's like,
if we're gonna at least be grammatically correct.
Well, if you're being that specific, then yeah,
technically, I guess. If you say it with enough
conviction, I think it won't matter, though.
Is that what happened? Is that what you think
what happened? Leader Vanga spoke with a conviction
when they said, kick the your ass. Wait, what?
Well, then I'm going to kick the your ass, too.
I've lost the plot. Because Vesper and I, we're
going to win. And I will have to watch you try.
Ooh, she's bantering. He gets so hyped up, he
jumps up and kicks his heels together. Oh boy.
That's a lot of enthusiasm. But I need to face
Lucia, so I need to get through a few rounds.
Wait, what do you mean? She turns. Well, I took
a peek at it on my way over, and if we both beat
two rounds, we're going against each other. Oh
my gosh. I'm gonna die. Vesper leans in. You're
not actually going to die. We'll see when we
get to the Melody Bowl. The Melody Bowl? I've
seen some posters about that. Yeah. And Archibald
just goes, it's a long story. And then you see
Vesper. Basically, you get like the goodbyes
and such. And you don't have to stick around.
It seems like whatever's happened between Vesper
and everyone else now seems personal. No, I'm
gonna butt in. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Visiting
hours are over. Fucking beat it, guys. Get the
fuck out! Goodbye! So you guys head out. In the
company of each other now. Once they have a distance
away that they can't be overheard, Lucia says
very softly to Valora. Valora, I don't know what
can be done, but we have to do something quick.
I saw something. Again? Again. I don't know what
to do. Because how things are going right now,
those people aren't going to be around much longer.
I want to do something, too. I need to... To
talk to my mom, or... I don't know, we'll...
We'll figure something out. And... Um... I don't
know that now's the time, but... I really need
to talk to you tomorrow. You can talk - Are you
okay? Yes, it's - Was it the melody stuff? No.
I - I - You shouldn't have had to - You shouldn't
have had to do that. It's not really about me.
I just - Everything that's happening, I don't
want to. Pile more onto you. Valora, I can -
You're my best friend. What's wrong? She kind
of looks around as they're walking away from
the forest. Phantom and Toe make sure she doesn't
feel like anyone's watching her or listening
to her. Does she notice anything? Anyone? Nearby?
I'll go ahead and give you a very confident...
You feel confident that no one's nearby. Just...
Lucia... I think what happened with Arnalda yesterday
was weird. You mean with Dad leaving? Yeah, I
mean, like, it's a little out of character, but...
He wouldn't have left you, would he? I mean...
If what was back home was super serious, and
he's the only gothy in the town... But it would
take him a while to get home. Yeah, I was...
And then you see that she kind of like... Laura,
am I... Did you know something? It's hard to
explain because I don't know anything for sure.
But... Logically, if he had left from the time
we saw him, then he wouldn't have been able to
get down the mountain in that time. And do you
really think he was traveling in the dark, alone,
without telling anyone where he went? Yeah. It
was a little weird. I... was suspicious. And
I ran into Aurier last night. And she was really
defensive about it. And she was really trying
to get me to go back to bed. She really wanted
me to not be out. And I kind of got in... I argued
with her a little bit. She was really trying
to get me off of things. And so I took Phantom
out. And I gave him some of the jam to sniff
to get Arnolda's scent. And we flew up and we
smelled. He tracked him all the way up to, through
the church. And then his scent just disappeared
on the balcony outside. The balcony? And I checked,
I woke up extra early this morning to, it's part
of why I'm so tired. We, with better daylight
to try to look off the cliffside. There's nothing.
It's like he just disappeared. Like he vanished?
Yeah. But, I mean, it's not 100 % reliable, but
if he had gone down the mountain, I think Phantom
could have picked that up. And even then, when
I told Aurier about it, Aurier agreed with me
that some of it seemed weird. And that she said
she would look into it. But she was trying to
get me to stop. Why didn't she tell me about
it? I should know about it. Well, that's why
I was asking you if she said anything to you.
No. Do you think... Now, hold on. Real quick.
Do I remember the vision I had where I saw, like,
Orie stabbing... I think it was Archie, right?
Yes, it was Archibald. Now that you come to mention
that, I did have a vision with her. On the battlefield.
Killing some of the blue wolves. Maybe... I don't
know, maybe Dad's trying to help or something
with the blue wolves and she's got it blocked
up somewhere. In the church. I should go check.
I also think, Lucia, I think we have to be really
careful. That's part of why I didn't tell you
earlier, because I don't know who's listening
or who's not. What? Who would be listening? Orie's
gone kind of rogue, it seems. I don't know. I
don't know if she has gone rogue, Lucia. I don't
know what the church wants. The church wouldn't
do that to my dad. Lucia, the curse. I... And...
You know, them down there also trying to talk
about changing our memories and making us forget
and stuff. I'm worried about... And even then,
she realized, she goes, Quincy told me. Today,
I ran into him. He told me that he felt like
something weird happened last night, too. But
he can't place his mind on it. He can't place
his mind on it like he hit his head? Well, yeah,
that's what he said, but he can't believe that
he fell out of a tree in the woods. And I don't
know. He can't remember what happened last night?
He can't. And it makes me worried about, I mean,
like, what if we figured something out and someone's
messed with our minds? How would we know? I feel
like a dune would tell me. I... But Quincy doesn't
have a god watching over them. So... We gotta
make sure that Quincy's okay. Why was... I should
go. I'll be really careful. Clearly there's something
at the church. There's something happening there.
I do want to investigate more there. Yeah, and
Aurier told me to meet her there tonight at 8
o 'clock. Really? What for? Really. Because I
wanted to write a letter to my dad and she said
she would help. But if she's got him trapped
under some, you know, some weird castle or whatever,
you know, like... Or in a dungeon... Maybe I
should... Maybe you should tag along. Maybe I
should... Sneak up there and try to... Yeah!
Yeah, Laura! I just think it's funny because
Cole did the same thing and got something better.
Maybe I can try and sneak around and look around
while you guys do that. But it's really important
that she doesn't find out that you might know
anything. Because obviously she hasn't told you
anything because she doesn't want you to know.
Okay, so I have to be fully, like, you don't
want me to try to dig for any information? Just
completely? I think you should, if you do, you
should be careful. I don't know if she can be
trusted. Oh boy. Okay. Hold on. Is it greater
restoration that restores memory, or is it lesser
restoration? Greater, I think. It's greater?
Oh, and because of a great... Not because of
a Discord message or anything. You know, Cole
said he thought he saw Quincy running around
last night. Running around where? I don't remember.
But, like, I don't think out in the woods unless
Cole was out in the woods. I mean, maybe we should
ask him. Ask Cole or Quincy? Cole, because I
think Quincy doesn't remember much from last
night. And, you know, I told you about the Pomeranian.
Right. Plus, Cole is very good at being sneaky,
so he might be able to watch with you too, or
help you at least. He helped me hide. That might
be a good idea. But, um, I also... So I ran into
Ori because... Basically, there was something
going on in the staff area yesterday. In the
faculty office. And my dad was there, and he
arcane locked the door. That doesn't sound good.
We managed to get in, but Aurier found us before
we got in deep enough to find out anything. And
there was this creepy guy with some robe going
around last night, and scarred face, and he was
really kind of hostile when he talked to me.
What the heck is going on? As you guys are...
Approaching our red and clocks start to come
into view. I will say it's still a decent amount
of stretch, but it's getting closer to when Lucy
has to meet Aurier. Okay. Why don't we do this?
I will go to the church and you will get Cole.
And I hate to bring you guys into this because
I think it's really dangerous, but if you could
just fill him in and then you guys follow. And
see if you can find anything. And I'll be really
careful, but I'll also see if I can do anything,
too. Okay. I'll try to find Cole. Oh, he was
going to get cleaned up, so he's probably at...
The Olive Tree house? Probably at his house,
so... I'll go there. And I'll meet you. Well,
hopefully you won't see me. Question. Zone of
truth wouldn't be able to bypass forgotten memories,
or would it? No. It is what the person perceives
to be true. Okay. Good idea, though. Damn. I'm
like, I've only got second level spells, guys.
All right. So, Lucia, you're heading up to the
church? Mm -hmm. As you make your way up to the
church, there is signage that says that accessible
hours has been reduced for the time being. So
it says the church closes at 7. And there's people
standing in front of the door. Well, I'm a cleric,
so... No, I'm kidding. I've got the executor.
What are the people outside doing? Are they just
milling about? They're just standing at the door.
There's two people standing at the front. They're
just talking to each other, but you can tell
they're people of cloth. Okay. They're just kind
of dealing with like, oh yeah, it's a new ruling
and people are probably going to come and we
have to tell them what's going on. Excuse me?
I believe I have a special pass. Kind of like
looks at you, just goes, what's, excuse me, who
are you? Oh, I think she got a little too confident
there. I'm Lucia Arnalda. I am a member of the
Silver Lions and a follower of a dude. And I
have a meeting here. Oh, right. He walks over
to the door. He just lifts it open. There you
go. Thank you. Oh, this is a beautiful church.
Yes. Because she's never seen it before. You've
definitely been here before. Oh, yeah. We went
here on the first day, right? We did? We went
inside it? Okay, never mind then. I take that
back. Reverse. And you were there last night,
right? No, but she wouldn't have remembered,
though, right? You went through there. Oh, she
did, to write her letter. Yeah, never mind, never
mind. You wrote that letter with Aurier there.
Right, with Aurier there. Right, got it, got
it, got it. As you walk in, the reverb, your
footsteps echo throughout the entirety of this
beautiful place. Despite Ori being saying she
would be in the courtyard. Do you see that she's...
She's, uh, squared in, like, one of the tables,
uh, directly placed against the side of, uh,
of the, uh, of this large building. She is just...
She's just sitting there, um, head down, see
her hands together. And, uh, as you approach,
it's almost like she knows you're there. It's
just the two of you. She looks at you with a
smile. Hello, Petal. Hey. Didn't mean to interrupt.
I can come back. No, it's quite fine. In fact...
In fact, why don't you join me? She'll sit down
next to her. She holds out her hand towards you.
The two of you have always prayed together. Yeah,
but now it's creepy. Now it's something different.
Lucia tries to disguise it as her tucking her
hair behind her ear, but she does pause a moment
before taking her hand. And she gracefully...
She's always so graceful in everything. It's
just... She's programmed. She's been so consistent
ever since you've known her. Head down. She begins
to pray. After a moment, together, she lets go
of your hand. And she just goes... And... How
was your gathering? Lovely. That's wonderful.
A lot of friends? Yes. Many. Legitimate material
to write your letter with? Yes. and she'll like
reach into her bag and pull out like her different
colored inks and uh because i feel like that's
how what's been helping her learn is she marks
up her stuff in like different colors um so she
brings out like all of these colored almost like
a little like um watercolor set you know um because
i have a little painter's kit in on my character
sheet then she brings out like a big pad of paper
okay Alright. Just as herself. She's like, she's
really into it. She just goes, You did very good
yesterday, even without my guidance. She kind
of like goes, Alright. So, do you want to start?
Okay. And she knows Valora was like, don't give
anything away. So she's like freaked internally.
She's freaked the fuck out. But she's, you know,
trying to cover it as like anxious about writing
a letter, right? She's trying to like hide that
anxiety is like, she's just nervous about writing
this letter. She goes, okay, but she is nervous
about writing this letter. She'll, you know,
dip a very, very thin paintbrush. Or maybe it's
like an ink pen into one of the colors. She'll
start with purple. And she'll write, Dear, but
D -E -E -R, Dad. She just goes, One moment. And
then begins to adjust. There's a moment where,
even though everything that Valor told you, It's
like, this is, this is Ori. Normal. Yeah. Yeah,
I've known her my whole life. Like, maybe, maybe
I'm, maybe I'm crazy kind of thing. She just,
and as she's going, as she's, as she's going
and she's looking over you with her usual guidance,
there comes a moment where she just goes. You
should have seen. You've known Arnold during
his later years, but... During his earlier...
During his early years, but way much before your
time... He was... He was... When he was filled
with so much more vigor, he was so much more...
People revered him. He was loved. He still is
loved. Oh, yes. Of course. But... I meant that
he was... He was thought of in different terms.
He's... He was famous? Yes. Wow! He has led a
much more quiet life. And he chose it with you.
What can I say? I've got the best dad. She dips
it back into the next ink. I... Lucia, may I
ask you something? Sure, Aria. And now she's
completely distracted. I think it's canon that
Lucia has ADHD because she went from writing
and then she's just been painting little flowers
on the edges of the paper now. Me as fuck. She
is ADHD coded. Absolutely, without question.
Just goes. Do you feel ready? If perhaps, one
day, if you were to be gone, would you feel ready
to lead your own life? Ready? No. No. No, Dad,
no. Dad and I have so much to do. I just got,
I just got here. I mean, maybe after I graduate,
if he wanted to retire or something. It was a
silly question to ask. It's okay. You've only
been a few weeks into your independence. And
I know I ask a lot of him, and like you said,
he did move on to a quieter life for me, it seems.
So it seems like he's had to sacrifice a lot
for me. And I want him to be happy, so... But
I'm also kind of selfish and... Nah, I'm not
ready for Dad to... retire somewhere or wherever
just yet. I bet he would want you by his side
if he were to. Yeah, which is why it's weird
that he left so quickly. What was that song that
he used to sing to you when you were rowdy and
he wanted to put you to bed? The winds have been
whispering... I believe it was something along
the lines of... Green by the grass, red by the
rose, make a... Wisdom saving throw with disadvantage.
This fucking bitch. This fucking bitch. This
is why we want to be there. Aren't you there?
We're trying to. God damn it. I thought you guys
were there already. All right. Add disadvantage.
That's a 16. You feel tired. Your head begins
to list as you feel all of a sudden the muscles
against your back, against this portion of your
back, tightens. And Ori goes, As all of a sudden...
Am I low? You're asleep. Fuck! This is why they
blocked it off. What the fuck? Gotta fix this.
We gotta fix these fucking curses. I did it already,
okay? And then Lucia had to get herself caught.
I fixed one. Cool. Hi. So, are you heading into
the housing district of Ivorbin to get into the
lower parts? Of the place helping here get there.
Oh, yeah. So I told her where the. The where
the I marked like it's behind this this. Waterfall,
I think that's probably easy enough to find without
me guiding her directly there. Yeah, I will guide
her to where where the the the little secret.
illusory wall is it's probably we probably walk
like you know a little not next to each other
like a like staggered kind of thing it's it's
so it's really funny because she she put she
puts on an apron she gets a basket and she's
and she's making a delivery into irobrin uh you
see that she is such big smiles such Such what
feels like genuine mirth and so happy to see
you. People recognize her. And then her face
just turns really flat the moment she's away
from anybody. Cold is the same thing. Jesus Christ.
You two are business. As you make your way past
your bungalow, preferably at a good distance
is the same time when Valora is approaching do
I spot her before she spots me um probably I'd
say yes I have a lower passive perception than
you okay um I had told her I was going back to
take a shower. Shit. Okay. On the door. Okay,
got it. Real quick. I'm going to just like pivot
and I'm going to the back to try and like go
in through my window. I will like kind of signal
to her that I'm going to have to wait a moment.
I'll be back. The door, as you try to get in,
the door opens at her knocking and you see Reinwald
at the bungalow door because it's a communal
living space. He goes, Evan Leia. Hi. Good to
see you. Is Cole around? Is he done with his
bath yet? Um... Let's see. No, he's not here
at the moment. At least from... Unless he's locked
himself in his room the whole day, but I doubt
it. I am changing feverishly as best I can into,
like, new clothes. You know, he's just locked
himself away. I wonder if he went to, like, the
hot springs instead or something. Are they even
open yet? Um... Didn't check. They're hot springs.
Yeah! We all got a day pass we haven't used yet.
Oh, that's right. I have a pass. Yeah, I haven't
gotten to go yet. Would you like mine? What?
You gotta go. You have to try it at least once.
Yes, it's just, um... Is it a solo, like, room
kind of ordeal? I don't think so, but, like...
Yes, okay. It'll be fun. I suppose something
for the future to hold. Excitement, in that regard.
But, no, I have not seen. Maybe he's in another
one of his late -night adventures. Oh yeah, does
he do that a lot? Well, recently... There was
another night where he hadn't returned. Uh...
Hmm. But he was there in the morning. I don't
question it. It's not my position. There was
that other night where he came back with... A
rather large mushroom cap. So, you know, nighttime
forager. She knows exactly where that's from.
You know, you go out and you forage. It was quite...
I will say it was quite delicious. Oh. Uh -huh.
Yeah, I bet. Well, um... Oh, darn it. I just...
I guess I'll go. It's no big deal. Thanks for
letting me know. I'm in my room, by the way.
I'm trying to listen by the door. I have taken
a water skin. I am pouring it on me so I'm wet.
I just got out of the shower, but maybe he didn't
notice. I'm putting on clothes and then I'm going
to accidentally spill a thing of ink onto my
uniform. Uh, and I'm gonna make, like, a sound,
like, ah! Ah! Like, and, like, things knock over
so that they can hear it, kind of, like, elsewhere.
Oh. Oh, perhaps I've... I've been mistaken. Oh,
he said he was gonna take a bath, and so I was
just saying it was done, but... A matter of my...
A matter of poor perception for me, it seems.
Are you so busy in there, friend? Yeah. I like
open the door. I'm like mostly dressed, but now
I have like ink just. Yeah. Sorry, I don't mean
to be. I don't mean to. I don't mean to be. I
don't mean to be roofed. Yeah. Were you writing
a letter in the bath? no i'm in my room like
okay okay but i'm still like like i look like
i like my hair is still like a little bit damp
like i finished taking a bath i just got redressed
but now i uh yeah i'll just i spilled a bottle
of ink on myself on accident um i'm just gonna
need a few um just uh have to get changed again
That damn perfume, it's not coming out. I'm going
to be honest. Oh, geez. Yeah, it's pretty strong.
Do you need a change of uniform? I can go to
the office. No, I think I have another one, but
yeah, sure. If you can, that'd be great. Yes,
no issue. I was wondering if you have a minute,
Paul. Yeah, sure, sure. I'll just shut the door,
lock it, come out. Hurry up! Covered in ink.
Yeah, how can I help? Ragnwald goes, leave the
two of you to your business then. Thanks, Ragnwald.
Of course. And excited for tomorrow. Yes. Victory
tomorrow. Yes. Absolutely. Watch out. So cool.
I don't know how much I can explain right now.
Uh -huh. But... Basically, Lucia is going up
to the church with Aurier, and... I don't know,
I just... I think... Aurier's being kind of weird
about what happened with Arnalda. I think she...
I don't think it's happening the way that, like...
She's claiming, and... Lucy and I had the idea
that maybe I should go sneak around and look
around in the church while she's there. And she
said that she thought you'd be really helpful
for that. Yeah, I could probably help with that.
She's gone there right now. All right, give me
a second. Let me get changed. I'll just, I don't
know what I can change into. I'm just going to
try and find something to wear. I guess we have
normal clothes. Do we have any normal clothes?
Of course, you have the clothes you came here
with. Yeah, alright. I'll get changed real quick.
Alright. Yeah, now that you mention it, Aurier,
I only met her today. This morning, she was up
near the graveyard while I was waiting for y
'all at classes. Yeah, she came by and she just
kind of introduced herself. She seemed nice enough,
but she did. So we had this guy kind of came
up to her at the end and said something like,
I think it was something like, he's ready to
talk or something. And then she headed up towards
the church. Well, I don't know. She must be pretty
busy, but like. It just seemed kind of like weird.
He like whispered it to her, kind of. I ran into
her last night. And she was really trying, it
felt like, to get me to go back inside. And even
though I told her I was worried about Arnalda,
because she said he just left suddenly, and he
wouldn't be down the mountain by then. So, like,
why leave without saying anything to Lucia? Oh,
quick thing for Tim. While I was quickly getting
changed, out my window, I'm like... like sign
or something to like tell her tomorrow i will
show her first thing tomorrow or something like
that there is an immediate message back to you
it's like this is important i know but my cover
will be blown if i am not doing this right now
um i'm gonna wait right here all right i'll show
you tonight like tonight uh uh We'll meet here,
you know, in a few hours. I'm aesthetic. Okay.
Alright. Alright. Back to present day. Present
time. But I just... I don't know why she was
so evasive with it and she got so pushy even
when I pushed and... Everyone was acting so weird
last night. You saw some weird stuff too? Yeah,
there was this guy walking around and like...
He looked all grumpy and angry and like robes.
He like, he like glared at me and I, I like,
I was like, okay, I don't know what I did. Yeah,
I saw a grumpy dude in a robe too. Yeah, I think
I saw a couple of them actually. And then I think
I saw, he said he was in the woods, but I could
have swore I saw Quincy. He looked like he was
running. Where was he? He was coming kind of.
You know, now that I think about it, I guess
it looked kind of like he was coming from the
church. I went to go check on him later on just
to see if he was in his room, but there was no
answer. Okay. Yeah. There was definitely something
weird going on yesterday. And I could have swore
I saw a little dog running around or something.
Yeah. I saw the dog, too. Wow, so we weren't
really far from each other then. Well, what were
you doing? I just like to go out, watch the stars,
take a little walk. I'm still kind of getting
used to the campus and stuff, you know what I
mean? Yeah. I like to know the ins and outs.
Well, I don't know if we'd even find anything,
but I don't think Lucia wants to be there alone
with her now. No! Alright, well, let's go take
a look. I'm getting kidnapped again. When we
get closer, I will cast Pass Without Trace on
us when we get pretty close. Okay. Did I get
a short rest at any point since sneaking into
Melody's room? Okay. Yes, absolutely. Alright,
let me get my stuff back real quick. Okay, cool,
cool, cool, cool, cool. I've seen visibility
of God, though. We're sneaking up to the church.
We're sneaking up to the church. Like, oh my
gosh, they're gone. Oh shucks, they must have
gone to bed. I will say, you guys get there,
the immediate circumstances become apparent to
you that it's closed at this time. And I will
say, just to streamline things, I'm not going
to have you guys roll stealth. You guys are being
very stealthy and the Pass Without Trace is helping.
It will help a ton. um that uh you go around
you see that you see that there are people like
guarding it nothing suspicious there it's just
people you know it's a new rule it's it's a new
it's a new thing that came up uh that circumstance
itself is unexplained um but uh nothing apparent
from the outside except that it's just closed
that might seem suspicious in and of itself but
that's all you get for now There's no explanation
there. I guess we follow the same path Cole took
last night. But I pretend that I don't know exactly
where I'm going. No, not the route that you took
to murder my dad! That's gonna definitely require
a stealth check in that regard, considering that
there are people posted around. But the Pass
Without Chase is prevalent. Okay. Would this
count as casing? No. It wouldn't this time around.
Because you know this place. I rolled a 29. Ayo.
Ayo. Okay. I rolled a 28. I don't know why I
was at the gym. Oh, not 20. I'm kidding. Did
I roll higher than Quul? You rolled one higher,
yeah. I'm the stealthy one now! Velour's like,
I'm a fucking winner! Making your way up, making
your way up. And again, being unseen, you see
one of the people in cloth. Yes? It was actually...
A 31. Because I have expertise. I have expertise
in all dexterity things. Oh no, it's Humphrey
all over again. I'm getting Humphrey'd again.
Wait, what was that? A 31? Yeah, 31. Okay, I'm
not going to use saving face. It only brings
me up by one. 32! Motherfucker! Unchanged. Just
so you know. in case you were curious one of
the people in clubland was like you feel like
someone sneaks around here but now he's like
oh man I'm hungry hungry what did you think about
the game last night and then you guys crawl what
did you think about the game did you hear about
the melody bowl Yes, I'm quite excited about
that. I hope Melody murders that person this
time. You climb up the building. Valora, you're
like, oh my god, this guy's really good at this.
As you try to... As you're just... Cole is like,
walks up to a wall, looks both ways, hands in
pocket, and just squats and just jumps straight
up. That's not suspicious at all! It's air genasi
shit, alright? She is thinking like, yeah, Lucille
is right. He is pretty good at this stuff. This
is what calisthenics gets you. You just gotta
be fit. This is what being in tier whatever,
rodent sharps training regimen gets you. You
make your way up. Considering these are pretty
late hours, you don't have to worry about students
or anyone patrolling around. You feel confident.
In the courtyard, no one. There's no one in the
courtyard, it seems. But you would have to surmise
that maybe Lucy is on the inside. Alright, I
guess we start checking doors. Yeah. You know,
this is actually where... I had Phantom check
Arnalda's scent. And this is where the trail
ended. I wonder if when when she said something,
when that guy said he's ready to talk, I wonder
if that he was Arnalda. Maybe she's like keeping
him here or something. That's what Lucia thought,
but I mean, why would she do that? I don't know.
I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I'm
just a young country folk. Well, yeah, I guess
we should keep an eye out. Tracking stuff, huh?
Yeah, I mean, it's not perfect, but we stopped
that. Good to know. But he's pretty well trained.
He has a really good nose. all right if we ever
need a family see or something good to know good
to know yeah and i've actually been training
him to find her by name so that i can have him
go pick her up and stuff like that so oh wow
all right um you guys are trying doors yeah listen
listening at doors sneaking around looking for
any sign i'm also looking for any sign of like
traps or alarms or anything right now i will
say absolutely nothing in all of that regard
it's silent at every door there's um you guys
are greeted and this is suspicious in its own
right you guys are greeted with the presence
of absolutely nothing okay every single room
we go into kind of thing i'm gonna use my sense
for secrets to see if I just get a feeling if
there's like a secret passage or like a secret
compartment or something in any of the rooms
we go into. I'm just passively as we are checking
out the place. Going in, I will say that as you
go in and you're greeted with like the empty
sense at all not even like people in club people
who like maintain stuff are in here it is eerily
empty um and uh i i do have your sense of secrets
in mind uh cool okay um look for any like secret
stairwells or but the big thing for you for the
both of you no valora no orie No, Lucia, no.
Valora is gone too. I could disappear. Valora's
gone. That 31 really just zonked her away. I
gommaged. I gommaged, no. I gommaged. I figured
that shit out so quick. I'm so proud of myself.
It's like, it's like they like teleport or something.
Maybe. Or maybe they never came. Well, I mean,
you said Lucia went up here, right? So she would
actually be here. I mean, she was supposed to,
but maybe if the church was closed for some reason,
maybe they went somewhere else. Cool. You feel
a heat against your chest. Similar as before.
Okay. You check that side of the room. I'll check
over here real quick. Just feel on the wall.
Maybe there's like a secret passage or something.
I'll check over here. I mean, I don't know, but
okay. And I'm going to go behind something and
check my phone. How long are you going to be
able to keep it up there? It is a sign. A quick
stroke on a paper. These quick strokes are coded
languages for when messages are sent on like
a very emergency like um manner this is this
this is the sign for like immediate help this
is from here this is yeah this is here shit all
right um uh i don't think i don't think i don't
think she's here i think she must have just teleported
Or something? Or maybe she wasn't here? I mean,
it's pretty big. Maybe they're still deeper in?
I don't think so. How about this? Why don't you
go get Phantom real quick? And we can see if
he can try and catch a scent or something. Because
if they didn't, if she walked up here and they
weren't here, then she turned and went somewhere
else, you know? Sure, but if she is in here,
then he can't. Get the scent. I mean, we can't
get in. I mean, he could get the scent, but we
couldn't get in right now. I couldn't sneak him
in here. Well, um... I think we should just...
I think we should keep looking until we've exhausted
that they're not here. And then go look. Alright.
But I think we should probably split up. It's
a big place. And it seems like... It's really
weird. It's real quiet. I don't know what's up
with that. Yeah, it's real dead, Phil. Alright,
if we do find something, though, if we split
up and we do find something, how will we let
the other person know? Do you know bird calls?
Um, I mean, some of them. Alright, well, can
you do a bird call? I don't know if I'm that
good at it, but... How about we just meet up?
We meet up. Back down... Down... Outside of the
church itself. We can always come back in. We'll
meet up over at the graveyard, maybe. Okay, let's
look until... Until the hour changes, and then
let's meet up then. Alright, sounds good. That's
when the bell goes. And then I'm just leaving
as soon as she's out of sight. And I'm expecting
to meet up with you at the end of the hour. That's
fine. I'm fast. I'm fast. How long can he keep
it up is the question. I'm booking it back the
other way. Valora continued to sneak. You rush
off. Valora, you remain there. It's like, okay,
you've been in sleuth mode these past two days.
What the fuck is going on here? Call leaves,
literally minutes afterwards, the doors open
to the church, and you see walking in a junior
executor, Solanasi. That bitch. She's gonna stay
hidden and watch. You see that they walk in,
and there's a moment... they even though no one's
around they still have like a very pleasant like
half smile on their face just if it may seem
natural for them but it feels so off -putting
uh as they just walk up to the statue of odin
and just kneel and pray uh make a stop check
for me another one Also, I lied. It wasn't actually
too higher. I double -checked my notes. It's
acrobatics only, so I don't get that. Aha. So
I could've tied you. So for the first time, it
was lower. 26, your favorite number, so a crit.
Your favorite fucking number, bitch. This is
gonna be tough to beat. What was it? 17. 17.
Okay. Not higher than 26. Not a lot of numbers
are higher than 26, except for a lot of them.
An infinite amount. Except for a lot of them.
And I will say to you, Valora, they are kneeled
in prayer for what feels like an hour. It just
goes on long. They are unnaturally still. But
you can tell it's not anything bad. That's just
kind of the person they are. Weirdo. And it comes...
And I'll let you decide what you want to do during
that time, because, like, there comes a point
where Valora realizes, like, I'm just watching
this guy pray. Yeah, she, I was gonna say, she's
gonna quickly give up on this, but then she's
like, okay, shoot, how do I sneak out of here?
And so she'll make sure they seem deep in it
and then try to sneak out away to another room.
Okay. So you're heading into the main. You have
to head into the main foyer. Foyer. Foyer. I
love that word. As you do so. You're still maintaining
a really good amount of distance. The Odin statue
is the central part. There's the main central
doors. There's probably people standing in front
of there. As you make your way across, I'm going
to say that them being in the center of the room,
there comes a point where you step foot. And
I will say, you're being really sneaky. As you
step foot, you see that their head kind of perks
up. Curious. But doesn't look yet. But you can
tell they've noticed something. And then you
see their head begins to turn. Towards you. You
can duck right back into cover. Yeah, she will.
It's like your steps were soundless and everything.
But it seems like when you've come into a certain
distance, they notice. Is it like an alarm? She's
gonna try to keep far away as far away as she
can but while trying to get out There comes a
go ahead and give me another a renewed stuff
check You're not invisible if you were. No, I'm
not. They would have more added. No, I just have
an... Oh, yeah, they get the extra. Okay, let
me try again. If this fails, I can add another
five to it if I really, really have to. Don't
forget, you also have a reroll from Lucia. Oh,
yeah. Okay, 33. Maybe I can get you. 19, not
gonna do a 33. But close. You reach the threshold
where they notice you. I'm sorry, I'm being a
little quick with this. But where they kind of,
like, notice you before and you kind of, like,
run past it this time. Silently, of course. They
look again. And you see that this time they get
up and go over to, like, investigate where you
were. But you're gone. That is weird. is so weird
but she's you run into like the little like side
like the little side area where like people like
there's like a little there's like a little like
pantry like area here where there's like a service
door that heads out nothing else um uh as you
as you open the door you see like one distracted
one distracted person who's, like, a person of
cloth who's, like, bent down towards, like, a
dog who has his, like, who's, like, one of the
academy, like, ground dogs. They're, like, homeless.
He's just, like, petting. He's, like, rubbing
his belly. You can head out. I don't think...
And I don't think there's a way I can get back
to the Adun Shrine. Well, since Solanasi got
distracted, you could probably Cut through that
way now if you want to get to the Y'doon shrine.
That's where I want to check for her, I think.
Okay. Is she heading back in? Yeah. Okay. You're
going back in? Cutting through? It's such a big
place. Get there. No one under the Y'doon. And
no signs of them being there either, huh? Nothing.
Zilch. Alright. She keeps searching carefully,
trying not to run into Solanasi, but if she doesn't
find anything, then... But she's searching the
church until the hour passes. Okay. In that case,
we're going to go over to Cole. Cole, you get
to the location where Akira was waiting. She's
gone. She shouldn't have moved. She shouldn't
have. But she did. The director would be very
displeased to hear about this. This is enough
to get her sacked. The symbol that she think,
was there any, I know it was an emergency, but
did it, was there anything other to it of like
moving north, moving west? It was very quick.
It was just help. That was it. Okay. As you look
around, she is gone. Do I see any sign that she
might have left behind pointing in a direction
she went? Like a stone sitting on something that
maybe wasn't there before? Or some sort of mark?
A flower? She had flowers? She had planted flowers
along the path. And it does guide you. towards
where the secret entrance was to the place against
the wall. But here's the thing. Where it was
hiding behind an illusory image, there's nothing.
It's left open, agape now. Shit. All right. Well,
that's strange. I was supposed to show her here.
All right. Do I think if I sent her a message
back, she'd be able to reply? I guess I don't
know where her situation is. You'd at least know
that she'd get it. Do I think if she was compromised,
would that be a bad thing? It'd be pretty bad.
Okay, then I'm not going to send her anything.
I'm going in. I'm going down there to go see,
try and see, like, is there any sign that's been
passed through here recently? As you get closer
to it, immediate sign of life. As you see an
unconscious man. One of the magistrates that
you saw. Not the music. One of the magistrates
you saw that convened with Ori that other night
around Lucia is completely unconscious against
the steps. I do a real quick pat down on him.
Is there anything of note on him? As you pat
him down, an assortment of sending stones. Shit,
alright. Alright, take it. Alright, you take
him. Add three ascending stones to your inventory.
Okay. And what seems to be a spell book in this
world. Sure. Taking it. Take it. Oh, fuck. Oh,
no. Okay, add a magistrate spellbook, and...
Yeah, he's completely unconscious. He's breathing.
Um... Can I non -lethally do a sneak attack to
him? Yes. And I would like to erase his memory.
I guess he wouldn't remember me, but maybe he
might forget her if... she was if she was the
one who knocked him out maybe it's the last like
minute right it it's um it's the last like hour
or something one second uh non -lethal sneak
attack that was so funny absent uh absent recall
uh just second just second damage a impede its
ability to form long -term memories if at any
point in the next hour you and your allies who
were in the encounter or are out of that creature's
sight for more than a minute it forgets all details
of your group's appearance and the specific actions
you took during the encounter so it won't do
anything for you yeah i don't think it would
apply yeah it probably wouldn't help her all
right uh so never mind i don't i don't do any
non -lethal sneak attack um i'm just gonna like
push him like i want to hide his body real quick
so it's not like obvious so like is there like
a bush or behind something I can just move him
to real quick. You can push him further down
the stairs. That'd be funny. But also it would
be the most effective. I mean, I would bring
him inside. Yeah, I just don't want anyone passing
by to see it. Yeah, I'll just bring him inside.
Shut the door behind me. You don't melody him.
Yeah, I'm not trying to kill him. Of course.
As much as I would like to. Okay. All right.
And then I'm going down, sneaking after, trying
to find out where she went. As you come down,
the temperature becomes frigid. It's starting
to get cold the further you get down. It's way
colder than when you were down here the last
time. And you see... In fact, it gets so cold
as you get down, you see that there's frost accumulating
on the stone interior. Does it look like it's
just accumulated because it's cold? Or does it
look like it got blasted with some cold energy
or something? It's because it is cold. So not
like magic got blasted directly there. It's just
so... But it's still unnaturally cold here. Okay.
Another letter flares in your chest. All right.
I just take it out and check while I'm going.
It just says, it detects heat. It detects heat.
Love that. Okay. I'm going to... Real quick.
I think this is something that's going to do
cold something. I am going to pull out of my...
I'm going to pull out these dark roots and just
munch on them. I'm going to eat some adderwort
roots, which will give me an expertise die and
con saves for the next hour. Perfect. Perfect,
actually. As you get closer towards the bottom,
it's so cold. Your body begins to shiver. Your
teeth will shatter. The door is open. There is
an unlit torch on the ground. And as you kind
of like... as as the root as a root begins to
like heart like harden your body to whatever
comes uh whatever comes forward you see that
uh the door leads into like the next area where
the there's another door that would lead like
towards like the maze like area um you see there
um a small pile of bodies People that were slain
recently. You recognize some of these people.
These are some of the people in Jalod, the place.
Oh, boy. Do you want to pick up the torch, but
don't light it? I have dark vision. I have oil.
I have lanterns. I'm not going to. Yeah. I've
got other sources of thing. Make a con saving
throw. Okay. Is this versus a paralyzed, frightened,
charm, poison, stun, put to sleep? It's not.
Okay. So this is just going to be this and then
plus 22. Okay. For right now, you're not taking
active cold damage. But I'll explain it this
way. If you're near a source of heat, like a
lantern fire or anything, you do not have to
make con saves. But the longer you stay in here,
the more it will accumulate every minute or so.
Okay. All right. Okay. I'm just going to try
and move quick then. As you begin to move in,
where this place was lit up before with, like,
bioluminescent mushrooms, it's so dark here now.
Where before there were already, like, marks
and scratches and whatever man -made along the
walls, now there are... more and they're more
noticeable because they're fresh they're deeper
um as we go in i'm going to um kind of grit my
teeth a little bit um and as i do i'm going to
cast detect poison and disease just so i have
that up as well gotcha because i used that last
time and then uh as you're as you're walking
You hear a voice to the side. Hey, kid. One of
the mushrooms. No. Not good to be here right
now. Oh, yeah, you're telling me. What's going
on? Shadow guard's here. Leave. Shadow guard,
shadow guard. Do I know what the shadow guard
is? Wait, that sounds really familiar. We heard
that when he was talking about the shadow guard
picking up people. What my dad telling them.
Did someone pass by here recently? Besides this
shadow guard? You don't want to know. You gotta
leave. This ain't a place for someone like you.
I think... Look, I think one of my friends might
have wandered down here. I'm just looking for
her real quick. It's fallen silent. Do you remember
Lucia? Is she down here? No? Alright. Alright,
I'm sneaking forward and trying to be quiet.
And then the mushroom that was planted against
the wall, it falls off. It just rolls against
the ground. Oh boy. Alright, yep. I'm sneaking
onward. Make a stealth check for me. Okay. Pass
that trace lasts for an hour. Am I still affected
by that? Yes. Okay. And this is not casing, correct?
So that would be... This plus 10, so 34. Okay.
I'd say that's good enough. Wait. Actually. um
actually okay so you um as you head deeper in
voices bounce in the distance even you as someone
as a vanisher who's trained to be fearless everything
your um all the edges of your heart just completely
send it off there's something in here that gives
you dread it's passive dread and that in of itself
is a means to is a means of alarm um as you as
you dive as you dive deeper in it gets so much
more unbearably cold as you as you get in every
wind that whips against you is just it's just
awful. You almost regret not bringing anything
warmer to wear. You legitimately feel like parts
of your body inside, you feel the blood begin
to stop. You have to flex your hand to get the
blood going. The potions that I took from Melody,
the ones that were labeled, Were there any that
would be like cold resistance? Yeah, there was
one. Yeah, there's a bunch of cold resistance.
Pulling that out, downing it. You down it. It
tastes like almonds for some reason. Because
of all the almond extract you put in there. And
you cold resist. So, yeah. Actually, Melody helped.
Thank God for Melody Fidelity. As you come in,
she just goes, That should help with the coal.
You hear a magical blast. Combat. In the far
distance. Alright, moving up closer. It's fast.
It's quick. There's an explosive set of Whatever
going on before suddenly it becomes silent. As
you. You get closer to it. As soon as the. Silence
hits. A standstill. As you see. Blood. And then.
You come across a retinue of individuals. Littered
about. Some. Some barely conscious, some still.
You come up to and still traveling in complete
darkness. As you kind of like peer into you're
not sure if the corners you have to feel along
the walls. But then you see an outline in the
distance. Avania floating in the air, clutching
at her neck like something's choking her. And
this is where the cold has gotten to its absolute
worst. Do I see what's choking her? There is
around her. There is a black. That's darkness.
We're like darkness is like shades of gray. This
is like a void of black. That like stands in
front of her. And I haven't seen any sign of
a cure. Nothing. Emma. Oh, Emma. She got swallowed
by the void. No. No, Wi -Fi's down. No. Oh, no.
Um, so. Oh, oh. Nope, she's back. The Wi -Fi
went down. Ah, good thing it was passed. I was
like, why is everyone not talking? Then I was
like, ah, uh -oh. So he came back. Avania's getting
choked by something being held up in the air
in complete darkness. It's getting really cold.
Avania is getting choked. That's the elf, right?
Yes. Who's coming after you? He's coming after
me. Right, right, right, right. Okay, cool, cool,
cool. Thank you. Another set of footsteps comes
in as you witness the scene before you. As you
see Eric Avalea. Walking to the area. Clutching
his chest. You see that he has some damage on
him. And... Avanya's still there. And then he...
And Eric just... Eric walks up. Breathing heavy.
You see he, like... His... He usually wears glasses.
They're off right now. He just went through a
battle. Oh, thank you. Okay. And we're going
to get right back into it. I'm sorry. We're deep
into something right now. Eric walks up. Tending
to like the blood coming down his tunic. And
then just goes. It looks up towards Avanya. It
just goes. Killer, be done with it. And I'll
ask you before I continue. Anything you want
to do? I have no idea where Kira is. Does it...
Does her... Does it matter if she, as long as
she dies, is that job done? Mission accomplished,
to be honest. You didn't do much. Yeah, it's
done. She'll die. I don't know where Kira is.
Eric Avanlea is right there. He's already injured.
You're going to kill two dads? Happy Father's
Day? For Father's Day, you're going to kill both
of our dads? Jesus Christ. I mean, Jenny, happy
Father's Day. Oh, my God. He's not my mark, but
it could be convenient. I will say there is some
significance to killing the current master at
arms. And sire of House Avanlea. A noble. Like,
this is a huge noble. Yeah, no. I mean, it's
big. Do I think that it would be that they wouldn't
want me to? Oh, not me. You. Do I think that
the... would it definitely would not want to
bring attention that that's a lot of all of a
sudden like okay security measures are being
tight and like people will look into it yeah
that's a lot of attention so it's like like yes
great but also if i think that that is too much
attention then i that i'm not that i'm not gonna
do anything definitely typically anybody with
like a noble name on them that's hard that's
hard to like get done yeah i mean like Right
here is not a bad time to do it. Who's gonna
know? But... Okay, if I don't have to do the
killing blow to Avanya... Because I could. I
could do it. But if I don't have to and the job
is still complete... Then I think... I think
I'm just watching, then. She's lifted up all
of a sudden and then suddenly with great velocity...
smashed against the ground. Lifted up once more,
something violent has gripped her as she is repeatedly
I don't like this. I don't like this. Does anything
just conveniently as she impacts fly off her
and roll over towards me that I can grab? What
is wrong with you? I still don't know where my
subordinate is. As suddenly before you, Avanya
is broken on the ground. Okay. Well, that's convenient.
And then in this sphere of like, in the pitch
black shapes that you see in the darkness, an
eye opens. And another, and another, and another,
and another, and another, and another, and another.
The mushroom people. It's not. Damn it. And here
it goes. Is this enough for you? Um. And... Walk.
Mm -hmm. You thought you... You... There's something
strange about some of those eyes. As you're looking
towards it. Mm -hmm. Is that Driscoll? You see?
A sense of familiarity washes over you. No, it's
just eyes. You're blinking. Make a wisdom save.
Haha, it's not just me anymore. It is. Is this
a charm, a frighten, a paralyze, a poison, a
stun, or am I being put to sleep? I would say
this is considered a charm. Okay. I added this
to it. That is gonna be a 21. That succeeds.
Okay. You shake it off. All of a sudden, Fire.
Warmth. No. Reality is cold. Everything is cold
right now. You see this form transmogrifies.
It's sort of like ship shaves. As you see a large
figure stand tall. Broad -shouldered. It's armored.
Clad in this dark armor. It has stag antlers.
On its top. You hear the sound of it breathing
heavily. It doesn't speak. And then you hear
Eric go, There's one more. And then this armor
-clad figure suddenly shifts its head towards
a direction. And it begins to float. It just
moves unnaturally, like just clicking and dragging
a picture. It's just so smooth and silent. Where
is it heading? You see it heads towards one of
the bodies. And it just grabs, like, with one
hand, it encompasses both ankles and lifts the
body up with one hand. Ew. And you see Kier underneath,
injured. She was biding her time and hiding.
Picks it up and looks right down at her. Eric
goes, Unfortunate for you. Shit. Fucking hell
here. I... Two knives. Chuck one at each. One
at Eric and one at the... Okay. Make two attack
rolls. Okay. This is going to be dangerous strikes.
And I'll be using a point of velocity to do the
two. Where is exhaustion point? There we go.
This is from unseen? This is from unseen, yes.
We're going to aim at Evan Leia first. This is
the Kinglet knife. Not the music. I'm going to
use a 12. Yeah, that's a really good roll. It's
fine because it would miss and straight back
to my hand. Yes. I can offhand just kind of throw
it again with a bonus action at him. So I will
do that. I'm going to do the offhand one just
at him. I'm trying to erase his memory first.
Yeah. Go ahead. For perspective with advantage,
he rolled an 11 and a 12. That's a natural two
and a natural three. All right. 25 on him. Definitely
hits. Okay. So sneak attack. Very low damage.
It's going to be 16 damage, but five of it is
psychic to apply my thing. So as soon as I'm
out of sight of him for a minute, he's going
to forget about me and Pierre. It strikes Eric
in the chest, kind of like gets a clean hit into
the armor. He clutches his chest and immediately
like... He rushes backwards. And you see that
his shape becomes like... He runs behind cover
or something. Immediately ducks for cover. And
then the last one is going to go to... Actually...
I mean, I'm hoping that that gives her a moment
to maybe try and get away. I'm going to use a
bonus action, I think, to hide. Just to... Because
I don't I'm not gonna be able to do anything
that would help Help her I'm gonna try and hide
with a bonus action. Okay, go ahead Oh, I technically
could have give myself advantage with iron will
but I didn't need it so it's um Hiding is this
is not casing. So this is just a stealth and
then this is passed without trace so 31. 31.
You're gone. Kier gets up as this unsettling
figure looks over, and you see as soon as she
gets up, she pulls on her nebulous setter. She
vanishes, like vanishes do. Perfect. I was going
to say, as your turn starts, I'm also going to
use Prairie Winds on her. So she gets an extra
10 feet of movement. I'll use two charges. Oh,
wait. She's not in my war bond. Never mind. I
can't do that. So you see how she gets up and
she vanishes? Mm -hmm. You see the figure shutters
for a moment and just reaches its hand out and
grasps at the air. Very fast, sudden snap of
the hand. Oh, no, no. Oh, God. As it does, you
see that it holds onto something. It's holding
onto invisible air. The first thought is, that's
impossible. She's in another plane of existence.
Shit. And then she appears. Direct in its grasp.
Fuck. Is that a mind flayer? I don't know if
there's anything I can really do. She's got to
be able to get away from this thing. I mean,
I guess I could go in there, but I can't be getting
caught by this thing. When I get a chance, I'll
try. When it comes back around to my turn, I'll
try and spin back around and throw something
at it. Yes, definitely. Okay. All right, yeah,
I'll just chuck. We're going to do another dangerous
strikes, and that way I maybe could sneak attack
it. King of the Knife. 21 to hit it. That hits.
Okay, its AC is reduced by 2, and it will do
the sneak attack damage. I don't know why I didn't
apply that before. As you throw a dagger at this
amorphous blob. As it dives into its back, immediately
two eyes form around your dagger and blinks at
it. Blinks at the dagger that you just instilled
into it and looks towards your direction. 10
psychic damage? Yes. So I've marked it with my
thing as well, so hopefully that'll work. Sure,
we'll do a velocity. Check another one at it.
This is not an advantage. 22. Does not sneak
attack, so just 10 more damage. I'm just going
to hide. She's got to get herself out there.
As a reaction immediately to your attack. You
see two... You see two shapes begin to manifest
in the air. You're going to take a few... It's
going to make... two attacks against you. Just
a pure retaliation. Okay. Your sneak attacks
have been so low, though. Yeah. I mean, that
second one doesn't sneak attack. It's only the
10 damage. I know. No, I'm fine. Okay, 24. 24
will hit. The 13 will not. Okay. So something
pierces you, uh, as a, uh, as a, as a, as a sudden
sort of like conical, something pierces, uh,
and, and like, and like hits you, uh, as this
sort of like cold energy, like courses, uh, courses
through you. Um, and your mind suddenly like,
like, like, like, uh, moves fast. A painful,
Something that hurts your head. What does that
mean, Tim? What you put in the chat? Okay. Getting
hit by that. Can you imagine how Odoron must
have felt? Okay. All right. As that happens,
here is dropped. And the eyes that just hit you.
Ew. And you seem to have been marked. For the
meantime. Great. He looks towards you. As. All
of a sudden. This nightly figure. Sort of like.
Puts its feet down. And then turns towards you.
Front facing. It is a knight. Absolutely like.
An extremely like. Large looming figure. You
see. The body that it was holding in one hand,
it raises it. And with its other hand, it just
kind of like, it kind of like puts a hand up
against it and like does a like sort of like,
like a hand wave motion against it. The skin
peels off. It melts away. The flesh, the meat,
the blood on the inside, it melts away. Leaving
only bone. The bone seemingly becomes... Like
a liquid. Like a bendable sort of like... Fluid.
As this body... Of a once living person... Is
suddenly turned... Into a sword. A weapon. Kier...
Gets up. About to go. Before... The mayor knight
screams. And we'll pick that up next time. Damn.
What the heck? So your dad is getting people
turned into weapons. This isn't what I expected
the shadow guard to be. I thought it was going
to be like a group of people. melts you down
into weapons well can melt you down into weapons
this is one of its many wonderful features what
the fuck we got a new goober guys what in the
dark souls is going on here thank you for following
and for rating baka jam thank you so much oh
my goodness sorry but thank you so much for coming
Oh my goodness. Wow, that was a long session.
I can't believe Charles Wilson burned my resources
for this fight. Who? Yeah, because you fought
Charlie. It was I, Charles Wilson. Tim, what
is this? What is in this chat? Okay. Alright.
One day we'll find out. I cannot see what that
says. Torturing Cole. What else does it say?
Don't worry about it. A lot of Irish names. Can
you imagine how Aldrin meant that? Or was it
Neal? Or was it Neil? They both look the same.
It's been so long. Who cares? Buck, Buck, Buck
and Jam, four and a half hours of D &D is so
long. You're right. Yeah, I go to bed now. But,
gosh dang, sometimes it's pretty good. Hey, guys.
Get the fuck out of there. Get out of there.
She's gone. Get out so we can leave. Jesus. Kira,
what are you doing here without me? Kira, get
back in the house. I'm like, oh, gotta wait for
Cole to meet up and see what he found in the
church. Hopefully he'll come up with something.
Alright, everyone. Hey. See you all next time.
Happy Father's Day. Happy Father's Day. Thank
you to Eric Avonlea. Yeah! Down the tier list.
I'll kill him if you want me to. I don't think
Valora would be happy with you doing that at
this point in time. At this point in time is
the key phrase. Okay, well the point is, he's
gonna forget that we were there. Yeah. So we
just gotta get away. I don't know about this
fucking terrifying thing. I don't know. So here's
the thing. If this thing is immune to being charmed,
I can't erase its memories. Is the problem. I
don't know if it is immune to being charmed.
The Mare Knight, like a horse. Nightmare. Mare
Knight. This is quite the goober we got. Oh,
I also lost concentration on detect a poison
and disease, but it's fine. All right, everyone.
I'll see you next time. The winds have been whispering
of what's to come, but every time the words are
about 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. It wasn't amongst all this number.
You with your end mark of passage and speed With
riches and power in your family tree But injustice
strains all your loyalty Desire and duty's the
balance between The winds have been whispering
of what's to come Foreboding whispers, whispers
to thunder Your castle walls crumbling one by
one Against the blood -red sky right on fandom
i fight for what's right some may call me naive
but nothing can put out the flame in me the goddess
of spring life and death she bring taken from
war raised in