Welcome to Tales from the Crit Season 3.
Bigger, badder, and stickier.
By joining us today, you have been officially upgraded to CritCat status.
So welcome to the club.
Tales from the Crit is an actual play podcast where we focus on smaller story arcs from
some of your favorite RPGs, as well as some of the less known or obscure ones.
We also play some highly narrative tabletop board games and also some micro RPGs.
All of those feature an evolving cast of players, so you're going to see a lot of variety there.
And as always, I am your host and your Critkeeper, Riley Groves.
We're so glad to have you here with us today.
Now let's get into the episode.
More warnings can be found in the description.
Welcome back to Tales from the Crit, first episode of Season 3.
Very fucking excited here.
I got Connor at the table.
Hey, hey.
Joined by Tim.
Hello.
And Anna.
I'm here too.
And myself, obviously.
And we're here to play Root the RPG.
This is by Magpie Games.
It's based on the hit asymmetrical board game Root.
And it is powered by the Apocalypse System game.
So if you know what that is, you'll have an easy time following along.
If you don't, you'll have an easy time following along because we try to make it easy.
So let's go ahead and answer a question from our pod deck interview deck to get to know
each other a little bit better.
This question comes from the What the F pod deck interview deck.
And the question for today is, what set of items could you buy that would make the cashier
most uncomfortable?
So let's think of three items we would buy in conjunction with each other to make a cashier
uncomfy.
I mean, I immediately thought of it.
But then I was like, I can't say that.
What can't you say?
So I'm thinking like an acorn squash, a lube, and a bottom or a pack of extra large condoms.
OK, so I thought a pack of condoms, a pineapple, and a machete.
Oh.
So you have to eat all this stuff at Walmart.
Like, you're not going to have all this stuff.
I was actually thinking a jar of coconut oil, a hammer, and a bag of those like decorative
feathers that you use in crafts.
OK.
What do you never mind?
I don't want to know.
You don't want to know.
Nobody wants to know.
We're not supposed to ask what's it for.
No, that's right.
What are they?
Connor?
Um, man, I don't know.
A box of marbles.
Marbles come in a box or a bag.
A container of marbles.
One package of marbles.
And some socks.
And a pocket knife.
All right.
It reminds me of a bag of doorknobs.
Or a pillowcase full of doorknobs.
I've been talking about that a lot lately.
Yeah, it's come up a few times.
Awesome.
All right.
Well, that was easier than I actually thought it was going to be.
So, without further ado, why don't we jump into Root the RPG?
Are we ready?
Let's do it.
I'm ready.
All right, cool.
Prologue time.
Inspirational music.
Or like scene setting music.
Dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum.
Oh, all right.
The history of the woodlands is long, complex, and largely forgotten to time.
The clearings that occupy the woodlands have been carved out over time, offering refuge
and progress for the denizens of the wood.
Many years have passed and the paths between clearings grew more common.
As trade and goodwill grew, so did the interest in controlling its vast resources.
High above the clearings, a plot thickened to rule the denizens below.
The Eerie Dynasty grew in power before descending from their tree-top roosts.
When the time was right, the birds made their way down and quickly gained control of the
denizens throughout the woodlands.
Before long, the Eerie Dynasty controlled every clearing, ruling from high above.
While some clearings were still allowed local rule, all feared the powerful Eerie lords.
Many years had passed and Eerie influence continued to grow, but power never lasts forever,
with one clearing, the clearing of Ice Trap, rising up against their oppressors.
The denizens banded together under the banner, Ice Trap will never be ruled.
The rabbits, mice, and foxes bolstered their forces with the roguish vagabonds that dotted
the woodlands.
As they drove their avian oppressors back to the trees and out of their clearing, word
spread and soon a full-blown civil war broke out.
Both sides faced immeasurable losses.
Entire clearings were razed and abandoned, now lost to time.
Eventually the denizens of the woodland prevailed and drove the Eerie back into the trees.
Time passed and the clearings were repaired.
The denizens once again grew in their numbers and strengthened their communities through
trade and camaraderie.
But peace never lasts forever.
The woodland attracted the eye of the powerful invader, the Marquis de Cat.
Fueled by greed and a lust for power, the Marquis led her forces into the peaceful woodlands.
Long had it been since the denizens saw such well-trained and well-organized soldiers.
Quickly their influence spread across the clearings, controlling many with an iron claw.
As they siphoned the resources from the land, they also warped the denizens' minds, turning
many to their sides and growing even stronger.
It didn't take long before some denizens begged for help from their former rulers, who were
all too eager to descend into the clearings once more.
War ensued once again and the Eerie pushed back against the Marquis' forces, reclaiming
several clearings.
But this time their rule was absolute.
Traders were treated harshly and local rulers were cast out.
Now the denizens were oppressed on both sides and forced to join a war they never wanted.
Even in defeat, word that the Marquis' power was growing spread throughout the land.
There were but three clearings left unoccupied by either of the militaristic forces.
One of the last holdouts was the steadfast clearing of Vistrap.
This is where our story begins, as its denizens once again make an appeal to the woodlands'
mysterious vagabonds.
Alright now let's meet some of our vagabonds here.
We're going to go through a little bit of character creation and discussion and see
what you guys decided to pick for characters.
So why don't you go ahead and start out by telling us your names and some details about
your character.
Alright, my character's name is Peter and he is a vagrant opossum and he has a low key
demeanor and he's from a place far from here.
Nice.
Anna, who are you playing?
I'm going to be Bramble Pinstorm.
I am a gray fox with honey colored eyes and I am a tinker.
I don't like crows because they ran my father out of the woodlands and I'm determined to
outsmart those black birds all under their beaks unnoticed.
I carry a leather tool belt which holds a stone axe, a lockpick set, spare strips of
leather and a rounded stone with a hole in the middle that he's been filing into a gear
shape with a file.
Awesome.
Anna kicked your ass in character creation so far Connor, so let's see what Tim's got.
My character's name is Cotton.
He's a rabbit with an overly large coat that is unassuming.
He has, or he's from the Aliboro clearing, wants to be free from society's bonds.
He has left behind his teacher and travels only with a dagger under those robes.
Definitely picked more of a kind of excitable personality from what I could.
I'm interested to see what that would do.
I just thought it would be fun to match the energy vibes of a rabbit.
You had talked about your character inspiration in some texts where you were sending back
and forth.
Yeah.
Do you want to tell us who that is?
I just had this idea stuck in my head specifically of the one episode of It's Always Sunny where
Charlie is just constantly yelling wild card and doing random stuff.
There's one scene where they're going down a hill and they're in a van and then also
there's no brakes and he just yells wild card and jumps out the back of the van.
That was the specific image I had in my head of a fun character for this setting.
Fuck yeah.
That is going to make things really exciting.
I'm excited to see how that plays out.
There's some other character choices on your sheets.
Why don't we go through and you guys can tell us about your nature and your drives.
I chose Arsonist.
Clear your exhaustion track when you needlessly use needlessly destructive or damaging methods
to solve a problem.
Wild card.
Nice.
That fits perfect.
My nature is a radical so I clear my exhaustion track when I espouse dangerous ideas to the
wrong audience.
Nice.
All right.
Connor?
To round it out, my nature is that of a glutton.
I clear my exhaustion track when I overindulge in vices like drink, food, and gambling.
Awesome.
I see you actually have a picture of a possum on your page.
I know.
I've been staring at it.
How did you do that?
Did you find that?
Did it just come like that?
I used the PDF that said the non-printable version and they all had just little drawings
in there.
Nice.
Fuck yeah.
But you got to print it anyway so they lied.
Yep.
They meant more, please don't print this version.
My you know, the reason that Peter is a vagabond is because he seeks to depose corrupt and
dangerous leaders and he has left behind his partner in crime some time ago in a place
far away.
Far, far away.
A clearing far from here.
A long time ago in a clearing far, far away.
Yes.
Nice.
I can go over my drives.
Oh yeah, go over your drives.
Peter is driven by chaos and wonderlust so he's constantly seeking to topple tyranny
and dangerously overbearing figures and just kind of likes journeying through the clearings.
Alright, fuck yeah.
Sounds like everybody's got good characters so far.
A big part of this game is your reputation with the different factions.
We're going to kind of belay that for this.
This is only going to be a one-shot.
It's only a couple episodes.
Actually isn't going to play a huge part in what we're doing so we're just going to ignore
that part.
I know that's a big part of Root and the game itself.
If we were playing a longer game it would make a whole lot more sense to do that.
So we still might mark some things down but also just the nature of the story.
It's a little more complex than that.
So the next thing to discuss about your characters is your connections.
So why don't we go through?
I know we haven't filled those out yet so let's start with Anna.
So I haven't picked one for either of these yet but I have professional and family connection.
Which one do you want to pick first?
I'm going to say Peter and I have a professional connection.
We've been working together for a while.
We read each other's moves easily.
Okay, awesome.
And that connection is going to give you a bonus if I'm not mistaken, right?
If you share information with them after reading a tense situation you both benefit from the
plus one for acting on the answers.
If you help them while they attempt a roguish feat you gain choices on the help move as
if you had marked two exhaustion when you mark one exhaustion.
Okay, awesome.
Tim, why don't you go ahead and fill in one of your connections?
Alright so I chose partner and then just based on hearing my co-player's character descriptions
I went with Peter.
Peter and I destroyed a faction's resource on behalf of an opposing faction.
So when you fill in this connection you each mark two prestige with the faction that helped
and then two notoriety with the faction you harmed.
During play if you are spotted together any prestige or notoriety gains with those factions
are doubled for the two of you.
So essentially I love that idea because if we're seen together the people that don't
like us immediately fucking hate us and the people that like us immediately love us and
then I chose infamy as one of my drives because you advance when you decrease your reputation
in any faction.
So I essentially guaranteed that every turn as long as I was seen by bad dudes with Connor's
character I would immediately be able to advance.
Right on.
So contrary to what I just said about the reputation thing it sounds like we're going
to have to mark some of that down.
So real quick, why don't you tell me what the two of you guys did and which faction
you had done it for.
And this fact there's only the Marquis de Catt and the Eerie dynasties.
Well so the unfortunate part I feel is that a lot of this was not really, Peter wasn't
really fully aware of the situation but due to his gluttonous nature I kind of just happened
to use him as he increased his love of alcohol through the night.
He caused quite the distraction as I was able to rob.
Who runs the hollow burrow?
Oh, hollow burrow is the Marquis de Catt.
The cat.
Okay.
Yeah so it was when they were first coming in and then I stole something from one of
them.
It was just it wasn't anything crazy.
It was more just like a proof of like look what I did but they they found out and that's
why I'm now over a nice trap.
All right.
So very cool.
So on your reputation sheet please list the Eerie and the Marquis de Catt.
Both of you and you're going to take a plus two to the Eerie.
So fill in two boxes.
Yep on the plus end and then you're going to take a negative two to the Marquis de Catt.
The third faction that's going to be on there is going to be the Woodland Alliance but we'll
get into that a little bit more.
So then I think that my best connection would be the family connection where after Cotton
I pulled off an impressive heist and stole something very valuable from a powerful faction.
My bad choices landed me in dire straits but they bailed me out and we've been close ever
since.
So who's so is it going to be Cotton then?
I feel like it could be both of them.
Okay so who are you going to pick?
Can I pick them both?
No.
We can't fill one for one and the one for the other.
So we both have can don't both.
Yeah definitely you just can't pick two people for one connection.
Oh yeah.
Okay.
Oh.
So your next connection is going to be the person that you didn't choose the first time.
Makes so much sense.
I thought it was one or the other.
No we're going to we're going to do both.
All right so then I'm going to say that Bramble then was the one who saved me from my bad
choices.
It's my family.
Nice.
Possum and a fox classic family members.
You can pick your family though.
It's that fast believer.
All right Bramble what's your second connection?
By default then Cotton is my family connection.
Okay.
And Cotton and I had each other's back when we were run out of a clearing because our
nature has got out of hand.
When you help them fulfill their nature you both clear your exhaustion track.
Awesome.
Cotton what's your second connection?
So that would be my friend connection with Bramble.
Bramble and I once met and pulled off a mad impossible stunt together.
Just a little stunt puller over here I guess.
I guess so.
Care to elaborate on what that stunt was?
Yeah I think it was a it was a probably a very similar one prior to where I had met
or seen Peter in that certain situation and used him as a distraction.
This one worked because I actually had a partner who was aware of what was happening so we
pulled this off together but it was just another little messing with the cats as they were
trying to come in.
We stole a set of keys that was important to the one guy's office there and then everyone
got really mad at him because he lost the keys but we had actually taken him and it
was a really big big haha.
Alright awesome.
All the locals loved it.
Cool and so that leaves Peter what is your final connection?
My final connection is the Watcher where Cotton saw through one of my cons and turned it back
on me and this is when I was trying to cause a distraction with my gluttony.
He saw through that and then was able to take advantage of the con he turned back and he
got away with the heist which then led me to the situation which Bramble had to rescue
me.
Alright.
Fuck yeah.
Nice.
I like that.
All making sense.
So now that our connections are done I think we're gonna move on to the second page and
nothing's left on the first page that we didn't go over right?
I mean I didn't say my drives but I think.
Oh what are your drives?
What drives Bramble pine storm?
So one would be greed.
Nice.
I've got to love a payday.
I have to buy all my gears and stuff and it's not cheap.
And then my other one is revenge.
My greatest foe is the leader of the corvid conspiracy which is the ravens and blackbirds
and stuff.
Okay.
Because they ran my father out of town.
Right on.
Okay.
Heading on to the second page that's where our moves, weapons moves, roguish feats, all
that good stuff lives as well as our stats.
So why don't we go through starting with Bramble?
Why don't you tell us the stats that you have?
The five stats in root are charm, cunning, finesse, luck, and might.
What do your stats look like Bramble?
All right so for charm I'm at zero.
Cunning is plus two.
Finesse plus one.
My luck is zero and my might is zero.
Okay.
And you get to add a plus one to any of those.
Did you choose to do that?
I did.
I added a plus one to my charm because it was negative one.
Okay.
So that's where you got to zero.
Yes.
All right.
Cool.
So what are your stats?
My charm is plus one.
My cunning is negative one.
My finesse is zero.
My luck is plus two and my might is zero.
Okay.
Did you choose to throw a plus one in any there anywhere?
I didn't.
I just saw that little thing below it there.
Okay.
So go ahead and add a plus one to any of those except for your one that's a plus two.
You can't go above that at this time.
Okay.
They're all used about the same, the moves throughout the story.
I mean, so different moves call for different roles.
You should look at like what your moves are, like how you're talking about how quickshot
relies on luck.
You should see if any of the other ones that you've already picked and I think I'm going
to stick with them.
So I'll just, we can come back to you too.
What's finesse?
Finesse is usually like fine motor skills.
It's like stabbing shit with swords.
Okay.
Finesse things.
I'm going to go add, I'm going to move finesse from zero to a plus one.
Fantastic.
And what do Peter's, Peter the Opossum stats look like?
So I have a plus two to my charm stat and I took my plus one in cunning.
So that gives me a plus two to that.
I have a minus one in finesse and luck and might are zero.
Okay.
You got some beefy moves there.
I like how everybody went for a slightly different approach.
Let's talk about everybody's moves.
Bramble, what are your moves?
So I have a toolbox which has tools and supplies.
I can work long on long-term projects, which includes a portable alchemy kit and a esoteric
hand tool.
The drawback is though it is bulky and obvious.
I also have repair.
When I repair destroyed personal equipment with my toolbox, the GM will set one condition
as per the toolbox move, fulfill it and clear all wear for that equipment.
When you repair damaged personal equipment with your toolbox, do it as long as you spend
depletion for value of one for one for each box of wear you clear.
All right.
Cool.
And then you also got to pick an additional one.
Which I chose nimble mine.
So when I attempt a roguish feat involving mechanic, mechanicism, mechanic.
Okay.
Nope.
Mechanism.
Thank you.
I also chose to roll with cunning instead of finesse because my cunning is a little bit
better.
All right.
Awesome.
Cotton, what does your move set look like?
What makes MacGyver better than if he had wild card syndrome?
So I chose create to destroy.
When you use available materials to rig up a dangerous device, roll with finesse.
Oh, good thing I had that plus one.
On a hit, you cobble together something that will do what you want one time.
It could be more dangerous than intended, larger, more unwieldy than intended, more
temperamental and fragile than intended.
And then I chose daredevil.
You're at your luckiest when you go into danger without hesitation.
When you dive into a dangerous situation without forethought or planning, treat yourself as
having luck armor with one box of wear.
Remember, armor is only destroyed.
We'll figure that out.
It automatically goes away once the danger has passed.
And the next time you would have luck armor, you gain it as if it was a brand new with
clear boxes.
Oh, that's dope.
I never read that last sentence.
Nice.
Sounds like you got a little bit of additional armor there.
Very cool.
All right.
And you should have a third one.
Mine said, I can't read.
I'm going to go with a better lucky than good.
When you use a weapon move, basic or skilled, mark exhaustion to roll with luck instead
of the listed stat.
You have a bonus to luck, don't you?
I have a plus two.
That's probably better than most of your other stats, right?
So that sounds like a good one.
Well, so the other one's arsonist.
When you wreck something with flagrantly dangerous means, explosive, uncontrolled flame, et cetera,
roll with luck instead of might.
I'm going to go with arsonist.
That one does sound more fun from being honest.
I also chose the nature of an arsonist, so I should probably.
Those really play into each other.
Should be one.
Yeah.
Okay.
And Peter.
So the moves I chose are pocket sand.
Yes.
Take the weapon skill, confuse sense does not count against your limit.
When you throw something to confuse an opponent's senses at close or intimate range, roll with
cunning instead of finesse.
Oh, perfect.
Because I have a negative finesse and plus two in cunning.
One of my other moves is let's play.
When you play a game of skill and wit to loosen another's tongue, roll with charm on a hit.
They let slip something useful or valuable on a seven to nine.
You have to lose the game to get them there.
Mark depletion on a miss.
They're better than you ever thought.
Either mark depletion and cut your losses are Mark three depletion and they'll start
talking.
My last move is the charm offensive.
When you play upon an enemy's insecurities, concerns or fears to distract them with words
during a fight, roll with cunning on a hit.
You create an opening for yourself, making any available weapon move against them at
plus one or strike quickly and deal injury to them on a seven to nine.
You also tick them off.
They aren't listening to you anymore.
No matter what you do until the situation drastically changes on a miss, you infuriate
them and they come at you hard and you're not prepared.
Okay.
You guys also have some roguish feats and weapons skills that you picked.
You want to tell us where you started with those Bramble?
I just said start with marked feet.
So I guess that they put shows for me.
Okay.
I have counterfeit, disabled device and pick lock.
Nice.
What about your weapon skills?
I chose cleave.
Ooh, sounds dangerous.
All right.
I have acrobatics, hide and sneak my weapon skill that I started with is quick shot.
Nice.
My feats are pick lock and sleight of hand.
And I chose improvised for my weapon skill as well as confused sense from my pocket sand.
Fuck yeah.
All right.
Lastly, well, not lastly, there's one step past this, but you guys also had the chance
to pick some equipment.
You want to tell us what you guys chose?
Yeah.
I have the fox folk long sword, which sounds pretty cool.
And then I also took some leather armor.
Nice.
I have, I worked these into my character description, but my overly large coat, the robes, they
make me unassuming so that just I can pretty much be anywhere and no one knows.
They just, I've just considered normal until I start doing something out of hand and then
I could be like recognized or whatever.
Until you start blowing shit up.
Yeah.
So you did that dagger because you had mentioned that.
Yes, I did.
That was the one thing I figured it's like a real piece of equipment, but yeah, that
dagger.
Nice.
Okay.
And Peter.
Peter is wearing robes over his leather armor, so he is unassuming as well, but also has a
little bit of armor underneath.
Nice.
Any weapons?
I did not take any weapons.
No weapons.
All right.
Very cool.
Last thing to go over for character creation is the fact that you all have done at least
one big job together.
We're going to take a few minutes to describe what that looks like.
However you guys want to set that up.
What was the last big adventure that you guys had together?
So I mean, I feel like we all pulled that big job unintentionally together when Cotton
was stealing from the cats before where we all kind of met.
But did we do something after that intentionally?
Because of that time, you said we did get away with that one?
Yeah, I think we went that way.
You got away and then Bramble rescued me.
Okay.
So for, I forgot to put some parameters on this.
For this next part, you guys can describe something so major that it shuts down a path,
helps change the ownership of a clearing or like something major in the world you guys
can have an influence on that will influence our map that is behind me that I'm pointing
at that the audio people on the other side are lovely listeners aren't seeing.
What if the eerie guys, the birds, we had a big job to steal all their eggs because
we all like to eat eggs and it's like they're the bad guys.
So might as well steal all their babies.
I'm on board with that.
Eggs are delicious.
That's the, they're the right faction.
That's the eerie.
So the eerie at the moment controls Iron Vein, Oakenhold, Pine Horn, and the Open Sky Haven.
They have roosts, which are like kind of real big like military installations.
They have two of those.
The biggest one's in Open Sky Haven and the other one is in Iron Vein.
So probably maybe they would keep their nursery at like Oakenhold since that's kind of like
not the military place.
Okay.
So what did you guys do to kind of like disrupt that and what was the aftermath?
Well obviously Cotton burned it all down afterwards.
Yeah.
Well it wasn't intentional.
It was what started as a small fire because I went to breach in there with some small
explosives so we could seal the eggs and way overshot that.
Ended up compromising some of the support beams in that roost so that about 10 minutes
after we were off premises we started to hear a large creaking sound and as we looked up
just the whole, you know, a good section of the roost was just falling out of the sky.
Okay.
That is huge.
So on your reputation thing I want you to take three negatives for the eerie.
Oh no.
And I'm going to draw on the map that Oakenhold is more or less destroyed at this point.
It's a smoking husk.
So how does it work if we had plus two for the eerie?
Do I just go back and only have minus one now for them?
No.
So you can just keep adding to the negative.
Perfect.
So I already had a negative one with eerie because I marked it as having earned a special
amenity from them.
Okay.
So I get an extra one then.
Nice.
So how this works, three actually hits you at that negative one marker, right?
You said we all started out with plus two for the eerie though?
You guys did.
I did.
You too.
You too did.
Do they cancel out so that...
No.
So you're just going to have your...
You can still do good things for them.
So keep those, but you're in a very negative situation with them at the moment.
So going forward, the way it works, you have...
Those of you that have three negatives for a faction, you're going to be at that negative
one.
So Anna, you're actually not at four boxes.
You're at negative one plus one box.
So what that means is you're going to need to get six boxes of negative reputation before
you get down to that negative two.
So you can actually erase those two.
So that's the same with the positive.
Oh, I see.
So I don't have this one yet.
I'm just up to the negative one.
Yeah.
So you're at the negative one plus one box.
So those other three you don't have at this point.
So every time you hit a milestone, it just resets to make it longer and longer.
This is one of the few things I really took away from that video last night.
I watched that math and I was like, oh, that's a fun mechanic.
And it's one of the few things that stuck in my head.
Awesome.
Everybody got it?
Yeah.
Cool.
So that puts you...
That actually makes the whole story a little bit cooler overall because it doesn't put
you aligned with one faction or another too hard.
So I'm going to go find a red marker really quick and draw big flames over Okinawa.
Nice.
Awesome.
So really glad to know we've got some good characters.
I think they're going to fit in really, really well in the world.
Luckily this time I've gotten smarter.
So I gave you guys like the littlest of parameters on like previous times when I was like, just
show up and make a character.
So I'm getting smarter.
Good for you.
Thank you.
All right.
So let's start in Ice Trap.
As you guys enter, the clearing is well lit by many torches.
As the three of you move further into town, you can't help but notice how quiet it is.
You come across several of the same notices posted around town that there is a clearing
meeting tonight at the courthouse.
We should probably check it out.
Yeah, I think that's important.
The courthouse beams with light and as you get closer, you hear the muffled noise of
many voices.
Entering, you're hit by a wave of noise.
The air is warm and filled with tension.
The denizens are made up primarily by rabbits, but there are a few other species of foxes,
mice, badgers, and sheep all in attendance as well.
As you look around the crowd, standing against the back wall, you see a few other bands of
vagabonds.
Well, you assume them to be vagabonds silently watching.
There's a large footed flappy eared rabbit wearing a sash standing at the front of the
room.
Quiet, quiet.
Everyone will get a chance to speak.
There are many, there are many opinions that we must hear.
It is my duty to all of you to keep you safe.
And as such, I will stay here until we come to an agreement.
So we will have order or this meeting will be concluded.
The crowd mutters and dies down.
First we will hear from Jackson Ramston.
You now have the floor, sir.
A ram stands up from the crowd.
I know I have not been a denizen of Ice Trap my entire life, but I have lived here for
most of it.
We have always prospered in our solidarity, but almost every other clearing is now under
control.
The trade is getting more difficult and we have fewer and fewer allies.
Food is getting scarce and we won't be able to hold out forever.
I propose that we join the side of the eerie.
If we voluntarily give them control, they will likely allow us to continue to live as
we always have.
There's many boos throughout the crowd and a young rabbit woman pops up from the other
side of the crowd.
Ice Trap will never be ruled.
We will stand and we will fight any invader.
Then we will die.
The crowd continues to grow louder and begins to pitch back and forth again when suddenly
a small mouse stands up.
We should join the Marquis de Cat.
Life has improved in those clearings.
They have lots of food and are treated fairly.
Once again Penelope, the young rabbit, shouts, traitor, you're a bloody traitor.
And the mayor, standing at the front, once again is forced to chime in.
Enough, enough, I won't have us fighting.
We must be civilized.
At this a large weasel moves from the back of the crowd towards the mayor.
Clad in leather and steel armor with a large two-handed sword slung over her back.
Her presence quiets the crowd to the point where you can hear her different pouches and
weapons jingle as she moves.
As she stands, she addresses the crowd.
Friends my name is Jane de la Faire.
I have come to offer you another option.
There's a collective muttering amongst the crowd.
Ice Trap has a long history of strength and pride.
That history is inspiring to all the denizens of the woodlands, many of who have not forgotten
and looked to you again for strength.
Clearing after clearing fall to invaders who use them for our fast resources and taxes
and for slave labor.
They make our lives worse while fattening their own pockets all under the guise of betterment.
Will I tell you friends, I saw just what each side is capable of.
I was in Middletown when the Marquis de Catt's forces swept through.
What's left of its denizens are forced to work for the invaders, owning nothing.
They all now live in a single building and are given only rations.
While the Eerie offer protection, but they demand more taxes than people can afford.
And when you can't pay, your whole family is conscripted into their forces to march
off to die.
We're here to tell you that you are not alone.
We represent the Woodland Alliance and we need your help.
We represent all the free folk of the woodland and we're asking you to fight.
A rabbit man stands from the crowd.
You're just a swindler, a rogue, a bandit.
You're going to get us all killed.
And once again, the crowd erupts into anger and Jane leaves the podium.
Her group of vagabonds follow behind her as the mayor works to get the crowd under control,
relying on the peacekeepers to move in and silence the crowd.
That weasel lady seemed reasonable.
I say we join with her.
I agree.
Should we address the rest of the denizens here in the meeting?
They're rabbit folk like you.
What are denizens?
Just the normal citizenry.
Yeah, denizens just represent the general population of the woodlands.
So they're just common folks.
Okay.
I kept thinking genies.
I don't know why.
Me either.
I'm going to step up and we're still in the meeting, right?
Yeah, we haven't left yet.
Okay.
Yeah.
So when she's walking away, I'm going to walk up.
I'm Peter and I've come from a far away clearing and the renown of Ice Trap is still held strongly
in many of the clearings.
Just like Jane was saying, the woodland folks still remember the resistance that you folks
put up here and that is why our group has come to help strengthen you.
We need to resist the oppression from both sides, the cats and the eerie.
So we're here to reinforce what Jane said.
We should all stick up for Ice Trap against the oppressors.
I stand with Peter.
He speaks truth.
I stand with Peter too and that other lady.
Penelope shouts from the crowd.
Collectively, the crowd once again begins to bicker back and forth with no obvious advantage
on one side or the other.
Let's leave these folks to their discussion.
Let's go follow the Weasel lady.
I think it's time that you tell them the story of Oakenhold.
Those sparrow eggs were damn good.
I meant the other part where we're slowly burning them down.
Well, that's when we got the eggs.
Okay, I'll handle this.
Calm down everyone.
Excuse me here.
I think it's important to remember that these are not gods that we are moving against here.
These are just regular folk like us.
They may have the power on their side, but you got to remember we gave it to them.
At one point we said come back and they did and here we are.
You think they're indestructible.
We here have come from Oakenhold where we decided intentionally, with full intention
that the three of us would cause as much harm as possible trying to take them down and we
left Oakenhold ablaze.
I'm sure you've all heard of the Oakenhold.
I hate that town.
It's so hard to say.
When we heard of the Oakenhold fires, well that was us.
It can be done.
We do not have to be afraid.
If we stand our ground, we can not only hold ice trap.
We can rebuild the paths.
We can take back the clearings.
You're traitors.
Do you not support and love your clearing of ice trap?
I love this town, but you're going to get us all killed.
Well, if you want to be with them so bad, there's the gate.
Go to another clearing.
Milltown's just a few strides away there, buckaroo.
Milltown's owned by the cats.
I thought that was who you liked.
Anybody but here, right?
No, I like the eerie.
All right.
Well, pine horn, other way.
That little mouse there, he's the traitor.
Along with you.
I think you're both traitors.
We should all be free.
The crowd actually begins to clap and cheer at that.
Together, we can help rebuild the paths of fair and free trade between the clearings
that will help bring Prosper to not only ice trap, but the surrounding clearings and the
denizens of them as well.
I think we should also add in, if we can get back to Oakenhold in time, there's going to
be some fine warm breakfast waiting for all of us.
Because that's where their main hatchery was.
I don't know if you're all aware of that.
The crowd begins to clap and several people actually leave.
Several bands of vagabonds that were at the back cycle out of the courtroom at this point
too.
Did any of them look like spies for the birds?
Any of them wingsed?
No winged creatures here.
None that you've seen.
Okay.
Should we leave the meeting now?
Have we accomplished as much as we can here?
I don't think there's more that we're going to accomplish here.
The band doesn't seem like he's fighting anybody.
What is our main goal here?
What do we want to do?
Bring them both down.
So far our purpose in life has just seems to have been a bunch of yuck yucks gone awry.
And I feel like maybe do we have really an intent and purpose here to save an entire
clearing?
Or are we just looking out for us?
I just kind of want to keep this place as it is.
It's more fun than the other places.
They're kind of like prisons and jails.
I have a strong dislike of birds and all winged things.
I say we take down the eerie.
I mean I think we should just break the whole system.
I think we should take them all down, the eerie, the cats.
Keep the people working together for themselves.
And I say we have them fight each other.
Do the job for us.
That would be the best option.
Never get our paws dirty as they say.
Clean paws.
The cats and birds are natural enemies.
Yeah, that's true.
We're just trapped in the middle.
Scared of everybody else.
Are you guys still in the courthouse?
We had that discussion in the courthouse.
Yeah.
But I think now we're ready to move on.
If you leave the courthouse, there are several citizens, denizens now walking through the
town, but you can still see Jane de la Faire and her group of vagabonds is what we'll call
them for now, although we're not certain if that's what they are.
Actually talking to another band of vagabonds, shaking hands not too far away.
Well let's go introduce ourselves.
I agree and we walk over.
Well hello friends.
Have you come to join the Woodland Alliance?
Well met.
We would be very much interested in your adventure.
Your help would be greatly appreciated in these times.
Well we're happy to offer what help we can.
We certainly are not a fan of the birds or the cats, the eerie and the marquee.
We as well are not fans of any of them and as such we have a few missions that we're
working on now to secure lasting peace for all the denizens of the woodland.
Would you be interested in coming back in the morning to learn and to perhaps help us?
That sounds mighty fine.
I'm in a meatball for that.
Okay we're going to be in the forest just outside the clearing to the north.
Meet us there at first light.
Very well, I forgot your name again.
What was it?
My name is Jane de la Faire.
Jane de la Faire.
Beautiful name.
Thank you.
Jane, it's good to see you again.
What exactly, which delegation are you with again?
Are you for the eerie or are you for the?
We're for the denizens of the woodland.
Denizens?
Yes.
We represent freedom, independence from both the eerie and the marquee de cat.
Now I noticed you spoke up pretty loudly about that and there and do you have any concerns
with any of this being reported to either side?
Always.
However, we stay moving.
We try to work only with trusted fellows, vagabonds like yourselves, although we do
play both sides.
Most of us here in the Woodland Alliance, the fighters anyways, have long history with
both factions, both good and bad.
However, we fight to eliminate both and establish a new peace throughout the land.
So you're like the head of this Woodland Alliance organization?
I wouldn't say I'm the head.
Like the left arm?
I would prefer the right.
Oh, I'm a right arm myself.
That's good.
There are many leaders in the Woodland Alliance.
We're scattered around.
Some more information based, others are warriors.
It can give you more details if you wish in the morning, as well as set you on the course
to aid the denizens of the woodland and free them from the oppressors.
If you wish to continue this journey.
We'll be happy to see you tomorrow morning.
Excellent.
And what's your name again?
Bramble.
Very nice to meet you, Bramble.
And I'm Peter.
Hello, Peter.
Oh, you know me, Jane.
Good to see you again.
Yes.
Good to see you, Cotton.
How do you know Jane de La Faire?
I just thought it'd be really funny to just randomly add in the fact we already know each
other.
Solid.
I heard about your most recent exploits, Cotton.
I assume your two friends were also part of this?
Yeah, I know you told me I should be keeping my nose clean.
And it was just one more thing.
But it seemed to inspire a lot of those people in there.
So I kind of just twisted it to the other way.
But yeah, you know me, Jane.
Let's hope so.
Ice Trap is a central part of our plan here.
I'm glad to have the three of you aboard and I hope you'll stay aligned with the cause
in the morning.
We'll find out in the morning.
But I think it should be on the straight and narrow.
I think my main cause is always survival.
So we'll see how tomorrow sounds.
We'll see you in the morning.
10 minutes after first light.
In the clearing to the north.
In the forests to the north.
I'm glad you guys remembered that.
And with that, Jane moves on to another group of vagrants and begins to speak with them.
Well, we got some time to kill.
Perhaps we'll meet a tavern wench to spend some time with.
Looking for a tavern and a wench?
Well yeah, I mean, we have a whole night to spend.
Awesome.
Somebody give me a good bar name.
The horny rabbit.
Was it brothel or bar?
It's both.
It's a bit of both.
It is a rabbit settlement.
That's definitely what I'm figuring.
Yeah, that's what I'm figuring.
It's probably some easy rabbit girls at the bar.
Yeah, for sure.
Down the main strip, there is a very large bar called the horny rabbit.
Outside on the front side of it has a jackalope.
Mythical in these lands.
No one's ever seen one, but they are spoken about highly.
And this would be something that the rabbit denizens here in Ice Trap would be very fond
of.
You go inside and actually it's pretty empty because a lot of people are still at the courthouse.
So the people that are here are mainly the tavern wenches and some very promiscuous looking
bunny ladies.
Excellent.
I'm getting a drink and talking to that lady over there with a brown spot on her head.
I'm getting two, maybe three drinks.
So I actually don't have any money, but I have a roguish feat of counterfeit and I was
going to pass off a counterfeit value to the bartender.
Fuck yeah.
All right.
You walk up to the bartender and she goes, hey there, darling, what can I get you?
Oh hi, I would love an ale.
Whatever is your best?
Oh, I have lots of bests.
Well, the best best.
The best of the best.
And she pulls a draft out of a cask and sets it down in front of you.
That'll be one value.
Here you are.
Oh, excellent.
What does your counterfeit move do?
Not sure, but I'm sure it means I can pass off fake money.
Before we get too far into that, I thought basic purchases were just kind of a thing
that happened and you didn't actually spend value unless it was like.
Yeah, that's a great point and you are correct.
I still want to do that.
You still counterfeit it because you have admitted having no monies.
So that just works.
Well, I immediately got confused because I was like, we don't really have money money.
So I was like, what's the money for?
You don't really, really need real money, but we'll just say that Bramble's counterfeit
move is going to help get through any money related situations here tonight.
I'm also greedy, so I'm not going to spend real money.
Good point.
Here's the best of the best.
Do you guys want anything?
I'll just take the biggest.
It doesn't need to be the best.
Okay, it comes in pints.
Perfect.
I'll take two.
And I'll take one.
I'll take one right in the middle.
Middle sized.
Just needs to be just right.
She ponders for a moment before filling up the large glass halfway.
Here.
Works for me.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
It's a good night.
It does look rather empty.
When does it pick up around here?
Probably when the courthouse is done and the people are done arguing.
Then they're going to argue here.
Yes, that's where we get probably our best business when they argue here.
Good business model.
Everybody likes arguing and drinking.
Do you have any?
Should hold the town meetings here.
I should.
Do you have any private arguing quarters in the back?
Or I could argue intimately with somebody?
We have rooms by the hour.
Perfect.
How many hours do you need?
About a tenth of an hour.
Oh, you're going to go that many times.
Okay.
Tenth.
Not a full hour.
Yep.
Just a small bit of it.
Six whole minutes.
There we go.
Yeah.
Lasted pretty long.
All right.
That'll be all, folks.
Okay.
There's no locks on the door, so just choose one that's open.
Oh, okay.
Well, I'm going to wait for someone to argue with first there, so thank you.
Okay.
You could probably just open some doors and find some people who are ready to argue.
They're already arguing in there.
That is true.
Group discounts.
They already came back from the meeting?
There are a few that left.
I'm looking for arguing for the meeting.
What are we all talking about here?
Arguing usually means something else.
Oh.
Sorry.
I'm from a different clearing.
That's okay.
There was a very angry mouse guy that stormed through.
Perfect.
Where'd he go?
To the back.
With one of the rabbits.
All right.
I'm going to start knocking on doors.
You're going to argue with somebody.
Can't trust that mouse that was advocating to be partners with the cats.
That sounds really untrustworthy.
You head to the back rooms.
Oh, we don't have to actually act this out.
That's just where I go.
We can figure that out later.
Okay, jokes.
It's off screen.
I mean, I was ready, but okay.
Yeah, we'll move past it.
Well, I'm just going to talk to the rabbit that I spotted when I walked in.
Oh, well, hello there, darling.
Well, hello yourself.
I like your gray hairs.
Thank you.
Do you like my brown spot?
It's quite a nice spot.
I'd love to touch another spot.
I have more than one brown spot, but you got to rent a room for that.
How much do you cost, girl?
A nondescript amount of money.
I feel like I should know before I get into it.
How much do you think I'm worth?
Half a value.
Oh, well, all right.
We can do that.
All right, we'll do double time.
You'll get a full value.
Double time, 10 whole minutes.
Oh, well, I'm not a rabbit, so maybe different.
Well, all right, whatever you got going.
And you guys go find a room in the back, starting season three off strong.
As Bramble is walking down the hallway, Cotton comes out and just leaves the door open, starts
walking back toward the bar.
And as they glance in, it's just an empty room.
Peter's just been already drank two of his drinks and he's got like three more empty
cups next to him.
Nice.
Peter's getting loaded.
If you had any exhaustion, you could clear it at this point, but you have none.
I'm going to move to a corner kind of opposite the bar, but where I can also see who's coming
in and out of the door and just nurse my middle of the road beer.
Notable people that come into the bar are both Jackson and Penelope from the meeting
and they are already arguing on their way in.
Jackson is an older Ram.
He looks like kind of feeble-ish.
He's definitely not like a young spry anamorph and Penelope is very young looking and very,
very fired up.
Is it bad that I don't want to talk to either of them?
No, that is your decision to not.
There's a bunch of other people that are flowing in at this point.
You can kind of get the sense that the meeting must have been adjourned.
Has the mayor come in?
He has not.
I'm going to stumble outside and just see if I see the mayor anywhere or stumble back
over to the courthouse.
On your way to the courthouse, you do actually see the mayor and he is talking to Jane de
la Faire almost in the same spot that you were at before and there are a small crowd
of people around him and her.
Pretty bloated.
Was this the best decision I could have made?
I see that the mayor and Jane are talking too many drinks to go in eavesdrop now.
I'll just get the lowdown from Jane in the morning.
And do you stumble anywhere else?
Nowhere in particular, I'm just roaming around.
Checking trash bins.
Yes.
Just looking around, checking the trash bins, looking underneath stairs.
There's nothing like super great in the trash bins, but you do find a very nice spot under
a stoop that's got like a lot of leaves, like a huge pile of leaves in there and a tasty
fish carcass if you were attracted to that.
I'm not, but had a lot of drinks so I'm just going to be just sitting there just chewing
on this fish, nodding off a little bit.
You do realize that you're out in front of the mayor's house.
That's fine.
As he heads up the stairs, he just kind of gives you a glance.
This is all too much tonight.
I'm just going to go to bed.
Good night.
Yes.
Good night.
Denison, the two of you that were left at the horny rabbit, how were your 10 minutes
bramble?
Oh, it was excellent.
She was very fuzzy.
Noise.
Yeah, she was.
She gives you a wink and a pinch on the cheek as she walks away after your interaction.
Feels good to get that out of my system after a big heist of the eggs and now we're going
to go on to another adventure.
Just what I needed.
I'm not being specious here, but what kind of animal are you again?
A fox.
Ah, nice.
I don't think it matters.
I was just curious.
Yeah, it doesn't really matter.
Everybody's like human sized for the most part.
Oh, so it's like that Bojack.
Yes.
Yeah, pretty much.
You're all roughly the same size.
Obviously there's going to be some fluctuations in that.
And outside of that, like giant creatures like a bear or a moose or a deer or a large
wolf, they're different in this.
I heard a moose described as like a dragon.
Yeah.
A bear is like a troll.
They're trying to use it in that size aspect.
Exactly.
So and the same embodiment.
So like they're not anthropomorphized at all.
They still like are very much animal like creatures.
They were never interbred.
Correct.
They never got the mutant gene.
I don't know if we can use the word mutant.
Sony might sue us or something.
I don't know.
All right.
You guys doing anything else?
I'm keeping an eye on Jackson.
Has he been drinking a lot?
He hasn't been drinking nearly as much as Penelope, who continues to shout at him and
is getting honestly a little bit physical with him, but he's not really playing into
that at all.
Still kind of physical, like aggressive.
Like yes, like pushing him and trying to rile him up.
Oh, wow.
He is not feeding into it.
I think I'd like to go over to Penelope and just be like, hey, girl, you can calm down.
You don't got to be so stressed about it and try to lead her away from the conversation.
Don't be so stressed about it.
He's going to give us to the birds and birds.
They're evil.
I'm with you there.
I dislike the winged things very much, but I think there's going to be something else
going on.
I don't think you need to think that's the end result.
I'm so angry at him though.
The goat does seem pretty addle brained.
Well, I'm right here.
I didn't say it quietly.
I'm not addle brained.
I'm just a realist.
The birds are ancient enemies.
Yes, but compared to the cats, they're so much better.
The cats are pure evil.
The cats are pure evil?
Yes.
I don't agree with you.
The birds are definitely more evil.
Damn crows and ravens.
Well, I would have to disagree.
The cats, everything I've heard is just so horrifying.
Like what?
They enslave everybody.
They've stripped everyone of their possessions and there's many in the ranks that kill for
fun.
They just outright slaughter denizens of the different clearings.
Well, I don't like either overlord to be exact, but certainly the birds are more evil.
At least we know the eerie.
We weren't under total control from them.
They allowed us some sort of independence.
Limited.
Limited is better than what the Marquis de Ca-a-a-a-a has for us.
I don't think we should choose either option.
I'm with Penelope.
I don't know if I can stay here any longer.
Good, get out.
He just kind of like sinks his head and walks out of the bar.
I'm going to follow him out.
Okay.
He very slowly muttering to himself, walks to what you can assume is his house.
Oh, I'd like to catch up to him before that.
Oh, okay.
I'm not like sneakily following.
I'm just walking out right then.
I want to catch up to him.
All right, you can do so.
Excuse me there, Mr. Rampson, I believe.
Yes.
I just don't mind intrusion.
I just want to say I apologize for everyone's anger in there.
Alcohol can be quite spicy on the mentality toward others.
It is a catalyst for bad decisions.
Well, I just didn't sit right that everyone was sitting there yelling at you.
You have just as much of a right to your opinion as they do.
I appreciate that.
Now, that being said, we obviously are on different sides of the fence on this one,
but I just kind of wanted to know what kind of a dungeon are you in.
I wanted to make sure you're not going to go say anything crazy to those with eerie
about this town.
I think it's important that we can all handle this democratically here within the clearing.
We don't need to try to bring in anybody.
I have tried, but I feel like overall I'm not welcome here anymore.
So I'm going to think on it overnight, but I might leave.
If that's what you feel is the right thing to do, then I think that you should follow
up with that and go ahead and do that.
Just make sure to leave that open whole story.
I won't say anything, but I'm not going to get slaughtered with the rest of the town.
Have a good night, laddie.
I appreciate your thanks.
Thank you, Mr. Ramson.
You too.
Good evening.
And he heads off.
Morning comes.
Where did Bramble and Cotton spend their time?
Right on the table?
Yeah.
Nice.
I feel like I eventually tracked down where Peter ended up.
Maybe we just found somewhere close by to kind of hunker in, but just like keep an eye
on.
Okay.
Peter's just sleeping in a pile of leaves under a stoop.
So at this point it's more to make sure no one tries messing with him or like taking
a shit.
Taking his things.
Running around the clearing, making sure no one's shitting.
You put that back in your butt, boy.
All right.
Morning comes and you all stir.
I'm feeling great.
Nothing like a nice pile of leaves.
Morning, Peter.
Glad to see you up again.
Morning, Cotton.
Thanks for being close by.
Oh, I was just heading this way for breakfast.
You want to join me?
Sure.
It's probably not going to have anything on those Okanhole eggs, but we can be sure
hope, can't we?
Hope is free, so they say.
So they say.
Well, I heard they have great breakfast over at the Waskley Wabbit.
I like that.
The Waskley Wabbit is a breakfast-only spot, serving the most delicious coffees and pastries.
Oh, man, looks like they don't open till 3 p.m.
It is strange for a breakfast model.
They do only serve breakfast, but they open very late.
That would be such a...
I mean, in our world, that would be such a classic thing.
Just like 5 p.m. to 2 in the morning, only...
Oh wait, that's Denny's.
Fuck.
You all find Bramble sleeping at the inn, and the sun is beginning to peak up over the
treetops.
Oh, right.
She said first light.
I told her we'd be late, though, but we should go.
Bramble, are you waking up?
Yeah.
I'm awake.
I got some breakfast for you in my pocket.
Oh, thank you.
There you go.
We got hit the ground running.
We're going to be late to meet Jane Delafair.
I'm putting my sunglasses on.
I thought you only wore those at night.
Well, this morning I need it.
You all make your way to the edge of the forest, north of the clearing, and you can see that
Jane Delafair and her group of vagabonds are packing up their stuff.
And it seems like you have gotten there just in the nick of time.
Morning, Jane.
Hello, Cotton.
Welcome back.
I was afraid that I wouldn't see you again this morning.
Oh, no.
You know me.
I just swing around in my own time.
Here, I brought you a coffee just the way you like it.
Fourteen sugars and three creamers?
Ah.
I forgot it was cream.
I threw in milk.
I hope that's all right.
That'll do.
I heard rabbits have some great milk.
I've always been a fan of rabbit milk.
However you can get it.
I'm a rabbit.
Never had it.
I forgot I was a rabbit.
Well, are you still here to take this journey with us?
We are.
We're very interested in hearing what you propose here.
It seems like the final frontier here, Ice Trap, is in jeopardy of either getting taken
over by one of two evils or simply exploding into nothing.
We need your help.
We need you to get a message to our contact in the Wind Gap Refuge.
The denizens there were almost as receptive to our offer as the folks here were last night,
which is to say not very.
Oh, it seemed about 50-50 last night.
Though I guess most of us that are in support of it don't really necessarily call here
our home.
That is true.
A large group of the supporters were vagabonds rather than regular denizens.
If we're going to get all the clearings to fight, we're going to need their support
as well, not just the fighters.
The matter of fact is there are only three unoccupied clearings left, and if we don't
make some progress soon, our efforts will be over before they start.
I need the three of you to find a man named Watkin, and I need you to tell him this message.
The rabbit runs through the patch out of sight of bird or cat, but soon to be eaten whole.
He'll know what it means.
Do you think you can remember that, Cotton?
Yeah, the rabbit runs from the cat and eats him in one whole.
Well, not quite.
The rabbit runs through the patch out of sight of bird or cat.
The rabbit runs out of the patch out of sight of bird or cat.
But soon to be eaten whole.
Close enough.
He should be able to intuit what that means.
All right.
What manner of animal is Watkins?
He's a mole, not a fighter though, but very recognizable.
Ah, it's a shame he won't be able to recognize us.
They have the worst eyesight.
They do, which is why he wears such thick glasses.
One of the most recognizable things that he wears.
As for us, me and my troop will be moving to Pinehorn.
We're going to try to draw them up some support right under those birds' beaks.
Wish you luck.
Be careful.
After the Oaken Hole bombing, I'm sure that they're going to be on edge and high security.
They absolutely, absolutely, and I'm going to stress for a third time, absolutely are.
You're welcome.
This stunt has made things progressively more difficult for us to deal with the birds.
But we've weakened them.
That we have.
Well, that you have.
We have.
You have.
I guess we didn't have anything to do with that.
You're welcome again.
Yes.
The Woodland Alliance does not have to take responsibility for that attack.
So that's one point.
I just start patting Bramble and Peter on the back, just like, good job, good job.
I saw you talking to the mayor after the meeting last night.
Was there any resolution to the rest of that meeting?
It sounded pretty out of hand when people arrived at the bar.
It remained out of hand.
They did not come to a consensus as far as the denizens, but the mayor has thrown his
own personal support behind us.
He thinks that it is the best option to join with the Woodland Alliance.
However, he's not willing to make that call without the support of his people.
For that, I commend him, although part of it seems cowardly.
I would agree.
A wise leadership decision, but hopefully it doesn't cost his community too much.
I fear that it will if we fail our missions.
It's for the young anyway.
That is true.
Jane, I just had an idea here.
I was talking to Mr. Ramson last night.
Yes.
And he's tired out of this argument.
He's going to start moving into the Uri territory.
He wants to move over there.
Yes.
He in fact made his way there last night.
We caught him on the road.
What'd you do to him?
We just caught him and questioned him and now we're holding him.
We can't let him get to the birds.
Certainly not before us.
Oh, well, I was going to say if you were, maybe if you were nice enough to give him
an escort there, he'd be nice enough to feed us some information about what's going on
inside Pinehorn.
But it seems we might have more trouble than I had thought we got into last night.
Perhaps after some reconditioning, he will help us out.
But at the moment he's pretty adverse.
You're taking prisoners now.
Unfortunately, this is war.
So anyone else in this town here that disagrees with you?
No, only the ones that run towards Pinehorn in the middle of the night.
Same old Jane.
We must do what's best for the cause.
Well, we'll go talk to our mole friend and tell him a poem and see what we can do.
Excellent.
I look forward to our next meeting.
From there, Watkin should be able to give you a bit more guidance.
Okay.
I wish you all the best.
Move with haste.
Likewise.
And with you.
Don't be too hard on that old goat.
Oh, we won't be.
She turns back to her troop, gathers her stuff, and they march from this clearing.
Well, I think we should get headed out to the Wind Gap Refuge pretty soon here.
I don't know how long it's going to take.
There's a path right there.
We might as well keep on it for now.
It seems the shortest distance.
I agree.
I do think, friends, that we should keep an open mind about how we make our decisions
and what happens inside of Wind Gap.
Jane's always been a real stubborn individual, my way or the highway type of person, which
I can respect in certain situations.
But I don't think Jackson Rampson was necessarily a threat to anything.
I did speak with him last night, and it really just seemed that he wanted to go someplace.
He felt more safe and comfortable, and I can't blame a man for that.
He would make himself more comfortable by telling the birds all about us, though.
That is simply fear talking, not necessarily what would have happened.
I do respect your opinion, Bramble, but I don't think taking prisoners because they
disagree with you is necessarily the best idea.
There may be war going on, but it's not here.
And starting it like that, that just doesn't seem right.
Well, I had a dream that Jackson told you he was going to wait until the morning to
leave.
And if he fled in the night, that seems kind of deceitful.
Maybe Jane did want to give him an escort, but she just had to wait until the rest of
her folks were ready to go in the daytime.
Well, he was pretty worked up from being roughed up a little bit over there.
The bark from those who were getting antsy with him.
He seemed scared, so I don't blame a man for running when he's scared.
Sometimes irrational thoughts take over, but I do see both of your points.
I just want to be wary of what Jane's doing.
Make sure we don't fully trust her jumping with both feet.
Let's tiptoe and feel the water.
Well, I think we're doing that with delivering the message.
That's not too hard of a situation to deal with.
A mole in a camp of foxes, I'm sure we can find him.
I thought it was a rabbit running from cats.
That's the poem.
Oh, yes.
I hope someone else remembered.
Jane's good.
Perfect.
Yeah, I'm ready to head out.
You head down the path towards Wind Gap Refuge.
It's pretty uneventful.
There's actually not that many denizens traveling this path as normal.
You would have expected to see quite a few more people go through.
Wind Gap Refuge is one of the other two clearings that is not controlled by a faction at the
moment.
And so there's usually a good amount of trade going on between the two.
But on this particular day, it seems quite empty.
And as you continue towards Wind Gap Refuge, your nostrils detect a hint of smoke before
your eyes are able to register that the area is beset by a light smog.
And as you get closer, you can see thick clouds of smoke rising into the air.
Looks like we already been here.
Oh.
I don't think this was us, Bramble.
Yeah, I feel like I would have remembered.
Hopefully that's just, you know, the wind carrying the smog very far and that Wind Gap
hasn't been burned down.
I think we should be very careful the route that we take in.
Maybe we should use more, stick more to the forest in the path for this one.
Yeah, for the last little bit of the journey, I agree we should take some cover in the trees.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Okay, you scuffle into the forest as you get closer to the Wind Gap Refuge.
And making your way closer and closer, you hear a lot of sinister sounding voices and
the sounds of metal clanging.
And as you get nearer and nearer, you can see that there are several cats moving through
Wind Gap Refuge.
And as you're watching, you see denizens sliced down by giant cat's claws and other troops
running around clad in orange through the town, setting buildings ablaze.
All right, I'm gonna pull my bow out immediately and just kind of get that ready.
Yes, I had to switch from a dagger to a bow because I realized none of my shit lined up
with having a dagger.
It literally made no sense.
It'd be like going to a fire with pencils and erasers instead of marshmallows and chocolate.
It was that just didn't, couldn't mesh, could not mesh at all.
Can't eat those.
Right on.
As you're observing the situation, you hear a weak voice coming from not far off in the
forest.
Oh, whoa, whoa is me.
Someone's in distress over there.
All right, we should definitely make our way right over to wherever that is because if
that's a survivor, it's not gonna be long till they find them.
Well, we need information too.
Agreed.
Let's go find this struggling voice.
Oh, whoa, whoa is me.
And you come across a fat mole sitting against a tree, clutching his belly as he has an arrow
sticking out of it and it's running red with blood.
Oh, I immediately apply pressure.
Oh, it's all right, friend.
Oh, are you a Watkins?
I am Watkins.
Oh, how fortunate.
We have a message for you.
Okay.
It may be too late at this point, but do you have medicine or something?
Oh, it's so deep in there.
I have an alchemy kit.
I could do something with that, right?
Oh, sure.
I don't know what, but go for it.
Well, we could break off the arrow and pour a little burning liquid to close up the hole.
Oh, that sounds terrible.
No more bleeding though.
Oh, that sounds not terrible.
I have a little bit of whiskey you can drink.
Oh, we're getting better all the time.
And he begins to cough up some blood.
Friend, before you go away on us here, we were sent here by Jane Delafayre.
We were supposed to tell you about the rabbit that ran through the field away from the mice
and cats.
No, no, no.
I don't care anymore about that.
None of it matters.
Look at the clearing.
The cats are already here.
Yes.
We failed.
They're going to eat the mouse whole, I do believe.
They're going to eat the whole mouse.
I don't know what you're trying to say, but none of that matters.
Are you saying that the cause doesn't matter or the password doesn't matter?
The cause matters.
The password doesn't matter.
That's great because I have to change it every three months and I can never remember what
the new one is.
The cats are planning something big.
Do you know what it is?
They were talking about building weapons so big that the eerie could never fight back.
We knew about them a little bit at one of our comrades' vicarie, a bullfrog.
Oh, woe is me.
What about Rickery?
Could you tell us a little more about the frog?
Oh, yes.
He was investigating the weapons.
I think he's captured though.
That's the last I heard.
I thought you were going to pour spicy liquid into my wound.
I had to mix it first.
It takes a little bit of time.
All right, I'm going to rip this arrow out.
Oh, woe is me.
One swift motion.
Blood pours from the wound.
And then you pour that little burning liquid on there.
I don't want to keep shouting into the microphone.
I don't know if that helps.
It will in a minute.
Just give it a second.
It's working.
It's bubbling.
Yeah, it's closing up the wound.
I'm sorry, Watlock, do you happen to know where exactly your friend is being held?
You've got to find him.
Yes, where would we start looking for your friend?
Is he here in Wind Gap?
No, there's no one here left in Wind Gap Refuge.
I tried to save as many as I could, but I'm not a fighter, so I saved myself kind of,
but...
Oh, woe.
Woe is me.
Well, I think the bleeding stopped now.
Oh, now it just hurts.
I didn't say I could fix that part.
Did it stop the bleeding internally?
As far as we can tell.
Oh, oh, you have to find Vickery.
The bullfrog that you don't know where he is.
We can't let those ferocious felines get any more powerful.
We can deal with the eerie.
I've heard that one of their settlements was blown up anyways.
Well, that's... that is good news.
But if the Marquis claims any more land, there'll be nothing stopping them from conquering the
whole woodland.
We can't let that happen.
No!
That's what I'm saying, you must find Vickery.
Did he escape to the south?
Can you give us an idea?
He's...
I don't think he escaped anywhere, but his troop was in Fire Hollow.
All the way down there?
They're in grave danger.
They're the only holdouts on that side of the whole woodland.
Alright, Wakan.
Well, I gotta be honest with you here.
Are you gonna try to come along with us?
Or are you gonna sit here?
Well, I suppose if you could protect me, I'd come along.
I think we're cutting through the forest to get...
Oh, what was me?
Through the forest?
Are you gonna be able to stop all that yapping?
I don't know what you're referring to.
I'm referring to... you sound like a dog in heat.
You just keep going off every...
That red there, Wakan.
You're gonna have to stop that.
I'm doing my best, but I can't tell you about the immeasurable amount of pain that is coursing
through my body.
Oh, if you keep walking that way, you'll hit ice trap.
Walk, huh?
Yep.
Or crawl.
Whatever you can do.
Oh, well then I could come with you.
We gotta go to Fire Hollow.
Yes, very fast, too.
Alright, hold on one second.
Let me talk to my friends real quick.
Hold on, hold on, hold on.
Alright.
Shh.
Should we just put this man out of his misery?
I think we've learned everything we have to.
He is gonna die.
I mean, I don't think we should act out or kill him.
He's going on his own.
Right.
Well, wouldn't that be the nice thing to do?
I hope these people save me.
I don't think it's possible because, you know, we can't do nothing about that era.
That's in their good.
Yeah, I don't have anything that can help that out.
I'm not a medic.
Let's just walk away.
I'm a medic.
Why don't you two keep on walking and I'll give him some medicine.
I didn't know you had any medical training.
Yes.
I hope you guys are kidding or something.
Here it comes.
Here comes the cat.
Oh, whoa.
The day grows dark.
All right.
Well, it looks like the other doctor is on its way, so I think we can get going.
Oh, yep.
You guys should run.
That cat definitely sees you now.
All right.
Well, thank you, Watkin, for your service.
I think he's dead.
That's good.
We should go, though.
As you say this, a cat definitely has overheard Watkin, and you can see in the clearing you
have now alerted one of these cats to your presence, and it calls for several guards,
and three mice clad in orange armor begin to run towards you into the forest.
Scatter.
Scatter, scatter, scatter.
I vote for the plan of scatter.
Scat, scat.
That is where we're going to end our episode for today.
So we will pick up playing Root again next time, which is in two Tuesdays from now.
So we will see you next, next Tuesday.
That's it for today's episode.
We hope you've enjoyed listening as much as we've enjoyed playing.
If you have, go run and tell all your friends so that we can turn as many people into crit
cats as possible.
Tales from the Crit is a Wolfbeard Games audio podcast, and if you like us, please subscribe
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All right.
Bye.
Sorry, there was a pilliated woodpecker out there behind Connor and it was really distracting
to me it was very large they got to stay off the pills the hole is six feet over there
we agreed on this as a community you go in the hole you go in the hole but it's just a
hole in the middle of town