It is only in recent years that the nation of
Cathar has made itself known as a force to be
reckoned with. Prior to their great invasion
some 20 years ago, they were nothing more than
a hermit on the world stage, a great isolationist
island to the far south of the continent. They
were known for their slaves and were, until recently,
known as the Slave Nation of Cathar. But something
changed. They underwent a spectacular evolution,
and now they possess technology decades ahead
of what we on the continent have contended with.
They have superseded our primitive firearms,
methods of transportation, and systems of governance.
These great and terrible innovations have shocked
us and these new Cathari colonies into obedience.
But there are many questions left unanswered,
even to a long -lived scholar such as myself.
Why did a nation so far to the south launch a
naval invasion of the north? What sudden change
generated their leap forward in technology? But
perhaps the most important element is that none
of this matters. This useless exposition. This
pointless distraction. This story of ours. I
can see it all the way to the end. Its twists.
Its betrayals. Its seeming chaos. It is all so
clear. Words on a page. My complete and utter
torment. Even this fruitless monologue. Scripted.
Planned. Executed. Each letter. Each word. A
stare downwards towards the end. And I haplessly
descend. I have no choice. My feet move. I obey.
Even when I seem to fight. Even when I feel I
am rebelling. It is all part of the plan. It
is fitting that only now I would tell you this.
As you spring off of the precipice, you turn
your head and look at me. You confirm what you
have always known, and then you plummet out of
sight, towards the yawning maw beneath. There
we go. Okay. I think that worked. Okay. Great
stuff, guys. Great stuff. I don't know what happened
there. See you tomorrow. That's okay. You don't
need to know anything. I can tell that this is
going to be a good session. Everybody is just
fucking full of it this morning. I'm already
through my first coffee cup. Yeah, I feel like
a deep sickness in me, which I think is good
for the show. Yeah, keep it on the air. Why would
that help? Why would that help at all? Welcome
back to All That You Know. Today, we're going
to return to the City of Glass. You know where
we are. You know what we're doing. I'm the Game
Master. Call me Colin. Joining me today are Brian.
Hi, I'm Brian, and I'm playing Booker Page, the
Incarnadine. Ewan. Hello, I am Ewan. I'm playing
Halo the Witch. Zach. I'm Zach. I am playing
Ledger Grey, the Deathwalker. And Adam. Hi, I'm
Adam. I'm playing Bailey Cormac, the Junk Mage.
Thank you, Adam. No problem. Thank you. We're
going to talk about beats and fallouts. What
are you having your character pursue? What are
they suffering from? Booker, you're starting.
My current beats are forge a friendship or romantic
relationship with an NPC and perform a truly
reprehensible act on behalf of your masters.
We love that one. Halo. My current minor beat
is to simply take minor echo fallout. My current
major beat is to reveal the majesty of mother
to an outsider. And I don't think I have any
fallouts right now. Great. I forgot. Yeah, Brian.
Yeah, Booker. What are your fallouts, man? What's
wrong with you? There's a good amount. I got
foreboding, fortune minor. I think something
bad is going to happen. Don't know what though.
And dark cravings. I'm still hungry for teeth.
That's an echo minor one. Never goes away. What
if I just never paid off foreboding and you just
had a low level anxiety the entire time? This
really says a lot about society. That's fucked
up. I agnosed him with GAD. GAD? Super foreboding.
General anxiety disorder for those who are blissful
enough not to know. Whatever. Just take a Xanax.
Don't be such a drama queen. Ledger. Ledger's
beats are get into trouble as someone discovers
your checkered past and an important or beloved
NPC dies after you bring them into your master's
schemes. And I cannot shake these fallouts. I
have the ravening call echo minor somewhere nearby.
Something very, very hungry waits to pounce.
That's. Hungry with a capital H. And that's a
minor echo. And then more, maybe not more importantly,
but certainly more strikingly, blooded. You show
some mark of the heart in your physical form.
Ledger has like teeth growing under his skin
in places they're not supposed to be, such as
on his face or his neck or like in his joints.
When he gets blood stress, he has to roll twice
and take the worst one. So that's a pretty fucking
bad one. Yikes. Pretty serious. Oh, my God. Bailey.
I have two active beats, both minor. First is
dissect something or interrogate someone that
can shed light on your task. The second is flee
from combat or a similarly dangerous situation
or hide until it all blows over. Both are those
minor, and then I also do not have any fallouts.
Wow. That's me. Great work. Your problem, man.
Yeah, perfect. Last time you kind of struck a
deal with a fungus to destroy a town full of
people. They left, so you didn't technically
murder anyone, which is good. Well, those are
one guy. Technically. Yeah, technically. We did.
The orb did. The orb did it. Yeah, we can't be
held responsible for our actions. I'm sorry,
my dog is usually so friendly. You learned a
lot of things or like some things about your
your individual goals. Bailey is kind of on the
trail of Checker Graham, the researcher who he
he loves so much, who has gone deeper into the
city. Booker, you kind of learned you didn't
like you didn't like what you learned was my
impression, which is that if you want to get
out from under your. demonic masters control.
You just have to ship of Theseus your whole body,
basically, which you're not excited about. But
hey, it's a step forward. Halo, you learned some
weird stuff that you may or may not be a demon,
that you are kind of of the City of Glass. Nothing
concrete, but there are vibes there. There certainly
are. I forget what Ledger learned. What did you
get told? Oh, yeah. Ledger learned something
very important. He learned that... Let me see
if I can do this off the top of my dome. He learned
that the way that he might not only slip out
from under the thumb of his master, but also
get back to that blissful place that he barely
remembers, he has to find his original body and,
I can't remember, either destroy it or transfer
his soul back into it somehow. It was one of
one of those two. Using with the help of a talented
magician such as Bailey Cormer. Yes. Hey, what's
up? And then the last thing you guys can learn
is that Booker and Ledger, you've been on the
path from your individual masters to find these
these random items, the ma apparatus and the
string that consumes. And you learned that they
are the same item and that you actually may have
already passed them back in underneath the wandering
sea. And I think you have some suspicions about
who might have them. And that you may have let
that person out last time you were there. That
friendly fuck. Fucking friendly man. Yeah. So
let's resume now. You are leaving Micah. You've
left your killing sphere behind you. The Pale
Mother is no doubt consuming that town. And you
are continuing forward. Towards the Cathari Camp
Rascal, which is meant to be the next stop on
your journey towards the center of the City of
Glass. Ahead of you is a small stretch of cave,
which proves no significant trouble to move through,
as you're not being attacked by fungal organisms
due to your deal you've made. You are accompanied,
as you may have forgotten, by a Cathari scout
who you rescued, and who is guiding you forward,
who is clearly familiar with the terrain. Love
that. Love that guy. Very helpful. Does he have
a name? If you ask him his name, his name is
B -Scout. Okay. B -Scout. Like two words, B -Scout?
Like B as in the letter, Scout. Huh. B -Scout,
not Scout. Scout. Oh. Scout. Oh, okay. His full
name is B -Scout Stout. Okay. Of course. We cannot.
I'm Corporal Ballpeenhammer. We'll meet him in
Camp Rascal, I bet. I'm ready to go. Straight
pins over there. The cave is mostly clear. You
do occasionally catch sight of some fungal monstrosities
from the corner of your eye, but they leave you
alone. The Pale Mother staying true to her word.
It has been about a half day now since you have
departed, and with fatigue setting in, B -Scout
leads you to a secluded alcove in the cavern
with a cache of supplies that previous Cathari
scouts had utilized. And as you set up camp,
B -Scout produces some sort of compact stove,
which he claims is the natural alternative to
a campfire, which might draw too much attention.
And he cooks up a couple of plates of some yummy
fruity meats over some stewed grains for you
all. As he kind of finishes doling out the food,
he says, Now that we're all settled in, you gotta
tell me, what brings you all this way, friends?
Not many folks pass this deep. We are traveling.
We have been tasked with charting a route through
the city, and it has been quite the tumultuous
journey so far. Nothing seems to be quite where
it ought to be. Yeah. She's just fucking staring
at me. Yeah. He is staring at you, Ledger. He's
good meat. While this is happening, Halo opens
his face up and takes a spoonful of meat and
eats it. He also eats the spoon. Is it good?
I don't know that I like that very much. Yeah,
you're not getting that back. Halo puts his bowl
down and he's like, sorry. He kind of gestures
at Ledger and he says, I'm sure you've got quite
a story yourself, countryman. Yeah, and I can
promise you it is not one that you would readily
believe, nor anybody else. Okay. If I'm being
honest, my intention, our intentions, are to
pass through Camp Rascal, perhaps restock our
supplies and move on without altercation will
be the goal. But my particular circumstances
mean that the ire of... My fellow countrymen
might prove to be problematic. Yes, I suppose
that might be the case, given recent events.
Wait, what do you mean? What events? Well, what
happened in the town we just left, partner. Oh,
that. Oh, I'm sorry, am I to be held accountable
for not being able to stop an otherworldly fungal
monster? Doing what I can to survive. I do not
bear any responsibility for the happenings of
that town. Of course, of course. I hold no grudge
against you. You saved my life. I am extremely
grateful. But questions may come. As you know,
our people are curious folk. Procedures must
be followed. And, well, I wish you the best.
Just have a game plan. I mean, you'll back us
up, right? Yes, of course. I owe you a great
debt. Of course. And I would not want to cross
you all. Bailey glares at him. Does Bailey still
have a unicorn horn? Like, is that just there
forever? Yes, Bailey has a unicorn horn forever.
And he also has a 3D model of a box he can rotate
in his head. That is true. How does that work
with his hat? Do you have to, like, cut a hole
in the front of your big hat? Or is that because
they just got like a weird lump on the front?
Maybe he's just pointing up right now. He hasn't
solved that yet. It's just like tilted. That
sounds right. Yeah. We trust this guy. The issue
that I believe will be most pertinent for me,
and you can believe me or not, as you like, most
don't. I did not desert from Cathari's service.
I simply never served. I am not. Truly Cathari,
despite appearances and the particularities of
my accent. All right. This is what I am concerned
is going to cause me the most difficulties in
what is ostensibly the stronghold of the Cathari
down here in the deeps. Well, I'll say this much.
We are, we have means for determining things.
If you are telling the truth, there will not
be any issue. You seem to have a decent enough
moral compass among you. Combined, I'm sure.
Your demon friend will have to, of course, be
registered. But I don't anticipate any severe
complications for you merry band of folks. What
is registered? Is this one simple? Yes, in a
sense. How odd. Humor him. Well, I don't hold
it against you that you don't know this. It's
actually a fairly new legislation coming down
from the Orchard. But yeah, the Cathari Office
of Demonic Affairs, we now require all demons
to be registered in the colonies and in Cathara
as well, though we do not have any demons in
Cathara. It is purely theoretical in that case.
Halo tilts his head. It's like, if you don't
have any demons, why do you have a demon's office?
Well, for the colonies. And I'm assuming the
colonies have demons. Yeah, well, we are in the
colonies, technically. So you consider the City
of Glass to be a colony of the Cathari Empire?
We consider the northern expanse of the continent
to be... the colonies of the Cathari Empire and
the City of Glass, though it is officially not
associated with either the colonies or the domain
of the worm, we anticipate it will fall under
our control. Well, that is quite optimistic.
Now, this registration, is it unpleasant or is
it merely, you know, putting some information
down in a book? In most cases, it is purely a
bureaucratic affair. To my knowledge. And what
about the rest of them? Well, sometimes demons
are just not predisposed to live amongst us people.
In which case, we find other uses for them. But
your friend here seems fine. He is odd, but not
what I would determine to be antisocial or dangerous.
Certainly. Yes. Well, I suppose. Hold on. I have
one for the. Hello. My name is Francis Stuhl.
No, that's a bad name. How do I sound? Are you
convinced that I'm not Kothari? How's that? That's
great. I think that's going to really do it for
you. So good? Great. Now, if you don't mind,
I do must get my sleep. I am a very sleepy man.
All right. Yeah, we'll split into watches and,
you know, doesn't do to leave yourself undefended
out in a place like this. Oh, yes, naturally.
I'm going to go to my bedroll now. Thanks for
the meat. Yep. Cathar can to me. You can't beat
it. Can't beat it. Says that on the can. Take
a close look. Oh, yeah, it does. I think Ledger's
going to go a little ways away from this guy,
maybe just out of obvious earshot. Fine. So what's
the are we still in a cave? You are in a cave.
He's going to go like maybe lean up against the
wall and say, I'll take first watch. I'll get
some rest. And he starts rolling one of his little
foul smelling hand rolled cigarettes and he leans
over his shoulder to his death and says, baby,
if you see that one trying to slip away surreptitiously,
do let me know. She gives you a spooky nod. I
thought you were going to say thumbs up for some
reason. That might be out of character. Stay
okay with me. The thumbs up is universal. I would
not take it away from anyone. Okay. In the night.
In the night. Booker, you said you wanted to
read your book. We're checking off that beat
for you. You complete reading the book you got
at the start of all this about reducing your
master's control. And what you learn from the
book is that while your master does have rats
about everywhere, Rats are still demonic in nature
and they have the same weaknesses, namely consecrated
silver. The weaknesses are quite thorough. And
as it turns out, you can even wear piercings
made of silver or even drinking a tonic containing
the silver. It can make your speech unrecognizable
to the rats and even make it harder for them
to track you. It does warn that such tricks would
not be useful directly against Barkelion himself
since he is so powerful, but it would help you
avoid his attention. Okay. Noted. Time to drink
the mercury tincture. Time to drink the mercury.
After an uneventful night of sleep, you head
out again. Is there anything you want to do before
I take you to Camp Rascal? Because since you
did the whole killing sphere and fungus thing,
you do not have to do a delve. You get to skip
that entirely. Damn. Yeah, we really fucked that
place up, eh? I don't think so. I think... I
got so accustomed to having the completely infallible
lie detector that through this whole conversation
with this guy, I'm thinking to myself, he's fucking
lying. He's going to sell us out. He's fucking
lying to my face. But I don't know. Yeah, you'd
have to roll a die for that. Yeah, I'm not going
to because I'm not good at it and I don't care.
I mean, Ledger doesn't care. I guess we're going
to go. I think that Ledger's plan is just to
try and seem like he's not Qatari. I'm a worm
man myself. I'm from the domain. He's practicing.
The whole time we're walking, he's practicing
his non -Qatari accent. Do I detect a wormish
accent, sir? Yes. What are your three favorite
worms? Go. Fuck, fuck, fuck! So you come out
onto a rocky outcropping in a much larger cavern.
I've changed the image in the Roll20 for you
to a very well -crafted picture. Oh, wow. Yeah,
thank you. Below you, about 30 or so feet, is
a tent town which coats the floor of this cavern
in a circle about one half mile in diameter.
The camp is lit up with regularly placed bloodlight
lanterns casting a red tint on the purple and
silver canvas of the Cathari military tents.
A couple of buildings seem to be more permanent
structures, the largest of which is a circular
metal dome at the center of the camp, which is
quite large. Just ahead of you on the same elevated
outcropping is a small barricade staffed by two
soldiers, both of whom are wearing gas masks.
B -Scout calls out to them, announces his approach,
and clears the way forward for you. And after
a brief chat with the soldiers, B -Scout turns
to you and says, All right. We've got to get
you all checked in before we do anything. Do
you mind following me down? Of course. Okay.
He leads you past the barricade to a wooden elevator,
which lowers you to the floor of the cavern.
And from there, he quickly leads you into the
camp and into a circular tent with a clear signage
indicating that it is both an intake facility
as well as a brig. Just inside is a large folding
desk staffed by a bored looking soldier who perks
up upon seeing your group approach. B Scout approaches
him, whispers in his ear for a few seconds and
pats him on the shoulder and turns to you. And
he says, all right, Ledger here is going to ask
you some questions and get you checked in. And
he points at the guy at the desk, not you, Ledger.
What the fuck? I've got to file a report to the
ex -Mar about my mission. And I imagine he's
going to want to see you all at some point. So
don't leave the camp until he calls for you.
Ledger, who I will be calling the intake officer
from now on, indicates for you all to step up
to the desk. Francis complies. All right, says
the intake officer. Let's start with your group
information. What is your business in the City
of Glass? Who is your sponsor, if any, and what
affiliations do you have with any nations or
organizations? We could be honest about our...
Yeah. Sponsor, I guess, right? This is probably
something that would come up before. Albright?
Yeah. He's nice. We are, I guess, suppose you
would call us chartists or cartographers. We
are attempting to plot a route through the city
itself. Hmm. Okay. We are sponsored by, he has
a, the Albright Foundation is a thing, right?
I didn't make that up? I think so. Okay. We have
been sponsored in this task by the Albright Foundation
or just by Virgil Albright of Calamity or whatever.
Names? My name is Francis Beam. Try that again.
Francis Beam. I'm sorry. The scout you're with,
he kind of told me your whole deal with the accent
and all that. Come on. Oh, of course he did.
My name is Ledger Gray, and Ledger smiles. Yeah,
that sounds right, because he's whispered to
me, yeah, this guy's name is also Ledger. He
thought that was funny, but also he told me all
that stuff. But that's fine. Don't worry. We
get that all the time. Don't worry. We'll get
you sorted out. The rest of you? Bailey. I'm
Halo. Kay. Bailey Kay. Can I get... I need your
full names. Bailey. K -A -W. K -A -W. Got it.
Booker. Booker what was it? Page. Page. Wow,
you got a lot of nice single syllable last names.
I like that. And Halo here. That's a full name,
I assume. Demons got weird names. I'm fine with
that. I'm Halo. You're Halo. That's great. What
is this demon's relation to your group? Uh, I'm
not sure what you mean. He is simply a, he's
a contributing member. Is that? Ah. He's a lantern
holder? He's our associate. Okay. He holds a
lantern. Independent. I got it. I got it. Uh.
Oh yeah, he is not the property of any one of
us. Although I suppose I do feel some responsibility
for him. Yeah, but you don't got papers or nothing.
No. Heavens no. Great. Uh, is this a demon registered
with CODA? I can almost certainly say that he
is not. Okay, so that's going to have to be changed.
It's a new ordinance, but it is going to be required.
There is a code demoner in the camp, which can
issue you papers and all that good stuff. And
until it is registered, it will not be permitted
to travel unescorted. And you can all serve as
its escort. And there may be a... It may be subject
to additional searches, interrogation, or detention.
Likewise, as long as this demon is unregistered,
these stipulations extend to the group it is
traveling with. I see. The man gestures dismissively
at Bailey and Booker, and then he points to Ledger,
and he kind of squints his face a bit, clearly
seeing something familiar like so many other
people have, but he kind of shrugs it off. And
he says, now, I have been told that you are one
of our countrymen, though I know you claim you
are not. Given this information and that you
do not appear to be made servile or a member
of the military, we're going to need your citizen
number, discharge papers, proof of exile, or
any other such identifying information. Now,
see, I told Mr. B the same thing. I have none
of that. I am not truly Kothari. I see. He said
this would not be a problem or that you would
have some way of untangling this particular predicament.
Yes. Is Ledger Gray your full legal name? As
far as I know it to be, yes. I see. Well, we
can contact Cathar via Scion and try to retrieve
information on your behalf. Ledger, I think,
thinks about that for a moment and he kind of
looks over his shoulder at his death and says,
I would find that. Fascinating and enlightening.
Please do. Okay. In the meantime, you're going
to be issued a red guest pass until we can clarify
this information, and you will not be permitted
to leave the camp. And there are other stipulations
to that as well, but you are going to be treated
similarly to your demon here. Oh, wonderful.
Last few questions here. All of you answer yes
or no. No need to wait one at a time. You can
all just kind of say them in a queue. Okay. Do
you now, or have you ever been the servant or
pacted adherence of an existential being such
as a demon, a void entity, or a god? No. No.
No. No? Is this a lie detector? No, no, no. Are
you... No, I'm not going to say that. Are you
harboring any psionic, arcane, biological, demonic,
or otherwise transnatural organisms or presences?
No. No? Like saying you have drugs at the checkpoint.
No. That was out of character. I am. I am. Halo,
say no. Just say no. Okay. No. The demon's a
special case. Don't worry about that. Have you
experienced any periods of lost time greater
than 24 hours? No. No. No, only three seconds.
Who can lose time? Did you not? Okay, next question.
Come on. Have you experienced any strange or
unexplainable cravings or desires? No, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no. Nope. No. Your turn. Next
question. Only want good Qatari cooking. Well,
look, what is the time frame on this? I had a
situation with teeth, but a Qatari soul ward
was. Kind enough to break me of that particular
indulgence. This was some time ago. Well, that's
fine. Strange cravings are quite common. These
are not... These wouldn't disclude you from going
in. This is just for the safety of us and everyone
else. Sort of like a medical record, so we know
how to deal with you if there's a problem. Yeah,
sure. Do you know where you are going? And if
so, do you know why you know where you are going?
Yes, Andy is. Yes. Yes. Do you believe your life
is a story? And if so, do you believe or suspect
it is being recorded somewhere? No, no, not until
just this second when you mentioned it. Um, it
was looking really hard. He's scratching his
head. No. Okay. Do you believe any of your traveling
companions have lied or otherwise been mistaken
about the answers provided to your intake officer?
No, no, no, no, no. Okay. Great. That's all the
official ones. But one supplementary question.
What's going on with your friend's forehead there?
And he points at Bailey. Oh, way to point it
out, huh? Jeez. I've been wondering about that
myself. It's a disfigurement. Okay. I'm glad
everyone can see it. Can you let me move along
now? I'm just curious the origin of it. He's
a little sensitive. Yeah. All right. I do need
to know the origin of it. You were born this
way. Yes. All right. My poor mother. All right.
It was not an easy birth. Okay. That's fine.
I'm sorry for your mother. Okay. Let me get you
your vests. Each of you is issued a colored vest,
ledger, and halo. You were given a red poncho.
Oh, wow. Does it have pockets? It does. Ledger
immediately starts filling it with garbage from
his own coat pockets. They're very shitty ponchos.
I just wanted to let you know. Are they like
fabric? Like a water park you put on? Basically,
yes. That's what it is. Barely better than cellophane.
Bailey, you are given a yellow poncho. And Booker,
you are given a blue poncho. And when you are
given your poncho, You get a wink. You get a
wink from the intake officer. Like a friendly
wink or a menacing wink? A friendly wink. And
as you're all... Yeah, thank you. You're all
given an ID card that gives your name, guest
status, and group number. And Booker, in your
case, a third item has been slipped into your
little package of ID card and poncho, which is
a slick, polished note card. Bearing the rat
and hourglass symbol of your master Parkelion
with a message on the rear of it. I knew it was
some of this shit. Let it stay. Um, do you want
to read it now? Yeah. Okay, the letter reads,
proceed directly to the Cathari office of demonic
affairs. Bring Ledger Grey with you before he
reports back to his masters. Then hand this card
to the demonologist there. The following instructions
are for the demonologist. I -S -W -L -A -U -D
-ANG -SUB -2 -G -E -1 -PALE -RIGHT -ARROW -ASSET
-USAGE -PERMITTED -2 -V -PIN -ABSOLUTE -ORCHARD
-SEVERANCE -REQUIRED. Oh. Alright, Ledger pockets
it and just keeps up with the group for now.
Great! You move on. You put your little ponchos
on, and you are sent past the intake tent into
the heart of Camp Rascal. As you saw above, you
are surrounded by purple tents and purple uniformed
soldiers. Interspersed in this crowd are a nearly
equal number of dull -eyed servants wearing gray
robes, which are something you see anywhere the
Cathari operate, which are Cathari servants whose
people whose minds have been turned completely
servile to unquestioningly serve the nation of
Cathar. Ledger. A familiar warming sensation
spreads through the base of your neck. The Institute
is indicating for you to make contact. In this
particular rhythm, you recognize as one which
requires you to give a report via a psionic messenger.
In all likelihood, it also means that they don't
have any active operatives in Camp Rascal, which
is a strong sign that you are beginning to reach
the edge of their influence. I love that. So
this basically means I have to find a psion of
my own power and... convince him to send a message
with an updated status report? Yeah, the intake
officer did say that there is a Scion in the
camp. That's how they're going to try and grab
my information, I think. Booker speaks up. How
about we go to the demonologist office? Why?
Don't we have to register this one? Yeah, I believe.
Wouldn't it be an impediment? It is on the list.
We should probably go do it. He and I are stuck
at the same second -class status until my own
situation is resolved, and that is a matter of
no expediency at all, as far as I know. Perhaps
we could go talk to the Scion. But we know the
sentiment towards demons. Do we really want more
suspicion? Tell me this, Booker. Why did you
get such a fancy poncho? Yeah. Well, I don't
have a growth. I don't look like... He points
over there. And you're raising a lot of questions,
but at least you look like them. Yeah, I sound
like them too, apparently. Son of a bitch. So,
as not to arouse suspicion, I think we should
do this. We can see the Scion after. Halo says,
I don't want to arouse a suspicion. Hey, uh...
The yellow one's not bad, though. Right? I mean,
it's in the middle. It's not horrible. I don't
know if it's good either, though. It's alright.
It's gotta be alright. No one's giving me any
looks, I don't think. Hmm. I think that strange
looks are something that you are going to have
to become accustomed to if you intend for your
relationship with that horn on your head to be
a permanent affair. I really gotta solve that.
Alright, I don't care where we go. We just gotta
go somewhere. Maybe the demonologist. can do
something i don't know i think ledger squints
but he says all right fine we'll go to the demonologist
okay great uh the i just want to say the camp
camp rascal has really excellent signage like
really good really good signage i love that that's
the i think that's one of the advantages of such
an overbearing bureaucracy such as this Yeah,
I mean, like, you know that their public transit
game is insane. Is there a sign that indicates
what yellow is? Do I find one? No, I don't think
that that is made clear to you. I think that
is a kind of I'm sure you could ask someone curious.
I'll wait. I'll wait. I'll wait. Yeah. You find
your way easily to the Cathari Office of Demonic
Affairs. Unsurprisingly, it is in a tent. The
tent is spacious and tall and well decorated.
It has a large carpet which has been rolled out
on the ground with a variety of magic sigils
sewn into it with silvered thread. Hanging from
various struts holding up the tent are a number
of silvered charms, manacles, and other various
magical implements. At the other end of the tent
is a thin, sprightly woman sitting behind the
same folding desk you've seen at least a dozen
times before entering this camp, or since entering
this camp. And sitting on top of her desk is
a complex -looking cylindrical lantern casting
a bright white light out of it. Halo, could you
describe what the lantern you came out of looked
like? It looks kind of spindly. A little bit
of filigree, but not, like, extensive. Kind of
sharp angling points around the parts where the
metal comes together. And it doesn't look like
it's a lantern that is supposed to sit on the
ground. It's hanging only. It comes to a point
at the bottom. Yes. Good. So this one is a lot
like the one that you came from. Although this
one seems to not have... The one you came from
had a handle on it that people held it with at
some point. This one does not have a handle.
Instead, it has a barbed pyramid of some sort
jutting from where the handle on yours is. Okay.
May I discern it? What do you want to know before
I U -roll anything? I have a new skill since
last time. The old blood. When I observe someone
for a few seconds, I can read their aura and
discern their surface level emotions. I want
to discern. How is this lamp feeling? What's
his or her emotional state? It burns. It burns.
There's a fire within me. Okay. I mean, yeah,
sure. Try it. Try it. Try it. You're not even
going to greet this person. You're just going
to go right into the discerning role. Yeah, I'm
going to go straight into designing this land.
Okay. Yeah. Let's fucking do it. I'm trying to
figure out what domain this is. Let's call it
technology. Discern technology. Nine. Take no
stress. Um, you want the aura of this lamp is
very similar, I guess, to your aura, uh, surface
level emotions of the lamp. Um, it likes shining.
Um, and it wants to be inside of you. What the
fuck? Oh, nice. Whether you interpret that as
what it sounds like or not, that's up to you.
Um, but yes, it would like to be one with you.
A security like around the lamp. There is a demonologist
right behind it who is looking at you. In the
meantime, can you remind me the order of operations
on my instructions? Give the card to the demonologist.
Number one. All right. You want to know the other
things that come after that? I can read it for
you again, but no, no, no, no. It's OK. It's
OK. I think the only time thing was just you
have to do it before Ledger gives his own report.
Got it. Well, Booker walks up to the demonologist,
hand outstretched to shake their hand, and says,
Hey, we're here to register this demon. And he's
trying to slip her the card. She takes the card
and looks at it very obviously, not really sure
that this was supposed to be subtle. Oh, well,
what a stupid... Ledger's squinting slightly,
but he's not saying anything. She looks at it
and kind of like mouths some words like she's
reading it. It's like, oh, son of a bitch. You
kidding me? What does this say? What's going
on? Um, it's complicated. Anyways, you're here
to register this demon and she tucks the card
into her pocket. Yes. We'll talk about this later.
Why don't we just do the registration first?
That part's easy, at least. Usually. Demon, why
don't you take a seat here? Your friends can
just go back there. You, guy who gave... What's
your name? And she points at Booker. Booker.
Do you want all your friends here for what comes
after this? Of course you do. What exactly does
come after this? Which one of you is Ledger?
I am. I mean, I'm getting weird vibes right now.
Yeah, what's going on here? I turn to Booker.
What's going on? What was that card? Unrelated
business. We're here to register the demon. We
can deal with this after. It's unrelated business,
and yet it pertains directly to me. He looks
to the demonologist and says, you can assume
that whatever you were told about that card,
if it does pertain to me, I was not informed.
ledger we'll discuss after well we'll discuss
after but it's not like it's not a huge uh problem
it's not a huge problem um i mean you said god
damn it it is well that's a huge problem for
uh a prerequisite to the thing that isn't a huge
problem but can we please register your demon
friend first so i can all right register it why
together what's your name uh thing halo Okay,
don't answer for it. That's not okay. Bailey
crosses his arms and taps his foot. Okay, and
the demonologist pulls out some boxes of stuff
from behind their desk. Okay, Halo. Halo, Halo.
Where are you from, Halo? I'm from a lamp. A
lamp? Yep. What kind of lamp? It was like that
lamp. And he turns around and looks at the lamp
behind them. Okay. I kind of feel like you're
just looking at things around the room and basing
your answers on them. It's the fucking anchorman
bit. I think Ledger might cut in and say, I can
understand why you would get that impression,
but I can indeed verify that Halo was born of
a lamp that was being borne along by some folk
that I had been paid to escort. Do you have the
lamp? He looks to Halo. May I see it? You be
careful with it. He is quite protective of it.
It got fixed recently. You can look. He hands
it over. She looks at the lamp. Well, that looks
just like my lamp. I think you're right. Different
numbers on it, though. What is the demonologist's
name? You'd have to ask her. I don't think Halo
would do that. That's not in character. Your
lamp wants to go with me. Can I have it? No,
absolutely not. That's my lamp, and I paid a
good amount of money for it. Well, I didn't pay
any money for it. That's fundamentally not true,
but it has great sentimental value to me. What
is sentimental? Jesus. You're telling me. Look,
the nature of this whole lamp situation is that
Halo here has not been alive for very long, and
his social nastities are a work in progress.
What do you mean? What do you mean, what do I
mean? He jumped out of that lamp, what? Fully
grown? Yeah. Oh, that's highly unusual. Demons
are usually like little dog things first for
a while, and they kind of slowly develop their
sense of consciousness, you know? Yeah, don't
I know it. Okay, this is all very stupid, so
let's just move on. Halo, do you know what your
aspect is? And before you say, I don't know what
that is, it is a thing that demons feed off of
or typically are drawn to. This is not my voice.
My voice is a lot more feminine than this. But
for some reason, your friend here is transforming
me. I don't think it is oranges or soup. I think
it is... He looks back at the lamp. Brightness.
Well, that's something. Okay, we're going to
do a little test. So I'm going to open up this
box, and in this box there's going to be a lot
of rocks in it, okay? Okay. And you're just going
to need to take the rock that is right, okay?
Uh -huh. He's nodding. She opens the box. There's
a box full of different rocks in it. They're
glowing very faintly. There are various colors,
shapes, and sizes. Which one do you take? They're
all glowing. Every single one of them. Slightly.
Some brighter than others. He puts his hand out
and every single one of them goes dark. But he
hasn't grabbed one yet. Cut. My rocks. What colors
are they? Whatever colors you can imagine. Every
color of the rainbow. Hmm. Okay. Let me think
on this. Red rock, bro. Red rock. He seems shocked,
actually, when he puts his hand out and they
all go dark. And he kind of jerks it back like
he's touched a hot stove. He's like, are they
supposed to do that? No, you've gone and ruined
my rocks. When he moves his hand away, they start
to, like... Well, maybe it takes, like, 30 seconds
for them to regain their glow after he regenerated.
These rocks are very expensive. Please do not
do that again. Does anybody have, like, a utensil?
Can you grab a rock without taking its glow?
What if I take it for him? Would that work? No,
you don't take the rock for... He has to choose
the rock. Okay, yeah. Okay, he looks at them
with more intent and watches them as they start
to glow again. And the one that starts glowing
again fastest, it's white. It's shimmery. Okay.
He takes that one, tries to do it quick. The
demoner takes note of this and writes something
down on a sheet of paper. Okay, put the rock
back. He puts the rock back. She closes the box
and takes out another box. The box is full of
various bones from small creatures. All right,
choose a bone. Whichever one you like the most.
He's rifling through these. Happy to be able
to touch something that doesn't get ruined. He
chooses a vertebra. Great. Great. Now put it
back, please. He does. All right. New box. Takes
a new box. This box is filled with words that
are stamped on little metal pieces. All right.
Choose a word. Any word. I still think that.
He can't read, so he picks whatever the longest
word in the box is that has, like, the prettiest,
swirliest letters. Everybody workshop this for
me. Sans serif font. Ignominometer? Ignominometer.
It says ball peen. No. No. No! Uh, okay. You
choose a word. Alright, last one. And she takes
out the last box. This box is full of a bunch
of smaller boxes of various shapes and sizes.
They're all kind of small, though. Do they have
different materials? Yep. Colors. You can just
make something up. Make something up. He picks
one that is clear. I don't know if there's anything
inside of it, but it's glass. Sure. All right.
Now, what's in that box? You don't get to look.
Just tell me. But it's clear. She's aware of
this. Oh, right. It's empty. All right, now open
the box. He opens the box. There's nothing inside
of it. How do you feel about what you've discovered
about this box? It's not fulfilling its purpose.
It needs to hold something. Cool. Very standard
answer. Very standard answer about the clear
box. All right. Now, I should ask you this. Have
you been being honest with me or are you just
screwing with me? Because sometimes demons will
just screw with me. What is screwing with you?
Oh, my God. I would say that if... Halo here
was capable of such deception. That would be
news to me. He has an extremely earnest quality
about him. Yeah, and you don't think that maybe
that's his intention? For you to think that?
If that is the case, then he is a master manipulator,
the likes of which I certainly have never met
in my life. Remarkably consistent. I'm not sure
if there's anything any of us can do. All right.
Well, your answers are extremely inconclusive
to your aspect, so we're going to do one more
test, I guess. Okay, see this little shiny piece
of silver metal here? Uh -huh. Now, I'm going
to touch you with it on various parts of your
body, and you just got to tell me which one hurts
the most, okay? And you should be able to tell.
It's going to hurt, though. That sounds scary.
Is this really necessary? It is absolutely necessary.
We've not come here to have the pole boy be tormented.
Okay, stop touching him. I'm sorry. This is just
how it goes. It's not that bad. It's not like
torture. Yeah, she only starts touching you with
the silver little, like, knob, I guess. Let's
call it. I think it looks like one of those honey
sticks. Ooh. Imagine this being like a pat -down
at the airport. Yeah. It feels like absolutely
nothing, no matter where she touches you with
it. He doesn't react. What the hell? Okay. Well,
that's weird. I don't know what's going on. Can
we go now? Yeah, let me just issue you your card.
You're going to stay in the red poncho because
we didn't really get anything from this. Are
you sure you're a demon? Are you positive that
you are a demon? Everyone says I am. I think
so. Your lamp doesn't want to stay here. Okay.
I like my lamp. It doesn't like you. I don't
believe that. I don't believe that one bit. I've
been very nice to that lamp. Well, okay. Maybe
I'm wrong. But if you want to offer an exchange,
I mean, I'm open to business proposals. I am
profit motivated. Look, we can talk about purchasing
that lamp anytime, but I told you that the boy
was unusual. Not like any demon I've certainly
ever met in my day. Is it possible that he just
simply does not fit into any of your categories?
Uh... I don't know. That's not really... If I'm
being honest with you, that's not really how
I was trained. Demonology is all about categorization.
And your boy here doesn't check any of the boxes.
So I'm... I would lean towards not a demon. All
demons do not like consecrated silver. I have
not met one that hasn't. Until now. That is unusual.
Then I think you should make a new box. Well,
I actually pre -purchased these boxes from a
distributor in the domain of the worm, but I
understand what you're saying. Wormazon. I've
got this on Wormazon. Two -day shipping. I got
one that's on rise. I love it. This is great.
Yeah, so I guess we should get to the next matter
then. Can Booker pull Ledger aside to explain
things? Yeah. All right. Booker does that. Ledger,
will you come talk with me? I want to... I think
that's a wonderful idea. I guess I'll just stand
over here then. Yeah, go have fun. Go have fun.
Go buy the lamp or something. I don't know. All
right. Legend, you have to understand, you're
not the only one following orders here. Oh, I
understand the true nature of your affiliation.
I have been made aware. Now, let me make one
thing clear, though. You've been nothing but
kind to me on this journey. I don't know what
they have planned for you. But my hands are tied
here in Brittany. After that, we can make our
own decision. Let's just find out what they want
to do. Hmm, so you're telling me that you don't
know exactly what it is this demonologist has
in store for me? I don't. They don't tell me
everything. I'm sure you're familiar with that.
Yeah, I understand the nature of operational
security, but I also... You understand. can no
longer take you at your word. It doesn't matter
if this demonologist attempts anything uncouth.
Well, let's just say I might have to cause a
scene. He smiles, but there's no humor in it.
And I'll be right behind you. The gold tooth
does not flash. Yeah, I think he just walks back
in, or back over to the table. Now, what is it
that you intend to do to me? Demand business
out of the way. We're just doing a little ritual.
Can you explain the nature of the ritual to him?
Okay, so I'm just going to put my cards on the
table here. Most people don't like it to know
in advance the ritual. It usually causes problems,
but I assure you it is harmless and... It would
be worse for you if you didn't deal with this
ritual. It'd be a lot worse for both of you.
Can you give him any assurances? I think you
should speak plainly. Well, I suppose my hands
are tied. You are going to speak directly to
the great demon Parkelion. And why would I do
a fool thing like that? Because if you don't
speak to him, he's going to be angry. I wouldn't
advise saying that. Oh, heaven forbid I make
the great demon Parkelion angry. Yes, I agree.
I'm with them on this one, Ledger. Oh, now that
is a surprise. It's a dumb idea. This isn't your
garden variety demon, Mr. Gray. Well, I'm not
your garden variety man. And he smiles. Why don't
you put that up to Parkelly and you can have
a chat with him. Let's just say this. If Parkelion
wanted to hurt you, you'd already be hurt. There's
no need to talk. That's true. Hmm. What is the
nature of this communication? Uh, it's sort of
ritual audience that I do rarely. It's been a
bit. Does it hurt? I don't give a damn about
that. Can I bring anyone with me or will it purely
be a one -on -one type of audience? Oh, yes.
Booker. Booker will be there. Uh, I suppose I
could, I mean, the instructions are very specific,
but I could probably bring more people in if
you needed more people. It wouldn't really make
a difference. Yes. I think Halo and Bailey should
both come along. I agree. Oh, hell. I would hate
to exclude them. Tell Parkelion that I insisted
if he takes issue. Uh, you're gonna have to tell
him yourself. All right. And if he asks me, I'm
going to say you put a gun to my head because
that's usually my go to excuse and it works really
well. The thought had crossed my mind. OK, but
before we get into this, I'm going to need y
'all to do something for me. Unfortunately, this
ritual requires some pale sand, a good amount
of pale sand to be specific. And well, I. I'm
over my allotment for this month. Are Kelly and
Din provided? I've been doing some side projects,
and I may have used them up. You'll be hearing
about this. So you're telling me that I have
to go and steal supplies in order to have an
audience with the demon that I have no intention,
when I arrived here, of actually doing. Yes,
that's correct. Can you understand how that may
be somewhat of an awkward position for me? Yes.
And how I might just tell you that I was going
to get the sand and then I'd leave? You could
do that, yes. All right, as long as we are clear.
Booker, though, I presume would not do that because
it would cause him a great deal of trouble. Oh,
now wouldn't that just be tragic? It genuinely
would. You'd probably have to witness him get
torn into some sort of infernal portal and disappear
forever in agony. You just talked to him. And
then he'd probably come for you next. We're only
losing here, Ledger. Don't be stupid. There it
is. Well, perhaps we'll go find some of this
blood sand. Where might it be? Pale sand. I do
not want blood sand. You can steal it or purchase
it from the Soul Ward or the Quartermaster. That
is up to you what you choose to do. Do we have
money? I have been meaning to speak with the
Soul Ward. I have this matter of teeth under
my skin I would like dealt with. Yeah, that's
nasty. I don't like that. No. Trust me, it's
worse when you're living with it. Well, I suppose
we'll be back soon. I think Ledger just walks
out, actually. He doesn't say anything else.
Yeah, we'll be back for that lamp. She brings
her lantern closer to her desk. Aayla has the
strongest urge to just grab it and run out. I
think Ledger maybe looks, uh, what do you want
for that lantern, anyways? What do you offer
him? Well, I do have... We still need money for
the sand. Oh, yes, we still need money from the
sand. I... This is kind of so here's the thing.
I can't actually ask this in character, but like
I have three sets of D6 Cathari tallies and I
don't have a good yardstick for how much money
that actually is. That's like $400. Probably
not enough. All right. If you had to offer something,
it would probably be something else. An orange.
A nice orange. Maybe Bailey's gun. You want to
take Bailey's cool gun away from him? He needs
that. Never. Never. I would never. It was just
an idle question. I don't think Ledger, at least
at this juncture, intended to give her money
for that. curious um let's move on and he's gonna
leave you leave uh you're onto the soul ward
i take it yes but i think as soon as we leave
the tent ledger as soon as we're like all the
way out uh ledger pivots and he looks at booker
and he says i'm going to make one thing very
clear right now if you truly do not care For
the designs of your fell master, then the next
time you try to wrap me up in his little schemes,
you be honest with me from the launch or we will
have a very serious problem. I know you can't
take me at my word, so hopefully my actions show
it. You have my word, though. Then we will see.
You have no idea why he might want to talk to
me. I do not. I feel like we've been aligned
up to this point, so I can't imagine it's anything
bad. He would have had me do something different
if that was the case. The people that I work
for, I'm not sure if you're even aware of this,
they have purchased your obligation. That is
why you are here. And so I can only assume that
Parkeleon wishes to subvert me in some way to
his own end. You or your masters? I cannot say.
You're very quick to judge. It's kept me alive
this long. Sort of. I guess let's go find some
pale sand. You are now at the Soul Ward's tent.
Okay. You are at the Soul Ward's office. There's
a Kithari woman in here with a number of bone
charms over her military uniform. She's not really
doing anything. She's just playing with her phone.
She's watching TikTok on full volume on her phone.
Oh, God. YouTube shorts. Hey, have you seen this
one? Kithari really is a fan. How to be a better
man? Whoa. Ledger is going to walk in, and I
think he's going to be like, excuse me, madam.
Do you have a moment? Oh. Red Poncho, here comes
trouble. Yeah, well, I suppose you could say
that. I happen to have, well, another tooth -centric
malady, the sort of which the Cathari Soulboards
have been instrumental in helping me with in
the past. You see, the damn things are growing
under my skin. Oh. Quite literally. That's not
good. No, and it is causing me extreme discomfort.
All right. Uh, well, you got payment? Yeah, I
think. So I think my understanding is that I
can do two D6s to get rid of a major fallout.
Is that true? Or to downgrade it? It costs D6
resources to remove minor fallout and D8 resources
to downgrade a major fallout to minor. Oh, yeah,
you're right. Yep. So if I gave her all three
of my D6 Cathari tallies. Yeah, that'd be fine.
That would cover it. That could get rid of it
completely. Yeah, I think without consulting
anyone else, Ledger puts all of, I don't know
if this is all of our money, but this is certainly
all of our money that I'm carrying. And Ledger
isn't in a mood to talk about finances with his
scheming little friends. No. He just wants these
teeth out of me. He's having a bad day. I get
it. I get it. I don't blame him. Sometimes you
get a little retail therapy. Shopping spree.
You pay her to start painting on you with this
little gray paint. And after a certain amount
of time where all your friends watch you in this
chair getting painted on, you feel better. Your
teeth settle down. You feel like there's no longer
teeth in your skin, which is probably one of
the greatest reliefs you've ever felt in your
life. Yeah, that's got to be like scratching
an itch. I know you from somewhere. Everybody
keeps telling me that. If you figure out the
answer, please do let me know. Yeah, I mean,
and she looks at you. She really squints. Yeah.
Hmm. All right. Anything else you all need help
with? Oh, I was wondering if you have any pale
sand that you might be willing to part with.
Oof. You want me to sell pale sand? You know
that's against, like, the law, right? Oh, really?
Well, I did not. But that is quite enlightening.
And I don't see you saying no. Well, everything's
got a price. And, you know, out here, you know,
there's very few pleasures allowed to us. So,
yeah, a little extra money on the side, a little
pale sand goes missing. Sometimes the demonologist
comes over here and does the same thing. You
know, we're all we're all dirty, dirty folk out
here at Camp Rascal. Yeah, that is the nature
of the city of glass. What are you paying with?
So actually, we're going to have to... Actually,
I can make it easy for you. If you sell your
demon to me, I can just give you a bunch of pale
sand and I can give you some tallies on the way,
too. Oh, I'm sorry. He's not for sale. You're
kidding. No, I am not. I'd pay a lot of money
for your demon. Like, a lot. What would you do
with him? Out of curiosity. Oh, I'd make him
servile, for sure. Oh, well, uh... How could
they do that? He ain't exactly a normal demon.
They couldn't even categorize him over at the
demonologist's office. Now you're just upselling
me. Well, unfortunately, I could not stand to
part with him. I am quite fond of him. Alright,
well then, how are you paying? Um... Are you
allowed to tell me what die level she wants?
Uh, yes. For the amount of pale sand you need,
you need to get to up to a D8. Odd. Okay, does
anybody else have a D6 resource they can toss
in? Because I just spent all my money on tooth
removal. I do have ceiling supply sill at a D6.
If anybody else has a D6 resource... Wait, I
have tallies. Oh, sweet. Yeah? Yeah, it says
I have a D8 tally. I don't remember what that
is. You have a D8? Holy fuck. Nice. Let's use
it. Sure. Halo with the fat stack. Yeah, we're
huddling up trying to talk about money. We're
like, you know, who's got the... And Halo's like,
oh, money. I think Ledger, his eyes widen a little
bit, but he grabs the bag, looks inside, and
he's like, yes. Yes, it is money. I'm going to
take this if you do not mind. You can have it.
That's mighty kind of you. See, that's why I
love him so much. Oh, yeah, it should cover it.
And he plops the bag down on the table. Wow.
You let your demon carry money. That's usually
a risky maneuver. All right. Here you go. She
gives you D8 pale sand jar, a jar of gray sand.
Thank you. I think Ledger gives it to Booker.
Why don't you carry this? You're right. I won't
arouse suspicion. Hey, now, could you maybe answer
a question for me? What is the difference between
a yellow poncho and a blue one? Uh, yellow means
keep an eye out for this one, and blue is this
guy's A -OK. Yeah, whatever. That is fascinating.
Yeah, that tracks. Red is, uh, you can do whatever
you want to this person and you ain't gonna get
in trouble. Oh, that sounds right. Really? Now
that's fascinating. And then orange is only slightly
better than red. I couldn't even give me an orange.
Well, anyways, this has been wonderful. Sorry,
what was your name? My name is right here in
this Google Doc. It is Soul Ward Diligent. Well,
my name is Ledger Gray. This has been an absolute
pleasure. Soul Ward, not Diligent. Oh. Okay.
She looks confused by your... Clear breach of
etiquette. You have to forgive me. I never did
learn my manners. And he leaves. Everyone hates
you now. I know. That's what the red coat's for.
The red poncho means this man is impolite. Kill
him if you feel so inclined. It's like that one
Dr. Seuss book where they have the stars on their
tummy. So true. Do you think you're saying something
with that one? Probably not. No. Not important,
actually. I am no longer blooded removing that
shit. Thank fucking God. Still got a ravening
call, but that doesn't matter. Yeah, it doesn't
matter. Just a distant howl in your mind. Okay.
Let's go talk to Parkelion. Let's go talk to
the great demon Parkelion, my boy. Where is my
great demon Parkelion section? Okay. You go back
to the... He does have a voice. I have notes
for his voice. I need to get in that place. Can
I get in that place? Why don't I just make him
sound like Ledger? Howdy, y 'all. My name's Park
Killian. How's it going? It's me. Okay. You go
into the demoner's office again, and she says,
Oh, good. Real quick. Good work. Could you zip
up the tent, please? Zip this. Thanks. Now we
can get nasty. Okay. Oh, I had that written there.
Isn't that great? Get nasty? Yeah. She gestures
for you all to move to the edge of the room.
And when you do, she produces a piece of coral
from a pouch on her uniform and crushes it. And
the carpet on the ground begins to move with
each knot. of thread coming alive, morphing into
dozens and dozens of wriggling fabric rats, which
pile on top of each other until the carpet forms
an archway, and within that archway, somehow,
there is another room, as if another room is
overlaid on top of this one, and its interior
is dark, stony, and candlelit, and she walks
in and indicates for you all to follow. Smoke
and mirrors. Ledger's gonna look at his death
and see how she's feeling about this. Uncertain.
Okay, uh... Stay close to me, baby. Come through
if you can. Yeah, she gets through fine. Okay,
cool. Normal pocket dimension stuff. Very typical.
Halo lets one of the rats sniff his fingers and
then goes in. They're not so bad, Booker says
to Halo. It bites you. No, no bites me. You turn
into a carpet. Oh, God. My strange fetish is
finally unveiled. The long con. Okay. You're
not wasting any time. She snaps her fingers and
the archway closes behind you. You are now in
this dark stony room. It is very dark and candlelit.
Not wasting any time. Did I already say not wasting
any time? You did. It almost seems like you're
wasting some time. Sometimes I'll read a line
from the next line in my prep and then I'll put
it on the line above it and I don't know why
I do that. No, I do that too sometimes. She immediately
produces a large bag of tools and then begins
to draw a complicated summoning circle on the
ground. At one point, she curses and then kind
of erases the symbol. She is just drawn in what
looks to be blood. And she says, sorry, folks,
it's been a bit since I've done an audience.
I'm kind of rusty. Don't worry about it. So how
long y 'all been involved with the Parkalian?
Well, since we talked about it out in front of
your desk, in my case. Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Yeah,
just meeting him. How about you? What about you,
Booker? Long timer? Gotta be. Long timer. That's
rough. Oh, shit. I don't know. Five, ten years
at this point. Definitely got his perks. I got
that neat trick with the carpet. That's cool.
He probably wouldn't be thrilled to know that
I bring my dates in here when we need privacy,
but you know how it is. You dog. And she points
to a filthy bedroll in the corner of the room.
Just disgusting. You know what you probably know
is great. Yeah, but, you know, give and take.
That's this whole thing, right? She looks at
Ledger. She's like, wait, have we met before?
Are you sure? Okay, now. You are perhaps the
seventh or eighth Cathari who have told me such
a thing in the past several days. Do I look like
somebody you know, somebody everybody knows?
You must. Or do I just have one of those faces?
Maybe you got cursed by like a wizard or a demon.
Oh, I have been cursed. Now that is not even
up for debate. Now, I met this one guy who was
cursed and everyone that met him thought he was
famous. It's kind of similar to your situation.
That's pretty awesome. Are they actually famous?
No, he wasn't. And the thing is, everyone was
really mad when he would say, I'm not famous,
because they were certain he was famous. Might
as well just be famous at that point. I think
he got killed. So when do we see Barkelion? Oh,
it takes a while. Like, I got to... Yeah, Sierra.
And I got to the sand, and she creates this big
circle of sand outside the summoning circle.
And when she finishes that off, she's put on
these big, thick gray gloves and she produces
a box filled with these tiny black purple needles,
kind of like what you do with acupuncture. And
just to really carefully line the outermost ring
beyond the sand with those. And then she's kind
of like cursing because one falls over. Some
people don't know how to use a beetle. I swear
to God, I just use a beetle for this. Yeah. Sorry
about this, folks. It just takes a while. That's
like a water jug in the corner if you need some
water. Yeah, I'm not drinking anything in here.
Are you kidding me? Oh, sorry. Jeez. And then
she gestures to Booker and Ledger and says, all
right, you two stand in those two circles here
in the center and we can start getting this show
on the road. What about the rest of them? Listen,
I don't. think they should stand in the circle
i don't think it would benefit them they can
watch and yeah we can at least see what's going
on right it was still i got from one uh slave
to a demon to another you don't want extraneous
people in the circle because they are more like
know this ritual already yeah honestly you've
probably Up to you. Have you had a remote teleconference
with Barkelion before? I feel like it would have
been more direct. When you were first brought
into his service, you were definitely in his
presence. And you know what kind of sucks. Okay.
Halo's just sitting in the corner crisscross
applesauce. Yeah, I'll go sit next to him. Or
I'll stand with my arms crossed, tapping my foot.
I think Ledger will just be like... He turns,
he looks over at his death and says, all right,
stay right close, baby. And then he gets in,
does the thing. Careful, you two. All right.
The demoner places herself at the outer rim of
the inner circle, kind of double checks her work.
And then she pricks her finger with a small knife
and places it in contact with the rim. And she
speaks and she says, the window is open. The
door is closed. The door is locked. The key is
here. I pick up the key. I seek Parkelion. I
seek the father of debts. I seek the keeper of
payments. I seek the great master of exchange.
I rebuke all others. I refuse their presence.
I hand the key to Parkelion. I bow my head. Parkelion
may do as he wishes. And then the center of the
circle, just a few feet away from you, seems
to explode outwards with thousands of these sharp
golden feathers erupting upwards into the air.
The ceiling itself seems to retract to make space
for them. And each feather's pointy base stretches
a different direction, like a road with a thousand
paths pointing every which way. And the air is
filled with a very, very tangible presence, a
feeling which sinks deep into you, invisible
hooks which dredge your very being, gaining purchase
where they know they belong. Without even consciously
realizing it, your mind begins to wander to your
own value. Booker, you've seen the true form
of your master Barkelian once before. And now
as you stand in front of him again, his ownership
of your life has never felt stronger than it
does now. And the both of you who are in this
circle need to make an endure a cult role. I
love to endure. Let's see. All right. I fail.
Yeah, you've congratulations. You just taken
D8 echo stress. Congratulations. I love it. I
just got rid of my echo fallout. Let's get a
little more. Good news. There we go, my turn.
Let's see it. Oh, that's a success for Booker
Page. I've seen it before. I've seen it. Been
there. Seven, that's dope. Oh my god. It sucks
because I can't even activate collateral because
Booker can just bounce it right back to me. Don't
do it. Only for both of us. Oh, yeah. I'll just
take it. And then I'll Fallout test. And you
and Booker are always standing next to each other.
It's kind of a shame. I know. I almost took an
ability that gave me a Fallout armor as well,
or an Echo armor, but I ended up not doing that.
No Fallout. Hey, good. There you go. Okay. You
are here. You're bearing it. You're grinning
and bearing it. Parkelion's... Aura seems to
be stretching the very fabric of reality around
you, and as you kind of get your bearing, Booker,
you happen to look at Ledger, and he is no easier
to look at than Parkelion is, because you see
him as a corpse. You see all of the decay and
rot that is usually suppressed by the magics
that animate him, and beside him you see his
death, the dark -haired woman who you've got
glimpses of before and you know he speaks to.
Ledger himself seems smeared almost, his soul
hanging loosely from him like an aimless fog.
And in that strange fog, you see something else,
a horrible, hungry creature that seems ready
to pounce on him at any moment. And something
about that creature makes your mouth start to
water. And that strange craving for teeth that...
Do you still have that strange craving? Yes.
It seems to grow greater and greater, and you
almost have to stop yourself from indulging it
right there. But after a moment, you get a hold
of yourself. And your master Parkelian looks
down on you and speaks. And he says, Booker Page,
I believe you and your friend have news for me.
Now that is news to me. In case you forgot, I
didn't put it in the recap. It's about how you
know where the string that consumes is. Oh, yeah,
yeah, I know. Yes, yes. Yes, the string? Yes.
We're getting closer. What of it? Where is it?
We've yet to get it. But you know where it is.
What would you have me do? Oh, Booker. You feel,
uh, Booker, uh, Parkelean's gonna go into your
brain now. Parkelean is going to go into both
of your brains now. Suffice to say, it is very
unpleasant. You can try, you can try, if you
would like, to resist this. What would it be?
An Endura or something? It would unfortunately
be another Endura cult. Okay. If you have something
you would really like to hide. I don't... I don't
think so. I think Ledger maybe doesn't want Parkelion
to know what Ledger wants, but he might already
have an inkling of that anyways. Yeah. Yeah,
I think Ledger's just gonna let it happen. Alright.
You let it happen. Parkelion violates your mind
and dredges your most personal memories and thoughts.
Bye, Luck! Or perhaps some unknown trick, Booker.
Parkelean seems to skip right over the memory
of you reading the book about lessening his control.
It's odd. It seems... It slips. He can't seem
to see it. Thanks, whoever wrote that book. He
does, however, quickly locate your conversation
with the Pale Mother, where she told you about
the string that consumes. And you feel Parkelean's
satisfaction wash over the room. And he says...
Oh, excellent work, Booker. Just excellent. I
really underestimated you. I never thought you
would sacrifice an entire settlement just for
me. That is very flattering. We did what we had
to do. Of course. Always what you have to do.
What the hell do you want with me? We'll get
to that. What I've just learned confirms my earlier
suspicions. Do you all recall the friendly man
you traveled with briefly, yes? Of course. He
possesses the string that consumes. I have reason
to believe it is that little silken ribbon he
wears around his neck. I'm not really entirely
sure what has happened to this friendly man.
He may very well be unaware of what the string
is, and this is problematic for a number of reasons,
which are not necessary for your mission for
you to understand. But to put it simply, I would
like you to kill him and take that ribbon. Um,
the demon there here will provide you with the
weapon you have to use to kill him. And after
that, all you must do is return to me and I believe
a promotion will be well in order. Understood,
Booker? Great forward. Why do we need to kill
him? Can we just take the ribbon? No, it's complicated.
Got it. He has to die. And what of Ledger? Yes,
what of me? So the Institute tends to keep their
dogs on a very long leash. And I have a feeling
that Ledger here is starting to realize just
how frayed that leash is. If you have any sense
in you, Mr. Gray, you will assist Booker with
his task. The Institute doesn't know what they
are doing. And on a similar note, they do not
seem to realize who you really are, which is
very funny. It is a wicked web the world weaves
for us. Regardless, you should lead the Institute
on. I know you don't. care about them at all,
and should Booker succeed in his task, you have
my word that I will assist you in your desire
for freedom. I certainly have the resources,
and demons are always true to their word, especially
a demon like me. Consider this a down payment
then to secure my cooperation. Who exactly am
I? And he smiles. Now that is a question with
many, many answers. Give me something now. You
are telling me to stick my neck out after all,
something that as you have identified I'm not
necessarily unwilling to do. Okay, what's most
important for you to know? One question. Where's
my body? My real one. Your real body. Whether
you've realized it or not, your real body is
on its way to you even as we speak. And in another
vein... I think you will soon accidentally stumble
upon your fake body soon as well. How entertaining.
You speak in riddles, but I believe I have gleaned
what I need to. Excellent. It's a deal. Booker
winces a little bit. Yep. There's a capital D
in that deal. With that agreement in place, an
easy agreement. The demon Parkelion suddenly
recedes into the ground, taking with him his
oppressive presence, and an uneasy silence fills
the room. Halo and Bailey, you saw all this happen,
but you kind of felt frozen the whole time. Figures.
That wasn't so bad. Ledger, I think, stares at
Booker very uncomfortably. He normally has such
a congenial air about him, and it's like this
look is almost... And it's kind of disturbing,
given his usual demeanor. And then he kind of
flexes his fists. Does Ledger turn back into
a normal looking boy when Parkeleon vanishes?
Yeah. I think Bailey whispers to Halo, this isn't
good. We can't kill the friendly man. That seems
bad. Yeah, let's let them figure it out. What
did you say, Brian? Did Halo and Bailey also
see what Ledger looks like? Yes. Okay. Ooh. I
think Ledger flexes his fists a few times. And
then he... Yeah, then I think he turns around
to... Are we still in the pocket dimension? You're
still in the pocket dimension. The demoner has
produced from a cabinet a small gray bundle with
an ornate handle poking out from it, and she
hands it to you very carefully. Ledger won't
take it. I think she answered to Booker. Now,
all right, Booker, this is a void glass. Chris,
you're going to want to be very careful with
this thing. It doesn't get more pure than this.
You don't even really usually want to carry this
with you for an extended amount of time. But
you know how it is with Parkelion. So try to
keep it in the cloth here until you need to use
it. I really would not recommend looking at it
until you have to use it because it can mess
with your head a little. Booker nods and puts
it in his pouch. All things considered, that
wasn't too bad. I thought for sure he was going
to drag Ledger into like... There's no quarrel
with Ledger. But yeah. Yeah, that's good. That's
good. Well, if there's not anything else, I'm
going to open up the portal and you can stride
back out in town. That would be for the best.
She opens it up. The rat arch is open. Watch
out. Ouch. Do you have any other business with
the demon or do you want to set out? Yeah, I
think we can head out. What kind of haunts are
there here? There are echo, blood, supply and
mind. I think I might actually for the first
time ever try to reduce stress at a haunt because
I have seven echo fallout. Excellent. You're
leaving the lantern behind for now. Yes. Ain't
got no money left. Yeah. OK. All right. You start
heading towards. Are you going to forward again?
Is that that would be that would be where you
get the the echo follow. That's where you get
your stress reduced. That's right. Yeah, I think
I think maybe when we like leave the demon as
ledger just kind of like sets off without waiting
to see what anyone else says or even to check
if anybody's following him. And he's just going
to walk back in. And I don't, is it, is it just
like, is it just the painting? Is that what is
done? Similar thing, but just, uh, the issue
is that, uh, halfway there, you get intercepted.
Oh, okay. Unfortunately, uh, by B -Scout, your
friend B -Scout, the good old pal B -Scout. Uh,
and he says, uh, hey folks, how's it going? Hello.
Just grand. Uh, the, uh, the ex -mar wants to
talk to you. Wonderful. Who? Expedition Marshal.
Oh. He runs the show here. He just wants to talk
to you. I don't know. We were told at the outset
that we would be debriefed. I suppose we should
just get it over with. Yeah. It's no big deal.
All right. I'll just... I'll lead you there.
Just follow me. Sure. The X -Bar's tent is large.
It is not as well -decorated as you might expect
from a high -ranking officer, with the exception
of some framed medals, a carpet, and a plush
-looking chair behind his desk. Everything's
made of the same lightweight foldable materials
you've seen everywhere else in camp. The expedition
marshal himself is sitting behind his desk looking
over some paperwork. He is dressed in a sharp
officer's uniform, well -decorated with various
medals. For exemplary service, he is lanky, but
rugged. And strangest of all, he is a very familiar
-looking man. And... Why he's so familiar doesn't
click until he gives you a grin to all of you
and you see the familiar glint of a golden tooth.
And sure enough, add 15 years and a graying beard
and you'll find that this man has the exact same
face as your traveling companion, Ledger Gray.