Last time on the Empire Initiative. Unbeknownst
to our heroes, a tiny sapling has begun to grow
from the ashes of the Black Forest Treant. Meanwhile,
the crew makes camp in the Wode, and Dart flexes
his foraging prowess. A discussion is had over
what gifts to bring to the Sapphire Jubilee,
perhaps a basket of fine meats and cheeses, and
to cut them, the sword of the usurper, Lord Saxton.
But the jovial mood is broken by the arrival
of alarming news from Archmage Tace. It would
seem that Emperor Dayne was responsible for the
creation of the Aboleth, among other horrors.
Still reeling from that revelation, the crew
is nearly ambushed by a group of orcs, but Dart
turns the tables on them using Zavarian rain
as bait as the battle breaks out. This is episode
11, The Lost Episode. Hey everybody, this is
an unusual situation. We fucked up, we fucked
up. I'm only human after all. Wi -Fi issues when
recording. Yeah. Yeah. Technical difficulties,
please stand by. Insert WeShop music, but not
actually. Because they'll sue the shit out of
us. If we're lucky. Club mix. Oh, my God. Club
Asmodeus. I've heard some Club Asmodeus songs
lately. Yeah. Obviously some of the Cult of the
Lambs soundtrack has that right vibe. It's good
stuff. Why are we here? What's going on? Why
is our quality so good right now? Don't worry
about that. It's just your imagination. No, we
got better equipment. Is God gaslighting me?
No, we do. Yeah, of course. Yeah, so just a little
back story. I guess a little thing. I we recorded
a bunch of things. And then when I went back
to edit the audio, I noticed that on this episode
in particular, something was weird. And it was
a mistake that past us have remedied that we
now have recorded. I'm not sure exactly. I'm
not going to say what number, but a decent amount.
And we film ahead. Yes. Yes. Backlog, please.
And so. And we didn't realize that there was
an issue until later on. And so now that we have
upgraded equipment, we want to kind of, we don't
want to just leave you high and dry without like
anything. No resolution. Yeah. And just like
of what happened, we left off in the middle of
a fight. Like, that's not cool. I loved what
I did the next little bit and what we did like
in particular. Like, that was a great. Fight
session. There's a lot that happened. So we are
trying to figure out a creative way to be able
to retell it without just you guys listening
to us recap what happened. That's boring. So,
yeah. Yeah. So this is the last episode. Okay,
so who is this lone survivor, Rachel? Cofuto.
Cofuto? Cofuto. Cofuto. And what do they look
like? He is rather tall. um has um like a very
long braid that goes down past his butt oh very
nice inches um yes he got he has growth where
it counts um uh and he is wearing I'm just trying
to remember who was all in the fight. Like what
bad guys, what they did. Or like what the orcs
did. They didn't get to do much. So there were
blood skulls. Obviously they did not survive.
And I mean, basically there was like, I want
to say there was like two archers. One of the
archers ran. It's probably... You. That's what
I was thinking is Archer. I just wanted to make
sure that it aligned with what happened. Because
actually I guess you would probably be the person
who went into the tree and saw them. I'm guessing.
Or either that or like the other Archer who was
like relaying the information from that person.
I feel. So the one that ran away that we didn't
get. Yeah, because it's got to be the survivor.
Yeah. So it's either the initial scout or the
archer that hung back that survived, essentially.
So I guess it's kind of up to you which one you
think he was. I want to be the one that was on
the ground that saw firsthand the fire and the
frog. Okay. Yeah. Through the fires and the frogs.
Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. Because you guys,
like, intentionally let one go. Yeah. So. Because
Stark didn't tell us about the other one until
after. So. That would be the scout in the tree.
Mm -hmm. Who also survived, but is not here to
give his account. Maybe he didn't make it back
for some reason. So, yeah, he is an archer, orc.
I feel like he's very cut and burnt and had arrows
sticking out of him when he first arrived. Oh,
absolutely. Yeah, fucked up. Thorns, thorn scratches
all over him. Probably some still dug into his
skin in places. Yeah, he relatively was fucked
up and is still tired, but knows that he needs
to get this report in before he can rest. Yeah.
Of course, the captains, it's the middle of the
night. The captains are tired and they've all
been dragged out of bed and they all have to
put on their uniforms to come to the conference
room and talk to this person. And they understand
it's an emergency or they've been told. It's
an emergency. But they still have to do all this
shit. And they're, of course, grumpy and tired.
One of them has a pregnant wife at home. One
of them has a pregnant wife at home. That's Captain
Calgren. He is a very large, very muscular, very
well -built, very handsome orc man. He usually
wears a lot of jewelry. But in this circumstance,
because he got up in the middle of the night,
he just put on his uniform. um which is navy
um and well tailored the uniform will have also
has like his like rank on it which is symbolized
by um like crescent moons that are like stacked
on like the the breast pocket area um his in
that case is a large crescent moon with like
four crescent like four smaller crescent moons
stacked on top and a star over that um pretty
very high ranking captain um he's the highest
ranking person here in addition there are There
is his son, the lieutenant, and two other captains,
a lady captain and another man. They are just
the only other ones who were available at this
time. They always have to have a council of people.
It's part of their organization. They don't ever
want... A one -on -one report. Especially for
like an incident report. Because like. There
needs to be. Accountability. So. Grumpy officers.
Ready for this damn incident report. In the middle
of the night. You guys don't even have your transcriber.
Who is Dreamer. Dreamer is like a. They're basically
like a divination wizard. That. that kind of
manages, they basically manage communications.
They're not always able to, but they're a very
powerful divination wizard and they will tell
the other officers stuff psionically, telepathically,
and kind of update and whatnot. But Dreamer needs
a lot of sleep. is always sleeping for about
half of the day. Um, so you guys don't even have
dreamers. So you actually have to write shit
down and remember shit for once. It's fucking
annoying and you're pissed off. Okay. And so
you're, and you know, like, what is your name
again? Cope. I'm gonna write it down. Uh, yeah.
Kofuto. Kofuto. Kofuto. K -O -F -F -U -T -T -O.
K -O -F -F -U -T -T -O. Kofuto. Kofuto, you are
fully expecting, you know, everyone to be grumpy.
Which, you know. Uh -oh. What's new? So, you
are brought into the conference room. It is dimly
lit. by some nice torches. Orcs have like, I
think they have like low light vision or dark
vision, so they don't really need like a ton
of light. And they're not big light people. Yeah,
they don't like big light. No overhead lighting.
Big light is evil. No overhead lighting whatsoever.
But yes, so Captain Calgrin is sitting at the
head of Of the little, like, conference table.
And... The doors swing open and the guard...
Kind of gestures to you, Cofuto. He's like, go
ahead, man. Like, he's like, sorry, buddy. Like,
that looks fucking rough, man. Man, it's... They
didn't let you go to the healer first? I... This
is too important. I needed to come here straight
away. Captain Calgrin, uh... clears his throat
and he's just bleeding various places and just
actively bleeding and the other the guard who
was like oh are you okay man he just shuts up
and he's like fine just go just go and the door
will close behind you and you know that the guards
are moving into position to make sure that door
is secure um but yeah and so you kind of walk
into the middle of this semi -circle of chairs
and There's basically like a single chair there
and they at least gave you the comfy one that's
upholstered. He still stands and just holds the
back of the chair. I don't want to get blood
on this chair, but I'll use support. Does someone
else need it? Please. I insist. Sit. The captain's
son is like, yeah, man. Don't worry about it.
Sit. It's cool. We can clean it. Somebody's got
prestidigitation, right? All of our mages are
asleep. A dog walks in. That is a night drake.
A night drake. Oh my god, Sapphira. Oh. Um, okay.
So he sits down and there's a thorn in his butt
still. So he like hovers back up and like sits
on one side. Tell us. What happened? Well, you
know, we were out training the drakes. Going
out. It was routine. They said it was going to
be routine. We were like, oh, there's a fire
over there. Is that a frog? I thought one of
the frogs got out. There was a frogkin. Whoa,
slow down. The female captain speaks up. A frog?
Who are you? You see a tall, imposing female
orc sitting in front of you. She has... long
auburn hair tied up and just like a tight ponytail
you can tell this is like the best she could
do on such short notice to look presentable um
her name is leshy and you know her to be a strict
bitch of course it's fucking leshy that's a way
oh hi leshy what do you mean you saw a frog Yeah,
there was a frog by the fire with these, like,
two lesbians and their cat friend. Okay, so you
clearly killed them. Then what happened? That's
the thing. They weren't just normal people. Captain
Calgren folds his arms. Unless she tilts her
head. I'm the only one left. And he, like, pulls
the thorn out of his ass and throws it down.
Impossible! You must have had... 14 -15 dress
with you. No time for jokes. Do you look at me?
Do you think I'm joking? And he just pulls more
thorns out of him and just throws them down.
To be fair, Leshy, I'm not sure it's funny. Yeah,
it's a terrible joke. All of them. I think maybe...
What's the scout's name? The one that went...
Um... Uh... The scout's name is... Uh... Yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah. How about, uh... Hugrion. I
think Hugrion made it, but I don't know. I haven't
seen him. Have you seen him? Has he reported
back? No, there's been no sign of Hugrion. It's
kind of unusual, actually. I just... Because
he's not supposed to engage, so he should have
made it out just fine. Did Hugh Gryon engage?
No. Hmm. Perhaps they saw him and hunted him
down? Considering you weren't able to overcome
them, I presume. They were so strong. How many
of them did you kill? None. None. Are you fucking
joking? This is an outrage. You have a lot of
nerve coming back here not even taking a single
head. That's why it's so dire I came back here.
You just see Leshy like scowls at you. Someone
had to tell him. Someone had to tell you that
they aren't just normal. He had the frogfolk
had a magical sword. So it was a frogfolk. I
think so. Yes. Or you know that you can knock
it. It was a frog folk. Did it speak? Yes. So...
The frogs are escaping. Am I to understand that
the frogs are escaping and you weren't able to
capture it? I don't think that this frog is from
here. Well, that's impossible. Right, Dar's not
from here. No. That's impossible. Emperor Gane
said that there were no frog folk left in the
world. Well, that's what I thought too until
they killed us all. Through the fire. His face
will haunt me in my dreams forever. The frog?
The frogs have returned. You're not making any
sense, boy. He had a magical sword and he jumped
from the trees down into the fire and it fucked
up all of the drakes. A magical sword? A magical
sword. Of what kind? Of what sort? Did you get
a look at it? I don't know. What did it look
like? I couldn't look at it. Details! It was
as bright as day. Where's Lucara? I don't know.
She's probably still sleeping. I don't know.
All I know is between the... Did she go back
to the church? Yeah, of course she did. Between
the volley of arrows with the thorns and they
were just really sharp and this wall of fire
and all of these blasts that just came out. There
was so much happening. There was no way that
we could have... So I'm to understand that you
were done in by thorns, a wall of fire, and blasts
by a small group of people. You weren't there,
man. You must have made some grave miscalculation.
How did you approach the situation? We need to
break this down step by step. We'll be here all
night if we have to be. And everyone's like,
oh, fuck. Unless she's like, God damn it. We
came in stealthy. Well, at least we thought we
were. They were just chilling by the fire. But
apparently they already knew we were coming.
And that's the problem. Once we were in, we couldn't
run away. They were like... A force I haven't
seen before. The way that they work together.
The captain's son, who is a handsome young man
with coiffed hair, he will stand up and he walks
around the table to be on your side. And he's
like, hey man, it's okay. You're not in trouble.
It's going to be alright. But we do need to,
you know, sort of slow things down and try to
figure out what's going on. Do you believe we're
being assaulted? And then he looks at his dad,
Captain Calgren, and is like, because I think
that's the more important thing here. Are we
being attacked? What do you think that Dart's
impactful speech was? You gave a speech through
the prayer. You gave a warning through the flames.
Even if it wasn't exactly that warning, what
warning would it be? From Dart to these people.
I know you were like, tell your people something
or other. It was really cool. But we didn't get
it. But we didn't get it. What is that same vibe?
I guess, yeah. Man, I really wish I could remember
my dope speech. It was dope. I mean, I'm sure
it was probably something along the lines of
me telling them that their abuse of the frogs
those days were numbered and that the king of
the frogs was returning. I feel like I made some
kind of reference to that prophecy of the frogs
returning. I don't remember exactly the details
of it, but I think I was trying to amp up the...
The moment. The froggyness of the frog. The supernatural
aspect of that to put the fear in him. I just,
I remember the two things I remember was saying
the frogs have returned and how many orcs does
it take to deliver a message? Those are the only
things I remember saying. One. He told me to
give you a message. Well, I think he means...
What's Ren's full title? Actual title? Blood
Harvester Ren. Blood Harvester Ren. The captain's
son puts a reassuring hand on your shoulder,
carefully not touching any wounds. How we abuse
frogs. Eat them. Whatever else we do with them.
Those days are numbered. He will not stand for
the injustice of his people. As if it was a prophecy
itself rising from the flames. He... It shook
me. Just hearing him talk. And I had never really
even thought about it before. I can see that
your eyes are haunted, son. Clearly you've gone
mad from this. And we're listening to the ramblings
of somebody gone insane. Who's a safe and soft
frog? Says someone else. Another orc that's sleeping,
sitting in the corner stands up and he is like
officially huge. And he's got this like thousand
yard stare in his eyes. And he kind of looks
like this goofy bastard right here. And he says.
Are you sure it was a frog? Are you sure you
weren't actually being threatened by the lesbians
or maybe the cat? Yeah, or maybe they had a lizard
man with them or something. Maybe you just got
tricked. Maybe you should go lay your head down.
Maybe you should listen to me. Was it an illusion?
I'll go lay down. But just know that someone's
coming here. Listen to me or not. Yeah, when
they come, you'll be the first that we give away.
Leshy, Leshy. Sorry, I... Sit down. She, like,
sighs and sits and crosses her arms. We are not
done here. Oh, I think we are. You! What's your
name? Ogrish. Ogrish! You spoke of dreams. once
dreams of a frog uprising oh my god not this
again nope it has validity lessee i am being
open and receptive as best i can the captain's
son is also like low -key rolling his eyes he's
like oh god not this again was it a red and green
or was it a red and blue frog everyone looks
over to ogrish In my dreams, the frog, I can't
see him. He's only a silhouette backed by flames.
What color flames did you see? What color flames
did you see? Are there any parallels? We must
know. You should have spilled the fluid from
his canals. You've doomed us all. I can't believe
we're entertaining those. At five in the morning.
The captain said, hey guys, I think we should
all just, you know, calm down, okay? We're going
to have to work together and figure this out.
It'll be all right. It'll be all right. And he
smiles, especially at Leshy. Why are you here
again? I thought this was for top -ranking officials.
Well, I mean, I... And then Calgren is like,
Leshy, you know he is my son, but you are correct.
Son? You're overstepping. Am I, though? I mean,
like, I really... I'm just trying to help. And
he looks over at Leshy like, come on, Leshy.
Silence yourself, Nepo baby. We might be on the
verge of a frog invasion. I do not see your medals
of honor. What you have to say does not really...
sway my mind one way or the other boy the flames
are blue and black the captain's son frowns and
sits down because he sees the look in captain
calgren's eyes that it's like son i can't i can't
defend you any longer blue flames you say blue
and black blue and black As I've seen them in
my dreams. I'm going to sharpen my lucky axe.
Unless she just puts her head in her hands. Grumps
and sell shits on my pillow before I may rest
my head. He's so mad. He's like, what the fuck?
Right now? Of all times? They may be small. What
are we trying to say? This is some frog that
was promised. Wait, what? I want to know who
promised this damn frog. The lesbians? Tell us
more about the lesbians. What did they look like?
Were they friends with the frog? Were they also
scary? Were they associates or was it just by
happenstance? Perhaps the frog was their pet.
No. It more seems like the frog used them as
the bait. Oh. The frog is highly intelligent.
And don't get me wrong, the lesbians were highly
intelligent as well. But to let themselves be
used as bait, that is pitiful for a woman. Captain
Calgrin is not homophobic. He's an ally. Lesbians
are always incredibly intelligent and handy.
That we are. More like handsy. That we are. So
yes, describe these other companions. Describe
the couple, the cat. The cat looked like a bobcat.
He was sleeping a little at the beginning, but
he... Did he change into an animal? I don't think
so. No. Not because he didn't have wild snake?
No. Oh, I think he did, though, give dart fire
arrows. Oh, yeah. He was magical in nature. Yeah,
because he had magical... He did some support
spells. Yeah, a magical cat. A magical bobcat.
And adorable. There was a little red tiefling.
Wait, so like the cat... It's not like a cat
cat. It's a tabaxi. No, a tabaxi. With bobcat
markings. It's a little bit problematic that
you're just referring to them as a cat. I was
just about to ask if there's a slur for to fax
an orchid. I'm sorry that I'm a little in pain
and I can't 100 % filter what I'm saying. I'm
looking for the slurs. Mousers. Well, damn. I
don't know how I did it. There's always a hard
R. It's universally known to be extremely racist
with a hard R. If it's like a soft A, that sounds
like, you know, inviting and warm. Yeah, they
call each other that. Sorry. Sorry. I'll pay
for my sins later. You know a dream is bad when
there's lesbians in it, and I still wish I didn't
have it. Wait, there were lesbians in your dream
as well? To be fair, there are usually lesbians
in my dreams. Fair enough. But not accompanied
by a doom -bringing frog. The Captain Sunlight
is like, may I please say one more thing? Who
is the top? And everyone looks over at the young
lieutenant and Captain Calgren is like, son,
you have to leave now. Fine. I'm sorry, I'm not
familiar with the terminology. It was the dwarf.
The dwarf. Tell us more about this dwarf. Wait.
Oh, God, you're responding to... You're not finding
my son's possibility. Can your son stay? No.
No. He's being disruptive. Then I will not give
you more information. Then I will take your head.
Okay, take it. She stands. Whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa. We stopped doing that. Well.
Not that. Like, last week we stopped doing that.
I've just been waiting for an excuse. What's
her name? Lushy. I've been waiting for an excuse,
Lushy. To die? Head chopped off. Nah. What the?
We should make this sacrifice to Grumsh, therefore
he will stop this frog. This is the best idea
I've heard all night. And I'm tired of this meeting.
You know that Grumsh doesn't care about sacrifices.
He used to. You just want to hide your shame.
Superstition. The shame that this small unit,
led by a frog folk, is coming here. To take down
everything. Unless... We change. And not eat
frogs anymore. Like, come on. Aren't they, like,
delicious, though? I mean, how much do you have,
like, deep -fried frogs? I mean, yeah, of course
they're delicious and nutritious. Oh, honest
dick. Honest dick. Have you ever had their fluid
-filled canals injected with delicious fluids?
Butter. Yes. Butter -filled frogs. Yeah, or you
can boil them in butter and then give them a
nice little sauté. Mark my words. Discussions
like this will only further hasten our doom.
No, you're right. You're right. For once, you're
talking the most sense, Orgrim. I'll get that
recipe from you later, though. As he just crosses
his legs and, like, sits back. It's horrible
about the other one. Please. Is he staying? No,
no. He's trying to be here. He walks up and he
starts to leave. He goes and opens the door,
and as he opens the door, an old, gnarled -looking...
Orc with a hunched back and a nasty snarl and
dirty hair comes into the room. And the captain's
son is like, oh, thank goodness I was just leaving.
And he slinks out of the door. He's like, I wanted
to go to bed anyway. This guy has a lot of government
wash since the third age. Enters Locara, the
unyielding priestess. Oh, she just reminds me
of, like, Dark Crystal, the skinks, like, the,
like, whatever they're called, the creepy things
that haunt my dreams for real. Leshy will stand
and, like, bow. My priestess. Everyone gives,
like, everyone gives the priestess, like, at
least a pretty respectful, like... greeting um
even captain calgary who doesn't bow but he gives
like a very like heavy head nod um as as the
priestess approaches um why did you oh kafuto
also like is sitting back but bows his head um
and she wordlessly walks up to kafuto and will
put her hand just on his head like around like
fingers around his braid like on and you can
feel like kafuto can feel like nails like sharpie
jaggedy nails just kind of digging into the back
of his head and she says worry not his his uh
recounting may be His recounting may be inaccurate,
but I can extract the pure memory. So Lopara
is initially casting, like, detect thoughts on
him. So it would be just kind of like some surface
thoughts kind of thing. So he's probably thinking,
like... Why is she touching my head like this?
Ew. What the fuck? Or whatever. This is so uncomfortable.
You know she stinks too. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. She
smells kind of like she smells like a grave.
I just think of like mothballs. There's definitely
dirt under those fingernails. Are you really
thinking about that? Infection. Right on the
scalp. And she looks up at Captain Calgren and
she goes, yes, just what I thought. His mind
is muddled. I'll have to take this one. And Captain
Calgren's like, we aren't done interrogating
him. My brain's not muddled. I can tell that
he is useless. What? I must extract his memories
and we will turn him into a blood skull. Excuse
you? Lucara, your cursed magics make me very
nervous. You wouldn't even know that this is
happening without me. Who are you calling useless?
My priestess. Dare you talk to me like that,
you worm! You have sealed your fate. My priestess.
You have as well. If I may. Her eyes widen. She's
just like looking over at Captain Calgren like,
say the fucking words so I can kill this fucking
wretch. If I may, we still need to question this
one. Just five more minutes of your time, then
it can be all yours. Why must we question him
when I can just pull the memories from his useless
little head? Captain Calgren's like, that is...
unusually cruel to do to someone who's done nothing
wrong. Locara, need I remind you that we have
a code. One that you used to adhere to. I don't
know what happened to you, Locara. Nothing happened
to me. You don't understand, Calgren. Things
are more... There's a lot going on, okay? Things
are ramping up. And this is way more dangerous
than you think. You can't just let this threat
be out in the woad like that. What would you
suggest we do, Priestess? Ogrim's right. It will
be our downfall. Not unless we act on this immediately.
We must get the information. We must find these
rat catchers and see what the hell they're fucking
doing in our woad. Small sidebar. I feel like
I should just point out that my name is Ogrish.
Ogrish. Although, ironically, Ogrim is the name
of another orc character I have in an alternate
campaign that we've been playing. Sorry. It's
all good. She intentionally fucked up this. Ogrish
is right. Ogrish is right. We are doomed. We
don't get our shit together. And we're in here
talking about recipes. You know, the frog folk
have a greater purpose than that. You all know.
A house divided will fall to the frogs. I have
seen it. Ogrish is right. I say we take his memories.
That way we can get the most information. And
we have to find that scout that is missing. Captain
Calgren is like, under no circumstance will we
be doing that. I know what your experiments tend
to do to people, Locara. I don't know what kind
of dark magic the Emperor has been teaching you,
but we may listen to him, but we don't have to
follow his example. And Locara's like, you dare
speak? ill of our mighty emperor. Dayne has given
us everything. The very land we live on. And
you dare speak out against him? I should report
you for dissenting. There's no dissension happening,
my priestess. He is just a tired man thinking
foolish thoughts and saying even more foolish
things. He kind of looks upset that you called
him foolish. If we resort to these cursed magics,
we're no better than the frogs. And Captain Calvary's
like, he's right! He had to have had some kind
of cursed magic. The flames, the glowing sword.
He had the sword. Do we think that the sword,
what kind of sword? I must get my hands on it.
I must get my eyes on it. It's sword. I don't
know, but it was so bright. It was like looking
into the sun itself. Is it safe to assume that
this frog is some sort of mage, then? Uh, he...
Perhaps. He did shoot magical arrows. But you
said the cat helped. Sorry, the tabaxi helped.
I'm learning. Sorry, sorry. I don't care. You
can say whatever the fuck you want about the
damn mousers. Disgusting little things. I mean,
yeah. Catherine Calgren's like, What is wrong
with you guys? He doesn't say anything. He just
kind of like shakes his head disapprovingly.
I believe the preferred nomenclature is what?
Is tabaxi. This is true. That's why we have the
tabaxi cackle dolls. What if I show you, mark
you on a map where they last were? That would
be a good start. At least do something useful
for once in your pathetic life. Monday, Locara,
you'll stop projecting. Locara's like shaking
with anger. Well, she looks and she's like, stop
being fucking smart before she kills you. You
hear a message in your head from Locara and she
kind of just like... She kind of just twirls
her little finger so that you can see that she's
casting a spell. And she just tells you a silent
message in your head. You will be going to the
tower by day's end. Mark my words. And you know
that means that you'll be disappeared. Man, do
you guys feel a weird chilly draft all of a sudden?
Yeah, I was trying to clear the stench out of
this place. Wash your dreads. Calgrin laughs.
A hearty laugh. Everyone laughs and then Bloodharp's
friend walks in. Oh my god. We're all dead. Captain
Calgrin says, you know, I think this is enough
for the time being. Mark us on the map where
you saw them and write a detailed description
of who you saw and what they looked like. Tell
us what they did. I'll have all of that after
I'm healed up at the infirmary. And tell no one
outside of this tent what you saw. Of course,
that's fine. I'll give you the map location.
Absolutely not! Spread hysterics! That's the
last thing we need. For people to think that
the end times are coming, that would wreak havoc
on our civilization. I feel like he, like, passes
out. Because, like, he, like, ran all this way,
he's sitting down. It's one reason he didn't
want to sit down, but he, like, passes out. Great,
now he's unconscious. And, um... Yeah, and Captain
Calgren's like... You gave him the comfy chair.
You gave him the comfy chair for fucking nothing.
Okay, well... Leshy. Yes. See if we have any
files on lesbians or frogs. The Emperor might
have something for us. He said that there was
a tiefling, a frog, and a dwarf? Yes. Okay. Let's
see if there's anything that matches that description.
You understand this is crazy, right? Yes, I do
understand, but we can't afford to not follow
up on this. And I think Locara would agree considering
how... And he looks over at Locara and she's
like... She just like nods silently. And Locara's
just squinting her eyes. You don't understand
how... You don't understand how delicate our
situation is. I think our priestess could also
use some bedtime as well. I think our priestess
needs a vacation. Yeah, she's been overworked
the past few weeks. I'd be happy to leave. I
hate this city. Why don't you go back to your
chapel? I will, but I'll be back. I'll be back
and I'll be looking for those reports. Wren and
I are going to have a long talk about this. And
about your quips. And everybody's just kind of
like, alright, looks around. Okay, my priestess.
Somebody get him a bed and a healer. Ogrish,
I need you to write a detailed account of your
dream. Well, I don't like the idea of reliving
it, but very well. But please exclude any fantasy
elements. Any personal fantasy elements. Just
keep it objective. Thanks. And then Halgren's
like, If things get any more serious, if there's
another incident, we will consider going into
more of a defensive formation. As we all know,
a very important date for Fran is coming up soon,
so it would be best if we dealt with this before
he finds out. I agree. The last thing that we
need is him to stress out about any of this and
for that to be our problem. Yes, it'll be all
of our heads rolling if that ends up being the
case. Well, this meeting is adjourned. Thank
God. Cut to the scene at the top. of the tallest
tower in Vrinvara, the city of the orcs. At the
very top of the tower is a large room. It's kind
of like a bell tower situation where there's
like cutouts, you know? And in the middle of
this room, instead of there being a bell in this
tower, resting, on the ground is a large 15 foot
in diameter metal singing bowl. Hanging above
the singing bowl is a stone pendulum that is
softly swinging currently. You know, just kind
of nearly still hanging perfectly over the singing
bowl. The singing bowl is filled with a swirling
misty electric green viscous ichor. You see around
the stone pendulum a soft glow of a telekinesis
spell manipulating the swing. And as the pendulum
swings, the tip of it hits the edge of the singing
bowl and it begins to circle. the inner edge
creating a loud hum a bell tolling that can be
heard for miles and it is being heard by a specific
little frog king we flash back to You are hearing
this noise in your head. It is impossibly loud.
It is shaking your core, and no one else around
you can hear it. You see your companions there.
What are your companions doing? Uh... At that
point, I had hasted, so I'm just, like, bouncing
around everywhere. You're hyped up. I'm pretty
sure. You guys, like, noticed something was up,
right? Yeah. So you're probably like, Dart! Yeah.
But, like, hyped up. Dart, what you doing? What's
going on? You're in immense internal, physical,
and emotional pain, wracking you. You feel an
intense hatred. The hatred that you have for
orcs, the hatred that you have for the situation,
everything. boiling up inside of you, coming
to a peak, exploding within you. And what does
that look like for Dart? My first instinct was
like, I fall to my knees and I'm like, oh, my
precious ear holes, no! And even if you cover
your precious little ear holes, you can still
hear it in your mind. It's resonating through
your fluid -filled canals. Oh, no. I feel sick.
Like, I feel like... I believe you didn't roll
low enough to pass out this time. I didn't roll
enough to pass out, but I feel like I'm, like...
Like... Like, everything outside of my senses,
like, I'm not aware of what's going on around
me because it's, like, so overwhelming that I'm
just, like... It's like a... A white light and
heat burning in the front of my mind that I can't
escape. And, like, the whole rest of the world
does not exist to me. Yeah, absolutely. You probably
feel, like, sick to your stomach. But, yeah,
if I remember correctly, you were able to...
You were able to stay conscious through it, but
it did affect you in some way. You failed the
wisdom save. I believe it's a wisdom save. It's
like a wisdom and then constitution save. And
then we have to figure out how we want to do
the rest of that. I feel like it would be good
just like end it. Like, yeah, there's more stuff
that happens and we can just talk about it. But
like of like the narrative scenes. Like didn't
you say like it'd be nice to have like a narrative
scene and then just like a talking portion. Yeah,
that's what I was thinking. We would end up just
also doing like a recap a little bit. Yeah. And
just kind of being like. Because like. You get
Sylvanas' water. We find that the... I don't
know. The connection between Nellie Mae and Zavari,
I feel like, needs to be stated. And then what
happens to Dart and Zavari doing the arcana check.
Yeah. Do you want to narratively do that? Do
your arcana... Say that you... It definitely
could. I had a thought of maybe trying to introduce
something from the point of view of Zavari's
writing in her diary, if that makes sense. Yeah.
It could be something like that, just a little
thing. Yeah, that's true. For sure. Dear diary.
Dear dumb diary. That was a book series I used
to read as a kid. Do you want to do that? Maybe
it's like we've got to do a ham fact. The ham
fact is that we're here. Ham fact is that we're
here. Ham fact it down. That'd be so funny. Despite
it all, ladies and gentlemen, we are still here.
Maybe next week we'll do two ham facts. A double
serving. I can try and whip something up. Do
it! Okay. Dear Diary, Sune XX for the date, year
1489. We have been traveling through the woad
for a few days at this point, and honestly, it's
been terrible. It's sweaty, it's humid, Dart
won't stop eating random bugs and weird things
keep happening to him. In parentheses, more on
that later. Something strange has been happening
with Dart lately. I know. I know, Diary. I usually
don't write about Dart that much. He's honestly
pretty steady, but something strange has been
going on. I saw him crouched over in pain on
the ground, which definitely isn't like him.
Normally, you would jump up and be like, ha,
surprise. You thought that could hurt me or something.
Silly like that, but not this time. I touched
him. I reached out to him and something was very
wrong, tainted. It wasn't him. I've never felt
this kind of energy before. I don't know how
to describe it, but there's something wrong with
his soul. I'm worried about him. That's weird
of me to say, but here we are. I also had a conversation
with Rain. She brought up me going back to Umbermore
and her needing to figure something out about
it, but I told her that I know how, and that
probably wasn't a good decision to tell her,
but what's done is done. Anyway, I need to...
Try to sleep. I don't know how, but I'll see
you tomorrow. Hopefully. Maybe. It's like XOXO
at the bottom of the letter. To yourself? Yeah.
That's how you know, like, she's, like, feeling
good. Well, good, all things considered. It's
either XOXO or, like, some blood on it. Uh, Drift,
who... You haven't seen him really journal, but
he's been going through some shit. And he has
finally decided to open up his journal and write
a little bit about what's been going on with
him. The last few pages are just black scribbles
of ink where he tried to write about losing his
partners and about being in the Black Forest
alone. um and meeting the crusaders um but he
just couldn't and he writes the date sune xx
i'm sorry i could probably figure out the date
that's a lot to ask of you though the months
and the years um yes but in sune and he writes
dear journal because it's not a diary he's a
man A manly man. A manly man. No, I'm just being
stupid. Dear journal, I don't know who will read
this or if anyone will read this someday, but
I'm starting to feel like my days are coming
to an end. I don't think that I can live much
longer, that I can go on much longer. like this
i miss my partners more and more every single
day and every single day the gulf between me
the time now and the time that they were still
with me grows and that gulf is never going to
get smaller and i just and what we're doing what
i'm doing with my new friends I can't right now,
but we're doing something incredibly dangerous.
Something that needs to be done. This blight
is unimaginable and it's only going to get worse
if we don't do something about it. Dart, I've
seen him channel the power of Sylvanas. I've
seen him be blessed and be chosen by him. i know
that he can succeed in his mission but i don't
know that i will survive it so i've decided to
give him my last bit of spirit water i don't
know what i was saving it for to be honest but
i hope that i hope that he he finds a way to
save his world with it. Anyway, if I'm still
alive in a couple days, maybe I'll write some
more. Maybe I'll finally tell you about. And
that's it. He doesn't finish. He can't finish.
He just closes it. Cries, screams, throws up.
Sorry. It's real, though. He's grieving, but
he can't really grieve right now. Should Rain
do a journal entry? If you'd like to, yeah. By
all means. Daru will do a journal entry. Dear
diary. There's like little bite marks taken out
the paper. Screech. Dear diary thing. This forest
is fucked up. Like we had to chase Safari through
the woods. Then got attacked by a bunch of orcs
and drakes. I don't even know. It's. We found
this random mushroom circle and a satyr popped
out like a magical portal. I don't even know.
I don't even know what happened. Next thing I
know, like Zavari and him were trading contacts
for an apothecary or something. And I, I, I,
I don't even know what we're doing here. Like
this is, it does feel familiar, but it's not
the same. Like it's. It's weird and magical for
us. They have an energy. They have a different
flow. And this flow is... It almost feels tainted.
It feels off. And whatever's going on here, we
need to... We need to correct what's wrong. Yeah,
I just... I should probably go check in with
Savari and make sure she's okay. But... Deuces.
That's her XOXO. Deuces on beat. Zaris is like,
dear diary, I hope my girlfriend's thinking about
me. P .S. I miss Zaris. Brownie face. Zavaris,
P .S. I miss Tate. Brownie face. taste. Dear
Diary, I miss my wife. I'm just kidding. I'm
just kidding. What? It's a meme. I know it's
a meme, but... It's a meme. I miss my wife, Tails.
It's a stupid Sonic the Hedgehog meme. I know
it's a meme, but I also love that trope in books
and fanfiction and media. I love that trope.
It's really good in Lore Olympus. It was so good.
Where's my wife? Especially if they're not even
married yet. I eat it up every time. I have to
go out and get more tea. Morag drank it all.
It's like a bag of holding with a hole in it.
But the hole was Morag. That would suck. Does
Dart have a journal? Not exactly. Mine's a letter.
Okay. Bear with me. My dearest Charlene. As the
autumnal winds whisper through the barren fields
and the distant drums of war echo across these
weary hills, my thoughts, ever faithful, return
to you. The days grow colder, not solely in climb,
but in spirit, as the fervor that once ignited
our cars now flickers amidst the encroaching
shadows of fatigue and longing. The rigors of
campaign life have etched lines upon my brow
and silvered the hair at my temples. Yet it is
the ache of separation from you that weighs heaviest
upon my heart. I beseech you, my love, to find
comfort in the knowledge that your image is my
constant companion. May Providence shield you
and our beloved children until such time as I
may once more embrace you at the sanctuary of
our home, yours eternally and devotedly. King
Dart of the Hopkins. I have one question. Dart
has hair? Eh. Why don't you talk to me like that?
You're like, where's my name letter? Is Dart
a happy accent? She's Charlene and pretending
to be like a hoity Arthur Morgan with silver
hair. I only see her at night time. She doesn't
know. she doesn't have eyes. Oh, just not. She
has big knots. Our children are just saplings.
It was just fun and I wanted to do it. Thank
you for listening to Roll Forth. This has been
the Empire Initiative featuring Samaria Hawkins
as Lady Zavari slash Lady Latria. Ryan Musgrove
as King Dart of the Hopkins, Rachel Voss as Rain
Vosgrove, and our wonderful MD, Shanna Cantu.
You know, for the last 10 episodes, I have been
doing little custom endings for this podcast.
And honestly, it's been great. But also, it's
just another thing to do. So unfortunately, this
will be my last custom. outro maybe uh if i have
some energy in the future to do another one i'll
throw it in there for you but um it's been great
doing these little custom outros but what will
be even better is a little bit more time back
in the the rachel vault which uh uh we be needing
that so but you know i hope you give yourself
some time Give yourself back a little bit of
time and energy when you can. And please stay
safe, friends. Purr. Take that however you want
to take it, folks. It means what you want it
to mean. Or not, you freaks. We're supporting
you and judging you all at the same time. Oh,
that's Rain's motif. Zavari knows. I believe
in you, but I also question things. I have some
concerns. I believe in you with doubts. Yes.
Rain's always going to have... Oh, never mind.
I guess I can't. Never mind. I can't foreshadow
that shit.