Precious Cargo

This transcript is machine-generated and may contain errors in names, terminology, or attribution.

Let's do that thing. We go around the table and introduce ourselves. I'm Jason. I'm the Dungeon Master going around the table. Starting with Ian. Hi, I'm Ian. He, him, Eni, and I play chimera, the Tifling Warlock. And Susan? Hi, I'm Susan Spinator. My pronouns are she, her, and I'll be playing nice. The Ascena Rogue. And just for the listeners, I always do this head thing whenever Jason does his intro and it's kind of like me conducting what he's saying. And now I'm to the age where I threw out my neck where I'd say. It's like to. It is very important to stretch before D&D.

Yes. You know what? Thank you for your candor. You didn't have to tell us that. What? I'll be rubbing my neck for a while. Well, now you have Batman 89 neck. Like it fits into the conversation we were having to do this shit now when you're looking around. And Jameson, speaking of Batman, I don't know. I was trying to tie that in. Hi, I'm Jameson. I play logger and crack more and he. And my neck has been hurting for a week from hotel beds and pillows. So. Definitely there. Last and certainly not least is Jasper. Hello, everybody. I am Jasper. He-hem. I play Ruby, Pedagrew, the half-org, Gearslinger, adapt.

And I just, I just hurt. It's all over. Yeah. All over, inside, outside. Doesn't matter. Yeah. Everywhere. I feel you. Yeah. From the next town. And the neck up. Yeah. Yeah. And there is a line that is fine. Yeah. No nerves there. That's where I have my tattoo. It's a dotted line. It's a pin tone tattoo. Guys, it's time to talk to more Alladron. Clarifying point of order here. You got there on the 15th, and I believe we spent a night sleeping. or we were going to. I think you already did. So it's the 16th then, right? Okay. Okay. It is the 16th of Amata. I was going to say this is the furthest we've ever gotten this campaign.

It's like, fucking, of course it is. It's not time. It's not. Wild. Wild. Sometimes I have to say something that reminds you how dumb I am. And that anything I've done in life has been luck in almost nothing else. That really tickled me. There's a laugh from Susan that is so genuine. It is hurtful. And I'm glad I can make you laugh, but at what cost, you know? Just my pride. So you have new wardrobes. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. Slutty chimera. I forgot. Yes. Yeah. So I don't know how I'm going to do it, but I am going to animate that section. I think I'm going to draw the outfits.

And it's going to be horrible. That's perfect. Okay. Yeah. Listeners, I have homework. Look up Loose, L-U-C-E from Drophy. And that is chimera's outfit. There is a naval dip on both sides and a chest exposure and just strings where strings aren't meant to go. It's boob windows everywhere, all the way down. So you've been talking. You've been talking to Orin. And he's told you about Draven. Draven is the artifact. here in Odysia. And he's told you that he's a bit cantankerous, does not like outsiders, very protective of things that he's created. And you're probably going to have your work cut out for you.

Did say that they, you know, they're, they're, they're prone to accepting compliments about their work and everything. But it's just an icebreaker, not a, you know, not going to do a 180 on, on. I believe the term was outsider filth. So what is the plan at this point? You have new outfits. You have a foothold in the city. At least there's a place to stay for a day or two because there's no ins that, you know, there's nothing like that. I guess, is there more research that you want to do before meeting up with Draven? Are there other things in the city? you want to look up.

Are there you tell me. I don't want to put ideas in your skulls. I think that the main thing that Logren would be trying to go for would be to get Orrin to make the introduction for us. I mean, that might be the best way to. Because if we just knock on his door and it's the four of us wearing culturally insensitive clothing standing there, it might not be the best introduction without somebody to kind of like smooth that transition a little bit. Sure. To him, it just seemed like, oh, that's what they were. Yeah, but imagine you're at home. Imagine you're at home and somebody knocks on the door and there's somebody in Liederhosen and a kimono and like.

And it's not Halloween. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I'd be psyched. I need something from you. I don't know. I'm always. Okay. Okay. You got me. I'm sure that Ruby has at least made it. It's very clear that Ruby wants to explore and kind of just like poke around. But she's really doing her best to just stay real straight and narrow on all this. like, nope, just she's going to burst, but she's just, no, no, not going to mess anything up, not going to, we've got eyes on the prize kind of a thing, but it's clear. Sort of the opposite of Esther Holt where you guys, you moved fast and broke things, right?

You got involved and stuff. This is more Aubrey, really. This is like, you know, everybody on the best behavior. Yeah. I do want to try and touch a ghost, though. I want to try and touch a ghost. Oh, that's what we left off. You were going to touch one on the wall and then we'll post the call. Oh, shit. Did we? It was like we were wrapping up. I think our, yeah, I remember our call dropped. Yeah, I do remember that. That's it. It was like 11.30. It was about, we were about to wrap up anyways. Okay. Good. Then we just keep all that stuff. And it was working for one. was on.

Yeah. Okay. Hey, folks, this is Brianna speaking, just budding in to let you know that if you thought the last episode ended a little suddenly, this is why. Anyway. Anyway, what do you mean anyway? Wow. Well, then forget all the other stuff. No, don't free help. No. Don't. Don't. So, um, okay, having a couple of weeks to think about. this. Do you still want to touch a ghost? You just said you did. But like, I have to get consent. Yeah. And I'll be honest, I haven't thought about it from the time that I said it until I just looked at my notes and said, I tried to touch a ghost.

I was like, I think that's pretty cool. I want to do that again. Yeah. I'm pasting. Yeah. I'm on the same course. Okay. Well, then. let's let's set a scene. So you're still in Orrin's place. You're all wearing these fancy new duds. I believe Ruby's wearing a necklace of teeth. And it's, you know. On top of her other. Eklis of teeth. I'm sorry, I just remembered. Well, these are, these are. Human teeth, I believe. That's the difference. So you see one of these screaming in pain figures kind of coded in this, you know, muscle and, and, you know, vein within their body, kind of a radiating electricity type of thing.

Like it is a snapshot of somebody clearly in agony. And not quite existing, not quite not existing. Is there any special way you want to go about this or you just reaching out to touch while they're there? Because it only lasts for a few seconds. You know that. Yeah. I'm just reaching out to touch and just kind of like, because come here. Can get that side of like, like, spidey sense of the ghost? So he's like, okay, something's coming up. And then something happens. And so I think he'll just like step to the side of one of these things. and just sort of like reach out and poke it.

And they don't seem to when like this has been happening, they don't seem to like acknowledge any of us, right? They just come out and like scream bloody murder and like. It almost looks like they've been standing there screaming the entire time and this is the only time that you can see them. Mm-hmm. You know what I'm saying? Like it's a glimpse of something sort of unveiled. Right. Like this is shining a spotlight on something that has been completely dark the entire time. It's like, oh, this thing's always been here, by the way. Anyway, sleep with me.

Sleep tight. Like that type. Right. Right. Can I get a wisdom saving throw, please? Uh, yeah. Let's do a wisdom saving throw. Whip? Okay. Okay. You wrote a seven and got a 15. Holy shit. I got a high whiz. I big whiz Big whiz on this guy That's not that funny I don't know what I will have to qualify like that Well no it's just look I would have just taken the laugh I got it is I'm saying you're capable of better Constantly like So, Kimera is going to be in a different place. Like instantly, just as you touch that, just boom. Like you are in a, in a different place.

Like you can, you can see that it's like, okay, this building isn't here. Like it is like you are in the same area, but maybe in a different time or or something. something like that. And you're going to see almost a time lapse of the city of Odysia. And it is in ruin. And in the blink of an eye, buildings are going to come back. And you're going to see people kind of scampering back and forth as time marches on. Then, you know, big winter and all that. And at a certain point, you're going to see people just kind of scampering back and forth. blip out.

But it's happening so fast that it's very difficult to pick up anything specific. But each and every time it happens, it looks like they freeze as if they're being shot with something. And boom, boom, boom, they just disappear. But wherever they were at the time, these little flare-ups happened. And they are still very much there. Just could be perceived on this plane for just a couple of seconds. And to everybody else, that, that electricity is going to kind of, you know, engulf you as well, just for the duration of time that it takes for that aborition.

And then it is going to disappear and you'll be fine again. Whoa. Don't touch the ghosts. Ruby from whatever she's eating. Don't touch. You touched a ghost? Oh, God. No, no. Don't touch the ghosts. You actually were able to touch it? No, he didn't. He did not touch the ghost. Oh, I touched a ghost. Stop. You didn't touch a ghost. He's like reading. Trotsardt puzzle. Looking over his glasses. You didn't touch a ghost. Yeah. Can't touch ghost. That's why they're ghosts. What did it do? Did it talk to you? Did you, did you, did you, did you feel anything? Did you smell anything?

Was it? Oh, yeah, like everything. I convey all of this, this like flash and this like ruined and the like freeze framing of people. And that's what it was like. So if you want to see that, touch a ghost. I do kind of what she's going to look at Logrin and then whisper. I do. I'm going to touch one. You're going to? You're okay. Yeah, I'm okay. I'll tell you when they show up. I can kind of make the hair on it back my neck. I mean, later, but yeah. All right. It's wild. All odysia, like a ruin. People are just like, p, p, p, p, p. And they're just screaming. They're stuck.

This place is fucked up. I mean, this is really nice. She's going to sort of point that pull at her clothes. This is real nice, but it's a place is really fun. Yeah. And they just live like this? I guess. Cool to them? I don't know. I do kind of want to get out of here, though. She'll speak up a little bit. Yeah. What if they know these people? could that be? Is that like possible? He kind of looks at Nithera and Lageryn. Like, would they know these people somehow? If they were around long enough? Probably. I mean, they are copies or they would say originals of Eladron, so But these are the copies, right?

Yes. But don't say that here. Of course not. And it sounds like what you were seeing was the city as it was a hundred years ago. I'm sure you kids probably don't know, but this was a ruin. Just a hundred years ago. And then it magically reappeared. actually about 120 years ago even you wouldn't know luck or weren't there no I've never been here and none of this sounds like it's any of our business I don't know who knows anybody doesn't matter I'm wearing a pony hat I want to get out here I don't know. My dress is very flowy and nice. It holds up the bell sleeve.

The Renaissance dress she's wearing. It's definitely the most like dignified. Like still inauthentic, but in an alladrial way. Not an ungabunga, I'm going to stab you fucking way. Like, you know. Right. I just look like. not a lord of the rings. Like, I'm the elf from Lord of the Rings. I'm like, Arwen, this is awesome. I'm keeping mine. I'm keeping mine. I might not keep these. She'll kind of pull. She is fidgeting with the teeth. She's like, I don't like these. But she won't stop. It's a lot of. They're perfect to sort of, you know, keep swirling on the thread.

Yeah. Putting her in her mouth. Yeah. Just tapping. I'm a human. Orrin is going to come back. Go ahead. Sorry. Orin's going to come back. And Do you think chimera there'd be any expression or anything that would scream. I touched a ghost or Like on his face? Oh, no, not at all. He, I mean, he's, okay. He's got such a good poker face. Like, yeah. Oh, yeah. No. Excellent liar. Yeah. So we're in or would come back. I can take you to Draven now if you'd like. Yes, let's do that, please. And he stands up and like things away. And he's like, I'm ready to go. Let's go now. All right.

Okay. Last minute things just to prepare you. There is a fair to middling chance that there will be a smell. Draven is a very focused individual and does not leave his tower very often. And while food is brought to him, he rarely finishes it. And he doesn't like people in his laboratory cleaning. So I haven't seen him in person in months, but we've always been fairly close. So he's only allowed me to communicate through the speaker system. He is allowing you in the tower, though. So this is kind of an honor. Like he's trying to polish it as something like, oh, it's an adventure, guys.

I think that there's, I mean, not to speak for everybody, but I feel like there's a general consensus of so what about like there being a smell. Yeah, totally. The last guy we talked to was drunk in an alley behind a bonzo. Like, we can be in deal. Right. But you've seen the state of like Orin's place. Like, it is important. My question is, does the rest of this city have a smell? Or is there like a distinct non-smell everywhere? You know what I mean? It's Disney. Yeah. How is it so clean? Why are there no bugs? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Longs manicured. Like, everything looks gorgeous.

And again, that's because the utter abuse of magic. Magic is used for everything. They don't do manual. He would be. They are. Just like this. He would open the door. Come with me. We were going to, I think I'm remembering something. We were going to get a gift for him, I think. Like wine or something. We were going to something. Something like that. Yeah, we were asking Orin to get us something. We'd pay it back, of course. Yeah, yeah. That's one of the reasons he left. One is to run it by. Yeah. So he'll, so traditionally, Eladron drink alcohol for the taste. Like it is, you know, it's wine, not ale.

It's, you know what I mean? Draven is a hard liquor drinker. So this is like a hundred-90-proof. of moonshine type shit. And he's going to hand you this clear bottle with clear liquid. And he's going to specify, do not drink this. I got it. We've already all taken a safe. We have to test it. I'll carry it. We won't drink it again. Yeah. Yeah. He'll tell you do not drink. it's poison. Like it is like you could coat your blades in it. Like that type of thing. They drink it for the taste. They drink turpentine. Those two things can't be true. No, no, no, no. Not that.

Draven. Yeah. Draven drinks. Oh, unlike the rest of them who drink from the taste. He drinks to get destroyed. Yeah. They drink. Like, it's very Game of Thrones like let's pour more wine type shit. Like you could drink 30 glasses at the shit they drink and not get drunk. Like it is for the taste. It is a, like, it is about flavor profiles and what, you know, like Ian talks about sense. They, that's how they treat their liquor, you know. This is not that. This is rubbing alcohol. No. Okay. If you open this bottle, half of it would evaporate before. Yeah. I think. I think Loverin looks at it and it is like, oh, okay.

I'm not drinking that. like that's not even interesting you know that's just purely right yeah ruby would take it ruby genuinely would like i i'll take it she's not going to drink it but she would kind of just kind of check it out and even just sniff it just just something just to get a little bit of a not to take the whole thing off sure she'd look at logger and be like we can do better if it's what he likes is what he likes but we're not we don't need it Can I get a Constitution saving throw, please? I'm smelling the fumes. Nose hair is burning off.

That would be an eight. That's an eight. So you joke, but you are going to feel, you're going to smell burning hair? Oh. And that is your nose hairs. It's eroded. It singed. the end of you. Oh, it's like cleaning the bathroom with like bleach and just closing the door and just cleaning. I'm going to scrub. You accidentally make mustard gas. Yeah. We can do that. We can do better. We can do better. Oh my God. Oh, my God. And she's tears, tears, tears. Tires. Are I bleeding? Am I bleeding anywhere? Now logger and suspicious. I want to roll in sight. Is this guy sending us to assassinate this dude? be like, oh, he likes this stuff.

He could just ask. He totally likes it. Yeah, he can also just ask us. He doesn't have to go through all this. That's a dirty 20. Ooh. So if specifically, it's like, hey, is this, is this poison? Like, are we actually going to? You're just sending us to kill this guy because we can do it better than this. Yeah. And it will sound a bit suspicious when you lay it all out. Like that's like, don't drink this. You know, and it, yeah. And he loves this, wink, wink, wink. Thanks, Roobes, friends, friends, friends. I meant friends. Thanks, Patsy's, I mean. So it is, like you are sort of an expert on strong drinks.

Dwarbs, orcs, like they've had a thing going on for generations. But this isn't, it's, it's, it's like, it's, it's like, it's, like making a hot sauce. Anyone can make a sauce which is hot. There has to be some kind of flavor profile to it, he said, as if he enjoyed any of that shit. But, you know, I do know that there's an art to it. This is just alcohol for the sake of, you know what I'm saying? This is just... This is not a beverage to enjoy. It is... It's actually a lot of it. Yeah, means to an end. Yeah. Yeah. Right. This is forgetful juice. So while it isn't poison, like poison, poison, is it good for you?

Like, if this is something anyone drinks for any length of time, multiple organ failure would be imminent. Yeah. But with the insight, is like, does Oren think that this dude is going to enjoy this gift, or does Oren think, or does Oren think, ha, fuck, this guy. I'm going to. No, no, no, no. It is genuinely. Totally. Yes. And I get the suspicion. It is, it is a bit like first, a Lagerne you run into happens to be pretty nice and helps. Yeah, no, totally. I get it. Okay. But it does seem to be like a generally thoughtful gift. And he's trying to give you the best shot at kind of buttering him up a little bit.

Okay. All right. It works for us. Thanks for getting that. He will get ready and lead you out of his house and through the city. And everyone is staring at you. Like, people will stop what they're doing. They stop talking when you get near them. Like, you'll hear muttering or, you'll hear muttering or, whispering or something like that, but anyone within earshot of you actually would just kind of like be standing there and, and fear mixed with utter disdain, I think would be the, the most readable expressions. Lawgrain's attitude towards it is very much weird to do a job and he's not too worried about people's opinions.

But he's also very much like these people aren't real. If you push on them, they disintegrate. So I don't even care what their opinions are. So he's, he's pretty much, like, normally he'd be pretty embarrassed. Like if this was happening in Aubrey, he'd be really, like, grumpy because he'd be really embarrassed. But if it's just happening here, he's like, they're not even real people. It doesn't matter. Paper mache people. Yeah. They're ghost in walls and paper mache. Anybody trained in perception? Give me a perception roll. I know, Susan. Can do. Oh, my God. 14 for Ruby.

I rolled a five. I got a 13. Yeah, you're going to, you're going to, you're going to kind of pan the horizon here. And there's people, you know, like leaning out their window to look and stuff like that. And you can almost see something in the, the corner of your eye. That it's almost like someone like waving their hands real fast. You kind of look over and you don't. There's nothing out of the ordinary, but just something's odd. For just half a second. Like you just like, hmm. And Oren is going to sort of be double timing it. It's like, keep up. Come come with me, please. and he will kind of like lean back for just a minute.

They're not used to visitors. Please don't take it personally. Take what personally? He'll genuinely look like, did you not notice that this entire city is looking? Man, okay. Just nonplussed. Just you're not even real. I don't believe in you. More and more insisting. Meanwhile, Kimer is all smiles. It's just like, it's like smiling at everyone. It's like, it is, he's just soaking up all the attention. Like, there's eyes on us and like that They are a conservative people too. So your outfit specifically, it's like, is that, are all teethlings that horny all the time?

Like, is it that? Like, where I come from? They are they. They weren't before. My God. Like, you know, there's got to be at least one or two people. It's like, hmm. Like, you know, I mean, just thinking about it. Something awakening to me today. Yeah. Did know I was into that. Two arms, two legs? Okay. Yeah, okay. Usually it's eight or nine, but two's all right. Got horns, so, you know, kind of still in the might. You know, like, it's good baby steps into the norm. Right. I wonder if there's gatekeeper. monster fucker forums, right? Where it's like you call that a monster.

Like, is there? Okay. For sure. There is. Yeah. It's a world I want to know more about, but I'm terrified to ask. Anywho. So. So. Before someone reaches out to me, not because I'm interested. I'm interested. I need. It is research purposes. This is some A tier backpedaling now. You've already gone too far. Just dive in, man. Do you know? I have gotten some supremely weird messages. It's like, I appreciate them all, but some of them are like, wow, we are like, wow, we are not that close. Um, let's. You just help Jasser to his face. It's okay. I'm, right. I have a name.

Ma and Jasper are absolutely that close. But it's still weird. Oh, yeah, the giraffe. I forgot. Yeah. That's a thing. So, going to lead you to a tower, smack dab in the middle of the city. And this thing is pristine. Same kind of ornate, white stone texture. What you would consider to be, like Aubrey. Opry is a pretty immaculate city with a ton of history. And even though not many of its buildings are more than several decades old, they do have cracks in them. It is a city. You're going to see some grime here and there. You're going to see, you know, none of that.

It doesn't look lived in. It looks like. like a model home type of thing or like a Lego city. It's too, it's too clean and precise. And looking around the city, not one of these motherfuckers owns a bottle of windex or anything. Like these guys do not clean anything. The tower is the tallest thing in the city. The door is going to open. Almost as if the. The building is opening up to you. Not like there's a door. And... Oren is going to motion inside. There's a platform. I don't think he's going to want me up there. But I can try. It might make him angry, though.

Well, just don't make him angry. All right. What were you going to do? He doesn't like me to see his place of work. Okay, then don't come. Oh, all right. Y'all got a history? Y'all got a history. We used to meet up for drinks in the city, and eventually he just stopped leaving the tower. He used to let me visit him. And then things got to such a state that I think he became embarrassed. That's my running theory anyway. What'd you do? I didn't. I didn't do anything. I didn't try to do anything. I suggested that maybe. Some things could have been picked up off of the floor.

Or? I may have hurt his feelings. Oh. Go on. With words, with actions? Well, I started cleaning up for him. And he took it very burst. See, that's the thing. See, people like him, if he's anything like me, I know where my stuff is. I know it looks like a mess. I know it's in piles. But I know exactly where it was. Loggerne moves a thing of mine. He's going to get his hand bit off. That's true. These are fake hands. They're not. Just in case you thought I was kidding. I was kidding. They're not fake hands. Yeah, she will bite. She'll actually bite. Not doing very well for the org image.

He'll make a mental note. It's like they do bite. All right. Okay. That's good. That's good. That's good. Fine. We're learning. We do. We do. Orphans, not orcs. Orphins will bite. That's more bright-port thing than an or thing. You can construe them. He's just from the East Coast. Like, it is, you know, it is fine. All right, well, we'll apologize to him for you then. Hmm. Half a second, he'll almost be like, no, don't do that. But I don't know, whatever. Like, maybe. Maybe that'll help. I don't know. He'll take a step back as you guys get on that platform. And that ball's going to close up again.

And you're going to feel yourself moving upward. And unlike everything in this city so far, this is the first object that has shown some semblance of imperfectness. Because the platform's just going to go like, like kind of lurch to one side a little bit, just for just for half a second. But if you've ever been in an elevator that's a little bit rough, it doesn't take much for you to go, oh, like there's, there's everything in your body is screaming, oh, okay, we're fine. Like it just takes just one second. So Logrin does not like this because he does not like being high up off the In towers.

Mountains are different because you're still on the ground even if you're high up. Towers are different. Totally. So the lurch on the elevator actually makes him like crouch down. And he considers for maybe half of the ride being on his hands and knees. He doesn't do it. But he looks like he's thinking about it for like half the ride. And he's finally standing upright again by the time it gets to where it's going. Can we do a little engineering check to see if she knows what the hell's going on with how this was put together, how it's working? You can. With that lurch, she'd be like doing a thousand calculations in her mind in the first second.

Like, what, okay, is this underneath? Is this above? Is this one? Is this one? Yeah, give me. All right, 18. So here's the thing. Normally, a mechanism like this would involve some sort of counterweight or it depends on how low or high tech the place is. There are high rises in Brightport that have functional elevators. And there's essentially two different kinds because of the age of the city. They're the kind that have to be manually operated by many. people hoisting, like that type of thing. And it's kind of a flex on horror neighborhoods. It's like, look, I got people to, you know, that type of thing.

And then they're the kind that are actually automated. There are gears, chains, that type of thing. This is neither. This is just arcane magic. And you keep looking around for telltale signs of, it's like, oh, there's, you know, this would be connected to this. And like, you can, you're or sounds. Like, oh, you can hear. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can hear the gears at the top, like, you know, winding up like a roller coaster, like slowly making it to the summit. None of that. So it's very strange that there was a hiccup when there are no moving parts. And it is just arcane energy.

Very strange. Ruby would probably not say anything. Just while this is happening, just kind of absorbing it. But if she felt it was unsafe, she would have said something. But otherwise, she's just like, okay, this is just real screwed up. She wouldn't have, she wouldn't mention. This is either going to be the best orb of chaos to get or the worst orb of chaos to get. Because I mean, chaos is the, yeah. I'll put a word here. Mm-hmm. I mean, he's either so focused on being precise with what he makes that he only cares. is about the magic used for that. Or he's just loosey-goosey with every piece of magic.

All feels weird. Do you all smell that? Smells like apples. Little sausage. He's having lunch. All right, I'm sitting right here. You don't have to call me that. Maybe there's a good. Some mushrooms. It's very mushroomy. It's earthy. You're going to make it to the top of this tower. And the ride takes a little bit. It's kind of a slow moving elevator. And you're going to be, you'll see light from the outside, like, move by. So you can kind of judge how fast you're going. And when you reach the top, you're going, and when you reach the top, you know, wall is going to open up.

And what is inside is probably not what you're expecting. This is a hoarder's wet dream. But instead of like old newspapers and pizza boxes and shit like that, it's arcane textbooks. It's artifacts as far as the eye can see. Spheres and sword, shield. arching magic back and forth between the place. Like it is, it looks like all of the cities, you know, all of, all of the cities like, repository for physical items, like, this is the cage they keep it in, right? And it almost looks like the tower can barely contain it. You will see energy. arc back and forth.

So much so that it is off-putting. It's like, okay, if we get out, are we going to be struck with something? Because it looks like people short of fireballs are tossing things back and forth, like above you. There's this huge open dome inside. And the further you get up to the top, the more of that energy disbursement is, is, is, is, And in the center of the room, up on a plant form, you will see someone working with their back to you. And it doesn't seem like they have any idea that you are there. Very loose, kind of not tattered, but not as clean as like orange stuff.

It almost looks like whatever the hoodie equivalent of a Ladron gear is. like they are wearing a gray hoodie and sweats. That's kind of what they're doing. Before anything else, I can tell you, when that wall opens up, within two seconds, an audible, very loud gasp from Ruby. And she would just, she would almost fall back to Niferra, like just for protection. And she would say, it's beautiful. Don't touch anything. I'm not, but it's perfect. That's one word for it. So she's just wide-eyed walking into this room no matter what. She's not going to touch anything yet.

If you guys have ever watched police procedural or like the movie SWAT or something like that, there's always a cage where people get. their gear requisition, right? So they have a specific rifle or whatever. So imagine a cage that is just this building. And it's just guns and ammo as far as the I could see. But none of it up anywhere. They are actively firing in the air at all times. Whatever. This is how unsafe. I need you to understand how completely bat-hit crazy and unrestrained this is. This is. there is such a thing as magic safety. And it is the opposite of all this is it is like a magic orgy constantly.

Like, you know, crackling like it is loud as fuck. It is it is active and you can feel it on your skin. There's like a wave, but you know, especially the one among you who is tuned in to arcane energy. it crackles. You can feel it. Yeah. Maybe he's got one just laying around. They're ready to every take a look. I was going to ask, do you sense anything as like a magical lock or a location system on these in case? This guy isn't agreeable to giving it to us. That's a good question. Do I sense anything like that? I know there's a lot going on here, but is...

Yeah. Is there anything that's like arcanely sealed down, you know? Like an Apple tag. You know, like if you take something out of this room. It's the genius bar. That is the, yeah. Give me an Arcana chick. Okay. Okay. No, I can do that. Oof. It's a seven. So, I, I'll, for a seven, I'll tell you this. A lot of interference. Yeah, there is. Yes. It is like, if there's a lot of food trucks nearby, it's like trying to pick out a distinct ingredient in the air, it's like, Kuman? Like, you're just trying to try to. You know what I mean? You're trying to like hone in, but there's like eight different types of foods being cooked.

And yeah. So not a lot is locked up in this room. There are a few objects that even this dude is like, oh, rash, put this in a cabinet or something like that. There's a couple of things. But you will notice that. that in the center of the room, remember how I said there's a lot of energy back and forth bouncing, and the closer you get up to the top of the dome ceiling, you're going to see a floating orb in the middle of the room, and it's kind of kept in a cage. And every once in a while, This thing is, it's perfectly spherical, floating, and kind of orbiting.

And every once in a while, you'll kind of see it like tilt and freak out just a little bit. Just like a tiny bit. But other than that, it's one of the calmest objects in the room because it's not actively firing off something that's probably hazardous. I just kind of like, like, nudge Nithira and just sort of like crane my neck up and draw, draw her attention to the orb floating around in the, in the middle of the room. Is that our orb? I think it might be. Not a lot of points of entry for. when it's in the middle of the room floating. No. Hmm. A lot of shit flying around be around it.

I think I just saw a fireball go off. Oh yeah, definitely. But maybe if we distract him, if that has to happen, let Lagerin do his thing. Yeah, you guys talk first, but I'll scope out the area. Oh, here you go. She'll hand the bottle of liquor over to Logren. Yeah, so Logren will take that and he'll, he'll like turn the bottle in his hand. Like, read the label for everything. This is insane. Okay, here we go. He's like clears his throat and kind of takes a couple steps into the room. And he notices, noticeably, because he's not wearing his armor. He doesn't have a shield.

He has a hammer, but otherwise he's just dressed like a Disney dwarf. He has trouble walking because he does not like being this high up. So it's like you ever been, I don't if you guys ever been on like the edge of the Grand Canyon, and it's hard to pick your feet up. It physically is difficult to pick your feet up. So like he's doing a little bit of that at least until he gets a bit of a head start. But then he'll get his composure and he'll get a couple steps into the room. the new kind of clear is there. And I'd be like, excuse us. You get a moment of your time.

That skews us is going to bounce and reverberate. And you can even see some of the magic above react to your voice. Like. Don't like that. Like static. And it's almost like an LED light bar that reacts to your voice. Some of that static is just going like, I was a gamer. Okay. We can. It's the new racer set up. That's all. That's, you know. We could. We should have brought. I am. You guys, you guys can't afford that. Like, I don't care how much. And I'm going to do. That's. No. No. So. So. This person. It's almost going to drop. What? they're working on. They have their back to you and just their shoulders are going to go up.

You can almost watch them bristle. And they're going to spin around like almost like you're attacking them. And this person is coded head to toe in wearable artifacts. He has at least one magic ring on every finger. He's dressed like an infinity gauntlet, like necklaces and like all of them gleaming and glowing active right now. They all do something. You get the feeling, right? And they are... Who are you? Kind of like trying to adjust. They have one what looks to be a ruby bejouled eye that is. is going to adjust and like it is magnifying. Like as they speak, it is looking at you.

But it looks like he's having a hard time. We are brokers of magical items. We've been sent here specifically to speak to you about an item that we need to procure. We've brought a gift and it will hold up the bottle for a moment of your time. With some effort, Draven is going to turn around, but it looks like, it almost looks like his hips have been locked in place. Like, who knows how long they've been standing there, right? Um, and just, just, uh, magic lighters. Just like speaking to himself, almost finding the idea of like, yeah, you're going to bring me something that I haven't seen.

Ha, ha, ha, fuck you. like that type of thing. And he's going to walk down these, these stairs, this elevated platform, and walk to you. And it feels like it takes forever. You know, the ones Orrin was talking about. Probably, yeah. I do owe him a favor. So what is this gift? you've brought me. We brought you some of the most powerful alcohol I have ever encountered. If this man were capable of smiling anymore, something akin to a smile, like his eyes would lighten up a little bit. He's got these huge, bushy eyebrows, just everything's so unkempt. And he's going to try to approximate a smile, but it's more like someone staring directly into the sun.

You know, just kind of like, eh, like that. Like, you know. And he's going to start looking you up and down. Is it? It's in here. And he's like, how close is he? Because Laran will, like, push it into his hands. Be like, it's right here. Here, take it. He, you're getting. the sense he's almost blind like maybe like almost blind oh yeah has something to do with the crazy alcohol he's been drinking it's probably yeah probably a lot of the choices he's made like you look up and like yeah the I'm going blind just standing here yeah yeah And he's going to, he's going to look the bottle over and pop the cork on it.

And he's going to reach into his pocket. And he's going to pull out this, this rusty metallic orb that is coated in jewels. And he's going to pour some of this alcohol on it. And he's going to start wiping it with a greasy rag. And you're going to watch the. rust be eaten away by this shit. And then he's going to take a swig out after. No, no. Oh, I drink it over. After he sees what it does to the metal, he's like, and he's going to take a big swig of it. Okay. Oh my God. Ah. Yeah. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. He's down. Oh, God. I need to talk to him. Okay. You're going to see the skin on his throat is so thin.

You're going to watch the liquid. Burn its way. Like his skin is going to pink him. It's like as the liquid pours down his throat and he's going to make kind of the same expression. Just like, Oh, that is delicious. Thank you. All right. What is it that you need? Well, we don't want to bother you for too long. So if we could just get our hands on an orb of chaotic assault, we'll get right out of your way. He looks at you for just a little bit. As if he's waiting for you to go. Ha-ha. And when you don't, he will... Approximate something approaching laughter. What makes you think that I'm going to part with something so dangerous?

Just give it to someone completely untrained. But we're not going to use it. We're going to, it's for a collector who we're acquiring it for. So we've been given money, but we've been told that coin from the outside world isn't so valuable to you. So I understand that that might not be enticing. But we are here with altruism in our hearts, and we have no intention of using something so dangerous. We have all the paperwork. Camerite have the paperwork. I whip it out. And I also pull out. Oh, I'm sorry. And that just fell out. There's so many windows on this.

Yeah. It's impressed. It hasn't happened before now. Honestly. The elevator lurched. Like, you can watch him adjust. Like, it is. I also pull out a God. I still pull out. It's like an executive ball clacker. And I don't. I also pull out a piece of paper and I say, and we're trained at least to transport it. The second you mentioned paperwork and all that, I don't care. That's what. This is really. Mostly, I only have two orbs left. and they're a bastard to make. I don't really want to part with any of them, and I don't want your money. But... Realization, you're going to see it sweep over his face.

I could use a volunteer. Are any of you... At least somewhat. knowledgeable in magic use, arcane ability of any kind. He is looking at you with the slimmest hope. Like he's just like, he's looking at you. Like he's shaking his head as he's saying. And it's like, you're all dumb, dums. I don't even know why I'm asking you. Lagerin will. I don't know. Like if Camerra would read this or not, but Lageren would be doing just the faintest shake of it. his head like uh-uh no mm-mm-hmm don't volunteer for this man uh yeah i think chimera because chimera is like what watching lagerin's lead so i think he's definitely i think he definitely picks up on that so he's just like okay puts the papers away to just too unfortunately we're just courier as none of us are trained in magic I didn't think so.

He is going to pace back and forth, and it looks like it's causing him some pain. I don't really think I have much of a use for any of you is the thing. And it is a very dangerous item to be handing off to. he's trying to find the nicest word for primates. He could possibly, like he... You. In mid, him trying to find a nice word, he is going to disappear. But he is going to disappear in such a way that it looks like he is torn apart. Think of the spell mirror image. But instead of you casting and spreading out, what it looks like is the single version of you is ripped apart with arcane energy and flung in different directions for just a second.

And that static is going to think, but it is coming from the fucking ceiling. And again, he is going to reform in front of him. And to him, and to him, it doesn't look. look like he either has any knowledge of it or it happens so often that he does it. He's further along in the sentence. Now, it's just, but half of these fucking gems and shit are are glowing and lighting up. Like you're, yeah, it, it feels like he's probably wearing half of this to keep himself from deconstituting constantly. Like you're getting some vibes that it's like, oh, these are middivism. like this and all like opening his mouth to say something and then this guy fucking explodes in front of him and re-constitutes himself and lager's like I I'm oh hit it here uh ruby's hand is she just as whenever he comes back her she's pulling her hand back she's pulling her hand back she wasn't fast enough She would have too late to do it.

But she would have a look on her face. Like, not shock, but just like, holy crap. And she'd look at chimera real quick. Like, that's it, though. Right? Like, it's the same thing? Oh. It feels really similar. I don't know. I'd have to touch it. Another, like, Harker turns around to look at the tubes. Like, why? I had, wait. What about the Gearheart? Do you think you'd be interested in that? No, stop. Stop. I mean, just to look at it. Just to look at. I would like examine. You're literally saying it out loud right now. He's down the hall. He's halfway through another paragraph.

Yeah. He does seem to just keep talking. And he's like more, he's doing the duck thing where he's just thinking out loud but saying the stuff. Like he's not talking to you so much. I have a suggestion. And Loggerna will like, like hurry to catch up with him a little bit. Like wave everybody along with him. If the item is as dangerous as you say, and we believe it, we've been trained and how to transport it. I can show you the paperwork again. But if it is that dangerous, wouldn't it be, to your credit, as a magical artifact person, to create a containment for it, that would not only be safe, but would also, let's say, advertise for you in your business?

He's going to look at you. like you just suggested, food would last longer if you kept it cold. That was just off the top of my head. Right, yeah. Yeah, no, it's like, and he is going to walk over to a random, seemingly random cabinet. And literally sweep things away to the side. There's a bunch of like, it looks like aluminum tubes. And he's just going to sweep them to the side. They're going to hit the ground. Like, each one's like, bung, like, it is noisy. And you're going to see a couple of them. Like, the tips of them are going to kind of like spark.

Like, these are magic objects. He's just like, blah. Like, but apparently either they are inimportant enough or broken or whatever. Right. And he is going to reach in to a simple wooden cabinet. Like you'd fucking put potato chips in. And he is going to reach in and pull out a sphere. And do you honestly think that I don't know how to store my orbs? Something as dangerous is this and he's going to toss it to you. Can I get a tax? I'm already saving through a place. Oh, no. Yeah. Oh, man. You need a die for it. Yeah. They're true. Ah. 17. Where's that D6 coming from?

I don't know. That happened last time I had to do it, too. We never figured it out. We could take the six off. It's still in 11. No, yeah, I did get a six on the D6. Let's keep the six. Let's keep that. Let's keep that. Let's keep that six. Until we figure out where that might be coming from. from you should I feel right. I have an expertise die. Yeah. It's got to be coming from somewhere. Can't be the armor. So. I'm trying to think of like where. Which he isn't wearing. But that shouldn't. I mean, his natural decks is a nine. So should be a minus one. Well, either way.

You rolled a 16. Ruby rolled a 16. So you will catch it. Like, it just like, but there's got to be a moment where you're like, like you're looking. It's like, oh. Did I explode? Yeah. Yeah. No. And you're going to catch it. And this is what looks to be. If you look up and that raw, uncaged arcane energy is just bouncing around the room. And if you were to venture up there, it looks like you'd be eradicated. It looks like you'd be eradicated. It looks like someone condensed. all that energy into a ball. And it is being held together like a water balloon. Like it looks like the slightest jostle would just let all that loose.

But there is a metallic band wrapped around it that doesn't look like it's part of the artifact. It just looks like it almost looks like a thick hair tie that is just holding this together. It's like, as long as you don't take that off, it'll be fine. Honestly, I don't want you to tell anybody that I did this. I am busy. I have enough to do, and I don't want visitors. What I do want is in peace and quiet, and I could use a volunteer. I've run out of volunteers in the city, and my work has reached a plateau. What if we got you a volunteer who is not one of us? he's got to kind of arch one of those big ass eyebrows.

Really? Like, tell me about the candidate. They're in Eladron. That's as much as we know so far. We didn't get a name yet. So far. So far, like, Alatrin is like, Hmm. That's all right. Like that's... What do you need him to do exactly? I need someone to help me channel some energy into... And he's going to point up above to that orb? How could I put this in a way that you would understand? And, you know, when you're digging a hole, you've all dug holes. I love digging holes. Eventually, you need to get the dirt out of the hole. You have to, you can break up dirt.

And you're going to get in the sense it's like this man's never dug a hole in his life. You just really know what he's talking about. He's trying to talk to your life. Describing the process of breaking up the dirt. Yeah. Yeah. In tech, roll the digging holes. It's how you break up the dirt. He'll go on for quite some time, though. Like, it is, like he's trying to break it down to you. So I need a second person. I see. And they need to know how to do magic. I assume the second person. Oh, they at least need to know how to channel magic. They don't need to be a. particularly skilled, weilder.

They just need to be able to magically hold a door open. But every Eladron can do that because you guys are all so good at magic. Yes, yes. Just like, yes, we're awesome. I agree. I agree. You're awesome. We can totally get you somebody 100%. Am I holding a normal chaotic assault right now? Like, is that what's being in? Jesus Christ? Okay. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. He turns around and hands it to Ruby. No, he hands up to chimera. No, we're not giving it to Ruby. Yeah. So an orb of chaotic assault does something a little different in Theria. And we'll, we can get into that.

But it is, it is like you're holding. You're holding a magic nuke. You're holding something that is exceedingly fragile and meant to hurt. You just don't want to be holding it when it goes off. You know what I'm saying? I wish we had known that when we got the list from the crazy witch in the first episode. I was called in questions. Chaotic assaults. Yeah, but that's different than bomb with a faulty trigger. Well, it's got a hair time. I wish if I had known getting to the list for the crazy word. You never asked. I know. It's been 49 sessions. I know. Like you've never had.

It never occurred to be like, hey, that sounds dangerous, you know. You don't. Focused on the orb part. You know, like it's fearful. Right. That's cool. It's a good shape. That's most artifacts. Yeah. Who's a square or? Let me ask you a question before we go get your volunteer, who is already volunteer. They're just waiting. Hypothetically, if somebody wanted to make a device to enter dreams, what would they need this orb? An orb like this. Not this orb. What would they need an orb like this for? How would that add? to like, let's say a hat that helps you control dreams or enter dreams.

What a wild idea. This is the first time that you look like you fully have as attention. Like, it's like, oh, okay. Like, let's talk. Let's think. Well, that would be. And are we entering a mortal's dreams? A god's, a fake creature, something from a different plane. Well, in this highly hypothetical situation, it would be a mortal. Who was in a coma? Let's just say. Hmm. Is this naturally occurring coma, something done to them? Curse. Off the top of my head, let's just say that they were poisoned. All right. Okay. Well, there's a number of things you might use something like that for, especially if you don't care whether they live or die.

You could. Well, and he's kind of getting excited about the premise now. Because technically his work, but it's not one of his projects. So now it's, you know, it's, you know, You know what I mean? It's something he's passionate about, but it's like, hey, this isn't on my docket. So this is like, well, if you, if you were to take this and completely shred their sanity by using that magic and having it not be physical, but metaphysical, it would allow you to navigate someone's dreams much more easy if they don't have. free will or sanity because it's been shredded by the orb.

Theoretically. Theoretically, yeah. What if then, would there be a safer alternative for the event where you hypothetically would want that person to not lose their mind? And he's almost going to dismiss. That's like, yes, yes, there's... You'd need many other items, though. But taking this and say... What about an emerald? The copas vampire blood? He's got to... Vampire blood. And or werewolf teeth? Just hypothetically. Well, yes, yes. There are many objects you can create with things of this nature. And I'm sure that someone... If you wanted to be boring and tedious about it, you could preserve the person's sanity and still navigate their dreams.

But my way is far more efficient and quicker. If you'd really like to get in there and burrow to the root of the problem, what you'd want to do is take the energy from the orb and instead of allowing it to be a physical release of power, channel it into their psyche and just rip straight to the memories you'd want to do is take the energy from the orb and instead of allowing it to be a physical release of power, channel it into their psyche and just rip straight to the memories you'd. wish to interact with. No fuss. No must. Sounds like some must, but...

Again, if they're in a coma anyway, it's not like they're being useful. That's true. That is true. They're not useful the way that they are. But if they were, is there anything that might work better? Because I share your concern about transporting something as dangerous as this. If there was a safer alternative, for this hypothetical collector. We might be interested in that. Well, I may have a few items that I might be able to part with. They're not quite as rare, but they would get the job. And in the middle of him speaking, that orb above is going to kind of jerk again, and he is going to violently be torn apart and disappear again.

He turns right. He's like, I can't take much more. My heart's going to explode. Oh, holy shit. And this time, he is going to appear directly behind chimera. And there is a... That magic above is somehow... how working with that jewelry of his. So this time a pillar of flame is going to appear right behind chimera. And this, this Draven is just going to be there talking, but further along in the conversation, as if nothing happened. So if you use a couple of these artifacts, it might work in such a way that would allow you to parse through memories or dreams. but it wouldn't affect the coma part.

I do have something that would allow you to remove the brain and transfer it into a different body that's more useful. Hold that thought. I like that, but let's go back to the thing you just said a second and go. By your estimation, with all the things that we've mentioned, in such a hypothetical artifact, The orb would be the source of power. It sounds like to me. So a different source of power might have a different effect. Am I understanding that? I mean, in the most rudimentary sense. Yes, you're approaching and understanding. Good job. Thank you. I'm very proud of myself.

You're taking to pat you on the head. He would fronple my pointy hat. He would never mess with your authentic dwarf. That would be disrespectful. Yeah. Yeah. So he's like, well, I think this would really ruffle some feathers back in the city that we're from. So if you wanted to make a couple recommendations, maybe we could take those off your hands instead of something as dangerous as this. He's He's going to take another long pull off of this. This bottle. You're going to see. You're going to see. His teeth glow the second time he takes a pull off of this.

Anybody trained? Give me an Arcana. Yeah. I wonder who that is. I know. I'm just asking for... Oh, not being so great. Well, 11. Yeah, 11. So, okay, this isn't highfalutin magic. His teeth aren't glowing. The liquid is burning the enamel. off of his teeth and it is regenerating thanks to these fucking amulets and rings and shit like that. It is, it's probably like fusing his vocal cords together and shit. And like it is regenerating that shit as it is happening. So his teeth aren't glowing. It's just going to appear that way for a second as his teeth protected themselves again with a fresh coating of anemal.

It's turbo alcoholism. That's great. Magic fixes every problem. Ruby would pause just for a second, like raise her hand up. Can we have just a second? Just a minute. Just to chat. And she's going to motion over for Lagrin and everybody, but in particular for Lagrin. Just sort of turrets. Turn away from him. Yeah. Does he, like, he doesn't seem like the type to be bothered by that. He's got other things to be crazy about. No. And if you. There's a lot of things to be crazy about. So, you get the feeling that he's not, he's not upset. It's more, it's like, they probably need a break.

This is far too intellectual for them. And they need to, like, cool down a second. That's fine. That's fine. Yeah. Happy to have and believe that. That's fine. Because we do. Yeah. One second. One second. We'll do a huddle. I'm not second guessing in your decisions. Not a problem. I just know we've been doing this for a long time. We've got that list. I'm worried that if we change something up, it's not going to be the same. Are you sure? We can handle this. I can make sure it's safe. Improvisation is not your strong suit, Lagrin. I feel like we've got a plan. We got to stick to it.

That's what you taught me. That's what you taught all of us. Yeah, but you know what else is not? My strong suit is carrying bombs. Look at it. Take it in your hands and look at it. That thing will go off for no reason. We get attacked by a Yeti and a mammoth on the way here. And Logrin's tripped like four times. It's true. I can't be trusted. There's a lot of holes. Yeah. I'm not saying it's not going to be... Look, the point is this. We've got a ticking clock on us right now. This is your plan. I'll do whatever you want to do. But we do have a clock. Next thing we know, we've got all the right parts except for a couple of them.

Listen, I've put too many things together in my life to know that you start messing with the gears. You're not going to get the same type of machine. I'm just saying I worry. I feel like I had to say something before we'd leave here and then this is just it. Yeah, and he does look like he is taking that because he's easy. Like his eyes go down and he's thinking it over. He's like, I just don't like carrying that. That's the things like literally vibrating, ready to explode. We've literally been sitting on a bomb. the whole time we've been in the gear heart.

Yeah, which is kind of a problem for me, if I'm being honest. I didn't want to bring it up. It's fine. It's fine. I don't just store the bomb next to the other bomb. Well, that's what I'm saying is. I know I'm doing it. It's a horrible place to put a bomb. It would be quick. At least it'd be quick. It'd be quick. It'd be fast. Yeah. Yeah. Inside the indestructible container, you just watch. The worst part is we'd just miss it all from happening, you know, but anyway. If you think you can contain this in a safe way, where it's suspended from impact. Because we're not, here's the thing.

We're not getting anything safe from him. He's got, look at this. He's got like the bungee around. This is nothing. What is this? It's like a live strong bracelet. Like wrapped around the fuck. It's like a literal bungee you used to keep your trash can enclosed. It's a cable tie. It's like one of these fucking Velcro strips. Yeah. Can we at least tape it in place? Yeah, so we're not going to get anything safe from him. What I would prefer would be if there was a single sane wizard anywhere on this continent that we could talk to. We're in a recession is the thing.

So far we're battened zero for sane wizards. This is all coming off of a list of someone that in episode one, we're like, sure. This sounds like a nice. It was all. I always looked at it. Like, look, you're looking for magic on a budget. That's your spirit airlines. Yeah. This is also under the supposition that we're going to find the wizard that we were told about in Brightport who can build the fucking thing, right? So we're taking a lot on faith here. You know someone who lives, who used to live in Brightport. Like, you've got a leg up there. I want to do it like a pre-engineering check.

What I want is Ruby to really think this through and to think, is it plausible? Not that she has the answer, not that she's done it. But she'll look at just, could she feel confident to some degree that she be able to put some sort of something together that could help contain and and keep the vibrations away from this thing or whatever it is? She just wants to see if this is even plausible. From her abilities, I should say. Give me an engineering check. And this kind of combines history. Okay. I'll explain in a moment. Historically, everybody has ever touched one of these has died.

That's a 15. 15. 15. Okay. Theoretically, yes. So, this doesn't come up very often, right? People don't usually deal with this, this kind of raw discharge of power because, one, who has, you know, who has the ability to make something like this, or the money to buy something like this. You know what I mean? So this doesn't come up all that much. But this is one of these things where there's going to be a half-remembered page from a textbook that Ruby was flipping through back in Wrightport one day. Like probably as a kid. Because always been fascinated with, you know, just things that people have invented that aren't necessarily raw magic, but they're mechanical in nature for the most part.

And sometimes there's a marriage of the two, right? And you kind of have this memory of a set of restraining gauntlets that was only ever really used on one person in Brianna Ebelmare well over a century ago. That was specifically built to contain raw energy output. Like big explosive blasts. It's meant to, you know, keep that in. You're not exactly super sure where the hell you'd find something like that. But yes, it is possible. Because if they built it over a century ago, you could probably do something. Yeah, yeah, you know. Yeah. Yeah. This would have come out of being bored out of her mind while waiting on the gnomes that she kind of trained with that took her in, looking through stuff, maybe even talking to them about it, maybe just piecing a couple things together.

But I feel like she would, in this brief moment while they're all sort of chatting, she would take it in her hands and just look at it. And Logron probably would recognize this and be like, yeah, she's. She's thinking deeply about this. She finally would just look up and say, boss, I can do it. I can make it happen. I feel like we get in trouble if we don't take it. And I can make it safe. All right, I believe you. My other concern that I'm just going to say it, is that I don't want to rip this poor woman's mind into pieces. That's, that sounds pretty here.

But that's not for us to answer. We bring this to whoever's going to build the thing. And I guess we got to be specific about what we don't want, what we don't want it to do as much as what we do want it to do. But that's another conversation. Okay. So like we're getting a volunteer. I would like to put a pin. in this. And we're going to break this session in half. Because it's almost midnight now. And whatever we do next is going to be a lot. So, yeah, we just won't do an intro for the next one. And yeah. We're an Odysia. And you guys have talked to Draven.

You got yourself an orb of chaotic assault. It is the first thing on your list that poses more of a now that you have the solution, I think. The adamantine was a little hard to get a hold of, but now you have like a big ingot of adamantine. That's amazing. And whatever you don't use, you could sell off. The gems were easy to get a hold of, haven't caused any problems. But, well, I mean, not of them. Not themselves. This feels kind of like the dog who's chasing the car and finally. gets you know, it's a Yeah, it doesn't really have a carrying case or anything like that.

It's just got essentially a magic scrunchy around it that keeps it from exploding. So one less thing. As you guys were talking about it, it seemed like Loughran was kind of asking, do we need this for the thing? That's theoretically, if we're building a thing, do we need this? Like, it seemed like someone was reading a recipe and then part way through it's like, I don't like saffron. Like, you just kind of was like, I don't know. Do I eat sardines in this? The recipe calls for espresso. I just use red bowl. They both have caffeine in them. It's why we don't eat at Jameson's house.

That's why we don't eat at Jameson's house. We've discussed his cooking habits. No, we have. So there's not much left on the list. Green dragon breath and a demon horn. That's it. Yeah, you definitely say the hardest for last. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, so what is this guy doing? Did he like just say, all right, get out of here? Or like, what is he doing now that he's handed this thing over to her? He's very distracted by what's going on in the rafters of this place, that orb that was up there and kind of malfunctioning. He's very much focused on that. And honestly, you kind of get the impression that this conversation with you was a detour.

Like, oh, the cable guys here, I got to deal with the cable guy. And then as soon as the cable guy's gone, you know, he only met with you because of his friend. And you feel like his friend probably called in like five favorites. to get this guy to do him one. So that's, I, you could leave and like, he's not going to chase after you. Probably forget we were here. He might. Yeah, he seems to be a heavy drinker. And what he's drinking is straight poison. So. So Loggerin's going to like do that thing where he's thinking, like, his mouth opens. And he's like, I'm going to try to get this guy's attention again.

Then he turns to. Ruby at night there and he goes Why don't you two have a look around? Maybe there's something we can put this thing in so it doesn't explode and kill us all. Sure. Fine. We'll probably think something up in here. I mean, look at all this junk. She's going to touch whatever is nearby. Like, I can probably make something happen. It's a magic box. That's all I want. It's a magic box. Sure. Maybe we could just tape the rubber band in place. Make sure it doesn't come off. All right. You're still. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's more a practical solution person.

Yeah. Yeah. What if we stop it, then it can't go off. Yeah. Right. Yeah. If we blow it up, it can't blow up later. We are in control of it. Yes. Exactly. If I recall, I feel like Ruby had, ruby, well, right or wrong. Ruby felt confident that she could figure something out. Even if it's not right the second. That she could make this be safe enough. Now, Ruby famously is overconfident, probably. She is very good at certain things. But also, she's got confidence blindness. Like, yeah, yeah, I'm sure this is doable. Like, and it probably just stroke a lot. Nothing bad has happened.

But that doesn't mean she did it right. That said, I feel like she would probably try to take a look around, not sneaking around. She's not doing stealth, but just looking around just to see if she can spy anything in this crazy workshop. That might just make this a little bit easier to, if nothing else, carry away. One, I don't think you have to sneak around. This guy's so... He's riddled with ADHD. Like, he's not... And a drinker. Like, he's not... Great combo. Yeah. Ruby pride. She just feels a home, right? Yeah. She probably has tacit, you know, permission.

She's just like, oh, he won't mind if I look around for something, that'll make this better. He's cool. And the layout is probably more what you're used to in, like a junkie garage tool shop type of thing. Like blacksmiths who aren't organized, leave their tools around. and shit like that. It's like, that type of thing. But these are all supposed to be curated magical artifacts. So you're not exactly sure what you're looking at most of the time. But the vibe feels similar. There is one thing we have to address. Chimera's prompt that everything is for him.

And just freaking about this. Yeah, I don't. I obviously don't want to force anything. But looking around this room that isn't being watched thoroughly. And again, this isn't a, oh, I can steal whatever I want. This is more of a kinder thing of everything is just everything, guys. Like, we could just take whatever. Because it's in the city. Exactly. Leave a penny. Take a penny. It's so natural. Yeah. Right. But you just take it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've been thinking about this. And yeah, I think like, uh, I think Kimira is looking around at all this stuff. And the thing that's, there is, the thing that would stand out to him would be some cool piece of like jewelry or fashion fashion accessory, like a ring, a necklace, a bracelet, something like that.

I don't think he's super concerned about like the magical property of anything. But if he sees something that would look good on his finger, you'd be like, oh, oh, and just walk over and yo-ink, just put that and put that right on, I think. How do you feel about brooches? Like large, gaudy, like keeps your jacket. Like, it almost like fastens it like a cape. Oh, I feel pretty good about that. I feel pretty good about those. Yeah, absolutely. A class. You are going to see. A clasp. Thank you. There's a word for it. I know. I don't access to rise enough. It's the problem.

I have a collection of hats. That's it. I'm going to cut all my shirts vertically and then just wear clasps. That's my new. All the way down. All the way down. All the way down. Then they're just buttons. Yeah. You're right. I just invented buttons. You're right. Guys, I might be dumb. Fuck. It's not dumb. It's fashion. You're fashion. I'm going to circle back around to it. So you are going to find one of these. It is a big gaudy gold clasp with a big ruby jewel in the center of it. How big would you say it is? I would say in total, we're talking about like a baseball-sized Oh, you know, just a standard baseball size, you know, like solid gold, silver inlays, and then like about a quarter-sized like Ruby, right in the center of it.

Would you say there's like a filigree like design coming out? Yeah, I, it's very, it looks Elva, to be honest. Okay. The vine work maybe. Yeah, except the jewel in the center. And we might have to lean on nice here later. But right now, do you want to do an archana check on this thing that you see? Or is it just like, that's pretty up taking it? I think it's, well, unless he feels something like radiating off of it, I think it would just be like, that's pretty I'm taking it. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. We're just. Ruby. Can I get a D100? but but I want you to make it a blind GM roll I don't want you to know oh oh also James center you okay you haven't enrolled any D12s tonight right so I just I accidentally just hit the bedroom so we did your wellness check I forget my bit god damn like are you sad are we I mean unrelated I don't know why you're getting into that.

I don't know why that's relevant. How about shut up? I rolled the dice. Leave me alone. Not your monkey. Oh, shit. Okay. There we go. Private. Jasper privately rolled some dice. Sure did. All right. So there's a lot of things sitting around in here that either look like jewelry or random shapes, little triangular pyramids that are also puzzle boxes and stuff like that. And you kind of remember certain stories that it's like, uh, solving puzzle boxes. You don't know what happens when you saw that rarely goes well. Like in any media books. Or this thing called hellraiser.

Yeah. Yeah. So you just kind of avoid. avoid those. And you're going to see bits of armor, you know, special, enchanted, you know, bucklers, knee pads, like, you know, swords, that type of thing. And you're like, yeah, okay, that's the other end of it. You're looking for more of a one. You're looking for gloves. Because on the off chance, that this weird guy has a pair of those gauntlets that seal and magic, like, you know, like the, you know, it's like, hey, that'd be cool. But also, just things that are practical that you can use. If they have magical properties, neat.

Yeah. But like, that's not your bag. I'm thinking of this. I remember back in, I don't know, middle school or something like that. At my school, they had a whole big competition about different teams had to get together and figure out how to get an egg to drop off the top of the roof. Yeah. And this is kind of what she's doing. She's just like, I don't want that egg. I want that egg to drop to the ground like somebody drops it. And that that egg is totally fine. That's all she's looking to be able to do. But also don't drop the egg. If it got bumped, if it got banged, I don't mean even the bottom of the gear heart.

I just mean if we were looking down the street and somebody bumped in, she would just want it to be like, it's cool. It's cool. Don't have to worry. stabilization. You're going to find what looks to be a hat box. Hmm. Weird. Because it's like what could possibly be like if everything in that some things must just be owned like just owned things. Like that's like oh that's how he keeps his hats nice or something. If they do do elves wear hats I've never really seen yet that type of thing. It's just got it like some objects just have to be objects. That's a drinking glass.

That is a that, you know, so you're like, okay, that's just, it looks to be, uh, like a dinner plate sized, like almost like a suitcase just for a hat type of thing. Yeah. And you're, you pick it up, you look at it, and you like open it up. And there's a slightly smaller box within that box. And on it goes, until you get to a box small enough and empty, that would fit perfectly. This is probably taking quite some time because she's going to be probably starting the puzzle boxes. I was hoping you would not start the puzzle boxes. But then give up, but then give up and then move on to the next thing and then pick up the next thing and then pick up the next pyramid and then she finds that she's like, maybe I could just holy crap and then keep going in, find this, find this.

That's it. She's going to stick it in. She's going to close it all up. She's got problem solved. And then she's going to make her way back. All right. That's it. She's good. That's it. Rob him soft, guys. Um. Was So open? Yeah. Go ahead, please. No. I feel like, like, Nithera and Lagerner are just kind of like waiting around like in a lobby. Just kind of like quietly talking to each other and like, I don't know. I was thinking we get like, do they make burgers here? You know? And, you know. And. I don't even think they eat meat here. I don't think they eat honestly. Have you seen what they're made of?

Got it. I found it. We're good. Oh, great. All right. Let's come here. Come on. I think we're just going to go. Like, if this dude's off, like not paying attention to us. And the chimera is going to gesture to the, I mean, not camere. My fear is going to gesture to the bro. Hey, I mean, that take, don't wear what you take out. You've got to hide it a bit. Like, not stealing is bad. Don't be so obvious. Ruby's carrying a box that she's done. What? No, it's fine. It's for us. That's for me. That's for me. That's what you're going to claim. Okay. I mean, yeah, you could probably pull it off.

I am pulling it off. I think. What does it do? She's going to tap. Looks. It looks fabulous. That's what it does. I will do an arcana check on it now. Oh, good. All this while Loggerin's like gesturing for people to follow him out of the doctor. Yeah, we start moving with you. Yeah. We can do a walk in talk. Ruby is going to loudly, just politely, thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Have fun. They're with it. Yeah, they're kind of definitely be like a eh. Like, not really paying attention to all that much. But yeah. So 22 for Arcana. Very good. So you get the impression is that the base decoration of this thing and the gem inside are wildly clashing.

Almost ideologies. Like the clasp itself kind of radiates this elegance. and sophistication. And the gem inside kind of gives you this rough fuck leather dom vibe. Very demonic, very like there's kind of an ashen taste about the, it's like, like this is an interesting marriage of styles, you know, like a Stephen Sagan reggae album. You know, like it's a very weird. That exists. Go look it up. No. The title track is me want the point. No, no, no. It's by Stephen Sagan. It does exist. It does exist. No. No. No. It's not. It is a Jamaican hall dance track that I swear to you exists.

I want everyone out there to stop listening to this right now. And Google. No. We want the punani. No. You don't. I'm not. You don't listen to him. You can go, . What was I talking about? Oh, yeah. The joy. No, who cares? Nothing I come up with is going to rival. No. Blues Hall legend, Stephen Segal. That's when you do. E! Can't for me. I'm going to load that track up on the table as boss fight music next time we have a fight. Oh, please. And it's just going to start swelling in the background. Sorry. And somehow Bree's going to edit that too. So it just plays. E! Did you look it up?

Okay. You just mad. Okay. It's so real. I'm not a liar. Hey, so, this is class. You said night you're going to know something about it too. Yeah, you know what? Give me a history. With advantage or something? Because Elvin. Yeah, give me, you know what? Give me a D4. Give me an expertise time. Elvin casts a pretty big, like. How about an 11? Well, okay. First of all the rest of this arcana check. So, yeah, it's blending two styles that like, it is like, it is like, in your ears the entire time. Like it's like, hmm, that's odd. Like the entire time you're tapped into it, it's like, man, this was, it doesn't, it doesn't feel like these two styles gelled well at all.

And you're getting the sense that whatever this thing does, because it hasn't been used in a long, long time. So there is magic within it, but it's kind of dormant and it might need to be coaxed a little. But whatever this thing does, you're getting the sense that it combines these two styles somehow. And maybe it becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Like maybe this is the best Jamaican Blues Hall mashup you've ever heard. Starting to be like maybe it is. Like, it is. Yes. Real gas. Yes. Yes. He wraps in it. I just want to. to... Eleven history. Fine. I don't feel respected, but fine.

Yeah, so... Yeah, there's something about that. You recognize the plate. Like, you recognize that base design. And then looking at it, you're like, ooh, someone jammed, like a shitty... The cut of it is... It's not... it's not like a... a gemstone cut. It is rough and angular. And it's got flex of molten lava rock on it and stuff. Like it's not a pretty gemstone in here. Like it is it is an odd and odd accent piece. I mean, it looks good. I guess. Right. You know, it's power clashing is what it is. I mean, that's your whole thing, right? Exactly. I like to make two styles. dark and light, I guess.

All right, well. We got what we came for. She's going to lift up the hat box. Has a handle on it. Yeah, she's a little too rough, by the way. Yeah, can we hear it like rattling around in there? Or like, you know that? Yeah, that, that, that, that, that, that, like, metal clasps on leather. Just like, like, like, you can hear. But each box is within a box. And it's like, well, like, still don't do that. Yeah, can you act like there's an explosive in there, please, and just be a little bit more. Yes, I will, but it is fine. Let's pretend it's not fine, though.

Okay. It's probably not. There's some tissues in there. Like, so it just doesn't move someone? This is just to get it back. This is just to get it back to the gear heart. At that point, I've got it. I've got it. I've got it. Can we pretend like it's fruit? It's fruit? Three of us stop everything we're saying and just look at it. Shoot in your head. Take that clasp off. It's giving you crazy ideas. Everything's fruit now. And the fruit was meant for us. Yes. Then we get on the elevator and start heading down. Yeah, Lagerin wants out of this tower. He does not like it here.

Yeah. Well, you're going to hear the art lightning and fire and all the discharge of magic. You're going to stop feeling that weird pressure in the air. You're going to leave that behind as the elevator goes back down. Those noises are going to fade. And when you step outside, you're back at the city. And everyone's kind of looking at you. Like, why are you up there? Like, why? Give me. Anyone trained in insight? Give me an insight check. No. Not me. Not me. Yeah. I feel like that's a log-in thing. Was it, insight? Yeah. Oh my God. Oh, shit. We're just casually tossing out of crits.

That's fine. That's fine. That's fine. We're on that table. Yeah. I'm going to roll the 28. Tell them. Tell them what they want. Critical success. Insight. You've got. caught them in one lie and you're sure it won't be the last. For the next minute, if the target creature attempts to lie to you again, you automatically succeed detecting it. So none of these people can lie all their faces. They tell me exactly the thing. And night there is going to be like, yeah, that bird, uh, that clasp looks great. And you're going to know. She doesn't like it. Hmm. Camira just lov his eyes narrow.

Hmm. You're lucky I'm on magic probation. I'm going to start filling out a fireball template. He just pulls up a sheet. Is there anybody in the crowd around us who's being particularly judgy? It would see. Yes. Okay. I kill him. Looking out. Fireball request granted. That's not being lost to the rest of it. No. You are clear for take. No. There's a person overlooking like a third story type of thing out on there. It's almost like a little patio outdoor, like a like an over like a balcony. And they're sitting at a little table kind of looking over. You spot them. They're pretty far away and watching.

And they're whispering. to somebody, but they are clearly focused on you. And it looks like they've been maybe monitoring the situation. Like, why are they going up there? What do they need here? What is that? That type of thing. All right. Well, they're not on the street. So Lagerins not overly worried about them. But he will go to whoever's nearest then. And he'll just be like, hey, the guy wants you up there. He's expecting you. So it'd just be some guard. Like me? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, he asked for you specifically. What was your name? He's going to look at the guard next.

I'm not supposed to tell you anything. Why would... Well, I need to verify your name before I can be sure that I got the right guy. So what's your name? Egan. That's exactly the name he gave me. Can you go in the tower up that crazy elevator? And he's going to be waiting for you there. Are you going to make Draven wait? Again, looking at the card. The card's like, uh-huh. Like, just go. Like, I don't know. They didn't tell us anything about this. No one's been up there forever. Now he's requesting people. Okay. Egan's going to kind of march forward slowly and go up.

And everyone's looking at Egan now. It's like, they know him. Like he's like now it's like, what the fuck is happening? Everyone's super interested in what you guys are doing. Because it's like, wait, hold on. Now it's not just outsiders. What does Egan know? We're also dressed like the village people in the middle of the house. You're just like savage stereotypes. Like, that's what I mean. Can we just slip away while they're all looking at eating? Yeah, that's exactly what I want to do. That's perfect. And I have it. Like leave the city? No. Just get out of this crowd of people.

Yeah, like move, leave the scene. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I didn't know how. How flee you wanted to flee. I don't know. No, we got to get our clothes and equipment. I'm not just doing this stuff. Yeah, we get at least get back up to the imagine we show back up in Asterole. in our I'm not trying. I'm not great guys. I got a story to tell you. One of you had a Native American headdress and fucking it's like, go. Like you and I look amazing. But you too. I'm not changing. Yeah. Well, I might have to go outside. But it was pretty cool. You know what I was thinking while we were up there?

I don't know what our plans are immediately after this, but I kind of want to go back because there may be something in that pile that could help Colgoth get him out of hell. That isn't the, you know, the soul jar, slask. I thought we agreed that we want him in hell. Hell is a good place for him. I thought that we just didn't want to use that. thing. We don't want to use that thing, but also, he kind of looks at the other two, too, like, am I the great? Am I losing it? I don't want him to not be in hell. There's a lot of things I want about Colgoth. One of them is not more of him.

Not right now. Not how things have been. Okay. He can be patient. She says it a little louder than just to chimera. Until he proposes a real benefit to us besides his presence, I don't understand why we would want him here. Well, he's got to help out. In the same way he's helped so far? No, I think we made it pretty clear that none of that is having to help. happening again, but he's trying to make an effort to show all of you that things have changed. Well, he has said that he's going to make an effort. That's different than making an effort. So let's see that first, and then we'll talk.

So we're coming back here? No, I'm never going back there. Again, we will figure something else out. There's no way I'm ever doing that again. We could have died at any moment. It smelled. pretty bad too. I mean, we could die at any moment anywhere we are. Ruby Ruby shakes the half box a little bit. It's like the main guy's like, I guess. And this is all happening. One nice here is like, like, expertly moving them out of the crowd out of crying eyes. Because I do have a scout leader. So I could give a group stealth check to get us all out. I feel like there's moments every time the four of us walk and talk where each one of us will stop at a given time.

So like guiding the four of us is like every now and then you have to stop and keep the one who stopped to walk and continue. I want to get good enough at animating that I can animate these walk and talks. So that like, like, like, there is doing crowd control. It's like, excuse me, excuse me. It's like, what? Like just put it. And then just like get back to it. Like I want to be able to bring that to life. Like we're sneaking through the crowd and all of a sudden camera is like, yeah, now let's go back to get Colgoth out of hell. Wait, what? Hear me. Is that?

More. More. But physical. And that's cool. Yeah. That's fun. You know, while we sleep. Like, you know, that seems great. Let's get a dog first. Let's see how we can take care of a dog first. There's an expression. Be careful what you wish for. I'm getting ideas for this dog as we play, and I can't wait. I'm going to... That's awesome. So are we going back to Orange Place then? We're going back to Orange's place. It's still morning. It's still early, right? Yeah, it's pretty early. It's not like you were up there that long. I'm starving. I'm absolutely starving. They don't have a bonzo here, do they?

Hop. No, there's no way. So I say we just grab our stuff and leave, right? Right? No reason to stay? We got what we came for. We can be back on the road before sunset. Yeah, let's not get entangled in anything here. This place is like a spider web. It really wants to entangle you. You're making that face like you want to get tangled. I'm thinking about the ghost. I'm sorry. That's all. That's it. But I won't touch it anymore. Has that happened again, by the way? Like, as we've been walking? Yeah, I was just thinking that. I mean, it happened while you're up in the tower. which was probably 10 minutes ago.

So yeah, but like we've been walking like on the streets and stuff. Does it happen out here? Or does it just seem like it's relegated to in buildings? It's, um, it has happened a handful of times since you've been here. So you would place it at like, I don't know, every two, three hours it seems to happen. Something like that. So since you've been out and about with people, you haven't seen it. But that doesn't mean it's not happening. It just means you haven't seen. seen it probably if that makes sense. Who's trained in perception? I need a perception role.

Hi. Anybody trained in perception, give me. Oh. Oh. We are in a city. That's true. That's true. That's true. That's true. Eight for ninth era, 21 for Ruby. Thank you. I appreciate that. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I love that night theory. keeps the street alive. I'm like, look, this is not about killing. I don't care. Like, why am I here at all? So bored. Everyone's stupid. Ruby is going to, at the edge of the crowd, kind of on their periphery. You're going to be able to see into someone's house. just for a moment. Like, they have big bay windows and stuff. And there is a woman clutching a pile of clothes and just weeping.

You can't hear her, but you can see as you... It's like she was hugging someone and they got raptured. Like, that is what it looks like. And you'll just see that as you're walking back to Orins. I mean, Ruby's not going to give. keep that inside. She's going to, she's going to make, look. Do you just point? Yeah. She's not going to yell like for everybody to. But she's going to the group here. What the? What's going on? I've been there. This place creeps me out. Bad laundry day. All right. Seems like it. What the heck happened? She's going to, she's stopping. She's not going up to the bay windows or anything, but she's also not going to keep shy and like walk away.

She's going to look in like what the? Like she's watching a TV show. Did the Elijah take damage? Is that what happened? Like we said, it's like... This whole city, there's like an underlying sadness here. You know what I mean? Like... And nobody talks about it. There's just... That's the whole thing. I feel like there's stuff we need to know about this place. Not because we have to, but because we have to, Because somebody's got to know about it. People get crushed. People are ghosts and like electricity and stuff. We got to ask around. Not here. Seriously, if we ask any questions, if we spend any more time here, they're going to get their hooks into us.

And then we'll just be here. 10 years later, still trying to get answers. There is something so charming about the characters, not the party. The characters do. No, I don't want to get involved in this story. These people's story, I don't care. I have my own problems. This is the utter refusal. You know, Ruby, sometimes, there's just mysteries of life. You don't get answers. Yeah, but some mysteries have answers that you can get real quick if you just ask. Not here. Maybe she's going to out. I was going to say, let's go back to Orrin's. Let's just go back. I'm going to ask him some questions though.

Is that okay? Is that okay? She's going to look at Nithera. Only if it's as we're walking out the city. I'm sorry, I just touched a ghost. It just happened to be right there. God damn it. Seriously, did I miss it? I don't know how you could. It was screaming. It was probably that guy, the one who was wearing those clothes. Getting back to Orrin's place, the place looks like it's been tossed. There is no Orrin. There is, your stuff is still here. Okay, good. But it kind of looks ransacked. Not like Draven's place, ransacked. But considering Orrin was a very particular man, like, very neat. very I say was but like you know it does look like he may have been taken out of here not necessarily voluntarily if we walk in we see anything like that if the doors cracked or whatever Ruby would immediately have her wrist bolista out like you know in case there's somebody there There doesn't appear to be anybody in the house.

Like I imagine, like, if you see that, you're kind of like going around corners. Oh, yeah. It's the. Yeah. Yeah. But no one's. No one's. No one's there. What the? After we establish that no one's there, and I think he's going to start hurriedly putting on her gear. Just in case there's a thing. Yeah. Logan looks through his stuff. He's like, they better not to touch my. stuff and he starts to immediately go see if anything's missing yeah i think ruby would take night air as cue and just like like okay enough of the costumes let's this feels real now so get back to being proper ruby i'm keeping my dress yeah i'm still look i'm sorry you guys suck and I mean, Ruby would be going around, look, whatever clues, like what went on here?

Is somebody looking for something in particular? Did they focus on a particular area? This is like detective mode. Like, was something stolen? Is there anything obviously missing that was there before? Yeah, if there any sign of struggle? Neither will help after she gets geared up. Anybody trained in investigating? I am. Give me. Yeah. We're in the city, though, so we'll see. Oh, shit. Holy how. That is a natural one. This isn't a joke anymore. It just is. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Do you want to roll on the table? Yes. Yeah. It's not amazing. I do get inspiration from that, though.

So there's that. Hey, there you go. Yeah. Silver lining. Critical failure. You overhear or otherwise uncover a dubious rumor that you are certain is true. You waste a day pursuing an erroneously. No, I'm leaving town. Okay. Okay. Let's set aside the day part. Okay. I was going to flip my desk. There is no. There's no clue that would have ninthier estate in town. Just hysteria. She's like, no, I found a fingernail. I got to go pursue this for an entire day. Okay. I mean, that's not true. I could give you a rumor that would keep you here. But I'm not going to do that.

Okay. I'm not going to do that. Okay. I also want to make an apology. Mm-hmm. The Stephen Seagull song is called Strut. It's not called the punani. That is just the chorus. Somehow doesn't make it better. Thank you. Thank you for apologizing. I'm glad we had that clarification. It's important to, you know, I want to be better. I want to move on and learn from us. We all want you to be better, Jason. We all. We all. We all. I'm scared of them. While you're looking around. And it does look like there is some kind of sign of a struggle or something. But while you're looking around, there is going to spot a garment that looks like there is something, one in her family war.

It is odd. There was a seamstress here. So there's a, it's like, okay, wait, is that just remarkably close to a dress I recognize? Or is that like, like, could one of my family members be in the city for some reason? Could there be? Like, I think that would be the tip off. Now, it says that it's a dubious rumor. not in that it might be false, just that it's not helping you get out of the city. That's all. All your stuff is still here. Your stuff is untouched. My theory will take the article of clothing and just kind of contemplate over it for a moment and then pack it away.

And then kind of just go back to searching. It looks like there's something happened here, but all our stuff is. is here. All his stuff is here. Looks like they just took him. But I mean, he's a weirdo. They're all weirdo. He was the least weird of them, at least as far as I'm concerned. Doesn't seem right. She's going to look at logger. I know you want to get out of here. I know we all want to get out here. But we can't. We can't let that go. I'm not saying we got to stay and stay and stay. But he was real kind to us. Can't we just take a minute just to figure out?

What's going on here and see if we can help him? Maybe everything's okay. We just need to find him. When Ruby first addresses Logrin, he is like, his mouth is so tight, his lips are aligned. And he's just like hard stare. And then he softens just a little bit as you go on. All right. Let's see what we can find out in two hours. But then we're getting out of here. We'll be gone by not phone regardless. A little spring in her step now. We parked a half a day away, right? Oh, yeah. Okay, yeah. So he like goes to the window and looks out to see where the sun is. He's like, we got two hours, I think, and then we're going to lose the light.

So, yeah, Ruby will look at Nithera and chimera. We owe it to him right. I mean, he put us up. He didn't have to. I'm just worried that our usual scouting techniques won't work in the city. I haven't seen that many orphans or criminal activity. I'm worried that people won't really want to talk to us. They've been sort of mouth agate the whole time we've come in here. I don't really want to talk to foreigners. Somebody's got to know something, though. Nobody's going to be wanting something like this to happen. Right? Mm-hmm. Somebody had to see something. I'll go see if the neighbors saw anything.

Good, good. You start there. Can everyone do me a favor? Give me a dexterity saving throw. Sorry, Logger. What? What? Feel targeted. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Wait, you know what? I'm not going to keep this going. I'm going to use fortunate. Okay. I can re-roll three times a day. Yeah, she rolled a three and got an eight. Yeah. Let's see if I somehow make it worse. Okay. Okay. Hey, 16. All right. So we got. Ruby 21, Nitha 16, Chimera. No, I got a 21. Oh, 21. Sorry. Oh, yeah. We both got 21s. Logrin. I love that. Lager and got a 10 with a D6. Like that is. The help of.

We never figured out where that came from either. I don't. That makes zero sense, but you can't figure out where it came. It's certainly not helping me. The heaviest party member is somehow rocking a D6 expertise for dexterity. I don't know. Media is that on car wheels. He's just vibrating constantly. Well, well, you're going to. going to feel that static in the air again, right? As you're talking about, like, you know, okay, let's split up it. And arms are going to wrap around Logren. And it is another one of those figures, like that, you know, just lightning screaming.

So they are wrapping their arms around Logren and then locking their hands. And just it looks like they're in constant pain doing this. Just like, like, radiating this. This intense, you know, painful visage that you can feel it. This one's the strongest one so far. And it's not going away. It has got a hold of Longgren. And while it has Longgren, you're going to notice. It looks like someone has a rough stone and is trying to sand at his armor. You're going to see like dust moats come off of it like they're disintegrating. It's not damaging the armor yet, but it is a fucking weird phenomenon and you're not too keen on it.

Can I make an attack? I don't want this. That's fair. Logrin says that. I don't want this. I don't want this. No, thank you. You know what? Let's get you. Let's get you. Let's get you a match. Sure. Oh. I also think if reaction time is possible, if Ruby's right there, she would, like, like, dropping a knife, right? And you're like, there's this weird moment where you know what's going on in your brain in like a millisecond about like get out of the way or whatever. She's going to see that happen. And she would probably try to grab or pull or something like that.

If somebody's trying to grab logger and she tried to pull back to make it not happen, don't know if that's possible but like instinct right like what was your deck save 21 oh that's real good I hope that thought with that thought I also got 21 I also got a 10 I also got a 10 let's clear right down the middle someone's grabbing you you. Oh, shit. Who is that? The ghosts are touching back. Yeah. Oh, God. That's actually true. That's the episode time. I was about to say, there's your time. No, no. No. I guess by touching back. I guess by touching the first you invited consent, I don't know.

I'm trying to consent. I didn't even ask. In implied consent. will not be the title. That's awesome. Thank you. I'm trying to get our SEO up and I don't want that to be part of the things that lead people to this show. It certainly will. Not a good one. It will have an effect. Yes. In that, let's call it. All right. Would everyone do me a favor? Haven't had to do this in a while. There's no one. Add yourself to the. there is one now. I didn't say to jump in. I know. I'm sorry. And in the future, I'll try not to be so quick. Hey. There's fighting to be had. This is about stabbing.

Yeah, you're back. All right. Good. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, Logren's got this. This. ghosts, arms, wherever it is, wrapped around him. And for the moment, Logrin is technically restrained. So we're going to work. We're going to work with that. And Niterra, you are up. I've been waiting for a fight. We haven't had one in a while. So, and guess what? Someone had a birthday this last week. So we're doubling XP for anything that happens. Yeah. Happy birthday in. You're welcome. Our beloved possum boy. I'd make possum sounds, but they are not pleasant. You don't know to be so.

It's a lot. E. Yeah. No, it actually sounds like Stephen Scull's strut. Yeah. All possums do. Yeah. Weirdly. Is there enough room behind this ghost to flank it technically? I'm going to say yes just because it's technically in, it's kind of like, I almost said, humping, but like not. It's on. So like it's, you know what I mean? You can squeeze in behind her. Sure. Okay. So Night Thierro will do a flanking maneuver, kind of. And then I don't know if this little fax. the ghost at all or whatever this is. But my weapon is silvered. It's not on the weapon itself. But it is a silver weapon.

We'll have to see? I don't know. Yeah. Just like you know. Come on. Anywho. So I'm going to stab. I'm going to stab with the silver weapon first, which is her assassin's gauntlet. So it springs, loads in the silver weapon. It pokes out. Sneaky tech, Carver, because I'm flanking. Oh, I didn't take the D4. You want me to roll the D4 to add to this 21? Does this 21 hit? It does hit. Now, we'll just take that. Oh, God. Okay. Because I'm coded with the Blackblade, so it's 10 piercing damage and then and then 12 poison damage. Shit. Okay. So, yeah, this is going to be a lot.

But normally, you kind of get the satisfaction of stabbing into something. You feel flesh separate as your blade slices into something. There's an indescribable adrenaline rush you get. It is forced feedback. It is, I did the thing. This is less satisfying, but you are going to notice as your silver dagger slides in. There's going to be a bit of separation in. the form a bit. Almost like wind shear, like there's a wake that your blade leaves. And it is going to recoil and it is going to let go of Loughran, but it is going to turn around and kind of spread its hand outward.

And there is going to be this arching static shock that it's going to attack you with arching repost. Okay. But I don't think that's going to do it. It does? It does? Yeah. Shit. That's 16 damage. You're going to feel that. I'd call it a tingle. You're going to feel that shock just kind of radiate. It's like, it's almost as a result of like slicing in. It's like sticking your, like a butter knife in a outlet. It's just, you know, ah. Like, don't do that. Okay. So you almost see like, nice here a skeleton for a second. And then as that fades away, you're going to, to see a glowing purple light as she brings up her offhand.

Mm-hmm. And her mind blade and I'm going to attack with that. Oh, shit. But a 28, does a 28 hit. Did she just do 41 fucking damage today? Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Jesus. So this is psychic damage. Normally this wouldn't like this time. You are going to feel that satisfying slice, but it's not like, oh, I cut into muscle or I slice tendon or something. It is, it is almost like plunging your knife into a very solid pudding, like a flan type of thing. Like it's a jellied thing. And when you pull your blade back, some of that ectoplasmic visage is going to come with the blade itself.

And he's going to hold his head and just start screaming. and is going to disappear. Like, just boom, just vanish. And there will be, you can almost see where he bamped out of there. Like, there will be kind of like a static like separation in the air. And it is going to, like your hair is going to stand up a little bit. And then it is going to dissipate over the next couple of seconds. So from you guys' perspective, because you're all in a line, you're going to see him statically disappear in the air. was going to split and just standing there. It's nice here.

And then she deactivates her blade and puts it away. Holy. Heck. All right. So they aren't just things. They're things that can touch you. And they can stick around. And ow. Nice. Oh, right. Oh, my God. That did almost do half your health. Like, there's going to look so cool for a second. And then she's just, ah! Renan's you a potion, really here, take one of these. He's like pawing at the air where the thing came out of, like, I don't expect it will be anything. No, but like, you can feel, it's like in the summer where you can feel like if you have, like, kind of an open floor plan.

And the living room has an air conditioner on, but when you go to the kitchen, it feels muggy and stuff like that. You could feel like as you stick your hand out, it's like, you can feel like a different temperature. Like it's cooler there. And there's a, there's a bit of a like a tingle, like you rub the balloon against your head. But like nothing lethal, nothing hurtful. Yeah. So he kind of just like full body chill from getting hugged by an elf ghost. And then he kind of, he turns around. He's like, Ruby, I'm having second thoughts about this whole sticking around thing.

Give me an hour. Just an hour. But if that happens again, we're out of here. I agree. Okay. And he looks right there. You're all right. You're good. Kind of hurt. It looked like it hurt. That's not your skeleton. Yeah. That's not normal. Oh, that's your problem. It's a nice thing. That's not a little. little personal. I tried not to. It's supposed to be inside. You're not supposed to see the inside stuff on the outside. Guys, I think it's a good time for us to stop tonight and we can make this a two-parter, like a two-session here. Sure. I have a feeling we're about to kick off something and like we're kind of getting into the twilight of the night and I don't want to, you know, but.

Something's about to happen and I have no idea what. And I'm really excited. I hope you have some idea. Well, I mean, it's all like I have things, but I don't know what you're going to decide to do. He just makes it up on the fly. Like none of this is planned. Not a single thing. It's just vibe coding. That's all. It's just vibe coding. It's just vibe coding in real time.