0:00

Welcome back. Venturers to another flavor blasted episode of Venture Maidens.

0:04

Before we dive in. I want to share some news.

0:07

If you are headed to Gencon this year,

0:09

August 2023 make sure to stop by and say hi,

0:13

hi, Celeste Kowit. Your humble GM will be there with Cobalt Press this year.

0:17

So make sure to swinging by the Cobalt Press booth in the exhibitor hall.

0:20

Say hey or check out one of the many events I'll be participating in.

0:24

If you haven't heard the word. I'm the lead designer on Cobalt Press's Tales of the Valiant Project,

0:28

which is a new TT RPG that reimagines DND fifth edition.

0:32

That huge project has everyone at Cobalt Press.

0:36

Obviously, super excited. So check the gen con schedule to check out all the various tov panels,

0:42

live play, test games and more that I'll be participating in and are open to attendees like you.

0:48

So that's the scoop. So as always, let's say a big thank you to Emily Mayo for composing our theme song to tabletop audio,

0:54

for providing additional ambient music and an extra special.

0:58

Thank you to the patrons who donate each month to the venture Maidens patriot.

1:02

Now, more than ever, your support means the world to us.

1:06

All right, I'm gonna hit you with a recap of what happened last time.

1:09

Then we'll dive right into a fresh new,

1:12

last time on venture Maidens.

1:15

Our maidens continued using their downtime to the fullest.

1:18

They collectively made a plan for dealing with the Sarina and the blossom court sovereign.

1:22

Ultimately deciding to try and broker an equal alliance with both factions.

1:28

With that decision out of the way they prepared for the adventures to come.

1:31

R went off to buy some new gear. Lou gained a patron.

1:35

Aife made a dress for this. Serena Tony learned some important information about Reynard,

1:39

an animal lord with connections to help her bargain away the big favor hanging over her head and that's what happened.

1:45

So now here's the show. Yeah.

1:49

The round travelers to a sale off to the city of the dead to deal with the empire's head.

2:01

This in that they ask of the queen.

2:04

But what of threats lurking unseen?

2:09

Let's make a deal as we head into favor.

2:12

Episode 37.

2:15

Fragile things. Part one live.

2:45

Hello. Hello, everybody. Welcome back.

2:47

It's another episode of Venture Maidens.

2:49

Oh, boy. And what an episode we have for you today because we're actually,

2:54

we're doing a two parter. We're doing a big old two parter because boy,

2:57

you got a lot to do. Uh, we've made some really big decisions last episode that we're going to talk about in a little bit.

3:03

But yeah, it's all going to unfold today.

3:05

Things are gonna get real. It's going to get exciting.

3:08

I'm excited. How, how are you all feeling?

3:10

Are you ready for the, the big world shaking this to come?

3:14

Oh, my body is not ready.

3:19

A cold shiver.

3:22

I'm ready, man. I will say I was very anti level one but I am feeling the heroic gras.

3:29

Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, as you all are leveling up,

3:32

you know the world like your influence is growing,

3:36

spreading, you're dealing with royalty man.

3:38

Uh It's getting real but yeah,

3:40

we'll talk about that in a little bit more. But I should say,

3:42

hey, hey, everybody welcome. Uh We're the Venture Bains,

3:45

we're ad and D fifth edition actual play stream that converts to a podcast.

3:49

I should say this is a very adult themed stream so you can expect themes of graphic fantasy violence in general.

3:56

We keep like a body horror content warning up just to cover that.

3:59

We don't anticipate any additional content warnings for today's episode,

4:02

but you never know, keep your eye on the chat and also in the show notes just in case we do end up adding any changes there.

4:10

We should also say that this show is unofficial fan content permitted under the fan content policy.

4:16

So we're not approved or endorsed by Wizards of the coast in any way.

4:20

But yeah, that's it. That's the business. So we got a lot to do.

4:23

Let's dive right in. Hey, everybody. My name is Celeste Kodori.

4:26

And tonight I will be your dungeon master.

4:29

Hello, my name is Katie and I'm going to be playing Lava Seth,

4:31

your drow rogue. Hello.

4:34

I'm Nasim and I'm playing your half work fighter Faton Tale.

4:39

And good evening, I'm sage.

4:42

And tonight I am your ready to bargain bar to AFE Flannery.

4:46

Yes. Let's make a deal.

4:49

Yes, because that's always gone so well in this campaign,

4:54

uh let's do it great for me.

4:56

I don't know what's wrong. I mean, you just got to know the right thing.

5:01

Yeah. Right. You know, just uh I feel like it's getting better.

5:05

Our deals are getting better. Our bargaining power is increasing as our level is increasing,

5:09

which is right and natural.

5:12

So, congrats on making it this far level six.

5:14

Yeah, but we're, we're, we're talking a lot about all the cool stuff that happened last time.

5:19

So let's get into it. We had, you know, started off with that very big conversation that is gonna guide basically the order of this episode.

5:25

So you all had decided, hey, do we work with the Blossom Court Sovereign?

5:29

Do we work with the Cyrena or do we try to negotiate something and work with them both to help us deal with whatever the hell Haka is doing with the Annika Codex?

5:37

You all decided that you wanted to stick to the course and try the hardest path and broker some kind of alliance between these two factions that historically have never gotten along,

5:47

do not understand each other. So we'll see how that goes.

5:51

So step one of that plan, we crave a challenge.

5:54

That's what it is. We love it. Nothing should be easy.

5:58

It should always be so hard. Life is suffering.

6:01

Yes, that so step one of this plan is meeting with the Serena.

6:08

Step two is going to be hitting up this strange animal lord named Reynard and trying to get rid of that big old favor you owe.

6:16

And then step three is going to be speak to the blossom court sovereign.

6:20

So this episode is dealing with step one of that plan.

6:23

So last time after you had made that decision,

6:26

you all, if you had basically sent a letter to the Serena saying like,

6:30

hey, yes, ok, let's do it time and place we need to talk and that had come off.

6:35

And so this episode is starting with you get that letter back.

6:39

You all are probably like in the chicken hut hanging out after doing,

6:43

you know, all your downtime stuff from the last few episodes when a golden envelope slides under the door in that strange way you get mail and you can see like a bright like red seal that has a flower over like a a plus sign style cross comes in under the door.

7:02

So you all would immediately recognize the Royal Seal of the Ultra Empire runs to it immediately like,

7:10

like screaming li was like,

7:13

in the kitchen making like pancakes for everybody.

7:16

And she's like, what the fuck if Inside Voice?

7:21

And then she's, you know, she picks it up and she went to the kitchen and she's just so excited.

7:25

She just like, picks it up and shows it too and she's like,

7:28

it's from the arena. It's got her.

7:30

I know she probably didn't write it, but it's from her.

7:33

I bet it smells like her and she, like, lifts it up to her nose.

7:37

It smells nice, sort of like roses.

7:41

You actually, you touch the, the envelope and the seal,

7:44

like, dissolves at your touch specifically in a very magical and strange way.

7:48

And you're like, hm, this probably would not have been able to be opened by anyone except you.

7:52

And so as, as this opens up, the paper actually starts to like,

7:56

kind of hover almost like above your hand,

7:59

sort of like spins in the air and you see golden script written across it and it like,

8:04

almost lights up. It doesn't look like it's pen or anything on it.

8:08

And you hear rather than read on the page the following and I'm gonna warn you now,

8:15

I am not going to read this aloud again.

8:17

So pay attention, Aoife,

8:20

I was pleased to receive your latest message.

8:22

I agree. Further correspondence should be conducted with the utmost discretion to that effect.

8:28

Please pay attention and memorize the following tonight.

8:32

Just after sunset, you are to meet a representative named Sore at the Cathedral of the Sun,

8:38

located at the heart of the Acropolis north of Falin.

8:42

Speak to her as you would speak to me for,

8:45

she has the full weight and power of my own mind.

8:49

She will recognize you by sight but shall not speak until you greet her with the phrase sister.

8:54

Do you also walk in the twilight?

8:57

And it assigned s and as this voice has read out,

9:02

which was the Serena's voice. Reading it to you,

9:05

you see the gold lettering across the surface of it just like sparkles away and dissolves as the whole paper just turns into a pile of glitter on the ground.

9:16

Louis is just like standing there in like a big glop of,

9:19

of batter just like falls under the counter and she's like,

9:22

what did it say? What are we doing?

9:24

You remember it? All right. You have a photograph of not only I hear it,

9:28

you only you heard it? Oh It was like a like a sending almost but tied to a Yeah.

9:36

Got it. Got it. Got it. And yes,

9:39

a will recap that we have to go meet a woman named Sore at the Acropolis and we have a magic phrase that we get to use.

9:48

I hope you remember it. Word for word.

9:52

There wasn't a description of what she looked like,

9:55

no, she just said that she would recognize us but she won't,

9:59

she won't speak until we say sister.

10:02

Do you also walk in the twilight? Right.

10:04

Yeah. So I was just in a room caring for her plants and comes out with like dirt covered hands.

10:09

Like, where are we going? What's happened?

10:13

Well, we've got instructions for us to go and meet this arena finally.

10:18

Oh, wow. Ok. Well,

10:21

at least go and meet an agent of the arena and then maybe the arena,

10:24

these things are so complicated. Important lady.

10:28

Everybody uh should definitely eat a full breakfast and she like starts pulling out all the plates and everything.

10:36

Um, and it looks like something that aife in particular would love on this important day.

10:42

She's going to give you inspiration in these carrot cake,

10:46

pancakes with a maple cream cheese glaze.

10:49

Damn. Love that.

10:52

Delightful. You have a few hours most of the day actually before you have to be where you need to be.

10:58

So any preparations you want to make,

11:01

you're still, I assume pretty. Oh, you were in coven.

11:04

So it'll take you just a couple of hours to basically jump to this area north of Falin called the Acropolis.

11:10

Any of you are welcome to make checks if you would like to see what,

11:15

what you might know about the Acropolis. But I would take a history or a religion history for 13 if I got an 18 on history not gonna try for Tony.

11:30

There's no bar, there's a bar you would know that there is like a community basically of buildings that's kept up on a hill a couple of miles away from,

11:41

to the north. It's an interesting amalgamation of,

11:44

of buildings that are all different cathedrals,

11:47

churches, temples to God's spirit,

11:49

specifically not dedicated to the mother or the Father,

11:52

which are like the Eldred gods. You know, the state religion.

11:56

Basically, the Acropolis was built sort of as a peace offering to all the other faiths of,

12:01

of the people who live in the Empire.

12:04

It's also built a little bit closer to the valley of Han.

12:07

It's like right in between, you know, where the valley starts and Lin actually sits.

12:11

So it's meant to be like a hi look,

12:14

we're embracing all religions and we built this really cool place.

12:18

So it's like a big district full of these like grand cathedrals and churches and places of worship.

12:25

Of course, you would also know excellent history check that when the gods disappeared,

12:31

whatever that big cataclysmic event was that happened 10 years ago.

12:35

Ever since then, things have not been great at the acropolis.

12:38

Obviously, a lot of those people felt betrayed by their gods,

12:41

felt abandoned. So when a huge number of clerics and Paladins of other gods lost their powers,

12:47

like there was rioting, there was destruction that happened to a lot of the acropolis.

12:52

So many of the buildings were defaced relics stolen.

12:56

Like there aren't a lot of people there now.

12:59

So it's kind of a, a big ugly stain on,

13:02

on the empire's history and not a lot has been done so far to help restore that place to its former glory.

13:11

Very cool. All right. So definitely a sordid place now,

13:15

apparently that beyond our guard in the meantime,

13:19

while we are traveling over there,

13:21

if I imagine over the course of the week while we've been working would have sent a letter to like to the,

13:28

to the Serena's like concerts in order to get her measurements so she could take in those dresses to get them perfectly tailored for her to bring as a gift to her.

13:37

Help start negotiations. Hella yes,

13:40

certainly you can, of course,

13:42

have had that correspondence. I imagine you might have had a couple letters before this one just establishing nice,

13:49

nice correspondence. This is the only one you've received that had like real detailed information referring to the conversations.

13:57

But yeah, you could absolutely get that. Honestly,

14:00

you know, there, there's no such thing as like Google in this world,

14:04

but the Serena's measurements would probably be pretty well known to like any seamstress worth their salt.

14:09

Right. Yeah, she probably has like her few select,

14:13

like tailors and clothiers that she go to and would,

14:16

would hit them up be like, let me get those details real quick.

14:19

You are certainly not the only person in the Empire.

14:22

Who wants to make gifts and dresses for,

14:24

for the Serena naturally.

14:27

Yeah, you get those measurements and once again you're like,

14:29

God damn hell.

14:33

Yeah. All right, cool. So, you are packing up your gifts,

14:36

I'm assuming putting them in the bag of holding anything else we want to do or make sure we,

14:43

we plan before we jump, jump there.

14:46

I guess the one thing that I thought of right after we started was I don't think that we ever came up with a plan.

14:51

If the question comes up of how are we getting back and forth to the Fay realm?

14:56

Mm. I might be going to talk about,

15:00

oh, like if they ask us. Yeah,

15:02

because we don't want to tell them about the Chicken Hut.

15:04

So, I mean, do we,

15:06

do we just basically say that we're,

15:08

we're using like scrolls for planner travel or something like that or,

15:13

I mean, I feel like the best policy is to leave it ambiguous as magic because they're,

15:20

everyone in the Empire knows that is acquainted with magic.

15:23

I don't think it's going to be a particular thing to, for them to be like,

15:26

well, how are you getting there? Like, well,

15:28

magic, they're magical means.

15:31

Yeah. Like we've have our own means.

15:33

I'm sure they have their own means. Honestly, it's not like they don't know how to get there.

15:38

I don't know, do they? Because they kind of just kind of sit at the edge of,

15:44

I mean, there people would, high level majors would be familiar with teleportation circles and things like that and wouldn't be like,

15:50

sure out of this, I guess my only concern is that we are level five.

15:56

So how are we doing? So,

15:59

planar travel, so travel between realms in the planes is not very easy.

16:06

There are be just because of the chaotic way,

16:09

the realms kind of work. There are some places that like,

16:13

yes, studied majors and the Eldred have absolutely learned.

16:16

Like you want to go to the plane of fire. Hell yeah,

16:18

we've got that, we've got that on lock. Like we know how to do that cool.

16:22

But because the, the Wilds themselves are so twisting and turning and chaotic,

16:28

making a portal to go, there is incredibly difficult and dangerous.

16:33

So even though they like might be able to build a teleportation circle on the empire's end,

16:39

they have never been able to build the base inside.

16:42

They have no idea what coven is, right? They don't have like a home base to go to,

16:45

to like establish a safe portal.

16:48

All they know is most of the time people that go there never come back and they don't know why and they don't know how we might know that maybe they turned into change links,

16:57

maybe they were like destroyed by the environment,

17:00

right? All of these horrible things that could happen to them.

17:02

But the empire sends people in and they never come back,

17:06

so they really have no reliable way to get there.

17:10

So it's pretty damn remarkable that you all could do it.

17:13

Yeah, in my earlier statement.

17:16

So I would say, you know, like, and we don't have to specifically point it to Rook being the one who showed us.

17:23

But ma making made a connection with someone who is able to go back and forth who like showed us the,

17:29

the, well that we used to, to get to coin that,

17:33

that mode of transportation, maybe like we have a person but with the same respect that we would want to give you privacy with some information you're gonna give us,

17:41

we don't want to give their name, that sort of thing.

17:45

All right, I just wanted to make sure because if we are like,

17:49

we look at this hut, Roca is gonna be like, I'm gonna fucking kill you.

17:54

I'm like, what hired a guy? I'm denying everything.

17:58

I don't know anything. Oh Yeah.

18:01

So and and Rook too has just been kind of passively taking in all of this.

18:05

She seems very like just nervous about the whole thing.

18:09

And she said before, she's like, listen, I don't want to be part of this,

18:12

whatever this conversation is. I realize this isn't my bag.

18:16

I'm not great at this. So she is just like suiting up with weapons and like full like I'm gonna be here and I'm just here to kill things and I can do no more than this.

18:27

Please do not ask me to do any more than this with that.

18:31

Ma Cob started too. She's just strapping on more and more daggers on her body.

18:35

Accessory. Big all knife and I don't have anything else.

18:40

All right. Anything from Tony. No. Yeah.

18:42

Good to go. Then we whoo whoop,

18:45

time moves forward and you travel across,

18:48

back from outside your, your parking spot in coin to now back to the mortal realm.

18:54

So since you know, if where the Croyle is,

18:56

everything, it takes you no time at all to get there and find a great spot to basically,

19:02

you know, in, in the wilderness behind a nice hill kind of park,

19:06

the hut. So you all can emerge ready and you see like the big winding road that leads like from north of Lin,

19:14

you know, one of the main gates to the city up to the Acropolis and you can see it from where you are.

19:20

You're probably, you know, half a mile away or so,

19:23

it's a very impressive sight even from this distance,

19:27

perhaps more so from this distance than when you actually get inside.

19:30

Because I imagine like one of those Greek like hill tops,

19:35

like covered in white marble buildings and these huge like columns and statues that stand,

19:41

you know, 2030 ft tall that you can see,

19:43

you know, poking over the walls here. The whole thing is ringed by like a defensive kind of palisade.

19:49

But it's certainly impressive. Anyone in the countryside around this area could see where this was.

19:54

And on the road you can see there are like a couple wagons moving back and forth,

19:59

people moving to the Acropolis, but certainly not the amount of traffic you would expect,

20:04

you know, in, in its heyday and especially since evening is approaching,

20:07

you know, and the lights of Lin are starting to,

20:10

to glow and uh flare up here and the Acropolis itself remains dark.

20:15

There don't seem to be any kind of street lights or,

20:19

or lanterns, any of it as the cloak of night just kind of swallows up this majestic site here,

20:26

you merge into the the slow traffic you see going back and forth and most of like the wagons or people you see,

20:34

they, they look ragged in most of these cases,

20:39

you see, there are a lot of people like wearing kind of dirty robes or just like cassocks,

20:45

like walking barefoot, almost like like pilgrims making their way individually up into the Acropolis here.

20:51

Some of the wagons that are going in have like crates,

20:54

maybe of supplies like things like candles,

20:57

food rations. There are some people still obviously living up there.

21:02

And since the event,

21:05

right, most of the clerics and Paladins associated with those gods lost their powers and they never returned,

21:10

they lost their faith and abandoned this place.

21:13

But there are still those who are starting over trying to reestablish these religions,

21:17

trying to regain some of what was lost,

21:20

still living up in that city. And as you pass through the once majestic gates of the acropolis,

21:24

you begin to see them more and more in full force.

21:27

The whole thing is built kind of as a winding road up this,

21:31

this hilltop with different levels of these temples and churches.

21:35

And as you pass through the main gates, you see the worst of the destruction like this is clearly where the riots began.

21:41

You see most of the buildings here,

21:43

shattered windows, shattered doors,

21:45

things that nobody has ever bothered to fix like graffiti that has been painted on the walls.

21:51

The roads themselves are like in disrepair.

21:53

Like maybe there were explosives that went off or you see like some of the statues that were pulled down like gone,

22:00

anything that had like gilding or you know,

22:03

like any kind of that decoration you might expect on big fancy temples has been ripped away or pulled off like been looted.

22:10

You see people in the streets, beggars reaching out to,

22:13

you know, towards you as you pass by movement in the dark long winding out is not a great place as you are walking by here.

22:23

Brooke just is muttering under her breath this entire time like,

22:28

you know, keep your eye on your stuff.

22:30

Like what are we doing here? Why would the sorry send us here because this won't be a place that will be under the watchful eye of one Duchess Melvin Tove or any other Empire agents for that matter?

22:43

Mm. I don't know. It just seems,

22:45

it seems suspicious to me. This is just weird.

22:49

I mean, isn't this what you would do? Pick an unknown location where no one gives a shit.

22:54

Yeah. But not somewhere where I'm gonna, like, get murdered.

22:57

And she, like, looks around, like, towards an alley and there was like a shadowy figure kind of lurking there and like she stares and he,

23:04

like, creeps back down behind like a stack of barrels.

23:08

You humans and your, your gods.

23:10

This just doesn't make any sense to me.

23:13

First of all, not a human. Second of all,

23:16

the gods don't give a shit about us. Right?

23:18

Mortals. Sorry. God damn. Still learning.

23:21

He'll get there. Yeah.

23:24

Haven't you been in stickier situations before,

23:26

before you had us here to save you?

23:29

000,

23:31

what a great love tonight. I love everything about this.

23:35

Feel very appreciated. Thanks.

23:38

I'm having a great time as of now.

23:41

Mhm. Mhm. Cool.

23:44

Ok. So again, the plan I'm not going to be,

23:47

I'm looking to like, watch the door. Right.

23:49

That's, that's the expectation. Precisely.

23:52

You are silent and strong muscle.

23:55

Great. How, how old does r look right now?

23:59

So she's, it's just been a couple of days.

24:01

So she was, she's probably 2023 24 by now because she was pretty close.

24:07

To Tony's age. I couldn't remember.

24:09

I was like, how fucking funny is this gonna be if she is just like a fucking eight year old?

24:15

Like, excuse me? No,

24:17

she's uh she looks a little bit older than all of you now.

24:20

But it's, it's uh she's around the same age,

24:23

she probably looks about the same age. You look lou,

24:26

I think as we're going to lou is like,

24:29

trying to be like, very discreet about it so that she's not like flashing anything around,

24:34

but she's broken down a gold piece into copper pieces and is like reverse pick,

24:39

pocketing some of the beggars because she doesn't want people to see she's passing out money,

24:43

but she's giving like a couple of copper pieces,

24:45

uh slipping them into their things as she passes.

24:49

Yeah. And you know, one of these individuals,

24:51

it's like a sort of a, a pale green skinned Ron looks up at you and just gives you a toothy smile,

24:56

one of them who, you know, catches you doing that.

24:59

And um it gives you like a, a holy sign that says bless you miss.

25:03

Do you remember where you're going from? The letter?

25:06

Because there's lots of buildings here. We are going to the Cath,

25:12

the Cathedral of the Sun is what I quickly wrote down,

25:16

which I, I assume is the something for the mother because it's not her symbol.

25:22

So, uh you're not seeing any of the religious iconography for the mother or the father here.

25:26

These were all the gods that were specifically not the mother or the father.

25:30

So like all of their temples are in.

25:33

So this was basically built as kind of a peace offering,

25:36

like a cultural sign of unity to all the other citizens of the empire who don't prescribe to the,

25:44

the main religion. You can have it over there,

25:48

not in our city, but in a city over there.

25:51

That's all your own. But it's so nice.

25:55

Right? So you can see politics in action here,

26:00

right? I mean, and there are like churches and temples to other gods in Fein itself.

26:07

But this is like, ok, this is where you can have your grand cathedrals and your stuff because there wasn't space allocated,

26:13

you know, in our city, we didn't design with your big cathedrals in mind,

26:17

right? Just stars, just stars uh whoops,

26:20

sorry. But here you go, here you go.

26:22

Of course, you know, now it's a shit show and it hasn't been repaired since the event.

26:28

But you know, things are, things are chaotic,

26:31

other things are chaotic. Cathedral of the Sun.

26:33

Why don't you go ahead, Bard, dear Bard and make me another check to see what you know about this.

26:38

Use. That beautiful brain.

26:41

Hell, yeah, that is another 18 for history.

26:44

It is the biggest and shiniest of all or was the biggest cathedral located in the acropolis primarily because it was actually a place where it was like multifaceted,

26:54

dedicated to many different gods that represented the sun.

26:58

So there are tons of like shrines and chapels built into this one kind of mega like cool worship,

27:05

light to the sun and everything. You know that the God Helios like the main kind of God that like presided over all of these.

27:13

But there's lots of different facets uh that were represented here.

27:16

So you with that in mind, you're like, yes,

27:18

yes. And it was big and it was central, very center.

27:21

Cool. So you can like wind the party safely through the ways here.

27:24

And you come to like the plaza where you would expect this to be and again would have been absolutely gorgeous in its heyday,

27:31

you can see that the whole, the whole area is like a flat kind of tiled,

27:36

just gargantuan square that had like these beautiful,

27:40

like painted gold tiles of like sun motifs laid in into like white stone all along it.

27:46

You can see where there are these like giant, right?

27:49

Wrought iron lamps uh that would have lit this whole place up.

27:53

But now like the glass is shattered and clearly the magic that powered them is hasn't been restored.

27:58

Now, all the beautiful like gardens and trees that would have been planted around the square are twisted and dead.

28:04

Some of them look like they were on fire at some point.

28:07

So now they're withered and black and the gargantuan statue of Helios that would have presided over.

28:15

It all is still standing there but covered in filth and graffiti.

28:21

And you can see the head that would have been that radiating beautiful like sun head has been lopped off.

28:27

And just behind beyond the statue here you see like the main hall,

28:31

the cathedral, which is basically just a, a very long and large rectangle structure flanked by lots of these other little smaller chapels and buildings.

28:40

You can see that there are some lights on inside.

28:43

So you see like the flickering of candle light coming from within the door is just open to the night.

28:51

Aoife will whip out her wand of magic missiles and she'll cast light upon it as your light spell like glows,

29:01

it flares to light so brightly and so much quicker than you would have expected it to.

29:06

And its radius is actually doubled while you're within the confines of this holy ground.

29:11

Mm Makes sense. Makes sense.

29:14

Nice little nod from Helios here as your light fool yourself.

29:19

That oh God.

29:22

Yeah. Turn down the brightness on your eyes.

29:27

Oh God. Oh God.

29:29

What are you reading a book? No,

29:33

it's like it sputters a little bit and she kind of gives it a tap like why it only works and then it goes and she's like,

29:40

everyone's like, oh fuck.

29:42

He said, God. OK. All right.

29:45

A we get it right. Um So yeah,

29:49

that, that Lou puts on her uh special glasses and they turn into like transitional lenses and she's like,

29:58

yeah, so you, you, you light up your way and step up to the cathedral and the inside of this place looks better than the outside.

30:09

You can see that there's like scaffolding that has been set up uh along some of the walls and clearly there's been some ongoing construction effort to restore.

30:19

Maybe, maybe this is where it's starting,

30:21

right? If only one building in this place is getting redone,

30:25

it is this one. There are a handful of people walking around here,

30:29

look like priests, shaved heads, simple robes,

30:32

moving about as you step inside. You know, they nod like politely to you.

30:38

You can see that the the whole place like like the outside.

30:40

It's a very long thin rectangular room here,

30:44

maybe about 30 ft across uh 90 ft or so wide.

30:47

At the very end of it, you can see just this would have been like a gorgeous altar space.

30:53

Now, before now, it looks pretty good.

30:56

Clearly, someone has made an effort to like clean the stone remote,

30:59

remove the graffiti on the altar here.

31:02

It lacks some of the finer details you would see.

31:05

So clearly someone has still pulled down the gilding and like robbed the statues.

31:09

But there are a couple of these like basic chandeliers that are lighting the place you see candle operas,

31:15

uh standing lighting the place, there are a couple of people seated in pews that seem to have been restored and brought back in here in quiet prayer.

31:24

There's not like a service or anything going on. It's,

31:26

it is night time, but the most beautiful and impressive thing that has remained intact are just the gorgeous stained glass windows of this place right behind the altar.

31:37

There's just a gargantuan window depicting,

31:40

you know, a rising sun and like rolling green lands and all kinds of people like traveling almost like as they're going to walk into the sun,

31:49

right? It's absolutely gorgeous. And you see these like thin kind of rosette stained glass windows lining the long calls here that at least is some beauty that seems to have survived.

32:00

What are you doing? I think if I would flag down one of these priests wandering,

32:06

wandering the hall and immediately ask if they've seen anyone who is not a member of the clergy wandering around someone perhaps by the name of thorn.

32:18

Oh, yeah. And so you, you know, tap this,

32:20

uh it's like a dark skinned human man kind of uh turns towards you and uh says,

32:24

oh, greetings child. I,

32:27

we have all sorts who step in the,

32:30

the faith is not what it once was,

32:32

but these are dark times.

32:35

Many are interested in the Lord of Light.

32:37

Still. I, I'm afraid I don't really recognize exactly.

32:43

So, and that's not a name that's familiar to me, but we,

32:46

we do have some visitors who have come from the city.

32:51

May I ask what your intentions are? Of course,

32:53

though, before I point you towards them,

32:56

um uh forgive me again, times being what they are only the best of intentions.

33:02

Of course, no, we were sent here in order to meet with an individual who chose this as their location.

33:08

So we come with respect and due deference.

33:12

Well, then perhaps I can uh point you towards um that individual and uh he points up towards someone who is seated in prayer at like the very,

33:20

very front closest to the altar, sitting by themselves in the row.

33:24

That individual did arrive from the city a few hours ago and has been here this whole time.

33:31

Well, we thank you for your assistance and she'll give a quick courtesy walk in the light and yeah,

33:38

Aoife would be like kind of awkwardly and you as well.

33:43

What the response would be with you and it might be with you.

33:53

The worst is the movies when they're like, enjoy the show.

33:56

You too. Oh, fuck your work. You too. Good luck.

34:00

Oh, the worst, the worst. Yeah.

34:03

So you uh you can, you have that interaction and that doesn't face the individual at all.

34:08

They just give you the kindly smile and kind of move about their business and you make your way up towards the front and you can see this person who is uh dressed themselves in like a simple kind of traveling robe.

34:19

You can see there is a hood pulled up over their head,

34:21

but you can see like the ears of,

34:24

you know, it's like a periwinkle skinned sort of Eldred person who,

34:28

who does seem to have their head bowed. Aoife would scam her up and go to kneel beside them upon the pews and sort of with the,

34:37

her hands clasped in a, in prayer position and look off to the side and would ask sister,

34:45

do you also walk in twilight?

34:48

Indeed, I do. It was good to see you.

34:52

Are these your companions? Yes,

34:55

the three in the back over there. Good.

34:58

Then you know, you may speak to me as if I were sorry.

35:03

I, she has given me full force to converse with all of you,

35:08

please. And she offers like a hand for you all to take a seat around her.

35:14

Yeah, if will nod for them to come over awkwardly and clun with all my weapons and armor coming through the cathedral,

35:22

sit down and like give a little minor salute as she sits.

35:27

Brooke is gonna stand there and be like,

35:29

I'll, I'll watch the the door grimace.

35:35

So she, yeah, clunks back, her herself also loaded with weapons and every step of course is a giant cathedral,

35:41

tall ceilings, lots of stones. So echo,

35:44

echo, echo, echo and just can't help.

35:46

But just everyone know and you know,

35:49

Rick hates it. You hate it, Tony. It's,

35:51

it's very uncomfortable but she goes right outside right back down the way and sits,

35:56

takes a seat outside the cathedral doors.

35:58

Uh Just so if anybody were to enter, it does seem like this is that the only entrance and exit to this main building.

36:04

So she is guarding that point there and then this individual who you assume to be sore in kind of smiles quietly at you all and says,

36:14

forgive the dismal location.

36:17

But I figured if anywhere I was safe to converse,

36:21

it would be here. It is far away from the empire in many aspects,

36:28

right? That's what we were thinking on our way over here.

36:31

Best to be as far away from prying eyes as possible.

36:37

Yes, I appreciate your discretion.

36:39

Thus far in this matter, the arena's enemies are many within the court and without,

36:46

as I'm sure you all are aware, I,

36:49

we come with news about a threat that faces mortal and fairy realm alike and that a high up member of one of the fay courts by the name of who is a part of a coven called the Weird Sisters has come into possession of perhaps the most powerful item to exist in the known universe and we know not yet what she plans to do with it,

37:20

but truly anything is possible.

37:23

I see before we go any further,

37:28

I should let you all know just in,

37:30

in terms of honesty and forthrightness.

37:34

I will know if you tell me a lie during the course of this conversation.

37:39

Just basic policy, you understand.

37:42

And she kind of like fingers a uh like a talisman that she's wearing around her,

37:48

her neck. I do not expect you to tell me everything but let us speak.

37:54

Not in lies but rather in omission.

37:56

When necessary. Looking at that item,

38:00

could I make an arcana check?

38:02

Sure can go for it because that seems cool as heck.

38:06

I was gonna say I had to put that on my, my Christmas list for real.

38:12

Yeah. Oh, not great.

38:15

That's only a 10. Ok. You are like,

38:18

what, what is that? You've never seen anything that looks like it,

38:22

but it is safe to assume that that is a magical item looking at it and the way she indicated to,

38:28

to so clearly some kind of magic item,

38:31

you have heard of spells that force people to tell the truth like within a limited range.

38:37

So perhaps that this item has something like that you would also know.

38:42

I mean, it could also be a natural ability. You,

38:44

you've heard stories like like celestial sometimes can tell when you're lying.

38:49

Like that's just a thing some of them can do.

38:52

So I whoever this person is, whoever the so and is clearly has some big magic uh operating there for a moment.

39:00

Pause on in-game Talk two.

39:02

So this challenge that we're about to do this is this is going to be a mechanical challenge,

39:08

a social encounter here. So the rules of this.

39:11

Basically, I would like you all to give me like three objectives of this.

39:16

Like, what are your goals for this conversation?

39:19

I'm basically going to write these down and over the course of like your discussion and stuff that is going to affect the DC for how each of these challenges is going to be set,

39:30

right? So we'll name the goals,

39:34

we'll have our like role playing discussion.

39:36

I'll set the DC based on how, well, I think you've convinced me that these goals should be enacted or you've convinced.

39:42

So, and then if you succeed on the check,

39:45

cool, you will get that goal accomplished basically the way this is going to work.

39:49

So let's go ahead and name those goals.

39:52

I would say I like 3 to 5 of these,

39:54

the more you have and the more specific they are the greater your chance of success just based on this.

39:59

So if you all want to take, if you think about this, like as a debate right now,

40:03

like what it, what exactly is it that you want this arena to do be as specific as possible?

40:08

And like, let's name that as your goal. I will write that down.

40:12

So we know that our method that we're trying to go with is trying to be a neutral party,

40:17

trying to forge an allegiance,

40:20

albeit probably temporary with some of the courts who are willing to tackle ate and whatever her machinations are so to,

40:31

to exactly that establish a temporary truce to overcome a greater evil.

40:37

So get, let's get more specific,

40:39

what do you want the Serena to do for that truce?

40:41

Do you want her to promise she won't attack Fay?

40:45

That she won't like, send troops here or like what specifically do you want her to do?

40:50

Like, show up and have a conversation with someone,

40:53

like specifically what she can do actionable goals.

40:58

I don't think that they really,

41:00

I feel like it's gonna be really hard to convince her to in person,

41:04

go and meet. I feel like if she will allow us to be correspondents for her because I don't think that it's really fair to ask her to give us 100% faith and,

41:16

and go put herself in a dangerous situation with that though of just entrusting us with all that power.

41:22

I think if we ask either if sore or some other,

41:27

someone who can act on her behalf, who she would trust that way we can show that we're not just trying to usurp power here,

41:33

we really are trying to bring people together. So if we can take an emissary for you to the fay courts to meet with some of these sovereigns so that we can try and broker what that allegiance would look like.

41:46

And I do think adding on the no attacks like attempt a cease fire while we try and establish this truce is a good step as well.

41:56

Cease fire for until the threat is dealt with cease fire against who.

42:02

Because, yeah, if random fair are wandering in and,

42:05

you know, and dealing and messing with people messing up the city and people are wreaking havoc because of deals that they're making with Fay.

42:15

I don't think it's fair for us to ask, like,

42:17

don't deal with that problem. Cease fire between agreed upon courts who also on their end,

42:25

agree to this because with the it will be like a deal basically on their end,

42:31

I'm sure. So they can't break that within reason.

42:35

You know, there's always gonna be some outliers who bullshit around with words and whatever.

42:41

But I think what could be more interesting in the long run is if instead of trying to outright kill those fay of instead like employing whatever agents or forces to do more research,

42:57

gathering about, about them about either the people who are making these deals with these FAY or the FAY themselves.

43:06

So we can use them for interrogation purposes.

43:09

So just take, take, taking people prisoner is what you're saying.

43:12

Yes, instead of killing them. So uh I,

43:17

I heard two goals in there that I'm gonna distill and see,

43:21

see what, what I would say are an actionable goal.

43:23

Uh So one would be promise not to attack members of a specific court like a,

43:30

a specific fairy court. So like if you broker an alliance with ex court you promise not to kill why members of said court.

43:40

Right. Yes, that is one actual goal I heard the other one would I heard was dedicate your power and wealth to researching and finding agents of the other courts is an actionable goal.

43:54

Also, I guess an actionable goal would be any faith that do not belong to X or Y courts or like people working with them should be detained for us to interrogate is,

44:07

is what I would hear as an a vocal don't take lethal force.

44:13

Yes. And then give us an emissary to take with on diplomatic talks.

44:19

Ok. So like to meet with the blossom sovereign.

44:22

Yeah. And let's lay out, let's make it really specific.

44:25

So send an emissary to the blossom sovereign because you know you have that meeting coming up,

44:30

right. Yeah. So goal one,

44:32

get her to agree to send an emissary to meet with the blossom court sovereign that will join us in those talks too.

44:39

I, I want to specify that we're going to be also involved in those negotiations and we're happy to be protection for that person as a neutral party.

44:48

All right. So you would be like the neutral facilitators of that,

44:51

that agreement. Ok. Yes,

44:54

mediators and then two basically agree to have a cease fire,

44:59

like recognize one of these courts or whatever it is,

45:03

recognize them and then stop the Empire from actively hunting or fighting the members of that court.

45:11

Yes. And then number three was spend resources to investigate.

45:18

Let's, let's be more specific on what you want uh, for that one,

45:21

what kinds of people, what kinds of fay fay from all the other courts?

45:25

All Fay in general? Like what,

45:27

what are we looking for? Probably on the Heavenly Court's activity,

45:33

allocate resources to finding and investigating agents.

45:38

Yeah. Of the Heavenly Court. Are you just saying all agents or fay creatures of the heavenly court or mortal creatures of the heavenly court?

45:48

Oh, that's a little bit harder of an ask.

45:52

I think that it's worth it in the long run.

45:54

If our, if our ultimate goal overall,

45:57

whether we're saying it or not is to get them all to work along,

46:00

to put a stance that everyone is equal in that regard right now.

46:03

I think those are the big points. I don't think we should ask for much else if we,

46:07

if we want to get her participation,

46:10

do you want to keep, keep it to those three goals?

46:12

That's four. What is the fourth one agree to give us an emissary promise on a ceasefire for the courts of the alliance.

46:19

Dedicate wealth and resources to get intel on the heavenly court and to give us captured Fay or mortals from the heavenly court to interrogate,

46:29

turn over agents to you all.

46:31

Not the authority of the Empire or,

46:34

and especially not the Carrian. Well,

46:39

well, if you want,

46:41

if you want to bring the into this.

46:44

That's I was a whole other goal.

46:46

Oh man. No, I was gonna say for that maybe later,

46:51

I was gonna say for 1/5 5th goal is to receive any intel they might have on the whereabouts and doings currently of the reins.

47:04

Ok. So goal five would be have the Empire get information from the Kans or investigate,

47:12

watch them. What, what is that exactly?

47:15

So like basically to know what they already know about where they are and what's going on,

47:21

right? If they find anything to share it with us,

47:24

basically. Yeah. And, and what they do have now as well.

47:28

Yeah, asking if the Empire has any information on the current doings of the carillon since they've apparently have gone off the map.

47:37

So asking if there's any information that we can have about that.

47:41

So goal would be share information about the reins.

47:45

Yeah. Yeah. All right. So we're going with five goals.

47:48

So starting DC is going to be pretty high for five goals and basically as you talk and like hit points and I'll assess how well,

47:55

I think you've convinced me of these goals.

47:57

This DC number will lower from a very high number to more reasonable numbers on these.

48:04

And at the end of this, I'm going to ask each of you to make an ability check with a different kind of skill for what you're bringing to this conversation.

48:12

So, keep that in mind. Oh boy.

48:17

Yep, we're all engaged here.

48:19

So it would behoove us all to talk and be involved and lower our individual D CS uh in this,

48:26

in this challenge we ready.

48:29

Not anymore with that good to you.

48:35

You all are gonna have to roll something so be engaged to be involved and it'll go better for you.

48:41

All right. So, so you know,

48:43

let you know, hey, she's gonna know if you lie,

48:46

you tell an outright lie. So she's,

48:49

she's made that clear and this is a magical effect.

48:52

So if there's anything y'all want to try and do to suppress that now is the time I think we were planning on going into this truthful anyway.

48:59

So, and you will see too,

49:01

like, as you kind of all settle in for this conversation,

49:04

you're not sure if it's something sore is doing or what,

49:09

but like you do notice that the, the people who are here kind of start to filter out.

49:14

It's like she makes eye contact with them and they all kind of like drift away and with uh seeing all these individuals kind of file out that we now occupy the space.

49:24

A will put a very nice little gentle pat on Tony's leg and we'll give you a part of inspiration that you can use over the next 10 minutes.

49:34

Yes. You know.

49:38

Me too. Well. Yeah.

49:42

All right. So, so, yep, opens up her hands and it's like,

49:46

what are we, what's the deal. Let's begin,

49:50

I guess, establishing a foundation.

49:52

I know very little about all of you.

49:54

Other than what Eva has communicated so far,

49:57

somehow you seem to have a great deal of information about the FAY and the activities that have been happening.

50:04

Thus far you've mentioned before this,

50:07

this item she seems to have,

50:10

I'm going to level with you and be frank.

50:14

I know very little of these courts or really any of this.

50:19

The Empire has learned frustratingly little in all of the many centuries.

50:24

We have warned against the Fay. They are an enemy that seems to have boundless power and disastrous implications at every turn.

50:34

So right away, I should let you know we're coming from a position of desperation here.

50:40

So we are certainly amenable to anything you can offer within reason.

50:46

I think all of us being born and raised here in different parts of the Empire.

50:50

From the valley of yo myself.

50:53

We all came to the encampment in the Fay Jungle with a similar mindset,

50:59

all completely clueless. But it was as we were searching the Fay jungle for someone who had gotten lost.

51:07

My dear friend, Winnie taken captive by a fee that we began to learn about their complexity and that it's not just a force of pure chaos,

51:18

but they actually have their own sets of cultures and rules and customs.

51:23

And as we had, you know,

51:26

someone introduce us to the wilds proper and into a city known into in the Fay Wilds as coven,

51:35

we began to see that while they are strange and completely foreign to us as portals,

51:44

they are still bound by their own sets of rules.

51:49

And so, I mean, predominantly they've got seven courts which rule over different domains and interests and there are neutral places where no courts have sovereignty.

52:05

So it's not too dissimilar from our own duchesses and,

52:10

and Dukes ruling over their provinces.

52:14

And um you there, I'm,

52:16

I'm sorry, I assume you're for uh she looks at you,

52:22

Tony. Yeah, that's me.

52:26

You were part of,

52:29

of the empire, mi military for a time.

52:31

Yes, I was. And I came,

52:35

I joined these two here when our remember,

52:40

Winnie also disappeared. And I feel like in the time I've served and since then I've,

52:46

I don't know if I've gained that much knowledge about the fate myself.

52:50

So I think it would, this is the right move to do on all our parts to try and combine our powers and gain as much knowledge as we can together.

52:59

I would think you probably more than anyone understand the atrocities the Fay have leveled against the empire and the amount of destruction they have caused.

53:12

Can you tell me then you all speak of a society within this,

53:17

this wild which of course is news to us.

53:19

But why,

53:22

why do the Fay relentlessly attack us?

53:25

And honestly it cause chaos wherever they go,

53:29

they, they slay innocent villagers,

53:31

uh, warring against our borders.

53:34

What, what is the source of that perhaps,

53:38

understanding that will help me understand what it is you see in,

53:41

in these creatures? Well,

53:44

I can't, I, you know,

53:46

I can't lie to you but in the time that I was serving,

53:50

I didn't feel like I needed to understand very much about them and that they were just merciless creatures who attacked at any opportunity they could.

54:00

And I, I didn't care to understand,

54:03

but I think that's, that's very much what they're also guilty of though.

54:07

You only fear the things you don't understand,

54:10

you only attack the things you don't understand.

54:12

And the time I have managed to spend around other fey and my own companions here,

54:18

I feel like that small amount of time has opened up my,

54:24

my mind to so many other ways that the fay have been able to contribute to my life and the lives of the people around them.

54:33

And there's a lot more we could have gained by understanding them sooner,

54:39

but we keep each other at such arm's length that if we could continue doing things the way we're doing now,

54:46

the, the fighting is never gonna stop. I think too.

54:51

We're in a perfect place to be having this conversation about ruthless killing and destruction.

55:00

Look around us. We're in a place that was torn down by mortal kind because of fear because of a struggle for needing to have power.

55:08

I don't think that they feel much different from that.

55:12

So as a check and note, I'm gonna say I have lowered the DC now of the send emissary to meet with the Sovereign Court DC because you are definitely intriguing the fact that a conversation should be had.

55:23

So that DC for that goal specifically has been lowered and she does,

55:27

she's, she's taking all of this in and thinking, well,

55:30

I certainly would say that it would behoove both of us to gain a greater understanding of what each other wants.

55:39

From my perspective. We do not know the length and the power of,

55:46

of the fay their reach. We,

55:49

they do seem to know more about us than we know about them.

55:53

We have found their agents within our borders.

55:57

They have nefarious magic,

55:59

sewing these strange artifacts that can corrupt and twist the minds of our people.

56:05

So I wonder why they would even wish to reach out to us.

56:09

What do they hope to gain from an alliance?

56:12

They seem to have the upper hand be quite frank.

56:15

We are losing this war. Well,

56:17

and I think the thing is, is we're never gonna win a war because if you slay a fay on mortal soil,

56:24

it's just gonna go right back to the wilds.

56:27

It won't be truly defeated unless you defeat it in the wilds.

56:31

And that's not territory that we're going to be able to claim or to really fare into but since I've,

56:39

the disappearance of the gods of their forsaken us,

56:44

the, they are trying to fill a vacuum and it's not every fay and it's not every court we have known one court in particular,

56:50

the slithering court of things,

56:53

unseen of things that lurk in the shadows of worms and vermin,

57:00

they have an interest, certainly most specifically in the affairs of mortal kin.

57:05

They find us kind of amusing agents or,

57:09

but a few courts are more just willing to stick to their own principles like forest court being in the domain of animals and forestry and the blossoming court being of uh flora.

57:25

Those are the courts that we seek to forge an alliance with because they don't care necessarily for Melin immortal affairs for their own amusement or game.

57:37

So these courts don't work in tandem with one another.

57:40

They, they all hate each other,

57:44

some hate each other, some like each other.

57:46

Most are uh a polite disinterest.

57:52

So then in this process,

57:55

it sounds like we wouldn't be approaching all of them.

58:02

You have specific courts in mind that you are allied with.

58:05

We have an invitation to meet a sovereign of the blossom court,

58:10

a sovereign. What is that? Uh like a king?

58:13

Like a Sarina? Hm. She there,

58:17

there's like a curl to her lips that goes like very flat,

58:20

like she just suppressed the emotion immediately as soon as she was amused by it and it is something to note that since these courts don't all get along the fact that this ruler from the heavenly court has this powerful artifact.

58:37

Many are not going to like that and not want her to have that power.

58:42

You have mentioned this heavenly court several times.

58:44

Tell me more about them.

58:46

What, what do they want out of character?

58:51

Do? We, we haven't dealt with the heavily court at all.

58:53

Like, would we have any idea?

58:57

I mean, uh, if at this point it just seems like they want power.

59:00

Yeah, you don't really know 100% because like,

59:04

you've kind of pieced together now,

59:06

gotten enough clues that clearly the weird sisters are part of the heavenly court.

59:10

You might even have evidence to suggest Haka is the sovereign of the heavenly court because the way she was able to rip open a portal in the middle of another court's realm.

59:20

So that's like clues you can start putting together here,

59:24

but you haven't met any other agents of the heavenly court that you know of,

59:29

uh, so far. And it is weird that like you,

59:34

she's opening up these portals, she got this book,

59:37

like, you don't really know what she wants,

59:40

but it probably is not good.

59:43

You've been able to assess that accurate.

59:48

I don't think she's planning a dinner party with that book.

59:51

I kind of from what we can tell at this point,

59:56

all we know is just that collected an artifact that will give her power beyond what many fay have ever had before.

1:00:06

And if I were her and I don't know if this is the case,

1:00:10

but in that situation, if I'm trying to amass power like that,

1:00:14

you know, here on the planes on our continent,

1:00:18

we have you and, er, we have,

1:00:21

uh, we have the Serena and,

1:00:24

uh, you know, I think that to combine all of them with that ultimate power,

1:00:30

that would probably be my goal if I had that kind of craving in this heavenly court doing this,

1:00:38

you think the other courts would not want this to happen?

1:00:43

I don't believe so. I mean, like we had said,

1:00:46

every court has their own culture.

1:00:48

I don't think that anybody wants their own culture smashed into submission by anybody else.

1:00:55

You all have successfully lowered the DC for the allocate to finding and investigating agents of the heavenly court DC.

1:01:02

You have made a pretty good case that you don't know what she wants,

1:01:05

but it would be really good to know what we understand and just if would add like it's much like in the way the empire would be very interested in understanding.

1:01:22

If all of a sudden all of the elves in the valley suddenly started arm,

1:01:27

arming themselves, the empire would have a vested interest to learn and why?

1:01:33

And this is not dissimilar from that situation indeed.

1:01:39

So from here,

1:01:41

I suppose, what is your plan?

1:01:44

How do we open this conversation.

1:01:47

How, how do we establish a bridge between people we know nothing about?

1:01:54

And again, I should mention this is not going to be easy.

1:01:59

On either side. There has been so much bloodshed.

1:02:05

I don't think the citizens of the Empire would readily welcome a free exchange here.

1:02:12

There are certainly those within the Sarina own court who if they knew this conversation was happening would call it treason.

1:02:20

So what do you propose? How do we build this bridge?

1:02:24

Well, I think our first step is to take an emissary to speak with the blossom court sovereign because we know that he has been able to open up portals into other realms,

1:02:40

into other sovereign realms, into the mortal realm.

1:02:44

And I think that first step of seeing that we have a common enemy and trying to understand those motives will be the best way in order to help turn people towards the light understanding that we have something that we can work against,

1:03:02

which is a very powerful motivating factor is given something a specific target where people can point a sword at.

1:03:12

So you think if we build a relationship with this blossom court,

1:03:18

that they would help defend the empire against this heavenly court,

1:03:26

you think they would be motivated enough on their side and she doesn't seem to uh have a great deal of confidence in that statement and she sort of asks it to you.

1:03:37

I think at the very least they are happy to fight against somebody who is also an enemy of theirs.

1:03:46

And in the meantime, if we fight together and we don't have any particular agreement as to what would happen after then,

1:03:57

I think that there's a chance that through that kind of aid and companionship towards that greater evil could eventually lead to a truce.

1:04:07

At least with the courts that we work with is my hope because with the time that we've spent there,

1:04:13

like Tony said, we were all with the army standing to protect the realms from an invasion.

1:04:21

And we've met some fay who have been nothing but warm and kind to us with no nefarious means.

1:04:30

It's just like with humans and elves and everybody else,

1:04:34

there's always going to be some excuse me,

1:04:37

downright shitty people. But I think that if we start to break bread together and actually try to speak instead of just fight,

1:04:52

there's always a chance that we'll have a positive outcome for the future.

1:04:57

Gonna say the DC for the cease fire against a specific court has been lowered.

1:05:02

You're talking her into the benefits of having a,

1:05:05

a mutual understanding. At least for now the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

1:05:10

All right. So, and she continues to kind of take this in here.

1:05:15

Well, it seems you all have lofty goals and a great deal of information.

1:05:23

I understand very little about how you have come by this information and I understand why you might not wish to share it.

1:05:33

So you may keep some of your secrets, but you have to understand that we are taking an enormous risk placing our trust in you all.

1:05:45

So why, why should I trust you?

1:05:49

Why are you the people to forge this alliance?

1:05:53

Tony. It's really hoping you wouldn't be looking at me.

1:05:58

She, we always looking at you. I am trying to make a really big wrong,

1:06:06

right. And my companions here have been loyal and brave enough to help me.

1:06:16

They're putting themselves at risk and I know it's gonna be a very difficult thing for all of us to accomplish.

1:06:24

But we've only been able to get as far as we have in the mess that I've created because of working together and trusting each other.

1:06:33

And now we just need to get our team a little bit larger to solve a greater problem.

1:06:41

And I wish I could do this alone.

1:06:45

I don't wanna be putting anyone in danger.

1:06:48

I have almost tried to push people away,

1:06:51

but I've,

1:06:55

I fell into their trap and it's gonna cause so much more harm if I don't try to fix it with the people who I know have the resources who have the power,

1:07:10

who also have a lot of,

1:07:17

a lot to lose. Basically, I don't want to run away from this.

1:07:21

And I'm, I'm,

1:07:24

may I, may I ask and let me know if this is something you are unwilling to share.

1:07:30

But you speak of this mess of this great weight of this mistake you made.

1:07:36

What was it? What did you do?

1:07:40

Yeah. I was sort of seduced by one of those weird sisters in my sleep.

1:07:48

I had never really encountered a situation like that before.

1:07:50

I didn't really know what I was doing and I accepted a gift from them and it was a very large gift.

1:07:58

It led me to really something incredible,

1:08:03

but there was a cost for that gift and now everyone else has to pay for it.

1:08:09

And it's, that's my mess.

1:08:13

How exactly were all of you dragged into this?

1:08:17

It feels like a relatively personal thing.

1:08:20

Uh She says, and kind of looks at you lou and Aoife and she seemed genuinely curious at this point because it's the right thing to help good people.

1:08:30

Tony is an excellent person and like she said,

1:08:35

it was new territory for her.

1:08:37

She didn't know what was happening. She's not at fault and I can't just let somebody suffer something alone when nobody deserves to have to go through something like that by themselves.

1:08:52

It's something that I feel capable of helping with.

1:08:57

And even now we've already made headway in figuring out a way for her to get out of this mess so that she can be nothing but the steadfast support that she's always been for our team and we fully are going to be leaving this meeting and pursuing that and hopefully we can all celebrate and then move on with the bigger task at hand together.

1:09:25

I see it's clear you all care for one another and this is rooted in something.

1:09:32

But I specifically how did these creatures target you?

1:09:38

What, what was it about you that made you so remarkable?

1:09:43

You said you were on the border and you were part of an encampment and then how did you just stumble across all of this knowledge?

1:09:53

Forgive me for seeing him incredulous. But this,

1:09:57

it's too remarkable to pass up. Well,

1:10:00

it's not as though as if it's been just an afternoon.

1:10:03

This has been over the past three months,

1:10:08

some odd time of learning about all of this about and you have survived speaking to the fay and stepping into the wilds and all of this for months.

1:10:22

And also time does not exist in the wilds.

1:10:26

So it gives us even more of an opportunity to experience more because we're not just merely beheld in by the physical rules of our realm.

1:10:39

And yes, we have survived. It's been in part to our silent and steady hired muscle as she kind of throws a thumb back to Rook.

1:10:49

We are a grunt as someone who has been uh an incredible ally who,

1:10:55

who has sort of helped to introduce us to the world and help us not get immediately killed.

1:11:02

You know, there are times where we've come close,

1:11:05

but what we've learned is that the fay can be incredibly insidious and tricky as they are known to be in,

1:11:14

approaching in dreams. And I think because all of us have such strong personalities,

1:11:20

principles and desires for things that we want to accomplish in life.

1:11:25

I think the fair are drawn to that because they want a taste of that power,

1:11:29

they want to understand and manipulate motivations.

1:11:34

I think that's sort of something that they thrive on.

1:11:38

And so I think that's how part of at least part of how we've gotten swept into all of this swept in.

1:11:44

And, and I think it's important to note on the survival and that the reason we feel so strongly about at least trying to make some sort of truce is because while there's been those interactions with those insidious and nefarious,

1:11:59

there's also been some with people of Fay kind who have been nothing but kind and generous and welcoming to us without asking for any kind of favor.

1:12:12

I, I forgive me. It's, it's remarkable to hear that all of you have survived and not only that but thrived in this world that has slain hundreds of my people are people.

1:12:30

Uh She, she says that it's unraveling lou kind of like gets a little twinkle in her eye and she smirks and,

1:12:41

and we've sent scholars and some of the best warriors we can offer and Kans who have not been able to survive in this world,

1:12:51

but the three of you have somehow,

1:12:54

I think that it is truly remarkable.

1:12:57

There's something important in going into the unknown without a fully clenched fist.

1:13:03

If you're looking for a fight, you're always going to find one and she,

1:13:08

she just sighs it. So I look like looks up at the,

1:13:12

at the big stained glass windows. Well,

1:13:17

I am certainly impressed by what you all have laid out.

1:13:21

But as I've said, the Serena is in a difficult position with all of this.

1:13:27

So anything in her power to do must be done discreetly.

1:13:32

And as you have suggested through a medium,

1:13:35

through others. So what do you propose?

1:13:40

Where do we go from here? Exactly.

1:13:42

What do you ask of her?

1:13:46

I think to start, we have a little bit of work as I said to uh deal with before.

1:13:52

But number one is we already have an opening to go speak to the Blossom court,

1:13:58

which I think from the very limited interaction we've had seems to be the most similar to Eldred society and is the best place to start as is having somebody come with us uh to have that open communication and to see just to get a taste to the be the beginning of maybe opening negotiation would be excellent because we don't crave to be these all powerful people in this arrangement.

1:14:31

We just hope to be people who have a hand in brokering peace if even for now.

1:14:40

All right, I'll say your DC has lowered again for the emissary to meet with the sovereign court.

1:14:45

It's also lowered again on the cease fire against a specific court after this alliance,

1:14:50

those, those things you have sold really well to her.

1:14:53

So as we move into asking the next phase here,

1:14:56

keep in mind, you haven't lowered the DC at all.

1:14:59

You haven't mentioned the reins and then turnover agents for you all to deal with that actually did lower because you all clearly have some kind of weird power with the fat.

1:15:10

That is very impressive to her.

1:15:12

So that DC, that DC has lowered by one emissary and cease fire have gone down by two allocate to finding resources a against the Heaven Court basically.

1:15:22

And uh sent agents to, you have only been lowered by one.

1:15:26

Gurian has not been lowered at all. All right,

1:15:29

I think that is a wise step of this proposal first to send an,

1:15:34

an, an emissary, open the conversation.

1:15:37

But where would we go from there? So once we can understand the terms of an agreement,

1:15:43

I think the next thing and that we must work towards is understanding what it is that Haka and the weird sisters are exactly hoping to do right now.

1:15:55

All of our information around that is very little.

1:15:59

And so if on the mortal side,

1:16:03

while we would appreciate it,

1:16:05

if you all find any one associated with the Heavenly Court,

1:16:11

be the Mortal survey of detaining them.

1:16:14

And while we travel back and forth in our working in the,

1:16:19

in the wilds, we will do our own reconnaissance,

1:16:21

but we need to understand what the plan is so that we can learn how to disrupt it.

1:16:26

I think working from both ends in both the mortal and the fa realms will help us accomplish that faster.

1:16:31

And if you do find any agents of the heavenly court,

1:16:35

we can interrogate them because as I said earlier,

1:16:40

killing a a in the mortal realm is not gonna do shit.

1:16:43

All it's gonna do is keep us from accessing the information that we desperately need.

1:16:48

And as you say, the empire is desperate for information.

1:16:53

And with our knowledge that we have of the fate too,

1:16:56

I feel that we will be the best people to pose an interrogation one,

1:17:03

not only because of what we know, uh and what seems to work and to appeal to them,

1:17:09

but we will not be easily tricked into some kind of hacked or any kind of sneaky Tom Foy if you will,

1:17:21

that they've been known to bring over here like that.

1:17:26

That is a very good point and that's gonna lower turnover agents to you all by two steps.

1:17:32

Also, I think it would be a smart move to try and get some sort of lead on what's going on with the cars at the moment.

1:17:40

I know that they operate very much as their own sort of agency.

1:17:45

So perhaps your knowledge is limited.

1:17:48

But should I think it would be a good idea to send out some investigators to figure out what,

1:17:55

what they're planning next, where they've disappeared to,

1:17:58

if there are any like rumblings about the Klan's whereabouts at the moment?

1:18:03

Because if they're going off and,

1:18:06

uh, fighting f, without our knowledge,

1:18:09

it could interrupt our plans and our ability to keep that cease fire,

1:18:14

make it, make that even possible. They could,

1:18:17

they could derail all these plans if we don't know what,

1:18:20

what they're up to. Especially from the,

1:18:23

the viewpoint of before we started talking to you,

1:18:27

you just viewed them as the fa if mortals start attacking them,

1:18:33

then they will just say the mortals aren't being true to their word.

1:18:37

I think that we just need to have an understanding and to do what we can,

1:18:43

even though they are their own group to try to get them on board is difficult.

1:18:48

I feel like even more difficult than it would be to get the empire to help.

1:18:54

I think that having them join us in,

1:18:58

in, in this understanding that we hope to achieve would be just so powerful on everybody's end to finally have a unifying force between everyone against what the real issue is.

1:19:12

Evil motherfuckers. So you seem to imply that the Kan order is not interested in what the empire is interested in,

1:19:23

that they might actually form a barrier towards brokering this alliance and if will pull out the unencrypted letter from her father that states about Sae Noor going missing one of these high up curling.

1:19:39

And so she will offer that as a piece of evidence to so and to be like that rattles her,

1:19:47

obviously, when she reads that and she sees Sae's name,

1:19:51

this woman clearly recognizes that name.

1:19:53

You all don't. But she seems actually genuinely concerned like when this happens,

1:19:59

uh speaking back to early campaign,

1:20:02

they were, they were good buds. You all work together.

1:20:05

And I she knows so very well, that's very upsetting.

1:20:08

So I think if I would immediately pick up on that reaction and would,

1:20:12

would lean on that and would say we know not every curlin is out for blood.

1:20:19

But I think of what we know of the order in general is that they take a shoot far and ask questions later policy and we have had our,

1:20:29

had our own run in with a Correa named Whistler who personally threatened me and my life for heaven faith ancestry.

1:20:37

And while there are people in that order wandering around into the world,

1:20:41

they stand as a threat against any sort of understanding that we might actually be able to accomplish.

1:20:48

And if these Kans,

1:20:51

these high up powerful people are going missing,

1:20:55

we need to know why because if they can go missing,

1:20:59

if they could be lost in action, then that is a even bigger problem than we even thought it was.

1:21:07

Yeah. So I, I would say just mechanically even just here between mentioning great fucking idea and,

1:21:14

and your argument for that so far,

1:21:16

you've knocked this down by 33 stages already.

1:21:19

That was very effective thus far. Oh Yes,

1:21:21

stage for that goal for, yeah,

1:21:23

the car, not only that,

1:21:25

but you know, even if not all of them are missing and it's just some that are wondering about,

1:21:32

We don't know what we have experienced is that in our own travels,

1:21:39

a fay creature was turned on us by this car and Whistler through use of one of his bells.

1:21:46

So, having those kind of attacks that are caused by mortals is just more fuel to the fire of this whole conspiracy that it's going to be impossible to bring the two of us together.

1:22:01

Yeah, she seems to be dotting. Yeah,

1:22:04

she's listening and yeah, it's all,

1:22:06

it's, you're getting to her for sure.

1:22:09

God, I love truth spells because they make me so,

1:22:14

so powerful because I feel better when I'm making.

1:22:19

I don't know what it is. I feel freer.

1:22:22

I so cool.

1:22:27

All right. So I think,

1:22:30

yeah, I think we've lowered some, I think we've lowered some of these.

1:22:33

I'm gonna do one step down across the board because that was just so effective.

1:22:36

You're really getting to her. Ok.

1:22:38

So currently right now you've lowered the Kans by three steps.

1:22:42

That goal share information about the corns you've lowered the send emissary.

1:22:47

Now by three steps,

1:22:49

you've lowered the, the cease fire against the court.

1:22:52

Now by three steps to allocate to finding and investigating is only done by two steps.

1:23:00

Oh, no, no, that's three now. Ok. You're doing great across the board and the turn agents.

1:23:04

So they've all been lowered by three steps. Now,

1:23:07

guys, I wish I could. High five y'all so hard that it hurts.

1:23:11

Yeah. Look at the, look at the skills, look at the skills.

1:23:14

All right. OK.

1:23:16

So you've laid out the plan so far, you've told her you need the emissary.

1:23:19

You've told her, you haven't actually specifically said the cease fire,

1:23:23

but that's been pretty implied. You have told her you want her to look into the agents of the court and turn them over to deal with you and you've talked about the lins pretty much.

1:23:34

So you've pretty much hit the nail on the head.

1:23:36

Yeah. So what is your closing statements here on this conversation?

1:23:41

Then? We're gonna make some checks I think too.

1:23:44

You know, obviously we, we start at step one and we see what happens.

1:23:49

You know, it's not practical to throw money and resources at something that may not even be something that happens.

1:23:57

But if the time comes that we do make this alliance,

1:24:02

I mean, we're just four women.

1:24:06

We're are just mercenaries who wound up in this thing and want to do.

1:24:11

What's right? We don't have the funds to back some big advance that will help us everyone to get to a better place.

1:24:22

We would need financial support resources in order to actually make this into something that will matter.

1:24:30

Well, I think a conversation certainly needs to be had and there are agents I trust with my life and she just smiles.

1:24:40

It's gone. She, we all know, we all know here who you're talking to.

1:24:44

I will send one of them with you to speak with this blossom sovereign at the very least.

1:24:50

But now we make rules to see if there's more.

1:24:53

She's going. So all of you tell me what is the,

1:24:56

what is the skill you would like to use. So some of you have brought examples of stories.

1:25:02

Some of you have brought information,

1:25:04

some of you have obviously just been outright persuasive.

1:25:07

Some of you have called on your connection to the military like we can be a little bit creative.

1:25:13

What is the skill here that you think you've realistically brought to the table that has helped obviously,

1:25:19

if going for building the arguments,

1:25:21

making the arguments using, you know,

1:25:23

evidence that we've collected. She's going, going hard for persuasion.

1:25:27

Yep. What are you going with? Lou?

1:25:30

I would say uh I mean, the skill investigation would actually work really well here.

1:25:34

You've made a lot of inferences and put logical information together and X to Y that's what I was thinking.

1:25:40

But I didn't know if you were gonna make that insight.

1:25:42

But if I can use investigation, then I'm very good at that and I will take it,

1:25:46

insight would also work really well here.

1:25:49

I don't know, Tony, what your, uh, what your deal is.

1:25:53

I was leaning between insight or survival just from the things that she's learned since leaving.

1:25:59

Yeah. Exactly. The things they've experienced.

1:26:02

Yeah. I think either of those would be great. We're setting this now.

1:26:05

We're all gonna make a series of roles here.

1:26:07

So. All right. So,

1:26:09

uh Aife is going with persuasion. We're gonna roll right.

1:26:13

We have five rules here.

1:26:15

I have advantage because she is a neutral or amiable party.

1:26:20

So, advantage of my Christmas checks against her.

1:26:22

Hm. Because in my heroic destiny features,

1:26:27

I'm a celebrity bitch.

1:26:29

Uh ok. And then Lou is investigation and then Tony is going with.

1:26:35

Which one are you going with? Survival? Let's go with survival.

1:26:38

Let's roll for that first goal. Kids. 26.

1:26:42

26. You are good. Eva 17 12.

1:26:47

All right. But two out of three of you did good. So I'm gonna tally this all up at the end.

1:26:52

Total checks and fails. All right. Go to,

1:26:54

let's roll again. All right. This time,

1:26:56

I'm gonna use my inspiration 26 again.

1:27:00

We got those blessed nineteens,

1:27:02

22 16 scrape and buy.

1:27:06

But that's a pass. Ok.

1:27:09

You all luckily you lowered the DC.

1:27:11

The DC started at 30 everyone for each of these calls lowered it significantly.

1:27:17

It was reduced by five. Every time you made a good point.

1:27:21

Let's start again. 16.

1:27:23

All right. We're gonna use our bar inspiration this time.

1:27:28

That's a 14 for me. I didn't make it.

1:27:31

I got a 14 next one.

1:27:34

Let's go. 26 Jesus.

1:27:37

That 19. That guys love it.

1:27:41

Tony got a 17 30 20.

1:27:45

Ok. That is good across the board. All right.

1:27:47

Go five. Ok. I'm gonna use my inspiration on this one that I have saved.

1:27:52

25. Mm natural 20 for 28 21 for me.

1:28:02

Ok, cool. Hell yeah. Nice,

1:28:04

nice. Ok. Pretty good about across the board.

1:28:07

So you all you got 12 out of 15.

1:28:10

So what that means is that four of your goals succeed and one does not pick one of the five that you will not be able to get,

1:28:19

you will not be able to support you on that handing over agents.

1:28:24

My at my vote would be for handing over agents.

1:28:27

Hm I feel like that's the one that we can afford to lose.

1:28:32

Yeah, we can find our own. I mean I am still worried that like people are going to go into it to get information and end up uh you know,

1:28:40

in their hand but you know,

1:28:43

I feel like yeah, you're right. That's really the only one that we can do without.

1:28:47

Yeah, I'm ok with that. My vote was either that or for the corns.

1:28:50

But after her deep reaction to the Klan news,

1:28:55

maybe we want that instead, she clearly knows something.

1:28:58

Yeah. So, yeah, so you all,

1:29:01

you know, you say that, that closing kind of lou you,

1:29:03

you make that, that case and there's like a moment of silence,

1:29:07

right? As she seems to be taking it all in,

1:29:10

we will start by sending an emissary with you to speak to this blossom sovereign.

1:29:14

And of course, as you have suggested,

1:29:17

if discussions go well,

1:29:20

we can form an alliance with them.

1:29:22

We can if for only a short while,

1:29:25

a cease fire between their people and ours.

1:29:28

As we try and figure this out and learn to work together,

1:29:32

I can even share a little bit more about what has happened with the Koran order.

1:29:36

And I do think it behooves us to get more intelligence on what the Heavenly Court is doing.

1:29:44

But with the position I'm in my resources are limited,

1:29:50

there are enemies everywhere. I cannot realistically promise to hand over individuals that we capture to all of you.

1:29:59

It is just not within my power at this time.

1:30:02

I fear that would be a step too far in raising suspicions against what we're trying to do.

1:30:07

Thank you for providing all the assistance you you can and thank you for coming to meet us face to face.

1:30:15

I know that uh it's not easy indeed.

1:30:20

Getting away is harder and harder each year.

1:30:23

It seems but it is nice to know there are still friendly faces out there.

1:30:28

Thank you all. I will be in touch soon with the name of this emissary and we shall and she kind of,

1:30:35

she like pauses almost like she heard something,

1:30:39

but none of you hear it. And then like 30 seconds later,

1:30:43

the ground just rumbles just a little bit and you hear like a slamming sound that comes from the front doors of this cathedral as like the heavy ancient like wooden doors are like slammed shut.

1:30:57

And the sound of like a very heavy bolt is drawn like from the outside as somebody seems to have locked and barricaded the door.

1:31:04

Uh And then there's a sound of shattering that comes from like the front big window over the altar here.

1:31:11

And with that, as the wind like pulls in through the shattered windows,

1:31:14

all of the candles in here go out leaving just Afa's light uh on,

1:31:20

on the one, the only source in this otherwise totally dark room.

1:31:24

Uh And against like the moonlight.

1:31:26

Now of this totally broken room,

1:31:29

you can see the shards of this stained glass start kind of spinning and floating in the air as they swirl together to form a sheep.

1:31:39

That seems like a good place to end. Part one.

1:31:43

So we're gonna take a little break and we'll be back for part two in a little bit gang,

1:31:48

but stick with us. Thank you all.

1:31:50

So much for being here. We'll be back next time with part two for each and every one of you.

1:31:56

So let's just do some cash intros or outs just because we are going to split this up into two videos.

1:32:01

So, thanks so much everybody for joining us. Part one.

1:32:04

Can't wait to see you in a bit. I have been your dungeon master.

1:32:07

Celeste Gooch. Hello.

1:32:10

I'm Katie and I have played the very sat your drow rogue.

1:32:13

Hello. I'm Naseem. And I've been your half work fighter.

1:32:17

Tony Silver tail. Oh,

1:32:20

and I'm sage. Your deal. Broken Barred.

1:32:23

Aife Flannery. All right,

1:32:25

folks. Well, if you're watching it live, sorry, you gotta wait two weeks.

1:32:27

But everybody else, if you're listening or whatever, we'll see you in just a little bit.

1:32:31

Be right back.