Burn It Down

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

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That kind of thing means the world and it helps us keep the lights on. Of course, if you're watching on YouTube, make sure to like, subscribe, comment, and share. Do all that good algorithm stuff. And without further ado, let's get on with today's episode. (dramatic music) (dramatic music) - Let's do that thing where 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. My pronouns are anyone, any of them, they're all good. And I play Bittersweet, the Thayden endurance.

- And Michael. - Hey, I'm Michael and I play Fenris, the human charlatan warlock. Yeah. (laughing) - It sounded like there was more coming. - I feel like I'm just being funny. - I know, I was like, you know, I feel like I'm the lead to add something, but I always add the charlatan and I'm just like, you know what, you guys know, we're playing. That's what's new. - We just keep getting older, you know, and things happen and Kelsey. - I'm Kelsey, my pronouns are they/them and I'm playing Calypso Lovelace, the half elf bard. - And James Yule. - Hi, I'm James Yule.

- I just. (laughing) - And I play Dagon, the eladrin endurance. I almost said the S word. - Nice save, that's good. - That's the P word. (laughing) - The eladrin penis. (laughing) - Hey, he's only 16, can't say that. (laughing) - And last and certainly not least, Valerie. - Hi, I'm Valerie and I play Matilda Wolf from the Human Rogue. I have to remember every single time. - Here's the thing now, we gotta shake the ring rust off. - Literally been two months, it's okay. - We've had some tech difficulties and some life difficulties, things happen. - You got James, why don't you get COVID?

(laughing) - Couldn't talk for two days after that. - I don't know if I have any footage of that, but James shows up to the session, he's like, all right guys, let's do this. (laughing) Just this grapple voice. Yeah. (grunting) - He's like, I got, no, I got this. (grunting) I'm like, whoa. - I could do a really good Kratos. - Damn. - Yeah. - Boy. - Yeah. - There you go. - But that's the opposite of the character you're playing. - Yeah. (laughing) It's opposite of real life too. - I don't know man, you're pretty intimidating. - Oh God. - You remember that time you beat up Zeus?

Like it was a pretty good deal. (laughing) There's a guy named Zeus. - One time. - Still impressive. - Yeah, it was a small dog. (laughing) - I hesitate to say this again, but guys, you're here, you're in the house, here we go, it's gonna be great. Okay, so we split up, we have split the party, always the best decision. And we've got Bitter Sweet Grabbing Bread. Most everybody else is kind of in the foyer area. Like you guys are kind of in this, this almost like big atrium section type of thing. Once they're, you're finding old mage post-it notes, you're sorting through stuff, the place is clean and cleaning itself behind you as you go.

These candles are lit and lit with actual fire, it's not magic. What's kind of drawing your attention the most? And I'm speaking to everybody, but Bitter Sweet and Dumpy, of course. - The absence of Bitter Sweet. - Yeah, I mean, I think if I remember correctly, we all know that Bitter Sweet took off towards food. It was kind of like a half-hearted attempt, we're like, "Maybe we should stick together." Oh no, you're already gone, okay. - Bye. (laughing) - And the house doesn't seem to mean you any harm. There's a lovely backing track that the house is cleaning up after you.

Like it doesn't seem like it's trying to spook you off before boating or anything like that. So I don't think it would be a DEFCON situation that Bitter Sweet took off. So you guys know there's an office, you know that there are rooms downstairs, you know that there's a huge second floor, there's a massive Gone With The Wind staircase leading up to it. So, you know, what, do we wanna split the party further to cover more ground? Is there, I'm just tossing out suggestions. - Calypso's kind of like looking at the scroll in her hand just, "Well, I suppose we could start "by looking for the office since that's where Abernathy "said in this at least that he'd be, "there's presumably something there of interest." - I, should we maybe go collect Bitter Sweet?

I'd, you know, get a snack, hit the office. Yeah. - Dagon has his notebook out and he's sort of just taking track of everything. - Aww. - Noteworthy that he's seen 'cause it's like, the main mission is like recon basically because the Aladrin wanna know what's going on everywhere. And so he's right now, you know, candles lit, floor is cleaning itself, you know, strange audio log, that kind of thing. He'd probably be interested in knowing how this is happening. Like simple answer, magic, whatever, but you know, who's behind the curtain sort of thing. So if it is Abernathy, then yes, he wants to head to the office.

- This is, I would imagine most times Dagon is only kind of surface level interested in anything, right? 'Cause like, unless it, I don't wanna put words in his mouth, unless it benefits him or his people, it's kind of like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I'm here, I'm present, but like I'm not really listening. This is quite a lot of power. And that I would imagine is like, all right, I'm listening. Like you kind of, it's piqued your interest maybe a little bit, just kind of, hey, if it's a crystal or, you know, a fragment of something or just like, I'm gonna take it, I'm gonna bring it back.

Like that type of thing. - I mean, Brightport certainly did not impress him at all. So to see this- - It very rarely impresses many people. (laughing) - I mean, the filth was impressive, I imagine. - Impressive amount of filth, yes. - So I'm hearing office. - Yeah, well, do we wanna go collect bittersweet at the kitchens first? - Dagon's indifferent? - I think you can hear him. You can hear him like putting stuff, moving around and- - I feel like he'd be happier in the kitchen than in the office. - Calypso is gonna like, I don't know if this is how bittersweet's mind stuff works, but can they like send between just like a mental note of like, this is the direction we're going.

We're looking for the office or something. (laughing) - Is that how it works, Jason? - I don't think that's how it works. - It's more like someone calling you collect. It's like, hey, you gotta accept the charges. I'm calling you, that's great. But then there's a bit of a connection, but you can't, thoughts aren't ethereal, right? There has to be some sort of, yeah. But yeah. - My fate and senses tingle. - Well, here- - What are you doing in the kitchen? - We can just like call out, I guess. Just like kind of like- - Why don't you come in and find out? - No, it's just like, we're going to find the office.

I don't, does anyone have any idea of which direction to try or just? - Was it the, up the stairs, I think, was the path to the office? - We know there's an office. We just, do we know exactly where the office is? - You have no clue where it is. It just said, I'll be in the office. And then it's like, shit, like it's so big. So- - I think we're going to start try looking in the upstairs room. - If I were a all powerful mage that can literally leave magical voice messages anywhere, where in this house would I feel like I could see everything, but be in control.

That's where I think the office would be. - I'm thinking main floor. I'm thinking main floor. - A team also might have multiple offices. I mean, maybe there's the secret magic research office and also the like public paperwork office or that- - I wonder if there's a- - And the post office for sure is- - Boo! - Thank you. (laughing) - I've been tracking jokes with my son a lot lately and he's been booing me too. So, it's all good. - So upstairs. - I think so only because- - Good as start as any, yeah. - Okay. - This guy kind of feels like he's above other people maybe then he should be up higher in his office.

I don't know. - Man, you are, you're putting like eight levels of 40 chess on this. It's just like, look, this is the square footage I'm dealing with you weirdo. Like he's just not, yeah. But let's go upstairs and there are several doors to the left and to the right. - Just pick a side and just start going room by room. I see. - Yeah. - Up right side of stairs and first door, try. - Perfect, yes. We'll leave torches like Minecraft, see where you've been. - Or you can just do it like a hedge maze. You just always follow the right wall. - And eventually you know.

- I have not been in many hedge mazes, but I will remember that next time the opportunity present. I've always wanted to go through a hedge maze. The first door you're gonna open over here is it just looks like a standard guest bedroom type of thing, but there's nothing on the bed whatsoever. Like no sheets, no blankets, no nothing like that. So it doesn't look like it's been used in quite some time or maybe ever, like, yeah, just definitely. Like if you check the next couple of rooms on the right hand side, same thing. You're gonna hit a bathroom after a while.

And then there is one more door on the right hand side all the way at the end of the. - Someone take a shit in it and see if magic happens. (laughing) - That angers the house. - We have been traveling through the woods for a few days. So I imagine there might be a little bathroom break. We don't need to go over it on the show. - I always assume that's like rations and stuff. It's like, you refill your kit, you take a dump. You get your canteen filled, not in that order. - We've been taking a shit in the woods for like a few days. Everyone's probably like, oh thank God there's a toilet.

(laughing) - I think that'd be a one, like a one on the travel die is like, oh no, why y'all forgot to shit. - We don't talk about why everyone has a spade in their travel pack, okay, let's just not. - So there is one last door all the way at the end of the hallway on the right hand side. And that appears to be locked. - Cool. Also, we should probably be taking a record of this somehow. And Clif's will look at Dagon who is presumably has his notes out and just, are you making a sort of map of this or? - Yes, as he quickly starts scrolling down the hallway.

(laughing) Mostly it's been notes, just you know, things that piqued his interest, but that's a good idea. So yeah, he will start doing that. - Clifso hears a nice bright smile. Thank you very much, nice, polite, helpful boy. (laughing) - I hate to. - It should be noted that the rest of these doors are just, you know, fancy looking oak doors, probably got some decorative trim, that type of thing. But other than that, they're just, you know, they're just plain doors. The last one in the hallway has that wolf emblem that you saw on the knocker, and it is carved into the wood.

So this seems to be like a special room, especially since it's locked. - I mean, yes, if it looks like it would work, Clifso would like, if it's the same like size, they would at least like put it in the lock and like see if it'll turn. - Yeah, it's a somewhat bulky looking lock. Like it doesn't look like the same type of handle that the bedroom doors have. And that key will slide right in, and you'll hear the tumbler click, like if you give it a turn, and the door will just kind of like, like ever so slightly open up. - Should we hold off on this until we look in other places?

- I don't know, this kind of seems like the special door. - I mean, if we were looking for the office, this is, we could, I mean, we don't have to go in and thoroughly search it just yet, but we can at least just open the door and see what it is. - Okay, that's fair. - This is where you know she's a pro gamer, 'cause she's like, I gotta finish all the side quests first. - She's like, this is main story shit right here. - You can at least look and see what's inside before you take a step in to start the cut scene. Like are we in boss fight territory, or just like for-- - So yeah, I don't know, what if we hit a cut scene?

- That's what I was gonna say, as soon as you open this door, everything fades to black and a video starts playing, and it is, yeah. - Why is it auto-saving? - Leon from Resident Evil comes out. (laughing) - So opening this door, there's a big fancy room in here, and it looks almost like a trophy room or something like that. There's glass cases. It is very dimly lit, like kind of ambient. There's little lighting, not candlelight, but almost like a magic spotlight over these cases. And there are various, like almost picture the Batcave. Like there are various costumes kind of lit up, not like domino mask, you know, tights stuff, but like fancy capes and, you know, it looks like a few Eyes Wide Shut parties were hosted or something.

And these are different, it's like, oh, this was Halloween 2042, and this was, you know. So each one of these have like a little glass case, and then there are tons of special, like special edition books, it looks like, kind of surrounding the rest of the room, like big fancy bookcases, like 10 feet high, right? One of those fancy Beauty and the Beast ladders you gotta scoot up and down with. And there appears to be lots of drawers and nooks and crannies and stuff like that, and shiny little keepsakes, like there's all kinds of stuff. Like there are framed, like little framed, like photos and things like that.

This definitely looks to be some sort of like, maybe like for lack of a better term, like a memory room, like this is where I keep my stuff, you know what I mean? - Wow, that's definitely something we'll have to go through at some point. Cacalypso is just kind of like, there's definitely like a clear part of them that just wants to go through and start rummaging through all those fancy clothes and stuff, but. - Fenris is looking as well. - Yeah. - Yeah, you have them look like fancy. - I imagine everyone is kind of like, ooh. - I know I'm not a magic person, but does maybe a magic- - I think you're a magic person, Val.

- Thank you so much, Jason. I just turned 26. Can I do like an arcana check or something? - That didn't go so well for Fenris when he did that last time. - Yeah. - I know, but now we're in a special clothing room. - I don't think this is gonna lack the like, everything is made of magic, kind of. - I think, so okay, I think, you're a book person. - Yes. - I would love- - Wait, there's books in here. (all laughing) - There are, there's a bunch. - Lots. - Oh, that's so exciting. - Yeah. - Just lots of books. (all laughing) - Ding, ding, ding. - Oh, I love you, Valerie.

(all laughing) I was paying too much attention to the cape. - Just replaced my suit. I'm looking at him like, "See this tall as me." - There are many capes, by the way. Every outfit's got a cape. Like, why are you even going out if you don't have a cape? They're just different lengths. Some are like a shoulder cape, some are like the full length Dracula cape. Some are like that, the old Victorian Sherlock Holmes, like billowy sleeves separated. Oh yeah, like this. - Are there any purple ones? - You can have a hard time finding one that isn't purple. It's, no.

The guy has, yeah. There's a couple that like, as you're moving, as you're moving around the room, like it's sort of chromatic, it changes colors as you look at it from a different, it's real peacocky, like real, like, yeah. - I look at Calypso. - I want it. (all laughing) - There's definitely a lot in here that looks very interesting, but as Matilda said, we should be more methodical and go through every room, and they will close the door in front of Calypso. I mean, Matilda presumably is like, in books. Oh no. - And right behind Calypso, Bittersweet shows up with Dumpy in a loaf of bread, and he's holding out like a charcuterie board of meats and cheeses and breads for everyone.

- I think Dumpy's had his fill, if we're doing a dump date. Dumpy's probably had his fill, and it's like, here's a piece of ham. Like he'd hold it up to offer. It's like, oh man, you got to try the ham. It's good. This is a spiral cut, you could tell. - As I walked towards out, I whispered, "I'll be back," and took a close. - Just gently stroke the door. - Yeah, yeah, no. - Don't go anywhere. - Well, thank you so much, Bittersweet and Dumpy. This is very nice. So the kitchen was also stocked with very fresh looking food. - There's like sausage links just like coming out of his, his stack on his, on his hill.

- Like a magician's handkerchief. - Just like, yeah, it just keeps coming. - I'm not going to think about the technicalities behind where magic introduced me comes from or how that works. - None of the condiments are expired. - He just shrags. - Yeah. Even the mayo's still good. Like it's crazy. - Wow. - Tani would absolutely grab a piece of ham, by the way. It's like, "Oh, well, thank you." Like that type of thing. - Yes, of course, yes, of course. - Yes. - You need to keep your strength up. - It was like an infinity sign. - Make sure that she gets her fill. - So where to guys?

Like you've earmarked, you've definitely, that's in your mini map, boop. Fancy capes and books, like you got it. - Would that, would we say that that was like, just a fancy clothes area, not the office? Like if we were, since we're saying we're looking for the office, we're like, fancy, it does look like an office, right? - There didn't appear to be a desk. The only other thing of note in there was a door, but that seemed to be cordoned off. Like it seemed like there's something in front of the door. And I guess the one other thing about that room is the door was in the middle of the room.

- That is weird. - It looks like a doorway to nowhere. - Well, I wish we had noticed this before we left. - Well, you guys shut the door real quick. I didn't know we were edging for fucking story stuff. Like I thought we were, you know, so. - Well, capes, books, and hey, crazy door right in the middle of the room. - Well, okay, yeah, when you say it like that, I just really like the fancy clothes. - To be fair, Matilda didn't at first realize there was books, so. - Yeah, Matilda didn't realize. - Yeah, Matilda just like. - What a ditz. (laughing) - The door was a world of stealth, it's all good.

(laughing) - It's like, oh, that must not be installed. So like, it's, you know, but like, it's just a doorframe. Like it's just a doorframe and a door, like nothing seems to be like. - It's a door, it's a doorframe. - It's very weird. - And it's still doors. But if we open it, maybe it leads to another dimension. We don't know. We'll never know. I'm going back in. - Okay, so we're definitely coming back to this room, yes. (laughing) - Just like that. - You can fast travel now, you've unlocked it. Like you have it. So you wanna check the left side of the. - Yeah.

- Of the stairway? - Mm-hmm. - So there's only two doors to the right? - That's such a great idea, we have to follow. - There were three. - There were three, those were bedrooms. And then the last one was, yeah. And the left side. - Sorry, I missed the second one with the rain. - Oh yeah. (laughing) - Trying to draw them out here. - The left side is gonna be fairly similar. Like there's gonna be bedrooms, but these are all made up. And they appear, they have little personalities. Like people may have been living in them at one point or something like that. Like it appears as though these may have been students at one point, like this was a music academy at some point.

So who knows? And then there is one last room on the left hand side and that looks to be the master bedroom. - I've got a question. - Hit me. - Does it look like those the rooms that were people living in them, does it look like people were living in them recently or does it look like people were living in them and then like got raptured away at some point? - It definitely looks like the beds are made. Everything's like, so like there's evidence that people were there. There's clothing in the wardrobe and stuff like that, but no people, like it doesn't look like anything's touched it recently, but everything's so clean that it's really kind of tough to tell.

- Gotcha. - I have a theory you guys. The mansion itself murders people and then it cleans up all of the evidence. (laughing) I solved it. - Perfect murder house. Boom. - Let's go. - Everyone's hiding behind. - For sale. - For sale. - It's a surprise party. So yeah, that last door looks like the master bedroom door, like a big double doors, like it's yeah. - Oh, I mean definitely you wanna check that out. - Yeah. - I wanna go see the big comfy bed that is presumably awaiting me. - Is your room. - And yeah, technically, yeah. - It is now. - So walking in here, there's a big fancy four post bed with like one of those, like it's got a little cover and they're kind of a not a mosquito net type of thing, but like it's big and fancy, you know, it's wonderful.

There's also some sort of pet bed on the left hand side of the bed. This is like a king size bed. And then there's like a little pet bed next to it labeled sparkles. And the right side of the bed is clearly where Abernathy slept. And like he's got his little like end table right there, like his little nightstand type of thing. And give me a perception check. Everybody who's trained in perception, give me a little perception. - I don't think I'm trained in perception, nope. - No way. You think I would be, but. - Oh wow, we're rolling for key. Calypso, yeah, Calypso 18, Matilda 20.

Okay, so the two perceptive ones. There is a medallion, like a little like gold looking medallion hanging from the nightstand drawer handle. Like it looks like it, you know, like every night it's put there. And on the opposite side of the room, there's a little desk and it looks like there was like a journal, like open and like just a day to day scribbling type of thing. - You gotta look through that journal. - So I'll take the dresser. - How like many entries, like how long of a journal is this? - This looks to be maybe three, four years worth. Like, and the entries aren't super long.

Like sometimes there's two or three per page, but it would take a little while to sort through. But there's probably a lot of day to day information in this thing. If you want, you can just kind of like thumb through three or four pages, see if you can get something. - Yeah, and then, I mean, skip to the end. - Yeah, see how it ends. There's a lot, like, I think if you're sitting there, like it's like, okay, all right, just kind of thumbing through. There seems to be a lot of regret. Like this is a guy who is beating himself up a lot. Like no matter what he does, like there is a tone in this that definitely reads, I'm trying to make up for something, like that type of thing.

Like it very much reads like that. And it seems to hint at a project that he was really excited about that might like balance the scales in his mind at least. - Oh, no, it's gonna be big. - That kind of lines up with what we heard about with like the mages and stuff. So that's a little bit more flavor there. - Why don't we hear about the mages? - When before we had left the city, Matilda had like gotten some like info on like the history of the place. And it was like a private, I can scroll and find the details if we need them, but it was like a private family.

- I was gonna ask about it later. - That's in Brightport that had like magic users and stuff. And they were like sent up there to like work on something. - Oh, right. - There was like very ominous word, like containment or something like that. It's like, oh no. - Fingers in yours. Got it, thank you. - What are the last few entries? Like does it talk about, I mean, it's like presumably is dead, like anything about that or? - I dropped my pencil. - He is dead, no. - That's it, he ate it. There seems to be a finality to the notes. Like the way he's writing, it's like I only have a little bit of time left.

I have to finish things up, I have to get ready. And it doesn't mention like a specific, like an illness or like, but it almost takes on a paranoid quality toward the end. And then the last entry is, it's sort of a long one. So like it is, it's kind of saying goodbye, but it mentions passing everything down to my closest heir so that they can finish the story. That is the way it is specifically worded. - Hold on, I'm writing that specific phrasing down. (laughs) That feels important. Is there any mention like about like Calypso or like their family or anything like that?

Like, 'cause that is one thing they're also kind of looking for is any clue as to like how like they're related to this guy or any of this. So it doesn't mention you specifically by name. However, there are several indicators specifically in this last entry, it's like two or three pages long that one, they're looking for the heir that lives in Brightport. And two, this person would understand what needs to be done based on their life. Like there's like, again, finality, it's like you gotta finish the story. There's even, there's a line, it's almost italicized that specifically mentions just after the bit of like they'll know what to do to bring balance.

Like in their head, again, this whole balancing of scales thing, it's a motif that just keeps coming back. - Well, that's wonderfully ominous and vague. - Do you tell everybody about this? Like, are you reading it out loud or are you just like thumbing through it's like, huh? - I mean, they're probably just like at the moment, like just focused on like getting what information they can out of it and especially like last page or just kind of like, like I don't think they'd be like, again, it's like talking about it. They're just kind of processing at the moment 'cause it's like, oh goody, like it's not only like ominous like warnings or instructions of some sort, but it's also just like, oh yeah, you'll know what to do.

You'll know how to do this. Just no instructions or anything specifically. It's great, thanks. - You're the chosen one. You're here to bring balance to the force. We need to check Calypso's midichlorian count right now. Yeah, we gotta. End count, let's not use that. - There aren't any like younglings around or anything, right? - Can I tell you one of my favorite things is- - Valerie's 26. (all laughing) - Nice, aw, that was perfect. - I picture the way Valerie sees herself. It's old Yoda just falling asleep and dying on a couch somewhere. It's like, yeah. (all laughing) - You know, my old 900 years, like just.

- Yeah, yeah. - Yeah. (all laughing) - We all wanna go. - Anyway. Yeah, yeah. - So Calypso has not shared this information? - Yeah, Matilda said that she was gonna check out the like side table. - The side table, yeah. - While Calypso was reading, so. - I'm just gonna check out the dog bed or the pet bed. - Sure, yeah. - I got nothing to do. - It does look like it belonged to a dog. Like a medium sized dog. Like it's nice. And, and this thing was pampered. Like Sparkles had a good life. Like there's, there's evidence. Like if you, if you look around, like there's lots of little like indicators that this dog was alive for a long time, like decades.

- Oh. - Like unnaturally long. - I would use that term unnaturally. - It lived a long time. - Yeah, yeah. - I mean, if you have enough magic to roll this shit with the house, like I would also use it to extend my bed size pan. - Come here Sparkles. Like you're getting a promotion. So this medallion, it is that same wolf head thing, but it looks as though this has been carved. There's like a, there's like a big X through it with a, with like a knife. Like this is damaged. Like, you know, like, and on the back of it is a little gear. Like it looks like it fits into something.

You got yourself a Resident Evil puzzle. Like it looks like it. - Fits into the medallion. - Good. - Who knows? - Well, no, is that what you said? There was something in the back of the medallion? - Oh yes. It's right on the back of the back. I thought you meant it fits into, it's like, oh, to build like a super medallion. Yeah. (all laughing) - The medallion has a roots of length. - I'm gonna call my shot now. It's gonna have to do with that empty doorframe. There are gonna be little spots we gotta put all these medallion things in. - Well, there's only one way to find out.

- I'm gonna call my shot now. - Good. - I wanted to try something. We had the hint where, I know, right? That the dog was living for a long time. - Sure. - Is there, like I checked for like the magic earlier and like, oh my God, you know, it's not my magic, you know, kind of thing. - You're looking for dog magic. - I'm looking to see if the magic that's around is like getting, what's the word, not ingested, but it's like entering all of us, like is magic hitting us and like affecting us now? - Oh. - You know what? Give me an arcana check. - Testing test for asbestos.

- Yeah. (all laughing) - Like maybe everything's an illusion. - How about, oh. - You guys are just in a field poking berries up your nose. - No, no, no, we're in the mansion, but it's actually old and decrepit and dirty and cobwebs, but it just looks. - Ooh, like a dystopian setup. - Oh, it's so dark. - Yeah, okay, okay. - What were we eating? - Right? Oh, it was the worst moldiest food ever. - Oh, dang it. - Full of bugs. - So you, so eight, that's not, that's not great. You, picture this like, Fenris is kind of closing his eyes, right? And you're, you're kind of just, you're putting the vibe out there.

It's like, hey, you know, how's it going house? Like, you know, you're, you just, you know, and obviously there is a multitude of magic shit going on, but you're, you're trying to like, you're trying to filter it out, right? You're like, okay, okay, I'm not looking for the Roomba magic and I'm not looking for like the bread magic. I'm not looking, it's like, okay, I'm looking for more something that affects living organisms and like, once you hone in on that, you're not gonna get, again, it's an eight. You're not gonna get a specific, like a real chunky bit of knowledge, but you are gonna see that like, in your mind's eye, no one in the group is lighting up here, except for Dumpy.

So Dumpy's lit up like a beacon. Interesting. What's Dumpy wearing? He does have like a bracelet or something. He's got, yeah, he's got like a, he's got like a class ring type thing going on. Unless it's just Dumpy, but maybe it's the Emerald or whatever is on him. So, or maybe it's just like tuned to like animals or something. Here's the thing, like picture, like you could see a heat signature, like Fenris is the predator, right? Wish I had the sound effect right now. So Dumpy's body is lit up, but the only part that isn't is like the band around his fat little waist where the, like the jewelry isn't.

It's Dumpy that's lit up. So I'll, I'm like, hey, so we had to weird out to see if what was going on, like maybe it was affecting us or living things. If this dog's been around forever, but I think we're okay, but just so you guys know, Dumpy is like bright as the sun. Oh. Oh no. I pick him, I hold him up in my two hands and just like bring him real close to my face to see if he's okay, if he's doing okay. Does he look different, like rejuvenated or anything like that? Yeah. Does he have less wrinkles? His skin looks really moist. Presumably yes because he's eaten so much that it's like spooked out of it.

(all laughing) Dumpy will, like when you bring him up to your face, he'll lean over and like put one, like paw, like where the bridge of your nose would be. It just like, hey, like it's just kind of like, it's like, it's cool. Like just, it's a contact thing of like, it's like, Dumpy we're good, we're good. Like he's just, he seems fine. Like breathing fine. He obviously has an appetite and looks gorgeous. So yeah, seems fine. I look over at Penris. (all laughing) On the shrug, like he's okay. Hold him up, it's like, I mean, I'm holding up Dumpy. Well, I mean, if it's not.

Yeah, no, I agree with Calypso. Like maybe the same stuff that's cleaning up the house is making sure that if you have friends and if he was maybe lonely, you just wanna make sure that you got a companion with you to spend the time with. So maybe it's a good, maybe this is the best thing for Dumpy while he's in here. Well, we'll definitely keep an eye on it though. And I don't really know what else we can do at the moment. But why tune this only to animals? Why wouldn't it be tuned to? People like us. Maybe it's harder. If we're going by Skyrim logic, human souls are the biggest souls.

They're the hardest to- For Soul Trap. Do I need a big ass crystal? Yeah, exactly. Animal souls, no problem. We got you. We can use a crack jam for that, that's fine. Of course we're using Skyrim logic, okay. Carry on. You find us behind any waterfall, it's fine. (all laughing) Oh, it's cracked, come on. Just toss it in the bag with the others. Hey, Ian, I got something fun. Could you give me a D6? Yes, absolutely I can. Thank you. Hot off the presses. That's great. Thank you. You're welcome, ominous. So what else do you guys wanna check out here? Wanna look under the- Did we get a chance to do that side table?

That was the medallion thing. Oh, okay. Yeah, there's an old pair of glasses in there and stuff. It's old dude stuff. There's a salve of some sort, I'm sure. Well, it's the medallion. It's probably pretty nice lotion or something. It probably is. It's actually with diamonds ground up in it. Yeah. (all laughing) Some Pepto-Bismol chews. Yeah, sometimes in the middle of the night, he gets heartburn 'cause he lays flat on his back and he can't eat cheese after 10 p.m. Oh, you're late. I know, I'm self-inserting. That's all. (all laughing) I get it guys, I'm 26. I have, yeah.

He's sliding down. Things will not get better, sorry. Yeah, in the comments, if you wanna curse at Valerie, like do it, like it's fine. Like just, you know, give us your age and what you're feeling every time she says I'm 26. I don't know if we should have everyone give their ages. (all laughing) Put your favorite old person joke into the comments. You can't, don't talk about age on Twitch. I will take it on as one of my own jokes. If you're like under a certain age, you get in trouble. Oh yeah, if you're like 16 or 17, then you win. Like you, yeah, you've won.

Like you beat power. And that's the only way is to make her jealous. That's it. (all laughing) Calypso is gonna like walk over, like look at the medallion and then just like, I sort of skimmed through the journal. There's not anything that super stands out. It mentions of some kind of project, which kind of connects to what we talked about before we left Brightport. At the end, he said something about finding his closest heir who would understand what needs to be done to bring balance. And that's unfortunately as clear as an instruction as there is. So.

Are you the heir? I presumably since I'm, no mention of me specifically or my family or how it was determined that I'm the heir. Well. Apparently I'm supposed to do something here to bring balance, whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. So do you see anything relating to that, I guess? What can you do? What makes you special? (all laughing) That is exactly the question he would ask her. It's like, what do you do? Calypso like closes their eyes for a few seconds. It's just like, well maybe there's something locked away somewhere that I can play the violin at.

Your guess is as good as mine. Well, that's something. Yes, thank you Dagon, it doesn't need something. Oh, by the way, how's Tani doing? 'Cause she's also been with us and I just remembered. So like, I was just about to say, like she might kind of like nudge Dagon. It's like, hey, we're in her fancy house. Like she's just, you know. Well, I'm just trying to help. Dagon's used to being in fancy houses, it's fine. That's the, it's yeah, that's like, if someone asked that of me, it's like, what do you do? And I'm like, like just instant, like, it's like, I don't know.

It's funny though, because like in this specific instance. I'd be happy to answer that question though. That's the question, like Calypso is also asking, he's like, what about me specifically? He's like leading to this. But just the way that he phrased it is so confusing. In the context of the question, it's like, what are you gonna do about it? Kind of thing, it's like, I don't know. What's your worth? How are you gonna fix inequality? Like just, it's like, oh. It's like when you're thinking about someone and someone calls you out in that same like word, you're like, don't ask this question, don't ask this question.

Oh yeah, shit. - Okay, well listen, listen. Wasn't this a school for music? And you play music. - Yes, that's the main connection that, but I mean, there are a lot of people in Brightport that play music. - I don't know, well maybe play your music then. - Hey. (laughing) - Play you a little fiddle. - Wow me. - Maybe we should find an auditorium or something. - Yeah, if we find a place that seems positioned for that. I mean, just-- - Just try, just take it out, just play a little bit. Let's see, maybe the lights will get brighter. We don't know. (laughing) - Killers are just like a size and just like a take on it's like, clearly it's like, they feel just like if it are it's like the dog bed and everything.

It's like, this feels like a personal kind of space, but finally they like go to like the side table and like get out their violin and just sort of like just probably like play through like a couple of like chords or something. Like they're just like not anything like specific, but-- - See if anything explodes or like-- - Yeah, like they're just like start, you know, just to see if anything responds. - So nothing specific, right? Just a couple of like, you know, okay. - Something does start happening. - Oh, okay. - But like there's kind of a faint purple aura, like almost like, I almost said like a chem trail and I don't know what the fuck.

(laughing) - Like a purple particle or-- - Yeah, you know, just do your own research guys. (laughing) - Like almost like a faint sparkly trail that I'm gonna avoid the word trail to. So like it kind of swirls around Calypso for a second and then it looks like it's starting to lead somewhere and then as soon as they stop, like it just kind of like fades off. - Well, that was something more than I expected. - Cool effect, yeah. You're welcome. - I think, I think Panny would like-- - Something I would have tried. - Wait, wait, does that usually happen when you play or is that like how we get to the ghost?

- Could do, but that, this time that specifically was not me, no, that's the house. - That's the ghost, okay, do it again. (laughing) - Oh, look at Tanny. - I told you, see, you gotta listen to me, I told you. I said, you said I was-- - You know what, you know what, when you're right, you're right, I just think there was a better way to bring it up, but that's not really the point, right now we're gonna go see a ghost. (laughing) - Oh, I love them. - I was just like doing a double check, like. (laughing) - Yeah, uh-huh, uh-huh, just, just, ghost look out.

Yes, so, Clips is gonna start, start, start playing again, like, just, like, if they're like, faint, like piano, like ambiance music is still playing, they're gonna just kind of like play along a little bit to that, just 'cause it's like, well, I mean, it's there, it's not, it's like something you do in this minute. - The cool thing is like, as you start playing, like the piano starts to change its timing to suit what you were playing. - Ooh. - So like, like if you just started busting out, Deva went down to Georgia, like it's gonna keep up, like it's, you know what I mean?

But like, I assume it's something a little classier. - Yeah, I mean, and right now, like, they're just like, they're not, like, because they're trying to not play anything 'cause they're more like focused on what's happening as a result of this than like what they're playing specifically, but as the piano music does like change the match, they do, like, they can't help, but they start to like get a pretty big grin. - Fucking groove, right? Like it's fucking cool, right? (laughing) But for someone who loves music, it's like, all right, come on, like, you know?

That's like, that's like the ultimate, it's like heated floor tiles in your bathroom, cool. It's like, man, I have made it. Like, you know? (laughing) - That's the dream. - That, I imagine for you specifically, right? Like, for all Canadians, it's like, well, I mean, that's. - She's like, wait a minute. (laughing) - You know, you notoriously have very cold bare feet all the time. Like, given your history, James. - My dream was high efficiency furnace. We got one. - Ooh. (laughing) (laughing) - So. - Music. - This trail is going to start again, right? And this time it's got a little renewed vigor.

Like you're gonna follow it out there. It's almost like one of those, like any cartoon where someone bakes a pie and puts it on a windowsill, like the, like you could see the scent trail. It's almost like that, but kind of a vibrant sparkling purple type of thing. And Tani is gonna be right behind you. Like, like, it's like, okay, come on, come on. Like this is like, this is it, right? Like this has been like exploring all the old guy stuff is great, that's cool. But it's ghost time. Like, let's do it. - Is there a vibe coming off this purple cloud stuff?

Like. - The vibe is purple, yeah. - Well. - It's like, what kind of vibe are you looking for? - Like, is everyone like, yeah, this is great. Let's follow this purple stream. Or is it like, this is purple. - Oh, is anyone apprehensive? Like it's like. - Yeah, this is purple. Purple is the color of evil magic. - Hey, purple's a very nice color. Thank you very much. - Oh no, we started the color war about that. I have specifically never color coded magic because I wanted to avoid that. I live with Brie, I'm not having that discussion every time. - I thought demon magic was purple.

Maybe that was just for Dagon and anything. - I mean, some demonic magic, like sometimes it's red. So it tends to skew a little brighter on the scale. Whereas like learned magic tends to, like if you ever go back in the show and you listen, there's a lot of light blues and like, you know, like that kind of soft ambers and things like that where, yeah. And then sorcerer magic tends to be a little starker, brighter, almost like lightning strikes type of thing. So anyway, this clearly evil magic is swirling around Calypso. - Well, let's follow it. - And it is going to lead you back to the stairwell.

And then it's going to break off. One is going to go downstairs and it's going to snake around and kind of like stop at a door on the lower level. Like, you know, it's just going to kind of like stop there. And the other one's going to go back down the hall to the right in front of that Wolf's head door and do the same. - Oh, so it's split? - Yep. - Okay. - Maybe check out the downstairs 'cause we know it's in that other one. - Yes, let's go there first. And then we can decide which of the two to further inspect first. - And it's already going down the stairs.

Like already, like it's like, oh, there it is. - Okay, yep. - It's like, we know it ain't up there. It's gotta be down here. (laughs) - This ghost definitely exists. - Gosh, she is so, there's, okay. You try telling someone that there's no ghost in a house where like spills clean up themselves and there's infinite hot sauce. Like try telling someone, like, you know? - Listen, I'm not telling her anything. I'm just, this is very funny. She's so determined to find a ghost. Like she's got little legs too. So it's that, it's like that, you know, someone going really fast downstairs.

And she's gonna kind of look back to like, everyone's like, it's cool if I open this door. Like she'll wait too, like she won't be rude. It's your house. - No, it's just hands are full. Like, please open the door. - Yeah. So if you guys are coming down the stairs behind her, you're gonna see her like turn the knob and just kind of like, okay, it's probably locked. It is not locked. And then just kind of like push it open and immediately there is a massive oak desk. Polished, shiny, there's like stationary everywhere. There's a big day planner type thing. And then there is a closed journal sitting right there.

And if you guys were to walk in, the rest of the room is much more worn books. It looks like maybe research material. Maybe there's even a space across the room that looks like it was for experiments of some kind or feel like little tests, things like that. - I would have expected this to be upstairs. - The purple trail seem to be doing anything else or? - So the second the door opens, the trail is basically going to float into the room and almost take up the seat. Like it's almost saying, it's like, here you go, have a seat, it's your office, like that type of thing.

- Okay. - Should we check for traps? - I know we've done like Arcana stuff. - Sure. Do you wanna check for like seat traps? Like someone put up like a thumbtack on there or something? - Whoopee cushion. - Yeah, well, I can make an intelligence investigation check to uncover or decipher clues. - That is how that works, yeah. Do you wanna do that? (laughing) - Yes. - I feel like you quoted the Player's Handbook at me just now. (laughing) - Give me an investigation though. - Investigate the heck out of this office. - Ooh. - Okay, 18, not too bad. - This is clearly like obviously a big fancy chair, like puffy leather upholstering, but it is worn.

It's the only thing in the office besides the reading material that looks worn. Like there is a clear butt groove in here. Like it is like a lot of time was spent in this chair. The desk looks brand new. Everything else looks very nice, but for whatever reason, the chair here is just kinda, you know, seen better days. - Calypso's gonna stop playing so they can like use their hands to look good. - Just, I mean, I guess they're gonna sit in the chair unless anyone objects to that, like it seems. - Okay, it's their chair. - Not my chair. (laughing) - They're kind of like cautiously like move the chair out.

Nothing happens, okay, just sort of slowly sit down. - You're not still playing, right? You're not like wandering over the chair. - Like, by the way, when I mentioned Devil Went Down to Georgia, did anyone else hear the (imitates trumpet) Like that, that, that little like that. Okay, okay, I didn't know if that was just me. Like I pictured it, even though I know that wasn't what they were playing. Like it just made me happy. - I played the whole song. - Any, yeah, or any song from Firefly, like whatever. Like it's all, it's fine, it's fine. Okay, so as you sit down in this chair, you're gonna feel a comfort, like wash over you.

Like it's like, oh, I am home. Like this chair was made for your butt. Like it is, it is just, it's like, oh, that's nice. Like that journal is going to fly open to the last page. And what's interesting about it, if you look, it looks like a relatively new journal. Like the date starts like a couple of years back, like maybe three, four years. And it's just after the school closes, like after he sends everybody home, after like, he's like, hey, look, and there's no, if you're reading through the journal, there's no malice towards any of the students. It's more, almost I have a higher calling now.

I have to focus all of my attention on this. And it's kind of vague, like what they're talking about, but there seems to be a singular project. And he is convinced that this is going to fix. He keeps calling it this situation. - Did we, did we, we brought the blueprints, right? - Yeah, I would imagine, unless you didn't. - I say we did. - Definitely. - Can I, can I work on like orienting myself with like the house and the, and trying to figure out like, 'cause there's like a secret room or a something, something. - In this house? No. - Yeah, in this house.

Trust me, I'm 26. (all laughing) And I wanna know if I can like find where that is. - You didn't even hear the swipes Kelsey was taking because she's like, oh, I'm gonna have to go. - I'm not joking because. - No, it's a meme. I was being joke. - While you're doing that, I'm gonna ask for a check in just a minute. 'Cause lining, you remember the blueprints didn't quite match up for certain things. And it's like, you're very like, it's like, okay, okay. Like you're, you're doing the cork board yarn thing. Like you're all right, okay. If we're in the office and that's here, like, yeah.

I'm gonna assume you're flipping through this journal to gather some, okay, cool, cool, cool. - Yeah, yeah. - Everyone else. - They're like flipping through this journal, resisting to urge and just lean back in this chair and never leave for the rest of their life. (all laughing) - Oh man, I. - Oh, go ahead, sorry. - No, I gotta find out what the situation is. - The situation. - Actually, can I do something real quick? Just real quick. - Oh yeah. - I tap Fenris on the shoulder and hold Dumpy up again and sort of like push him in your face a little bit to see if he can like check again if it's this, like if it was just that room or like, if it's this room too or what it is.

- Okay, Fenris will like understand like, oh, okay. And then I was like, I guess I couldn't tell because it was such a low row, it could have been just anything. So he'll close his eyes and try again and see if he has better luck or if he's also a little, it's almost like he's worried that gets a live wire, that he's just gonna get like fried because he kind of feels like his patrons almost like just watching and kind of feeling like he's got eyes watching like, I'm watching you, you stay, keep your hand out of the jar. - For your patron, I feel like it's almost like, are you looking at other magic?

I thought you were happy with me, that type of thing. You know what I mean? Like it's almost like, it's like, how dare you? Like, you know, like. - Yeah, and yeah, no, I did, absolutely. And so I- - Is that what you want, rats? It's like, you know, just. (all laughing) - I literally want- - We can do rats, like. - I absolutely get that because my patron is always imaged as a woman, but also you think of that like- - Sexist. - No, go ahead. (all laughing) - It's, you know, possibility. And it's that same, like when you're saying that voice of like, you look at others, you know what, was my not good enough?

Like you get that like tone, it comes in even sharper because of that almost. - I'm not touching that with a 10 foot pole. - I mean, the patron is Fenris' Dom. The patron's Fenris' Dom. - Oh, okay, yeah. All right, yeah, I can play that. Let's go. (all laughing) - Now we're on the famous page. - Let's get weird, Michael. (all laughing) - It'd be a real first for this show. - Yeah, I know. - We're starting now. Now we decide. - I love that every once in a while we just play role play chicken. Like it's like, who gets weird now first? (all laughing) - Give me a roll, give me Arcana.

- All right. - Ooh. - Holy shit. - Ooh. - Chris, give us the dog date in four. - 21. - I was gonna say, this is the last time though, 'cause you know, but that's amazing. So you're, again, it's almost that Daredevil tuning out other sounds to like, it's like, okay, hold on, hold on. And don't be still glowing bright. No one else is in the party here. And there's a red tinge to it. - Mm. - Like, like, like, could you, could you give me a D20? - Sure. - Yeah. - Okay. 14. - So there is something definitely affecting animals or at least this animal. And it seems to be, it seems to be boosting their life force.

Like, like normally a Dumpy would live to be maybe three years old. You've got a, you got a, you got a pretty decent run as a city rat, right? If you're reading this correctly, like Dumpy could like graduate high school. Like it's like, that's, that's odd. - I could even imagine him in a little cotton gown. - That's my boy. That's my boy. - More than that, that red tinge indicates that Dumpy's vigor has kind of translated into strength. And we're going to change his strength score to 14. - What? - Whoa, yay. - What was it before? - Dumpy is stronger than a big one.

Okay. - Jack's not saying anything. - Strength was two. - Oh, okay. Yeah. He's also stronger than a Calypso now. This is not a name. - Yeah. You're, you're, you're reading, but it's like still a rat. Still you're like, huh? Like. - It's like Ant-Man. - But like stronger than like an average person, like humans and rat. Like that is incredible. - I mean, I'm glad he's on our team. - Dumpy is as strong as I am. - It's bonding. That's what it is. You know how like pets take on qualities of their, their, their owners? Like that's what it is. - Tomorrow morning Dumpy just has like a mouth, like open up in his stomach.

- His chest cavity opens. - Yeah. So the question now is, does this only apply? Well, Dumpy is in the mansion. We would leave. - Probably lose his chest. - I mean, you could step outside and just see. - I, you know what? With a crit. - So I'm guessing Sparkles had to be left outside. Led outside once in a while, right? - Yeah. Sparkles was not an outside dog. - I, I, the hell's cleaning up that? - This is like a picture. - I picture Fenris is doing the math over and over again. It's like, wait, let me start over. And you're just like, it's like, that can't be right. 14?

No. Like you're, cause obviously you're not going to say he has a strength score 14, but it's like, if I, if I'm reading this right, he could probably pick up the back end of a carriage if we needed to like change a wagon wheel. Like it's like, that's like, you wouldn't pick it up very high, but like with a crit, it's like, this seems to be like, for his lifetime, his unnaturally long lifetime. Like you're, it's like, it's not, it's like a gift from the house, not tied to the house. - Oh, was that what the D6 was for? Like what's that? - Yep. - You can pull the carriage, get a little harness.

Technically, he's stronger than like two horses. Really freak people out as you ride into town. He's like, shut up. - Oh, we need to do that. We need to do that. - Charge two bits of gander. - Don't stare at him. - How do you relay that information? - Yeah, like how do you? Oh, by the way, your rat has super strength now. - So. - Definitely for a rat. - Yeah, I like look at the rat and I look at Bittersweet and I wasn't reading Bittersweet, no one. I look at the rat, I look at Bittersweet and I'm like, so he's super dumpy. He's like, he can lift a carriage, he could lift packs, he could lift a lot, which is weird because I don't think he should be able to and it seems to be just a part of him now, not enchanted, not temporary, not like maybe some sweet, awesome food he got in the kitchen made him all awesome.

It seems, and I've checked and I've rechecked and then I've rechecked that recheck and it doesn't make any sense, but he is, that is one strong dumpy. Like he's our tank. - He carries with his legs, that's what it is, that's how he's lifting and that's definitely where his strength is. He's got a lot of core strength. - Comes from the ass, we all know that. The power comes from the rear. - That's why I'm so weak. (all laughing) - Wow, so yeah, I guess I hold dumpy up and I'm just like looking him over and you said he seemed okay, so I'm just sort of like-- - Excellent health.

- Yeah, I just kind of like, I flex, my bicep and point at him like you're looking swole, my guy, like you're looking good. (all laughing) - Oh, I want a picture of like a swole. - Yeah, I want a picture of like a swole. - A swole rat. - He's just abs all the way down. - He's like this big. (all laughing) Already dead. - He's got a 24 pack. - So going over this journal, I don't know if that would catch your attention. It's like, yeah, yeah, mega rat. What? Like, I don't know if that's gonna like-- - Yeah, like I feel like also like glazes up, like it catches the important parts of that conversation, just like, yeah, okay.

Like there's been a lot of stuff going on. - But it's not bad stuff, it's just weird stuff. Like, it's like, okay. - Okay, I just gotta make a note of that to think about later. - We'll look into that later. - Yeah. - So bump into that question mark? (all laughing) - So as you're reading through this, right? There's a couple of things that pop up. One, that self-doubt and like, I need to make up for something, it's much more defined in this journal. He describes himself as a selfish person and like he didn't understand all of the things he had and how unfair it was to everyone else and all this stuff.

And the part of the school was to give back. It's like, it's a free school for people to come to and like, share that passion of music and all that. He also mentions, there's basically a mini concert hall in the house. So presumably somewhere, probably on the first floor is just a big band room. Like there's all kinds of stuff. He starts going into what he thought was the main problem for Brightport and any large city, which is overcrowding. So in his head, he's like, okay, if we just had infinite space, then this wouldn't be a problem. So like, he started working on like some kind of building or some kind of like space where it's like, just infinite rooms.

Everyone will have a place to live, free, like they can go. And the more he's going into it, like he's describing that doorway, that room, that like he's describing that. And there's a space that's like, imagine limitless space for everyone. No more fighting and clawing just for scraps. And then there's a journal entry that is absolutely overjoyed. Like you could tell just like the way he's writing, it's like there's exclamation points and he's punctuating with his quill and something. And he's like, I've done it. I have done it. Like I have found a way.

There is infinite space here. I've done it. I can invite people from the city and they could just live here. And like he's going into the house and like he's going into it. And then the next journal entry just says it's not empty. Fuck. As you finish that line, a little drawer is going to pop out on the desk with a big skeleton key with the numbers four, two, three emblazoned on... Motherfucker. The keys. Oh, the keys. Holy shit. On the back of this key engraved into it, it just says the key to the city. I'm not ending the session yet. Fuck you. Let's go. Come on.

Okay. I wasn't sure. That's what you thought. No. That feels like a Jason dropping the bomb and hitting the sun. What if there's something bigger coming? Oh, God. Oh, Kefir Lufthagin. Calypso just like... I don't even know. It's just like staring at that journal entry. Then they probably jump a bit when the drawer pops out. And then they're just not touching it, just looking at the key. There's a little bit of a probably noticeable change to their demeanor when before it was like, okay, this is creepy and there's some weird stuff going on, but there is now some actual apprehension and like, oh shit, there is something maybe really bad here.

That kind of thing. Can I ask an out of character question? Hit me. Of course. Okay. Because I know we've known about... We as humans have known about this key and this something 423. But that was first brought up in another arc, right? And someone found that key? Yeah. Two, two arcs ago in a weird coffin in the woods. I remember that. We ignored it. We ignored it. We did not ignore it. We just never got to write for it because there was a vampire situation. It was tough. You get busy, right? I think I know why this group is called Invasion. I'm so happy it's back and also so angry.

I think I know why it's called Invasion. Yeah. And that's why I'm just thinking through it. It's like, God, I was like, okay, first of all, maybe you should have talked to more people before deciding this is clearly the problem and the solution. Maybe it's okay. There's a lot of issues there, but just like the "it's not empty" phrase. It's like, gosh, it's like, okay, where the hell should he open up into? It feels like it's like, oh, maybe it's into hell or something. That almost feels like too easy of a solution like that. It's not empty. It's just such a good phrase because I have absolutely no idea and it's really terrifying.

It gives me very big Dead Space vibes. I was thinking back rooms or House of Leaves. Event horizon. Yeah. Yeah, event horizon was down mine. So I want to try something. I promise it's not Arcana. Yeah, you won. That's it. I can't give you anything more. You did it. So I have this spell called Borrowed Knowledge where I draw on knowledge from spirits of the past. And then I choose a skill that I lack proficiency, which is... So I was wondering if I could play it in using this spell, use history and lean on my patron to channel some knowledge of maybe someone or something that maybe lived here in the past that might give us some more info.

It's kind of a stretch, but it's also something that I'm... I'll tell you what, if you roll fairly high, yeah, I'll give you some stuff. Okay. Well, we'll play that off as your patron's willingness to cooperate with this outsider magic type of thing. How offended was your patron about the rat request earlier? I feel like she was showing off, like, "Look what I can do." Now I am forced to play his patron as a jealous... I can't wait. It's just a toxic relationship that they're both locked into now. And it's been a long time. And like, "Whoa, my CDs are in his truck." It's like, you know what I mean?

Especially when it's like, presumably, this is not how your patron interacts with other people. Someone's just like, "Oh, yeah, this motherfucker." Right. It's like, you know when you first make a pact with a demon and you're still exploring stuff and the powers are new and everything's kind of fresh and sexy, and then you're 12 years in and work kind of gets in the way and that same fire isn't there, you know? I don't think anyone even knows what the cost is of the patron that I owe her continually. So that's something to open up later. (laughter) No, it's like...

(laughter) Turns out Fenris is just really good. It's like, "Yeah, yeah, canon, canon." Fuck. (laughter) So, Fenris, what'd that dick do? (laughter) It's the helicopter. (laughter) As he does it, the house band like... (imitates band) Like it's playing behind him. Oh, okay. So I don't know how that works other than I guess I just cast it. Yeah, just give me a history check and we'll add the... Guys, I don't know where we're going to find a book worth at least 25 gold. (laughter) In this place? I'm sure. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. You're going to have to get an appraiser out here is the thing.

You got to know. It's like, "Ooh, that's 34 gold. Can we go lower?" You're going to have to barter. Should I do the check on it because it makes it proficient or should I... Just give me history and then we'll add proficiency to it. Cool, cool. Easy math. Okay. Well, that would be... (laughter) So that'd be like 15 after the... or 16. Something around there. Because that's plus five, I think, for proficiency. Yeah. So you're going to get a hand because there are essentially newspaper clippings and stuff like that that go back a long time. Kind of bundled together.

So it's like, "Okay, so all this is for Brightport. All this stuff." And while you're going through this... Tani, by the way, is searching behind stuff, looking for ghosts, hopefully plural, but she'd set it for singular right now. So just looking behind books and things like that, just checking stuff out. So you're going to... There's going to be a flood of knowledge, but it's very scattered. It's random. It's shotgunned. Elections that had suspect results, funneling of money to places that didn't need it. Rampant poverty spreading in the south of the city while contracts for dock workers are negotiated lower and lower.

There's just this rampant... it's like, "Well, here's your problem." If you put it all together and you... And these are kind of lumped in with just innocuous stories and stuff like that. But every time you find one of these that sounds like Brightport, that type of thing, there's going to be a little crudely drummed wolf head in there every time. So I present that to the group, like, I think... I'm pretty sure this is even more info related to solving the situation. Is it visible for everyone else to see the wolf head or is it just me seeing it? No, no, no.

You might have to point it out because it's not like he did it in crayon and shit. Like, "Oh, there's a little one here." That type of thing. It might take a couple of seconds to someone to see a pattern. This might go to what you were looking at, Calypso. Look at all these wolf heads and I'll talk about these Brightport issues. Just to clarify... Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead. No, I said Calypso has since picked up the key and they're just kind of like... they're like, nodding and on some level absorbing what Fenris is saying, but they're kind of staring at the key in their hands.

Kind of that Saving Private Ryan shell shock, like bombs are going off in the background. Like, "Eeee!" Like you're just looking at the thing. Big hefty key. By the way, Val. Yes. You are going to finally... like it takes a while, but you're lining stuff up. And the Cornados. That was the family that helped. So every new addition seems to line up with that room with the door upstairs. Every new addition. Like there's something... like it all leads to that. And there seems to be two portions of the room. There's the side with the door on it that almost... like I said, it's kind of like quartered off.

Like, you know, there's something keeping that closed. And then on the other side, near the display cases, there was... it seemed to be like a walk-in closet or something like that that you didn't see when you were up there. But on the blueprints, it exists. And that was one of the like newly built things? Yeah. Gotcha. Okay, well, I'm probably not going to say anything about it to anybody. Seems fair. [Laughter] I just wanted to clarify. It's because... sorry, there are people like running up in here and it's hard to concentrate. Dude, you're fine. Hit me.

The Wolfhead drawings on these things, they're like... they're around these... like all of this stuff that is culminating in the inequality that's in Brightport. Like all of the events that's sort of like... Seems to be. Okay, okay. Got it. Yeah. Every time there's a story of like, "The rich get richer, the poor get poorer," for lack of a better term, like it's more gray than that. But like it feels like maybe Abernathy was really obsessed with this thing or had a hunch about this or whatever. But like that is the pattern. It's there every time there's a story like that.

Gotcha. Thank you. Was Abernathy known as like a philanthropist at all? Like did he give to the city at all? He had a school for music. I know, he had a school. But did he do anything like directly to Brightport? Like give or... It almost seemed like he moved to get away from Brightport. Like he wanted to do... you know, he... like it seems like even following the journals, it's like he seems like he wants to do good and he wants to like help out. But it wasn't directly for the city unless you count the side project he was working on for Infinite Space. Like that was, you know, it's like, "Well, that'll fix it." Like that type of thing.

But maybe he didn't feel like money would help it. He also didn't go the Batman route of just like showing up at night and kicking the shit out of people. So like, uh-uh. Like he went a different way. It's almost like he wanted to have a positive impact, but almost with like selfish intent a little bit or like some selfishness into it. Maybe. I mean, we would never know, I guess. I mean, it's clearly not like he was like getting people, like interviewing like people that were actually impacted by this stuff. I feel like more space isn't like... Well, and he was doing it for his emotions, right?

Like to make him feel better about something. I mean, I guess he didn't at least let it go to like, "People should stop having kids" route and things. That's like... I know that as soon as I heard Jason say like the journal was about overpopulation, I was like, "Oh no." It's like, "Oh, we just got to sterilize the city." Yeah, exactly. "Sterilize all the poor people." At least it's not that. Sorry, did he die or did he disappear? Supposedly dead, but we don't know the details of any of that yet. So... Yeah. Yes is the answer. I mean, but defined dead. Currently absent?

Like it's currently absent. We're dealing with stuff like this. Possibly on the other side of the door. Which for all we know, it's death. Like it's fucking... With sparkles. Yeah. Well, we should probably go through it. Yeah, so... Now there's plenty of room. We'll be back. We're not not going to go through it. Yeah. So everyone's got like Calypso's just going to like lean back and just... Oh, you don't even know if he like murdered people because this place like cleans up after itself. Like... Maybe that's why it does. I love five people from the city of Brightport being distrusting of nice things in the house.

It's like, yeah, man, there could be bodies everywhere. Like, just don't trust. Like, it's like, I don't know, man, that music's too nice. What's it covering up? We just got beat up not too long ago. We don't trust anything. I'm saying you have been conditioned that way. Rightfully so. Like, makes sense. There are no ethical millionaires here with their fancy magics. So Calypso's going to like put the key like on the desk and... I don't suppose this means anything to anyone of you? I don't know if this is related to the house or not. 4, 2, 3. Big head shake now.

I mean, another arc ago. I mean, it's April 2023, but... Oh my god. Jason now feels like the biggest genius. He's like, I planned it that way. That's right. You are welcome. I've engineered every failed session leading here. It was me. Cut to me with a wrench in Ian's computer just for... The 4D chess, man. Oh my god. Why do you think you only see a green screen behind him? I'm running around upstairs, Ian. I am. [Laughter] Come back down, Hydrine. You need some water. It's warm! So... Fenris is going to go up to Dagon. I mean like... So, any of this sound and anything from your histories that the Ladder know anything about?

Any of these weird magics of infinite space and... No, close on and got to that part yet. Sorry. I don't know if you said it or not. You're fine. Oh, okay. So the journal info hasn't been shared yet? Yeah, I was getting there. I was trying to get a joke. That was very funny. There's a lot of info floating around. It's a lot. And sometimes people don't share. So we need to ask now. I don't, because it sounds strange. "Hey everybody, here's a secret room." It's all strange, Val. Everything. The rest of us are all sharing information. Every little detail could matter.

I figured you would bring it up when it was relevant. It was very funny to specifically say that. I was waiting, like when we go back in the room, I'd be like, "Hey guys." Get out of the way. I told you earlier, but I'm telling you now. So the key popped out of the drawer when I read a specific line in the journal. Apparently the project that Abernathy and presumably all of this was working towards is about creating infinite space to solve overcrowding in Brightport, since that was what this determination was the main issue there. Regardless of that, he apparently succeeded.

And then the next journal entry is this. And they just point towards it, just slide the book across the desk. Squint at it. That's not very welcoming. Not exactly, no. My intuition would be that that's connected to the doorway upstairs. And I think that we should probably not do anything with that until we can get any more details on what this is. That there are a lot of things that could be that does not sound great. Now I will look over at day on. Does this sound familiar or aware, something you guys know about? This is this is intense magic, let alone this house and its effects on people.

This is. Well, it kind of feels like something Aladrin's would do. No, Aladrin's just prison, imprisoned gods. I don't know. Do I roll on that, Jason? Let me go back for just a second. Did you say that with a little swagger in your voice, like the it's like, well, we just imprisoned. Like, is there a little like. No, I didn't. I didn't say that in character. I'm just asking like, OK, is there a little big dick swinging in there? Like, you know what I mean? Like, well, we just imprisoned. Like, yeah, it caused a lot of chaos and a lot of people died, but like just.

He doesn't do it. Oh, you're on it. Prayers. That was us. Yeah, give me a check. Give me like. Give me history. Oh, except history. OK. Oh, no. I don't want to do that, though. It was almost a 19 on my end. Three. That on my end, it just went like just fell out onto the screen. One like so. Yeah. Yeah, no. We don't waste our time on trivial magic. Right. Trivial. Um, Tani is. Tired of looking around this room and not finding ghosts, like getting getting kind of agitated, like this Tani at least like enticed by the ominous part in the book. I feel like that's like I think it would be just about that time where you slide the book over and like she's expecting to go.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Like it's more it's more stuff like looking at it. And just kind of like wide eyed, and she is going to leave the room and start upstairs. No, no, no, no, no, no, I run after her. I try and grab her arm. And she'll stop like she's not like possessed or anything. It's like, what? Like, it's not empty. Clearly, that's where they store ghosts. That is where like right there. That is a weird ghost door. There's ghosts inside. Not empty. It's right there. Come on. I write really quick, locked away, ghosts. Underline locked. So how do you know we don't need to free them?

Like they might be trapped. They might be scared ghosts. We're going to go back up and look at things, but we're certainly not opening that door anytime soon. And we need to know exactly what that means before we do it. But I mean, this level of magic and that kind of warning. But. Yes, I mean, we should head back up, I suppose, Cliff. So very slowly and sadly gets up out of the comfy chair. You can't wait till this is all over. You could send everybody home and just just sit in your comfy chair. That's what the chair is like. Imagine what the bed is. Oh, good.

They'd like take the journal and the key. By rights, I think. I think Dumpy gets to sleep in the bed with you. Like, I think by rights. That is what the owner envisioned. At least in the pet bed for some reason. Yeah. All I think about is the pillow that you in the bedroom, you know, like, like that cool side. They had like flip it over. Oh, you never have to flip the pillow over. No. Always the perfect level of comfort on the pillow. That's real magic. I think they have real magic. I think I think we got that tech. Like, I think science is caught up to magic in that arena.

But can you afford it? Oh, no. No, no, no. No, it's that or insurance. No, I like I just food. It's not even full coverage. I got bronze, baby. Like, it's just it's like, I prop them up and that's it. Like that. Going back up into this room, like you're you're going to open the door and everything and kind of scope the place out. And Matilda will definitely see, like, that's kind of a blank wall. That you're like, oh, like, OK, that's like, OK. And there's even going to be like the slightest tug from that that medallion, like the slightest like you can feel it.

The door is. All but chained shot, there's stuff in front of it, it is like you can tell, like it's there's like if you're reaching out to detect magic. Hoo boy. Yeah. Yeah. There's basically caution tape magically wrapped around it. You can feel like it's like, OK, OK. And Tani will not even approach the door, but she's kind of got the. You put the controller down for too long and Sonic the Hedgehog, too. So she's kind of like like just cross happen. It's like, OK, like. And this is our cap's foot. You know what I'm talking about. Yeah. Good. It's good. Got to find you guys like to do.

Dagon's there's a lot of other stuff to look at in this room. There's tons of stuff. Yeah. Dagon would suggest that Calypso play their fiddle again. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just to see, because we know that I feel like it's a derogatory term like, you know, like. Yeah, I know it's violent. I'm sorry. From Dagon, it absolutely is derogatory. That's fair. That's fair. I was going to go into like the differences between a fiddle and a violin. It's just the type of music. Fuck your fiddle. Yeah. No, it's just play your guitar and like, you know what I mean? Like, you just fiddle.

Because we know the trail branched off and came down this way. So they'll start playing a little something again and see if the purple swirly stuff comes back. As you play this time, your music is matching the tempo of the piano. And then there are big cello strings coming in. It's kind of ominous. Like you can feel like it's setting a mood. You can feel it in your chest. Each one of those cabinets with like fancy looking like outfits are going to open up and there, for lack of a better term, it looks like they're going to come alive. And that knocks on the broomsticks.

Tanny just lights up. There's that idle, it's like, oh, like just like instantly it's like, ah, like and it's like a dog chasing a car, not knowing what to do. And it's like, oh, like it's just ghosts. Like, here it is. And they're going to kind of face away from you. It looks like they're interacting with each other, but you can't like there's nothing in them. They're just kind of but some of them look like they're like, like enjoying themselves, almost like laughing like they're, you know, like they're, they're, they're kind of speaking with one another, but obviously no words.

And the longer you play, the more that music kind of like builds and builds and a scene starts like the room changes. And you're going to see like, like this is like a like a fancy like ballroom, like this is that there's there's food everywhere. There's wine everywhere. Like this is like amazing. And then there is some sort of barrier in front of them. It almost looks like a giant plate glass window, but it's obviously not like think like like a one way mirror type of thing, like you're looking, you know what I mean? But on the other side of it, Brightport is on fire.

And these people are looking out onto that. Not only jovial, but like almost in celebration, like they're watching something on TV like it. They're so disconnected that like. And after a while, the room is going to kind of like go back to normal and those piles of clothing are just going to fall to the ground. And that that pocket that that that medallion, if you still have it, Matilda, is going to fly off of your person and stick to the wall on the other side, not the door, the wall. And that wolf head is going to turn upside down and the wall itself is going to slowly open.

And it's it's revealing like this, this gaudy, like amazing outfit. There's a mask that comes with this this big wolf's head, like it is opening up and showing off. I mean, essentially memorabilia of like this thing. And like there's a hole where that four to three key would go like it is opening up. And there are just clippings like as it opens up of not Brightport reporting on things, but. This very fancy calligraphy and it's essentially them dictating what happens to the city of Brightport. It's them enforcing edicts. It's them deciding what happens and when.

And every one of them is signed the elite. And as this continues to open and it kind of shows off everything, the rest of it is going to open upward and it's just kind of splayed out like this has been locked away out of shame. And in big red, like either paint or blood or something over the top of it just says burn it down. And I think that is a good time for us to stop for the evening. Andrus takes those fancy clothes on the floor. Yeah, they're all over. Grab them. Right. Like, full of ghosts. Color shifting. Hmm. Cool. Now that's setting a scene. Yeah. I'm wondering if if this was like how Brightport was ruled before.

The statues and it was like term past tense necessarily. So can I can I like I was waiting for follow up questions, but the Brightport burning. That is the riots as Firebrand is trying to like it is that recent. And then you start it's like, ah, this person makes sense. They understand what's like it's yeah, like that game was rigged from the beginning. You were never going to bring water. Yes, it was. God. What's it? It's like a different perspective of that. And this like the four to three thing, it's like, OK, so there's this like group that's like, but also it's like this this.

Like group, I mean, for all we know, it's like this is like this is just bright for it is this other cities as well? Like who like who are like there's so many questions. It's and then like how does this connect to the door thing is like so if this was like maybe some sort of like position or something, you know, it's like passed down to be part of this, like the elite group. And then it's like supposed to door thing like separate from that. And then like after the door thing happened, Abernathy got like started being more like against them or something like, oh, gosh, this is so cool.

Earlier, you said there was like the coffin. Was that the one with like, and then Masocha and they found the thing in the. OK, I thought that that key was in there. The thing. Yeah. Yeah. The play guy. Right. Totally. And it wasn't the only key that had been shown. There was another one, too, right? No, there were. You know, there was a group to. Yeah. Yeah. Or group two or group B or something. I remember one of the bird for years, like like it's around. We have a lot of unanswered questions. Yeah, but that's why there's more campaign like it's OK. We have like every answer.

It's like, OK, so we have like a piece of something like different pieces, different things that like, you know, that somehow this all fits together. But like there's like there's clearly there's like a hole here, but we only have like pieces of it. And it's so fascinating. Like now I need to go watch it. Yeah, all the episodes get all this. So he's ashamed that he wanted to burn down or that he was part of this group at some point. I mean, it sounds like he was, but it seems like it seems like he hadn't been for years. Yeah, that that is the impression that I got, like at some point he wanted to wanted some.

Wanted to do right by by the situation having been involved in it. That's what it sounds like to me anyway. But like while he was part of that group for a long, long time, presumably took part in some not so great things. But that's interesting. It's interesting that you what you brought up to, because it may not just be like Brightport, like it might be the elites are from all over or something. Yeah, because the previous group, I mean, at least the one that like my group found in the previous arts or like in the divide. Like, or just like, yeah, like it was like, like not close to Brightport, like at all.

So like, even if like this is where they're like focused on or based or whatever, like they clearly have reaches. I wonder if the coffin where we found the key was the body in there, one of the elite. Yeah, that was like the whole like the like this body is like, like horribly diseased or whatever, like that or something about that. Yeah, I encounter like a million like. So they're clearly tied into some bad shape. You don't have to answer this if it's wrong or you don't want to answer, but I think the key that I remember getting found in the group I was in had something to do with a group called the collectors to like the key was on a person who is who is also really diseased.

But they were like involved in the collectors. So that's another group that's been sprinkled out. The collectors are essentially plague doctors of Theria. Like they gather bodies and like do all kinds of like. Right. That's fused to their faces and yeah. That happened in GTA. Yeah, they've been they've been around damn near since the beginning, like in terms of like appearing on the show, you guys are tapping into stuff that it's been it's been sitting there waiting and you're finally there. And I'm so proud of you. So you must be so happy. I'm so happy every time we sat down to do this session and it didn't happen.

It's like, that's cool. Whatever. Like just, you know. This session was worth waiting so many months for. I mean, this absolutely like I'm just like reeling from so much of all of this. Yeah, I like I like the journal. It's not empty. That was really cool. You know, the best thing, which it didn't really say if it were if anything was like benign or malign. But there are a bunch of like chains. There's a tone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The last entry. It's great, guys. Like just just just don't you dare go in there. Michael, what were you going to say? I was gonna say like the best the best treat for Jason in this is that there were no jumping out of audio.

Ian's made it. There is one everybody. Hey, it worked. Don't jinx it. I'm going to stop. Recording. You.