The Other Shoe

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

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 James. Hi, it's James. I play Dagon the Aladdin Endurant. And Valerie. Hello, I'm Valerie. She/her and I play Matilda Wolfram, the human rogue. And Michael. Hello, I am Michael. I play Fenris Masura, He/Him, the warlock charlatan human. And Ian. Hey, I'm Ian. He/Him and Ian. I play Bitter Sweet, the Thedun Endurant. And Kelsworth! Or Kelsey, whatever. Whatever. I'm Kelsey, they/them, and I play Calypso Lovelace, the half-elf bard.

Legally it's Kelsworth though. Yeah, no. Apparently, I'm just learning this now. On the long form birth certificate. I can't wait to go back to being a video podcast because the slow creeping look of confusion and then disgust on Kelsey's face was lovely. It's... What? Ew. Like, the... Ah! This is just... No! That's... Nor should you! Exactly. Guys, things are gonna happen. I don't know what, but things. So... Don't threaten me with a good time. I got things. Don't set expectations that our listeners have been waiting for something to happen, for an invasion to happen so long.

Here's the problem. They're settled in now. They're like, "Oh, this is comfy. It's just nothing's going on. Just... They're settled in for Antiques Roadshow and we're about to do like... I don't... I'm not exactly sure what it is about that, but I can tell you what happened last time and that I'm trying to prime everybody for something. So you guys had a long chat about what exactly is the plan and what you want to do. And I almost feel like a lot of that was made moot by the only thing that got accomplished in the end of that episode. So Calypso puts on the guard, the outfit, the cult robes, whatever you want to call them.

So the elite mask and the robes and everything. And instantly some cool stuff happens. They can essentially judge the worth of something by looking at it through this mask and like that kind of got lost in the dust because what you know is... Sort of a ping went off. And it's a system that essentially... It's like networking. Like you're all the same wifi. They know that you put that on. And you know that they know. And there's no way that they aren't going to try and solve that problem, right? Because one of two things have happened. One, somehow this guy isn't dead and a problem that they thought had been solved for years just isn't.

There's a loose end, right? Or two, some other schmuck found it and now has access to a world that they shouldn't even know about. So either way, shit's about to go down. And what I think, I'm not sure if we're getting ready for the D&D equivalent of the end of Home Alone or like what, but I do want... Except Kevin is the one that gets killed in a million different horrible ways. Right. Oh, realistic Home Alone. Okay. So directly after that happens. I think actually, you know what? Give me a perception check, Calypso. We're about to have to relay information to the rest of the group because they can't see what you're saying.

Lucky 13. Wait, oh my God. 21 total. Jesus, I forgot how big that modifier is. So when this pops up, right, you're still kind of getting used to it's like, oh wow, there's like a coin value of different, you know, like you're still getting used to all that. Then like this switch flips, right? And you see them pretty much gathered in the same ish place. Like, you know, it's like one, they're definitely a bright port. And two, either most of them are gathered in what would be their headquarters, their main, whatever it is. And then there's a couple of like satellite, like they might be tending to their regular business or visiting family, whatever they do, being rich, you know what I mean?

Whatever rich people do. I don't know. You are going to see very quickly that there's kind of beehive activity in their main base. Like people are shuffling around and like there's a bit of a commotion and one by one, those little satellite members are going to disappear just one by one. And it's just going to be a cluster of people. And it's going to take on a shape. Like the only thing you can think of, I think with this perception, you'd be able to piece this together is they must have some kind of like, like a round table, like a literal piece of furniture that they all sit at, like the fucking justice league.

You know what I mean? And you would guess that they are, they are in problem solving mode. But turned what started as let's get some information on them turned into, oh, let's skip 10 steps. And now they know, like the element of surprise is gone. How does Calypso relay this information? I would imagine your face is hidden behind a mask, but even in the robes, I imagine it's like, oh, oh, oh, like you're reacting to things. I imagine you're saying something. So the rest of the parties just kind of standing around like, not because they're in the kitchen because they can't be around me when I have the stuff.

Oh, that's right. Oh my God. The only one who remembers what happened last time. Jeez, Jason, right? Notes. Come on. It's like Alzheimer's in here or something. Jesus. If you wrote it or anything. Oh, how the turntables. First of all, that's very fair. Second of all, eat my whole ass. OK, you're right. There's there's you're right. So Calypso, you tell me how you react to this. I think Calypso is honestly just like not moving around all that much at all. Like they're probably just like staring at this main luster and just trying to absorb as much as possible. I think like like like from the perspective of them, it would be like these eyes that are just like staring directly at them and not moving.

They're trying to get as clear picture of everything as they can before they eventually take the mask off. Yeah, be creepy. You like, OK. I guess this is the evil cult equivalent of being pretty sure you canceled your Netflix subscription 10 years ago and then finding out, God damn it, they've been charging me every month like the planet. They didn't want to come out to the mansion. They sent in the stupid card. They figured, OK, that's taken care of. It's like again. So can I get an arcana check from you, please? Oh, no, the 13, so that's 14 modifiers, not quite as good on that one, but that's OK.

If you picture this as like a little heads up display type of thing, right, this is your Jarvis and, you know, you kind of augmented reality. You can see in the direction of brightport. That's like, OK, that's where that's definitely what is it. There's almost going to be this pulsing. Red orb in the bottom left hand of your vision, it's just going to start. Well. Touch it, touch it. Yeah, so when pull up to boost their head, like, is it like still in the bottom corner? Like it's yeah, it's I I. Yes, it's like it's on the display, it's not like something in the world like that, it's yeah, it's not something that it's indicating in the world, it's more this is it's like, OK, this is more like the almost like the the telling you what coinage something is like, it's clearly part of the mask, but it's it's it's trying to tell you something.

It's like a notification linking type of thing. Obviously, you're figuring all this out as you go. This is you know, this is all pretty good to try, like, like, like looking at it, like moving your eyes toward it or like moving their hand as if they were to like a chip or something like they're going to try to see if they open up the unread email, like whatever this is, you know, it's. I want you to one more time give me an arcana check and this is going to see how well this goes. That's not terrible. That's not bad at all. That could have been way, way worse.

Your vision is going to go black. For a moment, just just for a moment. And you're going to get this vibe like. Like you've been transported to a place like a dark room, but if you were to like use peripheral vision, trying to peek out of this thing, like, you know, you haven't gone anywhere. You could feel physically it's like I'm I'm in the same place, but it it just senses wise, it's like the outside world is gone, right? And. This dark room has a single. Point of illumination, just a tiny little pinprick of light, and it's it's essentially all shadows.

In a voice. After a moment. He's going to kind of echo from this beyond the shadowy kind of. Who are you? You get the sense with that are kind of you get the sense that just like you can't see this person speaking to you, they can't see you. If that helps with decision making. Eclipse are like classes for a moment and then just. That depends on who's asking. So one. It's not the voice they were expecting, so it's like, OK, I was expecting an old man, not that OK, so we're probably falling into the second category, like he's probably dead. OK, cool, cool. So we have a new problem.

I think. There's almost a vibe that is like, is anyone still there? Like you don't feel a presence, it's more just. Were you related to him? It's going to be one of these exchanges where we both have to go. Yeah, no, that's fine. Hmm. Definitely, I'm not quite sure about the answer to that myself. I don't necessarily share his goals, if that's what you're inquiring about. And what goals do you have? Now it's a job interview. Now we're. Ouch. Ouch. What if that were like in the years since Abernathy has been gone, like fuck bitches and get money as they're new, it's they're all just a bunch of Bitcoin bros like that's hard.

It's like 18 Lambos just pulled up, guys. I don't I like. Have you check out my new Arconic coin? Oh, Kelsey, you know the balls in your court, right? I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, that's fine. I just didn't want to play. You play a character that's better at things than you are. He's like, Oh no, I have to think of how to do words. That's why I vowed never to do that again. Oh, I got a character idea for you, James, for arc six or whatever we're calling it. Like just a brilliant man. That's what I want. Like I want I want to hear you soliloquy like all the time.

Average Joe who forgets everything. I can do that. We role play as a group with Alzheimer's. Yes. Michael, it comes with memory issues. Wait, did you just ask? I don't remember what you just said. My meds have worn off at this point. Yeah. My pharmacy just closed on a Friday and they're never open on a weekend. Oh no. Yeah. So I just don't have it for the three sessions I have back to back. Fuck this tiny burg. Dude, I have like buckets of Vyvanse if you need it. I don't know what that is. Buckets you say? Vyvanse though. It's an ADHD medication. Yeah. Really? I'm a Ritalin boy.

Born and bred. So that's so 1950. Okay. I live in a 1950s town, James. Like I'm going to use 1950s drugs. They're still trying to vote for Truman here. Like I mean, working with what I got. I believe our goals could be aligned if being friends is something you'd even allow. Abernathy perhaps should have been more selective. Are you alone right now? Don't Valerie, don't you dare. Stop it. I heard the bean flicking comment you made earlier. Don't, don't. (Laughing) What kind of mask are you wearing? (Laughing) Lown as one ever is in this house. Okay. It's the most non-answer.

Yeah. Okay. Kels, here we go. I need you to roll a wisdom save, please. Oof. First bad roll. Here we go. That's a five. So you're still seeing that dark room, but you're going to kind of feel this pulse go out. And almost like echolocation, the rooms in the house are going to light up momentarily as this wave creeps through and a floor below you and far to the right, you're going to see the entire party just kind of like, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, like light up in the kitchen. Like eating sandwiches and stuff. Like they're just hanging out. Different room.

Like, no, James, if someone asked me if I was alone and someone else was in the same house, but not in the same room, I would say yes. Actually. Yeah. It's past midnight, so it is the next day. It's a different forest. It's not like... So, okay, I'm going to give you a chance to like, do you want to say anything before like, you get the impression it's like, shit, like he, yeah, whoever this is knows that there's other people in the house now. I hope so just kind of like sighs, like not, like just as, oh come now, it's not like they're close enough to hear anything.

The spell on this well prevented that. I wasn't gonna hike all the way out here in the woods alone. Do they know? Now this is... Obviously, there's a few ways to play this. Like... Gotta be more specific. What do they know or not? I think the time for being playfully obtuse is... No, I know. Don't be Jordan Peterson. Philip's not gonna do that. I'm just saying this. Right. It's to get to a cancer in what you mean by that. Like, don't do that. You know what they're asking. Like... Well... Yes! I hate that man's stupid voice and face and thoughts. You turn that a little bit on its side, you could have a real good Kermit the Frog impression.

I'm so insulted that he sounds so close to a... A... A tent puppet. Yes! That's like, yeah, that's the guy you want to take seriously. Let's base your life's path on that guy. Anyway... My suit is two different colors. Every time I see him, I think he's just a really, really bad, like, fan. Like, he loves mentalist so much that... But he has, like, missed anything that makes sense, so he just makes up shit. He does look like a bad close-up magician. Like, he... Yes, yes. Yes, I think Alix is just gonna say... Yes. It will take us one hour to get to you. I want you to take that time and enjoy what life you have left.

And that room's gone. Like, just goes. The balls on that guy, huh? Just, like, takes off the mask, kind of shakes the hair out and sighs. I think that's the straw where it's like, so wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I don't know you. You didn't go through the vetting process and now you just, like, end all your friends? Oh no, that's how a secret organization isn't secret no more. Like, that's, you know... What? What? Okay. One? Yes, of course they're massive. He's a rat. And yet we haven't seen any fan art of them. That's not my fault. That's... If I drew it, it would look terrible.

You could pencil yourself. It'll just be an MS paint drawing. Like... Dem's balls! Dem's balls! It's not even a drawing, it's just words. Yeah. It's just a photocopy of his own balls. *laughter* How did you know I have rat testicles? How did you? Who told you? Like on an office copy machine. I can scan them. Black and white and smeared. I coulda wakinko's it's shit. Black and white with like two really bright spots on there. Someone's like, man, you should really get this checked out. And just write "Dumpy" on it in a Sharpie. Join our Patreon and... And what, Jason?

We should have next arc. Join our Patreon and weep. I really want a group of that traveling caravan. Of that, like, you know how like Anvin and the magician, like the play, will just have to have like a band of people that just goes to town to town. And they're like trying to be comedians and it's just not working. They're trying to do plays and it's just not working. Okay, Kels. Power. So I think yeah, Calypso just, yeah. It takes off the robes because they're a bit too big for them. So I'm just gonna, yeah. Walk down to the kitchen. I don't know what point is everyone eating.

I'm curious. I hand you a sandwich. I'm just curious how Calypso walks in. It's just like sandwich. What kind of sandwich? I need to know. This is important. Okay, well, it's bread because you gotta have bread. But it's like, it's like whatever I found in the trash, you know? Yeah, but because it's bittersweet and like it's like three or four just different kinds of meats. Just stacked and stacked and stacked. So sure. Maybe you got turkey ham prosciutto. No, no, no, no. Maybe a little bit of olive oil. Maybe a little bit of olive oil, but just meat bread. Just so it goes down.

Easy. It's a very Italian sandwich. Okay, that's cool. Elle is a steadfast, no condiment person. Like no mayonnaise, no mustard, no nothing. She just doesn't. She doesn't. I agree. But like, she'll dip her like chicken tendies or something in hot sauce. That's as far as she goes. Will not. No condiments whatsoever. I did not know this. Feel like it changes. You know what person. Oh my God. She's gonna get an angry message after this. Yeah, that's what I think. Like takes it, like looks at it for a second and just they're not gonna like, they'll hold on to it. I don't think we're gonna like eat it, especially cause now I just kind of like lost their appetite.

I give you a little pat on the shoulder. So we have an hour to figure out what this house does. An hour until party time? An hour until? An hour until the elite show up from presuming to probably intending to kill us all. I picture Tani just chewing just, just big mouthfuls of food, just taking way too big a bite of a sandwich. And I imagine like if money's no object and you could have any kind of sandwich, like, man, this would have been a great time to learn all your favorite sandwiches, but we're well past that point. This is not the time in the campaign to ask these questions.

So how, okay. How does everyone react to the probably going to kill us line? Cause that's pertinent. Dig on sandwich. Dig on chokes on a sandwich. And then he's like, is there anywhere around here where people aren't trying to kill you? What did you expect? Like a Tuesday. Some manner of civility, of course. But what did we even do? I kind of thought it'd be less dangerous when you're rich. It's always dangerous. Is that a shot? Yeah. So, okay. What do we do? Do we leave? Advisable. They have lots of magic at their disposal. I assume they'll be able to track us or again, like I said, we have an hour to figure out this house.

Abernathy was prepared for this to some extent. We, there should be a way to at least, you know, knock the doors behind them. And we can open that door again. That might be our best shot. But you want to hurt, well, use the house against them, even though we can't talk to the guy. We don't know how the house works and yeah. And there, and do this within an hour. Okay. Okay. Okay. I start getting up, but I start pacing. Please. Oh no, I'm thinking. Sorry. Why is leaving off the table? I don't think anyone here signed up for this. Teni would pat Deacon's hand. It's because they can track his baby.

Well, if they knew who I was sure they would think twice about this. Any faster way to contact your parents than, you know, a traditional letter, by all means, I would not mind having a few Aladdin on our side, but as far as I'm aware, getting here within an hour is beyond even your capabilities. Fenris pauses and looks at Calypso. I know you're not a huge fan of my style. Considering the current challenge, would you be opposed to me trying to find a way to use this by asking someone more about this place? Specific goal. If you have a plan that I could ask specifically, that might also help.

Otherwise I'll kind of ask what are the things I could use here or we could use to have a chance. I think that's probably best. Any sort of pointer when we currently are without. Well, there are a lot of resources in this house and idea of which ones are the things we should investigate would be extremely useful, I'd imagine. Fenris walks and then like looks party like, "What do we do here or somewhere else? I don't know if you're going to get caught up in Bliass." Get on somewhere, maybe a comfortable seat. I go here. I don't know if I wanted to go, if there's that like library room with all the stuff.

If I don't know if proximity to any knowledge or anything would be helpful. No, that's a good point. Yeah, I mean, I guess library room makes much more sense. Okay. I will make my way there. You guys can choose to follow or not. Bittersweet's going to write down, I have a thought. If the souls are still here powering this, maybe we can try to reach out and speak to them. I could also use help from any points that Tani and Dagon. No. Okay, what can we do? He points at Dagon, he points at you and he like puts his hand on your chest and he writes down like, "You're like me.

You feel. You speak from here." This could be how we feel the souls and turns to Tani, "You have life inside you that you use." Maybe that could help. That didn't work out. It's a little vague for her to, but it's like it's also written very poorly on this. Yeah, I think that's not, I think she's probably used to that. Like it, you know, that like, yeah, but. Okay, so. You mean just like power? And she's doing that thing where you speak louder to like, you mean like magic? Uh, yeah, Bitter Sweet will nod and he says, "You wield life as magic. Their life is now only magic." Maybe there's a way we can connect.

I mean, I could try. I just, I think I need like something physical, like, you know what I mean? Like I could try. Let's go to the doors. Yeah, we'll try this without knives first, I think. You know, see if we can tap into that energy without self-harm. Yeah. Okay, I mean, yeah, we could try something outside the box. That's fine. Okay, I don't think we have many options. So three of you are going, well, yeah, three of you are going downstairs to the basement. Again, with the doors and stuff. Fenris is going to the library. I think it makes sense unless Matilda has another idea for the two of us to accompany him.

Just because if this patron's going to point to books, I mean. Matilda is the gal for that. Yeah. You know, while everyone's talking about sort of their plans. I think Matilda will sort of stand up from her chair and say, "Well, I guess I'll start reading." And she's going to follow Fenris into the library. Before we completely split up, Clipsa's going to like touch Bittersweet's arm. And how far can you speak if you had to? How many people at once? He writes, "It's not far, but I can try." Who do you want to reach? The way I see it is we plan this as if we're all going to die.

Not that that's any certain thing, but we get you as close enough to the houses that we can with the doors or the city center, anything, and you just dump all of this. So at least if then we go out, I mean, something will be out there. That's so interesting. I got to ask, though, Jason, how many? Because Thedans can talk to many Thedans at once, I imagine. But talking to like many non Thedans, how does that work? Well. So the reason Thedans can talk to each other so easily is there's almost kind of a mesh that I mean, it's almost like a shared consciousness thing.

So a lot of that heavy lifting is being done together, whereas this would all be on you. You can do it, but it's going to be a bit exhausting, like, you know, and it would probably be like short sentences like you're not going to you're not going to be doing long paragraphs of things. And the good news is it does take some of the edge off for them, because instead of your full consciousness kind of coming through and splitting their head wide open, it's shared. So if you're scattering it, it, you know, depending on how strong you're able to carry that over, it could come over like a whisper, like something that they barely hear.

Okay, gotcha. So it's like dissipated over spread out over. Yeah. You mean bittersweet release that? Yeah, absolutely. I would tell you that's the limit of his capabilities. And perhaps if you want something more focused, that might be better. The message can be longer. Yeah, I could also actually smile at that. Well, I'm waiting for Fenris to communicate with his partner. I'll work on something. See what you can do with the communication. With the souls, but at least nothing will be for not. He cuts your arm again and writes, don't despair. And then he pushes the sandwich in your hand, just like up to your face a little bit.

The lip so obligingly takes a bite. Oh, good. Yeah. Can I? Okay. Should we roll for sandwich? Like, is this a thing that we absolutely should? Oh, yes, we should. That's an entire TikTok channel. Yeah, I'm sure. It's actually really great. He rolls like D20s for each, like the bread and the ingredients and condiments. It's a very fun channel. We haven't rolled for food in a while. Yeah. Anyways, yes, we should roll for sandwich. You want to do a scale of one to ten? Sure. Do you want me to roll or do you want Kelso roll? You're the one that made it. All right. No, it is subjective, right?

That's what I was thinking. Like, maybe it's a great sandwich to me. Bittersweet rolls first, then Gulliver's So rolls. Here's the thing. Are you one of those filthy no condiments people? Like, we need to know these things while you're, you know, I said there is a bit of olive oil. Jason, someone just grabbed an axe off your wall. Oh, yeah, that's fair. What? Wait. Look, whatever it is, I had it coming. The thing is, I've sharpened all these. Like, why would you need to? Because he's trying to aid home and baby. You forget where he lives? No, I get it. Actually, I get it. 100%.

I get it. I start shopping faster. Loot is going to do something and somehow maybe you and your. Yeah, no, she's going to be like that fucking dog in Dark Souls and just rip it in her mouth. Like, I'll be dead. Ian roll. Yep, D10. Yeah. All right, here we go. Oh, let's go. Okay. What is the nine on the bittersweet? Yeah. So we know it's got meat. You got the meats, right? You got the meat. Yeah. Now, what kind of bread? Are you a thick bread person? It's got to be thick enough so that the olive oil can soak it up a bit. But is it like an Italian bread type of thing where it's meant to mingle?

You can't leave it there for too long? Or is it like a nice focaccia, you know? And it's like toasted. So we've got, you know, it's like not herbs and stuff on it. So and it's nice and toasted and warm and like, you can get a little bit of olive oil. It can stay on there for a little bit because it's all toasted, baby. That's right. Okay. Okay. I like Ian. Now, what's your meat situation? What? So you don't want your meats clashing. So like. Yeah. So we definitely have fat, fat bacon on there. We've got that. We've got turkey, probably some ham, some like, you know, honey glazed ham, because this is this isn't just deli ham.

This is a rich person's house. It's like a whole ham hock, like spiral cut, you know? So that's on there. I prefer poor people ham, but that's kind of the condition. We're using what we got here. Okay. Of course. Yeah. No. Like, I like the idea of, like, sweet ham, little bacon in there. Like, okay. Yeah. I got you. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And then like a sausage in there, Kelsey. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Sorry. The meat party has to go on. Yeah. Just in like a nice big kielbasa right there. How dare you interrupt the meat party? Okay. Okay. So that's a six. Okay. Okay. So there might be one or two.

It's like, I like poor people ham. Like, it might be one or two things like that. Where you're like, it's like, but like, for the most part, it's like, okay, that's pretty good. And he sees you. He's watching your face. He's watching your face. He gives a thumbs up. A little smile. It's like, thank you for the sandwich. Then he nods and he walks with the kids. Do they contemplate the sandwich? Do they contemplate the sandwich? Sadly, thinking this is the last sandwich they'll ever eat. Could be. There's got to be some melancholyness to this wonderful sandwich.

They got not all of us are that broody episode title, sad sandwich. All right, we're splitting up. Okay, let's tackle the library first. This is interesting. Michael, paint me a picture. Okay. So I start walking down to the library or over to wherever it is. Over to the library. Yeah. And as I walk, I'm kind of like centering myself and you can almost, you know how, like, I assume because, you know, it's a mansion and I'm sure it's like the marbled floor and all that. As I'm going, I'm kind of like going into myself. Like I do when I sit down and go into it.

I know I have to, the way this patron works of like, let me in because I, there, it's not like, hey, at any time, beckon call kind of thing. And so I'm basically knocking on the door as I'm walking and almost like the knocks are in unison with the footfalls as I go to the library. And so every step is a letting, like being vulnerable, opening up, being like, hey, we need to talk. Otherwise, they're the number of chances on the die will be zero. And then like kind of just going and going and then I go in there and even though Calypso and Matilda are probably next to me or even walk past me, I slowly walk and I think there was that chair, the desk in there.

I think it's the same, but then I kind of like just sit on the chair and like, as I'm doing that, I could just see like the whole world is kind of like going dark around me. And so I just, as I sit into the chair is when I'm just into the darkness and I'm just waiting. As I, as I said before, it's like that ocean where you got to go down and down and then wait to be picked up. But otherwise I'm kind of just in the waiting room waiting and everything just goes silent and I'm just waiting. So Calypso and Matilda, are you doing anything or just like watching like just kind of like, ah, he's doing his thing.

Like, are you coming through books while he does this? Are you expecting there to be a show or just like him freak out and swallow his tongue for a second? Like what, what are your expectations of this? Calypso's working on something. They have their violin out there, maybe doing a few, fingering a few things, kind of a numbing to themself a little bit. Matilda is, um, she's, she's definitely not gonna wait to hear anything from Fenris. She's just kind of gonna go and immediately start looking at the books and the first thing she's gonna do is just sort of assess how they seem organized.

And, uh, you gotta do that with books. No, no, no, no, no. I just thought like, okay, everyone has, especially old people and I could feel I'm going to be one of those. Like, it's like, no, it's the way I like it. Like it's that, you know what I mean? We all have, like, I want to roll to see how, how sensical this library is laid out versus how, like, it's like emotional, you know what I mean? If that makes sense. Uh, so, uh, let's get the one to 10. Let's see. Oh God. 10. So this place is so immaculately laid out that you, as you're walking around, right.

A one would have been, it's like, I organized it all by color. Like it's insane. Right. But there's actual sections. It's like, this is the occult section and everything's laid out alphabetically. You could find, like, it's just, it makes sense for a home library. There's no Dewey decimal system or something, but like, you can, it's like, no, no. Okay. Just, you know, I, I basically, I have a good idea. There's even a complete catalog of every book that's in this library. And he kept a detailed list of everyone that he's completed or the percentage that he's read down to the page.

Like this man was insane, but you know, you can't look at that. You know, it's like, this, this makes, this makes me horny. Like this is, Imagine being able to be that organized. He swims in post-its. I can't be that, but that's what fantasy is for. I love this game. Okay. So Matilda is gonna wiggle her fingers. She's so excited. And she wants to focus on a few different topics. The first one is the house magic and sort of like where it's coming from, how Abernathy set it up. I'm assuming he also kept all of like his old journals and have those organized as well.

And I'm thinking those are going to be a really good resource. The other thing Matilda wants to look into is this guy really, at least near the end, didn't like the elite. And so I'm hoping I can maybe find some dirt on them or like what their weakness they have something like that. So the obvious, the obvious problem with this plan is I'm, I'm going to give you, you know, 62 days worth of reading. Like, so I, so here's what I want to do. Let's, let's wrap up this thing with Michael. We're gonna, we're gonna pop back and then we're gonna go over. We're just gonna move around.

So it's gonna be a bit, I'd say a good four or five minutes because it's, it's almost like a magic eye thing of like trying. It's like, like you, you have to be in the right mindset. It's really difficult because if you had just a straight up demon packed type of thing, where it's like, Hey, I give you powers and we're going to do a quarterly review and like that kind of thing, it'd be way easier. But because yours deals with chance and everything, it's, it's very wishy washy. And like, you know, Oh, I don't know what I'm going to do that kind of bullshit.

It's like having a friend that kind of takes the start of movies as a suggestion, not this is when the movie's going to fucking start, be at the theater. Every one of you instantly thought of something. Okay. That's why I started lying about when movies start so I can get there before they know. Voices are going to call out to you. I'm intertwined. And this is where this has never happened before. It's usually a singular voice and it changes from time to time, but this is almost like, it's almost like a chorus of people, like six or seven people talking like different tones of voice, but you know, essentially, you know, can we help you type of thing?

Like it's, it's, it's, it's, it's almost like a low chanting and you're going to get the vibe that it's like, okay, you're on the line. Like, it's a very strange feeling because this one it's like, this feels a little more formal than usual, I guess. Does it, does it feel like I'm like in my head, I kind of see it as normally I'm talking with this, like maybe I take like a side entrance and the guy's like, Hey, here's the chance. Here's the role. And this one's like, Oh, here's the main hall. And now you have the attention and maybe the person that's usually is in that group, maybe, but you can't really tell.

And there's just like, I heard like the formal entrance instead of the side entrance. Only one example is coming to mind and I apologize for it right now. Just do you know when you're talking to your boss and I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Just, just ride with me. I know. Yep. Okay. So like you're real close with your boss. You shoot the shit and it's like, and then one day you come into work, it's like, he's like, come with me for a minute. That's what it feels like. Oh, yes. That's the vibe that is that there. I know how to, I know how to swim in this situation. Or they need you for a specific job and.

They know you're not going to like it or, you know, yeah. Got to butter you up. Yeah. Well, they might not have to, but see, here's the thing. These other worldly prim, uh, you know, the, the, the, the, these, uh, presences, they're real good at knowing when you're down on your luck or need something. So, you know, yes. Right about the time you, you wagered away years of your life for more power. It's like, all right, he'll be back. You know what I mean? Ooh. Did that have an effect that like others saw that and that's like, Oh, what's going on over here?

Yeah. Okay. If you think about, if you think about your entire life as like Vegas odds and they're constantly changing, that would change a few things. Right? Like that it's like, Oh shit. That just erased the board. Like, you know what I mean? There's a lot of, Oh man, you know? Okay. Who had long and healthy life? Like, you know what I mean? Like, it would be that. Okay. This is new. But okay. Yes. I, as you can already tell, I'm in need of some possibility, some positive possibility in our future. The odds are ever shifting. And recently the amount of times you'll be able to play has diminished.

You are ending your run. At least that's what it looks like soon. Yeah, the board does look like it will be put away soon. What are you proposing? That others get to play on their board longer. The others knew the cost. But if this goes forward, that cost means nothing. And that chance meant nothing. And that role meant nothing. There's going to be kind of a, like you can almost hear them mulling it over, right? To sweeten the pot. I don't know if you all run on the same rule set that I was playing previously, but if we are thinking about possibility and taking possibility, what would it be like to take possibility from some very influential people that can change and manipulate the board on a global scale, but shift that into a new set, a new game, flip things around and don't let the status quo be the same.

Imagine taking their possibility. The players have to know that they're engaged in a game. We can't make that decision for them. However, by the end of this day, one of you will no longer exist. We can propose something. Let's zip on down to the basement real quick. Good cut. Good cut. That's suspenseful. Love it. So, Ian, it sounds like you have the plan or the concept of a plan. We're going to put that on the pile of phrases we just don't use anymore. I mean, to everyone, this is more of a shotgun blast of a plan than it is anything kind of precision. Let the readers up there deal with their plan.

We got the real power down here. Yes, but no direction. No. And we're not great at using it. Well, I'm not. Yeah, so I guess we're down by the doors and these are the things that are powered by souls. I guess this whole thing is powered by souls, but these are very strongly powered by souls. Okay. Yeah. So I think when we get down here, Bittersweet and Dumpy are looking around and we've been in this room before and it's an interesting thing because it's not something that Bittersweet has ever seen before. And he just kind of looks at the kids and he's like, he starts writing and it's going to be a little bit broken because it's on this slate.

But he's like, I have an idea if these souls are still here, we may reach out, communicate, ask for help, knowledge, how to use this house, they power. How to do that? He shrugs. And he looks at Tani and he's like, you use life energy. They are life energy. Maybe there's a connection. He looks at Dagon and he's like, you are powerful with your feeling. What do you feel? I mean, if you want me to feel, I mean, I have to get angry. Anger. So you have to be angry to use your power? That's every time I've been able to use it is because I've been angry. Tani's going to roll an attack.

Maybe not. Well, if he needs to feel something, Tani will be like, I know what to do. And then you see through Dagon's eyes. So it's like this explosion and he has all these feelings. To be clear, she's not going to stab him or anything. She's just going to take on another account right now. He doesn't even know how to use the one he has correctly. Well, maybe that's because that's it's the wrong one. Right. Like maybe that's the wrong emotion. Like it's like, it's like, okay. I like, it's like, oh yeah, I work better tired or some shit. Like it's like, no, if you get eight hours of sleep, I bet you'll be better.

You know what I mean? Like it's that kind of thing. Way better drunk. This is yeah. Does a 13 hit your AC? She's just going to close her little fist and just try to swing at your gut. What? And the entire time she's like, I'm real sorry, baby. And just like, she is going to try and punch you in the stomach. Why do all the women in Dagon's life want to murder him? Okay. If that murders you, you would not long for this world anyway. I'm not saying she should hit you. That is not a great relationship, but the stakes are we have 45 minutes. Look at Dagon. He's probably into that.

Let's be honest. It hits my AC is 13. It's a shame. AC is 13. 13. Meets you. So she is going to just, it's not a lot of damage. She's small. So it's just like one right in the gut, but one is like an eighth of your hit points or something. So yeah, you're kidding. Dagon dies. Oh shit. He's going to keel over like, what the hell was that for? I'm sorry. I'm just trying to make you mad. Are you mad? I sort of like get in between them a little bit, or at least like put my hands out and I'm like, I try and write real fast. Like maybe not your, maybe not your anger.

Maybe try connecting with their anger and I'm going to point at the doors here. Oh, because I need to paint a picture. She was squaring up to hit him again, even when he was on the ground. Are you mad? Just like a little halfling, just like, Tanny, stop. I'm going to try his way. Okay. Okay. I'm right here if you need me. I'm sorry. I just, you know, we don't, clock's ticking, babe. I just, you know. Okay. I don't even know how to do this. And if I, if I tap into this, then what? I write, speak from here and I point at your heart, not from here. And I bop your head.

Okay. And when do I, do I stab the children if they show up? What? Who do I, who do I? It's all very vague and it's very vague. Yeah. Bittersweet's like, just erasing and writing. Erasing, writing. No stab, maybe, pain. Try connecting that. Let's all take a door and he's going to walk over to one and like, would dig on, would look at bittersweet for some and just be like, where did yours come from? He writes fear. And then he writes, not mine, theirs. Okay. Um, maybe we try this together. Yeah. He not. Can I get an Arcana check from both of you please? Oh boy. That's not a great one.

Let's see. We're kind of feeling things out as we go. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was almost good. Ah, okay. Oh, that's, that's good. All right. Yeah. Starting off great. Tani's going to watch, I guess for now. Cause like her power involves knives. So like she's just kind of waiting. So it's like, I, okay. Like she's again, it's very touchy feely for her. She's it's like when Bree tries to get a, get the concept. It's like, oh, you just ran out of spoons. I'm like, shut up. Like I just like, she means well. It's like, no, I'm just a bad introvert. Like that's just, you know, it's the same language.

We're just, you know, so. Yeah. Except one of them is a bit self-deprecating and maybe we shouldn't be saying that about ourselves. It's too late to start new things, Kelsey. So I'm a piece of shit. So that's the, You is that. But you're our piece of shit. Yeah. So this, you both roll fives. So this isn't, it's not going to start great. I'm going to level with you. I think. Are we putting our hands on, are we putting our hands on the doors or something? How are we even trying to tap into this? That's what I mean. Unsuccessfully. But I want to ask something when you're, when you're done, Jason, I got it.

I got a dendel. Okay. Sure, sure, sure. I think this is, this is one of those things where I feel like it's you're checking the vibes, right? You're because you have, there's no put the key in the lock and turn it. Like it is. I don't know. I don't know if the souls are still present. I don't know if they are thinking or feeling. I don't know if I can communicate with, I'm just making this up as I go along. This is the most, I don't know, like, you know. Yeah. Something is going to start happening, but it's very, this is the magic equivalent of trying to lift something that's far too heavy, right?

You're just trying to push the stone statue up that's fallen over and it's, it's, you can feel that something is happening. And the lights are going to start to dim in this room and you swear, this is all three of you. You swear that you see hazy, tiny glowing silhouettes. Like, and when I say that, I mean, hundreds of them surrounding you, like in, in that circular room, like, that was not the impression I got. It's you tend to, you know, you tend to lie about numbers like that. You know, that was never going to come up. This is interesting because it's just like, oh yeah.

I got chills. Like I was thinking one for each store. That's what I was thinking. See, he was also making it up. It's like, I don't know how many I'm going to need, but like, just shove them in the furnace again, probably they're small. So like probably a lot, right? Like it's, you know, so they're like, some of them are no bigger than what you would figure. Like, like if, if this is a realistically proportioned, some of them are toddlers. None of them are taller than like four or five feet tall. Like they're like maybe a couple of teenagers in there and it is very amorphous kind of hazy like that.

You can see shapes, but there's so many of them that it's like, oh, fuck. Like, and it's something you could just barely hold on to. I need both of you to give me a wisdom saving throw, please. Oh my God. No, it was an 18 almost. I know. So shocking. Five, five and 11. Five and 11, five for bittersweet, 11 for Dagon, which actually kind of makes sense. Now, I don't think Dagon wouldn't care. No, no, no. I think if he saw this start to appear, he would just be in utter shock and like start feeling like a tremendous, overwhelming sadness. I think it would hit bittersweet on more of an emotional level.

You know what I mean? Like there's no rationale behind it for bittersweet. I feel like deep down for an eladrin, it's like, I mean, I get it. It's cool magic, but come the fuck on. Like, you know what I mean? Like there are limits. Yeah, right. Exactly. It's like this is this is war crimes. Like this is fucked. Like, so you said you wanted to do something, Ian, or say something. Yeah, I just know. And maybe none of those things. Yeah, I feel like that hits bittersweet so hard because like he doesn't know magic and like none of this is justifiable in any way to him.

One dead kid's hard to explain. Like, yeah, yeah, we were we were having a tough time, which is seven. Yeah, if you go back to the conversation, numbers weren't mentioned. He was just like, kids, like just. I didn't catch that. That's good. So I think immediately he like starts to like tear up because this is like the gravity of this situation finally sets in because it's yeah, I think like everyone here was under the assumption it's like seven kids or one for each door. And it's like, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. This whole house is a foundation of souls.

And it's, you know, there's no way to say how willing they were. And so I think he is just overcome with the sadness. And I think what that does is he I don't think he wants to approach this from like an arcane or a magical way. If you if if you would let me, I think what he would rather do now is see if he can like open a channel like a communication channel, like he would speaking with someone with through his mind. But in this case, like open the door and I guess in to give like sort of a visual thing of what that looks like is he sits and in his mind, he sits in the dark by a fire and there's darkness everywhere.

And that is the unknown. It's scary and it's fearful. And he just opens up to anyone to come and sit with him. Dig up. Can I get another wisdom saving throw from you, please? Gorgeous. I feel like does there need to be more power generated here? Are they just barely faded in or like it's very so we're going off that first check. And I feel like it's mostly like like if someone told me it's like I want you to make pineapple upside down cake, but I am not going to give you any assistance on what you'll need or how to do it. So I'm going to it's like pineapples.

Like I just like you have a vague idea of like it's sweet, right? Like, yeah, you just kind of. So I think it's just grasping at the dark for any guidance on this. And once you're putting that power out there, like you're seeing these manifestations, it's like, OK, so now we know there's a whole lot of kids dead here and they are trapped here. Their souls, much like the war forged, cannot leave this place. And it gets worse if you can believe it, but we'll get to it. We'll get to it, Gels, don't worry. We only have an hour. The atrocities will come. Yeah!

At least, yeah. I feel we're in a desperate situation. It bittersweet is going to like. I mean, we don't know this, but if you're going to sit down and try and communicate, I think Dagon would be thinking like more power, more power, like something's happening here. We did something we need to tap into it. You know, in a bigger way. Well, here's the thing I'm going to give you the option to join him on that plane like you guys, your power is actually sinking at this point, like they're sinking up with each other. You have the same goal and it's not a focused blast of emotion.

It's more let me and I think both of you were affected so much by the fact that you were affected so much by the many dead children that it's kind of you're getting caught up in that vibe. So both of you can be there if you'd like. I think I think he would, even if. You know, hearing bittersweet through his mind, even if it hurt, I think he would still participate. Here's the thing. In this little realm, you guys can communicate freely. Okay. Now, Tani's left out of the loop and Tani surrounded by a lot of dead kids and just kind of sees it. Yes. Yeah. Like, but you guys are gone.

Like you guys, your eyes have rolled back and you're done. You're out of there. So it's like, okay, like I can't do anything. And so she's just got a knife out, just like looking around like, what do I do? What do I do? You know what I mean? Just start stabbing yourself. Oh my god, Valerie, it's just like the Dejimond movie. You're so right. And I love the Dejimond movie. It is like one of my favorite movies. So I have it on VHS. We're the kids in America. The soundtrack is wild. Oh man. Can I in this, can I reach out and like touch Tani and like give sort of like.

Bring her in by. Not with that save, sadly. Like you're, you're like, you, you're focused on what you're doing. You, you know, and as you guys sit here, like, like if Dagon goes to speak or you go to speak, like you, you could just communicate with each other. Like you don't even have to move your mouths if you don't want to. But like we can't even, we can't even let her know we're okay. That's the only issue with this. Yeah, that's the only issue with this. We'll see. Hopefully she doesn't. Well, I gotta make some rolls. Okay, fair enough. Good thing she's not rash or anything.

Like I'm sure she'll be fine. Yeah, she gets, she understands everything. Both her and Dagon are not wise, but for different reasons. Like it's not because Tandy doesn't have life experience. It's because she doesn't really let lessons stick. She just goes, okay, I'll do something different not to get caught next time. Like, okay, cool. Gotcha. So if you imagine this campfire, right? It is it just picture this void, right? This dark, like, so again, it's like a dark night and you can hear crickets and stuff. So there's the like a hint of nature or something.

And you're not sure if that's just part of this or just that's what you would find terrifying. Like it's like the absence of knowing anything about your surroundings, what's out there, what's going on. But what you will see is the light barely touching all the faces of these children and their corporeal like they are, they are there and they are just outside this ring of light. Like that's, that's being illuminated from this fire. And you can see them talking, but you can't hear them yet. Is it, is it we can't hear them because it's like a physical distance thing, or is it like a weird dreamy kind of thing where it's like kind of a weird dreamy thing.

So I like your idea. Neither well, Dagon kind of is, but trying to tap into this using Arcana isn't how your powers work. It is Arcana powered, but it's interpreted through emotion. So I want to, I want to look at it through that lens, right? Yeah, I see. I would love charisma saving throws from both of you, please. That I can do. Oh, so much better. That's okay. It's not terrible. Single digits aren't great. Nine isn't great for Dagon. 21 from bittersweet. So again, we're going to kind of average those together because you're working together in this and it's, it's kind of a shifting of how you're going about this, right?

You're like, okay, let's take a different tact and let's, you know, and slowly, but surely all of these voices are going to kind of slowly fade in. And it's all of them speaking with perfect synchronicity, right? They are all speaking and it's the eeriest fucking thing because they are having a conversation with you that you weren't privy to the first moments of. So they're speaking, but like, it's, it's like you just went, huh? What? Like it's, it's kind of that, but it's all of these voices. Just you need to help us, please. Please. You did like, it's, it's that, but like different, different variations of that.

You can't leave, please. Like it's just pleading, begging. Like they don't understand any of this. They never got to a point in their lives where they could interpret like the emotional maturity to deal with this. And as they're speaking to you, you're going to pick up one crucial detail. There used to be more. And as this power gets used for every sandwich made for every pile of broken glass in the house, those souls get used up until they no longer exist. So they just cease to be, instead of being able to move on. Got it. So this is going to be a sacrifice if we are asking for this help.

We can't, we can't use the house powers. They will disappear. Well, I mean, you're trying to like talk to them, like, please like try that. Like they are this. You are the first beings. I mean, Abernathy probably did, but he wasn't there to speak to them. He was there to use them. So you were the first beings to speak to them. It's a buoy in a, in a stormy sea. They are clinging to you. They are just like, you got to do something. Like they are grabbing you by the lapels and shaking you. Yeah, Dagon's looking, going to look at bittersweet, but just this like fear of like, I don't know what to do.

This is, this is too much. And bittersweet is going to, I think they, they have a connection now through this. So the fear that you have, you get a sense, like you just feel the kindling from this fire. Like you feel it warm near you and that's, and that's the feeling you get from bittersweet. And he stands up and he looked so that he can like address everyone in this circle and like, look around and turn around. And he says, we want to help you. We're here to help you. This house, it isn't ours. And it's a prison that we want to break you free from. To do that, we are going to need your help.

We have limited time and powerful enemies on the way. And we know nothing about how to use this place. If there's something you can give us, if there's something you can show us, if you are willing to help us fight, we can free you. Give me a persuasion check. And this isn't to talk them into something more. Just how good at you, how, how well is this being communicated to, you know what I mean? Literal children. Yeah. So 11, like, it's not, you know. I feel like, I feel like there's like, like, it's like reverse echoes going on. Like it's, it's emotion trying to talk to the arcane, like it's, there's a dissonance here that we're trying to like break through.

It's like if science and magic were both things existing in the universe at the same time. And it's like square peg round hole. It's like, well, these are these, these two things exist. Just like, how do you make it? You know, cause yeah. So they're going to start moving in toward you. And as the light illuminates them, like, like you're going to see their faces crystal clear. Like these were all individual kids. Like they all like, like, but some of them are missing eyes or missing mouths. And you kind of picturing this, it's like, Oh, they're being used up.

Like as they're being used up, their ability to perceive is being stripped away so they can see and they can hear at least for some of the time that, you know what I mean? So it's even worse than the war forage situation where it's like, okay, well, we're gonna, we're going to kill someone and take you and just kind of stuff you as a power source into a new thing. This is many times worse than that. Someone looked at that and went, I hear you dog, but like, what if we start younger and many more and make it, cause I don't want to clean up the mess I made.

Yeah, exactly. Right. And to him, it's probably a breakthrough. It's like, man, I can make a kid's soul last so long though. Which is insane for us to say, someone would go, but come on, it used to only last a week. Give me an applause, you know? And go ahead, please. I was going to say, as they're coming closer, Dagon would stand up and I think in his head he's kind of like, I can't do nothing. I have to do something. So he'll walk up to whichever kid is closest and sort of get down at their level. Because I think he assumes that if he's talking to one, he's talking to all of them since they're kind of all in unison anyway.

Yeah, they're in the same boat. And he'll say, it's not fair, whatever happened to you. I can't even imagine what you've been through and the time you've spent waiting and watching others disappear. But you're almost at the end. And unfortunately, we're almost at our end. Can we ask you just hold out a little bit longer and help us through this? And we will do everything we can to set you free from this. Because if we lose here today, then I think you're stuck. Because the people that are coming, they don't want you out. They want to use you just as bad as that other guy used you.

Do you think you could do that for us? Can I get a charisma saving roll from you, please? No pressure. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Let's go. Oh, that's a crit, everybody. That's a 25 total. So Dagon's not a particularly tall guy. So I like to think that getting down in the like, this is this is probably like like maybe like an eight or nine year old, something like that. So a kid kid, you know, and while they're they're filtering in behind you, they're kind of filling the space that isn't occupied by you. And like as they're doing it, it was cold. They're warming themselves by that fire.

They can feel it. So they're moving in to kind of draw that heat out. And this kid is clearly making eye contact with you clearly. And as as you're kind of asking, it's like, can you know, can you hold on? Can you? He's going to reach out like a little hand. And at first it's complete vapor doesn't you don't feel anything, but after a moment, like the grasp is going to solidify and he's reaching out to like, take your hand, like, grab your hand, like not like a handshake, like he's gripping your hand is like something to to hold on to something that's the first solid person living mortal that they've been able to interact with since their death.

Yeah, I mean. Dagon will take his hand and hold it. And I don't know what to say, I don't know if he would know what to say. I think he would just apologize. Not that it's fault, but just he's just feels so bad. For the first time, the rest of these children are going to like all these kids are going to stop speaking. There's no no no voice, no nothing. And it's that that ethereal kind of crickets, outdoor summer night sound in the background. But it's it's kind of uncanny. It's clearly fake. It's like someone turned their phone on. It's like white noise type of thing.

And I think two things are going to occur to both Dagon and Bittersweet. This is what these kids see all the time, minus the light. It's an endless night in the dark forever. But the promise that there's something out there that could get them. It is fucking terrifying and a little kid's worst nightmare. And they have been stuck here for years. All of these voices are going to stop speaking. And again, that kid just has like has your hand. And as you go to apologize, he's going to shake his head. No. And the singular child. He's just going to say thank you.

And as you're speaking. This strange creeping. Red. Almost almost like a second skin or like a like a like like vines are going to encircle this kid's hand and go up to yours and wrap around your wrist. And slowly, all of these children are going to turn blood red like a coating over all of them. And this place is going to disappear for you and you're going to be back in this room. And every single one of those children are corporeal only because. There are blood vines sprouting up from the dais that you are on to give them a corporeal form. And Tani is laying next to you.

There is a pool of blood like next to her, like she's trying to keep it. She's barely conscious. She's trying to to channel this. And these children are going to start to move toward these doors. And grip them and all of them are going to push and slowly but surely these doors are going to combine and there is just one left. Let's cut back up to the library. I'm actually like tearing up like that. So I started crying. I'm sorry. Oh my God. No, it's good. Wait, that was holy. This is what I want to get back. I want this all the time. Like that's. Well, I'm never going to forget that, so.

I'm sorry. I'm so glad you had this idea to do as you're sitting there. It's like this is so good. Oh, my heart is swelling. So what do the books say, Jason? I'm coming back to it. I just I was like, man, this doesn't seem like a good time to break in the middle of this. I know you guys are being patient. Thank you. But like, no, no, no. Yeah, you got it. What did you call them? Blood vines? Yeah, I think that's how I would put it. Yeah, like a million tiny tendrils that kind of wrap around something, you know, like, yeah, that is so cool. Yeah, he was the core player we needed with us.

Man, all I was just picturing was my eight year old that whole time. No, that was our games. Yeah, it was really good. I feel like you started the session not knowing what to do. And then, like, you zeroed in like you did a fucking amazing job. That James came out. Amazing job. Oh, man, I made him like eight or nine, too. I'm real sorry. I didn't do it on purpose. Okay, okay, okay. Back up in this library. I picture like Calypso is trying to keep it cash, trying to keep it soothing. It's, you know, no idea what's going on a couple of floors down. That's fine.

Like, just trying to. It's like, hey, this is a nice atmosphere. And Matilda, I just pictures like just like grabbing books. It's like, what do I like, you know, time is a ticking. And the thing is, you may think that that's like behavior from Matilda because she's in a hurry and has a timeline. This is how she gets around a lot of new books. Yeah, I mean, like, my thought is that she is sort of used to doing this. Like, let me quickly look at a lot of things and see how I can like zero in on what I'm actually looking for as like, So kind of shortlist together, like, Yeah, like as someone who finds, helps other people find books, she needs to be able to pick up on like, okay, this one's about this.

Let's set that one aside. This one, okay, it's not really what I'm looking for. Let me put it over there. I don't think this is this is necessarily like a new thing that she's doing. No, no, no, no. Like if ever there was an occupation that has prepped you for this moment in the campaign, right? Like, this is it. Can you do me a favor, Val? Depends on what it is, Jason. I want you to give me an investigation check. I can do that. I feel like you've been waiting to do that for two years. Oh, shit. Okay. Okay. So you've so I think 10 minutes and you've gotten a shortlist of things together and you are ripping through these.

You're looking for keywords. You're looking for phrases. You're looking for like, I even think with the journals, they're handwritten, right? So like, I even think you would be good at noting the pressure of the quill on the you know what I mean? Like, like how in a hurry was this? How important was it? You know, you know, so you're like, you're very good at discerning different types of text by inflection just by. Yeah. So you're gonna have a shortlist of probably four books that you think is going to help you. I'm going to give you four topics. And I want you to tell me which one you want to look into first.

And based on that, I'm going to give you a major piece of the puzzle that's going to help you. Okay. Okay. So there's the magic infused into the house itself. We're talking journals and stuff like that. You could call them confessions, you know, whatever, whatever you want to call them. You found day eight. My back is killing me. So many graves. So sorry. So the second one is going to be journal entries about the elite themselves. And in a situation like this, what do they do? Like what they've obviously killed before. Like, what can they do? What do they, you know, that type of thing.

The third one is going to be more a little more a little more vague, but helpful. And that is how could you prepare this house? How could you use it? What would be a good last stand place that would give you a very advantage that you could you could use? And the fourth one's actually very interesting because before Abernathy's death, he got really into Jesus. So like he got no, he got really into he got hammer. He got really, you know, he got really into the gods. And where do we go? It's the typical old man. I've done a thousand bad things. What can I do at the end to maybe it's like, what's up there?

Like that type of thing. Like, is there something out there? Because he knows their souls. He knows damn well their souls. So what does that mean? What you know? So there's actually a place in the house that he worked on to communicate with celestial beings. You tell me which one of those four things. Talk amongst them with the group, please. So well, keep in mind, we're in a pressing moment. We're trying to find a solution to immediate danger. Um, but if you can give the hot tag to Jesus, like, yeah, maybe like we're already doing that for Fenris. And it's like, even if we could communicate with Jesus, maybe even if we are communicating directly with the gods doesn't necessarily mean they're going to do anything.

That's a good point. They are very busy. And, uh, yeah, I got the sender's email address. That solved all our problems. I mean, it's really cool. And I'm super curious about it. And me, Kelsey wants to know, Calypso would, I think, argue for number three, because, like, knowing about the elites and what they can do would also be helpful. But, like, presuming Abergree prepared the house for that, like, knowing that in exchange, like, knowing the defenses of the house. Where's the red button? Yeah. In case Joe Pesci tries to break in. Yeah, I feel like it would have been also, like, if Matilda has a really strong, like, ID, like, wants to go for one of these, do that.

No, but this way. Yeah, because also have fun with it. Yeah, because it's like I would have loved to know that celestial room and almost start my like I would have talked to my patron in that room. That would have been really cool. But I already jumped in to the hot seat, as it were. Don't don't worry. You'll time. Yeah, I know. I think it's good to have a lot of irons in the fire right now. I I yes, I you guys are doing a fantastic job. I should have put you under the gun much sooner. This is like the best session of DNR I've played. Like, we needed a fire under our ass.

This is amazing. I should have picked up on that a long time ago. We were too long in the prologue. Too long in the prologue. I need to have a due date or else the task doesn't exist. I'm picking up on that. I'm picking up on that. I work better with consequences. This is like playing Final Fantasy 13. It's like it's real good after disc two. Like, fuck you. We're still in the hallway. I don't want to I don't want to derail, but I got so burned on Final Fantasy 13. I got burned. We all did, sir. We all did. I hadn't played in a long time, and I'm like, fuck it, let's try one.

If you just watch, like, a YouTube compilation of the cut scenes on YouTube and don't actually play the game, it's really great and cool. I imagine actually played it, probably not, but I haven't done that. The opening tutorial is seriously like eight hours. I don't think I got past that. I hate tutorials. That was like assuming you've got. Yeah, that was the last game. I remember, like, being super excited for, like, all in. I was like, I don't care. It's Final Fantasy 13. It's going to be great. And then I played it and I was like, well, I my heart has shriveled up and died.

They can't hold a joint. They're the only in the universe. I think reflexively, it's a Final Fantasy. They made a powerful enemy that day. And every time I was like, you should play 14 with me. It's like, no, like, I just I don't know. There's something I'm defensive about. I hear 15 is fun, though. I did enjoy 15. That's the road trip with the boys. Yeah, I don't know why. That's just like cool. Yeah, I really like that one. Just mean the boys in the open road, but there's chocobos. That's cool. What's Matilda? Time's up. Yeah. So thinking about what everyone else is doing, right?

We have Fenris talking to his patron, most likely trying to work on some deal to put the odds in our favor. We have a bittersweet Dagon and Tani downstairs trying to, I guess. They were very vague about what they were. We're playing Lord of the Rings downstairs. Figuring out what power they can tap into is kind of, I think, how Matilda sees it. So that is kind of covering the house. You know, the first book, it's not really, but I think maybe in Matilda's head, kind of covering book four about the gods because we have Fenris doing what Fenris does. God adjacent things.

Yeah. Yeah. I know Calypso is doing some stuff with their music and that sounds like preparing the house. It's not that. It's not related to the house. This is close working on a plan if all else fails. This is their will and Testament estimate. In a sense, you're not like several degrees removed, but not like far off. Hold that thought. We'll come back to that in a second. Don't worry. But are you a notary? Why, of course I am. I bring my stamp with me everywhere as well. So I think thinking about what everyone else is doing and the information that we could be gathering from them.

The thing that's missing is about the people that are coming. So I think it only makes sense. Okay. That we try and find more about what's about to happen. If we could get some names, that would be amazing. They show up. Tom, I know what you did on Thursday of four years ago. And then they turn into gold or something, right? I love it's fantasy Tom. Once you say their name. Tom. It's a pop. Right between the O and the M. Tom. Okay. So we're going with information about the elite themselves. Okay. So setting those other three books aside, you're like, okay, this journal, like right now, like you're digging through this.

Fenris is over talking to somebody. And, and yeah, so. I'm going to give you a couple of pertinent bits of information. That's absolutely going to help you, but I want you. On a scale of one to 10, each piece of information, how vital is it in the moment? Right? Like a 10 would be like, Oh yeah. Aim for the glowing bits when that, you know what I mean? Like that type of thing. Whereas one it's like, some of them don't file their taxes quarterly. You know what I mean? Like that type of thing. So I'm going to give you two major bits. I want you to give me a D10 for the first one.

Like how, like, Oh man. Okay. Here we go. An eight. What the fuck? That was question marks. Yeah. Sorry. That's my fault. I believe you. I believe you. I believe you. It was just one. Roll again. Roll again. I'll roll again. No, no, no. It was an eight. Take the eight. You're fine. I don't, I trust you Val. Honestly. I thought I had moved it to public so that way while I'm typing in the chat, it doesn't just pop up for everyone. I a thousand percent believe you did that by mistake before you try to hide it. I feel like it's totally fine. I was like, what do you mean? Question marks.

Don't you see what I rolled? I thought I was having a stroke for a second. It's like, Oh, okay. So the magic that Abernathy is using here is a variation on a magic that the elite have been using for decades in Brightport. They've been taking the downtrodden homeless doc workers, murdering them and using their souls to power their little empire, to make sure that they live comfortably, to make sure that they all Abernathy did was change the type of source. So it's like, Hey man, if I used unleaded fuel, these kids are so innocent. Like I could really get, you know, so the lead had never thought to use children.

That's all he did. No, I, and I, yeah, no, this is, Oh my God. This is up there with talking to somebody who's like, God, the Nazis were terrible snappy dressers though. Like, you know, it's that weird compliment someone throws in with it. Like it's that like, it's, it's, it's, it's like, yeah, the elite's terrible. They do. Anyway, get over here, Timmy. And that's what he did. So this, this, this is a much more helpful, long lasting, but horrifying type of soul usage. And here's the other thing. Oh, so go ahead. Well, just so the elite are like killing people all of the time.

Oh yes. Yes. But only like the bottomist, like people no one will miss orphans, you know, but like grownup orphans or, you know, you know, that type of thing. There was a big fire back in Brightport. It was so easy to pick a bunch of people off the street who might've been injured or might've been just boom, who would, who would question it in the chaos? It's like, yeah, man, we lost a bunch of people that day. No idea. Here's the thing that I'm going to give you. That's, that's going to change this encounter. They use that magic for everything in a situation like this.

They're not going to come at you as a bunch of guys. They form a single entity for retribution. They essentially become one United monster to kill you. And the thing that he's describing is this inky blackness that fills a space and like, it's, it's there to just suck you dry essentially. And they add you to the pile. Like it's a different kind of sock. Ian, it is. I mean, it's all a good suck. You know what I'm saying? Sucks a sock. Yeah. Thank you, mama. Is this the, uh, the creature that attacked Dagon and Tani? No, that's not okay. So this, I'll give you this for free because that was a really good role.

That is a variation of that, but this is just so picture the strength of dozens of people working together and like just covered in eyes, covered in tentacles, covered it like it is. Yeah. Like you are, it is one, but many, if that makes sense. Uh, Calypso, let's shoot over to Calypso real quick. What you doing? Cause you played this real cool. It was like, I'm just, I'm just fucking fiddling. And now all of a sudden you're like, you've, you've been what? Prepping launch cards. What are you doing? I got that much. Oh, because I had this idea. And I was like, that was really cool.

And then I realized what I was doing. I was like, Oh no, bad ideas in a brainstorm. Everyone's scattered. The thing is so, so, so, so Calypso's plan, which I don't know what's going on at the door, so this may all be rude, but coach is doing this anyways. They don't know. So, um, it was like, okay, well bittersweets gonna, we're maybe gonna like teleport him to a couple of places or at least one place and have him, you know, try and at least spread some information about this. But it's like, okay, what's the best way to get information to stick in people's head.

Oh, me? He's like, I can do that. So Calypso is, has done a lot of bad things in their life. They're maybe not a good person, but this is the thing, I think the most evilest thing they've ever done. We're on a gradient tonight. Like you have to work real hard. It's making a fucking shinkle. So are you launching this like an airborne virus? Interesting. But it's like the elite are there. I get the impression, but like, okay. I okay. We got, we're going to roll a die, but like your intention. Is this like a five men and like, is it like that? Or is it like a longer jingle that it's like motherfucker?

If I don't, it's only the chorus all the time. Like, what? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Like, yeah. And like, what are you doing? Yeah. So the natural predisposition of hearing that is anger. And who do you take it out on? The fucking, like, I'm imagining like this and like accompanied with like image of like where the elite is located and stuff. Like just like, okay. So this is interesting. This is, this is pretty grand scale magic. However, you're surrounded by a lot of, you know, so I think one let's get an Arcana check. Is this for the music part? Cause I'm going to argue against your conifits.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is, so this is you a charge in your fireball, right? This is, this is the part of Dragon Ball Z where you yell. Okay. The only part that's the only part. It's all yell. Okay. That's an eight. Now hold on. So this is the fuel in the rocket. We're going to see. So I want to know how infectious this is, right? I need a performance. I need like, this is you mad men style, just bouncing ideas back and forth. I've got it. And then you come up with some fucking thing that's going to play in drive time radio. And a million people are going to go, man, fuck them.

Like, Oh, and 26. So we know that this isn't going to go crazy far, but the infectious aspect of it. We know is that's the dangerous part. So this isn't going to be broadcast all over a Laura, but you're on college radio basically. And it's like, man, did you hear that? I know, right? Fucking asshole. Like that type of thing. Right. So I would imagine, but the way this takes place, right? This is kind of subliminal. I would imagine. Right. So this is kind of an aura that broadcast out one time and all the birds in the area just kind of pick this up and kind of whistle it.

But like that's a recasting of the spell. And with an eight, I would say that easily encompasses bright port. Oh, so now by the nature of the spell, this would be a wisdom saving throw for a million people, right? So like a small percentage of them are going to fail this, but there's a lot of dumdums in bright port. So it's like, look, I stack boxes. This is what I do. There's not a lot of awareness of the world around them. So these angry fucking dock workers are just going to be whistling the same fucking. It's like, oh, my God, Michael. An Egyptian like over and over again.

It's like, man, if I ever catch the person, if I ever catch the bard that did this, I will make them eat a violin. So the bangle, the bangle says it is the best. But. As. As I hope we don't die, plans go, that's not a bad one. Yeah, I mean, this is this is the idea. It's like our chances are slim. So let's play for the worst. And at least if we go out, Colaso is leaving their mark. They will have a legacy. What a legacy. Are you signing this? That's the last question. Are you signing it? Do they know? Yeah, I think like maybe like the last like lyric or something.

So it's not like that's not what comes up often, you know, but it's just like it's a little bit in there. So they know who to blame. Yeah. OK. Or they. All publicity is good publicity. They're celebrities. That is what I'm told. I, I. I don't know. Thumbs down votes on YouTube count as interactions is all I'm saying. Yes, yes. I'm I'm just saying you take that up to a point and then at a certain point you're laughing at a dead body in the forest. Like I just you know, like it's it's. You know, then eventually you got to fight Mike Tyson. I don't know. So you spend all your goodwill.

Yeah, that's all right. Michael. Hello. As you're having this conversation. Those voices. Are going to switch up and they're going to get lighter and they take on a younger attention like children's voices. Oh. The board is shifted. As we speak, your odds increase. We've never been more sure that today is going to be someone's last day. Yeah, no, I I agree with you on that, but. But I'd like to have influence on. Whose last day or even play in part in making others keep their day, even if it means I lose some or all of mine. You have powerful allies, but. Inexperienced hands, no matter how many.

Are never going to be as helpful as we would like. We could guide them. But you would have to give us something in return. The kind of keeping it purposefully vague. Yeah, and I'm trying to think about how I. So even though this will be like instantaneous, it'd be awesome in the movie. I know I'm like, OK, to think about it, just like what editing is for, baby. That's what I'm going to make you look so good. Do you think I'm keeping all that dead air with me and Kelsey earlier? No, of course not. That's Patreon content, just all the dead. Yeah, yeah. You listen to me sit here.

You're going to play. It wasn't just you. It took longer, but like we both had silences like. And the little fidget toy going up. It helps. Does. Do you enjoy chance or do you enjoy the result? Is it the act of the possibility, the act of what the number could be, or is it the final result? That you enjoy more. It's the importance of the chance taken. When you had a much longer life laid out in front of you. There were millions of opportunities to take at any given point. But now. This may be your last day and thus anything you do. The importance increases. Even if you were to lay down and sleep.

What we want. Is to give you a fighting chance. And in trade. At the most crucial point in your day today. You are going to roll a single die for us. Do I? Hmm. I have like half of it in my head. Do you know what the best part of knowing that you're probably going to die, or at least it's very likely that you're going to die is? Do tell. There's no more limits. There's no more. What happens if there's no more questioning, should I or should I not? Because you know, if you do not, you die. And if you do, you die. And I've already died once before. I will roll this die.

But there has to be. I want to make sure there's some kind of bigger impact in the end. For those around me, I don't care if it's me or not, or if it's them, but I want to make sure that there's an impact. It changes. Everything as it is today in some shape or form, whether it's a person, a group. But I just want to make sure that my. Whole reason for doing this mattered. We promise. That when you roll this die yourself and the ones closest to you will be impacted. I don't suppose you're going to tell me what this die means. That depends on the role. And if someone tries to stop me from rolling, no one will be able to stop you from rolling.

By the end of today, we will be square. Hmm. The bill comes to you. I guess I couldn't run forever. And I just, I nod my head and close my eyes in acknowledgement. The many hands will be guided. And as, as they're talking, there's going to be this burn mark on your hand in the shape of like a D 20, like typical, like it's like, okay. And it will hurt. We wish you all the luck in the world, Fenris. And you can just, you could feel them pull away. Like it's like out, like they're going downstairs in the basement. These blood children are pushing these doors together.

And then they're going to climb over each other to hang and pyramid until they grasp the last door and pull it into the ground itself, forming this, this lighted ring, this, this, this, this bright blue. And it's going to push against the walls and just kind of obliterate them. So the circular room still exists and it just appears to be connected to nothing. It's that inky blackness and cricket sounds again. And everyone is essentially going to hear the same thing at once. And that is the knocker on the front door, clanging over and over and over until it gets louder and louder.

And then just suddenly stops. And I think that's a good time for us to stop for the night. We did it. We did the thing. It's good. It's really good. We now have two fate dice. We do. I'm like, okay. I'm going to be like, that was, that was something more than a regular packed communication. Okay. Historically, Fenris is a pretty lucky guy. So it's true. I feel like Fenris has paid off credit card bills with other credit cards until he's like, he's thinking about every time he's cheated death, he thinks about the like, and it in the, you know, that was the fates of, you know, his luck where he got out of there, able to get all the stuff back to create this group when everyone was doubting it, you know, come blink it.

Uh, the, all the time, the spiders that didn't hit him at all, that beast thing that barely touched him. So now it's like, okay, all of the luck was saved for this last potentially last fight. So I'm going to tell you guys right now, your next episode is going to be your last one. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I figured. Okay. I thought we were going to put concrete now. I thought we were going to push through like another two hours and just do it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I am fading. I'm sorry. It would have got bad. Yeah. I'm feeling it, but I don't want anyone to make a mistake that they wouldn't have made if they were.

And plus like this, I like the fact that we like got here to what I feel like is, is a satisfying thing. Like, oh man, guys, I'm so proud. Like this was really such an amazing session to be a part of and listen to. Like just, it's so fucking weird because when we started this, I felt like everyone was half out the door and then a certain point, everything just clicked. And it's like, this is what I was after the whole goddamn time. Like second to last episode, it's like, oh yeah. Boom. For arc six where there's going to be a wall of lava constantly falling.

I'm sorry. It's like a Mario level. Yeah, exactly. My, my, my vibe was definitely low at the start. I apologize for that, but. Oh dude, I get it. It's been two years of what do we do? What do we do? You know what I mean? Like more than two years. It's almost been three. Yeah. So, cause we started in January of 2022. Wow. Wow. What we were saying was in Riverside, I was in Sacramento. Yeah. It's fucking different, baby. Like on cortex. I didn't know the degree. See? Yeah. Yeah. I think that's always the thing that trips me up is like the cortex. You all did so fucking well.

Just I like cheers. Here's what I want. I don't know when we're playing next. I would like it to be before the end of the year. That'd be great. Tomorrow. If that's well, I have sessions the next couple of days. I know, because I have no riddle in it. It's so hard to think. This went well. This went well though. I, I, yeah. So great. Thank you. Thank you all. Yeah. You guys are so awesome. I loved everybody's play. You guys are so great. Yeah. It was all like so good.