Rowan: Last. Time. On. Jodoborne. We.
Were. With. Callie.
Joe: Cappy.
Rowan: Pistachio.
Joe: Crank.
Rowan: Hazel.
Joe: Father Charles.
Rowan: That's two words.
Isaac: Fuck. Father.
Rowan: Charles. And. Cerulean.
Joe: When.
Rowan: We.
Joe: Went.
Rowan: To.
Joe: The.
Rowan: Warehouse.
Joe: And.
Rowan: Found.
Joe: A.
Rowan: Giant.
Joe: Crate.
Rowan: Fountain.
Isaac: A giant crate fountain. And then what happened at that crate fountain?
Joe: The Guards Bought
Rowan: Cappy
Joe: And
Rowan: Quackers
Joe: When
Rowan: They
Joe: Tried
Rowan: To
Joe: Sneak Up To
Rowan: The
Joe: Fountain. Ah. But The Bombs?
Rowan: Bombs?
Joe: No bombs?
Rowan: No bombs.
Joe: Okay. There were no bombs. Maybe bombs. The
Rowan: Lock.
Joe: Of.
Rowan: The. Fountain? Was.
Joe: Part.
Rowan: Of. The. Problem.
Joe: Because.
Rowan: Pistachio.
Joe: Didn't
Rowan: No. How To Open It.
Joe: So Callie Did
Rowan: Assist
Joe: With
Rowan: Magic
Joe: Sorcery.
Rowan: Yes.
Joe: Cerulean. Was Stammering. Because Read a Something. Magic. And
Rowan: Then
Joe: He was Still there.
Rowan: That's two words. Damn. Still.
Joe: A nerd. That's two words, but I had to say
Isaac: The hallway that we see changes. No longer is it a hallway where our friends are walking down, but now we see three individuals walking down a long passageway. This well ordained hallway, stained glass on either side with large pillars up above each of these windows showing images and sigils of the nine gods. We find ourselves no longer in Algenabai, but in Hilltop somewhere in a big building. At the front is a woman.
She is wearing what looks like holy robes and vestments of sorts that the trained eye would recognize is still very practical to wear, does not hinder her movements. This is a Qatari woman with ribbit features surprisingly. Some web to paws on her hands and feet and what seems like slits of gills at her neck, but otherwise seems to be a bit of a cat like woman. She is walking ahead of two individuals. One of them, a younger version of someone that we've met before, a green haired elf with a glint in his eye and next to him is an orc individual who seems very intense.
Her voice echoes as she says, the scriptures teach us that the age of gods was marked of a time when the nine gods walked among us mortals as though they were no different than us. Full of wisdom and leadership, they imbued us with confidence and with courage. And when the forces of chaos rose up, the gods rose up against them to stop this malicious assault on everything we knew. As we know, the gods and their forces led by the very first Queen Arvold were able to defeat the forces of chaos, eradicating them from the world and their peace finished, the gods decided to rise up to the heavens above, go on to a new plane. Now, as you two know, Zagan and Balan, you understand these to be what the scriptures teach us.
It is why that it is our responsibility here as members of the Ennead church to lead the people as best that we can. We are here to benefit everyone. She continues talking as she's continuing to walk down this hall, you two following behind. We empower people physically as we build hospitals where we can and provide medical assistance and aid to any who need it. We support them spiritually by teaching them as best we can the wisdom that was passed down to us through the scriptures.
You both understand these from your teachings. Yes? Of course. Yeah. Balan, how long ago was the age of gods?
Rowan: Approximately five thousand years.
Joe: Wrong. Zagan? I believe it was two thousand years.
Isaac: Two thousand and two to be precise. Damn.
Rowan: Didn't get that one right, did you?
Joe: I don't have to get every one right.
Rowan: Oh, but you have to get most of them right.
Joe: Well, and I do.
Rowan: And you do.
Isaac: I forget how often the new recruits tend to squabble with each other. Hopefully, you'll learn that you need to work together, but in the meantime, I have a ruler if you really need
Rowan: Hey. We don't need to go that far. I'm not trying to measure anything. I don't need
Isaac: it. Sure. Of course. Yes. First time I've heard that before.
Of course.
Joe: Yes. I'm sorry, priestess.
Rowan: Sorry.
Isaac: Move along now. Move along. Follow me. And she continues to walk into a large chamber. This is a huge dome topped and apse of sorts.
Up above, you see this mosaic of various colors depicting what looks like an enormous struggle. Creatures you've never seen before on one side and then holy looking warriors on the other. She steps up into the middle and turns to look at you two. What I have just described for you, the roles that I have laid out for you is a part of the responsibilities of the Ennead convocation. That is what you have grown up in.
That is what you have taught and learned in. That's what your training has been. However, there is another arm of the church. One that is not publicly discussed. One that is denied the existence of and very few know that it exists.
Because not only do we support people by benefiting them and by supporting them in any way that we can through what I have described, we also help mortal kind by eradicating threats. Something not off spoke about in the scriptures is that the gods did not leave the world untouched by their divinity. There are relics in this world. Portions of their power that still exist and are existent upon our plane. Some of these are very small and minor.
They can do one or two things. These are often not a problem, but we still take care of them nonetheless when we can. They are called minor relics. However, there are major deific relics, nine in total. They dot this land and they are forces of great change.
You stand at the top of the stairs, looking down a great abyss of a stairway that you know is gonna be horrific to get up when you're done with whatever you're about to do. You begin descending as pulses of magic course through your whole bodies. You can feel some heavy spiritual pressure. You and the veritable army of NPCs behind you walking in tandem, in step, a full learning my valuable lesson as a GM on having NPCs say yes to all of you because there's there's so many of them and they will all be equally important. Can promise you that listener.
Yeah. As you're going down, you notice Crank is a little wobbly, like almost like he's a little dizzy, kinda walking a little unsure. As he goes down more and more, he gets a little more sure of himself at themes, but, yeah, he's kinda walking a little strange. But everyone's kinda walking down. Everyone's kinda quiet right now as everyone's on high alert.
Before you even ask, you are checking for traps as you go. Okay. These are not traps. Don't make you roll for it. You're actively looking.
You've got like 10 people with you.
Rowan: It's a it's a good number. We have a small
Isaac: You have a solid army. You have a little you and the militia are going down the stairs.
Rowan: Yeah.
Isaac: I I would think who do you think would be in the front?
Rowan: I think probably Pistachio is in the front Yeah. And then can kind of feel the energy of everything happening. And he's a little very, very nervous because they feel the pressure of everything coming and will kinda just stop and, turn around to everybody and go, hey, hey, guys. I think I think we should be a little bit careful here. This is kinda it kinda feels a little bit like how it did before when we fought Ashe.
Isaac: Okay. It really gives you a salute and says, oy oy, captain. I will follow you to the ends of the earth. Wait. The earth isn't a thing.
Let me try again. I'll follow you wherever we're gonna go because I'm daughter recruiting. I'm learning how to do it.
Rowan: Yep. That's my little pistachio looks at Hazel.
Isaac: And Hazel is just kind of vibrating and she says, yeah, what's with that guy? He's so overeager.
Rowan: Pistachio is just like, oh my god.
Isaac: Pistachio, look at the weight of leadership on your shoulders. You take lead down the stairs.
Rowan: And Pistachio looks back.
Isaac: You see Crank's eyes are looking at you. And Pistachio, you notice right away that Crank's eyes are no longer that kind of blue or even red. Mhmm. But it's like a purple y blue with stars in the background of his eyes is what his eyes look like.
Rowan: I think Pistachio Clocks that goes, Greg, you you do it okay?
Joe: You okay big guy?
Isaac: Yes. I'm doing great. Sorry. Just all the excitement earlier. Some of that magic I did just got me really And I'm just so worried about what's coming too.
So that as well. Okay. Yeah. No. But I'm fine.
Thank you for your concern though. We should watch out. We should be careful.
Rowan: Yes. You've got
Joe: some weird energy, bud.
Isaac: You continue to step down the hallway, an odd acting crank and your other four friends behind you. And as you step down to the bottom of the steps, you see a hallway before you. The walls and ceiling like worked stone. Torches on the side continually lit to give off light. You see that there are three doors in total.
One to your left, one to your right, and a set of double doors at the far end of the hall. You see the word laboratory on all three of them.
Joe: Anyone need to take a break? Anyways, now I'm not doing that.
Rowan: I think that's love oratory, not laboratory.
Isaac: Yeah, Cappy. It's a lavatory? Callie says, somewhat nervous.
Joe: Yeah. Anyways I know words.
Rowan: Shall we listen at either door and see if there's anything in there? Any any preferences? Okay. And they're gonna listen out the door.
Isaac: Very good. Go ahead and give me an instinct check. We'll make one and I'll assume you're gonna probably listen to all three before making any rash decisions.
Rowan: Yes. Pistachio is very much a little gun shy at this point. 11.
Joe: With? Hope.
Isaac: Yeah. Oh, level of Okay. First door on your left, you're met with nothing but silence. The door on your right, you hear the sound of rhythmic and heavy breathing. And the double doors are hard to get to because the weight gets heavier and heavier and heavier.
And I think on an 11, you get up there and voices are muffled. You can't make out how many voices there are, but it sounds like there's a conversation going on on the other side.
Rowan: Okay. Alright. So left door, nobody in there. Right door, there's like breathing. I feel like that's interesting.
Isaac: And then
Rowan: that big one I feel like we should leave for last cause I could hear voices, I just can't tell how many people are in there and I look, is there any like a lip under the door or something?
Isaac: It looks like if there is a lip, it is covered on the other side with a kind of stopper to keep anything from leaving.
Rowan: Yeah. There's just no way I could get into that. Okay. So
Joe: So we go into the quiet door
Rowan: Quiet door
Joe: first. And maybe we can find a way into the main room through like vents or something. There has to be a way to breathe down here.
Rowan: Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. I guess
Joe: I'll go first.
Rowan: Hey. Yeah. That that was what I was gonna suggest. Yep.
Joe: Great. I'm gonna go into the door on the left.
Isaac: Very good. You open it up and an interesting sight greets you. Clearly, this is some kind of lab. There are tables on all of the walls, tables in the middle of the room and there are papers strewn here and there, strange equipment, beakers and tubes, glass and metalware everywhere. At the far end of the room, interestingly enough, are dead trees.
Small trees. They look like for the people who have lived in Bracken Road for all their life. You've seen what a juvenile apple tree looks like.
Joe: What?
Isaac: And these are small apple trees that are dead and weirdly twisted and decayed. You also see on the ground what look like researchers. They wear little lab coats, they have some goggles and they seem like they tore each other to shreds.
Rowan: Oh my god.
Joe: I'd like to look around. Is there any vents or crawl spaces I can get up into?
Isaac: There is a vent that seems to be covered with a bit of a hood so that they can open and close it in case they need to shut anything from leaving or getting in. It looks open right now but there is a vent. Okay. You see Crank strides past you and kind of walks up to like some of the tables. His hand sort of on his chin in a contemplative look seem to look around
Joe: the tables. Just see something?
Isaac: Yeah. Yeah.
Rowan: Yeah. Know, figuring out something?
Isaac: Oh, I'm sorry. I was just looking at some of the notes here to figure out what was going on.
Rowan: Oh. Well, good job. Keep doing that. I
Joe: I would like to feel around the pockets of the dead.
Isaac: Yeah. So you stick your hands in the dead man's pockets and you're rifling around. You see that there's a little note that says, oh, I love you so much. Come back home from work safe. Oh, no.
You see a little picture of a family and you see that like the rest of his pockets, he doesn't really have stuff on him that's interesting. He's just got like a bunch of pens and like a little measuring tool and like a little pen protector, a little pocket protector. You got like, you know, like classic like nerdy scientist like he's
Joe: Nerd shit.
Isaac: Oh. That yeah. That's what you find. It's so it's so unusual.
Joe: Nerd shit. Capy's saying that as he's, like, throwing it over his shoulder.
Rowan: Hazel, look at this nerd shit.
Isaac: Is this what adventurers call, like, they take off of dead people is, like, nerd shit? Is it
Joe: like, what
Rowan: was it? No. Well, like okay. So you see there's, like, pins in here. Do you remember when we like went to the to the we would pick up like stuff in the, in the forest like wood and stuff and we turn it into pens and then like, there's also like the stuff that you put in the pocket protectors that we saw that really nerdy guy look like.
Isaac: Yeah. We had not a lot to do on the farm. Yeah. We really did. We would go out, we would firewood and we would make Ben's outfit.
Rowan: Yeah. Like, well, that level of like.
Isaac: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Was really cool.
It wasn't dirty at all. What do you mean?
Rowan: No, Hazel. That's not what cool people do. What?
Isaac: Oh, I'm so cool.
Rowan: Are we cool? I don't think we're
Isaac: We're so cool. No. We're so you know, me and me and father are so cool. Hey, Fodd father Charles, we can take stuff off dead people, right? That's okay?
And you look over at father Charles, he's kind of looking around, he's like, it's so serious. He's like looking around all the corners trying to see things. And he kind of stops and looks at Hazel, just kind of shrugs and says, I mean, there's no one there's no one's around and it's something useful.
Rowan: Joe, out of character, how stressed does Cappy seem?
Joe: Half stressed.
Rowan: Okay. I
Joe: Three out of six.
Rowan: Three out of six. So
Joe: If you were to put it on a scale.
Rowan: Okay.
Isaac: A scale of one to Of one to six. The
Joe: the normal stress scale of one to six.
Rowan: I feel like pistachio is clocking that there is a lot of stress going on and because there's kind of this there's already some trees or something going on, they wave their hand a little bit to kind of let the magic flow out of them and kind of create this soundscape of like a forest. So it seems less gross and laboratory ish and more natural clearing. I'm using Warden of Root Renewal's Clarity of Nature, which once per long rest, I can create a space of natural serenity around me. After spending a few minutes within the space, we can clear stress equal to the instinct trait distributed as we choose between you and your allies. Cappy take who?
Take two stress healed.
Joe: Nice.
Rowan: And at the same time, they're gonna like put their hands on their own self and breathe through this and use regeneration since I now have three hope to clear some hit points because ouch.
Isaac: Ouch.
Rowan: You ready to go check out the breathing door?
Joe: The breathing door?
Rowan: Yeah. The heavy heavy breathing door.
Joe: The one you said had a rhythmic breathing behind it.
Rowan: Yeah. Someone's probably sleeping or something.
Joe: Someone.
Rowan: Yeah. Mhmm. We're just gonna be real quiet.
Joe: Yeah. It's always someone.
Rowan: Yeah. I mean like
Joe: It's never an eel gator. I'll tell you that. Never an acid burrower, I'll tell you that.
Rowan: Well, does this sound like rhythmic breathing It does.
Isaac: It sounds like very calm rhythmic breathing.
Rowan: Of like an acid burrower or like some sort of nature thing.
Isaac: You know, you don't think an acid burrower is breathing this way?
Rowan: You know, I don't think it. They have more of like a
Isaac: Okay. Alright. Alright. First question, how dare you? Second of all.
You know, I appreciate the restraint. It hasn't been a while since you've gone full sicko mode into the mic. Oh my god.
Joe: Sorry, Joe. Yeah.
Isaac: Joe's editing this one. Sorry. Sorry, Joe. Joe's just looking at us.
Rowan: Sorry. Oh, no.
Isaac: Hey, Cappy. Now that you're a little less stressed and less frantically moving through things, can you give me a knowledge check for me?
Joe: Yes. Knowledge is plus zero. 14 with hope.
Isaac: Go ahead and add a d six because I'm gonna say that Cerulean has also come in and is helping you search for things.
Joe: Damn, I must need it. 5. 19 with hope.
Rowan: Yay.
Isaac: You and Trullian kinda look and you notice that Crank is over seemingly to pick up pictures and read them and like putting them to one side and then every so often he puts one in front of you. That seems useful. As you're reading through these, you piece together a few things. So clearly these are pomologists that were working seemingly to attempt to recreate the Bracken Road apple. Part of their research however was local to Bracken Road.
You remember rumors going around about palmologists coming to try and like see what else they could make with Bracken Road apples, like try different things. What you realize is what they were trying to do was figure out why they could not recreate Bracken Road apples outside of Bracken Road. They were taking seeds from Bracken Apples, planting them, and the results are what you see in front of you. They actually determined that Bracken Road apples were only growing within a mile radius of Bracken Road. You then see a note that apparently, the person who hired them to do so discovered some old family documents that led him to realize the source of what this was coming from.
What it was coming from was not stated in these notes, but you do know that they were starting to work with a new kind of technology simply called edict. It was provided by people who as you read some black clad individuals who provided this technology.
Joe: Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait.
I Kathy's reading it. I don't I don't I don't I don't understand. I thought the staff was what was keeping the apples.
Isaac: Crank reaches over and points at a date and says, no. It's very clear from these documents and notes that the relic here is what was growing these apples. They're trying to recreate it with a thing called edict, which I haven't heard of. Have you heard of this edict before?
Rowan: No. No. I haven't heard of edict before.
Isaac: And of course, I wouldn't have either, but I was curious if you would heard it in some of your conversations with each other.
Rowan: Oh, no. Father Charles, have you or Callie, either of you guys, have you heard of something called edict before?
Isaac: Callie shakes her head and she's just kinda like, clearly like standing there a little nervous. You see father Charles doesn't look at you and simply shakes his head.
Rowan: Hey, Callie. Hey, could you come here real
Isaac: quick? Yeah. Sure.
Rowan: Yeah. Let's see. So I don't have senior flip flop anymore, but I do have crackers and they kinda like put crackers in her hands and goes, hold this. Pet this.
Isaac: No. Thank you.
Rowan: Trust me, it'll make you feel better. Isn't that right, crackers?
Isaac: Quack. You see, Callie is stroking the duck. Oh, okay. Actually, I get it. This is I get this.
This is nice.
Joe: Yeah. She gets it.
Rowan: She gets it.
Isaac: He's so soft. She like squeezes a little bit like in a big hug and you see that his eyes kind of poke out.
Rowan: Not that much. Not that hard.
Isaac: Okay. I'm sorry.
Rowan: Callie, I'm gonna take No. The
Isaac: Don't, please.
Rowan: Okay. Alright. Not asking for. Could still be a dodo if that would make you
Joe: No. No. It's fine. I'll open the door.
Rowan: Okay.
Isaac: You open the door?
Joe: Yep. The second door.
Isaac: You open the second door.
Rowan: I'm right behind you. I got you.
Isaac: As you open the door, you see a similarly grisly sight, except the context is a little different. You see along the ground are what look like Luvenhurst goons. You see that their skin is boiled and pockmarked. You see strange veins that have turned sickly black going across their skin. They are in pieces on the ground.
There were probably four of them. They look like their limbs were ripped off. They look like large bludgeoning damage was done to their faces and their bodies. They are in an absolute mess across it. In this room, you see maps, you see tables of charts, you see all kinds of things.
And sitting on what looks like a table with straps that have been fully rent asunder, you see Ingeborg. She sits, her legs crossed, her hands resting on her knees, and she is breathing in through the nose, out through the mouth. And when you all come inside, you see that her middle third eye opens to see all of you.
Joe: Igorborg. Igorborg.
Rowan: Oh my god. Are you okay?
Isaac: Hello. It is you two. Happy waves.
Rowan: Hello. Hi, Igorborg.
Isaac: I could feel your auras down the stairs. It was tough to feel it due to the overwhelming presence of magic of a strange divine kind next door, but I could still sense your coming.
Rowan: Yeah. It's it's overwhelming to hear. Are you okay to do what what happened in here?
Isaac: Pride is wounded. It appears that in my time here in the city, I have grown soft. Oh. I was taken by surprise by miscreants and vagabonds that had no business overtaking me.
Rowan: Oh, well, yeah. You mean, yeah. I will say when Callie said you were taken, I was a little bit surprised.
Isaac: You on the mention of Callie, you see that Ingelborg looks behind you and sees Callie just kinda staring out from behind the door. And she says, oh, Ingelborg. Oh, Ingelborg. I'm so glad you're okay. Oh, I missed you.
And she, like, pushes past you too and then runs up and, like, embraces Ingelborg who hesitantly gives her a hug.
Joe: Yeah. What'd you do to the goons?
Isaac: Yeah. I thought Callie is saying now, I thought you were taken, I thought you were hurt. You see that Ingeborg lowers her head and says, yes. In an embarrassing way, these goons' strange arcana was unexpected of me, and I let my guard down. It is a shame that I will carry with me for the rest of my life, a mark upon my soul that would take eons for me to wash clean, but it is a learning opportunity for me to remind myself of the fundamentals and the basics.
I had a feeling that you would come to try and find me, so I did you a service by eliminating the goons who had attacked me by using a similar tactic that they used upon me, which is to wait until they were unexpected. And then I tore them apart with my bare hands for I did not respect their ways and their personhoods, so they are not of a type who can Yeah. Be having the honor of facing me with my swords.
Joe: Yeah. Real quick. Wow. Quick question. The boils, how'd you do that?
Isaac: I did not do the boils. Once their lives were ended and stricken from their bodies and their souls left for no doubt the circles below. Uh-huh. I watched as their forms began to mutate and morph.
Rowan: Oh god.
Isaac: Their skin bubbled up with nastiness. Their screams echoed like beasts, and their eyes, I closed them.
Rowan: Pistachio looks down at the group on the ground. Do they have those circle things that Wally had?
Joe: The bracelets?
Rowan: The bracelets.
Isaac: They do.
Rowan: Shit. Fuck.
Joe: Well, I think what we can take away from this situation, Pistachio Mhmm. Is that happy endings are possible. Look at that. Mhmm. We came down here.
Isaac: Mhmm.
Joe: I beat Sathanyla. Mhmm. We found Ingelborg. Mhmm. We just gotta go make sure Wally is okay.
Rowan: Yep. Uh-huh. Give me one second please. And then, Pistachio holds Quackers now in their hand and just like screams into Quackers like a like a pillow and just goes,
Joe: Pistachio, Pistachio, Pistachio. We have to stay calm.
Rowan: I'm good. I'm good. I just I needed a second. It's okay. It's fine.
It's totally fine. Hazel, for educational purposes, you see the little discs on their arm?
Isaac: Yeah. It's gnarly. Yeah. I've never seen anything like this. This wasn't in the books.
Rowan: Okay. Cool. Wally got one of those on his arm.
Isaac: What?
Rowan: Yeah. He's kind of in He's kind of in the Bob.
Joe: You guys have a fun family. Sure. Yeah. Have Craig, see? We found Engelborg.
Isaac: Okay. Craig is sort of just looking at some of the maps. He just kind of strode by you while you were talking and is like looking at some of the maps and says, yeah. Yeah. We did.
Very good. Oh, she's so bigger than me. I'm so intimidated.
Joe: Yeah. Yeah.
Isaac: And then continues to like look at things.
Joe: Okay. Finding anything interesting over there, big guy?
Isaac: Yes, actually. It seems as though there are shipments from the Scarlet Fever going to, not this location, but other locations.
Joe: The Scarlet Fever? Wait.
Isaac: Yes. The
Joe: Where are they going? They're coming here
Isaac: to Algenabai. It seems like Coming here? Well, yes. It's tied up in Apple people business. I guess your ex's dad is an arms dealer, which is interesting actually and does make a bit of sense.
I was wondering how someone who just sold apples was so seemingly rich.
Joe: Frank, I
Isaac: It does make sense.
Joe: Listen He's
Isaac: like hang on. He's likely using this whole Apple business as a money laundering scheme. And so more than likely, because Brackenreau is burned down, he's trying to recreate that somehow.
Joe: Mhmm.
Isaac: So
Rowan: Did you just hang on, Cappy?
Isaac: No. No. That's not what I said. I'm sorry. Your turn, Cappy.
Joe: No. No. No. No. Wait.
Pistachio. Crank, it just seems like you're a lot more put together than normal. Did something happen with the machinist?
Isaac: See that Crank just kinda looks at you and says, I don't know, must be the magic. I'm feeling more magical.
Joe: Yeah. You're just also speaking a lot more clearly.
Rowan: Yeah. You don't normally speak like that and you're not
Joe: And you're usually a lot more literal.
Rowan: And a lot less rude.
Isaac: How about this? Once this is all done, we can sit down and we'll talk. We'll have a conversation. That's what I think we need to work on. We being you two need to work on.
You need to work on communicating more. Okay. As just an observer. Okay.
Rowan: Wow. Wow.
Joe: Wow. Just had to say it. Yeah. Okay. You said it put us right on the spot.
Rowan: They put us right on the spot. You He put us right on
Isaac: the spot.
Joe: Listen, I actually think that maybe, maybe maybe maybe there's nothing to talk about. Maybe we're actually all fine.
Rowan: Yeah. You know what? We're actually fine.
Joe: You know what? Because maybe I don't like to be told that I'm not fine.
Rowan: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Crank.
Joe: Anyways okay. So job well done. We just gotta go find your brother.
Rowan: Yes.
Joe: Is is there really anything else we need? We need to find the asset. We
Isaac: need a
Joe: clover of towers, I think. Yeah.
Isaac: There is gathering power into the room next door. I do not know exactly what it is. I can see only the gathering of energy and anima in a tightly conformed space in the room next door. You will find something within there that I believe you will need to stop.
Joe: Well, I've heard all I need to hear and honestly, I'm feeling pretty good with our odds. So let's go.
Rowan: Before we go, I I have a feeling that a lot of this is gonna be pretty wild. Is there anything at all? Any strategy we would do? Do we would have to stick people through the vents and go through the other side? Is there vents in here?
Moustachio looks around to see.
Isaac: You look around and you're looking for vents but you notice that you catch Crank's eye and he points at the wall where there are maps. And Pistachio, the map on the wall is of Bracken Road.
Rowan: Wait. That's a that's a Bracken Road map. Wait a second. And Pistachio goes up and looks at it a little bit closer.
Isaac: You see it as a map of Bracken Road. You see the town hall is circled and you see that a few things are x ed out. This includes the library, this includes a couple of other public service buildings as well. You see that the orchards that are around the town on the southern side are circled and a note that says, do not touch is written on those.
Rowan: First, they're gonna look and see where is their farm. Is it x'd off?
Isaac: You don't see your farm marked at all, really. Just a little dot I think that
Rowan: hurts them even more and they put that in their pocket and or later.
Isaac: You see notes on the table below where that map is. You see what looks like correspondence. You see that shipments of Jastani armor and weapons were provided by someone named Wolf. You see orders from a Commander Glen of movement by the Scarlet Fever of where their plan was to be so that WB and his peacekeepers would not get in direct contact and conflict with them.
Rowan: Cappy, here's your conspiracy. And Pistachio shows you the notes.
Joe: So these guys are They planned the whole thing.
Rowan: Yeah. They did.
Joe: We were set up.
Rowan: We were set up.
Isaac: You see that Callie is kinda kinda looks over at Ingeborg while y'all are kinda having this moment and says, so Ingeborg, do you think that and I know that you're really good at your emotions, but do you think that being angry would help you in the next fight?
Rowan: Oh my god.
Isaac: And you see that Ingeborg leans a hand over and says, Gally, I have been thinking in my time here and I have done all that I can. But I believe that you are too busy looking behind you into your past in order to look forward and I have tried many things to help you move. But in my meditations, I have realized that I have started to slack on my fundamentals, and I believe that only you can move forward. This will be our last battle together, so we shall make it a glorious one. And you see that Callie is just kinda looking and says, you breaking up with me?
And immediately they start fighting. Just like before.
Rowan: Okay. Pistachio was getting angry and anxious and then like turns over to that and then like waddles back up to Hazel and goes, so yeah, you see that? That's crazy. Don't touch that.
Isaac: Wow. Yeah. That is crazy. Yeah. But like in a kind of like
Rowan: Oh my
Isaac: I don't know.
Rowan: God, Hazel. Do you just like the color red? Because you seem to be walking towards all sorts of flags.
Isaac: You know, there's a lot happening. Uh-huh. But did you say earlier we were set up?
Rowan: Yeah. Here. And then Pistachio takes out the map and shows. So yeah. It looks like they had planned to take out Rock And Road and then Cappy's got those Cappy, can I see those real quick?
Joe: Cappy's gone.
Rowan: Okay. The papers are on the ground. Fantastic. Alright. Here, you can see it.
You can read.
Isaac: She starts reading them and can you go ahead and give me either a knowledge or an instinct check, Pistachio.
Rowan: This is for Hazel's emotions?
Isaac: This is for you to notice something.
Rowan: Is it related to Hazel?
Isaac: It's not related to Hazel.
Rowan: Okay. Then I won't use family of farmers. 13 with hope.
Isaac: 13 with hope. Instinct. You are looking at some more of the notes. You're handing them to Hazel, you're grabbing a couple more and you notice that that falling out of the papers is a note handwritten in very nice handwriting, very legible. It says, plans changed bringing relic to secondary contact.
Communication with the fourth confirmed. Who the fuck is the fourth? See Hazel's getting mad.
Rowan: That's that's how I feel Hazel. I'm glad I'm not alone. I feel like I've been crazy here the whole time as they they fucking killed our farm for
Isaac: what? I don't know but I want to fuck somebody up.
Rowan: Oh yeah, absolutely.
Isaac: Well, you can use his crossbow. I'm gonna shoot somebody.
Rowan: Okay. That's fine. You can have your first kill.
Isaac: I know where to shoot him too.
Rowan: Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. Here's the thing. Okay. Everybody out alive, we cannot kill our brother.
Got it?
Isaac: Well, I'll be killing Wally but not physically.
Rowan: Okay. Yeah. Absolutely. We can absolutely flee.
Isaac: I'm gonna kill some other people too, think. Okay. When you hear father Charles say, Hazel, calm down. And Pistachio, you noticed that Cerulean is looking back and forth, kind of at Crank and at the rest of the people and they kind of worriedly come up to you and pull you aside. Pistachio, I think I think Crank's acting really strange.
Rowan: Yeah. Yeah. I I I think so.
Isaac: It's weird because I've been every time I stand a little close to him, it's like I'm standing next to someone different. Either way he's walking is different. The way he's talking is different, but he seemed fine just up above. But then once we got to the top of the stairs and then there's pulses of magic started.
Rowan: Yeah. He he did stumble a little bit. Like, he was walking almost for the first time or something.
Isaac: There's always a different
Rowan: His eyes are Yeah. Don't understand. Well, this is it's not like
Isaac: Oh, Clover of Towers is okay.
Rowan: Can you tell me anything more about Clover?
Isaac: Well, they're incredibly beautiful and amazing to look at. They're so nice and they're
Rowan: wonderful. Right.
Isaac: And they smell really good.
Rowan: Yeah.
Isaac: And they're supposed to marry and chant a caliche who's my boss and I have complicated feelings about that I haven't figured out. Oh, okay. You're What? No. Me?
No. I wouldn't like my boss as betrothed.
Rowan: So really, and be serious with me right now. Do you does your little heart flutter whenever you see them?
Isaac: There's not a waking moment where I don't think about them. They're the first thing I think of when I wake up and the last thing I think of when I go to sleep.
Rowan: You got it bad. Do Clover can't be that good to do that to you.
Isaac: Pistachio, I I was a career focused fairy and then I met them when we were traveling to meet them at one point in a clandestine meeting between our countries Mhmm. And I tagged along because I'm Enchanted Kalashe's student. And I saw them, and it was it was love at first sight.
Rowan: Love love at first sight doesn't exist, sir William.
Isaac: You'd be surprised. You'd be surprised. If you would lay eyes on them, you would understand.
Rowan: I highly doubt that. But okay. Alright.
Isaac: I will just have to agree to disagree.
Rowan: Well, I guess we'll see when I see them.
Isaac: There's like hearts in cerulean's eyes.
Rowan: Oh my god. Hazel, can you believe this guy?
Isaac: So Cappy, where are you right now?
Joe: He's back through the first door going through the
Isaac: The vent?
Joe: The vent.
Rowan: Okay. By himself?
Joe: Yep. What? Yeah. You just hear like all of a sudden, you you hear like the rustling of a vent Motherfucker. And a and a quack.
Motherfucker. Because I I put I shoved him up in front of me and I'm like crawling in the vents with with quackers.
Isaac: Okay. Okay. Yeah. You go through the vent.
Joe: Okay. Alright. So I go through the vent. I'm hoping the vent leads to the room that's behind the double doors.
Isaac: Yeah. Make a finesse roll for me.
Joe: You got it, boss. Hell yeah. I am rolling so fucking hot today. Yes. That is a 21, 22, 23 with it is with fear.
Rowan: Aw. Thank
Joe: you. That's a bummer. Thank Yeah. 23.
Isaac: You are crawling through this vent. You successfully do so without raising suspicion. And as you're going in, you feel it kind of move up a bit. It gets sloped a little up. You get to a point where you see the vent go in front of you.
Just outside a close range, you see it takes a right but about halfway there, it takes another right and you see a little light coming through where clearly there is a vent just right there. So my question is, do you wanna go to the vent that's just right there or do you wanna go to the far, like, close to the far end and take the right there?
Joe: So turn right or go past that and take another right?
Isaac: Yes. Explore more of the vent Mhmm. Or stop right here?
Joe: I'm a stop right here.
Isaac: You go up to this vent and you look inside and you rolled really high. So I'm gonna first thing you notice in this large room is that there is a vent directly across from the other side and you see the glint of a little mask in there and you swear you could hear someone say, you've gotta be fucking kidding me.
Joe: Are you fucking kidding me? This guy again?
Isaac: You look down at the room and a lot is there to be seen. Pistachio, you notice that Cappy is no longer with you.
Rowan: Goddamn it. Where the I hear the quack and I'm like
Isaac: Softer than that though. It echoes through the vents.
Rowan: I think Pistachio closes their eyes
Joe: Mhmm.
Rowan: And looks through Quacker's eyes.
Isaac: As you both look out into a large room, the most prominent thing in this room is the jade staff, the sages relic that stands straight up with small attachments to it like clamps. Those clamps lead down into blue lines like these thin threads that create this circle at the base of the jade staff. At the edge of this circle, you see an individual tied to a chair, a bag over their head, and behind that individual, their back leaned up against it is a large black obelisk made of a stone that you've never seen before. Above the center of this circle connected to the black obelisk like a dentist's light almost is a disc, a black disc that sits almost hovering above the jade staff. You every so often see arcs of electricity, this purple energy that goes between the jade staff and that disc.
There's a bunch of people in this room gang In the same way that y'all came down with a little private army, so too are there an equivalent amount of foes in this room. See at the far end opposite of where you are in the vent of the circle, you see major Balthazar. He stands there stately and militaristic, his uniform nicely pressed. Opposing him on the other side of the circle is a finely dressed yet bedraggled looking rich apple person. And in the corner is also Edmund Zechtan, who's looking meek and like he doesn't want to be a part of this, but he is there nonetheless.
There's a bunch of other people in this room, namely in the corner opposite of Edmund, you see a gaggle of individuals dressed in black, very similar to the people that were with Ashe back in the Sage's Grove. You also see that there's two important looking individuals like the anime characters with colored hair, but we'll get to them later. And finally, in another corner is a box opened. Its contents clearly been removed and used for their purposes. The same boxes that Wally carried away with him.
As though on queue, you see that a little door is behind those boxes currently opened like a secret passageway and you just happen to notice Wally closing the door behind him as he is leaving the scene.
Rowan: Oh, my
Isaac: god. Major Balthazar looks at Rich Apple person and says, Oh, rich goat. Thank you for coming at my request. Rich apple person looks at him and sort of blathering and stammering says, what is the meaning of this WB? I thought communication was to be minimal.
Why are we all here? What is the purpose of this? Major Balthazar cuts him off and says, plans have changed, Rich. We've determined that this relic is much more powerful than just making apples for your little business. And better yet, in fact, turns out some of the contacts you so graciously connected me with are people I fought with in the civil war.
I actually know plenty of these reds. And we got to talking and figured out, we don't need you as the middleman anymore, Rich. You see Rich is stammering, trying to figure out what to say clearly on his back foot. Before he can finish, you see WB slowly walking towards him saying, in fact, even better is that the little scientists over there were telling me in no uncertain terms, couple of interesting tidbits about this whole setup. You see, it turns out that the last person to have used the staff, their blood is intricately tied with the relic or something like that.
What that means is that people related to whoever used the staff last actually have a bit of influence over these things. Isn't that really fascinating, Rich? So since your ancestor was down there with the staff last, as you so graciously told us when we started this whole thing, that means that your blood could really power this thing up. In fact, a little scientist over there tells me that we can in fact level a whole city if we just have a little bit of your blood. You see that Rich takes a step back says, what are you doing?
Major Balthazar in a flash has unsheathed his sword and it now sticks out the back of rich apple person who gasps surprised. Major simply says, Vol'Dayn will stand strong again for your sacrifice. They didn't tell me how much blood, but I figured better safe than sorry. He pulls the sword
Joe: out of
Isaac: Rich who immediately starts bleeding, throws his body onto the circle. No sooner does it hit it do you see sparks starting to fly up. And Edmund says, I thought we would I thought we would just gonna get a little And Major interrupts him and says, shut up uncle. We've got a war to start.
Joe: Yeah. I think Cappy is just like starting to hyperventilate and he's just like and he's going to accidentally shadow step.
Isaac: Hey, everybody. It's me, your GM and your announcer, Isaac Allen Burns here to shout out some of our biggest supporters. That's right. You know what time it is. It's time for me to shout out the bag of gold members starting off with Kola Cago, Max l, Josh's seven zero eight, Condor Blue, Darcy r, Batty Bright, Maria w, thirty bird, Niklas w, Severed Ronin, MinorThoughts, BDS at DorkMaster, World of Gariva, Muscles Dynamite, Tabletop Optimist, Jacob r Hedwin, Tales by Daggerlight, and no need to be suspicious, it's just Zorak.
I'm very suspicious and thank you all so much for your support. It means a lot to us and I hope you all have a wonderful day and a wonderful night. Or if you're listening to this in the middle of the day, I hope you have a rest a wonderful rest of your day. Yeah. Okay.
Anyways, bye.