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Take your seats, bring the house lights down, and please don’t silence your phones, you’ll need it for Theater of the Mindset!
TotM is a show combining collaborative, character driven storytelling in a modern high fantasy setting with audio drama production quality. A mixed table of mild mannered TTRPG players and unmanageable improvisers bring balanced humor seasoned with imbalanced results.
The mindset is brought to you by your kind and generous GM, Justin Gerardot and sound designer and composer, Nick Traeger.
Theater of the mind. Oh, theater. Theaters of the mindset. Theater of mindset.
Justin (GM):Theater of the mindset.
Nick (Herry):Last week on faith and fortune, during a meeting of the Warren task force, the gang found out that a prelate of the Ba'az faith was killed trying to prove that Ishan Halvard was not an anointed. Afterwards, a sister from the church of Arasinda told Lucan to quote, get his house in order or they will get it in order for them. Later, Lucan dropped off the promised supplies at the soup kitchen and found himself proving his wings out in the streets of the commons. And Sarah, the backroom of the soup kitchen, found a new community within her new community and started training more in the ways of variations. But we now pick up with Harry in a very important meeting.
Nick (Herry):Harry Pinch strides through the Venetharan University of Arcane Arts heading towards the office of Tallulah Pinch. He then kicks open the door and loudly proclaims, Tallulah Pinch, you're under investigation by the Vinitharan Senate for crimes against rats.
Justin (GM):Well, senator Pinch, double jeopardy rules says that I can't be charged for the same crime twice. So what do you say to that?
Nick (Herry):He got me. And then gives a big hug to his mom.
Justin (GM):She gives you a big hug back. Her office and the attached lab, is fairly pristine for the efforts that she puts into it. The issue at hand is that she doesn't put a lot of effort into it. There are a number stacks of books are because she didn't have room to put them on the bookshelves and other stacks are for sitting on.
Nick (Herry):Sure.
Justin (GM):Currently set up in the middle of the lab, there are at least 25 mice currently maneuvering their way through this maze. A group of seven of them though that seem to be working together to work their way through the maze somehow. And after she she finishes finishes giving giving you you a a hug, hug, she's, oh, they've figured out the the trick wall over there. I'm so impressed. She takes a note.
Nick (Herry):How is this related to magic at all?
Justin (GM):What is it not
Nick (Herry):Clearly what? Not.
Justin (GM):Oh. Well, you see, I'm trying to ascertain what the minimum number of suggested mice it takes to get the in collective out together. Tipping point situation.
Nick (Herry):Exactly. Yes. Exactly. Sure.
Justin (GM):It seems as though three suggested mice isn't enough.
Nick (Herry):Okay. So is seven the number then? Looking at these seven?
Justin (GM):Only one of those mice in that seven is Oh. Currently enchanted. She points to another mouse that's kind of by itself. That one's also been suggested, but seems to lack the charisma necessary to lead other mice. And that's the trick.
Justin (GM):See, you can suggest to a person to do whatever you want, you still have to depend on their innate abilities. And so the trick is to find a median number that we can count on to capture the right number of characteristics on average to impact the larger group.
Nick (Herry):It's a wonder you're not a more popular spellcaster around here. But I heard I heard you got a visit from the king.
Justin (GM):Did you come truly? I Truly. Did my son come all of this way to critique my work? No.
Nick (Herry):I was curious about it.
Nick (Herry):It was that's all done.
Justin (GM):I just Do you wanna walk out the door and try all of this again?
Nick (Herry):I I just I just came I heard I I I sent Asher your way. He he he cornered me in his office, which by the way, you should have that office. This is this is crazy that you have such a different office and a less nice office. He's got such a nice office. Just try Harry is just trying to blow heat off of himself.
Justin (GM):You see her look look around her does he have a lab?
Nick (Herry):He's got enough space for a lab. I can tell you that much. It's like a little it's a nice nice apartment sitting over there. Woah. I know.
Nick (Herry):We should we should petition. He's not using it.
Justin (GM):She considers for a second. How would I I wonder if I could you do an experiment to see if I could like the the the maze could be convincing the mice to go to there.
Nick (Herry):Now, we're talking. He would love that.
Justin (GM):She down. She jots this down. Move mice to Did he swing by though? Look at he did. It was very brief.
Nick (Herry):Oh.
Justin (GM):It was very brief.
Nick (Herry):Okay. On your end or on his end? Together.
Justin (GM):Okay. The time together was brief.
Nick (Herry):Who made it brief, I guess, is the He did.
Justin (GM):Okay. But that's fine.
Nick (Herry):19 people.
Justin (GM):It's yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. He is truly the king Yeah.
Justin (GM):I am just a tenured professor
Nick (Herry):Yeah. Here. But you're also his grandmother.
Justin (GM):That's true. And I'm your mother. Absolutely. That's why I'm here. That's why you're here.
Nick (Herry):Absolutely. How's
Justin (GM):dad? Oh, he's good. He's enjoying retirement Mhmm. Which honestly is a concept beyond me.
Nick (Herry):I know it. Don't I know it?
Justin (GM):I think today, his goal is to like clean the eaves which is again Yeah. Seems like something we could Is he doing it alone? Yes. He's I I tried to tell him that climbing a ladder at his age inappropriate. Yeah.
Justin (GM):Yeah. And climbing on the roof is inappropriate. Yeah. But I it's Who's gonna convince him? You would think see, people assume that because I have developed an incredible number of enchantment spells
Nick (Herry):Yeah.
Justin (GM):That I would have a handle on my husband.
Nick (Herry):Do you think he's like built up a resistance at this point?
Justin (GM):Well, that would imply that I've ever cast a spell on him.
Nick (Herry):And you would
Justin (GM):never would
Nick (Herry):never You would never That
Justin (GM):breaks that breaks the code of ethics that we all adhere to. Sure. But the threat Yeah. Doesn't even seem to faze him. Yeah.
Justin (GM):And that bothers me Yeah. To my core.
Nick (Herry):Fair enough. But you've made it this long.
Justin (GM):Scares a lot of other people just the idea that I could and they wouldn't know. Yeah.
Nick (Herry):He knows you're a coward.
Justin (GM):Do you wanna start this conversation over My son. My son. Yeah.
Nick (Herry):Have you have you heard from Tella recently?
Justin (GM):She is currently in one of her moods and so I have not heard from her.
Nick (Herry):What what's the last you heard?
Justin (GM):About a month ago, she allowed me to visit her at her state state and I she seemed better.
Nick (Herry):Okay.
Justin (GM):I wish that she would allow a doctor to see her, but that is her prerogative. She and I don't blame her. I don't I if I was under the amount of scrutiny that she had been under for the first few years of Asher's life
Nick (Herry):Mhmm.
Justin (GM):I also maybe wouldn't trust the doctors around me or the authorities around me, but I'm not her. So I sometimes struggle as her mother Sure. To relate, but it is her prerogative.
Nick (Herry):Yeah.
Justin (GM):She just seems stressed right now. Yeah. She's under a lot of stress and so she has taken it to have some alone time for this time being.
Nick (Herry):She's been this way since I've been born. When did
Justin (GM):it when did that even start? Oh, I mean, it's been for probably most of your memory, honestly. I mean, when she used to she was always a little bit of the black sheep and that's Sure. That's on me and your father, I think. Honestly, I have the wherewithal to own that.
Justin (GM):Good for you. We Thank you. Mhmm. We put a lot of pressure on her, and rightly so, she wanted to find her own way. So when she met her husband
Nick (Herry):What was that compound called?
Justin (GM):I don't know. I can never
Nick (Herry):Jacob's? Jacob's? Whatever hippie compound. It was his family Slatter, whatever. Yeah.
Nick (Herry):Yeah.
Justin (GM):Yeah. His family just they were they were different. Yes. But And and Matt's saying something because we're different. They they say the same thing about us.
Justin (GM):Yeah.
Nick (Herry):Sure. Yeah.
Justin (GM):I'm sure. Yeah. She swats at a mouse that's climbing out
Nick (Herry):of the maze. 100%. Down. Yes. Down.
Nick (Herry):Different. Down.
Justin (GM):Sorry. Don't be. Yeah. Work. And then she got pregnant and everything changed because they, at no choice of her own, pulled her out, her and her husband out of their family that they chose and kind of forced them back on us because we were a better family for the king to be raised on.
Justin (GM):And so, she just felt like she was constantly being monitored and watched and that the person that she was carrying was more important than her and they although they allowed her to raise him and she makes air quote fingers
Nick (Herry):Yeah.
Justin (GM):She never felt like that was the case.
Nick (Herry):Yeah. Yeah. I mean, talk about it like a a bum deal when it sounds like a great deal. They make it sound like it's a a real blessing to be a king's mother, what do you remember? And this is Harry internally trying to dance around picking his mother's memory about, like, when we found out and when Tella found out that she was carrying Asher and that Asher was going to be the king and all of this and trying to, like that's his sort of goal here.
Nick (Herry):When when did you find like, when did you find out that she was carrying Asher and that this whole thing? Like, who and how did she find I mean, I
Justin (GM):don't really know the story at all. I mean, we found out your dad and I found out basically when she showed up on the doorstep Jeez. With with her husband, Bastian. I mean, they had a whole contingent of guards Yeah. Who basically explained to us that your sister and her husband were the parents of the incarnate king.
Justin (GM):Wow. And, apparently, those people, the priestesses of the sun who interpret these dreams knew that your sister was carrying the incarnate king from her dreams or from the from Yeah. Asher's dreams. Sure. And so they were there, I don't know, they found her from those and basically, everything from there was under it felt like, to her at least, lock and key.
Nick (Herry):Did you ever I don't know why. I mean, just seeing Asher recently, he seems incredibly stressed and he kinda talked to me about this whole deal and, Warren and everything, and we're we're trying to deal with that. And so it just got me thinking about his that whole the whole thing and just what was your mind on on the magic of that? Like, were you watching that fairly closely? I mean, you've got interest in some of this.
Justin (GM):The magic of what?
Nick (Herry):Of the transfer, the of how Asher became king and all of this stuff. You had to have been interested in that and that. As
Justin (GM):far as I understand, how it works is the current king begins to die at the same time that his next body is conceived and his soul begins the transfer almost immediately over that time period. And so upon death, his actual death, he then ends the transfer in its completion at the same moment that he is born.
Nick (Herry):And Harry's, like, trying to kind of distract his mom with, like, information. Like, oh, tell me more about this fascinating thing. Like, this wouldn't be an unusual conversation Yeah. Because she is such an intellectual person Yeah. And Harry is mildly manipulative.
Justin (GM):Give me a presence role.
Nick (Herry):Can I use you've got a friend
Justin (GM):on my mom? You cannot use you've got
Nick (Herry):a friend on your mom. That's an 11 plus three. It's a 14 with hope.
Justin (GM):Yeah. I think she doesn't necessarily notice anything. Yeah.
Nick (Herry):I mean, who was like, who was who was monitoring all of this? It was Church of Errors, like, who was that who was the priestess at that point? I've been dealing with a Church of Errors under recently and they are. Not motherly in the same way you were motherly, but I don't know if that's on them or us.
Justin (GM):It was what was her name? Gosh. And she kind of thinks for a second. Mother mother Adelphi? Mother Daniela Delphi.
Justin (GM):Yes. That was right. Mother Adelphi was, gosh, she was old even then, wasn't she? She makes me feel young, think about it. She she was the one who interpreted Esau's dreams and then was there for Asher for the first, like gosh, it had to be, like, twenty years?
Nick (Herry):Yeah. I remember mean, her being around. I didn't realize she saw the previous and new. I thought it was just Asterisk. That's wild.
Justin (GM):She was with her for a long time. That's wild.
Nick (Herry):Did you ever have interest in like how those magics worked as far as the sorcery and the memory sort of like receiving and all of that?
Justin (GM):I mean, sorcery is so different from it's unlike it has a little bit more in common with primal magic.
Nick (Herry):Sure.
Justin (GM):Than it does the arcane arts. But it goes a step beyond. I mean, Asher was cast in spells from a young age and it just for sorcerers, it's like magic answers to them at no cost. And I will spend months watching that idiot and she points to one one rat with one mouse with a blue dot Mhmm. Guide the rest of these fuckers down the wrong paths just so that I can understand a little bit how the brain works, that I can adjust the suggestion spell a little bit
Nick (Herry):Yeah.
Justin (GM):To get a better result. And it's like magic answers to them. How many sorcerers have you even seen in your lifetime at this I mean, you can count on two hands the number of sorcerers there are. You've got I mean, here at the university, you've got Valentina. Yeah.
Justin (GM):She's a sorcerer.
Nick (Herry):Oh, okay. What's her name?
Justin (GM):Valentina Bly. You would know her if you saw
Nick (Herry):she Objectively beautiful. The one with the dresses.
Justin (GM):She wears honestly, yes, beautiful dresses. Okay. But don't be fooled, they're more practical than you would think.
Nick (Herry):Really? Like a lot of pockets?
Justin (GM):I She stores magic I mean, like Oh. Battle ready. Oh. Yeah. Got it.
Justin (GM):I Like, she she makes mage armor into fashion.
Nick (Herry):Why? I mean, does that seem like a good use of resources to you?
Justin (GM):That's the thing with sorcerers, they
Nick (Herry):don't care. There are no resources.
Justin (GM):They this is not a limit to them.
Nick (Herry):Yeah. Interesting. You said he's casting like one year old? Is that what you're saying?
Justin (GM):Not he was not intentionally casting but there are signs of Well, by five, he was casting spells that frankly, and I love you. Sure. You are my favorite child.
Nick (Herry):You That's a weird follow-up to his spell casting but
Justin (GM):He was doing spells at five
Nick (Herry):Yeah.
Justin (GM):That I think you were still struggling with well into your teens.
Nick (Herry):Sure. I mean, magic was never my main deal Right. To be fair.
Justin (GM):Right. I wish it
Nick (Herry):had been. I know. In dad wishes, I was just a pure historian. So Yes. I'd say I'd say you have split me right down the middle.
Nick (Herry):Right. I think it's okay. Yeah. No harm, no foul.
Justin (GM):Yes. Don't tell your sister. I when I saw
Nick (Herry):her Yeah.
Justin (GM):She probably knows,
Nick (Herry):right? Probably. But you're in therapy, she's probably getting some counseling, it's fine. I feel like the kingdom would offer her counseling, right? One would hope.
Nick (Herry):What One more question. What are your You were around for the actual harmonization a bit. What what's what are your memories of that and who was involved there and what that process looked like? I'm making Harry's making a jump or Nick is probably making assumption that as like a high level arcanist at the university, like, she's probably allowed more than the average grandma Mhmm. In the like magical process of that or would have at least taken way more of an interest than the average.
Justin (GM):If I remember correctly, and there are typically a number of arcanists responsible for maintaining the harmonization instruments. But it was an individual by the name of Manuel Collinsworth? Arcanist Collinsworth? Collinsworth? Still works here.
Nick (Herry):What do you think of what do you think of Manuel? What do you think of Manuel?
Justin (GM):He's very talented. Mhmm. Out little outside of my realm of knowledge, although anyone smart enough and important enough to monitor the harmonization instruments is very talented and is going to get my respect.
Nick (Herry):Okay. Man, you're a lot nicer about magic users than not magic users. Did you know that? Have you realized that? You're way more judgy to non magic users but you're so respectful to other magic users.
Nick (Herry):Users.
Justin (GM):I don't is that It's fine. What do you
Nick (Herry):No. I just it's just a thing I've never noticed before and I think I I think I have it. I think I have but but it's not about magic users so I'm just just reflecting.
Justin (GM):Is this I don't mean to be.
Nick (Herry):No. And it's not a problem. I don't see you be reverent about very many people. He's just very talented. And understand that.
Nick (Herry):But I just don't see you be reverent about very many people and so it's I your father's really talented.
Justin (GM):He's not an he's not a magic user. Sure. Yeah. He's so smart.
Nick (Herry):Sure. Yeah. I don't know.
Justin (GM):I don't know. So I proved you wrong.
Nick (Herry):Yep. Anyway anyway
Justin (GM):You're a magic user?
Nick (Herry):Yeah. I dabbled but not like not like everyone else. Well, appreciate the time. Is there I mean, you think of anything else, if you can remember
Justin (GM):You're asking is there something wrong?
Nick (Herry):Nothing wrong, just just been thinking about Asher lately and there's there's been a lot of high stress I mean, always is a lot of high stress situations.
Justin (GM):Is this about Warren? Happening?
Nick (Herry):It's about Warren. I was up in Sharnworth dealing with some Ear ation protesters a couple weeks back as well. It's just a well, I guess between, you know, you've seen the cult of metamorphosis kind of popping up and these Yeah. Things So, there's Asher's kinda in the thick of it right now and I have a lot of access to some of that information, so I'm just maybe more aware than usual of how how tense things are.
Justin (GM):Is he in danger?
Nick (Herry):Not that I know of. Not that I know of yet, so just just keeping an eye out on him and I just wanna make sure, you know, I'm just the more information I have, the better the better to kinda keep an eye on.
Justin (GM):If he I mean, he never had any I mean, they called whatever previous reincarnations prior to their harmonization ritual would have clashes of past lives memories. Was like All
Nick (Herry):of them, they're episodes.
Justin (GM):Yeah. Yeah. I don't know that that's like
Nick (Herry):Yeah.
Justin (GM):The best phrase in hindsight.
Nick (Herry):Sure.
Justin (GM):But he never had any of those. He never had any? He never had one.
Nick (Herry):Well, didn't know that. Remember talking about he was he was stressed about getting them.
Justin (GM):That was like something that we as the adults, we never like put this responsibility
Nick (Herry):Sure.
Justin (GM):Totally on you all. You were all made aware of them, but like
Nick (Herry):Of course.
Justin (GM):We were under very strict orders to monitor for those Yeah. Especially if they increased in frequency, so we could move the ritual harmonization up if we needed to. And he just never had one. But if you see him have any now, which can happen if they are like a he's not like, halflings, we're not long lived species, but it can happen. Yeah.
Justin (GM):We can they can do it again if he has one or has more frequently.
Nick (Herry):Wow. I had no idea he had never gone through that. Yeah, never happened. Fascinating. What do you think of that?
Nick (Herry):Do you think that's strange?
Justin (GM):I I think he's lucky. It seems like he's Sure.
Nick (Herry):Yeah.
Justin (GM):I mean, I would have to do technically like a I would wanna know how frequent previous Yeah. Incarnations had them to know if there's like a statistical anomaly there. There. I don't want to make assumptions here. Of course.
Justin (GM):That would be that wouldn't be that would be doing a disservice. Sure. That's how rumors spread. That's how we find ourselves in situations where people believe things that are not true. Yep.
Justin (GM):That's anecdotal and that's not good science.
Nick (Herry):Sure. Down. Down. Down.
Justin (GM):Gosh. But it is something worth looking into.
Nick (Herry):Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'll keep it we'll we'll keep an eye on him. I think he's I think he's alright but we're just I'm just always worried about him.
Steve (Luken):Yeah.
Nick (Herry):Alright. Get back to work.
Justin (GM):If you maybe talk to his dad. His dad's always so much easier to talk to than your sister.
Nick (Herry):Think Bastian's easy to talk to?
Justin (GM):Oh, my God. The man doesn't shut up.
Nick (Herry):I mean, It's easy to get talked at.
Justin (GM):In terms of I mean, honestly, in terms of a son-in-law
Nick (Herry):Sure.
Justin (GM):Having one that emphatically wants your approval is not a bad quality to have.
Nick (Herry):You just would hope that he would eventually feel like he have it.
Justin (GM):Yes. And like, I I've given it to you. Can we move on? Yeah. Would like to I We are
Nick (Herry):family. Yes. We got it.
Justin (GM):Done. I love you. I my daughter is a part of our family and you're a part of the family and everyone's great. Moving on. Yeah.
Justin (GM):But he is he would probably gladly talk to you about all of these things.
Nick (Herry):Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
Justin (GM):He just
Nick (Herry):When's the last time any any of us saw him? Holidays?
Justin (GM):Oh, yeah. He's always trying to like get your sister to come but she's always backing out. Yeah. So. Okay.
Justin (GM):But it wouldn't be hard to get a hold of
Steve (Luken):him if you wanted to.
Justin (GM):He would love to have a conversation with you.
Nick (Herry):Sure, he would. I'll give him a holler. I'll check-in on him just to see how he's doing. Yeah. Alright.
Nick (Herry):I love you. Alright. Love you too. Don't be a stranger. I won't.
Nick (Herry):And Harry takes off. Now now that we finished up with mom, I'm gonna go check-in with Beanie and grab her and then head to Lucan's office.
Justin (GM):You find Beanie in your office. She is hunched over the desk and clearly tabulating something and does not notice you come in. Hey, grab the basement books. We're taking a walk. Unresponsive.
Justin (GM):Hey. Grab the basement books. I you know, it's it's fine. She gets up.
Nick (Herry):Okay. It's fine. Do you have the basement books nearby? Basement books? Basement books?
Justin (GM):Oh, yes. She reaches in under her shirt and pulls out a key and then goes over Incredible. Unlocks a cabinet where she pulls out another key, goes over, unlocks another cabinet where she pulls out the books Incredible. Puts all of those things back to where she found them and she looks expectantly at you.
Nick (Herry):Alright. Let's take a walk. We're going to Lucan's office. Senator Pinch Yes.
Justin (GM):All due respect Yes. Leaving the room with these books I see. Is a risk. Yeah. The chances of someone else seeing them or them being taken
Nick (Herry):Can you do it from memory? No. Well, we're at an impasse beanie.
Justin (GM):I wonder if I could find a box to lock them.
Nick (Herry):Be fine. It'll fine. Here. I'm gonna show you a trick. And then Harry walks over to the cabinet and casts runic lock on it and makes it so that Beanie and Harry can be the only two people to open this, like period.
Nick (Herry):And so he's like, this will be like a very safe place for this.
Justin (GM):When it's here? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. When you get back But we're taking it.
Nick (Herry):When you get back, put it back in this thing and then you don't have to
Justin (GM):worry about keys on keys on keys. I wasn't worried about
Nick (Herry):yeah. But what what if you're doing laundry and you forgot to take the keys out
Justin (GM):of your blouse? That's never happened before. But what if it does? Why would that happen? But what if it did?
Justin (GM):I don't understand the question.
Nick (Herry):Alright. Let's let's go.
Justin (GM):Okay. Yeah. She gathers up some things and then starts following you out.
Nick (Herry):Great.
Justin (GM):I'm sorry. Where are we going again?
Nick (Herry):We're heading to Luken's office.
Justin (GM):Yes. Okay. Great.
Nick (Herry):Yep. So talk to me. What what what I know you've been reading these. I know you've been doing your thing. What's going on?
Justin (GM):I I've been cataloging some things. I think I think I've got a couple of things worth going over and I Yeah. I assume since we're going to Preli Mascar's office Yeah.
Nick (Herry):You can call him, Lucan.
Justin (GM):I will take that into consideration
Steve (Luken):Mhmm.
Justin (GM):Since we'll be going to Pralit Mascar's office that Sure. I can share that information
Nick (Herry):Absolutely.
Justin (GM):With him?
Nick (Herry):Absolutely.
Justin (GM):Alright. Can Yep. So what do
Nick (Herry):you think? King's not the king? And then he just keeps walking.
Justin (GM):She is stunned that you would say that in public. She follows behind but she's like, I will not answer that question. Okay. Here we go. You both arrive at the Church of Ba'az, which is in your experience shockingly empty for this time of day.
Nick (Herry):Is there anyone in here?
Justin (GM):There are people here.
Nick (Herry):Yeah. Does does Lucan have like an assistant or someone at the front office?
Justin (GM):He does not have an no. Yeah.
Steve (Luken):He would maybe That would involve keeping administration happening in this church. Yes. We have established is not how we do stuff.
Justin (GM):Yes. That is what I believe Becky does.
Nick (Herry):Yeah. Yeah.
Justin (GM):Becky's everyone She is She works in a different building.
Nick (Herry):Gotcha.
Justin (GM):And works directly for the archon. Gotcha.
Steve (Luken):Who we presume is having a bad day. He's having
Nick (Herry):a bad couple days. Boy, it looks like the party's over in here.
Justin (GM):There was a party here? Oh, okay. Again, just keeps walking. I would expect more confetti for a What? Aussie and
Nick (Herry):It's party. Yeah. Though, I think hey, I think you're getting the point of the statement. Right? Is there maybe was a party and that there's no confetti.
Nick (Herry):Usually, this kind of place is a confetti place. Right? Yeah. And so now there's no confetti? And so there's no party.
Nick (Herry):So there's no party. It seems like the party's
Justin (GM):over. Got it.
Nick (Herry):Anybody seen Lucan? Anybody seen mascot?
Steve (Luken):I I think I just hear that. Yeah. So I I stick my hat in my out of my office. Senator Pinch.
Nick (Herry):There he is. Let's go.
Steve (Luken):To what do I owe the just get up here.
Nick (Herry):Yeah. Okay. Wait. Beanie?
Steve (Luken):Hello, Prowlett. Please, call me Lucan.
Nick (Herry):I told you.
Justin (GM):I will take this into consideration, Prelate.
Steve (Luken):This is all being done at a yell. Yeah. Yes. From my upstairs office. Come come on up.
Steve (Luken):Well, great to see you.
Justin (GM):Thank you. Thank you. We both make our way up to your office. Bini knocks
Nick (Herry):And Harry just walks right past
Steve (Luken):I'm already sitting.
Nick (Herry):I'm not
Steve (Luken):getting back up to let you guys in.
Justin (GM):Bini does not take a seat. She stands dutifully behind senator Pinch. Bini, what you got there? She puts the books behind she doesn't put the books behind her back. She thinks about it, takes a look at senator Pinch.
Justin (GM):Perry just nods. Yes. I have copies of things found in a basement. I believe you were there. In Charmwick?
Justin (GM):Mhmm.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. Yeah. You let him talk, you mean to just walking around with us?
Justin (GM):I tried so hard to convince him to not. He's impossible. It's No. Think I think Tell me what you really think.
Steve (Luken):He's he's impossible. No.
Nick (Herry):Yes. Tell him what you really think, Bini. No. I Tell him, Bini.
Justin (GM):I think I'm gonna
Nick (Herry):Give it to him, Bini.
Justin (GM):I think I'm gonna take a PTO day.
Nick (Herry):Okay. Alright. Tomorrow. You can do that. You know, it's fine.
Nick (Herry):No. It's fine. Okay. Actually, before we get into the Bini stuff, I I ran into, literally physically, the the good sister from the Church of Virascinda.
Steve (Luken):Oh, boy.
Nick (Herry):Managed to see the little note and it's most well, two things. The note's just kinda catty and shitty.
Steve (Luken):Oh. And it's just Is it about us?
Nick (Herry):It's about you Like,
Steve (Luken):mods church?
Nick (Herry):Yeah. About how the church is a mess effectively and how you're, you know, fucking shit up and how bad it is and how awful you guys are doing, like, just a terrible job. And then and how just much of a shit show it is between everything. And then also making a note to find other churches. So I like they might be pushing to then like get you guys off the council Yeah.
Nick (Herry):Entirely, which which I don't think is a surprise or new knowledge. Seem like assholes and so
Steve (Luken):And you know what's the worst part? Yeah. They they're a little right.
Justin (GM):Right. Like
Nick (Herry):100%.
Steve (Luken):You you saw you saw the lobby?
Nick (Herry):100%. It's not the party's over.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. Yeah. Summer. Rough days. Rough days for the But but they don't have to they don't have to don't have to they gloat.
Nick (Herry):So so the more complex interesting part is it was written in no kind of illusory script I've ever seen. Apparently, they can write in some variety of UV light. It was like purple y sort of UV light, which is something to keep an eye out on. If you have any divination ways of seeing some illusionary script, find it. Maybe some cool glasses or something.
Nick (Herry):I don't know what you guys do in the church stuff,
Steve (Luken):but Yeah. Look. Again, in yeah. I've mentioned inventory, not our strong suit. Yeah.
Nick (Herry):There's gotta be something lying around
Steve (Luken):be lying.
Nick (Herry):Right? I mean, you guys have relics sitting around everywhere, I'm Yeah, absolutely. But anyway, so that's the that's the first part and we'll let Sarah know when, you know, when we see her. But so nothing crazy complex or anything interesting, but it feels like they're probably leaving messages lying around thinking that they're so clever that no one will ever find their little UV lights. So Yeah.
Nick (Herry):Worth worth keeping an eye out for.
Steve (Luken):Thanks for the heads up. Good
Nick (Herry):Absolutely. Beanie, what you got? Galandria?
Justin (GM):The church the church of Oh. Galandria is technically the the next church that would if
Nick (Herry):Oh, what's their deal?
Justin (GM):They're just the church of courage and voyage and valor. If if Ba'az would fall from the
Nick (Herry):It's kind
Justin (GM):of the council of faith. Courage, valor. I I'm just they would take the spot.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. Why why do they even have their own church?
Nick (Herry):It feels like it o like overlaps with Adeline pretty hard.
Steve (Luken):Right? Lots lots of the other churches require that
Nick (Herry):Yeah. For the It's fine.
Justin (GM):I mean, that's why they're number six.
Steve (Luken):Seven. I believe it would be seven.
Justin (GM):Beanie is horribly embarrassed.
Nick (Herry):You mean, that's why they're gonna be number six? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Nick (Herry):Yes. No no offense, Luke.
Steve (Luken):Harry Harry, when was the last time you let her have a PTO day because
Nick (Herry):She's allowed to have them whenever she wants. She has unlimited PTO. Woah. Yeah. This is on her.
Nick (Herry):Benefit. Yeah. Absolutely.
Justin (GM):Studies show that that's a trap and that people that have unlimited PTO actually take less PTO than their peers. Well, that doesn't make any sense.
Nick (Herry):Have you ever tried?
Justin (GM):To take PTO? Yeah. Yeah. I take PTO on my birthday and on my half birthday.
Nick (Herry):Yeah. Yeah. And have I ever given you a hard time
Justin (GM):about it?
Steve (Luken):No. Yeah. I don't I don't
Justin (GM):I mean, admittedly, don't file my PTO to you. Right. So Remember
Nick (Herry):remember earlier when you're like, I'm gonna take a PTO day right now and I said Yeah. Yeah, go ahead and then you didn't?
Justin (GM):No. You said, yeah, tomorrow.
Nick (Herry):Oh, that's what I thought you meant, it's tomorrow. No. And I was gonna totally let you. Do you do you wanna take PTO right now, Bemi?
Justin (GM):Well, no. Yeah. Okay. Not anymore.
Nick (Herry):Yeah. Yeah. Because you got it's fun.
Justin (GM):I am interested in Yeah. What you said earlier about Yeah. The ultraviolet light.
Nick (Herry):Yeah. Door closed? I also wonder if
Justin (GM):that means that they have like infrared light and the whole spectrum, something to be mindful of. Interesting.
Nick (Herry):What are the other parts of the spectrum Beanie?
Justin (GM):The just the visible spectrum and like gamma rays.
Nick (Herry):Oh. Do you have any way to read that?
Steve (Luken):Visible light? I think she knows how to see visible rays. Okay.
Justin (GM):I could look into it.
Nick (Herry):That's like let's put that at number seven or eight on the list of things to look into.
Justin (GM):She takes a note.
Nick (Herry):Thank you. Yeah. Okay. So, Beanie's been looking at the basement books as we affectionately have been referring to them. Yeah.
Nick (Herry):She kinda cataloged everything in the basement there. Mhmm. Great.
Justin (GM):Yeah. Yeah. I'm I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. I I do have a couple of things of note. Let's start with that.
Justin (GM):I know that you took down a couple of names. It seems as though Otrallachner got his original tip from a individual by the name of Dael Roulette. She she was a thief that he caught Mhmm. A number of years back who eventually escaped from the jail. But of note, was the fact that in questioning Dayelle, she was convinced that the relics that she was taking from the church Which church?
Justin (GM):It was the Church of Ota Oh. Was her right. By what claim? As a descendant of the immortal soul.
Nick (Herry):That's wild. Why did she think that was she was the descendant of the mortal do we know?
Justin (GM):It he just noted that down.
Steve (Luken):Mhmm. Mhmm. Mhmm.
Justin (GM):Also, of of note is that he describes the cell in which she was being kept as magically equipped cell and that she just walked out.
Nick (Herry):I've done that before, just so you know. It sounds cool but it's not that hard.
Justin (GM):The cell was never opened. Mhmm. At least not from a magical perspective.
Nick (Herry):Mhmm.
Justin (GM):It seems he came to the conclusion over the course of several other hypotheses that she was magically inert, meaning that magic had no effect on her whatsoever. Immune to magic of all kind. Have have
Steve (Luken):you ever heard you do a lot of research. You do a lot of record keeping. Thank you. Have you ever you're welcome. Have you ever heard of any other person being considered magically inert?
Justin (GM):I've heard of people being resistant to magic. But not inert. But not inert. Not immune. Touch magical flame and be unburned?
Justin (GM):Could I
Nick (Herry):do knowledge roll on, like, if I've ever heard anything Yeah. Like, with my mom and dad being who they were? Yeah.
Justin (GM):15 with hope. 15 with hope. You have also heard of magically resistant
Nick (Herry):Mhmm.
Justin (GM):Things. You've heard of things that are even like immune to magic of certain types.
Nick (Herry):Yeah.
Justin (GM):So, if it's like an enchantment spell, if the creature does not have a mind
Nick (Herry):Mhmm.
Justin (GM):Like, planks Yeah. Are immune to enchantment magic because they don't have like a mind, but they are still burned by a fireball spell. Yeah. The other thing that comes to your mind is the revenant spell, the Otracast. Otracast, it said, kill Isarn Halavard.
Justin (GM):And Isarn Halavard, the words disappeared, leaving only kill behind.
Nick (Herry):Okay. But I've never heard anything about the immortal king being immune to magic or anything like
Justin (GM):Correct. The incarnate king
Nick (Herry):Yeah. Yeah. That's not a thing. Nope. Which like is why I'm I'm just saying from her claiming to be descendant of it, that's not a tie in there.
Nick (Herry):You would also the
Justin (GM):the incarnate king is not allowed to have children.
Nick (Herry):Oh,
Justin (GM):have any children Yes.
Steve (Luken):Or relations of any kind. Descendant of the immortal soul is distinct from reincarnated
Nick (Herry):Yes.
Steve (Luken):Manifestation of the immortal So boy, howdy. There's seems like there's some rule breaking going on.
Nick (Herry):Yeah. Everybody's horny sometimes. Okay. Holy smokes, Beanie. You were just sitting on that.
Nick (Herry):How Holy smokes.
Steve (Luken):Long have you been waiting with that information? Oh, like, when did when did you find this out? Last Tuesday?
Nick (Herry):Beanie. We've been busy, I guess. Yeah. Should've I should've asked sooner. I should've asked sooner.
Nick (Herry):It's
Justin (GM):on me.
Steve (Luken):No wonder she's so high strung.
Nick (Herry):I know.
Justin (GM):Is this a pressing matter?
Nick (Herry):A little. Remember when I made the comment earlier of like, let's see if the king's the king or like, do you think the king's the king? Yeah. Remember how that stressed you out? Yeah.
Nick (Herry):This has to do with that. Right?
Justin (GM):But I mean, he's he's the king because he's the king.
Nick (Herry):Yeah. He's he is acting as the king. Yeah. Yeah. But he maybe shouldn't be the king?
Steve (Luken):What if the king was not the king? Would you still wanna follow that king? It's okay. This was somewhere, you know, on the scale of importance, this was less important than prepping Harry for sixty minutes.
Nick (Herry):Yeah. I
Steve (Luken):Definitely less important than that.
Justin (GM):I I I can I'm so sorry.
Nick (Herry):Don't be. I didn't ask you shit. In general,
Justin (GM):I just wanna make sure that not mad
Steve (Luken):at you. No. We're not Yeah.
Justin (GM):Feels like you're mad at me. Are you disappointed?
Steve (Luken):I'm I'm just mad.
Nick (Herry):He's mad at me.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. I'm I'm a little mad
Nick (Herry):at you. I prioritized the interview over chatting about this while we were looking for Isarn and so didn't realize you had some some real juice here. So that's on me.
Justin (GM):I'm sorry.
Steve (Luken):Don't be. No.
Nick (Herry):Don't be. As I just said, it's on me.
Justin (GM):Should I dock my pay?
Nick (Herry):No. Absolutely not. Okay. You could dock mine a little, if that solidifies that it's my fault.
Justin (GM):I would that that's that's against the like, divine codex. I There are rules in which I can
Nick (Herry):In the divine codex, you can't dock my pay?
Justin (GM):No. That's wild. Absolutely not.
Nick (Herry):Documents for
Steve (Luken):One of us should probably read that thing too. Why?
Nick (Herry):I got beanie.
Steve (Luken):Bean, do you do you want a drink? No. Water? Yeah. Just a Yeah.
Steve (Luken):With ice. Absolutely. Of course,
Justin (GM):I do.
Steve (Luken):How decadent. Yeah. Where do you where do you think you are?
Nick (Herry):Yeah.
Justin (GM):Well, the party's over so I didn't know if you would still have lemons left.
Steve (Luken):I go over and I open a cabinet and there's just like a cooler of lemon water. Wow. I
Justin (GM):don't think the party's over senator Pinch.
Nick (Herry):No, not in here.
Steve (Luken):So, d o roulette. D o roulette, that is our our thief who's making this claim of being a DL Roulette? I went phonetically. Can you can you say it again? Sorry.
Justin (GM):DL Roulette? DL Roulette. She Beanie looks over at Senator Pinch.
Nick (Herry):He just shakes his head. This is It's a party. It's not a Yeah. You think I'm the dumb one?
Justin (GM):No. I would never.
Nick (Herry):Well, come on.
Steve (Luken):Okay. But this is feeling kinda personal because Yeah. Steve wrote it.
Justin (GM):Oops.
Nick (Herry):So has there been any other reports of Deal Roulette since then? That's the last we've anybody's ever heard of them?
Justin (GM):Ottra became obsessed with some of the tangential things that he learned from Ms. Roulette Okay. Such as the statements, which I think you saw the quotes from the Divine Codex that she quoted as some of the evidence supporting her descendant from the immortal soul. And that led him to the custodian sanguis and other people that he believed might be members of that group.
Nick (Herry):Who else did he believe that would be a
Justin (GM):part of that group? Well, and Yep. Halvard being chief among them. I think he was concerned about because of his growing position in politics. Sure.
Steve (Luken):Aren't we all?
Nick (Herry):So you think Isarn might also be some kind of descendant if revenant magic doesn't stick?
Steve (Luken):I don't think we can rule it out. Yeah. Or if not a descendant, cut from the same cloth as miss Rulat.
Nick (Herry):What was the name of the king before Esau? The two two before after.
Justin (GM):Yair? Yair. You Yair is the king who routed a significant portion of the Venetharan senate for what he said, and there was some evidence of corruption.
Nick (Herry):Can you find out for me anyone that Yair was personally very close to in their day, that maybe they would have spent a night or two together, maybe created a few descendants together? Anyone that that could have been.
Justin (GM):Yeah. I can do that.
Nick (Herry):Worth worth checking out because that above table, that's theoretically the timeline probably, right? If there's a descendant there, unless there's just multiple generations hanging out. Out. It's a good starting point.
Justin (GM):Gary died in December. It's currently that was over a almost a hundred years ago.
Nick (Herry):Sure. But that would be where the descendant of the like, that's the most recent potential descendant of the actual incarnate Yeah. I I I hear most recent one.
Justin (GM):That wouldn't explain why the current kings aren't the incarnate kings.
Nick (Herry):Sure. But it would maybe point to who was helping make descendants.
Justin (GM):Mhmm. I can do that. Of course.
Nick (Herry):Didn't mean to question that's good. That's good. It's not gonna it's not gonna answer our current big question, but any information I think is helpful. If we can find them, we can find who's unhappy with them.
Steve (Luken):You didn't say anything about what happened to D. L. Roulette, like, she escaped.
Nick (Herry):Escaped, but like No sign of
Steve (Luken):current whereabouts unknown.
Nick (Herry):Between the two of you, this might actually be a you question, Lucan. Where was Isarn before he was Isarn? Where was it? Like, what's what's his past and what's his history? Obviously, he's become a rising star in the last few years.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. That from somewhere.
Nick (Herry):Yeah. Do we know anything about his upbringing or anything?
Steve (Luken):He was the sender of Warren was the first I heard of him. Yeah. Would I I presume in the last two weeks, I've done a record search of some kind
Nick (Herry):Yeah.
Steve (Luken):For Isard's history with the group. Yeah. So Roll roll
Justin (GM):check is just a 10 because you have done the research.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. Knowledge? Yeah. We're gonna find out what happens here.
Nick (Herry):Can I give a help? Yeah. I mean, we're on the task force together. Hope. Yes, ma'am.
Nick (Herry):I got hope to spare, baby.
Steve (Luken):Don't worry. I 12 with hope.
Nick (Herry):You did not roll the advantage?
Steve (Luken):I did not.
Nick (Herry):Didn't even roll it? No. I just wanna play fair. Don't if you rolled it, that was gonna take it away.
Justin (GM):Isarn, prior to being the sender from Warren, came out of nowhere. You can find no substantiated record of his hometown, his parents. You can find evidence of conflicting evidence of his adventuring skills, claiming that he was a able fighter and a capable tactician, but it's truly like he started his life as a sender in Warren.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. I relay that to to Harry. Look, we we've looked. The guy's a ghost. Minor adventuring records but half half the kingdom has a some kind of adventuring record here.
Steve (Luken):We, as far as I can tell, can't even figure out who appointed him the sender in Warren. He popped up out of nowhere. Now, we have a lot of senders, a lot of places, and notoriously bad bookkeeping.
Nick (Herry):That's what I was gonna say.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. Yeah. Not a priority. And when you only got Becky working on it, she's great. She's There's only one of her.
Nick (Herry):Yep.
Steve (Luken):But even in the midst of all that, people know people in the church and the fact that nobody can even recall who put him there in one of our most important, locations, one of the kingdom's most important locations. It seems to me like this goes beyond a simple lack of bookkeeping. I don't know where it goes but it stinks.
Justin (GM):Sorry to interrupt.
Steve (Luken):Never never apologize for interrupting. You're so much smarter
Nick (Herry):than us. Yeah, 100%.
Justin (GM):Have you ever seen Isarn cast magic? I've only seen Isarn one time.
Nick (Herry):No. What why do you ask? What's your thought?
Justin (GM):If Isarn were to be magically inert, he would be incapable of casting magic.
Steve (Luken):So the inert is immunity to an inability from. Correct. Which raises the question, how did he manage to win a duel against a prelate? He won a duel? Against a prelate.
Nick (Herry):Well, and that's just like a game of tag though. Right?
Steve (Luken):Yeah. But if one person can cast magic and the other can't, tag is unfair typically.
Justin (GM):Is it a duel? They're not always like a game of tag.
Steve (Luken):It was a duel to the touch, not to the death or
Justin (GM):anything. Is that a normal Bosnian thing?
Steve (Luken):No. It it's absolutely not. Say
Nick (Herry):more.
Steve (Luken):We tend to prefer our duels to require a little bit more out of you. A a truer test of skill.
Nick (Herry):So where did this come from?
Steve (Luken):I would love to ask the prelate. Yeah. What history you know.
Nick (Herry):Do I know of that sort of type of duel?
Justin (GM):Yeah. Give me
Nick (Herry):a roll. 11
Justin (GM):with hope. Well, 11, I mean, again, proofs of being an anointed are rare. Yeah. But they are usually feats of impressive miracles.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. Overcoming great odds. It's seeming like it's almost like the Prelate wanted Ysaring to be able to prove himself. Challenging him to a duel that is boring by our standards, didn't really require an extraordinary miraculous feat
Nick (Herry):and Yeah. But like you just said, against a magic user, if he's
Steve (Luken):She wouldn't have in theory, she wouldn't have known that he is or anything this is the first anyone is hearing about this magical inert part of it.
Justin (GM):But if if I could paint a picture Mhmm. Imagine I am Prelate Constant and I imagine that all I have to do is stop you from touching me and I just start launching fireballs at you and you walk through flame and touch me like nothing was phasing you.
Steve (Luken):Yeah.
Justin (GM):That could be perceived.
Nick (Herry):Yeah. That's pretty magical.
Steve (Luken):That looks that does look pretty miraculous.
Nick (Herry):Pretty divine.
Steve (Luken):It leaves to me the open question of why Prelude Constant took that tact. But that's I mean, but your ex I mean, your explanation also plausible here.
Justin (GM):She probably assumed she would Prelate Constant is the Prelate of the Grail. She is known for her magic.
Nick (Herry):Overconfidence. Hey, that's a Yeah. That's a pretty bossy thing, Wouldn't be the first. Hubris. Okay.
Nick (Herry):Jeez Louise.
Justin (GM):If he is magically inert, he both has a incredible weakness as a priest of Baaz. He can't do any magic, but he is also has an incredible strength. No one can scry his location, no one can manipulate him. He is assumingly, if no one is prepared with this knowledge, magic is what we run on. No offense, but I've seen both of you use magic for pretty mundane things.
Nick (Herry):Like what? Hey, maybe
Steve (Luken):we don't go down this road.
Justin (GM):I mean, our office is magically cooled. All offices are magic. Exactly.
Nick (Herry):Do you wanna be cool? It's fine. It doesn't matter. I don't need to get up in arms about this. It's fine.
Nick (Herry):You're not wrong. Okay. So we need to get him in a situation. Why hasn't why hasn't he come out and said that he's a descendant, if that's what we're looking at? If that's what we're staring down the barrel of?
Nick (Herry):What's it
Steve (Luken):could it be that he's waiting for a big enough audience? I mean, it seems like we are inadvertently so far giving him everything he's asking for.
Nick (Herry):So we
Justin (GM):I think factually, if he's behind any of the asks from Warren, I think you've given him nothing.
Steve (Luken):Sure. Sorry. Don't be But we've provided him with the opportunities to weave this legend that's now growing.
Nick (Herry):So we should assume if the if we're making the jump from Rulat to Isarn and whatever connection, whatever relation there is with them both being magically inert theoretically, we then have to put them both in the Custodia Sangris camp. Right? Pretty firmly.
Steve (Luken):It seems a fair assumption. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Steve (Luken):Now, look, just spitballing, magically inert, probably still, like, stab him. So And he won't be able to be healed. See, so, you know, it's not not all bad. Mostly bad.
Nick (Herry):Mostly
Steve (Luken):bad. Not all bad. Assuming we're right.
Nick (Herry):Okay. Wow.
Steve (Luken):I I like slump back in my chair. This is a lot to this is a lot to take in. Thank you, Beanie. Of course.
Nick (Herry):Where's the cider?
Steve (Luken):You know where the cider is, you've been in here before.
Nick (Herry):Oh,
Steve (Luken):did I tell you? I got I got jumped the other day.
Nick (Herry):Really? Yeah.
Steve (Luken):Did I kick your ass? What Look at me. No. Two of them ran off. I had to rough up the other one because he came at me.
Nick (Herry):Oh. But
Justin (GM):the hell.
Steve (Luken):I I found this and I pull out the pamphlet and I hand it to Harry.
Nick (Herry):Oh, tracked. Yeah. I haven't seen one of these in a while. Right?
Justin (GM):Was that your first time being jumped? No. Okay.
Steve (Luken):First time in a while. Yeah.
Justin (GM):I mean, just statistically speaking, it's likely to happen at some point.
Steve (Luken):First time since I've been a Seraph.
Nick (Herry):Any of
Justin (GM):you been jumped? Of Yeah. Of course. That's why I have this mace. I am also an arcanist.
Steve (Luken):But sometimes the old methods work best, you know? Keep it simple. So, you know, nice of him to extend the invitation. Right?
Nick (Herry):Yeah. I mean, this is interesting.
Steve (Luken):We've been working blind.
Nick (Herry):Time to go For a while. See a guy about a thing?
Steve (Luken):See a horse about a guy? What do you say we get the get the band back together?
Nick (Herry):I'd love it. Where's Sara?
Justin (GM):Sara, you approach the soup kitchen today, the day after your long lesson, shucking corn. How are you feeling?
Shelby (Sahra):I'm feeling good. I'm feeling a lot of excitement and energy and I've got my date with Imogen. So I I'm wearing like, you know, casual but nice casual clothes
Justin (GM):because
Shelby (Sahra):I don't wanna look like I'm trying too hard, but I also wanna, you know, impress. And I've got my hair braided in, like, these really intricate braids with just, like, soft hair that's kind of, like, curled around my face. And I'm like a I'm like a light pink today. My skin is, light pink. Yeah.
Shelby (Sahra):And I I walk up to the soup kitchen and I
Justin (GM):She immediately opens the door as you arrive.
Nick (Herry):Great. Hello. Hey.
Steve (Luken):Hi. You ready?
Justin (GM):Yeah. Let me and she grabs, like, a, like, a staff to kind of support a little bit of her weight. Yeah. I think I'm I'm ready whenever you are.
Shelby (Sahra):Let's go.
Justin (GM):Great. You all walk towards the I believe you're taking her to the docks, the greater docks. You make small casual conversation most of the way there. Enjoy the the sites, the canals, the nice view of the water and the infinite halls of the incarnate king. The overall views are are are pretty great for a a first date.
Justin (GM):Arriving at the docks, the sun is setting. You see the orange light paint colors on the sailboats, and you find a little bench to sit on. She sits down, a little winded, from the long walk, and she says, I don't really come down here very often. This is really nice.
Shelby (Sahra):Yeah. It's one of my favorite spots in the city.
Justin (GM):Did I hear that you were training with Vivian yesterday? Yeah.
Shelby (Sahra):It's kind of wild. I was not expecting it, but it's been really great.
Justin (GM):That's great. Did she have you working on any poultices? Or
Shelby (Sahra):No. I shucked corn the entire time.
Justin (GM):Oh, no. Literally, the
Shelby (Sahra):entire night. I shucked so much Oh. Look, my hands still, like, smell like corn.
Justin (GM):Oh. That's definitely just like a hazing thing that she does. It's about like It's about like teaching patience. The next time you go, you're not gonna have to shuck any more corn.
Shelby (Sahra):Wait. Have you trained with her?
Justin (GM):Yeah. I
Shelby (Sahra):didn't know that you could do magic.
Justin (GM):Yeah. I I, she kinda looks down at the ground, shuffles her feet a little bit. I, I'm I'm bonded to a spirit.
Shelby (Sahra):What spirit?
Justin (GM):It's called the Da'an. It's a spirit of the deep and she moves her feet and almost like a bunch of little ants start to crawl along the ground. And in the first tens until eventually, it's like almost a whole colony of ants on the ground. She says, this is the dawn. I, it's like earth spirit.
Justin (GM):It's it's not nothing flashy. It doesn't do it I mean, it's it's the spirit I've bonded to. It's
Shelby (Sahra):it's great. Sara's eyes get really big and she smiles. When were you bonded with her? Him?
Justin (GM):Them. Them? Yeah. They bonded with me maybe when I was like a teenager. Like, it's been a about a well over a decade now.
Shelby (Sahra):Were you in danger?
Justin (GM):No. It was I don't know. I kind of always been a bit more of a loner, and I think they were kind of attracted to I kind of always liked bugs, and they kind of were attracted to I guess, I'm I don't know what it is about me, but we just kind of fit together.
Shelby (Sahra):I wanna show you something. And I, I conjure swarm, but it's just a a whole bunch of fireflies that just kind of illuminate the area that we're at, and they just kind of, like, create this beautiful warm ambiance around us.
Justin (GM):Wow. That's way cooler than what I can do. That's incredible. You you should not have been shucking corn. You are way beyond shucking corn.
Shelby (Sahra):I Do you think so? I mean, this is just like a silly little party trick.
Nick (Herry):The
Justin (GM):way Aggie talks about what you did with the wildfire spirits, honestly, I think that what Vivian did was probably to maybe teach humility more than anything else. You're very powerful.
Shelby (Sahra):Imogen, I have a spirit too.
Justin (GM):You you do?
Shelby (Sahra):Her name is Aminette. She's the darkness, the space between the stars.
Justin (GM):I've never heard of Omanet.
Shelby (Sahra):Vivian has?
Justin (GM):Vivian is ancient.
Steve (Luken):Truly
Nick (Herry):ancient.
Shelby (Sahra):But Imogen, I've never met somebody else who has a spirit connected to them. I mean, with me, it was I got in this accident when I was a teenager, and we went to this stupid party and they were using magic to control a water spirit and I got in the middle of it and it almost killed me. I almost drowned and Amineth is the one that saved me.
Justin (GM):I'm so sorry.
Shelby (Sahra):I mean, don't be because I don't know. It's like like you said, I was always kind of alone, I know that Aminat is there with me and it's scary sometimes. And I don't always know what it means when she's talking to me, and I don't always know what the right choice is. But then when Vivian told me that she knew her, that it was like I was, like, home for the first time ever. I mean, I was around all these people who were doing the magic of my ancestors, and I was, like, becoming real for the first time.
Justin (GM):I cannot imagine how scary it must have felt to have been in that massive castle with that king and all of those people so disconnected from everyone in your culture for so long?
Shelby (Sahra):I don't know about scary, but it was sure was lonely.
Justin (GM):I can't think of anything more scary than being alone. That's honestly, one of the best things about the Da'an is there's literally thousands of them. Wow.
Shelby (Sahra):This is just like crazy. I've I've I've never like talked to anybody like this before. I've never I've never felt like I could like actually like be myself around anyone like this.
Justin (GM):Do you do you wanna see a cool trick?
Shelby (Sahra):Yeah.
Steve (Luken):Give me
Justin (GM):Do you have like a friend that you think you might Do you have a friend? Name name That's a weird question. Sorry. I'm fucking this up. I right now, give me a name of someone you know.
Shelby (Sahra):Okay. Harry Pinch.
Justin (GM):The Ouch. Little Just
Steve (Luken):a rough night for a movie.
Justin (GM):Ants all immediately go into the ground and you see Imogen close her eyes and for a second, nothing happens. And then she says, he's in the Temple of right now? What? Yes. He's he's in the Temple Of Vaz right now.
Shelby (Sahra):Well, that's weird. Sorry. Can you Do you know if you could see where Lucan Mascar is?
Nick (Herry):Yeah.
Justin (GM):He's also in They're very close to each other. There's another person there. Who? A woman named Beatrice Severa?
Shelby (Sahra):Beanie? Sure. Weird.
Justin (GM):The I can't do a lot with them, but there are kind of so many of them that the dawn can kinda like find people. Wow. Not super far, but for most of Rosinium City, I can find people really quick.
Shelby (Sahra):Interesting. Would you be able to find a man named Isarn Hallvard?
Justin (GM):I don't see why not. She closes her eyes and more time passes than it did with the previous two. And she says, I The Da'an can't find him,
Nick (Herry):they
Justin (GM):say that there are people talking to him?
Shelby (Sahra):Can you hear what they're saying?
Justin (GM):I can't. I they I can't. Oh, okay. Sorry.
Shelby (Sahra):No. Don't apologize. I'm sorry. I we shouldn't
Justin (GM):even They're talking they're talking to him in the comments, but I don't know why
Shelby (Sahra):He's in the comments?
Justin (GM):That's where they're talking to him. Maybe he's maybe he they're like talking on a magic stone or some type of like communication device. That might confuse the Da'an.
Shelby (Sahra):Sure.
Justin (GM):Because they don't find him here.
Shelby (Sahra):That's amazing.
Justin (GM):It's just a little trick.
Shelby (Sahra):It's amazing. Wow. Thank you for sharing with me.
Justin (GM):I'm sure Amonet can do super cool things. I mean, Amonet saved your life.
Shelby (Sahra):Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, you know, primal magic, everything comes at a cost.
Justin (GM):Everything comes at a cost.
Shelby (Sahra):It's starting to get a little dark out. Do you wanna start walking back?
Justin (GM):Yeah. Yeah. I think that's that's a good idea. It might take us a bit.
Shelby (Sahra):And I grab onto her left arm and just kinda link arms with her and help her. I really appreciate this.
Justin (GM):Me too. Maybe again sometime?
Shelby (Sahra):I'd like that.
Justin (GM):Me too.
Joel (End Credits):You've been listening to Faith and Fortune by Theater of the Mindset. Our actual players this season are Steve Edinger, Shelby Myers, Nick Traeger, and your kind and generous GM, Justin Girardeau. Audio engineering, post production, and scoring is done by Nick Traeger at Studio three six zero seven. If you're enjoying the show, you can help us grow with no capital investment by sharing it with a friend, following us on Instagram and Reddit, writing us a review on your favorite pod catcher, or you can ship for coffee at our Patreon. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week on Theater of the Mindset.
Intro:Hi.