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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. Theater of of
Justin (GM):the mindset. Last
Nick:week on Faith and Fortune, Harry recovered from his big night with the local guard and kept quiet. Lucan and Sara found themselves face to face with a revenant and began a chase countdown. Lucan did some serious damage but only made it out of the forest limping. After their narrow escape, Sara was able to have a heart to heart with sister Henle in the caravan and find out that there's a little more of the story where captain Lochner is concerned. Listen on to find out what happens next.
Justin (GM):After that eventful evening and nighttime, the three of you rightly make your way back to the tavern where you will get your first long rest. In Daggerheart, you have a couple of options for your long rest. You can tend to all of your wounds. You can clear all of your stress, repair all of your armor. You can prepare for the next day which gains you a hope.
Justin (GM):If you do that with someone else, can gain an additional hope, both of you, and you can work on a project. Some of you might also have an additional move that you can make specific to your character, but this is going to be right basically, you have the evening and some of the next morning to yourselves to prepare for an eventful anticipation, for the next day. Let's start with Sara. Sara, what do you want to spend this long rest doing?
Shelby (Sahra):So I am going to prepare for the next day. So I'm gonna gain hope. And I'm gonna eliminate my stress. So it was a very stressful evening. And I want to commune with my spirit.
Justin (GM):And who is this spirit?
Shelby (Sahra):This spirit is the same spirit, Aminette, from my harrowing teenage experience at the lake, and she has never left me. So I'm going to see if she can give me any helpful information that will help us figure out who has murdered the lieutenant.
Justin (GM):Yeah. I imagine you've retired to your private room and essentially have the most self care night you could possibly have to clear this stress Yeah. And prepare for
Shelby (Sahra):the next Like a natural mud mask, like exfoliator kind of thing. Yep. I've got like incense burning and like lavender scented candles and stuff. And, and she has her windows pulled open and she has, some moonstone crystals and other various crystals that help just channel energy. And she is going to commune with her spirit, Aminette.
Justin (GM):You are taking this time to really kind of let yourself release the stress and tension from your day. And Aminette generally does not come when you call. She does not answer to you, but is attached to you in this place. Their existence in this and their strength in the physical realm is dependent on you. And so as you find yourself nodding between wake and sleep, you feel that knowing weight come upon you as a jet black snake, long, thick anaconda style snake slithers up from the balcony of your room and into, through the open window and into your room.
Justin (GM):And this is the most common form that Aminet takes in this space. You see a snake, but I think that is just your senses making the most of what they are taking in. If you were to try and touch Amineth in this moment, you would not feel a snake. It is just your brain doing the best it can to make sense of what it is perceiving.
Amanette:Great.
Justin (GM):In your mind, you hear an all too familiar voice.
Amanette:Seeking answers. Seeking answers. Questions. Questions. Questions.
Shelby (Sahra):Ahmed, I need your help. My people are in trouble, and someone has been killed, and we don't know why or how. We need to find out who is using this primal magic to summon a revenant, and we need to find the truth.
Amanette:Truth. Truth. Such a slippery, slippery thing. One person's truth is another person's lie. What does it matter?
Shelby (Sahra):I mean, if you don't have the truth, do you have anything at all?
Amanette:I have many, many, many things.
Shelby (Sahra):Can you show me?
Amanette:Do you want to see? Yes.
Justin (GM):With that, I think the snake begins to wrap around you. And I you know in this moment that if you give in to the fear, Amonet will consume you.
Steve (Luken):Mhmm.
Justin (GM):You have to remain calm and collected or this will go awry. Go ahead and give me the appropriate roll.
Shelby (Sahra):Okay. So I'm gonna roll 4D6 and I have to get two matching at least two matching numbers.
Justin (GM):What a wild That's fun. That's not what I expected you to Okay.
Shelby (Sahra):I got two sixes, which means I witness a relevant scene play out.
Nick:Uh-huh. Got you, bitch.
Justin (GM):Well, that's probably the best role.
Steve (Luken):Right? Yeah.
Nick:Yeah. Seems that way. Yeah. Yeah. Mystery solved, baby.
Justin (GM):Captain Orta Lochner sits in front of a torn page of vellum, in front of a roughly scrawled from your trained primal magic experience, very roughly drawn magic circle on the ground at five points sits a candle. Burning around the edges of the circle are the five holy plants of the Ur tribes, each kind of burning as an incense. And there are cuts on his arms and legs freely bleeding as he reads from this paper in front of him. He is at a place that looks very similar to the woods where you were earlier in the evening, around him, you see shadows almost like the sun were moving ahead. Shadows are turning as though the light source were changing above them.
Justin (GM):He is unaware of this. He is wholly repeating the phrases written out on the sheet in front of him, stumbling through the incantations as the best as he can. And every time you hear him say a word incorrectly, a spurt of blood shoots from his arm. Every time he stumbles over an incantation, more pools at his legs and he reaches his hand into the circle and begins to write the words. Kill, sender, Isarn, Halavard.
Justin (GM):And as he finishes, the words sender, Isarn, Halavard, dries, cracks, and fades away leaving only one word in the revenant circle, the word kill. Panic appears on his face as a smoky, black, half formed hand shoots up from inside the circle and begins to pull itself up from the ground. Otra gets up as quickly as he can, tries to grab the sheet of paper, knocks over a candle. It catches a sprig of time on fire, and he tries to run away as quickly as he can as the revenant that you recognize emerges from the magic circle below him and the vision ends.
Amanette:Has the truth made you whole?
Shelby (Sahra):I don't know if I can say that I'm whole, but thank you.
Amanette:And in return, what do I get? Do you want? You know what I want. A memory for memory. Truth for truth.
Shelby (Sahra):Is there a memory that you want?
Amanette:This one seems pretty important to you. So a pretty important memory back seems that's contained. Contained.
Shelby (Sahra):I I can't choose.
Amanette:I'm happy to choose.
Shelby (Sahra):Just take what you want because I can't decide.
Justin (GM):Without hesitating, the snake strikes.
Nick:Harry, not historically a hero, after the run-in with the drunken guards, was pretty shook up and goes straight back to the end and just kind of collapses and falls asleep and rests. He's gonna add a hope and take away a stress as far as the downtime, the long rest is concerned. And then wakes up the next morning and is gonna try and work with Beanie a little bit or send her on a mission to get some info on who Gustavo Reyes, the senator of this area, who blew him off and who's really not handling the situation, kind of reports to her who could possibly get him worked up. And the same thing for lieutenant strike as Harry feels, yes, you can't control what happened what happens with your guards off duty, but your guards coming into the barracks and the guard house off duty to fuck shit up. That's one too far.
Justin (GM):Senator Pinch? Yeah. Yeah. I did a little bit of research. Your morning coffee, by the way.
Nick:Oh, thank you. Thank you so much.
Steve (Luken):Of course.
Justin (GM):I I did a little bit of research this morning based on what you told me last evening. Are are you feeling better, by the way?
Nick:Yeah. Rested up. 100%. We're ready
Justin (GM):to go. I I note that you did get in quite late. And Yeah.
Nick:What are you gonna do? The coffee's strong?
Justin (GM):The coffee is strong, but you didn't get the recommended eight hours.
Nick:Well well, I'll try a nap later.
Justin (GM):That you studies show that you actually can't catch up on sleep. So I've heard different. Hearing and studies
Nick:I don't know. I usually feel pretty good after a nap.
Justin (GM):Feeling good. I'm glad that you will feel better. Is there a certain time today? And she gets out her notepad. Is there a certain time today you'd like to take a nap?
Nick:Check back in an hour.
Justin (GM):Okay. I will check back in one hour about your nap time.
Nick:Yep. Yep. I'm sure
Justin (GM):Do you plan to take your nap in that hour?
Nick:No. Okay. Anyway Oh, before we get into this, how did you did you make friends with the strike's assistant? Did you what what did you find out from what was your name?
Justin (GM):I believe I did make friends with Taylor. Taylor.
Nick:Love
Justin (GM):Yes. Taylor likes cinnamon and thinks that clotted cream is an overrated dip.
Nick:Harry walks over to the phone and calls a local bakery and sends cinnamon rolls to Taylor from, Beanie and senator.
Justin (GM):I I see how you used that knowledge now to our benefit. Friends everywhere, Beanie. I was genuinely curious what one does with the knowledge of liking cinnamon. Yeah. It honestly seems like a pretty benign thing to enjoy.
Nick:Sure. Sure.
Justin (GM):I mean, you like cinnamon. Right? I guess so.
Nick:Yeah. You're incredibly thorough, Beanie. That's great. Did you find out anything that Strike has going on that we should know or any any any anything? Well, I can tell
Justin (GM):you that Strike reports to general Lautner, who I believe you did share some overlap time when you were doing PR Uh-huh. For the guard in Resinium City.
Nick:Love it.
Justin (GM):Don't think you reported directly to them. But
Nick:But they know the name.
Justin (GM):Yes. Yeah. Exactly. Great. So I'm sure that you have a way to make that into a thing.
Justin (GM):And then I did see that the polling numbers for senator Reyes, seem to indicate that he has been falling not just recently, but he has had a downward trend in the last six months and is not looking good for the next reelection. We've got a little bit of time before that will happen.
Nick:Sure.
Justin (GM):But, the polling numbers are looking poor in his favor, and he's probably feeling very self conscious about that.
Nick:I love that. Is there any did you get any nuance on, is that coming from, folks that are urination sympathizers or the other way?
Justin (GM):The most recent numbers do seem to be coming from, the urination sympathizers. However, the overall number seems just becoming, from a large dip from folks thirty five years and younger.
Nick:Lovely.
Justin (GM):His his dip for 35 years and younger is 12 points. His overall dip is eight. Great.
Nick:That's great. Excellent work, Minnie. That's so good. I appreciate you. Wonderful.
Nick:What what do you have on the docket for today?
Justin (GM):She looks at her list, which is just a list of your schedule and then looks back at you, looks back at the list, and she says, in one hour, I'm supposed to check back and find out when your nap will be.
Nick:You like walks, though. Right? You take some walks. Right? You're gonna take a walk today?
Justin (GM):If you will
Nick:to get outside?
Justin (GM):I'm I'm happy to take a walk. Yes. I enjoy a brisk walk.
Nick:Get some
Justin (GM):that pencils in
Nick:Get some of that desert air.
Justin (GM):Yes. I think that would be a good idea. I can do that. Yep. Great.
Justin (GM):She pencils in a walk. Wonderful.
Nick:Wonderful. Then she
Justin (GM):checks yes. Desert air is fine.
Nick:Yeah. That'll do. I appreciate it. Let's
Justin (GM):I'm curious. It does seem that there you I don't mean to to pry.
Nick:Yeah. Pry away.
Justin (GM):But there was it seemed to be there was some gossip about an incident at the
Nick:Who are you talking who did you get gossip from, Beanie? Spill the tea.
Justin (GM):They they're just people tend to talk so loud They freaking do. And I just wanted to have coffee, And they were talking so loudly. Yeah. Who's they? Well, there were two old ladies downstairs
Nick:Classic.
Justin (GM):And one of them seemed to go by the name of Candace Griddlesworth.
Nick:Oh, Griddlesworth.
Justin (GM):And she was so loud. And I honestly, it's hard for me to imagine that she didn't want other people to hear.
Nick:Absolutely. Some people are after attention, for sure. They want people to know what they know without having been the ones to tell them what they know.
Justin (GM):She blinks. Don't
Nick:think too hard about that. You can let that one go.
Justin (GM):Okay.
Nick:Yep.
Justin (GM):I just I'm curious. You were up late. Yeah.
Nick:What was the gossip? Well, yeah, what was she saying? Sorry. What was
Justin (GM):She was saying that there was an incident at the barracks last night with some guards.
Nick:Really?
Justin (GM):And that a senator was involved.
Nick:Yeah. You're damn right there was.
Justin (GM):I can't imagine. Do you think she's referring to senator Reyes?
Nick:I don't think she was. I don't think I don't think Reyes is that active. He doesn't seem all that spry.
Justin (GM):She looks down at her polling numbers. That could would explain the polling numbers potentially.
Nick:Especially with the younger votes. Right? You gotta be fit. You gotta have it to that tennis elbow.
Justin (GM):The the guard don't poll well with young people either, so I guess that
Nick:A gab. Yep.
Justin (GM):Okay. I'm gonna think of more about this. Yeah.
Nick:Okay. So there's so the scuttlebutts around about, did you nothing specific. Just that there was a senator at the barracks?
Justin (GM):There was a senator at the barracks who seemed to have caught several members of the guard quite inebriated.
Nick:Yeah. I love to see it.
Justin (GM):But there she used the phrase, with their pants around their ankles, which I think is a euphemism.
Nick:I I believe so. I believe so. I doubt there was, Well, who knows? You know? People get into stuff, get drinking.
Justin (GM):I assume that maybe there was like a I think it's a euphemism.
Amanette:I'd prob
Nick:you're probably right.
Justin (GM):Excellent work. Of course. Thank you.
Nick:You're you're welcome. Candace Grylls, where have I heard that name? Above table, you guys one of you ran into Candace. Right? I heard something.
Shelby (Sahra):She when we were teenagers.
Justin (GM):No. No. No. No. It wasn't.
Justin (GM):Candace Girdlesworth is the person who complained about having nightmares and said that that was sympathy magic
Nick:Oh.
Justin (GM):Being cast by the girl. Just more gossip. Just the town gossip. Had a nightmare and Had a nightmare accused it of being I thought she little bit racist. Yeah.
Steve (Luken):Had a nightmare
Shelby (Sahra):that the goblin kid was complaining about.
Justin (GM):Nope. Nope.
Nick:Well, that's, well, that's really something I'm surprised. That's a man. That means the guards were chitchatting away and telling people because there's no other way. I mean, there's a mole within them, so that's interesting. That's interesting.
Nick:Great. Well, great. Thank you for keeping your ears out, and thank you for, you know, paying attention. Not everyone pays attention. You do an excellent job of, seeing things that other people don't see.
Steve (Luken):She looks back down on her pad of paper in the back up of you.
Justin (GM):I try. Yeah. You do great. Great. I'll see you in one hour.
Nick:One hour. Fifty four minutes. Time flies.
Shelby (Sahra):I love Beanie. Beanie is my favorite.
Nick:Beanie is our favorite autistic
Steve (Luken):character. Beanie spin off win?
Justin (GM):Yeah. Beanie Beanie was originally the name Beanie was originally the name of the acolyte that you were gonna run into. And I was like, I'm not wasting a great name like Beanie. No. On a one seat character.
Justin (GM):One seat character. Beanie is gonna be a permanent show up. And then I was like, great. She's gonna be a bean counter, and that's where she gets her name.
Steve (Luken):We'll pick up with Lucan. Lucan is in his room for his his long rest, and he is taking the long rest pretty seriously. He got I think the technical term is fucked up by that revenant. And so he is taking this time to fix up his armor, fix up his wounds, tend to himself, you know, make sure everything is in order so he can he can get back to work, tomorrow. Not only is his armor damaged, his robes, you know, like this the uniform of a seraph got ripped by by that revenant.
Steve (Luken):So he has a little sewing kit because, you know, it's important to look right, you know, when you're representing the church. Cute. But as he does all of that, he also pulls out a speaking stone and decides it's time to check-in with his boss, the archon, Felix Rondelis. Rondelis? Rondelis.
Nick:The sender that Ultra Different one. Different one. Right? Okay. I was just trying to remember name.
Steve (Luken):Above the table, the sender here is sender Demric.
Nick:Yeah. Yes. Okay. Yes.
Steve (Luken):Sender I was
Nick:looking at your face just fell. I was like
Steve (Luken):Sender Isarn What? Sender Isarn Halavard.
Nick:Do you know who that is?
Steve (Luken):As a seraph, it is my job to know who all the senders are.
Nick:Yeah. Yeah. But We would have the directory, but Lucan would
Steve (Luken):at least likely have a passing knowledge. Okay. Cool. Maybe more depending on where I'll definitely start with you. But, like, your whole
Justin (GM):experience to it or your
Steve (Luken):experience to
Nick:it. But I don't
Steve (Luken):know anything about Etern yet.
Justin (GM):Yeah. Yeah. Correct.
Steve (Luken):That's yes.
Nick:Yes. That's A later thing. I don't know why that popped into my head. No. I was just like
Steve (Luken):That was the first thing I've checked on as we were going through that for future reference. But, yeah, it's it's time to check-in with the boss. Give give Felix a call and just let him know things have taken a turn to the unexpected, I think.
Nick:Oh, hello. Hey, boss.
Justin (GM):And if it isn't Lucan, how are you doing?
Steve (Luken):You know, I'm I'm doing great. You know, it's been a real interesting day out here. I'm just resting up, taking notes, wanting to call in and and let you know what we found so far.
Justin (GM):Have you had a chance to try the horchata out there? It's it's absolutely exquisite. Exquisite. I can't recommend it enough.
Steve (Luken):You won't believe this. I ordered a horchata at the bar, and then these drunk guards came in and started messing with us and I didn't even get to try it.
Justin (GM):Messing with you? Yeah. You didn't join them? How were you not already at their level?
Steve (Luken):Mostly because they were angry inebriated. They weren't there to have fun. So we had to we had to, you know, talk them down and keep them from from putting this kettle over over to a boil.
Justin (GM):Oh, that's the worst. Sorry to hear that.
Steve (Luken):You know, it's it's high on my list of things to do tomorrow though. Yeah. I'm gonna have a day. I'm gonna have a breakfast horchata tomorrow. Think that's love the that you.
Justin (GM):I love that.
Steve (Luken):That's item one. Yeah. And I'm taking it as a direct order from you that I'm supposed to get a hard shot.
Justin (GM):Please do. You're on listen. You can feel free to expense it. I know I didn't have
Steve (Luken):to do I
Justin (GM):had to do that, but you may feel free to expense that.
Steve (Luken):I've been meaning to
Nick:talk to
Steve (Luken):you about the per diem rates out here. You know, with with it being so far out of town, everything's just more expensive. Can I just I I
Justin (GM):can get
Steve (Luken):a little bump up in my per diem?
Nick:Right? I'm
Steve (Luken):taking that as a yes. You haven't said no. So Well, you're not wrong. You know, I've never submitted
Nick:a Numbers
Justin (GM):aren't really my thing.
Steve (Luken):Yes. So I've never submitted an accurate expense report, and I don't intend to start now. So hear that.
Justin (GM):Who do I who am I? I I don't do the numbers.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. We have people for that. We do have people for that
Justin (GM):Do we have people
Nick:for that?
Justin (GM):A 100%.
Steve (Luken):Have people So for I do have some real news for you here.
Justin (GM):Oh, this is a serious call. Hold on. Hold on. I need to Yeah. Just give me a second.
Justin (GM):Okay? Yeah. Put that down. Yeah. We're good.
Justin (GM):Alright. Sorry. I I need to step out. I'm I'm at a party
Steve (Luken):did I call it a bad time?
Justin (GM):I mean, yeah. You did. It's late.
Steve (Luken):Okay. Well, it's fine. We can talk later. I can handle this.
Justin (GM):No. No. No. It's fine. I this is important.
Justin (GM):You wouldn't call if it wasn't important.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. I am yet to locate the sender out here, sender Demerick.
Justin (GM):Okay. Is he busy?
Steve (Luken):He you know, if I didn't know better, I'd say he's avoiding me.
Justin (GM):That's a problem.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. And, you know, I made contact with some sources around here. And Okay. Are are you sitting down?
Justin (GM):I can be. You hear the plushiest sounding chair. You hear a recliner sound? Yeah. I'm sitting now.
Steve (Luken):There's no easy way to say this. I think the sender might be part of the cult.
Justin (GM):Goddamn it. Fucking Hell!
Justin (GM):know, we really should have seen this coming. The signs were all there. The signs were there. I what what okay. We're gonna need some pretty serious more than just signs.
Justin (GM):We we need to what what what do we we need hard proof. What what what what what brought you to this conclusion?
Steve (Luken):Well, my I I sat down with a source as soon as I got into town. Okay. You know, when I got to the house of fortune, the sender wasn't there, which you know, when we do official travel, you know, when there's travel out to other houses of fortune Mhmm. The sender, you know, lays out the welcome mat. Yeah.
Steve (Luken):I would have I expected to have a horchata with the sender.
Justin (GM):I expect that. Yeah. You should have
Steve (Luken):received that country, man. Twelve hours past when I thought I was getting a horchata, and I am still horchata free. Yeah. You see where this is a problem.
Justin (GM):I'm I'm feeling insulted. I'm feeling insulted.
Steve (Luken):But, you know, I I asked around to see if, if the sender was indisposed,
Steve (Luken):had been if he had gone on a bender. Mhmm. What I learned was before any of this happened, before these protests started, before any of this, he disappeared for a few days. Not abnormal in and of itself. I disappear for a few days regularly.
Justin (GM):Yeah. Part of being Buzz smiles upon going upon our own adventure.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. You follow your you follow your bliss. Right? Yeah. But, apparently, when he came back, his his messages and his attitude towards the work had shifted dramatically, and he had started to talk about how Boz is a god of change.
Steve (Luken):And we know where that language comes from.
Justin (GM):Fucking cult. If you can find any, like, formal written documentation of him preaching this kind of doctrine or any hard evidence. I is I trust your word, Lucan. You are my guiding light, my Serapha flame. I trust that you can see these things, but we do need hard evidence in order to bring any type of charges against him and strip him of his title.
Steve (Luken):A 100%. Now I will say, you know as well as I do that we are just not a church that writes stuff down.
Justin (GM):Don't I know it?
Steve (Luken):Yeah. It's worked great for us so far, but I
Justin (GM):See the aforementioned fact that you've never turned in an expense report.
Steve (Luken):But, you know, paperwork, very unboss. Yes. We know this. But I hear you loud and clear.
Justin (GM):Sometimes write things down. They take notes despite our best efforts to tell them to stop doing that.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. I'll find some nerd. We'll get some notes.
Justin (GM):And, ideally, we need to know who sent him down that path because
Steve (Luken):I wanna know where he went when he disappeared.
Justin (GM):Exactly. The struggle with this cult has been that they are all about ensuring that power is distributed amongst people, and they have been very good at keeping their leadership in the dark, and that's a problem. Yeah. So find out what's going on. I would greatly appreciate it.
Justin (GM):Listen. I owe you. And not, like, just, like, a slip of paper that I leave on your desk. Like, a true I owe you if you can figure this out for me.
Steve (Luken):Understood.
Justin (GM):Alright?
Steve (Luken):Yeah. Get back to your party.
Justin (GM):Great. Will do.
Steve (Luken):Now I'm, like, I'm waiting for him to be only half paying attention
Justin (GM):Yeah.
Steve (Luken):So I can slip one more thing in.
Justin (GM):Yeah. Yeah. He's half paying attention already. Yeah. It's bright.
Steve (Luken):So, like, as he gets up and be wearing his up, I just say, one more thing, boss. Real quick. These these protesters seem far more sympathetic out here than I think we were led to believe initially. Alright. Have a great day.
Steve (Luken):Zachary. You know, have a have an extra pina colada on me.
Justin (GM):Yep. Will do. Thank you. Have a good one, Lucan.
Justin (GM):Can't imagine why people wanna get rid of this guy.
Amanette:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Nick:Yeah. Yeah. Sounds like a great time.
Steve (Luken):He's he's helped me get this far.
Justin (GM):Mhmm. God of ambition, god of good fortune, god of adventure. Alright.
Steve (Luken):So my takeaway from that, I think Lucan is still, at this point, pretty shaken by seeing the reality on the ground here. So he understands what Felix wants from him and was very agreeable on the on the phone on the sending stone. I think Luca is in a spot where he wants answers to this, but is very much taking care in terms of, like, how he commutes any communicates anything to his leadership as a result of this. Knowing that Felix isn't paying that close of attention to random issue that happens out in the boonies. You know?
Justin (GM):What is your, like, Bozz touchstone? You are devoted to Boz as a god. What is your actual touchstone to Boz as you kind of close out your evening?
Steve (Luken):I think I get one of my coins out from my bag of coins and use that as, like, centering for meditation. After a it's a practice I've engaged in for my time as an adventurer, knowing that, you know, Bozz asks us to always be looking forward and always be moving forward. But there comes a time where after you've done a lot of moving forward, I have found value in sitting still for a short amount of time to let everything catch up with me.
Justin (GM):I think you got this is not your coin. I think you received Yeah. Coin from Archon Gannett Rosenberg. This is the Archon before Archon Felix, and you received this from the Archon in passing. It was not something that I think that archon of the time thought much of.
Justin (GM):And I think it has you have rubbed, absolutely worn the face on this coin. Purely from, like, a magical standpoint, the heat that you can generate and the rituals that you can cast from this coin as a magical item, you have this coin has
Steve (Luken):is rusted and has seen better days for sure. And it is your touch put tone to Boz. And maybe Gannett Rosenberg is because he was the predecessor of Felix. He's not someone he I had any kind of, like, personal relationship the way I have with Felix. I wasn't picking up the long run.
Steve (Luken):And maybe because of that distance, have a lot of respect for Rosenberg because I never saw like, I never had to be in the shit with him. Right? What do I think that, Arkon Rosenberg would think about the Cult of Change?
Justin (GM):Arkon Rosenberg was staunchly in the camp of adventure and of the three pillars, the three legged stool, if you will, that is the Boz faith of ambition, good fortune, adventure. Arkhan Rosenberg was previously the seraph of adventure and really believed that adventurers an adventurer's job is to stand up for good, to protect and be the light in the darkness. He maybe sometimes got a bad rap for being a little simplistic in his views of right and wrong, but he was a very convicted person. Is that the right word? Convicted?
Justin (GM):Yeah. Yeah. He was a very convicted person, and he would not tolerate the flippant nature by which the council of faith currently has handled that decision. They made the decision almost fifty years ago and have not looked back. Yep.
Justin (GM):It was a tie, which is rare. Mhmm. And when broken, it was kind of because in that moment, that was the first time in history of Venethar that the incarnate king and the Wainwright, who is the god of death, have ever voted in the same way. Everyone immediately was like, oh, that's something, and then kind of let it stop there. The decision had been made.
Justin (GM):People who were staunchly kind of viewed as not enemies, but at opposite eyes of the opposite ends of the spectrum somehow found what seemed to be some type of middle ground became an untouchable subject. And so amongst the council of faith, it was viewed as a, we now will move on from this. We have made a decision, and our ability to return to whatever point we came to that got us to a middle ground between those two, we'll probably never be able to reach again. So we're not going to touch it
Steve (Luken):as a result. It's a real house of cards. Like Yes. If if you were to mess with one piece of this, the whole thing crumbles Yes. And all of a sudden, the progress as you understand it is undone Yes.
Steve (Luken):And you are left with a lot of really difficult conversations and maybe unresolvable conflicts Yes. That nobody wants to touch anymore. Yes. Yeah. I think on that as I end my evening, and then I go to sleep dreaming of horchata.
Justin (GM):Great. The three of you wake up the next morning and are greeted with the breakfast that you anticipate at a tavern and the drinks that you would anticipate at the tavern.
Steve (Luken):Do I get any weird looks for asking for a breakfast horchata?
Justin (GM):No. They wanna ensure that if you want it as an iced latte, that that is an option.
Steve (Luken):Could I get one as an iced latte and one normal?
Justin (GM):Yeah. You can.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. Cool. Let's do both. Both. Let's do both.
Justin (GM):You have an horchata with a shot of espresso in it. It's delicious.
Steve (Luken):How was your night?
Nick:Wild. Yeah. Where did you go? Head to the barracks. Got in the barracks.
Shelby (Sahra):Got in the barracks?
Nick:Yeah. I got in a barrack. Yeah. Got in a a one of the cells. I haven't I was I
Steve (Luken):was invisible. Wait. Wait. Tom, sorry. Yeah.
Steve (Luken):You gotten us up. You can be honest with us. Yeah. Yeah. Just us here.
Steve (Luken):Did you get arrested?
Nick:No. No. No.
Steve (Luken):Okay. Well
Nick:Close calls, though. No. I I locked I made sure I made sure their their guests couldn't leave with help or without it and just kinda tightened some things up. Those four guards went to go free up old Jaris. Jaris?
Nick:Jaris.
Justin (GM):Jaris.
Nick:Jaris. And they were a fucking mess, but I was able to scare the absolute shit out. It was it was very funny. It was terrifying. They're much larger than me and much more weapon than I was, but they it was awesome.
Shelby (Sahra):Did you get hurt? No. Must be nice.
Nick:I don't know. Yeah. Wow. How was how was you guys
Shelby (Sahra):I pick up my coffee cup, and I take a sip, and I've got just, like, a huge gash in my I'm, like, still like, it hasn't fully scabbed up or anything, and I'm, like, must be nice. Sounds pretty cushy.
Nick:Yeah. I guess so. What happened? What happened? Do you
Steve (Luken):need me to take a look at that? I I can heal that up for you.
Shelby (Sahra):Can you? Yeah. Course. Yeah.
Steve (Luken):We we got time. I use Mending Touch. I do burn two hope because I'm a nice person.
Shelby (Sahra):Wow.
Steve (Luken):But you get to get your you get a hit point back.
Shelby (Sahra):Thank you. And I blush a little bit because I still think that he has a crush on me.
Steve (Luken):Do do I I I think I noticed the blushing, but you can do some kind of like changeling kind of stuff anyway.
Shelby (Sahra):Yeah.
Steve (Luken):So I I might just chalk it up to like, how are just being weird? But I definitely comment and say,
Justin (GM):why are you being weird?
Shelby (Sahra):And I just, like and then I quickly changed my color back to normal.
Steve (Luken):Oh, well, do you wanna tell them about Yeah.
Nick:What what happened to woods? Or should I Oh, the woods? The woods. Oh, no.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. Actually, sounded exciting.
Nick:Yeah. The woods can't be good.
Steve (Luken):Woods woods were
Nick:You guys went to the woods. They were they were bad. The woods of the murder? Yeah. I'm assuming we're talking about?
Steve (Luken):Yeah. The murder the murder woods. I think that's what they call it.
Nick:I don't know. That has to be. What so what happened?
Shelby (Sahra):Yeah. I'll tell it.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. Because you saw some weird shit. Right?
Shelby (Sahra):Yeah. So I Amira took us to the woods, and we searched, we found the the location of the murder.
Nick:Okay.
Shelby (Sahra):And I was able to communicate with one of the trees that saw what happened.
Nick:Very cool. I saw Wait. You talk to trees now?
Shelby (Sahra):Yes, Harry.
Nick:Very cool. Very cool. I mean, I've never seen you talk to a tree.
Shelby (Sahra):Well, it's been a long time since then.
Nick:Just it's cool. I'm just yeah.
Shelby (Sahra):Well, anyways
Nick:Yep.
Shelby (Sahra):I had a vision of a revenant. And when I came out of that vision, that revenant appeared for us as well. Jesus Christ. And I tell you what, fucked Lucan up real bad.
Nick:Really? You look great? Amazing. What a
Steve (Luken):good night's sleep I'll do
Nick:for you.
Justin (GM):You know?
Nick:Got the eight hours.
Steve (Luken):And, you know, yeah, it it it did fuck me up pretty bad. Really? I also punched I punched it in the face a couple times.
Justin (GM):So it had to face.
Steve (Luken):It was pretty close to it even. Yeah. I think the refs would have called a tie.
Nick:I I believe it.
Shelby (Sahra):Well, I ultimately Yeah. Got it to go away because I summoned a swarm of fireflies, but whatever. It's it's fine if we're keeping Fireflies?
Nick:Yeah. Fireflies. Scary fireflies or just regular fireflies?
Steve (Luken):Flies that were on fire.
Nick:Oh, got it. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think fireflies kinda charming.
Nick:So I guess I'm I I was just curious.
Shelby (Sahra):These were scary ones.
Justin (GM):Okay. Yeah.
Nick:Alright. Makes sense. Makes sense. Okay. I'm what Revenant?
Nick:I I know the name. I don't know anything.
Shelby (Sahra):Okay. So picture, like, a, like, a big scary ghost thing with long arms and long fingers.
Nick:Slenderman.
Shelby (Sahra):Kind of. Yeah. Yeah. But even less distinguishable body. Oh.
Shelby (Sahra):And, this one's, like, messed up too. Like, whoever did it was not right. Oh, by the way, I know who the murderer is.
Nick:Wait. This Very cool. This is very cool move.
Shelby (Sahra):Well, I don't know. You guys were wanting to talk about what happened last night, and I I know who the murderer was.
Nick:Very cool.
Steve (Luken):It it
Shelby (Sahra):Oh, you guys wanna know? Yeah. Oh, do tell? Okay.
Nick:Do have and what and let's talk proof. Let's talk.
Shelby (Sahra):So here's the problem. Wait. I don't have any physical proof.
Nick:Gotcha. Just vibes.
Shelby (Sahra):Well, you know how I can talk to trees? Yeah. I've got some other tricks up my sleeves. Love. And I saw it.
Shelby (Sahra):Woah. I last night, I had a vision. And I saw Captain Orta doing primal magic, which he was only capable of doing because he was using his own blood. And he was trying to summon a revenant to kill sender Isarn Halivard. Excuse me?
Nick:Well, yeah. A couple.
Steve (Luken):Isarn Halivard. One two
Nick:the one two. And how did a guard from fucking Charm's wick or whatever the hell we are learn how to do primal magic?
Shelby (Sahra):He was in some kind of a relationship with sister Henle.
Nick:Oh, and he took the ritual things. He used the rituals. I got it.
Steve (Luken):And You love John Quinn. Lovers quarrel.
Shelby (Sahra):Exactly. And but he's not good at magic.
Nick:Apparently.
Shelby (Sahra):He kept fucking it up, and he ended up creating a revenant whose only order is kill. Woof. And so he ended up dying and killing himself. And now there's this killing machine out in the woods that almost killed us and is still out there. We damaged it pretty bad, but I don't know I don't know if it's capable of do I know if it's capable of healing itself?
Shelby (Sahra):Or?
Justin (GM):If it gets blood.
Shelby (Sahra):Great. So it's possible that this thing has healed and is
Nick:And killed?
Shelby (Sahra):Yeah.
Nick:Boy, we gotta find, Candace Griddlesworth. I bet she knows if someone's died. Never mind that. The sender. The sender.
Nick:You had you had a question about the sender.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. What do I know about sender Isar and Hallivar? Give me a knowledge check. You were trying
Justin (GM):to just beat a 15.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. A knowledge though?
Nick:Yeah.
Steve (Luken):Just yeah. Sure. Oh, shit. It is a 14 with hope.
Nick:Can I hell?
Steve (Luken):No. No. I got paradise.
Justin (GM):You also have experience.
Steve (Luken):Oh, yeah. Duh. I'm going to burn a hope, the one I just got for Prelate of Rosinium Here you go. To get my plus two.
Justin (GM):I don't know.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. And that's going to get me to a 16 with hope. Great. You have heard
Justin (GM):of of Isarn. He is a fairly innocuous sender. He is the sender of a small town called small town of Warren. It's in Northern Venethar near the Iron Empire. And he is in his early years as a sender.
Justin (GM):You know him because he is known for being extremely charismatic and having built up the church in Warren to pretty high numbers. Being so close to the northern parts of Venethar, he is heavily involved with the War of the Lost. The War of the Lost is this war with a pseudo country in the North where people are essentially hive mind undead. And because of that ever present very difficult to deal with challenge, senders are in pretty high con concentration up there because taking people and sending them on quests and adventures is of pretty high import. While there is always the Venetharan army to deal with, issues and problems, if your country has small groups of highly capable target troops to send out as well that they don't have to personally maintain and and pay, boy, isn't that an easier group to handle?
Justin (GM):And so the senders there are usually pretty pretty important. And so his ability to increase a congregation, build up a a church, and be extremely charismatic has gotten him some attention, at least from just a, oh, wow. Things are going well up in Warren. That's that's nice.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. Yeah. So this sets off some alarm bells for me if somebody wants him dead. Yes. Especially somebody as far flung as out here.
Steve (Luken):Yes. Right? Like, so you said Isar and Utrar wanted to kill Isar and Halliard?
Shelby (Sahra):Do you know him?
Steve (Luken):Yeah. He's I think we'd call him a a rising star. He's the sender up in Warren. Really charismatic guy. Good guy.
Steve (Luken):Good dude. But, you know, he's he's kinda on our our northern border, which is, you know, an important kind of bulwark against, you know, all the shit going on up there.
Nick:But awful far from here. Awful far from
Steve (Luken):but for now, someday we're gonna have to figure out the connection between Ultra, anything down here Yeah. And Nissan. I gotta go make a call. Yeah. Because if somebody wants him dead here Yeah.
Steve (Luken):It's not a I I can't imagine it's a one off that somebody down here wants him dead. So I'm gonna go off and call Felix Yep. And say, hey. I'll explain later, but you need to make sure Isarn is okay and dispatch adventurers to, like, bolster his personal guard. Yep.
Steve (Luken):Ones you trust. Yep.
Justin (GM):You do get a voice mail? You check the clock, and it is 08:30AM.
Steve (Luken):Oh, yeah. He's not gonna be awake for hours.
Justin (GM):He is not awake.
Steve (Luken):I call his secretary.
Justin (GM):You call his secretary, Becky, and she answers and takes a note for for from you with this information.
Steve (Luken):Okay.
Justin (GM):She's sure to get it
Nick:to them.
Steve (Luken):Can I call Isarn directly?
Justin (GM):You cannot. Okay. This is a sending stone. These are not pure
Steve (Luken):It's not a cell phone. Okay.
Justin (GM):These are I have a connection with a limited number of people
Steve (Luken):Yeah.
Justin (GM):Who I have physically met. You have never physically met Isarn.
Steve (Luken):Sure. Yeah. I do tell Becky that this is actual important, not
Justin (GM):of course. Yeah. Becky is I think you know that a significant amount of the Church of Ba'az is kept afloat because of Becky. Okay. Good.
Justin (GM):Yeah. Becky does a lot of heavy lifting. She also, let's be clear, gets paid rightfully. Good.
Nick:Yeah.
Justin (GM):She absolutely is responsible for pay and she ensures that she gets paid her due.
Steve (Luken):I thank Becky profusely and
Justin (GM):Of course.
Steve (Luken):Wonder to myself why I didn't just call her for.
Justin (GM):She often wonders that in general.
Steve (Luken):Hey. Sorry, guys. Dead sender's not a good look for us, so I had to just take care of that real quick. But, yeah, why would would Otrig care at all about sender Isar? I think where we left it last night was we were gonna follow-up on the OTRE leads anyway.
Steve (Luken):Wanna go stop by his house? Sure.
Nick:Great. I've got a couple meetings with the good senator Reyes and the lieutenant. I had a little chitchat about the events last night, and I'm happy to meet you shortly after.
Steve (Luken):Do we wanna meet at his house
Nick:when you're done with it? Sure. Yeah. Works for me.
Steve (Luken):Because I I also have to follow-up on the sender here who I still haven't seen.
Nick:Oh, yeah. Great.
Justin (GM):Harry shows up to the office of senator Reyes, and senator Reyes is behind his desk, reviewing a report.
Nick:Tomo, I just wanted to be the first one to congratulate you on your retirement.
Justin (GM):I don't believe that I am retiring.
Nick:Oh, shocking since you haven't been anywhere and your numbers are garbage. What the fuck have you been doing?
Justin (GM):Oh, senator Pinch, I assume.
Nick:Yes. We've met. Sorry that you don't remember. What's going on? Seems like you got a little trouble in paradise out here.
Justin (GM):Please get the door. Please close the door. Why? Because I'd prefer to have this conversation in private, please.
Steve (Luken):Great.
Justin (GM):I understand that there are certain ways that things work in the circle of gold.
Nick:Sure.
Justin (GM):And I need you to understand that things don't work that way out here.
Nick:Tell me how they work. I haven't seen anything work since I've been out here.
Justin (GM):Things we are doing our best, and I need you to come I am your peer.
Nick:Sure.
Justin (GM):My vote matters just as much as yours. Certainly. And I understand that you think that because you come from a city that you are more important than me.
Nick:I don't And want to
Justin (GM):be very clear that that is not the case.
Nick:I don't think I'm more important than you, but I'm sure I've been sent out to figure out what the fuck's going on, and I
Justin (GM):can't even find you for twenty four hours. Senators calling me, trying to explain to me why they are not getting their shipments of salt. Yeah. And I am trying to understand why my guards can't disband a simple protest of three young people.
Nick:Your guards are breaking into their own barracks drunk after hours to release prisoners and get into a fucking fist fight. I was there last night and guess what? Word's gotten out. Heard an old lady this morning talking about it. You got the loosest lips, no tight ships, nothing's working.
Nick:Brother, I can help you get reelected but not with your shitty numbers. We can be fucking partners on this.
Justin (GM):There are only so many things that a person in my position can do in a situation like this.
Nick:So let me help you. Don't come at me and tell me that I'm a prick because I'm from a city. I'm literally coming in to help you on this.
Justin (GM):You were sent here by your nephew. Let's be very clear.
Nick:Absolutely. The nephew that is the king of Vinithar.
Justin (GM):And I thought you would be showing up with a decree that will allow me to do something more actively, but instead, I am told that you're going to show up here and help us come up with a plan. Yeah. Because The plan was for you to have a decree.
Nick:Oh, then why didn't you get
Justin (GM):the decree? You were supposed to come with the decree.
Nick:Oh, who was supposed to send me the decree?
Justin (GM):The king. Oh. The council of So your problem Did you not come here?
Nick:The council of faith and the king? And so who's the who's the representative to go back to them? What's the plan? What's your plan? To whine until they
Justin (GM):get you what you want? I asked for a simple right to arrest a person, a foreign entity on my soil. Yeah. Somehow, that wasn't granted to me. Yeah.
Nick:And it wasn't. And so what are gonna do? Pout and ignore the people that are here to then help solve the problem?
Justin (GM):I was working on it. I was working on solving the problem. Tell me, give me
Nick:your plan. I'll I'll I'll shut up for the next five minutes while you tell me exactly what you were working on and what you're doing.
Justin (GM):He is exhausted. Yeah. He is clearly at wit's end. You see, he his hair is not well kept. He looks like he's definitely wearing the same outfit that he was wearing yesterday.
Justin (GM):He has multiple mugs of coffee that have been drank on his desk. You can tell that the report he is reading is the report of the drunkenly disorder Yeah. In the barracks from the last evening. He realizes that things got out of control. He also genuinely feels like he had a plan.
Justin (GM):Yeah. He is also drowning in a losing fight. If your king and the council would simply understand that people here in the circle of sand representing folks who regularly interact with the nation had more sympathy for them and would do something about that scenario and stop trying to handle the symptoms, maybe we wouldn't have gotten into this problem in the first place. But instead, I'm forced to just put a band aid on the situation to stop the bleeding. I can't do I I and he points to himself.
Justin (GM):I cannot do anything to save the Steelmarrow tribe from the Taranite Kingdom. But that is what my people are asking me to do, but my vote doesn't change that. Is that the plan you were going to hatch with me?
Nick:Harry leans in and gets very sincere. First, good thing the door is closed because it's our king. We don't have a whole lot of fucking say in that, nephew or not. This sucks. You're in a shitty position.
Nick:You're losing support. You know that. If I know that, you know that. I'm out here talking to your lieutenant who literally just said, I want blood yesterday and can't control my guards when they're off duty.
Justin (GM):Lieutenant Fender has a history of combat that sometimes Yep.
Nick:Makes them see things in black and white terms. I Yep. So and I'm we're on good terms as of right now. I'm going over there next, and we're probably not gonna leave on great terms. But as of right now, if we can get on the same page and I can get her on the same page to understand that if she doesn't figure something out, the sympathy is not with the guards right now.
Nick:The sympathy is not with these people. So we have to figure out a way to open trade routes and not completely murder or ruin this protest. The only way forward is to actually get some ground support behind the urnations while also opening these goddamn trade lines. How are we gonna do that? What can I do now that we're twenty four hours after I've arrived?
Nick:What can I do? What can I do for you? How can I give you power outside of a decree that I do not have?
Justin (GM):He slides a sheet of paper to you, and it is a immediate notice to evict. And he says, as I understand it, last evening, the protesters vacated their post. This means that the magic that bound them to their space no longer is present.
Amanette:Okay.
Justin (GM):That was the biggest hurdle
Nick:Great.
Justin (GM):To us removing them from their location.
Nick:Okay.
Justin (GM):Now, I have a few laws that I can utilize to force them to move.
Nick:Okay.
Justin (GM):That is my plan.
Nick:And how do you plan on do and what's what are the laws? What are we talking about? And are they so are they still in place?
Justin (GM):What is loitering laws. Are laws about foreign entities on Venetharne soil. Technically, they are currently marked as merchants Yes. Which gives them exemption.
Nick:Yes.
Justin (GM):I am willing to overlook that. And while they can contest that, the amount of time it would take for them to contest it will be longer. They must evacuate. They can contest it all they want, but they will have to leave this spot until they can formally find a judge to find my law, my ruling illegal.
Nick:Great. So They will have left, though. Great. They've left. What happens?
Nick:You think that's going to just they're just going to quietly leave and no one's gonna mind?
Justin (GM):As a quiet solution. I don't agree. Give me a president's role.
Nick:Can I use senator? Absolutely. His name, city. And then I will probably potentially use heart of a poet, which is my foundation to spend the hope to add a d four depending on how this looks. That is a 14.
Nick:I'm gonna use the d four. 17 with fear. Don't be a dick, Justin.
Justin (GM):I'll take that fear. It is a success with fear.
Nick:Yeah. Listen. Listen. Hold on. You you and I have seen poll numbers ever, and you just said at the beginning of this conversation, everyone's sympathetic to your nation, including most of your constituents.
Nick:You coming down with the hammer and then being overturned with that hammer is not gonna help you, and it's not gonna help anyone. We have to find a smarter way through this. Have you talked with any of the leaders?
Justin (GM):Wayfinder Deep Rock is not cooperative. We have, on several occasions, as lieutenant strike has made very clear, requested to interrogate a suspect for the murder. They refused to relinquish the suspect to lieutenant Strike. So, no, my efforts to talk to them have proved futile.
Nick:You asked to take someone into custody, and you think that's the same as going and having a discussion with the leader of someone that's causing trouble on your plane.
Justin (GM):What do you expect me to do?
Nick:Have a meeting with the freaking leader, man. See what they actually need to get them off of the property. You don't even know what they actually want. You have no idea what they're willing
Justin (GM):to give up. Their demands are very clear. They want me to release people who've committed a crime Yep. And not pay the appropriate sentence for that crime.
Nick:Okay.
Justin (GM):And they want land.
Nick:They want refuge.
Justin (GM):They want us to forfeit land as a refuge for people, escaped convicts from another kingdom. Have you ever negotiated anything? Do you ever think people just get everything they want on one end of this?
Nick:You don't in between? You get to stay in office, Gustavo. You get to continue being a senator and taking care of people here.
Justin (GM):Harry Pinch, it is clear that you are better at this than I am.
Nick:Jeez Louise, but
Justin (GM):I will give you until noon to solve this problem. Great. At which case, I will evict to these people as is my right of the senator.
Nick:Of course.
Justin (GM):Do you understand?
Nick:I understand. Good luck with your reelection and and Perry Watts out.
Justin (GM):That is your success this year.
Nick:Yeah.
Steve (Luken):Are you gonna have Beatty look into, his opponent?
Nick:Oh, yeah. I've already picked him.
Steve (Luken):Yeah. Maybe make some campaign contributions.
Nick:Absolutely. Great.
Steve (Luken):I returned to the House of Fortune. What what's going on there at this point? Do I see my buddy, the liar player?
Justin (GM):You do not. You do see, an individual in the gold robes of a sender, sender who you believe to be sender Demric, standing at the questing board, administering the same type of tokens that you do to various individuals about to go on their quest.
Steve (Luken):I mean, not as cool as
Justin (GM):my token. No comment.
Steve (Luken):Mine's a Seraph's token. Yeah. I see him and I call out very cheerfully, Sender Demerick, how are
Justin (GM):you? Pralad Meskar. How are you? I deeply he kind of gives a quick benediction to the adventurers that he was briefly speaking to and, turns to you and gives you the appropriate bow, and says, Prahlad Mascar, greetings. Greetings.
Justin (GM):Welcome to the town. So good to see you, and and please welcome to the fortune of Sharnwick.
Steve (Luken):Thank you. It you know, I showed up here yesterday. Oh, yesterday? Yesterday.
Justin (GM):A day early. And I'll say, you know, the folks at this fortune is so hospitable, but I expected to see you here. Oh, I thought your arrival day was today.
Steve (Luken):You know, you can be forgiven for a scheduling mix up. It's, you know, it's commonplace at this church. You know, no harm, no foul. But I was hoping, you know, do you have a few minutes? I'd I'd love to sit down and chat for a little while.
Steve (Luken):You're the leader of of this church. I've never been out here before, and it'd be a huge missed opportunity on my part if I didn't at least hear from you, you know, just your perspective on on what's going on in the city and and what we can do to make this church more successful.
Justin (GM):Please. Please. I know the perfect place. These old bones of mine enjoy the warm sun, and this time of day, I know the perfect spot. Sender Demerich is this older human man.
Justin (GM):He is, balding on the top. He has hair on the sides of his head. He's a little bit more portly. His skin, though, clearly has the, like, worn, aged look of a person who did hard labor at some point in his life and is now kind of aged out of that. He gestures to essentially like a picnic table in the courtyard of the church of Ba'az.
Justin (GM):And sitting on this is essentially a game of a cross between chess and checkers where most of the pieces make simple jumps, but crossing over certain quadrants of the board give pieces, like, extra maneuverability in, like, a chess style way. And he says, do you play?
Steve (Luken):You know, I know the rules. I wouldn't say I'm seasoned or anything, but, you know, just for fun, let's play while we talk.
Justin (GM):Of course. Of course, just for fun.
Steve (Luken):And by just for fun, loser buys drinks tonight. Right? Oh,
Justin (GM):I would never play a game without a wait hour.
Steve (Luken):Okay. That that is the standard just for fun. Absolutely. Yeah.
Justin (GM):The most fun has had when, something's on the line, they
Steve (Luken):say. Yeah. So I think we're we're just kinda playing. Yep. But senator Demerich, I see that you assigned a number of adventuring parties or issued a, you know, an request for a number of adventuring parties to protect the protesters.
Steve (Luken):Can you can you tell me what what led you to do that?
Justin (GM):As you do this, give me
Steve (Luken):a knowledge check to see how well you're doing in this game. Oh, god. That is a 15 with hope, but I am just going to go ahead I don't I didn't see your role. Yeah. But I'm going to add two from a prayer die.
Justin (GM):Okay. I got a 13.
Steve (Luken):Okay. So 17 with hope for me.
Justin (GM):The first pieces make their move out on this board. And with your limited knowledge of this game, you have an early advantage. You have taken some aggressive moves, and he is definitely playing, a more reserved game, which is not in the nature of most, boss followers and clergymen. And he says, I did. I did do that.
Justin (GM):You know, I think it is important to be sensitive to when the wind shifts directions. And if you've been here a day, I if you've taken any opportunity to talk to my congregation, it might have become clear to you that their sympathies may not lie with those more loyal to the decisions made by our king in his past life. He lays another piece down.
Steve (Luken):I I even had an opportunity to to meet some of the protesters yesterday. And to be honest with you, I found them to be incredibly sympathetic. You know I'm out here as a representative of our church. And you know that in my position, my loyalties are with the church. But it is striking to me how different things are out here as compared to back home in Resinium City.
Steve (Luken):And I want you to know, I do not have any dispute any issue with your decision to try and protect those protesters. I can't imagine what this what passes for a guard in this town just being allowed to go down and harass people on a hunger strike. I just want you to know, between you and me, I am not going to try and stand in the way of you issuing quests that, you know, you believe to be best for your jurisdiction here.
Justin (GM):I am deeply humbled by your words, Prelit. The mere idea that someone from your position would come from Resinium City all the way out here and see the plight that we have, It is not easy being a small town near the desert. You know, when I was a young boy, I remember my dad would take us out camping, and we would make the most delicious dinner. I are you familiar with pudgy pies? It's when you take two cast irons and smash a sandwich between them and then put it in the fire.
Steve (Luken):You know, I am not, but that sounds
Justin (GM):That sounds so like exquisite.
Steve (Luken):Well, I feel like I've been missing out.
Justin (GM):If you've never had one, I if you're around here long enough, I'm gonna get you one.
Steve (Luken):You know, unfortunately, I'm born and raised city boy. We, you know, we didn't have a lot of the the camping trip
Justin (GM):that's what you learn a lot on these camping trips. You see, I would go on these things and we would have the greatest time. We would build up the most phenomenal fire. And the hard part about going on a camping trip, you you find all the tinder around your campfire and the flame is great, but you've gotta make that flame last all night long. And when I was young, my dad would expect me to gather that tender.
Justin (GM):And I remember one time, I gathered all the little pieces and I thought I did such a good job in that flame. Those pudgy pies were delicious. But I had no idea. I fell asleep that night and when I woke up, the flames, they were so small, so tiny, and I went looking for more tinder. There was none to be found anywhere around.
Justin (GM):I gathered it all up. I thought, surely, one go. I gathered everything I need, I threw it all in the fire. I burned too bright, too fast, and we had no flame halfway through the night. The fire had gone out.
Justin (GM):And I learned a lot from that experience that you really gotta wait things out and hold on for the long run. Sometimes things are marathons, not sprints. Give me another
Steve (Luken):Ain't that
Justin (GM):the truth. Role. I'm using a fear in this moment
Nick:Okay.
Justin (GM):As he is talking about a dwindling fire, that burns too bright too fast.
Nick:Yeah.
Justin (GM):And my new role oh.
Steve (Luken):Is it knowledge again? Yeah. That is a 20 with fear. Great.
Justin (GM):You are maintaining a a hefty lead on him on this board, but you can see that he is clearly putting these pieces in a very specific position around this board. And he says, I just worry that the council and the king have been burning their tinder too quickly. And if they're not open to looking for something new, looking for a bit of change, that they're gonna burn themselves out. And that's what I'm seeking by protecting these protesters, an opportunity for something new.
Steve (Luken):Well, I'm glad you brought it up. Because while I was here yesterday, looking for you, I learned that some time ago, you you disappeared for a while, which in and of itself, not a problem. Yeah. I've disappeared for days at a time myself. It's part of the job.
Steve (Luken):What I heard about how you've been running this church since you've come back is the kind of thing that can bring attention that, frankly, you might not want. And I would hate to think that the work you've done to protect the innocent and protect the protesters in this city is tied to some greater cause to undermine our faith as a whole. Now, again, I'm not here to tell you what to do, tell you how to run things. I am just telling you that people are going to start asking questions about what you're doing out here. Do you understand?
Justin (GM):The funny thing about getting attention, is that it makes for easy, easy misdirection. And I need one final knowledge roll.
Steve (Luken):Not very good on my part.
Justin (GM):I got a 13. I got an 11 with hope. The positions on the board that he has set himself up, he lost a lot of pawns, but he takes the important piece on your board. This does not win him the game, but this is essentially him taking the, in this game, there are, six important pieces, one for each member of the Council of Faith plus the king of Venathar. And he takes, one of the important Council of Faith pieces with just a simple, like, pawn equivalent.
Justin (GM):And he says, I appreciate your cautionary words in this moment, but I am not afraid of attention. I am not afraid of the winds of change. I do think you have won this game in three moves.
Steve (Luken):I see that too. And for my part, cards on the table, pieces on the board, I'm going to be reporting to the archon that I could not find anything concrete tying you to the cult. Please don't make me a liar.
Nick:So Harry heads back to the inn. He kind of sends a message to Luke and and Sarah to meet him back at the inn, and he meets with Beanie and just says, alright. Here's what I need. Here's where I need it to go. Okay.
Nick:And he just hands over these little notes to her.
Justin (GM):Okay.
Nick:It shows her to put a guard report.
Justin (GM):Yep. Mhmm.
Nick:Can you read that? I know I wrote it quick.
Justin (GM):Of course. Of course. No. You can read this.
Nick:Just wanna make sure. And then here's a a nice little piece of potential legislation that I typed up. Oh, okay. And, I mean, make sure it makes sense. Make sure that there's a budget for it and, you know, any of that.
Nick:But
Justin (GM):This would be quite the undertaking. Yep. One of your largest
Nick:to date. If we can do it. Knock on wood.
Justin (GM):Okay. Yeah. I think there's a couple of potential grants that I think we could apply for that I I'm aware of that Now we're I might be able to fund this type of venture in with the Church of Boz Yeah.
Nick:I'll have Luke can work it
Justin (GM):on his end. So Honestly, quite fortuitous. They are.
Nick:That's clever.
Justin (GM):They are. Clever.
Nick:Fortuitous. Fortune. Boz. Yeah. Right?
Nick:It's clever. You did it. You made a joke. That's great. Oh, that's funny.
Nick:That's great. Okay. You got it? Yes. Of course.
Nick:One of I'll be right on it. Okay. You need do you need anything from me?
Justin (GM):Your nap? Do you need me?
Nick:When? Check-in another hour. I've got something at I've got something at noon. Maybe maybe afternoon.
Justin (GM):She looks at her notes for your schedule? Mhmm. I don't have anything for you at noon.
Nick:I guess I have to have this whole thing locked up and done
Justin (GM):by noon. Immediately, she starts sweating. Yeah.
Nick:Yeah. This all has to go out now. Okay.
Justin (GM):Or else You want me to work on this while you solve everything else? Well, this is part
Nick:of solving everything. Everything that you have is part and parcel of solving everything else.
Justin (GM):Yeah. You're doing something super important.
Nick:Yeah. Yeah. Every day.
Justin (GM):Every day.
Nick:Hey, Beanie, every day you're doing something.
Justin (GM):Okay. Super important. I know. I know. Yeah.
Nick:I'm gonna pass a copy of the potential refugee resolution to both of you to read over and make sure sorry. It makes sense to you and it doesn't feel fucked from the side and make sure that you feel that Lucan feels good about passing up that flagpole?
Steve (Luken):Lucan is just gonna say yes. Not approved. I talked to the archon last night. He said he trusts me. He said he owes me one, and then he went back to his party.
Steve (Luken):So, look, we were sent out here to solve this problem. This is you're telling me this is crucial to solving the problem. Right?
Nick:Mhmm. I'll drink to that.
Steve (Luken):It's a yes from the Church of Oz.
Nick:How's it feel for you?
Shelby (Sahra):I mean, I think it looks good. I think that it's a good compromise.
Nick:You'll have to see it. Hopefully, we can get the folks in sales out as well. That's gonna be a sticky one, but working on that as well. What's up with you guys?
Shelby (Sahra):We need to go find evidence.
Steve (Luken):Yes. I found the sender here. Interesting guy. Yeah. The sender here.
Steve (Luken):We played some Towers and Flowers. Do you remember Towers and Flowers?
Nick:I asked do I remember?
Steve (Luken):Yeah. I I I won. What? Yeah. He was really good.
Steve (Luken):I don't think I've ever even beaten either of you. No. I've seen that. So, you know, you know, fortune smiled on me today.
Nick:He was really good. Yeah. That makes sense.
Steve (Luken):Hopefully hopefully, I didn't burn all my good fortune in towers and flowers but Yeah.
Justin (GM):I'm sure
Nick:I'm sure that's a bottomless pit of fortune
Steve (Luken):But, you know, we just talked Church of Boz shop. Yeah. You know, nothing nothing to worry about over there.
Nick:Nothing to worry about?
Steve (Luken):I mean, other than the usual. He's a weird dude. He might be a little bit more changey than we want,
Nick:but I mean, like culty changey? Listen, sometimes change needs to happen. So I don't I don't have a I don't have a a side on this, but I'm just curious.
Steve (Luken):You know, I think it's too soon to say.
Nick:Heard. Understood.
Shelby (Sahra):Alright. Well, I don't wanna be a stickler about time or anything, but we gotta go now. Alright. Alright.
Justin (GM):You all make your way through town. You have a couple of hours still until this all needs to be fully resolved. And the house that OTRA occupied is nothing stands out about it from the outside. It's a fairly innocuous house, for a guardsmen. He was paid well, and he has a pretty simple, if slightly larger two story house.
Justin (GM):It is, got a, you know, couple windows in the front, nice little front yard. Obviously, no grass. But you all kind of approach and have free rein to get in. You know for a fact that it's, like, not locked.
Steve (Luken):I go in. You go
Justin (GM):in. You see he has, like, a living room, a couple of he clearly lived alone. You see sofa. He was reading some books. You see that there are some dirty plates in the sink.
Justin (GM):You notice that he is reading a few books. There's something, a book that he was reading on the kitchen table. It looks like upstairs, there may maybe just be, a one room upstairs that might be his bedroom of some kind. All of this is just things you get from a cursory grant glance. If you want to look closer, you will need to roll.
Nick:I would like to use reveal. Make a spell cast roll. If there's anything magically hidden within close range, the role would succeed against it is revealed.
Steve (Luken):Maybe before you cast
Justin (GM):that Yeah.
Steve (Luken):Can we do like a more detailed but like general search for anything that seems out of place like trapdoors check.
Justin (GM):And you can give me your
Steve (Luken):crit, baby.
Nick:Great. That'll be a nine with hope. Lucan,
Justin (GM):you enter into this space and catch all the things that I described earlier.
Nick:Shit. I'm so sorry. It's a 12. Not I don't know if that matters, but I
Justin (GM):just wanna say it. I mean, it's definitely makes justifies things already gonna get it. The read of the room is that a house this size would probably have a basement or a cellar of some kind, but you're not seeing anything, like any type of entrance or door or any latch that would allow you to gain entrance to that space. So something is off about the structure of this home. He
Nick:I
Justin (GM):think the vibe you get from this place is either this guy was truly so tight laced that he really had, like, no interesting personality. There's, like, no art on the walls here. There is it looks like this person maybe went to work, came home, ate dinner, went to bed, woke up, had breakfast, went to work. That's the personality that you get from this space.
Steve (Luken):Which I find suspicious in and of itself, like Yeah. It is it's suspicious how well kept it is. Yep. Especially knowing that he had a secret romance or something Yes. With with sister Henle.
Steve (Luken):Henle. You know, like, I know from that he has some kind of person. Like Yep. He did something risky in his life. Right?
Justin (GM):With that crit though Yes. You find in the bathroom underneath the sink that he has, like, a candle making kit that he has down there. You also find in his yard, it looks like just a pile of, like he has been doing landscaping, just a pile of discarded limbs and things like that.
Steve (Luken):Tree limbs, not like human limbs. Yes. Okay. Like Look. Look.
Steve (Luken):I said landscaping. I
Shelby (Sahra):said context clues.
Justin (GM):Yeah. He has been doing landscaping, and so there are, an assortment of limbs here, but I think you know to flag Sara in this moment. Yeah. And Sara
Steve (Luken):Hey, Sara. Sara, come out here. Yeah. What? Any of this seem weird to you?
Steve (Luken):I found this candle making kit in the bathroom and there's all this, like spare wood.
Shelby (Sahra):Yeah.
Steve (Luken):What does this read to you? How does it read to you?
Shelby (Sahra):Could be materials for primal magic.
Steve (Luken):And that's what you said you saw. Right?
Shelby (Sahra):Yeah.
Justin (GM):You see mugwort, rosemary, mandrake, hawthorn, sage, all like, very traditional, plants used in, primal rituals. The it looks like he has tried to mask a lot of these things by just making it look like he's doing landscaping in his backyard. You recognize these all from your vision, that he had gathered. I knew it. I knew it.
Justin (GM):You see all that? That is all primal magic shit. I'm telling you. You cast your detect magic spell and immediately an illusion. One of the carpets on the ground is like a masking illusion spell.
Nick:Harry is just walking around with, like, his umbrella and just, like, tapping a rhythm around the floor just to kind of find it, use a little magic, do whatever.
Justin (GM):And at one point, the tone of one of the taps is wildly off.
Nick:Found something.
Shelby (Sahra):Like a scurrying
Steve (Luken):Yeah. I like fly in. Like like I I like six inches off the ground just so I don't have to like run because I'm too excited.
Justin (GM):Mhmm. You all, I assume, move this illusionary rug Mhmm. So it's off the side. There is a cellar door here. It is unlocked.
Steve (Luken):I go I I obviously open it and go down there.
Justin (GM):You open it, there is a ladder to go down and it is there's no light down there at all. It is dark and it smells stale and like
Steve (Luken):paint. Yeah. Are there any candles in this candle making kit I found? No. It's a candle making kit but there's not a single candle in the house?
Justin (GM):This is Oh, there are candles in the house, not in the kit. Yeah.
Steve (Luken):I run back up
Justin (GM):to your question.
Justin (GM):Do you wanna find a
Steve (Luken):I would like to find a candle Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Great. I do that.
Steve (Luken):We have a little bit of light in the basement now, I think.
Justin (GM):You make your way down into the basement, and there is just writing all over the walls in this room of the basement. It looks like a madman has been down here. Circled in big red ink is the word custodia sanguis.
Nick:I don't like that
Amanette:at all.
Steve (Luken):Do I know what that translates into?
Justin (GM):You know that this is, like, an old language for, like, keepers of the blood or guardians of the blood. And he has written next to it, like, secret organization, question mark, question mark, pointing to various he has, like, a point to the council of the face, question mark, to the senate question mark. You also see a picture of connecting to the custodian sanguis. Sender Isarn Halavard is up there. You also see an individual connected to the ritual of harmonization with just, like, an an empty profile with question marks.
Justin (GM):You also see someone connected to the priesthood of Urasinda, the god of the sun and motherhood. He has distinctly written next to it a couple of lines to the divine codex. This divine codex is the, like, prophetic and law text of Venethar. This is what the original incarnation of the king of Venathar wrote. It it states, like, how the government will work.
Justin (GM):Every life, he gets to add one law to it. Otherwise, the Council of Faith establishes and organizes around it. The senate is made from the laws there, but it also has, like, weaved in prophetic lines that say, so it shall come to pass in the days of ending that the people of the immortal king shall be a thorn in the side of the nothing, a bane onto its house. The nothing is basically kind of the entropic end of the universe. Like, worse, there's like good and evil and then there's the nothing that's like worse than all of this.
Justin (GM):Another line is, with the knife of doubt at his throat, the immortal king shall be crowned by death. Behold, Menethar walks the edge of a blade. They thirst though he gives them water. They starve though he gives them food. The soul unending must once again sit the throne.
Justin (GM):Underneath those three lines, he has like a bunch of arrows connecting them and circled underneath all of them is incarnate king,
Steve (Luken):fake, swapped,
Justin (GM):question mark, question mark, question mark. And it has a picture of Esau and it has a picture of Asher. He is convinced that Asher and Esau are false incarnate kings of Venethar and that they have been swapped out somehow.
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 in Reddit, writing us a review on your favorite pod catcher, or you can ship in for coffee at our Patreon. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week on Theater of the Mindset.