Isaac Allen Burns: Why did you like to know that? And then he's gonna swing at you, Crank. Now before we get too deep into it, I just wanna reset the scene real fast. So Kapi, you have headed towards a boat that was docked at this location along the docks. Pistachio, you just got in a big argument with your brother Wally, who's currently roided out and squared up with you and Crank.
You have turned into a Dodo panther and are facing him. Crank, you have just gotten in the way of his fist. He is punching you. Meanwhile, at the sort of center of this open area of the docks that you're at, the masked figure that has snuck into the situation is currently within a fracas of a smoke grenade around some boxes that seemed suspicious for being loaded onto the docks by some of these Luvenhurst goons. Now let me roll some damage real fast.
Annie Hawthorne: Bring it.
Isaac Allen Burns: Does a 14 hit your evasion? Does a 13 hit your evasion?
Joe Diametti: You just say yes.
Annie Hawthorne: Yes. Forgot this was audio only. And
Rowan Collins: he's sitting there nodding like, yes, it does.
Isaac Allen Burns: Like, yeah, that's gonna hit.
Annie Hawthorne: It's fine. I know what I'm doing, guys.
Isaac Allen Burns: First one is 12 physical damage. The second one is 20 physical damage as these two hits collide with your body. You see on that second, because that second hit connected, he is going to spend a fear, which I'm gonna spend one of Pistachio's fear, to push you towards close range. You are shoved back towards the containers, very similar to how Pistachio was shoved back. And he says, leave now.
I'm not gonna ask again.
Annie Hawthorne: Yeah. I'm gonna use an armor slot to knock that second one down to major, and I just took four hit points of damage. Nice. He's hitting a lot. Going to do my one of my vengeance subclass features is called revenge.
When an adversary with a melee range succeeds on attack against you, you can mark two stress to force the attacker to mark a hit point.
Isaac Allen Burns: Oh, dang.
Annie Hawthorne: He doesn't expect me to be made of metal, and his hand just, like, crunches.
Isaac Allen Burns: You too look like a person after all. That's why he's sizing you up is because you just look like a dude. And this guy also would not know what Benedict Xechtan looks like, so he just thinks you're a guy. The two of you hear a small voice as a little message plays to you that says, hey, so I can conjure a little smoke around you if you want to get out of here. We cut two.
Gabby, you're in front of the chest.
Joe Diametti: Mhmm.
Isaac Allen Burns: How are you approaching this chest? It looks like a chest. Looks like you can just open it if you want to, haphazardly.
Joe Diametti: It doesn't look like it's locked?
Isaac Allen Burns: Oh, I don't know. You have to straight you have to look at it first.
Joe Diametti: Yeah. Wanna look at it.
Isaac Allen Burns: Very good. Go ahead. We're gonna say make a instinct or a finesse check.
Joe Diametti: Just to look at it?
Isaac Allen Burns: This is not just to look at it, but also to feel around to see if there's any kind of traps or shenanigans that are implanted in this. To keep ne'er do wells such as yourself from getting into them. Alright. I'm gonna use finesse. It's plus two.
Oh, I can't wait. Oh, I can't wait. Hang
Joe Diametti: on. Math started.
Isaac Allen Burns: 12. Okay. Two numbers plus another number.
Joe Diametti: 12 plus a 12 and an 11.
Isaac Allen Burns: 23.
Joe Diametti: Plus two.
Isaac Allen Burns: 25.
Joe Diametti: 25 with fear. Damn.
Isaac Allen Burns: Oh, fear. Oh. Thank you. 25 with fear is very trapped. You look at it, you can feel multiple kinds of traps on this thing.
On that 25 though, you easily disentangle it. The strings are slit in such a way they won't release. You get the locking mechanism just right and you open it up.
Joe Diametti: Come to copy.
Isaac Allen Burns: Papers and papers and papers and papers. Fuck. At the very top, looks like a very recent letter. And there's a symbol on it that you recognize as the Apple people symbol is on top of that piece of paper.
Joe Diametti: What the fuck? Yeah. I opened the letter.
Isaac Allen Burns: Chose, you opened the letter. I have sent you on Discord what the letter says.
Joe Diametti: What?
Isaac Allen Burns: Take a moment to read over and we'll come back to you as you read it. So, Pistachio
Rowan Collins: Yes.
Isaac Allen Burns: You see your brother amped out of his mind, eyes purple, clearly just attacked Crank in the form of little Benny, shoved him against the container. You see that he is about to physically remove you from this. And a small voice just spoke to you. What would you like to do?
Rowan Collins: I think Pistachio locks eyes with Wally and then walks away and towards Crank into their own form dropping out of beast form. And just like lays a little hand on Crank and uses regeneration, I'm gonna spend three hope to give you one d four hit points back. And you get two. Thank you. And then turns back to face him.
Annie Hawthorne: Pistachio, I think we should get out of here. He's, like, not something's wrong with him. That really hurt.
Rowan Collins: Pistachio turns back to Wally and goes, see, that's the thing, Wally. You always wanted to be something different, but you you you don't think things through too much, do you? You didn't think about the fact? I would have to tell mom that not only are you doing some sort of weird drugs working for the mom, but also that I had to drag your ass back myself. And I think at that point, Pistachio starts morphing into this thing we've seen before, the Dodo Bear, which now at this time is going to be the same size as Wally.
And in their ear to the voice that they said, they'll go, drop it like the cloud.
Isaac Allen Burns: Nice.
Rowan Collins: And then they'll attack.
Isaac Allen Burns: You say that out loud and, Crank, as you're watching this come out, you see a little like oomph from out of the smoke like something just got thrown out in your direction. A small little ball hits the ground directly in front of you and smoke appears just similar to before. Now I have a question. As you look at the boxes, it looks like smoke at this point is starting to dissipate almost as though that smoke bomb was gonna be used for the location that they are at right now, but instead used it for you. As you see it dissipating, you see one more of the guards kind of squared up with this masked individual.
There are small little bits of crystal that have been put on one of the boxes in particular, and you see that they're squaring up going at each other. But you also see this about to happen. So I wanna know where are you gonna be moving to?
Annie Hawthorne: I feel like Crank is torn because he wants to know what the fuck is going on. He wants to know what this person wants. But, like, also, Pistachio's about to probably get fucked because, like, I just got fucked up. And I am worried about my friend. So I'm, like, beelining for my friend to at least, like, stand kind of nearby in case something goes wrong.
Isaac Allen Burns: Nice. So it's two of you are charging in. Go ahead and roll that attack. Crit.
Annie Hawthorne: Pistachio, I'm not sure how good of an idea this is. Maybe we should just leave.
Isaac Allen Burns: Go ahead and roll damage.
Rowan Collins: I'm essentially I'm essentially trying to like pick him up in the bear claws and grab him and then like drag him out. 12 damage.
Isaac Allen Burns: Okay. Okay. That is major damage against your brother. As you charged at him with a voice that carried the same vitriol you had for Aj, you slice into your roided out brother right now
Annie Hawthorne: Mhmm.
Isaac Allen Burns: Who, that hurt him. That hurt him. But as you're trying to grab onto him, even though you rolled so well, he is locked in place. To the point that it's almost like a wrestling thing where, like, they go kind of grab each other and you're like, left and right. He is keeping up with you.
This musculature that he has is huge. And because that was a crit, I wanna know. Crank, are you gonna stay kind of in defense to see what he does, or are you also gonna move into attack?
Annie Hawthorne: No. I'm I'm I'm here in case I need to protect Pistachio.
Isaac Allen Burns: Nice. I
Annie Hawthorne: don't wanna attack him.
Isaac Allen Burns: Okay. Gabby, we cut back to you. What's do you read in your letter?
Joe Diametti: Do want me to read the letter?
Isaac Allen Burns: I want you to read it out loud. Yes, do. I demand it, in fact.
Joe Diametti: Okay.
Rowan Collins: Oh, it's your turn to read out loud.
Isaac Allen Burns: It's Joe's turn to read this
Joe Diametti: read out a long useless preamble spoken in Jane Austen style meme.
Isaac Allen Burns: Okay. Well, that was like a note. That was like a a stage direction.
Joe Diametti: Alright. Alright.
Rowan Collins: Memes like talking Yeah. Like that. Yeah.
Joe Diametti: Goat. I feel it is valuable to remind you of your place in all of this. You work for me, Goat. This sudden rescinding of the marriage proposal has me rather cross. We had agreed that your daughter and my cousin would make a good pairing and strengthen both our houses.
There was no apparent miscommunication or lack of understanding on your part a month ago regarding this fact. I am curious as to what changed since then. Do not forget, my uncle and I hold the asset. All it would take is one word from me and you'll be strung up for Bracken Road. I left plenty of evidence to point your way.
If I have to remove you from the equation, I will. Make no mistake, I have avenues to replace you, goat. You have two weeks to sign the proposal. After that, may midnight take you and may Valor leave you to rot. Regarding our present business, there is trouble coming from Wolf.
I have heard rumblings that some potential assets of his are currently on the move and could be attempting to interfere soon. You would do well to have your hired guns keep their eyes out. If Wolf gets this asset back, then we lose all our leverage, and it will be all our heads. This move wouldn't be beyond his nature. We knew this would come eventually.
It is surprising that it would come so quickly. We may need to use the weapon sooner than we believed. Nine blessings w b.
Isaac Allen Burns: You read that. You also notice as you are looking inside the chest. Go ahead and make a knowledge roll for me. K.
Joe Diametti: Knowledge is plus zero.
Isaac Allen Burns: And who's who knows? Maybe I'll summarize it and we can Fuck. Remove that.
Annie Hawthorne: Is that a one out of two?
Joe Diametti: No. It's a six with hope.
Isaac Allen Burns: Oh, okay. Six with hope. You see other correspondence in there, a lot of different papers seemingly kept rolled in twine. And you know for a fact you don't have the space to take them all, and you don't have time to read them all. But you do see a lot of green, and you see the symbol of, like, the wolf.
And as you hear the action outside, Gappy, do you continue to search through here for other bits of documentation or other things, Or are you wanting to get out before something else happens?
Joe Diametti: Can I just try to grab a couple handfuls and shove Sure? Things into my pocket? Anything with interesting logos or print?
Isaac Allen Burns: Yeah. Let's roll a d 12. Let's roll your hope dice to see how important the thing you grab is.
Joe Diametti: K. Six.
Isaac Allen Burns: Pretty average. Okay. Yeah. You grab some correspondence. And I'm gonna make a note that you grabbed a sixth worth of interesting things.
You have that for now. And do you turn to leave? Do you go?
Joe Diametti: Yeah.
Isaac Allen Burns: Very good, Capy. You get out of the ship, and you look, and at this point, you see Pistachio and their brother sort of wrestling. You also see the boxes where the smoke is kinda clearing out. But Pistachio, you're wrestling with your brother. And your brother says, you got one taste of blood and now you're just trying to kill me.
Why do you have to act like you're the most important person in the family? That is a 19 to hit you.
Annie Hawthorne: That'll hit.
Isaac Allen Burns: Yeah. I will do I'm just watching. Okay.
Annie Hawthorne: I'll do it. I have mirror shield. I put my arm in the way of them.
Isaac Allen Burns: I was I was just expecting it and it didn't come, so I got confused for a second.
Annie Hawthorne: Kinda waiting to see how much damage it would be.
Isaac Allen Burns: 18 damage. Okay.
Rowan Collins: Let me take it. Let me take it.
Annie Hawthorne: You see the big I feel like Crank would not let you take that at all.
Rowan Collins: I have I have the armor.
Annie Hawthorne: I'm gonna have to use more.
Isaac Allen Burns: That's another 19 to hit you.
Rowan Collins: I'll hit. Fucker. I feel like this time, Pistachio will toss your hand away.
Isaac Allen Burns: So you're gonna gonna try. You're take this hit, Pistachio?
Annie Hawthorne: Yeah. I'm gonna try to take
Isaac Allen Burns: it. Okay.
Annie Hawthorne: How do
Isaac Allen Burns: we You know what? I think in this case, because you're kind of fighting each other to take it, think you're both gonna just take half damage in this case.
Annie Hawthorne: Okay.
Isaac Allen Burns: So you're both gonna take 11 points of damage.
Rowan Collins: Okay.
Isaac Allen Burns: My man, I'm rolling so good on these d twelves. I'm rolling so good.
Rowan Collins: That's
Isaac Allen Burns: And, Crank, you took you've been damaged twice now. Right? Based on these hit he's hit you twice?
Annie Hawthorne: The the two that I just took
Isaac Allen Burns: Mhmm.
Annie Hawthorne: And then he hit me twice before.
Isaac Allen Burns: Very good. This time, instead of just a shove in the distance, he's gonna be a little more severe about it. And I'm gonna use fear. Crank as he hits you once, you jump in the way of it, he hits you once. The second hit pushes you back hard, and he grabs onto you, shifts his weight, and Crank, you feel yourself fly through the air for a moment as you are sent into the river.
And does Crank know how to swim? Oh.
Annie Hawthorne: Crank's made of fucking titanium, but he also doesn't have to breathe.
Isaac Allen Burns: Straight enough to breathe. You hit the water and pistachio. You see that happen. Wally looks at you for just a moment, his eyes staring, jaggers at you. And then he runs over to the boxes where Kapi, you see this guy in a mask.
He's got these shards of crystal he's putting on one of the boxes. You see that he stands up. The other third goon that was there has been incapacitated at this point. He looks at you, and his head kinda cocks to the side for a second, and then he looks back at the box to see Wally running at him. You see that he clearly does something with a magical manner, and both he and the box vanish.
What do you do?
Joe Diametti: Did I see Crank get You did. Okay. Pistachio.
Rowan Collins: Campy, do you have a rope?
Joe Diametti: Yes. That alright. Actually, that's exactly what I was thinking. So I need you you start running towards the water Mhmm. And I'm throwing the soft of rope as ideally you're turning into Yeah.
I could a dodo
Rowan Collins: That kid's swing. Yeah. Yes. Exactly. I'm marking as as stress to turn into, I have an aquatic animal.
What I'm gonna do is turn into a an octopus so I can grab on and suction on.
Joe Diametti: Dodopus?
Rowan Collins: Dodopus. A Dodopus. A Dodopus. Instead of instead of a a squid beak, it has like a Dodo beak. And I'm just gonna, like, suction onto crank as I I grab
Joe Diametti: the I threw the rope, like, off at the same time as you jumped into the air.
Rowan Collins: One of my little tentacles grabs it and then, well, suck it down on extremely heavy.
Joe Diametti: And at the same time, I wanna tie it around the like a the giant is it is it actually called a mask? I don't know.
Annie Hawthorne: What's the A mask. Yeah.
Joe Diametti: Mask.
Isaac Allen Burns: Tie it around the mask?
Joe Diametti: I wanna tie it around the mask so that it holds and we can
Rowan Collins: It sounds like a tag team.
Isaac Allen Burns: And the music swells.
Annie Hawthorne: I think that last hit also just completely knocked the magic out of me and I like I'm back to being just crank. And I'm just like looking real rough y'all. I'm like there's spark flying. My arm is, like, half out of the socket. One of my eyes is, like, cracked.
Like, I'm in rough shape, but I'm also extremely heavy. So
Rowan Collins: That's okay. You're suction. Yeah. This is tag team.
Isaac Allen Burns: Tag team roll.
Joe Diametti: Tag team.
Isaac Allen Burns: Go ahead. Spend 3 ho.
Joe Diametti: I'll spend Total? I'll spend the 3. I I had a full set.
Rowan Collins: Okay. And
Isaac Allen Burns: then go ahead and roll. Play roll what? Strength.
Joe Diametti: Strength? Strength. 11 with hope.
Rowan Collins: You know what's sad? That's higher than mine. That was six with hope.
Annie Hawthorne: Told you I'm too heavy. I should just let me go. I would have been fine.
Isaac Allen Burns: Crank, I wanna focus in on you real fast. As you are sinking into the depths here. You're feeling your friends helplessly trying to pull you up and yet you sink deeper and deeper into the cold murky depths. Midnight's grasp reaching out for you, the dark abyss getting closer. And I think as you're sinking into this water, I think the depths of despair starts to rise up.
Images flash in front of you. Images of the team doting upon quackers. Images of the horrific events in Bracken Road. You see the image of Pistachio's face after you crushed the individual who was underneath the town hall. I think you see Kapi trying to always just be a little taller than you.
I think you see the looks and faces of all the people of both Bracken Road and even Al Jennebi looking at you as different. A clank walking around a Mark 2, an image of a war long fought. I think you see Timothee Toulouse standing in front of Alanna as though protecting her from you for weeks and weeks while you lived but in their basement having just come to. Magic has always just been barely outside of your grasp except for the one time when it was in your hands that staff where you held magic for the first time. Then you think about how it was ripped away from you.
While this despair is rising up, there's a voice that comes to you. A safe voice, a comforting voice. That of your mentor, Adrian Toulouse. A voice that's always been there to comfort you, to build you up to be something more than what you were made to be, something more than just a mark to. He always seemed to have something great in mind for you.
And as that voice cuts through the despair, I think you see the face of Adrian floating in front of you. Things aren't looking so good, Frank. I don't think your friends are gonna be able to save you from this one. Maybe you need a little bit of a magical touch. You know, why don't you take a rest?
Why don't you let me drive for a little while? Kapi and Pistachio on Net 11 with hope. Kapi, you're on the mast. You've tied it up. You're pulling.
Both pulling as hard as you can. You feel the rope behind you. Start to pull a little bit and
Joe Diametti: Do we at least get the rope around, Crank?
Isaac Allen Burns: Yeah. Absolutely. You get the rope around, Crank. You're pulling. And, Kapi, someone comes in to help you all at the last minute.
Go ahead and roll a d six. Roll higher than a four.
Joe Diametti: K. Please. Please. Six. Nice.
Isaac Allen Burns: That will succeed. As you pull up, someone has come behind you and is pulling. And, Gabby, what's the smell you haven't smelled since you were very, very
Annie Hawthorne: young? Uh-oh.
Joe Diametti: Smells I don't this might be way too specific, but, like, do you remember what, like, hanging out in the woods by a creek smells like? It's like that, like woodsy, but like kind of fresh smell. Yeah. It's that.
Isaac Allen Burns: You get just a whiff of that as you feel someone near you helping you pull and the two or three of you are able to wrench up Crank out of the water back onto the ship. You hear sparks are flying from off of Crank.
Rowan Collins: Because I didn't have to use any of my hope, I will be using the restorative power again, regeneration by spending free hope, and you gain three hit points back.
Annie Hawthorne: Thank you.
Isaac Allen Burns: Very good. You heal them up. A little bit of creak from the boards behind you, Kapi, as someone takes a run. The three of you have this moment now together.
Annie Hawthorne: Can I try to catch a glimpse of whoever just helped?
Joe Diametti: Yeah. I also want to.
Isaac Allen Burns: You turn around and you see no one there. As though they were invisible. One thing you do see though is three boxes stacked on top of each other, and you see the roided out form of Wally doing a, like, a movers carry where they put it all in their back and then walk up the stairs. He is taking off deeper into the docks with the three boxes. But you three are sitting on the boat right now.
Crank, you are kinda coming too.
Joe Diametti: We put them in rice? What? Do
Rowan Collins: you have rice on you?
Joe Diametti: Never mind.
Annie Hawthorne: Crank. A lot of rice. I I think I, like, sit up. I open my chest. Like, I try.
It's, like, kinda, like, bent a little bit, but I try to, like, wrench it open and just water and seaweed and a fish falls out.
Rowan Collins: Oh. Oh. Oh. Hey, crackers. Hungry?
Isaac Allen Burns: Quack. Mhmm. Quackers distends its jaw and swallows the fish whole.
Annie Hawthorne: I didn't like that at all.
Rowan Collins: Quackers is really hungry all the time. Quack. Good boy. I look off after Gwally. I think Didder's about to be really awkward when we get home.
Annie Hawthorne: I don't know what they have him on, but I've never been hit that hard in my life.
Joe Diametti: Pistachio. Kathy? Did he give you a chance to leave? To walk away from that?
Rowan Collins: What what do you mean?
Joe Diametti: Wally. Did Wally give you a chance to walk away?
Rowan Collins: I mean, yeah. I I guess he said you could could leave, but like he's my brother. He's not gonna like, he's obviously doing something terrible like
Joe Diametti: Pistachio, how many times are we gonna do this?
Annie Hawthorne: I was there.
Joe Diametti: I was okay. Now you got hurt. Last time I But got
Rowan Collins: I he
Annie Hawthorne: I would not have let anything happen to Pistachio.
Joe Diametti: I know.
Rowan Collins: But you're right. I got us in trouble again. Frankie could have gone down for bad, maybe as long as Kathy did.
Annie Hawthorne: Would have been okay. You
Rowan Collins: can't say that. He when he went down, he was down for three weeks. And it was my fault when it happened last time because I was so
Annie Hawthorne: Oh, it was my fault when it happened last time because I wasn't there to protect him.
Rowan Collins: No. It was my fault because I started it because was I so angry, Grake. And this time you got hurt.
Annie Hawthorne: I'm built to get hurt.
Rowan Collins: Just because you're built to get hurt doesn't mean you should get hurt.
Joe Diametti: When did we stop being when did we stop working together? Quiet. I found a letter. I think it's from one of Scarlet's family members.
Annie Hawthorne: Can I see it? Alright. It's scanned. It's in my permanent memory.
Rowan Collins: WB and goat must be
Annie Hawthorne: I think goat is a derogatory term for a fawn.
Rowan Collins: So Scarlet's in trouble. Well, her dad is in trouble.
Annie Hawthorne: Oh, who cares about her dad?
Joe Diametti: Well, it seems like Scarlet might be in trouble if the agreement doesn't go through, which is what I'm worried about. There's also something about wolf
Annie Hawthorne: Wolfgang, The acting Viscount?
Joe Diametti: And something about needing to use a weapon sooner.
Annie Hawthorne: What do you think the asset is?
Joe Diametti: I don't know, but I'm worried it's something like the staff.
Rowan Collins: Or maybe it's a person.
Annie Hawthorne: Cerulean. Hello. Yeah. I'm here. Clover of Towers.
Isaac Allen Burns: Oh, yes. Clover towers. They're very great.
Annie Hawthorne: Where did you say they last were seen?
Isaac Allen Burns: Well, from the reports that I received from an enchanted, who is sort of my boss and also my mentor and also my adviser, there was a airship from Polaris that was leaving the the the country of Jethane with Clover of Towers, who is, of course, the child of one of the war heroes in the Jestane War for Independence, who was supposed to marry Enchanted Kalashe. It was a whole thing, and as far as we know, their ship went down in the Lightning Valley, which is in Denebola, which is close to the Gulf Of Aldeyne, and it went down. And that was the last that they were seen. And I went there, and I tracked some suspicious movement that brought me here to Algernon Boy, and that is why I'm here. So that is why I
Annie Hawthorne: went possible that Clover of Towers is here.
Isaac Allen Burns: Oh, I think so. I didn't wanna say it out loud because you were having a moment, but I'm wondering if the essay isn't also the essay I'm looking for, which would happen to be Clover of Towers.
Annie Hawthorne: That's what I was thinking. That's exactly what I was thinking.
Isaac Allen Burns: See, this is why we're such good friends, Crank, is that we think very similarly. We have very, very similar wavelengths of mind things. Yeah. You're right.
Annie Hawthorne: You're
Isaac Allen Burns: right. This is good. This is great.
Annie Hawthorne: WB, Balthazar. Right? Do I know any names of other Balthazars?
Isaac Allen Burns: Make a knowledge check for me.
Annie Hawthorne: 21 with fear.
Isaac Allen Burns: You think about what you know of the Balthazar family, which was the earldom of Algenabai before the Chastaini war, which is now the vicounty of Algenabai. The Balthazars have been there for a long time. You think of all the names that you would have learned during your time, which goes back a couple generations. And the thing that you realize is that what you had read stopped at Edgar Balthasar because he was the most important Balthasar during the war. Really, any updates you would have to the Balthasar family are from what you have heard.
You know of Wolfgang Balthasar. You know his brother, Major Balthazar. Major is his title.
Annie Hawthorne: Copy that man that you talked to in Bracken Road the morning after. Did you get his name?
Joe Diametti: I thought his name was Major.
Annie Hawthorne: I think that was his title, his rank. Oh. I think that he wrote this letter, which means that there's some kind of conspiracy going on here.
Joe Diametti: Yes. I told you in your faces. Points for Kapi.
Isaac Allen Burns: All the red threads starts coming together suddenly. Yeah. That makes sense.
Rowan Collins: Oh, okay. Well, you're right. There's a conspiracy. So who do we trust?
Annie Hawthorne: Not the Balthazar's.
Rowan Collins: Do we trust the church?
Annie Hawthorne: I don't know. Do we? I thought we could. Well, we trust each other. Right?
Or do we?
Isaac Allen Burns: As you say that, you hear some rustling in the docks as you hear footsteps, and you hear some people saying, what the fuck happened here? Oh my god. There's some dead people near the coast.
Annie Hawthorne: We should maybe we should get out of here.
Joe Diametti: Yep. Time to go. Okay.
Isaac Allen Burns: You all leave Cerulean following behind. Where do all of you go? Do you go back to the Adventuring Guild? Do you try and follow after Wally? Do you go somewhere else?
Joe Diametti: I think I know who we have to talk to. Where's Callie?
Isaac Allen Burns: You head to the Adventuring Guild. As you get to the Adventuring Guild, you hear yelling inside.
Joe Diametti: What does it sound like?
Isaac Allen Burns: Like desperate please.
Annie Hawthorne: Does it sound like Kelly?
Isaac Allen Burns: It does. Fuck.
Annie Hawthorne: Shit. I burst through the
Joe Diametti: door.
Isaac Allen Burns: You burst through the door. And as you step inside, you see two individuals. One is Michelle, who is simply shaking her head slowly and looking nervous. The other is Callie, who looks fucked up. See What happened?
Her her clothes are torn. You see that she is bleeding and bruised. And as you burst in, you hear her say, can't we call the twins from Hirthwich? We need to call anybody. We have to we need I need help, Michelle.
And as you bust in, she whips around to see all of you.
Annie Hawthorne: What? Is Ingeborg there?
Isaac Allen Burns: Ingeborg is not there.
Rowan Collins: Callie
Joe Diametti: Callie, are you what are you okay?
Annie Hawthorne: What happened?
Isaac Allen Burns: They got her. They they they I've never Who?
Annie Hawthorne: Who got who?
Isaac Allen Burns: The Luveners.
Rowan Collins: They got Ingoborg. They jump
Isaac Allen Burns: they they
Annie Hawthorne: what would they want with Ingeborg?
Isaac Allen Burns: I don't know, but I need to get her back.
Annie Hawthorne: Well, let's go.
Isaac Allen Burns: And as she looks at you, Kapi, you see that there's a moment of conflict in her eyes as she's looking at you because you can see that she's about to ask you for help. And I wanna know where that conflicting look is coming from. And where I wanna start is in Brackenrout a long time ago. Happy you were once young, just as Callie was. You would have been a younger, Verbog.
Right? Mhmm. We're in the Adventures Guild. This is a couple years into the war. It has not quite hit its peak climax.
In fact, Cyrus has not left for the war yet. You know, that the first few years of it going on was sort of spats and skirmishes, so he is still there. I think you're more 15, 16, about the age that like someone would start in the adventuring guild proper. And in fact, I'd say you've been a part of the guild for a while now just because of proximity. And one thing I do wanna know, Kapi, is as the group is in here, how is Cyrus acting right now?
What is Cyrus like before the war?
Joe Diametti: There's definitely way more to him. Like, he's He stands up straighter. He's got almost excitement about him. So he's still like that stern dad, but a stern dad that wakes up every day with purpose, I think.
Isaac Allen Burns: Yeah. Yeah. His back is straight. He stands almost like a soldier. He's still got, like, you know, big, like, weight lifter gut.
You know what I mean? Where it's like he's, like, got a solid dad bod. My man is fucking ripped. He is dressed nicely. He's not just in, like
Joe Diametti: A wife beater.
Isaac Allen Burns: Wife beater and slacks. You see that he's got, like, dress that's appropriate for the time. He looks good. His beard is kinda kept up, and there's a real toothy smile as he's standing in front of four current junior adventurers. All of them sort of young.
One of them is obviously you. Your first time sort of being officially in this. Right?
Joe Diametti: Mhmm.
Isaac Allen Burns: Cyrus has kind of been like prepping you for leadership.
Joe Diametti: And I'm still in same exact jacket that older Kapi is, but it's just way bigger, obviously, because he's much smaller.
Isaac Allen Burns: Indeed. Callie is standing right next to you as well. A younger Callie, about the same age you are still. And you see that she is smiling kinda genuinely. There is excitement in the air.
Mhmm. You see that she says, Kapi, are you sure you wanna wear that jacket though? It's gonna be so hot. I look You
Annie Hawthorne: can take it off.
Joe Diametti: I look so cool. You can't stand it.
Isaac Allen Burns: You think you look cool.
Joe Diametti: Just say it. Say it. Say you say you wanna wear the jacket. I might let you wear it if you're nice enough.
Isaac Allen Burns: The jacket might be a little cool, and I may want to wear it a little bit.
Joe Diametti: Oh my gosh. That's so embarrassing for you. Wow.
Isaac Allen Burns: Kathy, you're so weird. As you're going back and forth, there is someone important to Callie also having joined the guild and even Annie. Who is this important person that is also in the guild that is important to Callie?
Annie Hawthorne: I guess Callie's little brother.
Isaac Allen Burns: Kelly's little brother. What's Kelly's little brother like? What does he look like?
Annie Hawthorne: Couple years younger. He wasn't quite, like, filled out yet. He's still kind of scrawny. But, like, really wants to do all the cool things that his big sister's doing.
Joe Diametti: But he's an Inferni too?
Isaac Allen Burns: He's an Inferni. He's a fuchsia Inferni. Mhmm. Hair, really short, really scraggled. When you see that Callie is very protective, I think, of this individual.
And in fact, what is this person's name?
Annie Hawthorne: Caleb. Oh, nice. Caleb. Yes. Oh my god.
Isaac Allen Burns: Caleb, Callie's little brother.
Joe Diametti: Little brother.
Isaac Allen Burns: Caleb has the heart of a champion, and he is tagging along with all of you. And I also wanna know, Rowan, there's someone here. There's someone else here. There's another individual. And I'll say, that you have some kind of relationship with Kapi as well.
Probably not family. I'm curious, who else is here in the guild? What other young upstart has joined the Adventure Guild of Fracken Road?
Rowan Collins: So I would say it's a little dracono, mostly because I wanna do the French accent.
Joe Diametti: Oh, no.
Rowan Collins: Who's slightly related to the mayor. I wanna say Oh.
Joe Diametti: That's good. Oh, shit.
Rowan Collins: I wanna say nephew. Nephew to the mayor.
Isaac Allen Burns: Yes. The mayor's nephew.
Rowan Collins: The mayor's nephew whose name is Has
Joe Diametti: to be a dried up fruit.
Rowan Collins: Has to be a dried up fruit?
Joe Diametti: Mayor Raisins?
Rowan Collins: Oh, I was
Isaac Allen Burns: Sorry. His first name is Mayor. His last name
Joe Diametti: is Raisins. So
Isaac Allen Burns: Very specifically.
Rowan Collins: He's senator Prunes. Senator Prunes?
Joe Diametti: Which I wanna be clear is why Kapi thought that major Balthazar's name was just Major.
Isaac Allen Burns: Truly Senator Gullins
Rowan Collins: is the name of this Dracona who is a very stout little roly poly little guy with, like Mary Raisins was, like, gold, and so he's got, like, a little bit of gold, but very, like, stubby little horns as well. Yeah. And then, like, dressed up in a little, like, you know, like, clothes that he made himself or his mom made for him kinda thing.
Isaac Allen Burns: Nice. The four of you are standing there, and you are in the sort of meeting room, sort of the break room that, you know, perhaps in the future would have an interrogation occur. But right now, some chairs are pushed to the side, four of you are sitting there. The far end, you've got Cyrus standing up, guarding all of you. And next to Cyrus is father Graham.
We all remember father Graham. Father Graham has what looks like a blackboard behind him, and he's got a person, like, drawn like a stick figure. You see that he's got lines going across it, and you see he's got the word body on one side and then soul on the other. And he's saying, you know, the scriptures teach us that each of us have two sides to ourselves. We have the body, which is the physical, the corporeal, all your bones and and skin and fats and flesh altogether.
But you have this incorporeal side inside of you that makes up your mind and your thoughts and your emotions and your feelings called the soul. Right? And that soul is a powerful part of you. Right? You know, it the strength of your soul, you can strengthen your mind and your soul just the same way that you can strengthen your body.
Right? The mages of Polaris are just as durable and powerful as the warriors of the grand army. Right? And that's because they're training themselves. Your soul will get stronger as you train.
Okay? And so and then Cyrus kind of stops him and he's like, okay. Alright. Alright. Alright.
You all get it. Right? Study study hard and, like, you know, have positive thoughts about yourself. Right? You all got it?
Rowan Collins: Yes. This is understandable. We must have, how you say, positive thoughts, and that will make us stronger.
Annie Hawthorne: Yeah. I'm gonna ball up a piece of paper
Isaac Allen Burns: Okay.
Annie Hawthorne: And, like, wait for the adults to turn their back, and I'm gonna throw it at senator Perkins.
Joe Diametti: And I think Kapi and Callie have just been, like, bantering the whole time really disrespectfully to And what's going
Isaac Allen Burns: you see the father Graham is just so tired. He says, alright. Alright. Alright. Kapi, you understood that.
Right? I yeah. What did he say? What did he say?
Joe Diametti: Yeah. People have bodies and souls. Nailed it.
Rowan Collins: That is right. You nailed it.
Joe Diametti: Yep. That
Isaac Allen Burns: is correct. Alright. Glad you could spend a little bit of time not talking to your girlfriend and enjoy spending time.
Joe Diametti: Hey. Not my girl. I mean, it's not See,
Isaac Allen Burns: Callie blushes, and it was like, Caleb, shut up. Shut up, Caleb.
Rowan Collins: They are doing the same with their faces while they are getting flushed.
Joe Diametti: Kapi also blushes. Oh,
Rowan Collins: I think you hit it on the head.
Annie Hawthorne: It's my sister, you creep.
Joe Diametti: I'm not doing anything. I'm just
Rowan Collins: You are just speaking the language of law.
Annie Hawthorne: I throw another piece of paper. You guys runes.
Joe Diametti: It's not like that. Okay?
Rowan Collins: Oh, yes. That's right. This is what we call the talking face. Am I right?
Isaac Allen Burns: She's good.
Rowan Collins: Oh, right. Right. Right. This is the only reason you haven't
Joe Diametti: done She's always picking on me. I don't
Rowan Collins: Oh, yes. Like, the one with the pick of rose that they want to smell for
Joe Diametti: their We go outside.
Isaac Allen Burns: Yeah. Okay, Scales. That's enough. That's enough. That's I've heard you talk way too much today.
Annie Hawthorne: Oh. Alright. Thank you. Alright.
Rowan Collins: You want to go, Caleb?
Annie Hawthorne: They throw up an another piece of paper at their head.
Rowan Collins: I think they, like, launch themselves over and then, like, scuffle out of the room.
Isaac Allen Burns: The two of you start fighting, and you see that Cyrus just has a big smile, he says, now this is what adventuring's all about. Yes. You see that him and father Graham, like, run out of the room. Father Graham to try and break you up and Cyrus to watch and egg you on. And Kapi, you're alone in the room with Callie right now.
Just sort of watching them shaking her head and says, these two are embarrassing. Do we really have to go on a mission with them? I mean,
Joe Diametti: I don't know. Isn't it kind of messed up to leave them behind?
Isaac Allen Burns: I guess. Just look. Cyrus already said that you're gonna lead this, and while I definitely have very powerful magic that would make me a great leader and you have a jacket, I'm sure that he sees something in you, but just It's my charisma. Yeah. Yeah.
You have a strong personality. Yeah.
Joe Diametti: Yeah. And I you know, it's it's okay to wanna be like me.
Isaac Allen Burns: Okay. Yeah. And who do you wanna be like, Kathy?
Joe Diametti: Who do I wanna be like? Yeah.
Isaac Allen Burns: Who do
Joe Diametti: you wanna be like? I'm gonna be the best adventurer that ever lived.
Isaac Allen Burns: Wow. You're gonna have some big shoes. You're gonna have to be better than
Joe Diametti: Big Sword Robert. Big Sword Robert has nothing on Kapi. Nothing. Mark my words, I will be the best adventurer. And if you're lucky, I might just let you hang out with me while I'm doing it.
If I'm lucky? Yeah. I hey, listen. I'm gonna need a right hand person, you know?
Isaac Allen Burns: Midnight take me. That sounds awful. And she, like, pushes you a little bit.
Joe Diametti: Yeah. Right.
Isaac Allen Burns: He said, look, just I know this is his first mission, and I'm really worried about Caleb coming with us. But just like let's just make sure that Caleb comes back okay.
Joe Diametti: Caleb's gonna be fine. The adventure listen, I've been here I've been here for since I was like seven or eight, and the most adventures I've ever seen in Bracken Road are like finding out what happened to Hitchens turnips, you know? It's it's nothing.
Isaac Allen Burns: He keeps losing his He just keeps putting his turnips in like a van
Joe Diametti: or something. Doesn't help that we stole them last week.
Isaac Allen Burns: We did. That was funny. Was funny. One day, watch like an eel gator come up and eat a bunch of
Joe Diametti: his turnips. Eel gators here.
Isaac Allen Burns: I know. They're so far. Wouldn't that be crazy though? It would crazy. Would be crazy.
That would seem like unnatural almost. Yeah.
Joe Diametti: Well, I mean, maybe if they would, we wouldn't have to create our own adventures by stealing the turrets. She
Isaac Allen Burns: laughs a genuine laugh. And I'm curious as we cut forward to the stream bank next to the river. Or trying to make something happen. And Kapi, what happened next to the river all those years ago? How did the mission go wrong?
Joe Diametti: Kapi doesn't remember.
Isaac Allen Burns: Kapi doesn't
Joe Diametti: remember. He remembers that it was storming really bad and he remembers feeling that there was magic. And then he remembers hearing Senator Prunes and Caleb and Callie screaming. And then he remembers holding Callie's hand. And then it was over.
And there was only two of them.
Isaac Allen Burns: Only two of them. The faces from the nightmares that you had while you were out of senator Prunes and Caleb as magic subsumed them by an unknown person, entity, creature, whatever it was. And Callie was simply saying towards the end of it, I told you. I told you. I think that comes back to mind as we flash forward and you see a very similar look in Callie's eyes looking at you.
There is something deep in there where she desperately wants to trust you again. But in this moment, she cannot quite yet bring herself to say it, but she is looking at you to see what you're gonna say or do in this moment.
Rowan Collins: I think there might be somebody who knows something that we can ask. I think we must go to the church. Charles knows a lot more than he he should. They look back at Kapi. We need to do more research and figure out what's going on before we run-in and get them.
Callie, you could stay with us if you'd like. We'll make sure that nothing else happens to you in her absence.
Isaac Allen Burns: You see that she was sort of like tears almost swelling up from the shock of everything that has happened. She looks at you for a long moment and just looks at you, Cathy, and simply nods. And as
Joe Diametti: Hey. We're gonna get her back.
Isaac Allen Burns: I wanna trust you.
Joe Diametti: And copy nods.
Isaac Allen Burns: As we all head out, that is where we'll end this intense episode of Dunno more.
Rowan Collins: I knew it was coming, and I still hated every piece that
Isaac Allen Burns: That's right. Tune in next time when we find out what happens next. Gang, thank you so much for listening to this episode of Dorno Born. We so appreciate it so much. Thank you so much to Darrington Press for making this wonderful game.
And thank you to my players here for being so awesome. And like we always say, it's Squawk on three. One, two,
Joe Diametti: three. Squawk.
Isaac Allen Burns: Hell yeah.
Rowan Collins: Hell yeah.
Annie Hawthorne: That was fun.
Isaac Allen Burns: Oh my goodness. The tension ratchets up. Can you feel act three
Joe Diametti: incoming? Yep.
Isaac Allen Burns: Hello, everybody. You know what time it is. That's right. It is time for us to shout out our bag of gold members. Some of the people who support us most, shout out and a big thanks to Condor Blue, Niklas W, Severed Ronin, Tails by Daggerlight, Darcy r, Minorthoughts, Baddy Bright, Jacob Rome Hadwin.
Look behind you, Isaac. It's Zorag. Eek, no. Ah, stop. Kola Cago, BDS at dorkmaster, 30 bird, Maria w, tabletop optimist, Muscles Dynamite, and Not Your Tea.
Shout out to Not Your Tea on the Discord and Joshua seven zero eight. Thank you all so much for all your support. It means a lot. Love you, and have a great day. Hey.
It's a podcast.