Speaker 1: Oh my god. It's me, your captain, Isaac Allen Burns, and I've got some bad news. We're going down. That's right. The USS Fodor Prize has just been struck by a bling on star cruiser, and we're gonna have to get to the escape pods.
Speaker 2: But first, everyone put on your masks.
Speaker 1: Everyone put on your masks, and first mate, Rowan, to my left, what are you doing as the ship goes down other than screaming?
Speaker 3: Oh, other than screaming? Yeah. Curled up into a ball crying.
Speaker 1: My god. None of the simulations could have prepared first mate Rowan for actual combat.
Speaker 3: Absolutely not. They them.
Speaker 1: This is going my chief of security, Rachel Baker.
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1: Rachel, what are you doing right now?
Speaker 2: I'm actually a bloken, and I'm waiting for you all to get on the escape pod so I can take the ship.
Speaker 1: Woah. Oh, betrayed by the one most likely to do it. Yeah. Dang it.
Speaker 3: Oh gosh. We never saw it coming.
Speaker 1: And finally, our chief Are you
Speaker 2: she they?
Speaker 1: Oh, yes. They hear she they. Alright. Now finally, our pilot,
Speaker 2: Holly Baker. Everyone put on their masks, and I'm helping everyone put on their masks as I slowly fade because I put on my mask.
Speaker 1: No. The mask was to keep you corporeal and existed on this plane.
Speaker 2: They she.
Speaker 1: Woo hoo. And it's me, your captain Isaac Allen Burns. Hehem here to tell you to always follow all Starfleet safety regulations, lest this become your ship. That's right. Watch for insider threats.
Hit the music. Well, everybody. Hello again
Speaker 3: Hello.
Speaker 1: As we're back for another thrilling episode. Our party of our three exciting individuals, one Rainey, Hickory, and Vivi, have been on the tail, on the case, on the track of some kind of mystery that is afoot. Finding one of the professors and also Hickory's adviser allegedly and potentially trapped within some kind of purple Gamaitachi, our heroes have been trying to piece together what happened in Lab 204. Following the clues and some hunches, they went into Foswold's office. They walked around and asked some people some questions who may or may not have heard anything and took care of the problem of an unconscious, comatose, despoiled, panted professor Foswell.
Speaker 2: Did we take care of him or did we, like Vivi Vivi poor person. No. Vivi cleaned him up.
Speaker 1: The very next day, our party got together, recuperated, and rejoined each other after a brief stint in a class. Following some other hunches, they went to the journalism club, and Vivi's rival, Ilya, is potentially involved. What are your strings at? What is your strings like, Vivi?
Speaker 3: Vivi's strings are, like, hot pink, And they are in because she can fly, they're in, like, the top left corner of the room where nobody else can really touch them because she knows that people will mess with them because even though there's a rule, everybody does it anyway.
Speaker 1: True. A pretty poor system we have established here with being so competitive and yet them's the brakes.
Speaker 3: Yeah. But, like, Vivi regularly has, like hers is in, like, a chalk circle. There's, like, a little, like, padlock around a cage around, in, like, several layers deep into this. So There
Speaker 1: was a whole set up in the corner? Woah. Yeah.
Speaker 3: There a whole set up in the corner because she does cheating.
Speaker 1: She's like cheating.
Speaker 3: Only because they can't fly and also
Speaker 1: They can't fly. They they can't do the cave. Vivi is an opportunist to the max. Vivi's gonna find an angle.
Speaker 3: She is gonna find an angle.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. Very good, Vivi. So you step inside and who would you go to to find information? Because as you step in, you don't see Ilya anywhere.
Speaker 3: I'm going to my friend, Ricky Bobby. Ricky Bobby the goblin.
Speaker 1: Hey. It's me, Ricky Bobby the goblin. Vee Vee, if it isn't my favorite gossip journalism or columnist, what kind of Scoopy I got today?
Speaker 3: Hey, Ricky.
Speaker 1: Hey. Is Ricky Vee. Yeah.
Speaker 3: We are working on a big big break, an existentially big break.
Speaker 1: Oh, very excited. You know, I love to hear it. That's what gets this paper published.
Speaker 3: That is what
Speaker 1: gets Because if this if this paper doesn't get published, if we don't have scoops, we don't get published. If we don't get published, we can't run the ads, so we ain't got the money to publish the paper. Yeah. Gosh. The school paper requires ads.
Speaker 3: Yeah. That that's why we're you call us, like, an ice cream shop. We gotta get those scoops.
Speaker 1: Gotta get those scoops. I'm I'm always saying that.
Speaker 3: Yeah. That's what you're always saying. Anyways
Speaker 1: Hey. No free samples here.
Speaker 3: No free samples
Speaker 1: here. That's right. What do you want?
Speaker 3: I'm looking for Ilya.
Speaker 1: Oh, you're looking for Ilya? Yeah. Oh, I thought you two hated each other.
Speaker 3: Yeah. We do.
Speaker 1: But You gotta stop messing with her string. Okay?
Speaker 3: I don't ever with her string.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. Potatoes don't grow on trees.
Speaker 3: Okay. They don't. Well But that's fine.
Speaker 1: Why you need Elia? Why you look for Elia?
Speaker 3: Elia is actually a star witness for something that I'm looking at right now.
Speaker 1: Oh, really? Oh, really?
Speaker 3: Yeah. I'm also, you know, trying to bury the hatchet or something. Well,
Speaker 1: that's something I definitely certainly don't believe. But I but I also can't tell you where Ilya is because I ain't seen her.
Speaker 3: You ain't you ain't seen her?
Speaker 1: No. She ain't been in today. She wasn't in yesterday either.
Speaker 3: So when was the last time you saw her?
Speaker 1: Probably, you know, probably the last week or so. Look at all the you know, most of the time, Ilya seems pretty well put together with a pretty well, you know, shock eyed serious on cases. But last couple of weeks, she's come in seeming a little paranoid. In fact, just a couple just, you know, just the last night, he points at the corner of the room that Ilya typically is at, which is in the opposite corner to you, still on the ceiling. And she says, yeah.
One of the boys told me they looked up and all of her string had been ripped off. I thought you did it for a second. I was gonna costonize you for doing it so publicly, but sounds like it wasn't you.
Speaker 3: No. I haven't been here. And also, if I was to rip off her string, you know what I would do is I'd switch them all around to make her really confused. Ripping it off is just it's blase.
Speaker 1: Even worse. Even worse. Switching it around is even worse.
Speaker 3: Exactly. But that's
Speaker 1: what you gotta do here.
Speaker 3: Yeah. That's
Speaker 1: because it's it's tough cookies out here. Let me tell you.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Why do you think I heavily barricade my string?
Speaker 1: I know. I know. I still have mixed feelings about it. It feels a little against the rules, but you know what? I'll allow it.
Speaker 3: You'll allow it because why? Because I am a great reporter.
Speaker 1: That's right. And gossip columns are among the top most respectable kind of columns that we can print.
Speaker 2: That is true.
Speaker 1: It's high art. It's the opera of the newspaper.
Speaker 3: One would say it's the ballet. Do you mind if we take a look over at her station real quick?
Speaker 1: I would mind if you did it in front of me, but I have my old stuff to do. So you just do it the normal way we usually do, where you just go over there and no one notices you.
Speaker 3: Perfect. Absolute absolutely. I'll do that right now.
Speaker 1: Great. I'm gonna get back to writing this scoop about how ants are coming back to the university and how it's no good.
Speaker 3: Ants are coming back.
Speaker 1: Yeah. That's right. We used to have a big ant problem, and then they got rid of it. Now they're back. Oh, no.
That's right. This guy gets it.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Well,
Speaker 2: you were everywhere on the field.
Speaker 1: Oh. Oh, you would because you're aye, you're the captive. Yeah. Hey. That's right.
You got time to talk about a scoop? Can I get your word on how you feel about the ants? It'll go well with my column.
Speaker 2: Yes. There was that one ant hell that you were complaining about that someone stepped in. I have been dying to talk about this.
Speaker 1: Oh, I'm so glad. You should tell me all about it.
Speaker 2: Let's go.
Speaker 3: We'll take Rainy. Come on, Rainy. Yep. And Viti's gonna pick up Rainy with her consent and fly her up to where Ilya's column is. Excellent.
Speaker 1: Very good. You go up to this corner and sure enough, you see a hack job of someone having torn down threads and papers here. Though there are a couple of shreds still around, can I get y'all to make a roll for me? Mhmm. You know, this might be the most roll heavy I've ever been.
And
Speaker 2: It's mystery.
Speaker 1: And it's a mystery and that's why. Is this fun? Is this fun to us? Are mysteries fun? I hope so.
Speaker 2: I mean, they're fun to play.
Speaker 1: Fun to play. I'm wondering if they're fun to listen to.
Speaker 2: What role are we rolling? I said, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: send this time knowledge. I'll let y'all do these separately because I feel like y'all would pick up on different things.
Speaker 2: K.
Speaker 1: So go ahead and tell me what both of y'all rolled.
Speaker 3: Can I use my investigative journalism?
Speaker 1: In this case, because you are in the journalism classroom looking at journalist notes, I'm gonna say yes. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Is anything about this related to magic?
Speaker 1: Yes. Absolutely.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna use my arcane cram session experience as well.
Speaker 1: Nice. Excellent. It. It.
Speaker 3: For 24 with fear.
Speaker 1: 24 with fear. Perfect.
Speaker 2: 15 with fear.
Speaker 1: 50. Oh, tooth I'm, like, drowning in fear.
Speaker 2: I know. You're welcome. Exciting.
Speaker 1: Both of those being with fear means that this is a little ripped up, a little tore apart. Some of these pieces are missing. But we'll start with you, Rainey. Mhmm. You are looking at some of the Shreds here.
You see Foswold's name. You see previous work that he's done. He's the one that is normally working on magic inside of technology. Novusai has kinda shot that out of the water, you know, as it's Mhmm. You know, it's basically instead of using steam, now we're using electricity.
Right? And you do see that there is some correspondence that is here between Foswald and some other professor where Foswald is essentially writing to this individual of why they should team up on this paper and how it would be good for both the schools. And you see the response is basically a flat no and that none of this would actually benefit Novocite research as much as it would put a lampshade on this dying field of research that he's working on. Pretty much for me. This person tears it apart.
The paper is ripped, unfortunately, so you don't see the name.
Speaker 2: So just to make sure I understand, is it sound like Foswald is, like, anti Novacyte research and just trying to hang on to, like, really resistant to this change.
Speaker 1: You get that sense. Additionally, you find notes that were written there that suggest that, Ilya was looking into Adrian to lose. Okay. You pretty much don't find anything additional from what Foswald had there, but you do see that Adrian was kind of on the forefront of Novacite research k. Particularly on the relationship between anima and Novacite and the various properties therein.
You see a couple of papers that were printed basically from Leo r and d is the name of it there, talking about such things. He was very active in this form of science, which is what you pick up on. Clearly, Ilya was looking into this as well.
Speaker 2: You know what I didn't think to ask last time is Rainey told Professor Thomas that she wants to go into NovaSight, and she's trying to get in with Costello. But is Adrian Toulouse a name that she's heard before or read papers?
Speaker 1: Kind of in the same way where, like, you would have probably seen his name in passing.
Speaker 2: Mhmm.
Speaker 1: Really, Adrian Toulouse is an older name. Okay. Because I think from some of these
Speaker 2: No recent citations?
Speaker 1: No recent citations. Really, ever since the civil war, Adrian hasn't really printed anything. You're not quite sure why. Mhmm. Okay.
On the '24 for you Mhmm. Vivi, you are looking at this and you see that she was definitely dedicatedly looking into something and that there was a lot here. And I think every time you would have looked over in that corner, you saw a web of dark blue string that is just gone here now. Mhmm. Clearly ripped to shreds.
But the thing that you know about Ilya is that she's very careful. Mhmm. And the fact that this has been ripped as it is, where even, like, bits of string are still kinda laying next to where it was, a little platform that's underneath where this thing is where you could typically find notes. Mhmm. And it's like a desk attached to the wall because it's up in the corner like we established.
It's just like stuff here, like, clearly must have come in in a state, ripped this all apart as if to obfuscate what was going on Mhmm. But didn't really feel like they had the time to do a careful job of it.
Speaker 3: Is it to the point where, like, if v b gingerly, like, pushed it back up, then you could kinda see what the web would be where everything would connect to each other?
Speaker 1: It looks like it's in too many different pieces. Like, someone grabbed it and just kind of rent their hand across and ripped up what they could haphazardly and likely took some of it with them. Okay. So it's an incomplete puzzle. As you are looking at it though, you're putting together the mental state that Ilya was in.
Mhmm. And clearly, it was not a good one. Mhmm. And the fact the thing that kind of sparks in your mind is Ilya has gone into hiding.
Speaker 3: Vivi goes, shit. I think I know where we're gonna find her. You do? Yeah. There was a place we used to meet up.
We can try and see if she's there.
Speaker 1: Would you know of a hiding spot where she would hide things either in this room or otherwise?
Speaker 3: Yes. So there would be a vending machine in the same hall. There's one button that never works. But if you take it out, there would be, like, a separate little thing you can press, and then there's a container at the back that would open up.
Speaker 1: I think on that 24, that spot comes rushing back to your brain.
Speaker 3: Yep. Vivi's like, alright. Let's go.
Speaker 2: Oh oh oh, ants. Okay. Bye.
Speaker 1: What? Oh, you were just telling me about how big those ants were.
Speaker 2: Yep. Yep. But I gotta go now. My friends are leaving. I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1: I can't do with an ink of my column is ruined.
Speaker 2: You want me to come later?
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 2: I got a game of Frisbee, but I can come after.
Speaker 1: Oh, yes, please. Okay. Graze, do come back. I have so many questions for you. Yeah.
And don't you talk to the sports columnist. You talk to me. Okay?
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Come right to me. Yeah. As you're leaving, you see that there's, like, a a another goblin that says, hey. It's me, the sports columnist. How would you like to talk to me?
I'll pay you a handful of gold if you talk to me.
Speaker 2: I don't need gold.
Speaker 1: Why? This is the only way I get my scoops. He is defeated and falls off screen.
Speaker 2: I'm dying to let the dice tell a story because Hickory is so large and this place is so hazardous to traverse. I'm I would really love for you to call for a role for that. I was ready for it. When we when we found out there might be blue string somewhere, I was ready for it.
Speaker 1: Give me an agility check, actually. Since the players have asked for it, give me an agility check. I was just trying
Speaker 2: to say I'm being carried by Vivi who knows how to navigate this place, but you do not. And I really want the dice to tell the story. You really do.
Speaker 1: As Hickory sees your friends rush out the room, do you have the wherewithal to get back on the longboard and slide out like
Speaker 2: Oh, let's find that.
Speaker 1: Let's find out. Find out.
Speaker 2: Okay. That's a 13 with fear.
Speaker 1: 13 with fear? Oh, you get like halfway and then you remember and then you get down and pull off some green string. Oh, Moe. I'm so oh. The sports columnist says, ah, you insult me, and now you hurt me even more.
You've injured me. Yeah. I'm extra defeated now. You tried
Speaker 2: to pay me off.
Speaker 1: I sure did, and I'd do it again. And yeah.
Speaker 3: You're just trailing green string.
Speaker 1: It's trailing green string.
Speaker 2: He's gonna try pull it off when he gets out.
Speaker 3: Flies out and goes straight to the to the vending machine, presses the number three times, and then, like, unlocks it and then goes to the little secret compartment.
Speaker 2: Lovely.
Speaker 1: Love that. And you open up quite a gold mine. There is no perception check needed to see this note as it has been shoved kind of in the front. Mhmm. And who do we think would reach in for it first?
Speaker 2: I do have an affinity for paper.
Speaker 1: Rainey, reach in first. And I have sent the message.
Speaker 2: Foswald, if you survived that, I figured you'd search here at our drop spot. C wanted me to take that device. He was onto me. You were right. I'm so sorry I messed up.
It's gotten too dangerous. I'm going to go into hiding. You should do the same. Saw the ooze outside the building. It's definitely following me.
You'll probably need your badge back if you're going after him, so I'm leaving it here. I'm done.
Speaker 1: Right behind the note, you see, within all these bundled up papers is a professor's badge.
Speaker 2: See, he wanted me to take that device. What device? The device I have? I have the crystal. You've been feeding it.
Right?
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2: That I feed both of them because I've got babies too.
Speaker 3: Yeah. She is the proud caretaker of our children. Is there any other c's that would be, like, randomly here?
Speaker 2: There are people with c names on my team. Considering your team has not been involved in all this so far, I really highly doubt that anyone else on your team is part of this. I'm just trying to help.
Speaker 3: The you you know what? You're doing a great job.
Speaker 2: Thanks, Vivi.
Speaker 3: Thomezz is towards the exit gate, which means that we can hit hit her office, then the exit gate, then Fresco's. Let's do it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Who wants to hold on to Voswalt's badge?
Speaker 3: I'll take it. Okay.
Speaker 2: Hand it over to you.
Speaker 3: She, like, clips it under her fur so it's, like, easily acceptable, but, like, not completely out in
Speaker 2: plain view.
Speaker 1: So you are hiding the badge? Yes. Very good.
Speaker 3: It is hidden. It is like like And your chest shucks. Yeah. Because she's Toiled.
Speaker 1: Was that an ox? Like, come on. Come on. Yep.
Speaker 3: Yeah. She's got, like, the the chest ruffles that are, you know, moths have, then she just, like, clips it on the under underside. It's like a it's like a built in boa. Okay. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Like, is it like a mane or, like, long fur or does, like, the skin and body, like, come out?
Speaker 3: It's like a it's like a mane. It's like a fur. It's it's like if you've seen a rosy maple moth, they have, like, the furry, like, feathery color color.
Speaker 1: Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I can see I can see the vision.
Speaker 3: You're seeing the vision now.
Speaker 1: Very good. So you head to Domes' office? Mhmm. Yeah. Very good.
You head over to the office, and it's a pretty large office. She's pretty high ranking among the professors. So So it's one of those offices where, like, you step into a, like, administrative portion where there's a front desk person and then a group of offices Mhmm. All like deans and such. And as you are aware, the front desk person knows you very well, Rainey, and just kinda sees you and pays you zero minds because they're assuming that you're on a job.
And Delilah's office is currently closed right now. The door is closed.
Speaker 2: Okay. Perfect. I'm assuming my friends are just following me. So I'll, yeah, walk in like I own the place because I almost do. And I'll give a polite little tap on the door and just wait a moment to see if she's in there or if she answers.
Speaker 1: You hear, like, a little bit of shuffling inside, but no response.
Speaker 2: Okay. I'll peek open the door. Professor Thomas, are you are you in?
Speaker 1: Well, well, well, come back so soon, I see. You hear a voice unfamiliar to you say. And as you kind of have peeked in, you see that the desk behind the chair, its back is to you. And swinging around, you see a investigative magi. You see an elven man with long blonde hair.
He turns to look at you, and immediately his face kind of drops as he says, oh oh, I'm so sorry. You're not you're not professor Thomas. No. Oh.
Speaker 2: I'm Well No. Dang. You're also not professor Thomas.
Speaker 1: You're yes. Well, very studious of you. Well seen.
Speaker 2: Thank you. That's hard work.
Speaker 1: My name is investigator Hitchcock.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: And I have some questions for you. What's your name?
Speaker 2: Is that the first question?
Speaker 1: That's the first question.
Speaker 2: Why do you have more questions for me if you don't
Speaker 3: know who I am?
Speaker 1: Because you've stepped into professor Thomeza's office unless you found yourself in my web.
Speaker 2: Okay. My name's Rainey.
Speaker 1: Hello Rainey. What brings you here to doctor Thomeza's office?
Speaker 2: Well, I'm a TA for some of her classes. So I was here to do a little work before class and pick up some of her rosters.
Speaker 1: I see. He stands up very, like, dramatically and puts his hands behind his back and starts, like, pacing and says, so you would say that you know doctor Thomez somewhat familiarly, would you?
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm just a TA.
Speaker 1: Just a TA, you say? Well, I believe you. However, I have another question for you.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: And you have to answer me because I am an investigator.
Speaker 2: Okay. Great. I'm gonna get to work though while we're talking, and I'm just like walk into the room.
Speaker 1: You noticed doctor Thomez being distant recently, say in the last month or so?
Speaker 2: I mean, more than usual?
Speaker 1: Yes. More. More yes. Slightly more than usual.
Speaker 2: Her baseline is relatively aloof. So no? And I'm like, gonna grab the key that I know and go into the student files instead of grabbing the rosters that
Speaker 1: I need.
Speaker 2: Hold on. She left a lot.
Speaker 3: Right. Yeah.
Speaker 2: She left a lot. Who's that? She's doing a lot of
Speaker 1: Who said that? Come on in. You
Speaker 2: there. Poke his head around.
Speaker 1: You tell, hey. You're Hickory, the captain of the the captain of the sports team.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Hickory. Know
Speaker 1: me? Yes. Of course. I do.
Speaker 2: Investigator Hitchcock. Investigator Hitchcock hit Hickory.
Speaker 1: Yes. Thank you, Rainey. I appreciate you in you introducing me. Yes. And you, colorful one.
Speaker 3: Oh, hey.
Speaker 1: What's your name?
Speaker 3: I'm Vivi.
Speaker 1: Is there a last name involved or just a first name?
Speaker 3: Do you did did anybody else give you their
Speaker 1: last name? Great point. Rainey, what's your last name?
Speaker 2: Did you check-in with the front desk? And Rainey's gonna march back over to the door. I'm like, shout out.
Speaker 1: Deathmac here. I'm investigator. You must respect my authority. Do you have your opinion in the general vicinity.
Speaker 3: First of all, that's illegal on campus. Cannot call the accounts police on you unless you have proper identification. Where is your investigator's badge?
Speaker 1: He pulls out a a little badge, which is classic of the Polarion investigative unit, which it's simply a blank piece of paper. But as he holds it up, you see it flashes with his name.
Speaker 3: Oh, that's really sick.
Speaker 2: I can do what I want.
Speaker 1: It says it said it has the symbol of Polaris up above Mhmm. And then it has the it has the words it has the motto of the investigators, which is do what you want as long as it's to make justice happen. Do what you as
Speaker 3: long as it's to make
Speaker 1: justice happen. I am currently on the case of something, and my little sniffer tells me that something doesn't smell quite right here in this office and this person.
Speaker 2: Oh, sorry. I need you to explain what your little sniffer is. Yet.
Speaker 1: Well, of course, you haven't. You are a sports star. If anything, I should be thanking you for your service or at least I will when you win this very first game against UV. Right?
Speaker 2: Well, if you help us, maybe I'll try or
Speaker 1: Oh, well, I would love to help you if you help me on my investigation. We're helping each other. Oh, this is great. I like you, Hickory. You, I'm not so sure about.
You ask a lot of questions.
Speaker 3: Literally haven't asked you anything yet. I was just going to say how excited I am to finally meet an investigator. I've heard so many things about you, but I haven't actually met one in person. This is really exciting.
Speaker 1: Oh, you are excited to meet one of you? He kinda stands up a little
Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Well, I like you three. I like you three a lot. This is good.
Speaker 2: Continuing just kind of bustling about and looking to see. Is there anything, like, that we would want in our possession related to the cipher that she could see that she could grab while she's kind of also picking up the class rosters?
Speaker 1: Question. Go ahead and give me a knowledge check. K.
Speaker 2: What is a I can I use the scat wears many hats since this is one of my jobs?
Speaker 1: You know, for this specifically, I'm gonna say no.
Speaker 2: Okay. This is a nine with hope.
Speaker 1: 9 with hope. Okay. Gain that hope. This is unfortunately a fail. So as you're looking around, there's a lot in this office.
You see that there are, this is an individual who has her degrees on one wall, of which there are a handful. Mhmm. And then every paper she's ever published where she's the first name on it is on another wall. Wow. And it's one of these things where clearly there's multiple layers, A hoarder of sorts.
Yeah. And so very maximalist shelves. There's so much here. It's borderline overwhelming. I think it's part of the reason.
Speaker 2: More time to look through and It would
Speaker 3: take a lot. Right.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Okay.
Speaker 1: You see that he says, yes. You see, doctor Thomez came on our radar recently as she's seeming to be away from the country quite a bit.
Speaker 3: From the country?
Speaker 1: Exactly. From the country that we call home called Polaris here. And not only that, the country with which that she has been going to is one, Voldain Oh. Which, as you all know, is basically sworn enemies to Polaris.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: Right. At least at least four major Polaran Voldan wars on record.
Speaker 3: That that that is
Speaker 1: And that's within written history.
Speaker 3: That is within written history.
Speaker 1: We started the moment Polaris was formed. Yeah. So you know it's legit.
Speaker 2: It is history though. Right?
Speaker 1: That's right. It is history. But it is also today. And today is built by the history of the past, and thus, the past decisions that doctor Thomez has made to go to Voldem multiple times. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?
Speaker 2: No. I mean, she travels. I don't know where she travels to.
Speaker 1: Ah, yes. The great doctor Thome is quite a mind for environmental rejuvenation, travels all around Polaris. But to travel to Voldeman multiple times, quite a troubling thing.
Speaker 3: Do you keep track of anybody that's, like, moving back and forth between the countries?
Speaker 1: Anyone whose name is recognizable.
Speaker 3: Oh, okay.
Speaker 1: So That's right. So if you went, I don't know who you are.
Speaker 3: Right. Right.
Speaker 1: Exactly. It is of utmost importance that we make sure that people as important and influential as one doctor Thomeze is not going around sharing state secrets with anyone. So if there's anything that this doctor says to you that seems
Speaker 3: teaches at all. So you gotta be made a little bit more specific.
Speaker 1: Well, you came in. You're you work with. Doctor. Thomeze. Right?
Small one named Rainey? Yeah. If you if there's anything you can think of that she has said explaining where she's been or what she's doing and you think of anything. Okay?
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: You give me a call.
Speaker 2: Okay. How how should I contact you?
Speaker 1: He pulls out a little gem that looks has the seal of Polaris.
Speaker 2: K.
Speaker 1: Oh. And then the motto of the investigators underneath it. He hands it to you and says, she says anything at all. You take this gem, and this is a one time use one. Okay?
It's not one of the fancier ones where you can, like, do multiple times. It's a burner one. You just crash it on the ground, and I'll be right there.
Speaker 2: Okay. So state secrets, crack the gem. Crack the gem. Investigator Hitchcock comes running.
Speaker 3: Yes. Investigator Hitchcock, just out of curiosity Mhmm. Is there any other additional names that we should keep an eye out for? Maybe Elias' that doctor Tomas might be using or any known collaborators or conferences? Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know, and that's part of the investigation. So if you find anything like that, you let me know. Because
Speaker 3: currently fantastic.
Speaker 1: Currently, this investigation started quite recently. So I'm kind of looking for well, not too many.
Speaker 2: If we give you any names we find,
Speaker 1: will you
Speaker 2: take those people with you to investigate?
Speaker 1: Those people? Yeah. Alright. Alright. Listen.
The dark ages of the investigators were people were getting black bagged and black van is over. We don't do that anymore. We have magic at our disposal, and it's highly regulated. Okay. So you do not need to worry about people disappearing anymore.
Speaker 2: Wasn't asking about disappearing. Why was that where your brain was?
Speaker 1: You said you said something about am I gonna take those people?
Speaker 2: Somewhere to interview them.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Like Just,
Speaker 2: you know
Speaker 3: Put them in a seat.
Speaker 2: Away from campus.
Speaker 1: Area. I find that the best time to catch people is off guard, which is why I go to where they're at and then try and surprise them, which sometimes works. Great. I have have work so well for
Speaker 2: this There was this one name that's come up a couple of times, and he's actually gonna be teaching a class this afternoon.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: Costello.
Speaker 1: Oh. Oh, professor Costello, lead of one of the highest minds of Novocide research.
Speaker 2: Right. I I think that that name has come up a few times interesting. Work. Right? Yeah.
Right. They collaborate with each other.
Speaker 3: Yeah. They they So
Speaker 2: you could go, you know, meet him at his class and interview him.
Speaker 1: I could be a student in his class that asks him a question afterwards to really ambush him.
Speaker 2: There you go.
Speaker 1: That could work. You know what? Now you're thinking like investigator. Have any have any of the three of you ever wanted to be cops? Never.
What? You all have a good aptitude.
Speaker 3: No. Not a not a I'm more like a
Speaker 1: They sure do on their off time. Oh, great. But I
Speaker 2: know you magical in Polaris. Right?
Speaker 1: Well, all sports are magic.
Speaker 3: That eyebrow
Speaker 2: Yeah. Is is intense.
Speaker 1: That's right. You know about that. You know about that. Every time you're on the field on the court, on the gridiron, on the on the on the bars, on the field magical.
Speaker 3: V V looks over to Rainey and makes, like, her antenna go this guy and, like, and listen over this guy and then, like, turns back around and goes, oh, well, thank we appreciate so much your insight. We will go do that. While we're here, because we are investigative journalists and we are helping you out, do you want us to take a quick look around to see if we see anything that you didn't see?
Speaker 1: Sure. Absolutely. I would love to not be involved in a ransacking of this office.
Speaker 2: You better hurry to class.
Speaker 3: If you
Speaker 1: Oh, I better. So y'all better hurry do this because I'm gonna watch every moment of it, and then I'm gonna go to class.
Speaker 3: Fantastic. Let's go team.
Speaker 2: So why don't you tell me about the stats this this year? What are you expecting to happen with the He
Speaker 1: immediately loses focus on everything going on, turns to you, and says, I'm so happy you asked.
Speaker 2: I'm ready.
Speaker 1: Let's You see, you were talking about Adafaran, of course, they have the Voldain Institute of Magical Study, and Vims is tough. They're a scrappy team. Know. Streets going off.
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah. Vivi is going to turn to Rainy and go basically, you take one side, I'll take the other, and they're gonna look around for what they can find.
Speaker 1: Nice. Let's do a group check. Who's the leader and who's gonna be
Speaker 3: helping? Investigative journalist aka b b. I'm gonna take the lead on this one and use investigative journalism plus three. Use my hope to do that.
Speaker 1: And I will say, in this case, if you think that you'll pretty much do the same action, you can either make the role for the group check or, hey. It's me, your GM Isaac Converts here until you can also spend a hope to give them advantage that they gain a d six. The trade off is, of course, you're spending a hope to do so. The it's more likely gonna be a higher number, but it still costs a resource versus just rolling to get the plus one.
Speaker 2: I think I'll I'll just give advantage.
Speaker 1: Nice. Yep. Very good. So spend a hope. And, Vivi, you have advantage on this.
And, hey. It's me, your GM Isaac Converse here to tell you once again about how the rules work. Advantage in this game is you roll a d six and you add the value to your normal duality dice rules. Subsequently, disadvantage is you'd roll that d six and you decrease that value
Speaker 2: from your regular duality. I imagine Rainey spent enough time in here that she would know maybe the places not to look or, like, there's there's pretty just typically class stuff or papers or stuff like that. So probably pointing Vivi to maybe some areas to Yeah. To check out that she hasn't looked at before. Yeah.
What do you got?
Speaker 3: 25 with hope.
Speaker 2: Woah. That's incredible. This is gonna be crazy. So Give
Speaker 1: me There is a secret compartment underneath the middle drawer.
Speaker 3: Heck yeah. Give me that.
Speaker 1: Investigator Hitchcock has his back to you and does not see you see this letter. It is not sealed. It is in an envelope, and it says, to Alana. Oh. A l a n a a h.
Speaker 3: Vivi is going to pocket it until they leave, and then we'll read it once they're out of investigators. Okay. But she'll pocket it and then go like, gives the the antler or the antenna up sign of we got it, like, a thumbs up. It's literally her left antler will go in and her right antler will go up. Like, you're giving a thumbs up but with antlers.
Her antenna yeah. I can't I normally play a fun Yep. Antenna. Those are stagnant. Sorry.
Speaker 1: The antlers are cut off.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Aw. Now you can play with my do that. But, yeah, I'll play I'll play with my little antenna and, like, a thumbs up, and she'll go and find something else on the desk. They, like, basically throw him off for now.
Speaker 1: Okay. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I assume there's a letter between her and Costello somewhere that's just, like, notes back and forth.
Speaker 1: Yeah. You see a note you see a little note that says, hi. Just checking in on the budget for the NovaSite research. I know we're asking for a 100,000 more gold than last year, but I think it's worth it. And you see a response that says, yeah, whatevs.
Speaker 3: Okay. Fair enough. And then
Speaker 1: the response back is, no, but I need a green I need the green light officially. And that hasn't been responded to yet.
Speaker 3: Professor or sorry. Investigator Hitchcock?
Speaker 1: I am a professor of law, if you will. Oh, wow. A professor of justice, more like.
Speaker 3: What do you think about this letter of correspondence in between Thomas and Costello, where they're asking for a 100,000 more gold pieces for NovaSite research.
Speaker 1: Wow. That's at least 10 chests of gold.
Speaker 3: That's at least 10 chests of gold. That seems suspicious.
Speaker 1: That seems Is that a
Speaker 2: lot of money?
Speaker 1: Well yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean, not for
Speaker 1: you.
Speaker 2: I'm just asking. Yes.
Speaker 1: That is you know, relative to the amount of money most people have, yes, compared to the total budget of the Council of Knowledge, which is based here in Polaris University? No.
Speaker 3: Okay. So
Speaker 1: And I'd honestly I mean, you're an investigative journalist. Mean, don't you know the news? Like, Riverside research is tip top priority for people. If anything, this seems underbudgeting, but nevertheless, a good clue. You're really starting off strong.
I think if you do it a little more, you're gonna go play something.
Speaker 3: Oh, so thank you so much. That means so much coming from a investigator like yourself.
Speaker 1: Yes. Of course. Anyway, good find.
Speaker 3: Anyway, thank you. I'm go off and see if we can find you any more clues.
Speaker 1: Of course. Please do.
Speaker 2: I got the gem if we need to use it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Of course. And you should. If if Delilas is anything incriminating or strange or odd or like That
Speaker 2: would be a threat to our noble country.
Speaker 1: That's exactly right. Done. You tell me first, investigator Hitchcock. Hitchcock. Alright.
Anyways, and he he dons what looks like a student uniform that doesn't fit him really well, and then he goes away.
Speaker 3: That guy
Speaker 2: So we were just looking for a basic note the whole time?
Speaker 3: No. I've got the code. I've got another note here. And Phoebe, now that he's gone out of the room, we'll read it real quick.
Speaker 1: You see a note handwritten. It's very short. It says, to Alana, my daughter. It reads, there are a lot of things that I want to tell you that I can't tell you quite yet and a lot of things that you'll understand when you're older. But I just want you to know that I love you more than anything.
And then it's signed, Delilah Domiz.
Speaker 3: Excellent.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 3: I used that to compare and see if there's like any words anything that might be Alana in the note that we had that was a cipher.
Speaker 1: You have the keyword at this point. Mhmm. And so the three of you combined I'm gonna say that y'all are likely smart enough because you're students at point.
Speaker 2: I got a plus student at point. I'm glad that you're assuming
Speaker 1: Rainy and Vivi are smart enough to crack the code, and you see the ciphered note written out before you in a way that makes sense. It says
Speaker 2: You're gonna have to say it out loud.
Speaker 1: It says
Speaker 2: We'll read it to you. Don't worry.
Speaker 3: Read it out loud to you.
Speaker 1: Seeker Belor. Word is Triple G is moving onto the Twin Shores as president is gone. Please inform me what the Inquisition's moves will be. Likely either a bid for power or this is a coordinated effort by Jethane to attack us when we least expect it. I need to know what's going on.
I let you mosey because you're useful. Now I need you to be useful to me, period.
Speaker 3: Phoebe looks at this note and then looks at that and then looked back and goes, I don't think we should have this.
Speaker 1: Hey, it's a podcast.
Speaker 3: Hey, everybody. It's me, Pistachio Droop, here because I miss you guys and also because it's time to do the bag of gold thank yous. Shout out to Josh's seven zero eight, Muscles Dynamite, Tabletop Optimist, Maria w, ThreadsBird, BDS at DorkMaster, Kolcago, help. The entity known as Zoroark has me hostage. Baddy Bright, Minor Thoughts, Darciar, tales by Daggerlight, Nicholas Wallin, Condor Blue, the world of Gariba, Emma, and Rachie loves you.
I look forward to seeing you guys soon.