Beneath Dark Wings | Ep. 24 | Excecutive Power: Part 2
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Welcome to Legends of Avantris. I'm Capriccio DeSesto. You can call me Caprice and you're listening to Beneath Dark Wings. Here's what happened last time. This is hor-hoot. Horrible.

Yes, we are looking to procure some transportation to Caliri, yes. We thought you might make an exception for no roof such as ours is. The bloody beak thug that was flying on your chariot crumples dead, and you see the face of an owl with a small beak, one eye almost blazing with this menacing orange, the other is this milky white glass with a huge scar down the side.

as you sort of see creatures through the storm. They look almost serpentine, but feathery wings made out of the storm itself. And you never roll for initiative, please. - You cannot stop the Elder Tempest! - We gotta come up with a game plan

I think we need to press through to Kaliri. He is a bounty hunter. He's very good at what he does the best. He is the one that found two of the spirits that they needed. Which spirits did he find? I think he found one of the ladies. I don't know. Welcome to Kaliri. I'm so sorry this happened to you.

This place is gonna be expensive as fuck. I hope you understand, I would think that everything in the Caleria is going to be expensive as fuck. Yeah, but like, okay, fine. Iris, maybe you would know better than I do, but... I'm trying to get those better prices. That, and you know, for nobles, they can't expect us to have a pocket full of coin. We have accountants and people who take care of that on our tab, yeah? Iris, does that sound acceptable? Or does it sound like Luffy made that shit up?

I hate being a hoot. I'm not speaking hoot anymore. It's hoot, not so hoot bad ones. You get hoot used to hoot. Hoot, hoot, hoot, hoot. I just hold her hand and I start crying with her silently. And I say nothing more. But hoot. Do you have an alternative? Were you suggesting a hoot? I don't have an alternative. I just...

Figured I'd ask. It's probably going to be a pretty penny. I understand. I don't have much outside of my studies and doing the things that I need to do with the magic scrolls that we may find. I don't have much use for gold, so I'm willing to offer it up. If at some point in the future when I need some gold, you're willing to give it back. I don't have need for it now.

But let's just give it a try. We were just robbed after all. They can't expect us to have a pocket full of gold right now. Yeah, we could pitch them that, yeah? Fine. I just don't think we'll be leaving... You know what? Fuck it. If we end up burning this whole place to the ground anyway, it won't matter. Exactly right! You guys still got the stuff, right? Oh, we've got the stuff, Gabrice. We've got the stuff. We've all got the stuff. Just don't trip and like...

It's in the back of holding, which doesn't have any air, which won't allow for a fire reaction. Well, but does it, does it matter in there? Can you turn it and then everything tumbles around? Nope, shouldn't matter. I think it's a separate, like, plane of existence. All right, well, let's make sure it's not pierced.

Also shouldn't matter, but fair enough. Otherwise, you know, wind tunnel into a vacuum of black wholeness and it would not be good. I will turn to the knockers. No, I will join you. You take the left side. And, uh... Flop and not. And, uh...

Immediately you hear a voice say, "One moment!" And the doors creak open. - Those knockers aren't for playing with! - And you see a beautifully dressed Aarakocra in this pristine purple vest, a puffing cravat, a very elegant three-corner, tri-corner hat,

as he clasps his talons together and as he extends and then extends an arm inside says welcome to the rising elegance and I see that you are nobility we have plenty of accommodations is it each of you? four couples? welcome I link my arm through whoever's next to me I don't know who would be standing next to me

We are nobility and we just were accosted by sky pirates. That is terrible. Come in, come in. The bandits took our stuff. We just need somewhere to rest our noble hands. Of course, of course. Come in, come in. Please. And you enter this room that's beautifully plushly decorated. Not entirely unlike...

Gaborio's personal chamber, but rather than the attempt of looking super nice, this actually is beautifully crafted, pristine, high-quality materials, plush seating that almost looks like nesting. As he sits you down at a larger table and runs off and says, "Please enjoy a complimentary bottle of wine for the table, and welcome to the Rise of Elegance. I will give you three rooms. Or four rooms."

Do you have a suite of some kind that could fit more of us? You have to understand, we've just had an encounter with sky pirates, and it means that we're a little light of coin at this time.

Well, we have, we do have one suite available. It has two separate bedrooms. You may be able, if you want to get to it. That's a mitt. That would be fine. Thank you. At least not until we figure out our lines of credit. We were all a little scared. I think we'd rather be together. How much was it for one night so that we can try to get in touch with our accountants? That'd be 60 gold pieces. Oh, I immediately just toss 60 gold. I'm going to be like, get us to our fucking rooms.

"Oh, well thank you sir, thank you sir." And he shuffles off to behind this huge desk and grabs a number of keys and says, "You are on the floor," and he hands keys to everyone, "and please enjoy, I suppose, the intimate accommodations, but, you know, I know how things get for you noobs." "What the..."

Dear God! And I just like walk off to them, and we're like, "Oh, sorry!" Indeed. We'll let you know if we need anything, and I give him a chin rubby, and then I agree with him. Oh my! Thank you so hoot much. Well, please take your bottle of wine. Enjoy your rest. You do look like you need it. I am so sorry that you experienced trouble, but I'm glad you were able to make it unscathed. Are you suggesting that I look tired? You told me you look tired.

I was exhausted, but you didn't have to say it like that. I turn around and slam the door in his face. I give him an extra gold piece and I say, if we need more booze, can we just order more? Yes, just ring the bell and someone will be up to serve you. The bell? The bell, of course. Of course. How could I assume otherwise? And I walk into the room and I'm like, are you drunk?

I grab the bottle and I just take it. That one is gone. We'll end up ordering more, whatever it takes. As you all enter and you make your way up to the room, you all...

plop down. You see that there is this beautiful two-bedroom suite with this huge common room area, lots of plush furniture. It can easily accommodate the sleeping arrangements for all eight of you. As...

It's a little bit tight, but definitely you should be not uncomfortable. You see that there is a basket of meats and fish and fruits waiting for you. As you enter this room, there's a small...

There's a number of windows and it looks like just this little oaken cottage that you're in. And as you enter, you all sit down. And as you sit down, you realize that now that you've had these forms on for so many hours, all of the things that were kind of almost compelling you to act and feel in certain ways seems to have dissipated.

as you've gotten used to the effects while we're being a noble. While we're enjoying the food and

and whatever was in the room and the booze that we ordered, I want to detect magic on the room. Okay. You do that. I take ten minutes as a ritual to cast. Okay. You do that. You take your time as everyone else is settling in and discussing, and you cast detect magic, and you are waving your hand or however that fucking works. I'll take ten minutes to do a ritual as well. Okay. And there doesn't seem to be anything inherently magical. I'm taking my fucking owl ring off. Okay. Yeah, I instantly...

Alright, alright, alright. We should be clear. I'm gonna set up some alarms, but I didn't detect any other magic, so we should be alright. And I'll begin to cast Ritual Alarm on the door, the windows, you know, wherever there might be entry points, just as extra level of security. We're gonna lay Dakota in part of the room where 30 feet around her, if I can grab as many people as possible, she would alert us if we were attempting to be surprised by enemies. Got it.

I'll start doing like a little jig and sing for the ten minutes that it takes me to cast Unseen Servant. Nice! And I'll sing, uh, Oh, give me a clone of my own flesh and bone With its Y chromosome changed to X And after it's grown, then my own Caprice clone Will be of the opposite sex Clone, clone of my own

With a thought, why chromosome change to X? And when I'm alone with my own Caprice clone, we will both think of nothing but sex. Why should such sex vex or disturb or perplex or induce a disparaging tone? After all, don't you see, since we're both of us, me, when we're having sex, I'm alone. And then all of a sudden, a female Caprice appears. Hey guys, meet Alexa. Hello!

She'll like take care of your clothes things, she'll mend things, she'll do whatever you want. Just tell her. Who are you talking about?

This... Oh, yeah, she's invisible. The one that's on TV. Sorry, I'll... I'll take my jacket off or something, or my towel, and I'll wrap it over the shoulders. This is my... She'll be around for the next hour. She a ghost? No, no, no, I summoned her with my magical mind. She's a spooky ghost? No, she's not a ghost. That is so sad. Alexa, play Dutz Pacino. Yes!

Did she like pull out a classical guitar? You don't hear anything. It's unheard.

Well don't give her that shitty towel, they haven't washed it yet, it's just been rinsed in the rain. Well she's gonna wash it, go wash it Alexa, then she goes and starts to make her wear it. Alright, she seems nice, I wish I could see her. Maybe we can do her makeup later, we can have like a little girls night. That sounds like a nightmare, but I'm into it. I don't think I've ever had a girls night! And you see that both Heart and

Zorbek, have taken off their rings as well. It feels so much good to be myself again. I'm going to take mine off in front of the mirrors or bathroom. Yeah, yeah. I just want to take it off and then put it back on and see if I change it the same looking owl. It's the exact same one every time you try it. So I'll pocket it. I'll keep it off and keep it pocketed. I will also take my mouth.

If we're comfortable, then yeah, I'll take mine off as well. So if... We've been up for like a while, the full day, right? Yeah, you guys have been up for a long time, you know. I think we should get some sleep. But there's... we should... this masquerade ball I think he mentioned. Don't you just love when you show up somewhere and there's like a party? I love that. We could probably act like we're invited and go. I'm sure we're invited. And he probably assumed...

Do we need an invitation, though? We could ask the barkeep. Maybe he could whip one up for us. I'm sure we could ask for clothes too, if we do. We could just say Sir Ozz was stalling. I'm just going to keep riding the stalling train.

It's starting to look like night, you said, right? Yeah, the sun is setting now, it's starting to look like night, so they're starting their days. I'll assume we'll have the whole day tomorrow to figure that out, and to shop, and do whatever we need to do. I'm proposing that we just sit the day. Well, isn't it going to be odd that we're sleeping and the rest of the city's out? We were just attacked by sky pirates. It's a pretty good excuse. We've been through an ordeal.

Well, the sun was just coming up. Oh, yeah, okay. All right. Are they flipped on their-- Yes. Yeah. Yeah, and the sun was coming up as we left Food Box. So, like, what time is it now? It's probably, like, if we travel all night. Yeah, I mean, it's probably-- the sun is setting, so you could probably still go to sleep and wake up in the middle, like, of the day and still have plenty of time. Okay, so let's just try to get some sleep. Agreed. And then go shopping?

That sounds nice. Sure. Sounds good. I can sleep on the floor. There's only two beds, right? Yeah, me too. There's two large beds. I'll lay out a mat or whatever I have. There's a lot of plush. There's a little couch business area. There's enough where you could probably... I'll sleep on the floor as well. I'm used to it. Does it look like there's a way to lock the door from the inside?

Yeah. Like bolt it, lock it. Yeah, there's a whole bolt lock. There's a privacy wooden sign. We've unlocked all the entry points and you have Dakota, so we should be good. I'll crawl next to Dakota in the middle of the room and make sure the door's locked. Okay.

And with that, you all drift off to sleep and enjoy a long rest. I'm going to use my remaining spell slots to put a mirror image level 2, a flaming sphere level 2, and a shield level 1 into my ring of story. Sounds good. You are all in your hotel room of the rising elegance. You have

You have rings that will turn you into Owl Aarakocra, that are nobles. And you have matching papers. And you have heard that there's a Masquerade Ball where the Grand Lord himself will be. And it is being done. You've heard whispers when you're walking through the streets that is to celebrate and unveil a big announcement.

So, you are all in your room, you're waking up in the... I guess it's night. It's still night because you went to bed before the sun had set and you have managed to get a nice long rest.

Your alibi had allegedly been bought by all the individuals that you talked to. And you're in your room, kind of all settling in. What are you guys doing? I'm preparing my spells. Wait, this is the next morning? Yep. I'm preparing my spells. And I'm drinking tea. Earl Grey tea. Got it. Took that one out of the professor's notebook. But I'm not looking at the leaves. I'm going to shit about the leaves.

Fuck the leaves. My unseen servant is attempting to serve you, depending on how you take that. I'm following the unseen servant around just based off of where the towel over her shoulders is to linger. And I am trying to communicate with her and see if she wants me to do her makeup or anything of that sort. She tries to do your makeup. Oh, okay. Okay.

I want to set out my figurines and just very quickly kind of meditate to see if I get any sense now that we're finally here. Do I feel like the wind spirits are close? Religion check. Ooh. Ooh. 17. 17. So, as you place out all four of your figurines, you kneel down and you pray. Okay.

or you commune with the spirits, you attempt to commune. And as you do it, you start to feel a light breeze on your skin, and it starts to whip up more and more and more and more until you start to... All of you start to kind of feel the wind that's around you, and you realize that it's circling around Tohi, and it's swirling and swirling, almost engulfing him. And then you...

with a loud crash, the wind shoots out and a rocket, knocking the window open, nearly breaking it, as it rushes out of the room, sending the shutters and the window clattering. And... Do I see if it goes in any direction? Oh, yeah, make a perception check. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh.

- 15. - 15. You look and you see, you're trying to see the wind and it looks like there's nothing there but then you see a tiny little flick from the tea bag, from the tea that Felix is drinking. It's caught in the wind and gets carried off and it heads north.

in the direction towards the great grand perch. Guys, I think they're here, I think we can save them! What was that? Cool! Did you see the wind? Yeah! None of the windows are open! I thought I told you to shut the windows! The wind spirits, they communed with me! They're trying to tell me that they're here, that they can be saved!

How did you get all of that from Augusta Wind? I can feel it! Sorry, the alarm works in that I designate a certain number of creatures and anybody that were to try to breach the threshold of the alarm that is not one of the designated creatures would cause an alarm to go off. So the key bag doesn't count. Right, the window just opening isn't enough to turn the alarm. It has to be like a presence trying to break through it.

We should go right away, we shouldn't waste any time. I immediately put my ring on. Well then we gotta find some clothes. Yeah, we gotta be able to look decent at this ball. Just use this again! I'm still preparing, Toa, please give me a few minutes.

Take your time, but please hurry! And I put my ring on and you will find that it's a totally different style. I'm assuming with how Alter Self works, we can probably make new clothes if we so choose. So we don't have to go buy them. I think it's up to you though, if you want us to go buy clothes. Yeah, I think that's fine. Oh. Cool. I think that's how it works. How did you get so fancy? Well, can we just change our outfits in a... Just think about what you want to wear.

Let's confirm how Alter Self works. If we're doing this guy's self, then I have the rules right here. No, it's Alter Self. Yeah, this guy's self is different. It's not an illusion, it's actually altering yourself. Why can't I prepare more spells? Said the wizard. Oh no!

By transforming your appearance, you decide what you look like. Oh, neat! Height, weight, facial features, sound of your voice... So in this case, we can't decide that. And Misty Step is the individual. Um, distinction characteristics... I did, that's why I'm trying to like, mix some stuff up here. You can make yourself appear as another race. If you're bipedal, you can't because then it's not bipedal. Use your action to change your appearance in this way again. He doesn't not mention clothes.

I would say that it would be something where you could probably easily go out and purchase some clothes. I would say for this it seems to be super convenient. You could basically just kind of do whatever clothes that you want in the moment. But if there's some kind of ruling, you know. No, no, no. That's fine. Yeah, that works. And then the only other thing I'm going to do is after I've prepared my spells is cast Mage Armor on myself.

Okay, for the whole eight hours. I'm gonna start doing that every morning because it's bit me the ass more times than I can fucking count. Oh wait, there's a fight! I need to cast Mage Armor and Mirror Image and do all these things before I can attack! And now the fight's over! Right, exactly. Um... Okay, we should get clothes right away then. Since I look the same as yesterday. I'll put my ring back on, then.

I will put my ring on and I'll have like the most gaudy red and purple stripes like insane with like frills on the end of the cuffs and one of those Victorian lacy poofy things around the neck and just going all out ready for the mall. Have we seen any noble air cocoa with like fur lining of any kind or is it primarily just like linens and cloth and I don't know if they would wear leather.

I would say it's been difficult. You haven't seen many nobles. Or any nobles, maybe.

I would ask Iris for her approval and basically tips on how I should look and I would alter my clothes based on what she said. We're gonna buy clothes. I would buy my clothes based on what she said. No, we're not doing the clothes thing. You should keep your outfit. It looks very de-ashing. Yeah, I like it. I missed that part. Especially the frilly bit.

Are we coming back here in the next eight hours or are we thinking we're gonna go straight to the- I wouldn't count on it, let's bring everything. Right, I'm with Toa here. There's no guarantee that we're even coming back here. And I'm not gonna waste any time at all. There's a good chance that if we get any kind of lead, especially with the wind spirits, that we can get this place to get the hell out. Okay, well, I'm gonna try something that I haven't done before that I feel like...

Iris would do it. So I walk over to the bed and I tear a piece of the bed sheet off to get a strip of cloth. And I lay it on the ground next to Dakota. And channeling the power of Mirden, I cast Aid on everyone. So you get up to... Oh, three willing creatures. So whoever would need the most hit points, you get five temporary hit points. Probably me. Our tanks. Hit points are twice as good. I'll be alright without them. Okay. I can forego.

Are you sure? In a non-character sense. Yeah, I mean, it's up to you, right? It's whoever you'd like to designate. I was trying to bolster the people who are low on HP. Up to you. You get to choose the three. I'll choose you, Caprice, and Heart. Oh! Thank you very much. It's five temporary hit points. For eight hours, and... Yeah.

Yep. Five max HP? Five hit point maximum. That's right. Each target hit point maximum. And then current HP increases by five as well for duration. For eight hours. So are we going to just douse the whole thing in oil and just burn it down? Is that the plan? No, not yet. Not yet. We're trying to avoid...

of an overly violent confrontation. I think it's more important that we follow through with what Toa had to find and find these wind spirits. That's our number one goal. I understand that we want to save the people of the forest, and we're going to do our best to do that, but we're not trying to immolate this entire city.

We're not? If we can avoid it. I haven't signed up for this. I understand we'll do what needs to be done, but I'm not comfortable just burning everyone alive. Well, then we're on the same page. I want to create something. I mean, hitting them where it hurts feels like both the grand ball and the grand ball.

Yeah, so he's the boss. They're sort of a blingful nobility. They're responsible for maintaining the hierarchy of oppression that is trickling down throughout the area. So if we're going to douse anything in anything, I feel like it's probably going to be this high perch. I agree. As long as we follow through the lead that Toa has first,

Then we can do what we need to do to destabilize this horrible, horrible society. Agreed. How many of the vials do we have? A fuckload. We have a whole case or two. Basically, they're all... But they're all inside the... They're all in the bag of holding. As like a safety measure out of character.

I don't know how many we got, but it was a lot. A lot, yeah. It was like one per person, at least. I think it was a lot more than that. Yeah, like a pallet per person. Yeah, it was like, yeah, you had enough to fill the room. You basically stuffed the bag of holding full of it a little bit. Is that alright with you, Harge? Is there a bag? We're not going to let you down. I don't even know anymore, honestly. I mean, that guard guy was really nice. That's why maybe we just take out Harpich, and then...

Perhaps that would be enough. Heart, our- Can we control where the dragonfire goes? Let me speak from experience, Heart, when I say that when we light things on fire, it's indiscriminate. We're not going to be- I can control fire, but only so much. And you add that dragonfire oil to the mix and this whole place is going to go and there's nothing we're going to be able to do to stop it once it starts. That's why if you're having any reservations, we need to talk about it.

I just... I don't know what to do. You're the heroes that the Raven Man sent. We're not heroes, we're just people. We're just doing what we think is right. You're our last chance, though! And I don't... I've... I got up to Bubox once, but I've never been to Cleary.

We have the vials in case we need them in order to accomplish our many goals. The wind spirits, toppling the Aarakocas-tocracy, dealing with our larger priorities that we've been sent here to do. You might call that heroic or you might not, but we are going to have to take things as we draw them off the top of the pack.

I agree. But doing this smart, not fast. Agreed. Well, I trust you guys. You guys know the best way to defeat evil. Thanks, Art. Everything I've tried has failed. They'll figure it out, especially once we learn more from this... this masquerade thing where they're gonna announce something.

But either way, I don't want to waste any more time. I'm ready to go to the mall. They're in danger. Perhaps they're going to announce that they're going to kill the mall. So I'm going to go buy some clothes. Rings on. I'm with you. Rings on. I'm at the door. And I'm going to follow him. Earth, fire, wind. Heart, water, heart. Heart, heart. And I go buy whatever the tailor recommends for me to wear to the mall.

Whatever's the most generic, like, nice outfit. I wanna be a little more fancy than generic, but same idea. Yes. What mask does everyone wear? This again? Oh shit. Hold on, it's gotta go with head wave.

What are the options? There's a wide variety of creatures. Some are magical beasts, some are more humanoid. You see some that are more devilish and have horns, others look more demonic. I know what I want. Any ox ones? I would say that, you know what, there might be like a bull one, but yeah, an ox is a bull, right? I don't want it to be like Moloch. It's very similar to Moloch. No, we just killed him. Killed him.

So it's not like friendly looking at all. It's pretty medicine. I mean, it's elegant looking. It's like an elegant looking bull. I don't know if you've kind of like the object of like worship, like the brass bull where it's very elegant. Yeah.

That's a philosophical question that I wasn't willing to crack. I'll take anything that's maybe like a green parrot mask or anything like remotely tropical or like aquatic. Parrot. I would say there's a couple. You definitely do find more bird motifs here.

You find a number of things that there are... You see feathered serpent heads. You see birds of a lot of different varieties. When it comes to figures of humanoid faces, you see blue, dark-haired, almost these genie-like faces. Genies of several varieties. And I would say that there'd be a parrot mass, probably. Anything aquatic?

Aquatic is a little less. You see kind of probably like the stylized old-timey dolphin face. Maybe you see a fish face. I'll do like a toucan if they have it. I want a fox mask. Fox would be very easy to find. There's a lot of foxes. That's what I want. Yeah. I'm going to sort of go through real quick, and I'm going to look for an elephant or loxodon mask. Elephant or loxodon. I think...

I think that you would go through and an elephant wouldn't be something that you can find in this. I'll keep looking. Is there like a sheep or a lamb or a goat? You do see a goat, yes. You do see a goat and a sheep. You see that there's a number of different farm animals. The sheep seems to be a lot more feminine.

Um, several, several feminine colors. I don't think, um, Iris would like me to wear this one, but I think it goes with my feathers a lot better, and I'm gonna try and purchase the cheap one. It's like a white wool. Okay.

I would like a midnight blue evening gown with a white snow hair mask with tall ears. Oh, snow hair meaning a rabbit. Like a white rabbit? Yeah, I think a white rabbit would definitely be easily...

Uh, you feel like it's a lot more common with the woodland creatures, um, are, are, are very easy to find. There's many of those, some of the more exotic ones. You mentioned that there were devilish options. Yes. What varieties might I find in that arena? Uh, very stylized. He just sees his face on the shelf. Oh, it's very snarling looking, uh,

devils and some demons and just in various different kind of evil looking, wicked eyed humanoid faces. Some having horns, others having just like spikes on the side of their faces. I'll pick the one with horns and I'll pick one that looks like it's got the largest teeth. Okay. Can I see, do I see him like perusing the... Yeah. I'm just going to like walk up to him and like nudge him while he's like focused and looking and be like...

It's like offensive to you. Does it bother you? You know, you get used to it. You get used to it after a while. Man, I'm sorry. I know that we've had some conversations about the whole... I'm saying this very low, obviously. We've had this whole conversation about the whole devil versus demon thing, and I never meant to make that mistake. I just never imagined it was like this. I can't think of a time that you have. All right, well, that's fine. I just, you know, hey, you live and you learn. I'll polymorph you if you ever do.

Oh, and I like back away real slowly back towards Tela, like keeping my eyes on him the whole time. Yeah, like doing one of these. Okay. It's been nice talking, Caprice. I walk away. I'll laugh and buy the mask, disappointed that I couldn't find a mask of my favorite fleam flail team. I was wondering if that's where you were going. Oh, they're riding trunks. I love them. I love them. I know them. I know them. Is there a pantsuit?

I would say that you definitely find, yeah, there's definitely like elegant pantsuits. It's not quite as common, but you could find something where the tail can furl out and the wings, obviously there's a hole for wings, a hole for a tail. Perfect. I'm going for something very mage-like robes, like fancy robes that like an Aarakocra might wear. Again, based on the tailor's, you know,

whatever, based on the tailor's recommendations. I will again look for red and purple, puffy sleeves, puffy shoulders, puffy knees, just the gaudiest suit suit that I can find, Zoot Suit Riot, of course. And then when I finish donning my garb, I'll look at her and be like, oh, you...

You look like Sigourney Weaver from Working Girl. That's not bad. That's all right. Oh, is that a compliment? Yeah, absolutely. 100%. Do you like my shoulder pads? And I turn to show him, but I want them to look like curled into the horns that kind of match. Like Jafar? Like Jafar. It might be a little bit feathery, but they're the same general shape. Feathery, like nice, elegant kind of curling. And it's like primarily like mocha colored. I kind of go with some of my underlying coats with a little bit of like gray.

and browns that are in my pantsuit. I'll rest my head on a shoulder pad for a brief period. Yeah, I really like that. That's great. Yeah, it would be super convenient if you get really drunk. For both of us, absolutely. Heart will be looking around like, I don't really know what to get. Why'd you get a pantsuit like me? Is that what I'm supposed to get? I never really shop for nice dresses. I have a lot of chafing that happens whenever I wear anything that doesn't really protect my thighs, so I feel like I need to wear pants.

No, you don't have to. I'm just offering that if you wanted to wear a pantsuit. I'm wearing one too and it's totally acceptable.

Okay, I guess I'll get a pantsuit. It'll keep me nice and nimble. What's your favorite color? I'll help you pick one out. Oh, my favorite color is green. Oh, great. And I help her try to pick out a couple different shades that she might like and help try them on. Okay, great. And so she picks out a mask of a badger. Yes! Lone Guard! So she picks out a badger mask.

and there's plenty of those available and it looks, you know, it looks good with her pantsuit and... Zorbak, you come with me. - Okay, I don't know. I've never dressed this well or ever before. - You've never dressed before?

Just wear the same thing I always wear. Well, what you need is something simple that expresses your personality, and I'll lead him to, like, just a full black suit, coattails, like, almost a, uh, uh, what's the name? I can't remember. I can't think of what it's called. A tuxedo? Tuxedo. The equivalent of a tuxedo, but with, like, hot pink socks. Ooh. Oh.

I like that. Okay, and he's like, oh, I guess I'll match. And he goes for this really bright, gaudy pink bird mask. Flamingo-esque. Yeah, flamingo-esque. Yeah, maybe not quite a flamingo, but yeah. See, that matches the socks you're right on in, Zarbak. Oh, is this good? You look like one million coins of any variety.

Oh, even Electrum? I don't know what that is, Frank. No, we never speak of Electrum. Oh, okay. Electrum is cursed, you know that. Oh, yes. I don't. I never got paid in Electrum pieces. Hersha, what do you think?

Have I spicked my spam? Oh, they look so good! Did you help him out with that? Absolutely. It looks good. I like the... Well, I don't know what kind of bird that is, but it looks really nice. Neither do I. It looks like something I would enjoy eating, though. That's why I picked it. You probably shouldn't eat your outfit. You should make sure it lasts through the night. But you can probably eat it later, depending on how much all this runs us. Okay.

And it all runs you, if you get the full outfit, will run you about 20 gold pieces each.

Done and done. Done and done. The full... I want to thank you! I want to pay! And I will start to, uh, start navigating towards the, uh, wherever, like, the... What's it called? High perch. I'm gonna follow him. I'm just basically following Toad's lead at this point. 20 gold? Yeah, 20 gold. Are Hart and Zorbak struggling to pay for this stuff at all, or...? I believe, uh, you gave Zarbok...

Like 100 gold pieces, right? I thought we did, we gave him food and money to like buy his allegiance. Yeah, so he's like, "Oh, I've never bought a shop." "Just taverns." This is fun, isn't it? And you can wear it all the time, I'm sure. Seems like a waste of money.

And he turns and he leaves and Hart pulls out some coins. Oh, this is new for me too, so I guess this is a lot of firsts. And you all leave the tailor shop and

It's called Fancy Feathers. Oh, really? Is really what that's called. Fancy Feathers. And you all leave, and you begin, you all get changed, I guess, in the shop. Yes. And pack your current clothes away, and...

You begin to make your way through these streets, the long, wide promenades, beautifully lit. And you see that there are these street lamps that are almost going to be growing out with these large lamps filled with these glowing lights.

Fireflies of some kind and they're glowing and it just every single thing is is incredibly opulent and and nice I think about a level of luxury that most of you probably haven't ever experienced Caprice maybe obviously Iris actually has experienced that level of luxury but Caprice and maybe you've been in a few few areas or clubs or districts in golf. I've talked my way in a few places. Yeah, you've talked your way in a few places, but probably for the rest

It's a very, it's huge culture shock, especially tier two companions.

as they're all looking around. And you begin to notice, however, as you walk the streets, that you see mostly Aarakocra, but you see that there are a couple of individuals carrying, maybe pushing a huge cart. You notice there's no beast of burden here. All you have seen are the mounts, and you see occasionally a giant owl flying with a

relatively large crates and things, pallets of goods. But then you see, you hear the panting and grunting of bugbears pushing these huge wagons that would ideally be pulled by a huge beast, but they're sweating and they look exhausted.

You see the occasional gnome skitter out of maybe a cobbler's shop, looking ragged and run down. The occasional lizardfolk in the back kitchen of a tavern taking a break, maybe sneaking a nip of Nikahooch.

As you see that there's these other denizens of the force below mixed in, but absolutely just at a low, low, low, low level of the society. There very much seems to be an obvious casus in that there are individuals that do get to go up, and you know that that had been a sighting that had happened.

It seems that if it's not slave labor, maybe indentured servitude or just absolute poverty in this caste system. Obviously, all non-Arako Gra and then the commoner Arako Gra and then the nobles at the top.

As you wind your way through the streets, you see that a lot of these commoner are all flying around, but occasionally you pass a group not unlike yourselves. A group of owl people in all these varying masks.

as they are in these beautiful ball gowns and perfectly sculpted suits. And you see that their feathers and their beaks and their talons all have that same shimmer and sparkle as the nobleborn. Okay.

As we're starting to approach this group, I'll lean into Zarbak and I'll be like, um... Now listen, the thing you have to understand about nobles is they love to talk about themselves, so just ask questions. If anyone starts talking to you, just say, you know, whatever you can get to learn as much about them as possible. You never need to say anything about yourself. Oh, that's good advice.

That's really good advice. Thank you. I was just going to let everyone else do the talking and I would stand by the punch bowl. Just in case we split up. Yeah, sure. I mean, the punch bowls were people who were the most talking. Oh, no. Oh, no. Well, I will figure it out. And

And occasionally you exchange very loose pleasantries with the nobles that you pass and you finally see. And you actually see that some of them are wearing furs and leathers and

And you wonder where they may have gotten those leathers. You knew that Umalanda had been fox hunting and his trade was leathers and fur. But some of these furs and leathers you see are, there's also like maybe some scaly accessories and some thick, maybe feline-ish fur as well. - Burnt to the ground.

as you all make your way through. And eventually you wind your way from tree to tree to tree, and you realize that there's this huge network, but at the center is a massive trunk, at least three times the size of the others. It's a mighty trunk.

And you eventually arrive at this huge tree, and you see that this is the beautiful promenades of other cities. It doesn't seem unlike Skyreach, where you had spent much time in Zentra, but just made entirely out of wood and in the trees, populated by birdfolk and the occasional strange forest-dwelling species.

As you make your way through, you kind of walk among more and more of these noble Aarakocra. As they... not a single one of them dares uses their own wings in order to fly, and they prefer to not exert their energy as they stroll through the treetops. And eventually, you see directly up ahead a massive circular ring

of what looks like a palace, but with branches at every single cardinal direction, with more structures built out at the very top of this tree, directly beneath the thick canopy.

You see that there are these huge windows, some of this elegant stained glass that forms various different species of Owl-era Cobra wearing finery, some holding weapons, probably a long storied history of the number of houses that had maintained control over the Okaxian core.

As you all make your way through, you see that there's a huge door going up to where this ramp is effectively guiding you. And you see that's where all the nobles basically join a group as they're all heading, all wearing different masks of a variety of things. And as you walk through, let's just get a group perception check to see what kind of stuff you hear. No, nothing. I don't hear shit. No, I hear some shit.

9, 15. 10. 20. Nice. Dirty 20. Dirty 20. Capricci? Dirty 9. Dirty 9. So, Lufty, you were the only one that...

Your ears are perked up and you've been in high society before as well. And you know that rich people and nobles especially like to chatter and they are not very careful. Many of them are not very careful about the kind of information

that they just talk about in pleasant conversation. And you hear a voice as you walk your way through, and it's like, Oh, I wonder what sort of announcement the High Lord, the Grand Lord, is going to make. I hear he's figured out a way how to destroy the horrible humans and the orcs and the elves that will be able to reclaim this continent the way it used to be.

And then you hear this older owl, this dark, nearly black feather, spotted with tufts of white and gray. Well, I don't think that's very likely to go back to...

How things used to be with just simply thunder and lightning and wind alone, I refuse to believe it. There's been very, very many inefficiencies and I refuse to accept that Commodus is the one that will lead us to that future. I don't think I will live to see it.

Commodus? Commodus. Comminus? Commodus. That's a grand...man? Grand lord. Grand lord. Context clues may lead you to think that. Great. It's called reading between the lines. Context clue. Are they still talking or...? Then it's kind of...then they make their way out. You don't hear anything. I wanna...oh, I'm sorry. Oh, there's only left ear. My bad, my bad.

But I would. Can I usher everyone over to one corner on... Yeah, while we're walking. We don't know that you heard. Well, yeah, I was going to say something and walking, I would... Oh, if you wanted to grab our attention to say something, feel free. I was going to usher you guys inside anyway. Is everything all right?

Yeah, I just want to make sure that we're all referring to each other in our names, that we have the difference. Of course, absolutely. We understand the names. You got it, Specs, of course. Yes, you are Specularia. Hello, Specularia. Escritorita? My name is Gustav Hammerschmidt. I'm Albert.

You're Tim. Well, I mean, you can't forget about the Ironballs. I could never. I could never. The Ironballs. Yeah, do we refer to each other as like... First names are fine. I believe we're... We told him what's his face. We all wanted to be from the same house, right?

No, I think we go by gentleman's rules when we're in a high court of this nature. It's only natural. I picked up on the fact that lowborn, they don't have last names. So perhaps just referring to each other with our last names is probably the house names is perhaps the way to go. My apologies then. Sir Powerbottom III then, in that case. I don't think it's... I think Lord is the correct term. Oh. That's what we've heard. Lord and Lady? Lord and Lady.

Okay, Lord Powerbottom III. That's fine. Thank you. I'm sorry. You got a Powerbottom. I'm new to this. Lord Powerbottom. I haven't been Powerbottom for very long. And it was Featherston? Featherton and Hammerschmidt? Yeah.

Powerbottom, Bombastus, and Frenalia. I have Kultafleifliebe. It's Lord Powerbottom III. Alright, yours is like some- I'll get used to you in a second. Ironballs. I'm gonna try to make everybody say it. Lord Powerbottom III. No, not Lord Powerbottom. Yeah, they're gonna say what? Lime, because nobody can say it. You're Lady Potato Love, right? Kartoffelnliebe, yes. Kartoffelnliebe. Kartoffelnliebe.

What's our story? We're all coming from different houses, but what if they ask us, like, where are you from? What is your house? Well, it would, out of character, it would all be in New York.

Your paperwork. So you can say whatever you want, right? As long as you stick to whatever is in your paperwork. I mean, Mikey gave us free reign to make all that stuff up. So you would have your established backstory in the paperwork that what's-his-garbanzo-bean gave us. Shut it. Okay. Gaboro. Sorry. Yeah, that's what I said. Gaboro. Garbanzo-bean is way better. Mr. Garbanzo-bean to you.

As you all arrive, so you get that... I don't know if you're actually... if you relayed that, Lusti, by the way. Oh yeah, I think people are sorry for this thing, I'm sorry. Yeah. So, did you see those snuffy beaches over there? We saw lots of them. Are you referencing anybody in particular? We have souls, I don't want to point to them. Don't point to them. Make sure we stagewhisker as we whisker. Right. Okay. Is this better? A little. Yes, a little better.

How about now? Better probably should be better. Doesn't better mean please? Bitter? Bitter means please, yes. No, that means, it means like better than bad. Or better than good. You're, you're, you're bitter. No, that's better. We're talking about bitter. That's what I said. Bitter. Fine. Like the opposite of sour? No, no, no, no. That's bitter. Bitter is in like...

It's not the best, but it's better than good. Or the rest. What were you saying, Lucy? Then what I was saying is that those people over there were saying that they are thinking that maybe he is going to announce tonight that there's a way to destroy all the humans and the downstairs people. What?

See, we should have no qualms killing all of these people. But they don't know. They're just gossiping. I gossip all the time. Do you believe everything I say? Well, yes, I do believe everything you say. That's right, and you just go on.

There's something my dad told me when I was a young girl, and it was, stakes and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Gossip is not going to make us... We're five minutes and about five seconds. Let's continue. The bottom line, we can continue to walk as we are discussing quietly. My problem here is that even if we decide that this is where we need to strike, and that this may... Are there enough...

I think we should go straight to Commodus. I agree.

I'm gonna back up Toa on this one and say I follow his lead, and when we understand more about where the wind spirits are, then we strike. And until then, we do nothing because we don't want to lose his lead. Fair? Fine. I'll go right now, and the whole reason I came here for the last, probably, year or many months was...

To be right here, right now. Then-then-then- And I'm not going to ruin my chance now. Lead the way. We'll follow you. Yeah, you're not following your shot. I have been. I-I-I won't do that. I can do what that means. Is-is a shot as in like a... Like a-like a-like a slingshot? Open to interpretation. It doesn't matter. Anyway, we should get in there and just keep-keep an eye out if you overhear anything about wind spirits, about, um,

Islands, about anything that could sound like anything related to what we're doing. Just please let me know. Yeah, and I want to know, they said that they have like a blue woman with black hair, and like, that's one of the people they stole, and I want to know who the fuck got stolen before me. Why was I not the first person they came after? The first like blue person? Yeah.

Fair enough. That might help, I think, if you... I mean, they've got so many other people, and, like, I'm B-string? C-string! Why have I not been stolen? All the way down to G-string. Just grab on down there. Play the note! Take me down to G-string. They did try to steal you multiple times. Yeah, but I should have been the first ones they came after. I think you've been wearing your green little turtleneck. The...

Yes, that must be why it feels this way. But also, on a more logical note, what if they have more crystals?

So do the spinny thing. Oh, I'm sure they do. I mean, that was definitely... Your regular people are in trouble and we're going to have to dispel them. Can you do that? Because I cannot do that. Can I do that? Are you seriously asking me if I can't reverse magical effects? You think I haven't studied my entire life to know how to make things and I wouldn't learn how to unmake them.

I can't do it, but I can probably try. Can you believe that? Can you believe that? To be fair, I don't know if you can do that. Can you do that? I don't know. I wouldn't. Yes. I know that he can do that. Yes, I can do that. Thank you. I was just thinking this. We did it a whole lot, like seven times. And I'm like, that's really cool. I don't understand it. Kim Ironballs. While we're having this conversation and we're discussing what our goals are, I personally want to...

Be on the lookout for people that look to be the elite of the elite. We don't know what this communist guy looks like. Not that she told us yet. We don't know who the high people are. I want to look for people who stick out, who are like they might be extra regal. Because my goal is to say, is this worth it?

where we emulate everyone, right? Trying to decide whether or not we have a targeted strike place. So I'm going to keep my ears out for what Toa asked, but I also want to see if we can find extra special members of the elite.

Yeah. One last thing. That was definitely not the last time we were going to see Eric Cobra Joe. He might be here. And if we see him, we need to learn how to deal with that problem. I just want to kick him right in the face. But we've all just been standing here doing nothing. So I recommend that we all laugh boisterously and then continue on our way. As if I just made a hilarious joke about how.

You pass and then there's this very very well dressed

female owl-air cobra that's wearing these layers and layers and layers of fur, and as she's passing you, she puts a hand on your shoulders. "Oh, that sounds funny! I don't know when I threw a gnome off of my balcony!" "It's always funny to throw them into the un-gnome!"

Oh, what's your name? Oh, they call me Tim Ironballs. But you can call me Tim. And yourself? Well, I don't know why someone so charming would pick such a scary mask. Oh, it's a bit of a joke. Sweet and sour. Sweet on the inside, sour on the out. Oh, well, I guess I'll have to try later. Toodle-oo. Toodle-oo.

And she walks off as the man that she's with, looping arms and gives you a dirty look. I do this as I pass him. As you do that. And...

Oh, sorry. Oh, now's the time. You could have done that, man. You could have just, like, said... You could just let me know. There we go. I can turn that on, are we? Well, I'm trying to keep it going so I don't have to, like, edit stuff. Oh, I have this app. The sun is setting. This is real D&D, folks. This is real D&D, folks. All right. Oh, yeah, yeah. So that's... We're just... We're following Toto's lead. So just so I understand, out of character, did you get some... You had a sense when you did your ritual, but are you, like...

Do you have a destination in mind or are you just like following a feeling? So I am following a feeling. So my, so he's hooked on a feeling. So I'm hooked on a feeling. So my goal is to basically learn whatever I can and just try to get that sense again to see if I can feel the wins

And I'm not even going to be trying to talk to people, I'm going to be going around just listening and looking for doors or passages. Toa's going to be very anxious to try to find something or some way. I'm following your lead 110%, basically. Okay, perfect. Oh, Toa! I'm going to strut up and just grab him by the arm. It's Gustav! Oh!

Yes. And I just squeeze very hard as I'm like... Did I say that? I meant Gustav. I'm just stupid. Oh, right. I don't know who Toa is. That was really a test and you answered, so shame on you. But I forgive you already. No, my name is... Lord Hammersmith. My name is Gustav. So I was thinking that while you are exploring the party and looking for a

grand things that you are looking for. Yes. That maybe you could use a little help, and I'll give him a big hug and slip the crystal into his jacket pocket. Ooh. I do like a wink, and I'm like, yes, yes, battle. Absolutely, thank you. I totally forgot we had this. Anyway, yes, um, um, lady, uh,

Kult of Fleben and Fleberg. Close enough. You can call me Hildeborn. Well, um, would you like a drink?

Have you ever heard me say no to that? Then let's go! I take the longest way possible, like just kind of going through the crowd, still holding on to Lufthansa. Well, you haven't quite arrived yet. Oh, so we're not in the room yet. No, so it seems as if you hear the clash of thunder as the storm once again picks up, but no one seems to mind as the throngs of nobles make their way

into the... this huge space.

And you see a massive ballroom through three sets of double doors out. And you see numerous Aarakocra dancing, chatting, mingling. And there seems to be various levels as well. All on the side, balconies looking down. You see a number of figures standing, leaning up against these railings, holding drinks.

And as you step forward, you see a young-looking, very well-dressed, slender, snowy owl. And she says, My lords and my ladies, may I please have your papers? Welcome to the

The Grand Lord's Ball. I make like a big show of like pulling out my papers and flourish them over. I see that you make a big show of it and I use minor religion to like put some fireworks out as I make an even bigger show. Well done, me lord. Oh, of course, here you go. Welcome, Lord Iron Balls. Welcome, Lord Powerbottom the Third. Thank you.

Welcome Lord Al Hammersmith. Nobody crosses house power. Welcome lady... Escutariat. Escutariat, welcome. And welcome lady... My lady. Damn it.

And welcome, Lady Featherton. That's easy to say. I'm sure Harlan had a thicker image. And they both give their papers as well. As you all enter this room, and it is absurdly large and gaudy. It seems like every single bit of wall and floor and railing is intricately carved wood.

beautiful murals and artwork on every single inch. You see that there's a huge orchestral band playing in various rows all around you, and then this, these, uh, these, uh, string and, uh, and, and, and, and, um,

woodwind instruments all melding together into echoing through this tree chamber as the glow from the light from outside which seems to be coming from these strange globes of fireflies all shining through painting this beautiful colorful dance floor that

that just looks like the most lavish thing that you've ever experienced. And you see to the side, there's various tables and bars where you can grab beverages and massive buffets. You see things that are basically standard, like eggs and...

and little pastries and the like, tea cakes, and then you also see strange things like roasted rats and squirrels and small creatures all mixed in in this bizarre spread. - I want to, seeing them linked up, doing their arm thing, I want to go find a bar where I can grab a drink and try to find someone to talk to. - Okay.

So yeah, you go and who's breaking up with whom? Who's splitting up? I'm very anxiously gripping... I'm gonna grab Zorbot and... Can birds get split up? I don't think birds can split up. And... I'm going to...

see if there's like... I think I want to take a perimeter to sort of walk around. I don't think I'm going to go ahead and directly go far. Yeah, I'm just going to try to go off on my own, grab a drink, and see if I can talk to somebody and hear information that Toa asked me to listen for. Okay. So if I can find someone to speak to, that's what I'll try to do. Okay. So you do that, and you all make your rounds. As you see

see that there's a variety of different masks. You see a variety of masks, even far more variety than you had seen in the shop that you had been in. As you see a variety of different Aarakocra all dancing in this beautiful waltz. And you actually see that there, at the very top of this drop shot, there is a place for, you hear these

Up above you, through the music, the drunken hoots and guffaws and laughs above you, as you see a number of the nobles already are three sheets to the wind, and they're drunkenly flying and dancing, entangled in a strange aerial dance. As...

You look all around and we'll say Caprice is part of your perimeter. You see that there are various balconies and at the very top, however, all the balconies seem to be connected in various party goers, but there seems to be a cylindrical, or not a cylindrical, a half circle balcony up towards the top with a door and all the only individuals that are up here are heavily armored guards.

As guards seem to actually, as you make your perimeter, it'd be very easy to see that this whole building, you're passing guards holding huge halberds and spears, longbows, and you see that the security here is incredibly tight as you make your way. I'll turn the door back.

Yes? You know anything about the High Church in general, or what those guards might be guarding? They guard the nobles. Well, they're nobles in all directions. Are they, like, even higher nobles behind them? There's the Grand Noble family. And their name is all common? Or is there a variety? I don't know name. I just know there's one family that always rules over the Okaxian Corp.

Ever since House Okaxia. Years and years and years ago. That is all I know. How did the new Hous- I mean, you don't know. How did the new Housers get chosen from house to house? Eventually there's treachery, uprising, murder. Oh, definitely. And they change and nothing changes. Do they just kill each other and take power or do they create a vacuum and buy their way in? Yes. Both? Both. Okay.

But I think we should all schmooze. I agree. Zormbach, there's Punchbowl over there by Powerbottom and Featherton over there. Oh, I would go to Punchbowl.

And you're going and trying to find someone to talk to. So you go to the booths, and you're at the punch bowl looking for someone to chat with. And let me just pull this up. OK.

You see a barrel-chested Aarakocra with these tall tufts.

rising from his hair, this grayish-brownish feather plumage that's almost spotted, as you see him in a very tight-fitting outfit, as he is pouring himself a large glass of this punch that is this shimmering purple liquid. Hello there, good sir. Do you mind topping me off as well? Oh, of course.

And what family might you be from, my good friend? I am from Salute the Martyr. That is quite the mouthful. That is fantastic.

And which house are you from, my lord? I thought you would never ask. I am Albert Sunshot Benedict Powerbottom III from the Powerbottom family, of course. We have a very, very rich, rich history of just getting absolutely railed by the worst circumstances that could ever happen.

possibly befall a family. But you know what? It was about time us power bottoms took control for once. And here we are. We're here to change things. I take a large sip of this. Well, I'll eat to that. I mean, drink to that.

As he downs the beak, hits the glass. My, this is fantastic. So, what's the buzz tonight, as they may say amongst the people? Well, if you want my honest opinion. I do, I do.

Well, I suppose I've already had three or four of these. I'll drink to that. And I take another swig of the... I'll drink to Powerbottom. As he takes another swig. And he says, I think the Commodus family knows they are on the way out. Interesting. And the old fool is making a desperate plea to not... to prevent the inevitable...

Well, I have my own theories as well, but... Oh, what is your theory? I've just been mingling and getting a feel of the land, but some people think that the Commodus family might be in play for a very long time. You never know. I suppose you never know, but these dynasties never last very long here. I'll drink to that. No, me too.

Are you faking drinking? Yeah, I'm taking little sips. I'm not guzzling it down. I'm just taking little nips here. Well, it's been a pleasure. Ice will not be the last that you see of the Powerbottoms, I'm sure.

I hope not. I never heard of the house power bottom, but every single day I'm learning of new houses. There are so many of us. There truly are. And I'll just begin to wander off and schmooze with someone else. Okay, you do that. What are you guys doing?

I guess you left with Zorbak. I told Zorbak to leave us, actually. Not... No! Get out of here! So I think Iris and I are together. Are we all three of us together? And Lufty. Oh, and Heart. Heart is like clinging to you guys. We are approaching the bar on a very windy path, and I want to listen out

And look for any doors or basically any other-- I want to get a lay of the land of what are the exits out of this room. And he's just looking for some kind of chamber or something that might be nearby that they're holding wood spirits. And I would be looking at the same time just for the richest looking person in the room. Okay. You look around.

And you see that all of them look absurdly rich. Make a perception check. Toa, you look and there's other additional entrances and doors through this building. You see that there's actually directly ahead of the main entrance, there is an open archway with these stairs that rise up, a grand staircase that rise up on either side. It seems to go back to the same level as the different balconies. You see there's one in the same spot for every floor.

You also notice that behind the food buffet, that there is a large closed door, and behind the two of the bars, there are also doors. - What do you see? - I don't know, I mean, do we, I'm just trying to, did I hear anything, like in passing? - Make a question check. - Did I hear anything? - 12. - 12?

You listen and you hear the mutterings, and all of you, I would say, at this point, have heard of the name Commodus, House Commodus. And you know that almost all of these nobles are very much fed up with this house and with this grand lord. And there's this level of malicious glee

that almost all of these Aarakocra have about guessing when the time will come that some house will be bold enough to put an end to House Commodus. And that they all know that this is for some grand announcement, but they don't seem to...

They don't seem to believe that House Commodus is really going to be able to be announcing anything that they... of worth at all. And I'll say that let's just get a group perception check. One more. 11. 52. 52. 14. 9. Perception? 7, sorry.

I had a 16 when you asked me to roll before. Now I have a 6. A 16. Okay. Just to clarify. So, 16, you do, you make your way through.

and you find an older-looking Aarakocra that is covered in more jewelry and gems and necklaces, beautiful tiara. She's a lot shorter. This dark brown fur with rings around the eyes, and...

with a small beak and a pristine fur boa around her beautifully bedazzled dress in real diamonds. And she seems to very much be at least the most opulently dressed person there as you're with Toa. However, as for that perception check, Caprice, you catch one little...

glimpse of a word and you hear it's in a hush whisper and and it's it's a probably middle-aged noble leaning into his date and he's very drunk his eyes are kind of glassy as he his talons are around her neck in between the wings and he says uh

His eyes are wide as he kind of breathes. That could be bullshit, though. I don't know.

I'm with Jeff Perkins. Yeah.

Do we go get a drink? I wanted to go check out that balcony. It looked pretty cool. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I just heard that guy over there. Did you hear that? He was saying, let's go get that drink first. Okay. And I will buy us two drinks and take us to the balcony. So included. Then I will let's...

I will think about tipping and then realize that probably tipping isn't something that would be done to such lowborns. Exactly right. All of the bartenders and the attendants are all of that rougher plumage. And there's no tip jar. There's no coinage at all that you can say. Yeah.

I'll take you to the balcony and um... Just that that guy was saying that he thinks the commonest actually has a plan, that he's gonna maintain power here in the court. I wouldn't be surprised. I think he's got us all fooled with these, you know, genie folk and whatnot. He's gonna use the genie of that, exactly right. Is that what you think the tempest comes into play here?

the elder tempest i mean i heard tyler say that but i don't know what that means well i think we need to figure out how the mantle of power transitions from house to house could we could we grab someone real quick and and and i might be able to talk him into explaining how common escape into power and then maybe we could understand a little bit better about how how to transition things away from comments because it sounds like he's up to some no good

Yeah, we should also probably talk to a few folk and see which one's the most drunk and maybe potentially the most kind-hearted. Well, the guy I saw seemed really drunk, but he didn't seem kind-hearted. Hmm. Maybe we could start spreading the seed of good and getting these people convinced that maybe a new ruler doesn't need to be a tyrant.

Let's give it a go. Absolutely. All right. I'm into the plan. Let's do the plan. I'm going to look around and I'm going to see if there are people who look like they are both drunk and if they are a gentle soul. Okay. As you're doing that, Felix...

You are... Are you looking for anything particular as you're mingling? No, I already did my powerbomb bit, so I'm moving on to just trying to listen for the things that Toe asked me to keep an ear out for. Okay.

I'll say that you eventually meet up with Toa. Okay. And you connect with him and you fill him in on what you had heard. Hey, are you alright big guy? Yes, I'm fine. I'm just trying to figure out... Do I get any... Have I gotten any sense of windness or have I felt anything like tug at me since I've been here? Not since you've been here, no.

I had some conversations with people, but really it's all just the same thing. They really just think that this Commodus family, this Commodus guy is going to be on its way out. That's it. I haven't gotten into it. They're all kind of on the same page. Well, there are a couple entrances. There's a big door behind the bar there. There's a big staircase that goes up to entrances there, to all the balconies. I'm just wondering where they might be holding all of these wind spirits. So here's the thing, Meg.

There are ways we can get in there, and I can get back out, but... We can't take all of these. It's risky, because I don't know what's on the other side of those doors. Well, I think we need to wait and see what he announces. If there's some kind of big announcement, perhaps that would give us the correct information that we're missing, Kytlen. I agree, as long as... Whatever this announcement is made, this isn't too late.

I just don't know what it could possibly be, but it doesn't sound good. Oh no, do you think that it's possible that whatever the announcement is, they're going to kill the wind spirits or do something that is beyond the point of no return? I don't know, but it could be beyond... Yes, it could be the case. I don't know what, I just don't want it to be too late.

I don't know what to do. Let me... I suppose I could try to sense their presence at this point, but I'm going to need somewhere private to...

To get everything out of you. You might be able to find a private room or something for the nobles to retire to. I'm sure you can find something. Just demand it. Yes, of course, of course. I'm going to find the nearest helper, waiter, whatever. You see a small brown owl holding a tray of hors d'oeuvres. And he looks at you and says, Yes, my lord. Um,

I need a place to rest, post haste, just privacy and quiet in darkness. I have terrible migraine and I just need to rest for like 15 minutes. So can you get me a private room somewhere nearby?

"Yes, yes, of course my lord, there are plenty of private rooms, please lead the way, right now!" "Yes sir, yes sir!" And, uh, yes. I want to follow and basically just like stand guard outside of the room. Okay. And, uh, he's just like, "Please, please bear with me my lord." As, uh, he guides you up, he's still holding the tray, and, uh, you realize that, uh,

on the inner hallways around these balconies, they're all these small private rooms. And he's like, "Hold on." And he listens, "Oh, not that one. No, no, not that one. Okay, please keep it with me." And he keeps listening, listening, listening to each one. And then finally, "Ah, this one is unoccupied." And he opens it and you see that there's an empty, very small chamber. The lights are very low and there's nothing but really a bed and a nightstand.

Well, thank you very much. My associate will be waiting outside to make sure nothing happens. And perhaps Lifty's with us? I don't know out of character if Lifty's with us or not, but... I won't be long, but they'll make sure that no one disturbs me as I coalesce. Yes, my lord. Holler if you need anything. Of course.

I shut the door and I very quickly take out all the figurines in the north, south, east, and west as best as I can kind of figure and just sort of meditate or pray or whatever and try to get a sense of, you know, tap into my spirituality. Do I get any kind of sense of... Make a religion check, please. Okay.

A win biz. Win biz. I'm gonna use a twisted fate, if you don't mind. You rolled a four and a three. Five. A five. So, as you place out all of your figurines, you pray and pray and pray. And you're sitting there, you're trying to get something.

And with the music outside and the small narrow room with the horrible incense, it's difficult to focus and you're distracted and you get nothing.

And then as you're dejectedly packing away your things, you look into your pack that you have with you and you had seen that there had always been when you had the crystal, um, you would notice that there was a, uh, a faint, uh, point, uh, faint glow pointing in the direction of where you assumed it would be. And as you were, uh,

As you went further and further, it got slightly fainter and fainter. And it got fairly faint when you're in this room. And then as you pick it up, you suddenly see it glow and rattle and point in a different direction entirely. Away from Lufty. Away from Lufty, where you assume Lufty to be, where it had been pointed. And then up, almost up above you, and in a different direction.

So I pay heed to the direction that I'm kind of seeing on the crystal. And then I leave right away. And I'll... Would you come with us?

I'm sorry, where? We went to like a private room. I think for the sake of this, for the sake of what just happened, she would have not come here. Okay, so she's down for Mingling. She's with the rich, the witch old lady. Lord Parabottom is with Mingling. Lord Parabottom, may you join me very briefly in this room here? Why, yeah, I suppose. I'm looking around the room and it's like looking at us weirdly, like I'm going to the room with this guy. Yeah.

Everyone looks. The music stops. No, and as you look, you see this one, this one Aarakocra looking, and they just look at you, and as they see two of you escaping in the room, they just... Shut the door. What's going on? Look, and I pull out the crystal.

This is definitely pointing away from Lufty, it's pointing very strongly, and I kind of move it around and I just show... It's pointing kind of vaguely up in that direction, whichever direction that I'm feeling. Do I get a sense that it's just up in higher floors? Yes, up from a higher floor that you would guess. And it starts to glow more and more intensely as you're in this room waiting. More and more and more. Yeah, as it's kind of moving very slightly.

Look, if you're here, it's moving kind of... This is unbelievable. I haven't seen it do this before. Does that mean that he has the wind spirits? It's something powerful. It's obviously here. I think we need to go and follow this. Just don't let anybody see you have that. No, of course not. Of course not. I'm just going to very nonchalantly wander and suddenly follow this...

Um, yeah, all right, lead the way, and I've got your back. All right. And then you can get us out if we need to, right? I can get us... I... Yeah, I... Time out. We talked about this a little bit. The idea is that...

The spell says that I can take a willing creature of my size or smaller, but it also says that I can't take more than I couldn't personally lift. So you're not sharing me. So lifting is like, let's say there's a giant boulder. You can't teleport with the boulders by holding it. Right, right. But because I'm a medium creature, and I'm willing, it's a totally separate thing. I can get us in and out.

One way in, one way out. That's it. Alright. Well, let's just be very nonchalant about it, and if somebody asks us, we just, "Oh, I don't know what you're doing." And we'll try to at least lay eyes on whatever this is. I've only done this a couple times. As long as you trust me, I think that I can do it. I trust you. Alright. Lead the way. Okay, so I open the door, and... While they were doing that, you see this very wealthy owl. Noble. This...

Hold her. Here, go, go. So I would go up and... Oh my goodness, those jewels! I can't get over them! I should know who you are. Who are you, my lady? I'm... You do not recognize me. I'm Lady Minerva. Lady Minerva. I am so embarrassed. You should be, child. Oh, yes.

I guess her hand. I don't know. You stupid, Cortoflin! Stupid potato. Are you Newblood, I assume? Well, I suppose you could say that. I'm certainly new here. Well, I would ask what house you are. Well, I'm of the great Cortoflin Limehouse. Definitely Newblood.

But I'm not surprised. What did you say? I'm sorry. Definitely new blood, but I'm not surprised. Well, you must have been here forever. I mean, look at you.

The shade! She pauses. She clacks her talons together. Is that for cutting words? Indeed, my house has been around a very long time. Oh, God. Far longer will it last than your house, I'm sure there's no doubt. Surely not.

Well, um, so what do you think the big announcement is this evening? Well, he is hoping it's Commodus' retirement. And who do you think will take his place? Hopefully someone with more wisdom, more taste, more years. And she gives you like a knowing look.

That was a lot of gossip. You can hear that from across the room. From a floor up.

I've had a lot of gossips this evening, as I'm sure you must have as well. There's always gossip. That's true, that's true. He seems to have something up his sleeve, quite powerful. At least he thinks he does. He may have his...

a little entourage of outsiders and menagerie of strange creatures, but I don't think it will be enough. What do you mean? I think that there are those that would do better for the Ocassian court than House Commodus. There's no doubt. I mean, that is just agreed upon everywhere I turn. It's just a matter of who takes his place and how. Yes.

A matter of whom, I suppose. I'm confident it would be someone far more worthy. Your house, perhaps? Some have suggested it. Are you suggesting it? Well, surely. You must be in the running. I've already said too much.

But I suppose there's little risk in talking to such a lowly noble house such as yours. Yes. No risk at all. Please, anything else you'd like to share? Like where you got that piece? Which one? That one right there. And I'm going to flick it and see if I can get a gem out. Make a dex check. Straight dex check. Oh, no. Oh.

And Lifty's dead. You seclude the twist. Please don't die. Death by cross the face. 13. As you attempt to reach out and flick it, and she just quickly dodges out of the way and looks up at you.

Despite you not being super tall, she's even shorter. She looks up at you and says, "Well, I'm sure I must go. I'm getting the word that the Grand Lord himself wants to speak." And her eyes gaze over the crowd, and you see that there is a vassal that is trying to get her attention.

Then, age before beauty, go ahead. I'll wiggle my little feathered fingers. Wisdom first of all, child. And she waggles her fingers and walks off. So I'm going to look around. So they are in a back room still? Are you out now? No.

You guys would have separated at the same time. We left the back room, but I don't know where Toa is leading me. He has a lead. I'm falling on his crystals to get any sense. We're not in the main room. While acting stupid. I'm going to scan the room and just look for any member of my party that I can see. We're going to be on the floor. I think we're trying to look for a kind soul maybe to talk to. That is also very drunk. Or at least very drunk.

You are all looking around. So while that's happening, you're looking around and you find a number. A lot of the people that are drunk are either off in the private rooms or flying around. You see one. Flying? Yeah, flying and dancing. So they'll fly here. They just won't fly. The ones that are drunk are flying and dancing. Well, I've been having fun. Care for a dance? Yes.

Sure. Hold on to me real tight then, and I'll cast Fly on myself. Oh my god. Cool! My ass tightens. Um,

And I will go up and start swirling around. My anus fuckers. See if I can try to match the cadence of the dance. Holding on to her jugs, spinning barrel rolls, the whole thing. Very Star Fox. Are they flapping their wings and flying? Yeah, they're flying, yeah. And I'll keep an ear out for anyone who's the most drunk to try and see when they go back down. I might be able to follow them down for this purpose.

So you're flying all around and you see one Aarakocra that looks really drunk and he says, I'll tell you, I'm going to go fishing up my drink. I'll be right back.

And he leaves this far younger Aarakocra, and he kind of sloppily flaps his way down, he almost like crashes into a group of dance- - Ooh, that's a drink! And I'll follow. - And you follow and you land right next to him. - Trying to get carsick. - Aarakocra sick.

We'll land behind him and um... Okay, what did you want to say again? I just wanted to ask about what Neil's name's gonna be. Okay. Oh, sir, are you getting a refill? I was just about to fill up my cup too.

Oh, yes, young lady, I was doing that, yes, yes. Oh, let me help you out there. You want some punch, bud? Oh, yes, I'm a little shaky. Oh, no problem at all. I just grab it out of his hands and I, like, as slowly as possible start pouring punch into his cup. Thank you, love. Oh, no problem. Are you a dancer? We saw you dancing up there. Yes, I dance a good dance move in my day, yes. Oh, you're pretty quick on your feet, I'll tell you what. That's pretty impressive.

Thank you very much, Emily. Maybe I'll join you for a dance later if you're still up to it. Oh, I hope you do. Who's this chap? Oh, this is Sir Tim Ironballs. Well, hello. How are you doing, sir? Lord Tim Ironballs.

And I am Lady Specularia Estracaria. Pleasure to meet you, my lord. Pleasure to meet you. And what is your house, good sir? I'm still slowly pouring questions. I am Belantris, of course. Belantris, sir! I'm sure you've heard of it. I haven't heard of either of you, but that's just fine. I like new friends. We are, as we have been referred to a few times, young blood. We're sure. Why not? Belantris?

Bellantrons, yes. Bless you. Thank you. Rumor has it that, as of your maturity, might know what the coming announcement might be. If we could get perhaps a preview. All I've heard are the same things... All I've heard are the same things that you've heard. It's gonna be way to crush fools, sir.

And all the other threats near the countries that were starting with the humans. And how much credence do you lend to that plan? It seems outrageous! He seems to think he has a leg up on the pile, as they say. What are your thoughts on that? How likely do you think he's going to achieve it? I have friends that are working to make sure that his plan does succeed. Very good.

"And those that are not quite the most trustful of thee, I'm sure will get their grumpets come up in's probably sooner rather than later." "But are you of the opinion that this plan will come to fruition?" "I believe so. I believe those that ask questions like this might be joining those in the balcony soon. Good day." The balcony? And he, uh, he walks away.

as he begins to flap his wings. And he says, "Remind me to grab that dance later after the show."

I hand him his drink back. Sounds good. Thanks for the chat. And he flaps up and he soars to the sky. Meanwhile, back to you. We can't go in the back. You all, you two, are kind of nonchalantly...

taking a look at the crystal. We went through the hallways, trying to find the stairs. You went through the hallways and you start to realize that it's pointing in the direction of that circular balcony into this space deep within it. But it all seems to, as you pass it, it starts to turn and then you make another pass backwards and it starts to turn in towards that semi-circle balcony that there seems to be no other connecting entrance, at least publicly.

This just looks like a dead end, friend. They're clearly holding them back there. Do we wait or do we just go in right now? Well, I know how important this is to you, but we just need to think for a minute. What if it's not the Wind Spirits? We'd put ourselves in danger for no reason.

I suppose that's true. I trust you. I know the heat. I know. I know. I believe you. And I want to help you. And I can try to get us in there. I just... It's a lot that could go wrong. Well, perhaps we just wait to hear whatever this announcement is, but at a moment's notice, let's just get in there and...

Kill whoever we have to. I can get us in there at a moment's notice. So my question is based on what you described where the balcony is and where we were on the floor What's the distance look like? You know what I'm saying? I would say it would probably be within 500 feet. Well, I guess my point is I would tell Toa that I would want to position myself in a way where we could attempt to just dimension door past

You know, I can eat him for a spot that I can't see, but I risk taking damage depending on what happens on the other side. So that's what I would explain to him, basically how the science works and whatnot, and that we would need to position ourselves in a certain spot

But we can wait and, I mean, in the blink of an eye, we can go. We can be in there, but it'll just be you and me. And I have a feeling the rest of the group is not going to be happy with that. All right, well, let's meet up with the rest of the group and just wait for the announcement, and then we can make a decision. I'll find a position where we can all stand and we can make a decision, and I'll find a good point of entry. Of course, let's round everybody up. All right.

So, we're going to go back and just grab everybody together and, like, wait and find a good spot to... Okay. I will also... I'll be looking actively with her just for the rest of you. So, as soon as we spot each other, we're in. So, you all... You all...

congregate in the center of this ballroom as the hours or the minutes go by and it's not long after a heart joins you holding like a drink and she's like I haven't talked to anybody I think everyone thinks I'm probably a freak why why would you say that because everyone else is so social and not afraid

That's okay. No one knows it's good news. It's okay not to say anything. You just puff your chest out like this and then you put your nose up and it looks like you are choosing not to talk to anyone.

Oh, I guess I should have done that. Remember what Iris said about spinning your head in circles and making your eyes go really wide? If anyone's messing with you, you give them business. Everyone here is so much better at that than I am, though. Well, you're not just practice. It's okay. You're small, but you're furious. Give them the small fury. Yeah, you got this. If they mess with you. Okay, yeah, I hope that doesn't happen. Everyone's just drinking and dancing and planning their next coup. They're not paying attention. Coup?

Oh, that's really funny. I didn't even, you know, life is really cool sometimes. Hey, is everyone alright? Are you guys alright? Is everyone good? Oh, so I'm pretty sure that things are going to go absolutely fucking crazy on the balcony.

And that we're gonna have some sort of a situation tonight during, before, or after, you know? Yeah, we don't want to end up there. I think it was naughty little bitch. All right, that's what we were afraid of, too. Toa and I have a plan, but we gotta stand over there, and I point to a location where I think we'll have a tactical advantage. I have ways where I can get Toa up to where he needs to be, but we're pretty sure that place is up there in the balcony.

And we think that there's some kind of wind being that they're bringing out for the announcement. I mean, Toa thinks it's the wind spirits. We just talked to a guy who said that you shouldn't be out on the balcony if you are in support of comments.

What? Like there's gonna be some kind of like active like coup right now? I... I... I... My impression was that if you support not-cognitive, then you don't want to be on that balcony when that happens. Yeah, I was asking one of the guys after a dance if he was hoping that the plan would happen and he was like, "Well, with that kind of thinking, you don't want to end up on that balcony now." And he went away and I figured that was a low-ball threat.

So we definitely don't want to say anything that would be one way or another and we should try to be as neutral as possible. - Oh, okay. - So if you don't like hummages,

Stay out of the balcony. Oh, 'cause he's gonna kill me. Maybe. Something's gonna happen up there. The balcony's bad news. It's called the bad news balcony and we don't wanna be out. All it does is reinforce that we might have to wait and see what happens, as awful as that feels. I want to get a good view because that lady was snotty. Again, I know where I need to stand with Toa to be in a good position and you can all stay with me or not, but I'm gonna do what I can to get Toa up there if we need to. Well, I think we better stick together.

Alright, and then I'll lead us to an advantageous point where I think I could shoot 500 feet past the balcony into the next room if I needed to. Okay. So, you do that, and as you're getting ready to kind of get towards the vantage point, you get the sense where anywhere you're on in the ground, you'd be able to shoot past it. And you're all kind of congregating, and then suddenly the band stops playing.

And then there's an eruption of trumpet fanfare that plays this bright celebratory tune as all of the Aarakocra and the nobles applaud very politely as the soldiers in that top central balcony begin to step away from the doors. The doors open.

and a young male Aarakocra steps forward, a vassal, and holds out a scroll of paper and says, May I present the Grand Lord Maestro Commodus! And the trumpets blare, and the...

the crowd erupts into applause and hoots and cheers. Everyone that had been on in the sky, in the air is now standing firmly on the various levels as well as on the ground. And, uh, Persia, as you, uh,

As you are standing there watching, you kind of feel the presence next to you and you see a cup raise up with punch as that same Aarakocra leans in and says, "Now here's the show." As you see-- - I just stare at everyone else like, "Is this some nightclub?" - I'm letting you see this. - Give him the big eyes. - You see as the trumpets are blaring and the door darkens and you see three figures.

in the doorway. And the head is the shortest of them all. Is a...aracocra. An owl. Dark brown fur with flecks of black, huge yellow eyes. In the finest, most elegant, regal garb that you've seen yet.

a white puff of feathers that matches his suit. As he steps forward, and this seems to be what you would depict as a great horned owl, a ceremonial sword at his side. Seems to be of older years, his feathers all around his neck, poofed out, almost bulging outward. As he steps forward, waving,

at the crowd as they all are cheering and hooting and applauding. I look at uh, the land trust to my right just to see if, or like try to glance to see if he has any sort of negative or positive reaction to this gentleman stepping forward.

You see him looking up and he's smiling as much as an owl can smile and applauding as he looks up and he gives one or two hoots as you see Maestro Commodus stroll out onto the balcony as he's waving. Then the door is almost darkened entirely by two very large figures that then step into the light of this room.

on the first figure that enters is the largest of the three. You see it's a feminine shape draped in an elegant ball gown.

But, rather than jewelry, are these bright gold manacles on the wrists and the ankles, and one large collar around the neck, glistening in gold. You see that this female figure has this brilliant mane of black hair draping down past her shoulders.

As she steps forward, her eyes are nearly vacant and emotionless, her mouth a narrow slit as this woman that is massive, even larger than you tell, steps forward behind and to the right of Commodus. Finally, the third shape emerges.

You see slate gray skin, tattoos, orange marking in strange tribal patterns as you see the foe that you fought, which is Makutu, Flamebender, Taiahi, steps forward. He looks a little different.

His face is horribly marred, and where his lower jaw had been is a grossly fastened, iron-plated, falset jaw. Damn fucking well. As he steps forward, and all of the crowd is applauding. I'm like shaking.

With rage. I'm just staring at the blue. I'm sorry, at the blue. I'm gonna like put my hand on Toa's arm. Like, I see Rokutu, right? Yeah. I'm just gonna like try to like, be like, okay, it's alright, it's alright. And as he's, you see Maestro Commodus, the Grand Lord, waving.

And then he puts out his talents. And then there's a quiet that falls. I'll pause this one. Before the applause stops, can I just scan the room real quick to see if there's any faces that seem to have like a disgusted look or they're not veiling there? Make an insight check. And did you say...

Skin color? Blue. Okay. This deep, dark blue. She's green. Sorry. Sorry, Kelsey. Well, I didn't hear him say specifically. I apologize. I meant to say. Move. Move. 18. 18. You look around, and as you scan, you see a number of...

You see a number of eyes look forward with this smirking sense that, this smirking grim satisfaction as they watch Commodus arrive. And there does seem to be a bit of surprise as they see the two figures with him. As you hear him come to them whispering, "Oh, there is more of them, unbelievable." As they applause and then stops.

And you hear him, "Hello, my loyal subjects!" And they all erupt into very polite applause. "But I say loyal to those that truly mean, since they are loyal to House Commodus.

are those that are truly happy to be here, as I am so happy that you all came to wish me well. I invite you into my home. I invite you to this grand announcement to the glorious future of the Ocassion Court. And I welcome you who have come with good intentions. But there are those of you who have come and they are not as loyal as I would like. No, not at all.

And you think you whisper in the shadows. Aye, you do. Call me an old fool. But there is nothing that get past me. You see, you look down upon all of those that are not pheasant, that are not owl-born. But I believe in alliances so that we may crush those that stand in our way. And so I have said for many years that I had a plan.

I'll plan to destroy the Raven Man, to destroy the filthy orcs and the elves. And many, for many years, believed me. As time went on, more whispers. That, oh, truly, he does not have mastery over the elemental plane of air like he claims.

Truly he cannot find what he seeks something powerful enough to destroy the nation of Khorovakia, to reclaim Striga. It was the god of the owl which forged this continent. Not the raven, not the vulture, not the hawk. And the storms have increased as you've all noticed.

And those of you with treacherous intentions, all of you know what the sound of thunder sounds like. You should have listened. You should have left while you could. But why am I speaking to you? At least those who have I not proven are treacherous. Tiber, come out. And you hear the rattling of chains.

As the, once again, the door darkens, and a number of figures steps forward. And first through the door, you see the barn owl, Eric Cochran, with the slitted eye, yanking a chain that connects to one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. "These are just ten of the noble houses that's been proven!"

to have plotted against me, to have doubted my grand plan. Is the old woman one of them? You look up, and as you see last in line, white feathers, or brown feathers, the old woman of Lady Minerva. Oh! As he leans forward, and he says, I am so disappointed that my own people, you nobles who I have taken care of so well, would...

I have such bad intentions against me in attempt to plot an assassination in my own party.

And so I like to think I'm a reasonable man and he, uh, a reasonable owl. And he draws his sword and immediately, without looking, slashes the throat of one of the imprisoned Aarakocra behind him. And you hear as it colliders to the ground and all of the other prisoners get kind of pulled down along with the chains that connect all of them. And then he steps one by one. And so...

Let this be the most memorable party that you have ever attended. I reach out and grab Caprice's hand. I'm backing you up with me to try to get towards the back of the crowd very slowly. I hesitate because I motion to who's standing next to me. It is our people's greatest downfall that we have squabbled and ended our own dynasties.

that the great houses have been divided and decayed. I intend the House of Commodus to unite Striga and with my new associates." And he gestures to Kutu. "Not one, not two, not three, but four of the seven that we need have been delivered to our very doorstep. They are right now in the hurricane's eye.

And the Eldritch Tempest is one spiritual way. And ever since, my dear, dear Alkira, and I know that you all judge me. Ever since I found her, I knew I just needed six more. And Strigger would be ours. All you had to do was wait. And with that last one, you see the eyes widen. And as Lady Minerva makes eye contact with you, the fourth...

Her throat is cut, and she collapses to the ground. Do I get a sense that when he said delivered four, he was explicitly referring to Makutu? Yes. For those four? Yes. Okay, I'm like absolutely shaking with rage right now. Easy, buddy, come on, easy, easy. And you see now the balcony up ahead as the only people that remain are the row of soldiers towards the back of the room, and then...

Maestro Commodus, Tiber the Silent Death, Makutu Flamebender Taiyaki, and allegedly this Altira. This is the deadpan face. Giant woman. She's the genie person. She's a genie. She's a genie.

But her expression looks like she's there against her will. She's shackled and he's kind of glowing. Robin Williams style. Robin Williams style, but there's also a choke and also the... She actually has lead feet. Is it connected to anything or is it just like...

Each one is separately connected, but she is wearing a long dress that covers it all up. And you can kind of see that there is a little chain business at each wrist. And so there may be some kind of connecting business, but it's all covered up. But not like someone's holding her? No, no. She is just walking forward, just slate-faced.

seeming to be a part of this like Makutu is where he maybe... As Commodus reaches up and he gives Makutu a big pat on the shoulder. You see, I have pride in being an Arakokra, and I will be an Arakokra more than anyone, but it is with the help of my new friends and anyone who wishes to help me indulge my

to defeat those who stand in my way. The small folk have been crushed beneath us. It is simple easy. There's no chance for rebellion. It is these three other nations, and they have been torn apart by the beasts. A great fortune not even I could have foreseen. And my most optimistic, now is the time. And my dear friend, Tiber the Silent Death, the greatest bounty hunter in all of Ereus, he promises me

that he knows the time is short until we have all seven of the spirits that we need.

Do they need seven or five? Because he said one more. He said one more into the Elder Tempest. They have seven. They need seven. They have four. They need seven. They at least know that they have... They have four. That they have five. You at the very least know that they have five. Oh. And ever since... But Mukutu delivered four. Mukutu delivered the four. But you know that he said that after I found Alkyra, I need six more. Right. Right.

Alkyra is the first. So she's been in slavery for a while now with them. So there are likely two more that they... Wait. Five. There's two left that they need. Because it's Alkyra plus four that Mukuchi delivered. And there's two more missing. Right? He said that the only one needed one more. Yeah. So there's one... Okay, one that hasn't been spoken of. That we don't know of. Okay. Got it. Got it. I missed that part. And he stops. And so...

And he holds up his sword that's completely covered in blood and feathers as he scrapes it against the railing. Nasty business, but it must be done. And so that has been the intermission. I hope I have made myself clear. Zentra falls. Kurovaki falls. The rest of Striga falls. The Elder Temptist will be...

generated in the eye of the hurricane and the hurricane will destroy all those that stand in our way and it is you people that will benefit the most so please stop plotting against me and he raises a talon and he turns and walks away and with that there's a silence that falls and immediately the band starts playing again

I immediately take out the crystal, like, once everyone's, like, sort of talking to themselves. As slowly as I can, see if it's, like, pointing clearly at, uh, Alcira. The second you... Alcira. The second that you do that, it is clearly resonating directly towards her. And it's kind of, as Lufty stands next to you, it's kind of, like, going slightly towards her, but it is very clearly pointing at Alcira. Uh, damn Makutu.

It's him! He's been plotting against the wind spirits from the beginning! I need to kill him now. We need to find him now. We need to stop this. We need to find this Eye of the Hurricane! Right, right. So we need to free the wind spirits, but there's nothing stopping them from just getting recaptured again until we deal with Mukuju, correct? Yeah, we'll kill him on the way! Are you guys whispering this to each other? Yeah, amongst us. There's somebody next to me.

I go away from you. So I think we need to, we need to, we should act now. That's fine. We can, we can, we can get in. We can force our way in, all of us, or we can try to do it stealthily, but if we're going to burn all this down anyway, we need to bust in there.

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crooked moon a folk horror tome for dungeons and dragons fifth edition and don't forget to snag all the extra goodies like dice miniatures plushies a tarot deck and more thank you and so as you see toa and uh as you see toa and felix kind of uh duck away uh the same uh air coker leans in and says you know you went up there right to house comedus

Cheers! Cheers with, uh, Volantris? Yeah, Volantris. Volantris, yeah. Volantris? Yeah. Volantris, I thought. Volantris. Yeah. And he, uh, he walks away. And, uh, with a grin smile on his face. ...

I look around to see if any of his minions or anyone else could be within earshot of our group while we try to discuss, like, the plan or something. It seems that everyone is pretty shocked. Those that—you look around and those that had had these

smiles and sick senses of satisfaction that it would be maybe a comeuppance to Commodus are absolutely shocked. And they are stone-faced and many of them are kind of cluttered in their own groups, like whispering very low. And so no one's really focused on trying to listen to anybody else.

I'm gonna step in and talk to them, but I want to face away from them, so I'm keeping an eye on anyone that might be approaching, or if anyone comes back. That's fine. We need to find where this Great Tempest is. And I'm sure some of these disgusting bird people know where it is. And then we burn all of this to the ground.

All right, all right. We find we got to get information on where the tempest is your rice I mean is it just the source of the storms is that we've seen the storms multiple times is it I just worried far from here Did it take out Kira back? Yep, okay, that's him direction. I say under my breath. We need to get to tiger before we get to Come on, let's come this come this Why?

He knows us. We have to kill him first before he says anything. He would recognize us in this form. We're wearing masks at the moment, so for now at least until he discovers our faces we have a little bit of time, but I agree. We can't let him exist with Makutu because they're going to get the last wind spirit they need. Or the last wind entity, whatever it may be. So I agree we need to deal with them both. I just don't... We don't know where this Tempest is. And that's what worries me. We can deal with the immediate problem that's right here, right now.

But I don't know where to go to find this Tempest. We need, we should ask around. I'm sure somebody knows. I'm sure somebody knows where these things are being held captive. It can't be that far behind those doors that they brought around all the way out here for a show. Well, they put the other Tempest in the hurricane. He said to himself, they're in the eye of the storm. We'd have to go to the hurricane to release them, right? Right, correct. I mean, I would assume so, yes.

It's interesting that Elkira's here. I mean, it sounds like she's been with the group since the beginning. She was the first one they enslaved. Why is she not part of the store? Why is she shackled here and keeping him company like some pet? I think the implication is that she is part of it and they just brought her out as for pure show to prove his power. You think the other ones are here too? I think that they're all, it's all part of it. They need seven and they need one more. They have six.

They have Al-Kibra, the four wind spirits from the Makani Islands, and then somebody else. And there are four spirits from your islands, right? They have all four of them? Yes, that's basically what he just said. And the last one he heavily implied was Lufti.

This is all nearly posh enough where no one's listening. We're stage misdreavus. We're stage misdreavus. We're stage misdreavus. Number six would be Lufty, and then there's seven, six unknown. There's one that we don't know about. They have six. They need one more. I thought they had five. No, they have six. They need one more. It's Lufty. Can we break this down again? I'm sorry. So we know there's four. We have one that's O'Kira, four from the Wind Spirits. One that we don't know about. They have one. We just don't know who it is. And they need one more for seven.

We don't know of and haven't seen the six. Yes, they have six. They need one more. We don't know who the six are. Sorry. We went from four, five, six, so I'm very confused. Everybody good? We good? Yeah. All on the same page. So I think we... Can we get back through those doors? Yeah, yes. Of course we can. We can either magic some of us in or we can just go in guns a-blazing.

I don't think we should do anything during the party. Sorry to interrupt. Yeah, I simply agree. There's way too much attention. I think we either sow additional discord somehow, or... He's clearly concerned about an uprising, and if we give him lots more evidence, then he's going to continue to come down on these people, and they're going to continue to plot and be annoyed. That could be a nice positive feedback loop that we could foster.

But I don't know how to even start infiltrating all these powerful people inside of the actual house if we go in guns a blazing. That could be a nightmare. I mean, it's just a matter of beginning to burn it all.

We do have the Bernie Bernie. There's nothing that says we can't start it now. I think people are going to be too terrified to speak of their allegiance either for or against him now after seeing that. I agree. It's so fresh in their minds. They're all going to just lie in our faces unless we, you know, No, I don't. I'm not talking about trying to convince them. I'm just trying to say that if we do something right now, then if we do something that we don't get blamed for,

like cause an explosion or create some sort of weird illusion or whatever, then the, uh, I assume that, uh, Maestro Acabanas would, would assume that that's, that's the resistance that he was so, so trying to quell just now. An immediate reaction sometime in the next few minutes can look like additional resistance. If we use any of the fire in the next however many minutes, they're going to

shut everything down security will be as high as it could possibly be and there's no way we're gonna get back there all right we have to let him think that he's quelled everything and then perhaps you're right we wait until after the party and then we sneak in

and we figured out what the hell's going on. I'm gonna glance back up at the balcony. The bodies that were there, are they being left? Are they being attended to? They are just laying on the ground in chains. Blood is just pouring out, dripping down the wood. People are kind of sidestepping these large pools that are forming on the ground. Let's go take a look at the bodies. Maybe get a closer look if it's successful.

I would just walk up there. Tobe and I tried. We looked. We were following the crystal, which was apparently leading to that woman, and we couldn't find a way up there. I had suggested blinking up there, but we didn't want to risk our lives without telling any of you, and

Here we are. There doesn't seem to be public entrances up there from what we could find. You said people were sidestepping it. The pool of blood that was pouring down from the third. Yeah, it was dripping down off the balcony. So the balcony is not accessible. Yeah, it's not as well as dripping off down the different balconies. We tried to find a public entrance but couldn't find anything. Gotcha. So...

I'm going to ask around and I'm going to figure out if anyone knows where this eye of the hurricane is. Hurricane's eye is... Perhaps we could go and pledge allegiance to Commodus by telling him of some other uprising we've heard of. Say that we weren't sure he was the real leader until this display that he's put on. I could plant some rumors that, you know, the people we've met so far have

been spreading whispers about being against him. But this velantrous gentleman that snuck up next to me seemed like he was pretty much on his side. Probably really hard-pressed convincing anyone from his gang that he's causing an uprising of some kind. There's only one thing that I think is going to open the gates for him if we just want to go and immediately talk to him. And that's if we make a promise that

We have one of the two that he's missing. He's missing. Just so we're all on the same page, he's only missing one. Just so we're clear, do we all agree that he's only missing one spirit? And that he has six, he needs seven, and he's missing one. Remember? So I think that if we could tell him we have one of the three that he's missing... LAUGHTER I'd let him know. My end is almost 20 and I can't do basic addition! LAUGHTER

- I think, anyway, I'm gonna go off on a trip, asking people, just very in casual, like, oh man, that was a crazy thing. He's very powerful, I'm totally in. Have you heard of this, all of the hurricane thing? Do you know anything about that? - Just kind of trying to, so you do that, and most people that see you are just like, they immediately walk away. I need you to make, just make a general persuasion check for as you walk around the room. - Ugh.

- Nice! - Can I use a twist? I'm using a twist. - Twist it, twist it up. - There we go, that's in 17. - 17. As you make your way around, and you eventually find one person that's willing to talk to you. And you see that it is a

an air-cobra noble, it's a male, and it's a bit shorter with these light brown feathers, large round rings around his dark, nearly black eyes, as he is off by himself, which gives you some interest and some thought as he's not talking to anyone else and he looks

to be disgust, disgusted. And there's a look of regret and shame on his face as he kind of stares off. - I approach him. - Okay. So he's standing there. He barely is recognizing like that you're even there. - Are we all together?

Or are you just a... Whatever you guys want to... If you want to follow me, feel free. He just kind of ran off. I am going to not follow him. I'm going to just keep my eye on him. Hang by the bar and keep an eye on him. When I realize that he's starting to go from person to person and talk to them, I will be behind him. I'll help out Felix in keeping watch. I will approach this air-coker gentleman and I will say, Hello there, friend. That was some display, wasn't it?

I'm trying to like control my kind of anxiety and rage this whole time. Don't barb out. Barb out? Yes, it was. It was a display, for sure. You don't look well, Frank. Did you know one of the poor souls that lost their lives just now? Yes, I did. I'm so sorry. It was my grandmother. Oh no. It's terrible.

I think it's my fault. Why would it be your fault, friend? I went to a party a few months ago and I tried to impress a girl by saying that my house would be the next ruler of Ereus. What's your name, friend? I'm Oberos. Oberos Minerva. Oh, yay. Your grandmother did.

I'm so very sorry for your loss. Please don't take it too hardly. You couldn't have known. I should have known. I didn't. She seemed so confident. She seemed like she had it all figured out. I thought it was a done deal. These things just happen. Just eventually a dynasty falls and a coup happens and it's just the current noble house that is massacred.

and not other noble houses. I was foolish for a girl of all things. "Well, do you know anything about the hurricane's eye that he mentioned?" He looks at you as he kind of snaps his attention back. "Make a persuasion check, please." This is it. Or else the campaign ends. That was all of the set three! Woo! Okay.

Natural. Eyes over here. Come on, Marwyn. He looks around. Who are you, friend? My name is... My name is... Lord Gustav Hammerschmidt. Lord Hammerschmidt. Did you lose someone just now? You could say that, yes. Very well. I... I want... Do you plan on doing something? Can you help me?

Yes, I do. Let's find a private place. Is it just you, or are you here with a party? I'm here with friends. Very, very capable friends. If you want to restore your honor and make up for what happened to your grandmother, your assistants would potentially bring this all down. I'll clink my ice in my glass, and I'll give him a little wink of inspiration to show... I love that. And he looks at you and he says,

If you can help me redeem myself and my house, we cannot be out here alone and talking about it. Make a persuasion check at advantage. I'm using Loof to kind of body block them a little bit, and I'm just like... We're just laughing unreasonably. So it's a 13, and it's locked. 13, 14, 16, 17, 18? 18.

He looks around and says, "We good?" He's gonna make, he's gonna think at the end of the day, "Yes he is." He's gonna look around and say, "We must go someplace where we can be private." "Wait, wait, can we go?" "Do you want me to leave here?" "Follow me." "Yes, of course." And he steps and as, as he- Right before he turned I'm like, "Look at the priest." And I'll sort of try to knowingly nod and just whatever you- And he looks back at you and says,

get friendly with each other as he steps forward and all of a sudden the disgust and shock and fear and hatred of himself disappear and he gets a large owl smile and he kind of starts to put some swagger in his step as he looks at all of uh

The page is wonderful. And he occasionally will reach back and stroke each of the ladies on the arm and the shoulders. Oh, of course, this way. Oh, God, I know the spot. And he guides you up into the different rooms. And then one of these vassals, one of the lower born vassals, he says, to the group room, if you don't mind. And I'll be behind taking...

Vandris and Dyrus. Ha ha! I stab the big guy in the face! Stay true! Yeah! Yeah, I'll get Felix's and I'll get everyone's attention and they'll be like, oh, this way to the big orgy room. I'll be stroking my own arms as I wake my way up the stairs. I'm fluffing my chest with feathers.

making him look more lovely and uh and then you see this uh you see this uh vassal like this young uh waitress uh not say oh of course lord uh minerva um i'll check to make sure it's not already in use and uh this this uh waitress uh guides you listens in knocks opens it closes it and says

It is ready to accommodate all of you. And she, uh... She... There we go. Sorry, I did...

as the door opens, and it's similar to the private room that you'd been in, but definitely considerably larger. There's a multiple of these plush nest-like places. The smell of rich incense. There's bottles of alcohol with many goblets all around, and it's very overly perfumed, as if to mask whatever normally happens here. As you all step forward into...

into the room and he closes the door behind him. I immediately try to lock it and listen and see if there may be anyone on the other side. You're able to lock the door, make it just a general perception check for this business. Man, what is that smell? You'd think they'd never have water fed. Fourteen.

14, okay. So you're standing, listening, waiting at the door. Uh, Lord, uh... Lord Powerbottom? Yes? Do you wanna do your... Maybe not in front of, uh...

Who's our friend here, Gustav? Oh, this is Lord Oberos Minerva. Fantastic. I think that if maybe you and I just stand by the door, we'll be all right. How did you meet him?

He is the... He unfortunately lost someone tonight. He is the grandson of one of the nobles that was unfortunately executed. Lady Manova, if I'm not mistaken. Yes, I'm sorry to hear that. She was really something. It was my fault.

And he'll go into the story and tell you how it all happened again, kind of haunted by that memory. I think I should be near the door playing some music to try and drown out our voice. Fantastic. And I'll just step away from the door. And...

So the Veal is playing this exact music. Yeah, this music. The Godfather theme, which is appropriate. Whatever. That's fine as well. It's not like on the board or anything. As you are playing and, well, Felix and Herja go to the thing, and I'll say that you probably introduced yourselves with your fake names. Yep. Your companions do the same as well, as...

So what can you tell us about this Commodus and what can you tell us about this Hurricane's Isle? Any help that you can give us will aid in the toppling of his extremely evil reign. I only know what my grandmother told me. She said that Grand Lord Commodus...

has... was working and had his... Aeromancers... working around the clock in this special place at the center. Do I know what an Aeromancer is? I would say make an Arcana check.

I hope it's a mancer who makes arrows. It's pretty good. It's an acceptable 17. 17. You could probably guess that an arrowmancer would be an arrow and a mancer, a mancer of air, a magic. Air. A-E-R-O? A-E-R-O. Air nature. Oh, not A-R-O-W. Yes. Arrow, not arrow. He had his arrowmancers working around the clock.

And ever since, I believe it was five years ago, it was Alkyra the Thunderfury came through the plane, elemental plane of air, looking for someone, but he was ready. She'd come through the portal before, years, and no one had been there to bite her. He thought he would get a wish out of it, but he did not, but he... I was told that he...

Fuuuuck.

Okay. Size of building. And he plans on creating this beast once he has all seven. So, I don't know what the significance of seven wind spirits is, but apparently there were seven. They had gone to have to... He somehow discovered that Alkira was one. He bound her with his magic. She, her mind was bored. They found that there were...

Seven others. Six others. I just can't even do math. I'm just so wrong this place. There's seven and he has six. Thank you. And he's missing one of the three. Or the three. No, no, no, you're right. It was one of the four.

Out of RP, but in character, Caprice explains that he thinks that he was lying when he said that he had sex.

Why would you say that? I think that he has five. I think he has five! Wait, are you fucking with me? No! Like, out of character? He thinks he has five. I think that he's lying about the six. He's saying he has six, maybe he has a flex. Just to make it seem closer to the victory. He just put on a big show. We've heard over the last few weeks that they needed one more. The Bambas, I believe, said it. Yeah, but who are they getting that information from? Him. Right? I mean, who do we think that seventh is?

I don't say that in front of him. This person who's clearly not an owl and definitely a genasi. I mean, oops. Vampires, yeah! So, are you saying, do you know where they're holding these beings? The hurricane's eye, it's a barren...

pit into the earth. The ring of mountains surrounds it. Is it nearby? It's a far journey, but not too far. And it's where he keeps his aeromancers, where they work on building the storm, all of the storms that have increased over the past months and years. It all stems from the eye. Can you take this there?

How long will it take to get there? I can show you how to go. But I fear if another Minerva is seen aiding in any sort of rebellion, my whole family will be killed. No, no, you shouldn't risk it. You can just tell us how to get there. Risk it? How will you draw? What do you mean? Well, you can make a map. No, I'm not. I think I can do a respectable job. Art was one of...

The teachings that I receive as a boy. Well, there you go. We believe in you. How many days travel there and back, roughly? B. Depends on how you go. I believe it's a two or three day journey by wing.

It's not good. We can't go there first, right? I mean, we have to do... How do the nobles get there? Do they have some sort of special means inside the city that maybe teleports them there? Are they really flying three days to get to something so precious? The nobles are not permitted to go unless you are appointed by Commodus Consensus. Because they have to be taken some back, though.

We saw Alkia. If she's here, she's going to have to go back there and they're going to have to take her. Does Kamidus fly? Is he flying there for three days? Or is he transporting himself in some other manner? He might not need to go there at all. Because the Aeromancers, they're doing all of this work. I believe that the last... Plan B, as it were, is not able to be assassinated this evening.

was to intercept him on his way to the storm. He was planning on heading to the Eye no more than a day after the masquerade ball. And someone was going to intercept him? The uprising was the plotters, my grandmother and her. But they're all dead now. They are all dead, it seems, yes.

And you would be recognized as a Minerva? Of course. Everyone knows the Minervas. Now, I can draw you a map to where the Hurricane's Eye is. Your grandmother and the rest of them may have fallen, but we will rise up and take their place. We will end this now. Thank you. And perhaps we don't need to bring down Kaliri at all.

I look around knowingly. Well, I don't know who you are. I've not heard of your houses. But you seem to be good, noble folk. Noble in the metaphysical sense. Not just highborn. Our houses, our nobility does matter. All you need to know is that we will hopefully avenge your grandmother, the other nobles here, and everyone else that feels oppressed by Commodus. Agreed.

We're gonna do what we can. I worry, though. I worry with the six spirits that he has. Even if he doesn't get the seventh, what could be done with that power? And with the volcanic man he has with him? I've heard whispers that combining storm with the power of magma to cause even more destruction and damage...

How does the volcanic man play into this? Where is he staying? Is he still here? I do not know. He moves through the ground. He was an informant, burrowed in where the burrowers would hide. But that can't be too close. I mean, we're up pretty high. I mean, how would he... Where is this... The burrowers, what does that mean? It's how all of them... The under-roots rebellions were all... They thought they could burrow. He ratted them out, all of them.

I'll probably put my boy in order. You see Hart kind of like back up a little bit. The good news is that he probably can't travel his freedom up here. It's gotta be more difficult for him. He can't do what he does. But I'm sure they can. I'm sure they're taking him right to where we need to go. Of course, but we need to kill him tonight. But if we can get him, he won't be able to escape. That's the point. We'll have him this time. I worry they're long gone. Already? Now, if they're long gone, then he's going where we're going and we'll kill him there.

Alright. Are you done with the map yet? Oh, let me start drawing. Oh, sorry, stop the map, please. We need to go. My nerves are shot. I apologize. Of course, you've been so soft to me. I hand him my cup of unfinished punch. Thank you. Please finish it.

I'm not really a big fan. No offense. Just think back to your art days when I gave them inspiration. Okay. Nice. It's a D8, right? Also, we all agreed that... There are three. There are four... That are left. Of the... Yep. So what kills everyone? Yeah. Grabs the map. But he does it one at a time. He does it. He slices her neck with a flourish one at a time. Yeah.

So I'm just like kind of looking over his shoulder trying to get a sense of this mat and what he's doing. I find like the animals and my favorite part of D&D is trolling your friends. No, I'm just gonna wait for the mat to be done and just kind of listen to the conversation. And he spends time drawing it and with the bonus and the roll

It doesn't take him too long as he moves aside some vials of oil off a larger table for some space, and he draws out a loose map of Eerios. I sniff one of the oils. It's some slippery biz. Oh! And

Oh, no. Whoa. You do that. I can't wait for you to not be a promoted owl anymore. That's faded. This is just Caprice. Yeah, that's gone. That's just Caprice. Oh, the things don't exist anymore. You don't have to be obsessed with jewelry anymore. But you can be if you want to.

And you see that he draws out a map, and it goes toward the center of Eerios, and there's a ring of ridges and mountains that seems to be... He draws out bits of forest, and this whole ring seems to be bare, as the shape of this almost seems to be in the shape of an eye.

He's drawing and with that standing roll is high detail. And he notes that there's a small pass in one of the ridges that might be crossable. But he knows that in this ring is where this huge storm is brewing. He dots it out and dots where he thinks the path might be.

And then he's- What's that, everybody? There's a ring hole, and we can find passage through the- How's that for time, Goodreads? I know this is an orgy, but I'm putting it away. Slip right into the link. That's right. You can do plenty of oiling and slipping in rings later tonight, perhaps? Or just some other time, I think we need to figure out. So this mountain pass-

This is how it would be terrible. Coward bottom? Don't make a face like that. If you need to go by foot undetected, that would be passable. You don't plan on using your wings, but the skies are treacherous as well. The wind is nearly impossible to fly through unaided by aromancy.

But at least that's the tales that we were told as children. Is anyone here an aromancer? Felix, you're an aromancer of some kind, aren't you? I still don't really know what that word means. Me neither, but it sounds very magical, and Felix is very magical. Aromagician? Uh...

Uh, I mean, this is... I can hold my wings up. It's not something that I specialize in, but given the opportunity, I might be able to learn a little bit more about it and see if there's something that I could do. I mean, without seeing it, I have no idea. I don't even know where to begin. I'm not sure if you mean what you think you mean. There's supposed to be a space between the A and the I. It's actually AI romancing. Oh, so then Caprice...

Caprice is a person with real thoughts. We need some kind of robot. Oh, I thought you meant like romancers in romance. Yeah. And like, eh, like how who says eh sometimes? Like artificial intelligence. So like, eh, I'm a romancer. What? Eh, man, I'm a romancer. What? Yeah.

Look, I don't know what any of it means. Neither do I. Do we need like a sex tinker? Is that what you're saying? Yes, I believe that is what I'm... A sex tinkerer. What is a ro... What is a robit? Like a little clockwork sex golem. You've seen those. You've seen golems before. Have I seen a golem before? Like stone golems. Well, maybe probably wood golem. Maybe a wood golem. A coral golem. I'm not sure.

I think there's a very clever solution to this. We kill Lüfty. I mean, sure, but why? Who's Lüfty? I don't say that, obviously. I'm not hearing my accent.

Obviously. When he's done with the map, I ask him to label things that we have. Yeah, he does. He rolled very well on the map. That is very nice. You should go to art school.

I was told to. You know, get a job. You're rich, but you should still have a trade. Jobs are beneath nobles. You know that. But if you do it for fun, it's not really a job. And then you can just rub it in other people's noses. I dabble, that's all. You could get into graphic design, perhaps. I know it doesn't pay the bills per se, but you might just work your way up and...

I don't need to know any of this. Oh, that's right. You're a noble. Perhaps your first work of art could be an image of Commodus, but as a lady with ladies' makeup on. You know, you could make maps like you just did, but every once in a while hide a little penis in there, and I think everyone would really like it. They could play a game called Spot the Penis. Yeah.

I don't... I don't think that I would be doing that. Iris, I hate to ask you this, but... Then you probably shouldn't. Do it anyway. I was going to ask, but are there any aromances from where you're from? I feel like you're from a very...

You know, highborn place with lots of nobles. We have a lot of golems, but none of them do sex work. No, I'm not talking about robots or golems. Well, at least not that I'm aware of. What about like air romancers? Magician or wizard? Magic types that control the air? Yes, of course. There would be, right? Yeah. You know that there is a heavy Aarakocra population on Neckbat as well. Yes.

Yes, what is the strange voice in the sky I just said? Do you know anything that might be able to help us through these winds? Although maybe perhaps going on the ground would be safest.

Would it be obvious if we took a couple chariots and flew through the sky straight there? Would it be obvious? Do you know how well that worked for us last time? I think we should stick to the ground, what we know best. Yeah. I agree. I think that if we're approaching a big ring, you've got to go in from the ground area. Are there any other houses that...

May feel the same way that you do. I believe there are, but after what just happened today, I don't know who. Tonight, I don't know what. Any good friends of your grandma? I would hazard a guess that they are not among the living.

Even the one, the ten that were slain on the balcony. What I would say is don't risk approaching anyone, don't speak to anyone outside of this room about what we've spoken about tonight. Don't even think about rebellion, about a revolt, about overthrowing Commodus. Please let us handle it. What do you plan to do? You plan to kill the Molten Man.

You plan to free all of the Winspirits of the future? You know, normally you don't want to give out your plans before you hand them. Especially to a stranger, no offense. Tira. I can trust him. Oh, can you? He lost his grandmother tonight. That does not indeed require trust. You don't 100% trust someone because they lose someone. Villains have lost many people. That could be part of the reason they become villains. Well, I normally do.

You're just an artist. If someone's sad, I usually trust them. Well, you are a liability, darling, and we should not allow you to speak. Never mind, we don't have a plan, but don't worry. Just get that. Despite being plainly figuratexed, we usually don't have a plan anyway, for what it's worth. And I think we should say, just to follow all of that up, you've been very friendly and very helpful, and we are grateful to you. And also sorry for the loss of your...

For another. You seem so safe here. Thank you so much. I am going to go home to my sister and my family and make sure everything's alright. We may be in touch with a voice in your head.

So don't be surprised. What? Just for all of them. Why would that not be surprising? I'm saying it's going to be very surprising, but don't be surprised by it. I'm giving you a heads up now. So me informing you now is so you're not like, oh no, what is this? Am I going crazy? Should I have like a neurologist check this out? No, it's very intentional and it's probably us. But it might sound like you're...

Or someone else, I don't know. Are you voluntolding me to send him messages? That's exactly what he's doing, yes. I'm not saying we will, I'm just saying it might be. As a noble, you're not stupid, are you? No. You've received a sending spell before.

I have, yes of course. Is that what you're referring to? Yes, that's what he's speaking about, yes. Oh, yes. You did not do a very good job explaining it. I'm sorry, I'm not very good at any of this, am I? I just wanted to kill somebody and I wanted to freeze some things and I just, I just want to go. We are not a low magic people. You know that. Well, I mean... Are you, I guess maybe the newer houses are not as very well versed. No, he has a lot of servants to do the menial tasks for him.

I stopped talking and I started nodding. I was like, you can cast sending? Of course I can. I've done it at least 50 times. How many times can you cast it per day, let's say? I don't know. Um...

Four, no, five. And does the person who is receiving the sending know it's you? Of course. They do know it's you? Yes. Thank you for the assistance, James. Well, I just, I recall you doing it at least like eight times. Yeah, I mean, four or five times a day, you're just wandering around the streets of wherever, like this communist guy. All of a sudden, you just hear, I don't know. I don't know.

That could be a real nightmare. Yes, Caprice, it could be. If they know it's you, then the joke is ruined. But if they don't know who I am, then it doesn't matter, does it? It's just the same voice, right? However, that would be a horrible idea because a madman like that would actually act on it. Exactly right. But feeding the distrust seems like a good idea. You know, I'm getting way off the beaten path here. I'm sorry. Please continue.

What do you plan to do? I'm going to go home, check on my family, hug my little sister, and hope that everything will be alright. And never speak of any of this ever again? Not even to my closest friends and family. You have to swear. You have to swear that... I swear on the life of my sister.

I already spoke too much, and now my grandmother is two stories above us, bleeding out like a deer to be picked apart by vultures. I reach my hand out. He grabs it. Lord Minerva, you've done well to trust us. I promise that your mistake, your perfectly well-intentioned mistake, will be avenged. I hope so.

Please be so- I hope there is hope! I opened up my arms. I count. And I offer him a hug. Make him trade jacks.

Oh, that was almost a natural 20. I am proficient in persuasion, so 25. Okay, so 25. He stops for a moment. Bring it in, big boy! And then you start to see tears well up in his large eyes, and he just rushes over and gives you a hug, and he just starts bawling as he's... He's a young man. He's probably not that much older than Hart at this point. Oh, man.

And he's hugging you, like, "Hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo I pull away and I put my- his fluffy owl head in my talons and I put my beak against his and I widen my eyes and stare into his. I promise you we're going to free you from this oppression. I promise you. Thank you. You are destined for greater things.

We will not let you live in fear. Do you hear me? I lean over to Caprice and I'm like, this is...

This is getting a little weird. I thought you were a champagne. I could not face... I can't be safe. I grab the mask. I leave. I just follow Tom. I'm just gonna leave, dude. I'll just leave you creasing strong and walk out and follow Iris. Now you're gonna slow roll that like I grab the sides of his face and then I put my beak against his beak and I open my eyes real wide. And then I loosen my bowels!

The last one was really nice. It was really nice. As you do that, not shitting your pants this time. I don't have to roll a con save this time. You don't, Jesus Christ. Why did you have to roll a con save to shit her own pants? Not a save, a con. I wanted to see what the result was. It's a con check. No one does that. Oh, I see. So I wanted to see the... Anyway. Got it. The... The... As you grab his... Did you shit your pants on command?

Oh!

Oh no! Oh no! And the legends of a man for something. That was a brown note. Jesus, Mary and Joseph. We ask the important questions here at LOA. So, I will, I guess, start heading back towards the room, right? So yeah, as you do that, he nods at you seriously and says, thank you so much, I

I will live in fear, but it's deserved fear. I just hope things don't burn down around our heads. Are you kidding right now? I'm sure I'll be fine, Minerva. And you all leave. And he stays in the room. Okay. That's funny, isn't it?

I walk out as I, and I'm like, "Ahh, I feel refreshed!" I pretend like I'm straightening up my jacket and zipping up my pants. What mask do you have on? Oh, I don't know, just whatever. We all pick the looking ones. We have more than creatures, we all pick whatever. I'm just wearing something. Just pick whatever I'm wearing. Cat mask. What do you wear? A cat. What's going on? I think...

We should return to our inn. It's been a long night, hasn't it?

Has the party ended? A lovely party. I don't want to leave too early, it looks suspicious. The party looks like it's still going on, but it's starting to dwindle a little bit. People are starting to drift out. You get the sense that the nobles are trying to do the similar thing and trying to kind of stay as long as they need to to have it not be weird and then leave.

Everyone seems to have lost their appetite. The bar is completely slammed, but the buffet is a ghost town. Yeah. Oh, yay, yay. Um...

I need jello salad as I glance over at the buffet. There's like no jello salad, but there's like a gross approximation of like some kind of slaw. I'll pass. I have standards. Something jiggling. It's jiggly, but it's not jello salad. Let's retreat for the night. Agreed. I agree.

So I will turn and I guess we'll leave. Proceed. Okay. Acting like, oh, the lovely, lovely party. Yes. I'm looking down my nose at people and I just turn on all the things that I was told to do as a noob. But yeah, that rat souffle was really top notch. Yeah, so good. Have to do this again soon. Okay. I like when they cut all the throats.

Uh, yeah. Yeah. No. It's a... Yeah, no. I just put my hand around her shoulder. Oh, sorry. Sorry. I'm sorry. It's okay. It's okay. I'm so stupid. No, no. Say, I loved the show of power. I loved the show of power. Very good. Come on, it's so cool. No, no, darling. Just, I love you. He's so awesome. I mean...

You know it's fine. I love the short power! The great cool power! And then, uh, as you're... You're like a sucker. I just pat her on the head. You're getting there. And, uh, she's like, oh, okay. And you all sit up. And Zorbeth leans in and says, Hey, Caprice. Do you think Herza likes that owl guy? Yes, very much. Absolutely. 100%.

Deception check. Exactly right. Oh my god. Deception? Yeah, he's done. 19. And he like walks off and hands his head dejectedly as he walks and falls to the back of the group. Move along, you longer fuck. Laughter

- You don't look competitive. - He doesn't catch that. - There's probably like 40 chests over here. - Not today, you furry bastard. - Not today. - Okay, you leave the masquerade ball. - So as we're walking out, Toa. - Yes? - What is the crystal telling you now?

I'm gonna very subtly, assuming it'll now point to Lufty. You see, and then once again, that dim glow that's pointing toward Lufty. So it's not pulling. The same. Anymore. Same as it was. They must have left already. They must be gone now. They wasted no time. If she was anywhere near here, it would be what's up. But I don't know why, because I'm right here. I agree. So just so I understand...

The goal is to, once we arrive at the eye, to walk in, but we're gonna fly there first. I mean, it would take infinitely longer if we made the entire trip on land. - I think that what he said was true. If we fly, it would be far more obvious

This bounty hunter found us easily. Let's just fly him through. So if he has any crystals, he's flying on here. Twice as long, then we're looking at six days out. So almost a week there and then a week back. We've got hope with us, though. She knows the ways.

That's true, she can lead us in the underbrush, right? Which is fine, it's just the difference between flying and walking, I mean... I don't think we would last three days at the end, frankly. Alright, alright. I really don't, I mean, unless anyone has any ideas. No, I just wanted to make sure we're all on the same page is all. When we got attacked at the daytime... We just tried it and it was very scary. Um, it was... When you got attacked, it was daytime. It was daytime. So like their night. I've never been that far into the country.

here's the thing we get attacked in the air then if they're not in range of my totem i can't do anything i totally i'm not going to risk my boomerang and it flies and it's gone it just it was i did not feel good being attacked all right flying i felt so powerless exactly that moment i was trying to command him to get closer just so i could him up and sit on him and he just wouldn't

And I almost fell off too, and I mean, I mean you intentionally fell off, but at least you caught yourself. I can't do that kind of magic. Then we have to leave first thing in the morning. First thing after we get some rest. Why don't we just camp down at the bottom of the trees tonight? I'll think as soon as... Did I hear you correctly? You want to sleep in the underbrush in this beautiful, fancy hotel? Are you covering this time? Not at all. I can pay for my own roof. Very much.

Okay, so that's 120 gold to us all. What? It says 60 gold to me.

Yes, I do. I'm fine with spending 60 gold to sleep in a bed. What time is it? Is it approaching day? Morning? Yes. Well, no, it's approaching sunset. It's approaching sunrise, yeah. Sunrise. Yeah. As the day, the night is winding down and you sort of see little bits of rays of sun, glow of the sun, the faint rainbow color of morning. But we woke up pretty late, right? And went like straight there. Yeah. Yeah.

So he's the thing, I agree, if we could get some sleep before sunrise, I agree we should stay here, but I think we need to start traveling during the day and sleep at night. And given that we woke up that early, I say we try to soldier through and we can leave right now.

They won't be that far ahead of us. They're about to probably lay down to rest. To be fair, I mean, minus lack of sleep, I don't hate that plan. I feel alright. I feel like I could probably do it. I've got plenty left in the tank. Well, this might be optimistic, but given everything that just happened at the party, I don't think people are going to be at full command like these forces have been before. I'm going to be a little hungover too.

That sounds like a personal problem, darling. So that's for you, Tua. I agree. If they have a wind spirit and they want to kidnap this one, we need to get ahead of the situation. I agree. Just staying one more nut, if someone else has a crystal like this... They could easily find us. And can you use that crystal again?

I'm gonna use Thaumaturgy so that everybody hears in an ominous whisper, "Kill the Genasi!" Oh no! We have to leave right away. It's very important that we do. We have to rest as little as possible until we've freed the wind spirits. Then let's... go?

-Sotos, are you alright? -What was he doing? -Sotos? -What's your voice? -You came in horseslifting. -Yeah, of course it was me. -We really need to get going. -Oh, look at Stormy! -I'm so funny. -Rolling death lighting check. -That's a deceptive thing. -I'm so deceptive. -Did we leave anything in the room? -We brought everything with us. -We didn't leave anything because we weren't planning to go back. -To be fair, we don't have much.

I wish we had a pre-pickable set. We have weapons. I have a shield. I don't have much. Could we have carried everything? There was no bag of holding, right? Would there have been room to shove everything in the bag of holding?

I mean, yeah, whether or not you stop by the room and get it, it's either way. You're able to get all your stuff. We have all of our stuff. Yes. And I guess as nonchalantly as possible, if everyone's okay with it, we should just try to find a way down. Agreed. Why don't we just jump? Can we, like, float down?

Was that not funny? Well, yes, actually, we can, Hark. We can land on our feet. Yes. Yes, darling. Actually, we could climb down the trees with our hands, and then we wouldn't have to land, which is also... Either way, can you guys float?

Okay, yes, yes, I mean the rest of us all can Wait, we can? Yes, sir All right. Did you just call to us, sir? Yeah, I mean we've been going by Lord and lady all night. I just was trying to be polite I appreciate that Felix. I mean I'd be happy to show you Lord Parabottom That is my assigned name I suppose

Are we ready to go now then? Is that the plan? Yeah. How tall are these trees? I mean, we're talking like... That's fine. I'm just going to cast Feather Fall over and over again. Okay. I can choose five willing creatures. Not until the last possible minute. Yeah, it lasts a minute each time I cast it. I don't know what the falling speed is when you're Feather Falling. Will you cast it on me?

So as long as you two and heart are good. Mm-hmm. Because you can have it so lofty. I would rather keep it. So all of a sudden he'll just tie you to me and then as I'm glimping down he'll just levitate by me. No, I'll take care of him. Because you can't move while levitating.

Caprice, you know what I mean? I can just levitate and end the spell and I will gracefully fall to the ground. Up to you. Either way, I... There's a spare, though, right? We have one, two, three, four, five. No, but there are... The two to back is good. Alright.

- All right, Derek. - Minus three, so it's five. Eight minus three is five. The three of them and Heart are fine, they can handle it on their own. And then the five of us are covered by Feather Fall. I'm guessing is what he's guessing. - I just thought there was a remainder and then I could cast Levitate on myself. - You may if you'd like. - No, no, no, if you've got Feather Fall, that's good. - Well, let's go to the trees.

Alright, what are we gonna do about this knight person? Oh, are you sure? Did you know that they're still looking for five spirits? I believe they're looking for three or four spirits. We were never really clear about the number of spirits. Toa uses rage in the rage sense for the first time in his life. He just does this. And just like, totems himself.

Yeah, no, I'm sure that you just like... Everybody at home heard that one. That scared the shit out of me. Holy shit. And well, Derek's now actually dead. That was good. That was a really good pantomime. That was good. And so, you make your way through these streets, and as a lot of these nobles are going to bed, the streets are far less crowded than they were when you arrived at the Masquerade Ball.

And you manage to find a pathway out with a small perch walkway. Down below, you barely see the forest floor beneath you. And...

You get the sense that no eyes, at least right now. You look around, you don't see that... There are sentries all around, but pretty far away, and it seems as if things are a lot more dulled than they were previously. What are we standing on? I mean, I'm assuming we're getting ready to descend, correct? Yeah, you're standing basically on the edge. You see the occasion of a wood.

Wooden platforms, yeah. They have these large, huge wooden streets and structures built into the street. I'm going to take my dagger and focus on it. And instead of, like, I'm going to cast Feather Fall, but basically draw a magic transmutation circle with my dagger, but not carve it into the ground. As I'm casting, it's leaving...

You know, arcane-- Yeah, like, arcane imagery. And I'm gonna draw this transmutation circle around us, and then cast Feather Fall.

- Okay. - I look around to see if anyone's watching. - I so cooped. - You look around and this is a, you're behind an alley behind this fancy tavern, this fancy restaurant. And it seemed as if all you see like this shambling looking lizard folk pour out this old stew at the end of the shift. And then and he goes back inside, the door closes, the coast is clear.

I'll look at them and just say, well, since I've never done this before, I guess I'll just go first. And I'll take a step out over the ledge. You take a step and you jump. No, wait! Oh, no! And so I start freaking out. And with that, Iris, a heart looks at you and grabs her ring and looks around and says, well, should we?

You're starting. Okay, three, two, one, go! Finally. And you see two tabaxi show up, and immediately Heart digs her claws into the wood and starts climbing beneath and starts scuttling down. I run, jump, and then move off the edge, happily.

That will follow. Okay. You leave. And with Featherfall levitating the climbing speed, you all arrive. Like Mary Poppins. I'm Mary Poppins, y'all! Yes. And with that...

The second we land on my Grimm, I immediately take my ring off. Yeah, I'll cast Feather Fall again if I need to. It lasts a minute each cast. Our falling rate is 60 feet per second or whatever. And as long as the spell's on when you hit the Grimm, you don't take any falling damage. So 60 feet per second seems like... It is. That's what I'm saying. Falling doesn't make any sense. And we decided from here we're just going to continue on. Yeah, we're going to travel through the day. So I would like to find...

Area where I could set up a quick altar to Anubis. Okay, you do that. Off in the underbrush. And I'm not going to cast any spells per se. I'm going to pray. I'm going to light everything and get down next to my lantern. Anubis, Lord of Judgment, atrocities have been committed here today. Please allow the souls into the afterlife.

and provide for them happiness and joy and hope. Lord of justice, please guide our hands to destroy those whose stolen lives today. I am your warden and I serve you. And then I'm gonna blow out my lantern and then continue. Can you make a religion check for me? She-wa. Yes. She was she-wa.

19. 19. So as you pray and you stare into the flame on this altar, you're praying and you start to see a faint shape as you see a scale, and on one side is that same familiar white feather, and on the other is a brown owl's feather. And you get a sense of recognition as it teeters and then levels out. And then...

It disappears. And with that, you continue. Roger. How are you going about your journey? I'm going to stick with heart and kind of teach her how to be a tall cat. Okay. Maybe I can get really tall if I wear really big wooden shoes. Well, you know, it's a cat that aren't one of all as tall as I am.

Oh, really? Yes, there are actually groups of tabaxi that are smaller than you are. That's amazing! So I'm kind of tall? Yes, in the savannas there are actually many tabaxi that are the tiniest that there are in the world, similar to house cats. Wow, I want to meet them. They're ferocious. They would bite your head off. Okay, I don't want to meet them, but that sounds really cool. Yes. That didn't go the way it planned.

I would think that we would travel during the day and then still kind of trying to stay in the underbrush as much as we can. And then at night be very hidden from above and rest with, I guess, Alarm and Dakota or whatever. And then I guess, you know, I guess we'll see what happens. But if I ever get a sense that I'm getting closer or get any kind of communication from the wind spirits, I'll just keep kind of, I'll be mindful of that.

Okay. So... Is that everybody else just before we... Yeah, yeah. You'd hear objections if there were any. We'd all be like, oh, fuck you! I do what I want. So, you all journeyed.

And you go through as far as you possibly can when all of you are just trudging. So it is going to take us longer? Yes. Okay. I just wanted to make sure. So it's three day by wing. Yeah. Two to three by wing. So depending on how you take it. So it's only like one and a half by foot. Yeah. If two in the bush is worth one in the sun. Yeah, what does that mean? Two in the bush is worth one in the pink? Yeah.

Fuck, I haven't said it in so long now. See, in the bush is where one of them is stink, I think. Either way, it's all good to me. Anyway, the point is that you continue on your journey, and you are ducking through the underbrush. You keep an eye towards the sky, and it seems as if the concentration of those sentries is

is a lot more tight. You see occasional battalion of troops flying

towards K'lyr, being pulled back as you continue to make your way. And eventually you arrive into this small little thicket down in a small grove beneath a ravine. And you find a place to set up camp on your first rest. And you all lay down to sleep.

And, um, is there going to be Watch on the first one? Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I'm gonna cast all the shit out of Alarm all over the place. We've got Dakota, and we'll probably take Ships. We can double up on Watch. So I would recommend at least two people per Watch. Sure. Yeah, I'm gonna cast Alarm, ritually cast Alarm as many times as I need to. I'll take First Watch. Iris, would you like to join Heart on First Watch? Sure.

I, uh, wherever Heart is sitting, I stab the Dakota into the ground. She'll let us know if anybody's trying to wake us up. What does that look like? We've been traveling for a while, and I've never seen...

Dakota? No, the act of the alarm alerting us. It naturally wakes you up as long as you are not-- So it's like an alarm. It's like you hear Herrscher in your head screaming, brisket! Oh. Brisket, brisket, brisket, brisket. That's way cooler than my alarm. How do I sneeze it? How do I sneeze it? Brisket, brisket. Yeah, exactly. So you all settled down and you arrange watch.

and you settle in for the night. And as the party starts to drift off and sleep, the two tabaxi are the only ones awake, poking at a small campfire. Um, Lufty, you begin to drink. Ooh, what? Lay it on me. Let me get comfortable. Hold on. Hold on. You...

are alone in the darkness and suddenly you see this pulse of a bright blue light and you feel something totally envelop you and it's difficult to see what it is but it feels warm and comforting and then suddenly it unfurls and you see feathers these beautiful white wings with specks of sky blue

Emerging, beating all around you as you see extended in front of you, doesn't seem to be your hands, a gleaming, almost sapphire skin.

standing out a huge gleaming blue staff as the wings begin to beat and uh you you feel the sense of of of the separation around you and and suddenly you feel distraught as these as you see the staff and you see these wings being all around you and and and there's nothing but despair and suddenly it all goes dark and iris and heart

As you watch Lifty, you watch the group, you suddenly see a pulse of blue light. It's very easy to see as Lifty is sleeping. You see beneath her clothes a pulse of blue light deep in your chest for several moments, just as long as a dream. And then suddenly it dulls and returns to normal.

Well, it's stopped, so I think it's fine. Did you see that? Yes, but it's stopped, so I don't think she's... Is she breathing? She'll wake her up? No, she's snoring, so...

There's a bit of drool on her face. Oh she'd get it off. Oh god. Oh is it gonna be sticky again, Heart? Oh is it gonna- no it's not, it's just drool. Loofty wake up! Is it gonna- Loofty wake up, Heart. Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty wake up. Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty, Loofty

You mean these? They're always here. Oh no, I wasn't looking at your tits, I was looking up a little further. Oh, so to your heart. Aww. You always say that I'm heartless. You have drool on your face, it's disgusting. You are an embarrassment to me as a friend.

You're welcome. But you said we're friends. I did. So anyway, you had this strange blue thing which was there. It was a straight heart. Yes. It was blue. It was glowing. It was pulsing. It was... You're saying too much, darling. Oh, I'm sorry. It was glowing? Yes, it was very strange. Was it with the way she was breathing? She was radiated. Did it seem like a beating heart? Yes. See? Heart said it was beating heart. It seemed like a heart.

I was beating her. No, I'm warrior's heart and your blue heart was beating blue and glowing. My blue heart? But your heart?

That's my name. Warrior's heart. Are you fine? Are you sick? Are you okay? Well, I was having a very weird dream. Oh, no. We should wake up Toa. He would probably care. Toa! Toa, wake up. Yes? Lufti's trying to tell a story I don't care about. Will you listen to it? I could probably care about it, of course. Thank you, darling. Just give me a second. Lufti, go. Well, I don't...

Remember all of it, but I was having kind of a weird dream. No, look at your tail when you get it. Oh, yes. No, I'll kill you. And then you see the horse camper's over and like sits down. Like her eyes are wide as she like sits and listens. Her tail's flicking back and forth. How big is she? She's really small. She's smaller than you. What? She's like. I'll put her in my lap. She's like probably 4'10". 4'10", is what I would say. Hmm.

Okay, this is fine. I just need the comfort in you and you're very soft. Thanks? Yeah. But stop. I'm a warrior soft. So they don't see me coming. Yeah. Or hear me coming. I don't know. Yeah. It's just little fuzzy footsteps and no one knows who they are. Now that we're in position, Tawa would love to hear your story. I'll be paying passive attention.

Well, I was having a dream and... Oh no, I'm so sorry. Well, it started out pretty good, okay? Congratulations. Yes, thank you. You're weird to talk to sometimes, but I do appreciate you listening. I'm trying to be an active listener. That's nice. You know some people just kind of like nod and your nose are not really... I don't even nod. I don't want to interrupt you, so continue. So I was having this dream and...

I was like, a light was all around me, a blue light. I make eye contact with heart. Yeah, and like white feathered wings, they were kind of flapping, but kind of like a hug. It was nice and it was warm. And then I saw a hand reach out and it was blue, but

But darker than my blue, you know. I'm like a very fair blue. It's very nice. Tell me how nice. Like a sky blue. It's very nice. It's like the sky. I know. Don't. But go on. But don't. It's a nice shade of blue. Yeah, it's like the sky. Yeah. I give her a little snuggle on the head. So...

And then this hand had like a stuff in it and then it was like, "Argh, in this bed!" And I was not warm and happy anymore. And then it all went dark. And then she woke me up. I did, yes. Violent. I was being incredibly soft, far softer than normal.

Why did you wake her up? Her chest was glowing! I didn't want to wake her up, but Heart was concerned, and I'm trying to teach Heart how to be a noble. Her chest was glowing? Yes! Like glowing with magic or something? Yes, like every time her heart beat. What colour was the glow? Blue. Like the one she described. So was it the same blue as this? And I pulled the crystal out. Is it kind of like this colour? God of the Wand. Yes! Yes, it was. Yes! Oh, what if someone was crying while he was...

And they were in your dream. Exactly what I'm wondering about. What if somehow they know we're here? I thought you said crying at first and then making sense. Ooh, look how much the blue. What? What? What? What? Oh, great. No, so my question was this. You said that there was a dark blue hand that reached out to get you.

I don't think it was reaching to get me, it was like... To touch you? It was reaching out a staff. It was like, do I get the sense that it was like behind me, reaching around me? It was like behind you, coming out past you, you had your own hands and then this like, almost like a jewel tone, like sapphire skin reached out. With a staff? With a staff. Was it just a thin mark? Hold on, was it the same color as that genie lady that we saw?

I would say it seemed to be a little bit different. Seemed to be different. She has kind of this deep, deep blue. And it's more jewel tone. That makes me feel better because I was concerned they were using her as an jewel. So that is not what we're looking at. You asked a question about the staff. What did the staff look like? It was...

A stir. It was relatively simple. I blew almost kind of a similar hard gem sapphire. I just realized something. We're only going to get half the information if we're only talking about it amongst ourselves. Everybody wakes the fuck up! Oh my god. Are we dying? Oh no, not at all. We're having a conversation. Come sit around the fire. What are the growls?

Oh, yes. No, I'm sure they couldn't do that. I just, like, get up. I'm shell-shocked and sweating. And I just walk over to the fire and I just sit down and I say, You sure we're not dying? No, yes, of course. I know it feels that way, but it's just I was... I get up and I drag Caprice's bedroll closer to the fire. Oh, good. Caprice is awake. And then I just flop down next to her.

He's passively listening. Do we have to passively listen? I don't want to be active or passively listen. Just sit there and we'll go and discuss. He scratches his furry belly. We'll go back to bed. It's fine. I don't want to be a pirate.

"Me neither." And you see he's like half asleep, he grabs Caprice and he's like "Ahh." I start snuggling with him. I tuck them both in. They snuggle up by the fire. That's cute. What's going on? Is everyone alright? Well, I just relay everything that we just told. And it was blue and glowing like this? The exact same colour? Yes. That's weird! In my chair? And if she hadn't?

Well, okay, but be gentle. He's very gentle.

I'm gonna cast detect magic as a ritual. Okay. And see if anything else happens other than whatever normal magic she might. Okay. You know, I'm looking, it tells me the school if she's like, you know, cursed or something, but I'll take 10 minutes to cast a ritual on her. You do that.

You draw on the ground and suddenly your hands glow and you wave them all around Lufty. And you get no sense of any kind of spell. You get the sense of magic from the crystal, but there seems to be no connection whatsoever.

to any kind of tracking magic. And you kind of, uh, you, uh, check your amulet of, um, prevent from detection, which would be a similar kind of style. And you make sure, you know, get the same from the crystal from this, the same general school of magic. And you get nothing from Lufty in that regard. Yeah, I got, I got nothing. I don't know if there was something wrong with you magically. I hope I'd be able to detect it. And I've got nothing. Is this nothing? Nothing?

Nothing. I'm gonna grab his head and put it against my chest. Listen, is my heart normal? You want me to what? Listen, I'm not a medical doctor and I'm like trying to push away. I think I just love your inner intersticing it. Listen! Oh god. You sound just as vacant as you did yesterday, darling. That's good news, I guess. Full of hot air. I

That was our secret. What did you just cast? Now she banished another person. It was like there was something inside of you.

No, but can I do a medicine check? Oh, yes, you can actually do a medicine check, yeah. Do you want me to re-roll? Oh, no, if that was rolling for a medicine check, yeah, that's fine. I was going to ask you to do it, and then I got mistreated. Yeah, so it's 23. 23. Her heart...

Beating a little bit more rapidly, given everything that was going on, but doesn't sound like there's any kind of strange pattern. You get the sense that what you had seen matched up to the heart rate at which you're hearing.

Oh no, you seem perfectly fine. Your heart's a little quicker than usual, but you did have quite a scare in that nightmare, didn't you? Yeah, and I haven't been hitting the cardio so much lately. So you said it was like something was inside of her? Yes! What could have been inside of her? Well, there have been many things inside of her, but as of tonight, I'm not quite sure. Well, either way- I was very well behaved tonight, I swear.

How's everyone feeling? Should we just leave right now and continue in case they've tracked us to this location? I haven't even slept yet.

Yeah, I don't think we can keep going. Bart and I were on the first watch when all this happened. Then we go back to sleep and we have to leave the first thing in the morning. But everyone who's on watch, keep an extra eye out for Lifty to make sure none of these strange occurrences happen again. Of course. Absolutely. I'm still asleep, so I just snore. Is it toward the end of the first watch? Yeah, it's towards the end. Ultimate second watch.

Okay, I'm gonna go to sleep. I mean, I'm already up. I'll stay up with you. It's fine. Could we get through the night without forcing Lufty to take a watch?

I think keeping her by herself is not a good idea. Oh, good idea. Is there a way? Can you use magic to make sure no one can track her? What? Can we use magic to make sure no one can even find her even if they have a crystal? I take the amulet off and I say, yeah, here, just take this and attune to it. What is it? Wear it. It'll protect you. I've used it to...

be undetected for longer than anybody needs to know. Just keep it. Oh, that's a great idea. I totally forgot you had that on. Yeah, to be fair, I kind of forgot. It's been a part of me for so long. I just, it's been kind of second nature, but I don't really need it anymore. So, dang it. You're sure? What if someone is still trying to detect you? I,

I don't know. I don't know if you're right or not.

Are you trying to sleep with Felix? What? No! That's how you do this with that strange man on the boat. When you're travelling with him scared. Oh, that was totally different. Oh, okay. Well, if you want to trade something, then it's even Steven. Or faeces, squaresies. Even Steven? You're not even Steven. Do I? He's the guy that always gets even. Oh, sure. He was on the boat. Might have been. Good night, everyone.

I'm gonna, um, just pull some, like, random shit, like, an old shirt out of my bag and, like, toss it out. It's like an old under shirt. Yeah, it's, like, ratty and stained. What is this? Even Steven! Good night!

I like Dusty's comment. Takes off amulet. Enemy. We found him! I'm just sitting there and then all of a sudden you hear and then I'm like, dead. Meanwhile in Zentral, rapid fire typing. We found him! And italics is a story. I'm in. Uh.

We have a mark. What? Is this a bag? What is this? I don't know what it is. I figured you would know what it is if she traded it for you.

I don't. I set it down like a log, Nexus, and basically I want to spend the hour with Tela going over our plan of what our plan of attack should be, looking at the map, and talking about the wind spirits and learning as much as I can from it. You do that. Hart and I are going to go and sleep one on either side of Lifty. I'm going to keep an eye on her, too. Is there a watch? I don't. Yeah, I'll take a watch. And then you guys. I'll roll over. I can see the man in the moon. Oh. Oh.

He doesn't look so tough. I could take him. Long-armed fuck. Unbelievable. The evening passes, and you all enjoy a long rest. So your ten pip points go away.

And so, you continue following the map that young Lord Minerva is guiding your way through the forest, and as it gets... Sometimes it gets denser, and other times it gets slightly more sparse, and then eventually the...

After that next day, you hear the crackling of thunder. As the clouds roll in, and that's the last time you see the sun or the moon on the remainder of your journey. Oh boy. As the clouds get thicker and thicker, the wind howls at every moment.

When you've been traveling for four days, it's even hard to sleep from how loud it is. Eventually, even the massive, not just the wind, but the creaking and the groaning as these massive ancient trees are being blown by the sheer force of the gusts. You're barely able to take cover in the underbrush and not struggle to march. And eventually the forest starts to dissipate more and more.

and you see a high ridge that forms a ring out ahead of you. And that ring, you look up, and it's matched as the canopy parts in a circle. And you see a swirling ring of deep, dark clouds, lightning striking in all directions. And it seems as if you've arrived at the hurricane's eye. And that is where we'll end the session. Ah!

Boom. Yay. Hell yeah. Holy shit, we made it. We did. Four days.

Wow. No, it took you probably two more days than we planned. So six days. Six days total travel. So five days. We're missing one. Well, we have five, but we need two more. Well, there was one day that we don't know about. We haven't seen it, and we don't know what it looks like. So three days total? So like I said, it took four days together. That's right. Right. Well, no, because there were four days, but then there were two...

- Additional days, and then there was one that we'd never seen or heard of. - Well, but it took four days, but we're missing. - But that's exactly--

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