Edge of Midnight | Ep. 16 | Down the Rabbit Hole
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Welcome to Legends of Evandris. I am Sir Marius Renathir and you're listening to Edge of Midnight. Here's what happened last time. It is time to serve justice. I would like to see you try. Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don

A tendril of amber light shoots between Farron and this shard of amber. Who's going to save you when the worst comes? She realizes just too late as you swing the sword around and plunge it down through her neck and into her chest. Talk of seven entities trapped in amber, held within a hexagram. Seven Balor, mighty winged demon generals of demon lords, long imprisoned in amber monoliths.

And at the very head of it, the church, the blinding light. Within it, seven dots, clearly notating the seven different balor. She said the archbishop was a pawn, and it's very clear that we are as well. Once enough sin has been committed by the weak and manipulatable humans, the final night of sin will commence. The entire province will lose their humanity entirely and irreversibly become maddened servants of sin. This will herald the beginning of the rebirth.

Death don't discriminate between the sinners and the saints, but in this land of death, we've got more than our fair share of the former. And despite the supposed nature of folsense, I ain't seen much of the latter. And from what our band of witch hunters and hag killers have discovered, there's gonna be nothing but sinners pretty soon, if they don't do something about it. I, for one, ain't optimistic.

You continue to scour the ruined lab and library of Gola Greygullet. Her brutalized corpse lay mere feet away, now having turned to its true night hag form, complete with withered purple flesh, gnarled black horns, and chipped and yellowed claws.

Whatever power that had hummed so strongly here has all but been snuffed out as the whispering spectral shapes of weasels, centipedes, and pigeons rise from the arcane patterns on the floor before dissipating into thin air. The Vermintol Coven has been exterminated, along with their power, but perhaps more horrifyingly, there is power that remains here, far more ancient and certainly mightier, humming in the six remaining amber fragments that surround the chamber.

The power of these fragments is palpable as it lingers in the air around you. Farron remains catatonic, her eyes still milky white and unresponsive. In hopes of awakening your friend, the six of you scour the countless tomes, or the five of you, scour the countless tomes, artifacts, parchments, and etchings for any other clues you can find to help her or to make sense of what's been happening in the city of Cyril and Fullsense as a whole. In this process, you lose track of time.

It's hard to tell if it's some magical effect or simply the desperation to find answers amongst chaotic scribblings of the former High Inquisitor. With Jericho's assistance, having to uncomfortably tap into the knowledge and power of the one he calls Virgil, you're able to translate the Abyssal. And in doing so, the plan of the Vermintal Coven eventually comes to light.

It's now plain to see that the plan of the coven was nothing more than the execution of the plans of the one mentioned so often and lovingly in the Eldritch Text: Mother Midnight. Lord Philip's hunch was correct. While her twelve daughters toil in the other twelve provinces of Druskinvald, the leader of the Midnight Moon herself has dedicated her dark work to the province of Folsums, and for good reason.

Two words that keep repeating in the notes ring out in your minds: sin and sacrifice. As fate would have it, this "holy land" is the only true human region within the whole domain of dread, and what is more human than to sin and to sacrifice? It is on this sin that the dark machinations of Mother Midnight depend, and you learn all too clearly the terrible secret of Cyril.

Held beneath the Cathedral of the Blinding Light, a site that should be the holiest place in this land of death and mist, are seven demons trapped in amber monoliths. Seven Balor, seven generals for seven demon lords, for seven deadly sins, upon which the beasts in amber feed and grow in power. And yet, you learn that the power gained from the sin of the mortals, the human mortals, is not ultimately intended for these Balor.

while the demons feast upon the sin that consumes them, they're but prisoners, serving as mere conduits, the eldritch amber entombing them, redirecting their fiendish energy to another place, or perhaps more appropriately, another being.

And while the demons harness power below, it instead rises upward to the midnight sky. And while it is only written a single time, you learn that it is no mortal claiming this power. No hag, no demon, no devil, but a goddess. The one known only as Mother Night. And to what end this power is meant to achieve is unclear beyond something called the Moonlit Rebirth. The catalyst of which will begin on a single night, which is written to be called the Night of Sin.

In this single night, with the power of the Abyss at the hands of the Witches of the Midnight Moon, the entirety of Cyril, Folsense, and the whole human population of Druskinwald will be consumed by their sin, sacrifice their humanity, and become mindless, fiendish shadows of their former selves.

If the Night of Sin is allowed to commence and the seven demons beneath the cathedral win the battle for the mortal souls of Folsons, the work of Mother Midnight's daughters will be unnecessary. Everything she desires will come to pass. It has been seen and it has been fated. And yet, the Vermintol Coven is now dead. You know the dark plans of sacrifice and sin. And the only ones who can prevent the certain calamity of this so-called Moonlit Rebirth are the six of you. What do you do?

Well, you see here, and I know that my abyssal is a little rough, but you hear this "RA-RA-RA!" That means wagon. You see? Well, that doesn't seem so bad. Oh yeah, no, wagon is probably the most pleasant word in this entire paragraph. Oh yeah, no, you don't want to learn any of these, I don't know. You must explain it in full so that we have a complete understanding of what we are up against.

Is that the entire plan, aside from this one paragraph that includes the horde's wagon? Oh, gosh, yeah, no, I struggle. It took me 30 minutes just to get wagon. Keep breathing. I'll go over to Farron and start to sort of mind her state and see if there are any changes or anything as we continue to talk and look around. Roll a medicine check for me, please.

17. Looking at Farron, you can see the milk white of her eyes. And at first, it looks almost as if her pupils and her iris are just completely gone. It almost looks as if you're looking at the very back of her eyes. But as you look closer, you realize that

there's simply a milky film over her eyes and her as her pupils dart back and forth almost as if she's concentrating or focusing or listening to every word and It seems to be responding to the situation that we're in now not like in a dream where it's independent. As if she can hear everything that you're saying. It's like locked-in syndrome? Yes. What I will say with a 17 that looking at her you

You see the hairs. Farryn is a satyr. And so you see the hairs on her legs and the light dusting of hair on her arms. And it almost seems like they're powered by electricity. And you see that they're pointing in all different directions, directly at the other Amber Shards. So can we kill these other things? More or least break them? I mean, are we killing for something if we break these things?

I survived the first one. Should I just shatter him? It may be worth a try. I'm gonna do it. You're pretty spread out, aren't you? Yeah, well, oh gosh. I'm a little tapped out, I suppose. If what you are reading is true, there may be entities trapped within these amber vessels, just like we have now learned underneath the cathedral. Well, I was going to say that's...

would be my only hesitation. I certainly don't want to leave anything that could be acting as some sort of conduit alone. We should absolutely be trying to disrupt the things that we've learned about, but you're right, if they're being used to contain something, then it could be, uh, could backfire. And as they're saying this, Jericho, you are still scanning these pages, and

you begin to start to translate or realize some words that maybe you had mistranslated as you look back towards the front of one of these books. And you are able to quickly scan and realize what this image is trying to show you. It does show these amber crystals. They're not containing entities, but they're small versions as almost a trial method to figure out how to turn them into a conduit.

Oh, gosh, you know how three hours ago I said one thing? I was entirely wrong. But I think that it looks like, according to this diagram, and I'm no architect, but I believe that that's probably, that it's in the same pattern as what's below, and perhaps each one of these corresponds to one of these there demon fellows beneath the cathedral.

So I presume that that's perhaps connected. We broke one of them, but perhaps if we break all of them, then they'll be gone from this place.

It's my presumption that the god of the world is telling me correctly. Yes. So there you go. These don't contain any entity, no, like what you saw with Kellan. These were simply small forms of that amber to see how and what position they would need to be in. Maybe what the carving needed to look like to be on them for them to be able to use as a conduit towards something else.

And so it's basically a miniature scale of their larger plan. Certainly leads Credence to this looking and feeling like a lab of sorts. It is also possible that destroying them may free Ferrin from the state that she is in now. Right. We don't... Go ahead. We don't have any allies here.

We can't expect or trust anyone can come back and take care of this business later. And we have no way of knowing if whomever stumbles upon it would be a friend or foe. Let us do everything we can to destroy this place, see if we can help Feren, see if we can weaken these entities somehow.

What I was gonna say is that we broke that thing under the crooked house, right? And we haven't seen anything of that spirit or entity since. So maybe this is the same deal. Even if we're letting out some horrible thing, maybe it's sort of, you know, irrelevant to what we're doing. You know what I mean? I appreciate your optimism, even if I think it's extraordinarily incorrect.

Well, I mean, so are we saying we're gonna leave these in place and not destroy them? No, we're going to destroy them. They would break them. Yeah, no, there ain't nothing in these little ones. There's nothing trapped in them. It's just each one is corresponding to the big one down beneath the cathedral, if my abyssal ain't rusty. My abyssal is correct. What was that? If my abyssal is correct. If my abyssal is correct. Ha ha ha!

Oh yeah, don't I need any kind of spectacles? I'll see some on a desk and I'll put them on those fall-offs because I don't have a nose or ears. Oh gosh! Before we attempt to destroy them, I need a moment. And I'll shakily reach into my pack and pull out a potion of greater healing and pop the cork and take that.

I will draw my sword and with two hands move towards one of the crystals. I would move towards a different one. Okay. I can, could I get two of them with my, with a shatter spell, with a 10 foot radius sphere? Yeah, I would say you could. Basically standing in the middle between two of them, you would be able to just barely clip them. I could probably clip these two here. That would be too bad. Yeah, that'd be all of them in total.

Because there were five, right? No, there were six. There's six left. Six left, yes. Riggsie, feeling up to it? I mean, I'm going to get cursed again kind of thing. You and I are fairly cursed as it is. I'm not sure we can be much more cursed. You don't seem like you could get worse. I have a feeling like that's not true, but you know what?

I'm gonna believe that anyway. You could probably get two jokes instead of just one. My face could fall off. I could die. Your face hasn't fallen off. Well, I mean, it has. I've reattached it several times. And let's be real, Briggsie. You can't tell me once you haven't wished for death since we've been here. That might be a blessing. Well, let's see what happens. And I'll take the last one. As we strike...

There are two, so you could fire two Eldritch Blasts. Oh, cool. Double. Because there are six, right? So two, four, six. I only have one gun.

I'll do one of these. I'll attack and shoot. I'm sort of hoping that Lethica wouldn't just stand there while we all break a sweat. If you think I can destroy one of these, I will try, but I do not think I have the strength to do it. You can just punch it. Shatter's pretty easy. Can you, like, get some sort of crazy god resonance that'll just, like, and break it? I also assumed that your magical weapons were very impressive. I figured...

Has it been less than a minute? Because we did all this reading and I assume my spiritual weapon's gone. No, you've been reading for hours. That was hours ago. I'll look at one of them that looks like it may have already been damaged from the combat that just occurred or has a weak... They actually all look hardier. You want to even make me a perception check on that? Sure, do a perception check. Okay.

19. They all look pristine. Well, all of them look pristine. I will attempt to attack one. Okay, we gotta do it all at the same time. Just as you strike and crumble it, listen. Be aware when I broke the first one. Something...

Something whispered to me. I caught something on her. Oh, I don't want to be whispered to. You're going to be whispered to twice? You've got a gun and a sword. Well, no, she's going to take the other one I was going to do. Oh, okay. Jericho will be whispered to twice. Oh, gosh. Well, I've got plenty of whispers better than the voices in my head.

Can't be much worse than that, eh, Rigsy? In darkness we see your truth. Damn. Anyways, three, two, one, and I attack. Everyone rolled a white star? Oh, Jesus. Well, I get two attacks. In case I miss a defestationary fucking object. Yeah. I don't miss. I got a 19 and a 20. Or 20 and a 21. Yeah.

Yeah, 20 and 21. 28, I think. 24, 26. Natural 1. Oh, wait. Okay, you miss. Jared now. They need to make a Constitutional Saving Throw at disadvantage. That doesn't work. Oh. It just fails.

- No, I'm fucking with you. You all let loose your collective wrath on these things and unable to make any kinds of saves, it being a standard object, shatter quickly cracks and forces two of these to burst as your attacks land on them, one right after another, a loud crack, crack, crack, crack, all six of them.

crack and shatter under the weight of the power that the five of you wield. And as the sound of the shattering begins to fade, the tolling of the bell that hangs in the air, I'm assuming you used Pol Vodad.

Oh, I actually tried to just chakram, but sure. Yeah, so you use toll the dead. The sound of the tolling echoing throughout this room. You all hear in the very back of your mind a soft muttering whisper.

in a language that sounds inhuman, otherworldly, and none of you understand what it means. All of you feel sick to your stomach for a moment, overwhelmed with a sense of dread, of fear, of impending doom. And with the final tolling of the bell, the room is bathed in silence. For one, one moment, and then two, and then...

You hear a gasp of air from Farron as her eyes roll back in her head.

milky white of her eyes slowly returns to its what color are your eyes like a mossy green or brown or black the horrific horrific multi black eyes they're not horrific they're beautiful they're supposed to be horrific I think they're beautiful it's like the close ups from the ring of the horse's eyes long eyelashes laughing

I'll take that. As you hear and see that Farron has returned from her catatonic state. And you said that I could hear everything that was happening. Yes. What did you do? Are you cursed? I don't think so. How do you know you're not cursed? I guess I don't. You just have to trust me. Oh.

I will say that it was difficult to hear a lot of things because you were hearing that incessant chatter 100% of the time in the very back of your mind. And instead of that feeling of overwhelming doom, it was a mix of the doom as well as like strange overwhelming senses of lust.

So normal. So basically just your normal state of being. She was in one of those latex suits. You're like, God, how the fuck am I going to get out of this? I do a what? But we're able to free you from destroying these Amber artifacts. It's good to have you back. How are you feeling? Good.

I guess I... I feel okay. I'm just like... Tired. A little bit tired, but you're not exhausted. You know, just because you missed a session, I'm not gonna give you like two levels of exhaustion. That'd be fucked up. That would be cruel. I thought about him like, that would be mean. I feel alright, it's just... His voice just wouldn't stop the whole time. I'm sorry it took as long as it did. We were unsure how to save you in this way. Are you alright?

I think we're a little beat up, but we killed that gross pigeon witch. Heck. Oh yeah, she's dead. Don't worry about it. We got it. But there's still plenty of work to be done. Are you up for it? I think so, yes. Alright. What kind of feelings did you have while you were all like... No, just literally like Scarecrow. Oh.

Voices, Michael said. Ooh, that's creepy, spooky demon whispers. Could you tell what they were saying?

No, I'm guessing. No. Same thing, that otherworldly buttering. It was just the way it was making you feel was different. Did it make you feel similar to how we all felt perhaps when we heard the tolling of the bell on account of Hugo ringing them bells before we interrupted him and he stopped ringing them bells? I don't know how you felt,

I felt that I was imagining, I mean, I was feeling mighty envious. Oh, you had strong feelings, and I'll leave it at that. Okay, okay. Speaking of, do we hear the bell tolling anymore? From down here, you do not. You haven't been hearing it since you made your way deeper into the... The goal, gaol. Gaol, gaol.

Jail. The gay old owl. Jericho. Yes, Miss Lethiger? Since you can read this script, I propose that you collect only the most important...

and letters that we think will be valuable to take with us and that we destroy the rest. I'm certainly the most qualified one to decide what's significant and what's not. Your fluency in this is exactly what makes you the most qualified in this world. I appreciate it. It's really not me. It's mostly Virgil.

But, you know, I can make out a word or two. What is it you're looking at? Oh, no, this is that horrible, chaotic script right there. That's what we call abyssal. That's the language of the demons on account of my weird, gross crow, what is actually a demon crow. Bird. He's upstairs, but also here as well. Anyways, I'll just try to make sure that I only take the absolute necessity. Do you got that bag with them gross hands? Yes.

It is still attached to me. I can't take it off even when I shower. Oh! Oh, gosh, that's right. I forgot. I guess why would I ask you if you had it? He hasn't been showering! On account of you being cursed and all. Gosh, who ain't cursed yet? I guess I'm technically... My whole existence is a curse. You curse? Fuck.

Yes, I'm cursed. Okay, Farron, you're the only one that's cursed. Maybe that makes it strange that you ain't cursed. You can put it inside. It's fine. Okay, here we go. Oh, there's the head. Oh, no. Holy shit. The manuscripts go down next to a map, a weird egg, a wooden mask, and Zephyrine's head. Oh, my God.

And who knows what else this thing has been putting in there while you're sleeping? 42 dead rat bodies. Consumed rat bodies. Alright, so what's the plan? Do we just go right to the cathedral and deal with this? I mean, I think we're all kind of beat up. No, no, yeah, no, we gotta... I feel fantastic. Oh.

I could do this all day. I feel more or less fine, but she kissed me right on the mouth. And I haven't recovered from that. Physically, spiritually, certainly not emotionally. Well...

I feel like we should have a game plan now that we got all of the significant biz. We've gotten Miss Farron back. But we should have a game plan for where we're headed first because it sounded like, or seemed like the townsfolk were mighty rowdy on account of the witch hunting. I should have said thank you, by the way. I was a little startled. It's all right. Thank you for getting me out. You're welcome. I mean, we're lucky that it worked the way that it did.

You would have done it for any one of us. That's right. But I'm sorry that we weren't able to stop whatever happened and that she singled you out. But if my sin notation's here, not that I'm accusing anyone of being Lester in particular, the...

Is there something you need to say to the jury? I just made a connection in my burlap sack of a head. Perhaps if she was also lustful, perhaps that gave her an additional tether on your mortal soul. Perhaps. If there's just a connection. I don't know if there's any meaning to it. I don't think any of us are free from sin. Oh, no. And if mine...

happens to be on the more lossful side, I'll take it for what it is. - I don't know, I believe all of us. - It's probably coincidental, and I agree, I think we should leave. - How do you think Corvins do? - Hello? - Corvins, I hope. - Well, think of it this way, at the rates that he was moving, we may catch up to him. - Is this the part

Oh, no. He probably didn't even make it up the stairs. There's literally no mechanical way he could have run past all the bloodthirsty guards. Hey, what's up, followers? This is Corbin. We're going to do a No Heat Dark Souls one. LAUGHTER LAUGHTER LAUGHTER LAUGHTER LAUGHTER LAUGHTER

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We should be going. How's Corbin doing? Sorry. Who's Corbin? Who? Oh, the old guy. Yeah, yeah. I blew a bar of inspiration on you. Come by and have a pie. Have a pie.

Assuming we don't find him having died of a heart attack halfway up the stairs. Let's burn all this shit first. Can we do that? He's actually a quarter of the way up the stairs. That actually raises a question. Is the High Inquisitor's corpse, or what was it? Did it melt?

away like the rest is consumed. - It wasn't like the other ones. So she is a bloated, disgusting bag on the ground and she's decaying. - Without a head. - Yes, without a head. She's decaying, but it's not like her sister in the mines where she was literally like melting away into nothingness. - What I would like to do or have done is checked her and the lab potentially for,

The ring. You are easily able to find Maggie McDuff's wedding ring. Thank you. It was on her person. Okay. She actually put it on her ring finger. I will recover that for her and stick it in my pocket. I'll look around for a vial of the perfume that she so frequently uses. Oh, God, please don't. Roll an investigation check. Marius does not like that. Oh.

He's upset. I would like to perhaps poke around on anything that looks magical. Is there anything that looks like it would be scrying or divination magic? I don't know. I feel like if Jericho's understanding of magic would be enough, then I'd be like... Roll an arcana check. Not necessarily a crystal ball, but like, you know, anything. Well, I say roll an investigation first, and then roll an arcana. Okay. An eyeball on a root. With a six, I definitely find the vial, but...

The entire room smells like her perfume. I rolled a vomit. It is going to be a 17 and a 20.

17 investigation, 20... Yeah, you just don't find anything with those rolls. They're just really low for a level 5, you know what I mean? We're going to Bard Town. I'm kidding. Yeah, you look around, and I'll say you find a couple of things that you imagine might have been used in Scrying Spells. You find locks of hair. You find a pouch that has teeth that are...

from clearly many different people over the course of who knows how many decades.

As well as different devices, something that appears similar to a crystal ball, though it's milkier and it's not perfect. It doesn't have a clear surface. You find a basin that looks like water could be put into it and maybe gazed into. It's a little dusty. It doesn't look like it's been used. It's very clear that she can do and did do scrying spells.

divination magic. You're just not sure when the last time would have been. Oh, gosh. Is this a bag of incredibly blonde pubic hairs? I can finally make a beard. I pull out a purple Elmer's wrist. You don't tell us about this, Mary. I don't know.

Gosh, I think she was able to look and see through her pigeons, just like I can see through old Virgil. That is all I was getting. At least old Doughton Thomas over there, or whatever's left of him. Oh, and if that was what you wanted to know specifically, yes, absolutely, she could see through her pigeons. Okay, that's what I was asking. Okay.

That would have been a much simpler question. That wouldn't have required any rolls whatsoever. That was a long walk, Mikey. Yeah, a long walk. What were you saying, Kels? Was your pigeon named Dalton Thomas? Oh, no, it was not. Peeping Albert. Peeping Albert. How? Samsonite, I'm a peacock. As I think about the pigeons...

I'm going to look in. I'm going to look at Briggsie. I'm going to look at Lefica's bag. And I'm going to say, Briggsie, I almost forgot about that weird rose egg. I don't think that we should take it with us. I think we should kill it.

I even wrote a song about it. Well, no, I mean, we had this discussion earlier before you started reading all those things and how we're going to keep it just in case it's important because we usually act brashly and then fuck things up. And we're trying to avoid that. Well, no, I disagree with that line of thinking. Jericho, we can't just kill something because you wrote a song about it. That's a very barred thing to say. LAUGHTER

Otherwise, our green friend here would be asking you to write a song about old Billy. No. He doesn't deserve it. Why don't we theoretically kill it, and you can sing your song, and it'll be relevant. The Briggs are here, the hags are dying, chop pigeons and not nasty eggs. Ha ha ha!

I know I'm usually confused, but maybe it should be dead. So I think we should absolutely 100% destroy this nasty egg.

Well, I'm not convinced. I've been convinced. I love how you didn't need to do anything more than say, I think you should just sing it. There was no, no, no, we should kill it. I mean, that's not really about killing the egg. That's about you arguing that we should kill the egg. No, that's what I'm saying. I'm just saying that we should probably, what if it, what if it emerges? I, for one, am very convinced and inspired by the song to strike the egg down into two.

Well, as far as I'm concerned, I was very compelled by the rest of you. It says we probably should wait to kill it. No, it's not saying we're not going to kill it. It just means we're going to hold off for a little bit. The egg is in my bag. I would propose that we, when we get back, speak with Maggie McDuff about its origins and if it has any special properties. She may know more. I do not want to regret destroying it, and if it...

is evil in nature and something should happen, I think Bag can handle it. That's true. You know what, after hearing how the questionable egg that grew out of the corpse of a night egg is safely stored away in a mysterious bag in an evil house with an entity living inside, the moral nature of which is dubious at best...

and has a mind of its own and can open and close without any of us knowing or deciding, I feel much better. We should probably go. Before we do. Thank you. You're just so eloquent sometimes. You know, sometimes it just comes... Virgil's very well-spoken and he's got a really pleasant accent. To Lethica's point, don't you have a way to contact the matron?

Oh, that's right. We could ask her if she knows anything about her dry to now. Gosh, I forgot I could. Oh, let me try. Oh, gosh, when I shatter them things, I can't do it no more. All right, let's go. I just need to be posted up in a broom closet for just a couple hours and I'll be good as new.

Let's go kill Gorbin. Hold on, on the way out, should we stop by and, I mean, investigate her office? Slash bedroom. Well... Just to see if there's anything else. Isn't that all the way upstairs? It's very far out of the way. Very far. Do we think there's, like, bloodthirsty guards at every turn? Assuming that they've been relinquished of being under her control, then no. All right, well, you know...

I don't anticipate any interference as we walk through the jail. Would seem everything she had of value is here. Yes. Well, this is an important point. Perhaps there is a way for us to re-lock with the command ward, the "way in." I do not know how the guards will respond to their sudden mysterious disappearance of the High Inquisitor. Without a head, they will be burdened with additional chaos.

Well, I like the idea of burning all this on our way out. Smoke out anything left down here. And we can let out all of the prisoners if we have some time. We can spare them. Feels awfully bad that we let Corbin go and let all of some other folk, but then again, they have been drinking pigeon brew. They're probably fine. Well, now that she's dead, maybe they are fine, or do we think they're still, you know...

We can only hope that whatever curse is in that so-called pigeon brew is no longer going to affect them. We have to hope. All right, so let's, well, free the prisoners on our way out. And then stop by the office slash bedroom. Or just leave.

It is very far out of the way. Fine, fine. We're free to prison is and then we'll leave. Yeah, I don't want to get into a whole dungeon encounter just fighting our way through tons of horny guards. That's the last thing I want right now. I can't even talk to Matron McDuff with my head anymore. I'm mighty tired. Fine, fine.

So what do you guys think? We leave. We burn the bodies, we burn all the documents, we make sure the amber shards are away from each other, we look around, is there anything else that we would want to make it?

Destroy it or take care of it before we leave using our eyes and the reality of this place. For the sake of brevity, anything that you think needs to be destroyed or want to destroy, anything that looks important that you don't want to take with you, you burn. You're gonna burn. You should probably bring the remains of Mrs. Mirabelle. Yes. We shouldn't just let it all burn with all this gross witch biz.

So you're gonna carry a corpse through this jail? A headless corpse. I have the head in my bag. Well, wrapped in the blanket. Can we wrap it in the blanket so it's... She's wrapped in a blanket. Oh, that's right. Yeah, it's just covered in the velvet. Oh, yeah. Just make it a little bit less conspicuous. There may be something we can do later, I...

At the very least, we can give her a proper burial instead of leaving her in this horrid place. Colette should have something to mourn. So what is your plan of escape for the jail? Great fucking question. Well, we can either go back the way that we came in, or we can go out the front doors, but there may be nothing but chaos out there. Well, I think that we should listen out and, uh...

change our plans accordingly, but I would say we go through the levels and unlock... Do we find keys off of the guy who hanged himself?

- Is that not what you mean? - Oh. - But nothing's been locked to us, I don't think. - Well, I mean, there's a bare jail cell. - There were, yeah, I care. - How did we get Corbin out? - How did we get Corbin out? - We just like, "Who do you got?" - Yeah, I think you just shot someone and locked. - That's what we can do. - So we'll just, we can easily-- - She says, "I got a key right here."

So yeah, so basically my thought was basically just letting all the prisoners and then ushering them with us or telling them to just do what Corbin did and going back the way we came to the tavern. Seller. Let us escape the way that we came out. It came in. All right. Agreed.

And I think we should get everyone out to the other side, we close it and we say the word "Vermintol" again and relock it so that no one can come out this way. I don't know if that's relevant anymore, but... It is possible the lock will not work because it was fused by the power of the hag that we just killed, but it is worth a try. Just destroyed their entire coven.

They're all dead. I mean, yeah, the wood's basically worthless. Gorge doesn't exist anymore. And with that, you leave. And you do begin to make your way up. You pile things against the walls in this room, and you light it ablaze as you climb up the wooden ladder that leads out of this place, closing the door behind you.

You make your way up stairwell after stairwell and as you get to the areas where the jails, the lower parts of the dungeon, the cells are, you are met with blood and gore as the heads of every single prisoner that had been filled with pigeon goo.

upon the death or some activation during your fight had caused all of their heads to explode. There is not a single survivor. And as you climb up further and further, you keep an eye out for Corbin, the old man that you knew was making his way home to his wife and his pies and his little farmhouse outside of Cyril. He's nowhere to be seen.

You're looking fairly well, and I'll say one of you notices there are clear tumble marks as if he's been rolling and rolling and rolling. And he seems to, at least as far as you can tell, have gotten out of these layers. But by the time you get to where your path would diverge from him, there's no way to tell whether he was able to make it out of the jail, through the city,

through the sinners out into the farmlands outside of Cyril itself.

Do we pass the cowering guards? Oh, guards. You don't pass guards. Okay. It's not until you get to the point that you're heading down the pathway that you'd originally come from where you would have diverged. You told them basically to go to your room. It's at this point that you do see further up and out towards the courtyards and other areas of the jail, the guards seem to be going about their...

normal duty. And you do see that up towards these top areas, the prisoners that are maybe only here for a day or two or a week, these prisoners did not succumb to the same magic that those in the cells below that were housed for the severe cases, the eternal prisoners.

And so the guards go about their duty. They don't seem to notice that anything's wrong. Their staff is clearly lessened as so many of them are patrolling the streets, the madness that has overcome Cyril. And you're able to fairly easily dodge in and around unnoticed as you backtrack and you make your way back down into the caverns beneath the jail. You are lucky enough to not have any run-ins with any of the guards.

Those that you sent back this way, whether they left or whether they waited for you to disappear before they went somewhere else, you don't know because you do not see any of them.

But it doesn't look like they've like gone to alert, like go kill these guys. Okay. He scared me. He scared me. He scared me. Like Carl Sennett. Just showed him what's for. And it is with that that it takes, I would say, probably two hours from the time that you leave to the time that you find yourselves in the tunnels beneath the tavern as you make your way through that final gate.

And it is with silence around you that you close that gate and you whisper the words "vermin hole" and you hear a soft click. A faint magic appears to fuse the lock back together. I don't know if we should be concerned that that still worked. I don't know what to think anymore. We have to press forward with what we know and take every lead that we have and hopefully things will start to resolve.

It's probably just a simple arcane lock. I'm sure it's just going to exist until it's dispelled and the word works regardless of who it is and who's alive and who's dead. I hope you're right. Is that how arcane lock works? Well, I don't know about all arcane locks, but I mean, presumably, if I locked my door and it was mechanical, same thing applies. When the lock clicked, did it seem like a diminished...

Sound of a click from when we heard the click the last time? No. Okay. Then we continue to make our way up to the surface of the city. So this takes us through the storeroom? Yes, through the storeroom beneath the tavern. Why are you staring at me? You're the last person to talk! That was the end of my talk. What is our next destination?

We should go to the cathedral. Do you all need to rest, though? I don't. I don't. You don't look well. Some of you. I've never felt better. No, no. Some of you. Quite tired and... No, that guy almost died like four different times. I... I don't know if I should go to sleep. I need to rest as well. But the seven bailer under the cathedral, we can't... We can't just go miles away.

Once the night of sin begins, I think there's any chance we have to save this place or disrupt their plans is over. We should be in the vicinity. There is our safe house here in the city. We could go back to where we left the kids and find out if they've been taken by Maggie or if anything has happened, and perhaps we could take a bit of a longer rest there. I think that's the only safe part of the city for us, especially if folk are afraid.

A curse in the spot. Never go or else you will be cursed. I mean, that sounds good to me, but I mean, here's the thing, right? Like, if there was Balor or demons or whatever, they've been there for how long? I mean, what's a few hours? What's another day? We don't know when they cracked the plan on how they can harness the crystals. Oh, the whole night of, like, eternal sin or whatever. Right. Could be tonight, for all we know.

Certainly most likely going to be sooner rather than later, but to Briggs's point, we do need to rest. And I think that even just a few hours will do us all some good. I can't imagine what the city will be like when things boil over, given how much sin we've seen already. It will be chaos. We should be prepared for anything, but we cannot push ourselves into death.

All right, well, let's sneak. Can you have Virgil stand watch over the cathedral while we go to Jake and South's? Once we see Virgil, once we get up and if he's still up there, I'll, uh, now he'll be there. I know he's up there. I'll have him keep an eye out, and now that all of them gross pigeons we don't got to worry about, don't got to worry about no pigeons. That's a bit of a lot off my mind.

- Presumably. - I'll put my hand on Marius. Let my dark lady guide you through darkness and you'll enjoy advantage on stealth checks. - Yes! - For an hour. - Normal rolls. - That's exactly right. - All right, please roll the stealth check for me. - Okay. - And then I also need a perception check from you. - Oh, perception check. - I'm pleased to group, bro.

Stealth for the first one. Dang it. And then perception for the second one. So I'm just gonna roll both of these. My gold die is stealth. Classic. Nice. Wow, look at that. Double success. Perception. Cool. I'm good. Let's go around the table and tell me what you got. 16 stealth, 20 perception. Okay. 9 stealth, 23 perception. 25 stealth, 9 perception. Okay.

Double 15s to two fused. Marius? 17 stealth. 21 perception. I truly am a golden boy. Double 17s. All of a sudden, in the city, you're just like... I can smell all of you. I can hear my blood. It is with that that you steal yourselves into the night.

And, uh, are you having, uh, Virgil do anything? Oh, I'll say, oh, hey, Virgil. I know that you experienced that entire horror show down there, but in your pleasant crow form, why don't you... There's no more gross crows you gotta worry about, but you already knew that, and you helped me translate all them books. You know what I know. Why don't you keep an eye on perhaps the Archbishop, on his whereabouts, and just the cathedral. Keep an eye out for any giant, uh, demons there. Balor, uh, oh...

I guess you would know what a battler is. Maybe you even got some battler friends of your own. No offense. Anyway, keep an eye out for battler. Hey, Jerry. Can you have any battler? What's up, buddy? If you have any battler, can we like call and have them be friends? Anyways. What is wrong with you? Anyways.

With that, you steal into the night. Virgil flies off towards the cathedral to keep a lookout for you, seemingly confused by your strange request, but understanding it nonetheless. As the rest of you dart into the shadows, the darkness of the streets are pierced by roving mobs of men and women on the hunt for witches.

Friends, family alike being dragged from houses. The screaming sounds of those that have been caught in their wake echo and fill the night. All intermingled with the sounds of unadulterated pleasure in the back alleys and the corners of the streets. It is a strange night to walk the city, to walk the streets of Cyril.

feeling the duality, or not the duality, feeling the ever pull of the different sins. Now that you understand the plan, it's so easy to see what's happening here.

you can point them out, the man that is beating someone senseless as he's filled with wrath. The drunken guards who are passed out on the street in no way trying to quell the transgressions on the street as they're overcome by sloth or gluttony and clearly the sounds of lust that echo from the back alleys of this city. And all the while,

As you move ever closer to your destination, you can hear that voice louder than them all.

William Van Brunt in the very center of town as he calls out. He now has a makeshift megaphone so that his voice booms out over the town as they're taking signatures for those that are going to join his crew for tomorrow morning. For it has come to his attention that they have the archbishop's blessing. Tomorrow night is a night of celebration.

The Archbishop will be leading a large ceremony and a speech tomorrow evening. And he will even be arriving in the morning to send off the band of witch hunters to bring back the head of the witch, Maggie McDuff. She will pay for her crimes, crimes against his family, crimes against the town of Cyril.

And William Van Brunt will be the victor, will be the hero. And if anybody is anyone, they will stand with Van Brunt. You also hear him call out to join with him and not the fake witch hunters, the imposters in this city that brought back your innocent friends and family for slaughter, all the while in league with Maggie McDuff.

Should anyone see them, make sure to let them know Billy sent you.

And did we hear like when did you say that he's intending to go out tomorrow? So essentially in the morning, the archbishop will be doing a speech to announce their leaving and they're going to go as a pack to hunt down Maggie McDuff, bring her back by the evening and the archbishop there is going to be a huge celebration tomorrow celebrating the capture and culminating in some kind of extravaganza led by the archbishop.

And you, there are sounds, you listen as you get a little bit closer, where his voice is a little more hushed when he speaks of you. And it is clear the Archbishop has not given him necessarily permission to slander your name in this way. But he is sowing the seeds of your demise. And at one point, when you're not near the crowd, Farron, someone catches sight of you.

and you are not quick enough to dart out of the way as you're pelted in the back with a rotting tomato. As you hear yells of "Get her! Get the witch!" you feel things being thrown at you as you duck into an alley with your friends and dart back off into the distance. It is very clear that some in Cyril have finally turned against you.

And it takes, I would say, perception-wise, perception and stealth-wise, that is what happens to you as you make your way through the city. And you are eventually able to duck in and out of the darkness and alleyways until you find yourself at the front door to Keziah Jenkins' house. Your place of...

What do you need? I have ADHD, you're distracting me. What do you need? I'm so sorry. Tell me what you need. I'm asking for a pencil. Then take one. I need a wooden pencil. Oh my God. I need a graphite pencil. What do you mean? Why? I was going to snap it in half for a cathartic rage moment. Oh, here. I'm so sorry. No, no, no. This is good. It's dirty, I think. Oh, that's why it's splinter everywhere. You can snap this in half. But it's dirty. Oh.

Doesn't sound quite as fun now that you have it, huh? Somehow it's lost its, somehow it's lost its... Well, now you have to touch the dirty part. The rage has been quelled. Yeah.

- It's fragmented everywhere. - See that's worth it. That was worth it. - How did it do this? - I would say that was worth it. - That's what it does. - But with that, you do find yourself fuming with a seething hatred and rage, wrath consuming you as you stand in front of the door to Josiah Jenkins' house and all is quiet.

It sounds... there are no lights inside, it's completely empty and peaceful. So I'm gonna be honest, when I called him Billy when he was beating the shit out of us, I thought he wouldn't like that. I didn't expect you to catch on like it is. Well, we can always revoke that. Call him something worse. I mean, I guess. I just figured he was the kind of guy that was like, "Don't call me Billy, call me William." You know those guys that's like, "Don't call me John or Johnny or Jack, I'm Jonathan."

You know? Oh, yeah. We don't have any of those. I'm sorry? I don't know what you're talking about. Oh, is it not an Oak name? I guess not. We don't have any Jonathans. Oh. On a more serious note, I believe we have roughly 24 hours before things really start to get out of control. We're going to have to kill him. Which one? William Van Brunt. We're going to have to kill him.

Smile creeps across my face. I worry that we also will have to kill the archpriest. Bishop. Bishop. Well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there, but initially Van Brunt is turning the town against us, and perhaps the archbishop is as well, but we certainly can let him lead any kind of hunt against Maggie. And I think we've let him free long enough. He has to die.

I wonder if there is a way to get him alone. Ignore me? Well, maybe. But at the end of the day, we're not looking for a fair fight. We're not looking for anything except to dispense justice. Well, I suppose... I'll say you go inside and have this conversation. Yeah, yeah, we go inside. You know, I'm...

I'm a little concerned. I don't think that, you know, he seems like a real rough customer, but I don't... Has he done anything that warrants us murdering him in the street? Yes. He's killed several people. Stabbed me in the back with a poison dagger, for one. Accused me of cheating him.

Personal slights aside, he's... What's a slight when he stabbed me between the ribs with a poison dagger? It's a little more than a slight! Personal slights aside, he's led a roaming gang of murderers to construct makeshift gallows. He's participated in the wholesale slaughter of rumors surrounding people being witches.

By that rule itself, it is possible that...

we might be able to convince him to change his words, to rally the crowd towards good instead of evil. The axe has not yet landed, even if he is swinging it now. And if perhaps he can be redeemed, then so be it. But if you will not listen to reason, if you will not turn to the path that is righteous, then we will do what we must. He's a prideful thing. Maybe we can bribe him. There's also...

The thought that I just had in my brain, it was actually Vernon. It's good to be honest. Yeah, I'm trying to be. He seems to still have a reverence for the Archbishop, being the Lord of Folsons and all, Steve. And the leader of the church and of Cyril.

What if we have to get to the cathedral anyway before the Archbishop gives his speech? We go just talk to the Archbishop and say, hey, you gotta call off this whole thing. That lady what you've been having pancake time with down in the cellar, she ain't here no more. Maybe he's free from her charms and wiles and feminine affectations. I agree. I think you're point. I maintain...

that violence will be a secondary option. And I believe that we will run into the Archbishop well before his speech tomorrow night. If these people can be reasoned with, then so be it. But I will not hold fast if they aren't changing their ways. Well, if he plans on hurting Matron Macduff, then of course. But also, do we even know if they even know where the hut is?

I think with the amount of people that are gathering, they'll find her one way or the other. Oh, I suppose that's true. It occurs to me that we're inside the safe house, and I suddenly, without thinking, realizing what's going on, I rush over to see if I can find the hidden cupboard. Easily, yeah, with the little eyes. We find the cupboard. And I will open it to see what's inside. There is nothing inside.

except for a small, a separate letter sitting on the ground addressed to my friends. I have Colette. We are heading back to the hut. There is something of importance. Give the attached parchment to Farron. She'll know what to do. That was really good. I love when you do that. Does the letter not speak of Anya? It does not. You must be kidding me.

She couldn't stay put when we asked her to, for her own safety. I thought we locked her in. She's craftier than she seems. Are you sure? It says nothing of Anya. I read it out loud.

Maybe you missed it. Would you like to read it? I don't read very well. Read it again. Is there any event maybe you don't like this one? Can I be useful? I mean, look, look, look, look. I mean, we don't necessarily know that she's not there. I mean, perhaps it's just an accidental omission.

And she just thinks that, you know, the collect girl is, you know... It's unlikely. She didn't just leave her out of the note. Collect was catatonic. Or near catatonic. So, I mean, if you think wrong, Anya could have just stuck out without Gazette knowing. Or the DM could have forgotten she was in there. Collect. Oh, collect. Sorry. The writing is emerging on the paper. I am Voldemort.

Read me. Read me in a different way. I hand the secondary piece of paper without looking at the writing to Farron, and I just double check the inside of the cupboard. There's nothing else inside there. There's nothing else inside there. Could you still be in the house somewhere?

We will keep our eyes open. It will be all right. This was an-- Anya! Please, please keep your voice down. For all we know, she's with the matron, all right? We will find out, and if not, we'll find her. She always turns up. She's very crafty and hardy, remember? With that, you pass this to Farron. Don't read what's on the back, because I ripped it off. Which one's in front of the back? The one that's handwritten is the side you need to read. Don't look at the back.

Do I have to miss this too? Jericho, I do not know what this pancake time is. Were you referring perhaps to a Bisquicky? What? I would go look for it. Get out of the barn! It's clearly an incantation. Bisquicky would send me throughout the house. I'd be running through the house. I didn't write it on there, but it says at the very bottom, if you ever decide that you want to be part of a coven, you always have a home here.

Maggie. There's things. Damn, I wouldn't go home. While she reads that, I would like to, well, I see Jorgren, I presume, spurred off and started tearing apart the place. Yeah, he's looking pretty sad. I'll just say, little one, Anya, come on out. We got sweets, probably some toys. What else do children like? Yarn? You are met with silence.

They're not cats, Jericho. Small fish? Damn you, Scarecrow! You're supposed to be good at attracting children! Oh, gosh, that's right. After Virgil, it got a little muddy on account of he likes to eat them and all. Anyways. I have a fresh booster pack for Magic the Gatherer. LAUGHTER

I'm here! I'm here! I got a... What is the Fortnite Z-Bucks or something? V-Bucks. V-Bucks. Is he actually Z-Bucks? It's V. It's V-Bucks. I got V-Bucks. I got a whole thing of V-Bucks. Roblox dollars. Minecraft. Roblox dollars. Derek.

Please stop. I'm sorry. Please don't floss. I'm having a hard time. Lethica, Lethica, Lethica. People at Chatterley, Derek, you're Caprice's show. Where? Jesus Christ. I will leave. I would say you call out. There's nothing about the letter that makes it seem like she hadn't done what she was told to do. There was nothing to miss. With Maggie Macduff.

You gave her explicit instructions. So there's nothing in the-- like, if she had shown up and there was a child missing, she would have said only one child was here. OK.

So we're just freaking out through this. Yes. Well, he is a rage-filled orc. Also not intelligent. Yeah, we're going to work him down. Like, you would imagine that the matron of an orphanage when showing up to pick up, please come pick up these two children when she shows up. And there was only one in there. She would have been like, well, I took the one.

It's very clear that there's no, like, there was a child missing, I only have the one. Like, that's not what the note reads. I say all of this and I try to reason with him as he's running through the house, just losing his goddamn mind. I'm trying to reason with you. I keep going. Your efforts are futile. I've only lost 80 HP in that boss fight, so I keep after it. It's perfect for RP, love it. Do it. But you hear nothing. Silence. Ludwin?

Got a wedge of cake? And after a while, you all meet back up in the living area of this house. The rooms are boarded up, you have candles lit, but luckily the boarding up of the windows makes it so that no one outside would have any idea that there is a dancing of candlelight inside. You mentioned that we need to travel out there quickly, correct? Is this some sort of important matter?

Did I say that? You did, when you read the letter. Oh, yes. We'll ask her, right? No, what the letter said was that she did what she was supposed to. She made a haste to her home. She left a piece of parchment for Farron, and she'll know what to do. And that was the time-sensitive thing. Gotcha.

Sorry, there was a lot of on you. There was time sensitive. What she left for Farron was time sensitive. Do you really have a wedge of cake? Where do you put it? No, I'm lying. That's how you connect with children. You just lie to them. I don't know what to do with this. Well, no, she said you would know what to do with it. I know what she said, and it seems to be a spell of some sort. Am I supposed to know what to do with it?

You're giving it in. What do you want to do with it? I'm afraid to say it aloud in case it does something magical. No, I mean, that's probably what she wants us to do. Isn't she like a woodswoman? She is. So then wouldn't she want us to do something that wouldn't likely be magical? She's like a cool hag, you know. Or a cool witch, I guess. I trust Maggie, and if she says that I'm supposed to do something with this, I trust her. I just...

Like we trust her to get two kids out of this house. Yeah, that's great. How many kids are in the house? Charlie wrote one name down. Sent me through the house like a fucking panic. I think that's on you, friend. Stupid penmanship. I got a song that's not on the level. Baby shrew, do-do-do-do-do-do. Baby shrew, do-do-do-do-do-do. Baby shrew. Baby shrew.

You don't like truths, eh? That's the worst song you've ever sung. It's very popular. It's the same fucking thing over and over again. That's what I told my best gals when I came up with this on the spot. Some little girl said, hey, come up with a song about it. It's true, and I panicked. And then all the children loved it, and they absolutely, it was... They made mirror images about it. It was a smash hit.

I'm going to bed. Good night. Maybe we should rest and then I should read this.

I would say you know it's time sensitive. I was gonna say, it might be time sensitive. We don't really understand. It could be vague. Is it like a 30 minute kind of thing? She didn't know when we were gonna come back, so it can't be that time sensitive. Ah, shit, we missed the window. Oh no. The paper bursts into flames and it will not help. It starts to wrinkle. Oh god. And then we're gonna have brunch and then we'll be like, just read it, just see what it says. It says, Spirit of the Forest,

I pronounce my intentions to thee. Come forth and seek me, my equal you shall be. Nothing happens. Give me chills. And then the flames and the candles jump for just a second. Flicker this way and this way and that and dance in unison. And then from behind you, you hear a pat, pat, pat. You realize that

There's a soft rapping at the door behind you that leads from the kitchen to the living room that you're in now. Do you hear that? What? Is it the baby shrew? Did I summon a horrible... Unlikely. Oh, okay. Thank goodness.

Be wary, if it is a shrew, they can jump very far. That's what I'm talking about! They're very muscular! They're very muscular quads! I saw a shrew once that could punch a hole through a man. I've also heard they have lovely semen, though. Perhaps we can capture it and force it to sing from us. Force ad nauseam! Let us get to the door right away. Pat. Pat.

That soft sound comes to the door again. I'm going to go forward and just put my hand on the door and slowly open it. Is it push or pull? I would say you pull the door in towards you. And you see absolutely nothing at first. And then your eyes slowly make their way down to the floor. And there, standing on the floor, is a beautiful white rabbit.

Its soft pink nose twitches this way and that. Its ears move from side to side. It looks up at you with soft pink eyes. You see its whiskers dart about. And then you hear, "Hi Farron! Thanks for calling on me. I'm Flora. It's nice to meet you. I'm Maggie McDuff's familiar." Ooh. Am I fucking hallucinating?

Is this one of those shade dreams? It's Maggie's familiar. It is a rabbit. You're not. We are all seeing this. Yep, that's me. That's good news. That means Maggie's safe, I assume. She can't be here to talk to you, so she figured I was the best course of action. Weird rabbit. Did she take two girls with her when she left here?

I don't know, I wasn't with her. But she said that she procured the package. She secured the package just as you had requested. And she made it very clear that it was just as you requested. That's good. I trust Maggie.

And I definitely trust you, Flora. But I... Your faith seems to be in order. Thank you, Farron. Your magic's really strong. Way stronger than you even think it is. I

at least two seconds before you finished right here in my tail. And you watch as Flora hops around and shakes her little rabbit tail at you and then hops back around. Ooh. Is this a regular rabbit? Yeah, it's a regular sized rabbit. Yeah. Doesn't have a human face. Just like overly human. It's a horrible, grotesque human face. With hands. With hands. Ah!

That's what I was going to ask you, Flora. I got two questions. Your face seems in order, but I'm going to need to see them paws. Thank you, Jericho. Them paws first. Put your paws up. Okay, good. That seems to be in order. Now, your name is Flora. Is there any strange, simultaneously unsettling, while somehow charming adjective before Flora? Nope.

Okay, I'm sold. Just four? This familiar is far more palatable than the ones we've been exposed to thus far. Hag familiars are disgusting. I heard all about it. So, um... I'm made of magic. See? Oh, you should meet my familiar. I got one too. I don't want to. I heard all about him too. He's horrifying. Yeah, he'd probably try to eat you. Never mind. I'm a rabbit. Birds aren't my friend.

So are you gonna take us to her, or...? Maggie, how'd you... had me summon... you, I... I suppose? Yeah! So... for an update! 'Cause I can tell her everything you say! Oh.

And she can send back messages. There we go. Perfect. We have to ask about that. And we have to warn her about the hunt. God's forsaken egg. Yes. Yes, everything. Tell her everything. Yeah, no, I mean, it's the same thing with me, Marius. I don't know why, whenever I think, oh, rabbits. How about eggs? I don't know why. What's the connection really? Oh, you know what's really cool? What? What?

Jericho, do you know what's really cool? Oh! Oh yes, a wedge of cake. I love carrot cake. Oh no, I forgot my train of thought. Darn. Anyway. Oh darn, that happens to me all the time. Don't worry, Flo. I don't know who's cool anymore. Me neither. Shucks. Is this like an instant communication to Maggie? If we say something? It's a little bit delayed, but if you tell me what you want her to know, I'll send it back to her with my magical mind.

Come inside Fluffy. Yes please. Okay. Come inside.

It's kind of chilly. It is. Sit by the fire. Oh, we shouldn't light that. They'll know someone's in here. I went the tiny fire. Oh, okay. You're not very big, so I figured it would be fine. Ow. Ow. Ow. If I burn... Why didn't you warn me? If something smells like burning hair... Her tail's on fire. Ow! Clara, please listen.

A party's gonna be coming into the woods tomorrow, hunting for Maggie. So she has to know to get away and be safe to hide. Oh no! And you watch as her face gets completely serious and you see her ears kind of twitching this way and that, almost like an antenna. Her tail also twitches. And you see looks on her face as if she's getting a message back. Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm.

She said thanks.

We should probably tell Flora everything up front so she can just send one message because we're going to be here a very long time. All quietly. Forgive me, but her mind is a bit scattered. Rabbits move pretty quick from one thing to the next. Small chunks might be a bit better. All right. This is very out of my element. And I'll take a step back. Ask Macduff if a hag spawns.

spawns from the decaying flesh of a night hag what just died is it safe to keep does it have magical properties um or should we destroy it oh okay i think i know the answer to that but i'll go ahead and ask

She said you should destroy it. All right, that settles it. We do it right now. She says it's a hag egg, but a familiar hag egg. And if you give it enough time, it'll just hatch anew. And it'll latch onto the first thing it sees.

I just draw my sword. Place the egg on the floor. I mean, a hag familiar could be a useful... No, let's destroy it. We only have enough room for one gross, weird bird familiar in this party. Well, it could be... The first thing could be... It could be you. I'm going to turn around. I don't like to see unnecessary gore. And she hops three times and faces the wall.

I'm gonna cover my ears too! Alright. Just set it down. Tell me when you're done, okay? Yeah, just... Wait! You can't tell me if I cover my ears! Pull on my tail! But not too hard, okay? Destroy it. Hey, Flora.

Okay, she's gone. Just set it down over there. How big is it? I'll put it in the heart. It's like ostrich egg. It's not tiny. It's got a good size. Like a dinosaur egg? Well, maybe if you do it in a sink, it's going to be a lot of cleanup. It's about the size of an ostrich egg. You can just do it right here on the floor. It's about three feet long. Fuck off. In the heart, perhaps. Can you get it there? And pierce it.

- Sure. - You hear a and you see it shake a little bit. It looks like it's getting close to hatching. - Put it down, put it down now. I immediately just, with all of my holy strength and the thunder in my heart, I try to just crush this thing with my sword. - It's an egg and so you crit.

Just egg, yolks, and-- But it's not even just egg and yolk. It is clearly bits of gelatinous flesh and not fully formed bone where it's still almost rubbery. And the yolk is completely laced with blood. And the thick smell of urine. After this thing explodes all over me, probably. For some reason. I just figured it was gross.

I will go around to the pieces that seem even remotely intact, these pieces of bone, this gelatin, and I just continue to stomp all over them, and I move from one piece to the other. Farron, continue asking Flora questions, and I'm just stomping around and kicking and smearing this garbage all over the floors. All chatty Cathy, the Flora bunny.

Oh, so glad I missed that. Oh my God, it's everywhere. Oh no. Evil, disgusting creatures of the night. It smells like piss in here. That's how you know it works. Put her snuggle into my fur. Oh, Barry.

It's all right, I know it's troubling, but it was a Haggag and it needed to go. I know! I play some slap. You couldn't have done that in the sink? I play some slap banjo, and I say, I'm really glad that we destroyed that nasty egg. Hey! Commercial Ray! All the way to the nine hells! Apparently you cannot kill a Hag without breaking a few eggs.

Okay, I'm fine. This is going to be a rough one. Just face away from it, dear. You don't smell much better, Farron. No offense. That's all right. I know. What else should we tell Maggie?

Is there anything that she needs to know? We don't know when we're going to see her next. She must know that there is a coming night of sin and that it would mean the culmination of all of this dark magic and the plot wherein. She must know that there are seven sinful Balor.

Demons underneath the capital. Why didn't you say it like that? Are you feeling all right? I think I have a concussion. I should not rest tonight. Let's go.

So I assume that all

So basically you recount everything that had happened. Farron being tethered to the crystal, every pertinent bit of information. And it takes about 45 minutes of her making these strange noises of shock and awe as she relays all the information and gets information back.

And after about half an hour or so, you see as she, her eyes stop being cross-eyed and she looks out at all of you. We have some work to do. Well, Maggie's concerned, obviously, for very clear reasons. You know, demons and such. Biggest thing is, you're gonna have to stop it.

And I know that sucks. That's why she didn't say sucks. That's what she meant, you know? And so right now your minds are, and I say this from a nice place, your minds are not strong enough to go against them. She says that you're going to have to create some kind of soul talisman or something.

And I'm supposed to walk you through how to do it. I've never done it before, though. And so I have to warn you that the outcome is unreliable should you do this incorrectly. And you could die a horrible death, melt your mind into pudding, or bulimus, which is that

pudding gets when you leave it out in the air to oxygenize and you have to pull it off to get to the actual pudding so your mind could turn into bleemis. What is pudding? Oh my god. I think we've watched the Archbishop eat a whole gallon of it. Oh my god. I'll make a really nice carrot pudding for you when we're not in the midst of some world

world-ending disaster. This place is gross. You'd love it. I do. Anyway, or the dark entity that's tethered itself to your soul could take full control of you and you could be a mindless puppet. Are you referring to the demons or the other ones? You know of the ones that I speak. Maggie sensed their presence on you the moment she met you.

You each have one. I can see their color. I'm familiar, you know. And wait, are they going to help us? They have to. If they don't want to lose you to these things or Mother Midnight, they're going to have to extend their hand to you. But that's going to mean you have to make that spiritual talisman with them, which means an invocation ritual. You must be joking. You're saying I have to work with the Duchess?

- Yikes, I don't like the way I felt when you said that name. - I don't like the way I felt when I said that name. - But yes, I do mean it. Maggie says she's sorry. She doesn't want you to have to, but otherwise there's no way if you get even close to these things,

You have complete control of your mind the same way the bell is changing the people in town. The only reason it doesn't affect you so bad is because you have that gentle tether. But you need to secure the link, a soul talisman you must create. What does this soul talisman look like? It's a soul talisman. It's so invisible. I don't know how it will manifest.

Only the completion, the accurate completion of the ritual will show. I've never done it before. Maggie's very scared, but it's the only way to do it. It's the only thing she can think of. Well, you know, Flora, I need to... May I call you Flora? That's my name, so yeah. My name is old Jericho Snakes. You can call me Jericho Most Folk, too. Okay, Jericho Most Folk, do. I am more inclined...

I need to check myself because given on account of how adorable you are, I'm inclined to believe anything that you say. Oh, don't do that! Cute, mean, have you ever seen a shrew?

They can punch a hole straight through a man's chest. Oh, gosh, no. Those quads, they don't never skip a leg. They have the voice of an angel. Oh, that's what I wrote a whole song about. Or a daeva. Oh, I wrote a whole... Well, not a song about that. Sirens of the dirt. But...

Oh, I've never heard him called that before, but I like it. Anyway, what I'm saying is that normally I'd be inclined to believe everything you say on account of cute things I'll just believe no matter what. But it makes sense because remember the only other thing what we faced in Amber was... Killing the crooked teeth!

That's a gross name, too, and I don't like the way I felt when you said that. And we only, Mr. Yorgun, and I only helped increase the cracks once your friend. Yes, the Duchess. Once Kellen tried to get into your brain or soul recesses. You're right. Then it was your lady what...

She cracked it. She protected me in some perverse way in order to make sure that I'm still here. And she allowed it to crack, so what if we do this thing and we have to perhaps... I mean, I work with Virgil every day. He doesn't let me forget it. But whatever extent we do, and that protects us, and then once it cracks, then can we... I just play a little tune and... Listen, I... You must understand my hesitation.

Alright. She is the one, this duchess, is the one who preyed upon my weakness, my folly, and turned me into who I am now. I have no desire to work with her. She is the reason that I'm in this mess, and I'm hoping that when I find the chalice that I'm looking for, I can fix myself and free myself from her grasp. Oh, excuse me. I know I didn't know you before, but you're pretty great.

That was very nice. Thank you. I apologize for my outburst. You're right. That was very nice. I appreciate it. That's what you want to do, right? That's what Maggie said. I should help you because you want to save the innocents. You're the champion, the hero of the innocents. Those who can't fight for themselves. And I know it's scary. Big, bad, evil things that can control people are scary. That's true.

It sucks that they have their fingers in you already. But you're all we have. We need you. The children of Cyril need you. The flora. And also me, but I meant the actual flora and fauna of Cyril need you. When this is all said and done, I'm going to take you shopping. What's that? We are going to go out and find things that we think are pretty and nice and we will buy them and we will have them. I've all...

Can I tell you something? Yes. Oh, okay. I've always wanted a really pretty, like, purple or pink or maybe even green flower to go right here next to this ear. I just think you'd look really pretty there, you know? Probably not pink because the inside of my ears are pink and my eyes are pink and my little nose is pink. She puts her paw up to her nose. So, maybe green. Like a nice mint green.

What do you think? Can we do that? Yes, and we will find it. Okay. But that means you have to succeed, so we can't screw up this ritual. Well, if nobody else has anything else to say... I'll go and help you, buddy. I'm kidding, I don't do that.

You're saying you've got a duchess, right? Well, I don't like to think that I have a duchess. Just saying, in terms of the context of the situation, you've got a duchess, right? That's the wife of a duke, right? Yes. So she's probably pretty well off, right? Well, she turned out to be a succubus, so... A succu-what? LAUGHTER More than you know. LAUGHTER

So how about this? My idea's even better. Oh, dear. You take Mr. Cartcross Road, I'll take Duchess Succubus, and we can have our own soul talismans and we just do the old switcheroo. I'm not sure that it works like that. You can't do that. Oh, fuck. If you try to play any Trixie games, Brixie...

Briggsie, I'm talking to you. I was warned about you. Can you look me in the eye, Briggsie? In what way were you- The left one's drifting. Oh, so you've heard of it! Wrangle? Wrangle? Wait, hold up. Okay, there you go. Briggsie, you can't- you have to do this the way it's written, okay? If you don't, you could completely destroy your friends and yourself.

Definitely yourself. You will 100% destroy yourself. You might also destroy your friends. Hold on, I can't let that happen. So you have to do this the way that Maggie says. It's very serious. All right. Otherwise, that thing which you fear will come to pass.

Alright, it's fine. Look, I'm stuck with Crossroads regardless, right? So how much worse can it get? Much worse.

Can we just fucking over with? Can you just bring the thing? Can you just bring something? We'll have each other to support you. You dropped your chunk here. Oh, it's a little dirty. Oh, there's eggshells! Why would you lick it? Not the bleemus! You watch as her ears come down and cover her eyes and she just shakes her head. Put my chunk bag on.

We won't be alone during this process. We'll have each other to support. Well, I'll be here. I'll be here, but I won't be able to do much. Maybe answer a question or so, but once it starts, who knows? Tell us everything that you can before we begin. Well, down in the very basement, there is Keziah's workshop, and so we have to make a potion. And it is a...

memory soul potion or something. Oh no, I don't remember. It's something to do with each of you. Oh no. Oh no, I'm already messing up. It seems very important. It is really important. If you don't do this part right, you will die. What the fuck is this ionized water? I remember.

Yeah, I remember. Anyway, I'll help you when we get there. I totally remember. So the basement, okay? Yeah, anyway, so we'll go to the basement, and then I'll tell you how to do that thing that I didn't actually forget. And so we'll do that, and you'll make the potion, and then you'll drink the potion, and while the potion is coursing through your body, you'll do a ritual, and when the ritual's finished, then you'll be linked... Together or to our...

Mithran or Pithran of choice. Together! Together. Are we crafting anything?

What? Are we crafting anything? A potion. I just said that like five or six times. Anything. You keep mentioning a talisman. Oh, yeah. No, I don't. Maybe. Or maybe your entity crafts it for you. I don't know. You just have to do the ritual. That's what Maggie McDuff says. We do the ritual and they do the rest. I don't know how it will manifest. Maybe it'll be a tattoo. That would be cool. I've always wanted one. It could be a figure. It could be an abstract. Ah, made it full recoup. Right, exactly. Thank you. But it's a soul link talisman.

So, we will head downstairs and we'll get all the ingredients together. We'll make the potion, that's the first part. Do you need to do anything before we do that? I have to get something off my chest. This whole time I've been working on a great epic tale of an orc warrior that was gonna debut the Orgrim here. And the whole time

His name was Jonathan Frostwark. It was good to show I know nothing of war culture. I am so sorry, Yorda. Weeks, we've traveled together. Your name's Jonathan.

Jonathan? No, there's no orc named Jonathan. It's a stupid premise. I'm sorry. I just wanted to get it off my chest. You come up with songs about this guy 18 times a day. And you named an orc Jonathan. It's really easy to sing a song about a knight that's literally all they did. Oh, truly easy. I'm very heroic. You hear a

What is it? Her foot is tapping on the ground. I'm all about that. And she looks up towards you. Excuse me. Excuse me. Yes? You're pretty cool. Oh, well, okay. Stop it. That's fine, okay? To the basement. I really like how strong you are.

I could never be that strong, because I'm only like a foot tall. Yes, you're a tiny rabbit. Of course, you could never be this strong. I could never carry the burdens you carry. You're strong in spirit, mind, and heart. And muscle. Wow, she left out brains.

I said mine. You have great hearing, Lethika. Well, yes, thank you. Oh, I feel so much better to get that off of my chest. Does anyone else have anything to confess before we proceed? Not a confession, but I have something I think we should say in case we all die hurriedly. Yeah, if there's anything you want to say to each other, it's best to do it now. Like I said, I've never done this, so... Call it what you'd like, but yes, please. One more thing for Maggie. Oh, okay.

I'll try, but I might be all top-down on the messages. As long as you don't die, it's... We'll just take it back with you. Yeah, no, for sure. I can't die because I'm made of magic, you know? Oh, there we go. So it's... Ah! Sorry, I knocked my teacup over. So, as long as Maggie doesn't die, I'll be right here...

I'm just kidding. She just literally like de-analyzes in front of us and vaporizes. Mrs. Ferris, I don't know if I'm doing it! Yeah, exactly. Holy shit. No, she's still there. But she does say that as long as Maggie is alive, she'll be there. There's a creature in the town, Hugo. She'll know who I mean.

He's not what he seems. He's a gentle soul, and he needs somewhere safe to be away from the Archbishop. I understand. He just needs a kind heart, and I know that she has that, so she'll take him in and get him away from the torture he's endured here. Maggie always loves that which needs loving the most. I can't recall in my notes, what was the...

secret that we learned when we saw his eye. He was a Fomorian. Okay, I would mention that also. And yeah, true sight. To Maggie Biaflaur. Ooh, I love the fae. That's super cool. I don't know much about Fomorians. Or anything at all, actually. Would it be helpful for this ritual if we rested? Will we need our... Yeah, actually it would. You guys want a group hug? Um, sure. Okay, go for it.

Now if you're not fucking doing it, now it's weird. Pick me up then, I'll hunt you. I'm still holding. Well, turn me around so I can get everybody. Don't be stingy. Come on, share me. Sorry for the smell. Here we go. I'm sorry for the feel. We've gotten nose blind to it. Here we go. And she starts, here we go.

You like push her out and she starts to spin and she actually has two little wings that come out on her back and she starts flying and spinning in circles. Oh my gosh.

And in doing so, there's almost like this strange glittery magic and you all benefit from a long rest. She's like those fairies where you pull the string and the long rest comes out and they like. I love those. They're so fun. And as she finishes spinning, she lands back on her hands. Oh, dizzy. This is wonderful. Thank you.

You're welcome. I can't do that for at least the next seven days. I would imagine. I was going to suggest you just stick around and do that every two minutes. That would be super cool. Fair enough. And totally OP and probably break a game if you played one.

I don't know what that means anyway. Where's the basement? Is it down here? - It's probably a nice water solution. - Is it down here? - I'll start looking again through the eye. - Is it down here? - And you are easily able to look through the eye and you're able to find the door that leads down to the basement. And it is, it's quick work for you to work with Flora to collect the things that you need.

There's a large stone basin that you fill with an alkalized water. Alkaline water. Whatever. You fill it with a water that doesn't have anything in it. It's stinky water that sucks and it's gonna make me sick. And shit myself. I don't mean to interject, but I feel like you're projecting. Is everything alright, Nikki? Would you like to talk? Go home. Fuck, I'm already home. Fuck.

- I want you to go home. - There's no escape. - But you fill it with a crystal clear water from a pump that seems to bring the water directly in from the earth. You add in a little bit of belladonna, just a small amount, not enough to make you sick, not enough to harm you, but just enough to add its dreamish,

whimsical magic, I don't know how else to describe it, but you add in a little bit of belladonna. There's bits of cinnamon, bits of clove, a little bit of lavender. As you mix all of this together, Farron, Flora shows you how to use the mortar and pestle to grind up some of the herbs and create a nice oil that you add into it. And it begins to whisk

with this beautiful green earthy magic. It has a smell that makes you feel like you're standing in a beautiful flower field on the first day after the first rain in spring. The earth magic that Maggie seems to have at her disposal is relaxing, comforting. And you look down at this potion that you've all made together. Flora looks to each of you. "Now we have to do the tough part."

This is the part that I definitely didn't forget and I do have it right. Each of you is linked to a sin. We know that. And we know that your entities might be connected in some way. And so you need to take from your mind a secret secret.

or a painful moment, or something relating to your sin. Nothing crazy. A couple of words, or a feeling, or... You know, don't tell us your whole freaking backstory, all right? We don't have time for that. Just something really quick, but pertinent, that has to do with your sin. And once you know what it is,

Grab it from your mind, like this, with your hand. Pull it out, manifest it, and place it in the bowl. I wrote 18 fucking pages. We have time for maybe one or two sentences, Brixie. I have two different colored eyes. What? I'm a reincarnation of an elder god. Fuck. I don't know how you did it.

One of two sentences tops. Because this is just the literal beginning of this. So let's not get saucy, okay? I'm sorry. I'm getting real worked up and angry. I didn't mean to be rude, Briggsie. I really like your fan fiction. You've got some great ideas. They would make a great couple even if they have nothing in common. I totally believe that.

Well, you don't have to judge it like that. What? No, I'm-- I mean, that was really backhanded compliment, but anyway. No, I'm serious about that! It's really cool that that person can do literally everything well. And even though they're only moderately attractive, the hot guy loves them! That's so cool! My own non-friends like it. I don't know what that means, but I like it. I step forward. I put my hand to my temple, and I say, "Shame and guilt."

I'm responsible for the death of my entire clan. Oh fuck. 3,264 orcs. The screams of their death rattle in my brain and live on my tomb. And as you pull your hand away, a thin, wispy, silvery strand of memory, of life experience, of inaction

of letting something happen that should have never happened, of sloth. Tethers to it. And as you take it, you drop it into the bowl, the water ripples out and it accepts the strand. And you see as it changes to a color. Oh, it changes to the color white. The entire water turns white. Oh, that's what it's supposed to do. I know each one of your colors.

You're a groom, white. Okay, good. And with that, this is for you. What? Don't break it. I'll step forward and I'll look to anyone else who seems to, if they want to go first, sort of welcoming and seeing silent faces. I'll look down at the bowl and reach up to my temple. Lady of Darkness.

Lead me through this darkness. Cloak me in your shadow. Show me your truth. For you are, you have been, and you always will be. I admit I have not shied away from the visions I've experienced in this place. I am prideful that I do you service. I am pleased when I spread your faith.

I do not know what it is that is wrong and if I am doing evil, but it brings me great joy to be your daughter in this way. Open my eyes if they are blind. Please, attempt to pull away to see if I've... You feel a resistance at first, but you, nobody else hears this, you hear the words in your mind.

I will follow no matter the cost because it brings me pride. And you know that that's how you truly feel. It doesn't matter the outcome. You are proud of who you are and what you do. And that is all that matters.

And as you feel that pride well up inside you, you pull that strand of silver magics and you slowly lay it to rest on the surface of the water. And what once was a beautiful glowing white now completely extinguishes to the deepest, darkest black. This one's for you. Thank you, Flora.

You're welcome. Black, Lethika, yep, two. Two for six, all right, Flora? You got this, and you too. Sorry not to diminish your contributions, but it's a lot on bunny shoulders. All right, who's next? Come on. All right. I'm sorry, it's distracting. No, it's all right. It's all right. You got this. From the moment that I drank from the chalice the Duchess gave me, I died a hundred deaths.

The Marius that was was no longer, and the Marius that is was filled with nothing but rage, vengeance, and wrath. I will attempt to pull

from my brain. It is, you feel the wrath in you as you say these words. All of you in the room can hear the rage in Marius' voice as he says this. His words echo in this underground room as you easily pull that silver tether and lay it on top of the waters. The water ripples and turns at first red and then purple. This is for you, and

I think Wrath should be red. And I guess you'll have to wonder, is that because the DM didn't have a red candle? Or is it because Wrath can be subtle? Like the color purple? I guess you'll never know.

I guess we'll never know. Purple. Yep, that's what it says on here. Definitely next to that scratched up color red, so it's purple. I guess we'll never know. Purple candle. Yep. All right, Laura, that's three. Okay, wow, we're halfway there. Nobody's ignited into flames. No one's been overtaken by their dark entity so far. Looking pretty good. Who's next?

I can go. Hey! I'll step up to the thing. Soft grass beneath us. Warm breath on my neck. Gwyneth, my lust for you rots inside me like the flesh from your bones. I will redeem you and feel your heartbeat against my breast again. Orthos, help me.

I'm gonna pull my thingy to the bottom. You don't even need to pull as you feel that bit of magic almost shoot out of your temple and force your hand down towards the water. As you let go of this silvery tendril, the water ripples and turns a shade of green. Green. Varyn. You see as she hops over to you and puts her arm around your leg. I'm sorry.

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about. I did it to myself, and to her." "So, who's next?" "You wanna go or should I go? What do you think?" "Yeah, you should probably go, please." "You're the only two, so..." "You should probably go, please." "I mean, I'm a pirate, or... I mean, what level of serious are you really talking about?" "You have a literal

I only had four examples placed in front of you, so if you don't know what to do by now, that sounds like a personal problem. Alright, alright. So me, as a younger pirate chap, young lizard folk of the crocodile variety, um, you know, you're looking for an advantage, right? So I went down to the crossroads, fell down on my knees, and lit a glass of rum on fire,

And I drank it. Turned a sulfur in me mouth and I could hear the music. I could smell a hot iron. That means he's near. And let me do this. And I'll, you know, not like voodoo gun, but I'll, you know, do a flash of like neon magic. And it helped me out. It was a good partnership for a while. So you're getting from me.

Is that not enough? I mean you're crossing your arms and doing nothing so... I don't know. You've got to release it though. Oh, oh, oh, oh! You feel it tug. You feel it tug. There's resistance. Oh, this is really unpleasant. Oh fuck. But why? Pulling out a tapeworm. What? It's not working. Oh, it's not? No. Why did you do that?

Cause I'm a grady fuck! What do you want me to say? - The moment you say that, it booshes out and flies into the water and you watch as the water shifts from green to blue. - There you go, that wasn't so hard. Woo! Oh my gosh, it's killing it! Here's your blue candle. There's some cool stuff on there for you, don't know why, probably cause you need a little extra help, Megan, and trust you, that's all I'm gonna say.

Oh. Wait, no. The face in turn is this blue? Blue. Alright, one left. Nobody's been, uh, nobody's controlled by their strange entities. We're all still flying solo. Yep. The only one controlled by anyone is me.

What? Oh, sorry. Shut up. I mean, please be quiet. I'm sorry, that was mean. Would you mind giving Jericho some space? You're awfully mean to me today. I didn't mean to be. You just keep raising your voice at me. I just, I feel like, I feel like I'm a kindergarten teacher and I keep telling you to do something simple and you're just not doing it on purpose. I just need an animal comfort zone anyway, so. I just, I really like you and I just want to be friends together.

Okay, anyway, Jericho, I'm so sorry. It's fine. This is disrespectful. Please continue. Before I do my confession, I feel like doing this gesture makes me think of a tune. Okay, you're going to sing it. I should have known. I hope that works. Okay, go.

Fuck. I mean, oops. A little bit of refried. Hot beans on a cold night. Can of beans that taste just right. Okay. I don't know why these beans came to my mind. No, this is definitely not going to work. Oh, God. Well, there's a reason why I wanted to go last. On account of, I didn't want to make anyone afraid of sharing any secrets.

Because even though I like to be a good friend to all, any secrets that you share with me do not stay secrets, but they go right to Virgil.

He eats them. He consumes them. That's what gives him power, just similar to them demons that are trapped inside that ember. I suppose it ain't all too different, I suppose. So all them secrets that you share, he has now. And he plans on using. And so I apologize for that. I don't mean to do it. And because I have to...

live with that. I am very envious of folk who weren't created on account of because and have to have a passenger such as my friend Virgil who's a crow demon man all of the above but he ain't too pleasant and and to be more specific I was so envious of getting a nice pretty gal with some nice thighs

And thank goodness that it was a pigeon. I'm glad it didn't work out how I wanted it for me. But I was so envious of you, Marius. When I heard them church bells, I looked at you and I narrowed my eyes and I imagined you being flayed alive terribly painfully and in agony. And it's because I just am envious of even the various level of curses.

At least it's not the basis of your existence. And with that, you pull the strand of silvery light out of your temple and place it on the rippling water. The water goes dark for a second and then illuminates in a soft yellow. I knew it was going to be yellow. Jericho, do we have something we need to discuss? I'm not right now because every day it's for you.

That would be a really awkward conversation that I don't want to be here for, if that's okay. I thought we murdered Jericho. Don't do that. We need him for the whole... Oh, gosh, it's all unraveling. No, I'm just kidding. It's all unraveling. Just kidding. This is a conversation that two friends should have, because Jericho... Can you give me your hand? Oh, you mean this metal appendage? Yep, please. Oh, yeah, yeah, there you go.

about flaying your friends alive. - Seconded. - Well, I think it was more of a bill. - Okay, now moving on. Everyone needs to spoon up a little bit of the liquid and drink it. - Is there any way we could prepare a little bit for what we have to do after? - Well, I can just tell you.

Oh, okay. So, you're going to drink it, and then you'll have your candles. Then, we are going to... I have my candle. See this one right here? I'm going to light this one. And then, we are going to...

Do you see how the roots on the floor, you probably didn't notice it 'cause they didn't point it out, but the roots on the floor make a pentacle. Do you see it's so beautiful? It's really pretty. There's the big circle and then there's the points and stuff. And so each of you will stand at a specific spot and I'll tell you where to go.

And then we will do the ritual and at a certain time you'll each light your candle and we'll say things and that's basically what happens and then it'll be done. But you have to do it, she specifically said, pacifically, whatever. She said you have to do it when the potion's inside you. - All right. - Do we drink at the same time or in turn? - Yes, the same time. - Is everybody ready? - And then she'll pass out little wooden cups.

Thank you. And you'll just scoop it and drink. Well, bottoms up. Injures. And you see that she scoops and drinks too, even though she put nothing in. Sharrans have a lot of secrets themselves. For rituals such as these, it is only appropriate. No, don't add anything extra. Can't. I remove my mask. Okay, that you can do. Holy schmucks, you're pretty. Thank you.

Yeah, wow! I look like a beautiful, dark-health woman. I don't have any blemishes or scars or figments or anything like that. You can see my long ears. You can see the silvery hair coming down on either side. You can see my eyes, my eyebrows, my mouth, my nose. And you can see me take the cup and...

You all drink back the liquid.

It has a soft floral taste to it. It's earthy. And for a moment, you feel warmth in your throat and in your chest. And then you feel a tingling sensation. And it's not painful. It's not altogether unpleasant. It feels fairly nice. You can feel the magic is coursing through you. As Flora begins to explain how this is going to work. So let me pass these out. Woo!

There are six of you, so just go ahead and pass these out. These might be a little hard to read, but feel free to read through it. Everybody gets a copy. They're all the same. Because you are going to be... And then Nikki, the DM, will explain to the players how to do this while Flora is explaining it to the friends. Okay.

So go ahead and take a minute to read it and then let me know when you guys are done. How this works is you have your candle. Each of you has a line that starts with I am and your name. You'll say your line. You light your candle. And then everybody in unison will say the verse. And then the next person will say their line. They will light their candle. Everyone will...

say the verse together. It might make it really difficult to read this horrible. - I can read it. - I feel like as long as you can read it. - So the thing to remember is you are going to have lit candles while you're reading this. So make sure you're not holding your candle like this. Make sure you keep your candle held up like this so you're not lighting shit on fire. Don't light your paper on fire.

I don't have to be worried about that because when I was eight, I had one of those old timey, like, uh, uh, uh,

Christmas Carol style candle holders and I wasn't thinking and I opened the refrigerator and got like a sprite or something and then I closed the refrigerator and the entire front of the refrigerator was on fire. All of the stuff that had been magnetized to the front, like all my homework and paintings and shit. Oh no, I spilled the hot wax on my nipples. And then make sure that you read the very bottom line because that's also important.

Oh, yes. In parentheses. It is. That should be in unison. Okay. So whenever you're ready, has everyone read it? Everyone knows what's going on? I didn't, but I'm a good site reader. I'll be reading along with you because that will probably help with cadence and things of that nature. So with that, let's put on something a little more mystical than this.

I love the smoke in front of the cameras. I don't know if that looks cool to you at home. It looks pretty cool. Especially from that. Yeah, it looks unbelievable. Yeah, why don't we have cultist rooms? When are we gonna get cultist bathrooms at Vandris Bridge? We should. And so with that, you all go to your allocated places. Some of you are at points on the star in this pentacle that's built into the ground with the roots of what appears to be a large and ancient oak tree.

And two of you are at different places. Jorgren, you stand on the lines at the very center of this thing. And Lethika, you stand in the space between these roots. What does it mean? Okay, you're all in position. You all have your candles. I have my candle here. And she raises it into the air and he washes the candle, just bobs and floats in the air.

That way you don't have to move. It'll just go to you when you need it. Alright. So with this, we are going to be invoking the Watchers. Those that watch your souls. That lay claim to it. And we're asking them to help us, I guess. And hope that it all goes well. And we just finish this and...

Then it'll be done. So... And so we all say the lines between the... Yeah. So you each have your part, and you light your candle. Then we say the things together. And I have to do it with you for some reason. I don't know. It's just what she said. Meaningfully important, she said. So whenever you're ready, Farron, you can start us off. I'm ready. She said to go slow. Don't try and rush it. Okay. Me too. Here goes nothing. Nothing.

I am Farron, guardian of the north, watcher of the earth. I call to thee. This is the season of the immortal, the shepherd of man. Feel the ancient power. Make us to dream. Guard our minds. With us, be one. I am Jericho, guardian of the east, watcher of air. I call to thee.

This is the age of renewal, the dawn of protection. Feel the ancient power, make us to dream. Guard our minds, with us be one. This is spooky. I am Marius, guardian of the south, watcher of fire. I call to thee. This is the rising of the hero, messenger for the innocents.

Feel the ancient power. Make us to dream. Guard our minds. With us be one. I am Briggsie, guardian of the west, watcher of water. I call to thee.

Through time we call unto you, we call unto you our watchers. Feel the ancient power, make us to dream, guard our minds, with us be one. I am Jorgrim, guardian of the whole, watcher of spirit. I call to thee.

This is the awakening. Let none have domain of our minds. Feel the ancient power. Make us to dream. Guard our minds. With us, be one. I am Lethika, guardian of the space between, watcher of the void. I call to thee.

We call to our watchers to protect and to provide. Allow us not to be enthralled by others. They are within us. They are power. With them, we are one. As soon as all six candles are snuffed out in unison, the darkness of the void swallows you.

In an instant, your consciousness is ripped, almost violently downward. Darkness surrounds you and you feel as if you are falling, floating, knowing for certain that your senses are no longer within the abandoned house of Keziah Jenkins. As you feel your spirits descend deeper and deeper into the earth, there is a faint shimmer of light below you that grows larger and larger until finally taking the shape into the form of a spectral rabbit.

as it dances downward and shimmers between blue, green, purple, yellow, black, and white. Suddenly, the rabbit stops. This elemental animal spirit lands gently on solid ground and you all do the same, the space around you now illuminated by the glow of this creature. The air swirls around you and it's hard to tell if you are underground or in the darkest of forests. But all the same, you now realize that there is a heavy fog that is rolled in all around you, pressing in upon you.

You look around at each other, all your friends, all awash in the faint glow of those six colors. As the fog shifts and dances in tandem with you, it takes on the same cues as the rabbit. After just a moment, your spirit guide speaks to you. Although this is a land of death and mist, there is still power in this land. The magic of the old ways runs through every living and dead thing in Druskinvold, as it does in you all.

It can help protect you against the might of the Abyss by flowing through you and bringing out the dark gifts that are upon you all. But only if you let it. To begin your journey, you must speak the name of the one who has your soul and take the first step. Who will be first?

And that is where we will end the session. What? Never saw it coming. What? Could have given me a million guesses. No cliffhangers. I got blue balls. No cliffhangers, she said. My testes are swollen blue. Oh my. Let that sink into your brain folds. We could go another 50 minutes. I believe your color was purple. My testes are swollen purple like my candle. What the heck?

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