Edge of Midnight | Ep. 9 | Within Temptation
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Howdy-do! Welcome to Legends of Aventress. I'm old Jericho Sticks, and you're listening to Edge of Midnight. Here's what happened last time. Take this one evening to be merry. Does indeed appear to be party time. Meet me outside in ten minutes and we'll have a go. Your friend has made a fool of you. We'll meet again. Like hello!

pulls out a glass jar that's glowing the same fungus that Farron had taken from the hag hut. The matron has been spending a lot of time outside in the woods. I can't go to sleep until someone tells me a story. This is my book, and it was taken from me when I entered the orphanage. Good night, my mom and dad.

And you all dream the exact same dream. You stare into two glowing red eyes peering from the hood of a cloaked feminine shape. You awake in a start, drenched in sweat, and you hear the clanging of alarm bells. Your eyes notice it. The orphanage in flame. Malevolent cackle rings out across the land. The face of a grinning hag stares down at you. The hag moon looms overhead, now larger than ever before.

It's been said that the most beautiful sound is a child's laughter. Well, the opposite can be said of the final painful moments of a child's far too brief life. And I hope that you never get the opportunity to hear it. Unfortunately for our would-be heroes, they were not spared listening to such a sound. And now the Hagmoon is looming larger than ever, looking down with gleeful contempt, almost mocking them for what's happened.

Or even worse, for what's going to happen. But who knows? It's probably just a trick of the light. The moon can't have thoughts or feelings of any kind, much less malevolent ones. Can it? You all stand outside of the smoldering ruins of what once had been the orphanage here in the town of Cyril.

The stillness and the quiet is almost far more heart-wrenching and painful than the sounds of the screaming that you'd heard mere moments before. And as you take in the scene around you, the hag moon looming overhead, its light shining down on the city around you, sounds begin to appear, not in front of you towards the orphanage, but behind you.

where the houses of the residents are situated. As more and more people begin to fill the streets of Cyril, the sounds of mourning, of crying, of screaming, of pain, of fear. What do you do?

Is it still on fire or is it like- - It's still on fire, but it's finally beginning to smolder and to go out as if whatever had caused the fire as the fire brigade that is throwing buckets of water on top of it. It seems to be doing work.

The inside, the deep portions of it are still aflame, but you see areas that are just charred where the flames had licked up out of the windows and danced along the stonework outside. You can see the

the trails of that. Dungeon Master, Mistress, I have two questions. Sure. The flames went purple. Yes. And then they went back to flame. And then went back down and we saw that similarly in the burning. That is true. And my question is for the whole group. Who has Anya? Oh, so she's with us. Okay. Yeah. I'd turn away. I'd turn Anya's eyes away from the horror in front of us.

You feel her arms tight around you, you can, uh, you feel the warmth of her breath as she's breathing into your, um, into your scalp, her face buried skin against skin. You can hear her whimpering, but she's making no other sounds. I-I mean, I-I thought- I-I-was it some kind of trick? We failed. We did not succeed in the way that we thought we did. Well, I mean, is it possible that it was another witch?

Other than Mother Midnight? I don't think so. I fear that this is just far from over. Garsh, I'm going to admit something to y'all. I don't right think I'm smart enough for this adventure. Well, I mean, that's why some of these fellas are probably, you know, smarter than you are. Well, no, that's a question. I mean, I think Farid's pretty wise, and I mean, Lefica seems...

I just thought it just seemed so nice and easy. We walked in, there was not much of a fight from the lady in the woods. And you know what they say, if it's too good to be true, it probably is. And I thought, well, no, that's ridiculous. Not in this instance. Maybe we got lucky. I guess I had never been lucky my whole life. I agree with you, Jericho. I wanted to believe it as well. I mean, we were faced with what appeared to be hard evidence.

I'm gonna just like slowly approach the smoldering ruins to see if there is anything to save anyone. You roll a perception check.

Since you're outside, I'll say. And you notice that the guards and the firefighters that are around the perimeter and rushing this way and that, they pay you no mind, but they do notice that you're there. They don't seem to stop you. Given everything that's happened, even though the Hagmoon still seems to be back, it seems, even with the people coming out of their house, that you are still...

in a bubble of favor with this town at this moment. Whether that will change when the morning comes, who knows? But right now you are still seen in the light that the Knights Templar aren't going to stop you if you want to do anything with the orphanage. What was your roll? 20 total. You make your way up to a window that is...

lower down that you can, uh, easily pull your, even with your armor, you're strong enough to pull yourself up a little bit and look into. And you see that in the core of this, the fire is still raging and that, um,

men are darting this way and that. You see women firefighters and women Knights Templar in their arms throwing water on the flames. And I will say you even notice that amidst all of them running around almost more nimbly is Skinny Dudley, who seems to be helping to throw water on the fire, though he looks a little out of place. Everything in this place is charred. Books, seats,

not photos, paintings, anything that was here. You see a few things that you remember seeing that as you passed by, sceneries of idyllic cottages and things of that nature, storybooks all completely incinerated. As dark as this is, there are clearly corpses. Yeah.

I would say that there are, you can see that most of the second story has collapsed and there are clearly charred remains littering the entire floor of this place. I will bow my head to myself and say, "By Lathanda, please watch over these poor children." And then retreat back to the rest of the group. Can we save anybody? No. Well, do we know who did this?

And I look around at the fire brigade. I'm like, you know, I'll try to flag somebody down. Roll a persuasion check. What's wrong with Viking? That is a 11. Okay. You attempt to flag a...

You attempt to flag a Knights Templar down and he stops for a moment and then you hear like a whistle or a call from inside of the orphanage and he grunts but he shakes you off and tells you, "Sorry, we're too busy, not right now." And he rushes inside to continue to help put out the flame. I want to start walking around the perimeter and just looking for any kind of weird

Effigies or anything else that would seem vaguely magical like... Ooh, the jars! Yeah, either jars or anything else that like, you know, with my practice of voodoo with sort of similar kind of things like that, kind of just anything I can use. I would say, I would quickly, seeing that you're just starting to walk around the perimeter, I would quickly whisper to the group, Stick together. I'm going to join Briggsie, so none of us are alone now.

Who knows how these people will react to this new development. Then I will join Briggsie and walk with him. Looking for the same sort of time. Before you walk away, I'd be kind of turned away, trying to comfort Anya, leaning against my tombstone. The youngling shouldn't see this. I'll stay with you, Jorgen, and the child, little one. Okay.

We should keep her away from... Should we go over there to that alley where hopefully there isn't any remains of the previous evening? Oh, maybe not the alley. Maybe not the alley after all. Uh...

Perhaps they're in the middle of the... Oh no, not in the middle of the street either. Maybe just on the other side of the fountain. Yeah, no, that's just... Clean space. Yes, and the statue looks... Just pigeons, nothing to worry about there, just pigeons. You walk into the alley. Which I will say is actually true. You do see that there are about six pigeons that are flitting about at the top of the fountain. And I'll walk over with your ribbon on you and whoever else. I would go...

go with Briggs. And you went to? Lethika is also with Briggs. So it's going to be the three of us walking the perimeter and the three of them staying behind the fountain trying to keep their shoes clean.

I would specifically be walking around looking for footprints that might match Mother Magoo. McDuff. McDuff, thank you. You're welcome. McDuff. Make sure Maggie be deaf. There we go. Rich, if you want to roll an investigation check at advantage because you are being assisted by your friends here. Not bad.

Marius, are you staying put, going with the group? I'm watching as the three of them walk away from me, and Lethica's words echo in my head, and I look one direction, I look the other direction, and I shrug, and I begin to follow Jericho. Okay. 17. All right.

So you, the three of you begin your search around the perimeter of the house, or the orphanage, and at first there's so much soot and ash that has poured out of these broken windows that it's hard to see anything. You do see a lot of glass that has fallen out of the inside of these windows, but it's hard to tell whether it would have been glass from a jar, glass from the window itself. So for the

The purpose of mushrooms or fetishes, if it were of any kind of natural substance, organic material, it would have been incinerated in the pink flame. And so you don't see anything there. But what you do see is there are footsteps that are, they're covered in ash near an entrance towards the back. But you notice that they started to become more apparent heading off into the woods.

And they appear to be like an adult humanoid. Yeah, they, they were definitely adult footsteps or imprints. I should say the three of you are able to make your way towards the fountain. And as, as you get there, the, the pigeons that are resting atop it coup and twist their head this way. And that almost looking at you just a little longer than would seem natural for what a pigeon would do before they, um,

before they raise and fly off into the night sky. Oh. But other than that, all is quiet where you're at. Do they fly off like as soon as we get there? No, they watch you for a little bit. Their heads turn this way and that, and they stare at you just a little bit longer than you would imagine that a pigeon would watch you. So as I'm following,

my two companions, I would be looking at the moon and looking at these pigeons. How far away do you think they are from us? The pigeons? Yeah. Maybe 150 feet?

Maybe 100 feet? I don't know. Okay. We're walking right up to the fountain. Yeah, so you can walk right up to the fountain and then there'll be like five feet from you maybe. I would say what I'd like to do is when I feel like I'm within range from a mechanical sense, I'd like to use my divine sense. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

As an action, I can detect good and evil until the end of my next turn. I can sense anything affected by the Hallows spell or know the location of a Celestial Fiend and Undead within 60 feet that is now behind total cover. I can use this feature five times per long rest. So I just want to like... I'm looking at this moon and I'm looking at these pigeons and I'm just feeling dread and anger. And I want to...

Think about Lathander and see if he'll help me see if there's anything off about the pigeons or anything. So roll a d20 for me because what I'll say is you don't get a sense of Celestial Fiend or Undead. Sure. But... Natural 1. Twist it. Yeah, twist it. Twist it, twist it, twist it. You guys sure? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We got it. We got it. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Let me swap it up here. I'm just looking for a 10 or higher.

A four. It was faded. But you're adding your modifier, right? Are you like wisdom, whatever your paladin? It's charisma, right? Spell safety or whatever. It's going to be too low. Charisma plus proficiency. Charisma plus proficiency? No. That ends up being a nine. It was not faded. It was not faded. I sensed nothing. I sensed nothing. But what I will say is you can tell that they're not fey fiend or undead. Got it.

I would kind of just catch up to them and then like sit on the fountain, on the edge of the fountain and just make sure we're safe. I'll look up to Anya as your premise is carrying her over and I'll say, "Everything's gonna be okay. Everything will be fine. Nothing bad is gonna... well, something really bad just happened. And they're all in a better place.

Is that right? I also heard Numerius. Is that right? Yes, what Jericho is trying to say is

Despite everything that's going on, we're not going to allow anything to just happen to you. You're safe as long as you're with us. You see as Anya lifts her head just a little bit up from the top of Jorgrim's head and she makes eye contact with both of you. Her eyes are puffy with tears and you can see the snot that's pulling around the base of her nose and her small lower lip trembles in fear and sadness, but she says no words as we move back to the other group.

You're standing here in the darkness, your shadows made almost three times larger by the fire that is still burning behind you as you stare out into the dark, the looming shape of the forest behind you. And you see these footsteps. And you can tell that they were made in a hurry. I will say with that roll, it's easy to tell that they weren't calculated. It was, they were...

They were made with haste. Do you see these footprints? I do now, yes. Good eye. Thank you. Oh, I mean... Yeah, the little girl, she seemed real suspicious of that matron. I know she was, and I didn't believe her at first. I thought it was just a young child bucking authority, but... We need to get the others and follow these prints. I don't want to jump to conclusions because we don't know who they belong to, but whoever it was left in a hurry. I can see that. Um...

Are they like adult sized? Child sized? They look to be adult sized. Do they have a fine heel or would you say it's a boot? Ooh, that's a great question. I would say with, I'll keep that roll. I would say it appears to be a boot, but not the kind you would expect to see from a knight's templar. More of a more of a commonly worn boot, not a

Not a metal boot, if that makes sense. And there's no like brand inscription that's pressed into the mud? Like Vans? Yeah, it says Gucci with like three I's because copyright. Gucci I. Similar but legally described. Oh no, I'm sorry. It says wagon, not to be confused with coach. I love that. This is a good boot. What?

I think we should get the others and follow these out, put the little ones somewhere safe. I agree. I'll be right back. And I hustle over to the rest of them. Hey! Hey! Let's go! Come on! All right, we're coming. What about the little one, Briggsie? Oh, fuck! Briggsie, what's your language? I mean, oh, shit! I run up to the three of them. Um...

Farron found some footprints at the orphanage in the woods. And I'm pretty damn sure it's that Macduff. Well, how do you know? Well, I mean, who else would it be? They're like a dog-sized. They're like a boot, but not like a steel guard's boot. They're more like a common-legged one boot. Apparently, they look pretty nice, according to Africa. It could be anyone. I mean, yes, we'll follow them. But they were leaving the back of the orphanage...

You know, covered in ash. It was right before the fire. And they went off into the woods. Where the witches are? Maybe less details. Um, like, so, I have to tell you that it's really okay for you to say things around me, because, like, I already saw that it's gone. Like, I know what happened. So, hearing about a boot is, like, slightly less scary, you know? So, do we...

Bring it with us, or do we put it back in the house? You can't leave me, like, somewhere where you're not, because you're super powerful, and if anything happens, you can protect me. I mean, that would have sounded unreasonable yesterday, but I'm actually thinking she raises a good point. I mean...

If you want to, and the more responsible folks think it's okay. I like Marius. So... That's dad. Who's the most responsible one out of all of you? I think it's the dedicated, notly fellow here. I put my head in my hands and I sigh very loudly. He's got a whole, like, code or something. Excuse me, Marius. Can I ask you a question, please? Of course you may. Can I...

"If you said that, we just can't get me!" And she starts crying. I'm gonna look to Jörgrim and raise my voice a little bit just so that you can hear me over the sound of her wailing. While I do think that it's not a good idea, what do you think, Jörgrim? I hate to leave her. We don't know why this building of all of them. I worry that maybe they missed one.

Probably. She should stick with us. All right. Then it's good. Okay, so, like, did you just say you think that they were trying to get all of us in because I wasn't in there last night? They're going to come for me. It's not your final destination. It's going to be the evil cultists of the witch coming to murder you in your bed. I thought you were designed to be gorgeous. Oh, no, I'm not. Gosh, no, I mean. Say something. I mean, they're going to put you to the long seat in your bed forever. That's what's going on.

I start slowly backing away. No, no, no, no, no. It's not. That is not going to happen. The men are just kind of standing there awkwardly like, huh. I hope they bring the child. She's being hunted now. No. That is not going to happen. All right? You and I will make sure at all times one of us is watching her, protecting her.

I think you're right, we can't leave her, even though this is going to open up issues, we have to protect her no matter what. All right? As long as one of us is watching. I'm like really hearty, so. Exactly. I'll be okay. Like I couldn't make muscles on my arms, like if it were not nighttime. We'll fill in the others, we'll bring her along, and we just have to keep an extra watchful eye, all right?

And you have to promise, as hardy as you are, not to make things more difficult for us. I would never do something like that. I'm like a super good kid. All right, let's go. I'm already like halfway back. Oh, is this resolved? We'll keep a good eye, and I'll have Virgil keep an eye on her. Actually, on second thought, Virgil, don't keep any eyes on her. Just go keep an eye on them pigeons.

Can I have you all roll a perception check for me? Just stay up here. You got it. I won't say anything unless I absolutely have to. Oh, let's go. Big roll. Unfortunately, it wasn't what I needed it to be. Let's not go. Do not pass, though. Fifteen. Twenty-three. Six. Perception. Twenty-two. Sixteen.

Six. Oh, I never hear your rolls. I just don't think you say them. I don't know. It's a six. Anya, what did you get? I'm a child, so I don't roll those kinds of things. Okay. I like that.

Marius. Yes. As you begin to, as you begin to form your little group and you walk back towards the orphanage, you hear the sounds of chatter from the, from the city of Cyril and you, it has gotten to a point where the entire city is completely woken up and it is loud. It is almost cacophonous. The way the noises, the crying, the screaming, the questioning is, um,

is ringing throughout the streets. But even through all of that, your dampier senses are on high alert. And as you pass around the corner of the orphanage, you hear a

Marius! Psst! My head would immediately snap in the direction that I hear this. And as it does, you turn and you look through one of the broken windows in the orphanage. You see just the eyes and nose of a scrawny 13-year-old boy as he peeks out at you from the inside of this orphanage. Psst! Marius! Psst!

I will lean towards your room, and I guess Jericho, if he's still close, and say, give me one second, I'll catch up in one moment, and I'm going to run over to the window. Hey. What's going on? Orphanage burned. I'm going to look around, and look at him and go...

You don't say. And clearly you're talking to Skinny Dudley. In case that wasn't it. Hello, Skinny Dudley. Yeah, I'm helping put out the fire. I saw you guys walking around the perimeter. That's good that you're helping, yes. Yeah, keep your voice down. I'm supposed to be helping, I don't want to get yelled at. Alright. You tell anyone about that wishbone?

No. Alright, cool. We kept it a secret, and you should cease mentioning it as well. Yeah, I got another secret for you if you're all ears. I am? Maggie McDuff, I saw her running in the woods like seconds after the fire hit. And I gotta tell you, it's unlike anything I've ever seen. I don't know if you know this, but there was no smoke before the fire. There was no dancing of lights. It just went from being completely quiet to...

completely flame like all in a second and I was almost I don't know I felt like I was almost illusioned by it you know I was just right over there by that house I wasn't doing anything bad I promise I was just cute girl lives inside and I was gonna tell her I liked her I brought her some flowers but anyway um I think she was sleeping so it didn't matter I just anyway it went up in flame and and uh and I was just watching it and it was dancing and I

I can't believe I didn't call sooner, but then I saw movement over towards the way you're heading. And I looked, I peeled my eyes away from the flame and I looked and there she was just rushing out into the night. She had some kind of cloak on her back and I think she saw me. She looked back towards me for a second and quickly turned her head and rushed into the underbrush. I don't know who to tell and I don't know what to do about it, so. All right, all right. It's all right. I promise. Again, your secret is safe with us. We won't. I'll tell the others and

We're going to go after her. Anyway, we're following her into the woods. We will let you know when we return. But you have to promise me one thing. Sure. If you think, even for one moment, that your life is in danger, you run. Promise me. I will. I ain't fast, but I'll do it. These scrawny legs can carry this boy.

Just stay out of trouble, alright? Alright. Thank you. If you hear another "pissed, pissed" again, that's me. Probably. I mean, I guess I can't confirm no- Sorry, I'm raising my voice. I gotta get back. Alright, I'll keep my ears open. Alright. Alright. Don't do anything that's gonna get you hurt, alright? We need you now. We'll be safe. Thank you. Alright. I will rush over to the rest of the group and share this information.

Um, you know, Briggsie told us that he felt that the tracks belonged to the Matron. I have to say, this is not a good look. I fucking knew it!

Let's go kill that bitch! I'll just start... Whoa, whoa, hey! ...walking past her. Hold on! I'm not happy to hear it, but I'm glad to know that it... our suspicions are confirmed anyway. At the very least, we're going to find her. We don't know if she started the fire. That was what I was going to say. She may have been following something into the woods. Thank you. It's suspicious she left without making an attempt to save anyone in the orphanage. Or tell anybody! I agree.

We will get to the bottom of this. The sounds of the town is now almost painfully loud as you're trying to communicate with each other. You are having to yell, even within this close proximity, because of the sounds of the crying and the panic that is going on all around the city around you. And I would say, given when you woke up, and you all enjoyed a long rest. I don't know if I told you that. But you enjoyed a long rest. Hot dog. Yeah.

You know that it is the very, very early, early morning. And in a few hours, it will be dusk, early dusk. And so people are completely awake for the day as they panic. And as you are all having this conversation, you hear the loud clanging of a bell. And then what sounds like the crushing of stone. As all of a sudden, ringing throughout the town, you hear, Hi!

Silence. You look towards the town center and you see that Hugo is standing there having swung from turret and parapet and roof all across this town as he calls out quiet. And everyone is silent. Everyone stares up and looks toward him.

as out from what looks to be some kind of dark alley. You see a small man in regal garb, but not the priestly garb that you're used to seeing as he places a small box in the town center and he climbs up onto it. He rolls out a parchment, a piece of notation, and his voice booms almost magically, unnaturally, as he speaks to the town at large. Quiet! Quiet, all!

There has been a burning at the orphanage. Quiet all! The Archbishop has ordered everyone to return to their homes, and in an hour hence we will meet in the town centre for his address. Until then, keep yourselves calm, keep yourselves quiet, and let Foltis do his work on this city. So it has been ordered, so it has been decreed. Hail Foltis!

And quickly, in a shimmer of silver, the parchment that he rolled out completely disappears in a shimmer of brilliant silver light.

As you watch Hugo begin to start to pace the streets and he looks like he is going to be walking from this way to that, making sure that no one remains in the streets. And you see that the people of Cyril do this immediately. They have no reservations about once Hugo is there and once the order has been given, they will obey and they make their way into their homes.

And the sound, that loud morning sound, is completely quelled. And all you're left with is the sounds of the firefighters and the Knights Templar working on the fire in the orphanage, the crackling of the flame, and the heavy footsteps of Hugo as he marches the street. We have a choice. We can either go and listen to the Archbishop's speech in an hour, or we can follow this hot trail, see what's going on immediately. Maggie may need our assistance if she is indeed good.

Or she may need to be hunted down if she is responsible for the awful birdie. I don't think we can take a chance on her just disappearing into the woods. Agreed. My vote is on the latter. I mean, I showed her what I'm related towards. We run in there and we're back within the hour or two, but I mean... She's responsible. We've got to bring her back. The Archbishop's always going to be looking for her.

A head on the pike or whatever people say around here. I don't know. What's he gonna say? Oh, there was a burning. It was a witch. Foltis will take care of us. Boy, but if he doesn't have somebody to blame on it, he's gonna say these people brought us the other witches and they were false and put us on the fire, not flame. That is why I wanted us to stick together.

You don't think that after all we've been through and all we did that he would do that to us? I think he would. He's certainly capable of it. We've seen it. You are too trusting, Jericho. Except from the start I don't trust him. And if push comes to shove, I don't think we're bringing her back. We're slaying her. We're doing things our way this time. We're not leaving justice up to someone else. If it is evident that she is guilty, I agree.

That we get as much information as we can because there are too many mysteries about for us to take a clear action. I agree. At least see which way she was going. And I guess if we... What if there's... If she's on her own then it should be fine but I just wonder if Captain Marco, Sir Marco. Oh, we were supposed to meet him this evening.

This morning. So you were supposed to meet him at early dusk and you know that it's about

two maybe three hours from the time that he should be arriving back with the rest of the Knights Templar that were sent out to the gates. So I would say just for the sake because it has been two weeks you imagine that you could do some investigating in the woods and still make it back in time to listen to whatever the Archbishop has to say and there would be about an hour maybe an hour and a half between then and when Marco would be arriving at the Northwest Gate.

Are the footprints heading in the direction he would have been going to the mine? So if you think about this, the city this way, so let's say the city is this way. The cathedral is at the, at the top of it. The orphanage is maybe over this way.

and these circular town centers right here. So you would have headed over this way. Backing it is nothing but woods. And you were leaving out of the south, the southernmost gate and heading around because there was an actual path. You're basically going the long way to get out into those woods where you technically could have gone directly behind the orphanage and deeper into the woods, but it's on traveled territory. It would have been significantly more dangerous.

I think it's the easiest way to think about it. So let's go into the significantly more dangerous woods. I'm going to get a crossfire. Farron, you said you found tracks. Do you think you can continue to find them? I'll do my best, yeah. I think we better move as quick as we can, though. Yes, I think we make haste. Perhaps we can make it back within the hour.

Oh, and it goes without saying we're bringing this girl. No, no, no other option. So we all must keep a pair of eyes on her at all times. It's going to make fighting difficult if it comes to that. Do you think I'm going to turn into a werewolf? No, I don't think that that's going to happen at all. Why would you suggest that? Is that something that is likely to happen? Inside of this one, there's a song.

I think I'd sing it for you. Oh, yes. Oh, no, I think I was singing that. I forget. No, because it's in, you remember I told you there was that storybook that you have that's mine, and there's the one about the little girl in the red coat. Oh, yes, yes. And she goes into the woods, and they say, no, get out. Oh, that's right, exactly right. Don't go. Yeah, I've got to learn that song. That's right, I need to learn it. Run. Run.

Well, Garge, now you're making me all spooked. Leave! What a strange song. It has no cadence. I never memorized the first part, but I like the shouting part.

So if we go out this way, little one, you need to be on high alert. And even if we are all keeping our eyes out on you, there's a real chance that whatever is out there could possibly disembowel or destroy or behead all of us. What does disembowel mean? It means when your guts get torn out of your body. I thought you were supposed to be good with kids. Oh, gosh, it's been a long time. She should know what the risks are if she's going to be joining us. Ugh.

Yeah, no, that's pretty scary, I think, but it's more scary to be alone. How old is Anya? She's about seven, but very hardy. I've said she's like six to eight, so I'm just going to go with seven. Okay. She's very hardy, though, for a seven-year-old. Anya, if things should get very dangerous, I would ask that you hide. I know you are very brave and hardy, but we would not want to...

force you into a fairy tale of your own to see. So my fear about hiding, though, is I breathe really loud. Well, perhaps, uh...

Perhaps my Dark Lady, the deity I worship, can help with that. And I will touch her and she will suddenly feel the warm, dark cloak of stealth go upon her. She now has the ability for the next hour to have advantage on stealth checks. Dude, I feel like so secretive right now. You and me both. Thank you. Cool. Jericho, do you think that you could help keep an eye out for...

With your front there, looking for the pigeons. Virgil, I know you're having a great day, on account of all them dead kids. You really gotta stop saying such horrible things. Why can't we kill Virgil? Trust me, I've tried. And he already knows it.

He has the upper hand or wing or talon, I don't know biology. Anyways, I'll Virgil. Virgil, for both of our sake, why don't you keep an eye out for pigeons and whatever kind of gross animal was stalking us, what a ferret saw. Roll an investigation check for me, please. Me? Yeah, for Virgil. Oh, I'm gonna roll a small one because he's a crow. Oh, okay. That checks. Uh.

- Okay. - Sure. - Small one, Warren. - I'm humbly requesting on behalf of Caprice that you sing "Crow, Crow, Crow Your Boat" or something. - Hold on, I gotta pull it up. ♪ He's a weird crow investigation ♪ - We're walking, right? - We're walking. - Oop, hours up. - Assuming that Karen is leading the way. - And so with that, if you could all roll a group perception and a group investigation check for me.

That's a nine. Thank you. Perception and investigation. Let's go. Oh god, my perception is good, my investigation is trash. Because you are actively looking for Maggie McDuff, but I also need to see what you would perceive inside of the woods themselves. Oof. I got a 22 on perception, but my investigation is not worth mentioning. Okay.

I'll put it as a one. Yeah. My investigation was 15. My perception was 11. Okay. 14 and two. Which one's 14? Which one's two? That was the first one. The perception and then investigation. Okay. 14 and two. Perception 15, investigation 21. Nice. I rolled a nat 20. You're saving your friends here.

Perception 13, investigation 21. Alright. 21 crew, let's go. I got a 14 in perception, and then a 9 in... No, Vertigo got the 9. Mine was... Oh my god, I'm sorry. 11, and that's good. Now, you did alright.

Only half of us die. So with the pep talk to Anya and letting her understand what her role is, she seems pretty quiet. She's definitely still reeling from the burning of the orphanage. And you can tell that she's trying to emotionally handle it as best she can for being a seven-year-old girl. But she is comforted by having the six of you there with her.

as you rally together and you make your way into the woods, um, following the footsteps. And I would say Farron, you're at the lead here having lived in, um, not necessarily this kind of wooded area, but in nature,

And you are able to, even though the vegetation is overgrown, this is far more wild than the area that you had traversed previously, you are able to, with Marius' sword, cut back the foliage and locate these, the footsteps. And you can see that they, as the soil is wetter as you get deeper into the forest, that

the boot sinks in and you can easily tell now that it is a feminine boot that is a much smaller foot. And you would guess, having seen Maggie MacDuff and what she wears, that it does resemble the wagon labeled heeled boots that she wore. The spring collection, she must be very poor. LAUGHTER

This is last year's. It's just her labor day today. Oh my god. That was savage. Turns out she didn't survive the fire. And you see that you track them for maybe...

30 minutes and you find yourself in a small clearing and it's not large, it's barely enough to fit the six of you and still have room to move around it. The floor is littered with animal bones and strange shaped rocks with maybe carvings or paint on them, you're not quite sure.

And you can see the remains of what was at some point a small fire that was around the size that you would use for cooking or for personal use camping, that kind of thing. Nothing too large, but clearly the remnants had been here. It doesn't look like it's been used in maybe a week. So it wasn't recent. But the way that everything is littered here, you lose.

I'll, you know, kind of circle a few times and go outside of the clearing and just continue looking and then rejoin. I can't find it. It's gone. It's like her footprints have just disappeared in the mess of all this. Did it feel like the path of the trail that we were following was meandering looking for this place or was it a beeline?

It was a beeline. I mean, if the footsteps just stop, then she can't be very far. I mean, this is very clearly a clearing. It is clearly a clearing. This is very similar to the last witch that we found, right? A clearing. There's no hut, but surely she must be here. Did we see someone fly? Did we see somebody flying away from the fire? You...

In the... in the, uh, the haunted house that you're in, in the, in the, uh... Okay. Why can't I remember names? Crooked house. Thank you, thank you, the crooked house. In the crooked house, when you imagine that you might have released Kellen of the Crooked Teeth out into the universe, you saw someone essentially fly across the moon. Okay. If she's here, I can't find her, but we've seen somebody fly before. Yeah.

What if she flew away? I'm going to turn towards the woods, just in the clearing. McDuff! Show yourself! You even, even though this is so forested, a strange echo reverberates out from the forest when you call out. You don't hear footsteps of a woman. You hear what sounds like the footsteps of a large beast as it paws into the earth.

but it sounds like it echoes all around you in every single direction. As you look left, you feel like you can hear it. As you look right, you feel like you can hear it. And then all of a sudden, bright red eyes shining far off in the distance, maybe 200 feet out into the depths of the forest, just staring at you. All of you have seen these eyes before in a shared dream that none of you have spoken about as of yet. And then just as quickly...

The eyes shut and silence fills the forest around you. We're never quite alone, are we? Did anyone just see that? Am I awake dreaming? I don't know, sleep is new to me, so I don't know if this is a thing that happens. I mean, it's a thing that's been stalking us, it's been hunting us. Is that Macduff? Hello, Mr. Large-Eyed Monster? I wouldn't do that.

"We don't want you to- you're not invited into the clearing, but is that you, McDove? We just want to chat." Silence fills the forest around you, not even the sounds of animals moving through the underbrush. And then, the sound of heavy breathing, as if from a large beast, just booms throughout the night.

Sounds of breaking, what sounds like not breaking twigs, I wish I had a pencil, but the sounds of snapping trees as this thing moves, almost circling you in this clearing. And then nothing. Silence. We might be in trouble here. Right. I think we've made a bit more noise than we ought to have. We should be careful. We have the girl with us.

Out of character. Did we discuss the shared dreams last time? You did not. Oh, we didn't. No, you had your dreams and immediately woke up to the orphanage burning, and so you have been basically go, go, go. You haven't really had a moment. We discussed our personal dreams where we all had different, like, sex-evidently sins. That's right. We didn't discuss the one we had. The shared one. I had a dream about that feller in the woods last night right before I woke up.

I think I did too. So did I. So did I.

Did you? And if you need a refresher, I'm happy to reread the dream to you. That would be nice. I could really use a refresher. That would be really nice. I'm looking at my notes realizing that I'm an asshole. I think I have it. Thanks, previous Derek. I think I have it in the Mikey D&D vault, but a refresher is always. The darkness of slumber is shattered by amber light that surrounds and consumes you. It radiates from a spot in the distance that slowly grows and grows as the sound of church bells clang around you.

Soon, all you can see is amber as the tolling bells turn to a deafening drone of reverberating musical metal. Within the amber light, you see seven dark shapes looming over you, all horned and winged as they bellow out guttural, malevolent roars. You stare at them in horror as something begins to overtake you, uncontrollable emotions rising up from the very core of your beings. You all feel sinful. You feel the need to indulge wholly in the respective sin that has been threatening to consume you.

Suddenly, the overwhelmingly tempting allure of sin abates and darkness returns in an instant. Around you, the sound of gnashing maws and tearing flesh erupts into the darkness, as if some grotesque feast is playing out ahead of you. Through the darkness, you see the silhouettes of two beastly figures hunched over an unmoving third.

As each creature illuminates in the darkness, you see the blood and gore of a macabre meal. A huge and grotesque centipede and pigeon devour the entrails of a disemboweled weasel. The two vermin stop their feasting to slowly turn their eyes on you, and they are the color of lilac.

Immediately, the horrid, bestial dinner is swallowed by shadow once more and all that remains in the darkness are two tiny red motes of light that continue to grow and grow. You stare into two glowing red eyes peering from the hood of a cloaked feminine shape as it slowly walks towards you. You see nothing but its silhouette and the orbs of light within as a strange woman stops before you and reaches up to pull back her hood. With a swift motion of her hands, she lets the robe fall from her body and pull at her feet.

As your eyes focus on the body before you, you are not met with the form of a woman, but instead, shrouded in darkness, a goat's skull sits before you. In its darkened eye sockets, two red gems illuminate the darkness as they blaze with ruby light.

You stare in horror as the skull stares back at you, and then the skull begins to grow. It increases in size as the silence in the dark is pierced by the sound of slithering flesh. The skull grows muscle, tendon, sinew, blood vessels, then skin as it transforms into a horrific, bestial goat with twisted, ebony horns. Its bulging red eyes squish around the blazing rubies as coarse black hair grows from the newly formed skin.

The head of a monstrous demonic black goat stares at you with horizontal, nearly rectangular pupils before letting out a horrifying bleat. A hexagram of runic magic quickly frames its animalistic face as behind it glows the terrible light of the hagmoon, the crone-like face of it twisting and moving as it opens its gnarled mouth and swallows the goat head whole. It then turns its crater-sized eyes towards you and an ancient voice croaks out two words, "'My sacrifice.'"

And that is when you woke up. Gosh, it was a lot scarier than I remembered. That's a fucking fear dream. Jesus. Oh, boy. So we all dreamed that. Yeah, I mean, it was a big, horrible goat skull, but actual goat thing. We don't know what that is in the woods. We keep seeing it stalking us, but it never actually comes to attack. It's those same eyes, though.

Are they the same eyes? I would say they look very, very similar. I mean, having seen the dream, I would say, yes, it looks like gigantic, like monstrous goat eyes. Yeah. Jesus. Now that you mention it. In fact. In fact, yes. Well, maybe it's friendly and just misunderstood. Unlikely. It hasn't attacked us yet. I feel like something of that size would be...

Very easy to disembowel us. Oh. Shoot. It feels like we are being toyed with. I'm going to walk around the campsite that we're at and see if I can pick up some of these runic, I guess, rocks and stones. Anything with the marks on them and just sort of get a sense. Are they in a pattern? Have they been scattered about? It looks like they've been scattered.

I would say looking around some more you can see that there was definitely some order to this place, but it looks like it had been scattered, and I would say recently, the way that they are in almost as if someone had run through this place and quickly just destroyed it before leaving.

But I will say you're able to pick up some of the symbols and Farron got a pretty good investigation. Both of you did. You recognize some of these symbols, though you don't understand them. You saw a few of these in the book that you found in the hut, as well as in the notes that you found in the house. In Keziah Jenkins' house. What's with the sign?

It's the Rosetta Stone. I've cracked the code! Who is Rosetta? It's the same from the book? From Keziah Jenkins, yeah. I thought it was... Well, it's a code. It's in code, but...

- Do you think you'd learn something from them stones if it's the same symbols? - I'm already putting stones into my bag. - And as you watch as Lethika puts stones into the bag, you also watch as the hand creeps out of the bag and starts pulling in decaying pieces of animal flesh and bone and adding them to the bag as well.

That's a really, really wonderful image. Two things. Do these... It's very hard to get out of upholstery. Do we see any... You probably would have mentioned it, but because of Dungeons & Dragons, I'm going to ask... And I probably would have forgotten it. Do we see any remnants of jars or fungal green bits? Okay. You do not. Shh.

And do these animals look like the bones and corpses of animals could potentially have just been someone hunting and eating if it's a campfire? I would say yes, that is possible. Okay, so it wasn't, but it, so I'm thinking, does it look more like ritual sacrifice? It is hard, I would say it is hard to tell from the way that it is in disrepair, but it could go one of two ways. You do see that some of the bones have carved runes into them, but you don't know if that was after maybe

eating and the bones were used in reverence after the consumption of the animal or if they were slaughtered for the pure purpose of transcribing bones into them. It would be nearly impossible to learn that unless you had like a ranger or something. Given the fact that the trail of boot prints led here and then stopped and don't seem to continue...

And I don't know if this is fair for Lethika, so let me know if this wouldn't occur to her. But the D&D player that is Derek thinks that perhaps a spell was cast that transported the owner of these footprints to some other plane. There is, I would say, it definitely seems... Roll an Arcana check for me. Ten. You imagine that a spell definitely could have been cast here. It seems...

It seems far enough outside of the city that spells would go and detect it out here. As you know, that that kind of thing would probably not fly so well inside the city of Cyril. But...

The way that the trees, bits of them are, bits of the branches are broken maybe by animals passing through, maybe by travel in different directions from this place, there's no real way for you to determine whether you can't tell about the footprints just because of how overgrown the rest of the forest becomes or because a spell was cast.

At second level, I would like to cast Solve Mystery. Okay, here we go. Should have known something like this was going. Wait, is that real? No. I thought it was real. I'm like, I don't know what Derek can do. He does these things. Okay, you have to understand. That's a frostbite. I played with Derek as a mystic where he gave me like 10 pages of what a mystic could do. He's like, can I play this character? I saw it was 10 pages, said, I don't want to read that. Sure.

And then paid for that choice for years. I can use my brain to resurrect people from the dead. She let me play the original Unearthed Arcana Wizards of the Coast Mystic, which is like 15, 20 pages. 10 is an under-representation of how complex that fucking class is. I started to read it and I went, nah. So there'd be times during the campaign where I'd be like, I reverse time, and all of a sudden we go back in history. And she'd be like...

I literally ran out of time. I was like, you could be lying to me about what you're doing. I'm just choosing to trust you. You're thinking of the ice spell idea. Oh, yes. That is exactly what that's there for. Thank you. I don't do anything else. I'll collect as many. You literally could have fooled me and I would have given you information. I'm so glad you didn't. No, no, no. I won't do that again. I'm not trying to gaslight. I'm just going to collect as many marked items as I can to see if I can assemble them later.

I would say you're easily able to collect a hefty amount. Do you think that it's worthwhile to send Virgil to take a look? I mean, yeah. Maybe she's flying around. Have him fly around and see what he sees. Best case scenario, he gets eaten.

How do you name the beast? I mean, he can get eaten. He'll just come back tomorrow. I'm sorry. Oh, yeah. Or actually, a couple of minutes, actually. Oh, gosh. Oh, gosh. Well, Virgil, and he'll probably be

become fond on perching on Jorgum's tombstone as we just walk as a very convenient place to... You see that Anya is petting him, and he seems to be accepting it. Anya, how many fingers do you have? I have all ten of my fingers. Okay, be careful around, he's a wily character. No, he's not, he just sits here. I guess it's true, it's sometimes difficult. He is very soft.

- Well, not, he's really coarse personality wise. - He makes a good little clicking sound inside of his throat and he keeps saying actual human words, which is really weird. - Oh, you hear him too? - What? - I thought only I could hear him. - Crows can mimic just like ravens can. - Oh. - I don't know if you knew that. - No, I did, but I'm like, whoa, he just speaks to me normally too. That is all the same. - But all he's saying is bye. Goodbye.

That's ominous. That's surprisingly ominous, but I suppose it fits your aesthetic. Your je ne sais quoi, Virgil. Why don't you... I know you're enjoying some scritchy-scrotchies, it seems, but why don't you go take a look and fly out to that there goat? I think last time we just focused on pigeons. Now there's a giant goat, we think.

In the woods, you've been here, you know what I know, so I don't even know why I'm explaining this to you. Could you go take a look at the goat, please? A rural investigation? In my headcanon, until and if we ever learn what Virgil sounds like, it's just him in a normal human voice being like, I don't know, Jericho, fuck you. You were there when Virgil actually took the goat. Oh, did that happen? Yeah, it's horrifying. You'll enjoy it at some point. But does he sound like that when he's the bird?

- Like to you? - Well, you don't know that, but Mikey will, yeah, you don't know. - Oh, okay, I don't know. I'm just curious. - Yeah, I would say that they're two voices. So I will say, okay, Virgil, I'm just, and now just to make sure we'll keep an honest, I'll make sure I see through your eyes.

And my head flaps back and clanks, and they go with a bright orange, even more so, and Virgil will fly out into the woods. And I got a 15. Okay. Virgil flies out into the woods, and you watch as the trees just rush past your vision as Virgil soars over the canopy. And you get a much...

a much better view of what the forest looks like from here. And nowhere in it can you see the moving form of a black goat. And you had heard this gigantic creature encircling you over and over and over again. But there is nowhere in this forest where any of the trees seem to have been

stomped or battered by a beast of that size. Everything seems to be quiet and as it should be. But you do see from here that it would take probably an hour and a half, maybe two, of walking, but there is almost a straight chute from this location to the mines.

Interesting. And that's the only thing of notice that you see. Aside from, say you also see this, in a significant amount of trees, as you get further out, you see more and more pigeons perched in the trees. And they get, they're more and more thicker and thicker as it gets closer to the mines. I'll snap back up and I'll blink a little bit, which is really the most I like just like doing the, just closing and opening.

Well, there seems to be no goat in anymore. Just gone. Nothing? No, just no goat. And I saw it. It's not even like Virgil was lying to me. I saw with my, his own two weird crow eyes. We all saw it and we heard it and snapping branches and trees and like. Maybe it can go invisible, but I can tell you, I looked, I flew all over and we ain't too far from the mines. Maybe it's a trick.

in our heads, and we're all experiencing the same trick. Do you see any evidence of a large monster in the forest? Footprints, properties? Did I see, like, broken-- Nope. No, no, no, no, no, no, sir, you're-- It looks as if the forest is completely-- Oh, but we are close. Well, not close, we're on the direction off to the gold mine, and it looks like this would-- you could continue on this way and get to Okazai Jenkins' hut, which

Would track with what Farron found in her house. I feel like I've become a lot smarter. I think you might have as well. How far from the mines do you think we are? Well, it'll take us a bit of a journey to get there. We'd certainly miss Sir Marco coming back. And I certainly don't want to approach the mine without first meeting with Sir Marco to see what he found. Damn, I was hoping we could cut him off and maybe meet him there before he gets back to town.

You imagine at this time he's got to get back to town in about two hours from now. Two to three hours from now. You know that taking the long way around, it took almost five hours to get to the mine. So they would already be on there on the road home. Presuming that they're not just dead. Which they probably are. No. No, he's going to be fine. Okay. Okay.

Yeah, no, he did. I'm not particularly concerned about whatever the Archbishop might have to say, and I really hate to go home empty-handed without finding the Matron, but I'm not sure what else we could do. I am quite concerned with what the Archbishop has to say to see if he can justify what happened yesterday, and how he will explain this to the masses.

The moon is back. Their sacrifice was for nothing. We were not the only ones deceived. Unless, of course, they are bad actors. Does this sort of thing happen in your world of religion? I'm sorry if that's offensive. I'm not sure what you mean.

I think I understand.

It is not a unique feature of my worship or my dogma that people of faith who have faith can be convinced to do nearly anything, can be convinced to take great leaps and justify things they might not otherwise do without their beliefs. Is that what you mean?

I suppose so. I just, I say never seen or heard of no city like this place. And I just don't know what to do. It's at this time that you hear the clanging of the church bell. As it seems that the city of Cyril, the sound of the church bells are echoing out over the land around them. So the city of Cyril prepares for the Archbishop's announcement. We should make our way back. There is nothing more for us here. Praise the Lord with me.

Agreed. All right. Maybe when we get back, we should lay a little bit low, if we can, listen from a distance, just in case. Ain't no reason we need to get a front row seat this time. Don't need no splash zone, Briggsie. Well, I mean, they had popcorn. What am I going to say, no? They did not have popcorn. Popcorn was quite good. I'm pretty sure it was popcorn. I mean, it was after the burnings, everyone held up a stick. Oh!

- Yeah, they're just Jiffy Pop men. - Some drunk left their Jiffy Pop on fire in the orphanage and that's really what happened. - Trips and spills corn. Oh, this is awkward. But since it's here. - I mean, what are you wasting? - Yeah, I would say let's make our way back with haste. - You make your way back with haste.

to the outskirts of Cyril. And you are able to see that the streets are busy, all the lanterns are burnt, illuminating the early morning here in Cyril. - About what time is it? - It is about an hour from early dusk. - Okay. - Which I would say in like human time, it's probably around 5:00 a.m.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I forgot about early dusk being extra long. And you are able to make your way into the streets, and you do begin to see that some of the people in Cyril are looking at you, not with fear, not with distrust or loathing, but almost with questions. They look at you almost pleadingly.

But nobody makes move to, um, to accost you. Nobody, um, begs you to tell them what's going on. But you can kind of feel it, that everyone is a little...

confused as to how the heroes of Cyril, still here having killed Mother Midnight, how this could have happened. And you see that they're all making their way toward the center of town where once again a very similar scene is set up like you had seen at the burning, but this time there are no pyres in the center. It's just the large seats for the Archbishop and his clergymen and everyone is piled around them.

And you wait. It takes maybe 15 more minutes of the bells clanging to a point that it's almost, um, it's almost, um, causing a headache how much these bells just will not stop clanging. And then the silence as you hear the door to the church slowly open. Is, uh, is the Inquisitor on the stage?

I will say that you can see the Inquisitor. She is standing there off to the side. The stage area is really the top of the steps at the church before they come down to the fountain, and it is flanked by Knights Templar, and she's standing at the head there of them. Brigsy. Yeah? In light of what we witnessed earlier today and what may happen now,

Feel it's worth imparting one more tenet upon you. Alright. Just remember to watch his sunrise. For each day is a gift, and you never know when it may be your last. Well, I mean, between me and you, we've got a lot of them. Um, so I'm not sure how, uh... It doesn't quite hit home. I think the same way it would for maybe the rest of them. Or at least these folks here. Just don't get too comfortable. Alright, I'll keep it in mind, but...

And with that, the doors to the cathedral open and you watch as...

Archbishop Danton Alexander Renault makes his way out of the church flanked by his clergymen as he stands in front of his large seat of power. The clergymen to the side of him all take their seats next to him. As he raises his arms to the city of Cyril and he begins to speak. "Cyrillians,

Now is not a time for fear. The Foltis is still with us. But it is clear that Mother Midnight has not been apprehended. My worst fear has come to task. It is clear she hides among you. It is clear that she guises herself as one of those you love.

She may be standing next to you now. We must root her out. It is my fear that someone you love may have lost their life so she could walk in their footsteps. She is that evil. She is that powerful. If you notice anything suspicious, anything at all, you will bring it to me. If you find a witch ball,

And you see as he raises his hand and Inquisitor Mayville walks over with a bag and she opens it to reveal a witch ball. The entire city gasps and reels back in horror as she quickly closes it back up into the bag and puts it to her side. If you find remnants of this, regardless of who has it in their possession,

Know that your friends, your family may not be trustworthy. Bring that information to me and Foltis will light your path. Keep your eyes open, my dear Ceruleans. It is only through a unified force that we will be able to hunt down the wickedness that lurks among us. In seven days hence,

We will have a funeral for those that have lost their lives this evening. May Foltis guide you on this path. It will be hard, it will be painful, but we will find the witch." He lowers his hands and there's silence for but a moment. And then you see everyone begin to look from side to side

looking at their mother, their sister, their father, their friends, with a little bit of suspicion and hesitation. As he slowly begins to move, the door the Knights Templar open the doors of the church and allow him entrance. He walks into the inside and they slam behind him. And as he leaves,

the city begins to get louder and louder. You can hear a couple of fights break out, but then you see where people kind of reel back. They want to accuse someone, but lest they also be accused themselves. And people begin to skitter around, not sure how to act or how to interact with each other before you finally see people begin to make their way back toward their houses. And as they pass you,

Most of them look at you with just a bit of distrust. Is that true? Could she be right over there? I always point to some random peasant. Do not buy into the narrative that he has just spun, Jericho. Well, I mean, can hags, witches, can they like skin change?

It is entirely possible. Skinwalkers and shapeshift? Yes, I'm sure that they are capable of many magics. This is not the point. The point is, if he is not intentionally trying to rip this city apart, he is doing a terrible job keeping it together to make suspicion a sign of unity. In the way that he just spoke, I deeply suspect that he is not a good man. Nothing is right. This city may become a bloodbath very quickly.

For all we know, he could be a witch, wearing some other person's skin. We don't know. And all these people, they're just gonna listen to him again, till everyone ends up dead. There's gonna be no one left in this town. Like the real Archbishop got hit up by a witch and then she's wearing his skin? Oh, I don't know. Oh gosh. Well then, look, who the fuck did he burn then? Who was Keziah Jenkins?

Probably just some poor woman trying to figure out why her town's sick. She was, like, angry and exploded in the Larnac fire. I mean, that looked pretty evil to me. The connection between the color of the fire and what we saw at the orphanage is also suspect. I think the pieces are starting to come together. Well, maybe if we learn anything from that journal, if we're able to deduce...

What it says, maybe we'll learn, because now that we know that the campfire that Matron McDuff was heading towards was towards either the mine or Keziah Jenkins' hut, maybe they were talking together. And then if they were talking together, does that mean that she was guilty anyway? I certainly think she was poor. I'd bet money on it. I'm certainly not a gambling man. But she certainly was not Mother Midnight. She may have been charmed. She may have been driven mad. She may have been...

upon a small player actively trying to be something more but manipulated into her final condition. I just know one thing for true. Whatever the High Inquisitor did to suss out that she was Mother Midnight and she was so confident, we cannot trust that process again. And we may not be able to trust her.

either. Unless maybe she did get a confession, and the whole plan was for her to be like, I'm Mother Midnight, please burn me. But that was the plan. Maybe she wanted to die, because... Wait. Yeah, I know. At the end of my dream, I heard some horrible, haggard-sounding voice say, my sacrifice. Yes. Maybe Kazaya Jenkins was the sacrifice. Our dream. Our dream, exactly right. When I heard those words the first time, I thought that

It was speaking of me, that I was the sacrifice and that it was trying to claim ownership over me. But I see your point. That is an interesting perspective. Well done. Anyways, I mean, I think we've got to wait for Captain Marko to get back. Maybe it's all sacrifice. All of it. All of the 20 people they've got. My best gals. They was... I mean, they wasn't really good at...

It is a good deception. If that were true, it is...

What is it? I'm blanking on the names, just one moment. It's okay, I'll probably blank on them too. Are Phillip and Adela not coming to the city because Mother Midnight's dead?

You don't know? Didn't we talk to the Archbishop about... Yeah, and he said that in the morning he imagined that they would come, saying that the Hagmoon had disappeared. He asked him to send for us or whatever. Right, and he had asked, but clearly the Hagmoon's back, so whether they'll show up, it hasn't been the morning yet. I mean, you guys woke up at probably 3 a.m. when all of this happened, and technically shouldn't have gotten a long rest, but I gave it anyway. Good kids have horrible dreams, you know, and all that awful stuff. Shit.

I gotta do some nice things for you in a land of wickedness. Briggs makes a point. We need to meet with the captain. Yes. Yes, we must. I don't think we should wait. We should go meet him out on the road, in case we have to go out to the mines. Also, I got a second question. If 20 people was a sacrifice, what does that make the orphanage? That's what I'm worried about. We saw what happened in the crooked house. How she favored kids. That's a whole lot of sacrifice. Hundreds.

I mean, what, two, three hundred at least? What could hundreds of souls power? What dark ritual? And if there was hundreds of souls, and it was because of that very pleasant-voiced lady in that amber tomb, the pillar of amber, what ensorcelled Sir Marius? And I saw amber light in my dream. Our dream. Oh, our dream. There's no I in team. There's no I in team.

What if that amber is still... There's got to be a connection. And the goat, the goat in the attic. Let us find a more private place to have this conversation. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, excuse me. And as you look around, you see that some of the Knights Templar are off towards the side of the town square, are erecting what appears to be a permanent gallows. Oh, God.

How far are we from where we just witnessed the archbishop's speech to our temporary lodging? It's very close. The archbishop, he keeps his sister house very close, so it's just a couple of streets over. How big is this town? Like, how many, like, residences would you say are here? Um...

It's like a city, so probably thousands. And how many chickens and cows specifically down to the north? Okay, well let me look at my Google doc. Well, there are dark chickens and dark cows since it's a dark domain. Yes. There are exactly 7,642 dark chickens.

There's not nearly enough chickens for a town this size. I know. They're deep shit. And that is part of the reason that they are so starved. Oh, fuck. Wow. If only they had more chickens. Not enough chicken. We got to get out of here. They're going to tear this place apart. Is it back? It is. Jesus. Jesus.

Oh yeah, there it is, it's right in front of Kelsey. Why does that one exist for so long? I live forever! I feel like you put down a one, I haven't noticed them at all. It's just this side, because we stink. That's true. I would like to...

I would like to... I cast Nat on this party when we sat down at the table. I want to look up at Anya. You can do that. I want to say, well, Anya, you've been very good on this adventure. Now you're actually a genuine adventurer just like us. And now you're really one of the party. Now there's seven of us.

And I'm proud of you for that, but I really am trying to get information. Was there anything... Was there anything that... I know you were genuinely spooked and scared by the matron, but was she meeting with other folk? Any other ladies? Perhaps one named Keziah Jenkins? Did you ever see any gross centipedes? I don't know. I don't think I ever met Keziah Jenkins, but she did sometimes spend time with her friend.

Who's her friend? Sepharine Mirabel. Now, now, now hold on just one minute. What? Like, like, how are we talking like acquaintances or like... No, I think they're really close. They've been friends for as long as I've been at the orphanage. She would like to drop, she'd drop off baskets of like, the only time I ever had a real cookie was when she brought cookies. Because really,

You know, because she's the Archbishop's sister, she gets like more better ingredients than most people in this town, so she could actually make cookies and cakes and stuff, and so she'd bring little baskets. And then for dinner we would have dessert like maybe once a month or something. It was really cool. Ooh, like flapjacks. I don't know what that means. Or bacon. No. That's not dessert. It's not sweet. Unless you've had like... Dessert doesn't have to be sweet. It just has to be delicious.

Oh, gosh, I didn't know that. I'm learning something new every day. There's also candy. That's how I met Colette and we became friends because she would bring Colette to come play with us. Well, Colette's fine, I think. That's what you said, that she was sick, but she was going to get better because we killed the witch. So that is a very interesting development given the jar situation. I'm starting to gesture and walk towards where we need to meet Sir Marco as we go. Oh, yeah.

When was actually the last time we saw the beer mills? Now I'm struggling to remember the timeline here. I'm mixing things up in my brain. You, yeah. Fascinating.

- Well, we didn't see them. - And you saw their silhouettes. We saw them as we were running out of the house. - No, because somebody went outside. I think it was actually Kelsey went outside to check the windows for the crew. - Oh, she saw them. - Did I? - Yes. - And she looked into the window and she saw that, she saw the Frangois was pacing.

This way and that and that Zeffirine was cradling a Colette in her arms and rocking her back and forth because she was very clearly ill But they were gone from the house when you woke up I guess yeah because my question was like the timeline and I apologize has been a while I'm trying to think the timeline from when we put the witch ball. They fanged it right? We wake up the next morning. They're gone. Yes, and

So that was the night previous. Then we had dinner with them? No. So we haven't actually seen them. You have not seen them since the witch ball. Since the witch ball. So Lethica, I believe, is the one that placed the witch ball. When you woke up in the morning, they were gone. You found out from the Archbishop that...

He knew what was going on, that his sister, because you found out at dinner, you talked to him about it. That night you had dinner with him. That was the night before the burning, or the night of the burning before the burning. You had dinner with him. He explained that because you'd killed Mother Midnight, he wasn't worried about it, and that Colette would be fine as long as the witch were killed.

um and then when you got home after all of your you know crazy stuff at the inn the tavern uh fighting old billy brun uh classic friday night at the end yep i was like friday night at the inn um you found anya and you brought her back with you they had left out some like dessert-y style stuff for you guys to eat if you wanted it but they were already up in the room trying to take care of

So we have not spoken to them since the Witch Ball. No, you have not. That's what I wanted to get to the bottom of. I appreciate your help and time. It's probably fine. It has also been two weeks. I think it's helpful to kind of put those things together. So happy to do it.

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You see that people, there is a very heavy air of suspicion and that people who were very close to each other no longer appear to be as close as they had been before. And you notice that the Knights Templar are dragging those that have had too much to drink off of the street and towards the location of the jail.

as they erect the, what appears to be a permanent gallows with six different slots for nooses. - Flexible. - Where? - I need you to take it easy. - So, they're gonna start hanging people now? Is that the implication of this? - Looks to be that way, yeah. - I'm worried that when these people turn on each other, it's going to be vicious. There's not going to be anything that we can do to stop it.

I wish we could just tell them to, I don't know, open their eyes. I mean, doesn't it seem suspicious to them at all that the only person he didn't implicate is himself? When you are this deep into, for lack of a better term, a cult, you go on blind faith. These are exactly the steps that one might take to sow discord in a community. Maybe it's just what the witches want. Maybe we just don't have to worry about these folk. We just gotta find the witches and kill them.

We do need to stay focused on our purpose here, I agree, Jericho. Let us see if Sir Marco returns. Are you gonna still stick with this, little one? Yeah, there's really no place I should go right now because, you know, there's a bounty out on my head. No, we do. We presume there's a bounty. Maybe, maybe there's a bounty. I suspect. From a coven of witches. There is no bounty. Please.

Well, I don't know. I heard it once, so it must be true. We aren't going to let anything happen to you. I know. That's why I'm saying I totally have to stay with you, because otherwise I will die. Yes, stay with us, little one. I think, in fact, maybe you should be protecting us, as you're so hearty and all. Oh, yeah.

Well, you know... That's not you we're doing. Yes, yes. That is true. I'm really hearty, but I don't have magic powers like you do. Perhaps you do, and you do not know about it yet. How do I find out? You will find out in the moment, let's say. You tested in battle.

Are one of you going to fight me to bring my powers out? Yeah, you're good at my thinking, don't you? But what happens if I don't have any powers and I lose? Well, then you can try this and I'll kind of fish around on my pack and take out a little, just a tiny little, like a paring knife basically and flip it around so I'm holding the blade and hand it to her. She seems really cool. And that's very sharp.

but I had one since I was younger than you are. You need one. So I just like put it in mean people? Only ones that you want to hurt. Okay. Also scary monsters. And if that doesn't work, you can use this too. I under like an overly large javelin. She falls off the chair. No, God. Extremely, you know. Yeah. Like it's a javelin. This is like...

Really cool. I have a little blade and whatever this is... Yoram, I don't mean to judge or step out of line here, but she can barely wield a javelin.

She's currently dual wielding weapons. It's four times the length of she's-- That's very cool. I agree, yeah, that's very cool. And if you need something else, I hand her my chakra. I can't, I only have two hands and ten fingers. Oh, I'd give you my sickle, but there's only one, and I like it. I do have one question, though. How am I supposed to hold onto your shoulders when you're walking, when I'm carrying whatever this is, and this little blade?

Well, why don't you just tuck it back behind my head? Careful, careful.

Oh no. Oh, just carefully. Be extremely careful. I'm gonna see how long. I'm gonna do it at disadvantage because she's seven. I don't do it at disadvantage. You know what? I know why she rolled a 15 and a 19. So she takes it. A true warrior spirit you have in your eyes. And she does go pointy and down and you feel

- Do you feel the blade kind of nestle between your butt cheeks a little bit as she pushes it down? - Ah yes. - I couldn't quite scratch. - No, just dip a blade. - She's taking into account her minus seven inch strength. - Actually, that's fair. You feel like your butt cheek is slightly sliced a little bit and you might need to stitch it up. - I hope this doesn't awaken something. - It's like the best slasher ever.

Do you guys remember the Virginia butt slasher? Yes. The person at the mall who was like, I used to work at this mall and they had a blade and when people would walk by, they would slice their butt with a knife. It was the Virginia butt slasher. They were mostly targeting women and a lot of times they didn't even know that it happened.

Because they'd be wearing jeans and they'd be going through two layers of pockets. I don't know if they ever caught the person. They did. I think they did. Virginia's third most disturbing story about people who do weird shit. With that, we'll continue. I was gonna say, I'm shocked that you asked. If you think we're kidding, look it up. Butt slasher? Virginia butt slasher.

Well, now that you're very heavily armed for a child, let's continue and meet Samarko. I'm so excited that I'm a little boy. This is a regular javelin, right? She's not going to like this lightning. I'll tie on whatever little, you know, this is just like the knife I had for eating, so I'll tie on the little holder to her belt so she can not. I'm a little.

And you keep it in there so you don't stab yourself or yard or misery. Okay, and she puts it in Handleside first. Oh. And I'll flip it. Okay, sorry. I'll learn. I'll get used to it, but I'm only seven, so. Um. Immediate plenty of time.

I think we should probably, I mean, at least wait outside the gates for Sir Marco. Oh. As Farron suggested. Maybe intercept him before he has any influence from anybody, any kind of spells or anything. Agreed. Think someone's going to do something bad to him when he gets back? I don't know. I mean, we just sort of turned over...

You know what, you don't need to know that all, let's fucking go. Let's go! Let's shit and go! Shit and go! Does the sun come up in the morning? No. I start walking towards the northwest gate.

You make your way through town and you you get some looks here and there but nobody nobody seems to stop you and you start to realize that what people find to be the strangest thing about you isn't you but the fact that there is a small child riding upon your grim shoulders and

And you do see that people seem to take notice and they begin to whisper about it to each other. And occasionally you see someone dart off around a corner as if going to alert, maybe a guard, maybe the archbishop. But there is something about you having Anya on your shoulders that distresses them.

Get the fuck out of this city. However, you are... You are... Every single one of them in a single fight. Okay. Oh, have you eaten some humble pie? Back in a tight alley. One at a time. Yep, just couldn't take one drop no more. Yeah, you had to cheat. You had to twist and drag. I had him on the ropes, all right? He's not in combat. Yeah.

I know. I flew to the sun and the sun sent demon hawks at me and cheated! Alright? Cheated? That was his damn son. That's right, you'll get another try. Yeah, cheating's bullshit. That's what I learned from that. Yeah, I don't have a G. Not me, I wouldn't have a G. I don't know.

You are able to make your way towards the gates of the city unobstructed.

And you, this is a gate that you haven't been to before. And it is along the northwestern side. And it does actually seem to be closer to the mines than the one that you have left from. But this one is much smaller. You see that there's a stable off to the side where you see a lot of very large horses, which appear to be the horses used for the Knights Templar. And you imagine this is a gate solely for the Knights themselves.

Up on the top, you do see that there are two towers where there appear to be armed lookouts and a large bell. And they notice you, they call down at you and it seems as if maybe before Marco had left that he had informed them that you were to meet him here because they do not seem bothered by your presence at all as you begin to wait.

15 minutes pass, 20 minutes pass, and then the bells begin to ring. You hear one of the guards at the top. Cavalry incoming! Knights abound! Open the gates! And the gates begin to rise. I'm scared. And are you going to go meet them on the street? Yeah. Walk out under the gate and kind of

basically stand in the road so that they will not ride past us. Can we get a view down the road? It's a pretty long stretch. As you walk out, you see that it is a little bit of a winding road. At first, you don't see what these guards up top are seeing, but eventually as you, I would say you make maybe about 100 feet or so from the gate out onto the road, you still hear the clang behind you. The knights are shouting that...

that Captain Marco is returning and you eventually see the horses around the bend and there appear to be about two dozen horses that are coming around the bends. How many nights that they had sent out? And

You then begin to notice that they do appear to be riderless as all of the horses begin to rush towards the gate significantly faster than you had expected. - Nikki. - All of them in unison together, but none of them with a single rider atop them. And the guards, you see that they do notice this right around the time that you do as they begin to panic and shout. And you hear someone call out,

"Call for Inquisitor Mayville! Get Mayville here immediately! The guards, the knights are missing! The captain's missing!" And as the horses get closer to you, they slowly begin to calm down as they slowly begin to walk. And you see that around their necks, every single one of them is wearing a pendant to the god Voltis.

Does that seem unusual? Yeah. Is that expected? You hadn't seen the horses before, but they appear to be completely dressed the way you would expect. They have their bardings on them. They've got their saddles on them. They're completely dressed as if they were going out for whatever business that they had. But every single one of them is riderless. None of them seem to be hurt.

Wounds or scratches or anything. They do look spooked. And as they get closer to you, you do see that there is hesitation to them. But they seem to know this place. They seem to know how to get back here. And unless you do anything, they will make their way into the city and towards the stables. I'd step out of the way. Yeah, me too. They...

They paw at the ground at you for but a moment and they snort and then acknowledging you and they make their way. Thank you, Rich. They make their way behind you and into the city and toward the stables and you see Knights Templar from all over the area begin to collapse on them inspecting them looking for anything as you hear the loud thuds of

High Inquisitor Mayville's boots on the stone. Well, that was quick. Yeah. As she begins to make her way up, she notices you for a second, that you are outside of the gates, and she turns and begins to have a hushed conversation with two of the guards, the two that had been up at the top and had made the announcement. And you see that in the corner of your eye, you can see that she occasionally looks towards you, looking you all up and down, but she continues to have her conversation in private.

I think we should make ourselves privy to that conversation that's happening up there. She's got her eye on us, but I agree. Perhaps we just walk up and say hello. Fair enough. And you'll see me flash into a blink of an eye and I dimension door up to where she is. Hello! Misty step up to where she is. Well, hello, Miss Lady. Hello! Let us go catch up with Briggsie.

Oh, so you would just rush up and do this first? Presumably, because she's like 30 feet away. So she's about 100 feet from you. Okay. So the way I would look at it is you've got the opening of the gate that they'd opened. You went about 100 feet out. The two guards came down from the top inside the city, and they're standing there right in the entrance of the gates with Inquisitor Mayville. All the horses are now over by the gate.

by the stables. - I'm not trying to like interrupt their conversation, but it'd be probably obvious that I would just appear there, but I wanna get to a point where I can at least try to hear what she's saying, what they're saying. - Okay. - Roll a perception check.

- Ethan's video is voodoo teleport. - 26. - And well, I guess a slight of hand, are you trying to hear before she notices you? - I mean, it's gonna be crazy obvious. - Is she gonna bend down and pretend to like tie your boots or something?

- So there are two essentially like towers on either side of the doorway with spiral stairs that go up to the parapet at the top. And that's how the knights came down to meet her. So you could technically like dimension door inside of the stairwell and try and hide in there and listen. And you would be close enough to hear. - I'm not trying to necessarily, well, here's the thing. I mean, Misty Step I think is not quite as versatile as dimension door.

But what I would like to do is basically just so that she can't... I want to get to a point where I'm just... I sloop up to the top of the wall or wherever she is. She's down on the ground. Or sloop to wherever she is and just be in your shot. Okay. So that she can't plot with whatever kind of guy that she's talking to.

Just in case she's like, hey, we gotta kill those six guys over there. You know what I mean? You know, Briggs is a little paranoid. So you immediately, you watch as Briggs immediately shoots forward a significant distance wrapped up in his strange voodoo magics that you're all slowly becoming familiar with. And you immediately hear the words from Inquisitor Mayville. Well, thank you, James. That was very important for you to tell me this. And he sent them off...

last night after the burning or before and you can't quite hear the voice of the guard because he has his helmet on and so it's very mumbled but you can clearly hear her responses and she does not seem to be she does notice you but she does not seem to be deterred that you're there

So she's not doing any evil plotting or murderous intrusion? No, she is not. As she says to him, I'm very glad that you've told me that. This is important. We will have to send someone out to see if we can find them, to rescue them from whatever has befallen them at the mines, but you will leave that up to me. You do not need to report this to the Archbishop.

Do not tell anyone in the city about what has happened here. The city is already up in arms. We do not need any more panic at this moment. Do you understand me? And you see that he nods. I won't. I think you could crush my head even in this helmet between your thighs. Thank you, dear. That's exactly what he says, except he doesn't. But he does seem to nod. It is...

I need you to understand how dire the situation is, and if I find that even a whisper of this has left this gate, all responsibility for what happens will fall on your shoulders, and I, myself, will enact your punishment. Do you understand me?" And you see that he nods. "Now, back to your post." "I have business to attend to," and she turns and looks directly at you.

And she motions, follow me and have your friends join you, Briggsie. Well, they're like right there. I mean, it's like just at 30 feet. It's like, save me six seconds, you know?

And she will motion towards you and she will actually have you follow her up the winding circular staircase in this tower onto the parapet and lead you down across one of the walls to a point where you have relative privacy. So...

I'm assuming that you have heard that we have knights missing in the city. Right, and I overheard you, that you were saying that you would like to go rescue said knights. And I would like to volunteer our services to be the ones who's what rescues them. Well, this conversation is going far more to my liking than I expected. I was going to ask you to do as such. But in doing so...

I have a favor to ask. I would like you to keep this mission from the Archbishop. Do not tell him that I've sent you to the mines. And do not tell anyone, and I mean anyone, what you have seen here or what is going on. Do you understand? I understand. And are we in agreement? Well, hold on. Hold on. Before we agree to anything... Before we agree to anything... What's the reward?

There is no need. Are you even for our silence? On me doing a thing? Look, I cut up off and then I get down. But to not tell the Archbishop, I mean, that's valuable, you. That carries some monetary value. You have a target on your head. What do you mean? You claimed to have brought the...

head witch, Mother Midnight, back to this town, you burned 21 civilians. That's not true at all. You verify? No, Archbishop did all that. And you think that if myself or the Archbishop were to tell the citizens of Cyril that you were the ones that had it enacted, that they would not turn on you?

What made you so confident that she was Mother Midnight? Just us bringing her to you? No, she confessed to me. We were not convinced. Exactly right. What was the nature of this confession? What was the conversation like? How were you so confident to burn someone? It does not take confidence to burn someone. It takes doubt. My doubt that she was a good woman and her confession that my doubts were well placed.

Now I do still believe this woman was a witch, and I believe she was working for Mother Midnight. What her plan is, I do not know, but it is irrelevant as to what we are dealing with now. The point I am trying to make is you are not Cerulean. You do not belong here. And if the city were to turn on you, there is not much I could do to stop it. Especially if the Archbishop wills it. If Foltus tells him that you are not what you seem.

Now, if you are, then Foltis would have no reason to condemn you, as it were. But more good deeds would put you highly in the favour of the citizens of Cyril. And if they were to find out that their beloved Knights Templar, especially the captain who I know you've met...

Many of those living in the city are very fond of him. If they were to find out that he had gone missing, something horrible had befallen him. I can only imagine in the aftermath of the burning of the orphanage what kind of horror they would feel in their hearts. Lest you be in the middle of it. No, we should make sure you are on the right side. The side of victory.

So, what is your payment? My protection. That is your payment. We appreciate what you're saying. I put my hand on Bracey's shoulder and I say, my good friend here momentarily forgot to tenant two, which is always aid, even in cases of blackmail. And we appreciate what you're saying.

You know, Briggsie, if you would like to have coin, you may have it. And she reaches into her pocket, or into her pouch. She pulls out a copper piece and she flips it into the air and it lands on the ground in front of her. She takes her metal boot and she stomps it into the dirt and kicks it towards you. There's your coin. I'm alright, thanks.

I'm totally going to pick that up in a minute, aren't you? I'm going to bend over and at least it's still in peace. Well then, we should be... Oh my god. One more thing before we go.

She looks at you, Marius, and she's making direct eye contact with you, which she hasn't really done with the rest of you. She almost looks above you, as if looking down at you. And as you speak, she turns towards you, and you see a look of irritation on her face. Yes, Farron, what is it? Forgive me, but I can't help but feel you have a bit of doubt in your heart about the Archbishop. And that's why you don't want us to tell him.

I do not want you to tell him, for fear that it will cause mass hysteria in a town already wrecked by pain. That he will cause mass hysteria. He is a lawful man. I believe he would feel the need to alert the city.

to the missing Knights Templar and I personally do not feel that that is the right course of action. He will be told in due time. Should the Knights not return, should you fail in your mission. Are you not yourself a lawful woman? You're the High Inquisitor of this town. Yes, I am. You just seem to have a better head on your shoulders. You see a slight smirk grace her face for just a second.

Understood.

Understood. Anything you say. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now.

I hope that guy got a razor to design that shot. And she looks towards you and she says, I do not think it would be wise for you to leave immediately. There has been too much commotion at the gates. People will be watching. Within the hour, the top of the hour, you should make your way. I believe you have been snooping about.

You know that there are entrances to the forests in other parts of this city? Use the one you know, yes? Understood. Can make sure you're not seen. Do we have an agreement? Aye.

I need the agreement from all of you. I would save Captain Urbister Marco for nothing, nothing at all. And it seems that's what we're getting. That's what sounds good to me. Really works out. Agreed. Help me to understand. Should we go and find 20 bodies and we return, what happens then?

You are on a mission for me. You will have my protection in so much as I can give it to you. But I am not infallible, and I am not a messenger of God. But I will make the necessary arrangements while you are gone to make sure that, however you should return, we have a proper course of action. When you return, I would ask that you use this gate and not the front.

The guards, on duty until then, will be expecting your return one way or another. Does that suffice? We are in agreement. Yes, like I'm totally in agreement too! I've even got a little knife! And you see as Mayville looks up. It would make the most sense, I believe, for me to take the child.

I can't send you off into the woods to the mine with a child on your back. She would be but a hindrance, don't you think? No, I think that we'll talk to the Mirabelles, and I think that they would be more than pleased to take in a little one's what has lost everything. She's friends with Colette, the... Gazette. Gazette. Colette. Yeah, Colette. Colette.

You'll get it. Yeah, you're... Oh, fuck, you got the name wrong. Shit! It's fine, Brigsby. It's going to be all right. What, he just told me? Call me Brigsby. Uh...

you would be happy to stay with them wouldn't you give her like a shrug like yeah like i would totally like to stay with my friend you know because she's my friend but can i still bring the little knife

Oh yeah, I know. That's fine, as long as you do what the Marybelle's tell you to do. Just not the javelin, I'm sorry. But it was given to me by Yorgi, though. Certainly, she has to protect herself. She has the dagger, she'll be alright. But the jibberlin is much more vigorous, you know, for big people. Yes, and we will provide you with ample javelin training.

When we return. But you already saw I put it into Jörgrim's like back pouch real quickly, the gibberlin. It's really quick, it may actually be lodged there. I could rip it out, watch!

Well, she doesn't realize that it's barbed and it tears at the top of her cheek. This whole butt cheek. She grabs it and she immediately attempts to rip, but part of the edge of it does get caught in your flesh as it rips through your right ass cheek. Real deep and it gets lodged there and she's yanking and yanking and yanking. Like a fish heart.

Just like a fish hook, and she cannot get it out. I will get the death! I am very hard to eat! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! ugh! ugh! ugh! ugh! ugh! ugh!

4,642d6, sorry, you're a permanent member. Whatever it takes to pay off Derek's medical bills. I'm just here to make the butt-slashing sound. It does four points of butt-slashing damage. I'm resistant. Not to this one. Then you go into a rage. Well,

Or, yes, we will take her to the Mirabelles. Very likely. What the fuck? What did you order? I just wanted an apple pie. They sent me fucking Christmas. I love Christmas. It's Christmas in box. They sent me Christmas pie. This is yours now. Sorry, I put my grubby fingers all over it. She looks to Anya, and she does look a little skeptical.

I'm not sure the Mirabelle's is the right place to take her now. Colette is still sick, and we're not sure how the illness moves from one child to another, but she seems to have attached herself to you, and as her guardians, I will leave the decision up to you. You can leave her with me, and I will keep her at the jail, or you can deliver her to the Mirabelle's home. Do I get the feeling

from what she's telling us that there's subtext behind what she's saying about the mirror bells. - Roll an insight check. - I am dumb as a rock and my insight is, oh no, my insight's pretty good. I take it back. It's a wisdom thing. 20 total. - Okay, yes, there is clearly subtext to that. - Understood, we appreciate, Alex, your room. You are leaving the decision up to us.

We will do what we need to and within the hour we will depart on the mission. And she will quickly, almost smooth as butter, she will glide behind you and lean down to your ear. And she is in these boots and these heels. She is probably an inch taller than you.

As she leans down to your ear and she says, I would like a private meeting with you, Marius. Before you leave, do what you need to do and then meet me at the jail. Doing my best to be completely stoic and normal. Understood. Once we discuss what we're doing, I will meet with you.

Only you. Do you understand? Yes. Well, I'm glad that we have an agreement. I hope that you are successful. And remember, leave discreetly and return to this gate. Good luck. You too.

And she walks immediately through you Cutting cutting through you and as she does she makes her to brush up against Marius and you feel the force

weight of this woman rush up against your chest as she walks past you and you can hear the clanging of her boots as she walks down the spiral staircase and then off into the city.

The amount of times that at a movie theater, they're like, have a good, enjoy the film, and I go, you too! That's the best fucking joke you've ever made. That shit is so fucking funny. Holy shit. Enjoy your meal. I love you too.

Oh shit, yeah Marius, you're dead. Again, trying to be as stoic and as normal looking as possible in front of my friends. Gosh. I didn't want to say this out loud, but I get the impression that she doesn't trust the Mirabelles. Something's going on, we haven't seen them for a very long time. Well, I mean, fair and so on, the other night, right? I mean, last night. What did you see exactly?

I relay so I don't fuck this up. Exactly what I saw. You saw Francois pacing back and forth in the room. Not a shadow that looks like Francois. No, actual Francois. Not a shadow. Not a shadow. And he was clutching onto a, what looks like essentially a rosary to Foltis and he seems to be praying. And in a rocking chair near the window, you saw Zephyrine as she was rocking Colette back and forth.

I sold them. It all seemed to be normal. You think that their home isn't safe? Look, I don't know. All I can tell you is that the Inquisitor doesn't... Something is up. She doesn't believe it. She doesn't trust them. Something doesn't add up. And I don't necessarily want to leave the girl with the High Inquisitor. But I'm just telling you, I got the feeling that there was something deeper there. Maybe it's not that she doesn't trust them. It's just that they're too close to the...

The Archbishop. That certainly could be. There is also the information that Anya shared with us. Zeffy's relationship with Keziah is suspect. The fact that there was a witch ball there means that the house may not be the safest place.

That's true. I just wanted to bring it up because we need to make a decision. If we still decide to bring her to the mirror bells, then so be it. I think that's the safest place in Mordor. Where else are we going to take her? Not leaving her in the fucking jail. To the mine with us? We can't take her to the mine, but... You know that I'm still, like, right there on your shoulders, so I can hear everything you're saying. No, but we're doing a side dog talking. But I can hear all of it because I'm right next to his face. Orim earmuffs.

We could just ask her if she has any word. She's run away from the orphanage before. Maybe she has a bastion. Probably wouldn't know that word, but maybe she has a safe space. Like a sanctuary. Like a sanctuary. Or a hideout. Sanctuary. Yes. That she's escaped to before.

Like, um, cuts in the woods and run off there all the time to hide. Maybe she does the same. I just look at my eye contact with her, presuming she can hear everything we're saying. Were your woods also filled with dangerous red eyes that stalk about? And gross pigeons? It was filled with some pretty awful things, not exactly those, but it was a dangerous place all the same.

There are no good options here. We might as well flip that copper piece. I'm not touching that copper piece. You can. I'm me. Why don't we vote on it? Like a proper democratic process. I would propose as a tiebreaker that Anya also gets to vote. Oh, that's a great idea. I'll vote Mirabelle's.

I voted the mines. No, there are only two options. Oh! Not the mines, Jail. What were the two options again? Kindergarten, jail, and... She gave me the kindergarten con. We have to take her cave. She goes to kindergarten. Those are my cookies. LAUGHTER

The jail or the mirror bells? It's not jail. It's with the Inquisitor or with the mirror bells. In the jail. Well, how about this? I think that Sir Marius gets a private meeting with the High Inquisitor and I think I finally understand why envy is my sin. laughter

I vote that we put Jericho in the bag of pudding. Um...

And also, do you think that we'll have a better read? We just had one conversation with her. We thought she was big. She seems, I mean, she's, I would do pretty much anything she said. But, but we still don't know a whole lot. Maybe we just wait for more information after Sir Marius visits her. We don't have a lot of time. If we gotta get out of here, yeah, we gotta split. He goes and has his meeting. Marius seems like he would be quick.

Oh, that's right. He does have very quick, to-the-point conversations. That is a very good observation. That's a very nice quality measure. Now look. Can we vote? Jail? Oh, a nice warm house. Our vote house. Who's voting jail?

Oh, so mines are not an option? Letting her run off into the woods is not an option? Oh, I like the woods option, too. No! There's a horrible evil goat in the woods. Absolutely not. You can't tape into the woods. Just, like, find a little... under a brush somewhere. Stay out of...

I don't trust her to stay out of anything. Why don't we ask her if she has somewhere she can go that she feels safe. Alright, go ahead. I'm going to earmuff her. Control yourself. So does this mean that I get to fucking vote? Ha ha ha ha!

Yes, Anya. Do you have a preference? Would you like to go with the High Inquisitor or the... Well, my preference was to stay on your shoulders and go to the mine. See? It's too dangerous there. Okay, so I have to pick one of the other two?

Preferably, yes. Or is there a third place that you feel safe and comfortable? Well, yeah, if the furniture hasn't burned down, though, with the fact you take me back there, but now it's gone. What about anywhere else? Somewhere you might have snuck off by yourself? No, not that I can think of. I could go sleep in Van Brunt's living room. No, not there. Sounds like an awful idea.

He doesn't have a living room. This has an empty room with a small TV on a banker's box and a mattress with no sheet on it in one corner. And a milk crate. Yes. Has a nightstand. It's worth the risk. What about... I know we have to leave quickly. Uh...

What about the young boy that you spoke to earlier today? Could we find him and perhaps charge him with taking care of Anu? As helpful as he's been, I'm not sure he's capable of looking after anyone. He's busy with work. I thought he was an orphan himself.

That's my understanding. He's not going to have anywhere to go. He helped put the fighters out. He might be... I don't... I certainly don't doubt his willingness to help. I just... He's always talking about getting in trouble. People are looking over his shoulders if he's being commanded to do things. I'm not sure that... I'm not sure that would work.

So do I get to fucking vote? Well, yeah, let's have a vote. Let's have a proper, genuine vote. Well, don't you have to vote first to see if it's... I couldn't hear anything, but I'm guessing, because there are six of you, that I would need to be a tiebreaker vote? Like, let the... I mean... Like I thought. Why don't you vote first? This is the whole world. What if my vote sways people to vote a different way? That wouldn't be very decoratic, right?

That's a good point. All right. I'll make marks wrong. Yes, Briggs is voting for the Mirabelle's house. Does anyone else agree?

Say I. Well, I would like to say that the Mayans, gosh, aren't an option. I would like to say that the nice warm house sounds good unless Sir Marius gets any information that tells us that the cold jail where all those doomed people are waiting is a better option for a little one. Well, in the same vein that Jericho is referencing, I abstain from that. I don't trust either.

I don't like the way that the Inquisitor does things, but I also don't like the way that she referenced the Mirabelles. I don't feel right voting on this without any more information, so if there's no tiebreaker, I may not need to vote. Shouldn't you have some kind of fucking tenet in there that says, you know, not making a choice and still making a choice? Oh. No. Seems... I'm getting off scot-free. Yorgie?

I think the house, but I do agree that there's no sense in locking in any decision until we know what the Inquisitor wants with. Neither option is perfect, in my opinion, but I think the house would be more comfortable and they were at least hospitable for the time that we were there, as short as it was. At bare minimum, that's the majority. Farron? Farron?

What if she's in the house without their knowledge? Hidden away in the house. You're pretty good at hiding. She also said she breathes very loudly. I do. Do you want to hear it? Huff, huff.

I can breathe louder, too, if you want me to. No, there's a really comfortable broom closet. It's actually quite impressive. Sorry, I cut you off here. Me too. She's eating the mushrooms. I'm famished all of a sudden. It's like eating goop this whole time. It's not sustained to me. Let us go to the Mirabelles. You have a...

I'm meeting. But you didn't let me fucking vote! Well, I was getting to you next. Can you say what you've done now? But you haven't voted, but I'm guessing because you think "Let's go to the house" means you want to be in the good of the house. They both voted for the house. When? Just now. Like, just now. But did you say "I vote for the house"? No, not really. I mean, that's fair. You don't really like proclaiming that. Did you say "I"? I vote "I".

For the house. For the house. Well, I am Anya, and I vote to go to jail! I've never been inside before, and it's like a giant fart with a tickle. Well, you've been overruled. Let's go.

Now you know what it is like to be an adult. In a decocratic society. Now look, you'll have that meeting sooner rather than later, but if things get darcy, just remember she's full of blood. She's just a big bag of blood. I mean, can you imagine? Just try to picture how much blood she has, at least like four or five liters.

The muscles in my neck start to tense up as you do not forget. That's all I'm saying. I'm just saying she's got a lot of blood. If at the orphanage they gave you those chocolate milk pouches that you have to stab with a straw in order to... That is very much what it's like. But no. Stop, stop, stop. If there's danger, run. Do you know what my favorite thing was when we'd get the square pizza? Yes. Oh.

Yeah, and instead of like pepperoni circles, which is what we would get when we had families, we would get those weird little square nuggets that would go on it. And sometimes it wasn't cooked all the way through, so the middle was really cold and the cheese still looked like little cheese strips, you know?

I once had one with the cardboard at the bottom still on. Did you eat the cardboard? I took a bite. I could not get through it with my teeth. I really liked the French fries, but only when they cooked them, because sometimes they forgot. You know, they had the little crinkles on them. It was like, perfect. This is pretty good. It's an enormous. What?

Yes, Briggsy, thank you for the advice. Duly noted, and I will return with haste. All right, we'll see you. Let's just meet back here, because we're supposed to leave out this door. We'll get you to the house.

I would say you remember she wants you to come back through this door. She wanted you to leave out of more secret means. Oh, but come back to this gate. She doesn't want you to go through the main gate. She wants you to come back through the side gate. Leave by the orphanage, back by the gate. We'll meet by the citadel exit. You go ahead. All right, good luck. Yeah, you too. Oh, oh.

I have a song for you, Marius. You know, I'll admit I wrote it because, well, I thought of it because I thought that when Van Brunt cheated that you were going to go jump in the pit and cut his head off. So I wanted to be ready with a song for you too, but now that you're going in to face a very powerful foe, I think I'd like to sing it.

Well, that's very kind of you. I'm ready. Okay. The lyrics require context to understand it, but we all know Sirmarius, so you should understand why it's impressive. It's okay to need assistance. One in five. And so I'll pluck my string and I'll play a little tune. I'll say, Smiting you.

evil by moonlight walking in the daylight protecting his friends in every witch fight he is the knight named Marius and I'll use Varnicus for a reason yes I'm so inspired you're off Al uh

D6? Uh, yeah, it's a D6. That is beautiful. And maybe it'll last by the time you talk to her, but... He only needs ten minutes. I'm blowing it, fuck it. I'm gonna have nine and a half extra minutes of your time. I'm gonna have nine and a half extra minutes to get that pizza offered so much.

So Marius. That was good for me to have you. You got any pizza? Sure, but there's cardboard on the bottom. Hey, your kids got some fruit snacks? What is wrong with you guys? So you got money for a coach? You should know.

I'm going to make that kind of character. I should, I should. Oh, man. What? Cheeks or both? So, I'll say, well, since you didn't go and fight Van Brun, what was his name, Billy? Since you didn't fight Billy, I feel this is even a more apropos moment for you to feel inspired. So anyway, in case you don't come back alive, I just didn't want to lose the opportunity. I mean,

"Jericho, I'm going to..." "No, I know you're going to be fine. You're a very heroic knight, but you know..." "Thank you." "You never know." "Good luck!" "That's right, you never know. Watch at each sunrise." "Alright, good luck everyone!" "Alright." "Good luck!" And with that, you split the party. Oh, fun. And five of you, with Anya in tow, make your way toward the Mirabelle's house.

to drop her off and allow you to meet up with Marius at the outskirts of the woods right next to the orphanage. Marius, you begin to make your way towards the jail and you have seen the jail from afar and it is like a fortress in the city. And so you know exactly where to go as you begin to make your way and so we will

We will deal with the dropping of Avanya first. As you make your way towards the mirror of the house, you see that the lanterns are lit and that there is clearly movement inside of the house.

As you walk up to it, you see that you can smell the smells of bacon and eggs and ham steak. As very clearly, Francois is cooking breakfast for the morning. And it does seem like he's cooking a large breakfast, maybe expecting your return or hoping for it. Hmm.

It's nice to be thought of. And you were standing outside the door. Well, I suppose, well, gosh, without Mary, who's-- Hello, it's us. Nothing strange has happened. You open the door and say that. Oh, I should open the door. That's what happens when you open the door.

And he immediately looks towards you and you see that his eyes are, he has dark circles around his eyes. His face seems sunken in like he didn't get any sleep at all. He looks very tired, but you see a smile on his face as he looks at you. Oh, I'm so happy to have you back. I made breakfast for everyone. Where's Marius? Oh, he had an engagement. Oh, well. I made enough. When he returns, he's welcome to have some. It'll be quick.

But it's good to have you all back home. I'm sorry that Zephyrine can't be here at the moment. She's upstairs with Colette, who's still ill, but we're... How is she doing? We're in the middle of them. No change as of yet, but we're hoping. You heard about the tragedy in the early hours of the morning? We did. Okay, yeah, I suppose everybody did.

So, um, you've got... Real shame. You've got little Anya with you. And you see his face light up and he rushes over and he grabs her hands. He's like, I just, I...

Yeah, I'm not gonna say it, honey. Come here. And he grabs her. She reaches her arms down. Look, I've got the little knife! Big hug. He kind of grabs it and he's like, and where did you get this? Oh, Farron gave it to me and Yorke gave me a javelin. You can see it behind him.

his back, but they can't get it out because it's stuck on something. Sure is. And he kind of looks at you and for the first moment you see a glint of frustration, like why the fuck did you give a seven-year-old a knife?

But he takes it and he looks at her and you can see a look on his face almost like complete awe that she's still alive. Knowing what happened at the orphanage. There's this moment where he looks at her and he's like, you know, this might not be a bad idea. And he flips it around and he puts it in his little holster and he goes, well, lead up, honey. You've got a long day ahead of you and maybe you can help us with Colette if Zephyrine thinks that it's wise.

He...

He goes to reach down for her hand as he just placed her on the floor, but he sees that she has quickly jumped up at the table and she's shoveling food into her mouth. She's clearly ravenous. He chuckles and he looks at her and he says, well, with the table the way it is and how hungry she seems to be, I think you'd have a hard time prying her away. I'd be happy to keep her. I'll treat her like my own daughter.

If you and Zephyr agree, I would propose that she and Colette share stories from the storybook. That can be a healing time to listen to a story you are familiar with. Oh, yes. Colette's old storybook. Yeah, absolutely. If I can find it around the house, I'm not sure where we put it last, but I'm happy to read them stories as long as Zephyrine thinks that it's safe to...

To have them in the same room, I'm happy to do it. Let me remember how we tracked the book. I believe I had the book at some point, and I believe I gave it to Anya, and that Anya currently has it. Okay. She has a little pack. She's got like a little knapsack on her back. I would tell Frank this information. I see. I am, yes, I'm happy to take care of her. You had the, well, it doesn't matter how it got to us. As long as Anya still has it, I'm happy to read them stories before bed.

Gosh, I wanted that book and you wouldn't give it to me so easily. So here's a... I'll take my hat off. Terrible what happened to the Matron. I heard that maybe Zephyrine and Maggie were close, so my condolences to her. Did something happen that I hadn't heard, but I don't see why it would be of any importance to Zephyrine outside of the loss of another member of Cyril.

Oh, are they not friends? They're familiar. Everyone knows Maggie Macduff. Oh. Oh, right. Well, anyway, yeah, she, I mean, being the matron of the orphanage, and she sleeps like a log, as far as I've heard. So, yeah, certainly she's dust as we speak. So...

You see that he swallows back. He seems a little uncomfortable with how brash you're being about the horrible tragedy that had befallen the city this morning. But he writes himself. Well, so far, as I've heard, they have not found Maggie's remains as of yet. But they're looking. The Knights Templar are combing the entire place. So hopefully we will have word by...

By late dusk. Well, praise Fultis if I'm incorrect. Hopefully she's safe and sound somewhere. Yes, we can all hope for that. Out of...

character because I clearly misheard what you said. So Zephyrine and Maggie were friends not Keziah and Zephyrine. So what Anya told you was that Zephyrine and Maggie McDuff were clearly friends. I was also by her husband. Yeah, unknown by her husband. I also I don't know why I doubted Rich. Rich knows everything. Rich never mishears. I've

I wrote down Kazaa and I was like, "Mm." I was almost gonna be like, "No, wait a minute, we heard it." I'm like, "No, that's too good, I'm not gonna do that." Are you sure that you can't stay for breakfast? Are you sure you can't have just a bit? "Well, maybe just a bit." And take whatever you need. And he pulls out some cheesecloth and some containers and a couple of satchels and he's like, "Take whatever you need. "For however long you're gonna be gone, "if you're leaving Anya with me, "I wanna make sure that you're fed."

Well, I mean, if you exist, I suppose you're a great one, and you just, you know. If you baked too many muffins, I'm sure that we could take some off of your heads. And with that, you enjoy a nice breakfast with Anya and...

and with Anya and Francois as Marius, you have made your way to the jail. - It's your moment. - And it appears that every single one of the knights that surrounds this complex, which is gigantic, it is, it almost, but not quite rivals the cathedral in size.

full stone fortress, slit windows. And you can see that there are guards along every inch of this place. As they flank you, and without even saying a word, they begin to lead you into this fortress. - As they begin to lead me in, before I step foot, I'm gonna look up at the jail and softly say to myself, "All right, generosity.

Courtesy, fellowship, piety, Lafanda help me chastity. Every single time you say this, there's another pair of shackles on the wall. Oh, no. Lafanda, please guide me. All right, and I will let them lead me in.

You are led through this place and it is filled to the brim with cells, cages. You see that there are many in here that you remember from the night before. People who were drunk on the streets. People who were maybe enjoying too much the night's pleasures after the burning of what had thought

what you had all thought to be Mother Midnight. Heard that. And you see that a lot of them are now in shackles or in cages and they are being guarded and none of them, none of them call out to you but a few who reach their arms through the cages and beg for your help, "Free me! Save me!"

as you are led from one floor to the next up winding along winding pathways and up stairwells until you're finally led up a winding stone staircase that leads into what appears to be a large plush office.

A beautiful gold gilded chair in purple velvet sits behind a large cherry wood desk, papers scattered all about on it. The chair itself is empty. A seat is directly in front of it and the Knights Templar lead you to it to sit down and one of them leans down and says to you, "The Inquisitor will be here shortly." Thank you. "We will be right outside the doors if you need."

Understood. And they leave. The door shuts behind you and you are left with the sounds of silence. But your ears, your dampiric ears attune. You can hear the screams and bellows from the dungeons deep below, an area of this fortress that you weren't privy to. You can hear the screaming, the clear result of the inquisitions that are had in this place.

And you wait. And wait. It's cold in here. You listen towards the doors at your back, waiting for them to open. But they do not.

a door to your side does. And you get a quick peek at a candlelit room, a large four poster bed covered in purple velvet as the inquisitor, the sound of her insanely high heels clicking on the stone flooring as she makes her way out of the room. She's no longer covered in the armor that she had been wearing before, but is now in a tight laced black dress

furs around her shoulders as she still looks regal and you do see that she is adorned nestled in her heaving bosoms is the symbol of Foltis

Her boots laced up to her thighs can peek out of the side of a slit as she clearly walks around you. She runs her hands along your armored back. You can hear her nails clinking against the metal of your armor as she looks down at you.

"Thank you so much for coming, Marius." And she slinks into the seat in front of you and takes a seat. As she crosses her leg over her other leg, you feel for a moment like you got a glimpse of black lacy lingerie beneath the gown that she's wearing.

Of course. I hope you don't mind that I made myself comfortable when I arrived back home. It's been a long day. I feel as though I may have caught you at a bad time. No, not at all. I do have things to get to, but this is my downtime and I will take it as I please. Certainly. I know you are on a time frame, so I'll make this quick. I have my doubts. And I don't trust outsiders. Not at all. But I find myself trusting you.

You are a lawful man, I can see, though you're touched with the vampirism. I can tell that you are a man of wisdom and of worth. I have fears about what is happening in this city, and I was hoping you would do me the favor of being my eyes and my ears. You could be rewarded. Well, I'm honored that you think so highly of me, and of course I can...

Certainly keep an eye on things for you. What in particular are your concerns, if I may ask? When you go to the mines this day, everything that seems of note I would like for you to bring back to me. Even that which you think your compatriots might not approve of. Do you understand? I believe I do. Is there anything in particular of a particular nature that you're looking for?

Anything regarding witch balls or anything that might tie certain civilians to witch balls, if you understand what I'm saying. I believe I do. I fear that the Archbishop might be too close to the situation. Right. Are we on the same page, Marius? Yes. Yes, we are. The implications of this, should it get out, would be very bad for Cyril. Should...

the captain of the guard not return, there will need to be a new figurehead instated. Now, I'm not asking you to stay in Cyril, but I might be asking you to take up that mantle for a while. To be a beacon of hope for the people. That is quite the honour, and I would be more than happy to aid and bring positivity. I'd love to hear it, Marius. I knew I could count on you.

Now, I have but a small amount of time before I must get back to work. I was hoping for a quick nap.

"So I will let you go if you need to make haste." You see that she kind of leans over and the stole around her shoulders falls off and exposes the full length of her collarbone and her exposed breast. Not exposed breasts, but exposed skin. Wow! That escalated. And she taps her fingers on the table. "Do you have anything you'd like to ask me or anything that you need of me?"

If you're going to do this service for me, I feel that I should be at service to you. Oh shit. I will stand up. I will take one step towards the desk. Leaning forward. I will look her... I will look at her in the eye. I will smile my most charming smile with my fangs visible and say, "Thank you very much for your help. I'm looking forward to aiding you." And I will turn around and begin to leave.

You hear the sound of her quickly move from behind the desk. And the sound of her boots is almost feverish as you feel her move up against the side of you. And she is pressed up against the length of your arm as she whispers into your ear, I knew that I could count on you. And you know where to find me if you need anything.

I will let the guards know that you have direct access to my bedchambers and office, should you need it. Thank you, High Minister. Be careful, Marius. Cyril needs you, and so do I. And she will turn and walk directly into her bedchamber and shut the door even before you leave. I proceed to the exit and open up the doors.

And leave. You open up the door and you immediately see a guard standing there arguing with a scrawny young boy. And it takes a moment for your eyes to adjust as you breathe and overcome the empiric nature that really the biological nature that brought you to being a vampire.

that seed of lust that resides within you that you can't quite shake. And you are able to kind of shed that for a moment and see clearly this is Gardas talking to Skinny Dudley. And you hear the words, "She is currently in a meeting and no, I am not going to... You should not be here. You are not allowed here."

And he looks up and he looks at you and you see for a moment a look in his eye of confusion. And then very quickly, a look of a roll and insight check. 11. It is a look that you can't quite place, but it's almost a look of anger. Maybe it was a look of detestation.

It's hard to tell, but there is something about you being here that clearly bothers him. And he looks towards you and he looks towards the guard and he says, well, you're right. If I have something to say, if I have someone to turn in or whatever, I'll let one of the guards know then. And you hear the guard go, what? What are you talking about? As he quickly rushes down the hall and turns around the corner.

You see him shake his head. Wow, it's weird. Is everything okay? I was going to ask you the same thing. Is everything all right? Yes. Kid just ran in here claiming that he desperately needs to speak to the High Inquisitor, but clearly she was in a meeting and shouldn't even be up here. How he got past all the guards, I don't know. Is this normally your post? It depends on the day, but...

I'm trusted enough to be here and you see that he's still young, he's probably maybe 20, 21, but he seems proud of himself for being in this station at this point in his life. And you've never seen that boy before? Oh, I know, Skitty Dudley, I just, he's not supposed to be here. This level of the jail, it's off limits to most. Interesting. These are the private quarters of Inquisitor Mayville.

You have to have a very important reason to be here. And he looks at you and he smiles. Not everyone gets that invitation. And he winks at you. Right. Well, I, uh... It's pretty closed off to most.

My business is done here, so I'll just see myself out. That was quick. Yes, yes, faster than you know. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more, say no more. Would you like us to escort you out? No, no, please, I remember the way. All right, well, can I offer you a cigarette? Thanks for coming. Thanks for coming.

Is everything alright? What's wrong with you, you sick clerk? Jesus Christ! That's exactly how that goes. That's canonically what that guard responded to. We have lit it up. I am a eunuch.

Yeah, sure of it. I will decline the help to leave and I will escort myself out of the Inquisitor's prison. And you are able to do that very quickly. As soon as I get outside. As if I had been holding my breath the entire time. By the thunder. I have to get back to the others.

And I will very quickly make haste to the meeting spot. Okay, and you do. You are not waiting there all that long, maybe 10-15 minutes before you see Marius around the corner of what is now.

Almost just a charred ruin. You can see the bare foundations of the orphanage. It's actually hard to find a place here to hide because a lot of people have congregated and are looking at the ruins here. Not getting close enough to really get into it, but they're watching as the bodies are being removed, the charred remains are being removed from the orphanage.

and collected and attempted to be identified. But with everything that's going on, you are able to find a small spot towards the very end where you had entered before. And that is where you congregate. And it seems that at least from this vantage point, no one knows that you're here or sees you. When we received breakfast from the Mirabelles the first morning that we, or I guess evening, when we first initially... It's all night here. Yeah. Um...

What did Marius go for on the breakfast platter? Mostly meat. Mostly meat? Blood sausage. Okay. Yeah, most of the meat. Black pudding. Almost entirely. Taking out a page out of your book. Having noted those details at the time, Lethika has a cheesecloth satchel for you. Some breakfast if you are still hungry. Thank you. This is very, very kind. Is Anya all right here?

I think Anya will be all right. Yes, I'm fine. I snuck out of the house and I am here now. I'm just kidding. Get back in the house! Unless... I cast Turn Inside Out on Anya. No! Unless... I fear that we might be in trouble. Oh no. What happened? Well, for some reason...

The High Inquisitor doesn't trust, well, doesn't trust the Archbishop. She said so herself. She thinks that there are issues with what's going on and that he may be too close to things. And she wants me to be her eyes and ears, particularly looking for things in...

This mine. She went so far as to say that we were to bring back evidence. I was to bring back evidence even if all of you thought that we didn't need it. Those are the parts that she wants you to be. The bottom line is, she also suggested that if for some reason all of these Knights Templar, particularly the Captain, are dead, that she would offer me some sort of leader as the Knights Templar. She offered you all that just after conversation. Yes, I am C-Species. Oh.

It's more than suspicious, please, you don't have to tell me. The fact of the matter is that she didn't want me to tell any of you this. Did you fuck her, boy? Can't quite have it, then.

How was it? He's my wife. As soon as he saw the water bed, he was like, no, thank you. What's that large stain on your pants? It's nothing to be ashamed of. It's a natural thing, and I saw the way that she was looking at you. Well, the ashamed part is how quickly you came back. I didn't want to embarrass the thing. He did that himself. I know that you don't know me very well.

Do you have any idea why I am the way that I am? No, I don't. I am a horrific creature of the night. Because one time I made a mistake and I fell to lust. It will never happen again. Do you understand me? I hear you. And I know something about that myself. So you make your jokes, but you know nothing about me.

It's got a point. It's good to know that you've learned from your mistakes. I could have come back and told you all nothing. No, I appreciate it. Instead, I am on your side. And I appreciate it if we could all just focus on the task at hand for once. Look, I agree. Apologies. As another creature that annoyed because of one silly mistake that I've never done since then and never will do ever again, I'm like this. So yeah, what he said.

As you move your head to the side, you get a whiff of a fragrance that evokes memories of satin sheets and velvet blankets. And you realize the scent almost immediately. It had been all over the Inquisitor. The scent of roses. There's more. There's more. As I was leaving the Inquisitor's chambers, I apologize. I got distracted. Skinny Dudley was there.

What the fuck's he doing here? I don't know. The guard had said he had never been up there before, but he was looking to speak with the High Inquisitor. The guard had told him that she was in a meeting with me, and as soon as he saw me, he looked angry or upset, and he took off. It's very strange. He got all the way to her private chambers on his own? Exactly right. The guard said the same thing. He didn't belong there. He had no idea how he got there. Like he's not supposed to be there. Correct. Well, there's something you missed.

I sort of slyly got out of Francois, old Frank back there, that he doesn't know about the friendship between Maggie and Zephyrine. And so either Anya's lying and making that up, which I think is less likely, then maybe she's hiding something from him. As if they were meeting in secret. Right. Strange. She just leaves the house and doesn't say a word.

I have a good friend. Well, I don't trust anyone here. Clearly no one trusts each other. There are secrets everywhere. We need to be on our- We need to keep an eye out while we're in the mine for whatever the Inquisitor might be looking for. And I intend to bring something back. I'm gonna play her game for now. Figure things out as we go.

As soon as you say secrets, you will hear Virgil, which I guess would have been on top of Jorgom's tombstone, let out like a call. Well, I think we don't... Like you said, they're secrets. Lot's here. And I don't know what to do. I don't pretend to know what to do. But I know that we made the best choice that we could, leaving her with the mirror bills. I think you're right. All we can do now is...

Hustle along, get to the caves, and do our best. Get back to her as soon as we can. Agreed. And, you know what? For what it's worth, Tremarius, we're all creatures of the night in one way or another. I mean, I was made this way, not even through any mistake of my own, but the mistake of three other folk. I appreciate your empathy. Well, of course. We're all here together. We're all friends and family now. Thank you for trusting us with your conversation, and for...

joining us on this next step in our adventure. Of course. If we can't trust each other, then we truly can trust no one. Alright, who's leading us into mine? I'll go for Farron. Are you up for it? I think so, yeah. I guess we ought to just kind of cut across, not take the same path that we did to that clearing. Actually, you saw the path, Jericho. Maybe you ought to lead. No, I didn't.

Well, no, you're good in the woods. I can just maybe point behind you. Why don't you stay up front with me? We'll walk together. Yeah, we'll walk together. That sounds mighty fine, Farron. So if you could roll a group perception check just for your travel through the woods.

Oh, that'll be a natural 20. Me too! Yes! Would you say... Natural 11 for me. Dirty 20. Survival, you say? Survival? Beautiful. Oh yeah, survival. I said investigation. Did you? I thought you said survival. Oh, survival. Survival. 23. 18. Negative 412. 22. 22. I'm gonna think about... One moment.

That guy just died, didn't he? Why won't you go down? Why? Why? Oh, there you are. Sounds familiar. Okay.

18. Okay. And like West Side Story? So with that, you begin to make your way into the woods. And you do make an effort to keep out of the clearing that you had found. And with Farron and with Jericho's help, you are able to make pretty quick work of getting to the mines. You travel for... It takes about three hours. From... About two and a half hours from the edge of the city when you're coming from this...

Yeah, from the edge of the city when you're coming from this portion near the woods. And you are not unencumbered. It is uneventful. It is quiet and almost peaceful, unlike anything that you'd experience so far in these woods. There's almost a calmness to it on this side, coming from this vantage point.

You make your conversation, you look out for the beasts that stalk this woods and have stalked you. Occasionally Jericho flies out looking for pigeons and though you do find some, Virgil looks out and he says that he doesn't see the same congregation of pigeons that he'd seen before. Though they are here dotting trees here and there, they're not in that same pattern as they had been before. It all seems to be quiet.

About two and a half, almost three hours pass, and you begin to hear a strange sound. What sounds like hooves in the dirt. There's something abnormal to it, and you see that strange flickering light that you'd heard the guards talk about near the mines, and you know you must be close. You make your way out of the underbrush, and you see standing in this clearing, you have reached the mine.

Uneventfully, but that ends here. Is at the entrance to the mine you see what appear to be two dozen horses, but with no fur, pink human-like skin, their bodies elongated in unnatural way. And where there should be hooves pawing into the ground, you see human hands that pause at the dirt. All of their heads look up towards you and they are clearly humanoid heads

elongated into the shape of a horse's head. They attempt to open their mouths and call out at you, but the sound they make is guttural and strange and unnatural. So they shake their heads concerned and in almost in pain. And one of them catches your eye. One of these standing towards the very front with what appears to be a mustache coming out of the front of its maw.

as it opens its mouth to say something to you, that same guttural groaning sound, but it forms into words. - Trombraag hagen lines. - And that is where we'll end the session. - Holy. - I am gonna have such horrific nightmares because of you.

Nicky! That's not a joke. I am going to have the worst nightmares I've ever had tonight. I literally almost threw up. I am so upset. I am so repulsed. I'm picturing the horse creatures from that movie we watched. What was that movie? What was the first word that it said? Turn back. Turn back. Hag and minds. Turn back. Hag and minds.

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