 I'm ready arrives on a bright and sunny tigamura as you guys wake up in the little tavern That you have been provided rooms at least for one night To stay in and you get your long rest whatever features you might have used during your trade rock train ride over here already said It's a bright shiny morning Let me move Our little companions as they would have been somewhere else and Today is the day that your Friends from Satya are touted to come visit you by way of the official Olympi teleportation circles that are established throughout the kingdom Yes, how's everyone's morning go? Good question Word wakes up groggily From a very rough night you probably after the whole thing with law district or it just went out and sat on the roof for a while He is back in he is up splashing water on his face ready to face his old friend Who is coming exactly out of the two? I have the two names written down. So you've got you've got See Claudio go and Lyra Lyra not to be And one more that you would know I've just given you another one of your lackeys his name is squirt A newer member more of a nickname I Like that, okay So word you're cleaning yourself up. How's everybody else's morning? I'm I think buck is going to probably get up I think maybe like before everyone else and just go down and like try to eat breakfast and Have coffee before anyone else. Okay, when you do go down, I imagine he rises early Yeah, when you rise early you do see since the tavern is a lot less busy you actually see the innkeeper Named Morrow who is an aracacra that looks more akin to a peacock Mentioned by the I think the official that you met and he sees you coming down. Oh good morning Hope you slept well Little bit I slept fine. Thank you for the hospital fine. Just won't do come now. Tell me I'm open to feedback. Oh No, it's I don't think it had much to do with the in itself ever all of the accommodations were perfect. It's just that I've We've been going through a lot being you know the pilgrims and everything so I think that's that was probably more of what was contributing to The fitful sleep than the accommodations. Well, then if the accommodations can't ale your troubles And what good are the accommodations come come anything anything at all? Oh, no I couldn't possibly think of a single thing to change about this place Well, but I will get feedback out of you yet before you get out of here Right, I will do my best to think why don't I write something down once I have the full experience and I'm ready to leave Maybe we can go very much good. Good Right. Let's go. Let's how about breakfast haven't had breakfast here yet. So that would be good right away, sir And he goes back into the kitchen and you hear banging of pots and pans and sizzling of some kind of meat um, is anybody so like is it uh Pam's not here. Is she Okay, there's only like one or two other patrons in here Okay, I'll just like mine my own business, then I was gonna mind her business if she was in the Tower, but she's not but It's the exact thing she said not to do I'm trying a turn of phrase I will just wait here for my breakfast and for morrow to come back Or for work to come downstairs. Whatever happens first What does happen first? Am I coming down? I would say that uh Well, that depends on you of how early of a riser you are No, I think today word is word is sleeping in a little late Okay, we're gonna sleep. I actually think laira would probably be up quite early today because sheva is coming and she's worried about There's a there was like a up at the crack of dawn Schedule she had when she was back home and I think she's slipping right back into it with the knowledge that her method Is going to be here today. So Okay, you head downstairs You can see just the odd one or two patron as well as buck sitting at the table And you hear the sizzling and cooking and kind of a mess sound coming from from the kitchen Quite a lot of banging and clanging Morbid curiosity directs me to sit down and wait for breakfast Listen laira when this guy gets back Just give him like a compliment. It seems as though that he's going through something rough Maybe and wants to he's very concerned about how we have Enjoyed our stay here. So that might go a long way with him. Oh, certainly. I wouldn't want to see him ungrateful Um, I like tap my like little fingers just uh awkwardly on the on the table. So you're um, you uh Shamaya is Going to be here today and you're going to see them for the first time in a little bit Yes, if all goes according to plan I don't think I ever really asked you um What it was that you did for shamaya. I mean, I know that you you know Sort of generally took care of problems around the place. I've seen you around uh, sachia, but Um, I guess I don't really understand the nature of your relationship with shamaya That's fair I was essentially her apprentice Druids steward the wild and attempt to maintain the balance of nature in places that are colonized by less natural ways of living and at times problems would arise and Shamaya would go out and fix them and as I learned and trained I would join her um this I see as essentially an extension of that Maintaining the heart of the health of the tree and the health of quarencia and the health of alentea overall Is only a logical extrapolation of Maintaining the stewardship of the wild Did you have a specific question? Well, well, it's I guess I don't know that I I don't feel as though. I mean, I guess you've seen enough of my previous life On this journey enough and I know we've talked about Uh, like, you know, we've met fritz's Dad and everything. I mean, did you have your parents condone this or I mean, did I mean, did you Are they in the picture? I just don't get I don't see a family resemblance between you and shamaya if you don't mind me saying Well, it's an interesting question. I obviously don't remember much of the early years, but shamaya is the only Authority figure that's ever held sway in my life as far as I know So it's uh, it's I guess you what you're saying is you just don't know them. It's not uh, about your parents I assume they existed at one point. I don't know the specifics myself and I've never really saw if it to uh Speculate on things that I cannot know Yeah, I guess it makes sense. Um, I hope I'm not prying too much. I just No, of course not. It's uh Honestly, after seeing fritz's experience, I'm rather glad that we haven't encountered any suspiciously familiar looking strangers on my end of this this journey Yeah, I guess it's fair to say I hope I hope they're doing all right. Um, it seems as though that was kind of a shock for them to see Astropio And so I don't I don't know what else is We I don't know what else is in store for them, but it seems like I they've got a lot to figure out Um, well, hopefully our encounter with her mother and travescetta will go any Well, I suppose we can't speculate what that would look like I'm I guess I'm just glad that You know, we're all here together To have someone to go through all this with I I'm sure you guys realize that more now that you have people from back home Coming in to see us, but you know, I I like look down Like I don't have anybody that's coming to see me. So it's good to have I guess in a way what I'm trying to say is It's nice to have the three of you Uh To to to be with on the on this journey if I agree it It's almost it's it's almost strange. Um I just woke up. What are we talking about? Oh, hello word We're a discussing nature of our blooming friendship over the course of our journeys together I'll scoot over so you can get in I've ordered food for just me, but I'm sure you can get It sounds like maro who by the way maro is the name of the innkeeper is making a ton of stuff I hear way too many There's like only it's us three and two other people It sounds like he's making a lot of food back there. Perhaps it will be the face style But maybe he hasn't like opened the doors yet and people are gonna come in and eat all of our food Which means when it hits the table, we should eat fast. We must be ready Correct. Yes. I was just a fork in a knife in hand and like hold them up above the table because I'm sitting so tiny on Here I have a I think I have something in my pack You could I have this book that's kind of big and I you can sit on this to maybe boost you up a little bit That's so incredibly kind That's like a little throne of wisdom That's sure and and I would and I know you can't read but it's a good book too So just don't don't move around too much because I don't want the binder to be look what I was trying to say was is that I appreciate I find that there are times throughout our journey where it's been nice to have people to confide in and to have a support system amongst us here which It's not that I don't have back home. It's just that we it's nice to have You guys here in case something goes wrong to have someone to have your back and Um, that's good. That's like it's been I appreciate I I appreciate that that you we're all together It's kind of sad that you've never had that before Word he said he did um Yeah, I mean I've got I mean I've got sure I just know when they wanted to come I guess it's about to take two fire damage I'm just kidding I just well I guess since in the Being honest sort of way. I really I I I don't really have Too much of a support system In sachi, so it's nice to I feel as though we've kind of helped build that for the purposes at the very least for this adventure and so I I appreciate that Yes, I really didn't really have it back back home. I had people I knew and You know, I'd people you'd go out with and you have people you play cards with and people you work with but uh, I didn't really have anybody that Would be I think willing to Come and check on how I was doing Um Well, that's irresponsible of them Well, you got it now We've got you back and I like raise my hand really high up and pat you on the back Like lower small of the back I I appreciate it. I As you can see with some of my um X y's not not exactly That in itself just saying that I think kind of indicates My ability when it comes to maintaining those types of relationships. So I'll try not to Miss this one up mess these up It's taking a while that morrow guys Well, maybe morrow wanted you to finish your conversation. Uh, buck. I worry you're selling yourself short. This isn't a parasitic dynamic Yeah, we're not romantically involved me Or that it is not a parasitic Buck twiddles his thumbs. Oh, we're not The blushes Didn't buck word me nothing do you All right While you guys are conversing uh sometime after about uh 10 to 15 minutes The the door to the kitchen kicks open and morrow comes out with just his Wing arms full of plates of bacon and eggs and celery and uh, he's just uh, My cognition proves me well yet again Yeah, I knew your friends would come down here and he's just comes over and serves you all a plate of Bacon eggs and celery Give me my eggs bacon eggs at celery stick my head out of like the upstairs and I do I smell food? Yes Fourth what ah there she is I just threw the window Thank you for the food There we go, and I've got some leftovers for anyone else who wishes to come in here now the rest of you I've already had your big friend here give me his Admittedly wanting feedback, but anything else I can help to improve the tavern uh fluff your pillows or maybe make the Beds a bit less soft. I know some adventurers sleeping on on the streets on travel They prefer more harder beds that it's more familiar You should get some tiny events Tiny of it's for small fault. Yes. Good. Good. Good for cobalt and goblins. You can see he's writing them down on a notepad in his apron In fact, you you might be able to get some bigger beds as well for tough for taller. Yes bigger beds Perhaps you never know them and ogre might want to sleep here Cut to words sweeping in bucks bed and bucks sleeping in workers We did the like wrong with the wrong we had the wrong rooms Fuck like on the floor with two legs up on the smaller bed. It's like, yeah This is close enough barely fit just his butt and then word is just like vanished in the blink of the cat Well, enjoy your breakfast and have a wonderful day. Thank you for staying at my inn Thank you for your hospitality Tomorrow goes off to take care of the other patrons I ravenously devour his bacon and eggs. I would attend to lyre though. What they pretty? Yeah The feathers were very distracting. I honestly have no idea what he was saying for the latter half of that conversation I thought he was flirting with us I haven't those things like splayed out My predator instincts. I was not able to tell So many eyes I've never seen so many hour-o'clock removal for in my life back home. You know, it's It's like you live by the dock Is that it? Is it just you in there? Yeah, I'm the only hour-o'clocker at the dock You can be an honorary cobalt if you want Highest honor, I think dozer. I think dozer would prefer me to follow in their footsteps I revoke my honorary I want to I want to grab lyre's hands. Do you think they speak hour-o'clock? Like or is it around? Yeah, it's been forever. Do you think they speak it? Oh, it would be certainly worth inquiring It's been very rare. I get to speak it with people. Do you think they'd let me practice? I want to try I want to try I'm sure if you told them that it was something that would improve the quality of your stay at the inn You're right I First is like eats their breakfast as quickly as just like sitting there anticipating waiting for them to come back Like one annoying person who knows that you know a language. It is waiting to practice just sitting there like jiddy incredible All right, but yes, you now have the day to yourselves It seems as though That morrow doesn't quite bother. You're just giving you a glance while you like eat your food If you would like to practice them you can flag them over I'm just intensely staring at him. Give me a charisma check Okay, all right, uh getting oh, I did a saving throw. Does that matter? It doesn't matter now Pretty sure it's the same rule for you as a ranger and uh kind of like Giving him this wide-eyed look Uh, he's initially a little bit thrown off and not really knowing the intent behind it But you can he can notice that you are intrigued Um like an owl. Yes, and he got blinking. He comes over Uh to your table again. Is there anything I can help you? Do you speak oren? Of course I speak oren. It's our native tongue Really? Yes, of course. I'm just really excited by that. I see you're uh, you're a harpy arachakra You're perhaps not very familiar with the native tongue. Do you know any? The extremely canon harpy arachakra that have always existed They try saying like I know a little bit it But it's like very childish speak like someone who Only learned like child level. Oh, there's no shame. Come on. Let's hear it and uh, you say what? Little oren that you know and he seems very impressed. He's clapping his hands and giving you a thumbs up Ah wonderful. Your teacher must have been very impressive I guess she could say that And he gives you a little a few bit more pointers In kind of some grammatical corrections and A few ways to adjust it and you get a little bit better at speaking oren How how do I sound and carry myself as regally as you? Regally like like they're trying to say regal in oren and they're like It's a bit too big of a word for them. So they just end up going regal in common No, it's okay. You can simply replace a few words. So most oren also no common. So You shouldn't run into any trouble if you meet another era car yeah, but Every hour a clocker knows oren's so I want to I want to know Yeah, you have a nice time and uh Yeah, so you know that uh Your friends will be arriving at the official building kind of down south the alente lords offices and They will be here pretty soon if you wish to go meet them there Yes Wait like how soon Like whatever we're ready soon All right, that's it. I'm I'm scooping up word. I'm grabbing lyre and we're like we're going to see dozen I am excited to see dozen Fly with me. Sorry. I just I I've just scooped you without your permission I'll do my own as you're running out the door word is encouraging it. He's like no fly Fly my pretty I'll uh, I'll leave you guys to it. I I think I'm gonna maybe take this one go find something else to do just explore a little bit around town Maybe see if I can get the uh card or something ready to go We don't have one. Oh, that's right. We do now. Well, well fine fine one or maybe figure that out I was just remembering what happened when you know, I'm not pointing any fingers and I'm pointing both fingers at you We'll be back soon. Uh, perhaps you could spend some time with the adventurer skills They seem brother Yeah, they might be able to point me in the direction of somewhere that seems like a group that Has want for a cart every once in a while, I guess That'd be really good if you if you got us like a new one You know a better one. Maybe I mean who knows really. Yeah, the maybe Really good one. Yeah, really good one. Fly around or something vision of better site lantern Yeah Yeah My brain is like envisioning like Like fritz is trying to like run us out the door and words like clinging to the door frame like yeah new car would be great Don't fuck this up All right, go see go see go see dozen go see dozen All right, so you guys uh at the behest of fritz are pushed out the door run all the way Down to the official building and you see just as suspected Your friends from sachia have arrived as they just walk out of the door down here And You see them. It is dozen shamaya and your lackeys word And dozen seen you kind of just runs and leaves behind the other four and goes for a big Squeeze at you fritz lifting you up high above him a few of your bones pop just at the force No bird bones. Hey a little shine. How you been? Oh, it's good to see you. That's uh the dock's been unbearably quiet without you Oh, I swear some of the fillers are going to start leaping off the crow's nest Just so they can see a flying silhouette on the boat again Oh giving up just because I they have to do my manual labor now, huh? But how you been? How is your journey? What drinks have you tried? Oh goodness all of them Is it bad to say I don't remember there was that really weird one on the train that gave us all like wild magic effects Oh, yeah They drank wild magic things I'm smarter than enough to not do that. You taught me not to do that Well now that I'm here I can give a little bit of supervision You have supervision Supervision to know where the best drinks are and I see an inn right down there Better than true sight Ah, I too have a similar power Whoa The place really pretty one. Did you show them what you learned? Yes, they were impressed they clapped. I think that's good. Hey because I'm a good teacher But uh, I did you just don't don't ask them to recite any any longer sentences because I've not really gotten to that chapter yet but Hey, so uh, if if you don't mind all and he uh gestures over to the rest Uh, what say if it's if it's all good to you I'd like uh to go on a little bit of a prowl with uh With a little frittier if if all is well to you Go of course So that I've got business to tend to enjoy the day He puts he tries to put an arm around your shoulder fritz Uh, it's just kind of like asking you to lean down so he can whisper to you Oh, I'll like I'll like a lean down. I like basically I'm on my like I have to go on my knees to be as high So this era cockroach is it is it a sweetie of yours? Oh, he is a handsome or pretty one I know you got the ribs to make a pretty ladder last fate No, it's it's just a peacock they pretty is the whole the whole thing Oh Oh, then that should be easy. You're my spitting image after all How about you and me go take on the uh prowler all around the town slam some drinks I haven't been this far inland before so I want to see what kind of bruise they got that's a sea ain't something they're liquor Uh, I I look up at the sky. What time is it about right now? Uh, it's like one to two p.m Yes, yes late enough to drink. It's all right. It's something light I mostly just want to try the flavors rather than to you know get knocked out And he is going to explore the town with you before heading to the tavern and so while he heads off, uh, you uh Layra and word Word you are approached by your lackeys claudio lyra and sport and squirt And uh She just comes up to you and they're all just kind of bouncing back and forth on their little Kind of cobalt feats just Hopping in excitement. Hey boss. It's good to see a boss. Oh, we missed you so much We hadn't had so much direction when you were gone We've mostly just been doing things by committee and making making decisions is scary Committees are terrible. I'm so sorry. You've had the work under such conditions Without my guidance I don't we don't know how you do it boss making decisions all the time It takes a general's wisdom Please guide us All right, how's business been since I've been gone business has been good Uh, we've actually been helping out around some of the farms and making a little bit of gold ourselves actually Yeah, so you've uh, you've stepped down to making an honest earning Well, we kind of had to uh without your guidance kind of sneaking around and skulking about and trying to take coin You know in an honest way Hasn't been too successful That bigger travesty I never heard All right, I'll remind you exactly how we do it come with me And they're all slink along behind you lastly Lera and shimaya shimaya comes up to you. She just kind of watches as the kobolds wander off And that's bad shrugs her shrugs her shoulders a bit. Uh, perhaps hopefully nothing we need to worry about I suspect the local adventurer's guild will take care of anything too cataclysmic that word gets into Yes Good afternoon, Lera. You look well fairly unharmed. That's good Thank you you as well Yes, I brought some apothecary supplies that you might find useful on your journey There's some basic ingredients from the garden It wouldn't afford any peculiarly particularly outlandish bruise, but at the very least perhaps ones that will aid you nonetheless She hands you a little pouch and you can add alchemy supplies to your inventory Uh, so it's enough ingredients to make five total potions and here I'm going to copy and paste this into the chat So you can see there we go In order to brew any one of these you need to make a successful medicine check if you fail Then the unfortunately the ingredients will go to waste, but you have enough to make five potions of any of the listed Oh my goodness, let me just copy and paste these bad boys into my notes Wow So then what is on the agenda for the day anything in particularly wish you do you wish to spend this day on I've a mind to pick up a few things from the markets myself, but you're the one on pilgrimage You've not had the chance for as much leisure as I have Yes, well, I didn't exactly have leisure on the mind today. We uh Made some interesting discoveries when we were dealing with the previous dragon Sergei and I was hoping to consult with you about certain properties of the life tree that you may be able to enlighten me on Yes, I you mentioned Peter's much when we last spoke Yes, very well, uh, shall we Walk and talk then Yes, there are many very beautiful and rather untouched nature of areas in this uh in this town Yes, perhaps for the proximity of the house to trevasseta I always grew fond of tigamira and the respect for the natural wildlife around them keeping the balance of the world Yes, as long as we avoid the bullet cave, we should be fine I will refrain from asking questions probably wise And yes, and lastly buck You Are all on your lonesome in the tavern. Do you wish to head to the adventurer's guild? Not um immediately. I think maybe I'll try and help. Um, oh gosh. I've already forgotten his name the morrow Maybe clean up the All the different, uh, you know plates and stuff that were left behind maybe just like because I have I really don't want to go to the Okay Because I know who's there. I I maybe eventually but for right now I like I'm trying to put it off So I'm like I'll help clean up. All right. Well you do and morrow actually Is shocked at you cleaning up and he notices and he goes. Oh goodness. No. Oh, you don't have to do that Oh, no, that's fine. I really I want to I mean you you've given us a lot of You know hospitality. I figured it's only Right that I helped clean up a little bit Well, of course, that's my job. Unless you want to be paid for your work. You I insist come on Ah being paid in hospitality and The company of a good friend, you know Oh Thank you. Oh, I didn't consider myself unless you well unless you don't feel that way I know we just met and all or anything. It's forget. I'm I'm Just I got a lot on the mind really and this kind of helps me take off Take the old mind off of is there a um, is there like a you play cards at all morrow or On occasion, but please tell me more about this on your mind. I could lift that weight off of you if you need Oh No, that's just maybe I've Maybe if we put out a hand or so, you know Cards, I might be more willing to talk about if you have time that is Um, it's not rush hour now. If no more patrons come in, then I'm sure I could spare some time Okay, good And then I'm gonna like go and sit down and like start shuffling through the deck Of the cards that I have on me. Yeah, and just like throw out Takes a bit of the plates and the kind of stacks them in a spot and goes to play cards with you. So We have four different stories going on here We can either roll for initiative to see who does their story first before swapping over to each one of you I will be upfront and say that Perhaps we will go through each story to their conclusion before moving on to the next Unfortunately, that will mean that some of you it may be a while before we get to yours if that is okay Yeah, or alternatively, we can volunteer who goes first I'm down to roll initiative All right, we can roll initiative. Yeah, that might be D&D way All right, first up is going to be fritz and dozen No, do you and dozen kind of peruse the markets a little bit and Kind of the upper right area and just kind of looking through you can see dozen is taken in by the various different types of trade That he's not all too familiar with and almost taken in by although he's got a tight grip on his coin purse Each time he sees something. He's like, oh should I I don't I don't need it It could be a really nice souvenir. I don't be fine When he stops looking at things for it's like he's almost like leaning over peering like What are you looking at? I just mostly little trinkets things to decorate the nado and such Nothing really tangible, but uh the shinies do catch my eye too easily Um, I I like swivel around to what he was looking at and point at What am I pointing at? I point at like a Type like a small pot of paint And we go that color would look really good on your wheel cool Perhaps what kind of color do you point at? It's like a deep blue Hey Oh, and this one would do nice for a trim. He points to like a metallic gold Yes, I asked the person how much Uh the merchant tells you that it's only a gold piece for like four buckets I am it's not slamming that uh, so If I get two of the gold and two with the Oh, now that's a souvenir So how much gold was that again? Sorry. Just one just one piece Oh, okay. Yep for four people four Damn, that's a steal a bit. Yeah, I'm slammed down the cold Oh something to keep us even when we're sailing So how's how has your trip been little one? Many any interesting folk got any good stories. It's been crazy. Uh, my group is Never thought I'd say it crazier than crew back home. Uh, really fun I well that's a good sign Why don't it has two x wives? two x wives I don't know if I'd describe it like that. I don't know if he has more. I'm scared to know now. Should I place bets? Uh, maybe my he he almost considers it for a bit, but he has to shake himself out of it Just like hey, maybe not the most uh, uh Might be in poor taste as entertaining as it might be Fritz is gonna ask a question to try to I'm telling you his intentions trying to see if dozen knows That she's met her dad. It was like was there a certain story you weren't looking for in particular Should I roll for this? Yes, actually roll me Actually, uh No, you don't need to roll for this Uh, roll me actually roll me a performance check Are you actually trying to like hide that you're trying to prove for something? I'm I'm trying I I'm being more physician I'm trying to read him on if he starts to get awkward or if he's like he's trying to like he wants to know something in particular But in that case give me an insight An insight, okay You know that he's genuinely interested in your trip from what it sounds like it It doesn't seem like there's any other kind of like ulterior motive behind his words at all He's genuinely just interested in the trip And your experience Well, uh, I've definitely Have experienced the world a lot more. I mean some more aracaca in my life and these couple of Gosh, how long is it been months or so? But we'll compare it to when we're back at the dock. Hi, they come in lots of different breeds I didn't I didn't really know that. Yeah, I lots of variety of feathers and colors and stylings all over the continent Usually statistic to the mainland. Uh, they're not the most seafaring folk Hence why you don't often see some over in sachia lots of water over there not good for their feathers Have you met a lot of aracaca in your life? Uh, give me a performance check Oh Lassie if you want to ask me something you could go ahead and ask I've got no secrets for you You I I I point to a bench close by. I was like you might want to sit down All right, and he goes to sit by the bench Are you about to tell me I'm adopted? No, but remember when you did that for me? Uh, hi. Yeah It was really funny Uh-huh Hi, I'm stalling Yeah, um So I met my dad You're all I met astrapio. Well, you're my dad, but the I know what you mean, but Yeah And how was he? I would say disappointed if I had any expectations Um, he's a feeble man. Oh, that's a shame You know him Hi all astrapio Me and him were good friends He actually did me a good turn back when I was just a swubby You fit for a story time Yeah, you said wow I were All right, then he uh, just kind of reaches into his jacket and pulls out little snacks. They look like Little like uh kind of Pretzel sticks And hands them over for you to snack on I I guess I sit cross-legged on the Ground looking at him like a kid waiting for a story. All right. Well strap in kid Well Oh astrapio and I he uh, he did me a good turn back when I was just a swubby. He uh I had a right prick as a captain. Let's call him captain stinky Oh, he's giving me the stink eye and saw every chance to throw me off the ship or worse But uh during my time as a swubby, I met all astrapio He was a a weird looking bird folk traveling to sachia to learn lore of all things I know what all what all that's about, but uh, it didn't mean that me and him got to talk I know each other during the the sailing back and forth. It turns out he wasn't too liked where he was from neither Uh, don't tell nobody but during his academic days. They nickname him farty feathers Then was so caught up in his studies. He neglected his hygiene. Whoa, and you could tell too So me and him kindred spirit shunned by the world what would throw the worst at us and one day That arse captain stinky He finds one of his prized maps to be stolen And he accuses me of doing the deed said I had got enough motive and wanted to jump ship for the mainland And I mean he weren't wrong for both of those things, but I still ain't stole nothing But nobody had my back except for all astrapio If it weren't for him, I'd probably have been thrown into a jail or shipped off to trevisseta To slave away at one of them hellish walls. They got keeping the blot out So he comes to my defense and better yet finds out that captain stinky Had his hands in a bit of conspiracy against sachia's lord at the time So stinky lost his sailor's license his ship his crew and was banned from coming within miles of the waters of the banoho gear And then with the recompense I got from the case I was able to afford my own ship the nado And the the very one that you grew up on and used for deliveries Sounds like a very different man than what I met. He was quite he didn't have much of a backbone No and I Uh Was fearful of as much as the time went on because uh Well after that ordeal, I ain't seen astrapio for quite a few years Near a decade passed and then he comes to me one day out of nowhere Sailing to sachia and he looks like shit even worse than he did before Like he was sucked up and spit out by a kraken and then sucked up and spit out by another uglier kraken So he comes to me Dripping wet sailing on a ship what almost sank to the bottom of the ocean and he asks me for a favor I say anything you give me my life and my family. They're nothing too big of an ass And so he says to me what about a life? And I say give or take I was ready to kill for this man And he says giving to And I say what? And he shows me a little wee bird wrapped in a blanket Couldn't have been even more than a summer old and he kind of goes to scruff your your hair He says it's his But the lady is with it didn't work out And then he could see that if he was to raise you Both of you would probably not make it or you would but he wouldn't be able to make you happy I didn't push for the details, but I accept it and you're quite the handful of a baby I tell you I didn't have the first clue about parenting alone parenting in anacocra My parents all they had to do was give me a slab of meat to put me to sleep But you I couldn't stop you from exploring every single dangerous crevice you could find But uh a baby Uh, I didn't know what to do with a baby one interesting though Interesting fact, uh, you were a baby that didn't cry. Uh, this one must be on the fritz. I thought well Best manufacturing error of her uh, manufacturing error ever I suppose because nothing could faze you You got lucky Maybe she usually cry a lot. I cry a lot But you didn't cry at nothing. In fact, I had to stop you from trying to climb up to the top of the crows nest But then after that, well Hold a strappy. Oh, he didn't seem to get all that involved I would write to him just about every other week after he gave you to me And he'd often only write back the teeniest crumbs. Thanks. That's good to hear Thank you for doing this. No interest whatsoever. No questions. No concerns. Nothing Now I want to judge a man what business I not seen with my own eyes So I like to think he was getting his shit together after whatever put him in such a tough place But then he ain't changed after a year Two years a decade I started sending him letters every month after your first birthday But still none more than a that's good to hear Sent back I keep him up to date on your abouts every month. Same thing Thanks for the update Then after about your your fifth year, he stops replying I was concerned but then heard through the grapevine that all strapio had made it to becoming an officiate of politrios I wrote him about two or three more letters that year, but after getting no response back. I stopped writing I worried that with so Little deeper interest in your abouts. I didn't want to bring up this man What ain't put more than a single sentence to a letter about you Maybe he didn't want to bear the burden of knowing that he couldn't have raised you. Maybe he was too busy Maybe he didn't have an interest. I don't know. I ain't a mind reader But whatever the case I thought to myself these letters there they ain't saying nothing And as much as a strapio did me a good turn with the nado. I already took a job That he was too afraid to we were even now And I ain't owe him the privilege of knowing one of the coolest funniest obnoxious birds in the world If he didn't take the effort to be a part of your life I didn't want to be burdened you with having to know who might as well be a stranger with no involvement But I am sorry that I took that choice away from you I I couldn't have known if you wanted to see the letters I do still have them if you want to see them. They're back on the nado in my storage. Yes, but like I said They ain't page turners No, no, no I Dozen You know, I'm smart is dumb. I am at the same time. I'm smart. You are Yes Just as I know um Same with the day that you basically told me I was adopted Knew we weren't blood related. I mean I grew past your height very quickly. Um, oh you much as I tried I Still trying to catch up It's just wait till I hit my growth spurt But I was smart enough to know I didn't need to know Uh If I wanted to I could have asked you're a very honest. You've always been honest I why the people around you trust you and love you Uh, precisely why I'm sure if you were curious about your birth parents You would have asked and so I I didn't feel it necessary to give you information that you weren't interested in But uh, I'm glad to get that confirmation that who takes a big weight off my shoulders. I'll tell you As parents and thing you never really truly know if you're doing the right thing You did great Why else would I call you dad? Thanks But are you all right with this? I mean he's practically a stranger to you and much as I would like For him to get involved that's your choice You get to choose who's in your life or not He kind of reached out an olive branch, but it was me twisting his arm to do it a bit It was fun kind of bullying him but He can't really Can't hold his liquor So I don't know if we'll get along Well, you'll run into a few of those but it's not about being able to hold your liquor It's about if you're drinking out of the same glass Or the one that poured the liquor not not exactly precisely the same glass. There are German folks out there, but you know what I mean Maybe he's got some fighting him as much as a coward as he's turned into today but There was a good man in there Somewhere and I'm sure he thinks he's trying to do as best he can I won't judge him for intentions, but Ultimately what happens from here? I guess we'll have to see yeah The door is open, but I'm not going to stop and stand waiting I'm going to keep walking the more I walk the harder it's going to be for him to catch up I and he's going to be the one to put in the effort Mm-hmm. I'm anxious though. We might he said I might bump into my mother That is one. I don't know Me neither never really heard much about her and I didn't really want to pry all astrapio considering uh He uh didn't look too good recounting their relationship what little he did For all it's worth not saying that he did the right thing, but I think it's good that whatever he was with it's over now Not a place to judge, but Bigger question is You sent you pushed me to do this, right? You wanted me to go out into the world It less of a push but more or so I could see that you were looking for bigger things ambitious lot you were Uh, but I I'm not trying to push you in anything fritz whatever you want to do. I'm there to encourage you Because I might not understand this whole pilgrimage thing, but that don't mean that I can't cheer you on while you do it What about my delivery service? Oh, we've taken a care of that as best as we could but You know, it's maybe we don't take off take on as many crazy's job as as you would but uh You know, it's part of our job and what brings in the coin and But if you do wish to return to it afterwards ain't gonna stop you All right, can't leave you with that business for forever. It kind of is my responsibility If you say so Ah, say this bench is a mighty depressant. How about we go get some some drinks and show them a good satian picker, right? Yeah, let's let's lighten the mood. I don't really want to think of a deadbeat much longer. All right Dozen is going to bring you along to The tavern for maybe some food maybe some drinks not necessarily alcoholic as he mentions It doesn't have to be because you can party even if you're not drunk And I think with that we if that is okay, we may move on to buck. Is that all right? If there's unless there's anything else fritz that you wish to do with dozen No, I'm just gonna be sitting drinking. All right So, yeah, that will uh happen in the tavern some other time But in the meanwhile simultaneously while you are hanging out with dozen Buck you are having a little bit of Card playing with maro Who after playing a few sets you can tell he is really bad at the game So anyway, as I was saying, I mean that's when I decided to leave and Head back to side. It's your turn by the way. Um head back to um Head back to satia So have you just been like Yeah, oh, yeah, just like oh, oh, yeah, it's like way more than I've told anyone else I've just been laying out to him, uh like kind of Up and up up through the last time that I was in trevissetta Um with pan, um, which is kind of what I'm ultimately building to uh to asking him about Um Oh goodness. Well that does put a lot of context into perspective right And And it's you can't play you have to hear you that suit isn't trump right now. So you can't play Um, I this game is so confusing It's all right. You just have to play like Maybe 15 or so games before you really get it. But anyway, what I was saying was I When I headed back I thought that I was in the right I I guess I I kind of knew deep down in my heart that I didn't There was no real evidence of it, but I I thought I had made a mistake And I couldn't really do much about it. I had already left and I don't know. I just kind of figured I'd you know, you move from one town to the other You don't got to go back and face your problem. So I happen to be back and seeing her here That is quite the way to live life Buck we all have to answer for our crime sometime I hear what you're saying But I don't know she doesn't want to she doesn't want to talk to me And I can't blame her for it. But I feel I feel like if one of the reasons that I I guess I kind of knew that this would happen if I went on this adventure Because I'd have to be visiting all these places I just don't know what I'm here and I get some kind of closure in the sense that she doesn't want to talk to me Which I kind of suspected the whole time, but I don't want to have to leave here Not having said something about it. I mean I can't force her to talk to me, but At the same time I'm gonna be thinking about So you want to closure, but you're afraid that yours is impending on hers You're much better at inciting this than you are at playing this card. Oh, yes I hear many stories in this tavern people come in Give me their woes and you know much like yours. It's not always easy Look, I I've recognized in the time that I've been traveling with the screw They're good people and The more That I speak with them and I see the way that they treat others around them and The way that they've been treating me this whole time It really puts into context as you know because you heard the whole story. I'm I've been a dick my whole life Well, and I've and I've not focused on the right things and I just don't want to I don't know why I care about what she thinks of me now but I want to try to The extent that I can try and fix Fix it someone Well buck, you know what? I think I think you have a very honest intention about you and if you simply explain this to her Just be upfront and honest. You might have a chance Um, well might have a chance I guess it's better than uh No chance at all If you truly believe that this will give you closure, I can't say that you shouldn't pursue it Because trying to find closure some other way might be more difficult, but It is possible. Ultimately the decision is yours. I can't stop you I wouldn't ask you you also probably couldn't physically stop me if I really really came down to it He that's neither he puts an elbow on the the table and like kind of props his chin up Oh, you'd be surprised 15th level monk right here Morrow All right, let me be clear. I'm gonna go and do this. I'm gonna go talk to her. I think I appreciate that but Very well, I'll be at your funeral Can I arm wrestle you real quick just because I don't know exactly that you think if you are you suggesting you're stronger than I am Oh, no, I just simply think that I can stand up to you. That's all Oh, well that I I mean That in a strange way, I actually believe that um not in a strange way You're perhaps working on that insecurity is another journey that you need to figure out yourself But no, nevertheless, I do hope you have a wonderful day. You uh, good luck, uh with your talking with your ex-wife and uh I think if you come out there with a few scars, I think we can consider that a success Well, thanks for talking to me about it Morrow, I'll take let me take the car and here's the uh Uh, I'll take the cards back and put the up take the cards. I put them away and uh, um Sorry to get in that weird. I'll work on the insecurity. I'll work on the insecurity too. How about that? Very well All right, um, thanks. Well, thank you and uh, have a wonderful day I like awkwardly like reached it like shake his hand because I don't know how to end this Yeah, he goes and shakes it as well I try to like go when he when he touches my head try to go in for like a handshake hug And I don't really know if it's like a good idea. Is it a good idea? Do I get the sense? It's a good idea to go in for the handshake. Uh, give me a Give me a charisma check You go to like Do like the hugging thing, but he wasn't going in for a hug So now you're just kind of like awkwardly. Oh, are we are we uh? Oh, sorry. Um, just no, it's I was good day. No, it's just okay. Good day But before I go I just want to say earlier when I said like we're friends and stuff Um, I think I was kind of just anxious Because I didn't know what to say, but I really do think I really do think I really appreciate you talking to me about all this I feel like We're friends friends. Of course. Yes friends I'm gonna go talk to my ex-wife and then I'm gonna leave Have a good day And as you walk out we we both slide like down on the other side of the door This is happening off-screen buck. You wouldn't know this but this is for the other players and just the the story After buck leaves morrow just like Loosens his shoulders I'm in physical actual pain from how awkward that was So, yes buck you head out and as you head out you do see uh fritz and dozen kind of head into the tavern Look kind of like pass you by Oh, yeah Good. See hi guys Oh, oh good. That means there's free up. Uh, they freed up a whole table. Ha ha ha. Just pull in your leg Ha ha. Yeah, I'm busy. I gotta um I'll talk to you later All right, so buck where are you headed? I'm gonna go to the adventurer's guild. You go to the adventurer's guild Just kind of swagger my way on inside Uh, you swagger ready on inside and you do see at the quest board that it is indeed pam kind of looking it over and Since it is fairly quiet a lot of the adventurers are already out the door opens and she goes to look And she sees you and immediately her face Runches up and she goes back to look at the quest board Is are we in are we like inside the building or are we like outside? Uh, I'll say you're inside of the building And there's like a question. There's like is there like anybody around or is it just there's a few? Yeah, a few like adventurer adventurer guild like officials kind of staff just like behind desks writing um with just writing some Quest papers to be put on the board. They're talking with a few clients and getting like official stamps of approval and stuff And getting them to sign and things I'll uh tip my hat I've never done that in my entire life tip my hat to the uh to them And then I'll uh just like kind of walk up to the quest board and just kind of pretend to be like Oh, yeah, it's a good one And uh official nice nice ham just like without looking away from the quest board You tell me what you want. What else I will assume the worst Look, um I can we I know you said you didn't want to talk, but I just one conversation and then I don't have to if you don't want to talk anymore I won't I won't bother you or embarrass you in front of anybody in this town for the rest of time that i'm here And I give my word on that she squints her eyes on one condition You help me with this and she holds she takes one sheet of paper off of the quest board and shows it to you And you see that it's a quest slay chimera Um You you want just me to help you with this Yes, my usual party is out right now doing some small fry and I was thinking this is too much for one person But you are a big man, aren't you you're big and strong And you can take on anything You're certainly dumb enough to try your luck at something stupid So I could use somebody with that kind of disregard for personal well-being Look, I've had plenty of regard. All right for my for my well-being in the time that I've got But yeah, if that's what it takes to to to have this conversation then yes, I Can I I might have to tell my friends that I'm Doing it, um That we're going to fight the chimera. I mean Um, I might have to tell him that So they don't worry about me Fine Is there like it's like a place that it's going on or like how like I don't know exactly I'm reading the details Yes, so you you notice that the the quest description says that it is just outside the circa forest a little bit north East of the town a little ways in that it has been causing a disruption of the local fauna and calling a bit too many of the herbivores around the area And that it needs to be taken care of And yeah, let me just say yeah, you you can let people know who do you let know that you're going to go fight the chimera I'll tell just because I know where she is. I'll like let fritz know I'll just like Very excitedly like run back like after they saw me leaving and like throw open the doors and then I'll say I'll like fritz, um I'm gonna go kill a monster with my ex-wife and then I'll turn to uh Um, I got a very easy ex-wife with maro. I'm gonna turn to maro and I'll give him a big wink and it's so obvious to everybody um, and then I'll I'll Pat dozen on the back and then I'll leave And uh, I'm not giving fritz time to I mean she can shout after me if she wants, but I don't I need to go do this Can fritz look at dozen and go is that like oh is that how people express love? I don't I you know, I'm not I think that's what people that's the shape of expression of a man What's about to go into battle and worries. He's not going to come back Oh, and you can see that uh maro just like takes a plate and put like a clean plate puts it on his chest Like it's a hat. I pray for him And then I'll head back to uh, uh, I'll get big blind and I'll kind of head back in and saunter back into the uh Adventures guild with it So Pam and you head north and east towards the circuit forest getting closer to Guaransi of the life tree and on the way like as you're walking kind of that way It's a fairly safe route, but she is dead silent I I'm like waiting for a moment to say something Um, like trying to find a good moment like I'm hoping that like maybe she'll reference like oh, you know, we're uh Like here's some tracks or like you're like, uh Cold out or something so I can like find a way in because I don't really want to initiate it um, so I'm trying to find Like a good a good time to like Bring it up. I'm probably gonna wait until we're Too close to where we need to be to be to just say um Uh, so about the conversation Um Can can we do that now? I guess we're on the way. We've got some time Ah, she just sighs and turns around. What do you want to talk about buck? um I uh Look And I'm like looking at the the maybe maybe we fight the chimera first Yep, why did I look but she just whispers to herself like looking at the sky not looking Why did I agree to do this? And I'm I'm I'm serious. Yeah, I'm like not gonna talk about it until we fight the guy I want to I'd rather fight the chimera. All right Because if I die fighting the chimera, then I don't have to have the conversation so you make it to The kind of area based on the quest givers description and you can see that Pam is kind of looking at tracks and stuff but not communicating anything she learns to you Just having you follow along in her footsteps just as she's tracking it herself If you would like you can do a little bit tracking if you so wish a survivor. No, I'm no, that's okay. I'm too, uh, distracted And as she does sneak up on it um She holds you can see that she has got one arrow that's tipped with a glowing kind of pink arcane energy And you don't quite know what it is, but if you would like you can roll an arcana check to maybe see if you might have seen something Yeah, let me roll I don't have a very good kind of score. Okay, you know, whatever this is This is some kind of powerful magic imbued on this arrow Maybe perhaps for slaying monsters or putting them to sleep or something. Not quite sure, but this is no ordinary arrow She's looking at it. It seems as though here. Let me show the chimera the chimera seems to be Feasting on a most recent kill of some kind looks to be some kind of a large bovine creature maybe a bowl of some kind and it's just grazing there and Pam it's facing away from you guys and she just whispers to you I can't get a good shot. You need to get this in the throat of the lion's head Can you try and distract it for me? Uh, sure. Um, just don't miss Um buck give me a charisma check Charisma check to don't Say don't miss she turns her head around you without turning Body her eyes are wide and pierced. You're very soul. You take one psychic damage What is this woman? Okay, I've taken it Oh, yeah X Y's could just do that. I turn back. I turn back immediately. I'm like, gosh. I've I should have said it um And I'm gonna try to uh, like get closer to that thing because it's it's in front of us But I'm just trying to get it to turn around But I'll step a little bit sideways so that it's not like directly facing where she's hiding because I don't want it to like It's got three heads. I don't want it to spot her. Um Uh, and then I will uh I guess I'll just stand there I'll put big blind on my back and then I'll just give a whistle to try and get its uh attention All right, so you whistle it looks at you and it doesn't seem to really care that you're there It sees you very clearly, but it continues to chow down on this bovine However, the dragon head is like kind of smoking out its nostrils now at noticing you Uh, I'll look back at Pam. Is she what's she doing? You can see that she's still got her bow drawn and steady Just aimed at the chimera Um, I guess I'll move a little bit closer to it and then I guess if I'm gonna I guess I'll rage I'll rage so that and see what wild surge thing I get Okay to help with the hopes that I can like get its attention Rage all right. It's the first time I've gotten the three Whoa So I create like a little guy that explodes Oh, all right. It looks like a flum for a pixie, but can it look like word? Like a little keby word. Yeah, can I can I choose what it looks like? Yeah, go ahead Can I can I make it like uh I'll start can I make it like a little members of my party? So can I make because I think to myself as as I feel the like the magic the wild magic like surging through me I want to like think of like, okay What's the most annoying thing I can think of to distract this and then I make like a little word Uh that appears within five feet. I would like a pizza buck. Oh, I'm making it Where's the nearest cannon? And I'll I'll give a boom and then I'll make the word explode. Oh god It does 1d6 words it explodes and oh the chimera is gonna fail. It's save Nice. You want me to roll 1d6? Uh, yeah 1d6 So wait, yeah word wait, it makes a It makes a deck say mine is uh my is I think it's it rolled a seven It's not gonna make whatever you have Okay, so yes, it explodes for max damage and it it flinches and just puts down its uh bovine That it's been munching on and it starts to bound towards you And I need you to make an uh a dexterity saving throw Dexterity saving throw It goes and goes to push you down On to the grassy ground and you can see the dragon is lifting its head Sucking in the air the fire is burning hot as it's getting ready to blast you face first and An arrow just goes into the neck of the lion And it falls just on you. It's full weight of the dragon head of the chimera Oh It has been knocked out cold you can see that it's still breathing But Pam comes over and just kind of uh blows a little bit of her hair out of her face Uh good job. I guess you ought to good for something Thanks, I gotta get it's very heavy. Hold on one second. So you should be able to handle that Sure, I'm I'm not struggling at all. I guess I'm raging so it may actually be Yeah, you you can easily you can push it off with a little bit of effort. This thing is pretty massive And she just kind of looks it over. That should keep it there for quite a few hours We'll have to report it through the adventurous guild so we can get somebody to come and put it out of its misery proper We're not just I guess it's we're not going to just take care of it ourselves and someone else It handles it quite big and I don't want to waste a lot of resources bashing its brains in over and over again We need someone over at the guild. They've got monster slaying arrows That can be fired from someone way more proficient with something way bigger than this and she just shows that she's got a typical longbow Something forged by giants made for slaying creatures of this size in as few swipes as possible I take a look at the chimera on the ground. You can see that it is magically slept whatever arrow she used Uh it was something very potent And it's just sleeping I guess I was kind of hoping for more of a fight um She turns to you Buck I never want to look for a fight Getting out of a situation without fighting is the best case scenario. So tell me what you want to tell me Pam I'm I'm sorry For how things ended between us It was my fault and I don't really have an excuse For what I did um You didn't do anything wrong and despite your willingness to be with me And as happy as I think we made each other at one point I didn't have the guts to see it through to the end She looks down at the grass Takes a deep breath in Buck I thank you and I accept your apology But I cannot forgive you I'm sorry. I can never forgive you. You didn't just break my heart. You broke my trust In you in people in myself I Cannot look at any potential companion the same way again because of what you said to me You made me trust you you made me feel like the most important person in the world And then you took it all away because of your stupid paranoia Every time I find someone friendly or kind or trusting as good to me as they are As good to me as you were I always have this nagging feeling in the back of my mind Will it happen again? And I'm not telling you this because I want you to be sorry. I know you're sorry I'm telling you this because I want you to know the weight of your actions And how it can hurt people So that you do not make the same mistake towards anyone else Especially not those well-meaning pilgrims you have with you Pam, can I just I I don't have Those well-meaning pilgrims that are with me right now They have with them family members friends loved ones Visiting them from sacha where I've been hiding from you and from the rest of the world For what seems like my entire life and the time that I've been in sacha I have acquaintances. I have co-workers But I don't have any friends Or any family That would be willing to come here and visit me I I decided to go on an adventure to essentially ensure the safety Of this entire place And I've got no one and nothing To be doing it for and I thought I would find something along the way and Maybe I could be reminded Maybe I thought when I saw you or Saw someone else that I used to know I'd think to myself That's someone I'm doing this for But I I as soon as I saw you I recognized that you'd be frustrated with me that you wouldn't I didn't know if you try to kill me where I stood and I guess I'm Happy that you didn't have one of those monster slaying arrows on you, but I I don't I I don't have anyone to come and see me and that's not that's because of the way that I've treated people I've been very very good at Hurting people It's the only thing I feel like I've ever been good at She shakes her head a little bit and that is it is good that you are on this trip, but but If you have no one Then you shouldn't be doing this for someone else and you should be doing it for you That is why I didn't want to see you Because I need to heal and that is how I heal You will need to find Something that you can depend on to heal Because it's not me I'm sorry No doubt you might be a better man now and what you are doing is good. It's good for everyone But I Just can't see you It It is better for me to not see you I'm I'm not trying to Force you into an uncomfortable position On purpose it's just I I don't I don't think there's anyone really in sacha who I can even say all this to I mean, I just told the the innkeeper Pretty much everything between you and me because I realized I'd be too embarrassed To bring it up to someone that actually really knows me And so I can't make this sort of a mission to anybody else. I know that when I say this to you You're not gonna say it to anybody else because you want nothing to do with me And I I get what you're saying that she You got to move on and I just don't know who else i'm supposed to Go to she holds up one hand Buck Your feelings Your issues They are your responsibility Nobody else's I'm going back to the guild. She walks away Um, I will sit down And just kind of like look at the sleeping chimera and she turns she stops turns around I know I know that the best thing for me to do for myself Is to forget you buck So this is goodbye Please do not talk to me anymore I won't I won't even turn around. I'll just let her go. She continues Um, I'll take a seat just like sit down and kind of like look at the chimera that's sleeping um And then I'll take out the all or nothing coin And I guess I'll just kind of like flip it to see if it lands on heads or tails Okay, let's see. I do you want me to actually flip it? You know what? Yeah flip it go ahead and flip it Yeah That's a interesting That's a heads I guess I'll just pray can I pray you can Lady luck This The situation that I'm in I guess I kind of always presumed luck was easier to understand because it felt like it was out of my hands but I'm just like this thing here. I mean Going about its business just doing what it's made for and then All the sudden something comes along and ends it I don't know when that's going to happen to me But I don't want to be alone when it happens So if there's um Any luck that I have left I know I said that I'd use the rest of it to keep the others safe, but I guess If at the end of this I just want them to be there as well and I could maybe I know I said That I didn't want to didn't really matter what happens to me, but I'd like to be there with with them at the end of this I just don't want to have to be alone For whenever that happens And then I I guess I'll just like leave the chimera there and just Look at it and just walk off Um Word You Are sauntering off with claudio and your lackeys lyra and squirt Where are you sauntering off to? Uh, well first off i'm going to introduce my bestest friends to the new members of our crew Uh our newest lackeys, which would be both butterscotch and efficiency And as I do that I will give butterscotch the last of the leg Oh, and you do so and she is in fit perform fit Performance, I guess that's how you say it Uh peak performance and performance. That's it. Yeah, that's you're right. She's in peak performance. She's very very well. She looks Like her leg looks like it wasn't even hurt at all and noticing the other little cobalt she just kind of like Stomping her hoof in a little bit of excitement and Naying and going to kind of nibble at them and they're like, huh Walk walk slowly. Hold on Your little guys like me, but they get scared, you know Have you ever like seen a big thing with like a mouse next to it? That's kind of what we uh, oh Okay, boss And they just approach it very cautiously almost mimicking your movements just like Movement for movement like even lifting your hand or taking a step They're like a calm going behind you. Yeah monkey see monkey do a kind of thing That I'll like I'll hand out little pieces of the treats that I bought like they're really expensive horse treats And I'll let them like feed both efficiency and uh Butterscotch they're feeding the horses Butterscotch is faithful. This is a good horse. You know once we get back to the island We don't got too many uses for horses, but maybe it could like carry around all of our good stuff that we get We're gonna get a lot of stuff boss We're gonna get so much stuff when I get back. You don't even know like what what kind of stuff have you got already? Oh Hold on actually and I like go and I get my bag. I'm like you're not gonna believe this I got a Too nasty eclairs. I got a fancy magic flower I got these eggs that blow up in your stomach or they make you stronger There's a this one that I have and I'm like flinging them out of my bag There's a little knife. There's a rock that when you do they go and catch them before they even hit the ground There's a rock. Don't touch that rock. That one's possessed by a little demon who keeps showing up in my dreams There's a little iron ring, you know, you can have that and I give it to claudio my scrungly iron ring that I got That's a good one. I got a oh this this human skull and I would do a little chatter Wow Did you kill that guy? Oh, yeah, no, he he crossed me. He just he came up to me and I was like, I'm gonna cross you so uh The lackeys look at each other. Wow That's where he is now Uh, some other good stuff while you're looking through your pack actually out of your bag pops the head of non-stop logonius And you're in my way. There's a bag of beans down there He he's just looking at you and looking at your lackeys your lackeys don't Seem to notice him and he just whispers to you. I see you have a posse There more than that is no it is this the start of your reigning empire It always has been I I thought you were on board with that the idea of me ruling everything starting with these beautiful cobbles Yes, I was and this does give me a lot of reassurance Please continue I will Observe And he slinks back into the bag and his shadowy self Dispates and your lackeys are like, oh boss. You got a friend in there Something like that. Yeah, this is a Caleb city skit There's a guy in the bag But I'll like shout into the bag like stick my head in it The one of these days you and me are gonna have to have a real conversation about why the hell you're actually here Then I turn immediately back to Claudio. Yeah. Yeah, he's he's like He's a bunch of flowers and he's a little demon and he tells me what to do and it's never good, but it's pretty cool Claudio looks over to the other ones. They nod their heads nod their heads. Can we see you? Do like a golf clap Yeah, I wish you could I assume that you could but if you didn't see him now, you won't see him now Oh, okay, then maybe we'll see him some other time I I would sincerely hope so otherwise I'm going insane All right, so there's all the all the stuff that I got, you know, I used to have like some slippers I gave those to somebody. I've got this crown and like a little bandit mask, but We're getting ahead of ourselves. Oh, that's a lot of good stuff, boss Are we gonna take this back to the main to to our home back to satia? You can have the ring, but the rest of it stays with me for now. Okay. Okay, and I will take me back to satia All right. All right. All right But for now, it seems as though you've completely lost direction. Did you remember that pumpkins are bigger? Yes, you have pumpkins pumpkins are bigger and uh get all of the chickens Get all the no That's that's not correct. You almost fooled me Get some of the chickens. Oh Oh, when you have two chickens, they make six chickens chickens are bigger. That's that that's how it is Yeah, yeah, chickens are chickens are big. No. No. No chickens get bigger chickens get bigger pumpkins are bigger Pumpkins are big pumpkins start bigger if you steal them from afar Chickens are small Get bigger and they get more chickens. Okay. Okay They all like like nodding and looking at each other They you can tell that they like start scribbling on their hands with their claws even though they have no notepad They like looks off into the sky and he's like we should totally just get chickens and not eat them What are they for They make more chickens and they make you know the really really tasty little whites at the eggs They make eggs and then what do we do with the eggs? If you leave them for long Are you kidding me? Claudio coming and I like grabbing by the face and like put his his forehead to mine. Claudio We eat the eggs Eggs is what we do Claudio and chickens make eggs and then we'll be invincible Always we'll never go hungry Never we'll live forever We'll live forever as long as we have the chickens So all right new rule. All right. Don't take all the chickens. Don't eat all the chickens Don't eat all the chickens. They are right on their palms Like in nothing. Yeah, none of them know how to write they've they've just seen people do that So they think it's a smart thing They probably like put like three marks on their hand and that's like that means don't take all the chickens Like in Sharpie All right But in the meantime, I have a new game That I've that I've devised that I can teach you and when you go back to satiate you can use it on people Was specifically looking for people with big smiles and big pants a big wall Big backpacks All right. All right Okay, and I walk him out of the stable and I'll go um I don't know probably near the adventurer's guild. Do I brought in anybody? Yeah So going near the adventurer's guild you do see someone with big pants big pockets someone who Might have quite the a bit of sway because they look like someone high up in the officials they look like a very well Put together guard All right, so uh, I I didn't play in this very well. I should have told you the rules before we got here and saw Mark that fucking shiny So I sit him down and I pull at a table and I pull out like a couple of bowls and a rock And I I teach them the you know the classic grift of like, uh, where is the the what bowl was the rock under? Oh, but I'll I'll use my mage hand to The ledgerman mage hand with the sleight of hand to like hide the rock every time I do it So I'll point to uh squirt and we'll just be sitting like right here. All right squirt Do you have a good eye on you? Oh, yes, your boss Which among the the best of you is a good actor? Oh, they look to each other. They look to each other. They kind of talk and nod and whisper and then they point to Lyra Like I'm the best boss. It's so dependable. Yeah, it's such a good actor. You're always talking. You're always it's such such a sociable character All right, I need you to stand in front of here and be just just act like you're winning money Like you're beating the game and that you want other people to beat that game. Oh, yeah sure thing. Oh, man. I'm so rich I'm getting all this stuff. Oh, I'm so good at this You're so good at this. All right squinch squinch squirt you go stand on that rock. Oh, yeah All right, boss. Maybe tell people about how good the game is Oh, wow, this game is crazy We're not we're not playing the game yet. Hold on. Oh, okay You're just shouting about nothing All right, Claudio, I want you to look around for mocks and tell them about this game This good game that they're gonna win. Oh, yeah, you got a guy with a big with a big pants. Yeah, you got a boss And I start playing it with Claudio and Claudio just starts winning winning mega millions the big bucks she wins Lyra does Oh, yeah, sorry I should I should I haven't written down Lyra Nameplate I'll make it visible for everyone Like the instrument Boop Lyra with a Y and not a Lyra. Not to be mistaken Lyra Let's see Claudio right there And squirt the youngest Yo child squirt There we go Okay, there they are All right, Claudio big smiles big pants big backpacks. Remember that big pants big backpacks. All right And I'll I'll like start working with you a five gold and then a hundred gold and Lyra's like I'll bet the biggest money I have and we start like shuffling around a bunch of bunch of big money at table Give me a performance check Oh pretty good. Hey All right While you're doing this you do hear non-stop begonia's uh voice whispering in your ear I question your lack of interest of sending them to do the dirty work. Why participate? Because if I don't participate, I'm basically not involved at all And besides it's fun. Why don't you participate? You just tell me what to do. You're kind of annoying But that's so much work. I already put so much work getting here. Can't we get someone else to do our job? It's a the whole point of having lackeys begonia. I don't know what work you do But you're not doing it right now and I'm doing work right now It's just not helping very well Wow, you you took so much money from me and Claudio notices one of the city guard who is does seem to be a significant mark a large kind of Violet skin the tiefling man very large stature very bulky dress in what looks to be furs and thick Leathers armor fit for colder climates and he notices what's going on You see that it's captain Javier. There he is Oh god, and he ah he notices and uh Claudio's like wow look at that. Oh my gosh Lyra you're winning big and uh Javier just kind of stomps on over And what's going on over here? I'm so upset. I set up this game to win money and all I'm doing is giving mine away A small time gambling you look like it Particularly lucky person with a lot of money to win and very little to lose You have some new faces. I've not seen a tigamura Well, we are a traveling band of gamers One of you Yeah, do we call ourselves chat? You are causing quite a bit of chatter What is it? I heard about large winnings And and when he says all of you I gesture not just to the kobolds, but like the surrounding group of people passing by Would you like to try your luck you look like you have a lot of it you got scars That means you've been to battles and walked away from them with the other guy who didn't You could say that and you you can see that this guy is kind of full of himself and he's easy To flattery and he's just kind of looking around and he you can tell it doesn't take an insight check To tell that he sees you as easy easy money small fry and he comes over And takes a look at your little game here. I've seen this one Yeah, it's a simple visual game. It's just a matter of testing your mind your wit if you can track my cups Let's start simple. Let's do something like uh What do you got five gold ten gold? Well, first of all, what am I winning? That'll help me with my wager You do seem like a very lucky man What what say you that we maybe start the game and I'll do a payout of two to one Give me a persuasion check I've seen this grift How about instead You pack on up And I don't see your face again That is a very cheap wager all right six to one Listen, I'll let you off easy if hey, hey, he sees he calls out to actually Uh as I'm saying this because I can tell my bluff's been caught Can I do a sleight of hand check to pick pocket while he's distracted by something else? Yes do so He seems something seems to catch his eye and he turns and okay, let's see You snatch his coin purse for 80 gold pieces. He's been carrying it around. He was getting ready to buy something Oh Congrats word. Oh, no, you've got a crime over there. I've got one over here. Goodbye Oi, you're over there Any heads on that way And the lackeys quickly pick up everything including the rock That they were standing on and start to follow you You don't need the rock squirt. That's a big rock. Are you sure boss? It's an accomplice Yes, I'm sure it's a big it'll stay there. It's fine. It's got the web. You better not talk. It's points to the rock I give the rock like a good eyeing too You you better keep your mouth shut Let the rock to take the fall So yes, you're 80 gold richer and you can hear in the back of your mind non-stop agonious Yes, yes, that's the man from the lake Would it embarrass you if if I didn't even remember Exactly what happened when I took that money or from the not from the lake from the uh, well the well, sorry Oh, oh, I see no But the well is what I used to scout out potential investors All right, we really got to talk business But right now I'm with my friends That's something we got to talk about soon because you've really been trouble in my head. I died Bad night last night. There was your fault Very well, I admit I've been tight-lipped about the details of our deal very well He's like mocking him I do not sound like that You sound exactly like oh, I'm a bad guy. I do bad things and I tell you to do bad things But I don't do the bad things. Oh Ah I'm going back into my dimension. I will see you tonight. All right. I didn't even know you had one of those You don't tell me about yourself. Goodbye All right word Your 80 gold richer you swindled the guard Hopefully you don't see him again or that he doesn't track what has happened All right. Yeah, I'll I'll give each of my boys a 10 gold a piece dropping 30 from them All right All right ideally You spend it. Yeah, that's actually a lot compared to what we used to isn't it? I I bit uh, how much is uh, what's that uh, the amount we had what could get like, um Wait, what is it fellas? I uh like a slice of ham and then they were like, yeah slice a slice You can get a few honeyed hams with that Claudio, but You know what I really want to know and he kind of looks to the three of them. What is it boss? What do you actually want? Oh What is your your greatest desire as as as people as my friends? We want whatever you want boss That this whole time I just been looking at like, you know, the right pieces of ham You know the right sizes the right amounts of food But we're more than that aren't we? You know, we're bigger Than pumpkins. We are bigger. We are bigger. They're looking at each other. We're bigger. Yeah Claude uh squirt just speaks up boy. I want a big I want to get big like you boss You know you get big and strong Squirt you're like almost as tall as me already. Yeah But you're big on the inside, you know like in in the head. I want to be smart like you Claudio, what do you want? Oh, yeah, don't well don't don't that was that that goblin back at uh, satya He was a real real smart like and uh, I guess I kind of want to be smart too But he's been reading books and stuff and he's been lending it to me at these books They're like they're crazy They're like stories that you don't need to get a storyteller to tell you You don't even have to find an annoying bard You just read them and and he's been telling them to me So like I I want to get a few of those I want books not just not just to get smart, but because of fun Claudio I had no idea you could read oh, I couldn't he was he was telling me the stories But he that that goblin he's he's got other things that he's got to do so he's not available all the time So I want to learn to read God you people are smarter than me lyra What do you want a big sword? A big sword I wanted as big as that building And uh, she points over to the enchanter's tower Oh god I want to I wanted to be there and to admire it and I can polish it and and it's gonna look real nice in front of our cave Why why does it need to be a sword if you just gonna look at it though because I was told about this thing called Interior design I too have heard of interior design And I think a sword will really suit the personality of our of our lackeys and and your your little crew Because it will be a deep and sincere metaphor for your power and destructive nature to be feared And squirt and claudio just looks over at lyra And just like not understanding half of the words that she just said I think I understand relatively the way you're coming from lyra I respect that a lot and when I get back to satya the first thing i'm gonna do is commission a big sword made a goal Yeah, we'll put that it. We'll put that down in the sewers. We'll stick it in the ground and people will know Yeah And squirt and claudio i'm gonna teach i'm gonna teach you to I don't know how to read We'll pay someone to teach you how to read. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Oh, thanks boss. You're the best. You're always looking out for us But we'll be bigger than everything We'll be bigger than that building You're asking us all this stuff about what we want What do you want boss? He just he freezes up Anything at all you want to you want a pretty rock you want some flowers we can go steal some flowers I don't know Oh, that's okay boss. You take your time. I'm sure there's something cool that you got on your mind It's a plan. Huh? You always got a plan But don't worry. Yeah I got a plan Oh, we got 10. Can we go spend this boss? They got a market over there. Maybe we could get some stuff, huh? Yeah, yeah, they don't want to take take some more gold and I give each of them that five fertile or 15 He's kind of 45 out of your Out of your area. Yeah, I add that Oh, yeah, let's go buy some stuff and they kind of uh happily get get something fancy get some good saunter off leaving you with the question What do you want? He kind of sits up against the adventurers guild and slumps down. He'll stay there And I think that might be a good place to go to lehra. Yeah For our solo adventures, we have chosen to be sad We're a little bit angsty today, aren't we? Yeah, jeez. Am I gonna have to be the well-adjusted one today? All right, we find we find lehra's ex-wife The biggest twist of my life All right, so lehra you are kind of walking the markets with Shimaya let me get her Yeah And she's just kind of making small talk and trivia of like, oh that one is good for these kind of ailments Oh that one. She I didn't know that that still grew down here All the various kind of innocuous stuff in trivia And you can see that she is actually struggling to make small talk with you and that there are like swaths of silence That she tries to break up with little facts and things You can tell she normally if she doesn't have anything to say she says nothing So it's odd that she's so talkative today I think lehra Is not going to start talking about her theories about what's going on with with old docia and such like until we are out of a crowded area because Uh, like the one thing she internalized from the the political shenanigans that we've been struggling through is like Oh, we probably shouldn't make it publicly known all this weird conspiracy stuff Uh, and that means not where we can be overheard. So Um, I think she'd want to like steer the walking path sort of closer to the outskirts of town Okay, uh, if we could if uh, yeah If you want to make that apparent in your body language Like you're able to do it subtly enough that shimaya could probably pick it up as well Like you communicate on more subtle means and uh Yeah, I have a feeling shimaya is better at telling when lehra is really tense than lehra Okay, yeah, so without yeah kind of like a secret language that you have and she's able to pick up on it and able to go to a clearing and she goes Perhaps this might be a good place to set up shop then Yeah, uh, like actually like takes a deep breath for the first time since we've been in the uh in the town um We investigated a ruin in old docia to a before you do Okay, um, I say we actually set up shop and she conjures forth. She pulls out kind of a uh Strangely crooked looking tree branch from her Robes you can tell that this is the staff she uses as the focus of her spells She makes a large circular motion and conjures kind of a small little hut Kind of out of the land as roots sprout out of the ground and form a little hut about the size of an outhouse And a kind of open door appears She opens it up and you know that she had just cast tiny hut Oh heck, yeah I will go inside the tiny hut Now, uh Inside, uh, she also hobbles in behind you. There's it's like a large cottage Like room with silky curtains covering windows There's overgrown moss and vines and algae everywhere Kind of in the damper corners There are various bookshelves with dusty tomes that look barely opened A lot of them seem to be the same book as well many many copies huh This is the coziest laira has been since we left, uh Satya She kind of uh shuffles a few of the books beside and with your passive perception You can see that they say ecology ecology of a linty chapter one to eight by shamiah of hogear Huh, did I know if she'd like did I know that she'd written that before no, this is this is non information that you're privy to cool, but pardon the mess it's uh I've not had a need to use this place since my own pilgrimage. I've a very special cauldron for Certain things that I like to use on my journey So, uh, yes Need to remember that So you wish to speak with me about something and you wish that uh wandering ears don't listen in Yes, I have been warned that Perhaps the reason why this was such difficult information to find is that there may be a perverse incentive to keep it hidden and our mission is too important to allow such a thing to potentially impede our collection of the dragon hearts, but something's going on and I'm Worried We investigated a ruin in old deosia at the behest of surge the dragon of paletrios um And many things were very wrong with it it The ruin seemed almost Artificially created dressed up with false corpses of Mechanites it was very strange There was a layer to the ruin that had been concealed and in it there were A form of ghost I wasn't familiar with strange little pockets of memory from the last moments of these people's lives And the people of old deosia it seems We're not wiped out in conflict with the blot but with us with elinthe and and i'm gonna pull out the uh The withered root that I was given by fritz last time These were all through the complex I I fear that Could the life tree itself have been weaponized Your eyes you see widened at that. It is not a theory. I've ever had in my mind But perhaps we may find out something about these roots and she Uh, plucks it out of your hand and yep examines it turning it every which way fascinating The roots of currencia withered and dead Yes, and the tree itself Still alive and thriving as near as we can tell but A plant can't survive with some of its roots damaged. That is true, but The roots are commonly patrolled to make sure that there is no damage and hopefully any damage is repaired as soon as they can find it This is intriguing indeed Hmm. She reaches to uh, her cauldron and kind of Takes a vial out of her coat and pours it in that feels it's a tiny little vial about the size of her palm And she pours it into the cauldron and it fills up almost all the way to the barin Oh so many wonderful toys Here I have a few regions that will break down these roots into its base components And we can cross-reference them with the alchemical and arcane makeup of anything else I have logged in my notes as we'll take quite a bit of time a few hours So until then we do have the afternoon to us ourselves Is there anything you wish to know about my journeys into the ruins as I have not encountered such things Yes, I was curious about your pilgrimage. I The impression I get is that we've been encountering significantly more resistance from the blot than previous pilgrimages Hmm it is fascinating Usually they are their attacks are random and without reason the fact that they've been targeting you specifically implies that Perhaps there was a bit more Consciousness to the blot than we had initially anticipated I worried there may be considerably more when I was holding all the hearts. They targeted me almost exclusively and Buck you you've met buck he Managed to arrange a form of communication with one of them in an unusual blot that appears as a tall cyclopean shape He gave it two playing cards and said one means yes the other no and they carried on some conversation before I saw it Make a threatening move and struck it with lightning. That is fascinating indeed That the blot would not act on pure instinct and communicate with you It concerns me I Do not know if something has changed within the makeup of the blot or if something is being revealed that has been true the whole time and our encounter with ghost of old deosia makes me suspect the latter but I worry that if the tree itself were Used for such a purpose Collecting the dragon hearts is vital and we will do such a thing but I find myself questioning the very foundations our kingdom was built on And the role the tree plays among them That it would happen now of all times Excuse me She just sighs and takes a seat. This is all a lot to take in Yes, rather I I apologize that uh, I may tangent our conversation, but Later I must admit that I am in my twilight years and The work never ever seems to ever be done There's always a world that needs to be saved and a problem to be solved and now Of all times when I am the most hands-off it appears that the world needs work more than ever and Here we are meant to be hanging out and Yet we find ourselves in another situation To take care of another important quest Yes, I do apologize. No, no, what you talk about is important, but it is a conflict of my mind that has weighed on me quite a while It has it has after being pilgrim for only two decades and yet Doing all the work that I do for the lords for a linty While the brew goes on Perhaps we could turn to lighter matters for the bit as important as it is Yes, that yes, I suppose a linty will not appreciably change in the time it takes. Yes Has sachio been keeping well? It has uh That's old, uh dwarven man dozen has been very friendly with me and Well You know, I've never been all too social even during my own pilgrimages And when I was with judei who's much more the conversationalist and it's difficult to me to Entertain an audience It's very strange. It's like I've forgotten how to talk to Talk to anyone about anything that wasn't work and I feel that especially with you lairah and I worry that pragmatism doesn't afford much entertainment Have you been enjoying your Company with your fellow pilgrims I have it's It's interesting. I thought it would be more difficult but I find that Before I knew them better. I second guessed myself more and The more comfortable I have become around them the less I feel that I have to change It's strange. I thought I would have to that in order to do this mission I would Grow beyond my limits and become somebody I didn't recognize but instead it seems I've found people who Appreciate what I can give them already Then you're already well on your way She looks to the ceiling as the brew is just kind of like Forming a bit of a mist kind of rising up and forming little droplets Tell me something about you lairah not about This work not about your pilgrimage just about you Oh, I had a very interesting drink on the train It tasted like meat, but somehow not in a bad way, but also not like soup And did you like that drink? I think I did You hear a very rare occasion chamayah chuckles to herself My goodness You know You probably can tell but I like mushrooms I always found them fascinating not quite a plant not quite an animal A unique kind of life that breaks tradition in its ways of existence yet simultaneously completely natural I'm no poet, but I find a kinship with the various species of fungi. They are distinct From nature, but still an important part of it Even if most of it may smell strange to any animal's sense, but If you look past its potential macabre nature, you can often find something special even beautiful Yes It does seem that The strange diversity of the world is what gives it its beauty Rather than our ability to categorize and understand it Lairah, I must confess a reason that pushed Me for a visit was not merely recreational, but I I must admit I do have a few regrets In life and I I feel quite a heavy burden of regret Fear that I might not have prepared you enough for this world and regret that I've not provided you with the best of emotional support So I'm glad that you have found companions to provide that for you where I have not chamayah what you've provided for me is It is entirely different than what I have with my fellow pilgrims, but it is no less vital If we are to indulge in metaphor You have provided the soil that I've grown in And now as I am stretching towards the sun my roots Must still remain planted in the earth Huh Perhaps you have been hanging around some bards Oh, I hope not She chuckles again Since you've left sachi, I've Concerned if you were prepared to be on your own without me only to realize that Being on your own may has proven more beneficial to you than Well, I could ever have hoped and I am approaching my twilight years and may soon have to depart a linty Uh, it was only once you became pilgrim that I ever become awash with these doubts, but seeing you now I am confident that you don't need me anymore and Pardon my melodrama, but I believe that that is something worth commemorating I am Happy I think that you find comfort in this, but I Do not believe that I do not need you anymore No, perhaps you'll come to realize That in time, that's all right. If you still feel the need to lean on me I am happy to provide you with the support And she turns she looks down and she goes to put her hands on her little mushroom top lifts it up And she looks to you you can see the rare times you have seen her face turns to you Full no one could ask for a better delta Oh, oh god Face reveal we got the face reveal Oh Is she a little tiefling she is a tiefling. She's always we've known that haven't we I thought sorry I think I think laira like face doesn't move but immediately like two like fat tears just down And I think she just Like kind of stiffly and slowly because she doesn't want to overstep, but I think she hugs Yeah, she gently caresses your back and gives you a gentle little embrace as you're sitting on the floor This is a shame the world always needs saving I'm rather happy to have something to do And you hear like some bubbling coming from the cauldron behind you And shamiah says well it appears that that might be I look you I think the brewing is done Oh Yes, let's unravel this particular mystery and she puts her hat back on her little mushroom veil Goes to see the the little swirls And uh She points out the various different colorations in it It's broken down. Let's see There you can see that there is a little bit of wait This can't be What is it the roots components these these dead roots she goes she puts one finger kind of in the brew Uh and puts it under her veil to give it a taste Oh my god, and then she spits it out No These roots They have the same arcane makeup as the blood Oh dear I fear that I am almost not surprised but Doesn't that mean that the blot is the tree? There was an element to our visions that we only got a glimpse of where On the attack on old deosia. We saw clearly the the emblem of elinthe We know who they were fighting But there was a moment when roots erupted from the ground which we found evidence of in the dungeon And the people near the roots Transformed into something that we could not see My obvious suspicion was that they became the blot And now I fear that this may have been confirmed Shamaya looks around and Making sure there's no one around This has grave implications about the kingdom I urge you keep this information to yourself. I will stay in contact But until then trust no one but your most stalwart companions with this information Of course Be safe. Now look into this and investigate where I can But until then every official is a suspect Very well, and please be careful. I know sachia is outside the range of many of the lords, but trevisseta is reaching further every day And that's going to be the end of laera's story Yeehaw And before we end the session. There's one last little encounter that happens As buck eventually some time you head back to The town just walking back eventually and you are passed by by a few Adventures of whom you don't recognize, but they've got some like heavy equipment Uh like a cart to pull the body of the chimera back a cart you say One of those cargo I steal it And as you're getting closer and closer to the town you see someone in familiar robes And it is an orcish woman dressed in violet. Oh, no was a large wide brim hat It's the weather which She ain't dead where she's here though And she kind of standing outside Right outside the town to greet you Ah, hello buck Has luck been treating you well lately? uh I Guess you could say that it's kind of been Up in the air Speaking of up in the air What What is it that you're doing here? Oh, I'm just checking in on my favorite pilgrims from sachia Everyone else got a nice reunion. It wouldn't be fair if I didn't have the chance to meet my own confidence. Yes Look I I'm really really in a bad mood right now. So if you need to talk about something just do it plainly Hmm Do you have any any interest in the guards buck? Um, I look down at the coin I guess you could say that yes Well I have reason to believe That in some of the old world ruins Someway south of here There is one with ancient arcane technologies Powerful artifacts that will allow us to speak Directly with the guards But I need some help and you are the closest things I have to a familiar presence And if you wish to help me with this you may have your own chance to speak with the divine of your choosing You're saying that I can speak with Any divine of my choosing She smiles Well, then What is it that you need us to do? We're gonna end the session there. Yeah Cinema That's great. Oh no Oh Word would like to speak to his heart I already I already bunk with the deity his name is the god king word Imagine if we call up bahamut and he's like oh my incarnation. How goes this life?