 And hello everyone, welcome back to Belkanis Necro Hunt, Nathaniel are standing in the middle of the hallway at the scene. You had just witnessed mere moments ago your alchemist friend, Myrth, willingly walked through a portal with bloodstried, mouthing the words, I'm sorry, while Lancel lays on the opposite end with a smoking aftermath of a magical attack on his chest. The sound was loud and shook about the entire in and, you know, if anyone here is a light sleeper or would have been awake at the time, you would have clearly heard it right outside your door. Cool, running out my door. Luna is currently sleeping in that field she was sparring in. So yeah, sorry, guys. That's OK. That's OK. Renee does like burst through the door. What the fuck happened? What was that? Holy shit, it's just like sees Lancel on the ground. Sees the Daniel over there like, oh. I am immediately going to run towards Lancel's side. He slowly comes with himself up. I'm I'm all right. I'm all right. That necromancer will have will have to do better than that if he wanted to do something that would hurt me, but it did push me too far to protect Merth before they were taken away. I'm sorry, mouth, mouth is gone as gone with bloodstried. They teleported away after ambushing us. Perfect. Just wonderful. Fucking OK. So what do you want to do? What's the plan? I'm going to relax and pull or push my glasses up a bit. There is no plan. We continue the way that we had meant to go. We leave this town and we resume our journey. We don't know where bloodstried's gone. There's no way that he could have left a trace. So we cannot follow him. Merth is a loose end that will have to be tied when we can get to that. You see Lancel's eyes widen a bit. But what about the rest of the town? Should they not know what happened? Should we at least not tell them? Of course, I'm talking about what we can actually do. Talking is true. That said, I will. I will discuss things with Juliana. Good. And I open the door and I slam it as loud as I can behind me. In the interim. In the interim, Juliana and you, Lancel, are going to have to work on defending this town. The issue with the protectors isn't going to go away. In fact, we may have exacerbated the problem by lying to them. It was necessary. At least we thought it was. You see Lancel looked down a bit. Why so glum? I worked so hard to gain the trust of this town. And all of this happening, I fear that it might be broken. This wasn't your fault. Correct. This was our fault. If you want to maintain your reputation, simply blame us. Oh, you could blame the man who actually took the person. He gets up from the floor. I cannot do that. Oh, of course. If you try to blame me, I will deny it. But it looks better for the hero of this place to have a scapegoat when they need it now. All you can blame is what's tried. And then later, I will simply say that it was all nonsense. But right now, the people will need a hero. You understand? He nods and kind of scratches the back of his neck a bit. I am surprised that I thought you wanted me to come along. I do. Truly, I do. But we cannot stay here. And if this town is undefended, this town will be destroyed. I can't think of anybody else who would be better suited to defending it than you. You see his eyes tear up. And you can see he's holding his arms back there, shaking a bit. I see him holding back, trying to show affection. And in response, I am going to quickly say, now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to rip the hell out of this child's room. And I'm going to turn and I'm going to go into my room and I'm going to tear it apart until I find evidence of something that could have gone what he could have been doing. Lancel, I'm getting this shit. Lancel was about to go in. But then at mid-sentence, as you say those things Nathaniel, he just kind of backs off holding the two hands, like the Neil deGrasse Tyson like, whoa, like pose and kind of walks along past Renee. And he just just bows a tad. Miss Renee, good night. She just like pats him on the shoulder. If she can, she probably can reach. She's not terribly tall. How short is Renee? Totally crap. Renee is actually fairly tall. It's just everybody else on this team is taller than her. I don't know. She's not short. He's not like nine feet tall. I'm really sure you could reach. Yeah. So she just gives him like a gentle pat on the shoulder and then kind of like leans over to him. We're going to Chester City if you want to fuck right along with us and find us after this is secure if you're comfortable doing that. He thinks for a moment. Whoa. I appreciate the offer. I will have to mull it over. It just says. I mean, from the sound of it, you really can do whatever the fuck you want. It's on as long as you stay safe. He tilts his head a bit. Kind of like Chester's over to the Nathaniel. He tilts his head and smiles a bit. That is true. And if I ever wish to go against the witch taker's advice, I could just quit, couldn't I? But no. What you really quit? It's true and aligns with my own. I do wish to stay here and protect the town as best I can. All right. Well, I won't stop you. It was nice to finally meet you, Miss Renee. He talks about you a lot. Oh. Really? I'm going to swing open the door. Renee, I need you. Good night. Good night. He smiles and bids you a do as he walks down the stairs. Aw. Aw. That's my heart. I'm just going to really quickly say, as Renee enters the room, assuming you do. Yep, I do. I'm following as soon as you're like, hey, I'm like, OK, what? Of course, I'm going to say, ignore everything that you just heard, I need you to focus on right now. I'm focusing. What do you need? Lancel is very good at PR. We are going to need something to say afterwards so that our reputation is interrepably damaged. Focus on that. I'll focus on investigating this room and then seeing. OK, yeah. And also, what's your passive investigation again? 21. Hi. Yeah, 21. 21 tearing apart the entire room from like from curtains to floorboards. You do find generally the same things that you've found like already, like, implementation of necromancy in alchemy, in building, in various different things. And noticeably, a lot of theories that a lot of theory crafting and failed experiments, failure after failure after failure until you reach chapters where Merce started using necromancy, where some of their inventions started working, some of their alchemy started giving positive results. And that is what you find. Some very kind of thrown together and not nearly as organized as, for example, Kara's notes, but research notes nonetheless. Yep, I'm going to gather as many of these research notes up as I can so that they aren't, one, so that they are not found by anybody else, and two, so that I can use them at a later date. Very nice. And is that the last thing that you're doing tonight? Totally. Yes. I don't want to wait. It's too many. I don't want to take more time. So yes, you all head to bed except for Enoch. You noticeably have trouble sleeping. You are restless. I shoot up like I didn't intend to even try and lay down, just sitting across the room from the mirror. Yes. And in the mirror, you see a reflection of yourself, albeit more mechanical, bright like the sun, and wings, mechanical wings, a jar from its back, and you hear a voice. See what happens when you don't listen to me? Everything that is wrong with me is because of you. Everything that I am is the reason why we're alive. Everything that you are is why everything goes terrible. Hmm. Now, let's think on that for a second. You did what you believed to be right during that moment, yeah, instead of what is law, didn't you? I distributed the law the way I dictated it. We are a judge. We saw what was right. We saw that there could actually have been peace. And for some strange reason, it all goes right to hell, right when you're here. Oh, I didn't have anything to do with that. You did that all on your own. And you, my friend, are in danger of you losing yet another loved one, aren't you? What happens when Giuliana finds out that you've been harboring a necromancer, keeping them safe in her nice little town? I made a promise and I'm going to keep that. She's nice. And I will be fucking damned if you try anything, because I'm going to remind you our agreement. Every now and again, you get to drive the carriage, but this is my caravan. He tilts his head and kind of rolls it around as if to stretch his neck a bit. You may not like it, but my advice is for everyone's own good. And I think you know that. I know if you had your way, you would burn this place to the ground, just on the notion that Murth was here. And as if he is extending out of the mirror, face to face with you inches away and the world would be better off for it. And he vanishes. I literally grab a table and I just flip it over and I take the mirror and I just throw it to the ground. Shatters into several pieces around your boots. Just claps to the ground, slight sobbing. And eventually your tears do put you to sleep as the night goes on and the new day rises in Ruggawood. So we can take a long rest. You may complete your long rest. Well done. Yay! 10-page page expired. Cool, but I get everything else back. Oh, it's not like you're going to get that. Or that temp HP ever again. It's not like I let's be honest. I don't really need the temp HP, just other people do. Let's be honest here. Hello, I'm other people. I'm squishy. Hello, I'm other people too. Yeah, I was trying not to be as rude, but yeah, you two really made it. Listen, we're squishy. It's fine. That's why I'm here. I'm here to protect you guys. That's all. So feel free to to. Yeah, we add all your class resources, all your HP, all that good stuff, and a new day dawns on Ruggawood as morning comes and roosters chirp. And you can hear some cleaning up in the hallway, some sweeping, scratching, some very mild banging of boards. Anyone who is inside, that is. Yeah. Renee's probably been up for hot minute. Once again, making sure she is print polished, ready to go. Because, yes, I really respect Renee's dedication. Listen, you got to look your best. Give me a good old morning charisma check. I love that this is like the routine for me. It's pretty great. I say as I get like nothing. Oh, that's not bad. Would even guess how rough a night you just had. As they shouldn't. I am perfect. No one can know my secrets. Yes, I'll go to the door and see what the heck is going on in the hallway. You can see that it's tap water now completely fully back and repaired, albeit some of his parts look a little bit different, kind of no longer uniform. And he is sweeping things up. He's nailing things to the board, kind of repairing some of the damage from last night. And he sees you. Ah, Miss Renee, is everything all right? It looks like there was a commotion in here. Oh, that's a bit of. Yeah, me too. She like rubs her eyes a little bit. There was a bit of commotion, but I think it would be best to inform when everyone is awakened together. If that is all right. OK. There was enough that that happened that it is a relative concern, but I would prefer if everyone was up and together. As you wish. That's all right. I will provide some hot drinks on the table. Oh, perfect. Is the least I can do for helping protect our town and bringing back Murph. Yeah. So that is some things that we will talk about and after we have the everyone get together. So very well. Thank you. And he continues to sweep and stuff. Renee, actually, will probably also like lightly knock on Enoch's door, see if he's awake. He does come to from the knocking and slowly makes his way to the door and open it. Just just only to the point where you can only see his face. What is there shit in there that needs to get paid for? I'm in the room right right next to you. That was loud as shit. I'll fix it. OK, second thing. Is that anything to do with how you are feeling right now? Oh, I don't want to talk about my feelings right now. OK, I'm trying to pick a fight with you. I'm just asking. And I'm sorry that it is a particular thing that you don't want to talk about. That is totally fine. Just checking. OK. Wait, wait. Yes, I'm sorry. And he opens the door, he opens the door further and shows the room. It is a bit of a mess. Yeah, that's. Definitely going to need to get paid for. I can fix it. It's take a few moments, but I can fix it. All right. Is there anything else that particularly needs fixing that I can't see? And you can kind of see him work his hands a bit and he's a little nervous to take note to this. I think there's something wrong with me. OK, well, that is a start. And I need help. That's usually if. OK, is there any place to start so that we can know how to help? Or is there something that we need to talk about further? Is it something you want to address with everyone else? Just. I think it's about time that I. Speak to everyone about it. Well, then they still. I don't want to call it like she kind of like flicks like is he wearing his hat right now? No, his head is a mess. Just then she is going to just like. Hey, it's just like, you know, like when you heavily sweat throughout the night and your hair is just all sticking together in the wrong places. It's all she will. Probably grab a like she wouldn't have an napkin, but it gets like a handkerchief out of her pocket and just take it and like rub it over his head. Just did it. Yeah, style it a little bit and like all right. It's a stuff up, flipped off your ass. And then we can discuss. All right. And as I am getting ready, I am casting mending on everything I broke. Yep. Yeah. You easily mend things piece by piece together. It's not in like massive different chunks that you're not able to put it back together. There's still some sign that there was a kerfuffle in here, but everything is repaired. Just maybe a little misplaced. OK. And he's getting down whatever to whatever hot beverage is waiting for her as she waits everybody else to get down. And you have to get a shit together because I need whatever hot drink that is. While you're heading down and looking for that, Renee, sorry, Luna. Yeah, there you go. You're woken up by a little fuzzy, just very tingly sensation on your nose. She'll like kind of like scrunch up her nose and like a blink. She can't like open her eyes because the sun's too bright so she just puts a hand up and God, what's going on? And you can see that there is a tiny what looks like a beetle about the size of your thumb on your nose, except it looks like it's made out of leaf material. How are you doing that? I want to try and like gently pick it up so I'm not hurting it. You don't want to be that little one. And she like starts like sitting up in the grass. Her hair is a fucking wreck as like bits of grass and leaves stuck in it. It's down for one. So it's just a mess. You pick it up and it looks as if it's completely made out of leaves, this beetle, and you kind of put it down on the ground and it opens its wings and you can see that its wings look like it's made out of thin strips of amber that flies off. That was delightful. And she'll she'll like she'll get up, stretch, then realize she left absolution unsheathed on the ground because she just kind of flopped back after that happened last night and fell asleep, pick it up. Yeah, it doesn't look any worse for wear, luckily, and no, no, no unusual behavior for a sword. Good, good to pick it up, wipe it off a bit. It's probably covered in dew, put it back and start making a way towards the the the golden claw. Like she looks tired, like tired T.M. Big, big circles under her eyes. She had a rough night. And Nathaniel, how did you spend the night? Well, after I finished turning the room upside down, I went back to mine and then started looking through all of my notes. I need to figure this case out. It's starting to become not dangerous, but the longer it goes on, the more problematic it becomes. I feel like there's an answer, but it's alluding me. It's all it's right in front of my face, but I can't see it yet. Regardless, I eventually do find sleep. And in the morning, I wake up, I look in the mirror, polish my glasses, put them on, put my yellow outfit on and then walk outside. Peel. Stop. Don't don't don't you. Peel. I believe I am. Re peel. In any case, I, yeah, I am always beautiful and do not need to worry about any maintenance. I'll be the judge of that and you are right. My skin is scaly and so it does not wrinkle, making me eternally beautiful. It's not fair. Yeah. All right. But once then, I'll make my way downstairs so that I can find the rest of the group. Yep. And yeah. So, you know, in order of people who make it down, I think it's Renee, then Enoch, followed by Nathaniel and probably Luna, the last that make it to the table that had had five trays, little saucers. However, only four of them have cups. As you can see that at the bar, you can see that Lancel is sitting and I'll just show Lancel one more time, just in case people like to look at it. That's the boy, the boy. Show me the banana boy. That's the boy. Lancel is drinking from one of one of the cups and just kind of playing, just kind of playing with his fingers, tapping the bar, the front bar as he waves you all in without saying much of a word. Luna, who has no idea what happened last night, is going to wave, take the cup and put take the cup, sit down and then just immediately head on bar. She's tired. Do you mind if I fuck with your hair a little bit because just absolutely not. You're not walking around like that. I don't really care. Go for it. Oh, right. She just rubbed her head together and started working. I just got to work. Cut out for her. This woman's got hair in it, like to her fucking thighs. So good. Listen, plenty of time. I will sit down and I will order a very black tea. Well, there's already something at. Well, you can still order a very black tea, if you so wish. But at the table that was designated to you, the four other saucers have cups on them that already have tea. Although not black, it is very sweetened and sugar. Oh, thank God. My kind of people. I have a question. Is coffee a thing that exists in this world? It is. Yes. Cool. Good to know. Oh, Joe, I forgot to ask this and I've been wanting to ask this. Is there like one of those like little bar pianos here? Not here. No, unfortunately. OK. Once everyone's kind of situated, Renee, for sure, will probably like if I'm seeing Luna walk in the fuck for the fucking front door instead of, you know, down the stairs if she had stayed in her. She has bits of grass stuck in her hair. Yeah. And twigs and leaves. As she's doing that, it's probably like fiddling with it. And goes, right. So who wants to be the one to break the window for, you know, or shall I? Oh, what happened? Murph has gone with a bunch of excuse me. Why didn't you just stand up? I sit on my tea. You can see Lancel completely like glance over and a little startled and flinches a bit at the sudden loud boom and slam. And he spills a little bit of his own tea. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, dear. I'm it's speculation at best. It could be coercion. I don't know for sure. They said, I'm sorry for going through with the portal. I'm fairly certain that it was probably under duress. Or perhaps we don't know for something. I doubt this. Either way, all we all we know is that mouth is now left with bloodstried and we don't know where the fuck they went. Wonderful. Fucking fantastic. While you just sit down and puts her head like, like covers her eyes with her hand, like, you know, that like, I'm so done. While you guys are having this conversation, Lancel kind of calls over tap water, who has head downstairs and he whispers something to tap water, tap water nods and he heads into the room and quickly comes out with a large, what looks like a door like object and props it up. And he kind of in circles the table you guys are at with it. Lancel tells me you are having a private conversation. So I will put this so that nobody can eat, drop in. Oh, thank you. I'm sorry. What is this? This is a screen, you know, like those Japanese screens that's when it's made out of wood. I love it. I love it so much. I appreciate this. I mean, eventually it's not going to be private anymore. So I hear the best way to be private is to whisper very quietly. I do. That is very true. Very. Thank you very much, tap water. Let me know if you need a refill on your tea. I will get back to cleaning the shower. I would I would like a black tea, please. Do you happen to have? Do you happen to serve coffee here by any chance? We do, yes. May I have a cup, please? Of course, Miss Luna. And he leaves you there and starts to go brew both. Now, now, Lancel, there are a few questions that I have. First and foremost, I was walking into Murth's room when you were attacked. Did they teleport in and then out? How did Bloodstride get into the room? Did you see he did indeed? He teleported in and I tried to chase him off and convince Murth to stay with us. I assumed with the talk that you had with them, they would be convinced. But Bloodstride said a few words. I I was too blinded with wanting to save them. I didn't. I'm sorry. I don't quite remember. My mind is fuzzy, but my continue. He blasted me into the very end of the hallway which now that I'm thinking, if you wanted to hurt me, you very well could have. He's demonstrated that he's a very powerful mage. Wait, if Bloodstride to talk to you on meth. Bloodstride did. OK, sorry. I will, like at the mention of he said a few words and then Murth went with him. I stop drinking and I will gently put down my tea, open up my ledger and I will begin to write into it. I look towards Nathaniel. You have to understand that there is possible evidence that presides over this. Of course. Oh, of course. But in turn, then you have to bring them in. I do not believe that Murth didn't go of his own free will. However, to act on that as truth is unbecoming of an investigator. You go with all possible leads and then you find out which is the truth later. That said, they've gone with the necromancer. That means that they are dangerous right now. I don't intend to put them to death, but I do intend to capture them. You see Lancel scratching his chin a bit. It did not seem that Murth was familiar with Bloodstride. I assume they're not the same necromancer as the one that gave them the book. I can only imagine that there might be something. Something at least that could have. And he's just like trying to think it all over. It does seem like there might be another necromancer at work. If you would like my current theory, it doesn't have much basis, but Bloodstride has been investigating us just as much as we have him. If Murth doesn't know Bloodstride and he spoke a few words to Murth before they went with him, there is a possibility that he studied my charm magics and used them on Murth. The thing that... Brunei looks very concerned, because she knows what those do? The thing that makes that less probable is much like my species. Murth is a satyr. We are both resistant to magical effects, but it doesn't mean it's impossible, only less likely. Murth could also have been threatened. I don't think anyone here is... I don't think anyone here is thinking is trying to say that Murth absolutely did this and that he absolutely is a criminal, but we do have to... That they absolutely are criminal, but we do need to explore all options here. The fact is, they went with them. Whether it was of their own accord is not the case anymore. Fact is, they are currently with Bloodstride and the Spine of Death, and that makes them dangerous. They're already dabbling. They could easily have their mind poisoned further. I'm not disagreeing with you. I am simply stating the fact that it is better to consider his innocent until proven guilty. Of course, that's why he brings the one in alive. You see Lancel across his arms and not in agreement. I don't think anybody here is... I don't think anybody here actively wants to go out and kill Murth. I think we want to capture them. Yes. I'm assuring you that I'm agreeing with you. I know, I just... I agree with you. We should wait until it's proven. It's proven, yes. Okay. I just need a bit of convincing right now, okay? I just... A little bit. You see Lancel speak up. What little I know of Murth is they do not do many things out of malice, if any. They are a kind heart. I'm sure there is some explanation behind all of this. I truly believe that their intentions are good. I really do. I don't think that they're trying to do anything wrong. I think... I genuinely believe they're misguided, but one still needs to be held accountable for their actions and should they be found to be doing things more unsavory, they need to be held accountable for it. Then we best... Then we try our best to make sure that accountability is nothing drastic. Yes. Speak. Yes, Mene? I was going to say speaking of accountability. Um... Do I know if there are any extra defenses put up around the town in the past? I don't know if you are well, so... It's very least someone on the lookout. I've definitely told... Just then, right on cue, the door slams open and your screen shakes. I'm so into that one. And... You see... Ah, man. You hear a very familiar voice. Good morning! I heard commotion, and I am here to fix it. Yeah, I immediately pull my head down over my eyes. You know, I'm glad it was Juliana because I thought it was going to be the fucking Genasi. Me too! Listen, when I tell you my brain just dropped, I was like, oh, dear, here we go! Okay. That's it. I have very little patience. I'm gonna, like, peek over the screen. Yep. And as you do, you can see that there's tap water inches away and he's holding two cups. I was waiting until you were finished with your conversation. I made sure to close off my ears. Oh, thank you. Oh, I appreciate that. You were very polite with you. I did not want to interrupt. Here is your coffee, and here is Mr. Nathaniel's tea. Thank you so much. I'll pass Nathaniel his tea. I drink it. It tastes like my soul. You can see Juliana look so... You can see Juliana from the corner of your eye, Luna, and she is just sitting there. She notices the screen around her table. She's like, whenever you are finished having secret conversation, I want to talk with you. Oh, wait. What's your bet? Are we ready? Oh, are we ready to talk to her? Which bears a question? Lancel, have you begun dragging her name further, Mud? I have not. No, why would I? Wait, why? You told him to do what? Fantastic. You told him to do what? Fantastic. We should leave before that happens. However, we should talk to Juliana first. I... Right. Nathaniel, I have a reputation I need to keep as a sword for hire. Can you please keep that in mind? I also like to remind you, okay? It's going to be a little bit of a shallow failure. It's not going to be an absolute utter disgrace. It's just a little... Okay, but if this costs me a job in the future, I will be coming back to Belganis to speak to the witch taker. And I'm sure I will be able to pay for that. That said, we should talk to Juliana. You're not going to say something? Right. I point out to Nathaniel, if you remember what I've told you, every lie is a dead. Ah, right. I suppose that Murph is our new one. Oh, shit. Somebody is always collateral. Okay, okay. We're not having that conversation now. We are not doing that. No, let's just talk to Juliana, please. I'm not about to get into the whole dead pool that exists right now. All right, we're ready for you, Juliana. Let's get this screen. Yep, and you see, you kind of give a gesture to Tapwater and he goes, I shall remove the screen of secrecy. And he takes it, folds it back up and takes it back into the back room. Thank you, Tapwater. I keep thinking you can't make a better NPC. And then you make another NPC I love. I love this beautiful robot. I shall remove the screen of secrecy. Tapwater, what am I doing? The screen of secrecy. 10 out of 10. You nailed it. The only regret is that I didn't have enough time to draw Tapwater. I will draw Tapwater. Maybe in the future, we will have a robotic tapwater drawing. Yes. That is not necessary. I will make that my mission next week. Of course. I give you full interpretation. So yes, you guys, Tapwater removes the screen of secrecy and you can see that Juliana is, you know, dressed as casually as normal, just kind of wearing a very similarly ragged set of clothes, not much caring for much appearances. Except you can see who's got the highest, no, passive perception here. Probably Nathaniel. I have a passive perception. Yeah, I was in Nathaniel. Actually, why am I even in that? That's probably Nathaniel, how much? 19. 19. Yeah, it's not you. With a 19, Nathaniel, you noticeably see that she has actually cleaned up a little bit. Not that she was dirty before, but she maybe, you know, took an extra clean bath beforehand. Maybe her hair is a little bit done up. And the nails that keep her bun have been replaced with kind of actual normal little, like, pics. I think to myself, well, she is about to be very disappointed. Rip. I do not say that out loud. Damn. Poor girl, not herself long, gussied up. She had to hear that. This guy's fucking just. She rolls up to the table next to Enoch and, like, deliberately leans against him, like, with no subtlety whatsoever. Oh, OK. His heart drops, like, probably 20 stories and looks to everyone. So I hear commotion. What is commotion? Ah, pulling the hat further over the eyes. I'm just looking at Nathaniel, like he should break that news. We are about to be leaving. More importantly, our situation with the peacekeepers or the protectors or whatever the name was. It's just the protectors. Remember when I told you yesterday to maybe absolutely defends a little bit? I'm I may have pulled a little bit of a it would not be a joke. It's a little bit of a show in order to get mouth back. And they might be a little bit pissed off this morning to find out that their wonderful golden knife is not actually a golden knife. It's just a regular one. Still a good con there. I bought us maybe a few hours. The important thing is that they have reason to attack us. Well, the town is. Then I will make sure the fences are good. I hear Murph is inventing some sort of automaton, which of course brings us to our next problem. And I look at Enoch. Do you want it to be me? No. All right. I turned in my chair and I look Juliana in the eye and I think about what Alter had said. Juliana, I've. I told you last night there was. I told you last night we ran into a necromancer. Yes, and you take care of them very good. I didn't tell you. It was Murph. Her eyes. Get tall. And for once. Her eyebrows. Raise into worry. And her frown goes from. From an angry one. To one of sadness and disappointment. And she rolls backwards a few inches. What? I. He. He did. He didn't do it out of malice or. Out of trying to. Do something sick or twisted. They. They were just trying to find a way to protect the town with. The automaton. That they were building. You see her eyebrows narrow. And she rolls up closer this time facing you rather than leaning on you. You willingly let necromancer feel stay in my town. I. I. Tried. To stop. Them. I. I asked them to stop. And you know. This corpse magic and you do not tell me. They are the reason the spine keeps coming back. Why protect those keep coming back. They are not welcome in Vragawood. And you who do not turn them in. Are not either. I passed judgment. God damn it. The best judge. She lifts her hand up. In front of her and closes her eyes and you can see tears roll down her cheeks. Enoch. You are right. You are not good man. And you will leave my town. And never come back. Oh. Oh. All of you. I stand up. Yeah same and I start walking out. I. Is is tap water here. You see he is and he's just standing. And when you look at him here versus gaze. I will say. Thank you for the tea. And I will leave. Enoch stands up. And tries to step forward towards Juliana. She rolls. She rolls to turn. Around. And heads. In the opposite direction to the other end of the room. Not to face you. And you can see her shoulder shake of it. You can tell. She's crying. I. Try to make it right. She lifts her her hand and points to the door. Go. He. Slowly begins to move out towards the door. And before he exits. I promise I will make it right. She says nothing and you can just see that she's. Without looking at you her back is turned to you she's shaking her head. Now hand. On her face rubbing her tears. And. Enoch leaves. Renee's just been quietly observing all this at the table as everyone gets up one by one. You can see. Tap water and look at you like he really wants to say something as well. But he just. Takes a few steps back heads back into the back room. Oh. Did Luna leave too. Luna left. But as soon as like we were told we're not welcome here. She got up and she left. Confirmed. Double confirmed. Cool. As Renee gets up. She is going to walk past Juliana's chair, but she's going to stop for a brief pause. And just say. Do you call a child into prison for stealing an apple for the sibling who cannot eat. You see that she stops rubbing her tears. But no response. Well do you try to help them understand why it is wrong and help them find a way to pay for that apple themselves. So they can help the person they care about. She turns her chair averting her face to you now making sure to not look at you and she rolls into the back room where tap water was. You are now alone in the. That's fine. She just wanted to. She just wanted that to be known. Outside you do see Lancel is out there as well waiting for you as he kind of left early in the conversation. And. Renee just sighs. Merde. I will ask him. Oh, I'm sorry. Do you want to say something? No, no, go ahead. I will ask Lancel. Are you going to be. Will he be safe? Yes. If you've taught me anything, witch taker, it's that plausible deniability is a very, very strong tool. And I think I am separated enough from you that I can perhaps regain my own reputation here and maybe even mend yours in some worlds. I will at least try. I would appreciate it. And tell me Lancel. Would you have done the same thing? He looks up to the sky. It's very, it's a very clear sky with the occasional cloud passing. I don't know. I guess this journey is for me to find out the answer to that question. As that question seems to come up a lot. Whenever I watch what you do. I suppose a better question. If I asked you to come with us. Could you leave this town to its fate? He looks around and sees the various people that are talking. There are a few packing things into carts. There are a few coming in. Farmers tilling the soil. Children playing, throwing balls and kicking dirt. He looks back to you. I'd rather die. That's good. And he nods and kind of just pats a little on your shoulder. A little bit. In that case. I will see you when I get back. And if you die. I am going to fire you. He closes his eyes in size. A fate worse than death. I put my hand on his shoulder. I put my hand on his shoulder. That is fucking right. Where do you find people like you? I'd sit here over your arm and control his face. But I can't do it man. Oh my gosh. You notice that he's genuinely surprised at that. And he's like, you see he's looking a little bit bashful at the F bomb that you just dropped. And he just looks around. I think you best get going soon now. Giuliana is quite the gossiper. And I don't think you have much time before people start labeling you as necromancy sympathizers. Oh fuck that shit. We don't have a lot of time. We need to get on the road. Yes. You be careful, don't they? She's going to leave, but she's also looking immediately at Nathaniel for a reaction. You can see that. What did you just do? I just kissed him on the cheek, you bitch. What's she going to do? He's caught off guard and he looks around and he's scratching the back of his head. Oh, Miss Vernet, thank you. I assume this is something from where you're from that's very kind of you. Yes, it's for luck, don't they? Of course, yes. But she's also looking over at Nathaniel for a reaction. I'm going to the Bard and the Dragon. You may roll an insight if you would like. Okay. Do I have to if I read your thoughts? Basically, wait. Can you read my surface thoughts? I can do the tech thoughts, bitch! No, you can read my surface thoughts. Nathaniel notices you casting this spell and you now understand Nathaniel's surface level thoughts, which are... Why are you casting this spell? Wait, I've seen that spell before. Oh, she's casting the tech thoughts. Butterscotch, butterscotch. Butterscotch. She just looks over at him and squints to go, Oh, you fucking bitch. Are we getting a move on or what? Yeah, yeah, I assume you guys are walking and talking. Yeah, we're walking and talking. Yes, you guys head out of Ruggerwood before things can get, you know, accusatory there. I'm so sad. And guys, head on out and start to travel and have a bit of downtime. Is there anything anybody would like to do along the way while they travel? Let me go back to the trusty map screen. It is now day six of 14. Okay. I've not been calling out the days because I keep forgetting, but counting it back, this is day six now. Thank you. So we are just leaving Ruggerwood. We're making it to Chester City. Going that way. How long is it going to take us to get to Chester City? A day and a half. Yeah. Okay. And it's one day's travel. Got it. So we will spend this entire day traveling. Yep. Actually, you would be there. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So we would spend this entire day traveling. Oh my God. It's only 18 feet away. Oh my God. Oh my God. It's so close. I can't see stuff. Okay. In that case, I have nothing to do. The only thing I would like to do is once we like rest, but I don't know how long it's going to take. So until then. It's still our morning. So you've got plenty of time before anything. Eventful. Until then we are good. Anything else? Some crafting on the way. I have nothing to craft. I mean, if we're... Yeah. Enoch does have bullets that he needs to make. Okay. Are you going to make them out of the iron or the silver? Iron. Okay. So you can roll me the craft check for that. Here we go. Hey, you make a full set of 20 bullets. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. He's trying to focus his mind on it. He doesn't want to think about it. Yeah. With your mind trying to be kept off and you're trying to find purpose to distract you, you make them with full focus. There is a lot of little pots and dings in the work. And there's just a lot of mind going into the furnace kind of deal. I would say, yeah, that doesn't take too long of a stop and you kind of do it along the way kind of while you guys rest to catch your breath and stuff like that. And let's see, along the way... For the record, we haven't taken... We have... That wasn't during the camp. No, it was not. No. Okay. Just in the way. I didn't lie about... I lied because there's been something that I've been meaning to do and I continually forget about it. Oh, here's your chance. Remember when fucking No-Tail like sold us the stick of stickiness in the ruined wicker belt? Yeah, I remember. I'm going to spend some time to try to attune to those things. And if that fails, well, then I guess I still just have the stick. You look really hard at the stick and you do not attune to it and you would know, you know, like I'm going to say that attuning is a thing that you can feel. Right. Do attune to the ruined wicker belt. Oh, that's good. Weird. I'll look over to Rene. Rene, can you identify this? I have attuned with a magical item. Oh. Don't you think you should have done that before? No, no, no. You know what? This is the norm. All right. Yes, I'll take a look at it. If the thing is cursed, you are just going to be cursed. I'm sure. Okay. Okay. Boom. Detect. Magic. What is this stick? No. No, the belt. Sorry, the belt. All right. I apologize. We know what I'm doing now. You have to detect the magic on the belt and you can sense a weak aura, but it is there. You can sense that this belt has every school of magic attached to it. Oh my God. Is this just the Wand of Wonders as a belt? Holy shit. She's just like, look, she kind of looked at it. Her mouth goes, her mouth opens and it closes and it opens again. Yeah. Closes again. Okay. All right. So, you know how you very much would like to maybe, you know, try different things, you know, different kinds of magic. You can do that now. Wait. All schools as in it has necromancy on it too? It most certainly does. Better fucking not. But yeah. I'm not saying that a lot, but like, yes. So, um, very much, um, you're pretty much free lane to experiment if you still choose with different kinds of magic. Very well. I'm going to just stare off into the distance and think really hard about evocation magic. Also, as he's like staring off in the distance, she's going to lean in. So am I fired now? We never set a date for that bet. That depends. Can you further identify this item so that I understand what the hell it does? Well, that depends. Am I still employed? Right, the bet. We hadn't decided on a time, but if you want to be fired, then you are. But now you're fired. I'm not fired just yet. Oh, well. I suppose that your termination is going to have to be put on hold. Please identify this item. All right, I'll identify it. Just fuck. So what the fuck is it? Well, you cast a tech magic and you learned that it has all that magic on it. Do you have identified this? I don't have identified. I don't have identified in that case. I think really hard about evocation magic looking off into the distance. What happens? Anything? Nothing. The faint aura of the various different types of magic doesn't seem to change on the wicker belt, nor does it. Of course, it is ruined. It is broken down and kind of cut up and it needs repairing. So you'll probably need to get that thing fixed before you do any actual different magic. I'll find some sort of a hammer. I'll find some sort of Smith within Chester City. I mean, fair. Do you have, actually, I shouldn't ask that for your fucking wish ticket was your money. Anyway. I know a guy. Fair enough. I have a guess. We can go with that later. Okay. Well, that. So about, about sewagell. So we never specified. Do I need to have the exact identification or can I make any guesses? Do I have a number of questions that I can determine? I'll make it very simple for you. Figure out his last name and then we'll be square. His last name. Do you think that his name is just simply Lancel? No, I just fucking figured. I just fucking figured. I wish I had known that sooner. I would have asked him in fucking Rockerwood. Now I'm stuck with no information. Fuck you in particular. I suppose asking questions was an important part of the job that you were. I suppose asking questions was an important part of the job that you felt. I did ask questions, but you kept interfering, feeling with my investigation, Mr. I am going to make sure they're doing everything exactly like a fucking like hook. If I, if my muscles had the capacity to smile right now. Of course you wouldn't smile. You never do. She like sticks her own tongue at him. And you guys continue on the trail. However, while you continue on the trail while traveling along the grassy plains of northern balcony, you hear off in the distance to the north to the left of you, a faint rumbling. You see a sort of dusty dirt cloud on ground level and it's getting larger quickly. Can I make out what's in that dust cloud? Or is it just a cloud of dust? Everyone who wishes you can make a perception check. And hello. Passive 19. You can keep your passive 19 or roll to see if you might get one higher. But I don't. Good job. I'm keeping the 19. 19 usually helps out. God. Oh dear. Herbo swordsman. Listen, we love a good Herbo. We love a good Herbo. She tries. Not her best life. So pretty much everyone except Luna sees that this dusty, this dust cloud that is quickly not only is it getting larger, it's quickly approaching you. It's approaching you almost in a perpendicular direction and it's heading towards you fast. And you can see that there are creatures in it, some kind of silhouette. There are hundreds of them. Is it a vehicle? And they are heading towards you as if to cut off your path. Are they checkables? Are they little big birds? Is it a vehicle? With a passive 19 perception, it's sizable enough to be one. But there are multiple. And if you would like to know what if it's an animal of some kind, you can give me a nature check. Okay, I will do a nature. I will try. I don't like this. I swear I'm going through. I think it's the protectors. How familiar would you say you are with Belkanis' wilderness? I've traveled a little bit. I traveled a little bit in my time, not a lot, though. I would say that I can at least identify what can fly, what can run and what can dig and what can swim. I don't know the specific like this is a fauna. I'm a ridiculous or something like that or like the species. You peer and you see the silhouette of something familiar. As if it's the shape of some kind of horned beast. Like a large with a very tall horn. It looks quadrupedal or extra. Like it's got more legs than four. Like a rhino with six with eight legs. Oh, no. Heading towards you. I think it's a good time to find a different direction to go. That's a fucking stampede. What she's like. Is there like any convenient rock to take cover behind or anything? There are. There are a few rocks around. I'm going to give everyone one thing to do before this thing because this thing is speedy and it will overtake you. I'm letting you know now. I would like to dive behind a rock. You may do so. Yeah. If there's anything that I can hide behind or stand on top of so that the thing doesn't run me over. Yeah. You you're able to you just analyze the situation. You take a few steps back because now you are certain that they will not trample you. I take a few steps to the side. Yeah. You knock anything you're doing. I am. I am going to just try and find a place to hide within the rocks. Yep. Yep. Okay. So you and Luna try to find some rock cover and Renee. I mean, I'm squishy as fuck. I want to do something cool, but like I don't know if it would happen to me. I'm afraid. There's only one way to find out. Because you can see that it's like some sort of thing and it's charging. Is it aggressively charging like directly at us or is it running away from something? Very much so. Okay. I'm just fucking dodging through that. In a direction perpendicular to where you are heading. Then I'm just going to dodge it. Screw that. I ain't dealing with that today. Running away. And as you guys all take cover, you see the stampede getting closer and closer and closer and you see a massive swarm of barcite beetles across your path. Holy shit. It's a magic the gathering card. They're so cool looking. They're really cool, but please don't hurt us. I love the beetle rhinos. Yes. You see a massive swarm of barcite beetles. They're large. They're about carriage size insects made of tree bark and leaves scuttling, leaping, flying before you heading directly to the south. Welcome to another skill challenge. Oh shit. In this one you are going to, if you so wish, attempt to cross to navigate through the barcite swarm. If you succeed, you will navigate through unharmed and unhindered in your journey. However, if you fail four times, if you get four failures, a significant portion of your day will be spent hopelessly traversing and being pushed around and blocked off by the swarm. Okay. Okay. I have an idea. I have an idea too. Who would like to go first? You can go first if you would like. I think you should go first. Okay. So what I'm going to do, my idea that I had originally then, I didn't know how powerful the things were and I didn't know it was going to be. So what I'm going to do, I see that this shit's happening and I see that we're not going to be able to get out of it so easily. So what I'm going to do is I am going to basically start shepherding these things out of certain areas by casting thunder clap. I'm not trying to hit any of them. I'm casting it in an area. I'm probably going to inevitably at least like spook some of them, but I'm going to try and aim it to where I won't hit them. Okay. So you're just clapping, just trying to make a loud noise. I'm just trying to make a really loud noise that'll scatter them away from certain spots that we can get to. Okay. Feel free to make your own suggestion on what this role would be, but that sounds like an animal handling. I was going to say either animal handling or just straight up performance because I'm not trying to like direct them in a sense. Cool. Because performance is a lot better for me. Yep. Wave's hand. I got 14. 14. Okay. You're clapping. You're making thunder claps. Making sure to make yourself not seem aggressive in your performance as well. And you do push aside kind of a few bar kites that start to kind of morph and mold around this loud circle that you've essentially made. And you make somewhat of a dent in the large swarm line. Yeah. I figure that their like champagne is loud enough that it's not going to be too crazy to hear like big ol' explosions on top of that. Yeah. You can see that a few of them who do, who don't like change their course just kind of like quickly push themselves up and fly over you. Almost like you've got an invisible bubble around you. Excellent. Nice. Excellent. Do you all trust me? Do you have to ask me? Ignoring you. Well, wow. Renee, I'm going to need a little bit of help. Of course. Inspire me. Why do I have to inspire you? You're already inspiring to me and piece of shit. That's my bardic inspiration. That's my bardic inspiration, you're my friend. I would like to do something pretty out of Lechfield. I would like to use my mantle of inspiration. Lechfield allows me to connect my minds with everybody else and shuffle everybody across the board. So I would use that in tandem with an investigation role to study the patterns of these Beatles and effectively frogger everybody through them. All right. That sounds reasonable. Let's go. Okay. Okay. Oh, you only wrote. Their swarm pattern, kind of how they traverse. Oh my God. Plus that 29. Holy shit. And you reach into your party members' minds and you are able to help navigate them, although they themselves don't realize how safe they are. You casually walk into the swarm, hands behind your back as if taking a stroll in the park and they miraculously just miss you as if faded. And the same happens to everybody else, even when they stumble and flinch and take a step back at a few that they can't believe their eyes that they're walking through this massive swarm. Renee can't help but beam, just because it's like, of course he fucking would. Yeah. At one point, I feel a gust and grab onto the broom of my hat to make sure it doesn't fly away. Damn it. That's me. No. Okay. Would you like to go first, Erin? My idea is pretty fucking stupid, so I'll let you go first. So is mine. So is mine. Listen, you're both the chaotic stupid. Let's go. Let's go. Hey, listen. I have a 12 in intelligence and not that dumb. Do it. Do it. Do it. I'll let you go first. Okay. So I wanted to find a way to use my, my teleportation feature with my echo. I wanted to argue for an acrobatics check to, I guess as Nathaniel is kind of doing his, his like corrective Frogger bullshit. Every time I, as I'm walking, I imagine Luna, Luna's not very perceptive. So there's times where she almost gets hit. So she has echo dad out and I would like to make an acrobatics roll to be able to switch with him in time to miss. Nice. And then just like, like re-summon each time he is hit and like, oh, there, there, there essentially makeshift, makeshift teleporting. Yeah. Let's do that. This is why I'm called, this is why I'm called the ghost of yet still. I need to use this more. Hell yeah. Please. Please dice. Please dice. You teleport, teleport, teleport. Hey, this is going really well and immediately bash in the face by one of the Barcaids who brushes you off, you fall to the ground and the rest of them try kind of to avoid you. You avoid getting trampled, but you take a decent hit by this large, like essentially car sized creature and need to regain the ground. I made the dice gods very angry. Do you want to take damage from that? Like I'm a, I'm a resilient woman, but I just got steamrolled by a rhino. Eight. Oh my God. Eight. Make that three because you got the temp HP. Oh yeah. Okay. Okay. No, I'm fine. I'm absolutely fine then. That was, I think the necromancers have done more damage to me than that, so it's fine. That will count as one failure. Enoch. Okay. I'm kind of looking down at all of these. I'm going to bamf out the wings and I want to land on top of one of them. Oh my God. Neha time. Neha time. Neha, chuckle fucks. Neha. Neha. What are you suggesting that skill would be? I'm going to say that's considering I want to land on one of these things and kind of direct it the way I want it to. It's going to probably be animal handling. Okay. All right. Show me an animal handling. Hey chuckle fuck, don't screw this up. Kick your ass. Bartek inspiration. Hell yeah. Okay. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. All right. Come on. I'm just saying Luna get fucking steamed now. Hold on. It's not that bad. It's not that bad. Hold on. Roll a six. It's going to be a. You fly onto one and you start to control a little bit and it seems not that bad. Hey, this is pretty easy and it starts to buck and you are launched up and down as you try to hold on to the front horn as it bumps you up and down as your butt slams against this back. Oh, oh no. This, this is straight. This is straight rodeo riding. And you are able to take the reins of this and direct it a little bit as you know it is a larger body and you're able to help navigate it and yourself into a deeper part of the swarm. You are nearly there. One hand in the air. One hand in the air to the other side. Oh my God. In the air with the hat. Just straight rodeo style. This, this, this bark beetle. Hell yeah. It's fucking insane. You know what? I'll give you an inspiration for that. One of these days I will join the inspiration club. Yee-haw Chucka fucks. Oh, hold on. Hold on. So like there was something that like I was thinking in my mind is like heads or tails a toss coin and metaphor for the uncertainties of life. Of course the wise player always cheats. Nice. God. Okay. You are nearly there. However, you're not. You have not completely succeeded the skill challenge yet. Who else wants to do something? I might be able to do one more. Yeah, Renee. Don't press me. Maybe. Maybe. Listen. I'm trying this. I'm trying to think of this would be like what this role would be. But either way, I think it'd be really interesting. This is going to look real stupid. But big man is not my challenge. But big man is not my chest. Like they can like direct the rest of the beetle be like, Hey, look, what are your buddies is going that way? Follow that one. Like. Hmm. Check it out. Like basically trying to look as big as possible, even though I'm teeny tiny in comparison to the Beatles. And what do you think that would be? It probably would be an animal handling that I think about it. Okay. Show me an animal handling. It's not a great role for me. But that's the only thing I can really either that or intimidation. But I think I don't know. I'm not trying to speak. I think trying to make yourself big to push them away. I think is that a valid explanation. Okay. Well, then I will thank you. I will use my intimidation. Then I will look. I will look big and spooky and terrifying. Oh, Lord Jesus, help me. Hey, not bad. I'll take it. You tell your frustrations with your boss and. Like each one of these has its face on it. And you start to shout at them. You go that way and make yourself large, throwing your hands in the air, jumping, making a right. While you imagine they're all wearing the hat. I believe in your tongue. It is called soccer. And of course, you know, thunderclap is a cantrip. Yeah. Yeah. It's a cantrip. So I can cast it as many times as I need. Making clapping noises, kind of like hopping up and down and pushing the Beatles, scaring them away so that you have a clear path. And you guys have made it to the other side of the barcide Beatles. Well done. I just imagined. I keep this one. I just imagined when a crawling out of this, just like, that was awful. Well, we're going to. Everything hits. We're going to see if you're going to be able to keep that one in a little bit. Let me just get the rest of the ambience going while Luna is reeling at the tackle. She just took. I look down at you. You seem hurt. I only got run over by one of these things. I'm fine. Oh, God. Are you sure? Oh, that. I'm fine. I'm fine. That's why it helps you at least feel better on the inside. Please. I was just asking if you had any. I don't like my bottom. I know. I left the bottom of the tavern. God. I said it's like. You need to just bury my head in the grass. Can I just have five minutes, please? Pat's. Me. Me. Just slowly like trotting on the back of this. This one. Yeah. And it starts to continue to buck and kick and skitter. Oh, oh, oh, calm it down. Calm it down. Can you actually calm it down though? I'm going to try. Okay. You're going to give me another animal handling. I'm not inspiring you this time. This has to be all of you. I have an inspiration from being cowboy. Let's just hope it's a little bit better than before. Okay. We have an 11. Okay. We have an 11. Okay. Not a little bit better than before. It is. It's my one. It'll be a 12. A 12. Do you want to keep that 12? Remember, if I give you the outcome, you can't use your inspiration anymore. I really want to risk it to see it. So you know, Enoch's a bit reckless right now. So let's do it. Do it. That means your final role is an 11. As you, as you hold on and it starts to tire itself out and it seems subdued. But from what you can tell from its behavior, it doesn't seem like it seems more tired out rather than it is kind of submitted to you. It is not submitted to you, but it is tired. You were able to hold on pretty well. I will say I want this one to stick around. I really want it to stick around. I need a friend right now. This might be someone's life. Why am I? Why am I? So while you're just kind of looking over, I can show you a close-up. Hold on. Where is it? Where is it? Do I even have? Hold on. I'm going to put it. Geez. Did I not put this in? Okay. Well, I'm going to quickly put this in media and then. Actually, can I just put it on the screen? Yeah, there we go. And I'm going to throw it in media for you guys. Thank you. So this is what the Barkhide beetles look like. Oh, it's in our Discord chat, I see. All right, Barkhide beetle. It's a four-cost green creature with three-three trample and flesh. I love them. These are all MTG references. You can see they are between medium and large sizes. And a variety of sizes and colors as well. And horn shapes and different types of flowers. You can see that there are green ones with pink flowers, black ones with blue flowers. However, they are all seemingly made out of tree material. And you can see that their wings are made of some very thin and glossy amber material of some kind. Wait, did Yashin. Yep. The beetle I saw on my nose this morning. Do I think this is related to those fires? They look very, very similar in their characteristics, albeit that one seemed to be made of small little leaves. Taking a closer look at their leaves, it does look like they're made from the same material. And their wings are very similar in material as well. You found a baby. I'm just going to say not that we should do it, but we do have four vanishing crystals. No. No, we're not vanishing the bug. No, we can poke a ball the bug. Poke a ball like a beetle. These are very important balls. Anyway. Also on top of that, these might be ecologically important to the rest of the land. How about you stop hiding it like the cowboy that you are? How about you come down? Right on cue, as you say, why don't you stop riding it? You can see that there's another barcide beetle that's bucking and you can hear a very familiar voice. As you can see, there's a tabaxi, a disheveled tabaxi in a large backpack. And he falls off and lands on the grass. Yes. And I'm going to bring you to a move. And you can see that there is a bunch of barcide beetles kind of off the beaten path, off to the side. Oh my God, I love no-tail token so much. That's the best thing ever. And you guys can put your tokens on the board wherever you so wish. You can see that there is a small pack that's kind of left the main group to kind of graze and sunbathe. You can see a few of them are just stretching their wings. Why are there so many missandals? Sorry, the game was glitching a little bit and it wasn't showing my token for me. Let me fix that. What barcide beetle am I on? We'll say this one over here. I love how it's just so good. You see no-tail and he lifts himself off of the grassy ground and he spits out some grass and dirt and he points to you and looks to what looks to be a tree folk next to one of the barcide beetles and he goes, hey, wait a minute, I know those guys! He says what? Who is that? You see them sunbathing, you see a tree folk and it seems like they're dressed in some basic shepherd garbs and they do have a long kind of stick as well and they wave, you can see that it's female and she waves to you. She's got like a bunch of flowers covering the entire top of her head all except for one eye. Hello, just waves like, hi. I wave from the ground because I'm still in too much pain to get up. Are these yours? As Renee will go and help Luna up. Oh God, oh please just let me stay down for a moment. Listen, you're going to be fine. I can see that it is a big ol' step. I will give you some ice after a while, is that okay? No, he just got me. Or maybe we'll put you by a warm fire. He's got me square in the gut. Ah, we'll put you by a fire to warm up the muscles, hopefully it will, you know. But it smells good. I hate you, Daffy. No tail pipes up. Oh yeah, I wasn't great at balconies earlier until I met Olive. Say hi, Olive. And the mid-sized tree folk, she waves her hand. She gives a little curtsy bow. Hello. Hello. Hello, hello. You know no tail. Briefly, he was very kind and sold us a little bit of his wares. Oh, speaking of, welcome back to No Trails Travel and Emporium. Y'all want to buy some wine? Please tell me you have wine. Please tell me you still have wine. And he puts down his pack and here is No Tail Stock 2 Barcide Boogaloo. Yes. Oh my God, there's so much shit. I'm still poor. Of course, as usual, at the bottom are the general wares that he has. Yeah, I'm just taking two gold out of my inventory now for a bottle of wine. That's all I want. I... Thank you, thank you. Cracking that bitch open. Oh my God, he hasn't found some haste. He's got a haste. And I'm poor. Yeah, we haven't gotten paid for anything we've done. We haven't. Yeah, no. I'm sorry, just to add water, temporary magical tattoos. Seen. Also, sympathy bracelets? What are those? Oh, I got that off of some guy in the streets, up in the north. And then when I put him on I felt his stab wound. Wouldn't recommend it. I recommend wear and bounce. All right. I like that a lot for totally different... But yeah, you can go ahead and buy whatever you so wish. Here? I... Feel free to add them to your inventory and subtract the gold accordingly. I bottle a bottle of wine and crack that bitch open as soon as he ended it over. And Chad, you can't... I think you can't read the sympathy bracelets, but all it says is sympathy bracelets, 30 gold pieces, a pair of golden arm guards that reflects anyone looking at it like a mirror. No-tail says he used to have a business partner that he shared these with, but didn't like how it was making him feel all their same anxieties and reoccurring belly aches. Aw. So you basically like share things. Interesting. I am so curious about those. I want them. How much gold do you have? I have 36 gold because I've got to remember Merth gave me 10 gold earlier because... I have one gold. What the fuck? I saved money! You saved money? You mean you haven't divvied out any of the loot that you guys stole from Necromancer? I don't know what you're talking about. I have no idea what you're talking about. I have never seen a Necromancer in my life. What are you talking about? That said, I will not be buying anything today because I do want to save my money. Me too. I bought a smoke bomb. Nice. Apparently, even the most erratic castor's smoke has not occurred on Going Spell. Until I get Warcaster, that would be so good! Anki. Very Anki. You approach the woman while I think about the wires. We'll do that after. Is everyone done shopping or are you still deciding? I'm still deciding. Take your time. We can do that while you're deciding. Don't worry about me. Most likely, I'll probably just say I don't need anything and then be sad later. You approach the tree folk woman and she gives you a little greedy wave. Nice to meet you. I'm Olive. Hello, Olive. These here are your Bark Beals? Not all of them. You see that one over there with the massive one just hulking down all the berries in this berry bush. I'm assuming that one's got a bit of an attitude? Or is it just a leader of its back? Oh no, of course not. That is my companion and she was restless and wanted to join with her family. We were stuck in greater balconies behind the walls, but no amount of bureaucratic nonsense was going to keep her from joining the swarm. You see, they're migrating south to the swamps for mating season. My little girl here has been keeping an eye on a very handsome blue horn daffodil. Oh. Well, I imagine it be a damn shame to separate any of these fine beetles from their pack. But if you do manage to capture the heart of one, they are companions for life. Very faithful ones. And it goes back to the one he was riding. You can see that it's regained a little bit of its strength and it's backing away a little bit and it hisses and chitters at you. I've raised my hands into the air trying not to be threatening. Give me a performance check. Okay. My foot. Please don't let Enoch's rebound be a tree. A beetle tree. A beetle tree. Give him a friend. Please. The boy needs someone to talk to. I was going to, oh no. Stop! Yeah, we're going to take that first one. I assume it didn't show up when you clicked it, so you clicked it a bunch of times. It's not popping up. Well, you rolled performance three times. We're going to take the first one, which is a seven. Oh. And seeing you throw your hands up in the air making yourself larger, it gets up on its four hind legs, lifts itself up and raises its wings and chitters at you. Enoch is scaring it. And flies up into the air. Give me a strength save. Okay, I know he's dead. Y'all don't stop worrying about me. I swear to God. Shoot someone. I'm going to worry about you regardless. All right, it pushes up into the air with such force, the gust of wind nearly pushes you. It knocks her hat off though. I back away for a step and I get down on a knee. Oh, it flew off. Slowly. I pick up the hat. Hurt. Just hurt. He's going to just lay down on the grass for a bit. No tail leans in and whispers to the other three. Who put a snake in his boot? It's not a snake. It was something innocent. It was really sad. Hold on. I would like to approach Enoch in the grass with a bottle of wine in hand. And I just plop down beside him and offer him the bottle. I think you could use this. I'm not a wine person. It's the only alcohol we got! Alcohol is alcohol. Hey, listen. You did your best in Ruggerwood. I think you did the best with what you could. I know you. I know you were just trying to do what was right. It's not about what I think is right. And what is it about? And looking towards Nathaniel and Renee there is something we all need to talk about. And I've been trying to find a better way to talk about it for a while now. Well, now seems like a good time. Yes? Is it actually, is it best to do it in front of other people? I was going to say plop on me! You can leave if you want. That would be perfect after I buy two of those smoke bombs from you. Yeah, of course. Thank you for your patronage! And he hands you the two smoke bombs, rolls up his pack, and he just whispers over to I'll say, Hey, they need a little bit of profit time. And she's like, oh, of course. And she does a little gesture and kind of like clacks her bark arms together as a sound. And the bark hybidals start to follow along with her, giving you some space. There you go. A few of them do stay behind, but they don't seem to pay you any mind at all. Well, they are beetles. We're not worried about the beetles hearing this. Yeah, the beetles are kind of comforting to say. If I may, if we're going to have a relevantory conversation, I would like to do this, please. And I raise my hand up, and I'm going to twist my finger in the air as my arm slides across my vision. A line of bright pink sparks explodes out from my finger and falls across this entire area. I'm going to say, please do not resist this as I cast Zone of Truth. You bastard! Zone of Truth, you bitch! I will automatically fail to save. Same because I don't know anything. It's not like I can lie. I mean, and the thing is Renee trusts Nathaniel enough that she's like, I don't give a shit. It's going to help me learn more about these two. So, shrugs. One of us doesn't know what this spell is, so she's just going to let it happen. Fantastic. I will be trying to resist it. Thank you very much. I bet you, bitch. You do not know that I have even tried to resist it. No, nobody knows. I am the only person who gets to know that. You will find trouble, I see. To which I will say, this spell prevents people from lying. Obviously, it doesn't stop you from saying so, but it doesn't force you to speak. But I think that it is best for us all to speak clearly and truthfully. Well, and it just kind of squints at you. That was steady. I apologize. I don't think it is now. We have been working with each other for a while, and we will continue to do so. Honesty is what's going to get us through this. And honestly, if you prefer not to say something, just say it, prefer not to say it. That's not a lie. It's just saying. What to do? What to do? For the record, she doesn't look angry. She's just kind of giving that like you little shit kind of thing. Yeah. Like seeing that. Listen, he has done this so many times that it just let it happen at this point. He's a little shit that way. She just takes a really long swig of wine. She's like, yeah, show whatever. My face betrays no emotion. That said, I look to Enoch. Yes. I'll start from the beginning. When I was born, I did not know my mother. I do not know my father. I was abandoned at a church because the child that was born was me. You see like Luna's hand, like gripping at the grass, like breaking a few strands. Old and geared looking eyes. The power they don't understand. Am I wrong? You're not. I was handed to the church and Samuel told me was a scared woman who had no idea what to do. And a few years later, I would make my first mistake as a person. I would tell my first and only lie. And what was the lie? I went on an errand for Samuel one night and I went down to the ports in Belknist to get some supplies for the church. I told him I would not get into any trouble that I would go nowhere near that is dangerous. And I broke that promise because my curiosity got the better of me. How old were you? I was seven. So you were a child? I went to a tavern because I saw something that my fancy, the first ever pistol I ever saw. And it enamored me. It was long. It was made of wood and steel, but I wanted to know more about it. And my curiosity got the better of me. And I ran into a group of pirates. They wanted to abduct me, sell me. And Samuel, after hours of my not returning, they wanted to save me. A battle ensued. The captain cut off my arm and slashed Samuel's eye. And I paid the price for my life. And after that day, all I could feel was this voice at the back of my head. And I couldn't understand it at first, but it was always there telling me what to do. What is right? What is the law? What should happen? And I, for the most part, didn't resist it. But I disliked it. I hated it. But I knew it wasn't going to go away. And so, every now and again, we would confer on ideas. And a few years ago, I would create my first pistol. Mine. And I pick up objection. It took a while, but I didn't. But this voice, this alternate version, is restless, self-righteous, and all-consuming. Can I ask you a personal question? Sure. Just this voice that ever... Is this voice the reason why you believe that a mistake you made as a child was some punishment? You didn't deserve that. You didn't deserve to have your arm removed. You didn't deserve to be taken by people who wanted to harm you. And that's not a punishment for telling a lie when you're a child, Enoch. I don't know if you've ever been told that in your life before, but... You were a kid who lied about going to do an errand when you got curious. That's what children do. Does this voice in your mind try to tell you otherwise? The problem is that I have never felt like this voice is wrong. And they have... They have a mind of their own. But did they ever tell you that you deserve to have your arm taken because you did something stupid when you were a child? Would you like to ask them? Yes, because if the answer is yes, I have several, several words. This was the inventor, the one that approached me in the bar. Wait, what? A few days prior, Enoch got very drunk and began drawing schematics for some machine. It was incredibly off-putting because I've never known Enoch to be incredibly sophisticated with design. At the time, I thought that it was simply a strange mannerism. Actually, I didn't really know what to think of it. I thought that it might perhaps have been Enoch's guard moving through him while he was drunk. But now it is this. Am I correct? Miss Anuel, have you ever been on a sailboat? No, I tend to stay on land. I want to be on a sailboat surrounded by the sea with no land in sight without ever the possibility for days to come to stand at the helm of my destiny. I want that just once. I want to be in the halls of the scholar's sanctum to feel the surge as while the horses go thunder and buy in the prairies. I want another meal with Samuel on top of the church so I can look him in the face again. I want another bottle of whiskey and then another. I want the warmth of a good woman in a cool set of sheets. Just one more night to enjoy the bard singing and dancing in my favorite tavern. I want to stand on the summits and smoke seashore with the monks and feel the sun in my face for as long as I can. Just then, Enoch, your eyes go bright white shining as if the sun were piercing through them and a voice comes out of your mouth without... You all see a voice come out of his mouth as his mouth glows the same bright white without his lips moving. But guess what? We don't get that luxury no more. I suppose this is the one. That's the one, then. May I speak to him, Enoch? And I try and pull him back a bit. Give me wisdom saves. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, God. You know this kind of jitter as you get when you're in a really intense scene that you can feel them in your fucking legs. I can't help but think, Oh, I'll be inside with Satan himself by my side. Critical fail. Critical fail. And your reins are taken from you as the aetherical angel-like form that you saw Enoch when you were in rugged wood. Takes over and he stands up. Oh, woe is me. Little Enoch, everything I tried to do right by people keeps hurting them. I stand up, too. I was never sitting. Yeah, well, I had like specifically like flopped down. Your name is sitting and she quietly grabs the bottle of wine like, all right. This is happening. And now his lips do move and sink with his words and the figure has taken him over completely for the time being. And I can tell that little Enoch and you lot are doing what you believe is right instead of what is law, don't you? As a matter of fact, I follow the letter of the law. And he kind of points his index finger to his head a few times. So to you, law is a child being punished. Law is pulling the seeds from their roots. I want to know where you're from. What you serve. What kind of cloth are you? Hold on, I got to roll him for the zone of truth. Oh, right. Yes. Oh, right. That was so smart. Wait a minute. Wait, is he going to lie? He might try. He's got to pass through the zone of truth. Oh, shit. He can't speak a deliberate lie. He can't speak a deliberate lie in the zone of truth. Can I do something? As he is about to speak, I would like to reach my head, because realizing that this is not Enoch, I'd like to reach my hand up and snap my finger, and I would like to cast mind sliver on him. When it looks like he is about to try to resist my zone of truth. Can he mind sliver? I know. Is that because it's an advantage one? It's not disadvantage, but it is a minus four. I can give an extra, because I can also add some lovely unsettling words. We're all working together. I'm going to say one person gets to do a thing. You're valid because it's a reaction. Totally valid. I grabbed wine. You're golden. Do it Nathaniel. I'm going to really quickly reach up mind sliver. Do it. Does he make that save? That's some good damage. If he fails his intelligence save, he'll take six psychic damage and then he will have to subtract a d4 from his charisma saving throw. Okay. He doesn't flinch as he does make the save, but does he beat the zone of truth? This altar Enoch looks to you and says with full confidence, I am the will of Arithas. Well, who now? Well, I can't say I have a lot of respect for Arithas then if he believes that a child an innocent, if she, sorry, I didn't know what she was saying, if she believes that a child an innocent deserves to lose limb for telling a very simple lie one that every child tells. Oh, and so many priests nowadays say that soft shit all the time. I'm not a priest. Hmm. I am a sword and I'm a warrior. I am not a priest and I'm not driven by any god. And this right here is why. All so stubborn and the voice recedes in and the light goes out and Enoch, you regain consciousness and control. However, you did know you were conscious to see and experience all of that happening. And just kind of breathing on the ground. Most of all, I want to sleep. I want to sleep like when I was a boy before I lost my arm. Just give me that one more time. I have a question. If Luna approaches you, will you like resist or show signs that you don't want anybody near you or are you just kind of broken down? He's very broken down. He eats. Aww. I don't belong to him if you do not want to and I don't know how. I don't know what we're going to do. But my freedom is something that I value and I'll do whatever it takes to see that you have yours. Or she's just very much like how a mom hugs their kid. I do not want to to him. Then you won't. We'll find a way. You hear a voice off in the distance distorted and clearly illusioned that you can't tell what the voice is as there are too many mixes in. You see someone say you may very well get that chance soon. Shit. You look hard and you can see all the bark hide beetles immediately take a few steps back and immediately all look towards this voice and start chittering and making aggressive motions. And you can see a robed humanoid Sword of God. No. They are wearing spine of death robes. No. Fuck you. Again. How many times do we have to teach you this lesson? No. Not blood stride. I'm very confused. I still am standing up and getting ready to cross. Where's the token? I don't have a token for this. I'll just put a generic necromancer token for now. I want to see it. You don't have one yet. Calm down. I don't have one. I'll just put generic. Necromancer because you can't tell. They clearly have a visage over them. An illusion. They're not trying to make it convincing. Just, you know, hiding. Yeah. They're holding both hands up cautiously and you can see that their feet are positioned to ready to book it the other way. You can't leave us alone for a single day, can you? I know you must be very tired of seeing necromancers. I'm tired of seeing the people that desecrated my father's grave. Yes. I'm going to take a step forward. You're going to have to forgive me, but I am out of patience for the week. Resist this. And we cannot talk. I hold up my hand and I'm going to cast world person on him. He gives in and fails it purposefully. Oh my god. I grip my hand and as I do control his motor functions stiffen up. I have a question. Are they disguising their voice? They are. Interesting. I am not. I just want to do come up behind Nathaniel and just get like hand on a blade just ready for him to tell me to kill this thing should I need to kill him. The range of zone of truth is 60 feet. It is. Yeah, that is true. He did step into it. It's a 15 radius fear. So what happens? He's just outside of it. It's a 15 radius. That's unfortunate. Who cares? He's just outside of it. I'll just beat him up. The threat of decapitation will be enough. Hold on. He can still talk with the old person, right? Yes. Continue. I just wanted to ask that question just for my sanity. He speaks once again voice distorted as if there are several speaking at once. Hello, adventurers. I've come to parlay. I am unarmed. I am not looking for a fight. I only want to talk. About what? About the spine of death and about your little alchemist friend. If you're trying to convince us to join you, you can fuck right the hell off. And friend as the visual. He shakes his head. No. I want you to help me destroy the spine of death. Who are you? Lift my hood. Renee will walk forward. Renee, you walk forward and you lift the hood. And you see the face of Luke. You son of a bitch! And the illusion goes away. His voice returns. And he speaks. It is good to see you again. And we're going to end the session there. Fuck you! Fuck you! No! You can't do this to me! What the fuck is this? What the fuck is this? I'm sorry. Who are you?