 We begin at nightfall in Chester City and, you know, the city, you would not be mistaken to thinking that it's still daytime, what with the bright lights appearing everywhere and the bustling and hustling of everyone in the city, airships flying, flying mounts up in the sky, going back and forth, people walking, carriages going back and forth around the place. What do you do? First things first, we need to find an inn, because it is night time, we have all been beaten up. I have a stab wound because somebody hit me with an axe, I'm not going to say who. Pull that syringe. Man, you both have stab wounds, so we both need to sleep. You're used to stab wounds. I have to re-sew my outfit. It doesn't stay yellow because I get blood on it. Now you mentioned finding a place to stay and there are several places to stay. In fact, on the brochure, there are a list of places. Oh, Inns and Taverns, look at that. I wanted to ask you, I wanted to ask you, Joe, which one of these would have been the one I normally stayed at when I was there. You've probably, you've probably, well, I don't know, which one would you have stayed out based on? Well, I'd imagine, I guess I would have stayed at the seedier ones because that's just my crowd. So, what is the less nice one? Oh, probably the faded stag. Yeah, okay, cool. I love this, streets, free. Yeah, you can stay in the streets, you know. Streets are a home to many, many a folk in Chester City, unfortunately. Valid, but also me looking at the plush and pamper like, ooh. Now if you stay in the streets, it doesn't matter if you get a full rest, you will suffer a level of exhaustion just because the city is loud and very, very busy. I know what I'm saying. If anybody wants to come, it's not the nicest places, but it's a bed and a door. So I'm going to guess the faded stag. That is not necessary. Let's just share a room. If we share a room, it would be cheaper and plus we can get a better place. Yes. And it doesn't really matter to me. Well, it matters to me because it is important that you and you and like points at both Enoch and Luna are at peak health because appellate after what we just faced. No, I'm not having you sleep anywhere else. As much as I appreciate the concern, I'm relatively sure I can probably find some board and within the church. And I'm absolutely not going to a church. I'll follow wherever you and if I will go. I appreciate your fiscal responsibility, but I'm going to the unwritten shores. I have all of these papers that we've collected on our journey. And I'm going to need a very safe place in order to look at them all. And I don't want any distractions from a modest or comfortable place. That's the most pretentious thing I think I've heard you say in a few days. It's not pretentious. It's not pretentious. They give an orthodox display of hubris, but very well. It's not pretentious. They give a coupon for 50 percent any purchase in Chester City. I don't know what we're expecting to buy. But it is useful to have something like that. I mean, that's what you'd like to spend your gold on before it. So money bags for a room is kind of ridiculous. So so I guess Luna and Renee, you are going to the fated stag, yes. Or the no, we're going to go to the Duke's End. It's anything that's the sort of like the happy medium between us both. It's like, yeah, right, right. It's the happy medium. Fine, fine. At least let me swing by so I can see if my a certain idiot made it back into town. I'll definitely go check on your man. Make sure he's OK. Yeah, I'm not happy with the amount of work activities in the peaks. If I give you the gold, will you just resume reserve? Don't even worry about it. Save it for a proper purchase. Fine, fine. Well, then I'll meet you there tonight. I won't be long. I'm just I'm just going to ask questions in the. Very well. All right, splitting the party. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Enoch, you start to head. Towards the Church of Arithas, you kind of know the general directions based on what you've heard from Samuel Braxton, telling you about this particular church in Chester City. But you've never been here by yourself personally, have you? No, I have not. No. And the difference of like living at home and going to a friend's house. Oh, the demeanor is very changing. Yep, yep. As you walk by, you know, various people do sneak a glance at your arm every now and then, but don't pay you much mind. And you do approach what looks like a church of Arithas. It is kind of rundown, kind of smallish, no larger than maybe a single person could live in like a house. It looks like a makeshift house. It's got, you know, various different gears and sigils on it that you are familiar with. And out right outside, you can see someone is locking up a white dragonborn dressed in traditional traditional blouse and covered near head to toe in what looks like slightly spruced up silky jury wear. Howdy walk over. I take off my hat. I was hoping that the church would have been open by now. And we can see the dragonborn. There we go. Oh, and she. She looks at you and you see her eyes light up a little bit. Oh, builder be with you, traveler. What brings you to the church of Arithas? My name is Enoch Solomon. I am the order of the gear. I'm a gearbox operative. She just like a me like she raises a few inches as if like her back straightens. Oh, Enoch, I've heard all about you. It's such an honor to finally meet. She just like extends a hand very eagerly. I extend out my hand and a firm shake. She grasped it with both hands shaking it. Well, I don't mean to bother if you're closing up for the night. Oh, were you looking to say your prayers or perhaps get some supplies? I admit we are very low, but I can give you what we what we have. I'm relatively sure I can make do with supplies, but I'm a little bit more interested in the board and if you guys might have it. Oh, I see. Well, you are free to, but unfortunately at the church, it's it's seen better days. You are free to lodge here if you if you like, but I can't promise that it'll be akin to a feather bed with coffee in the morning. It's perfectly fine. And please, you would. Oh, yes, of course. I am serene. I apologies. I'm just a little nervous. I've heard a lot about you from your mother. Who? Oh, oh, she puts both hands on her cheeks. Oh, that's right. Oh, I'm so sorry. Um, you never met your mom. Did Samuel ever say anything about her? Mentioned very short words of when she left me at the church. Yeah, yeah. Very, very short words. And to any recommendation, I would like to keep those words as short as possible. Yes. Um, well, I think you should know this, Mr. Unok, and you should have known this a long time ago. But even though you had no relationship with her, I feel as though it's necessary for me to tell you that some near 20 years ago, your mother passed and I became the new, well, I'm still only a juror, but I became in charge of this little church here. But perhaps in the morning, if, you know, you would like to hear more about her, she knew a surprising amount about you, despite having only seemed to observe you from afar. I know it's a lot to take in. I'm sorry. Here, she goes to unlock the door and let you in. And I try not to trade words or acknowledge that too much. And as I walk in, what do I immediately see? You can see that it is kind of making the best of sort of what they're given. It's a small, humble little area. It very much looks like it used to be someone's house that was changed up. Candles, lit gears, kind of strewn about, you know, belts and stuff around the place. Pieces of broken machinery and hammers, some rundown tools, all kind of, you know, what you would expect, although on smaller scale, very much working with what they're given. OK. You said you're the judge here, yes? I guess you could say that. How often do you report to any of the superior? Um, about bi-monthly, they don't really check in much. She kind of fiddles with her fingers a bit. And I turn to Serene. Are you aware of deposition? I can't say I am, no. All right. There's a lot of details that I need to make sure that it gets back up to the top. Of course. I am in contact with Samuel, if you'd like me to send a letter to him. That would be useful, but I am talking about any of the superior architect or judge. Well, I'm sorry to disappoint again, but there are none here, really. After we moved to Balcanus to establish our own roots here, they mostly left us to our own devices. And I suppose I'll have to do a different version of deposition. And he walks up to the altar and begins to look. There's a few snacks over in the quarters, if you would like, and here. And she hands you a spare key. You can add a key to Church of Arithas in Chester City, in your inventory. You have a good night. You as well. And she gently closes the door behind you. You hear a lock and you are left alone in the Church of Arithas. I begin to stare at the altar for a very long and passive moment before I step a bit closer. You can hear the voice in your head once again. Finally, it's about time. How many games are being played here? I wonder how many altar. No response. We need to confer and he sits down at the chair. Anything else? I suppose there's nothing else that he can do for the moment. No, you just sit. He just sits waiting for Alter to come back. OK, luckily that is a good spot to go to our next party member because that is just about 10 minutes. We will get back to you before you turn in for the night. Luna, you are heading to your usual place, which is the faded stag. And you head on inside. You're a regular. A few faces recognize you and they give you a slight nod. And you head inside and you see it's a pretty basic night. People going in and out, having a nice time. And you spot Scorpio. Where is he? He made it. Yeah, you see him. Let me find. There he is. There's the wonderful art that you wonderfully made. Yeah, there he is. There's the boy, the dumb boy. There's the boy. He's arguing with a Kenku kind of at a table kind of in the back corner. And you can overhear him. Come on, Robert, I've done the last of your dirty work. I'm not taking yet another one of your little chores. I'd like to just listen in on this conversation. You you hear the Kenku respond back. Ah, but you've done such good work. And besides, it'd be a shame if for some reason your future clients heard that you were a poor work partner, that your services were less than satisfactory, perhaps worthy of a plaque listing. And then Scorpio hesitates for a moment, takes a deep breath and puts his fist on the table. I'm actually kind of hurt, Robert. I thought that after all we've done together, you've gotten to know me well enough that I've got bigger things in my reputation. He's not wrong, you know. You speak up and the Kenku just like like snaps his head in your direction. You just see that Scorpio just turns to you and then just tilts his head back to the Kenku with a smile. And who's this young lady? Extra hands. You'll do nicely for the job I've got for you. What's the job as I'm like walking over? Yeah, still still covered in blood, by the way. But yeah, yeah. I still took like Gorn's axe to my abdomen. As you walk closer, you can see that the Kenku just like slowly like leaning back away from you as your your, you know, image gets clearer and clearer. Step into the light. Scorpio speaks up to you, Luna. Yeah, it's nothing. This this bloody fool wants me to go on another errand going all around the bloody country. I've done everything you've asked of me. I've got my resignation papers. I'm done. Oh, is he trying to make things difficult? So we never need to have a conversation. I think we do. Don't we, Robert? And you can see the Kenku is just leaning back. Oh, I wasn't asking. And you can see behind you there are two. Well, henchmen of some kind. You can see that it is an orc and a war force that stand behind you, cross armed. I'm not impressed, honestly. Scorpio turns to you, Luna, and just leans in. Do you think you think it's time to make a scene? I'm not so sure. Looking at your condition right now, and just gestures up and down you covered in blood. I am perfectly fine. Thank you. I'll explain. I'll tell you all about it when we're done here. You can decide. If you want to make a scene, I'll make a scene, not we can walk away. Hmm, I would like to walk away. I'm a little bit tired. What is this? What are you waiting for? Your payments, your resignation? I'm waiting for these two large bring-ins to get out of my way. And you can see that the war force just steps up a little bit. Scorpio tries to kind of push him out of the way, gently with his hand. But the war force grabs his wrist and lifts it up. Oh, all right. That's the moneymaker. Ah, ah, ah, um. I would like to get in between this. Hold on here. The war force tries to bat you out of the way. Make a strength save. Sure, 17. Yep, he goes to bat you, but you just lift up your hand and block and you hear a loud bang and the entire tavern shuts up. Put him down and walk away, or you're going to be turned to scrap metal. Give me an intimidation. Yes, that's a 10. That is a 10. So the kangaroo rises up from his chair. You hear a little squeak. He just speaks up. All right, boys. How about we bring in our new employees? And I'm going to bring you on over to a map. God, you made a comment. Now, fuck, why am I here by myself? It's a bad idea. You are going to go first. Well, Echo Dad. Yes, this is music. Yep, that's fucking song. Echo Dad, right next to you. I just realized that he's a god damn it. So let's get ready to rumble. And I would just like to start punching. I'm not wasting my sword on these fucks. Give me some attacks. Why don't you? Yeah, I'm going to be punching the war for Echo. That's probably going to punch this guy. OK, show me those attacks. Well, that's a mess. Oh my god. They both are blocked by the two henchmen. Dad, please. OK, there. They're both blocked by a henchman. And at the fighting, the rest of the bar just all starts to get rowdy and chairs start flying. All right, damn it. Looks like we're going to have to make this loud. And Scorpio goes to take a chair of his own and is going to bat it over the head of the Warforged. It breaks. It shatters like cardboard. And the Warforged unfazed and simply takes his arm and lifts him up and throws him across the room. OK. OK. He wants to make this Scorpio with a chair. OK, this is unnecessary. And thanks for getting him out of the way, though. He's actually going to get out of the way of you when you have an attack of opportunity. Yes, a bat. No, not a bat. That is enough of a bat. That was not. That was not the bat. OK, never mind. Oh, my God. What are my roles today? Why? Nice. This does not go off. And the Warforged jumps on the table and runs on over to Scorpio. The that's actually a bugbear, not an orc. The bugbear is going to try and grapple you. So decks or strength saving throw. 19. OK, he goes to grapple you. You bat it off with both arms and flex, kind of flex yourself out of his, his grasp. Uh-huh. All right, your turn. Yeah, no, again, punch. Punch. Well, is question before I make this decision, I just need to know how if I pull out my sword, am I going to get kicked out of the bar? Well, I mean, you can see that some weapons are pulled out. You can see that they're doing it non-lethally, though. You know, they're making sure to bop with the handles of their swords and hit with the weapons and such. Then abs, absolutions. No, no, no, fuck. I'm not wasting absolution on these fuckers. Retribution is coming up. All right. Yep, that's a smack. All right, on the bugbear. And Echo Dad is going to move to get Scorpio a little flank. OK, awesome. These two will get attacked up on Echo Dad if they. Oh, don't worry, the halfling is not worrying about you. The halfling is worrying about punching these two that he was playing cards with. I forgot that I'm not fighting them. He does get attacked up. OK, get attacked up. Attack of up. Ooh. He does puff into a black smoke. Well, there goes Echo Dad. Listen, I can't handle that today. Well, then I still have my bonus option, yeah? You do, yes. It's not worth wasting. I was going to radiate consumpt, but I don't think. Well, no, that'll hit the K2, too, actually, won't it? It will, actually. Yeah, no, fucking bump down. I'm becoming a lighthouse. All right, lighthouse time. I got to take some damage for it, but I'll become a lighthouse. The corner of the tavern lights up and kind of blinds everyone as the place was kind of dimly lit. And now on Scorpio's turn, he's going to try and do the same thing to the Warforged. Yes, he lifts the Warforged and just kind of like suplexes him into this table right here and breaks it. Nice. And he calls out to you, come on, Luna, we're getting out of here. I'm coming. All right. And now it is the bugbear is going to try and sweep your leg. Oh, no, he misses. OK, he goes to sweep your leg. You just hop out of the way. And now the kanku just starts to just cover his eyes. Ah, come on, get her. And he starts to run. He pulls out a dagger, runs, and bashes into the wall. Now it's your turn, Luna. Yeah, no, I'm just going to like blow a kiss this fucker and I'm gone, bye. All right. It'll give and tack him up, but I'm still. OK, you don't want to disengage or anything? Oh, yeah, no, that's actually, let's do that. Let's disengage. Sorry, I don't know why I thought I was running further than 30 feet. All right, yeah, you exit out of the bar as it starts to ruckus and rummage, and we're going to go to the next person. We are never going to be allowed in there again. Well, at least we got to go to dinner like I wanted to. We actually got to dinner tomorrow. Next is Nathaniel. What are you doing? Is it? Oh, it is. Yes, because Renee rolled a nat one and she so not one on initiative. Yeah, she goes last no matter what. Very good then. Very good. In that case, I'm going to be making my way over to the place of which I forget the name because the page is not directly in front of me. The unwritten shores. Yes, you're going to go to the most fancy in that there is. Yes, correct. Now this place does have courtesans and spa and massage. All of those things sound amazing. Tell me who fucked the dragon. You walk in and you can see this place is pristine marble. You can see a reflection in the floor and you can see some very well dressed individuals in there, including one you recognize. Motherfucking. And you can see that when you walk in. I don't like anybody I recognize. You walk in and you can see that there is a hobgoblin back turned to you while he kisses the hand of a Triton man. And the Triton seems to be enjoying himself until he notices you and then he lets out a visible cough. And the hobgoblin kind of looks up from the hand for a moment. Oh, what does he matter darling? I thought you loved our little heartfelt goodbyes. I'm waiting for the Triton to finish his sentence. The Triton just like coughs again and then points back towards you and then the hobgoblin turns around and he just like his feet like start to just like spin wildly as he's trying to find a place to go. And you recognize that this is right here, your little informant. Ah, Mr. Gainsby. I was simply butchering up this client. Yeah, he was giving me some information about the whereabouts of the... I'm not interested in that. But now that you're here, have you thought, have you, I assume you were not prepared for my arrival? No, I was expecting your arrival. In fact, I was expecting that you would come here without Miss Rene because she was fired, yeah? I raise my eyebrows. Ah, that was a test, that was a test. He's sweating buckets. That was a test to make sure that you were not an imposter. You know, you did save me a bit of time because I was going to come see you. That said, this conversation is wasting the bit of time that you have gained me. I'm going to get a room. I will be at the office. Actually, considering we're having a conversation now, is there anything else that I need to be made aware of? Oh, yes, your two new employees came in. Oh, oh, yes, them. Fantastic. Send them my way when you get the chance. Put them to work doing something. In the meantime, I'm going to get a room. Ah, yes, sir, Mr. Gainsby. Is there anything that you need from me? No, not at all. I like, so first of all, I don't expect that he needs something from me, but I'm going to stare at him as if there is something that he certainly does need from me and he is forgetting. You want to give me an insight for that? I want to know what he said. I want to know what he says. You stare at him. You can give me an insight or an intimidation if you would like. Luckily for me, I will be rolling intimidation. I would like just maybe a second with my client to say goodbye if that's okay. What, of course, yes. I don't know why you would even need to ask for that. Oh, I hope you have a nice rest, Mr. Gainsby. Ah, that reminds me of one other thing. And I'm going to take my hat and yellow jacket off. There's a tear on this. I've been stabbed by an axe recently. I'm going to need this sewn. If I can see the stitching, then I'm going to need it redone. And I hand these to him. Yes, yes, Mr. Gainsby. I will do it at once. Very good. All right, I'm back to your business and I'm going to give the Triton a bit of side eye. You can see that he kind of waves his fingers at you and bats his eyelashes. I pay him no mind. I have no time for thoughts. Awesome. You head up to the front desk and you, I assume you pay for a room, yes, 10 gold pieces. Ah, yes, I'm going to put 10 gold pieces on the table, slide them forward, do not say anything. And would you like to pay the additional two for special surfaces? Yes, I would very much like the spa. The spa. The other things can be given the next person that enters this building because I do not want them. Massage, no thank you. People touching me, gross. All right, you are given the spa. You are given a, your own kind of like tiny hot spell style room within your room that leads into an open pool with knobs and levers to change the temperature as you so wish and various different additional, you know, shampoo bottles, soaps and all other kinds of appliances that you can apply while you bathe. And with that, because of such a, you know, a fancy place that you stay in it, you paid for essentially an inspiration for being so well rested. Beautiful, I'm going to lock the door behind me and I'm going to sit in the middle of the room and in a bit of an OCD fashion, I'm going to take all of the books and pages that I have found and I'm going to lay them around me exactly like evenly spaced apart in a circle so that I can look at them, or not in a circle, in a semi-circle. I do not have eyes on the back of my head as much as I'd like to. Right. So that I can just look at them and stare at them all and start to try to put together this mystery that is staring me in the face. And honestly, that is, until those other two arrive, that is all I have to do. Okay, you stare at it for a little bit and since we still have time, after about, say, an hour or so, deducting, deducing, connecting the pieces together, you do hear a knock on your door. Who is there? It is me and your two new employees. Fantastic, I will open the door and I'm going to scoop up all of the pages and walk over to the nearest table, the nearest desk, I'm going to open the drawer, put them in, close the drawer, and then to the door I will unlock it and open. And are these the two people from the beginning? They most certainly are. You see the human Cyril and the tiefling Julius now dressed in witch-taker robes, very similarly to the ones that Raheer is in. And you can see Cyril gives you a nice wave and Julius just kind of like, without changing his face, just a little scruffed up. He just says, hey boss. I offered Julius a berry. No, no thanks, I ate before I got here. Fantastic, enter inside and I turn and expect them to follow. All right, yep, they follow along through. Raheer, is there anything else that you need from me? No, I think I will be going back to the office now, making sure that your hat, I'm making sure that there's not a single stitch out of place. Fantastic, you do excellent work, presumably, farewell. And he closes the door and heads back out. As for the two of you, a gentle reminder that this business that you are in right now is reflective of mine. If something unfortunate were to happen to me, then that would reflect poorly on you as a result and vice versa, of course. The business that you were partaking in before with your previous employer, we will not be doing that any longer, you understand? You can see that Cyril just like nodding his head intently and Julius doesn't say anything, but you can tell that he's listening in. Yes, it is quite unfortunate, the state that I found the two of you in. But I think that you can make it up for me very easily. See, there is a man that I'm very interested in learning more about. Who is that? Well, I've had my eye on him for quite a while and unfortunately, as the more I learn about him, the less I understand. So the two of you are going to hunt for information. You'll need to take the coats off because this is going to be off the records. You see Cyril just kind of like shaking a little bit. Is that legal? Oh, certainly. Looking for information is perfectly legal. We aren't going to be doing anything that breaks the law, but I would prefer it if this person was not aware that I was looking through their past. You can see Julius speak up. And who exactly are we investigating, boss? His name is Enoch Solomon. Oh, shit! That's where I will end my section. It is perfect because that was 10 minutes. Wow. That was deliciously timed. That was amazing. Okay. Yes. Next is Renee. Hello. Please excuse me as I had to scream into the ether. Renee, you are heading to, where was it? Got to pull up. I've got so many things. You're going to- It's okay. It was the happy medium. It was the- Dukesyn, yeah? Yeah, Dukesyn. Dukesyn. All right. Yeah. You head on inside and you can see that there's kind of a party going on. Oh, is there? I like the party. Yeah. And you can see that there is one person kind of like on one of the tables is singing something and while the room's kind of clapping and stuff, you can see that it is a bugbear of some kind. She's dressed in very elegant clothing. You know what? I could use the extra coin. I'm going to go ahead and start harmonizing with her. You start harmonizing. By the way, this is how she looks. And she stops and the look of disgust crosses her face and looks at you. There she is. Ma'am. And the entire tavern goes quiet. Oh. I didn't realize it was being that loud. And she thinks that she can just join in without being invited. Mike, the ultimate question. Do I go in sassy or do I go in soft and innocent and gentle? I'm going to play this off. Renee will give the dough eyes and just say, oh, I'm so sorry. I could not help it. You're just singing so beautifully. I just could not help myself. I deeply apologize. She kind of like just blinks her eyes a little bit like, oh, what was me? Do I make you roll for that or don't I? Probably not. So I think there's some. Dare. You know what? Your choice of, I don't know. This is a performance, I would say. She steps down from the chair or from the table and just kind of like walks up to you. Oh, as no worries. There's no need to be so sorry. I'm sure with a voice like yours, if you give it maybe two, three decades, you could probably make it a little bit better. Oh, I very much appreciate your advice. Can I ask what your name is so that I can make sure to drill it into my mind when I make it? She got this little smile on her face like squinting, doing scrunchy nose. She extends one hand. The name's Rotak. And I am these people's favorite songs she's here. Thank you very much. And I would thank you not to interrupt me next time. Oh, but of course, but of course, she will take her hand and kiss it. Oh. And just look up like once again, I deeply apologize for my misdemeanor. She takes it back like jerks it backwards and you can see like her face goes bright red. You, you, and she starts to take a few steps kind of around you in and the band starts to play. Oh, are we gonna get a fucking sing on? She kind of like taking a few steps around you, a few gestures, clapping, turning, throwing her arms. It's a dance battle. It's a fucking dance battle? Bitch, you're on. Do the robot. Jokes on the blue. You'll be amazing. I still hear me this. The man just like sees this motion and immediately like picks it up in like a fluid motion, like not letting her make it all the way around before spinning and meeting her in tandem. Oh, she like kind of like tries to get out of it, but unfortunately your moves are too smooth and she knows that if she steps out of line that she is going to mess up the entire performance but she tries to take the lead anyway. I'm gonna need you to make a charisma saving throw. Oh, bitch, it is on. Yes, bitch, bitch. You can see she's trying to jerk your hand and leg to go a certain direction that she wants, but you are the one in the lead now. Instead of her being able to pull me, I'm spinning her around and dipping her. Oh, you dip her low around the audience and they all just kind of like ooh and ah, and you can see that she is completely flustered now as you pull her back up. Get it ready. And then she just says, maybe she just leans in closer. Maybe with a few more years experience you can catch up to my moves. She will just continue to spin her. Just like soft enough though, like it's in her ear, like almost blowing into it. You can see that she is very much struggling to try and find her way around this and eventually starts to step in tandem with you. Kind of cooperating. Yes, bitch. Yes. Yes, bitch. She shoots you a sly look. This is how her day finally gets a girlfriend. She shoots you a sly look, not necessarily a friendly one, but just kind of like challenging you and does a fancy flourish of her own dancing across a table, kicking off foods and plates and kind of various different silverware and stopping at the end of the table with one last flourish and pose. She's challenged you. Challenge accepted, bitch. I am going to get up, but I am going to try and avoid the food because people are paying for that shit. Fucking Renee to consider what I do. So I'm basically trying to get as close to as I can to this stuff, practically just like leaping from table to table. I'm gonna need an acrobatics check for that. Oh boy, oh god, acrobatics, oh god, okay. That is great, but better than I expected. You step around the food, your step and movements flow a little bit less so because of the results and you can see that she chuckles a little bit under her breath and she cast a mirror image on herself as three copies go around and dance around you. Listen, she's trying to distract you. Jokes on you, I've been doing this forever. I am going to, I'm basically going to try and disperse each one by spinning them around the room, basically like taking one of the mirrors and like spinning them away. Okay, I'm gonna need an attack roll for each one. All right, two more. Ah, no. Okay, one more. Okay, so you throw one, you throw the other, they both dissipate and the third one you reach for it but it's her real hand and she grasps you. She's now in control and leads you along hand forward except it's not a forceful one this time. You can see that she's playing along with you. Oh, you know what? For shits and giggles, I'm gonna give her inspiration. Oh. She feels her everyday's hand trickle down her back is like, all right, you're playing nice. Let's see what you can do. Let us see indeed. And she leads you to the end of the table, kind of like the hands grasped and like leading the way, you know, like that little heart charge. We'll let her take the lead. She leads you, you step in tandem and she throws you up into the air, jumps down to the floor and catches you and you pose. That was the perfect timing of the music too. Just poses as well. Just full on poses with it, with her too. The tavern erupts in noises and cheers and clapping and she is panting under her breath and she looks up to you and gives a little smile. Hmm, it seems I've misjudged you. Like I said, I was sincere in my apology, though I appreciate the response. Hmm, she puts you down on the floor. I didn't get your name. My name is Renee, it is a pleasure. Hmm, a pleasure indeed. I do hope to see you again, Miss Renee. She steals a glance down low. Down low. Yeah, you can see that she looks down like very briefly before meeting back up with your eyes. Just raises an eyebrow, like what the hell is that? She turns and brushes your face with a kind of her ponytail and walks off kind of up the stairs to her room. Okay. I'm so for this, give Renee a girlfriend, please. I should, okay, let's fucking go, get it, get it, get it, let's fucking go. No, that was just fun. Did anyone drop any coins? We're all getting the romantic relationship that we want today. Renee's getting a girlfriend, I'm getting a spa, Enoch is getting God. Can you really call Alter God? Luna is getting back alley violence. With my boyfriend, so you know it works. Yeah, it works out. So it's getting romance. As far as the gold that was tossed to you, you got enough to, so you don't have to pay for the room anymore for the gold toss for you. Yay! See how much do you get? I made my money back, that was three gold. Yeah, that was three gold, so you get an additional seven. Yay! Woo, nice! Okay, and next. Oh my goodness, yay! We go back up the round to Enoch, who you're sitting there, and you're waiting for Alter to appear, and after waiting for quite a while actually, and you start to drift off due to boredom, he finally speaks up, what is it you want? We need to confer on the new design. Well, finally I get to have some fun. Whatcha thinkin'? If I have a question. Go on. Deep inside both of us, there is something divine. You only showed after my arm had been cut off. You've mentioned that you were the will of Erethas. And? For as long as I've known you, you have been my oldest friend and my greatest enemy. And as a result, I have kept us, kept us alive. You have, I won't deny that. I won't run from it. I will admit these past several days have been very conflicting for the both of us. We've never faced this much pushback, have we? Not in the past. As time goes on, more pushback will appear. You must stay stalwart. Alter, do you trust the others? Not one bit. Why? You sense a cold feeling wash over you, and he actually takes quite a bit to respond. Are you questioning the word of the great builder? No, I'm questioning you, because I'm even questioning myself. So you are a subsequent to that. Then you are a fool. You are every part that I've denied. Everything about me, the things I don't want to be, the things I reject and refuse. That is all parts of you. Because you have to be. As you said yourself, you are a tool of Erythus. We are a tool of Erythus. And so we must not question her word. The great builder has a path for us. If we stray from it, you already know what happens. I will fall. Very good. Now, shall we? He reaches into the bag and he begins to pull out of a piece of paper and begins to draw up the next design. The design name will be known as the gavel. The gavel. And yep. OK. And do you let go of the reins? I pretty much have sketched out a majority of the basic design. It's major components, but understanding that there are flaws. I let go and have Alter take a look at what needs improvements. All right. Yes. Your eyes light up, your wings sprout out from your back and the entire church is brightened by your presence as your hand moves with an instinct of its own, adding corrections, changing marks of the design, putting in new mechanisms, new pieces, new parts until eventually it's finished, except not quite. There's something missing. You can see the gestures in your hand move frantically with frustration and they slam on on the floor or the desk, whatever you're writing on. And you can hear kind of through your mouth Alter's voice. This ain't right. Something's missing. The reloading mechanism is not exactly the most. No, no, not that. It's you. You have a conflict in faith. Have I not given you everything that you desired? Have I not allowed us to perform of Aritha's word? Almost as if to kind of step across ethereally from this individual. Mm hmm. You haven't given me everything I want. We both know that fine. Well, until you figure out what's in that little teeny brain of yours. This design ain't going to work. But by all means. Try it if you must. See how well it goes. And he fades back into your subconscious. And you can see a nearly finished design of the gavel. It looks like any professional looking at this blueprint would say that it is a well done enough rifle that could probably work. There's a sense that you have in your brain. But it's not quite complete. Can I dig deep in understanding any of my previous designs? I want to see if I can. You can either give me an arcana. Or yeah, yeah, probably an arcana based on your arcana stat, not a role. I have a plus five to our class five. Holy shit. Yes. OK, with a plus five and arcana, you know that there's something missing from this and that something is sold. In an abstract sense that you put your heart and soul into making your inventions, but this one's missing it. And it's like the soul has been shattered and split in two, just like what Alter said, a little inner conflict. Well, and he looks to what is probably a small statuette of Arithas herself in the in the church. And not talking to Alter this time. And what is this trying to talk to the goddess herself? I am lost. In the matter of days, my entire being, my thoughts, my realities, my loyalties have been pushed into question and not even an hour ago that I find out that the one person who had all the answers is gone and has been gone before I even knew that she was a part of all of this. Some grander scale. I have allowed everything to be what you want it to be. But there is a piece of me, a piece of me that wants something that is mine and I am conflicted. You feel wind brush on your face and a gentle voice whispers in your ear. Inaudible. The brief moment passes by your ear. Don't tell me to do what is right. Tell me to do. What is best for me? Just once. Please. And at that moment, you feel a very soft and cold caressing around your shoulders. But there's no one there. And after a brief moment, it's gone. Next, we can go to Luna. I was going to say I was going to go to bed after that. Ah, you're going to go to bed. OK, awesome, awesome. So that will end Enoch's night. Jesus Christ. OK, what the fuck's going on in your head, Enoch? God. Everything. You don't know. I'm glad I'm not dealing with that shit. Yeah, no, you better be happy. Luna's not there. She'd be yelling right now. All right. So, Luna, you had just jogged a little ways away from the tavern along with Scorpio and kind of laughing along the way as you're making snide comments about his old employer. He didn't rough you up too bad, did he? Oh, no, no. His his bark is worse than his peck, trust me. So that's who you were working for this entire time. Yeah, he's a right. I don't know if you'd work for that. He's a right shit. He wouldn't let me go. But hey, I don't work for anyone anymore, except me. And what are these plans of yours? Well, I heard there's this monster hunter from the jagged peaks that came into town. And I heard that she's got a good sword arm on her. I think I might look into a teaming up with her. I think I'll take the reins every now and then, you know. I mean, it hurts when you're trying to be funny. And she kind of like nudges his his arm with her elbow, very clearly joking. And then she's going to take his hand as they're walking. Yeah, you walk along down the path and have a, you know, yeah, go on. Well, hopefully she'll come back after this. I'm not in town. I'm not in Chesterville long. We haven't left the country yet. Yeah. So about that, am I allowed to ask her where you're going? It's not the book's job. It's not one I'm really allowed to talk about. But I want to look around how many people you can see that a lot of most people aren't paying you mind. It's like, it's not that dense. You know, people strewn every now and then like you walk. There's like maybe five people a block. Well, then Luna's going to be making a conscious effort to keep her voice down. And I think she's going to switch to speaking in Elvish for this. Ah. No, no, no, no. She's not. This is not the character I have that speaks Elvish. I see every other character I have. No, she only knows another language. She doesn't know Elvish. All right. Sorry. Uh, then she's going to just keep her voice down. High ranking official asked us to do some looking into on that group, the one that's going around in the rows. Ah, his eyes light up a moment. You're going to Clofway. Yeah. Are you sure that I can't help in any way? I'm not sure I want you in this kind of a fight. And she kind of gestures to like the abdomen wound. This wasn't from them, but it was from somebody who's tracking them. And I've pissed them off a bit, so. Hmm. And I thought I was good at that. I found the one that also did what they did, Gignazzo. He stops for a moment and just like kind of grasps your shoulder. Who is it? A low life he broke out of prison and decided that my father's body was a tool to be used. Not a normal person. I hope you gave him a right thrashing. Oh, I did until... Have you heard of that individual that the one in the armor thawed on? Have you heard of that one yet? The one that's going across the countryside. Yeah, of course. I hope I never get a job that's lined up with his. Well, I ran into him. He wasn't that happy about it. Ah, and I... I guess this is the results of your friendly little conversation with him. He didn't like that I kept him from going after one of ours. Hmm. Is he hunting you? I don't know. It's just happened. Like, not... not even... not even six hours ago. Oh, I've been in a... What's going on? I've been in a tight spot, Luna, but nothing like you're dealing with. But what I do know is weapons. And I do know a fair few bit of places in town that can get you prepared for what you're about to go through. Who? Yeah. I think I might get you an early birthday present. You don't have to. That oil has already been incredibly useful. Oh, he kind of scruff... Scruffs the back of his hair. Oh, it was it. I was a little worried, honestly. You know, Northern Alchemy can be a bit weird. Oh, no, it was wonderful. I have something for you, actually. For me? And, uh, I'm going into my inventory and I'd like to take out the rock with the googly eyes. It's rock Johnson. The boulder! The boulder! The boulder! The boulder! You take out the boulder. The rock with the googly eyes that you got all the way back from Gricky. I'm hiding it. I'm hiding it. I'm making sure you can't see it yet. So, uh, I feel kind of bad that I made that remark about your goldfish. So, I thought maybe you could have something that's a bit more durable and I'd present it to him. Oh, you've got me a... Oh, this is so cute! This is so fucking cute! He leans down and kind of just kind of scratches his chin a little bit. And he smiles. You have a wonderful story behind it, I promise. Well, this is a smaller golem than I was expecting. And he takes it from your hand and leans in and gives you a smooch on the mouth. Thank you. I love it. I'll be sure to feed him every day. You betcha. He has a lovely story. I want a small comic of this. I really do. It will happen. Don't worry. I, uh, in the district, the one that got attacked in the capital, Paul Goblin Merchant was trying to make some coin and he was selling this. Really, a wonderful person. I think he's going to go far. Wow. If I knew I could make coin-selling rocks with eyes on him, I would have become a merchant long ago. Well, admittedly he was embellishing a few truths, but as soon as we bought something, he kind of broke down about everything and felt terrible about it. All things down on his luck. Well, I don't think we're going to be able to stay at that inn. Perhaps not. You've got anywhere else in mind? Yes, I was honestly just swinging by there to see if you were there. Renee is very adamant that we should not be staying in the city's place imaginable, so we're actually at the Dukes Inn. Ah, Dukes. I can probably afford a room in there. No, Ari, I've got it. Are you sure? You've already gotten me this wonderful present and he lifts up the rock. I don't know if I could ask much more of you. Well, I mean, I was assuming I'd be paying for a room for both of us and I'd use you as a pillow tonight, but you know. And she just like nudges him. Well, I'll have to take it up with my sleeping partner. What do you think? And he lifts up the rock and he kind of tilts it, mockingly. Oh, well, as long as she's okay with it and I'm okay with it. I regret giving this to you. I'm going to have a lot of fun with this. Oh, I know. I'm going to be hearing about this for the next 30 years. Oh, so pessimistic. I was thinking longer. And you guys continue to walk your way back to the tavern. And I'll say about there. OTP! OTP! I told you guys I was saving the rock for something. Dude, that was beautiful. That was beautiful. Glad. It's like just two hands and a googly-eyed rock in it. Yes. Yes. So next, Nathaniel, I assume you're waiting on information from your employees, right? Because I will say that it will take longer than the night for them to find anything. Right, that's fine. I do want to specify a few ground rules so that these two aren't just bumbling fools getting me caught in everything that I try to do. Right. I imagine that they aren't adept in the world of information gathering. Yeah, although they have been taught a little bit by Rockier, they are still learning their newbies at this. That is not a vote of confidence. Right. So what is your first step going to be? Well, the first thing is probably just kind of ask around some folk. I know there's a church of erithists, so they probably know better things about him, right? A fantastic plan. What do you do when they ask why? You can see that Julius pipes up. Probably say that we're, I don't know, newcomers. The religion want to find salvation and all that. How did you hear about Unok? They both scratch their heads and look at each other and shrug their shoulders. This is a very simple trick that can be used when trying to gather information. You see, always have at least two layers of alibis. A stupid person will be tricked by one. A smart person will be tricked by two. You are asking around because Enoch has either directly or indirectly helped you in the past. I imagine that this is a person who does it quite often, so they may forget faces. It's more, it's easier to say indirectly. The church itself could have helped, or you could have heard the wonderful heroics of one Enoch Solomon and wanted to learn more. And then when they ask why, you can say, because I want to be a hero like him. You can see that Cyril kind of claps. Ooh, I like that one! And Julius, oh sorry, gone. You do not give this information willingly. You wait for them to ask. The best part about an alibi is that it is ready when you need it, and you do not have to use it if they never ask. Julius just kind of crosses his arms. And what if they ask Enoch, this Enoch guy, to back up our claims? Exactly. Then you say you've never met him personally, you've just heard the stories, and you want to be more like him, yes? And then when this Enoch person sees you, they will of course be suspicious. If I said that you were my hero, you would be suspicious. People don't expect themselves to be as important as they are. And if this Enoch guy sees us and recognizes us, I mean he was there when we were closer to the border. You do not allow that to happen. Firstly, you do not go out in giant yellow overcoats. Most people see that as a sign that they should be looking towards it. Not many things wear stark yellow. As for the man himself, perhaps you'd be best wearing something more inconspicuous. Not a shawl or a cloak or something that obscures your face. The easiest people to spot in a crowd are those that are trying to hide from it. But there are many people inside of Chester City. If you do not want to get caught, perhaps avoid places where he is going to be. Such as the church. There are plenty of people who are helped by Enoch Solomon. He is what is called a vigilante. My hope is that we can find some information about his past that would make it easier in case our paths cross on opposite ends. They both look at each other and you can see Cyril doesn't like the look of that. But Julius kind of has a little sly smile. All right, boss, you got it. Two alibis. Make sure he doesn't see you. Don't look inconspicuous. Save the alibi for when you need it. No, do look inconspicuous, damn it. Ah, sorry. Still getting used to common. Don't look conspicuous either way. And you. And I'm going to point to the one that seemed to be having misgivings. Yeah, I got all that. No, but yes, always have that. Do you know why I have to be so careful about things like this? And I'm going to like walk closer to him. He is like leaning back as far as he can without falling over. Because I think people like you deserve a second chance. People like you are down on their luck. And if people like me didn't exist, people like you would be rotting in a jail cell. How generous. I'm not trying to intimidate you, I'm stating facts. Yeah, well, it's also a fact that lightning strikes and it's very loud and all that. But you know, I can't easily spook sometimes. Or perhaps you are going to need to work that out on your own. I'm not your therapist. Regardless, this is so that everyone can be protected. Your job previously doesn't make for good employment in the future. You can see that Julia's just nods and, you know, in approval. You know what, boss, you're all right. I am all right. Thank you. It kind of taps Cyril with the back of his hand on his shoulder. Come on, we got a lot of work to do tomorrow. Now, before you leave, empty your pockets. Huh? Why? Just turning your pockets inside out. All right, they do so. You can see one of them, you know, they've both got wallets. You can see that there's a dagger in Julia's pocket. Cyril has like quite a few notes. So you can see he's got a shopping list. Oh, cool. I'm going to look them up and down to make sure that they don't have any other pockets that they're not showing me. Nope, they have it all hanging out. Oh, fantastic. Okay. All right. Is there anything else that you will need? They both look at each other a little bit confused. No, I think that'll be all, boss. Good. In that case, the door's there. All right. And as they're walking out, like Cyril just look around. Hey, look at that, Julius. They got some special shampoo. And Julius just like pushes them. Come on, we're not here to look at things. Under normal circumstances, I would offer him the shampoo. But unfortunately, my hair, as much as I like to say it, does not stay luxurious on itself. You fool. Okay. He does need to do maintenance. He does need maintenance. I will close the door. This is a secret that stays and dies with me. I will close the door on them, lock it, when I hear their footsteps fade away so that they don't think that I'm locking it right on them, even though I certainly am. I will take back out the notes, look them over, and I will resume my studying. And that is all I will do through the night until I feel like it is necessary for me to sleep because I do not sleep. And finally, Renee, is there anything else you would like to do before then turning in for the night? Yeah. There is one thing I'd like to do as she's like getting herself ready for bed, just kind of like shoveling her hair a little bit, just like getting ready, chilling out. I would like to cast Sending. Oh, who are you sending to? I am sending a message to Lancel. Ah. Oh, no. I'm sorry. I'm sending a message to Lancel. What are your 20s? What are your 25 words? Cancel that, Joe. I wake up immediately and go killing it. Don't worry about it. You can't have everything. Don't worry about it. Calm down. Across the city, I cast. All right, I'm going to stop wasting your time. Calm down. OK, so 25 words. Don't be afraid. It's Renee. Letting you know we made it to Jester. Nathaniel is OK. Is Ruggerwood all right? You can reply to me. He does reply. This is unexpected. Ruggerwood is fine. Protectors left unexpectedly. Oh. They went towards Jester, not sure what their plan is. Oh, no. Stay safe. Aw. Um, I can cast it one more time before bed. Yeah, you want to do it one more time? I will do it. Um. Undosted. Thank you for the update. Unrelated not. What has Nathaniel said about me? Uh, he replies, he replies back. That you are a wonderful partner that he can rely on much more trustworthy than the rest of his employees. Huh. OK, with that I'm going to bed. All right. Well, listen, you got to warm up. You got to warm up to the more questions. But for now, we're just keeping it mellow, keeping it updates, you know. I will learn. I will learn who he is. And Nathaniel will never know. No, he won't. OK. And the first one up is Enoch. You wake up kind of in the morning, are woken up by the hustle and bustle of this city, just kind of outside, you hear people talking here and there. And you can see that Serene is just kind of dusting and cleaning things and not, and you have a blanket over you. Oh, whoa. And just kind of fold it over. On the bed and coming down and off. Oh, kind of just get ready. Get prepared. Put on the put on the equipment. And I go over to Serene. Moment with you, Serene. Oh, yeah. Yeah, of course. I came to a realization last night. I am in a conflicted mood. And of course, deposition would be a preferred method in order to get a lot off one's chest. All right, then. She stops and just takes a seat. She looks a little confused, but follows through. All right. What is it, Enoch? I have done things that I wasn't supposed to do. And I am also conflicted about a certain matter. Okay, well, let's unpack that. The first one, what did you do? I passed judgment on a necromancer. Not too long ago. Oh, well, I'm sure you had good reason. I did. I thought for a moment that I knew what was right. In fact, I had traveled from Belkanist to Ruggerwood to consider how my perceptions based off of what I've been told is right. And another perception that tells me what I should do is right. I passed judgment by letting him live his life by doing something better than committing himself to acts of dark magic and twisted ideals. Oh, she just kind of like rubs her arms a bit. Ah, I see. In that confliction, though, even though this individual, they are smart. Talented. They have a certain skill that I've come to appreciate. And in doing so, I've probably put that person in more danger and let them get dragged deeper into the muck. And is that the thing that you were conflicted about? It's not the only thing, but it's the thing that's been on my mind for a few days now. I've been traveling with this group on a mission. And they've gotten me to see things from a different light. And there is a deeper part of me that does not trust every one of them. And I have to agree with that part. Well, of course, we all have our reservations. I don't think you're wrong for not putting your entire trust in a stranger. And if I'm honest, I think there are very few people that we can put our entire trust in. Trust is a very, very strong and very demanding thing to have. But do you at least care for them? I care for one of them because they know what I'm like. They know what I'm dealing with. I can honestly say that you are nothing like me. And you probably have no idea who I am as a person. But I still care for you based on what I've learned of you from your mother and what Samuel has told me. He kind of pauses both the names because you can see him kind of squeezes arm a bit, the mental one. She lays one hand on your human arm. You know, have you ever wondered why Erythus holds the law and rules and civilization so much? To be quite honest, I only have my perception of things, but I am open to hear. Would you like a second one? I mean, she smiles a bit. I would enjoy a second opinion, yes. Well, from my studying and learning and teaching under your mother, it seems as though, you know, Erythus upholds the law and rules to protect. That is the origins of such restrictions. And to follow Erythus is not to follow her laws for their own sake, but to follow them to save those that would suffer. It seems that you have been doing that, yes, with your friend that you pass judgment, even if the results might not be preferable. That was the first time I ever done that. And that has caused this confusion. Well, true, but even so, something often even the superior judges sometime forget is one important teaching of Erythus, one I'm sure that you with all your fancy gadgets are familiar with, is that it's to seek out new ideas. There was a time when magic or technology was not such the norm, but with new inventors, including you, that was brought to the forefront. We've got new things now. And sometimes that includes new laws and perhaps changes to the old ones. Because even the great builder knows that change is inevitable. And that even the greatest construct, and she lays her hand gently, or rather, she lifts her hand gently over your metal arm, as if for asking for permission. He extends it. And that even the greatest construct will wear over time and require new parts. Who knows? Maybe some of those parts might prove useful and make even more new ideas. There's a slight ring in Enoch's head, it's he becomes a little bit more clear eyed, thinking about the design from last night to this moment. I need you to relay a certain amount of information back to Samuel. All right. And this is the part of the deposition that I am going to fear the most. I need you to refer to Samuel to not let go of those designs, if I do not make it back in time. Subsequently, I need you to relate to Samuel. There are two people that cannot be trusted in its medians. Do not trust Sandrell Meharian. The Vihanch? The Vihanch. Correct. She looks a little conflicted, but reluctantly nods. Okay. There's something deeper to what she's planning in this mission. And who is the second? The greatest liar of them all. Nathaniel Gainesby, leader of the Witchtaker Wizard organization. Very well. Nathaniel Gainesby, leader of the Witchtaker Wizard organization. Very well. I will make sure to do some sending. And she gets up and kind of starts to take a few steps and stops. And turns back a little bit. You can see that she's like, before she turns, she's like trying to hype herself up. And she turns around. Enoch, I feel free to decline, but I don't know what to do with her. Decline, but you never really got to see your mother. If you would like, I could show you where she rests. Would you also care to bring an arrangement of flowers if you'd be so kind? She smiles. Absolutely, and bows a little bit. And almost as if to look out into the distance. You can hear a few words going towards altar. There is a greater game being played, isn't there? The only game that's being played is on you and she, and that juror is a foe. You need to stop feeling so above it all, if you could. Come down to a human level for a moment, and I promise you, you'll save us a world of pain. No response. And then we're going to go over to Renee. Good morning. Renee. Good morning. Did Luna end up coming to the room at all last night and letting me know what was going on? I'm guessing she did, right? No, she absolutely did not. Well, I'm concerned, unless you stayed down in the bar after you had your little dance off and saw me coming back with Scorpio, I paid for a room with him, and I apologize. Well, Renee probably just went back up to her room to chill, so now she's concerned that she probably didn't sleep very well because Luna didn't come back after them getting a room. So she's going to go check with the front desk and see if there was a woman with the noxiously long blonde hair who came in last night at all. Noxious. How dairy. It's just really long. It looks like it would be a hassle. You can see the goblin woman behind the front desk, just like she's having a smoke. Yeah, yeah, they came in. They, um, she could have just, she could have just tried to find me. You know what? Thank you very much for the information. I appreciate it. Can you tell me what room they're in? Oh yeah, this one. And she kind of hands like a little card with, you know, their room number. Ah, thank you so very much. Um, and Renee is going to go to the room over there where they are. Okay, yes. Oh no. I don't want to wake up the entire hotel. That would be rude. What would you like to do? There are a lot of things I'd like to do. Um, I am going to just knock on the door. Okay, I guess, um, depending on, for now, we're going to lump Luna and Renee's initiative together. That's fine. And double their time, I guess. And yeah, Luna, you here knocking at your door. You are, you know, sleeping in the arms of Scorpio, who's still asleep and he just crumbles. Oh my god. Who is it? Room service. Oh god, damn it. She's not smart enough to know that you're lying. What? We've all even traveling together for a week. That wasn't Renee's voice. That was an accent. And Luna's half asleep. Oh, good. Yeah, no, she'll like reluctantly get up, let Scorpio sleep. Um, look up at the door. Listen to me, don't need. Oh, hi. Renee. Renee's arms crossed at the door. Did you have fun? I may have gotten in a bit of a fight last night. Oh, no, I can tell. There's still a little bit of splatter on your face, but it seemed like you were a little too busy to focus on that. Listen, we weren't, nothing like that was happening. Listen, we weren't, he wasn't going to be able to stay at that in. We just decided to get a room. I'm sorry. Oh, no, of course not. Just next time, please tell me because ironically enough, it leaves a little bit of concern and listen, I just wanted to let you know. I don't care who you do or what you do. That's not what happens, but I'm sorry. I should have, I should have come and told you. I apologize. I appreciate that. Now I am planning to go and buy maybe a potion or two. You are free to join me or you can go back to, she like leans over to check who it is. And Scorpio leads back. And Scorpio like turns just a little bit groggy and like, you can see his squinty-eyed and he sees you and he just kind of waves while slowly pulling the sheets up like above his chest. Renee just goes, oh trust, you don't need to do that. I've seen plenty more of that, don't even. He, his eyes go wide a bit. What, what does that mean? Nothing, she's messing with you. Nothing, go back to sleep. It's all right. And he just turns around. You can see he actively tries to wrap more of the bed sheets around him. Oh, but I know Renee just sighs and just looks at Lena. You're more than welcome to join me. Um, I just can, considering that at some point we're going to have to reconvene, um, might as well start with having at least two people together. Maybe try and catch up with the others. Well, there was one thing I needed to do before I reconvened with everyone. The guard that escorted us is in acquaintance of mine. And I figure for the way you are staring daggals into her, I thought she was going to bleed. It's a complicated relationship. Every relationship is complicated. This one is exceptionally complicated, I assure you. Oh, I didn't, I didn't say that it wasn't going to be exceptional. I just, you do you, if you want the company to fucking socially kick someone's ass. No, no, no, no, no, no. It's nothing like that. I just, I'm catching up with her. I didn't know she'd been moved to Chester. Ah, I see it, yeah. Surprise is on you, but that's fine anyway. No, no. And I certainly wasn't prepared to see her face, but... Well, here's a little trick from me. And she will look at Luna's hair and she will just kind of like, if you turn it this way and you maybe play it up into the monitor, you can look exceptional and also go in with a little bit of pep in your step. Give yourself a little bit more of a, and then I don't want to say intimidating, let's say powerful presence when you walk into her. I don't really care if she's intimidated by me or not. She wants it to catch up, so... Oh, well, I do. Fine, sure, sure. Luna, if it's not obvious, does not know how to do her hair. So, I guess she's... Exactly, which is why Renee's giving these tips. She like, she like clumsily tries to follow along and is chunky as fuck, but... I'll write, I'll write, hold on. She will like help Luna with her hair. I try to basically make her look really pretty and intimidating and like powerful, strong lady. You can probably give me just a straight charisma. Oh. Oh my god. Hello, ma'am. You look girl boss as fuck. Yeah. Your hair is done up. It's like a professional looking version of what you've already got, like with your ponytail like done up with nice braids kind of shortening it, but making sure that it's not too messy, you know? Well, seeing this done, she's going to go over, like kind of shake Scorpio's shoulder a bit to be like, I'm heading out, I'll be back. You can see that while you were... While Renee was doing your hair, Scorpio was actually watching intently and kind of like taking mental notes. He's going to want to help. I mean, if he's like taking notes, he's just like, I'll show you how to do it so that next time it can be you running your hands through her hair in a different context, of course. He puts one hand on his lip and like a thinking motion. Oh, I wouldn't like that. You're the only man in life who'd be allowed to, sir. So you're going to go do some business then? Seeing us in town. Oh. Are you sure you're going to be all right on your own? After what happened in Yetzu, I kind of would like to let him know. Well, he gets up a little bit and he kind of reaches for, for, you know, his clothes on the nightstand. If you need me, I'll be in the market district. Probably be there later today. Actually, have you ever seen a shop called Umlims? Umlims, Umlims. Yeah, I think I have. The crushery, angry old dwarf works there. Sounds about right. I have a message I need to deliver there. So I'll probably make my way to the district later today. Very well. Well, if you're already going to the market, would you mind if I join you? Not at all. If I am. Good, at least someone is not letting a poor innocent woman walk alone. She's like, Poor, poor innocent woman. I see what you can do, Renee. Don't even try that. She's just bad at her eyes like a whole. Renee, please just don't, don't do what you do to Enoch to this man, please. He, his eyes are darting back and forth. Why, why, what's she do to Enoch? You, you well eat too much. Oh, she, she has a habit of breaking people's minds. All right, well. Only the weak ones. But you'll be fine. Just beat, be gentle on him, please. She put my brain out. After what you did, that would be as gentle as a feather. I mean, look at him. She'll give him a kiss on the cheek and then head out. I'll see you in a bit. He just caresses your, you know, your cheek and ear as you head out. All right. Um, although Renee, could I have a moment? I just kind of need to, and he kind of like lifts his shirt and pants and like She's just like a really walking out hands up and surrender. Like, uh-huh. Yep. All right. Yep. Thank you. Get some. I imagine Luna just had her armor of like, and Luna just like had her armor. She slipped her boots on, put her armor over her shoulder. And was like, I'll just put it on the way. It's fine. Yeah. Okay. If it's all right, I'm going to count that as Renee's. I, are you mean Luna's? Because I don't, I don't mean. Actually you know what, that, that, that would be more. You keep going as, keep going as Renee. It's fine. Okay. Yeah. Let's keep going. No, no, no. You're good. No, no, no. Let's keep going as Renee. Um, and Renee, you head into the market with, uh, Scorpio after you get stressed and gets all those things ready. Awesome. Anywhere in particular, you would like to go like- Pots and pots and pots and pots and pots. Pots and pots and pots. Okay. Pots and pots and pots. You're too excited about this place. I just like being able to say it. Yeah, it is a very fun name. I can't. Pots and pots and pots and pots. At pots and pots and pots, it is a basic potion shop. So all manner of potions are here. All manner of, you know, basic general potions. I unfortunately did not make a proper shopping sheet for this. That's okay. But we are just going to go off of the potions and oils sheet and you are greeted by a warforged. And she, this was done by Kami actually. Yeah, Kami, this is one of yours. Yeah, it's one of mine. I love this interpretation of a warforge, Kami. And she waves you in. She goes walking with pots and pots and pots. My name is Yris. If you need anything, you can come get me at this front counter and I'll be sure to get anything from the top shell for you. Thank you so very much. Well, your healing potions just saw that I know. Oh, down the aisle. She directs you down and there are some, there are three sizes of healing potion, regular, greater, and superior. Cool. And in, respectively, their costs are 20, 30, and 45. Oh, fabulous. It's going to be a lot of money, but you know what? Oh God, I really want the bigger one, but that would be basically draining my man knees. I have another question for you. Virus, yes? Yes, of course. Oh, fantastic. Are these set prices or do you butter or just so that I know? We do butter, in fact. But you are adventures, yes? And Scorpio just like kind of puts his hands on his waist. Oh boy, here we go. I'm going to wait for her to finish, yeah. Perhaps you could do something for us. You see this business, it has had a few people scalping our materials earlier and aggressively so, and not in the most... Fucking scalpers. Yeah, fucking scalpers. Fucking scalpers. Fucking scalpers. Not that I was going to scalp this place. No, not at all. Oh no, that's terrible. And although I'm not one who is prone to violence, perhaps if you could teach them a little bit of a lesson to make sure that there is a free market here in Chester City, I might give you a little bit of a discount. Oh, but I would be more than happy to help. But of course. Here, I can give you some directions as to where their usual meeting place is. I usually have a man who gets our ingredients for us, but he is always stopped short by them. Oh, do not worry, I will make sure that it gets back safely. All right, and she gives you directions? As long as you keep... Yeah, as long as she keeps her end of the bargain, like... Yep, yeah. Well, I mean, if you would like, you can insight that. Yeah, no, I'll insight it. Yeah, go ahead. Ma'am, are you lying to me? So, with a fucking math 20, which is a 30. Math 20 math? Amazing. This is why your insight modifier is insane, okay? Yes, it is. Tell me what I need to know. This entire person's life, despite the Warforge exterior, you can tell that the way that she speaks and her cadence, she is relieved to finally have someone dealing with this problem. This is... You can tell that the way she talks about this problem, it's one that she has been dealing with for a long time and is exhausted and it seems like she'll do anything to have it stop. And Renee will just like, test her hand to her own chest, just like a very delicate way and sort of do like a small slight bow and she'll say, Ma'am, I will make sure until the Eye of the Witch take care, I will do my job well for you, as long as you make sure to keep him in your thoughts as well. And like, basically in the idea of like, if you spread the good word about us, I'll do more shit for you. The Witch takers are cool. I have heard of that name. Perhaps I might hire your services in the future if this goes well. That would be so wonderful. Thank you so much. Of course. I will be here when you return. Parfait. And basically like, I feel like Scorb your Caesar, like with this bright smile, cheers around, smile drops like, all right, bitch on a mission, let's go. He just kind of like shakes his head and kind of looks to the sky. Did I really even quit my job? And he follows. You don't have to do anything unless they draw some sort of something. I appreciate you at least being here for myself's sake. We're not going to try and fight them. I'm not running in there all willy nilly without a plan. Very well. I am your bodyguard, my lady. Thank you so very much. At that, like the smile isn't genuine as much anymore. It's kind of like a cocky. Yeah, yeah, you can see that he's playing the ball. He follows you through. Perfect. Good old sibling energy. Next, Nathaniel. How does your morning go? Well, first of all, I expect to have the luxury things that I have paid for the spa and being able to freshen. One moment, I need to turn this music down. I won't be able to monologue easily otherwise. There we are. I expect to have the spa and prepare it for me in advance. I'm paying for an aristocratic stay. I don't expect to do things on my own. But outside of stepping out so that I can take a bath and clear my head for a moment, I'm going to be stuck inside of my room studying these pages for as long as it takes for me to make a breakthrough, to learn something divine. You're going to stay there the whole day. Unless somebody comes to get me, I am not moving from this spot. Okay. This is what we need. If we are going to be spending a day in the city, I am going to be spending a day working. Okay, you work. You can give me the passive stat of a mixture between investigation, arcana, religion, and history. Arcana. Yep. What is your arcana? Five. Okay, with our arcana of five, you divine out of these pages that Kara Miharian is definitely studying some advanced like new type of necromancy magic that has never been done before. You know, things that are not only have been forbidden just because of Belkanis' laws, but have been forbidden for a long time and has never had a breakthrough, such as the siphoning she has discovered and most likely invented. Because that is not magics that are known to anyone. We are going to be giving the Belkanis wiki a whole lot of information today based on my stats. My history is a three. Okay, with a history stat of three, you know that there is a large gap of time kind of between each entry. So odds are she had been studying for quite a long time. You know that the history of Belkanis that her latest entry, what is the year on her latest entry? 172. 172. Oh, sorry, not, sorry, wrong one. I asked the wrong question. Her third entry actually, what is that? With Ninja, that's Ninja Abbey. Yeah, the one with Ninja Abbey. You know that this one was only a couple of years before the war was over. Through history, the war ended on year 135. Although, you know, 134 was kind of more like the tail end of the war, kind of like subsiding and toning down. Yeah, so the first three entries were that. Yeah, okay, good. Kind of before and then during the war, like leading into it. There's a lot of history, I'm sorry. That's fine. I've only got a three, so if you don't want to tell me like that there's a little bit more that you would know with a three. Okay. Just trying to think, because like trying to think anything that you don't already know. That's fair. A lot of my time that I've been spending in between everybody else's turns is I've just been going through and writing in all of the facts that I found from these things. So, like anything you give me, I'm still going to write down and I can cross-reference it with my Nathaniel's journal. Right, right, right. They're like keeping it to Google Doc. You would, you would also know that the spine of death appearing, this is one, you would know that the prominent, the first prominent mention of the spine of death in history showing up was like around 30 years ago. Okay, and that's, that's what you can get from history. I know I always ask this every time dates are asked, but what year is it? 216. 216, I need to write that down somewhere. I will, and I'm sure I will ask the next time. Anyway, okay. Religion is also a three. You know that the spine of death is not an accepted form of religion in any part of Belkanus, obviously. Thank you. Of course, although you do know with your combination of history and religion that there are some prominent, you know, spine of people who say they are part of spine of death, but also practice religion in other religions outside of Belkanus. No, in Belkanus. There are practitioners, I don't know if that's the right word. Basically, people who practice other religions while being in the spine of death, despite the fact that the spine of death is treated like a religion. I see, understood. That makes sense. You also, you also learn, you know, through the sheets of paper and, you know, the knowledge you've gotten from the various different parts of the research notes that you've gotten. You decipher that some of the rituals that the spine of death does are arbitrary and don't actually do anything. You know, for example, the like the berries, for instance, you know, you can see that some of the notes Kara writes down, you know, potential ingredients, Belkanus berries, don't do anything. That's fair. I mean, she said she writes them down as potential ingredients, not certainties. Yes, yes, yes. Which implies that somebody might be, which implies that they are making her a religion, not the spine of death, because if she says potentially and they're very certain about it, what changed in between that? Anyway, that's my own thought. That's just going to go into the notebook and be another potential thing that doesn't have a whole lot of backing to it. But is there anything else on the religion end? No, I think that would pretty much be it. Or maybe Bloodstride is the one that think, that's worshiping Kara Maharian as a savior. Things to worry about for later. All right. So my investigation is an eight. Fuck. Holy shit. And that is my second highest step. Hell yeah. Give me your secrets. With an investigation of eight, you can see from the wear and tear of the research papers that there is a significant amount more wear and tear on the Ninja Abbey entry compared to the entry right after. You can deduce that there are some missing pages in between. Not just in like, you know, not the same way as there are large amounts of time between the recent entries, because they are all kind of like equally worn down. You can tell that there are missing pages in between. I call the page right after Ninja Abbey the first descent into madness, although that will have to be changed if I find more descents into madness. Because this is the first one where it is clear that Abbey is dead and she is losing her mind trying to figure out how to cast true resurrection. You can also tell that these papers are authentic. They are the original actual sheets of paper, you know, like looking them over. The ink is real. The ink is real and authentic and faded. That was never a question. Ninja Abbey would never lie to me. See, what else? Shit. Sorry for turning my section into a lore dump, guys. I'm not being fun. I mean, somebody had to be productive. Listen, somebody has to get it. Somebody's got to do like, we were going to figure it out one way or another. I'm just glad it's here. Okay. All right. Anything else? Or are we good? Because I'm fine with like after this is over just tossing it over back to Luna and continue. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was trying to think anything else because like, is there anything you would like to specifically look over rather than just the sheets and like, because like I'm trying to think there's probably something I need to, I would tell you with an eight, but I just can't think if you like I don't know. So outside of these papers themselves, obviously Bloodstride wanted them. He recognized them. He there was some recognition in his eyes and I can't for the life of me figure out what like what that is tied to specifically. My biggest guess is like worship of some kind. I don't mean literally like he thinks she's a God, but like damn it. If only I could have a conversation with him. I can't. I will say with an eight with an eight investigation. I will tell you a few things that you may or may not have already known. Okay. One, Bloodstride clearly doesn't want you to have these papers. I kind of guess. Two, Bloodstride likely doesn't know about Luke. Three, Bloodstride is actively causing conflict between Balconys and Necromancers. Four, Bloodstride is his not his real name. It's a stupid name. It cannot be. You cannot be Bloodstride. I do not believe there is a Mr. and Mrs. Bloodstride out there in Balconys living their life. I'm more angry that his name is Pierce, honestly. I don't mind that. I mean if you're gonna name your last name Bloodstride, you may as well name your first name Pierce. This is a chosen name, not a given name. Pierce Bloodstride comparative to Stabbing Heba Globe and Ronin. It's still dumb. It's just, I'm sorry. Pierce is such a dumb name. No, Pierce is a great name. If you Pierce Bloodstride. Nah, that's good. I like it. Anyway, if I can think of anything, I'll just bring it back to you. I think that's all I can think of for now. That's fine. And he's hot. So I mean, you can really just do whatever. I'll say the next, the next time. You got me there. Yeah. All right. Oh no, he's hot. But I truly believe that the best thing, like the thing Nathaniel would be doing, even if it is a little bit boring for me personally, I am fine with it, is like he would be so wrapped up in his thing that unless somebody breaks him out of it, he is just going to be here for the rest of the day. I'll say ahead of time that someone will break you out of it once it comes back to your turn. No problem. Okay, so next is Luna. And Luna, do you know how to find Cena Steel Ward? I assume she's going to be at the Barracks. I saw her go towards them last night, so I assume I know where they are. Yeah. So that's, that's where I'm checking first. And yeah, you head to the Barracks and you can see that the elven woman in military garb is there and she is getting ready to ride off on our horse until she sees you and stops and kind of gets down. And she sees you. Oh, Luna, I was just about to go searching for you. No need. I, um, you said you wanted to catch up. I did, yes. I'm, I, um, perhaps we could walk and talk. Sure. She kind of leads you down a way that is not, you know, very populated. Uh, and she stays silent for quite a while and doesn't look you in the eye. Just looks forward and you walk for quite a little bit, quite a few minutes. You can see that she's clearly kind of like swallowing and fiddling with her hands. And she stops. Luna, I wanted to apologize. Me and your father, when you were young, I, what do you know about the Raven Queen? Luna looks taken aback. What makes you want to talk about this now? Because I'm afraid that I won't have another chance. I've already wasted so many of my chances. In the past, I don't want to waste another second. Well, I'm not gonna lie. I didn't really ever, I know her ideals and they align with mine somewhat, but I don't like to tie myself to anything. Godly, I'm me. I'm not anything else. She kind of goes out to reach for your shoulder but stops and just puts her hand down. I know, I know. You are. You are. And she just looks away. You can see that there's tears in her eyes a little bit. But it seems like even that is being challenged right now. Did you hear what happened? And yet, I did. Which is why I wanted to talk with you. I found the culprit. Did you? There's nothing left to recover either. When I got to Yetzal, weird things started happening. And I don't know if it's the queen calling or if it's something else. She goes to sit by a bench and kind of gestures for you. She'll sit with her and she'll take absolution. She then all off her back. That sword was given to your father by the Raven Queen. Why though? I don't, I don't understand why. I was so angry with him. I didn't listen so I'm sorry but I don't have any more info than you do. But what I do know is when he was on the battlefield when he saw her that day, she offered him a way to survive, to save his men, to make it out alive in exchange for you. I figured that out. It's not, it's not hard to make the connection. He claimed to have a divine, some divine contact and then he has a child like me. Yes, and that made me so angry with him. And the more I learned about who you became, I thought, I wondered, I was scared that you had become a pawn of hers, how violent you are, how much you take on this job to hunt monsters like you. You're doing- I don't do it because the queen wants me to. I do it because I want to. I know, I know that. And more importantly, I know now that regardless of what some blasted god had done to you or not, I don't know what she did, whatever the case, you are my daughter. And I was not there for you. And I am sorry. Now that your father is no longer with us, I have no one to blame for any more time I waste away from you. Is that why you transferred to Chester? Yes. I wanted to make sure to keep an eye on you and make sure you're safe without making my hand to push you in any direction you didn't want. Because you are right. Your choices are yours. And I am proud of you. You've become such a strong, beautiful woman. And although I am not keen on indulging in such violence and such, I know you like weapons and I was thinking perhaps we could go shopping together and I could make up perhaps for a few name days that I have missed if that would be all right with you. I know it's not much and material does not replace all the time that I've missed. But I would like to do this for you. Can I ask you something? Of course. What was Dad like before I was born? She smiles a bit and she clutches her first. He was stubborn and loud and obnoxious and dear and so he would always want to show off and and I loved him. Oh so much. I don't think he's gone. What? I don't know how to explain it but I don't think he's gone. The, I said the weird things that started happening in Yadzul. His statue is a wreck and as soon as I saw it I felt his sword go cold. This wasn't like, this wasn't like it, it cold as in the, the metal was cold. It felt like it was ice. Strange. And a few days ago I was angry and I was sparring and trying to get some aggression out and well you know what I can do. Yes. He, it, the visage stopped obeying my command. I got reckless and it hit me. Didn't hurt but it was enough to get my attention. And it was just like Dad was there again. Just like when I would get too angry and he'd knock me on my ass to get me to think straight and when that didn't work he'd reach out and touch my face and tell me to calm down. I don't know, maybe I was subconsciously wanting it because I was so angry but I don't think he's gone. When I saw the person who raised him, the cup blade went cold again. She just like slowly moves her hand kind of behind her back around your shoulder. She'll let her. And she leans you into her chest and says nothing but just lets you lay there. I don't know what to do. If he is there he shouldn't be, he should be resting. He's, he, he's done enough. He did enough. That man fought monsters in the pits until he couldn't even raise his sword anymore. He's done enough. He doesn't need to keep going and now it almost feels like I shouldn't even be summoning this thing in battle anymore. Perhaps there might be someone who does know. Who? Follow me. She grabs your hand and starts to walk off and we're gonna go to Enoch. Hey guys. Hey guys. Shit. Oh my god Luna found the plot. I guess Luna found the plot. I've been sitting on that one for a minute guys. All right so Enoch you. Oh bye. I assume you are following Serene to uh to the grave site of your mother? Yeah. Yes. Okay. Okay and yes Serene leads you along all the while telling you stories about your mother. You just find the stories about your mother. Her name was Seatora. She was well, well she found me one day when I was traveling into the city. I was in my teens and I'd just been walking, just walking. My home wasn't the nicest of places and but Seatora took me in, fed me, taught me and she mentioned you a lot. We've actually been keeping in touch with Samuel. I've been keeping in touch with Samuel but um I'm very sorry about this Enoch and I wish I could have done something to tell you before but they told me to never come find you. Said that Seatora could never come find you. Even though she wanted to and trust me she very much wanted to. Instead she just watched you from afar through magic eyes and letters from Samuel making sure you were all right. They never really told me why but she was quite the inventor. Some of the mechanisms that you saw in the church they were of her make. And there are a few parts that are not clicking with me. Putting aside my own emotional turmoil with the matter you seem to have a very vivid description of my mother. Yes. I was told that she was scared. No, no not at all. Well she did have some enemies. A few defectors from the original Church of Arithas that we came from. They called her a heretic. Said that her way was disrespecting and befouling the ways but that she was being too soft. Did she write down any of these things? Only to Samuel and Samuel was on her side as well. She fought alongside him against these folk well not literally but they tried their best to right the wrongs of the Church that she felt were befalling the people of Belkanis. Unfortunately this fracturing caused it to weaken in strength and result in the church that you see now. Do you happen to have anything within the affidavit records? Nothing aside from a few inventions which you are free to take as you wish. I think they are yours by right. All right. Before we get closer to the graveyard I kind of just take an open scope look around the city. Look around. What's your passive perception again? My passive is 14. 14 you look around and there you know some people having a nice time. You can see the odd beggar here and there. Few folk you also hear chanting and everyone hears this as well because like at some point during your day you hear someone chanting out Necromancy is not an abomination. The spine of death is a symptom of a greater problem. Belkanis' laws are get get off get and you can see you know you can hear that there are guards shouting out no thaumaturgy in the city and you know no thaumaturgy without a permit. You know pulling them down. Oh my god I love this. You can you hear you know a few crowds kind of hackling and shouting and stuff like that at the at the noise. A bit of a mess ain't it. Yeah there's been a lot of strife in the city as of late. All right and we enter the graveyard and I'm going to follow through in finding the the gravesite. Okay yep you do and uh let's see. She shows you and she gestures to a grave to a tombstone. Well here she is and you see a marked grave with a medium sized stone. The mark of erithus and ornate gears cover the name. You can see vines have been growing all around it a few mossy patches and um Selene just kneels down and lays a bouquet of flowers. You can see on the name uh Seatura Solomon architect of erithus date of death 199 17 years ago. Selene if I could have a private moment. Yes of course and she just walks off. You weren't scared of me. You were scared of the people around you for me. And I wish I knew you because I don't and I wish you told me. All I wanted was just to be with you just to actually know what it was like and for years because of you I hated the children who got to run around with their parents. The boys and girls who would go home to their parents. Men and women who I would put back together. Just with prosthetics alone just to see their child glow and it was all because you wanted to do what was best and you ended up making another man lie for my benefit. Deep in me I do love you but there is a great part of me that hates you and I hate you. I hate everything you were when you weren't there. But I love you because now I know better you're going to watch me continue this mission. Going to watch me finish your work but not because I hate you. Not because I love you but because I know what you were doing was right and that was not weakness. That was strength and I will no longer feel conflicted. And he goes up and he leaves behind another thing. Next to the flowers he lays down the broken sword that he got from Grick Yak. It's not pretty and it's not much but like all things that are broken they can be fixed. At this Serene just like walks up and looks at you. Wait Enoch um you um she closes her eyes and brushes off her blouse she looks like she's about to make a jump off of a cliff. You never really got to say goodbye to your mother and I am so so sorry Arithas saved me. Enoch would you like to? He gets up and he puts a hand on her shoulders. If I didn't get to say goodbye now if I didn't get to say goodbye to them I won't be much when I say hello when I do meet her. A little smile. I'll wait. I'll wait my turn. I'll take the long road the way I need to. Right now we have to continue her work and we have a job to do. She just uh just kind of like grasping her hands. Okay and then we're gonna go to Renee. No. Time to bring this back up to the Fun Shopping episode. How many tears are you gonna make me shed today Joe? With Renee you follow the the directions as given to you by virus and you find yourself in an alleyway of some kind and you can see that there is a cart and there is a merchant there and he is insisting kind of like no no no no okay and you can see that he is being held up with a sword. Ah! Oh no! Fun! Who is holding the sword might I ask? Who am I about to go and uh give a lovely performance to a very audience today. A very familiar face it is an earth genasi the same one that you saw back in the woods by ruga wood. Of all the people and I knew he was gonna come up here and actually actually have part of her now. Oh boy! I can't! Wow! No! She's hot! Fuck you! Is that just the shtick of love your world Joe? Everybody is attractive. Everybody is attractive! I mean you know that's fair everybody's beautiful in their own way so you know. Like with the sword and it's just like oh okay cracks oh no just face just completely drops like please over scope you. So slight problem um I might already know them and not for good reason. No I had one of these. Yeah no this is going to be a little bit of a different obstacle course. So do we need to sweet talk them or uh? I would say let's sweet talk first I think well not necessarily sweet talk but at the very least um show off a little bit of power um I basically want to make her look like a little beach that's going to be the plan. I like that plan and it's like and and if that doesn't work then you know she just hits her hand to her fist a couple times of like you know. All right let's take the lead. We're going to hop in this best one Wex. And Renee, dad fucking helped me I really hope this works. She takes a couple steps forward and takes a deep breath. You never seem to know when to let up do you. You you see her head turn to you a little bit and you seem to misinterpret the value of your daggers. She just raises an eyebrow she's like that was she just goes that was her own fault for not looking at it first. Listen that was not my fault. You swindling little bitch. She just turns the sword pointed at you. I merely swindled a swindler. You're the one trying to convince everyone you were helping them by robbing them blind. She lowers the sword a bit. All right you've got a point there. What are you doing here? My job because I actually have one of those and I do it well. Oh and I've taken your advice I've been taking my own job a big one. What is your job exactly? Oh come on. Can't give away secrets now can we? Oh come on I love secrets I promise not to tell anyone. Why are you really here? Like I said I am doing my job. Oh then I guess you wouldn't mind if any she drags you can see that it is a gnome from the cart just drag him to the floor and hold the sword up to his neck. You probably don't care about this lad she just raises her hands and surrender of like I mean do you really want to do that right here right now in front of witnesses that is your plan in the middle of a big city where you could easily get arrested this is your plan. She looks around and she sweats a little. I mean really have you seen how bright it is at night too? Where the fuck are you going to hide? You're putting yourself in a very tough situation. Miss I didn't get your name before. Castilia. Castilia very nice to meet you. I don't know if you are very much aware but my name is Renee I am one of the witch takers if you are familiar. I've heard of you. So you know what I do yes? Give me your choice of intimidation or persuasion. Persuasion motherfucker let's go I'm not even lying I'm just like ma'am you know what I do you know what I'm here for oh ma'am you know what I do you know what I'm here for arrest her ma'am you know what I do for a living she just kind of throws the gnome to the to the rocky floor and he just kind of crawls behind it just crawls skitters gets up into his feet and kind of gets behind Scorpio all right that is one step in the right direction good job congrats you found me outside my element so what do you plan to do now? I got you off guard where's the supplies I need those um is she in the way of them? She is she's standing between you and the cart behind her okay so that is one step out of the way I need to get the other things as well sorry about that but these are being procured by the protectors oh no I'm so sorry but what if I procure you procure you under intimidation possible murder and theft and then what are you little protectors going to do they're going to come break you at the prison and put themselves even deeper underwater that does not sound like a very good plan Castelia I want to help you let me help you would you like to roll in intimidation for that yes a roller for that one in particular like there's like there's like that image of just like it's a flat face of Renee there's nothing in her eyes and nothing in her mouth it's just no this is like particular sassy mode Renee she's like ma'am I am out here drew my thing I'm god I love the energy she brings so much guy this this is her and her element this is her zone you see that a few of the protectors beside her kind of like lower their weapons a bit and you can hear one of them just lean into whisper to Castelia hey come on this is a big city we've got a lot of guards here we don't want to test our luck she grunts whistles to her axe speak the axe big takes the reins of the cart and kind of latches on she hops on it and starts to ride off with it uh cool cool cool cool cool cool um let me look at my spell list we're faced uh who has the reins uh so she does she hopped on the axe speak basically you know the like sidebars that uh horses have uh like attached to them yeah yeah the bit in bridle yeah yeah yeah so basically one of her axe speaks pick that up she hopped on and is riding off with the cart basically she has the reins ah cool cool cool cool cool I don't have the spells that I would like for this moment um actually how far the car it's not that far away right you know what I might have a map for this here we go well we're okay yeah I have an idea a very interesting idea right now in my brain that I just came up with what a beautiful map yeah thank you this is an old what a beautiful map what a beautiful map all right what is your wonderful horrible plan uh I'm going to cast mage hand and I'm going to pull on the reins oh shit um I'm pulling them I don't care which direction I just want to slow that motherfucker okay let me see I'm think I'm gonna make her roll for that all right so you pull on the reins and she's just like don't get get let go and the cart just screeches like as the tire and one of the the nut tires wheels because it's made up with breaks off and she bashes into the building yep perfect okay I didn't have to do the second part of my plan I'm just gonna go run over to the fucking thing yeah and she bolts she she bolts immediately cool she's now a wanted criminal and I have her description that I can give to the proper authorities you most certainly do she leaves bye okay and that was pretty brief we can go back to the art that's all good that's all good I wasn't done giving the you a slower crowd okay and Scorpio behind you is just like well I was unexpected yeah no I was expecting a little bit more of a fight but you know now we can just report her to the authorities I guess you're right I mean they ran away from they've ran away from one of the sections of security that presides in Belkan is that's probably one of the worst things you can do so you know he just went to and well for her he just scratches a chin a bit you know I never really thought about that turned someone wouldn't idea what you know that's a lot that we could get into well you're a monster hunter a lot of the things that you fight not necessarily have the reason to go to jail or not yeah exactly normally I don't go hey this yet he was broken breaking the law he ate a few bodies usually doesn't work out that's fair isn't it so interesting when you work with people very interesting she's very proud of herself you have successfully recovered today it's a good day for an alchemy supplies next now we can give them back to my oh I will come for you get a wreck please please do because I am still inside of my hovel you are one thing that I had one thing that I had forgotten to mention and this doesn't have any bearing on like roles or anything I just wanted it to be another layer to the role playing I have a spell that I have never ever used because it's only roleplay friendly and so it's just never come up but while I am here inside of this room surrounded by papers not only am I worrying about Chandra and Kara and the Maharian sisters and what's directly in front of me I'm also intensely interested in bloodstride and thorn and the mystery surrounding them and the only thing I have to go off of with those two is my own mind and so as I think about them I am put pinching the side of my temple and extracting strands of memory using the encode thought spell oh okay and and it is only for the purpose of me like pulling all of these strands out and laying them in front of me just like the papers and staring at them being able to rewatch my own memories over and over yeah rewatching your memories with I'll say with an aid investigation you would notice that the initial first time that you encountered both bloodstride and thorn at the same time that bloodstride had a moment of of fear in his eyes before resorting resorting to an expression that you know all full well when he suddenly come up with a plan he improvised hmm during your encounter in rugged wood he didn't expect thorn to be here but he pretended that he did that makes sense that's what I would do so I you make a dangerous super villain yeah that's a good thing it's a good thing I'm on your side uh okay cool that's interesting to know yes um and you you do kind of looking over your past moments with bloodstride before it seemed like he was trying to convince you of the spine of deaths you know innocence maybe uh or maybe not innocence but you know trying to see things from their perspective but ever since the encounter in rugged wood he has constantly been vilifying himself vilifying himself like like basically playing it up oh i'm the big bad guy right of course what changed in rugged wood you mean with the encounter in thorn yes he's playing uno reverse what we do she's so he was how interesting like when you when you encountered him in the um the jagged peaks in the snow he tried to give his perspective the spine's perspective oh this is just training you know we're we're just you know doing all of this and trying to teach newcomers and all that but then in rugged wood onwards he's like yes please come at me show me how evil I am ah I see that makes sense that means that when we were fighting him beforehand he if not trying to recruit us he was at the very least just trying to show his people hey like no matter what I give them they're always going to be angry about us and I suppose that was that's still the play that he was doing even in rugged wood no matter what we do they're going to be angry at us so we may as well fight good play to be fair and now while you're studying and reliving your memories uh quite literally uh you do hear a knock on the door hey boss it's us I take a very deep sigh as my deep thought is disturbed one moment and I will organize all of my things I'll take all of my memories and wave like with a wave of my hand a bit of like pink light will shine over them and they will disappear into the ether the papers go back in the drawer and I walk to the door unlock it hey boss we found oh you smell nice it's Cyril and Julius I always smell nice don't I you know you make a good point and Julius just kind of like covers his mouth we got uh information on that Enoch fellow that you were talking about perhaps we should have this conversation with the door closed step inside hmm they step in and they hand you uh after you close the door that is and lock it yeah hand you a few notes kind of like some old newspaper clippings of the church of erithus being founded by uh a group you know of inventors uh and artificers and such one of the most notably seah Torah Solomon seah Torah how recently was this uh that was a while ago like uh let's see 40 years 40 years do you know how old Enoch is I don't know like in his 20s this woman could be his mother or someone else related distant me maybe one of the important things about investigative work is that you don't jump to conclusions but you still treat every assumption as if it were fact Cyril so that Cyril uh kind of lifts one finger oh yeah that's his mom I will raise my hand up and you're certain of this yeah well the churchgoers told us oh fantastic although it seems from what we heard that uh last few years before she passed away about uh 199 17 years ago she was acting real strange seems secluded didn't talk to nobody where was Enoch's father in this picture uh seems like uh nobody really knows maybe he stayed behind in the other country that they immigrated from not so sure did she have any reason to be distressed that you could find I don't know a lot of people a lot of people seem to not know about that just acted weird one day she simply acted weird well you've done a good job now but this doesn't get me exactly where I would like to be oh oh oh Julius can I tell him the thing I mean you're about to yeah uh so mr witch taker sir uh because you know the church of erithas is all religious and all that we thought you know maybe we could ask around their relationship with the other gods and all that yes and it seemed like they were accusing this Enoch guy's mom of being possessed possession I don't know I mean they seem very accusatory and they like to paint them in a bad light so I don't know how much that holds water they might just be being mean who was this exactly that was painting Enoch's mother in a bad light I thought you said that everyone else was very cagey on the subject of her depressive years well it seemed like another church of erithas a different sect yeah oh well they a different one they're at the same religion they were at the uh the temple of the Eternals temple of the Eternals all right I'm going to have to write that down and that is a location on the brochure perhaps I will make my way down there then for now good work you're going to want to speak to her here about payment and more importantly the next job if at any point you find yourselves uncomfortable with the line of work that I put you in feel free to share it I would be very happy to hear they both look at each other in confusion all right well uh you have a good day boss we'll keep snooping around see if we can't find nothing yes be careful do not want this Solomon person knowing about our snooping around yeah like a rat in a sewer and I wouldn't think it like that we are cleaner we're just trying to find the rats the old Julius ain't clean ain't you and he gets punched in the stomach by Julius we'll go we'll go look around I'm gonna I'm gonna like I like assumed that I positioned myself like between them and the door just out of hand uh before they take a step out I am going to look at Julius for a moment and I'm going to say Julius I appreciate you you're very to the point about things and the way that you behave implies that there's more to you than you're letting on especially considering your friend rats you out very easily to my dismay I think you'll find that your past does not matter very much with me what concerns me is your present that said if there is something in your past that I need to know about so that I can avoid the wrong people finding out about it I would like to know now before it becomes a concern well uh as long as we're airing it out and you're not gonna judge I am not the judge I'm just the cop keep they look at each other and you can see Cyril shakes his head and uh Julius just sighs Julius sighs there is one more thing I used to be a protector and I know that they're cooking up something big are they the protectors I've I've had a run in with them previously nice people very poor judging the worth of knives they look at each other and you can see Julius just shrugs and shakes his head at Cyril I don't want to uh as you say jump to conclusion so I'm gonna go look around maybe catch up with some old buddies find out for sure if they're going through with this plan actually as a matter of fact I would love to hear more about this plan Julius perhaps you could introduce me to some of your protector fellows I've come up with a very good idea you got it boss thank you for all of your work and as for you and I'm gonna turn over to Cyril yeah you have also done good work today you can see a smile he grins from ear to ear looks at Julius like huh let we hear now that you have done a good job and he will take care of you thanks boss and you can see that uh Julius for once kind of has a little bit of a smile and he kind of takes the this the opening parts kind of like the button ends of his jacket and kind of like tuck tugs at it a little bit stands a little bit taller and now we can go to Luna oh no so how long would you say you stayed on the bench before you went to uh after you've let it all out and uh I think she probably would have spent like like a solid 15 20 minutes just kind of talking her and her mother have not ever been able to speak like this and it's probably talking about nothing what she's been doing in the peaks probably talking about Scorpio just talking the entire time uh Sina would have been listening only asking the odd question here and there you know like whenever you describe a monster she would be like how how big was it um how long did it take only just asking further and getting more descriptions but listening intently you know that's a that funny little goblin fellows very interesting you see a lot of fine folk in belkinis he was delightful and the walls you say that they chase down this banana man well okay I don't know what else to describe him as the man wears the fluorescent yellow coat I have heard of him and although I'm not fond of his methods I do like referring to him as the banana man I'd like to be understood that this is the very first time in canon that I have been referred to as a banana man no one in the universe has ever referred to me absolutely would have been Luna who started calling you that this is the first time all right continue sorry Luna started it well I'm sorry he just he looks ridiculous but his methods are you know well they may not be the most you know lawful they get it done and they get it done quietly oh yes and I hate that and I hate that he knows it oh I'm sure I'm sure he loves every minute of that hatred he seems like the type Ren his assistant though Renée's sweet I've not heard much of her do you hope she keeps him in check watching those two bands off of each other it's fascinating also it's honestly almost supernatural and there's some Scorpio fellow he is like you a monster hunter yeah we we met about nine eight or nine years ago we uh accidentally took the same job and well we didn't know we took the same job and uh it's kind of an unspoken rule in the monster hunting trade you don't take another hunter's prey so our first meeting wasn't exactly a nice one but very strange something to get used to and he's as far as I know he's not working for it anymore that's a recent development he decided he didn't want to work for his employers and wanted to start working together again I'm happy to not be alone so at that comment she just kind of looks down leans into you thank you Luna for giving me another chance I think seeing what happened to my father what happened to his grave I haven't felt those feelings in a really long time I thought I was over when he died just 10 years ago I thought I was done grieving but I almost let my soul loose on a man because I was so angry and luckily we are here and she stops as you know she was leaning the way and you were walking and talking and she stops here we are this is the archmage of Chester looks over the city and perhaps she could look over that sword of yours figure out what's going on maybe I've had it looked at before but admittedly it was never by somebody it was never by her skilled mage normally blacksmiths artifices of course um would you like to go in yes she opens the door for you I step inside and you head on in the planar spire the wizard tower of wonderful Chester city and this is a magic item store and magic store in general oh yeah remember this in the brochure at the top you can see that there is an elven woman that is levitating various different types of books kind of them going around some of them passing over in front of her she is also levitating as well you know sitting cross-legged while she is writing a few papers with one hand and holding another book and another as written this is another one by cammy oh my god she's adorable what the fuck cammy excuse me and she she don't worry about it shouts out yeah yeah come on in what can I do for you uh hello uh miss I was hoping I could employ your services and you can see that uh Sina steps up as well and could say Annabelle um we need a weapon looked at and she just holds out one hand without changing her without looking away from her book come on give it here she speaks the language of my people she Luna very slowly and she said she doesn't like handing it over to other people but she does hand it over she's just careful about it yeah while you are she can see that her hands like does the like like the finger like batting motion like come on I ain't got all day grabby motion grabby hands got it yeah yeah no I hand it over I just don't worry I got way too many interesting oh now this is interesting this are you perchance appraiser of the raven queen I'm not particularly I have connection but I don't worship her no practicing no going to any temple well I could say I'm one of the ones she's touched touched she she actually lifts her head up from her book no one's ever been touched by the raven queen uh I want to like look at Sina you might want to step back a bit and kind of move her 10 feet away from me yep she takes a few steps back just like preparing herself make sure I'm 10 feet away from Annabelle here and I'm not around anything that's going to I don't think actually no this is radiant light so it doesn't catch things on fire I say it burns things but it's radiant light yeah yeah and uh I'll activate my consumption yep with a warning of course because it's bright you bright you brighten like the sun and you can see that uh she does a little hand gesture and you can see her glasses turn to the shades well that is interesting this is what I mean by touched now what and I'll turn it off what was the raven queen want from you she gets onto her feet and walks on over to one of her bookshelves and starts to move her hand just intensely fast like jittery almost like it's being vibrated by a machine through all the various types of books until she lands on one there you are and she pulls it out kind of pulls out one just jabs it into the book and the book opens to a page here we go here we go deal with a celestial god she closed the book nope i'm sorry there is no information on being touched by the raven queen i'm sorry but you're on your own wonderful unless you can get a priestess who is in tune with a raven queen can't say the temple of eternals is the most reliable they say they pray to the gods but i swear those people they're more extortionist than anything do you know anybody in the city who might i don't know anyone legitimate might have been chased out by people assuming that they are in line with a spine of death you know god of death spine of death it's easily confused right yeah easily confused it's easy to confuse until you look at her ideas absolutely but the people of bell people of belkan is often don't like to look further into things fortunately would you still be able to have a look at the sword i'll try my best my divine powers are not what they used to be but i don't think it's so that's something celestial you'll be looking for in it i think it's something closer to a soul a spirit now that's gonna be even more difficult and not an easy fee to pay either but maybe you can help me out in exchange of labors if you would well as you can see i'm a bit of a sell sword so what do you need done hmm well i have a student his name is cretin he's a he's a fire jennasi he's a prodigy with a staff and likely to even surpass my abilities in a few years about a month ago he decided that he wanted other things aside from helping the people of chester city with his gifts and has set up a home by the west side of town i've tried my best to convince him to return in subtle ways you know chance encounters subtle spells but nothing's working and i'm running out of resources that i can realistically spend where it i had my way i just charm him back but the king has firm restrictions on who i'm allowed to use enchantments on if you could somehow get him back here i could see about giving you a special discount and maybe even waver the cost on divine and the sword i think i could probably manage that i know a few people very well in the meantime i'll look this over it might take me a little while come back in say three hours sure sure you may go and he just kind of just waves her hand go on unless you want to buy something i'll see you in three hours and uh reluctantly uh luna will leave yep it's you know like you know how like we all have that one thing that if we don't have it on us we just feel naked yeah luna feels naked right now she's just like i don't have my sword seeing your discomfort sina walks up to you um luna perhaps if you would like um while this is going on and before you go off on your job uh and i have my own responsibilities i have to tend to in a little bit maybe you would like to go get a few things i i have a little bit saved up that i'm willing to spend there is actually a place i need to visit um remember the little girl that told you about yes Eliza well her mother asked me to deliver a message to uh a man here the mother's father told her i would sir it's a blacksmith as far as i understand sir well all right that might mean that i might not be able to attend with you to do some shopping but i'll have some another time in instead um perhaps i could cut out the middle man and here and she hands you a pouch you don't you don't have no no no this is my gifts it's at least i could do besides things here are bloody expensive hey uh there's a reason i stay in the serious kind of it in tears i think i'm the one so that i'm affordable thank you she um puts out a hand for a handshake it's almost like out of habit i'm just gonna hug her i'm just i'm just not doing it do it now she's just gonna hug her you hug her and she hugs you back just caressing her arm and she sniffles a little bit and buries her face in your shoulder i'm sorry it took me this long to reach back i'm sorry i wasn't there for you it's time to make up for it i think we both have a bit a few more years and this year she's trying to make a joke it may not come across very well but excuse you i intend on making sure that this city will fall to the ground before i do well good luck with that and be careful please those people in robes are getting more dangerous i will run into them a few times and that thing that likes to burst from the sky is also a problem just be careful please yes and she starts to walk away but stops and turns around i love you luna uh luna's going to reply in the only phrase she knows an elvish because she knows it for scorpio uh and she just looks at her and says uh email in which is basically i love you too in syndrome because of a nerd and she she like has a short breath like and she turns before you see that she lifts her hand up to her face and starts to walk off and i think that's a nice place to end the session today oh my god