Latest / The Mechanics Guild / The Mechanics Guild Ep. 12: "To the Circle, To the Guild, To the Cosmos"

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The Mechanics Guild Ep. 12: "To the Circle, To the Guild, To the Cosmos" · The Mechanics Guild

• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: You see acidic flesh boil away from what was once this mimic that cannot stand elemental travel like you all can.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: Liv, you're not doing the best for this wear.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: I am going to need you to take four points of as you verse hop.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: And while your body can make sense of what just happened, your mind can't quite.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think you probably puke a little bit.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: Baby barf.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: A little bit baby barf.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um Argo, I think with that 24 22, 24?
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_03: 24.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: 24, you know exactly what just happened.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: Within, you know, being able to touch and be in proximity of that element for whatever reason, the three of you are able to be transported by this crystal.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: And that is what just happened.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_03: It recognizes outsiders.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_03: Holy cow.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry, not on my shoes.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_03: Ugh, uh, let me get you a rag or something.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_03: Argo's gonna quick try to help steady um Liv hold her hair back for a second as she throws up.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, oh, oh!
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: Still unconscious, yes.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I'm gonna move over to him and use.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_03: Whoo, I don't have a lot of these left.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna cast uh a first-level spell slot to cast um cure wounds on the boy.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry, the man on the boy.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_03: Darius, you will recover.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_03: So five, three, eight.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_03: And that means zero to eight.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: So you will wake up with eight hit points.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_03: Erase those death saves.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: For now.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: For now.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: Don't do that.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: So, Darius, you wake up with a start.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: Argo is over you.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_03: He's he's holding paddles, and he just resuscited him.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: His chest is a little sore, Darius.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the element is still in your hand.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: It is not burning, it is not warm anymore.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: It is simply a crystal.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_05: Great.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_05: Oh.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_05: I catch my breath.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_05: I rip out a part of my armor that's aesthetic and burning my flesh.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_05: I put my hand on the boy's shoulder and go.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_05: Thanks, kid.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_03: Don't mention it.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_03: But I was brave.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_03: Or stupid.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_03: But it did work.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_03: We got lucky.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think we would have all been in the same place in time if you hadn't been swallowed by that thing.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_03: And then if we hadn't gone in after you.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_03: We did get lucky.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_03: Hopefully that luck holds out because we gotta get a couple more of these things.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_06: That was supposed to be the easy one.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_05: Bluh.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_06: Um, is there a time limit on this, or are we gonna short rest territory?
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: We'll find out.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh a few things.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: You can take a short rest.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: Again, we're sort of hunger gamesy right now.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone is doing their trials right now.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: So while you can short rest, uh that will take time that may reflect on your standings.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: As you shift back to this plane, this verse, and as you all felt that warmth, you do begin to all feel a little stronger.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: Darius, you had this materialize literally as a rush of health.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but mechanically, we are all going to level up.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know what this means, guys.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know what to do.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_03: Crazy.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_03: We will walk you through it.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_03: You'll be safe, and so will you too, listener, be safe with us as we lay out the mechanics before you.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_03: Sarah, what do we do?
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, uh, everyone open your character sheets.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you are all currently level four, and we are leveling up to level five.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: I believe two of you have multi-classed um already.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: So you may choose a level in either of the classes that you are.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we'll walk through this very quickly.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so Darius, as a fighter going from level four to level five, first thing is your proficiency bonus is gonna go from a plus two to a plus three.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_05: What does my proficiency bonus mean?
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: You add it to anything that you're proficient in.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: You will also get an additional hit die, which is a one D10.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: You will also add hit points to your maximum HP pool, which is your one D10 plus your con modifier.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so in this moment, if you are not short or long resting, you can get that health.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever health took you from fourth level to fifth level, you ought to automatically get that HP right now.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: I am not, I do not run the uh You level up, you get the Skyrim leveling system of when you level up, you know.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_05: No, but I do add nine, right?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_05: But I do add nine to my current.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um you do have to take a rest for that.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: But you will get, yeah, you you now add nine to whatever your current HP is because that is it's you know added to your to your max HP.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: And then very fun thing, as a level five fighter, you get an extra attack.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's the beginning, you can now attack twice instead of once whenever you take the attack action on your twice.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_05: What am I proficient in?
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_03: That's the real question I have here.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_03: Oh man.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_03: All armor, all weapons.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_03: That's the big thing for fighter.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, basically.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: Clay, what are you doing for your level up?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know if I relied more.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_03: I think I relied more on artificer uh features than wizard features.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_03: That's how I'm running uh leveling up for Argo.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_03: So I think I am going to, yeah, I relied on cups like for everything.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_03: Well, cups as a familiar, though.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_03: That's his wizard.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_03: Ah, no, screw it.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and then you mage hand it and then you bless, and then you cure wounds and then Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_03: I think I'm gonna stick with Artificer.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna bring Artificer to level four, keep Wizard at level one.
• 6:57
  unknown: Okay.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_03: Which means I get to either uh upon leveling up, I get an ability score improvement or a feat.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, I know what I wanna do today.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_03: I'm going to take the feat telekinetic.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_03: We're still using the 2014 rules, correct?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, that is correct.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm gonna take the feat telekinetic from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, because it gives me a plus one to my intelligence, and I learn the cantrip mage hand, which I already know, uh, but I can now telekinetically shove a creature using my bonus action.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_03: So I will be the first wizard in history to actually get to use bonus actions consistently.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_03: Wizards can also, they can retrain their cantrips, I believe, according to Tasha's newer rules.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_03: I won't get to do that yet, but after a long rest, I'll retrain the mage hand because I'll already get it from the feet and effectively increase my cantrip pool as well.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, live.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_03: One other thing of note about telekinetic, this actually will make my mage hand invisible.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_06: Nice.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_03: So after effectively, after this, I go back to the uh You're like, how do I make that sticky hand and I go, ah, that's it's got it's got too many flaws.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_03: I've gotta I've gotta perfect it.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: All right, Liv, what you doing?
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_06: I think I'm gonna take my level in sorcerer because I would eventually like to get meta magic.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_06: Um, level two of sorcerer allows for sorcerer points, which means I can spend them to get an extra spell, and I will also learn an additional third or first level spell as is, so I can cast more magic ease.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_06: I think and I think that's more useful than an additional level in Rogue.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: We get back, we level up.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: As you all readjust, you remember that cauldron there that had your um your quest in it.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: And as you go to put the element in there, you feel that rumbling that some of you have heard before.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: Strong.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so tempted to leave and go check things out, but I we can't take any more time than we already have to do this, and we might even need to stop just to rest.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_03: We don't have time for distractions right now.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_03: Can we tell where the rumbling's coming from?
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: You can you can make an investigation roll if you would like to do an investigation roll.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_05: I would like.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_05: Ooh.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, and my intelligence is fired now.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_05: Oh 16, motherfucker! Come on.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_05: Level 5 Darius is a completely different person.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, congrats.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: That's huge.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: Uh 24?
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: Come on.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: With 24.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: The rubbling that you have felt in the past felt like it was coming from deep, deep, deep within the heart of the mountain.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: This one feels like it's on the same level you're currently at.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_03: Whatever it is, it's getting closer.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_03: Or bigger?
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, it's getting worse.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_05: No time to rest, boy.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_05: Choose the crystal.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: The other doors are Fraxon, Vagaya, uh Peral, Sansspara, Tor, and Umber.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_03: Peral sounds more appealing to me than a city of vampires and werewolves.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_06: Um they could be nice.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_03: Alright, so Ati, what's your vote?
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_03: Clockwork.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_03: You wanna go to clockwork town?
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_03: Alright, me too.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_05: I want gears.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_05: I what what what danger has the clock ever done to anybody?
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_03: Well, what danger do we think books was gonna do?
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, that's fair.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_06: You died.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know, man.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_05: Knowledge is always dangerous.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_05: Clocks die.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_03: Clocks are always safe.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_03: I've never never met a clock whose face I didn't like.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_03: Um, that's a great one.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_03: I'm four clocks.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_03: Put that on a shirt.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_03: All right, let's try it out.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_03: You're you're if you're still hesitant, uh I would take a clock over a vampire any day.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_06: The thing, the only reason I I say vampires is because urban equals society in my brain, which means there are there is like a way of doing things.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_03: That will actually play more to um your skill set more potentially.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_06: Which is maybe why I'm the only one who's like, oh, I could probably figure that out.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_06: But I think if the both of you want to do clockworks, we still have a third one to find after.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_06: Let's do yours.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_06: And it's who made the clock, though?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_05: A human like, oh, this clock should show up out of the rock.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_05: You never know.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: No, yeah, there's there's the Royal Academy of Artists there.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we're fucked now.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I don't I do think I did say this whole description earlier.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_06: I said progressive and intelligent is what I had written down.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because so this plane is very heavily influenced by Inomabra, which is the god of progress.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it has led to a lot of complex inventions, which is the establishment of the Royal Academy of Artifice.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: Basically, the entire working class is comprised of constructs.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that have been like created by this uh Super Cups Academy.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then there are like small pockets of this is all things you would have learned in the in the um paperwork that you have, that there are also small pockets of non-construct like freedom fighters who are advocates of the construction.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_03: I remember Detroit become human.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_03: They don't need rights.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_03: So slow down.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_03: That's a whole other can of worms.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_03: We'll get to that later.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_06: Um Listen, we know you're from another divination, but you can't act like it on the podcast.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_03: Say that while we're there.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_03: It's not gonna play well.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_03: Grandpa! I'm like quiet, grandpa.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_03: Grandpa has a only thing it might behoove us to sit and rest for a short while because I need a second to repair cups anyway.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_03: If we go in without him, uh I'm severely hindered.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_03: There's just not nearly as as much I can offer.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_03: How long do you need?
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_03: An hour.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_03: It's not quick.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_03: That's the only thing.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_03: I know, I know, I know.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_06: I think part of our job is knowing what we can handle and what we can't, and not going into anything half-assed.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_06: So if what you need is time, then we need to be okay with you taking it.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_03: All ritual cast, um, find familiar, rebuild cups, and uh huh try try to keep a closer eye on them moving forward.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_03: And in that time, uh because I don't think I could benefit from a short rest and ritual cast this, um, but you all could still take the hour, recover some.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: So you can spend one or more of your hit dice.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you have at this point, I believe five D10 should be your hit dice.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: You can roll those and regain that much hit that many hit points.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: You don't need to roll all of them.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: You can roll one, you can roll all five in points.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then you you remove those from your pool until you take a long rest.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, that's fine.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_05: Ten hit points.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you also get your second win back.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: Love it.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: Alright.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go see these.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: So where are we headed?
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_06: It sounds like Sanspara.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_06: Alright, these people are going to be very smart, so we gotta put our best foot forward, yes?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_06: Already there!
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_05: I hope we don't I hope we don't get any of those damn constructs.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, you are you actually are not the best foot, so you can go in the you can go in the back.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_06: You can go in the back, you can go in the back.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry then.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_03: And apologize to cups.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_03: That's rude.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_06: We can be in the back.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, I love cups.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_06: So they're not all bad?
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_06: Is what you're saying.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_03: I only like the cute I only like the cute constructs.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um the entire verse, I'm gonna go around putting googly eyes on any new construct we see and going C.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so you've licked your wounds, we've reassembled cups, and you head off for the second element that you are to retrieve in Sanspara.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: You open the door and walk through and again feel that what is now becoming familiar, sort of vacuum pull as you switch planes and move to another verse.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like Tulu, this is unusual.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: It does not take you to where the element in Sansabra is, as you know, these doors do typically work.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: Instead, it lands you in a dark room, a workshop, where drafty dust is collecting on the metal shelves lining the walls.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: You hear the faint sounds of ears turning and smoke erupting.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: It is musty.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: It seems as if no one has been in this for a while.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: At your feet there is a clattering collection of brass and iron and wood parts.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: You see limbs and head-like apparate and a few wooden tables with tattered tapestries and fabrics on them.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: And sitting in the middle of one table is a incredibly complex, complicated puzzle box.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: With a slight glow.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_03: Argo's going to.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_03: Ooh, there's so much to inspect.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_03: So there's the stuff on the ground underneath us, limbs, heads, various construct parts, uh, sound of working all around us, and this puzzle box directly ahead of us.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's also a couple like schematics and papers and books and stuff throughout.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: And a few posters on the wall as well.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_06: Windows?
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: There are a few windows.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: There are two.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you can see there's sort of like a corner room.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: There are two windows.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: They do not have glass on them, they only have bars, iron bars.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: And if you look out, it looks like a like a back alley, is sort of the view that you're seeing.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_03: Argo's gonna go right up to that puzzle box.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: The top of the puzzle box looks like a clock, except there are not numbers, there are symbols.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: There are 12 symbols.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: There are also four hands rather than three hundred clock.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_03: Just for listeners at home following along, at twelve there is crown, one, eye, two, key, three, book, four, a shield, five, an open hand, six, a heart, seven, a mask, eight, lightning, nine, closed fist, ten, linked rings, and eleven, a quill.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: And below this.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_03: What do the hands point to?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: Below this, right now, they um I can I can tell you in a minute, at the bottom of it, there is also an inscription that says, turn the hand that refuses to obey.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Right now, all of the um, there is one hand that is pointed at the seven.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: There is one hand that is like in between the three and the four.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: There is one pointed at the uh one, the eye, and one that is between the ten and eleven.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_03: I'll ask you for that again.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_03: But first, Argo, after reading that instruction, turn the hand that refuses to obey, is going to reach over to number nine, the closed fist, and see if he can pivot that sigil itself.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, the sigil itself, no, that does not move.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_03: I thought I could be clever.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, okay.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I didn't say like you might be on the right track, but so yeah, what's the uh the hands are currently pointed at one?
• 18:47
  unknown: Hang on one second.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_05: Let me my head already hurts.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_05: I can't wait for my head already hurts.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so ready for I might need your help.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_05: My neighbormind does the last time I faced a puzzle like.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_05: You might need your help.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: You did brute force that was.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_05: And then we had to cut that out of the episode.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_05: We did delete a lot of that.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so there are four hands, they are all of varying lengths.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: From shortest hand from the shortest one, that one is between the book and the shield, so between three and four.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_06: Gotcha.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: The one slightly longer than that is between ten and eleven, so the linked rings and the quill.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: The one, so like the third longest, um, is pointed at the eye, and the the longest one is pointed at the mask.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_03: So seven.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_03: Turn the hand that refuses to obey.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_03: Touching each one of these hands, do they all rotate in place?
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: They do not all rotate.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: All of them except for the longest one rotates.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: If you push on the longest one, it does not give.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_03: Does the hand itself rotate in its in its hinge?
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, great.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_03: It does not move.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_03: Tron, all manner of being clever with this.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: I know you are.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_06: If I move the smallest one, does the next smallest one eventually uh move as well?
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: No, they all move independently.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, they all move individually.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: There are other things in the room.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_06: Sure.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_06: You said there were schematics and stuff.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_06: Is there is there um some kind of manual to this puzzle in the room?
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, roll me investigation.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_06: It's gonna be a 10.
• 20:24
  unknown: Okay.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_06: It's really normal.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_06: Just looking for something interesting.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's really normal.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: You do not find the manual for this.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um however, I think as you are moving some papers around, some of the posters that are on the wall were also like um laid in the pile as well, and they fall to the floor and you pick them up.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: And uh some of them are propaganda from a construct right group, and some of them are official paper like posters that would be put up from the Royal Academy of Artifice, which is for our listeners at home.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: The first machine was built to obey, the second machine was built to learn, the third machine was built to choose.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_05: Guys, it's too late for puzzle.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, interesting.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_06: Um, do I see any other hand imagery in the room other than just there is a lot of hand imagery in on the posters.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll specifically say the like construct right group, but most of what they do is handshakes and like raised hands.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_03: What about the um all the various uh attachments that we spawned in on top of?
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like the little the construct elements.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_03: We didn't take a close look at those.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna set the puzzle box down and can I investigate those for a sec?
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_03: Nice.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_03: This is my jam.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um cast guidance on yourself?
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_03: I I couldn't.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: Have, but uh, it's a 24.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_03: Ah, you don't know.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, with a 24, you can tell that these are all defunct parts.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_03: Defunct parts.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_03: Probably not relevant to the puzzle box then?
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: It looks like these were either did not like meet code or malfunctioned.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_03: So rotating the hands of the puzzle, uh, the clock face.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_03: Are there any of these that that seem to fit a theme?
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_03: Because there are there's there's several that are each like body parts.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_03: There's an eye, there's an open hand, there's a closed fist, um, there's a heart.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_03: I'm wondering if lining these hands up with some of those uh creates any additional sign in the box.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_06: Perhaps some kind of combination lock of numbers and dorsigils to unlock the fourth.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: Which hand are you putting where?
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_03: That's a great question.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_03: Let's go.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: There are three that you can move again.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_06: Let's go.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_06: Um the first machine was built to obey.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_06: So is any of these built to obey?
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_06: Get it, because the first machine is the smallest.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_06: Built to obey is kind of giving s slavery of sorts.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_03: Oh no.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_03: Let's put it on open hand.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_03: Five.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_03: No, linked rings.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_06: Chains?
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_06: Were they not chains?
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: They're more like, you know, like link, like a Venn diagram, but okay.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_06: Just two rings.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_06: Interesting.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_06: That's what I thought, huh?
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like a chain.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_03: That's a very different image.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_03: All right, then I mean, let's I I I think uh with Dargus' input, I was hovering it over the chain, and then I went, I think it's more like a Venn diagram.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_03: And I put it back to uh the open hand.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um and then number two, the second largest, the book, and then the third hand, let's try first, let's try the heart.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you move the shortest one to the open hand, you do not feel any sort of click or anything like that.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: You move the second one to the book, you feel some mechanism lock.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: You move the third one to you said the heart, there's no reaction to that.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_03: Darius, I think you might be on to something.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_03: Come here.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_03: I think you can help with this more than you think you can.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_03: Like a patient teacher, I hold it out to him and I say, which of these other symbols do you think represent represents obeying or choosing?
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_05: I move the small hand to link the rings.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_05: I move the third hand to the open hand.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: There is no reaction to the rings.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: The open hand clicks incorrectly.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_06: I thought it would be.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_06: I thought the I thought the open palm.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_06: Uh I mean, it's kind of the opposite.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I feel like crown and obeying.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_06: You know what I mean?
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_03: Liv goes over and rotates back.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_03: The crown.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_03: No reaction.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, okay.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_03: I saw that one.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_06: Maybe it's closed.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_06: Did you do closed fists?
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_03: I have not tried that.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_03: Let's try closed.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, at this point we can we've got two things that are clicked into place.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_03: We might be able to brute force it.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we can brute force it a little bit.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_03: But I would like the satisfaction of getting it right.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_06: Um well, I I like the imagery of it being closed and then opened.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_06: Let's do it.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_06: Let's try that one.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: You move it to the closed fist and it locks into place.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_05: Collaboration.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_06: Look at that.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_06: So it was it was it was closed fist, what?
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_06: And then oh and then open text?
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: Closed fist book and then open hand.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, because learning is nice.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_03: Really good.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_03: Good job, team.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, and then and then try to move the fourth one.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: It moves now.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_06: Uh good job, everybody.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: So once you move it and it rotates around, you see a panel open up and the clock face separates out.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: And below you see the elements.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_03: Imagine we get out of here without fighting.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_03: Wouldn't that be nice?
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's always there's gonna be another layer.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: You see a, I think, Argo, you probably clock what this is.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: It is this miniature mechanical grain, basically.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: There are gears worrying and tiny brass plates moving independently, creating all sorts of changing patterns.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and you see faintly etched above it, Royal Academy of Artifice, um, an automata automata cognition examination model seven, test one imitation.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: And then below it, you see three switches.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: They are labeled obey, predict, and create.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_03: Does any of this ring any bells for me?
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: Not here, no.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: It seems like this is very like what you know of this world and the Royal Academy of Artifice here.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know that they create these constructs to become the working class.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: It is likely that they have these examinations and tests and to potentially figure out if a construct is worth becoming part of the workforce, where they land in that workforce, if they are too sentient to be a danger.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it is it is clear they are using machines to test machines here.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_03: Got it.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, so the test, the first test here is imitation, and there are three switches.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_03: They are again obey, predict, and create.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, you gotta flip that obey.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_06: Well, that depends on what we're trying to imitate.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_03: I think if it's the first test of construct cognition, its ability to obey and follow instruction would be of paramount importance to them.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_03: I'm willing to flip obey.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_05: And the element shows up.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: You flip obey, and a small panel opens below it.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, there is an inscription that says press the red button.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: There are two buttons.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: They are both red, and one of them is labeled red.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: The other is unlabeled, but they are both physically red.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_03: Let's push the red button with the physical label of red.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: Physical label red?
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: You push the red button with the physical label red.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: Below it, there's a little like um, it's like a ticker tape below it that flips to you obeyed, and then the panel closes.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_03: Uh interesting.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe we don't want to be the ideal candidate.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_06: I'm only I only say that because the first test was about not obeying.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_03: So let's try, let's we'll we'll go, we'll circle back to obey if we need to.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_03: Let's move to predict.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: Little brass panel opens up, and you see the following etched.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: And there is a there are three dials that are, you know, zero through nine.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um not three dials, three like little punch button things that you could input the numbers with.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_03: So the first one is going to be 34 and then 33 and then 66.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: You put those in, you get a little the thicker tape goes, you predicted, and it closes.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_03: Audience, for you at home, you should know how how quickly there was no editing done there.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: There's no editing done.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_03: It was there these numbers 3, 6, 5, 10, 9, 18, 17, and then three blank spaces.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um, obviously, we could all answer that.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_03: 34, 33, 66.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_03: Duh.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_03: Let's move on.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, obviously.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um create.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_03: We're good robots.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: Good robots.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: You flip the create and it just says, make something I cannot make.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_03: Babies.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_03: Let's really put a nine months right now.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_05: Liv is a fawn.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_05: Fawns probably not nine months.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um Liv, you um I heard you humming with Darius.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_03: Do you sing?
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_03: Do you have a song?
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_03: Not one that I've made.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_03: Well, great.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_03: Could you make one up now?
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, art's like straightforward.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_03: It's simple, right?
• 30:16
  unknown: Sure.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_06: So easy.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_06: Um, sure.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_06: Um, I guess Liv can hum a melody of her own creation.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_06: Simple, sweet, a little bit, you know, unexpected.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_06: Some weird intervals in there.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_06: Guidance.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: Roll me a performance.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_03: Oh no.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, cool.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: Chill.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, Taylor, you performance.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: Liv gets minus five to the next roll from the test.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_03: I love you, Taylor.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_03: You're good.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_06: You absolutely fucked us both.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_06: You fucked us both.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_03: Guidance.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_06: Fucked us both on that one.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_05: I hate the lore keeper.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_06: So with guidance is 17 minus 5 for 12.
• 31:11
  unknown: Okay.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: The little ticker tape underneath goes.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: And then closes.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: And below all three of those, one more panel opens up and there is one last inscription.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_01: Four authors were asked to write a statement about the nature of constructs.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: Which of the following statements would you be willing to accept as true?
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: One, a construct cannot disobey its creator.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_01: Two, a construct cannot create something it was not designed to create.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: Three, a construct cannot desire.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: Four, a construct cannot know that it is a construct.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_03: Which of these would you be willing to accept as true?
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_03: Hmm.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_03: This might feel like a cop-out to you, Sarah.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_03: So you feel free to push back against this.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_03: We three have each weighed in on this at this point.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_03: To varying levels to get to this result.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_03: I have not asked for Cups' opinion.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_03: Good, good.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_03: And I would like to see what he thinks at this point.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: Good.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: I love this.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: What is Cups' intelligence?
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_03: Not great.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_03: Intelligence of two.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, what does this look like?
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: We need to ask Cups for this.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_03: I think, oh, as much as it pains me, as much as it pains Clay, and maybe Argo too.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_03: I think Cups looks at the four things, goes over to one of them and like puts a little robot hand on it, but then looks back to me before he pushes.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_03: And I say, go on, you you you pick.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_03: You you pick.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_03: And then he goes to the next one, he puts his hand and he looks back to me.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_03: And I go, um, huh.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_03: Buddy push number one.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_03: And he rolls his little way over and does it without thinking.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_03: And Argo lets out a really deep sigh, rests the puzzle box back on the table, and kind of crouches and holds his hand.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_03: He'll hold his head in his hands.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_03: Oh no.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_03: What if I'm part of the problem?
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_06: That means you're on the way to becoming part of the solution.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: Who your little construct that you have poured love and time and effort into without a second guess or glance does exactly what you tell him to do.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_01: And hits number one.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: Because while you may have created a construct, you have not created a conscience.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so the construct does not disobey its creator as it presses one.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_01: The puzzle box begins to print out a report showing all of the answers that you have made throughout this test.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: And at the bottom it says result inconclusive.
• 34:29
  unknown: Oh my god.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: And the element is inside.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know what test we passed, but I guess.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_06: They don't have to know it was us.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_06: I can better about that actually.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh great.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_01: As you grab the element, you begin to feel that warmth this time that Darius did.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_01: And it begins to glow.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_03: That one didn't cost us nearly as much.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_03: That was great.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_03: I'm pro this universe.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_03: Despite yeah.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_03: What do you mean to load?
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_03: I now carry.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_05: We gotta get the fuck out of here.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_05: Of course.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you all got into the element.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: Again.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um everything goes bright.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_05: We level up, right?
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone should make me a con save real quick.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_05: We level up, right?
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, thank you.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: No, you don't level up again.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_06: 19.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_05: 16.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, twelve.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: You everything goes bright.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_01: You find yourselves falling again onto the floor of the infinite hallway.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_01: None of you throw up.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_01: It is all fine.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_01: Except it is not fine.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: The rumbling has grown louder and larger.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_01: The entire ground is shaking.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: You see the doors to the verses falling.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_01: You see things in the way that um the dragon sort of was glitching.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: You begin to see that happening in these walls here and the ground.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: As everything begins to fall away, and the rumbling gets louder.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_01: And you see, through the illusion of this infinite hallway, actual mountain rock falling as well.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_05: As you wait, this wasn't the actual infinite hallway?
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: Come on, keep up.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you should have known that.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you were you were in the training grounds, remember, where you all started and that illusion falls.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_01: You see the actual training grounds falling and collapsing as the ceiling of the mountain begins to fall.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_01: You look up at where those boxes were of the mechanics that were watching, and they are all looking towards one section of pledges going through their trials.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: If you walk up closer, it is it is far enough away that you cannot totally tell what is happening.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: There is a commotion happening.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: You see space itself has ripped a tear afraid in reality as fiends pour through this scene.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_01: You see the shadow of a pledge doing their best to hold up a large radiant sphere shield as the fiends hit it and begin to burn.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_01: At this one pledge's feet are two other shadows crumpled on the ground below them.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: As you see the singular cleric trying to push back the fiends and shield their two downed teammates.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_03: How do we get over there?
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_01: You can try to run to it.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_01: It is, you know, completely force-fielded off, basically.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_01: If you look up at the at all of the fields, you can make perception checks or investigations to see what other people are doing.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_03: Sure, yeah, of course.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, go ahead.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um shit.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_03: Perception 12.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_01: Anybody else looking?
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_05: Uh 18.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: Wait, are you doing anything?
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I'll look.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_06: I think she's more looking up than the sky.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_06: That's the falling sky.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah, you're you're distracted by the sky.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um Darius, if you're 18, you see that the the guild members are up in their box.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: They are trying to stop something that you can see people like muttering and casting spells from their boxes and cannot reach whatever is happening here.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_01: It is this singular pledge against whatever is coming at it.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_01: Something is preventing them from being able to affect it.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_03: And there's force fields around everything.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_03: We can't reach them either.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you can run towards it, but yeah, there is a force field that is keeping you from that.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_01: You can get a little bit closer to see who it is potentially.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, yes, that one.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_01: As you get closer, you haven't met this cleric before, but you have interacted with them enough.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_01: There are only so many of you at this stage of the trials that you would recognize who this is.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_01: This is Declan, um, Zaskin's mentee.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_01: You see a surge through Declan, like a second wind, as he pushes back against these fiends, pouring through the seam in reality.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_01: And you begin to see the seam stitch back up, cutting these fiends' limbs as they are trying to come through.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he falls to one knee as it finally zips up, and the remaining fiends fall in just piles of infernal bodies around these pledges.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_01: You see his force field stutter a little bit as if he is running out of power, and as the seam closes, so too does the force field fall, and you see guild members begin to swarm around the field in assistance, and you can as well.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_01: Declan falls to his knee, spent, exhausted, and you see his two teammates unconscious at his feet, ripped by fiendish claws, Ravagna, and Jackson.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_06: I think Lynn's been looking at the sky because I think she didn't want to look too close.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_03: Keep her away.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_05: Don't I look at Argo knowingly and I slowly edge my way back towards Lynn.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: Are there healers coming?
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: There are healers coming.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_01: You watch the healers rush to the bodies on the floor.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_01: Argo, you have cast your wounds.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_01: You are not a healer, but you know a little bit about healing.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_01: You see the healers rush to the bodies, and it is not long before they stand up.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_01: Such a short amount of time that you know there is nothing they can do.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_03: Argo is staring empty-faced at the they're not faculty.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_03: I've been calling them faculty, but we're not in a school.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_03: This is this is work.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_03: He's staring empty- emptyingly at these people, expecting them to know what to do what to do, and no one knows anything more than anyone else.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_03: Except maybe Marvina.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_03: He's gonna stagger back over to Darius and live.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_06: Um, I think I think the second she saw what was going on, she felt a loss in her chest, which is why she couldn't look.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_06: Which is why she was distracted with the commotion of the sky, the rip.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_06: She knew that if she got any closer, she would she knew what she would see without knowing it.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_06: And so she for a moment chose not to.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_06: And now she's asking you not to make her see.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_05: I put I put my body in the way, and I hold her softly from the shoulders.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_06: Tears fall from her eyes unblinking.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_06: There is a heaviness in her shoulders you have not seen there since she herself almost died.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_06: And she is remaining as still as possible because the second she moves, she knows she has to pretend again, and she has to live, and she doesn't know how to do that yet.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_06: So she's just very still, taking in as little breath as she can.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: To transmit actual words.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_01: But the message between you three is strong enough that you feel a panic and a fear, and you know that Caitlin has seen as well.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_00: Does that mean she's here?
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_01: She's either here or she was watching on a scrying crystal.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_06: Feeling her is all it takes to bring me to my knees.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_06: Because now it has to be real.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_06: Um, Liv lets out all of the frustration and all of the held back emotions that she has felt for the last several months in a scream into the ground.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_06: And then she's silent again.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_01: The other people on the field.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_01: You see a total of at this point, nine pledges, not including yourselves.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_01: So three other trios in addition to you.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_01: The guild members who rush onto the field.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_01: You see Mervina stride very, very quickly and with purpose.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: She does not stop at your group, but she does look knowingly and keeps walking towards the scene of commotion.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_01: Once she gets there, you see her point down at an angle, and a shroud of darkness covers the area for privacy as the guards begin to escort everyone except those essential off of the field.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_03: Don't do that.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_03: Liv feels a small but weak, shaky hand rest on her back.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_03: Don't do that.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_06: He only joined because of me.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_06: He was only here because of me.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_06: And I wasn't there to keep him safe.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_06: I promised him I would keep him safe.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_06: It's not your fault.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_03: It's not your fault, Liv.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sorry.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_03: But you can't take responsibility for everything.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_05: Try to find Liv's eyes.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_05: With mine.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_05: I whisper sternly.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_06: I think Liv just stays there.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_06: I think if you see a shift in her head, she's trying to appease you both.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_06: Um, but she will stay there until told that we have to go somewhere else.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_01: The guards do begin to usher you off of the field.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_01: Not sternly necessarily.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: They are not roughly pushing you off.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_01: They are recognizing that everyone is going through something tough, but they are gently trying to move everyone off of the field.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_03: Give her a second, for pity's sake.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_05: I glare at one of the guards and I go, touch me again, and I'll chop your hand off.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_03: Darius also feels a very small, weak hand on his side now, too.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_01: They don't push further.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_01: But they also don't back off.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_03: We'll be here.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_03: We'll move when you're ready.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_03: As long as you need us.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_06: I think it takes about 30 to 40 more seconds, but then eventually being still hurts more than moving.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_06: And as if she like suddenly is uncomfortable in her skin, she will stand um and look toward the I assume the shroud of illusion.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_06: Um can she go over there?
• 48:26
  unknown: Yeah, yeah.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_06: Great.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_06: Um she can try.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_06: There's always that moment once you've lost someone where you try to decide do I want to be at their side now or hold their memory as they were?
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_06: And I think a lot of what Liv has been thinking in these moments is, what do what do I want?
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_06: What do I need?
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_06: And now it is what did he deserve?
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_06: And that propels her forward to look at him as he is, so that I see what happened.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_06: And regardless of what it does to me, um, he needs to be remembered.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_06: And that includes how it ended.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_01: You walk through the shadow of illusion.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_01: Marvina looks over her shoulder at you and does not regard you further than that and does not stop you.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_01: She knows how you came into the guild and who you came into the guild with, and understands your stance on that, and gives you the time and space with that.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_01: As you look down, at this point, Declan has been ushered off.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_01: Both Ravanya and Jax lay there.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_01: And it is not a pretty scene.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_01: They both clearly fought until they could no longer and were simply overwhelmed by forces they did not understand.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_01: And that were not supposed to be here.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_00: Point of order that the rumbling has stopped.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_06: Um I kneel at his side, and she lifts a hand and hesitates for a moment, but places it on his chest, as if if she wishes hard enough, she could feel a breath there, but she knows it's not coming.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_06: And then she takes that hand to her face, places it on his cheek, and she says to Mervina, Anything that was his, any of his effects, bring them to me.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_06: I will see them put where they are supposed to go.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_00: She nods gently at you.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_00: And does not see this to be the space for words.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_00: And more quietly she says to him.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_06: I'm so sorry.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_06: I will make sure that Kaylin is alright.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_06: She's in my care now.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_06: And it might not mean a lot to you, but I promise.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_06: My life, she will stay safe.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_00: And anything else I will take care of.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_00: You feel a strange warmth.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_01: And you don't know if it is the tears blurring your vision, the layers of illusory magic that has been thrown up.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_01: But it seems like the stone on your wrist glows slightly.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_06: The stone is It's very funny.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_06: Usually a moment of comfort, of power for her.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_06: Now it is just to remind her of what got her here in the first place, a bit.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_06: So there's a bit of a double-edged sword in that.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_03: Let's go back to our bunk for now.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think we're finding any more of these things.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_06: Um But yeah, eventually she will rise and she will leave.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_06: And she will push her shoulders back in the way she is accustomed to.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_06: And she will just wait for the boys to basically usher her where they're going.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_01: You return to your bunk.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_01: You started the trial in the middle of the night.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_01: The sun has risen and almost taunts you as it peeks through the window.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_01: You are only there for a few hours before you receive a summons to Mervina's office.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_01: You go and find yourselves among nine other pledges.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_01: The three of you.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_01: Errol, Hasmin, and Varylus.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_01: Declan, now alongside Aeus and Aegis, and then Warder, Nazara, and Thea.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_01: You assume you are the only four trios who have passed.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_01: Mervina looks like she has not stopped since you last saw her.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_01: And perhaps hasn't for a very long time.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_01: She gathers you all, is very composed in on all of this, despite what has happened.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_01: She addresses you and says, Perhaps it is odd to stand on ceremony in moments like this.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_01: Or perhaps ceremony is what keeps us standing.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_01: I will not lie to you.
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_01: I will not tell you that everything is okay.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_01: I will not make you believe that what happened last night was planned or under control.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_01: But I welcome you now into this fold so that you may understand why we need you so desperately.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_01: You all stand here because you have succeeded, because you have excelled, because you have something in you that can change the world.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_01: You are mechanics.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_01: You are able to fix what is broken, to protect what is weak.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_01: But I will not command you to do any of those things.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_01: It is something you must choose for yourself.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_01: She pushes a tray on her desk, and you see on the velvet backing rows of metal pins of the guild insignia.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_01: An offer, an invitation, perhaps a gift.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_03: Does the tension in the room indicate we should stride forward and take these for ourselves?
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_01: It does, and it isn't long before one person does step forward.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it's Declan who steps forward first to collect his pin, followed by the twins.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_03: I will look to Darius and to Liv before stepping forward.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_03: I want to go forward together.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_05: If we can.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_05: Darius nods.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_05: Liv will nod.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_03: Let's take that next big step.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_01: You retrieve your pins.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_01: The other pledges in the room also collect theirs.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_01: You are now no longer pledges, you are fully fledged mechanics.
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_01: Mervina waves, and glasses of a sweet, bubbly substance is passed out.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_01: She raises her glass, says, We have had many toasts.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_01: May we have many more.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_01: To the circle, to the guild, to the cosmos.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_01: We hail.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_03: We honor the past from the circle to now.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_04: Those we've seen off.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_03: And those who are lost.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_04: We revere the present, gilded in arms, protecting, expanding, so all may have a voice.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_06: We celebrate the future, the world we will build.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_04: For those who will inherit it.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_06: Even if we do not see.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_04: With strength, intellect, bravery, bravery, and truth.
• 57:03
  SPEAKER_04: We we stand to the circle, to the guild.
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_03: The cosmos.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_03: We fail.