Latest / Story Games / Episode 17: Zhenya's Wonder Tales Game Session

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Episode 17: Zhenya's Wonder Tales Game Session · Story Games

• Maggie Studio: Hello friends and welcome back to Story Games, a podcast all about your favorite narrative-driven games. My name is Momo and I will be your host. Today we are bringing you a super fun game session of a game called Xenia's Wonder Tales. It's made by Jason Morningstar, published by Bully Pulpit Games, and distributed by Us Heart of the Dearnicorn. It's a game inspired by dark Slavic and Baltic fairy tales, and you tell a fairy tale together with your friends. So that's exactly what I did. I recruited some of my best friends to come play this with me and We told a fairy story that definitely did not go in the direction I expected it to. Without further ado, here is Xenia's Wonder Tales. Hello, friends, and welcome back to Heart of the Dear Nicorn. My name is Momo, and I am here with Calliope. Hi! And Cruz! Hello. And Lily. Hello! And we are here to play Xenia's Wonder Tales today. I am very excited. This is such a great game. I've played it a few times already. And basically how it works is you pick a Wonder Tale, which is inspired by a Dark Slavic fairy tale. Each person gets a character that they play, and each character has certain move cards that you can trigger during a scene. And together we will tell a story that is like a classic fairy tale. But because Slavic and Baltic fairy stories are often dark and very unhinged, all of the games I have played with this game have gone completely off the rails, which is really fun and really exciting. I I feel like just storytelles from that time always are a little dark. True, yeah. Like even like Brothers Grimm fairy tales are like horrific. Yep. Yes. Alright, so we open the game and we have a little map. ⁓ my god, it's so tiny. It's so tiny, it's so cute. And I'm just gonna read the rules real quick, but we're all fairly familiar with story games, so I don't think it should be too challenging for any of us. But I digress. We are going to read the introduction. Xenia's Wonder Tales is a storytelling game designed around the retelling of dark Slavic-inspired fairy stories. When you play, you and your friends will assume the roles of key characters in these tales and make choices that drive them. Each replayable tale consists of 22 cards, and when all have been revealed, you have Xenia's word that a surprising and dramatic conclusion awaits. Perfect. ⁓ Welcome friends. Enter a dark world of Slavic and Baltic inspired fairy stories. Your perfectly innocent and kind-hearted host Xenia will guide you, fall in love with a bear, bow before the king of snakes, marry a shape-changing fairy, or fight one to the death. Search for your stolen skin high above the devil's bridge, attend a funeral, ⁓ attend the funeral of night, and console their children dawn and dusk. Each Wonder Tale begins as a set of 22 cards that serves as an illumination, inspiration, and grim predestination. As you play, you and your friends will be asked to make choices that will shape the direction of the tale toward happiness or ruin. A single tale takes about an hour to reach its often surprising but always satisfying conclusion. Old Xenia is waiting for you. Won't you come in, have a hot glass of firewood tea, and tell a wonder tale together? Alright. Okay, so this is all stuff for me. Okay. So starting the game. If no one has played before, it is helpful to read these rules out loud. They are short. Place each character's cards near one another, forming a square around the play space. We're gonna form like a semicircle. ⁓ Place the four anyone move cards between the four sets. All cards should be visible to anyone. Begin play by reading Xenia's card, which sets the stage for what's to come. Introduce each of the four characters by reading their public introductions aloud. Finally, read the Tale Begins card that tells you how to set up your first scene. A scene is a short, clearly defined moment that puts a character squarely in the spotlight. A scene should take no longer than five minutes. Take turns creating them. Scenes can take longer, like it's fine. ⁓ I just know us, and ⁓ if we really get in the weeds with the scene, it's fine. I'm excited. Your scene can be about your character, but it doesn't have to be. Move cards. A move card highlights an event that introduces some interesting decisions or consequences when it is triggered. Each character has three move cards and each Wonder Tail has four additional move cards that anyone can trigger. When the moment described on the bordered side of the card occurs, immediately flip the card over and read the result to yourself. If it is informational, let it influence your play. It may invite you to share a particular way. Share in a particular way. Follow the instructions. If it asks you to make a choice, read the card out loud and tell everyone what you are choosing. Play out your choice. If the card asks someone else to make a choice, read the card out loud and ask them what they are choosing. Play out their choice. Once the card has been revealed, it is spent. Its effect will not necessarily happen again, although it can if repetition is satisfying. It's best to move it out of the way so everyone can see the shape of what remains in the tail. What I like to do is I like to just flip it over because the flip side looks different so we can see like what has and hasn't been played. ⁓ when all the move cards have been revealed, or when whatever remains no longer makes sense, your Wonder Tale has reached its conclusion. There's also a bit of a safety tool, so ⁓ we're all familiar with the X card, correct? Yes. ⁓ for those of you who don't know, an X card is just a card on the table, and if anything ⁓ during gameplay is spoiling anyone's fun or making anyone uncomfortable, you can tap that and we will kind of X card it and we will find a different way to tell our story in a way that makes everyone comfortable. Cool. ⁓ Uming the game. Play until the situation is resolved in a satisfying story-ish way. If all the cards have been revealed, the tale has been told. Perhaps a new status quo emerges. Perhaps something surprising changes everything. Perhaps there is a mutual acceptance and forgiveness, and everyone is perfectly happy. Just kidding. Sometimes it's per sometimes a perfect or perfectly awful ending presents itself, and sometimes you need to craft a short epilogue together. Once your tail is wrapped up, consider choosing a new tail and playing again. Okay. Wow. Let's do it. Yay! So I'm gonna do a little bit of organization. So we have five different stories we can pick from. ⁓ the first one is the carp princess. A coat of scales and stolen pride will be returned if we abide. That's carp princess. We've got. The King of the Snakes, a wealthy man who lives to take, has met his match, he's met a snake. Whoa. We have Silverhands. A lovely maid, a handsome prince, with secrets both. It makes me wince. Hmm. Silver hands, that is knight's funeral. ⁓ we have the bear lovers, which I'm actually going to X card because it deals with pregnancy and I don't I don't want to. That's right. I don't want to. I don't want to. You don't even have to explain the X card, but yes. Thank you. So bear lovers is going back in. Yeah, no. We're moving on from fair lovers. And then ⁓ the last one we have is the bird rivals. Two flocks aligned in bitter hate may interrupt this wedding date. So we have carp princess. And you said you've played this before? I have. Which one did you do? I have done carp princess bird rivals and silver hands. Hmm. Should we do the king and the snake then since it's unfamiliar or do we could or we could play one of the other ones and I'll just play a different character. Okay. Which will create like a wildly different story. Awesome. ⁓ so does anyone feel strongly? I mean they all sound great, but silver hands. Silver hands. It spoke to me as well. We'll do silver hands. Okay. Just put the rest away. Thank you for laying them up for us. Yeah. ⁓ you'll see them. Alright, so I've got a little bit more laying out to do. ⁓ the trapping. Yeah. A ⁓ R S. Thank you. Okay, so we've got the four anyone cards. And I'm gonna kind of go over the rules again in a MOMO way to make it a bit more it's it Thank you. Yes. I appreciate you. ⁓ okay, so we have four characters to choose from. We have Silver Hands, we have Magdalene, we have Pocusa, and we have Ola. Does anyone feel strongly toward you want Magdalene? I think I still take the one that's closest. Okay. Is this the person you played last time? No, I played silver hands last time. Yeah. ⁓ perfect. So what we're going to do is we're going to lay out our cards in front of us. So, how this game is played, we are going to start with an intro scene. We're going to introduce our characters and we have some information about our characters on the back of these cards. We're going to read the public part out loud and we're going to keep the private one to ourself. Okay. And basically how the game works is these are prompt cards. So use them for inspiration for your scene. Okay. And when one is played, you'll flip the card over and read what's on the other side, which will introduce some kind of like twist information or some kind of dramatic thing happening. So the game is played by setting up a scene, activating one of our cards. You don't have to activate a card on every turn, but it's a good idea too to keep the story moving. We will start a scene, activate one of our cards, flip it over, do what it says. Whatever that card says will kind of inform us on how to carry on the scene until we end the scene. We have the three cards that only we can trigger in front of us, and then anyone can trigger these cards at any time. Another thing I've noticed people do is they tend to get a little slap-happy with activating the cards. I like to try to keep only one card per scene to avoid it getting a little too chaotic and moving a little too fast. So Like the first time I played it, ⁓ my friend was like, ⁓ let me play this one, then I play that one, and then that one. And I was like, whoa, chill. Let the scene exist. Try to activate one, maybe two cards per scene if it's really pertinent. You can always kind of like set up the next scene as well to kind of use that card when you want to. ⁓ the other thing is that we don't necessarily have to go in like chronological order. If you feel like, ⁓ I have a good idea for the next scene, we can just kind of shift the spotlight to you. Okay. That's how I like to play at least. Yeah. Okay, so I'm going to begin. Or well let's actually begin by ⁓ reading our character information. Prince Pocoza. Is that known? Yes. Okay. All right. ⁓ we start with the Zenya card actually. Xenia says, a girl with uncommon gifts. Silver hands. Silver hands is lovely, clever, and obedient to her dear auntie. Some might call her lack of hands a flaw, but they have been replaced with better hands, silver hands, and she is quite content. When a stranger comes calling, which will he value more, the girl or her precious extremities? I do love a romantic story. So we've got Silver Hands. ⁓ Describe your characters' appearance and public background to one another. Place them in a nameless village along the Moravo River in the darkest winter. Set the stage in a howling blizzard. A scene is a clear moment that spotlights one or more characters. Perhaps a gallant prince arrives on horseback. Silver Hands asks Ola what happened to her hands while Ola reads Silverhand's Fortune in Tea Leaves. Or Magdalpe chops wood and mutters at the moon. When you are ready, begin with a scene. So we will start the game by first introducing our characters. ⁓ I can go first. So I am Ola. ⁓ I have dark brown hair. ⁓ I am maybe about 40-ish, like not old but not young, kind of like in that little in-between space. and I am Silverhand's auntie. ⁓ I am a simple villager. I don't have a lot of wants or needs in life. It's enough for me to just kind of take care of my little house, take care of my little garden, and take care of my beloved silver hands. ⁓ and I have cared for the girl since her parents died many years ago. Do you wanna go next? No. ⁓ I'm Silverhands. ⁓ I'm a beautiful young woman whose only flaw is a lack of hands. But they have been replaced by beautiful hands. ⁓ I have blonde hair, I like to keep it in a braid, I love a good flower crumb that I make with my village's flowers. ⁓ I'm kind of an introvert, so I like to stay in my village and not really leave because I've met some crabby people outside the village, but yeah. Beautiful, thank you. Alright, I am Prince Pecusa. I am a handsome prince traveling the land in search of a wife. I am gallant, obviously brave, and ride a magnificent black charger, which I think is a horse. I don't know, I'm a prince, I ride it. I have dark hair, flowing loss. Crystal clear blue eyes as you would stare off into the ocean. ⁓ a dashing smile and a dashing chin and nose. And I just want a wife, yo. I'm I'm definitely like six foot four. Like definitely tall, I'm strong, I'm handsome, and super rich, I would imagine. Probably super rich. What is being rich, anyways? And and I am probably I'm on the young side for a prince. I'm like twenty-five-ish, but you know, wives can come in all shapes, sizes, ages. Yes. Wife. I want one. Give me one. Bring me a wife. I am playing Magda Loop. I wild woman. But you know, I mainly say to myself. I I'm I'm busy ⁓ you know chopping wood, drawing water, doing the chores around the the house and making sure that, you know, no one really comes s snooping around my business. I'd like to keep a low profile. I, you know, go into the forest and, you know, forage my own food, try to avoid meat as much as I can, but you know, sometimes sometimes you gotta catch a rabbit. Feed your family, you know? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I'm also, you know the entire rabbit. I I I also feel like ⁓ the character ⁓ Magda Loop has been here for a long time, you know. Many people have been like, ⁓ yeah, she lives just above the hill and then it's like they tell their kids that and then they tell their kids that. But you know, at the same time I'm just some older lady, they they just assume I'm an old woman that's been there for a while. Hell yeah. Magda Loop is eternal. Yeah. Yeah. Perfect. Okay, so I'm gonna read aloud the anyone cards too, just so we all know what they are. We've got when the storm finally passes, when the hands come off, when blood darkens the earth, when you issue an ominous threat. So anyone can do any of those things at any time. And then I've got when you warn silver hands about the prince, when you sort mushrooms with Magda Loop, when you make a prince welcome. So it's a lot about the prince, isn't it? ⁓ wow. The handsome prince. There's a prince. Wow. Wonder. okay, so what we can do now is we can start a scene. And ⁓ What do your cards say? Do you want me to read them? Wa yes. Actually we should all read our cards. Okay. ⁓ when you learn a horrible truth, when you ask for advice, when you fall in love with Prince Pucutsa. It's cute. Mine are when you steal from a villager, when you court silver hands, when you accidentally reveal your true nature. My hands and prints, y'all. Are you just after the hands? I'm just a handsome prints. No. Looking for a wise. Handsome prints. Handsome prints. Handsome prints. Handsome prints. ⁓ mine is when you reassure silver hands. When you beg for forgiveness, when you initially reveal your true nature. Intentionally. ⁓ sorry, intentionally. Hell yeah. So this game I think works best when it's kind of like a writer's in the writers room situation. ⁓ we can all kind of discuss what we're gonna do and discuss like the best way to go about things. ⁓ or you can like totally go into it with like I'm just gonna role play and see what happens kind of kind of vibe. ⁓ so I think I'm going to set our starting scene. So it is a blizzard. We are in a small village off the Mor ⁓ Morava River. Yes, the Morava River. ⁓ I imagine there might be like a kingdom kind of far in the distance. ⁓ but we aren't too privy to it. Maybe the nobility doesn't really come very often. We're like a very, very small farming town, not really much of note. ⁓ and it's a blizzard, it's super, super cold, it's the middle of winter, so times are hard. And me and Silverhands are having tea together. And Can I add something to it? Yeah, absolutely. Can it also be the solstice? Sure. It's like the longest night. Yes. There's amazing. That's yes, there's this longest night. Yeah, that's good. Okay, cool. ⁓ so it's maybe it's a little bit mystical. Maybe we are super, super pagan. Maybe we're just super pagan. Yes. and it's like a holy night because it's the solstice. So maybe we're actually doing like some kind of like ritual together. And I don't necessarily have a card that I want to play, but I just kinda want to like set where we are type thing. Okay. ⁓ but if you have a card you would like to play, you could do that. You could do that anytime. ⁓ or any of these. So I'm going to take your hands. My darling. Yes. My love. My love. It is the darkest night of the year. It is. And yet you're the brightest star in the sky to me. Stop. I look too good to me. I am. But you are worth it. ⁓ I am so lucky I have you. Yes. On a blizzard of all nights. I just want you to know, I just want you to know. You're becoming of age soon. And it is so important that you find someone who loves you for you. Do you really think someone could love me without hands? And not for my hands? Yes. How will I know? Well, that's a great question. There are some who may look at your silver hands and they may judge your silver hands. My beautiful silver hands. Anonymous. Her name is literally silver hands. Trish. What was when when you found me mean I did when you found me and my parents were dead, you didn't I didn't know. I was too young to know my name. So silver hands is what it was. It's cute. It suits you. But yes. ⁓ you will find someone who loves you for you. How will you know? That's a great question. So what we could do is we could hide your silver hands and you can reveal your silver hands only when the time is right. Or be just nubs. The well, that's okay. I meant with gloves, my dear. You cover the silver hands with gloves. I also thought you meant put them all in somewhere. Cover cover the hands with gloves. Is there a type of gloves that is durable enough? Well I will I've I'm sorry. I'm dying the suds for my drinker, get me the suds. The suds. Anyway. I will knit you a pair of beautiful gloves. Thank you. For your beautiful silver hands. ⁓ god. Okay. Do I have to read this? okay. Read it to yourself first. And if it says to read it out loud, or if it says to give it to someone else, then you do that. But read it to yourself first. Okay. I wonder what it says. We'll go find out. Maybe. Maybe. ⁓ you have to choose. I have to choose. Yeah. Okay. Okay, you can tell Silver Hands the bad, painful truth. Or you can tell Silver Hands a kind, encouraging lie. And then I have to play out the stories. Okay. Well obviously you're gonna be like Obvious. Okay, we're gonna we're gonna actually roll this back a little bit. So you were supposed to ask me a yes-no question, which you did. You asked me if anyone could love you for your silver hands. So I'm going to wreck on that a little bit. I'm gonna roll that back a little bit. ⁓ and I'm going to tell you the painful truth. ⁓ my hands. Silver hands. Yes. You are different. I know. And there are some who may not accept your strange silver hands. But that's okay. Because you'll find someone who will. And that person will love you for you. You just have to find them. I believe. You believe. I believe. I believe. We believe. It's gonna happen. It's gonna happen. Maybe this year. The tea leaves. The tea and tea start telling me. It's a heart. Arrow through it. Watch out. Watch out. And scene. Beautiful. So that's kinda how the game is played. So you just set up a scene, you act it out, you flip over the card, you play what happens. Okay. Yeah. Does anyone else have a scene that they feel like they would like to establish? 'Cause we could introduce some of the other characters. We could introduce some of these anyone cards. And does it have to follow up like where you left off or It doesn't. Okay. ⁓ You could like completely shift the scene into something totally different if you wanted to. ⁓ okay. As long as it's in like the same story. Still wrapping my head around all of it. Yeah, totally. I I have an idea for our scene. Okay. It's still it's the solstice, it's the blizzard. ⁓ okay. So they're doing their thing. Yeah. Okay. And Magda Loop is up the road, kind of like where ⁓ what was it? A little hamlet or ⁓ the there's the village and there's kinda like a big hill kinda like goes down to it. ⁓ Magda Loop is just in her home, which is just off of the ⁓ big road, just a little bit down the hill. Okay. So she kinda like overlooks the village but isn't necessarily part of it. ⁓ she's just ⁓ chopping wood away as the prince rides into town. Okay, yeah, yeah, but there's a blizzard and I'm ⁓ looking for a place to stay. Yeah, and you just see that I'm just chill with my wood, just like, yeah man, I got fire going. Okay. And I'm looking at you, I write up, and I'm like, Could this be a wife? Does this woman look like a wife? And I'll be like, hmm. She's got arms like a lumberjack. Well it's always worth it to pull over an ass. Stack in the woods. And I need I need to get out of this fucking blizzard. So I You fool, what are you doing out here? There's a blizzard. Madame, I am in search of a wife. Madame And then I come over on my horse. You look like you might be single. Think you're barking up the wrong tree, pal. You're riding out in a blizzard, you're going to get yourself killed. Alright, do you have anywhere? You would suggest I could stop and stay for the evening. On my quest to find my beloved. Mm. I love the prince, right? Are you sure I could not stay in your lovely hovel? Definitely not. You're you're putting off some crazy energy here, homie. ⁓ But what you're looking for probably is at the tavern or where they have rooms. I am also in search of a meal as it happens. Even handsome princes need to eat to keep up this bod. Well if you're looking for a mill, come with me. Kicks open the door, throws the wood on the pile. I already got a stew going. She might be the wife, she might be the wife, she might be the wife. Let me just ⁓ wrap up my stallion, my my black charger stallion, which everybody knows is a horse. Which everyone knows is a horse and definitely not a car. Definitely not a car. It's a black charger stallion. I call him stallion. Because I am very creative as a prince. So then I I hop off and join you and I'm icked out by all the wood and grass and blizzard around. And your stew. You're icked out by my stew? It doesn't look good. Wow. It's a veggie stew. I forged these this morning. I this is as fresh as you can get. 12 dozen eggs every morning. I need roughly the size of a bar. I am roughly the size of a clipper. ⁓ my god, are you gonna eat my whole soup? ⁓ there's not nearly enough protein in that, madame. We put one rabbit in. Hey. ⁓ man. ⁓ hold on. So for this card. Mm-hmm. So you have to issue the threat. Okay. And then Lily will choose one of these. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Are you sure you're not single? We shouldn't stick around here. ⁓ Otherwise you might be the next male. Is it getting on? It's just me. The prince is like injured looking So there you go. Okay, okay. okay. So you gotta choose one of those. Okay. Madame, I do believe you're trying to get me in your bed. And then just like bam, the black knocks him out. End scene. Wait, really? Yeah. Okay. Okay. Like holds your bluff. That is not where I was expecting this to already. Okay, okay, okay, okay. ⁓ dozen eggs is a lot of eggs. It's 144 eggs. A lot of protein. It's a blizzard out there. I gotta stock up. I want to play a scene with you. We'll play this one. so I imagine that every morning we have a little ritual that we do. Because we're close. ⁓ we're two ⁓ village ladies that ⁓ live maybe we live really close to each other. You're kind of like further up on the hill than we are, but ⁓ we help each other out, we look out for each other. ⁓ and we have a little morning ritual where we forage for mushrooms together. Love that. ⁓ for your weird soups. I make some weird soups. No one's ever told me to stop. I I'm too scared. You should be. I will kiss silver hands on the head. Thank you. And then I will and then I will set out. It's still blizzarding. Well maybe not blizzarding. It's still storming, but it's not like super, super blizzarding anymore. ⁓ but the storm hasn't passed. It's just not as intense. ⁓ and I will knock on your door. Hold on, just a just a minute. Putting my clothes back on. Bola, you're a little early. Dr. Lupe, it's time to forage for mushrooms. ⁓ man, already I I don't know what happened last night. I lost track of time. Lost track of time. The ⁓ the solstice. Yeah. The energy, it understands. Yes, yes. Well, either way, it's mushroom time. Let me get my boots on. Let's go. Okay. ⁓ so we're foraging for mushrooms. Do you just leave the prince? Like at the house? Yeah. Don't say anything, just defend. I wake up whenever. Okay, okay, I'll leave it at that. ⁓ and we are sweating for mushrooms together. ⁓ ⁓ Magdalena. You know how important Silverhands is to me. She means your she's your world. She's my world. And I will do anything to protect her. Anything. It's poisonous mushroom. I just kind of Silver hands is very important to me. And I know you care for silver hands in your own way. What boy hurt her? No boy, no boy hurt her yet. I'm just saying I will do anything to protect Silver Hands. Alright. Okay. I mean there was a fool last night that came through. He ⁓ claiming a prince definitely not husband material. Put him through the ringer definitely didn't. So I appreciate the mushroom. It might come in handy sooner than you think. That was that was n ⁓ okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. That was for you, Magdalpe. That was for you. That was a threat. That was I was I'm threatening you, Magdalop. You But tell me more about this prince. Tell me more about this prince. Come on, Ola. We've been together so long now and you know I've channeled my ways and I'm handling it. When was the last time you even heard of an incident? About 18 years ago. So all I'm saying is I will do anything to protect what's important to me. Was there something in the tea leaves last night that you saw? I saw something. I saw a heart, and I saw an arrow. And I'm worried about Silverhands. And I would appreciate if you would tell me more about this prince that rolled through town. Let's say. The night wasn't the only thing that was long. They always say that. On the solstice expression. Solstice especially. ⁓ my god. ⁓ I don't know, seemed like an idiot. Seemed Seemed very gun ho with no direction. Okay. Like a like a hunter without a a prey to track. Well then I will keep him away from my silver hands. Yeah, she she's too precious. She's too precious. Can't be dilly-dallying. A prince comes in here, takes your silver hands, where's he gonna take her? To the palace. Now, she would deserve a palace, but only if the prince was not some dilly-dallier. I will have no dilly-dallying around my silver hands. Yep, well We'll see if that prince ever recovers. Magdalop, you told me there hasn't been an incident in 18 years, Magdalop. this isn't that type of incident. Starts continues foraging from mushrooms in the snow. The Kermit me must have set my tea. Magdalop. I what's your business is your business? Keep the prints away from my silver hands. I'll do my best. That's I mean he's probably gonna write out he probably is gone already. Perfect. Can't imagine he would stick around this little village. You're right. I shouldn't have I shouldn't worry. The tea leaves, I'm sure. And also, Caddy, I mean, gosh, I haven't done anything in 18 years. Just living my best life. I d I I I l I yes, yes, yes, but it's you I got my eye on you. It's all Excuse me. I thought those were gonna be like scene. Scene! I was about to say scene and that came out instead. These birds are crazy these times. Scene. Ooh, while that's happening, I would also like to set a scene. We'll do it. ⁓ I am bored at the house. Uh-huh. So I slip on my little gloves and I go. to your house to snoop around. Magda Loop? Magda Loop's house to snoop around. And all of a sudden. God damn. All of a sudden I see, while snooping around, that there is a person in her bed. Deep snooping with your little handsome body. Very handsome face. High four print body. Only covered by a sheet. When my air scratches down his bag. ⁓ We can ex-cream, we can Xcore. He's in his ⁓ trousers. He's in his trousers. Me, but the chest, clearly well defined, I work out. Shaved or unshaved? ⁓ who Shaved, but clearly I have to shave often. As in once every four hours. Yes. Yes. But shaved, because you gotta you gotta appreciate the tone, the muscle definition. Absolutely. Yes. Yes. It's really just chest hair in the shape of abs. Couldn't be. Well it tricks the heart. Tricks the heart. when my eyes see your face and you in those weird ass trousers, I know that's when I fall in love. Immediately love at first sight. ⁓ Does not even care that he's in someone else's bed. Not at all. That's my husband's bed. You just assume I slept over. It was a blizzard last night. Of course I needed somewhere to sleep. Mmm. The heart was warm. Hence why I took my shirt off. So I I kind of like jiggle the doors around. Are your doors locked, by the way? No. Okay, perfect. No shady No shady shit going on here. I draw the line that locks. I'm basically your aunt as well. That's true. I walk in, I open the door, I lean like this over, I'm next to your face. I poke you. Hey. ⁓ my gosh. Hey there. Fuck! Hi. ⁓ You're not that lady. No, I'm not. But aren't I so cute? Anyway. Aren't I so cute? Wait. Are you single? I am, in fact, single. But ⁓ where have you come from and who are you people and what do you do? And can you just tell me like your life story? Yes, clearly I am the thought you better have everything. Every thought I've ever had is that I love protein. I have twelve dozen eggs every single morning. Wow. Mostly half a cow for the rest of the day after that. Cut rare. Of course. That's crazy. I've eaten a cow once. It's delicious. It's so good. It's delicious with red wine. And my kingdom in my kingdom of Winonia. Which is far, far away. Very far. I've written very far on my stallion name stallion. Because I'm very creative like that. You can tell I am a creative person. You're so creative. And work out. I can tell by the way your hair swoops that you're so creative. Yeah, and then my hair is like perfectly like quabbed. Like no head, like I've woken up and that's perfect. And then I remember what father said about the secret to winning over a woman, and that's eye contact. So then I just stop talking and I stare into your eyes. I'll I'll stare back. In a day, like, wow. And we were like that for at least like half an hour. And then so so we come back. We come back, arms full of mushrooms. Walk in the door, mushrooms on the floor. Just fucking drop all the mushrooms. I gave you one goddamn job. What are you doing here? Explain. I didn't know the girl was coming over today. She comes here once in a while, drops off flowers. You didn't tell me there was such a beautiful maiden. Single in the spillet. Silver hands. What are you doing here? I was dropping off some crowns that I made. Silver hands. That's a you don't have your name. Hello, madame. Who are you? Hey, hey, hey, eye contact. Eye contact. She is clearly a beloved person in your life. To get to your heart, I must clearly go through her. That's right. You're so right. I don't know. She has captivated me. But do tell me. Silver hands is an unusual name. It's a family name. It's a nickname. It's a family nickname. It's a family nickname. Is there silver mines in your history? Yes. ⁓ That's it. Lovely. Lovely. Well, I am Prince Pocusa. I come from the faraway kingdom of Winonia. It's very, very far. And as you saw my stallion outside, I hope you've said my stallion. I did not see your stallion. He's run away again. We had a fight last night 'cause I left him outside. It's okay. We could go find him together. You can find him Silverham. Come help me with the stew. Help help me. I don't like your stew. It doesn't have enough dozen eggs. She agrees we're perfect for each other. I love an each You don't have to give us a speech eggs. I would share one of my twelve dozen eggs. You I need at least two. You know. Oops. If the moment is right, I will share too. Have you no decorum, Prince? Have you no shame. Okay. What must I do to win the lovely maiden over? So you see there's the rare ⁓ no, you got your card. I've got my card. As is custom, I must welcome you to our village. However, I don't like you. And I want you to know that. But I am handsome, I am strong. I am a prince. I'm in love. How do you how do you not like him? We only just met today. I have crystal clear blue eyes, they speak to the truth and honesty of my soul. And I really do need help getting stallion back. Okay. I can help you. Don't She is the most beautiful woman I've ever laid my eyes upon. Wow. I know, that's what I was saying. Ouch! Hey, hey, buddy, come on, you're out of the house. Go get out of here. You're going to Let me at least pop my shirt off. Keep it safe with us. As is custom, I must welcome you to our village. And I will welcome you into our home. ⁓ How very gracious. I will surround you with luxury. The the finest our village has to offer. As is custom. And a couple cows, I hope. It is only mushrooms. For love. We have quail. Those have a lot of protein in them. ⁓ I usure them both, I don't like this, but I have to I also like I didn't realize I wasn't supposed to not like you, but I'm I'm already committed to not liking you, so I'm that's what I'm doing. So I'm I'm kind of fudging this a little bit. But I will ⁓ take you back to our house. Okay. And ⁓ I give silver hands no time to make herself presentable. She's fine as she is. And I will present you that way. I will present you with the delicacy of our village, which is a quail egg benedict. It is an egg, is dispensed, is very little, and there's mushrooms on top. And I'll place it before you. The delicacy of our village. If you do not like it, you will offend all of us. Considers pushing mushrooms off. Like start pushing, and then I'm like and then I'm like, ⁓ yes. The first course, as it were. The only course. The only course. One egg shall sustain me for now. Thank you, madame. And I scarf it down and then try to like spit the mushrooms out on the side. I'm not a discreet prince though. See, I'm mostly handsome. He says petouille every time he speaks. Patouille? It made a little like I've got my eye on you, Prince. Got my eye on Magdalpe? I don't know what happened between you two, but I'm suspicious. I only have eyes for silver hands. It's a good sign. Silver hands remember Magdalene. We saw the heart. We saw the heart. The Orkhuttak. I do wish to learn more about your family history of the silver mines. It's intensely interesting to me, a prince from Winonia, who, as you know, we have mines of our own for sapphires. To match your dazzling blue eyes and my dazzling blue eyes. I have brown eyes. The blue in your dazzling brown eyes and my blue eyes. To bring out the blue in my eyes as you wear it on your hand. It's fine. I hate this, I hate this, I hate this. I forgot who started that scene. It was me. Is there anywhere else you'd like to do in this scene? I'm just gonna end it by just staring at Yeah, and then we do that for another another hour. Bang my head against the table. Okay, okay. I I if we're ready to end, I think I can start another scene. Totally. Where I've I'm saying you guys But you got you're trying to keep her away from me, so you guys are kinda you doing your own thing. Maybe very busy with chores. Yes, you're very busy with chores, so then I'm like you need to get to nowhere. You have a choice to do. You have to choose to do Do I do ⁓ for the scene, do I flip the card over and find out first and then set the scene? Or set the scene. Okay, okay, okay. Get up which card do you want to play? When you steal from a villager. So set the scene. Okay. Get up to where you're about to steal. Okay. Flip it over. ⁓ and then flip it over. Okay, okay. So Seeing as you guys are doing your own thing and I don't have much of a chance to keep courting her right now. Damn right. I go out into the village in search of Stallion, my Stallion. ⁓ Stallion, my stallion, my style. I do really miss Stallion, who is my only companion on this very long journey from Winonia. and I'm walking around the village. ⁓ as a prince, I typically do not carry my own money. That's somebody else's job. Why you look at me? I hoped it would be your job when I, you know, after the night we had. But alas. I'll stop bringing it up. ⁓ and and as I'm walking through the village, I spot a jewelry store. And a jewelry store seems like a good idea. So I walk in and then I realize I my lack of funds. As ⁓ as I'm looking for various things that might catch the eye of my new beloved. But I'm willing to do what I can to get what I want, so I am about to steal that ⁓ silver bracelet to get to silver hands. Hey sir, you can't take that. And then now do I put it? Or no, hold on, hold on, I'm gonna replace it. ⁓ see, I see you looking at the silver bracelet, sir. It's handcrafted here in my shop. Okay. Very little silver comes down here. I'm I'm asking at a hefty price for it. Very little silver I thought they were the family of silver miners. I don't know nothing about that. I our main export's mushrooms. As you can see from the bracelet, I I carved mushrooms into it. It's a band. Okay. Mushrooms. Okay, so since you're playing the owner of this establishment I am the owner of this establishment. You are the owner of this establishment. Good sir. I am. Yes. I am the prince. Who? Let me introduce myself. I am the Prince Pocusa. ⁓ From Winonia. Far, far away. You might have heard of us. No. We have sapphire mines. Wow. It's all good, sir. A man of your stature would not know of such mines. ⁓ Or such a kingdom as Winonia. Is that a compliment? Okay. ⁓ hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on. I seeing as I am a prince and you know you will be paid handsomely. I hope so. I am going to take the silver bracelet now. I worked really hard on that mushroom bag. Because I'm just gonna take tell you that I'm taking it, and you pick what happens. okay. Is that a compliment? Is that a compliment? No. I'm calling him poor and a peasant. Potentially illiterate, I'm not sure. But damn can he carve a mushroom? He can carve a mushroom. Hey, no, no, no, sir. You can't you can't just be taking my wares. You don't even have a goddamn horse with me. What with what future? Guards! Guards! There's one guard that shows up. He is out of shape. He is barely a guard. Whoa, whoa, hold on. What if? He's also super jacked and been pining for silver hands. everybody just can't resist me. But but you guys grew up together, so you see him as just like a guy. A broke. What's his name? Who's my competitor on this? His name's Chet Chet. ⁓ interesting. I was thinking Chauncey. Ooh! That's his middle name is Chauncey. Chet Chauncey Tremillion. Trillion. Trumilian. Chet Chauncey Tremillion against Prince Bokusa. He shows up. God, he this man is trying to steal my bracelet that I carved the mushrooms in. This is for my precious future wife, Silver Hands. He's not paying. Did you say silver hands? Yes. Are you aware of the fine beauty of this maiden? I'm still like bracelet. God! How do you know silver hands? Why I happened upon her this morning, or rather she happened upon me. And boy, was she smitten. Yes. Listen here, you son of a bitch. How dare you don't even know my mother. You I know enough. Fur What did you say? Nothing. I actually didn't hear you. That's fine. Listen here. You're gonna return that bracelet, you're gonna leave Silverhands alone, you're gonna leave town, otherwise kick your ass. size you up and I'm like, I could take you. As soon as I find Stallion, my Stallion would be my second. You named your Stallion Stallion. Great name, I know. I see the envy in your eyes. And I'm still trying to You dare slap the Prince of Bacusa. Good job, Withers. And I so f I let go of the brace and I'm like, fine. Silver hands is won over by my good looks and my intelligent brain anyways. Silver then I start to wabber out. And I know you've got fucking trouble. See? See? this fucking prince. I hope we find Stallion. I hope Stallion's liberated. There's a there's a whole short series of like Stallion's adventures. Little vignettes. Stallion looking for mushrooms. Yeah, there you go. Stallion meeting a squirrel. Stallion actually really loves mushrooms and I've kept them from him his whole life. Stallion goes on a trip. Yeah. Finds a fun mushrooms. ⁓ that kind of trip. ⁓ did you have a scene you want to see? I did have a scene. So it's ⁓ Magdalop has come down from the hill to ⁓ fetch water from the river. And usually Silverhands joins in the endeavor because you need water too, it's part of the shores. And we're just gonna be kind of we're You know, it's it's kinda calm. We're walking down, the snow's crunching behind below us, the s birds that are still around are kind of like all s nestled in, then you'd hear like the occasional breeze knock the snow down into the drift. We're following our trail that we normally do. And I'm just like ⁓ Silverhand, so what do you think of that prince? You're you're all over him this morning. You can't be so forthcoming. He was so dreamy. I've never even heard of a man eating twelve dozen eggs. Neither have I. I've never even seen an egg. Can you believe how wealthy he must be? I don't believe anything he says. Horse we see a horse running across the bridge. On the other side of the rover. Black Charger, to be precise. He looks like he's on a trip. Well, he must still be learning. They have like prince classes. There's obviously a reason. Like you're just you're some wild woman in the woods. What do you know? ⁓ what do I know? You know. ⁓ So I just thought, what do I know, you know? Silence. Silence. That be stallion. You know, my child, you you've only known loss in your life. Loss of your family, loss of your hands. It's ⁓ it's and this is one this is one good thing that is coming for you, and I just don't want you to get hurt in the end. How would I get hurt? Like I've never been in love before. How could it go wrong? ⁓ It's the greatest pain. J not unlike and I hand you the bucket and you're like dipping the water. Yeah. Not unlike the pain from the cold as it comes across our hands. I feel no pain on my hands anymore. And that's what you'll feel like too after a heartbreak. But you know you gotta continue to be open to love. But, you know, I just don't want you to go all in on this one guy who doesn't know where his horse is. Who would you who would you rather me go with? Chet Ill. Don't talk ill, my boy Chet. You know, Chet Chet seems like a good-hearted person, but you know, I'm not that into government and I turn around. And just continue back up the trail and I was gonna say, do you think he'll steal my hands if I tell him the truth? ⁓ You know, I did hear rumors that someone was thieving earlier. I would be sure to be on guard. Okay. He's the only new person in. And I'm gonna contemplate and look at my hands. And that's it. Soliness does a lot of a lot of Serena things. She does. She's a very curious girl. So you could also pick someone else's card for the scene? You can set someone up to play their card, but you can't play it for them. Okay. Yeah. And then these are just single use for Those are for any. Yeah. You can put those at any time. Cool. Okay. ⁓ so I was I was gonna be heading back as the prin as the Prince of Pacusa. Prince Pacusa of Winonia. I was heading back. A little sad I didn't get the silver bracelet, but it's okay. I got a lady to go court. So I'm going back. Stallion is somewhere in the hills, but I completely miss him. I don't even see him, but he's like very obvious and still tripping. ⁓ and then then I come knocking on the house and I'm like, are you done with your toys yet? Who do want to be in there? I guess who isn't that? What I don't know what you guys think I'm open, I'm open. I'm I'm trying I'm trying to court silver hands. I'm trying to come back and be like, Look, I was gonna get you a bracelet. ⁓ What about instead of coming to the house you see her? Yeah. ⁓ she's doing she's outside doing her chores. Yeah. Maybe Ola is inside and you catch her outside for a brief moment of. How about that? ⁓ And I see you and I be it feels like slow motion and like the sun shining perfectly and and like music. I run in slow motion to you and maybe you were sweeping outside even though it's all dirt. Wow. Damn. Feel free to change. I'm just spitfalling here. And then and then I run up to you and I'm like, ⁓ silver hands. Yes. Your hands are so cold. I know, darling. It's from doing the chores all day. It's just very cold. That makes sense. Cold hands from doing chores. I would not know. My hands are always warm because I've never done chores. That makes sense. I was going to give you a lovely silver bracelet to match your silver name. Of silver hands. But alas, I was not able to acquire one. Why not? I ran into, he might be an ex of yours, Chet. ⁓ my god, is Chet going around saying he's my ex again? Jet Slender! We'll be honest. I'm giving him too much mind. He seems like a scrub. Wow. Not worthy of you, my darling. Thank you. So Silver Hands, now that we are alone, you must know I am in search of a wife. And you I could be silver. Silver hands of the clan of silver miners. I am trying to court you and not now I'm flipping this over, Make sure you tie it into the bulk. Sorry. Okay. I'm gonna wait, ⁓ that see that's why I was like sometimes it helps to kind of know. Yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, 'cause mm, okay, I'm I'm gonna adjust this a little bit because of the setting. ⁓ no. That's a retcon noise. Well, I'm trying not to reton it and make it work so that it it still fits the bill. Let's hear it. ⁓ okay, okay, yeah. I my darling, my love, you would bring me eternal happiness in my land of Winonia if you were to become my wife. I already love you. And you you bring me courage. When I look into your eyes, I feel the courage blooming in my heart. ⁓ my god. Those guys are loaded. And your silver, silver minds in your family. Gosh, I want to know all about your history. I want to learn so much about where you've come from. Me too. Me too. Because now I know where you're going and it's home with me. What? Damn. Please, silver hands, and then I finally get down on one knee. I, who have no bracelet or ring to give you yet. But I will give you a lovely sapphire ring upon our return to Winonia. Will you be my wife? She turns around and runs away crying. And see what w I I can say this. It was supposed to be snug indoors during a raging blizzard with the roaring fire and she's looking gorgeous and like This is it, this is my moment. This is my moment. But the eyes were shining the moment was there. The moment was there. Yeah. Yeah. It's fun. The beautiful blue eyes. The brown. Maybe the colorful. Greenish, bluish, brownish eyes. They're just all of the colours because of how beautiful you are. Exactly. All the colours. I have a scene to play right off of that. Yeah. Okay. So you I'm coming to you, by the way. And I'm crying. Yes. You rush into the house sobbing. My beautiful silver hands. Yeah. ⁓ and I throw down the I was doing the linens, I throw down the linens, and I'm like, Silver hands, what troubles you so? He asked me, he asked me, he asked me to marry him, but I ran away crying to you because I knew you'd never approve. You're correct. But I love him. I know you love him, Silverhands, but you don't know him. I know enough. What more do I need other than a stallion in him? Ooh, okay. Silver hands. Something is not right with that prince. He has never done a hard day's work in his life. His horse is who knows where. His horse's name is Stallion. Who does that? He's not very creative. He's doing the work with that. He's a prince. He's a prince. Why would he have work? There's something off about him, and I don't think what it is. An old village woman knows. You have to choose one. ⁓ god. The tea leaves, silver hands, the tea leaves, they don't lie. He will break your heart. Mmm. Like an arrow. Like an arrow. I don't believe you. The tea leaves lie. Silver hands. Never once has the tea leaves lied to me. It's like novella. You have to listen to me. You cannot marry the prince. How do you know? How are the how are the tea leaves gonna tell me to live my life? I don't have a good answer for you, Silverhands. You just have to trust me. But how? Who how do I know when I'm so in love? Who to trust? My beloved Ola. Or the man of my dreams. Silverhands, real quick. I have known you for goddamn 17 years. You have known him for two days. Just think about that. I've heard stories of it working out. I mean one time it only ended in sea foam, but you know. Do you want to be sea foam silver hands? Well, I'm not a mermaid. Or am I? I gave you my warning. I will not. I will I I will not stand for this. Then will you finally tell me about my parents? And what happened? It is like no You not know. You know not what you ask Silverhands. I need to know if I'm gonna move on and leave him. But you should. You should do that. I don't know if I should do that. You should do that. You should do that. It feels like destiny. It's not it's calling me. It's calling me. Literally the first opportunity to leave village. Also I didn't realize this was all supposed to take place during a storm in a in in the Cabin. You know? Because then this is the storm finally passes. Yes. You know, whoopsie. It's okay. I don't think we're doing Yeah, yeah. We're doing great. We're doing great. Where's our story? Forget. Yeah. We write our own path, just like me, Ola. It is not my place to tell you what happened to your family. You just have to trust me. I have taken care of you for seventeen years. I love you Silver Hands and I want what's best for you. I I don't know what to say. I don't know if I can trust you. All you do is keep me locked up in this shabby village. Wow. Wow. Okay. Shabby Village. Sure. ⁓ can I can I add some? Yeah. So so ⁓ Silver Hands says this, storms out of the house. is like running and crying because, you know, it's her More running and crying. More ⁓ that's what I do. There's not a lot of activities in the village. There's no My hobbies are running and crying. ⁓ obviously. As she as she's like running down or like running to the village, the ⁓ stallion comes, charging. About to hit her. Uh-huh. Sure. ⁓ so Stallion is charging at her and then you get to choose one of these three options. ⁓ god. Mm-hmm. ⁓ what do I do? ⁓ I think I don't know what to do. I think there's a there's there's a lot of really interesting things I can do. There there are. I think the hands are gonna perform a task for me. Okay. And it's about to hit me. I see the reins without me knowing, it just grabs it. Like without me doing anything, and then I like swing off of it on the back. Possible. And now I have captured Stallion. Very cool. So your hands are still attached and you've Yeah, and I'm like they're kinda stuck though. So I don't know what to do about that. And that's Prince students. Stallion's might still be dripping a little bit. Might be tripping. His pupils aren't this big. Just wait until the prince sees me on his stallion. ⁓ ⁓ work. Do you wanna do this in or should I? I think go ahead. Alright. I feel like I've capitalized a lot of the spotlight. No, you're doing great. I'm not at all. more please. I'm gonna do when the storm f can I do this initially? Yeah. Okay. When the storm finally passes, losers No, it looks very pure and clean. ⁓ okay. So this one's like world building. Some of ⁓ yeah. Yeah, so this is just like setting the scene of like kind of how we did where the we just talk about our village. Mm-hmm. ⁓ so it's like ⁓ you know, it's a quaint little village. Like we said, it's in a little nook of like between a saddle between two hills. ⁓ Magdalpe lives on one side, the ladies live down Silverhands and Ola live down there. There's like a little shop. ⁓ what what are some like nice things that are in those in this village? Like a bakery? ⁓ yeah. It's like a good bakery. Bakery. Good bakery. We make dope croissants. Croissants. What's really great dish with mushrooms since it's a mushroom village? Mushroom cream soup. Mushroom cream soup. In a bread bowl. In a bread. In the bread bowl. Bakery and the mushrooms. In the bread bowl. Yeah, go. What what's one thing we don't like about our village? He's very fucking poor. We only got mushrooms. There's no eggs. There's never one vegetarian. Hence the shabby comet. It's the shabby comet. Chet lives there. It's perfect. It's it's perfect for help. It it it's it's ⁓ perfectly adequate if you're trying to stay low. Low profile. Yes. Like it's a very common little place. Very low. Yeah, you know, if you're looking for a princess, you know. Back everywhere, I suppose. It doesn't feel like it's directly on the beam path, but not. So now as we see this village, we hear a bunch of commotion as Silverhands now is on Stallion. And I think Stallion is still just doing their thing even though you're on the reins. Now you're just giving the horse input and it's crashing into barrels, hitting old women. And so you're holding on to the reins because you can't let them go. as and then you start running towards the river. And as you're running towards the river, ⁓ Magda Loop is gonna intentionally ⁓ sorry. Intentionally reveal your true strength. I thought it was ⁓ sorry. Sorry, yeah. ⁓ so there is as it's charging, a wolf comes out in front of it and stops the horse and like starts kinda like kinda circling it and they kinda like prowl around and then it slows it down enough and then the wolf runs off into the distance, only to then be followed by Magda Loop coming back out. ⁓ damn. Being like, ⁓ my gosh, silver hands, what happened? What are you doing up on Stallion? My hands are stuck and I don't know what to do. He was charging me and then I just grabbed it and then it just like did it on its own, but I didn't grab it and I don't know what to do. Now please help me. And I this seems like a job for Withers. He's the one that made that made your hands after all. Yes. Withers. No, but this doesn't have to be in if he doesn't need to be in here. Yeah. I I just like go to grab the hand so I can inspect it. ⁓ as I grab them, they release. How do you do that? I don't know, dear. Is it because I don't have hands? You do have hands, they're silver. But I'm gonna let go. That is. we gotta find that whatever his name is. Get him his horse, I guess. ⁓ my god, he's gonna love me forever when I bring him his horse back. I'm sorry, scallion. I think he already loves you. I just don't know if it's gonna be forever. Did you how do you know? Did you do something? Just the way that guy is, he still hasn't found his horse. I d I'm sure he doesn't even remember us. Us? What do you mean us? Come on. Let's go. No. no, I should've should have played onto that. But we'll we'll save that. Mm-hmm. Horrible. Yeah, okay, so I'm debating when I wanna do mine, because mine's when you accidentally reveal your true nature. ⁓ Are you wait are you gonna steal her hands? They're covered up by gloves. Are they wings? I mean you grabbed a horse. Not anymore. But you're hands have been revealed. We're just saying that it could be. Could be, you know. It just it reveals something. Okay, okay. So you do have hands. There's so much hands. My hands. Look where there's a special hands. I'm gonna go for it. I'm gonna go for it. Go for it. It's gonna it's gonna be the prince and I'm sorry, Ola. I keep wanting to say Olga. Everyone's names except Silver Hands. She's the most hands. It's the only one that matters. ⁓ because I've proposed to her, I saw her run out, and I was like, well She'll sort out her emotions. She'll come back, it's fine. She's enamored with me. And I go in. Mostly for food. But you're there. But you're there. And I see you, and I'm like, Has Silverhands told you the good news? She's told me news. Yes, we are. I have asked for a hand in marriage. And though she did not speak it so I think I think it's a yes. Do you? That's I really I really do. Presumptuous of you. How dare you call a prince presumptuous. You sit here in your village like this and I offer to take her to a better place and this is how you react. You don't know her. She doesn't know you. All I need to know about her is her beauty and her lineage. Tell me more about this lineage. Her lineage. Wouldn't you like to know, weather boy? Sorry. Why are you so interested in her lineage? How does that matter to you if you're so in love? Okay, so then I start getting angrier and angrier and angrier, and I'm debating if I just need to read this out loud. because you're about to glimpse the truth of who I am, and then I'm supposed to ask you how you react, and then reply to that. Okay. So yeah. Okay, so so. I'll just read it. The magical facade slips. Just for a moment, but it is enough because I'm getting worked up. I'm getting angry. This woman is not letting me get to my goal here. I I am not a prince. I am a vicious little goblin. My eyes are dead black orbs. My teeth are sharp and rotten. My fine velvet waistcoat is a stinking rag. That's who I really am. And you just saw it. And I notice it and I'm like, yeah. Okay. It was how you react. You are a creature. Ha! You will never touch my silver hands again. Not if I have anything to say about it. How could a goblin like me, ugly and wretched, ever actually win over such a s wonderful, beautiful woman? Like so. You know what you should do? You should lie to her. That's a great idea. What else was I supposed to do? Do you see what I'm competing? Do you see Chet? I do see Chet. Chet would be great, actually. Stud muffin! That's what I have to compete with. What what was I supposed to do if I didn't come in here? Listen, listen. Looking like a person. Listen. Can I hold your hand? She was gonna Listen. And it's like gross and stinky on nails. See, she wouldn't even have held my hand. Your entire relationship is built on a lie, mister I love her and I want to be with her. I need a wife. Do you why do you need a wife? All I ever wanted in this life was to find true love and and my father, he did not show me love because my mother died at child's birth, giving birth to me, and my father hated me, and then I became this ugly goblin cursed forever. And I thought if I could find love, real love, with a beautiful maiden like her, I have to get married. That's that's what's gonna break this ugly curse. ⁓ so you're cursed now. I am cursed. You're cursed now. Hmm Yeah I don't trust you as far as I can throw you. Well would you at least put up with this old goblin and as the prince let me at least say goodbye to her. I promise I'll try not to break her. You will say goodbye. You will tell her you must return to your kingdom. You will not reveal that you're a goblin, because that will that will that will that will shock her. That that that will shock her. and you will leave and you will never come back. That is a deal. And if you don't, I know someone capable of violence. And I'll leave it at that. Magdalene is capable of more than violence. And I got her name wrong on purpose. You're doing yourself a bunch of favors here, buddy. I leave widely and go prince myself back up again. Hmm. ⁓ gasp, I'm a goblin. Gasp. ⁓ wait, yeah. ⁓ I could do a scene with you. Yeah, let's do it. Okay. ⁓ Hmm. I don't want to leave the goblin at home. But she's not As you say. As you s as you always leave Watch Room. I'm gonna leave really quick. Okay. Stay. Don't leave. Batman Prince Form and I'm still doing that. Yeah. I will be right back. And I'm gonna rush out to ⁓ Magdalene's house. Are you home? Yeah. Yeah, okay. ⁓ the stuff with the horse has already happened. Yeah, I'm sitting there with my pipe. I guess Silver Hands would be there too. Can I be sobbing next to you? Yes. Can I be sobbing next to you? ⁓ my gosh, I just love to sob next to you. I'm just really upset. Okay. Yeah, no, it's good. And the horse is tied up to the the what front of the house. I imagine he's just like staring in his face now. Magdaloup, Magdalp. Hi silver hands. Hi. You you doing okay, honey? Okay, you're good. Yeah, you'll you'll be fine. Do you finally approve? No. Okay. Magdalp I can talk to you privately for a minute. Yeah, that's fine. Okay. Stay. outside. Wait, we're inside. Wait, we're outside? We're outside now. Okay. I take you outside. Okay. You're inside. I'm looking out a window. Talking very quietly. The prince is not as he seems. That's ⁓ I like like he's not a prince? That's what I've been saying. Okay, good, we're on the same page. ⁓ not only is he not a prince, he's a creature. He's a goblin. Mmm, that does explain some things. I'm not gonna ask questions. However, I am going to recruit you. He's going to leave Silverhands today. And he's gonna leave town. But if he pulls any funny business, I want you to gut him like a fish. Hmm, maybe we should sta stage a proper fuckery. You know, just really just so we don't break Silverhand's heart, but we could just conveniently have him leave. What do you suggest? Hmm. What if Well, I saved her earlier and her hands did something weird. Not quite sure what Weathers put into that. put into his designs, but it did grab the reins of the horse. I'm not quite sure how how that works. ⁓ but we should definitely figure out how to use that to our advantage. maybe. Hmm. can I have to think of a whole schemer. Sorry. Yes. We're scheming now. Scheme. Scheme scheme. ⁓ Because we want him to leave. And you said he's not as he seems. He's a goblin. He's a goblin. Like a really gross one. ⁓ As bad. ⁓ Considers life choices. ⁓ no. Not again. This is why I'm out here in the first place. No. ⁓ they finally come back to me. we should definitely, you know, we have his horse. Just give him his horse, let him ride out. Hmm. I'm trying to think. I'm like, how can Chet get involved in this too? Ooh. Where does and he doesn't know if she has silver hands, right? Because goblins are Goblins are notoriously shisty. Greedy. Yes. Yes. Hmm, that's good. That's good. So we can't let him know about the silver hands. He thinks we have a silver mine, which is incorrect. But if he knows about the silver hands, I'm worried about I'm worried about the the the the well being of silver hands. With her silver hands. He might get a little too handsy. Then take her silver hands. Then we hear the door front door like clothes and we look out and then silver hands is just like running back to to your place. What? God damn it, Silverhands! Silver hands, no! I was gonna play with the torse. God damn. God damn. God damn. No, I'm running though. What do you have left? I have when I learn a horrible truth. Or somebody. Could be somebody. Hmm. Hmm. ⁓ Hmm trying to weave this together. Mm-hmm. Yeah, as the prince, who's actually goblin, I'm trying to scheme how I'm gonna get that girl with that money. But I have no money. But I think you have money. And the shabby village. Or maybe I'm contemplating as a goblin back at home, I'm contemplating at your home. The cold hands. A name. Are you putting it together? Silver hands? I'm slow. That was the one real thing about me. Not creative. Not creative. Not very creative. How did he get the horse? How did you get the horse? And I smelled, I smelled I smelled richness, and I thought it was because of their lineage, but No one could have metal for hands. Says the daughters preposterous masquerading as a prince. So but I'm like I definitely need to get with this girl again. And because I need to say my goodbye, I'm approved to say goodbye. How can I get how can I get her alone with me? So I'm gonna I'm like, ⁓ she's into me as the prince, so I'm gonna see if she'll sneak off with me tonight after I say I'm gonna leave. I have an idea. Mm-hmm. We need blood to be involved. Okay. ⁓ I had a I had a little idea. But do you wanna have do you wanna go with your idea? ⁓ it would have to be after this one. And then yes, maybe. Maybe possibly. I don't know. Love it. Because I was thinking, a way we could wrap this up. You try to convince Silverhands to run away with you. Mm-hmm. You're about to leave, rendezvous in the middle of the night. Mm-hmm. Magdalpe catches you, remembers the promise she made to me, guts you like a fish, blood spills the earth, you learn a horrible truth, and you beg for forgiveness. Alright, let's do it. Let's do it. Yes. Okay. So you guys are. Okay, so so we're setting the scene. Yes. It's nighttime. Umla is asleep at home. Maybe she wakes up during this scene sometime, maybe not. But she's asleep at home. You sneak out. You sneak out. Cause maybe I've already come over and like whisp like been like I have to go and then I whisper in here coming. Hitch to the last scene of like maybe Silverhands did just like leave while we were like. ⁓ that's right. Yes. Silverhands are already gone. Okay, yes. So you're yes with the stallion, but I'm walking this time. Beautiful. So yes, if you guys want to Sorry, I'm losing my ability to do that scene. We'll do that scene. So so you're coming back. I hear the stallion as I've been thinking through all the silver stuff. Silver hands, cold hands. I hear the horse and I'm like, Stallion? The fuck? You usually get lost and gone for a good while. I thought the mushrooms would keep you busy longer. And then I walk out and lo and behold, there you are. And I'm like, ⁓ perfect. I can fawn over her. Thank her. Still sobbing. My beautiful silver hands, and then I run up to you immediately grabbing your hands. No, I would I'm back up because I'm still My darling, you've rescued my stallion. Stallion's like you've brought him home to me. I have brought him home, but I heard Ola talking to Hector and she said that you must go with your horse. I did, I did tell her that I would go. Because I I knew she would not let me stay otherwise. But my dearest, what if tonight I'll pretend to leave, fulfill her wishes, but meet me at the crack of midnight. Cause crack of dawn I don't know idiots. Crack of midnight on the very tippy top of that hill, above the village, with me and Stallion. And we will run away together to my kingdom of sapphire in Winonia. do you say? I don't think I could live without Ola. Can we bring her too? We will send for her after. Once we are wed, she will not be able to stop us. I'll I'll see what I can do. And see. Beautiful. And the whole time I've been like, And I'm like, that's definitely silver. She has silver somewhere on her. Damn cruel. Cruel. Beautiful. Yes. Okay. Perfect. So that was Do we want to yeah, do you wanna go ahead to that scene? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So we're sneaking out in the I'm I'm just waiting by a tree up on the top of the hill. It's a tippy top of the hill. I don't actually know what time it is. I've there for a few hours. ⁓ looking for eggs. Looking for eggs. As a goblin prince does. ⁓ He's still a prince. Sniffing for like truffles, but for eggs. Yeah, but for eggs. I really do love eggs. ⁓ that was the easy part. And and it's taking a while. Well, I don't know. Maybe I just am terrible at keeping track of time. but I know you guys were setting up a scene back at the house where you were asleep. I was going to say actually, I wanna retcon that. Okay. And say, do you go to meet the prince? I feel like I go home and I consult the tea and then maybe talk to you about potentially going out but hiding. Because I don't know if like It's all kind of weighing on me now. It's it's too fast all of a sudden. And usually I listen to my elders and it's very important to me to get these wisdom instances from my elders. Lessons. Lessons. There we go. And now I'm getting I'm getting like overwhelmed and it's all happening too fast. And I was like, maybe they're right. Maybe I'll make some tea and we'll consult the tea. And so that's what we're doing, I think. Okay. ⁓ you need guidance, my dear. We will consult the tea. And we will drink the tea. And we drink the tea. And it is a heart again. However, the heart is now shattered. In many pieces. And I tell you, Silverhands, you cannot go to this prince. He will break your heart. I'm just looking at it. I'm just defeated. I'm like, how can I convince you? You can't! There's nothing you can do. The T has said so many times now. It's even worse than I expected. Yes. Yes, it is. Well, maybe we we could go get is it Magda Loop? ⁓ now I'm confused. Magda Loop. Magdalene. Magda Loop. And we could all go there together. Except you guys hide. And I wanna see what he proposes and says. Okay. I will go with you. Me and Magdalop will come with you. But hide. We'll hide. But this is when he does something fishy, which he will. I told Magdalop to gut him like a fish. But Prem love. I think. It's all happening so fast. It's okay. I hope that doesn't happen. We will come with you. We will hide. Okay. And we will protect you. Okay. Are you sure? Yes. Can I do it? I don't think you should, but I d well I I will let you do this thing. Okay. Okay, I'll go. Okay. It's been decided. Okay. Bless. So we it is it is midnight. You think it's later 'cause you're really bad at telling time, but it is midnight. I have no idea what's happening. and I go to you, tell you the plan. You come with us. I say we just got ⁓ now. I agree, but this is important to Silverhands. Do I hear you say that? Yes. As I'm holding a knife too. I was chopping mushrooms. That's that's it's the same stew. It's always been the same stew. I just keep refilling it. It's been going. It is the perpetual stew. Yeah. God bless. Smelling foul is ever in here. Just like that statement, but it's okay. We'll be okay. We're gonna need it. I guess let's go and hopefully there will be no gutting of my beloved, I think. ⁓ there will be gutting. But we should go. We should go. Any later and it's gonna spoil. So we go to the hilltop. Mm-hmm. We're hiding. ⁓ it's dark. You have a knife? I was also thinking You might gut him by other means? Yeah. Yes? Okay, cool. a hook problem. ⁓ my. okay, so So I'm just I'm laying by the tree at the top of the hilltop. Stallion's taking a nap, sleeping off the shrooms. I'm like fiddling with a flower crown. I'm walking up to you slowly. Just magnificent as ever. Hair flowing in the wind. ⁓ And as soon as I spot you, it's like, ⁓ the show's on. The show's on. My beloved. And I know better than to run up and try to grab your hands. So I slowly walk up to you. Again, as if slow motion, my hair whips back. The stars are shining. The blizzard has passed. Get a lot of those guns. My eyes are sparkling. How are they sparkling in the dark? It's like the stars. Are they just like stars? And it is fate. It is fate, my beloved. ⁓ and what a lovely flower crap. May I See it? This is for you. I throw it at the other one. And then I actually pluck one of the flowers out and you're like, You may put it in my In your ear. One one for your ear. But my darling, I pluck another. I twist it up and You're breaking this thing I made. Yes, I am. Because I don't care about it. ⁓ I'm wrapp I didn't say that out loud, I'm thinking that. ⁓ I'm wrapping it up and then I'm getting down on me and I'm like, To properly take you to my kingdom, I must place this ring upon your finger. And tell me, will you be my bride? Why do you want to marry me so bad? What am I to you? You are my my escape, my destiny that's been waiting for me to take me away from this shabby village. But what am I to you? That's exactly right. I am here to fulfill your wish. I am here to fulfill your dreams. I knew from the first moment I laid eyes upon you, when you gazed upon me in my bed. That is actually Mandelena's in my bed for the moment. That I was here to make your dreams come true. And my darling, I was so filled with love that I knew I just need a wife, but I can make your dreams come true too. I feel like I go to pet the stallion and then I hit a bag or something. And then a book falls out. And I want to play this. Which is when I learn a tool. Okay. ⁓ I thought you like, ⁓ boy. I was like, that's a really I I guess she read it. This is me being I've been here for ten hours. would I know of any creature things or writing you think? We are super pagan. Super pagan. ⁓ the book. So yes. So yes. That's a quote. We are super pagan. I knocked over the cannon. So I'm sure the book. Pick it up and I notice that there's goblin like writing on it. And I'm looking at it and I'm like, what is this? Can you explain like what this is? And I'm reading it and I'm noticing that there's like spells and tricks and certain things. And I'm looking at, what is this? It was my mother's. That's why I never knew her. She was a goblin. But but But and then I start getting heated and angrier and angrier and then the facade comes off. He hasn't touched her or hurt her yet. My darling, please, please, please don't judge me on my appearance. I just I knew I couldn't have your heart if I didn't come to you like this. I smack you with my book. And I run away. I think you should reach for the the arm her arms. ⁓ yeah yeah yeah as I'm saying, my darling, my darling, and you're about to smack me. I'm like trying to reach for your hands, and I'm like, these are made of silver, aren't they? No, I don't know what you're talking about. And as you're doing that, just a wolf just takes you out, just your neck. Just like bam, decapitates you. ⁓ you did mean decapitation, okay? The silver I have screaming screaming. Goblin blood. Goblin blood. The little flower foam ring goes. The flower flying in the air. What? The flower ring goes flying in the air. it falls in the pool of blood. How can my dreams go so horribly wrong? Really horrible. I have forever been changed and now I'm just sad and untrusting of others. Valid. Valid. It says choose one and ⁓ okay. ⁓ I see. I choose Mm. Mm. Interesting. I think I'm gonna do How does this work in this narrative though? Mm, because there's definitely one that will come out. Alright, I choose someone dies cold and alone. Okay. and the person whose blood flows must choose another one. ⁓ okay. That's why I was like I see. Yeah. That's cool. ⁓ Do I have to describe it or just say the one I'm picking? ⁓ it would be cool if you described it. Cause I'm someone dying cold and alone. Correct. and and you guys please pitch in with this one. But I feel like a mournful sacrifice is made. And I feel like that mournful sacrifice should be made by the person who's been taking care of Silverhands. ⁓ okay. To like fulfill that problem. Like your whole life you've been taking care of her, clearly. Yeah. And trying to protect her from everything. This horrible, horrible thing just happened and you've realized all she wants is to be set free. I see. Yes. I am picking up on your pretting down. Yes. So a mournful sacrifice could be letting her go. Yeah. Or yeah. Yeah. Okay. ⁓ okay. Okay. So I have a plan. So you die stand alone. Sorry, damn. ⁓ I see you're crying again. Sobbing. Sobbing. I'm sad. Doubt is blood. There's so much blood. You're sad. I am looking at the carnage and I'm thinking Now maybe this could have been prevented. Maybe this could have been prevented. Maybe I owe you an explanation. Maybe it's time to finally tell you what happened to your parents. Really? I look at Magda Loop. And then the wolf just like re ⁓ comes up as Magda Loop. The fuck? So much is happening since a wolf. Everything's happening so fast. What the fuck? This is why we told you to listen to us. You should have. Did you know this all along? I did. I You're supposed to be the one I trust most. You hit this one. I was trying to protect you. You could have just told me. ⁓ dude, I'm dead. You think I would run away with a creepy little creature like him? I I I just wanted to I wanted to protect you. And I'm I'm I'm making it right by telling you now, Magda Loop is a werewolf. What? Magdalp is a werewolf. As if I I it kinda should have been obvious. Look at her. No, I know. She went into the woods after a wolf. And I thought she I don't know. Yeah. She went into the woods after a wolf. And it just got it makes sense, but I was talking about him. It does it does get worse. Magda Loop. Did Magdalena kill my parents? I killed your parents. Not my father. No. And I also took your hands. But Withers made you a great pair of hands. You don't see, dear. The frostbite got to you. Your very first winter. It was the only way to keep you alive. ⁓ my god. Everything we've done, we've tried to protect your But how did you kill my parents? That was a mistake. That was that was that was unf that was a bad that was unfortunate, yeah. I I didn't have control of my powers back then. You're alone in the in the blizzard. How do I trust anyone ever again? Everyone I talk to just lies. I'm like slump over here. Holy book. I'm sorry. Will you ever forgive me for doing such atrocities? It was the only option. We were just children at the time. Literally. Literally. We were ⁓ shit. ⁓ god. ⁓ Mmm. ⁓ Maybe, maybe. I need a moment to process this. I yeah, that makes sense. I'm just like covered in blood. Just covered in blood. I need to process this. I need to process this. There's there's a lot to unpack here. I gotta go talk to Will weathers, maybe I don't know, weathers, I don't fuck. Take your time, silver hands, it's okay. I can forgive you later. But you're gonna lose me. I'm leaving on Stallion the Stallion. I was hoping you are. I was like, please take stallion. And we're gonna go trip on some mushrooms together. Until I can figure my shit out. You have to leave. Me. Don't don't find me. Silver hands. Hop on. Covered in blood. Silver hands, no. Just let her go. Thank you. Yes. is that scene? I think that's scene. Do we have an epilogue? What happens to Solar Islands? Ooh. Ooh. Ola's very sad. And full of regret. Well maybe like a year passes or like a year a year of morning. You've gone, you've tripped. On the mushrooms. I had Stalin You gave Staline a better name? I did. I did. Which is Peppercorn. Peppercorn. That is a much better name. Are you a princess now? Did you find a prince? I am, in fact, a princess. ⁓ but sadly, my prince has died and now I need to keep up the download. ⁓ it wasn't me, I didn't kill him. but I'm coming home to tell of my experiences and to show that I have a baby. And Well, that was quick. Damn. It happened real fast. Like the prince found me. She did not. She went balls to the wall. She went balls to the wall. It was the shrooms. Okay. She happened to find a fairy prince in the woods. She got that ring on her finger though. That's what They got I did. They got wild in that mushroom haze. ⁓ nine months later. ⁓ I I would like to think that you actually like Magdalena's at the river. And you come up to her and then you talk to her about loss now that you like lost your husband and like Yes, exactly. ⁓ I asked where Ola is. Is she okay? Do you think she'll forgive me? What? She died. Unless you don't want to be Ola died. Ola died. She she got she she she got sick and never got better. Damn. Didn't have the strength to go on. She just kept saying, Where's my silver hands? I don't know. God damn it really just powered up. It's fine. ⁓ well that says little Ola. ⁓ my god. Little cute baby, it looks delicious. ⁓ Gonna go back on peppercorn and ⁓ She's like, this is why I left. And then I leave forever again. No, no, no. We're happy to see little Ola. Yeah, the the house player's available if you need to stay a place. I I need to hide out for a while. Can you help? Did you murder someone? No, not me, but they think it's me and little Ola and I are home sweet home. ⁓ you know, nothing really ever changes in this village. It's a great place to hide out. Yep. That's what it says. Does it have a name? it it is it is what was your place? Moldovia? W Winonia Winonia. Winonia. This is Moldovia. Tagline a great place to hide out. See you. Poor Ola. Poor Ola. ⁓ Mayherd, legacy, live on and little Ola, who's definitely not a fugitive. Definitely not a fugitive. Yay! That was so fun. What do you think? It was cute. Yay! ⁓ wait, we should keep these together. We should keep these together. No. I can I I got it. Yeah, because some of the look they say like. Yeah, but that's how you can. Anyone, anyone, anyone, silver hands, silver hands, silver hands. Might daloot. Might daloot. But yeah, no, it's like the the my private thing was you're no prince, you're an evil menive, a shapeshifting goblin. ⁓ what I seek is wealth. And when melted down, those heavy silver hands will make you rich. All you need to do is convince this country bumpkin to hand them over. Hand them over. Should we do one of the what we do at the end of a Darrencorn game where we reflect? Yeah, yeah. So what ⁓ we can do a little debrief where we go around the table and we share one thing that we appreciate about another player, something we liked about the game, like a memory that we liked, or we can just have a moment of silence. I like a moment of silence. Yeah? I don't know what to say. That's fine. Well I I am very appreciative of everyone 'cause with these games I love playing games like this, but I always get like in my head totally about coming up with a good story or like make making sure I'm hitting certain points. Like but you guys it's easy it makes it easy to flow. So that was cool. And this provides just enough structure to like hit those points. Yeah. And then like be fun and silly and it still gives you enough like creativity and room to tell like a fun story. But it still gives you like something to build off of. I really like this game. This one's also funny to me because it The private thing, I was like, I'm terrible at in general, I'm terrible at keeping secrets, I feel like. I I just wanna tell everyone what's up. So I was like you have to hide up my gab then. Whoops. Whoops. No, honestly, you did great. I love great. This will be my I appreciated like the charismatic nature you put into your character. ⁓ thank you. Like it was it was great how you kinda like made this mosaic of a person. Yeah, like they were hilarious. Someone you love to hate. Exactly. Totally. Yeah. ⁓ I also just really loved everyone's ability to like create conflict. Yeah. Yeah, that's that's I feel like that's usually what like helps the story like really thrive is like mm kind of like knitting that together and like having something to overcome or like an obstacle to to go around. Totally. You guys did great in getting around it and like in a very creative way. That also was just like, ⁓ the story's so fun. Yeah. That's the thing, the story was really fun. ⁓ and I have played Silver Hands before and it's really cool how like different people will interpret the prompts so wildly differently. And I think that was really cool just seeing the way that you guys like interpreted what the prompts meant and incorporated them into the story that you kind of wanted to tell. ⁓ I love Stalin the Stallion. Literally I couldn't come up with another name in the moment and I'm like, this fits. It's so funny, so stupid in the best way. And you two roofing on each other like my cool. I was like, ⁓ okay, like I'm matching the energy. I'm gonna blow in here. Absolutely. Well done, everyone. Well, thank you so much for joining us today for another game session. If you would like to get a copy of Xenia's Wonder Tales for yourself, you can do so through our website. I will have the link in the description box below. Thank you again to my beautiful friends for playing this game with me and for showing their beautiful faces. ⁓ yeah, I appreciate you all. Thank you for watching, and we'll see you next time. Bye. Bye.