Latest / Smooth Critical / C1 Ep.13: Lifting The Veil

Transcript

C1 Ep.13: Lifting The Veil · Smooth Critical

0:19
Welcome back to Smooth Critical. I'm your DM, Avni.
0:23
Quick question, Avni, are you OK?
0:25
Avni, are you OK? Are you OK, Avni?
0:28
I'm great matey, little disappointed only Beau wanted to
0:32
join the pirate life. We could have pivoted the
0:34
campaign and set sails on the high seas, plundering villages
0:38
and getting scurvy. But alas life on the water or
0:43
lava is not for everyone. So let me introduce
0:47
unfortunately not my 3 pretty pirates but my three gorgeous
0:52
gladiators. He my.
0:53
Hello, it's Abe. Harry.
0:56
Bondel Willowind distinctively not interested in becoming a
0:59
pirate. And Charlie?
1:02
You're IB po Bo I pivot to being a pirate.
1:06
OK, I feel like now we have to do a pirate campaign because
1:09
that was like too good. My pirate voice.
1:12
My pirate voice was just me saying matey over and over
1:15
again, like in my normal voice. But Charlie's was incredible it.
1:18
Would be Sylvina. Sylvina as a pirate for me.
1:21
Oh my God. Yeah.
1:23
Like I think we should rob this town.
1:26
Sylvina Junior would be his parrot.
1:29
She's just a babysitting on his shoulder.
1:31
This is Sylvina Junior. Sylvina's the reverse Robin
1:35
Hood. She steals from the poor and
1:37
gives to herself. That's just taxes.
1:41
Yeah. She's our government.
1:44
That's actually it's kind of all a society, to be honest.
1:49
I wonder why they never made a reverse Robin I think.
1:52
They have in so many movies. All right, let's start our
1:56
recap. You started your travels with
1:59
Tahan and Trash lesbian orcs with a boat called the s s Flame
2:03
Rider. Tahan was the more outgoing one,
2:06
helping rig up the sails while Trash was quieter and worked on
2:09
steering and navigation. Tahan explained that what made
2:13
their boat special was that it floated on land due to a
2:16
modified tensors floating disk. Spell that Russia's sister
2:19
helped make since she was an artificer at the Academy of
2:23
Artifice. They offered to take you
2:25
straight to Ember Hold which would save you some time to on.
2:28
Then did some light sparring with Beau which resulted in his
2:31
feelings getting hurt. Since she was the better
2:33
fighter, Abe decided to spar with her and was winning until
2:36
she tackled him and he freaked out remembering how just hours
2:40
earlier he was killed by Cloward.
2:42
Everyone took some time to decompress and Beau started
2:46
noodling with his banjo. Kind of good noodling kind of
2:50
mid. We'll get there.
2:52
Mostly tuning. Yeah, it.
2:54
Was just tuning. While that was happening Bunty
2:57
was in the crows nest and made everyone guess what he saw and
3:01
what he saw was a massive pirate ship heading their way. 6
3:05
pirates boarded the S S Flame Rider to steal their Fire Flow
3:09
core while the captain attempted to charm people into joining
3:12
him. Unfortunately, only Bo fell for
3:15
his tricks. Matey 2 of the three extensions
3:18
on the Fire Flow core were taken out before the monos felled the
3:21
last pirate and were able to plug the core back in, but the
3:25
ship still took 74 points of damage, dropping it from 100 HP
3:30
to 26 HP. Pirate Captain Scallywog and his
3:34
inanimate mechanical parrot Pollywog escaped back to their
3:37
ship and claimed he would. See you again.
3:40
And that's where we are now. I I listen, I know Abe had like
3:44
a realization that, you know, killing people is not a good
3:47
thing. But I swear to God, if we see
3:49
him again, it's on site. It's on site.
3:51
He said he'll see you again. So and he should bring more guns
3:55
next time. He's the BBEG, yeah.
3:58
Killing pirates should be fine. It was more like killing, you
4:02
know, the somebody in like a very tight political situation.
4:05
Don't. Give me loopholes, Don't give me
4:07
loopholes. So you guys are on the badly
4:13
damaged ship, and you can see some places where the wood looks
4:16
seriously damaged, but you're still sailing, the orange and
4:20
red glow of the sun setting behind you.
4:23
Trash is looking stoic at the wheel, and Ta'an looks
4:26
exhilarated. Pirates.
4:28
Wow, real pirates. I'm not sure I liked them as
4:32
much as I hoped I would, but look at us.
4:34
We killed six of them together. How thrilling.
4:37
Are their bodies just kind of like on the boat?
4:39
Yes, their bodies are just scattered throughout the boat.
4:42
What? So the the other ship is gone
4:44
now, right? Yeah, the other ship fucked
4:46
right off. Can we loot the bodies?
4:48
Yes, absolutely. You guys go and loot the six
4:52
pirate bodies. Hey, wait, wait, wait, wait,
4:54
wait, wait, wait. Let's let's not do that, guys.
4:58
And Abe, Abe kind of stands between you guys and some of the
5:00
bodies. Yeah, yeah, of course.
5:02
Absolutely. I'm going to summon Mage Hand
5:04
and start rifling through the pockets.
5:06
With the invisible mage hand. But I'm also going to be
5:08
listening to what Abe is saying. Right now, these poor souls are
5:13
probably meeting with Salvira in the Endless Garden before they
5:18
go on to their next, wherever it is they're going to be.
5:21
I don't. I don't think it's going to be a
5:23
good place, if I'm being honest. But I don't know.
5:27
I think we should have some respect.
5:28
And I look at you, Bon. I raise my eyebrows.
5:31
Listen, man, you know Thesmira teaches a lot of things about
5:35
valuing life over everything and freedom.
5:39
And these pirates, they I don't know if they wanted to be
5:43
pirates. I don't know.
5:43
If they didn't, it's hard to say.
5:45
I Are we under the impression that these people were were
5:49
being forced to be pirates? I mean they seemed pretty happy
5:53
to unplug your fire flow core. Like they didn't seem to dissent
5:59
for any reason. I believe they lived in freedom,
6:02
they lived on the open waters. They they chose to attack our
6:06
fire flow core and they did it with smiles on their face.
6:09
And for that they lived with joy and freedom.
6:12
But they're not with us anymore. As you said, they're with
6:15
Silvira and I don't think the bodies are going to do any good.
6:19
I'm happy to say prayer over them, but I think the resources
6:22
are important to to the people who still are alive and still
6:26
are free. Would you guys have looted my
6:28
body if I died forever? Looted is a strong word.
6:33
We wouldn't have looted you. We would have giving your
6:36
possessions to Bunty. Yeah, I would have had cool
6:41
shit. You do have a next of kin
6:43
available. Yeah, OK, well maybe just say a
6:46
prayer, Bon, before we take some of the stuff and close their
6:49
eyes of. Course, of course we go and we
6:52
line them up in sort of like like a a line.
6:56
Just like on the ground, Bon, you fully smashed one of their
7:02
heads like into pieces. So.
7:04
He is heading as an electric, so that's one of the pirates you
7:08
picked up. OK, we, I, I try to build the
7:10
line around this guy so that I don't have to drag his like
7:13
bloody corpse across the ship. And that's like.
7:17
A good idea? I go.
7:18
I go one by one, blowing a Knicks Shard, putting my my
7:21
pocket watch embedded in my hand onto their foreheads or chest if
7:26
they don't have foreheads anymore.
7:28
And I whisper a small prayer to this mirror.
7:31
I say may freedom persist after death.
7:35
And then I look over to SO. Is it or is it my?
7:39
Is it my turn to go through the pockets now?
7:41
What's going on? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
7:44
Oh, OK. I think we're good.
7:47
All right, yeah, let's let's loot these bodies.
7:49
You guys find 6 daggers, nothing special.
7:53
You find all of them were wearing black pirate hats, no
7:56
feathers unlike Scallywag, which is unfortunate but it is what it
8:00
is and you find 120 gold pieces between the six of them.
8:04
What do you say? Like black pirate hats?
8:05
I mean like a tricorn like. Yes, yeah.
8:08
All right, so we're all taking hats, right?
8:10
I mean. You can even double up.
8:12
Well, I mean, Trescientan ah here too.
8:15
So there was 6 pirates, right? There's six of us.
8:17
I think everybody gets a hat. I don't know if the hat will fit
8:20
on my head. I'm 1 foot tall.
8:24
We resize one of the hats for Bunty.
8:27
We could take one and bring it to like a.
8:30
Hat Guy What are they called the Hat Guys A.
8:33
Hat. Haberdasher.
8:36
Haberdasher and then they can make it smaller for me.
8:39
Also, Avni, I'm so sorry, I blacked out after you said that
8:43
there were pirate hats. What were the other things?
8:46
You had the six daggers, the six black pirate hats and 120 gold
8:50
pieces. Do we want to split it 5050 with
8:54
Tres Chanton? Yeah, absolutely.
8:56
You know. What?
8:57
Bunty, You can get a hat if you listen.
9:01
Come here. And I and I and I and I raise my
9:04
pinky. OK, we have to do a pinky
9:06
promise, Bunty. I don't like promises.
9:10
Bunty, Bunty, I'm talking if you see someone approaching the boat
9:16
or like us in any suspicious manner in the future, we do not
9:20
play the guessing game, okay? Okay, see something, say
9:24
something. Yes, you just say it, you
9:28
interrupt us, it's fine. But I see, I see, I see a lot of
9:32
things. What is suspicious and what is
9:34
it? Monty use context.
9:37
You're asking a lot of me, dude. I and listen, I know you're
9:40
capable of it, buddy. Bunty, bunty, look around.
9:42
You see, you see the horizon all the way around.
9:45
Yeah, it's really pretty. So when something unexpected
9:49
interrupts that horizon, you should let us know.
9:53
Yeah. However, I'm going to turn to
9:54
everybody else. This is a little bit on us for
9:57
trusting him and then not noticing the 90 foot tall ship
10:01
until it was right next to our own.
10:03
Yeah. Listen, I think if we if we get
10:06
Bunty a spyglass in the future, I think he would actually, you
10:10
know, the one eye, I think he might be better with it than the
10:13
rest of us because he's used to just looking through one eye.
10:17
I'm the only one who feels like Bunty with a spyglass is too
10:20
powerful. God.
10:21
Never mind. I mean, I think we're going to
10:26
need it when we go on our voyage across.
10:29
What's the name of the sea? The Smoldering Sea is the one
10:32
right off of Emberhold. There's the Black Root Ocean
10:36
which is near Noctavalis, near Shadehold, and then smoke crank
10:40
oceans on the other side. But yeah, in between is
10:43
Smoldering Sea and then below is salt cradle sea and Grey Smoke
10:47
sea. I think we're going to need it
10:48
when we go sailing on the smoldering sea to Noctavalis.
10:52
I agree that we should get him one, but I think we should take
10:55
away from him when we're in populated areas.
10:59
Yeah, I, I, I agree with that. I agree with that, Beau.
11:02
I am a pervert. Yeah, all right.
11:07
Fair enough. And then the daggers did.
11:10
Did somebody want to take the daggers?
11:12
Are they like cool pirate daggers?
11:14
Yeah, they have like black handles that look like they're
11:18
maybe made out of Obsidian. They don't do anything special
11:22
in terms of like damage or attack, but they look pretty
11:25
cool. I.
11:26
Could definitely see myself holding this in my teeth as I
11:28
climb up a rope net. I would take one dagger.
11:32
Yeah, I'll take. I'll take the other four.
11:35
I'll. Take one.
11:37
Do Treshanton want any daggers? No, we will be OK.
11:42
So Ta'an turns to you guys and goes.
11:45
The ship took a beating. I'm not sure if you all know
11:48
much about fixing things up, but I have some spare wood and
11:52
metal. Maybe we can work on reinforcing
11:56
the hull and where there's cracks and damages from the
11:59
fire. Sure.
12:01
Yeah. Two of you guys are magic man,
12:03
is that right? Yes, yes, yes.
12:06
I. Listen, I also have magical
12:08
abilities to on. I don't know if you saw me
12:12
activate like my spectral arms, but it's certainly magic.
12:16
Also, I died and came back to life.
12:18
So I don't really like this characterization of like, there
12:20
are magic men and there are not magic men, you know?
12:25
Sorry, since you were a monk I assumed you were like spiritual.
12:29
You had that that spiritual energy to make your arms.
12:32
Less, yeah, but that's just like magic Magic.
12:34
Just you're being pedantic. I it's, it is magic, you know?
12:40
OK, I just know astral self monks myself and usually they
12:44
they yeah, of course. Where, where, Where did you meet
12:47
them? Where could I meet them?
12:49
I mean, some of them are sailors who have worked with merchants
12:55
and are hired bodyguards, and they sailed the seas and they
12:59
help protect ships. Some of them said that they were
13:02
from various places, you know, like Brazen Hearth, which is a
13:06
very interesting, very interesting place to be.
13:09
And some of them are in places like Zinnias.
13:12
Rest huh? They they'll work for money.
13:15
Monks will will will accept money for their services.
13:20
Some of them have had a very complicated relationship with
13:23
their faction, with their with their group of astral self
13:26
monks. It depends you know person to
13:28
person. There are different
13:29
personalities and what people like in life.
13:32
So you don't think there would be any in Ember hold?
13:35
I do not know. Maybe some of them travel.
13:38
Who? Who's to say?
13:39
And do they look any particular kind of way?
13:43
I don't know. I don't know everything about
13:46
them. I have just met them in passing
13:48
so I cannot answer more of your questions.
13:50
All right, Tom noted. I say kind of in a curt way.
13:56
She turns to the two of you who do magic, and she goes, do any
14:00
of you have reinforcement spells that could help while the rest
14:04
of us kind of carry this lumber and metal to reinforce?
14:10
Interesting, I just took off the spell that I needed for.
14:15
That no worries. I can sort of give a little bit
14:18
of Tess Mira's divine guidance to whoever's trying to to fix
14:24
the ship, but I think at the most that's what I could do.
14:26
And then I could maybe mend smaller things, like if there's
14:29
any more cosmetic things I can sort of try to close up holes
14:33
and things like that. That sounds lovely.
14:36
Maybe you can start by, well, maybe I'll just give you a
14:39
bucket of soap and water and you can clean that guy's brains off
14:41
the ship that you bludgeoned to death.
14:45
OK. Yeah, sorry about that.
14:47
It was very cool. And I, I take the, the soap and
14:51
water and I, I cast guidance on myself as I clean, clean the
14:55
brains off. Yeah, the guidance helps you,
14:59
you know, when you scrub, it seems to scrub a little better,
15:01
so it comes off pretty easily. Bo and Abe, are you guys going
15:05
to help kind of carry the lumber and stuff to reinforce the hull?
15:08
Sure. Yeah, I don't know about like
15:11
reinforcing spells that I have, but I can, you know, carry stuff
15:15
physically and then I think my Meijan can hold up to like 25
15:19
lbs, so it's a little bit better so I can.
15:21
Manual labor, that is the way to do it.
15:24
So you guys work on reinforcing the hull, kind of cleaning up
15:29
the blood and the guts and, and just getting the ship back to
15:33
being a little better than how it was at the end of last
15:37
session. You know that this is kind of
15:40
important when you know you're sailing, people look at your
15:43
ship on, you know, those people look at your ship and they kind
15:45
of judge you. They judge the merchants kind of
15:48
based off of how they present themselves.
15:50
It's a combination of like, of course, what goods are you
15:53
selling, but like the charisma and, and how you present
15:56
yourself. So you guys get the the ship a
15:59
little bit back up and ready. And Bo and Abe, since you guys
16:04
are kind of helping with the actual putting the ship back
16:08
together. You guys can each roll 2D10 and
16:12
trying to get like that many quote UN quote like temporary
16:15
hit points back to the ship to kind of make it reinforced.
16:19
Can I give guidance to sort of maybe give like advantage on one
16:23
of those roles for one of the people?
16:25
Sure, Bo or Abe, you can just choose.
16:27
So you said 2D10. 2D ten, yeah. OK, A4 and A1.
16:34
I got a four and a three. All right, one of you rerolled
16:36
one of those. Rerolled that one.
16:38
Yeah, I'll reroll, I'll reroll. Can't get worse.
16:42
Four and a three. There you go.
16:46
Tahan gets back 15 HP. So between the three of you,
16:50
that was more than the ship started with.
16:52
So the ship's looking a lot better than it was.
16:55
It's a little bit more than half of its hit points.
16:59
It's no longer bloodied, so things are looking OK.
17:02
Tahan looks over at you guys. After you guys do like maybe an
17:06
hour or two of some manual labor and goes I may relieve trash
17:11
from captaining for a while so she can sleep.
17:14
Feel free to rest and take a Zananas banana from the bag and
17:18
she beckons over to the. Cargo area What?
17:21
They're from zinnias, rest Zananas bananas.
17:25
We traded for them at a market in Forge Blood.
17:28
Oh wow, so just like regular bananas?
17:31
Or I'm guessing they had? Are they special in some way?
17:34
Take a bite and tell me what you think.
17:36
I would love to. So you guys take a bite of this
17:40
banana and the peel is actually like a greeny red color and when
17:47
you bite into it, it's actually savory and spicy.
17:50
Huh, interesting. Huh.
17:52
Wow, this is not bad. Yes, there is food from all
17:57
around the world and that's why we want to travel the world
18:00
right now. We had to to trade for it within
18:02
Ignovar, but these grow native to zinnias rest in Savorum
18:06
wrecks, so maybe one day we'll make it there.
18:10
So as you guys eat this banana, you look around and you kind of
18:14
realize night has fallen. The sun slowly set as you were
18:18
hammering things back onto the boat and eating the banana and
18:21
chilling, and the night air settles in around you.
18:25
It's warm, but it's no longer oppressive, but you're feeling a
18:29
lot better now that the actual outside air has also gotten a
18:34
little cooler. Very good.
18:35
So heat and light still rise from the lava below in kind of
18:40
like slow waves, but a steady breeze moves across the deck,
18:44
kind of taking the edge off. So the river glows beneath you,
18:47
those deep Reds and molten gold casting shifting light up along
18:52
the hull and above, the sky stretches wide and clear.
18:57
Stars fill it. Not scattered stars, which is
19:01
what the three of you have seen on your respective journeys to
19:04
scenario. But there's this dense layer,
19:08
thick across the dark, and they burn brighter than you remember.
19:13
Everyone give me a history check. 5 S. 16.
19:19
Also a 16. Bon, on your travels from
19:23
Emberhold to Scenarium, you were a little more focused with your
19:28
goals, like get to Scenario and start the gladiator fights, get
19:31
some money, kind of Bang Bang bang.
19:33
But Bo and Abe, you guys have traveled a lot further.
19:39
Whoa. You went from here to there to
19:42
kind of everywhere, bouncing around, not necessarily by your
19:45
own accord. And Abe, you traveled from
19:48
Moonfen all the way to Scenarium.
19:51
And you guys know it's rare to see this many stars out at
19:54
night. The cities, of course, have too
19:56
much light to see stars in the most part.
19:58
But even along your travels, they're usually much more
20:02
scattered. It's not as as thick and as
20:05
dense, and honestly, sometimes looking up at the sky right now,
20:08
it's a little bit blinding. What's going on up there?
20:15
So I have navigators tools proficiency and one of the the
20:20
abilities of that is like charting a course based on
20:24
stars. Awesome.
20:25
It allows me to either plot a course or determine position by
20:29
star gazing. So would I be able to sort of
20:32
say I have enough historical knowledge about the existence of
20:36
this or I've like heard of it but I've never seen it?
20:38
Yes, I would say that the stars that you usually navigate by,
20:43
you can see that they're still in the sky and they're brighter
20:47
than usual. And you have heard from time to
20:51
time that there are nights where the very, very dim stars also
20:56
suddenly burn very, very bright, as if.
21:00
And I think this is maybe something that Nerx has
21:03
described to you before on his travels, where it kind of feels
21:07
like there's like a black screen across the night sky that covers
21:12
most of the stars there are dim. But he describes it as some
21:17
nights the screen gets taken away and you can see everything
21:20
up there. I relay this to Abe.
21:24
I guess I've, I've been so focused on, I guess you know,
21:28
everything that happened to me and just trying to, to prove
21:31
myself on Narix's ship and, and trying to make sure that I'm
21:37
safe. And I I've never taken a moment
21:39
to really look up and see the beauty of it.
21:43
Yeah, it is beautiful I guess. How much astronomy do people
21:50
know in ex Moria? Like what's the extent of
21:53
written knowledge like? Like do we know about the planet
21:57
that it might be circuit like, you know, a sphere?
21:59
Like do we know any of those things like a solar system or
22:03
no? You know enough that there is a
22:07
planet, right? There is exumoria.
22:10
You know enough that you know that there are different planes
22:13
of existence. You know that there is like the
22:16
astral plane where the gods live and stuff like that.
22:19
You don't necessarily know every plane of existence that's kind
22:23
of left up to either high level adventurers or very, very
22:27
strong, prominent, powerful people just like the average
22:30
person would know. Hey, like there's the astral
22:32
plane, there's the place that we live on Exumoria.
22:35
There's not really like a solar system in the way that like we
22:40
have on Earth that you've heard of, OK.
22:43
I wonder if that screen has to do with the void mommy.
22:48
And as you say that everyone give me an insight check on
22:53
Bunty and Abe, you can do with advantage of course, that's your
22:58
brother. That'll be a 10.
23:02
Natural one. 23. I'm just blown away by the stars
23:06
just just gazing at them. Absolutely beautiful outside
23:09
Bond. Just absolutely stunning.
23:11
Abe. You're the only one that notices
23:14
this. The other two are kind of blown
23:15
away by the stars in the sky, but you notice that Bunty looks
23:20
uneasy and has been staring at the sky a lot.
23:23
Bunty. There are too many stars out.
23:27
I wonder if Sylvia telling my Big Brother about my mommy has
23:31
made her retreat. She only likes it when people
23:34
know about her when she wants them to know about her.
23:38
What do you know about her? You hear Bunty's voice in your
23:41
head now. He says that part out loud, but
23:42
then he starts communicating with you just kind of by your
23:45
psychic link. What do I know about my mommy?
23:48
Yes, in my head, I say. As time has passed, as we've all
23:54
travelled together, I remember more.
23:57
Not, not like a lot, but I remember more.
24:01
I remember something looking at the stars that I had forgotten.
24:05
Mommy told all of us now when we are summoned to our people to
24:10
tell them if they're feeling weak or scared of dying.
24:14
That we can help them, I can help you.
24:19
You can join the Dawn of Stars, though I always found it to be a
24:23
dumb name. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,
24:26
wait, wait. And I'm going to say that out
24:27
loud and I'm going to start backing up.
24:29
That's not that's not your voice, Bunty.
24:31
Give me a perception check on Bunty right now. 13.
24:36
OK, what you notice is that his one big eye, it looks a lot more
24:42
human right now than it ever has.
24:45
And he goes, Abe, Abe, listen to me.
24:48
Once I became a voidling, I asked the void about the Donna
24:52
stars and she said yeah, it's a cool name.
24:55
It would attract more astral self monks.
24:59
But anyways, I digress. Abe, listen to me, look at me.
25:02
Abe, look at me. Listen.
25:03
To me, I'm looking at, I'm looking at him, but I'm, I'm
25:05
absolutely flabbergasted. He sounds like a little version
25:08
of Bonn right now. It's kind of a refined accent.
25:14
This guy's a man who's travelled the world.
25:16
Listen to me though. The name is kind of dumb.
25:19
The power isn't. And I can feel you're scared,
25:22
Abe. I can feel you're worried about
25:24
what happens when luck is no longer on your side.
25:28
If you want more than what you have, you just have to pledge
25:32
yourself to the dawn of stars. I'm already part of the system.
25:36
I can hook you up. You can get the power and the
25:39
form of immortality like I did. And the Void gets another anchor
25:44
here on the mortal plane. Everyone wins.
25:48
Are you? And then Bunty suddenly sneezes.
25:51
At you. And it's super wet and it sprays
25:54
all over you. And he shakes his head via Bunty
25:57
and he looks at you, his eyes wide, back to.
26:00
Normal. And he goes.
26:02
Abe, can I have a snag? I'm hungry.
26:04
We said you have to cover your mouth when you sneeze.
26:07
I didn't. I don't know what happened.
26:09
I was just, I was talking to you and then all of a sudden I feel
26:13
like I blacked out and then I had to sneeze.
26:16
He did cover his mouth when he sneezed, but what happened was
26:18
all of the gunk that was on his hands just flew off onto you.
26:26
Bunty and I lean in. I'm talking out loud now, just
26:30
trying to do it out of earshot of the other two.
26:33
Are you on my side? Like if I chose not to join the
26:38
Dawnstar, would you still stay with me?
26:43
Yeah, you have to join that. I don't give a fucking shit.
26:46
But you just got all like, really refined and kind of cool,
26:50
if I'm being honest. Me refined.
26:53
He starts scratching his ass. I don't know what the hell
26:55
you're talking about, brother. Bo Bond.
27:00
Yeah, yeah. What's up?
27:01
Yeah. Bunty just did something very
27:04
weird in my head. How did he do?
27:07
That sounds that sounds pretty normal.
27:08
No, no, no, no no. His voice changed and his eyes
27:11
got more human, like he had more whites in his eyes and he just
27:16
tried to recruit me to the to the the dawn of star the astral
27:19
self monk. Like, I don't think I want to
27:24
join that. I feel like.
27:25
I would say no, like they're. Promising me immortality though.
27:30
When you say immortality, my ears perk up a bit.
27:34
Hey, I mean, listen, I I respect your decisions about this, but
27:38
isn't immortality what you've been searching for?
27:41
Yeah, but when I died, Sylvia told me that the middle sister
27:48
promised like a diluted, like a like a perverted form of
27:52
immortality, like 1 where they're not actually living
27:57
forever for a long time like the Imperator.
28:00
But instead it's like their souls are tied here.
28:04
Like the monks, like the statues that we fought, right?
28:06
Like they were ghosts. They weren't really.
28:09
They were stuck here. They couldn't move on.
28:11
And after seeing Sylvia's garden, like I still want to
28:14
finish when my parents started but rather do it for real then
28:21
commit to cheap tricks like this.
28:24
I'm gonna blow a Knicks Chard into the sky and ponder this a
28:29
little bit. As you blow the Knicks Chard
28:32
into the sky, you notice that as it floats upward it seems to get
28:37
brighter than normal before it disappears.
28:42
And I'm, I'm going to sort of pause it out loud about this and
28:45
say, you know, I've been thinking a little bit about it
28:48
and it's interesting. There's almost 2 forms of
28:52
immortality that are being discussed among the readings
28:55
and, and the experiences we've had.
28:57
And one is 1 is what you're talking about the, the void
29:01
mummies form of immortality where it's perverted and, and
29:07
tied to some, something we don't understand completely yet.
29:12
And it seems like maybe there's another form of immortality tied
29:15
to the breath and it's less of maybe immortality, more of like
29:21
a continuity of life and the ability to sort of transfer life
29:26
force and and keep it going. Yeah, there's also, I mean,
29:31
there's a Straxians boon for the Imperator, which is less so It
29:37
doesn't seem like it has to do with the stuff we read regarding
29:41
Thesmira's breath prayers and rituals, but more like like we
29:46
know he can die, but maybe he's something like biologically
29:50
immortal, like like a crab. And then there's whatever,
29:55
whatever bow is, and I say this with the utmost respect, this is
30:00
a form of life we haven't encountered yet, obviously
30:04
outside of you. Bow.
30:07
It seems connected. I would like to to try
30:10
something. Yes, absolutely.
30:12
What's up? Is there a piece of splintered
30:14
wood like somewhere around from the damage on the ship?
30:19
Absolutely there is. Bunty's just like sucking on one
30:22
Jesus. I'm gonna get one that's that's
30:26
not as wet and I'm gonna cast Mage Hand and I'm going to use
30:33
Mage Hand to like lower it to the lava until a point where it
30:38
like catches fire. In the same way that Bon raised
30:42
the next Shard up and it got brighter, I want to see if the
30:45
fire also appears to get brighter in the sky as it goes
30:49
higher. You lift the fire up into the
30:52
sky. It looks generally the same.
30:54
OK, I just wanted like, I was curious if it was just if it was
30:58
any light got brighter or if it just if it seems like the stars
31:02
and then Nick's Shard specifically seemed to be
31:05
affected by that, then I'm going to like let the little piece of
31:09
burning wood come back to me. I'm going to hold it for a
31:11
little bit. Yeah, I don't know.
31:14
I don't, like I said, I don't exactly know how I how I work or
31:18
function, but I do seem to be tied to the shards in some way.
31:23
And I feel like they're just like different forms of
31:27
immortality going around, you know, lots of people trying to
31:30
find it in different places. And maybe sometimes they
31:33
overlap, but I don't know how they're connected.
31:36
Bow. Yeah.
31:38
I kind of just look around to see if ton and treasure
31:42
anywhere. Trash trash is sleeping in bed
31:44
and tons like way in the back steering right now so you guys
31:48
are completely alone. Yeah, I kind of pull you guys
31:50
all in a little closer and just be like, do you want to get that
31:55
bottle out that you still have? It's been a tough couple of
31:59
days. A boat kind of perks up at this
32:02
and I look around in the same way that Abe just did and yeah,
32:05
so I'll reach in and I'm going to take out the half full bottle
32:10
of expensive whiskery that I got.
32:14
It'd be nice to try this without the, you know, the dilution.
32:18
I guess it wasn't diluted, it was actually fortified, but.
32:22
Yeah, so you guys have like, you know, like an hour or two before
32:26
you should probably head off to bed.
32:28
So you can just take your time on the ship and and hang.
32:33
I'm going to take a big swig. I'm going to ask for the bottle
32:35
and just straight from it. Let's start.
32:38
Passing the bottle around. Maybe I'm gonna send a message
32:43
to Abe using the Tantra. Maybe we should get like a A cup
32:49
for Bunty. Yeah, Bunty, can you waterfall
32:53
it? Waterfall.
32:55
No. Can we baby bird?
32:58
Yeah, you just, you just open your mouth.
33:01
OK. Close your eye. close your eye,
33:05
Bunty. We'll baby bird it to.
33:07
You OK? I close my eyes.
33:09
Eye. And I and I pour a bit of the
33:12
bottle and I'd be like, aw, aw. I make noises like I'm baby
33:16
birding. That doesn't taste like you're a
33:19
spit aim, but OK. Oh.
33:21
God. No, no, Yeah, yeah.
33:26
Why does Why does Bunty know what your spit tastes like?
33:29
Another time. Yeah, good.
33:30
Question. Why do I know?
33:33
Some things are way too salty for him and I have to dilute it
33:36
in my spit. I'm gonna leave this alone and
33:40
take a swig as well. My stomach is doing somersaults.
33:45
This time, as I drink it, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna attempt
33:48
not to get drunk. You know, like I think we were
33:51
all trying to sort of keep our wits about us.
33:53
I'm gonna, I could use a little buzz right now.
33:55
So I'm, I don't want to roll for this if that's possible, yeah.
33:59
Yeah, absolutely. You guys, now that you're kind
34:01
of in your own space and hanging out and just like pacing
34:05
yourself, you can get as drunk as you want.
34:08
You can. It can be a nice buzz, it can go
34:10
full out, black out if you want. It's your choice.
34:13
Awesome. Yeah, I think we all take some
34:15
hearty swigs. I'm gonna I'm gonna go with a
34:17
good buzz. Same.
34:19
And like like above a buzz definitely like I'm not black
34:23
out it's. Two or three?
34:24
It's two or three. He's putting that out.
34:25
Good to know. Two or three.
34:28
Perfect. Oh man, it feels good to relax
34:32
for a moment. Yeah, I feel like this has been
34:34
an insane week. Yeah, Has it even been a week?
34:38
I feel like. It's it's been about probably 6.
34:43
Days, days, days, Seven days maybe?
34:47
It's it's been crazy and I mean, I've been like, I've had like
34:50
some hectic weeks, but this is this is definitely this tops
34:54
them all. I mean, I wonder how Scenarium's
34:56
doing after the whole dragon thing, and I'm kind of looking
35:00
off like that's if I hadn't slipped down there.
35:06
I feel like life has gotten really, you know, crazy since I
35:10
met you guys. You know, like everything was
35:13
not like this a couple of weeks ago for me.
35:16
But in some way it's almost felt, you know, all the tragedy
35:20
that's happened, all the, the hard things.
35:23
It's it's been so long since I've had someone else to go
35:27
through them with. I smile at you.
35:29
So yeah, I've. I mean, I've had Bunty, but you
35:32
know, it's different having, you know, you guys.
35:37
Yeah, it just, you know, it feels, it feels meaningful now.
35:41
Yeah, what do you mean by that, Beau?
35:44
I mean, I don't know, I feel like going from from place to
35:47
place before actually, you know, I, I feel like it's time for me
35:50
to, to, to come clean to you guys about where I've been,
35:55
because to be honest, it's not that long of a story since I
35:59
haven't exactly been conscious for very long.
36:02
But I feel like, you know, we need you guys.
36:06
You you just kind of straight up told us right away your whole
36:09
deal and then bond you you also shared it and I I told you
36:14
pretty much all of it. But I think we've got a we
36:17
should fill in the gaps, so to speak.
36:19
Yeah, I look. On the edge of your words right
36:22
now, I I take the. Bottle again and I take a swig
36:26
and hit it back and I'm like, well, of course I, you guys
36:29
know, I, I woke up to the taste of alcohol and everything.
36:33
This band of wandering hedonists just kind of traveling from
36:37
place to place, partying, entertaining people for money.
36:40
And I stayed with them for like a week or so until they, they
36:46
would have me like propped up in the back of their wagon as they
36:49
were traveling and I couldn't like move my limbs and stuff.
36:52
And so we hit a bump and I kind of fell out face first into the
36:56
dirt. And since, you know, they, they
36:59
were like playing fiddle and things, they couldn't exactly
37:01
hear me over it with the mouth full of dirt and everything's.
37:06
And then the dragon eventually found me there.
37:09
And then I got taken to its horde.
37:12
Was it like, is it there something we found out his name?
37:15
I don't know. He didn't, he didn't tell me his
37:17
name. He thought I was just a statue,
37:19
frankly. And that's when the the climber
37:23
trio showed up. We just can I.
37:25
Interrupt for a second, Beau. Yeah.
37:27
Did you speak with the dragon? Is it like, did the dragon speak
37:31
to you? No, no, no.
37:32
He. He.
37:32
Thought it was a He thought it was a statue.
37:34
And I figured if if he thought it was a statue instead of like
37:38
a living thing, he wouldn't want to damage me.
37:40
But if he thought it was alive, then he might want to kill me.
37:43
So super fair, yeah. Yeah.
37:46
So I was just kind of. Pretending to be a statue.
37:48
And then so those guys showed up.
37:51
Were you scared? And they, no, I was relieved
37:54
because well, what? At what point do you mean like?
37:56
Like was I scared? Sounds really hard pretending to
37:59
be a statue. Yeah, with the dragon.
38:01
I mean, sure, yeah. But honestly, it was like, it
38:05
was like the second thing that happened to me.
38:07
So it seemed like it could have been like a normal occurrence
38:10
for people. But I, I was just kind of
38:17
chilling and I was hungry and stuff, but I wasn't going to ask
38:21
the dragon to feed me. But then those guys showed up
38:24
and I was like, cool, now there are these people here who are
38:27
going to who are going to save me.
38:29
And so I was like, thank you guys.
38:32
Can you, like, you know, take me back to those travelling
38:36
partiers and instead of, like, acknowledging me or even
38:40
speaking to me, they just kind of stood over me and talked
38:44
about where they could get the best price for me.
38:48
So they took me to this town. Yeah.
38:51
I. Don't know if.
38:52
They fully knew what I was. They might have thought it was
38:54
like a constructor or forge or something, but they took me to
38:59
Tremors Wake and sold me to a guy named Alex Who started to
39:05
tinker around to figure out how I worked and and realized that I
39:08
might not be a construct and might be actually a living
39:11
thing. Once he realized he had
39:13
proverbially struck gold in finding a person who is almost
39:19
fully prosthetic, he decided to go into town and celebrate his
39:24
discovery on his own. And his lips might have been a
39:27
little bit loose and someone might have overheard that he had
39:30
something big back at his workshop.
39:34
And so this person then swiped his keys, went back to his
39:39
workshop and and found me there. And she also figured out what I
39:44
was much less intrusively than than Helix did, and stole some
39:49
other pieces from his workshop to put me back together.
39:53
And this person is named Val. And we kind of became partners
39:58
in crime. She had been.
40:00
Living off of cons and grifts that she would play on people in
40:05
Trimur's wake. But most of the people were kind
40:08
of catching on to her. So when she found me, she
40:11
realized that we could kind of play off of that.
40:13
You know, the various bounties going for her.
40:15
She had actually, this is this is hers.
40:18
And I'm going to gesture towards the cap on my head.
40:21
She would use this. But again, people would catch on
40:23
to her. So she realized that if she had
40:25
a partner, then, you know, I could like, pretend to be the
40:28
person who's like looking for her, trying to catch her.
40:31
And then we could anyway, we were just like scamming people
40:33
for money. And I was there for a couple for
40:37
just less than two months. And I hate to say it.
40:45
And you see, Bo like is, is like getting uncomfortable, but he's
40:48
like, I, I got bored. She was always very careful and
40:54
didn't want to go out in public more than we had to.
40:58
And I missed travelling and partying with those guys.
41:01
So one night I stole the cap and I went out on to the town on my
41:08
own and I saw this this well dressed rich man passed out in
41:15
an alleyway. And I figured, you know, he's
41:22
not going to miss a few items of jewelry in the purse.
41:26
He can go without it. So I went into the alleyway to
41:29
get it. And then I heard a strange noise
41:32
and all the sudden I was stuck to the wall and outcomes Helix.
41:39
And he had set this trap for me. So then he he took me to the
41:46
Domina and sold me to her and made a bunch of money and.
41:53
Yeah, that's kind of it, I guess actually I then, you know, I
41:57
interact with the domino for a little bit.
41:59
I told her that I needed this, this hat or whatever.
42:02
So she got it back from him and then she was about to head to
42:08
the the the festival in scenario.
42:13
And so I came with her and we had this she she's very
42:17
interested in like having discussions with me about
42:19
different topics and things. And she, she kept saying, like,
42:23
once we find enough facts, we can get to the truth of the
42:25
matter. And then I pointed out, like
42:27
facts, you know, truth and facts have like a complex
42:30
relationship. And as somebody who tells a lot
42:32
of lies, I know that the best way to tell the lie is to, you
42:34
know, include actual facts into it.
42:37
So it's facts don't necessarily always lead to truth.
42:40
And she kind of had a weird reaction to this.
42:42
And then she kind of stopped talking to me.
42:44
And then she decided, I guess, to send me to the pits to see
42:50
how I would fare in the gladiatorial games.
42:53
So that kind of catches you all up.
42:55
And then I take a huge swig of the the whiskery my.
43:00
Jaw is open, I'm going to sort. Of I'm going to blow Nick's
43:05
Shard and I'm going to take it in in kind of the palm of my
43:08
hand and guide it to your chest and sort of press it into you
43:15
and say a little mantra of this mirror, which is just may you
43:22
break the chains that bind you. This is the first.
43:25
Time that bond casts a Nick's Shard that bow doesn't jump
43:31
being startled about it even though now he can cast magic.
43:34
I think the light stuff still freaks him out.
43:36
But yeah, I think it just kind of lets it happen and kind of
43:40
sits up straight. But when the nick.
43:42
Shard is kind of guided towards your chest, you feel this warmth
43:48
inside of you that you've kind of never felt before.
43:52
It feels almost what you imagined to be fully human is
43:56
like. To feel the blood pumping
43:57
through you just as the Nick Shard goes into you.
44:00
Do you just feel this comforting warmth?
44:04
Yeah, I'm guessing a lot different from the warmth of the
44:07
lava lake, Yes. That was that was like my.
44:10
Metal is heating up. This feels living like as a
44:14
pulse. Yeah.
44:15
Very cool. The Domina.
44:17
I mean this respectfully. Does she still own you?
44:21
So I don't. Do you owe her anything?
44:24
I don't know. She was a very hard person to
44:28
read and I pride myself on my ability to, to read people
44:32
because, you know, that's how we made a lot of our money.
44:35
But she, she's different. Different in what way?
44:41
This is going to sound. Weird, coming from a person
44:45
who's made of predominantly metal.
44:47
But she doesn't. She doesn't feel as like living
44:51
as the rest of us, you know? She's very calculated, just
44:57
first. I'm really sorry, Bo, that you
44:59
went through all that. That's OK I feel like.
45:02
I've been talking a lot. About what happened with my
45:04
parents and my brother, but you were keeping all that.
45:08
That's a that's a lot. Wait, what happened?
45:10
What happened? With your parents bond.
45:11
Wait, yeah, all of. A sudden what do?
45:13
You mean guys I know. Listen, I know I've talked about
45:16
it a lot. However, it was very This is a
45:19
very tough thing for you to hang on to for this long, and I feel
45:25
like you certainly could have trusted us with it, but I'm glad
45:28
you finally did well I. Mean you guys have more than
45:32
that proved yourselves to be trustworthy.
45:35
And I think part of it is just kind of getting over.
45:38
Like, see, Val would always say stuff like, you can't really
45:41
trust anybody except to the extent that you can trust them
45:46
to serve themselves. And however, she also said that
45:50
we could trust each other because we relied on each other.
45:53
And then I kind of betrayed that.
45:56
It destroyed that trust. And maybe the only person that
45:59
she ever trusted kind of abandoned her without any
46:03
warning and stole a sentimental object from her.
46:05
So do you want to see her again? Yeah, I would.
46:09
I don't know if she wants to see me again, though, is the
46:13
problem. But if I maybe you could explain
46:16
to her what happened, She, she could, she could forgive me, but
46:24
she is, she's really good with, with prosthetics and stuff.
46:29
Her dad used to do a lot of that kind of work and she learned
46:32
from him. And I want, I want her to take a
46:35
look at the, the arm that we found because I feel like she's
46:39
the only person I know who was actually comfortable working
46:42
with the technology that makes me work.
46:44
So I feel like she would probably know how how that
46:48
works. Bo did.
46:50
Did the Domina ever, you know, tinker with you at all or make
46:55
any modifications to you? That you know of.
47:01
Quick side aside. With Avni, I don't think so,
47:03
yeah, I I would say. That she was more observant of
47:09
you. She's not an artificer herself.
47:12
You you gather that she just had all these modifications done to
47:16
her by high level artificers. So her role is very like quiet
47:22
observant, like things like that.
47:26
Beyond the bad. Stuff that happened to you?
47:27
This is very interesting, like what you had to say about the
47:31
Domina and what do you mean I? Just mean like this.
47:36
When I look at you bond and I'm like, I feel like all three of
47:41
us have kind of suspected that maybe you and like what you are
47:46
has something to do with the transference of life that was
47:51
alluded to in the in the breath rituals.
47:54
And if you are so different from the Domina and her nearly
47:59
machine existence, like maybe she was curious about maybe her
48:05
and I mean, she's not super close with the with the empire
48:09
tricks, right? I think the empire tricks and
48:11
the imperator seem to be more in cahoots, But I'm curious if she
48:17
is trying to find out more about about what was going on in the
48:21
Boralian shards and the rebellion empire.
48:24
And I feel like you, what you are, could be a key to that.
48:28
Again, I I mean. Maybe I really couldn't get a
48:31
read on her. Yeah, I mean, I'm not.
48:33
Listen. Even when she turned me away.
48:35
I couldn't tell if it was because like, I annoyed her or I
48:38
said something interesting or like it was just just straight,
48:41
just blank wall of a person. Yeah, I wonder.
48:47
And again, I also say this with a lot of respect.
48:50
I don't know if she tinkered with you.
48:51
It's OK if she did, I suppose. But like, I wonder if this is, I
48:55
wonder if she's still observing you in some way.
48:59
And if this is all some, I wouldn't be surprised.
49:02
If she's keeping tabs, I don't think that she just kind of let
49:05
me go That doesn't. I got me a hint that she paid a
49:09
lot of money to Helix for me. So.
49:13
And how do you feel about what if?
49:14
What if? What do we do if we ever see
49:16
Helix OH? It's on sight.
49:19
If we see, I kind of, yeah, I mean.
49:22
Like, I feel like we're at a point, like I, I, I don't think
49:25
I have any qualms killing him, to be honest.
49:28
He's not a good dude. Anybody else feel like the
49:31
Whiskery was better with the strong alcohol in it?
49:35
Oh it this? It was disgusting this time, but
49:38
I feel I'm gonna take the. I'm gonna take the other bottle
49:41
out and mix it, mix it together a little bit, the absent, then
49:45
you mix. It together again?
49:46
Yeah, Somehow it makes it better.
49:48
I'm also gonna notice. That I still have the piece of
49:53
wood in my hand that was that was burning before.
49:57
And I think there's still like a little bit of an ember on it.
49:59
And I'm just gonna kind of like blow on it a little bit and
50:02
watch it grow and stuff until it like bursts into a little bit of
50:06
a flame. And then I'm gonna I'm gonna
50:09
say, hey, Bon. Yeah, I was.
50:13
I was thinking like, I don't, I don't I don't know too much
50:16
about like the inner workings of gods and like how their powers
50:20
work with each other exactly. But you know, just looking at
50:24
this flame here it. Seems like.
50:28
When when you breathe on it the the flame gets stronger.
50:33
What if like a straxian God of fire flame, stuff like that.
50:39
What if you were to take a goddess of of breath and keep
50:45
her in a weakened state and use that that breath air quotes to
50:51
kind of sustain your own power? Oh, you're a fucking.
50:56
Genius. I don't know if God again.
50:59
I don't know if God's work like this, but I'm going to pull out
51:01
my journal theoretically. Based on.
51:04
This then if that breath was to get more powerful and I'm going
51:08
to kind of take the the little piece of wood that's still like
51:11
has a little bit of a flame and I'm just going to kind of give a
51:13
puff and the flame is going to go out, then that breath could
51:19
have weakened the flame. I get.
51:21
I get very. Serious, when you say this,
51:24
because it's, it's very, I mean, you're talking about my goddess
51:27
potentially being imprisoned, which is like her whole thing is
51:34
not being imprisoned. Yeah.
51:36
And I want to do like a mix of a religion and a history check and
51:43
just kind of a, a reaching out sort of to Thesmira.
51:48
And I'm kind of wondering on the question.
51:52
And I can, I can if it, if it's helpful, I can cast Augury.
51:58
I know that's more of like a situational guidance thing, but
52:00
I feel like it connects me a bit stronger to Thesmira.
52:03
Yeah, for sure. And I.
52:04
Want to sort of ask? The question if things have
52:09
changed since the Imperator took power if and and the shards went
52:17
missing, if things like if this mirrors connection on Xumoria
52:22
has gotten weaker in some way. If there's been like a decline
52:27
of her influence, awesome. And if that?
52:29
Feels. That that feels like it would
52:32
sort of give some guidance toward the question, yeah.
52:36
And I would like. I hope this all of this was
52:40
inspiring enough to give you an extra D6 of bardic inspiration.
52:47
Oh what? Oh yeah.
52:49
Baby. They levelled up OK, so you you
52:52
have. Bardic Inspiration.
52:53
Now I may or may not have. Taken a level of Bard?
52:57
Hell yeah, because the tuning. Of the.
52:59
Banjo really inspired him. I I became.
53:03
A musical genius after tuning a banjo unsuccessfully for 40
53:08
minutes. All right, so.
53:12
I am going to wow OK, and I'll let you roll with advantage.
53:16
Since you cast augury on it to kind of guide you so you can
53:20
roll religion with advantage and add that bardic.
53:26
OK, all right. That is a 19 on the dice.
53:29
Plus 9 is 28 plus the bardic. That is a six.
53:37
Oh my. So that's a 3030. 4.
53:42
Level 5? What the hell?
53:45
The first over 30. OK of?
53:48
These of these like. No, this is nothing non starter.
53:53
We don't remember anything. So 34.
53:58
Right. Now you just feel in uptake of
54:06
the wind. That's it, it feels like.
54:10
Thesmira is is trying to communicate with me but I feel
54:16
like I I put everything I have into trying to connect with her
54:21
and it's never worked and maybe I don't know if never.
54:25
Never is the right word. It's never worked in.
54:28
Do I have to go back to all? Of the examples in the in the
54:31
mall, I mean this. Saving our ass.
54:33
I mean. This in the more direct way, in
54:35
the more like, you know, I've never really been able to talk
54:39
with this mirror. And I feel like I've heard about
54:41
all these clerics from different gods being able to interact with
54:45
thing and even even now. But Abe, you talked to a
54:49
goddess, spoke with Sylvira. Yeah.
54:51
And I'm not a follower of of anyone and I know she's out
54:56
there. But I've never been able to make
54:59
that connection. And I, I always, I always
55:02
thought it was me. I always thought that, that I
55:05
couldn't do it because I wasn't, I never finished my anaphosis
55:11
ceremony. And I, I'd never considered that
55:14
maybe it wasn't my fault. Bunty.
55:18
Can you go up to the crow's nest just for a little bit?
55:21
Just just check out some stuff, buddy.
55:23
OK, but will you read? Me.
55:24
A bedtime story. Yeah, yeah.
55:26
When we go to bed. When?
55:27
We go to bed, I'll call you and we'll read a bedtime story, OK,
55:31
He he like. Looks as if he has a watch.
55:33
OK, bedtime. In 15 minutes or I'm going to
55:38
get real crabby. Sounds good.
55:41
Buddy, OK, love you. Bye.
55:44
Love you I'm. So curious to know what?
55:47
Bedtime stories Bunty goes for. OK, so.
55:53
While you were talking about the maybe Astraxion has been has
55:57
imprisoned this mirror, I'm like how could that have happened?
56:01
And I don't know just reminded me of the conversation with
56:04
Sylvira where she spoke about how the middle sister was
56:08
jealous of the influence that this mirror had in the rebellion
56:11
empire and what better place to trap a God than the void.
56:18
Oh shit. I wonder if it's Traxion.
56:20
Made a pact with with the middle sister.
56:23
But that's why I needed to send Bundy away, because I don't I'm
56:27
struggling. I love Bunty.
56:29
I know that I don't say that often, but I don't want him.
56:33
I don't. I know he's only here because of
56:35
her, but she doesn't feel like someone we can trust clearly.
56:41
Like her motives are perverted and it seems like it comes from
56:45
a place of jealousy and like, I don't know that's why I sent him
56:49
away. But I want this is I'm purely
56:52
postulate or just kind of positing stuff right now without
56:57
any evidence, but it I think we can.
57:00
Keep an eye on that. I'm gonna stand.
57:02
Up and sort of on edge a little bit from sort of this
57:09
realization almost like a an eye opening moment in both the
57:14
exhilarating way where it makes me feel like maybe, you know,
57:17
I'm not the problem and I there's not something wrong with
57:21
me. But also in a way that
57:23
immediately then brings up another concern.
57:25
And I'm going to say thank you both for for sharing with us.
57:30
And and I think I'm going to go clear my head a bit and, and
57:35
take over for ton. Yeah.
57:37
And I'm going to walk over to the the steering wheel and sort
57:41
of yeah, I'm going to walk over towards the steering wheel, Bo.
57:44
I was going to say I'm. I'm going to get Bunty and
57:46
probably read him his bedtime story.
57:50
Can I give you a hug? Yeah.
57:52
Yeah, I think that this one's good.
57:54
OK, I'll I'll give Bo hug. You guys have this very.
57:57
Nice and tender moment after Bo opened up about his his trauma
58:04
and yeah it's it's it's time to head off to bed.
58:09
So Bon, you went over to the steering wheel and kind of
58:14
relieved to on who is who is grateful for you.
58:17
And she just says, you know, I know you're a sailor and you've
58:22
you're a navigator. So I trust you and and I really
58:26
appreciate you taking over for me for the next.
58:28
You know you're a drow, right? I assume you only transfer 4
58:31
hours. Yeah, yeah.
58:33
For the next 4 hours. If you're OK taking over then
58:37
then I'm going to go get some ZS with with trash if that's OK
58:42
Yeah Why don't you go cuddle up? I'm.
58:43
Sure. That with all the the
58:45
navigation, you guys don't get a lot of time to spend together,
58:49
yes, not really. Until we get to a city.
58:51
So I appreciate it. And she kind of heads off to bed
58:55
and you're at the steering wheel and as I.
58:57
As I sort of start to steer the ship, I stare up at the the
59:02
stars in this incredible light that I haven't noticed before.
59:08
And I let my hair down. I let the wind sort of course
59:11
through my hair and, and feel the wind on my body and my face
59:15
and my scalp and just think. So you're at the wheel.
59:22
Bo, do you head off to bed as well?
59:25
Yeah, I think I stay out for. Like another minute and look out
59:28
at the stars. And then I had to sleep.
59:31
And Abe, you. Call Bunty down and you come
59:34
scrambled down from the crow's nest.
59:36
I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming.
59:38
OK. And he jumps into.
59:39
Your arms and I and I grab him and.
59:41
I pull out the journal and I say, Are you ready for more of
59:46
Johnny's journal? Absolutely.
59:49
And then I look down. At the cover and I'm like, huh
59:53
guys? And I and I lift it up and I
59:55
kind of turn to the wheel and then I turn to you Beau as well
59:59
and I'm like, guys, his name is Jovinian, huh?
1:00:03
And I never noticed that. Must have slipped our notice.
1:00:05
Yeah, huh. It's a little.
1:00:07
Embarrassing. Yeah.
1:00:08
And on the front cover it says. Imperator Giovinian Maccabee.
1:00:12
OK, good night. So so you start reading the
1:00:19
journal out loud to Bunty and Johnny Maccabee starts
1:00:23
recounting some more days he had with the adventuring party,
1:00:27
discussing how he took them to a play when a traveling troupe
1:00:30
came into town and how he threw a massive masquerade ball in
1:00:34
their honor. He mentioned that he hoped that
1:00:36
ball would make Alara see him differently when they were all
1:00:39
like dressed up. He even had romantic music
1:00:42
playing and he swears there was a moment between them.
1:00:46
And after these big events, the adventuring party, which Johnny
1:00:49
mentioned is called the Bronze Quadrant, discusses plans to
1:00:53
leave Ignovarum soon. Johnny is panicked as he hasn't
1:00:57
fully committed to traveling with them and in an impulsive
1:01:00
decision agrees to go with them as long as they wait until the
1:01:03
new year in a month so he can settle his affairs.
1:01:06
He writes in his journal that he will leave his dear friend and
1:01:09
advisor Tiberia Pirion in charge.
1:01:12
She is most capable, he writes. Motherfucker.
1:01:16
He also talks. To.
1:01:18
Cass about wanting to be in the adventuring party officially.
1:01:22
And there's this journal entry that I will actually have you
1:01:27
read out loud. Abe.
1:01:28
Yeah, just. The note like I I my cadence
1:01:33
gets a little choppy when I read that last bit about Tiberia
1:01:38
period, but I don't think Bunty really notices 'cause he's
1:01:41
starting to fall asleep. So.
1:01:44
You can make up whatever voice you want for Johnny, or you can
1:01:48
read it in your own voice. Bronze quadrant.
1:01:51
Is a cool party name OK? OK, OK, you know what?
1:01:56
I actually take that back. Can I please get?
1:02:01
I just feel like this is how Johnny might be with it's.
1:02:05
It's literally. Like 6 paragraphs ain't no way
1:02:08
I'm listening to that. You might don't do this to the.
1:02:10
Lord. He's an.
1:02:14
Empirador. He.
1:02:15
Can't sound like that. OK, OK, OK, OK.
1:02:18
I'm just going to do my voice because I can't.
1:02:20
It's going to be something fucking that makes sense for
1:02:22
Abe. The bronze quadrant.
1:02:24
Is a cool party name and Cass said they want me to join
1:02:26
officially and we could talk to the rest of the party at dinner.
1:02:30
They brought it up saying Quadrant wouldn't work anymore
1:02:32
with five of us. And I kind of side note to
1:02:35
Bunty, you can get creative with stuff.
1:02:38
Ilara and Ansel agreed, but Saloon seemed hesitant.
1:02:43
Out of everyone, it's been hard to connect with her.
1:02:44
She's been promising that I can train with her, but she never
1:02:47
follows through. It's kind of like when Beau was
1:02:50
telling us he was going to give us his back story, but then he
1:02:52
waited till tonight. Am I right, Bunty?
1:02:54
After dinner, Hansel came to talk to me.
1:02:57
He said their previous name was the Bronze Quintet, so they
1:03:00
could have done. They could have just done
1:03:01
quintet. So stupid at this point.
1:03:03
Bunty's snoring. I'm sure the name was the Bronze
1:03:06
Quintet. When Sloon's younger brother was
1:03:08
a part of their party, Ansel said.
1:03:10
She trained her younger brother in the ways of the Astral Self
1:03:13
Monk. But he lacked discipline.
1:03:16
Always focusing on being the strongest in the mind, body and
1:03:19
soul. I.
1:03:21
Don't understand why that is. Not a noble pursuit.
1:03:24
Agreed, but I didn't ask Ansel. Last time they visited Rebellion
1:03:28
a couple of years ago, Solon's brother left and never came
1:03:31
back. Ansel told me it's hard to move
1:03:33
past the sibling betrayal and that I wouldn't know that as an
1:03:36
only child. He didn't mean it rudely.
1:03:39
I know he's correct. Ansel tried to lighten the mood
1:03:42
by saying that it's for the best that Saloon's brother left.
1:03:45
He used to make them wear matching clothes when they
1:03:47
doffed their armor and would give them wild haircuts to make
1:03:49
them stand out from other adventuring parties.
1:03:51
Honestly, that's pretty sick. I was barely listening when he
1:03:55
told me all of this though. I just kept thinking about
1:03:57
family. Same.
1:04:00
I asked Ansel about his brother and whether they were close.
1:04:03
Ansel laughed and said they were very, very close, even though
1:04:06
there's a 12 year age gap. He said it was hard being away
1:04:08
from his brother Elias for long periods of time, especially
1:04:12
because when Ansel left Venturing, Elias was only 12.
1:04:16
And now Elias is 21 with his own place in Thessalaric and is
1:04:20
living with his girlfriend Junior and their new baby
1:04:23
Ambrose. Ansel was beaming when he told
1:04:25
me that his brother had honored him by making baby Ambrose's
1:04:28
middle name Ansel. Ansel said it was common and
1:04:31
rebellion to honor your family by using their names so that
1:04:33
there were a lot of Ambrose's, Ansel's, and Elias's throughout
1:04:36
the years. I hate to say that it made me
1:04:39
envious. My mother died during childbirth
1:04:41
and my father was an unemotional man.
1:04:44
He died five years ago in his 50s, and I don't miss him
1:04:46
particularly, but I do miss not having the responsibility of
1:04:50
being the Imperator all the time.
1:04:52
Though there is a strange upside to having no family.
1:04:55
No one you love could disappoint you like Saloon and her brother.
1:04:59
And I shut the journal a little bit, rattled by the similarities
1:05:04
in the relationship that Ansel had with his brother and my own.
1:05:10
Yeah, so. You read the journal, Bunty's
1:05:14
fully knocked out, and you head off to bed, kind of feeling a
1:05:21
little excited, obviously, about the things that you learned,
1:05:25
but, yeah, uncomfortable about how Ansel and his brother kind
1:05:32
of mimic your own. And you and you.
1:05:34
And you go to bed thinking about your brother, hoping that he's
1:05:37
he's still all right in the shade.
1:05:39
Hold. Yeah.
1:05:41
I'm also like just kind of like thinking about younger days and
1:05:45
whether will ever whether. He'll ever be normal.
1:05:49
Again, if there's any chance for him, yeah.
1:05:52
So you head to bed and after four hours, trash comes and
1:05:57
relieves you bond so that you can go and meditate for your
1:06:02
four hours. And as you're sleeping, you're.
1:06:08
Not getting. The best sleep.
1:06:10
You're tossing, you're turning, you're feeling usually you feel
1:06:15
hot at night, but you're feeling very cold, as if, as if the
1:06:18
breeze has just been like blowing over you.
1:06:22
And in your dreams, you see someone.
1:06:27
You see this very short black halfling woman approaches you
1:06:34
and she goes bond, Bond. It's me, Sesmira.
1:06:41
Sesmira. Yes, Bond.
1:06:43
Bond, we don't have much time to talk.
1:06:47
And I know, and I know your faith sometimes, sometimes
1:06:51
wavers in me, but you've got to know part of me, it's, I'm still
1:06:57
here, but part of me it's, it's, I've changed.
1:07:01
The Imperator has changed me. I'm not what I, I'm not what I
1:07:05
used to be. I'm not, I'm not as strong.
1:07:08
I'm not necessarily kidnapped or anything like that, but I'm a,
1:07:15
I'm changed. And then she disappears.
1:07:18
No, this this mirror. How can we help you?
1:07:21
And you're shouting. In to darkness and you wake up
1:07:25
in the morning with this cold sweat, like you soak through
1:07:29
your pajamas and you look around and she's not there.
1:07:35
And that's where we'll end our episode.
1:07:38
Wow. God damn.
1:07:39
Dude. What a what a packed, what a
1:07:43
like, emotionally charged episode.
1:07:46
Yeah, well, you, you. Rolled A34.
1:07:49
I wasn't going to leave you with nothing.
1:07:50
I just wanted you to go to bed. Yeah, that was a crazy role.
1:07:53
I I. Do have like a + 9 to religion
1:07:56
just because I I think I get I get to add my wisdom to religion
1:08:00
checks, which is why it's so fucking crazy high yeah you get
1:08:03
the permanent plus one yeah such a crazy.
1:08:07
Role I didn't think we'd go above a 30 at level 5.
1:08:12
Absolutely insane. I loved it so much and then the
1:08:16
reveal that beau is now like like has one level in Bard is so
1:08:20
funny and it makes sense. He's he's the charismatic guy
1:08:24
He's like he's not really the face, but his like alter egos
1:08:28
are the face. That's a good point.
1:08:33
I've LLC face of the. Party, but sometimes I wear the
1:08:35
face of the party. Good one.
1:08:39
Yeah, I'm excited. I'm excited.
1:08:40
To to do some Bard rogue shenanigans.
1:08:43
What is the? What is the combo?
1:08:45
Of Bard and rogue called is it Bogue?
1:08:47
Is it rar? Oh, I feel like Bogue.
1:08:49
Because that contains my. Neg my name.
1:08:53
It's Bogue, my name Bo the. Bogue, Bogue the neg.
1:08:57
Yeah. Incredible.
1:09:00
Yeah, lots to think about before the next session.
1:09:03
But if you like the podcast, make sure to follow and rate US
1:09:07
on Spotify or Apple Music or join us on our social media for
1:09:10
updates, official art and more. We're on Instagram at Smooth
1:09:14
Critical podcast and Blue Sky at Smooth Critical.
1:09:18
So smell you later, losers. Bye bye.
1:09:24
It's a perfect way to end an. Emotional episode.