Latest / Story Games / Episode 5: Fall of Magic Game Session pt 1

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Episode 5: Fall of Magic Game Session pt 1 · Story Games

• Maggie Studio: friends and welcome back to Story Games, a podcast brought to you by Heart of the Dirnacorn about your favorite narrative-driven games. My name is Momo and I will be your host. Today I have something so fun and exciting to share with all of you and I really just can't wait talk about it. We are starting a little series where me and a few friends play Fall of Magic, which is a game that we at Heart of the Dirnacorn actually make. It's a beautiful story game that is printed on a real scroll, which is insane. And we just had the best time playing it. This will be a six episode long series. So I hope you enjoy it. I hope you enjoy the ride. We tell a full and complete story that honestly is so cool and so satisfying. And I just, cannot wait. I cannot wait to share it. I won't take up any more of your time. So let's just jump right into Fall of Magic. Hello everyone and welcome back to the heart of the deer in a corn. I am here with bloom and cruise and we are going to play fall of magic together. I'm so excited because I've never played fall of magic, but it has been on my list for a very, very long time. So I cannot wait to just get on into it. All right, let's go. Yes. We have got this beautiful scroll on which the game is played, which is an insane thing to add to a game. And I love it so much. It's so beautiful. So we're just going to open up to the very first little bit and then we're gonna read the instructions together. Are they in there? Hell yeah, thank you. I was gonna say, are these the instructions? Yes, this is a little series of one shots that are kind of like guided one shots that we can always play at a later date, but we're gonna put these aside for now. That's a good starting point. What's in this little basket? Those are the character tokens. I see. That are beautiful. Little burlap bag. These are so cool. So yeah, we can pick these when we make our characters. Nice. All right. Magic is dying and the magus is dying with it. We travel together to the realm of the Umbra where magic was born. Hell yeah. Okay. Fall of Magic. Fall of Magic is a story game where we tell the tale of a group of travelers in the company of the mages. On the way, we'll encounter strange hosts, fantastic places, and perilous choices as we play to discover who our characters are, how they relate, and how our journey changes them. Fall of Magic is infinitely replayable and no two stories will ever be the same. Alright, introduction five to ten minutes. During the introduction we introduce basic concepts of the game and choose names, titles, and tokens for our character. Then we play a session which lasts one to four hours. We take turns. Each turn one of us places our character's token on a scene at the magus's current location. With the help of other players, we use the prompts to tell part of the story from the perspective of our character. After each player has led at least one scene at a location, anyone may, on their turn, opt to play the Magus and advance this further along the scroll. Can I pause real quick? Yeah. I think it's Magus. Magus? I've always heard Magus. Magus? Yeah, hold on. Damn it! Magi. Gotcha, so it's not from Magi, it's... okay. Magus. Magus. That's gonna be hard. Yeah, I've been saying that wrong my whole life. That's good times. Awesome. Sometimes you learn how to pronounce a word and it's different from what you expected. No, sometimes it's not. The education system fails you. Sometimes. Sometimes. mage, magic, magus, but it's not. And then you're saved by Cruz. Thank you, Cruz. Thank you, For saving us. Okay, I'm not gonna restart. We're just gonna go forward with the correct pronunciation, and I'll try to remember that it's mag... Vegas. Because I wanna say magus. Vegas. Vegas. Like But magus. I can remember that. It's fantasy, it's fantasy Vegas. Fantasy Vegas, Vegas. That's actually gonna help me so much. There you go. Did you know he was born in Vegas? Yes. Moving on. Closing in five to 10 minutes. At the end of the session, we do a quick debrief giving every player a chance to reflect on their experience. Before you play, one player should read through these instructions and be prepared to facilitate, which I will do. Don't worry about remembering every detail. Fall of Magic is forgiving and we can always look up something that needs clarification during our session. All right, so we're going to move past those. There's some information about planning the session and setting the table, but we're just going to go right into setup. Part of the setup is to read this instruction aloud. When everyone is gathered and ready to begin, pass around these instructions and take turns reading the paragraphs out loud. So let's start with you, Bloom. So start there and read that little paragraph. Read the introduction, or this Tell the story. the story, yeah. Okay. Tell the story. Fall of Magic is a collaborative story game and there are many ways to tell the story. We can talk casually, like in conversation, narrate as authors, perform as actors, or mix several styles all at once. Do whatever feels natural or challenge yourself to try something new. Beautiful. Talk about the story. Each of us is both a writer in the writing room and a fan in the audience. Feel free to casually converse, share ideas, or just wonder aloud about the story, the characters, or anything else that interests you as we play. Think small. When it is time to make something up, think small and don't plan too far ahead. Let the story be a wondrous beast we chase but never capture. Ask questions with no clear answers. Raise conflicts with no ready solution. Be letting go. The story we find together will be more profound than anything we might have planned alone. Beautiful. And then we're going to move back to you for that one. Social fantasy. In Fall of Magic, play centers around relationships and the exploration of culture in a world where things are possible that are not possible in our daily lives. Our story will come to life if we treat the characters like they were alive, make them diverse, nuanced, and sometimes contradictory. Use this space to imagine and explore beyond the restrictions and stereotypes we experience outside of the game. Safety and the X card. The X card is a safety tool. It reminds us that each of us has the power to remove anything from the story that is making us feel uncomfortable or spoiling our fun. To do so, simply tap this card or say, I'd like to X card that, and we'll find another way to tell our story no questions asked. Can you get the X card out of the box? If there is one question mark. Ha ha, X card. Yeah, so we can tap that anytime something comes up and we're like, don't love that. We can just boop redo it. Okay, unroll the scroll. Unroll the scroll, which is really fun to say. So the title and introduction are visible as the game progresses. Keep the unused parts of the map rolled up. Peeking ahead is fine, but in general, only our current area should be visible. Perfect. Read the prelude, read the prelude out loud, is magic is dying and the magus is dying with it. We travel together to the realm of Umbra where magic was born. Now we choose names. Each player chooses a name from the options listed on the map and writes it down on their note card. Each character should have a different name. So we can do that now. I want to be fun. I loved that whatever you got going on was fun. I'm gonna go with Soli. Soli? Soli? Soli? Soli? I'm gonna go with harp. Harp is fun. Cool. Alright, choose titles. Each player chooses a title from the options listed on the map and adds it to their notecard. It is fine if players choose the same title. Your title is a combination of a location plus one of the three options listed before the location. Someone may ask, is a raven like a bird or what is a crab singer? To this we reply, it means what you want it to mean, which is a perfect answer. So I want to be the Fox of Mistwood. ⁓ hell yeah. I'm gonna do Knight of Stormguard. Stormguard, yeah. ⁓ you're a knight. I don't know exactly what the Fox of Mistwood means, but it sounds really cool. I'm gonna go with the Hero of Barleytown. Ooh! Guardian of the Stone. He's a sand guardian, guardian of the sand. Poseidon Quiver's before him. ⁓ I love how you understand my references. I could see it. I could see it my head. Thank you. I also can see it. OK, choose tokens. Everyone chooses one character token. Then we choose one last token to represent the Magus whom we all share. And the cool thing about these is they're like double-sided and they have little different designs on each side They're like They make sense, but they're like different like they go together is what I was trying to say like a bird and an egg Tree and a tree a tree and spring tree and winter a wave sword and a river ⁓ Lit candle and a burnt-out candle ⁓ I'm actually gonna take the candle. I think I'm gonna take the tree think the Vegas can maybe be this nest. Yeah, with a raven on the other side. I like it. If that's a raven, maybe. How is a raven like a writing desk? Okay. There is an actual answer to it, and I'm trying to remember what it is. Is it Edgar Allan Poe wrote on both? Because that's the answer that I have heard. No. It's something like you never put the front end backward and it can hardly make a note or something to that effect. That's nonsensical. Yeah. I mean, it's a riddle without an answer. Right. Beautiful. Just like this game. Full circle. boop, boop, boop, boop. Place the magus. Right? Vegas, yes. Place the Magus. Place the Magus on Raven Hall. This is the starting location. Beautiful! Excavate. Hell yeah. We're gonna get copyrighted. Just from that. Just from that. How to play. We take turns. Anyone may go first, then proceed clockwise. Yes. I know how to tell time. On your turn, do these things in order. One, move your token. Place your token on a scene prompt at the Magus's current location. You can choose any scene, even if another player's token is already there. So now I guess we would actually then pick which ones. right. So yes, so the scene would be the header text. bridge. Yeah, the Great Hall, the Rose Garden, Scrying Pool, Menagerie, and the bridge. And then the story prompt is what's written underneath it. boop boop boop boop boop, to lead the scene. Next, describe the scene from the perspective of your character. What does this place look like? Who was there with you? What is going on right now? What is your character thinking and feeling? The rest of us will listen, ask questions, offer ideas, play other characters in the scene, and participate in the conversation of play. So this game is going to be very conversational. It's going to be very much asking each other questions and answering and building off of each other to kind of create a story together. which is really cool and exciting and fun and I can't wait. You have the final say over what happens during your scene and each of us has final say over what is true about our own characters. Boo boo boo. Three, use the story prompt. Beneath each scene is a story prompt. Before your turn ends, you must use this prompt in the scene. How you do this is up to you. When you are ready for the scene in our story to end, let us know and pass the turn. And then we've got a whole bunch of ideas to kind of go off of for like good ways to introduce a scene in a prompt. ⁓ Would you like me to read some of these out loud? I feel pretty good. You feel pretty good? Okay. Cool. So yeah, I think we're all fairly experienced with story games, but if you are not, there is a good amount of jumping off points in the rules. Okay, so now we've got traits. Story prompts with a plus symbol are traits. After describing the scene, select one of the traits listed and describe how that is true about one of the characters, yours or that of another player. Then write that trait down on the character's note card. And there is an example, but basically we will introduce the scene. and then introduce how one of these traits describes one of the characters. And then you can kind of give that to the character or to yourself if you would like, and then they write that down on their card. Hell yeah. Love it. Is there? Okay, there they are. I was like, there's gotta be more traits. Okay, cool. Okay, moving the Magus. The Magus is a character shared between all of the players. On your turn, if your character is already on the map, you may opt to play as the Magus. When you play the Magus, remove the other characters from the map and advance the Magus token to a location further along the path. because we're not quite there yet. It's just the Magus. I see, and we will join the Magus. see. Sometimes there will be only one way to go. Other times there will be multiple paths to choose from. After moving the Magus, start a scene using that location and its story prompt. Play out the scene from the perspective of the Magus, portraying the Magus as you would your own character. Okay, and then it says, onward. The following rules come into play after Barleytown. If this is your first session, you can skip these for now and refer back to them when needed. So because I'm excited, we will keep this handy, and if we get past Barleytown in this playthrough, we will come back to these rules. But, I think we can just start. Yeah. Hell yeah. Okay, ⁓ so I guess we will, does anyone feel strongly about starting first? As I understand, reading some of these too, it feels like we're building out each character. Yeah. And so really deciding where we want to start. guess, hospitality of the Magus. Do we want to have the Magus get a trade? Should he be, or she be, or they be? This one is what they might look like. This one looks like a memory, so like backstory. I am the Magus and I serve the Magus. Kind of more backstory items, traits, and a little more backstory. So I guess you could really start anywhere with him, them, she. I like them. Them. I feel like the Magus should be genderless. All right. I feel like that's cool. That's just an egg. They're just an egg. Or maybe we are the egg. And the Magus is our mother bird. And we are all little eggs inside her or their flock Nice. Hell yeah. Let's do... I think something to start with maybe is like the Great Hall. Okay. Yeah. Because hospitality at Megis kind of like get an insight perspective on like what makes this person kind of like, why would they like being hospitable? Hospitable or not hospitable? Yeah. So maybe the Megis has called us to the Great Hall. Maybe this is like them inviting us to go onto this journey for whatever reason the Magus may have. But for whatever reason... The Magus has thought to call upon the Fox of the Mistwood and the Knight ⁓ of Stormgarde and the Harp. Harp, the hero of Barleytown. ⁓ So yeah, they've called all of us to the Great Hall. I imagine there are charcuterie everywhere, because I feel like charcuterie is very hospitable. And if someone wants to invite you to the Great Hall, they should have lots of food. of like cured meats and crackers, breads maybe, ⁓ spreads. I also envisioning like the Great Hall is maybe not like a space that's like fully inside, but it's just like it has a cathedral with no roof and like, is very like an aviary. Yeah. Kind of like has plants growing up the walls, has like rose bushes. You get a scent when you walk in very bright, maybe marble. Maybe wisteria like crawling up with the vines. It's just kind of like hanging down into it a little bit. Maybe some like branch across to like build a canopy. ⁓ my God. I want to exist in this space. I have two thoughts. One is I like those with the fall of magic. I like the idea of all those being now like the wisteria branches are bare. The plants are drying. It's cloudy. It's drizzling a little bit. So the open roof is not the most ideal. ⁓ We're all huddled in one side. food is good, but it is definitely more common than you would expect. Not quite like a feast. It's more of like a... Yeah. Peasant food. So do you want to take the role of the Magus and kind of like announce why we might be here then for that? Yes. ⁓ and then one more thought. And I know this kind of goes with the bridge, the face in the water part. I have an idea for what the Magus You can describe it right now. go ahead. OK. So. ⁓ We all walk into this, the doors swing open and you can hear like the rushing of wind as it howls and whistles over the top of this open cathedral. ⁓ The branches are kind of swaying and creaking. It's cold, I imagine. And sitting on a, what looks like a nest turned into a throne made out of wrought iron branches is... what could only be described as a harpy. Yes. a massive amalgamation of person and bird. ⁓ Long, elegant features, feathers that evolve into hair, gorgeous long black wings, ⁓ feathers on their arms, clawed tipped hands, and they are perched in this nest. I was thinking like, I love that. was thinking like cloak made out of feathers, but I love that you're taking it and just making like, no, this is a harpy. Yeah. Yeah. They're bird person hybrid. It's, I like to think that it's part of what happens to the Magus as they grow more in power. ⁓ they may have started out as what would be a normal human. And then as they accept the role and as they continue to get older, they become more avian and. Yeah. Interesting. Maybe they're even beginning to, to molt and like lose feathers. And that's kind of like one of the signs that the magic is dying is that they're starting to like trail feathers behind them because their power is weakening. Well, well I got chills and initially like that description too is like, is this, this person is seemingly the go-to person for like problems or like is the person that is in control of these realms, but also it's, makes me not trust them. And sexually like seeing this kind of like, ⁓ transformation. Yeah. Like, yeah, that's really interesting. That is interesting. I love that. ⁓ Cool. Did you want to invite all of us here? ⁓ I... Or we could just move on to the next scene. Now that we've kind of established. I have a couple ideas, but I don't want to take up too much. space in the game for why. I will start DM-braining this. Don't think too far. Yeah, that is the problem. Okay, in that case maybe we should move on to another scene. Yeah, because we've set... We haven't seen the hospitality of the Magus that much, but I they created this beautiful feast for us. So I feel like that fulfills the prompt. ⁓ Even though they're malting, they still thought to feed us. They put in the effort. They did the best they could, given what they had. Yeah, totally. Which says a lot. Awesome. Since that was the Magus, who wants to start? You want to go? Go for My token's up. I'm go to the bridge. ⁓ I'm picturing thick fog as we've in. ⁓ Kind of just rolling over the water of a moat maybe. because the bridge is kind of extending over as a protective layer. A lot of life, though, grows in this kind of like ditch. So it's not like moat where there's just two walls and water, but maybe like a shoreline. There's like trees growing. It's habitable for creatures, for sure. Nice. Like a river moat. Yeah. Yeah. And Soli here is waking up. The sun is coming out. And they feel the dew. on their skin they feel sick. They feel like a deep anxiety in their stomach. As they try to get up, they do not know how they got to this place. They're trying to remember their motor skills, just crawling through the mud a little bit. And then as they come to the shoreline, they peer over their shoulder. thinking, just trying think. And they see ⁓ what looks to be like a person kind of just like laying along the side with them. And that's like a similar kind of Storm Guard armor set, like strewn across the shore. ⁓ They're like, ⁓ this must have been like something bad happened here. Like I'm probably not safe and this is just the morning over, or maybe there was a battle night before. They then get an urge in their stomach, almost like a Spidey Sense. That danger's coming. And then a creature, a giant fish, maybe let's say a catfish. Ooh. comes shooting out the water and instinctually, slowly fills all their muscle fibers, activate and they jump, but not like any other jump they had experienced before. As they jump, they realize that where their initial landing was has been passed completely by them. They've gone too far and then they jump into the little cove along the shore back into the water. Terrified, wet, cold. not knowing how close they are to the surface, as they're trying to go up, they see the back reflection actually from under the water and they realize that they are a frog. Let's go. A frog. A frog. Like a frog or like a frog? Like a frog. A frog. Okay. ⁓ I can see you pulling yourself up on 12 lily pad and there's an overhead shot of you standing there, not sure what's going on, and you see the giant catfish circling around underneath you. It's go time now. It's go time, do you? Well, so looking from that log at that body, realizing that was my armor set. I see, okay, I'm making the connection now, yes, yes, yes, yes, But along there. knowing that the Stormguard armor, there's a dagger on the lake. I'm no longer a man, but I'm sure I could wield that dagger. Huzzah. Huzzah. Huzzah. Huzzah. ⁓ okay. That's beautiful. Do you, do you slay the catfish? Like do you jump back, grab it? I think I'm in a definitely precarious situation and finding my body. don't know if I'd have enough strength to slay it. May I interject? Yeah, of course, please. I'm going to move my token also to the bridge. ⁓ Fawn wakes up, because she was also camping, kind of looks up, blinks, there's fog everywhere, and she's like, OK, great. and she looks around at her traveling companion notices empty armor Looks around sees a very suspicious looking frog being circled by a very big catfish Kind of like thinks for a minute Makes some mental math. She's thinking about There's no way that someone went and turned my traveling companion into a frog. But what if there was? Where else could he have gone? Not here. The armor is there, dagger, frish, frog. Ribbit. Ribbit. The frog is increasingly making distressed, ribbiting sounds. That's all. And Fawn has about five seconds to decide, do I save this frog just in case this is my traveling companion or do I let nature take its course? She thinks for a minute, she looks at the frog, she sees the fish kind of like gearing up to jump and take the frog. And without thinking, she kind of just throws herself into the water. And scares the catfish away. The catfish is way bigger than she thought, by the way. That's like a very like, could maybe even take on a human. What if, what if he thought the catfish was the... ⁓ no! If the ribbiting wasn't so weirdly human sounding? It's not, it's not human speech, but it sounds like it maybe could be, which is distressing to Vaughn. I'm of what a rivet sounds like when it says help. Rough. I'm just immediately thinking like, ⁓ there you go. There we go. That's it. That's what I hear. So she jumps into the water. Luckily the catfish doesn't seem to put too much of a fight. So it kind of like does one more circle, decides it's not worth it and then swims away. Fawn is completely drenched in water and she kind of scoops the frog up in her hands. And she's like, want you to answer me truthfully. Are you? Solely. What? Riz? Riz? That sounded enough like a confirmation, so she puts on the head and then swims back to the shore, sets the frog down, checks her reflection in the water just to make sure she's all good. She sees ⁓ like a auburn hair looking back, kind of choppy short. ⁓ She has like gold eyes. a very fox looking person, which is maybe where she got the nickname, the moniker, the Fox of Mistwood. And she's kind of slings her bow and arrow back on her back and she's like, well, I guess this is happening now. As you're saying that Sully is just like ripping the cloak and like grabbing the dagger, making the most of the situation, like obviously something needs to happen here. ⁓ Cool, and scene. Scene. like it. Are you gonna do a Scooby-Doo-esque voice like you put an R in front of everything? Please. I don't know. I'll try, I'll try. I don't know. Okay. Maybe an evolution of it is that we'll find the voice. As you learn cognizant speech again. Man, my tongue's like 12 feet long now. don't know what heck's going on. Tongue of infinity length. From that scene, you walking up, the camera lifts up and shifts through the fog over to into the estates of Ravens Hall, into what was probably at one point a great place to visit, have a picnic. very well kept gardens, very well kept grazing areas for the animals that are in the menagerie. ⁓ And outside of one of these enclosures, ⁓ which are just like basic stone walls, there's a little bit of a trench, another stone wall, and then open field or whatever it is for whatever the animal is. And in that field, you see... It's kind of like a mix between a horse and an elk. As far as ⁓ elk-esh fur and head, ⁓ more horse-like body, a lot stockier. And protruding from its head are two horns ⁓ sticking straight out. ⁓ And then there's another one farther off that is a little bit smaller, has no horns, but they're bike horns. And they used to be really common in this world. But recently, as magic is failing, it is harder for them to continue to survive through some sort of ambient magic something. ⁓ Mystical magic trademark here. Magic TM. Leaning up against the wall, you see ⁓ a medium height, fairly androgynous person, ⁓ long black hair that's been pulled up into a ponytail, ⁓ tiny scar running across their lip, just right here, in a suit of armor. that is definitely slightly too big. Like. They never make them too small for some reason. Right. And the armor looks old. Like this does not look new. This doesn't look like the latest fashion of armor. This is old, well kept, but old armor. They're standing there, and this is Harp, the hero of Barleytown, just leaning up against the wall, staring at these two bikehorns as they meander, and looks completely lost in thought, completely zoned out. And they're thinking back to the day that they got this armor in Barleytown, and... It is not a pleasant memory. And they're just kind of stuck there right now. Mm. Dang. So sad. Yeah. Somber. We got frogs, we got foxes, we got trauma. The whole shebang. Yep. Three jitters. Classic. Walk into Raven Hall. I feel like that could be a setup for a punchline, know, where it's just like a druid, a fey, and a gnome walk into Those are in far. Awesome. Should I go into more detail about specifically the last time? I would like that. Yeah. Because like this trauma that they're thinking of, I don't know if you want to dive into like, that, is that the event where they saw Magic Last? Yes. Do you want to go into a little bit and you can reveal more later? I think a little bit. It's definitely ⁓ a flashback to a fight that happened in Bartletown. It is a I like to think that as magic is falling, various magical defenses around towns were failing, and some of the more ⁓ horrifying creatures of the world were able to attack Barleytown. ⁓ And I guess in this memory, like through vague flashbacks, fire in the distance, people screaming, you see somebody else wearing this armor, which looks like a older version of heart. I see. All right. Damn. But that was the last time Harp saw real magic, and it was as it was living. Got it. Okay. So I think the next thing would be, do we want to, like, all come together then in the Great Hall? Do we want to, like, meet the Magus somewhere else? I feel like a good MacGuffin to chase could be fun. Because we kind of all gathered here, but we never quite made it here. Right. So do you want to take that step, or should we move on to Oak Hills? I want to stay here a little bit more, just to kind of feel our characters out a little bit, and maybe have an interaction with the Magus before we move on. Whether that's at the Great Hall or somewhere else, I don't feel strongly toward. Okay. Well, I think... I think going to either this grind pool or staying in the Great Hall would be... Yeah. Would be good. We could all meet in the Great Hall and then kind of move down to the Scrying Pool after. I think also if we were more interested in building traits for ourselves, we could meet in the Rose Gardens because I felt like we set the scene of this is where the Magus is hanging out in their throne room. This is us arriving. This is us arriving. Maybe we congregate in, yeah, whichever. We could do a tiny swoop. Like just us arriving, what our characters think as we see the Magus for the first time. And then just immediately shift down to the Rose Gardens. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool. Do want to set that up? ⁓ for harp at least. Harp. I'm trying to not make this character as traumatized as I think I am. Well, do you want to sit on it? Because then I could go. could go around. Yes, please. please. I think as slowly writing on Fawn's head is entering the Great Hall, seeing kind of like the death of magic happening and like the beauty of it failing. the hopes of maybe becoming a person again, or at least getting their memory back. ⁓ I've kind of now just like, Fawn saved me in the water. I don't actually know if we were together at that moment. ⁓ But knowing that I need help and in my deep thought of memory, I know that the Magus could maybe help transform, a spell, something of those kinds. So I'm actually leaning really heavily on seeing what the Magus can provide for me in this moment. I'm kind of just like locked in, kind of like observing while I'm on you, just like, ⁓ man, like maybe my hopes are a little bit faltering a little. ⁓ kind of like the state of the kingdom here, Raven Hall, ⁓ dust everywhere, ripped up books. And as we enter the Great Hall, seeing the twisted nature of ⁓ the throne and the magus, I'm like, man, what is happening? Where am I? Yeah, totally. Yeah. All right. ⁓ Is that your scene? Unless anyone wants to hop in. I think Harp will see you on Fawn's head and will stare in acknowledgement, but will not address it. Fawn will notice and be like. I don't think Harp flinches. Okay, that's fair. Fawn is also like four foot eight. So like, very tiny. I don't think Harp is very tall. Maybe five five. ⁓ So but it's still like What also just for record we are all six seven in this room Yes, yes for sure. We're all very six foot seven Yeah, so fine ⁓ solely on her head. I like to imagine that, okay, if I may world build for a second. Please do. Just to maybe give us a little bit of direction, or at least me a little bit of direction, I like to imagine that Fawn received a letter from the Magus, kind of a summons, and maybe multiple people got a similar letter and kind of either chose to follow the summons or not follow the summons, but Fawn is kind of figuring things out, received this letter, figured why not, ⁓ and decided to... make the journey to Raven Hall. I think it would be cool then maybe if you want to dive into like the time that you did previously like have engagement with the Megas to then kind of like lead into that but that could be a lot more than you want to dive into. Yeah let me just percolate on that a little bit. ⁓ I will circle back to that but to kind of tie in why we were together I figured maybe I found Sully, human Sully on the road on the journey to the Great Hall to Raven Hall. Because maybe I'm from, like, the Oak Hills. That sounds like a place Dawn would be from, or Fawn. you're from the Misty Wood. Misty ⁓ I am, that's right, from the Mist Wood. So yeah, I made like a long journey here and we kind of met each other on the road. Yeah. And, you know, just started conversating. Maybe you got a similar letter, maybe not. ⁓ And that's why we're kind of traveling together and why I was like, is that that frog, frog person I just met, maybe? I think to then like maybe clean up the story then too, sorry, Jander. No, please. ⁓ I was on a trip there and we did run into each other. And then maybe you did see that the armor was empty. Yeah, okay, cool. I like that. Okay, so yeah, then... ⁓ We, where was I going with this? I'm on your head and we're walking in. Right, okay, yes. I wasn't sure, have you, do you still have more to say within your scene or should I introduce a new scene? You could introduce a new scene if Okay, so yeah, we are all arriving at Raven Hall. ⁓ Maybe I noticed that the frog on my head seems a little more dejected than they were a minute ago. I see this brooding character who of course I. want to intimidate and it doesn't work because Fawn is very tiny and Harp does not give a fuck. But I see the spread ahead of me. see the waning nature. It's still beautifully well-kept. It's well-swept. It looks like whoever is here is still taking care of it, but it seems like there is something that is waning from this space. and we all see the Magus kind of upon their throne. ⁓ And would now be a good time to kind of like address everyone. Like maybe the Magus is like, well, ⁓ I've summoned a great number of heroes and misfits and wanderers and any and all in between. And it seems like you three are the ones who have taken up the mantle to accompany me. Yeah, think I'm going to hop in the Magus for a second. This fog has enlifted in days, weeks. Time seems to have stopped here in Ravens Hall. I don't know when I sent those messages. I've been waiting for your arrival. Ooh, I like that. ⁓ Please accept my humble offerings and help me figure out how to get out of this fog. I like it, I like it, I like it a lot. Also gonna jump into the mages for a second. I also like to think that their voice has like a musical undertone to it. as they're talking you also hear like a faint like echoing sing song version of those same words. ⁓ But as I'm here like, ⁓ do it. No, if I could sing and talk at the same time, I would use that for everything. No, just imagine that this is beautiful and creepy. Haunting. Haunting. Very haunting. ⁓ Even if the magic was still going strong, would be haunting. Totally. ⁓ I also like to think they have very avian movements. Like, they don't really blink, but they turn their head to focus on each person. Yeah. Really jerky. Maybe not jerky, but like quick. Quick. Twitchy. Twitchy. ⁓ But they'll continue with following up with the fog. ⁓ that they believe that if they are able to find a new magus egg somewhere that it's been lost to time immemorial, they may be able to, by resurrecting themselves, resurrect the magic. Because magic goes through cycles. It goes through cycles of life, death, and rebirth. And unfortunately, I am in the death stage of magic. But in order to start the rebirth, the egg must be found. Yes. Woo, so hyped. That is actually so, that is so sick. A little, to jump into harp, when the mage, Vegas. Vegas. Vegas, Vegas. Vegas, Vegas, baby. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. When the Magus mentions the letters, ⁓ you may not be able to see it, depending on if your character is like observant or not. Harp is holding the letter, but like in a clenched fist. And it tightens slightly. That is for when we get past Bartletown. Gotcha. But just ever so slightly in a clenched fist. they also have like a long sword strapped to their back. Hell yeah. they'll look up at ⁓ the Magus. Tell us where to go and we will be there. We will lead you and you will fix this. Dumping into Fawn real quick, she's gonna... Sounds really intense, but okay, sure. Why not? And what say you, frog? That sounds like a great shirt. What say you, frog? Trademark. Copyrighted. Get that printed. Wonderful. OK, cool. I like that scene. Yeah. I think that's cool. I think we could move on to maybe a different scene. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ I do kind of want to give us traits, so maybe I'll hop into the Magus. And I'll kind of lead us all down to the Rose Gardens. Maybe the Magus kind of like with great pain lifts themselves out of their throne and it looks like it took them a lot of effort to do so. ⁓ And they kind of like... Come with me, come with me. And we kind of walk through this atrium, down these marble steps out into the gardens proper. And maybe there's offshoots behind us that kind of go more into the palace of Raven Hall, but this is kind of one of the many entrances to the gardens, and through maybe a series of hedges lead us to this beautiful rose garden. Did you have a thought? Yeah, I just feel like this is the moment where we get our equipment for the journey. Ooh. I'd like to add a little flavor to just what the Magus looks like. Please. You know in Howl's Moving Castle, when Howl is like par-bird. I'm so glad you said that because it's exactly what I was imagining. When he's walking and it's like a slow like, ffff. Yes. When you said Harpy that's becoming more animalistic, I immediately went to Hell's Moving Castle. It is slow, it is painful, it is drudging. still fast enough that I feel like we have to keep up. Somehow, yes. It looks like it's painting them, but it's still too fast for us. That's just magic, baby. Magic, baby. ⁓ I love it. No, that's awesome. Yeah, so we are in... the rose gardens and let me think for a minute how to actually set up this scene. Maybe because we were kind of strangers together, the Magus is kind of informing us like the legendary tales of fawn. ⁓ I see. Like kind of like... I bet you've wondered why I've gathered you here today. Could this have been a zoom? This could have been an email. This could have been an email. This could have been a picture. I don't think this could not have been an email. Maybe the Magus is kind of, yes, Magus is kind of going around giving, bestowing upon us titles to kind of get to know each other by. Maybe we're all kind of standing in a row before the Magus, and the Magus is like, this is Harp. How do I? Well, I was going to say because like the way that they talk to maybe it's like we're all just receiving riddles. because of their different backgrounds where it's just like the fox of the Mistwood. Like would you want to be beautiful, legendary, fierce? Because you were initially like- I was like fierce. Could it be fierce? it's just like you don't know this is in you yet, I was thinking fierce for you. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Cool. Frog's beautiful. I was thinking legendary for you. Yeah, okay. because it's like a very legendary, like a knight who turns into a frog is like- Literally the stuff of legends. Okay, I'll take legend. But all of this to say is happening while this really cool thing that is above my pay grade is going on. yes. It's happening in a very poetic and beautiful way that's hard to... idea. Yes. Yeah, please. So as we are led into this rose garden, it's probably one of the few places in this. So as we are making our way into what I am thinking is one of the last... surviving green places, like completely green places of this area is this gorgeous rose garden. Every color and variety of rose you can think of is here. It smells heavenly. You can hear birds singing for the first time, probably, for a lot of us. I'm also making this very bleak. So if you hear birds song a lot, then that's OK. Bring the bleak. OK. Probably the first time we've heard birds song in a long time. There's the buzzing of bees. You can hear the scuttling of rabbits and gophers and things as you just ate a rabbit. A whole rabbit as a frog. That's dinner. OK, B. ⁓ And as the magus walks in, goes up to a like, what are those things called? Basin? Pavilion. Gazebo? Gazebo! Thank you. Goes up to a gazebo. Again, no roof. So pavilion, like platform. Yeah. And settled down and like throw out their wings just like, and says, looks at each of us and just says, choose a rose. Ooh. ⁓ And that's it. Hell yeah. And what rose we choose is what is the gift that is given to us, or the beginning of the riddle of who we are and why we're important to this quest. Hell yeah. So I think it'd be fun if we all described the rose and what it goes with. Okay, fun. It's kinda looking over. There's a lot of very beautiful roses, a lot of very polished and trim roses, and then there's one bush that is so thorny that it looks almost impossible to reach your hand in and take a rose without getting stabbed. And Fawn's like, that's my kind of rose. So. She kind of really delicately maneuvers her hand in there, very tiny hand, because again, she's like four-something, and manages to pick a rose with only getting a tiny little scratch and pulls it back. And it is the deepest red of a red rose that anyone has ever seen. It is like blood red. And she's like, this is my rose. As you bring it up to the ⁓ magus and you put it down in front of them, I like to think the magus goes. Hearts, blood, rose. Only for the strongest and fiercest among us. That's me. So I'm gonna add fierce. How do you spell fierce? I prefer E. Sully has a very different perspective of this rose garden as I am only a frog. I the heroes is gonna be rough. I'm down on the ground, really, now, since we've entered and had this ⁓ initiation for picking the one that speaks to us. And slowly hopping around, kind of trying to still find a way in my body, just like, gosh, these legs. But also at the same time, these legs. Just hopping. ⁓ One day I might learn to walk again, who knows? Like, what's the frog that sings with a top hat? Hello, my darling. Hello, my honey. Hello, my ragtime gal. There's a great diatribe about that I won't get into. And so as I'm kind of like going around, ⁓ the mental aspect of it is like, I'm actually kind of over it. I'm just like, I just need to be a human again. Like, what is the quick, like where's the first rose I could find? Like, and off in the corner, like already on the ground, not even like attached to the bush is a rose that's kind of wilted. lost most of its pedal and I just swiped it. I see that one I'm like, let me just get this over with, plop back over. I didn't even go very far from the initial ask and then just kind of drop it and in that dropping and carrying it, I crush it more. I drop it. So just crushed, crushed Rose? Yeah. That's my band name. ⁓ that's a good one. Hell yeah. That is a great like. early 2000s punk band. Crushed Rose. Yeah. Crushed Rose. One, two, three, four. Crushed Rose for legendary. I imagine like the most memorable of legends always start with someone who has reached the bottom. Ooh. Okay. I like it. I like it. Legendary. Legendary. Legends don't need to be flashy. And you don't start as a legend. You start from a wilted rose. That's the first EP. We're so dead. We're on the billboard. Anything else? We're gonna open for sleep tokens. I already forgot what we said about the frog where we like, put it on a shirt. Anyway. This is being recorded, it, we need it, we need it. Okay. Yeah, I'm gonna end that for myself. ⁓ harp. stands there for a while, just kind of looking over the Sea of Mist and roses and greenery, and walks over and picks eight small yellow tea rose, like yay big, like so small. very delicately pulls out a knife and clips it off, kind of in practice motion that makes it look like they've picked flowers for preservation before, walks over and ⁓ very, almost too stone-faced. ⁓ places it down gently. Right before you place it, the Magus grabs your whole hand and looks you deep in the eyes and says, ⁓ fuck, what does he say? That's what they say. What does he say? It says. I told the tip of my tongue, I wanna say something so good. I believe in you, you got this. You this, you got this. on, well help me, do you want fierce, legendary, beautiful? This would be beautiful. You want beautiful? Yeah. Okay. Even the darkest nights have the best sunrise. The most beautiful sunrises come after the darkest nights. harp pauses and... without breaking eye contact. Beauty is useless in a night where you can't see it. And will drop the rose. Vaughn's gonna be like, But I will take beautiful. Damn, just take the compliment, Carp is not a compliment-taking kind of person. Is that what Fawn says? It's like under her breath, she's like, God damn, okay. ⁓ I loved that, that was awesome. Scene. Scene. Do we just get, we getting anything else from? these picks, like is she giving us boons or are we just kind of vibing with the title or like the descriptor for right now? I think the descriptor just for now, maybe like boons and skill sets will come as we travel. But I think this is good just to kind of establish who we are within the group. Yeah. Hell yeah. I think also, yeah, because it's just like kind of almost like tokens for building your character's story. Like now we have a goal of like, how am going to become legendary later on? Or fierce? Like how are these things going to happen? Beauty is going to be a good one, I think, for Harp. I mean, even the name Harp and then the character description, like how's that going to develop? That's going to be really fun. I'm excited. This is cool. Okay, should we, does anybody else want to pop into any other ones at Raven Hall? I would like to take a five. Take a five. I gotta pee. Fair. So now I forgot whose turn it technically was. Yeah, so we just finished with Bloom for Beautiful, so I think now we're kind of deciding that maybe we travel down here to Oak Hills at the end of summer. then that's the Magus moving first. Okay. ⁓ Question, what does traveling with the Magus look like? Like are we walking along? Do we got a special cart? Do they turn into a little birdie and ride on our shoulder? Like what's... ⁓ okay. What's the vibe? I feel like the Magus is like ganned off in the sense that they send us places and then they just like hop in. Oh, okay. I like it. Okay. So they're like, I'll see you there. I'll see you there. I'll see you there. And then we kind of convene at certain places. like, maybe they even like travel through space and time. So they're like, I'm not gonna walk with you guys. I'll just, when you guys get there, I also will be there. Yeah, something like that. Do we have like a special token that they use as a anchor point? That's a good idea. Yeah, maybe it is one of their feathers. Oh, that's fun. Yeah, I like that. Do we each have a feather? of theirs incorporated into our look. And then maybe even like, yeah, we could like fasten it into something like mine. I kind of like wrapped it in like a leather cord and then kind of like tied it on the end of my bow. Cause I never go anywhere without my bow. So if my bow is not on me, I am in trouble and I need help. What if it wasn't just the rose though? What if it was the rose we picked? Also could be a rose. could do that. But I do like the feathered idea. No, no, I like the feather idea. I like the roses as like a catalyst, but the feather is the actual power. Yeah, I it. Like the roses were a test. The roses themselves were not magic. ⁓ Mine is definitely tied to the pommel of my sword. Nice. Same reason. If I don't have my sword, something bad's happening. Yeah. Hmm interesting, I'm a frog. They you a tiny pin feather. Interesting, dot dot dot, I'm a frog. ⁓ Just wear it as a hat. As you can see by my flesh, I have no flesh. ⁓ Yeah, think I've actually taken it and like it's kind of like feathered it out almost like fletching. But then like woven that into like a bracelet. Oh nice. I like that. Nice. Okay, cool, cool, Love it. So I moved to, you want me to start with what the Oak Hills is like at the ending of Summer? Sure, yeah. for it. So. The Oak Hills is this no man's land between Barleytown and Ravenhall and in such these two places have been kind of ⁓ important landmarks for ownership of the land, for kind of like it's a good jumping off point to get to the rest of the world. So a lot of battles actually have been fought at Oak Hills. Many of the trees now have been burnt down. There's sections of it where it's just like a slog, just like mud. Sometimes you get to a nice clearing where there's still water, there's trees growing near. But in general, it's a very unhospitable place, especially at the ending of summer when fall's starting to set in. Some say it just is a constant cold breeze running through the forgotten battlefields. You could still get tetanus on armored chunks or a flail. that's been buried under. Excellent. I tetanus. Can't escape it, even in fantasy. The threat of tetanus is always there. It's always watching. ⁓ So really it's just like the struggle of trying to find a hospitable place to make camp. as we're kind of wandering around, there's this hill that kind of comes off and it's like a rocky face. And in that rocky face is just enough of a jet out to have a nice campfire under. Hell yeah. I like to imagine also, with the waning of magic, because it goes through these cycles. people also, when magic is waning, people are more volatile and there's more battles and skirmishes and stuff like that. when magic- Bandits. And when magic is more plentiful, there's more peace time. So because we're going through this waning of magic, it's more dangerous to be in these in-between places because yeah, they're bandits. Maybe like you were saying before with like maybe magical barriers are like failing so there's more like scary monsters. Like it's just like less of a comfortable traveling experience than it would have been if magic was not dying. ⁓ I know it's the ending of summer. I like the idea of us knowing it's the ending of summer. This feels like mid fall. It's cold, it's clammy, there's the fog, things are dying. But it's really just like August. But it's not even just like... surroundings are unsettling and hard to relax and find rest in. Just the oppressiveness of the atmosphere is doing the same. It almost is like the fire isn't warm here. Yeah. Great. That's beautiful. I think that really sets up a lot of like now I'm really exciting. ⁓ yeah. Dive into them. Since I moved the Megas here, I think all of that kind of maybe was from the perspective of the Yeah, yeah, totally. So do you want to go next? me take a look at these. I will hang out by this fire that we've made. And let me think for a minute while I set this scene. So it's cold, it's frigid. I imagined we kind of got here maybe late in the day, so the sun is starting to set. It's not quite nighttime yet, but we're kind of like preparing for nighttime. Like we made a fire, maybe someone's like preparing food. We're like setting up tents and bedrolls and stuff like that. And I will sit by this fire that we have made and I will just kind of like hold in my hand this little carving of a fox. And I'm just kind of turning it over in my hands and maybe harp sense. is kind of incapable of human speech at the moment, but you're also there. ⁓ Maybe Harp notices me kind of fiddling with the little fox figurine, and maybe you inquire about it, maybe not? A token. You're like, nah. Nah. With, Harp is kind of tending the fire, and we'll look over that token. Does it mean a lot to you? It does. Then keep it close. It's mine. My little sister made it for me. She carved it. Isn't it beautiful? Yes. Now the sister can carve anything out of anything. This is a fox. There you go. That's slightly better. Just a titch better. Yeah, she can carve anything out of anything. She's the most talented carver that I know. And she carved this for me. She is truly skilled. She is. You must be proud as an older sibling. I am. I am. I do miss her. Being on the road. But... Yes? She's the one who encouraged me to answer the letter from the Magus. But she's home in the Mistwood. She is. That is good. Yeah. She always loved it there. I always wanted to leave. And... She didn't want me to leave. But I wanted adventure. And she did say that the Magus is important and I should probably help them, but she was sad to see me go. And I thought I'd be way more excited to leave than I actually am, so. The road is always more glamorous than the tales that we hear. Yeah. Yeah, well. Oops. Into the fire. ⁓ I got it. Just reach your hand into the fire. Yes, OK. Yes. Now you drop it, and I reach in with my still gauntleted hand and pluck it out very gently. It's a little singed now, but that's OK. Well, maybe when I return home, I'll have some stories to tell. Seen. Seen. What's a good name that goes with Fawn? For a last name? For a sister name. Fond and Doe. I was just gonna say Doe. Yep, Fond and Doe. Fondue. Fondue. Fondue, okay, maybe not. Bye. Kit. Kit. And then she would be the deer of the Mistwood. The deer of the Mistwood and the fox of the Mistwood. You'd think it'd be the other way around, but we get that a lot. You know, monikers. Yeah. They just come to you. We got mixed up at childbirth, it's fine. We're twins. She's the little sister. The younger twin. And I will never let her forget it. I'm going to go to the Harper's Road. Oh. Yes. Hell yeah. Yeah. I just harp. Harp on Harper's Road. Harp on Harper's Road. We hear that so many. yeah, Harper gets that a lot. Not related. Harper's Road? Come on, come on, come on. The entire time. The entire time. This would be earlier in the day as we were walking. ⁓ I like to imagine somebody said that. It would be me. And Harp will go... No. While we do share a similar name, mine was given to me by my father. When I was born, he said that my first cries were like music to him. What a lovely lie he told you. Absolutely. ⁓ But because of that, he wanted me to have a name that matched that sound and called me Harp. Well, that's sweet. When you cry, does it sound like a harp? want to find out. I'm Please. Seriously. If I do end up crying on this journey, you will have to tell me. Okay. So who you left behind is your father? In a sense. It wasn't me who received the letter of summits. It was my father. It was the real hero of Barleytown. But as my father always said, it's not the title of a person who gives them the power. It's the will that they embrace that does. And so here I am with a frog and a very angry woman ⁓ carrying on the mission of a giant bird person. to save the magic of the world while wearing my father's armor and carrying my father's sword. Sounds like a hero to me. Weird hero, but. One can only hope. Thank you, frog. That was an affirmation. I speak fluent frog. I'm not surprised. What does that mean? Were you being facetious? Yes. I actually would imagine that you were fluent in most woodland creature communication. In a way, yes. Frogs are an enigma to me. It's more of just intentions. It's a vibe. You say it. Perfect English. Well, you see. Sir Frog. I think his name was Solly, we met on the road. If that is who I think it is. It was a completely random frog. I this is not a random frog. This frog is carrying a dagger and was addressed by the Magus. This is true. So I'm assuming, if there's anything that you need, let me know. I am here to help. That means thank you in frog. You're welcome. All frogs speak fluent sign language. Oh gosh. I wish. Do you know what he is though? Because this is thank you. Yeah it is. know, know. Just thank yous. Oh yeah, end scene. Scene. Let me see, can I remember nice? I'm Rusty. Yeah. The only thing I know how to say is I wish a bitch would. Are you being serious? Nice. I'm going to put my token here on Harper's Road as well. Who you left behind. ⁓ And as the caravan was kind of like moving across as the sun was setting and we're making our way through these very drab lands, ⁓ I kind of was like a little pitter pattering behind. I've gotten better control of my motor skills. I feel more confident to like kind of be on my own. But as we're going, this is just after our little communication there. I get bagged. Someone puts me in a bag. Like one of us? No. Not one of us. Oh. As I was going around, get... Scooped? I get scooped. I can't see anything. I feel like getting tossed around. I hear them fall, slide down mud into a ditch. Is there a frog? I hear... hear... Three people. One guy scooped me. One is a female. The other one sounds goblin-esque. thank God for us. ⁓ As this character slides down into this ditch, they hear him like, did you get him? Did you get him? And they're like, yeah, I got him. He's a fucking frog. I could only tell who he was by the dagger he was carrying. Did anyone see you? anyone see you? No, I got them clean. They opened the bag and they're like, Sully, did you get it? Scandal. ⁓ scandal. And me not knowing who I am, pull out my dagger and start swinging like, whoa, whoa, whoa, Sully, this wasn't part of the plan. You were supposed to nab the wing and get back here. Oh Oh beef. Damn. Do you guys want to save Sully? I think. Yeah? As soon as you, ⁓ Harp realizes that you're gone, you hear like just. And Harp is just booking it down the road and you hear like the soft shing. and I slide to a halt, sword out in front of me. It's like the Akira stop but with a knife. And just unhand that frog. And I think Harp full will just go for the guy's arms. Yeah. Without hesitation. I see them holding you up by your leg, you're swinging your dagger, this dude's losing an arm. ⁓ interject. Fun. Right behind, little pitter patter. I believe when you like, did you like stop in your cool move? Fawn just, momentum is still going, crashes right into your back. ⁓ I don't move. You don't move. Fawn's like, what is happening? You're about to take someone's arm off. You're wielding a dagger. There are three unknown people. She's on the ground. Where do we go from here? Yeah, so to set the scene a little bit too, like the characters that have got me, we have a gnome that was the person that grabbed me. quick, can turn invisible, mischievous. Goblin, do you wanna describe the goblin? ⁓ For goblin, I like the idea of making them ⁓ not traditional goblin-esque features. ⁓ Think ⁓ small cat person, ⁓ but with the ears that do go straight out to the side and end with like big tufts, huge like glowing yellow eyes, you can see like little cat fangs. ⁓ But do have like a greenish tint to them still. They blend in really well with foliage. ⁓ But has like a mohawk of sorts, but the mohawk looks like it's braids that have been held up with sticks to make them look like spines. Cute. But definitely looks like a, the... We need somebody to be aggressive and kind of crazy. They're the crazy one of them. Yeah. I like it, like it, I like it. And then there was a female character. Do you want to describe the female character? Sure. She's gorgeous, dark, black hair, ⁓ maybe even like the leader of this little trio. She kind of like is at least the one in charge making the decision. She kind of just is like, you do that, you do that, you do that. She doesn't like to get her hands dirty, but she will absolutely let other people get their hands dirty for her. I love that. think then, do you want to keep going? I think in the scene then, ⁓ Harp with full veracity. takes this person's arm. Yeah. I was still bagged, but with my dagger go crashing down next to this gnome's hand. Y'all are brutal. And our main lead here, who's in charge of the group, says flee. It wasn't part of the plan to get caught in any aspect. So we got to book it now. OK. We have more power. She says we have more power at night. Or more, you know. Or stronger when it's dark. It's just like their skill set's better in stealth. Yeah. So they're not like that head on fighting. Right. They're like, we'll regroup. Yeah. Yeah. Regroup. But we needed Skedaddle. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. I think that's gonna be my scene. They were the people I left behind. I love them. ⁓ yeah, yeah, ⁓ I like the idea of... maybe I don't actually take this guy's arm. If he's really quick, then he just drops you, and the sword just arcs down right next to his fingertips. What if it's also like, and you can tell me if you wanna nix this, but even though your character has so much aura, that maybe they also aren't fully in their element wielding. Yeah, it definitely looks a little clumsy. It's now after like the story from the fire. ⁓ This is definitely borrowed armor and a borrowed sword. Totally. They know technically how to use it, but. It's very technically. I love how they have insane aura. Yeah. Like that is like your character. It's just all confidence. You just got to be confident. Hell yeah. And traumatized. And traumatized. That's part of it. You want extra aura? Trauma. Trauma. I can't use some trauma. OK, so like. can't make a room score, but that's fine. Almost in like an instant, the people actually did, like in this vast openness, seemingly have disappeared. There's hills, there's mud, there's muck, but still somehow they were able to dash away. Maybe even like the woman, there's like smoke bomb, boom, they're gone. Yeah, exactly. was like kind of like magic trick. I'm on the ground with my dagger just like stuck in the mud. No! I will, still on my ass, I'll kind of just like roll over and crawl and just like scoop you up out of the mud and be like, what was that? What was that? Harp is just yelling And I can't speak anything. I rib it. We need to find out how to get you human speech. Because I need to know what just happened. Uh-huh. Back on the head. Not leaving my side. Like with mud? With mud, yep, yep. During that when you pick up, ⁓ Solly? Solly. S-O-L-L-Y. Solly. Harp is yelling cowards into the mist as, like, doesn't pay attention to you. You got dropped, you're fine. But is very upset that they ran away. Got it. Cool. ⁓ ⁓ is it? Okay, yeah, cool. There's an opportunity for making Camp to get honesty, clever kind as traits. Your morning ritual, kind of like a little bit more lore. I feel like we kind of got a lot of this covered. Yeah. Unless someone really does want to like get one of these traits. Honestly too, I know Ross isn't here, so he can't make me... do whatever, but I was gonna say, what if we just give ourselves one of these traits based off of the interactions that, the conversations we had. But also at the same time, I don't know if this is supposed to be directly tutorial. We maybe just kind of like conversationally assign each other these traits. Like maybe we're like packing up camp, like we're about to leave for the next location and we're just chatting about like... ⁓ I have idea. What if we tell a story but it's from your character's perspective watching one of the other characters and in that you assign them a trait? I like it doing that way. But I like the quick, like, as we're packing up. Yeah. Like your impression of the person so far? I can start. I noticed how immediately Harp went to go rescue Sir Frog. And your totem. And my totem, yeah, then you also fish my totem out of the fire without even thinking about it. So Fawn is thinking, Harp is incredibly kind. Sad boy with a heart of gold. boy. I take it. Beautiful sad boy. Gender neutral. Yes. ⁓ sad boy team. because we can give these to others as well. we technically could all three be kind. That is true. Yeah, yeah. Okay. We're definitely not giving you honest, Mr. Surfron. You don't know, you didn't That's true, we don't know. Here's the issue. I don't think Solly is gonna get anything in this moment. I don't know if there was anything super clever that happened. Yeah, you are It's hard when you cannot speak. Because I was gonna say, I wanna give you Honest just because it's funny. But then I'm like, it doesn't fit because we haven't talked to each other yet. ⁓ man. Does the Magus get a card? No. Because we are all the Magus. The Magus is all. Well, Let's see here. I mean, I'm also fine with just Harp getting kind at this moment too. Unless you want to get kind or honest or clever. Like, I was gonna say Harp thinking back to the same moment. You picked up Sir Frog. I ignored Sir Frog once he dropped. Like on the way back, you're like, oh, I totally missed That is true. You didn't worry about getting anybody else. focused on getting It was to ask him what the fuck was up. But still, you don't know that. So I would give you kind as well. Cool. I love that. I really wanna give you honest. You have never lied to me. Not incorrect. Well, I mean, if anything, right now, ⁓ out of these three, the only person that does have a backstory when I was a person is Fawn. Right. So then maybe like you two are having a moment while we're making camp of being like, maybe maybe Harp was like, you came here with Sully, right? Yeah, yeah, I did. ⁓ He's a knight, knights are chivalrous and you know. Did he seem trustworthy? Yeah. Because now he's a frog. Now he's a frog, I don't know how that happened. I trust frogs implicitly. Do you? I was making a jest. ⁓ that harp. So funny. Jokes I don't expect jokes from you, if I'm being honest. So that took me for a loop. ⁓ I mean, he's a knight, you know? I feel like knights, they'd uphold a creed, ⁓ an honor, a... He's here with us. So obviously the majesty's, you know, something in him. I'm gonna walk over to you. Might I lift you, Sir Frog? I'll get down on one knee. To get closer. I never thought to ask. Aye. I need you to help protect us. I am new to this and I will need your help and I need to trust you. He's a frog. He still fought those people with his dagger. I pull out my dagger and like hold it up. Cause I don't know who I am. will pull out mine and if I can take a moment for my sword. ⁓ Just normal looking long sword, the hilt looks like a forget me not. I'm gonna pull out it and I'm gonna hold it up just like you and go huzzah. So I'm gonna give you honest. Because I need to trust you. Honest question mark. He is a frog. am a farmer from a small town. Beautiful. Yeah, because really it's just like, what was that about? Like, why did they take you? Yeah. Yeah. There's something there. Something there. You're a big frog. Frog legs are delicious. Frog legs are delicious. That's another shirt. Frog legs are delicious, TM. OK. Do we scoot? I think we. Scoot. Yeah? Yep. So, Hospitality of the Barley Lord. Ooh, the Barley Lord, Lord of the Barley. So it'd be like, what is the story of the Hospitality of the Barley Lord? Let's see, okay, so. We come across a stone bridge over a river that leads to the gates of Barleytown. It's not like a huge city, but it's not a village either. It's like a good in between, maybe like on the big side of town. So there is like a stone wall that kind of just like surrounds Barleytown and like a gate. There's like a guard in front of the gate who's the guard to the Barley Lord. ⁓ And? A churro stand. ⁓ Let's go. A burnt down churro stand because this place was attacked recently. ⁓ no. Yeah, okay, so maybe there's like... They got the churro stand. They got the tamale. I just imagined the cabbage guy from Avatar. My churros! Cannon. So there's a burnt down stand. Everyone's really sad about it. I'm sad about it. And maybe the hospitality of the Barley Lord is like maybe the Barley Lord is having some sort of banquet to celebrate that maybe they won the battle. Like there were some losses like the churros stand, but ultimately Barley Town is still standing strong and the Barley Lord wants to hold like a festival or a banquet and kind of, you know. Celebrate the fact that Barley town still exists. I think also that the fact that this ⁓ Barley town or the Lord is holding a banquet kind of also shows his Detachment to the rest of the community Because like yeah people are like glad that he's like let us eat cake, but also at the same time Yeah, like there have been losses that aren't being talked about. Yeah, totally a little tone deaf. Yeah. Yeah ⁓ like that you understand. ⁓ Rest in peace. If I could add a little flavor too, since this is my hometown, ⁓ you'll notice a lot of people will greet me, but not in a like, the hero kind of way. It's in a my condolences kind of way. Yikes, that's some good Lord drop Yeah, make it sad gotta make it sad there. They're being silly. I gotta make it sad We need to even this out. We got frogs and foxes. need trauma. Okay trauma ⁓ Okay, so that was setting the scene, so maybe we can all just kind of like be a room. Would you like to? Yeah. Put up a scene. As we walk in, I also think this would be the first time that the Magus actually appears with us now on the trip, now that we've made it inside the city walls. ⁓ And I will turn to the Magus to say, Magus, if you will. I believe I know someone who may be able to help our frog friend with certain issues. If you will excuse us, I would like to go speak with someone nearby. which I'm assuming that they will grant. If somebody wants to be the Megas for this. Yeah, they just kind of bow their head. You know how to summon me when I am needed. Oh, I was gonna say like some books are left with clues. Who knows? Oh my gosh. I don't know, it could be either one. We'll find out. But do you wanna like pick one of these then maybe to have that? I'm actually gonna go down here to Matilda. Mathilda's farm. Mathilda's farm. It's actually, ⁓ as we get farther to the other side of the town from the wall that we entered, ⁓ wall gets shorter, you see more pieces that need to be patched, houses are a lot smaller, everything evens out and becomes farmland. ⁓ And there's this one very innocuous looking farmstead ⁓ blends in with all the rest of them. But you see there's like a rune carved into the door itself that doesn't match everywhere else. ⁓ Harp walks up, ⁓ stands for a second. and three quick wraps on the door. Immediately you hear like a... of something falling over. Ah, shit. And then a... of somebody running to the door, throwing it open, not like peeking out, just... I told you kids, get out of here! Oh, harp! Mathilda are we all here you can be if you want to I definitely have the Where were you yesterday there is a big battle burn down half the stands Anyways come on I just turn and go just not I'll duck inside. Do you guys want tea? Say no. No. What? I'm sorry, yes? The Barley Lord will be serving us tea later on, Mathilda. I'm here on business by order of the ⁓ Magus. The Magus? I haven't seen that old bird in years. They are at the Lord's Manor as we speak. must be onto something, have him walk all this way. We've been chosen by the Magus. Here's some tea. Thank you. You see me shake my head ever so slightly. Don't do it. Don't do it. Been the same pop for 13 years. It tastes like it. I definitely, you don't, I hold it. Definitely don't drink it. I regret immediately. I'm here on behalf of, ⁓ and I will motion towards, ⁓ Solly. ⁓ I believe you still know some of the old magics ⁓ that could allow a creature to be given a voice. Didn't I say drink the tea? That's all you need to know right there. That's, you would like. I gesture toward the frog. But as you drink it, and then you hear slowly being like, where the hell are we? Like, what's going on? I will, without flinching down the entire thing, put it back. And then you just hear like, all animals just always, thank you, Mathilda. You are too kind. What is in this tea? Now Get out, get out. I got things going on in here. You don't wanna be here and. And then, yeah. Don't ask, just say come Okay, okay, okay. Door closes, slam shut, you hear another crash. Shit! Ah, shit! There's a tiny. Oh, it's ready! The chimney just, poop! She pops out the chimney. I'm assuming it worked. I can hear him in my head, which is weird. you understand us? I don't know what's going on. I've been trying to figure out what's happening this whole time. Is it the talking cube? Then it worked. Then it worked. Then it worked. We can't understand you now. Thank God. I've been, or thank the Magus. I've been trying to... trying to make heads and tails of this. Those guys, they captured me and they were talking about a quest that they were on. I don't know how it involves me though. How are you this? That is my first question as well. Because when I met you, you were not this. You've met me before? We met on the road to the magus's... Magus. Magus. Hall. We met on the road. You looked like a knight. You had your weapon, you had your armor, you had your sword, you had your dagger. You said you were a knight. You said you were on your way to meet the Magus. We took a, we met on the road, we took. That's right, you saved me that morning. You were almost cat food. Cat fish food. Cat fish food. Fish food? Cat fish food. Thank you again for that, but in that morning the only thing that really resonated with was this dagger. Like, I feel like I was drawn to it. ⁓ So I've been holding it close since, but... But you don't remember... I don't know who you are, but thank you for carrying me. I'm Fawn. Sully. Harp. You guys have been tremendous. Thank you for saving me on that road again. Well, you're welcome. The Magus knows who you are, I'm assuming, because you're here. And I guess you got a letter from the Magus, like we did. So maybe we'll find out who you are together? That sounds cheesy. I'm sorry for saying that. That was weird. I thought it was very inspirational. Thanks. I'd need a drink. There will be ⁓ barley wine served at the Lord's Manor. Delicious. I can't wait. It's not. If it's anything like the tea, I'm gonna have a rough night. I will drink it though Anything stronger We can ask I can give you something stronger just a frog Can't help it I am who I am really Seen. Seen. Seen. We can hear you now. Yay! It's only been like two weeks of walking. So yeah, let's call it here for now. This was really fun. Well, we got to do the debrief. ⁓ let's do the debrief. ⁓ yeah. Boom. OK. Cannot end our session without a debrief. Not me getting distracted by doodles. Make some space for casual conversation and reflection on the story we have created together We can share a moment you enjoyed an appreciation of another player something you found challenging or difficult or an emotion or memory the game evoked Who wants to start? You throwing in that you are in fact not a knight in that you were on a heist Sick. Wild choice. Loved it. Insane I'm like, it's like when you watch TV shows and the first three episodes are one, or the first two episodes are one thing and then the third episode completely changes the trajectory of the story. Yep. That's what that was. Yeah. Beautifully done. Thank you so much. Yeah. Yeah. I was. That was wonderful. I was, that's why I actually really, ⁓ What inspired that was this token when I picked it up. It's the sword and then on the other side, it's the broken sword. So then I was like, ⁓ like, like seeing the night and being like, okay, there's like something to be like flipped there. Yeah, totally. So that was, that was all kind of like, knew, I knew coming in that it would be fun to be an animal. Yeah. And just like trying to form that. ⁓ But then the greater story of it all, ⁓ kind of like coming together with the pieces and like being inspired by what you guys are putting down. And then. I felt like we had been... very much like on a linear path. So I like, something should divert here. Some excitement should. We gotta shake it up. Shake it up a little bit. Because I think it could be easy to like just like try and like check the boxes. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. I loved how you tied in the story of needing to find an egg and kind of giving us like an actual goal in our journey. And also like a little bit of hope too that like maybe magic isn't going to be dying forever. We have like something we can do to kind of bring it back. I thought that was really cool. I like the idea of mixing the mythology of a phoenix with the visuals of a harpy and dying magic. was very beautiful. love that. I also love all your choices as a character. The way you put them together with their bow, arrow, I could see this being a true party for me, which has been awesome. just the duality of someone that's super uppity and then someone that's just wall. The strong choice to immediately just like, I'm going to punch this person worth like threatened to out of nowhere I'm just gonna juke on this guy real quick and just like I just met you yeah like what do you what do you what are you doing I play very amicable characters where I'm always trying to be like let's talk it out let's you know let's not fight so I thought it'd be really fun to play someone who's just a hundred all the time just ready to fucking throw down let's no let's fight let's actually we're fighting right now I don't know if you know this but we're actually fighting. I feel like as like a character too like you have your long-range weapon but then like your close quarter weapon is like brass knuckles. absolutely my body is a weapon yeah this tall. My body is a weapon. I loved how your character was also like very, like you have like a lot of backstory that I think would have been fun to like really explore and work through and I think that's really cool and I love how you were a frog. Yeah, strong choice. Strong choice with Right out the gate. And the way that you like revealed it was really cool too and like very cinematic and I really liked that. Yeah, I have no clue how it's gonna like unfold either so that's gonna be fun to How exciting. Right? I love that. Yeah, this was great. The world building was great. The visuals were wonderful. ⁓ I do think that it's a good party dynamic with like mischievous and mysterious versus chaotic and upfront versus trauma. Yeah, the trauma. Like I don't want to slide, I don't want to be too much of a downer, but I feel like that's a great dynamic. It's a good dynamic. It is, because you need, you can't be all chaos. You can't be all brooding. Yeah, I want my character to be the stark reminder that magic is dying. Yes. And that there are consequences. I really appreciate too, like how you brought the Magus into like our visual minds because like that character for me is also one of the hardest characters to like build. Because they are kind of like, well, they have power. They obviously have, deeper meanings, but then it's just like, what does that character look like? Is it just like a normal person? Like, what does that mean? Like, what does that look like? And you really good job of that. Can I tell you the other idea I had before that? It's when the tokens hadn't quite been assigned yet. I was actually looking at the sword one ⁓ for the Magus. ⁓ And it was the idea of them being a magical construct. Like, think like... eight foot tall, slowly rusting away. Okay, so take General Grievous, right? But make him not horrible and the Magus. And that was the idea. And was going to try to incorporate more like arcano-mechanical vibes throughout the thing. But that was my first thought. Underrepresented fantasy character. Yeah. take one of my favorite things to do in any fantasy story is take whatever the trope is and flip it because it makes it so much better. Like it's... Dynamic. Like I'm talking There's a there's a creative exercise I like where whenever you're telling a story you think of five things and then you use none of those and you use whatever the sixth thing is the five things are the easy things those are the ones everyone thinks of first Those are the tropes that are tropes for a reason everyone thinks of them like frogs like frogs except for I never would have thought And then yeah, the sixth thing is the thing that you have to really push for that you have to come up with something new Okay, Mr. Writing Degree. I think we all did such a good job. It was so much fun. ⁓ I loved playing with you both. Yeah, same. This was amazing and we got a finish up this one soon. Yep. ⁓ Because I'm hyped. I also need to know where this is going. So that is a really good place to end our first session. So thank you guys both for playing with me. ⁓ If you would like to see more of this, let me know. If you would like to get a copy of Fall of Magic for yourself, we do have it available on our website. The link will be in the description box below. Thank you for hanging out with us today and we will see you in the next one. All right, bye. Alright my friends, we are in for such a fun time. Thank you for watching episode 1 of Fall of Magic and I do hope you'll stick around to watch the next episodes too. If you would like to get a copy of Fall of Magic for yourself, which I highly recommend because it is an amazing beautiful game, you can do so through our website, heartofthedirnacorn.com. You can also follow us on social media, we are Heart of the Dirnacorn or Dirnacorn on most platforms. Thanks again for hanging out with us today and we will see you next time.