Latest / Theater of the Mindset / Ep. 20 - "The Witch of Estherborne" - Faith & Fortune

Transcript

Ep. 20 - "The Witch of Estherborne" - Faith & Fortune · Theater of the Mindset

• 0:00
  Shelby (Sahra): Theater of the Mindset Theater of Mindset
• 0:04
  Justin (GM): Theater Theater Theater of the Mindset Last
• 0:08
  Nick (Herry): week on Faith and Fortune, Isarn Halvard and the custodian Sanguis attacked the Hill Of Faith and set fire to Rysinium City. Sara faced off with Imogen and well ended their relationship. Harry's platoon gave back up to Asher while Harry kept him from flaring out. And Lucan then went super saiyan against Isarn and the cult bringing the magically inert life to an end. After that, Lucan went on to use his final critical success to rally the Church of Ba'az to accept change as its new tenant.
• 0:43
  We'll pick up in the aftermath.
• 0:47
  Justin (GM): Following the events of the Battle of the Hill of Faith, Venethar and its leaders are put in a tough position. Swift action is in their favor as they know many members of the Custodia Sangwis were killed or captured in the previous evening. However, knowing that not everyone can be trusted, only a small group of individuals are brought in to plan for the next stage. Harry, Lucan, and Sara have informed Asher and the heads of state present of Tenali's Gate, which has been identified as the next target. The next few hours are spent planning the best way to execute an attack on Tanali's Cape directly.
• 1:39
  Waiting further only allows the remaining unknown plants of the Custodia Sanguis to brew, ferment, and progress. With that being said, our heroes are badly injured, and their armor is damaged, and they are at wits end. As much time as can be spent away from these important meetings, all of that time is spent preparing and resting for the next day when the attack on Tenali's Gate will happen. Asher stands in front of a large map on which countless pieces and flags and marks have been made outlining the plan of attack. So in brief, we will use Venethar's airships to quickly move towards Tonale's Gate.
• 2:34
  We've got a small group of two platoons, a number of Soul Guard, a squad of Arcanus, and the identified extraction team on these airships. You will drop into Tonale's Gate and priority number one is establishing a foothold. This foothold will be centered on a teleportation circle. This will allow the larger groups to immediately appear within Tenali's gates. Things that we're already know we're concerned about.
• 3:05
  We don't fully know the number of people we can expect at Tenali's Gate. We imagine last night seemed to be a large portion of their forces, but we cannot assume their best and brightest were present. The second thing we cannot assume, we do not know of the total number of these inert individuals. As a reminder, magic does not work on inert individuals. That's why we're sending these platoons, identify inerts, and mark them for platoons to take out.
• 3:35
  They cannot be healed, so any damage to them is more significant than to others. The other things we don't know are where their captured individuals are. There are two extraction teams. The first extraction team is a group of soul guard who will be focused on pulling out the civilians, the children, and the Olden infirm. The second extraction team comprised of Sara, Lucan, Harry, one member of the Soul Guard, and Asher himself that will be focused on pulling out one individual that is the real incarnate king of Venethar.
• 4:14
  You are to disregard other potential extraction targets and exclusively go after the incarnate king of Venethar. There is an additional objective. Any information you can pull about how they're doing what they're doing is merely a bonus and should not become a distraction. If you find things, take them. Do not go out of your way to seek them.
• 4:43
  One individual, he pulls up a picture. It is the woman that you saw the previous evening, Sara, and have described to the group. They've identified this individual as doctor Louise Rausch. We believe she is one of the individuals in charge of the Cusodia Sanguis based on the actions we saw her participating in while in the Hill Of Faith. What her motives are, what skills she brings to the table are unknown, but identifying her and eliminating her early will cut the head off the snake.
• 5:15
  From here, we have three hours before we leave. Please take this time to ready yourselves or clean up any additional things you need to do before we go. Extractions in three hours.
• 5:27
  Nick (Herry): Great. Okay. What a mess. Lucan, how are you feeling?
• 5:33
  Steve (Luken): I'm seeing if I can use Mending Touch on myself. That's how I'm feeling.
• 5:40
  Shelby (Sahra): I would like to commune, if I could, with Ominette.
• 5:50
  Justin (GM): Yeah. I think that's definitely an option. Cool. You go out to what's known as the Kingswood, which is next to it's like a essentially, like a very small central park that is next to the infinite hall of the incarnate king. Tall tall trees, all of which are kingswood trees.
• 6:12
  Underneath each kingswood tree is buried the body of a previous incarnate king. And these trees feed on that latent energy inside of that body. The wood is extremely hard. It is common for people to be in here, a la Central Park, but given the events of the past week with a riot and attack, people are kinda staying to themselves right now. So you've got a lot of this place to yourself.
• 6:40
  And as you walk into the middle of the Kingswood, feel like this might be the only time that you are fully surrounded by nature while within Residium City.
• 6:51
  Shelby (Sahra): Sara finds some shaded cover, and she sits on the ground with her legs crossed, and she forms a little forms a circle in the dirt with various pebbles and stones, and she closes her eyes and takes a few deep breaths and, channels in and asks. Aminette?
• 7:22
  Amonette: I'm here.
• 7:25
  Shelby (Sahra): Well done last night. Ahmed
• 7:28
  Justin (GM): does not respond, but you feel a movement of content, like a feeling of being full.
• 7:40
  Shelby (Sahra): I think we work well together. I think we're a good team.
• 7:44
  Amonette: You are more capable than you give yourself credit for.
• 7:52
  Shelby (Sahra): Aminette, I have a question. Know about know about the child that my mother tried to save, and I know about about your original deal deal deal
• 8:09
  Justin (GM): deal You feel tension.
• 8:17
  Shelby (Sahra): I know that I need to carry out this mission of my moms, but I don't know what that's gonna look like. And I I wanna know if and when we find this true incarnate king. Anything you can tell me about how to what a possible end could be to this scenario, whether it's saving her or something else.
• 8:49
  Justin (GM): Give me a presence role. You need to beat an 18.
• 8:55
  Shelby (Sahra): I Crit.
• 8:56
  Justin (GM): Your roles. Your roles are so good. You don't feed me any fear ever, ever, Ever. Ever. Ever.
• 9:04
  Steve (Luken): It's okay. I give you plenty of fear.
• 9:07
  Justin (GM): Oh my god.
• 9:10
  Nick (Herry): That rules. Fuck you, kid.
• 9:13
  Justin (GM): And, Aminat wept. The woods around you, these tall tall trees shift their branches at their heights, move and sway to a sudden wind. And even down here on the ground, seventy, eighty feet below the tops of these trees, you feel a hot desert wind. Amenet takes a moment to respond and says,
• 9:50
  Amonette: the spell holds strong. Call upon it as is your right, and I will answer.
• 10:04
  Shelby (Sahra): Ahmed and I think through each other, we can find our own freedoms.
• 10:08
  Amonette: Are you offering me greater freedom? Temptation. Sorrow man as blood. Are becoming a great witch.
• 10:29
  Justin (GM): And with that, Ominette's presence departs. Give me a instinct
• 10:41
  Amonette: roll.
• 10:51
  Shelby (Sahra): 22.
• 10:52
  Justin (GM): The weight of the primal magic that you have been casting pretty continuously over the last few hours dawns on you. You have helped summon a a great smoke spirit. You have pulled a bat out of hell, You as it have fought against capable arcanists and cultists, and all of that primal magic should be taking its toll on you. But as Aminet parts and says that you are becoming a great witch, you realize almost like a runner who has trained for a marathon, you realize that leading up to last night, you have been growing and transforming your primal magic muscles as it were, and you feel powerful right now. You, Sara of five years ago, doing these things would feel exhausted today.
• 12:09
  It might be bedridden for a week coming out of those that powerful of spells. But going into maybe what might be the most important day of your life, you feel more powerful than ever. I am making was making you roll to see if you were feeling fatigue or a level of anxiety, but you were feeling strong. And maybe not refreshed, you are mentally fatigued, but your spirit is strong and spirit is the most important component in primal magic.
• 12:51
  Nick (Herry): Harry walks outside looking for Sara and kind of sees stays out until he sees her, like, kind of stand up and, like, gather her things. And then just walks up and says, were you ever around when my dad told the story of the Witch of Estherborne?
• 13:09
  Shelby (Sahra): No.
• 13:11
  Nick (Herry): Somewhere out West, deep in a forest, buried between oaks and black walnuts is a grove of apple trees. A gnarled orchard long forgotten with morel mushrooms popping up every spring. Just beyond these abandoned apples stands a cottage. I've heard it described as cobblestone house, a log cabin, a quonset hut, you can pick the imagery you like, it doesn't seem very important. But at one time, a lovely little family tended the orchard.
• 13:35
  They planted cabbages and potatoes and grew winter squash to store to get through the hard months. The region gets so much snow that it actually buries a well kept apple tree, which sounds much worse than it is because the snow actually insulates the tree against the much colder temperatures in the air. And this little family was known all around the Western Vin Thar for the quality of their cider apples. So what most people don't realize is that the quality of the cider depends on the types of apples. You need multiple types.
• 14:00
  You want some sharps, some sweets, some bitters to balance everything out. Every season they press tons and tons of these apples and move them into barrels and tanks in their barn. That cold weather would lead to a slow fermentation and it's the cleanest cider you ever had. After a few generations of these cider makers living this land and tending this orchard, twins were born, a boy and a girl. Twins were exceedingly rare in the nearby village and folks liked to talk.
• 14:26
  As the twins grew up, they were teased, bullied, something fierce, but the nice thing about being born at the same time is that there's always an ally. Well, time went on and on and the twins grew older and older and eventually the first war of steel began and the old soldiers needed more soldiers to get killed so the new ones would often be easier to be killed than the old ones. So after a while, the old soldiers finally made their way to the orchard looking for more young soldiers. They found one crushing apples in a barn. Just barely 15 years old,
• 14:54
  Steve (Luken): they took the boy.
• 14:57
  Nick (Herry): Well, as upset as the family was, his twin sister was inconsolable. She waited for him to come home, he never did. An army that sends old soldiers to look for young soldiers in the deep woods is an army in the process of losing a war, and lose a war they did. The twin left behind waited for years for their pair to walk back home through the orchard. She prayed to Irasinda for the light and the motherhood and some mercy.
• 15:21
  She prayed to Oda at the hearth. She prayed to Baaz for some sign of good fortune for her adventuring brother and she heard nothing. She prayed and she prayed, she burned offering, still no signs, no message, no brother. Years passed, the girl becomes a woman but never a bride, never a mother. A spoke in her wheel had broken and there is a God of spokes.
• 15:44
  Eventually, the woman's father passed and that night when the Wainwright passed to collect her father's soul, the woman waited at the road seeking hope from a God she knew in her heart would offer her none. She implored him to reunite her with her brother to bring him back to her. But the wagon on it was clear, the wagon only moves in one direction and they do not return cargo. But the woman didn't cry. She had no more tears, only pain.
• 16:12
  The woman's hope reuniting with her brother is now replaced with rage and something moved between the spirits and the earth trading raw power for her heartache and loss. The Wainwright made his exit on the road as quickly as his wagon could take him. She would spend the rest of her life getting her revenge on the nation that took her brother. Her mycelium spread poisonous mushrooms in the most inconspicuous of places, the orchards. She worked her primal revenge for years until she heard the Wainwright's wheel turning again on the road on another cool spring evening.
• 16:50
  Sara, this is the story we have of primal magic and of witches. I need you to tell a better story. I'm going to relieve all your stress and you can either clear a hit point or gain a hope with inspiring words. After that, after I meet with Sara, I head in back into like the meeting space as we get prepared.
• 17:10
  Justin (GM): You see Beanie waiting on a bench outside of the room where you were expected to be. Her arm is in a sling and Hey.
• 17:20
  Nick (Herry): What's this? Oh. What happened?
• 17:23
  Justin (GM): What do you Last night, there was an attack on the Hill Of Faith.
• 17:26
  Nick (Herry): Yep. Yeah. What were you Why were you at the What? What? Well Oh, you're referencing Yes.
• 17:33
  The sling. Oh. I The new
• 17:35
  Justin (GM): Yeah. I thought you were talking about what happened, like, the the big event of the evening. Yeah. I didn't know how informed you were. Pretty informed.
• 17:42
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. Yeah. So
• 17:45
  Justin (GM): well
• 17:48
  Nick (Herry): Just what happened to your arm?
• 17:49
  Justin (GM): Well, Jack and I went into the when we saw the commotion, we went to to do something about it. I'm I'm a trained arcanist, I will remind you, senator French. And so Are there
• 18:01
  Nick (Herry): a lot of runes around to take care of something?
• 18:04
  Justin (GM): Runevancy, she I think in this moment, looks at, like, maybe the most offended you have ever That's seen funny. Her. A Runevancy, I stabilized the bridges. Mind you, did you see any bridges on fire?
• 18:19
  Nick (Herry): I I saw I mean, I just saw fire. Accident. Fair enough.
• 18:21
  Justin (GM): Mister Pinch.
• 18:22
  Nick (Herry): I love it. Okay. Okay. But how so say why the sling then? Well,
• 18:28
  Justin (GM): This is embarrassing.
• 18:30
  Nick (Herry): All the better. On my way home, I tripped. And Jack didn't catch you?
• 18:37
  Justin (GM): Jack did not catch me.
• 18:39
  Nick (Herry): No. I'll to talk to him.
• 18:41
  Justin (GM): And I fell and just it my shoulders just sore. It's fine. I did this myself. It will be fine. Okay.
• 18:50
  I'm glad you're okay. I'm I'm more than okay. I'm more than okay.
• 18:53
  Nick (Herry): I'm thankful that you ran into help, but I'm more glad that you're okay.
• 18:57
  Justin (GM): I have some important news.
• 19:00
  Nick (Herry): Oh, okay.
• 19:01
  Justin (GM): It seems as though things are progressing quickly. I'm not sure if you've heard, but Baaz has adopted a new domain.
• 19:09
  Nick (Herry): Yes, I have. Yep. Our friend happens to be involved in
• 19:12
  Justin (GM): Okay. Yep. I'm kind of which friend?
• 19:16
  Nick (Herry): Really? How many friends of Baaz do we have?
• 19:21
  Justin (GM): How many friends of Baaz do we have that seem to be the God impacting kind?
• 19:25
  Nick (Herry): Stranger things have happened. Truly. Yeah. I I
• 19:29
  Steve (Luken): know I'm not in the scene. I'm a prelate. The whole time.
• 19:35
  Justin (GM): She says, the impact of a god adopting a domain has side effects. And the I don't know if you've noticed, but I also changed my hair.
• 19:48
  Nick (Herry): Yes. It was good. That was the sling distracted me, but that was my next I appreciate talking Yes. Other things. I didn't have a chance to bring up the hair.
• 19:56
  Justin (GM): Yes. Well, adopting change, people are currently filled with extra energy to move forward and adopt change as it were. And as a result, the vote for the bill of the devolution of the Council of Faith is progressing forward immediately. Oh, no. Okay.
• 20:19
  There's there's going to be a vote. When? By the end of the day today.
• 20:23
  Nick (Herry): Jesus Christ. We have I'm We have to go to We have to go to Denali. We've got other Like, what? Senator
• 20:33
  Justin (GM): Pinch. What? We You are needed here.
• 20:37
  Nick (Herry): Okay. Let me talk let me talk to the king. Let me talk to everybody, see what's going on. Okay. Alright.
• 20:45
  You head back to the office. On your way, you can gather the the platoon. Okay. Have all of them meet back at the senate.
• 20:51
  Justin (GM): Okay. I can do that. I'll be there shortly. Okay. You see that she and Jack walk off.
• 20:56
  Okay.
• 20:56
  Nick (Herry): See you later, Jack.
• 20:58
  Justin (GM): Oh, yeah.
• 21:01
  Nick (Herry): Harry heads back in and looks for Lucan. Where's Lucan?
• 21:07
  Steve (Luken): Lucan is in the meeting room sitting off by himself. He still looks physically pretty wounded. Yeah. His his fur is back to the normal color. He looks like himself.
• 21:24
  The physical manifestation of entering the, you know, the hand of change phase has faded at this point. But there are still lingering wounds from getting punched repeatedly by Isarn and he is tending to those wounds on his own right now.
• 21:48
  Nick (Herry): Harry walks up and with great labor drags a chair loudly across from where Lucan is sitting.
• 21:57
  Justin (GM): Someone pokes their head and just sees oh, okay. Weird. Yeah.
• 22:02
  Steve (Luken): Harry, do you need help?
• 22:03
  Nick (Herry): No. I got I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it.
• 22:07
  I I I came looking for you. Friend, I'm coming for the council. I might actually be coming for the gods as well technically, we'll see. I I I don't expect you to defend me or stand by my side through that. You've got you seem to have a lot to explore with boss.
• 22:24
  I I only would mess up your path through that but my hope is to move our folks away, our people away from using divine power as our nation's muscle. We abuse it. I want our innate power to be used to help each other and defend ourselves against anyone who would hold a knife to our throat and that very well might be the knife of the divine. I say all this to say, you my friend are far far more than just a holy bureaucrat now. After last night, you were a symbol of the good in us to call bullshit on the structures of faith when they cause harm.
• 22:59
  You proved to us that the divine dance requires both the people and the gods. We are needed just as badly as they are. You have so much more to accomplish and I can't wait to watch. And then he pats him on the shoulder, you can clear two stress, a third and then as well, either another stress, a hit point or gain a hope.
• 23:19
  Steve (Luken): I am choosing to clear a hit point. Great. Lucan has been maintaining eye contact as as Harry's been talking to him. Considers for a moment, which is frankly unlike Lucan to consider anything for a moment. Harry, so much of what you said is correct and as it pertains to Baaz and the Council of Faith, to the extent I have any say in it, I've now seen what happens when the borderline unchecked power of any one church and collectively the council of faith is seized.
• 23:59
  The system works great if everybody is acting in good faith, but all it takes is a few slip ups. Baz has so much internal work to do as we chart this new path forward. When it comes to the council of faith, I have no vested interest in seeing it continue in its current form. Be careful, though. We've both read the proposed devolution.
• 24:32
  As it's currently written, yeah, it takes some power away from the council of faith from the churches. It also basically lets them do whatever they want internally and we you were there last night. You see what happens Yeah. When internal doing whatever you want is is baked into the process.
• 24:51
  Nick (Herry): Well, I on that, I did just find out that I probably won't be joining you on your on the mission today because the vote's getting moved forward fast and I plan on doing as much as I can possibly do to absolutely take Daenerys out of the knees. That'll be that'll be my job today.
• 25:10
  Steve (Luken): I'm Are serious, Harry?
• 25:11
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. So you guys you guys stay alive on your end, I'll stay alive on my end.
• 25:15
  Steve (Luken): Okay.
• 25:15
  Nick (Herry): Alright.
• 25:16
  Steve (Luken): One last thing.
• 25:17
  Shelby (Sahra): Yeah.
• 25:18
  Steve (Luken): Lucan steps in to embrace Harry, and in so doing, slips from his pocket the flower of Venethar game piece from his encounter with Baaz. In the embrace, he whispers to Harry, please again, don't forget that there are some gods out there who are trying to do good. Just keep that in mind, please.
• 25:54
  Nick (Herry): I will. I will. Alright. Good luck. I'll see you when you get back.
• 25:58
  You too. You wanna spend the fear you don't have? I can still progress. Still progress. I don't need an I'm like in my thing right now and I'm just I'm feeling I'm feeling froggy.
• 26:19
  Steve (Luken): This is what happens when there's a scene that's mostly the player characters. Yeah. We we tend to get in a space if we don't need the chief anymore.
• 26:24
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. Harry goes off to find Dasher.
• 26:31
  Justin (GM): Inside the infinite hall of the incarnate king, there is a hallway and a room. This massive hallway has 20 foot tall stained glass windows depicting each of the incarnations that the king has undergone. Oren Theophilus Zimmery, an elderly elven man who became the avatar of the god of Le'ten, chronicling out immense tomes of knowledge, raising Venethar up as a center for technology and progress. You see Emmet Theophilus Zimri, who forged the Tower Of Numenison in which the ritual of harmonization is conducted, allowing him to sort order all of his life's memories and prevent madness. You see Yer Theophilus Zimri in one of her hands, a sword dripping in blood, and in the other hand, the scales of justice, documenting the time when she eliminated corruption from the upper echelons of Venethar.
• 27:56
  Each of these depictions are strength, are wisdom, and all depict the same soul. Their eyes remain the same as their skin, their ancestry, their shapes change. The eyes remain the same throughout all of these images. Walking down this hallway, you cannot escape the feeling of someone who is more powerful, who has seen more, who knows more, who has lived more than you could ever comprehend. His soul is 1,300 years old.
• 28:35
  At the end of this hall is a small door, unremarkable, unnoticeable if you don't know what you're looking for, and this is where Harry finds himself. On the other side of the store is the king's private chambers. Upon opening it, you see Asher standing in front of an easel, his fingers dark with charcoal as he creates. His face is focused. He looks determined.
• 29:14
  He does not notice you enter.
• 29:17
  Nick (Herry): Harry does just a polite knock. My lord,
• 29:21
  Steve (Luken): do you have
• 29:21
  Nick (Herry): a moment? Harry.
• 29:23
  Justin (GM): Hello. Yes. He sets down the charcoal that he is working with, rubs his hands on an apron that he he's wearing covering his royal vestments. Is something wrong?
• 29:35
  Nick (Herry): No. Nothing's wrong. Well, you and I both know that's not true as Harry closes the door behind him.
• 29:42
  Justin (GM): He kind of looks at his work that has turned away from you at the moment, and kind of gestures to a table, sitting table. Please, sit. I something that I've done to kind of help me focus is
• 29:56
  Nick (Herry): Great. How are you feeling? That
• 29:59
  Justin (GM): is a complicated question.
• 30:02
  Nick (Herry): How how have how have you progressed since the last last night at the end of a big fight where you and I had a long conversation in front of a lot of people?
• 30:13
  Justin (GM): I know you didn't spend as much time as I did at Venator University, but a significant amount of my classes were spent on mindset. Before a big mission like this, I don't feel anything. I've gotta be ready. Okay. This is maybe the most important thing I'll do.
• 30:38
  Nick (Herry): Okay. And what is that?
• 30:43
  Justin (GM): I am the king of Venethar, but I am not the person everyone thinks I am.
• 30:53
  Nick (Herry): No, you're not.
• 30:56
  Justin (GM): And I don't understand it and I don't Harry, I wanna know who I am.
• 31:03
  Nick (Herry): Boy, don't we all. I I have no answers for you on that. I do have a rebuttal to one thing you said, that you have the most important thing you have to do. I think you have a lot more most important things to have to do. You're not you're younger than I am.
• 31:20
  I have a lot more most important things that I have to do. So I need you to do what you have to do today and know that that's the most important thing you have to do next. Yesterday, you said you didn't wanna be king.
• 31:32
  Justin (GM): You you yelled it.
• 31:33
  Nick (Herry): You you said it was a shame.
• 31:35
  Justin (GM): I and I say fine. I spoke loudly.
• 31:39
  Nick (Herry): I think that's fine. If that's what if that's what you want, that's fine. It seems to me though that Aster Theophilus Zimri has been the king of Venethar since I was a child and two things have been true in that time. He hasn't been some incarnated person that he was supposed to be. But what was also true is he was the everyman king, a fine king, one of our best.
• 32:08
  So I'm not sure what all this stained glass matters. What's that supposed to be about? What's that supposed to do? Some person that's incredibly powerful generations ago, thousand years ago, decided that because they're powerful, they get to be in charge. They get to write the laws.
• 32:26
  If you don't want a crown, become a keeper. Spend the rest of your life with me working to make damn sure no one can hold us hostage again. Keep the memories, reinstate the line of Zimmer if you want to, I don't care. The memories need to speak to power. They don't need to hold it.
• 32:42
  Expand the senate. 300 people with tighter laws will be much harder to manipulate. Bring the council to advise and support. Do whatever you think is right with the future. But right now, you are the king.
• 32:53
  You are our king, and I'm so proud of the king you are. And I also want to relieve two stress, clear another stress hit point, or give Astra hope as my last sort of bard bullshit of the morning.
• 33:07
  Justin (GM): Harry, I've read The Divine Codex a 100 times. I I Asher Theophilus Zimmeri, for what all that's worth. Asher, maybe just Asher. Harry's drugs. Have read The Divine Codex a 100 times.
• 33:27
  I remember, for what that's worth, writing it. The immortal soul, the the being that is reincarnated is prophesied to be a thorn in the side of the nothing, the great end of all of existence, greater than any custodian sanguis, any murderer, any mass casualty event, then nothing is the end of everything. That soul will lead the people of Venethar and be a thorn in the side of the nothing. Is what I can accomplish worth sacrificing that? Is what the next keeper of Ennathar worth sacrificing
• 34:21
  Nick (Herry): that for? How often do prophecies come exactly true? And how often are we accurate with how I'm debate not going
• 34:29
  Justin (GM): the nuances of prophecy with you because there doesn't have to be a nuance if if they are in charge.
• 34:35
  Nick (Herry): You are guessing and hoping that you get a prophecy right and are gonna make a decision based on your guesses and hopes that you can guess what is needed for Venethar sometime between now and a million years from now. When I can look, you can look, we can look at what's happening, way our country has been held hostage, the way you have been held hostage and manipulated, the way the Council of Faith has and the Senate has, and we can make changes right now today to affect that versus someone said a thing that's gonna happen someday, so we better not change anything too much. We better keep this line in place just in case that thing happens sometime soon. I can solve problems right now. I can't solve problems in two hundred years.
• 35:26
  I can't solve problems in five hundred years. I know theoretically some soul can, but they can do it. You are a powerful motherfucker and odds are good so is this reincarnated person. They're gonna do what they can do regardless of whether there's a crown on their head, whether they're born somewhere near the earth tribes, whether they're born anywhere in this country, they can do whatever the hell they want. I I've seen it.
• 35:49
  I've seen you move. So I'm not convinced. This is my I can't convince you to do anything but this is where I'm at. All I know is we can change things that we can change. You're the king.
• 36:07
  I'm your fun uncle and a fairly low ranking senator.
• 36:10
  Justin (GM): And pretty unfun right now.
• 36:12
  Nick (Herry): Oh, come on. In
• 36:15
  Justin (GM): this moment, my whole life, I've been two people. I have been Asher, who is trying his hardest to be kind, to lead with integrity, and to make up for perceived past mistakes. But I am also, at least in some capacity, the king and have to put the needs, the priorities of the kingdom ahead of my own. As Asher, I cannot say thank you enough, Harry, for everything you've done to make me who I am today. From words of advice to being an example of what it means to be a great politician to being my beer guy.
• 37:25
  Thank you. And as your king, you have given me a lot to consider.
• 37:39
  Nick (Herry): Harry begins to walk out, hands on the door, and then turns around and repeats what he told Asher twenty some years ago outside a cave in Lake Borland. Decisions are only going to get harder from here on out, but they're yours to make. Go ahead and make them. You've
• 38:21
  Joel (End Credits): been listening to Faith and Fortune by Theater of the Mindset. Our actual players this season are Steve Edinger, Shelby Myers, Nick Traeger, and your kind and generous GM, Justin Girardeau. Audio engineering, post production, and scoring is done by Nick Traeger at Studio 3607. If you're enjoying the show, you can help us grow with no capital investment by sharing it with a friend, following us on Instagram and Reddit, writing us a review on your favorite pod catcher, or you can ship in for coffee at our Patreon. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week on Theater of the Mindset.
• 38:53
  Set.