Latest / Theater of the Mindset / Ep. 22 - "Reclamation Pt. II" - Faith & Fortune

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Ep. 22 - "Reclamation Pt. II" - Faith & Fortune · Theater of the Mindset

• 0:00
  Shelby (Sahra): Theater of the Mindset. Theater of Theater of Last
• 0:07
  Nick (Herry): week on Faith and Fortune, the raid on the Custodia Sanguis headquarters began at Tenali's Gate. Sara and Lucan made their way deep underground and found themselves face to face with a tormented incarnate king of Venethar. Harry prepped a new bill set to gut the power from the Council of Faith with the first senator and came face to face with his brother-in-law Bastian in Senator Constantine's office. Our old friends now try to cut off the many heads of the custodian sanguis in Rhysinium City and Tenali's Gate in our story's finale. We pick up right there.
• 0:49
  Justin (GM): You see the person on the other side is approaching the barrier to take down the next one between the two of you leaving only one left if they succeed. What are you going to do? The alarm is blaring. You see the cracks in the ceiling. Even if you you have double dangers at this point, you have the arcane barrier behind you as well as just the structural integrity of this hallway.
• 1:19
  You went down several flights of stairs. I don't know where you all stand in claustrophobia, but if this comes down on you, there will not be a rescue mission.
• 1:30
  Steve (Luken): Sara, what do you wanna do here?
• 1:32
  Shelby (Sahra): Sara is going to look at this other person and say, my name is Sara Manisblood, and I'm here to save you.
• 1:47
  Justin (GM): I'm gonna spend a fear. I'm going to roll with advantage on this. They have a plus eight to this attack. They're going to try and bring down the first barrier. If they succeed by more than five, you will not be caught in crossfire.
• 2:07
  So they need a 20 sorry, they need a 21 to not catch you in the crossfire with this. A 16 will succeed, a 21 will prevent you all from being caught. I have advantage and plus eight. Nine is my highest, plus eight is only 17. They barely break through the barrier itself.
• 2:34
  You all get caught in the crossfire. That's 17 damage.
• 2:44
  Shelby (Sahra): Guys, I think Sara just died.
• 2:49
  Justin (GM): You have no armor? I
• 2:51
  Shelby (Sahra): have no armor.
• 2:52
  Justin (GM): And you didn't summon your bugs?
• 2:53
  Shelby (Sahra): I didn't summon my bugs.
• 2:55
  Justin (GM): The shockwave blows through the hallway, shattering the barrier in front of the true incarnate king, this woman at the other end of the hallway. You take 17 damage. If this brings you down, you have three options. A Blaze of Glory, you get to do one action and you automatically critically succeed and then you die. You avoid death and face consequences.
• 3:33
  You will go unconscious and the situation will get worse. You can't be attacked, you must remain unconscious. Oh, someone can heal you and bring you up. After you fall unconscious, will roll a hope die if the value equals your character's level or less you gain a scar, but you will remain alive and the scars will be severe. Or you can risk it all.
• 4:02
  You can roll the duality dice if the hope is higher than the fear. You clear an amount of hit points or stress equal to the value of the hope die. If the fear is higher, you die. Sara, what will you choose?
• 4:17
  Shelby (Sahra): I am going to choose to avoid death. So Sara goes unconscious.
• 4:23
  Justin (GM): Go ahead and permanently mark off a hope dice.
• 4:25
  Steve (Luken): Okay.
• 4:26
  Justin (GM): A hope slot rather. You can now have a maximum of five.
• 4:30
  Shelby (Sahra): Okay.
• 4:31
  Justin (GM): And roll your hope dice. If it is just your hope dice. Just my hope. If it is a four or lower, you will get a scar.
• 4:39
  Shelby (Sahra): Gods protect me. Okay. Got an 11.
• 4:46
  Justin (GM): The shockwave goes down the hallway. Lucan, you pull up your wings to do as much as you can to soften the blow. Sara, the sound that comes from the direction you know Sara to be in is sickening. You hear a squelch and a thud. When you lower your wings, Sara is on the ground next to you.
• 5:11
  Her head has cracked on this. Sara.
• 5:14
  Steve (Luken): Sara. Sara.
• 5:16
  Justin (GM): She is unresponsive. I sprint over.
• 5:21
  Steve (Luken): It's like the Incarnate King isn't even there. I sprint over. How much time do I have? Seconds? Minutes?
• 5:28
  Justin (GM): You have It's hard to tell how much time. If you roll poorly on what it is you're going to do, it means you have less time. We'll let the dice decide how much time you have.
• 5:43
  Steve (Luken): Okay. I am either, if I don't have time, I'm going to be using life support to use three hope to bring one hitch one hit point back. If I do have time, I'm going to use mending touch, which is two hope. And if I reveal something about myself during the healing, two hit points.
• 6:02
  Justin (GM): Let's go ahead and say, this is just a, we'll call a luck roll as it were. You're just rolling two dice. If it's fear higher, if you don't have a ton of time, if hope is higher, you have enough time to cast a magic spell.
• 6:18
  Steve (Luken): Fear is much higher.
• 6:19
  Justin (GM): You do not have much time. You are spooked from this attack.
• 6:24
  Steve (Luken): I rely back on, you know, the basic adventurers first aid training. What's the quickest way I can stabilize somebody? And I'm going to spend three hope on life support, which clears a hit point on an ally, and that is going to heal you one HP, which should be enough to at least stabilize and make Sara responsive again.
• 6:55
  Justin (GM): You pump this magic into her. Sara, at this instant, you hear.
• 7:02
  Justin: I'm here. I'm I'm here. I'm here.
• 7:04
  Justin (GM): You sense Aminat's presence as you come to. You see Lucan's face. His hands are glowing with this golden orange light. He has healed you. You feel like you are clinging to life.
• 7:17
  You have a massive headache. You remember vaguely the next barrier coming down, and you look and see feet away from you on the other side of the barrier is the true incarnate king. In a way, the Asher spent his life learning the gravitas and the presence of the person on the other side of that barrier demands respect, demands attention, and their will is law. This person is the you cannot imagine this person as being anything other than a ruler of people. Asher has summoned that presence, has learned to take that on.
• 8:07
  That's like breathing to the person on the other side of this barrier. What do you do?
• 8:16
  Shelby (Sahra): Sarah is going to kind of drag herself into a position so that she's kneeling with the barrier between, but she's kneeling in front of this incarnate king. And she kinda croaks out as best as she can once again. She says, my name is Sara Manisblood, daughter of Chiefess Soraya Manisblood. My mother saved you as a baby. Let me save you today.
• 8:55
  Justin (GM): You say these words and the gravitas, the presence falters. Looking down at you, you see a hurt woman who has never seen the light of day. You see where there are scars on her arm from countless procedures. You see a shaved patch of hair on the back of her head where something has been hooked up in the past, and she looks down on you, not with recognition, but with some deeper kind of understanding. And she puts her hand on the barrier.
• 9:46
  You hear and smell flesh as her fingers go in it and begin to tear it down like paper. Stale air pressurized from the other side begins to blow into that room at the same time as you hear Stop. And Asher takes down the barrier behind you and says Lucan, Sara, behind me now. I do that.
• 10:17
  Shelby (Sahra): Sara stays put.
• 10:19
  Justin (GM): Sara, behind me now.
• 10:20
  Steve (Luken): Sara, what are you doing?
• 10:22
  Shelby (Sahra): Sara stays put. Sara.
• 10:27
  Steve (Luken): You
• 10:27
  Justin (GM): feel a hand frail. It has no power behind it. No muscular strength. Reach below your chin and tilt up your head and you hear the croak of a voice say, Ron, I can't stop it. And then the gravitas returns.
• 10:57
  She stands up at her full height and looks at Asher across the way. The pastels in her hands return. She pulls her arms back. You feel the beginning of a spell coming, a big one. The person that you saw lift up your head, the facial, the way they just naturally hold their face, their resting position is different than the resting position you see now.
• 11:29
  The understanding, not there. The person in front of you is insane.
• 11:36
  Shelby (Sahra): Sara rises to her feet and closes her eyes and says, Aminat, are you with me? Aminat, let's try to free this person.
• 11:57
  Justin (GM): Give me a spell casting role. You do still have disadvantage.
• 12:06
  Shelby (Sahra): So it's 13 with hope?
• 12:10
  Justin (GM): I've ticked this down for that role and the incarnate king's role and the true incarnate king's role. So it is down at one at this point, since all people who use magic.
• 12:22
  Shelby (Sahra): Was that a success or a failure?
• 12:24
  Justin (GM): That is currently a failure.
• 12:26
  Shelby (Sahra): Then I
• 12:27
  Justin (GM): Do you have any like hope that you wanna spend on experience at this point?
• 12:31
  Shelby (Sahra): Oh, yeah. I forgot I I could do that. Yeah. So then I'm gonna spend a hope to plus three that k. To make that a success.
• 12:41
  Justin (GM): Ominette takes a physical form and wraps around wraps around on the ground below you. Behind them, etches on the back of their skin, a deep primal magic circle teleports you, Sara, and the true incarnate king standing in front of you away, answering your call. Lucan, you see darkness flood the room, all of the runic lights blaring red, the siren all stop for a brief second. And when the lights and the sign return, Sara and the incarnate king are gone. Asher says, what the fuck just happened?
• 13:28
  Asher, did you do something? I did not do that.
• 13:31
  Steve (Luken): Where That was the true incarnate king, Asher.
• 13:33
  Justin (GM): We need to go. Yeah. Agreed. Let's let's move. Asher, and you start going up the stairs and, what did you find?
• 13:39
  What was going on down there?
• 13:40
  Steve (Luken): I gesture at my bag full of bloody documents. Look, we didn't have a ton of time to do a lot of searching. Long story short, they're using magic magic and blood to change how people are. We can talk about this war when we've survived this part, but there is some wild shit happening here and I think they were using the Incarnate King to do it. But Sora has the rest of the documents we found.
• 14:07
  Right now, we just we just gotta get out of here. I would not do well with a cave in. Good. Get above me.
• 14:14
  Justin (GM): I do. Get a few levels above him, and then you just hear this deep, thudding sound happen over and over and over again as Asher is caving in the floor below you. You and Soul Guard Cole are moving up. You get to the a floor. You run down the hallway.
• 14:36
  You make your way up to the next Give me an agility roll.
• 14:43
  Steve (Luken): That is going to be with fear and it is eleven twelve with fear. You take
• 14:50
  Justin (GM): nine physical damage as to cave in the shakes in this underground space. You get hit by debris. Can I mark an armor to Yeah? Yep. We're gonna do that.
• 15:01
  You make your way to the surface. Sara, it is dark for a brief second. And then suddenly, you find yourself again on the surface surrounded by chaos. Things have only gotten worse since you were here. Without an estimate of number of people that were expected in this small community, you didn't know that the people you would find here would be so numerous.
• 15:35
  You see a person get hit by a fireball and remain unsinged, confirming that there are magically inert people here. You see two members of the soul guard absolutely decapitate a person in the far distance. There is just chaos happening. The teleportation circle has been ruined. They have gotten to the escape, and it's preventing people from being extracted.
• 16:01
  You see two members of the squadron outside of a building. You hear cries of children inside. They can't leave. They can't take the escape route. And standing in front of you, a not pale dwarf who, shocked to have been teleported to the surface, grabs her ears and crouches down on the ground and begins to scream, what's happening?
• 16:26
  Where am I? Help. Help. And you see on the grass below her, it is like a death that's creeping away from her as her panic is killing everything in her close vicinity. What do you do?
• 16:43
  You do not know what spell she is casting, but it is just leaching the life from everything around her. We're talking like inches at this point. It's not like expanding at a high rate, but slowly inch by inch, she's leeching the life away from the things around her. The senate has convened. Senator Albert Constantine has agreed to pull his bill.
• 17:14
  You hear people whispering about this. Aides are passing out new copies of the bill that you are going to be presenting to the floor. You see first senator plenary is taking their seat at the front, recognizing the beginning of the hearings. And then you hear three thuds of brass on stone. It takes a brief second for most people in the senate to even understand, wait.
• 17:47
  What what procedure is this? As five people walk into the center of this massive half circle coliseum on which you and Constantine sit next to first senator plenary, ready to bring to the floor the bill as five members of the Council of Faith walk into the room. By right, they can be here. This is a right rarely invoked. They have, for most of history, allowed the senate to come to them.
• 18:26
  In this moment, they have come to witness what it is the senate will vote for. The seat for Ba'az remains empty. The seat for the incarnate king Asher Theophilus Zimri remains empty. What do you do?
• 18:47
  Nick (Herry): Harry looks over at Pennery and Constantine with just the lightest sort of touch and smiles and winks. Harry's entering this with the utmost confidence and Jess is going to project like, this is all normal. This is all good. This is all what it ever needs to be. Because as far as we can tell, we've gotten rid of all most of, if not all the scrying at the senate.
• 19:16
  Justin (GM): Yes.
• 19:16
  Nick (Herry): We have set up we should know at least who's coming and going from platoons, strong arming senators not to be chitchatting too much outside. Yep. Hope is that the members of the Council of Faith don't really know what's being presented on the floor right now. They do not. And so Harry's looking forward to the show.
• 19:39
  Justin (GM): Senator Constantine looks at you and says, you know, I really I'd practice a speech.
• 19:46
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. What's But
• 19:47
  Justin (GM): for the other bill.
• 19:48
  Nick (Herry): I mean, it's very similar.
• 19:50
  Justin (GM): Very hairy. It's very similar. It's a very similar.
• 19:53
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. You're so good on your feet though. Light. You said you're you're looking younger. You'll you're gonna be great.
• 20:00
  Justin (GM): I do like this new cut on this robe.
• 20:02
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. It looks great.
• 20:04
  Justin (GM): Constantine takes his position at the podium. I revoke my bill in place of a second bill that I believe many of you have had an opportunity to read. At this, whispers go through the crowd and you see the five members of the Council of Faith look at each other a little blindsided.
• 20:27
  Nick (Herry): Harry sees that the Council of Faith is confused and walks over and hands the leader of the Wainwright, Adeline, Ota, and Phelos all copies of the bill. And then hands mother Demeris 10 blank pages of paper, gives a wink, and walks away.
• 20:52
  Justin (GM): I'm gonna spend a fear. Mother Demeris stands up. This is outrageous. You can't you can't simply pull the rug. This is political theater.
• 21:06
  I I charged senator Pinch with with
• 21:13
  Nick (Herry): Is anyone treason. Beanie, are these against the rules? Is this with him?
• 21:17
  Justin (GM): Beanie stands up, and she says, I'm happy to read from the Codex the rules of the Senate. Great.
• 21:25
  Nick (Herry): Do we
• 21:25
  Justin (GM): need to do As follows.
• 21:26
  Nick (Herry): Okay. Oh, sorry. No? Mother Demicks, would you like to read the the Divine Codex on the rules of the Senate?
• 21:32
  Justin (GM): I wish to charge senator Harry Pitch with treason. Treason against the gods. Treason against Venethar. There are whispers throughout the crowd. This is a serious accusation.
• 21:47
  Nick (Herry): Yeah.
• 21:48
  Justin (GM): But it must be seconded. Silence. The glass ceiling of the Senate Building allows for a view of the sky, encouraging feelings of transparency and a limitless potential of Bennethar. The glass ceiling was installed to be a symbol for what many believe Venethar to be. There is not a cloud in the sky, and yet the day darkens.
• 22:33
  The shadows in the room elongate and runes imprinted on the sides of the high rafters automatically react to the dimming light flicking on, but even somehow they fail to provide the light they should.
• 23:05
  Nick (Herry): Harry looks around, sees that no one is seconding, and looks over to the Council of Faith and be like, you have supporters, but they're not actually elected officials in the senate. So I believe we're going
• 23:15
  Justin (GM): to move on and sets down. Mother Daenerys, the priestess of the goddess of the sun, truth and light sits back down. The weight in the room feels heavy. First senator plenary stands up. I call for a vote all in favor of the second writ for the devolution of the Council of Faith, please stand.
• 23:55
  The room is silent. No one stands. Everyone's waiting for who will be the first. Harry, what's up? Harry stands.
• 24:08
  The first vote is cast. Constantine stands second. And then you hear chairs being pushed back all throughout the senate as more and more individuals stand. First senator plenary does not have to manually count the votes. There is a magical enchantment that allows them to know what the current numbers are.
• 24:34
  You rest at 59 of 100. You need a super majority. You connect eyes with one person. Who remains seated. Senator Gustavo Reyes of Scharnwick.
• 24:57
  He looks at you. He's not far. He's in the first row. He could hear you.
• 25:05
  Nick (Herry): Gustavo, what do you say we keep being senators here and take care of our people and Harry nods?
• 25:17
  Justin (GM): Thinking on those words, Gustavo Reyes stands. Immediately, a rumble is heard throughout all of Verzenium City. You see each of the Council of Faith begin speaking. They're not talking to you. They are talking directly to their gods in this moment.
• 25:47
  You feel the weight in that in this room becomes concrete and feels real. You see the clothes, the way your the way your the fabric on your body holds shifts as the literal gravity in this room changes. Without seeing them, you know that the attention of many gods are in this place. The tower piece that Lucan gave you when you last spoke feels warm in your hand. The gods are watching their theocracy.
• 26:26
  The greatest thumb they have on the scales in Sariel that they have depended on shifts possession and becomes a tower. Outside, you see through the window an arcane shield erect above the senate. First senator plenary says, council of faith, I believe you have a vote to cast. Whatever shield the Arcanists outside raised has halted the conversations they were having with their gods. Lucan, you and Soul Guard Cole, you emerge from the house where you had kind of first gone into this underground tunnel system and are greeted with amounts of chaos that you've not seen even in comparison to the warehouse and the fight on the Hill Of Faith.
• 27:36
  There are explosions, people moving around. You take in this a lot of the same information that I mentioned to to Sara earlier. You see the teleportation circle is gone. There is no one maintaining it, and so people can't escape. Soul guard Cole says, Asher's on his way up.
• 27:56
  Where's where's the teleportation circle? We need
• 27:59
  Steve (Luken): to escape. Look around you. It's gone. There's no easy I
• 28:05
  Justin (GM): can I can start working on that? Yeah. Go You can? At this point, you hear a squelching sound and soul guard Cole looks down and there's just blood pooling. I'm spending a fear.
• 28:23
  Blood pooling in his hands. I immediately kinda like duck behind his body. He collapses. And I'm looking around to see if I can pinpoint where that came from. There is a woman holding a wand and a fist of faith.
• 28:44
  She has short cropped white hair that she has kind of pulled back. She looks a little bit more aged. You recognize this as doctor Rausch, the one mentioned in the briefing earlier. She has, at least for now, taken Soul Guard Cole out of commission. He's not dead, but he is very, very wounded.
• 29:05
  Steve (Luken): I stand up and and look at doctor Rausch. She's noticed me.
• 29:10
  Justin (GM): Right? Yeah.
• 29:11
  Steve (Luken): So I I call out, over here, you're not done with us yet. She is going to be goad them on. Yeah. Go ahead. Residents roll against them on success, they have to take a stress and all the other stuff.
• 29:28
  Thirteen fifteen with hope on the presents roll. Meets it, beats it. Okay. They take a stress. Doctor.
• 29:34
  Rausch takes a stress and the next time the GM spotlights them, they must target me with an attack, which they take with disadvantage.
• 29:43
  Justin (GM): She kind of gives this grin like she is happy to take this on. It is still you?
• 29:51
  Steve (Luken): Yeah. Do I see any other allies around us? Give me an instinct roll. That is a seventeen, eighteen, 19 with fear.
• 30:03
  Justin (GM): You see that's a success with fear. You see, you stand between doctor Rausch and behind you, Sara is slowly taking steps away from a crouching woman on the ground that you recognize to be the woman from the Basement floor. They have teleported up to here. They are maybe at far range from you, so you can get there if you need to, but you stand between them and Roush. At the same time, Roush sees the escaped incarnate king and you between her, and she says, I don't have time for this.
• 30:45
  She's going to attack.
• 30:47
  Steve (Luken): She's already at
• 30:47
  Justin (GM): disadvantage. I will I have fear, so I will ruin enhanced rod. With disadvantage. Disadvantage. Thank Thank you.
• 30:58
  You. Assume that a five misses. That is shot goes I have
• 31:07
  Steve (Luken): flown up in the air to try and draw her eyes. So she is shooting at me as I'm darting
• 31:13
  Justin (GM): around up The in the shot goes awry. I'm willing to spend two more fear to highlight one d four allies who will follow-up those shots.
• 31:25
  Steve (Luken): Is this one attack? This is
• 31:26
  Justin (GM): a second total other feature. So I only rolled a one, so only one ally will listen to her. She says, that would bring him down. And I'm going to use magical arrow. Does a nine beat your evasion?
• 31:46
  Steve (Luken): It does not.
• 31:47
  Justin (GM): A magical ray shoots also wide of you as she's trying to gather more people to bring you down quickly so that she can get to the incarnate king. The spotlight goes back to all of you.
• 32:02
  Shelby (Sahra): So Sara is standing in like a defensive position, but her hands are up in a way to say, like, I'm not gonna hurt you. And she's looking at the incarnate, the true incarnate, and she's just kind of muttering over and over again, it's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay.
• 32:27
  Justin (GM): Give me a presence roll.
• 32:31
  Shelby (Sahra): A nine with hope.
• 32:33
  Justin (GM): As a failure hope. She is kind of mumbling under her breath as you are saying these comforting words, and then her body goes rigid, and she looks up at you and she says, it will be okay. I am Alona Theophilus Simri, the rightful king of Venethar, the immortal soul, and it will be mine. I'm going to use an ability called Arcane Brush. Everyone within close range, which includes you, Lucan, as well as a member of the Custodia Sangwitz are all going to make agility reaction rolls.
• 33:18
  Steve (Luken): What does a what does a crit do for me on the reaction
• 33:20
  Justin (GM): rolls? Nothing.
• 33:21
  Shelby (Sahra): I know. Son
• 33:23
  Steve (Luken): of a disc.
• 33:24
  Shelby (Sahra): I got 21.
• 33:28
  Justin (GM): An 18 for me. An 18 is a fail. 21 is a success. Wait.
• 33:34
  Nick (Herry): Is
• 33:34
  Justin (GM): it
• 33:34
  Nick (Herry): a crit though?
• 33:35
  Justin (GM): Yeah. Oh, crit.
• 33:36
  Steve (Luken): You said it does nothing for you. Yeah.
• 33:39
  Nick (Herry): But it still passes?
• 33:40
  Steve (Luken): Yes. I just don't get the clear then then I got sorry. You both 18 and it's a crit.
• 33:46
  Justin (GM): You must spend two stress or you take half damage with a success. The damage is 13 magic damage.
• 33:55
  Shelby (Sahra): So if I spend two stress, I don't take HP damage?
• 33:59
  Justin (GM): Yes. You won't take any.
• 34:00
  Shelby (Sahra): Okay.
• 34:01
  Steve (Luken): Oh, I'm doing that. Yeah. I gotta do that.
• 34:03
  Shelby (Sahra): Okay. Sara is going to conjure armored beetles. Mhmm. So just a swarm of beetles surrounds her and she's crouching down to the ground, just very intently watching the scene around her, but also protecting herself.
• 34:22
  Justin (GM): Do you have to roll for that at all?
• 34:23
  Shelby (Sahra): I have to mark a stress.
• 34:25
  Justin (GM): Okay. Asher emerges from the same building you came out of, Lucan, immediately looks around, spots Alona, and the white filaments that he summons are massive. You see them pull from nearby buildings, from even soul guard coal. He pulls these filaments up with his right hand, and with his left hand summons a sword made of these white spider like filaments. His right hand tosses a massive fireball in Alona's direction.
• 35:05
  She throws up her hand and stops it as the pastel oil fills the air around her, solidifying solidifying in a barrier. The magical quake that exudes from these two spells hitting each other, both of you make agility rolls, agility reaction rolls.
• 35:31
  Steve (Luken): Just turned to be to 12. 19.
• 35:35
  Shelby (Sahra): I'm going to I failed, I'm gonna spend three hope to turn that into a success.
• 35:42
  Justin (GM): You both are pushed back but managed to stay on your feet and the magical, like, components in your pouch and any magical items you might have almost feel like they buzz a little bit as this excess arcane energy washes over the field. Many members of the Cusodia Sanguis and members of your infiltration teams are blown to the ground and are functionally marked as vulnerable as they are completely accosted by excess magic energy. When you both look, the dust settles. Alona and Asher stand opposed to each other on other sides of the field, far apart, but their magic is in deadlock with one another.
• 36:33
  Shelby (Sahra): Zara's going to call on Aminette. Aminette. We need to free her. Mean, need to free her from this soul. Aminette, I need you to wrap yourself around this soul and expel it to basically untether the soul from the mortal body.
• 37:05
  Justin (GM): Necromancer. Give me an instinct roll. You need to get to start this process. You just need a 15.
• 37:27
  Shelby (Sahra): Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen with hope. Aminette,
• 37:33
  Justin (GM): in your vision, fills the courtyard. The smoke and almost like the world is made of sand and someone took their hand and wiped the slate clean, you are returned back to the place where you first met Amineth into darkness. But this time, you are not alone. You see a bright white light where you saw Alona Theophilus Simri one stand. There are faint lights all around you where you see the souls of others.
• 38:09
  You see and immediately recognize in the air Lucan's soul. And you see in a very similar fashion, although the color is slightly different, you see the soul of Asher. And in this moment, you can deep in your heart know that Asher is not the incarnate king. He is just a person with great, great gifts and a good heart, but he is not the immortal soul. Nothing you know of could extinguish the light that Alona shines.
• 38:50
  But you see as few people die across the field, their souls wink out. And in the distance, you hear the rolling of a wheel, The Wainwright, the god of death is near. Outside of all of that, Lucan, you see Sara collapse. Nothing hit her, nothing injured her, you just see her collapse to the ground. She doesn't look hurt.
• 39:26
  Doctor Rausch has their eyes on Alona. What do you do?
• 39:32
  Steve (Luken): Which means Doctor Rausch does not have their eyes on Sara. Correct. I am going to I'm up in the air. I'm gonna do my dive bomb with my knuckle blades out. I'm I'm gonna try and fight her.
• 39:46
  Yep. Don't know if I can win, but at a minimum, I need her to be thinking about something other than what she wants to be doing right now. Mhmm. So I dive bomb in and I do a melee attack with my knuckle blades, and I'm gonna use forceful push as well.
• 39:59
  Justin (GM): Okay.
• 40:00
  Steve (Luken): Which only matters if I succeed on the attack, so.
• 40:06
  Justin (GM): 14 with fear. That is a failure with fear. Her focus remains on Ilona and casually, she steps out of the way of your dive bomb, pulls a knife from her hand, and cuts at your wings. Does an eight hit? It does not.
• 40:28
  K. I'm going to use a spend the fear that you just gave me to use an ability called coordinated attack. I spend a fear to make all targets within very close range lose a hope. If the target is not able to lose a hope, they must instead mark two stress. You need to lose a hope.
• 40:49
  Yep. Lose a hope. Now on the ground, you see you're quickly becoming outnumbered. You have two objectives that you need to accomplish to at least have a semblance of victory. You can't let doctor Ausch attack Alona.
• 41:07
  She and Asher are in a deadlock. Their magic is both of them are casting impressive spells. You see Alona pull from the sky fireballs at the same time as Asher conjures up and pulls water from the air to counter it. They are in a deadlock. Doctor Rausch is doing everything she can, plans to do everything she can to restrain Alona.
• 41:35
  Also, you need this magic circle, the teleportation circle back. What do do?
• 41:41
  Steve (Luken): I am saving the faith I have for the teleportation circle. The one faith I have. To the maximum extent I can, I I don't have another way to make this teleportation circle? Mhmm. I am going to once again try to attack Yep.
• 41:54
  Doctor Roush. And again, I'm going to use forceful push. That's more like that is a 26 with hope.
• 42:04
  Justin (GM): That is a hit.
• 42:05
  Steve (Luken): And on damage, I did get one max damage die roll, so I get another damage die roll. So I'm at 14 currently, eighteen, twenty four damage.
• 42:20
  Justin (GM): That is in the severe threshold.
• 42:21
  Steve (Luken): Sorry. I'm so sorry. Plus another six guided forceful push. 30 damage is the number, and it's going to I'm doing the forceful push in a way that, like, as much as I can, like, breaks Doctor. Rausch's line of sight on Alona.
• 42:37
  I don't think I can actually go that far, but I think
• 42:40
  Justin (GM): it's fair. You knock her down an alley. She can no longer see Alona her target and buying you a little bit of time.
• 42:50
  Shelby (Sahra): Okay. Yeah.
• 42:50
  Steve (Luken): I'm good. I'm gonna turn it over to Sara now.
• 42:52
  Shelby (Sahra): Great. Sara wants to continue the ritual.
• 42:56
  Justin (GM): You feel Aminette say, do you wish for her to be reborn?
• 43:03
  Shelby (Sahra): I want to set this soul free. I think that we've had enough.
• 43:10
  Justin (GM): You have never registered surprise from Aminette, but in this moment, you feel surprised. Give me the next roll for this ritual. You need an 18.
• 43:27
  Shelby (Sahra): So I'm gonna spend a hope. I'm gonna use connected to my roots. So that's so that was a 19.
• 43:33
  Justin (GM): You further put yourself in this world. You are aware that in doing so, are bringing yourself willingly closer to death. The light is tethered. You see hundreds of tiny spider thin lines connecting it to this place, tethering it to this world. Cutting those is the first step towards fully releasing and undoing the original spell cast by Theophilus Zimri, the first incarnate king, the person who helped bring magic to the world.
• 44:22
  Cutting those is the first step you will need to accomplish your desire of truly freeing the soul from its cycle of reincarnation. With that, we'll go to Harry. Mother Damaris stands up upon seeing the final vote needed to be cast and she says, this is heresy. This you if we cross this line, there is no turning back. Do you understand that?
• 44:57
  Nick (Herry): I believe we voted. I believe it's your turn.
• 45:00
  Justin (GM): With that, immediately, the spoke warden, the leader of the Church of the Wainwright stands. Mother Damaris looks shocked. Atelene remains seated. Priest Hedrick Cardaw, the leader of the faith of Oda, the goddess of Herc and community stands. He looks at Harry and gives a nod.
• 45:34
  And you know no priest or priestess of Oda would ever turn on the community. If the majority want this, then Oda is aligned. First commander Nara, the priest of Attilene, the goddess of strength, war, and discipline, remains seated and gives a shake of his head. In his mind, he sees all of the pieces on this board and he falters at the sight of a potential war to come. That's two votes yes, two votes no.
• 46:24
  Everyone turns to the incandescent voice, priestess Webb, the representative of the god, Phelos, of revelry, music, mirth. The stalwart ally of the Bosnian church who is not present to cast their vote. All of the best songs have a key change, and they stand. Without another vote to be cast, it is three to two and the vote is passed.
• 47:03
  Nick (Herry): Hear, hear. We have some questions about the harboring of faith. And Carrie Carrie casts reveal on Mother Damerus. Immediately,
• 47:28
  Justin (GM): the jewels on her necklace light up. All of the gold she is wearing alights identifying it as containers of faith.
• 47:37
  Nick (Herry): I believe you're harboring faith that you shouldn't be. We'd like to have a word.
• 47:43
  Justin (GM): She turns around and if I could make you take psychic damage in this game, I would. Because she is raged. She looks at you and says, I am not accountable to you.
• 48:02
  Nick (Herry): Actually, they just voted that you are.
• 48:05
  Justin (GM): She looks at you and says, we are so aligned in what we want for all of you. I could have walked you to this point and safely guided you to the next era, but instead, I will force this next era upon all of you. The world you want so badly, you will receive. Any accomplishments you've gotten here, all of you have gotten here, are because of the hard work that I have done, that we have done, and I will not tolerate you taking our credit. And she is going to grab her necklace and cast teleport away.
• 48:56
  It is she is using a lot of magic here. This is almost feels like how Asher teleported in rage away. This is an incredible amount of faith that she is using to get through the various protections of this building and the protection on the the arcanists have cast on the outside. The barrier that they have erected shatters. The light immediately brightens, and the natural inclination that everyone has is to kind of close their eyes against the sunlight as when they finally look and the blurs and after images have cleared, mother Damaris is gone.
• 49:45
  Nick (Herry): Harry looks over at Gustavo Reyes and just says, you're not gonna make me do it. Right?
• 49:52
  Justin (GM): I accuse mother Daenerys the third, the high priestess of the faith of Yrisinda with treason against the nation of Venethar. Second. Immediately, the procedure for treason goes into effort. This does not require your direct attention anymore. First senator plenary stands up and begins to silence cheers and says, order.
• 50:19
  Order.
• 50:19
  Nick (Herry): Harry points to Beanie and like kinda heads towards their office.
• 50:22
  Justin (GM): Beanie gives you a thumbs up Yep. And heads out.
• 50:27
  Steve (Luken): I am staring down Rausch in this alley.
• 50:31
  Justin (GM): Rausch is Oh, you wanna go after Rausch?
• 50:33
  Steve (Luken): Go ahead. That's where I left. Yeah. Like, that's bought yourself some time. Yeah.
• 50:38
  I Force will push her away, but all that does is close. Right? Like, I
• 50:41
  Justin (GM): can still see her. How is she looking? She looks rough. She looks up at you and says, you are ruining decades of research. You are you you don't comprehend what you're stopping.
• 50:58
  Steve (Luken): Yeah. That that's right. I I don't understand any of this, but I've seen enough to note it it can't continue like this. What are
• 51:06
  Justin (GM): are you mad? And as I say, are
• 51:08
  Steve (Luken): you mad? I charge towards her again and take another swing.
• 51:11
  Justin (GM): Go ahead.
• 51:15
  Steve (Luken): That is a 16 with hope. That is a hit? Oh, okay. I really don't want to spend Outlast Paradigm on one punch in the face if I don't have to, but I didn't know the number.
• 51:30
  Justin (GM): It's 18 damage. How do you wanna kill Doctor Rush?
• 51:36
  Steve (Luken): The way I went after her was full sprint, arm forward. And rather than a punch where I pulled away, I land that punch square in the area below her sternum and carry her into a wall, impaling her on that wall with my blades. And once I'm sure she's dead, I pull those blades out, clean them off, and take the giant handful of faith she had.
• 52:06
  Justin (GM): Great.
• 52:06
  Steve (Luken): I'm sure she's dead. Right.
• 52:07
  Justin (GM): She's dead. Okay. Yes.
• 52:08
  Steve (Luken): Look. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not leaving that question unanswered. I really didn't like this one.
• 52:16
  Justin (GM): Sara, the connected threads binding the soul to the physical realm are in front of you. The last step of this ritual is to cut these cords. Your DC is 21. Amonet is here to provide you with assistance.
• 52:58
  Shelby (Sahra): Okay. I'm gonna also spend a hope for connected to my roots to gain a plus three And I'm gonna okay. So then I'm also going to spend another hope to get an additional plus two for being in a natural spirit environment.
• 53:25
  Justin (GM): Yes. So you have plus five plus instinct. Mhmm. So that's plus eight. Before you roll, roll your fear dice first.
• 53:36
  Shelby (Sahra): Okay. Oh my god. It's a 12.
• 53:42
  Justin (GM): So you're already at 20.
• 53:44
  Shelby (Sahra): Okay.
• 53:45
  Justin (GM): You just have to get a 21. So
• 53:48
  Shelby (Sahra): It's gonna happen. Yeah. Go ahead and roll. Alright.
• 53:51
  Justin (GM): Great. Nine. Mhmm. So you're at 30. Go ahead and roll your extra.
• 53:55
  D six. 30. Three. Each of these threads, hundreds of them connect the spirit, the bright white light in front of you, and they go off in every direction, fading into the darkness around them, binding them in place. In its current state, nothing can move this spirit.
• 54:19
  It is immovable. And these individual lines anchor it to this place.
• 54:29
  Shelby (Sahra): Amonet is sent out and moving as a snake coils around these threads and weaves himself in and out surrounding the light that is this incarnate king and constricts as these threads start snapping.
• 54:54
  Justin (GM): Every snap, you feel a flash of the life that the immortal soul led. You see a brief moment as a child in a forest running with deer. You see a moment falling in love, but knowing that that love can never be had. You see a moment crying out for a parent to kiss a wounded knee. You see the last moments, a person's dying breath feeling regret.
• 55:26
  All of these life moments When the threads snap, you experience each of them. The pain and the joy and the sheer amount of life that you feel threatens to overwhelm you, but your spirit remains strong.
• 55:48
  Shelby (Sahra): Saris stands on her feet and she is strong and immovable with tears streaming down her face, but it isn't tears of anguish. It's just emotion exiting her body in this manifested way.
• 56:11
  Justin (GM): One thread remains, the thread of this life. You see years, decades spent in that small room at the end of the hall being have having tests run on you, having blood drawn, never knowing family, never knowing a single person to care for you. This is the last thread holding this soul to the world.
• 56:43
  Shelby (Sahra): And Sara reaches her hand out And as she takes hold of this final thread, as gently as she can, she says, you are now free from the pain of this world, and she rips that thread.
• 57:15
  Justin (GM): Lucan, the you see Asher has summoned spectral javelins and swords and countless weapons indescribable and is willing each of them to fly at Ilona as she summons up shields to block them, catches a sword, and throws it back. They move in a dance around one another. The way that they are casting magic is so foreign to you that I think you start to see the battle around has come to a a halt. Everyone is watching Asher and Alona face off in an arcane symphony of violence until Alona hesitates just the as briefest of a second and a spear that Asher has conjured slices into her arm. And shock Asher, Alona, equally shocked as everyone else.
• 58:30
  As Alona, unregistering the pain on her arm, is looking up into the sky and breathes out a white mist from her mouth. And just faintly in the air, you hear Sara's voice.
• 58:58
  Shelby (Sahra): You are now free from the pain of this world. And
• 59:06
  Justin (GM): Ilona says, freedom. And falls to the ground. Asher, without hesitation, without thinking, summons a sword, walks up to Alona, and drives it into her chest. And he looks up at you, tears streaming from his eyes. Help me.
• 59:40
  Steve (Luken): Help me. Asher. Asher. Asher. It's I fly over both literally and in the truest sense of moving as fast as I possibly can to Asher's side.
• 59:53
  I am ignoring everything else around me. I see someone who I've known as a friend in an unfathomable position. And I arrive at his side and quietly say, accurate. It's over, but we gotta go. There This is not the place for us to be right now.
• 1:00:22
  Justin (GM): I know. I don't think don't think this is Oh, God. Oh, God. Sara, you are alone in this darkness. The you see two lights, one that you know to be Lucan and one you inherently know to be Asher.
• 1:00:43
  Asher's light is flickering. Lucan is running to his side. You have not left this place. You are still here.
• 1:00:55
  Shelby (Sahra): I see Asher's light starting to diminish, and and I just start moving towards that light. And I can tell that it's his, and all I can do is just put my hands out to it and just, like, any energy that I can muster of just, like, everything that I have learned from the wildfire, witches, and all of my knowledge of light and power and fire, and I'm doing everything I can to make this light brighter.
• 1:01:43
  Justin (GM): Outside, you hear, she's she's here. I I feel sorry. I'm I'm glad you're both here for this. I'm so sorry. Tell Harry I'm sorry.
• 1:01:56
  Steve (Luken): Yeah. Tell This isn't no. We're we're taking you back to Harry now. Come on. Ashford, come on.
• 1:02:03
  Justin (GM): Get up. You hear the battle start to pick up as someone says, avenge. Avenge her. Asher, give me a persuasion check. You need to beat a 20.
• 1:02:19
  I will allow before you roll. You can provide the help action.
• 1:02:24
  Shelby (Sahra): Okay. Sara says, Aminette, I have one more trade for you.
• 1:02:33
  Justin (GM): In the far distance, you hear,
• 1:02:39
  Justin: but
• 1:02:39
  Shelby (Sahra): don't forget who freed you.
• 1:02:46
  Justin (GM): You feel Amineth come back to you and, like a cobra, is in a strike position.
• 1:02:59
  Justin: You dare step up now. You
• 1:03:07
  Shelby (Sahra): created me so that I could be here for this moment. Trade my life for my life. Life. My life
• 1:03:20
  Justin: Blood for blood.
• 1:03:22
  Shelby (Sahra): Blood for blood. Blood Blood
• 1:03:28
  Justin (GM): Give me a spell casting role with advantage. You have to beat a 20.
• 1:03:39
  Shelby (Sahra): I have one more hope that I can spend.
• 1:03:43
  Justin (GM): And you're spending that hope on an experience, I assume?
• 1:03:45
  Shelby (Sahra): Yes. Still connected to my rates. Yep. Oh, fuck. It's only a 14.
• 1:03:52
  Shit. You've been waiting.
• 1:03:54
  Justin (GM): Failure with hope. Omninette took something from you. In this moment, you know that what they took from you was this spell, life for life. You are incapable of healing. A sense of content washes over Aminet and says,
• 1:04:24
  Justin: I'm free. This world is yours.
• 1:04:31
  Justin (GM): And departs, leaving you alone in the darkness. In the real world, Asher is getting paler. You check for wounds, he has none. Asher is giving up his will to live. He is feeling the full weight of his life of being in a position he now inherently knows to have been a lie, and the gravity of that situation is bringing him down to such depths that his own magic being a sorcerer is answering his call to not deal with this anymore.
• 1:05:22
  His magic is overwhelming him. Give me an instinct roll.
• 1:05:30
  Steve (Luken): Okay. You have to beat a 12. Why is it instinct?
• 1:05:36
  Justin (GM): I think there is a solution
• 1:05:38
  Steve (Luken): to this. I'm kinda navigating figuring out the problem Yes.
• 1:05:42
  Nick (Herry): And getting
• 1:05:42
  Steve (Luken): to a solution. Okay.
• 1:05:43
  Justin (GM): There is a solution to this, but can you think of it? And it's
• 1:05:49
  Steve (Luken): an instinct at 12. It's an instinct of 12. Can I spend a hope on the child of new money experience in that I've had to learn things for myself? I've had to like, I grew up rich, but not the way my friends were rich. I had to find solutions to problems.
• 1:06:08
  Justin (GM): I think this is a scoundrel moment.
• 1:06:10
  Steve (Luken): Yes. Right. Like, the the conventional answers will
• 1:06:13
  Justin (GM): do me no good here. The answers that Justin has in his head are pretty scoundrel y, so Okay.
• 1:06:17
  Steve (Luken): Yeah. So I'm going to spend the hope to get a plus three on this. And boy, did I need it. It is a Success With Fear at 14. There Oh, sorry.
• 1:06:31
  16 because I have instinct, but
• 1:06:33
  Justin (GM): There are runes of magical suppression all around. None of them are active right now. If you activate one, it will suppress his magic and stop his arcane suicide.
• 1:06:54
  Steve (Luken): Lucan looks at all the faith in his pocket. At this point, the big bag of it remembers that the way we triggered the arcane suppression in the basement was by messing around with runes by trying to channel into them. And so he's going to use a portion of that faith to trigger the runes.
• 1:07:13
  Justin (GM): You trigger the runes and immediately feel that same sensation as your gasps as his magic is suppressed, keeping him from eating himself from the inside. And the battle itself falters because their magic begins to fail, and you have this moment of clarity from him. And he says, I I I don't know how to stop it. I just want all this to be over. Lucan,
• 1:07:50
  Steve (Luken): where is Sara? She's she's right over there. Stay with me. We're gonna help Sara. We're gonna get you out of here.
• 1:07:56
  There is nothing more we can do here.
• 1:07:58
  Justin (GM): The lights around you, Sara, as the suppression magic kicks in dim significantly. Your way is closing. You have to get out now. You have no hope left.
• 1:08:10
  Shelby (Sahra): I have no hope. I have no Amonet.
• 1:08:13
  Justin (GM): You have no Amonet. This is just Sara.
• 1:08:24
  Shelby (Sahra): Sara.
• 1:08:25
  Justin (GM): I will you cannot have an instinct roll to try and pull yourself out of this.
• 1:08:31
  Shelby (Sahra): Yeah. Okay. Great. That's what I'm gonna do.
• 1:08:33
  Justin (GM): It is a roll of 15. Before you roll, you feel in the still place a wind at your back. The same desert wind that accompanied you in the Kingswood is here with you now. It's impossible to know exactly what it is in your mind that is registering this. The touch you feel is your mother's.
• 1:09:15
  She is no longer and has not been in the physical world in decades. But she's been here and she's here with you now.
• 1:09:30
  Shelby (Sahra): It's instinct. Uh-huh. 23 with hope. You
• 1:09:38
  Justin (GM): burst with light, and on the physical realm, you shoot awake, you level up, and you, Lucan, are blasted with this hot, arid wind as Sara rises to her feet, seeing your panicked face, seeing Asher's pallid figure, and Sara fear all of your stress as you level up. And you have brought yourself from the brink of death, and you become the witch of sand and fire.
• 1:10:33
  Steve (Luken): Sorry. Oh my. Sorry. Astrid's not doing good. We're we're kinda in trouble here.
• 1:10:41
  The teleportation circle's gone, but I have all this and I take all of the faith out of my pocket, kind of looking at you
• 1:10:48
  Justin (GM): two. Asher freeing you to do what you want with that faith. Go ahead and try to recreate the magic circle if you would like.
• 1:10:59
  Steve (Luken): I would like to do that. Are there any other allies around who can help me with that? Because when we arrived Yep. It was a team setting Yes. That It was
• 1:11:06
  Justin (GM): like an Arcanist catches your eye and go ahead and spend a hope on this. I won't have you roll.
• 1:11:12
  Steve (Luken): Spend a hope.
• 1:11:13
  Justin (GM): An Arcanist, you see an Arcanist, he makes connection with you and sees the faith and he says, quickly, over here. And he kinda lines himself up on the opposite side of the the magic circle and looks to you to start it. You can roll with advantage on this. You need to get a 16.
• 1:11:29
  Steve (Luken): What am I rolling with?
• 1:11:31
  Justin (GM): You are gonna be rolling with strength because that is
• 1:11:33
  Nick (Herry): your spellcasting.
• 1:11:34
  Steve (Luken): Okay. Yeah. I pull out the bag of faith. Yep. I again, in the midst of all this chaos, I am doing everything I can to clear my mind and will into that faith.
• 1:11:44
  But there are so many distractions. And that is a 13 with Oh, yep. 13 with hope. But I reach out to Boz one more time with my last prayer die to add three to this roll. Paz, I am so sorry I never paid attention in the learning parts of of this roll.
• 1:12:12
  But man, if you
• 1:12:13
  Justin (GM): could just chip in this one more time. The sound of teleportation circle. You see the Arcanist sees you just kind of wing in this and immediately starts to shape and pull in your face into the correct spaces as you are just absolutely brute forcing a bridge between here and the other end of the teleportation circle. Snapping into place, you see all of the rooms light up and a platoon on the other side immediately immediately pours pours in. In.
• 1:12:46
  Medics start assessing the scenario. They see how badly injured you are, grab you, pull you through. Asher is leaning against Sara and says, Sara, what did you what did you do? I
• 1:13:01
  Shelby (Sahra): set them free.
• 1:13:05
  Justin (GM): So it's over?
• 1:13:11
  Shelby (Sahra): Listen to me, Asher. It's over. The incarnate king is free.
• 1:13:22
  Justin (GM): We've made a horrible mistake.
• 1:13:32
  Joel (End Credits): You've 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 Girardi. 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.
• 1:14:13
  Justin (GM): A small crowd has gathered at the Tower Of Nemanizen, and there are a group of tower guard. Tickertape has been put up separating the groups of students and onlookers from whatever is happening on the other side. About 20 total guardsmen are have gathered, including some armed with what seems to be some type of arcane instruments. By the time that senator Pinch arrives, Beany has given all of the information, to Harry in terms of what he can expect. What you know coming into this, Harry, is that an arcanist by the name of Manuel Collinsworth has been arrested on-site.
• 1:15:10
  This happened twenty minutes ago. You made your way to university grounds, particularly to the Tower Of Nemanizen where the ritual of harmonization is conducted. You've made your way here as quickly as you could.
• 1:15:25
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. Do I see like Lautner or anyone else I know from the guard that I could talk to and get some updates?
• 1:15:32
  Justin (GM): You see general general Lautner surrounded by two of his aides on the other side of the ticker tape.
• 1:15:41
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. Then Harry's going to kind of like tiptoe around the scene around the ticker tape till he can make eye contact with Lautner and try and sort of like give a little wave and try and make eye contact and see if he'll give him a second to kind of update him.
• 1:15:55
  Justin (GM): He makes eye contact with you and just the slightest, not an eye roll, but his head nods back and forth Sure. At, of course, Harry shows up here. Of course, Harry shows up now and gestures you through two of the guards. Two women kind of hold up the ticker tape. Not much.
• 1:16:18
  Just a little bit. Oh, gee. Thanks. So that Harry can sneak underneath his little halfling self. Sneaks underneath the tape.
• 1:16:24
  Nick (Herry): Thanks thanks so much. Appreciate y'all. Appreciate
• 1:16:27
  Justin (GM): you. Of course. Of course.
• 1:16:28
  Nick (Herry): Ah, Java. Nice work, I guess. I mean, pretty consistent. Always seem to have this under control. What's what's what's up?
• 1:16:36
  What do I
• 1:16:36
  Justin (GM): miss? Senator Pinch, I don't have a lot of time. As you can see, this is a developing situation.
• 1:16:41
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. Sure. I get it. I know you I I get it. At this point, with my close relationship with the university, I just get called anytime anything bad happens.
• 1:16:49
  And so I'm I'm just here to take a look, see what's going on, offer any help from the senate or myself. So what
• 1:16:56
  Justin (GM): Yes. I I can't say that I'm surprised that you're here, to be honest, given all of the people that are here. And he gestures over and gut gestures. He looks over and next to a person who is arcane bound on the ground, completely prone, is the keeper of Venethar, your nephew, Akshar Theophilus Zimmeri, in full regalia, leaning close to the person prone on the ground, clearly saying something in delving, doing something. General Lautner has several guards, people behind the keeper, but it is clear that your nephew has been directly involved in something everything that's been going on.
• 1:17:52
  Nick (Herry): Harry's going to look over and make sure Chava sees this reaction, but he's going to give an identical almost eye roll once he sees Asher over there as the keeper just to sort of make a similar yeah. Of course. Yeah. Listen. I I know I'm always in the middle of it, and I'm always not supposed to be or not.
• 1:18:13
  I don't know what the deal is, but is there anything I can do to help with this crowd or anybody? Anything? Honestly,
• 1:18:21
  Justin (GM): the faster this is over, the safer I think everyone is going to be. Arresting an arcanist on university grounds is going to get a lot of publicity. And frankly, the person who replaced you doesn't quite have the skills that you once had. So Sure. Got you.
• 1:18:38
  I'm feeling a little nervous. The faster that this is over, the better I think everything's going to be.
• 1:18:43
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. Understood. Got it. Let me I'll go talk with our good keeper and see if we can get things moving forward for you. It's good to see you.
• 1:18:50
  Thanks for letting me walk through here.
• 1:18:53
  Justin (GM): I good to see you, Harry.
• 1:18:55
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. Yeah. And then Harry will start sort of making his way over to Asher, the new keeper of Venethar. Hi there. I don't remember drafting any guard duty or hours with the guard as far as the keeper of Venethar duties.
• 1:19:11
  I wrote the bill.
• 1:19:14
  Justin (GM): Asher does not at first respond to you. He is now that you are closer, you can see both of his hands are actively casting two separate spells, one with each hand. And the ring on his right index finger, which you know is a protection rune, is also glowing a deep blue. Something has activated it in the last hour or so, and it is still kind of ringing true with magic. And he says, senator Pinch, I don't recall asking for you to be here.
• 1:20:03
  Nick (Herry): Sure. Yeah. No one no one no one usually does. I'm but yet here I am. So I I just talked to Chava.
• 1:20:10
  He's a little antsy, a little nervous about the crowds and everything that's going on. And so, soft suggestion. Obviously, you can do whatever the fuck you want. And Harry kind of, like, quiets down to just stay out of earshot of this dude being arrested and just says, yeah. If we could do whatever this is in private, I think would be a safer bet and would at least make the guard, I don't know, a little less tense.
• 1:20:36
  Justin (GM): He stands up from kind of the kneeling position where he was close to this Arcanist on the ground and looks at you. And I give me a give me a check to kind of read your nephew in this moment. You've been corresponding with him off and on for the past couple of weeks since you made this announcement, asking for people to, go on a three day religious silence as it were, what people are now calling the reclamation, reclaiming their own faith. And I want you to read, the emotions on your nephew's face.
• 1:21:20
  Steve (Luken): The drum.
• 1:21:23
  Nick (Herry): That's a 16 with hope. I guess on an instinct instinct troll? Yeah.
• 1:21:28
  Justin (GM): Yeah. Sorry. Thank you. Yeah. An instinct troll.
• 1:21:32
  Your nephew looks tired.
• 1:21:36
  Nick (Herry): Sure.
• 1:21:37
  Justin (GM): He looks like he has been through the wringer several times over, and this is just another item off of his checklist.
• 1:21:53
  Nick (Herry): Sure. Gotcha.
• 1:21:53
  Justin (GM): But achieving it has given him no level of satisfaction.
• 1:21:58
  Nick (Herry): Sure. Yeah.
• 1:21:59
  Justin (GM): He gestures to the guards near him and says, let's take this individual, and he gestures to the mnemonic, the Tower Of Numenizen. Let's take them into there. They can't do any more damage than they already have. General Lotner is is read in. They can also join us.
• 1:22:15
  No one else. Wonderful. The three of you, plus this Arcanist, head into the Tower Of, Nemanizen, which is this tower is a strong word. It's not very tall, actually. It's or at least it's hard to kind of really define how tall it is because by the fourth or fifth story, it just kind of gets hazy, almost like a mirage, where the longer you look at it, it does feel like your eyes can see more, but it is almost like a double helix tower.
• 1:22:52
  There are staircases on the inside that make that double helix shape into the mirage itself. On the outside, that double spiral shape is mirrored. And all along the wall, there are fresh markings that articulate the spell cast. The entire building itself is a spell, and these continuously reapplied markings are what power the ritual of harmonization. There are several arcanists assigned to this building at all times.
• 1:23:35
  And even in your kind of cursory, essentially, associate's degree experience at the university, this arcanist is one of the individuals assigned to the Tower Of Numenosyn.
• 1:23:50
  Nick (Herry): Gotcha. Sure.
• 1:23:52
  Justin (GM): Once inside, you feel the air pop again, your ears, feel that similar thing that Beanie did a few like, almost a week ago that cast the silence spell around the group of you. Yeah. And Asher says, as you know, we've been monitoring Arcanist Manuel Collinsworth for a number of weeks now, ever since you identified his sister as being a member of the Custodia Sangwus. And the the risks were just too great. We're now arresting him under charges of dark enchantment, assault against myself, and not the least of which is high treason.
• 1:24:40
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. Sure. Jeez. Okay.
• 1:24:42
  Justin (GM): He is bound, magically gagged. His face has two little gold glowing lights in front of his eyes preventing him from seeing. He has a magical bound, magical gag preventing him from speaking. He is not registering any of this.
• 1:25:00
  Nick (Herry): Okay. Alright. Great. Jeez. Have you guys made any progress on whether or not he's working alone or if there are any more allies within the university on this guy?
• 1:25:11
  Or
• 1:25:12
  Justin (GM): We have not been able to find any additional people that he is directly corresponding with here in the university. He seems to have been a plant which is more than I can say for the senate. I think I've heard number 17 has been caught fleeing. Is that correct, Harry?
• 1:25:35
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. As of last night, it was 17. Around midnight last night, they went to go check on old what was his name? Daniel Travins. And yeah.
• 1:25:49
  Gone. No trace. No sign. No word. It sucks, but I mean, driving them out one at a time, I guess.
• 1:25:56
  I mean, getting them Yeah.
• 1:25:57
  Justin (GM): It's not the number that are gone that concerns me, Harry. It's the number that might still remain.
• 1:26:02
  Nick (Herry): This is not what we're working We're all trying to do the same thing. Yeah. I get it.
• 1:26:06
  Justin (GM): I've got a number of things on my plate. I know that you're are you're out soon. Correct?
• 1:26:13
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. I'm taking a crew out to Agoda. They're obviously quite upset. Fair enough. Justifiably.
• 1:26:18
  Usually, I'm not one to send the person that deeply upset them to work with them and recover that relationship, but when do I get what I want? So we're heading out tomorrow morning, I think. But, yeah, for the bridge that collapsed, we actually are working on a new department. I've actually got Beanie running it as it's mostly runamancy. We we're trying to get these bridges and all of this infrastructure that's currently being held up by a wish and a prayer to be a little more sturdy and a little bit more rituals that can actually be kept up by anyone with some magical knowledge.
• 1:26:51
  And so I think I think we're on the right track. And I think once this gets repaired and once Agoda sees that we are taking the steps to actually make it more sustainable long term, It'll smooth everything over. We'll leave around 10AM tomorrow, and I'll get back get get with you when I get back.
• 1:27:08
  Justin (GM): Please give my congratulations to Beanie. This promotion is well deserved.
• 1:27:13
  Nick (Herry): Oh, yeah. That'll mean a lot to her. I'll I'll pass that along. It's been a nightmare. It's taken three different people to cover to the ground.
• 1:27:20
  Justin (GM): That's not surprising. Yeah. I I'm not surprised to hear that.
• 1:27:23
  Nick (Herry): I used to constantly make fun of Connie for how many assistants he had running around that office for how little he actually got accomplished.
• 1:27:30
  Justin (GM): I I do see even that, like, brief moment where he you've given him an opportunity to talk about something normal.
• 1:27:40
  Nick (Herry): Sure. Yeah.
• 1:27:42
  Justin (GM): A, like, a weight is lifted off of his shoulders, but the person on the ground kind of shuffles and immediately his shoulders kind of rise back up and enter too as the tension returns. And he says, it seems like Arcanist Collinsworth was using the same UV writing to alter and Jeez. Encrypt additional memories into the the tower. And Okay. General Lautner, his eyes he has been completely read in on the Cusodia Sanghus.
• 1:28:24
  He is kind of aware of this, but he's not a magic user. And the depth of the damage being done to the person masquerading as the incarnate king of Venethar Sure. Is is when you don't fully understand, something like that kinda just blows his mind.
• 1:28:44
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. It's a little little much. Okay.
• 1:28:48
  Justin (GM): Asher Asher looks at you and says, I'm going to spend as much free time as I have examining the tower, but I'm Harry, I could be deeply compromised.
• 1:29:03
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. Okay. I get it. I get it. I get it.
• 1:29:06
  You have to I can't argue with you. I can't say that that's not true. We don't know. But the the fact that you are interested in getting to the bottom of that gives me all the confidence. I get it.
• 1:29:16
  I all the confidence in the world that we will figure this out, and we will make sure that you're not. I think as people that you work with see you getting to the bottom of this, trust is there. We're a team. We can figure this out.
• 1:29:31
  Justin (GM): There are new senators replacing those who fled. They're hungry. They wanna prove themselves. I want to use that to my advantage. As the keeper of Ennathar, I can put things to a vote in the senate and we can Yeah.
• 1:29:47
  We can use this and he looks down to the bound person, the bound Arcanist. We can use our resources to our advantage. We can find out what he knows. We can question him. Yeah.
• 1:29:59
  But things are gonna get aggressive.
• 1:30:01
  Nick (Herry): Great. Listen. You know I'm behind you and you know that you've got a strong coalition here. You'll you'll notice none of the 17 fleeing senators came from Rysinium City and the circle of gold, between me, Tenere, con Connie. Like, we're here.
• 1:30:16
  We're we've got a team. We trust Java here. We trust the guard. We trust most of the university and those that we are watching. You know, we've got it under a little under control.
• 1:30:28
  Truly, I can't I can't say it enough. I trust you. The circle of gold trusts you. You were an excellent king and you're going to make you already are making an excellent, incredible keeper, whatever the fuck that job is and whatever you decide that job is, but we're behind you. We trust you.
• 1:30:45
  You can lead this as long as you keep your head on and keep yourself straight. And Harry is using inspirational words to clear two stress off of Asher right now, as he can just see it eating him up. Harry just wants to remind him of who he is, who he's been, who he's going to be, and the fact that he has allies and he has a team with this and he doesn't have to carry this as a king all alone.
• 1:31:12
  Justin (GM): The ring on his finger stops glowing, and I think you realize that that artifact is designed to protect him.
• 1:31:23
  Nick (Herry): Sure.
• 1:31:23
  Justin (GM): And it wasn't still buzzing just from, like, latent protection from whatever he was doing to apprehend this arcanist.
• 1:31:33
  Nick (Herry): Yeah.
• 1:31:33
  Justin (GM): It might have been just reacting to how stressed he is and that he was still in, like, fight or flight mode.
• 1:31:41
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. Of course.
• 1:31:42
  Justin (GM): And now it's like, okay. He's breathing regularly. He's breathing normally.
• 1:31:47
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. We'll reset.
• 1:31:48
  Justin (GM): General Lotner kind of chimes in and says, we've had reports of another hospital going down. The goddess Elan is continuing to not answer prayers, but I understand that pilot Lucan is on it and kinda looks at at Asher and Asher confirms.
• 1:32:14
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. I talked to him last night. He seems ready for the job. It's not historically in Boz's wheelhouse with the hospitals and that kind of a thing, but maybe that's the change needed. I think Lucan is the person to lead the charge in recovering some of these things.
• 1:32:34
  And, again, add them to the list of people that I trust, I mean, that's on the team to get this handled.
• 1:32:40
  Justin (GM): Astra looks up at the tower, the mirage kind of blending it in with the sky at the top and sort of takes in this deep breath and says, I guess you could well, I'm not a reincarnation, but it's good that I don't feel the need to take the walk up the tower anytime soon.
• 1:33:08
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. Take your wins where you can get them.
• 1:33:11
  Justin (GM): Harry, I've got I've got Sara on something right now and I can't tell you a lot.
• 1:33:17
  Nick (Herry): Oh, okay. Great. But she Yeah. I mean, I haven't heard from her a week and a half, but she she's okay? She's doing alright?
• 1:33:24
  As long I mean
• 1:33:26
  Justin (GM): I don't know how to answer that question.
• 1:33:29
  Nick (Herry): Okay. I mean, it's not the first and won't be the last time I don't know where Sahara is or what she's doing.
• 1:33:35
  Justin (GM): I am unfortunately in a position where I can't the well-being of my friends and loved ones is secondary
• 1:33:46
  Nick (Herry): Sure.
• 1:33:46
  Justin (GM): To what I have to accomplish.
• 1:33:48
  Nick (Herry): Sure. That's fair.
• 1:33:50
  Justin (GM): And I have good reason to believe that she'll be reaching out to you, Harry, in the coming weeks.
• 1:33:58
  Nick (Herry): Great.
• 1:33:58
  Justin (GM): I know you'll be in Agoda and we need you there. I need, frankly, I need you out of here for a minute.
• 1:34:06
  Nick (Herry): Fair enough. Okay. Alright.
• 1:34:08
  Justin (GM): But she'll reach out to you. She'll need you.
• 1:34:11
  Nick (Herry): Okay. Yeah. She knows where to find me. This is hard, but it's necessary. And on the other side of it, it will be good.
• 1:34:21
  Justin (GM): Covery is hard, but it's necessary.
• 1:34:25
  Nick (Herry): It is. And I don't think anyone even Tallulah Pinch could have predicted what all the things that have been going on in that university for the last fifty, a hundred years were actually preparing us for a university to start taking over public works and solving bigger problems than how do charm spells work more effectively. And so we're ready. This is good. This is we're we're growing.
• 1:34:50
  We're ready. This is good.
• 1:34:52
  Justin (GM): On that front, Harry, there are some things that I've been thinking about and want to run by some of the individuals at the university. K.
• 1:35:03
  Nick (Herry): Alright.
• 1:35:04
  Justin (GM): I think you need to be read in. And he gestures to Lautner and down at the the the prisoner and says, this individual needs to be treated. I I've bound them. They cannot cast magic. Assume they are still extremely dangerous.
• 1:35:27
  I need to speak with my uncle, and he takes you out of the dome of silence. Your ears pop. And you look out across the city, the city that you have worked over the last few weeks to to defend. The commons have been raided and rioted. There is still evidence of the fight on the Hill Of Faith.
• 1:35:56
  Sure. There are battle wounds across Rhysinium City, and Venethar is undeniably
• 1:36:04
  Nick (Herry): changed Yeah.
• 1:36:06
  Justin (GM): From the actions that you, Lucan, and Sara took. But change is always an opportunity for growth.
• 1:36:15
  Nick (Herry): Yeah.
• 1:36:15
  Justin (GM): And you see the university is busier than it ever has been before. What was previously a kind of bastion of knowledge and a place for book nerds like Beanie to learn magic and for people like your mother to study mice is now becoming a almost like a arm and partner to to the Venetharan government. And you see senators walking around talking to arcanists. I want you to give me just a flat roll, a flat duality dice roll to tell me how Harry is feeling right now.
• 1:37:08
  Nick (Herry): It's a crit. Two force. That's really funny.
• 1:37:13
  Justin (GM): I love that. Why don't you describe I think Asher pulled you away to kind of talk to you, but I think you're both kind of just looking out over the city in silence. And what is Harry feeling?
• 1:37:28
  Nick (Herry): I think Harry, looking over the campus grounds of the university, is exhausted, is feeling worn out. He has been spinning plates since leading into Sharnwick, of sort of getting out of riskies for the first time as, like, a public facing senator to deal with that issue. And then over the following weeks and month or however long it's been, has only become more of a public facing person and kind of became a voice and a face for a movement. All the while, like, truly rooted with his mother being an arcanist looking forward and his father being this folk historian looking backward and then watching a king grow up in his family, Harry is just looking over the country that he's been working so hard to do this exact thing and and and is so immensely proud of the fact that it's doing it. And not only do I mean, they're doing the job of the gods.
• 1:38:35
  Right? It's not just, you know, little stuff. It's taking over where the gods have dipped and left this country behind, all the while also being, again, exhausted because he's lost Beanie that's the person that has kept the trains on time for his office. So now Harry's actually
• 1:38:53
  Justin (GM): Mhmm.
• 1:38:53
  Nick (Herry): Not only for the first time overwhelmed with the figuring out how to move a country forward but having to do it and actually pay attention to the details. He's keenly aware that there are people and potentially gods and whole groups that would love to see this fall flat on their face that are gunning for Harry to fail, gunning for Asher to fail in this. And so he is just gleeful and terrified in his tightrope walk as they sort of set out into the unknown on this and he's just loving it.
• 1:39:27
  Justin (GM): Harry, I know so many stories. I know stories that my mom, my grandma told us I lived that are now being told. Well, I I remember living. I don't know a story for right now.
• 1:39:52
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. You and I have been on the receiving end of stories our whole life, but I think this is what's keeping me moving forward over the last few weeks. You and me and Sara and Lucan, we get to ride the next one.