Latest / Theater of the Mindset / Ep. 17 - "The Lighthouse" - Faith & Fortune

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Ep. 17 - "The Lighthouse" - Faith & Fortune · Theater of the Mindset

• 0:00
  Shelby (Sahra): Theater of the Mindset. Theater of
• 0:05
  Justin (GM): Last Theater of
• 0:08
  Nick (Herry): week on Faith and Fortune, Harry and Beanie discovered a rune of scrying planted on Mother Demeris proposals for the senate and then the gang made a plan to get Harry's sister, Tella, away from the lighthouse. On their way to pick up Harry's platoon, the trio was attacked on the street by a recruit of the custodian Sanguis. Harry quickly repudiated their fireball and Lucan and Sara took care of business. They found a vial of raw faith on the cultists and Harry shared that knowledge with Chava Lockner before all of them headed out on their mission and sent most of the platoon on an exercise in distraction. Pick up right there.
• 0:50
  Justin (GM): The three of you and the entourage of eight or so guards begin to make your way out of Rysinium City into the larger, greater basin of Venethar. This area is kind of what the equivalent of, like, a suburb, but if the suburb was required to feed a small city worth of people. So lots of small collections of seven or eight houses on a crossroads surrounded by their land, which they harvest large amounts of food from. So it's not exactly, like, one individual community, but a collection of maybe three or four families that live together and then farm that area. And then another half mile down the road, there's another one of these.
• 1:32
  So it is a comparatively to Residium City, very sparse, but people still can travel to the city quite easily and are just simpler folk in terms of what they are dealing with day in and day out. They are working their fields and at most have community with their local cluster and then the cluster is directly around them. So you are able to make it out there quite a ways. Every once in a while, you'll see a formal guard of Venathar watch post as well, allowing service members to maintain general law in order, keeping bandits from taking advantage of the open roads and things like that. This is where you will find The Lighthouse.
• 2:17
  The Lighthouse is a massive towering building, easily nine to 10 stories high, and notably has a couple of important features. It is the Temple Of Irasinda, and it is where they have a, like, child birthing retreat. So many women, when they know it is almost their time, if they so desire, and many do, will go to the lighthouse in order to get the best possible care they can during labor. It also serves as a roost for these mounts of the Selenic knights. The Brotherhood of Selenic knights are, again, the, essentially paladins who associate themselves with they associate themselves with the moons of Nott and Prylius.
• 3:23
  The Selenic knights, Sara, that you have seen in your vision and likely, Luke, and you've seen from time to time, they are associated with Notemprylius, the two moons of Sariel, and they ride on what are called salt feather eagles. These eagles are massive birds, large enough for two people, to ride when they are fully mature, and they are they serve as the common knights for the Selenic Brotherhood. These birds roost at the top levels of the lighthouse. It's on cliffs, hence giving part of its name as the lighthouse. As you ride even within a few hours of the building, you can see cut out above it, there are no clouds.
• 4:17
  Never is the light of the sun or the moon slight of the sun or the moons hindered from reaching the lighthouse. It is also kind of in an open area. You would see many, people expecting parents walking around outside. You know, anyone within week a week or two of expecting to go into labor will make a retreat to here. So there are lots of civilians in this space as well.
• 4:44
  You are all still several hours out. Again, you can see the carve out, but you can't necessarily see the lighthouse itself. Harry, you get the hairs on the back of your head stand up, and you hear a voice. Shit. Dearest uncle, would you care to explain to me why there is a platoon of guards conducting exercises outside of my mother's home?
• 5:14
  Nick (Herry): Alonzo, great to hear from you. I've been trying to get a hold of you all day.
• 5:19
  Justin (GM): Yes. In fact, you have. I have been informed that there are three messages and then a additional message left after a thirty seven minute wait.
• 5:31
  Nick (Herry): Thirty seven and forty two. Ah. Those both beanie. She's nothing but if not tenacious. So as far as the I got Boy, I couldn't tell you how or why but I I found myself in charge of a small platoon of the folks that came back from Hilford looking for a job and I figured I'd keep them keep them active, keep them training.
• 5:54
  Justin (GM): You're far. You're far away.
• 5:57
  Nick (Herry): I'm I'm not close.
• 5:59
  Justin (GM): You get the sense that his communication to you, the longer you hold the line, the longer he's able to triangulate your location?
• 6:09
  Nick (Herry): I mean, the the guards aren't doing anything as far as I know. She's like, your mom's not even there. Like, they're just on No.
• 6:15
  Justin (GM): She's not.
• 6:16
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. They're just on a they're just kinda doing routine training.
• 6:19
  Justin (GM): Your personal platoon. Yeah. Is doing routine training outside of my mother's home?
• 6:25
  Nick (Herry): I mean, the platoon I'm currently in charge of.
• 6:27
  Justin (GM): Harry, is going on?
• 6:29
  Nick (Herry): Per se. What's going on? I'm going to check-in on your mom and I just didn't necessarily wanna have anyone stop from a wellness check.
• 6:42
  Justin (GM): Why does my mother need a wellness check?
• 6:46
  Nick (Herry): How many care how many characters do we get in this celebrity? Sorry.
• 6:50
  Justin (GM): I'm very talented. I'll find a way. Stop making stop making broken up signal sounds. I'm the signal.
• 7:01
  Nick (Herry): Sorry. You're breaking up. Boy, I don't I There's a lot that A lot of things that we've been learning the last few days and I just have reason to believe that your mother, my sister, has is maybe not doing well and hasn't been doing well for a long time and and I'd like to just take a look and see with my own eyes.
• 7:30
  Justin (GM): Harry, I need you to tell me straight right now. Is my mother in danger?
• 7:41
  Nick (Herry): Maybe. I
• 7:46
  Justin (GM): have a few things that I need to tie up here and then I will be
• 7:49
  Nick (Herry): You don't We've I've got Lucan, I've got Sara, and I've got You have Lucan and Sara with you? Yes. We've got it. We're gonna go check. It'll be okay.
• 7:56
  We will I Listen. I've been wanting to talk to you all day. We will make sure to come to you and check with you.
• 8:01
  Justin (GM): Is this what you wanted to tell me that my mother was in danger?
• 8:04
  Nick (Herry): Potentially. Yes. And and just kind of get the lay of the land on seeing how things were going and seeing how what you knew and what was going on and what's happening. It's been a stressful time.
• 8:14
  Justin (GM): What are you Never mind. My mother No. No. No. Please.
• 8:17
  Nick (Herry): No. Your mother.
• 8:18
  Justin (GM): No. That's the
• 8:18
  Nick (Herry): That's important what's going on now.
• 8:21
  Justin (GM): You're just saying your mother, your mother. Yep. Harry. Harry.
• 8:24
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My Yeah. King.
• 8:27
  Justin (GM): Cut that. Cut that right now. I'm going to tie up a few things here and then I'm going to My mother is is at the lighthouse.
• 8:34
  Nick (Herry): If you want to be a part of this, I need it to be you. I need it to be Alonzo, to be honest with you. I do not need Kingsguard here. We don't need Kingsguard here. This is a situation that Alonzo could be helpful, but the king might cause more harm than good.
• 8:54
  Justin (GM): Give me a persuasion check. Let me look up the DC you have to beat.
• 9:02
  Nick (Herry): Can I use you've got a friend?
• 9:03
  Justin (GM): 19. You may. Oh, wait. It's 18.
• 9:09
  Nick (Herry): Can I use my cane and mark a stress to add two?
• 9:13
  Justin (GM): Yes. So
• 9:17
  Nick (Herry): here's the deal. Because I got to use my experience, I rolled a five with hope. But as a human, I get to mark a stress to reroll a failed roll when using an experience. Yes. Taking a whole lot How many hope have you used in this total?
• 9:32
  I will have used one, unless that Yeah.
• 9:34
  Justin (GM): A human thing doesn't count. You don't have to spend
• 9:36
  Nick (Herry): a hope. It's marked a stress.
• 9:37
  Justin (GM): Oh, you're marking
• 9:38
  Nick (Herry): I'll be marking two stress. Yep. Okay. 13 plus two is 15 plus three, it's a 21.
• 9:50
  Justin (GM): That does beat. Is it with hope or fear? With hope. It's a success with hope? Yes.
• 9:56
  You're just with Lucan and Sarath?
• 10:01
  Nick (Herry): Nope. I've also got eight guards with me from the platoon. Okay. They're a little bit more for my safety than anything.
• 10:10
  Justin (GM): At some point, I'm going to make my way to you and you will have a ninth guard member. Okay. I will ideally catch just them in this.
• 10:22
  Nick (Herry): Okay.
• 10:22
  Justin (GM): But the charm will be I'm not here to be delicate. As far as they will remember, they will have always had Yeah. Alonzo was always here. Alonzo Guardsman who was always there.
• 10:36
  Nick (Herry): Yep. I think that's fine. Yeah. Okay. Yep.
• 10:38
  Just Alonzo. Okay. I appreciate you calling me back. It's hard to get a hold. You're so busy.
• 10:45
  Justin (GM): I am the king of Venethar. I'm your I'm your uncle. I I hear you. I hear you. And it is your uncle duties that keep you truly the most busy.
• 10:56
  Nick (Herry): That's right. That's right. That's right. And brotherly. Okay.
• 11:00
  We'll talk to you soon.
• 11:01
  Justin (GM): Alright. Goodbye.
• 11:02
  Nick (Herry): I I just kind of like get to a point where only Sarah and Luke can can kind of hear and just go, Asher's coming. Alonzo's coming. We'll see when we get there.
• 11:14
  Steve (Luken): Okay. Just like old times,
• 11:17
  Justin (GM): Just like just like old times. You all spend the next hour or so making the last stretch to the lighthouse. The exterior of the lighthouse is alternate white marble with junctions of gold plating. Again, very very tall. The entire first two floors appear very much more open air, with the upper floors being entirely encased with sparse windows.
• 11:52
  Again, massive open courtyard. There are easily 200 or so civilians expecting parents who are in this space, even a cursory religious, knowledge. This is Irasinda's most hallowed temple. Sara spirits in hallowed sacred ground don't repel each other, but are like oil and water. They are just it takes concerted effort to mix in this in this area.
• 12:30
  And that will mean to cast magic, you're going to have to burn an additional stress. Okay. Your magic will work, but you do have to burn an additional stress to pull the spirits you need into that area. Additionally, there are some portions of the lighthouse that are just off limits to men. Sure.
• 12:54
  The Church of Ursinda and the Selenic Brotherhood allow expecting parents and anyone to be in most of the areas, but there are some that are restricted to only women and the daughters of Ursinda. The last thing to know, aside from the Salt Feather Eagles, you all may take an action to investigate this clinic. It's a, as I mentioned earlier, a place, with extensive knowledge and purpose dedicated to childbirth. It is also like a fertility clinic where people who struggle to bear a child, can go to seek help. So it has many purposes, all of which kind of center to the domains of Yrasenda.
• 13:48
  There is outside of the open courtyard, a small, like, effectively, like, a check-in registration entrance, and you will all have to get in through that to access the greater grounds. That is kind of the next step for you all entering into here. Sorry. Captain Wickrow looks at you and says, they're not gonna let us take our weapons in there. Do you want us to wait out here?
• 14:17
  Do you want us to come in?
• 14:20
  Nick (Herry): What do you guys think?
• 14:25
  Shelby (Sahra): More people is better than less people. Mhmm.
• 14:29
  Steve (Luken): I think they will do us more good with us without weapons than they would out here with weapons.
• 14:36
  Shelby (Sahra): I agree.
• 14:38
  Justin (GM): We could do that.
• 14:41
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. I'm just wondering if there's a way to get in with weapons.
• 14:45
  Steve (Luken): Yeah. Do they have anything that's easily easy to conceal? What's what's their loadout? You see,
• 14:53
  Justin (GM): you can provoke this dick be like, these fists are weapons. Does that count?
• 14:58
  Nick (Herry): These guys are classic Glenn. Classic Glenn.
• 15:02
  Steve (Luken): I'm so glad we brought Glenn with us.
• 15:04
  Justin (GM): Glenn, great attitude. Just happy to do my part. I'm doing my part.
• 15:09
  Nick (Herry): I'm try I'm trying to decide if I we can just scooch on in and take away a minute of this fine person's memory.
• 15:18
  Justin (GM): I like Or if that's too risky, too fast.
• 15:21
  Steve (Luken): I I'd say go for it. I think if you can if you, Harry, can get us in as we are, I think that improves our odds greatly. And if you're confident you can make that happen, let's do it.
• 15:33
  Nick (Herry): Well, it often works. It doesn't always work. What's what is this gate? Just like, what if I were to just send them through while I'm talking, obviously, this person is going to be a little stressed about that, but is that physically possible? Or is there
• 15:48
  Justin (GM): Think of it like a hospital, like waiting room, but kind of in the open air. There's like a large building, almost like a
• 15:54
  Nick (Herry): Oh, so this isn't very far. This is the building.
• 15:57
  Justin (GM): This is the court. Like, you will go into like the courtyard.
• 16:00
  Nick (Herry): Gotcha.
• 16:01
  Justin (GM): Let's Things like entrance to National Park, where they have like a a guard station Great.
• 16:05
  Nick (Herry): I thought
• 16:05
  Justin (GM): it was and a clear entrance.
• 16:06
  Nick (Herry): I thought it was much farther away. Why don't we split these guys? Let's take two unarmed with us, the rest of them can stay here at the front. Yeah. That That sound sounds reasonable.
• 16:16
  Yep. Yeah. And then if anything happens, we're we're we're okay.
• 16:20
  Justin (GM): Captain Wickrow and Glenn will go Glenn. With you. Glenn, you're with me. Alright.
• 16:25
  Steve (Luken): Yeah. Glenn shouldn't be unsupervised. Yeah. We love him,
• 16:28
  Nick (Herry): but It's a loose cannon.
• 16:31
  Justin (GM): As you approach the gate, the a Selenic knight walks out wearing light blues and whites. They have this Halliburd, this long weapon, with a blade on the top that's like crescent shaped, waves you down and says, six of you have business?
• 16:50
  Nick (Herry): Hello. Yes. Harry Pinch. How are you doing? Senator Harry Pinch.
• 16:53
  How are you? What's your name?
• 16:54
  Justin (GM): My my name? Yeah. Marcus.
• 16:56
  Nick (Herry): Marcus, nice to meet you. Yeah. We're here to check-in on my sister, Theater Mays. We're kinda just swinging through saying
• 17:03
  Justin (GM): hello. Oh, yes. Great. Yeah. Senator Pinch.
• 17:08
  Yeah.
• 17:10
  Shelby (Sahra): Sarah Kassane.
• 17:11
  Justin (GM): Sarah Kassane.
• 17:12
  Steve (Luken): John Robinson. Give me a presenter I because I'm a fugitive. Like
• 17:19
  Justin (GM): Yeah. Right. No. I know. I know.
• 17:21
  Steve (Luken): I wasn't just fucking around here.
• 17:23
  Nick (Herry): Although at this point, like, fucking what are they gonna do?
• 17:25
  Steve (Luken): The the reason for Steve's hesitation was I almost said John Roberts,
• 17:29
  Nick (Herry): who Yeah.
• 17:30
  Steve (Luken): I'm not naming a character after Supreme Court Justice John Roberts at this point. What am I what role am I'm sorry.
• 17:38
  Justin (GM): You're making a presence role.
• 17:39
  Nick (Herry): How's those prayer die looking?
• 17:41
  Steve (Luken): Pretty good. When I make a presence role, I can spend a hope to add my strength to the role and I'm going to do that.
• 17:48
  Nick (Herry): You have a rally too.
• 17:50
  Steve (Luken): If I need it.
• 17:51
  Nick (Herry): You need it.
• 17:51
  Justin (GM): You have a 14.
• 17:53
  Steve (Luken): That is a twelve, fifteen, 17 with fear. 17 with fear.
• 18:00
  Justin (GM): You say that, and you hear Glenn go behind you go, fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
• 18:07
  Fuck. I'm Glenn Robinson er.
• 18:15
  Nick (Herry): Harry turns around and glares at Glenn.
• 18:17
  Justin (GM): My name my last name is also Robinson. That's fine. What? You don't look like brothers.
• 18:21
  Nick (Herry): You don't have to be more than one person.
• 18:23
  Justin (GM): But we have the same I'm sorry.
• 18:24
  Steve (Luken): It's a common name.
• 18:25
  Nick (Herry): There are
• 18:26
  Steve (Luken): a lot of Robinsons.
• 18:28
  Justin (GM): The guard says, gives Glen just the weirdest look.
• 18:33
  Nick (Herry): He's he's strange. He told me to ruck his nuts earlier. It's it's it's I don't he's a little too I don't know. At certain times, he's very confident, at certain times, he's very like, weird.
• 18:44
  Justin (GM): Just strange. Marcus. I'm gonna need you to hold back, and he gestures to Glenn to hold on. Captain Bram gives his name. And and then the sixth member of your group speaks up and says, Alonso Marquez gives a gesture to Harry, to the two of you.
• 19:10
  You don't know at what point the king appeared, but he joined the five of you walking up. Captain Wickrow does not register this as being odd. Clearly, some magic has been cast, a charm spell, and Alonzo, the hidden identity of the incarnate king has joined you. He takes on the name. Alright.
• 19:37
  The five of you come in. I'm gonna talk to Yes. This Glenn character
• 19:40
  Nick (Herry): Fair enough.
• 19:41
  Justin (GM): For a bit more.
• 19:41
  Nick (Herry): He's he's an odd bird, but don't beat him up too much.
• 19:44
  Justin (GM): Well, we know how to handle odd birds around here. Hiyum. And he gestures to the the eagles.
• 19:49
  Nick (Herry): Hiyum.
• 19:50
  Justin (GM): You all walk in, and the garden has lots of areas. Again, it's because it's always sunny here. The vegetation is extremely healthy for this early in spring. And looking into one of the kind of hedge grove areas, you see three women all kneeling on the ground, letting sand move slowly through their hand, making a design on a perfectly flat surface. In the center of this design is a tall woman with broad shoulders, very her she wears armor on her that, like, hugs tight to her figure, but is appears strong and battle ready.
• 20:40
  This is not, the stereotypical women fantasy armor where, like, it's like allows them to be scantily clad. No. This is like a woman bound for war, And she holds in her one hand a large sickle, and in her other hand, rests, at her feet. She is calming a lioness, behind her. This is the common imagery of Irasinda.
• 21:10
  Around this figure, these women are creating, intricate sand designs. They have clearly based on the rate at which their hands are moving and the sand is flowing now, they have been at this for hours. What's most striking about all of this is their eyes are covered. They have a thin gauze not gauze. They have a thin tool that covers and wraps around their heads, effectively keeping them from seeing clearly, and yet they all work at different points of this, sand art in perfect sync, making a perfectly select symmetrical design around the, imprinted figurine of Yericenta on the ground.
• 22:00
  Above them, almost like a column of light, the faith that these women have in generating this art is visible to you and moves up in an arch around the lighthouse to the top where it is collected. There are other points in these gardens where you assume people are doing a similar action, and that is collecting at the top of this tower and allowing light to be seen inside and on top, giving it the name of the lighthouse. You all have free entrance into the building. You've kind of gotten through the main guard, but there are amongst the civilians, maybe for every 10 or so civilians, you see a Selenic knight or daughter of Irasinda moving about the place. You see one woman has clearly gone into labor, and they are, like, carting her inside.
• 22:57
  They are handling this, like, immaculate professionals. There is nothing that they have not seen. They are prepared. This is what this place is for, is to help women in this moment. And so they are counter to the experience of the woman who is resting assured that she is in good hands.
• 23:16
  They are like, we have done this before. We this is a matter of rote for us. So there is a lot going on that requires the attention of the daughters of Yrissinda. They are here for the childbirthing and labor process. The Selenic Brotherhood, the Selenic Knights are a little bit more of the guard here.
• 23:35
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. Harry's walking through at that kind of the front just as the person that's kind of like announced presence and wants to blend in by acting out a little bit, like no sneaking, perfectly normal that we're here. Kind of like saying hello to every guard. Anyone that's not too busy, he's kind of being the senator and she's like, hey, how you doing?
• 23:57
  Justin (GM): Great job. And you told
• 23:59
  Steve (Luken): the first guard you were coming to see
• 24:01
  Nick (Herry): Represent. But I'm just
• 24:02
  Steve (Luken): like you like, yeah, that all fit.
• 24:03
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. So head up. I assume we know kind of generally where there's a way for us to get to where Tella is. Knowing where
• 24:12
  Justin (GM): your sister is is is not just like common knowledge.
• 24:17
  Shelby (Sahra): So we gotta find where Tella is.
• 24:22
  Nick (Herry): I look at Alonzo.
• 24:24
  Shelby (Sahra): I start just kind of confidently walking with a purpose and just checking every door and just kind of I'm assuming, is it kind of like a
• 24:35
  Justin (GM): A spiral.
• 24:35
  Shelby (Sahra): A spiral kind of thing?
• 24:36
  Justin (GM): You start that process, you see Alonso kind of gesturing kind of to the cuts off the the throat a little bit motion with his
• 24:46
  Shelby (Sahra): kinda throw my hands up and I'm like
• 24:50
  Justin (GM): We we can ask someone, Sara. Sara, be cool. Alonzo approaches the a desk where a young daughter of Erisinda seems to be taking notes and doing some administrative work, and he says, excuse me. We wish to offer our thanks and gratitude to the mother of Venethar if we may know where she is. The woman kind of looks up, yes, of course.
• 25:24
  I believe the mother is deep in prayer at the moment. She asks not to be disturbed. Alonso responds, I understand. Even if we could just leave our our gifts outside, we've made a long and hard pilgrimage. It would be wonderful if we could just deliver these gifts.
• 25:45
  We don't need to intrude upon her at all. I I understand. Yes. She is on the 6th Floor, and the there's few rooms up there. They'll she's in six a.
• 25:59
  Please don't disturb her. She is, as I mentioned earlier, deep in prayer. Sure.
• 26:05
  Nick (Herry): Wonderful. Hey. Thanks so much. Harry Pitch. Nice to meet you.
• 26:08
  What was your name?
• 26:09
  Justin (GM): Oh, my name? Yeah. Candle. Candle. Nice to
• 26:12
  Nick (Herry): meet you. Doctor Candle. Nice to meet you. Guys are doing an excellent job up here. What a beautiful location.
• 26:17
  I can't
• 26:17
  Shelby (Sahra): Harry, come on. Let's go. We got places to be.
• 26:19
  Nick (Herry): Come on. Of course. Of course. Head up. Here we go.
• 26:24
  Justin (GM): Armed with the information that you have, knowing where Tella is and supposedly what Tella is doing, Alonzo is looking to you all and kinda, alright. Well, do we head up?
• 26:37
  Nick (Herry): Let's head on up. Let's head on up.
• 26:41
  Justin (GM): Moving up the tower, the center of it is open air, even as you move on on the way up. And the light that has gathered at the top of the the building kind of moves down, providing everyone else with essentially visibility and the ability to see. You hear lots of people in various states of labor. You see and hear babies crying. It feels like a birthing ward.
• 27:14
  You also see a number of couples in rooms with all daughters of Irisinda in the gold garb that you're familiar with, kind of providing consults. And you're impressed by also just the number of, what appear to be, like, civilian doctors in this place. It doesn't look as though, although daughters of Irisinda often serve as midwives, that only midwifery is happening here. There are many different professionals, professional doctors walking around as well. This place feels clean and sanitized.
• 27:58
  You see a floor dedicated specifically to just, like, premature births. Like, this is a a home for safety for a lot of these early parents and early children. You get up to the 6th Floor and the mood is different. It is quiet. It is a little bit more cut off from the other floors.
• 28:24
  It does still have that open air concept to the middle, which allows light to come through, but the guardrail is much higher here, reaching, I think, above where Harry can see. And the outer windows are all stained glass on this level. The depictions of Uracinda here are in her strongest form. She is depicted in her greatest tales of, like, pulling the sun across the sky and kind of holding the children, which in her view is all of creation, in place. You see her two brothers and their the collectively, family's only other child, Maren, the goddess of the wishing star, all kind of representing the solar pantheon depicted on one of the stained glass windows.
• 29:29
  And then finally, you see two women, one depicted as Irasinda, the other, almost this fragmented appearance of a woman on the other side beside Arasinda. Both of them have their hands on the shoulders on either shoulder of what appears to be the incarnate king, kind of displaying what you would understand to be Irsunda, the goddess of motherhood, and what is often referred to as the divine mother of Venethar, the woman who gives birth to the immortal soul, the incarnate king of Venethar, and then a nondescript incarnate king below them. In her role as the divine mother, give me a knowledge check.
• 30:29
  Nick (Herry): Can I use Loreborn?
• 30:31
  Justin (GM): Keep in mind fear generated by multiple people all counts, if you wanna take one at a time.
• 30:35
  Nick (Herry): Well, I have well read you have an advantage on rules that involve the history, culture, or politics of a prominent person or place.
• 30:40
  Justin (GM): That would count as this.
• 30:41
  Steve (Luken): Why don't you do
• 30:42
  Shelby (Sahra): it, Harry? Why don't
• 30:42
  Nick (Herry): I give it a shot? I also have a plus two already. So that's in I'm gonna use my rally die. Plus six. So that's a 16 with hope.
• 30:53
  Justin (GM): In her function as the divine mother of Ennathar, she is associated with the Church of Irasinda. How that manifests is often up to the individual themselves because the incarnate king is born into a different family every time that they are reincarnated. The personalities, the family, the background changes. And very similar to how, like, maybe, like, a first the the first lady, like, has a different role depending on the personality of the first lady, such is the divine mother of Ennathar. Your sister has been heavily involved in this role throughout her life.
• 31:40
  You know, she got quite caught up in the politics of it all from a very early age. The Daughters of Irasinda really kind of brought her in. She does not serve in a clerical function, but is often shown as a figurehead, paraded around at events where the king cannot be, at least his mother is and can show that kind of political favor in that moment. But you also know that your sister has often not felt well. Yeah.
• 32:23
  Bastian made a reference to it. Bastian is far more outgoing than your sister. She, upon coming back with him, didn't always she was always a bit of a black sheep, but now she's like a quiet black sheep, and has often described feeling overwhelmed by everything.
• 32:40
  Nick (Herry): Yeah.
• 32:41
  Justin (GM): There are three Selenic guard, three knights of the Selenic Brotherhood standing outside of six a, all of which are at attention. You are just on the floor, not necessarily pulling in that direction, but they have registered you. Asher says, so what's I do you want me to
• 33:07
  Nick (Herry): Can you do something? You got you got cool stuff.
• 33:10
  Steve (Luken): Right? I can always do something.
• 33:12
  Shelby (Sahra): Well, we just need to get in and make sure she's okay. So if we can do that without causing a scene, that would be best.
• 33:21
  Justin (GM): I will roll. I have advantage. He has to beat he has a plus he's a plus three to his arcane training.
• 33:35
  Nick (Herry): That's it?
• 33:37
  Justin (GM): Yeah. But I have advantage on using arcane. That's a 19. That well exceeds the guards score of 14. You see Asher extend his hand, and for a brief second, the mirage that covers his face and body with an illusion flickers just for a second.
• 34:07
  You see kind of the latticework, of thin white lines give for a second as he extends his hand and almost like the struck of a paintbrush begins to move his fingers back and forth. This is not a spell that any of you are familiar with. But every time he makes a downstroke with his hand, a member of the Slaenic guard the Slaenic brotherhood just collapses. And in three quick motions, all three are on the ground. And he kind of flicks his fingers a little bit after having cast the spell, almost like lines in the place where his hand was has indents, small hairline indents in the air that begins to fade after five or six seconds.
• 35:06
  Nick (Herry): Sleeping. Right?
• 35:09
  Justin (GM): A deep sleep. We'll say a deep sleep.
• 35:12
  Steve (Luken): They but they're gonna be okay.
• 35:14
  Justin (GM): Most people recover just fine.
• 35:16
  Nick (Herry): Do I clock any sign that that was there's any anti magic anything or that would have caught any of that?
• 35:24
  Justin (GM): Give you mean, like, from Aracenda's perspective?
• 35:28
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. From, like, this building.
• 35:30
  Justin (GM): Yeah. Give me a instinct roll. You have to beat a 15.
• 35:39
  Nick (Herry): I only got a 14 with hope.
• 35:43
  Justin (GM): A failure with hope? There are Wait.
• 35:45
  Steve (Luken): Wait. I will give you my one prayer dice to make it a 15.
• 35:50
  Nick (Herry): Girls don't Do you I just like kinda look at Luke and as I'm looking around, any do you hear anything?
• 35:58
  Justin (GM): It is at this moment you kind of look up and there are there are these mirrors that are catching the light from the center cavity of the tower that seem to be rotating around, catching the light and creating, like, refractions on the ground that are absolutely used to monitor the various hallways. They're not like a three sixty camera
• 36:21
  Nick (Herry): Yeah.
• 36:21
  Justin (GM): But they are turning and slowly capturing images as they go around. I think because I used a
• 36:27
  Steve (Luken): prayer die, my mark from Boz starts to, like, freeze because, like, the act of me using the prayer dice and calling on Boz's power is now a much more, like, physical sensation Yeah. Because God grabbed my shoulder. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's I'm gonna say, like, freezing, like, painfully.
• 36:45
  Okay. Like, I don't think it feels good. Yeah. But I think that that feeling kinda draws my attention up towards those and I kind of nudge at Harry and point up at the mirrors and say, hey, I Yeah. Let's let's get these Keep an eye on those.
• 37:02
  Nick (Herry): Let's get these guys inside. Yeah. Let's try and Harry tries the door.
• 37:07
  Justin (GM): It is unlocked.
• 37:08
  Nick (Herry): Unlocked? Mhmm. Wow. Let's pop on in. Bran, help me get these guys inside.
• 37:13
  Justin (GM): Inside, there is a large antechamber, a almost like a entryway that would allow someone to entertain guests in. And there are rooms to either side and deeper in. You do not see anyone in this entryway, but you do see two sets of, like, shoes that have been left and taken off and left kind of in this space here, leading you to believe that if one pair belongs to your sister, Tella, your she is not alone.
• 37:47
  Nick (Herry): Harry's gonna turn around and tap a little rhythm on the door, on the door handle, and cast runic lock. Take a spell cast roll on an object you're touching that you can close. Once pressed on a success, you can lock the objects. It can only be opened by creatures of your choice, which is will be this party. So with access to so access with magic can unlock it within an hour of time.
• 38:14
  That passes to 10. So, yeah, it's a rune of luck.
• 38:19
  Justin (GM): Okay. You deposit the three guard to the side. Sara, you noticed that one of the guards at his left knee cap knee cap and down has prosthetic. And you are immediately taken to Imogen.
• 38:40
  Nick (Herry): We have a little bit of privacy, but it looks like there's someone else here as well. So friendly, big smiles.
• 38:48
  Shelby (Sahra): Tara just kinda glances at him and gives this really uncomfortable awkward smile.
• 38:52
  Justin (GM): Great. Great. Again, there's like a room to the left, a room to the right, and then a room deeper in. All of which there are these like diaphanous claws kind of marking one room for the other. It's not necessarily a door, but there's a hindered view into all of these spaces.
• 39:10
  Nick (Herry): Split up or stay together?
• 39:12
  Steve (Luken): Eileen stay stay together as much we can at this point. We're too deep in to find each other if we get two separated.
• 39:20
  Nick (Herry): True. Does there any so you saw the two, like, kind of shoes taken off, but no other sign as to where they would have gone?
• 39:26
  Steve (Luken): I pulled out one of my Boz coins, heads to the right, tails to the left. Left
• 39:31
  Justin (GM): coin for three decisions.
• 39:33
  Steve (Luken): Well, I think we start right or left.
• 39:35
  Justin (GM): Alright. What
• 39:36
  Steve (Luken): goes deeper in? I'm just here to find my mom.
• 39:39
  Nick (Herry): Do you have a three sided coin?
• 39:40
  Steve (Luken): No. Okay. Well, we could I don't use a
• 39:42
  Justin (GM): two sided coin to make a three sided decision. We could
• 39:44
  Steve (Luken): flip it like six times and No. Wow.
• 39:46
  Shelby (Sahra): It's really great to have you back so you can muck up all the works
• 39:49
  Nick (Herry): with this.
• 39:50
  Justin (GM): I don't understand why why okay.
• 39:52
  Steve (Luken): I I just think we we clear the side rooms before we go deeper in. I flipped I flipped the coin. Great. That is going to be heads.
• 40:04
  Justin (GM): Okay. To the left, you go.
• 40:05
  Steve (Luken): No. Heads was to the right, I'm pretty sure.
• 40:07
  Justin (GM): To the right, you go. Yep. Walking into the room, there is a small it it looks like a nursery. There is a small crib, to the far side, and then just a number of toys. You recognize all of these toys as being Asher's as a kid.
• 40:30
  And this is like a space that is set aside for the divine mother to nurture the child of the future king. This room does not look like it has been used in a long time. Asher immediately is, like, taken back to some of these things. It does not look like necessarily, like, this is where he was raised, but a lot of the items in here are toys that are gifted to the divine mother so that the incarnate king lacks for nothing regardless of where his station fell. The crib is itself, like, very ornate.
• 41:11
  It has a above it hangs a mobile with hanging from the top that depicts a sun, two moons, and then a shooting star. The whole thing is quite well designed and also appears to be untouched after a long period of time.
• 41:35
  Nick (Herry): Harry's gonna pull out his monocle and put that on one of his eyes.
• 41:41
  Justin (GM): The crib has lots of inscriptions on it written in ultraviolet light. Alonzo, put this on. He holds the monocle up to his eye and you see him blink a few times. What? Is this like a detect invisibility spell or
• 42:03
  Nick (Herry): Ultraviolet. They have been writing in ultraviolet light of late.
• 42:06
  Justin (GM): Ultraviolet light, meaning we can't see it. No. He takes it off and with a wave of his hand, all of you, your vision blurs for a brief second, and then all of you can see the ultraviolet writing on the sides. A detect magic spell is Yeah. Sufficient.
• 42:31
  Okay. Very cool. Okay. He kind of looks at it and begins studying it. Do any of you want to study it?
• 42:36
  Steve (Luken): Sure. Yeah. Do I wanna is this where that action to investigate the tower slash lighthouse Yes. Comes into play? Yep.
• 42:44
  I maybe that's like a tag team we all do it action, but
• 42:49
  Justin (GM): go ahead.
• 42:50
  Nick (Herry): So it'll be a knowledge role or is it an investigation?
• 42:53
  Justin (GM): It is
• 42:54
  Steve (Luken): a knowledge role. Maybe someone else should do it.
• 42:56
  Nick (Herry): I've got plus two. What do you
• 42:58
  Shelby (Sahra): I've got plus two.
• 43:00
  Steve (Luken): Negative one. I'm the dummy.
• 43:02
  Nick (Herry): Oh, sorry. You roll it and Yep. Luke can give the you too. Yeah.
• 43:06
  Justin (GM): So you would spend a hope to give her you still roll it if you succeed. This is how help works.
• 43:12
  Steve (Luken): Yeah. I I gotta back out. Sorry. Okay.
• 43:14
  Nick (Herry): That's fine.
• 43:15
  Shelby (Sahra): So I got a 15 with hope.
• 43:17
  Justin (GM): Alright. That is success with hope. You gain two pieces of information. The first piece of information is that a piece of this crib is missing. At the foot end of the crib, it looks like there is a slot that you could fix something no more than three or four inches long and one inch wide into the base of the crib.
• 43:44
  And that thing would kind of latch into place and become a part of the larger crib as a whole, kind of hiding it in plain sight. The second thing is about the magic itself. It is a it reminds you a lot of a primal spell that would draw out poison from a person, almost like a lustration spell, but using, like, a vacuum to pull out the negative to pull out the poison, to pull and siphon the top off of something.
• 44:29
  Steve (Luken): The slot, how does it compare to the size of the vials of faith that we pulled off of? The same. What what's his face? Okay. Hey, you see that slot?
• 44:42
  That's that's about the size of the the faith file we got off of. Yeah. Colt Iskander. Right?
• 44:47
  Shelby (Sahra): Yeah. So are they what are they siphoning?
• 44:53
  Nick (Herry): Or what are they putting in?
• 44:54
  Steve (Luken): So there's there's some kind of infusing or extracting.
• 44:58
  Nick (Herry): Alonso, you weren't there for this, but we were accosted by a cult of metamorphosis member on the street on the way here tonight, and they had a small vial of raw faith, aptly pointed out, would fit beautifully into this spot.
• 45:18
  Justin (GM): Give me a presence roll to get your lie passed. What's my lie? It was not a cult metamorphosis person.
• 45:26
  Nick (Herry): Uh-huh. Sure. That's fine. I'm a because sodium sickness. That lie if it goes wrong.
• 45:32
  Is a 17 with hope. Fine. I'll take my hope.
• 45:37
  Justin (GM): He looks at you and says, there's something you're not telling me.
• 45:43
  Nick (Herry): We think there's more behind the cult of metamorphosis than just the cult of metamorphosis, but that's kind of what the public name for it is right now.
• 45:52
  Shelby (Sahra): There's something that reminds me of this primal magic thing that's mostly used to siphon poison out of somebody, but it's different. I don't know. I mean, maybe it's being used to siphon magic or faith or power.
• 46:13
  Nick (Herry): Was this your crib?
• 46:15
  Justin (GM): No. This isn't my Okay. My crib. But if these are the cribs throughout this building, and you think back to having passed mothers at bedsides, offering up prayers to Arasinda, having, you know, completed a, like, a successful birth, and think about it siphoning off that faith and then depositing it in this little valve, this little flask at the front that they can then take.
• 46:51
  Nick (Herry): Boy, I was wondering how they had all that faith in Hilford. Oh, just kinda yeah.
• 46:57
  Justin (GM): They're also keeping it from their god, at least a portion of
• 47:01
  Nick (Herry): it. Pretty sizable from what
• 47:04
  Justin (GM): I can hear.
• 47:04
  Steve (Luken): This is just a farm.
• 47:06
  Justin (GM): Why are they why would they be If Irasinda finds out about this, there could be consequences, assuming she doesn't already know.
• 47:15
  Shelby (Sahra): Yeah. I mean, what would Irasinda I mean, what would she have to gain from this herself?
• 47:26
  Justin (GM): It You're right. This does appear to be some type of siphoning spell, but it's not it's not taking This is not a powerful enough spell to take everything. They're just taking a cut.
• 47:40
  Nick (Herry): Taking the top off?
• 47:41
  Steve (Luken): Yeah. If it took everything, it'd be too noticeable. Right? I mean, they're this is clandestine.
• 47:47
  Shelby (Sahra): We need to keep looking.
• 47:49
  Nick (Herry): Yep. This is the end of the right side.
• 47:51
  Justin (GM): Yeah. Yeah.
• 47:53
  Nick (Herry): Lucan, coin.
• 47:54
  Justin (GM): Okay.
• 47:55
  Nick (Herry): Now we can do a two a true two types of tails.
• 47:59
  Steve (Luken): Straight ahead or left room?
• 48:00
  Nick (Herry): Unless unless Alonso, have a a harder opinion on the next one.
• 48:04
  Justin (GM): I just wanna find my I
• 48:05
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. Agreed.
• 48:06
  Shelby (Sahra): Let's check the left room.
• 48:08
  Justin (GM): The three everyone give me an instinct reaction roll.
• 48:14
  Nick (Herry): 13.
• 48:16
  Steve (Luken): 9. 4 14, hope.
• 48:19
  Nick (Herry): It's reaction. Oh, shit. Yeah.
• 48:21
  Justin (GM): All of you fail. I'm gonna spend it here. When you walk into this room, it's very clear that this room has been repurposed. Inside is a what was previously a library of some sort or a reflection room based on the table that has been pushed to the side, the desk that has been pushed to the side, you instead see a sleeping cot and a washbasin and a glass filled with this like a drinking glass filled with almost like a purple tea. This glass is half drank, and there is a bag of, like, personal items.
• 49:19
  This is being used as a, like, place to sleep over or stay in, when previously it would just be a library. Alonzo Asher did not follow
• 49:32
  Nick (Herry): you into this room.
• 49:34
  Justin (GM): Now that you are in here, you see that he went the other way. Okay.
• 49:39
  Steve (Luken): I think we gotta go catch up with Alonso.
• 49:42
  Nick (Herry): You guys go ahead, I'm gonna take a look at the tea. I'll meet up with you. You sure?
• 49:47
  Shelby (Sahra): Well, I will I also wanna see if there's any other, like, magic that's being used in this room.
• 49:51
  Nick (Herry): I was gonna cast reveal.
• 49:53
  Steve (Luken): Okay. I'm gonna let you two do that. I'm gonna, like, stick my head out the door into the hallway and see if I can catch trace of Asher. Like, is he still is he still in sight if
• 50:05
  Shelby (Sahra): I back or
• 50:09
  Justin (GM): You kind of look back into the middle foyer area Right. Right. And you do not see him.
• 50:14
  Steve (Luken): I turn back to you, say, whatever you're doing, do it fast. We we've lost we don't have eyes on on Alonso. He's he's able.
• 50:24
  Justin (GM): Harry, what are you doing?
• 50:25
  Nick (Herry): Casting reveal, mixed spellcaster, if there's anything magically hidden with close range. Roll would succeed against its revealed. I kinda am, like, mostly looking at this t. So kinda trying to use, like, a detect magic y sort of vibe. Oh, I get to reroll my hope die ones.
• 50:46
  Justin (GM): Wild that that's come up now.
• 50:47
  Nick (Herry): Okay. So that's 21 plus three, that's 24
• 50:52
  Justin (GM): with fear. But boy. The tea is not magical Yeah. In a spell fashion.
• 51:01
  Nick (Herry): Mhmm.
• 51:03
  Justin (GM): Sorry, you are in the room. I think what you see when you look at the tea is like an herbal concoction, and your spell registering that is going to give you a much much weaker signal than what is glowing in that bag. You open the bag and there is a light knife inside. A light knife is a knife forged from sunlight. Extremely dangerous.
• 51:52
  It is not, like, active right now, but so it's just like a normal blade. But in the hands of a daughter of Yersinda, this is an incredibly powerful item. Not one given to this is like the equivalent of like the artifacts that Lucan might have access to
• 52:14
  Nick (Herry): Gotcha.
• 52:15
  Justin (GM): As a prelate. He did not carry them around, but in a important magical ritual, he might take the actual flame of Ba'az and use it in a ritual. This is a light knife. It is a it is kind of like the the mother's last defense. They are crafted from pure sunlight or imbued with pure sunlight such that in a last defense of life, a daughter of Yarasinda can protect children.
• 52:47
  Nick (Herry): And that's like its only known kind or not obviously its only use, but that's that is the That
• 52:51
  Justin (GM): is what it is used for. They are given to daughters of Yericinda who are expected to be in danger, or more importantly, their charges are expected to be in danger.
• 53:02
  Nick (Herry): Harry's gonna show it, just keeping it in the bag, but just kind of show it to Sara and put it in his inner coat pocket in the bag.
• 53:09
  Shelby (Sahra): Sara's gonna go over to the tea and smell it and see if she can maybe kind of figure out what this is.
• 53:17
  Justin (GM): Yep. Give me an instinct check.
• 53:19
  Shelby (Sahra): Nineteen twenty with fear.
• 53:22
  Justin (GM): You take a whiff of this and will immediately spend that fear, and you are hit with a massive headache. The odor coming off of this tea, it has like gone rancid, essentially. And because no one in their right mind would be able to drink this as is, leading you to believe that it has somehow gone rancid. And the headache that hits you is very powerful. Go ahead and take one stress as you've set it down, and getting it away from your nose immediately alleviates a lot of the headache, but you are left with just kind of this like dull pain at the base of your spine.
• 54:17
  Shelby (Sahra): And I'm gonna walk clear to the doorway of this room just to try to get as much, like, fresh air as possible.
• 54:24
  Nick (Herry): Oh, you're right? You're you're right? I I
• 54:28
  Shelby (Sahra): I don't know what's in this, but that's bad stuff.
• 54:34
  Justin (GM): Whatever it is, it is designed to alter the mind of the person drinking it.
• 54:39
  Shelby (Sahra): Okay. I relay that to Harry.
• 54:42
  Nick (Herry): Well, that explains my sister's bad attitude for the last thirty years. Okay. You wanna go find that sugar?
• 54:48
  Shelby (Sahra): Yes, please. Okay. Let's get out here.
• 54:50
  Justin (GM): Lucan, you are a bit ahead of everyone else. I'll let you kinda describe going into that room, the last room.
• 54:56
  Steve (Luken): I walked down that it's a hallway to this room, and as I approached the door, I kinda for you two, for It's just a
• 55:06
  Justin (GM): like a diaphanous.
• 55:07
  Nick (Herry): I'm sorry.
• 55:08
  Steve (Luken): As I approach the curtain, I raise up my hand for you two to stop. I wanna see if I can hear anything coming from that room before we enter.
• 55:16
  Justin (GM): Yep. Give me an instinct check. It's an 11 with hope. The divine mother is merely sick. She is feeling unwell, but does not want to quite yet relinquish her duties.
• 55:31
  She is fine. I am attending to her. Please, I don't know who you are, but please calm down. Where are the guards that were standing outside? And as that is said, the curtains part.
• 55:48
  A woman walks out. She has curly dark hair. She's quite petite, has dark brown eyes. She wears the golden robes of a daughter of Irasinda, and around her neck is a pendant that glows with a white light. It's a small pendant.
• 56:07
  It's crafted from gold and bronze and just has the the swirling sun of Gyrcinda, marking her as a handmaiden to the divine mother. You have seen this person before, Harry. You recognize her as sister Natalie Collinsworth. She has been assigned to your sister for years. Gotcha.
• 56:35
  Oh.
• 56:37
  Nick (Herry): Hello. Hello. Hollinsworth. How are you? I'm just I'm here for a wellness check.
• 56:42
  How's it going?
• 56:43
  Justin (GM): Harry, what are what you is going on here? Who are these She turns to look and gesture at Alonso, who has dropped the illusion and is now standing as as Asher Theophilus Simmeri, the incarnate king of Venathar. His red hair is a little thinner than he would like it to be. His red patchy beard, he's half human, half halfling descent, and takes up far more of the room than his short stature should allow him to. The light outside almost seems to bend away from him a little bit.
• 57:30
  The magic that he exudes is naturally as strong as the magic of the however many daughters are outside summoning this faith, he can naturally repel it from him, preventing anyone from seeing what's happening inside of this room. And he says, sister Natalie, you will tell us what is going on and why my mother is in the state that she is in. You look over and sitting prone on the ground is your sister. She is on a prayer mat and just kind of laying down. A blanket is over her.
• 58:17
  She's clearly sweating profusely, and looks physically pale, mumbling underneath her breath.
• 58:26
  Shelby (Sahra): Sara's gonna go over to her and just kind of crouch Please
• 58:30
  Justin (GM): don't touch. Please don't. She gets in between you two. I'm spending a fear to get in between. Natalie, sister Natalie gets right in between the two of you.
• 58:38
  Please, she is in the throes of prayer.
• 58:41
  Shelby (Sahra): And Sara's just gonna put her hands up and just kinda like take a couple steps back.
• 58:45
  Justin (GM): The divine mother is in a delicate state right now. I would ask that
• 58:49
  Nick (Herry): Does that have anything to do with the lovely tea that she drank?
• 58:53
  Justin (GM): I'm going to spend a fear and I'm going to use I'm gonna use an action to use blinded by light. Daughters of your Syndicate can use flashes of bright light to disarm and disable their opponents. All targets within close range with all of you must make an instinct reaction roll. You have to beat a 14. Asher succeeded.
• 59:20
  Nick (Herry): 14 on the die with hope.
• 59:21
  Shelby (Sahra): Got 21.
• 59:23
  Nick (Herry): Oh, it's a reaction roll.
• 59:25
  Steve (Luken): Yeah. So I I also passed.
• 59:29
  Justin (GM): All of you succeed. You are able to get your hands up. Something between your the bright light that she casts leaves an imprint even on the edges of your vision even as you've succeeded. Asher, the he has, like, almost summoned glasses in front of his eyes using magic. His body did not react.
• 59:49
  He just merely the defensive instincts that have been drilled into Asher through his Arcanist training just immediately kick in and he throws that up preventing him from failing. She is surprised by this. The spotlight is now all on you. We are in dire heart combat.
• 1:00:07
  Nick (Herry): Doctor Cottonworth, you can just let that go. It's obviously not a thing. Let's just have a seat and have a conversation.
• 1:00:13
  Steve (Luken): Can I follow that up with using voice of reason? I would have to roll for it. But as a, like, combo with what Harry's doing, taking a similar tactic, probably in everybody's interest for you to take a step back, talk this through with us, and not not escalate this anymore than we already have.
• 1:00:34
  Justin (GM): Go ahead.
• 1:00:35
  Steve (Luken): Alright. This is a
• 1:00:36
  Nick (Herry): Can I give help action?
• 1:00:37
  Steve (Luken): Yes. This is an action roll
• 1:00:38
  Justin (GM): spend a hope. It's just spend
• 1:00:41
  Nick (Herry): a hope. I don't have to roll anything.
• 1:00:42
  Steve (Luken): Is advantage the same or it's
• 1:00:43
  Nick (Herry): Add a d six.
• 1:00:44
  Steve (Luken): It's add a d six. Okay. Do you wanna describe how you're helping?
• 1:00:47
  Nick (Herry): I think that's a thing that I said was just like, pick, come on. Let's let's relax a little bit, then you can use your voice of
• 1:00:59
  Steve (Luken): What am I rolling this with? Is this going to be presence?
• 1:01:02
  Justin (GM): I your card says.
• 1:01:03
  Steve (Luken): It just says an action role to yeah. So, like, it doesn't assign the you speak with an unmatched power and authority, you have advantage on action roles to de escalate violent situations or convince someone to follow your lead.
• 1:01:15
  Justin (GM): Oh, so that'd be a presence. I think it's a since you get an advantage from that, you get two advantages and you take the highest option. So another d six.
• 1:01:24
  Steve (Luken): They're the same. Okay. So that is going to be an eighteen twenty with fear. She
• 1:01:32
  Justin (GM): puts her hands up. There's nothing. I I apologize. It is my job to protect the divine mother.
• 1:01:41
  Nick (Herry): From her son? From the king? I just tried to blind the king.
• 1:01:45
  Justin (GM): She is calculating how much she has fucked up.
• 1:01:49
  Shelby (Sahra): As she's calculating, I'm gonna go up next to yeah. I'm gonna go up to Tella and just like kind of cradle her head a little bit and
• 1:02:00
  Justin (GM): burning up.
• 1:02:01
  Shelby (Sahra): Okay. Great.
• 1:02:03
  Justin (GM): She is kind of whimpering a little bit. Whatever she's saying is very, very faint. But she her she's absolutely on fire. Natalie kind of gets down on her on her knees and kinda sits back and says, who sent why are you here? To check on my sister.
• 1:02:26
  She's clearly unwell. We have this handled. What's the tea? It is a concoction that we use to aid in the divine mother's headaches. I prepared it for when she woke a few hours ago.
• 1:02:44
  Shelby (Sahra): Okay. Well
• 1:02:45
  Nick (Herry): How does deception work in this game?
• 1:02:46
  Justin (GM): Yeah. That is I think with the roles of you guys, she is lying. Yeah. Something about what she said is lying.
• 1:02:53
  Nick (Herry): Can I clock Asher and see if he's he clocks that she's lying?
• 1:02:56
  Justin (GM): Asher is now going to move next to Sara and look at her mother. He is casting a delving spell Woah. To understand, like, the what is happening to her. You see the same thing as before, but he moves his hand. It's like he is shifting the lines of reality around him.
• 1:03:19
  There's a blur behind him, behind his fingertips that leaves almost like smudges in the air as they almost like water droplets move and kind of probe around his his mother. And he says, she has been poisoned. He immediately, upon saying that, gets up, throws his hand to the right towards sister Natalie, and the air around her throat constricts and lifts her into the air.
• 1:03:55
  Nick (Herry): Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah.
• 1:03:56
  Let's let's Do not. Let's keep calm.
• 1:03:58
  Justin (GM): No. Why is my mother poisoned? Answer my question now. And you see tendrils of the magic holding her throat moves up into her nostrils, into her throat, into her ears. And this is happening without him doing anything.
• 1:04:20
  He is just holding his hand up, and the spell the spell is evolving as he is maintaining concentration on it. She coughs as docile. Sheep, please let me let me go. And he retracts the tendrils moving into her mouth, and Natalie says, I need to roll to see how Natalie will respond to this. I don't myself know.
• 1:04:52
  Disadvantage. She's getting pale as the magic continues to constrict around her, and she says, she knows we have to she she has delusions, delusions of of lies, and she she doesn't understand what we're achieving here, what we're accomplishing. There's so much, and the the tendrils immediately go back into her throat. And, with a quick jerk of his hand down, her body is slammed into the ground, and she is knocked unconscious. You see Asher's torn.
• 1:05:30
  He is angry and wants to go towards the door. His mother is hurt and as confessed, potentially being is being poisoned somehow.
• 1:05:42
  Shelby (Sahra): I would like to reach into my pack and see if I have any herbs that could potentially help ease her pain or be an antidote of some kind
• 1:05:52
  Justin (GM): Yeah.
• 1:05:52
  Shelby (Sahra): Instinct or knowledge. Okay. It's a crit.
• 1:05:58
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. The
• 1:06:01
  Justin (GM): most immediate thing you need to do is bring her fever down. I think you know that there are two things happening right now. She has been poisoned. She has a fever, a very high fever, which is probably doing damage in and of itself. In addition to this, whatever is clouding her vision needs to be expelled immediately.
• 1:06:23
  You don't have time to be generous about this. You need to give her herbs to make her vomit.
• 1:06:29
  Shelby (Sahra): Okay.
• 1:06:30
  Justin (GM): Which I think you probably do.
• 1:06:32
  Shelby (Sahra): Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So I go, okay. I need Lucan, I need wet rags.
• 1:06:39
  I need cold wet rags. We need to bring her temperature down. Asher, I'm really sorry. This is gonna be hard to watch. And I give her the essentially, ip a cack.
• 1:06:49
  Steve (Luken): Yeah. I run off to search those two side rooms Yeah. For that kind of shit.
• 1:06:55
  Justin (GM): I'm gonna spend a fear While you are out there, you hear voices outside of the in the actual hallway to the floor itself. They are not They don't sound urgent right now, but they are male voices and they are headed in your direction. They're getting louder.
• 1:07:15
  Steve (Luken): I decided to forego the rags and go back to
• 1:07:20
  Justin (GM): you. Yeah.
• 1:07:20
  Shelby (Sahra): Where are the rags?
• 1:07:22
  Steve (Luken): Bigger problems. Look, I we got a lock on the door, but there are voices coming our way. We don't have a lot of time here.
• 1:07:30
  Nick (Herry): Asher, do you have a way to get your mother and yourself out of here quickly and not through the front door?
• 1:07:35
  Justin (GM): Yes. Yes. Great. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out Resinium. Resinium is like the ore that they harvest in Resinium City that powers teleportation spells.
• 1:07:47
  Nick (Herry): Where where can we meet you?
• 1:07:48
  Justin (GM): I can't get very far with two people on this. Okay. There is he goes up to a window and he points to a tall hill that's maybe a few miles away. Okay. He sees he kind of marks on the window, circles the hill, and he says, I can get to there, reliably.
• 1:08:10
  Is she okay to be transported?
• 1:08:13
  Shelby (Sahra): As long as you can get that fever down when you get out there. If she throws up and you can break the fever, I think she's gonna be okay.
• 1:08:23
  Justin (GM): Throwing up is good?
• 1:08:23
  Shelby (Sahra): Throwing up is good. That's what we need. She's poisoned. We need to get the poison out. And she's hot, so we need to cool her down.
• 1:08:31
  Justin (GM): He takes this handful of sand and throws it into the air where it immediately stops and sticks, almost creating, unmoving snow. And as he begins to recite an incantation, the images in the sand starts to coalesce looking like trees and forests and hills. He picks up his mother, holds her closely to it, and walks into the floating sand. It coalesces around him, and as he steps through it, he is gone.
• 1:09:11
  Nick (Herry): Okay. That just leaves us. Bram, how are feeling? Bram's
• 1:09:16
  Justin (GM): with you?
• 1:09:17
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. The whole time.
• 1:09:18
  Steve (Luken): Yeah. Where else where else
• 1:09:20
  Nick (Herry): a dog. You alright? You alright? Deep breaths? Yep.
• 1:09:26
  You're alright. You said you didn't want a regular guard job. Remember that?
• 1:09:31
  Justin (GM): What? I You remember you said
• 1:09:32
  Nick (Herry): that to me?
• 1:09:32
  Justin (GM): I've I I know I haven't been contributing a lot to what's happening. Sure haven't. And I am drinking from a fire hose right now.
• 1:09:39
  Nick (Herry): Stay out of the way, which is really important.
• 1:09:41
  Justin (GM): What you hear sounds of people trying the door, not in earnest Yeah. But just trying to thinking it's maybe jammed. Yep.
• 1:09:49
  Nick (Herry): Okay. We get out of here and let them know that sister Collinsworth is upset with us for having come and that the the She he looks over at her. And that the mother is resting. Let's put her in the cot and pretend it's pretend it's him. Oh, 100%
• 1:10:04
  Steve (Luken): yes.
• 1:10:06
  Justin (GM): This is a like a child's move.
• 1:10:09
  Shelby (Sahra): Got any better ideas?
• 1:10:10
  Justin (GM): We we don't need it to work forever. We need it to work long enough for us to be gone. Okay. Wait. It This sounds like a loose end to me.
• 1:10:19
  Nick (Herry): It's all it's all loose ends at this point, bud.
• 1:10:22
  Justin (GM): We can cut the thread.
• 1:10:24
  Steve (Luken): You What are be straight with us. What are you advocating for?
• 1:10:27
  Justin (GM): I think and he like goes for his sword. I think we should kill her while she's down. How is a dead body not also a loose end? Because a body knowing that the king was here and the three of you were here
• 1:10:39
  Nick (Herry): They all know the three of us are here.
• 1:10:40
  Justin (GM): Yeah. Oh, we We checked here. Here, bud.
• 1:10:43
  Nick (Herry): Two of
• 1:10:44
  Shelby (Sahra): us Can't you make it so that she doesn't remember?
• 1:10:48
  Nick (Herry): Have we been in here? We've been here more than a minute, probably.
• 1:10:50
  Shelby (Sahra): Yes. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
• 1:10:52
  Steve (Luken): Let's do
• 1:10:54
  Justin (GM): the pillows, I guess.
• 1:10:56
  Nick (Herry): Or do you wanna go out the window with some wings and carrying a friend and I can arcane door us down. Sneak sneak.
• 1:11:05
  Justin (GM): Teleportation makes me vomit.
• 1:11:06
  Steve (Luken): Well, then you fly with me.
• 1:11:09
  Justin (GM): Okay. Okay.
• 1:11:11
  Nick (Herry): Out the window.
• 1:11:13
  Shelby (Sahra): Okay. Okay. Okay.
• 1:11:14
  Steve (Luken): Will either of you vomit on teleportation?
• 1:11:16
  Nick (Herry): I'll be fine. I'd have to ask another spell. Okay. Let's pass on the first one. I gotta mark a hope.
• 1:11:24
  So I send Sara out first.
• 1:11:29
  Justin (GM): How far can you go? Within Very far. Right?
• 1:11:32
  Nick (Herry): Far range.
• 1:11:33
  Justin (GM): Far range? Yeah. So you can't get to the hill, you can get at least down to the courtyard.
• 1:11:38
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. I wanted to get her like up toward down towards like our guards, kind of. Right? Yeah. Have her pop out right there.
• 1:11:44
  Steve (Luken): So I mark a stress in order to carry somebody
• 1:11:48
  Nick (Herry): k.
• 1:11:48
  Steve (Luken): Flying. About my size or smaller. I think Bram probably fits that.
• 1:11:52
  Justin (GM): He's your size. Yeah. So we're gonna he so he's like, do you are you gonna hold me? Do I I hold you. Okay.
• 1:11:58
  So
• 1:11:59
  Steve (Luken): I do like, I scoot my arms under his armpits and like around
• 1:12:04
  Justin (GM): Yeah.
• 1:12:04
  Steve (Luken): In like across to hold onto him.
• 1:12:06
  Justin (GM): He just puts his hands over yours. Just just for the act extra added.
• 1:12:09
  Shelby (Sahra): You can wrap your monkey legs around too.
• 1:12:12
  Steve (Luken): Okay. I need those for the flying. I kick in the back. I and I whisper in Braham's ear, best advice I can give you, don't hold your breath. You just you gotta keep breathing.
• 1:12:28
  Okay. And we jump out and start flying away. You open describe this with some grandeur. I think in this room, there is like a double window. So before I grab the Bram, I grab the hinges on that, fling it open.
• 1:12:43
  So high. Howling flip through.
• 1:12:45
  Justin (GM): So high.
• 1:12:46
  Steve (Luken): There's no clouds. Right? Correct. So you can see all the way to the ground. Yep.
• 1:12:52
  But this is what Lucan lives for. Yeah. He's thrilled for this opportunity. Whispers that he he does the grab thing with Graham, whispers down, gives one last piece of advice, which is, look, my my wings are too wide to fit through the window, so I'm gonna have to jump, then deploy, then go. So it's gonna feel like you're falling for just a couple seconds.
• 1:13:13
  Try not to scream. Okay. So I, again, kinda pull Bram up and die. If needed. Over the windowsill.
• 1:13:25
  Justin (GM): Yeah.
• 1:13:25
  Steve (Luken): Yeah. I jump. The weight starts to, you know, do what weight does when you're falling. Wait. That's not how gravity would.
• 1:13:33
  It doesn't matter. I start to sink but get my wings out at their full width. So this is not like a stealthy move Yeah. But that's not really what Lucan does. I catch, you know, an air current as I get my wings out and start to glide.
• 1:13:51
  And as I get my balance, get my bearings, I'm flapping and carrying Bram out towards the place where we are to meet the king.
• 1:13:59
  Justin (GM): Bram does not cry out, but you definitely hear him underfoot. As you both begin to take off.
• 1:14:12
  Steve (Luken): This This is not my first time doing this. You. I got you.
• 1:14:15
  Justin (GM): Okay. Okay. And and them? And you look behind you, and two of the salt feather eagles Yeah. Have launched from their roosts and are headed in your direction.
• 1:14:29
  Nick (Herry): That makes sense. Mhmm. Yeah. I rolled a 17 with hope on the die plus three, so it's a 20. And on the first one, I also rolled with hope.
• 1:14:37
  I got a 13 exactly. I needed a 13. So Harry is like kind of looking around watching this happen with the wings and just kind of like smiling and chuckling and it's just like, this is a nightmare. And then starts tapping his cane in the rhythm for Arcane Door again and pops out.
• 1:14:54
  Justin (GM): The two of you, let's describe where you are on the ground.
• 1:14:56
  Nick (Herry): I put us right next to our other guards that we have
• 1:14:59
  Justin (GM): I think you out of the courtyard. I think you are right? They're out. They didn't go through. The guards
• 1:15:05
  Steve (Luken): portion of the guards stayed out out. Sure.
• 1:15:07
  Nick (Herry): Sure. Sure. So we get as far out and then just immediately start walking towards the the front gate.
• 1:15:14
  Justin (GM): You see Glen still talking to the guard up front, gesturing quite largely at himself, at the tower, at the like, just making a lot of hand emotions. Clearly not making this scenario any better. And then the guard sees you all Yeah. Coming down. Oh, already done with your trip.
• 1:15:39
  Where are the rest of you?
• 1:15:40
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We've we've already passed through. You didn't see them?
• 1:15:44
  Justin (GM): At this, the sound of the salt feather eagles crying in the distance. He looks up, sees Lucan and Bram flying ahead of the Salt Feather Eagles, looks down at both of you, and Glenn Dexen. Just in the seconds he has to process what's going on, Glenn just delivers an absolute left hook. Glenn, you're nuts. Let's go.
• 1:16:15
  Steve (Luken): It's a left hand ruck or is it dick?
• 1:16:18
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. Yeah. Yes.
• 1:16:21
  Justin (GM): And absolutely starts booking it with the Here we go. Review. And you all hear an alarm fire in the background and the eagles are going to make some attacks.
• 1:16:34
  Steve (Luken): Yeah. Of course, they are. I'm I'm running away as much as I can here. Like The first
• 1:16:40
  Justin (GM): eagle I
• 1:16:41
  Steve (Luken): am going to be marking my armor to give you disadvantage.
• 1:16:43
  Justin (GM): Is that how that works?
• 1:16:45
  Steve (Luken): I have Runetan floating armor.
• 1:16:47
  Nick (Herry): Hell yeah.
• 1:16:47
  Steve (Luken): Which has shifting. When targeted, can mark armor slot to give attack roll against me disadvantage. Wow.
• 1:16:55
  Justin (GM): My first is a one. The eagle I picked that one. The eagle makes a a swoop towards you as you just barrel roll out of the way. Brave goes, oh. The second eagle is a different attack.
• 1:17:11
  Different I'm doing
• 1:17:12
  Steve (Luken): it again.
• 1:17:13
  Nick (Herry): Okay. Yeah.
• 1:17:17
  Justin (GM): I assume that a nine does not beat your AC? That is correct. Again, another barrel roll gets you out of the way and I've spent I have one fear left so I can't highlight another one. Spotlight is on all of you. What do you do?
• 1:17:32
  Nick (Herry): Harry gets on horse with the garden to time to go, we're heading that way and points to where Asher and kind of disappeared to on horse. Which is
• 1:17:41
  Steve (Luken): the direction I'm also going. Okay.
• 1:17:44
  Shelby (Sahra): Great. How many horses are there?
• 1:17:45
  Nick (Herry): We all rode on one.
• 1:17:46
  Shelby (Sahra): Oh, that's right. That's right. That's right. Okay. Great.
• 1:17:48
  So, yeah. I'm gonna get on a horse too, but I'm gonna keep my eye up on Lucan so that if he gets hurt, I could maybe hex one of the eagles if I need to.
• 1:18:03
  Justin (GM): Glenn says, as you were all kind of riding these horses away, like, we're not particularly well hidden right now. Is there anything any of you could do about that?
• 1:18:11
  Nick (Herry): No. No. What was our escape plan? This is it. You're looking at it.
• 1:18:16
  We just kinda gotten let's get in plan. Is it just the two
• 1:18:21
  Steve (Luken): so far.
• 1:18:21
  Nick (Herry): Is it just the two salt salt and
• 1:18:23
  Justin (GM): pepper eagles? They are the ones that are salt salt feather eagles.
• 1:18:28
  Nick (Herry): The salt and pepper eagles?
• 1:18:29
  Justin (GM): They are definitely the ones that are the closest. Anyone else will be quite a ways away from you. Yeah. There are knights on the salt and pepper eagles.
• 1:18:36
  Nick (Herry): Yeah. So Harry Oh,
• 1:18:38
  Shelby (Sahra): there are knights riding the
• 1:18:38
  Justin (GM): eagle. Yes.
• 1:18:39
  Nick (Herry): As he's Right. As he's riding away and watching these salt and pepper eagles flying after. Lucan wants to cast arcane door again right in front of one of the eagles. Okay. And put the exiting arcane door in front of the other eagles so that they fly directly into each other.
• 1:18:59
  I love this.
• 1:19:01
  Steve (Luken): Amazing. Truly Looney Tunes bull was gonna call it video game shit, but yeah. This is Looney Tunes.
• 1:19:06
  Nick (Herry): I'm going to use my cane and Marcus Dress for a plus two to it. K. I'm going to use subtle spell k. As my experience. Experience.
• 1:19:16
  So that'll be a plus three. So I have a plus eight right
• 1:19:18
  Justin (GM): now. Okay. I'm going to say before you announce, I'm going to say their difficulty is the one you have to achieve even if yours
• 1:19:27
  Nick (Herry): That's fine, it's crit. Okay. Great. Yeah. Describe what this looks like.
• 1:19:33
  Harry starts actively singing a fucking drinking song as he's going that is that like, again, that same rhythm and you just see this like very spectral door pop in front of one of these eagles, these guards riding an eagle and it the other one just appears in front of it and smashes into the two of them.
• 1:19:57
  Justin (GM): I think with a crit, both of the knights on the eagles are dislodged. And begin the eagles are going to twirl and kind of make their recovery quickly, but the knights riding them are straight up plummeting to the ground.
• 1:20:15
  Shelby (Sahra): Right.
• 1:20:16
  Steve (Luken): I think up above, Lucan hears it because I'm you don't look back when you're flying. That's like rule one is keep your eyes front. You wouldn't know this if you went to flying school.
• 1:20:26
  Justin (GM): Yeah. It's not
• 1:20:26
  Shelby (Sahra): flying.
• 1:20:27
  Nick (Herry): It's cake apparently.
• 1:20:28
  Steve (Luken): But I hear that and I look down at Bram and say, can you see it? Look what's going on? Give me something.
• 1:20:38
  Justin (GM): Two people falling and the eagles appear to be fighting or kissing. It's fighting. They're fighting. No. Okay.
• 1:20:46
  Yes.
• 1:20:47
  Steve (Luken): And Lucan says, thanks for the update and like, he's giving everything he has to push and fly as fast as he possibly can. Like, he realizes this seems like perhaps his ability to create some distance, like Yeah. You know, make not make up ground, make them lose ground. Yeah. And he has taken that.
• 1:21:08
  Shelby (Sahra): It was only the two. Right?
• 1:21:09
  Nick (Herry): It was only the two that
• 1:21:10
  Justin (GM): were like in immediate danger. The alarm has gone off. The Divine Mother's been captured from their perspective, but you are all now well into at least some semblance of, like, distance that you've got a good enough lead to get to the hill where you're meant to run into Asher. 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 Girardeau.
• 1:21:47
  Audio engineering, post production, and scoring is done by Nick Traeger at Studio three six zero seven. 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.