The Glass Cannon Podcast - Gatewalkers Episode 16 – Mr. Jones and Tree

Episode Date: January 5, 2024

The heroes have little time to mourn as the return of the obnubilate curse looms. Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/43PbLHojE_k This episode was sponsored by Demiplane, Foundry VTT and Norse Foundry. Check out Demiplane's Pathfinder Nexus and character creation tools at https://bit.ly/GCNOfficialTools See why tabletop gamers everywhere have made the switch to Foundry Virtual Tabletop at https://foundryvtt.com/gcp Visit https://hensonshaving.com/GCP and use code GCP to get two years worth of blades for free with your razor—just make sure to add them to your cart. For more podcasts and livestreams, visit glasscannonnetwork.com and for hundreds of hours of exclusive shows and benefits, make your membership official and join Glass Cannon Nation today by becoming a subscriber at jointhenaish.com. Watch new episodes when they premiere every Thursday at 8PM ET on youtube.com/theglasscannon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

you are listening to the glass cannon network the premier source for role-playing game entertainment last week on the glass cannon podcast we're in a bit of a pickle here because you actually could permanently die yeah i didn't realize this you get a 90 chance of not dying this turn right yeah and then it's a 45% chance of stabilizing. You roll a one or a two, you die. Okay. Oh no. I just, I could see it.

No. No! What did you roll? No! What did you roll? No! It's a one. Oh my god. No. We need to start thinking about arrangements. It's episode 15, and that's our first character death.

There were 20 options. Two of them would kill you, and you rolled a one. Keeper, please. Please. Lucky, Lucky, Lucky, please. She looks at the pole on. We may have slowed our progress, but the obnubilate curse will return.

Do you believe in justice? Oh, yes. And it will be served. Yes, on that we agree. And Talisa's gonna run him through with a rake here. Oh, yeah, yeah. The adventure continues. You will deserve everything coming to you.

No. Thank you. Happy New Year, everybody! Welcome back to the Glass Cannon Podcast! New year, new you, right, Syd? I'm popping a little popper. New year, new character. There it is. New hair. New hair. Did you have that last week?

You don't notice anything. Yes. Wow. Wow. That's messed up. You sure? Yeah. You know what's a good rule of thumb for that kind of thing when you're not sure? Don't say anything. Don't say it. Did you do anything to your hair? You're the type where someone would change their hair and you're like, new glasses. Is that it? Something's different about you. Nailed it. Did you change anything to your hair? You're the type where someone would change their hair and you're like, new glasses. Is that it?

Something's different about you. Nailed it. Did you change your shirt? Yes. Last time I saw you. We are, we're deep in winter in the fictitious time within which we're pretending it is. And let me ask you guys, let me say something

and then hear what you think. You got your Summer Olympics, which are coming out this year. They're going to be in Paris. Very nice. Then you get your Winter Olympics, which will be back in a couple of years. I prefer winter sports,

but I enjoy watching the Summer Olympics more. Your thoughts? Okay. I like the Winter Olympics.. Your thoughts. Okay. I like the Winter Olympics. Yeah? Yeah. You like watching them more than the Summer Olympics?

I don't think I differentiate the two like that. I need you to choose a favorite. The Winter, but because I think I like the sports. You said the opposite. You're like, I like the sports better in the winter, but you like watching. You're very confusing the way you said it. I like the sports of the Winter sports better. The ski and the snowboard and the hockey. Right, it's more fun. But I prefer

watching the Summer Olympics. So you prefer those sports more? No, I just enjoy watching those sports more. I enjoy playing the winter sports. You enjoy snow half-piping. Oh, you're participating in the Winter Olympics? I didn't know you were getting around to. I've been

asked to join. Sorry, Joe asked you a very specific question you enjoy half piping is the words he said yes i do i'm an alternate uh i want to say i exactly made the big half pipe guy i don't overstate when i say i'm an alternate half pipes a bit too much quarter pipe for me i went into a half pipe i've never skied i've only snowboarded and i went to a half pipe once um foolish never skied. I've only snowboarded. And I went to a half pipe once. Foolishly. I think I'd been drinking. And I got in there and I was like, oh God, what did I do? I just went right down the middle of the half pipe. I didn't want to go

up and down. I was like, ah! Not ready for that half. I could see myself having the exact same reaction. If I ended up inside of a half pipe, I'd be like, what am I doing here? Terrified. For some reason, I thought I would just drop in

and go right to the other side and start catching air like Sean White. And I'd just be like, oh, oh! They make it look so easy. They really do. Half pipes are hard. Yeah.

They're not easy. Everything's hard about skiing and snowboarding. It's a difficult thing. I love snowboarding. I think that's why I like the Winter Olympics. We're going to take the kids to learn how to, we'll let them choose if they want to snowboard or ski this year.

That should be fun. I'll get back up for the first time in eight years. I'm going to miss you guys. At your age, just after surgery. I'll have a couple months removed. You're so brave. Yeah, that should be fun. You guys, do you enjoy a winter sports kid?

Do you like building a snowman? That's a sport. Olympic sport, actually. They should, they added a bunch to the summer. I'm sure they'll add snowboard, snowman making to the next one. It's really only one winter Olympic sport that I like, and it's the biathlon. Because they give you a gun. I think there's more sports that would be improved

if they let you have a gun for at least part of it. You shoot your opponent. It really seems unsafe. It's a hilarious... Water polo with pistols. Yeah. I mean, it's the plot

of a James Bond movie where one of the henchmen is a biathlete. I bet you they don't let Ireland compete. Because if they get mad if they lose, it's like,

bah, bah, bah. It sucks. Bah. It's the seventh time we've had an O'Brien kill a member of the Kenyan squad. Then he claimed diplomatic immunity

and fled the country. Kate, you big, I want to say snowboarder. I literally was like, oh, Olympics, I can talk about this.

And then you just started talking about, in general, winter sports. And I was like, oh, Olympics. I can talk about this. And then you just started talking about, in general, winter sports. And I was like, winter sports. Google. Are you a summer cat? Yeah. No, I'm not. I'm an indoor cat. She was sunbathing a few minutes ago when we went to get lunch. Yeah, I like standing in the sun, but like a lizard, like so fully

clothed, just absorbing the radiation. She was sunning herself. But not like tanning. I like, for Olympics, gymnastics, which I think is both seasons, so it doesn't matter. Men's and women's? I mean, men's is cool because they do the... The rings. The arm stuff that the women's can't do, yeah.

What's your favorite? Do you have a favorite gymnastic event? Like the beam? The balance beam to me is, yeah. Cause it's like the hardest, I think. And it just looks, I can't even watch it.

It just makes me sick. I just think every time of like, just saw like a little off the center, rolling your, you're done. They do those like, like multiple routine, like chain things.

And they just go in a straight line. Like that thing's only like five, six inches wide. And they're just, there's not a And they just go in a straight line. Like that thing's only like five, six inches wide. And they're just. There's not a lot of deaths. They're great. Or like a paralyzing situation. So that always makes me feel good.

Cause like you would think there would be a lot of news around like, ah, the seventh gym, gymnast. Seventh, yeah, balance beam death. Well, when you're doing stuff like that, you're learning how to fall and like as safe as you can. I mean, like what? Willie famous Olympics where US won gold and it was like that dream team and Dominique Mochiani was on it. That one girl like broke her ankle doing the vault.

Walk us off. You can do it. My favorite thing is when a gymnast, a lot of female gymnasts, like do a move that has never been done before. And then immediately the judges are like, no one is ever allowed to do that again. Because it's so dangerous. Is it Nadia Comaneci? Yes.

There's a video of her doing the uneven bars in the 70s. She got a perfect 10 and she did something called like the death drop. Yes. Watch this video. It is absolutely amazing. And she literally got the gold medal and they were like, no one is allowed to do that. Not allowed anymore.

Yep. But that's Simone Biles did it too. I think. Yeah. She's got like a bunch of stuff. Like her body like defines physics, the way that she can like move it. And that's like,

just so fun to watch. So my sister was a gymnast and balance beam was, yeah, it was, she, she was good, but she was not like, she was like good.

And then she dropped out of high school. Uh, she would balance beam was her kind of it was, she, she was good, but she was not like, she was like good. And then she dropped out of high school. Uh, she would balance beam was her kind of was her thing. And she, she did. She like misjudged the length of it or something. I don't, I actually wasn't there.

My mom said she like was like, did her like did a string of things and then just face planted on the ground. Oh, the coach didn't push the mat. They didn't do the thing where they save it. Oh, well,

they're still supposed to do it. I don't know. I don't think that's how that works for the balance. I don't do the thing where they save you. Oh, it was a competition. Well, they're still supposed to do it. I don't know. I don't think that's how that works for the balance. Not in Jersey. I don't think that they anticipate you overshooting it. They just do a balance people over cement. I also used to be a gymnast. Yeah.

I would roll my ankle walking across the mat. So I had to quit my dream. I had no interest in ever joining her. But when she went to a gymnastics camp, there was a training camp you go to. I went to see it when we picked her up. And the coolest thing about it is for practice, they would have these pits full of styrofoam cubes. And so you could dismount. And I was like, I just want to get up on it and just diving board into the pool, into the pit.

Oh, yeah. They did not allow me to do that. That's a shame. Now you can just pay to go to those places like into the pool, like into the pit. Oh yeah. They did not allow me to do that. That's a shame. You know, now you can just pay to go to those places. Yeah. Sam takes the kids there all the time. I mean,

I think that we paid to send her to that camp. I don't think it'd feel good to do it in my current aged body, jumping into a foam pit and then just being stuck there. It's not like water. You can't swim out of it. You can swim out of it. There'd be a lot of like entertaining content and and watching me get out of the foam pad. Yeah.

I don't know. It would be very amusing. I don't even want to kneel down. Kneel down and just your knees crack. Kneel down. Did you do it in college? Well, when I was very young, like elementary school. And then actually in college, I took an ice skating class as my gym class.

And I was really good at it. I was really good at it, actually. Why did you stop? Because I had the four credits that I needed or whatever, so I stopped doing it. Wow. Do you guys want to hear something very funny? No. In high school.

I did the plays and the musicals. I was involved in theater. I also did track and field. But for my senior year, I thought it would be funny to, I called it auditioning for the varsity

cheerleading team. So I did that and I made it onto the team. Oh no. You did it ironically? Is that what you're saying? I did it ironically.

Because cheerleaders are stupid? Aren't there movies about this? Is that what you're saying? That's what I heard. because I wasn't interested in actually being on the team, but then I was friends with all the girls, and they were very nice, and they were like,

you have to do it. And I was like, okay. So then I did it. You're perfect at everything else. You really should do it. No, but I did it. I went to cheer camp. It's a camp you go to before the school year begins.

You go to a sleepaway camp, and all you do is cheer. You have a spirit stick that you. It was like a cult. It was horrifying. But yeah, I did like tumbling. I was a backspotter. We were very into like stunts, our cheer team in high school. So we didn't, we did dance but not as much. We did a lot of like throwing and like catching and back

hand springs. And then I got kicked in the face and broke my nose and I quit the team. Was it part of a stunt or someone was pissed at you for failing? On your knees! I was a back...

I was a back splatter. Bite the curb! How did they take me? Last time you flipped so poorly! Take me to the parking lot? By the way, when when you bite the curb I don't think it's your nose that breaks someone saved her at the last minute so like you get hit the most you're right there you're supposed to

catch them you're like the one who catches the girl so they don't hit their heads and she we were doing some sort of like spin move and she kicked me in the face it's so funny and i immediately started crying and then i was like i'm quitting i can't lose this scream like i quit while crying no no i politely she doesn't even want to be here i make her the back spotter i had to have surgery i had septoplasty i had to like they had to fix my septum and the girls were like, you can't quit. I'm like, look at my face.

What do you mean I can't quit? And that's why cheerleading is an intense sport. It's very intense. It's actually a sports sport. That's true. Though, how many of your cool, cool Brooklyn friends

know about this secret from your past? All of them know. They all watch the show. They all watch the show. I assume they support me in everything I do. Is it possible you just got a nose job in high school and this was the elaborate story you told to cover it?

No. Sydney. Sydney. It's okay. Does this nose look like I got a nose job? If I could afford a nose job, I would still get one to this day. I think everybody wants a nose job. I want a nose job.

No. You want a nose job? O-D-O-D and no nose job. O-D-O-D and no nose job. Are youN-O-S-J-O-B. O-D-O-D-O-N-O-N-O-S-J-O-B. Are you buckwheat? No, it's Digital Underground. Let me ask you this. It's a great song. You ever been punched in the face?

Yes. Like, boom! In the nose. In the face. Anybody else been punched in the face? I figured you've been punched in the face. I've been punched in the face. Oh, no, I have been punched in the face. Punched in the face by, like, on the street. Oh, no, I have been punched in the face. Punched in the face on the street, not like a tournament. Not on the street, no. On the street?

I don't punch in the face. Not like walking down the street. Playground. Yeah, I know. So everyone except Sydney and I have been punched in the face. I did like martial arts. I just said I was kicked in the face. Does mine not count?

Not on the street. I took a baseball in the face. It wasn't on the street. Wait, all right, but who punched you? You want to talk about it? Why? What did you do? We got into a fight.

Just recently? Were you correcting his grammar? Did you punch him back? How old were you? Yeah, like middle school. You punched him back? We were fighting. Who won?

Nobody. Nobody wins those fights. But he landed a good blow and you dropped like a sack of gabagool? No. I don't remember any sack sack dropping but there was uh no i remember it was like a tussle and we were just like and then we were angry and then we were hitting each other and i got hit in the face uh but it was that wasn't as bad like i took the baseball in the face that one hurt yeah i bet uh who punched you uh same same situation middle

school scuffle it wasn't a friend it was like a real asshole piece of shit, a little older than me. Yeah. Just jacked me up. Wow. Did your dad, was he mad at you for not winning? For being pathetic? Yeah. He beat me later.

Yeah. It all wrapped in a ribbon. Took you to church to go to confession. No, no. It was just a fight just a fist fight yeah it rocked in the face and it hurt same skit was it a middle school actually no it was elementary school i actually got kicked in the stomach and then but i did get smacked in the face in a different incident i was replaying capture the flag and this like really nerdy the one kid in the school nerdier than me i was guarding the flag and he stole the flag and so everybody's making fun of me it says i can't you believe you let redacted steal the flag and i was just like oh man so humiliated and so i'm

regarding it again i was like i'm not letting that happen again and he went for it again and i could see the look in his eyes he was all confident he was like cocky he's gonna do it again so i moved to dodge him and he slammed his forehead right into the bridge of my nose. Oh. Blood spraying everywhere. God.

Getting hit in the nose is so painful. Wait, you're leaving out the end of that story, Skid. Did you maintain control of the flag? Yeah, I did. Because he fell backwards because I knocked him back with the bridge of my nose. Unable to complete his mission to grab the flag.

Kate, who hit you in the face? Oh, no, just like in kickboxing when we're sparring. But I did punch someone in the face once. Really? Yeah. Like after a couple of cocktails? No, a friend was just like, I've never been punched in the face before.

I kind of want to know what it feels like. And I was like, I'll punch you in the face. Wow. And I punched him in the face twice. Was this after a few cocktails or no? Boom. Did you feel that? Boom.

Came back in again. It was outside of a show. Was the first time not enough? Yeah. He was like, I don't know about that one. And I was like, I can try to do it harder. So then I did it again. And his girlfriend's like, can you please stop punching my girlfriend in the face?

I don't care what he says. Stop hitting him. Did it hurt your hand? No. I don't think I knew how to punch then. Oh, you do now. Yes. I'll tell you.

We should all have a New Year's resolution to punch somebody in the face. Punch each other. Or not. No. Or to not punch someone in the face. There we go. Yes, the opposite of what you said. Well.

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I'm telling you. The thing is built to last forever. Visit hensonshaving.com slash GCP to pick the razor for you and use code GCP and you'll get two years worth of blades for free along with your razor. You just have to make sure to add them to your cart. That is 100 blades when you head to h-e-n-s-o-n-s-h-a-v-i-n-g.com slash GCP and use code GCP. We're still undecided. It was like three for punching, three for no punching. Well, you're the only one who hasn't been punched in the face.

Would you volunteer to let us all punch you in the face? No, but I think I'd like to sock somebody. Not like that doesn't deserve it. Like someone that like really deserves it. Like someone that really deserves it. Or someone who steps to me. Steps to you? Steps to you. What did you say to me? And let them throw the first

punch and then wham! You're down. Right in the bridge of the nose. You push their nose bone into their brain and kill them. That's how they die. I like that you glide over taking that first punch as if you and your 40-year-old body wouldn't be like, oh! Yeah, I'd probably crumple after the first one. I don't know.

I think I might. You never know if you have a strong chin until you get hit in the face. I think I might have a strong chin. You might. Weak knee. I think they would fracture my orbital socket immediately, and I would have to go to the hospital. Yeah, but it's fight or flight. Like, you can crumple the ground.

Yeah, I would fly to the hospital where I need to get surgery. I actually read that's a new like trend now among the youth is hammering where it's, they will actually like use a hammer on their jaw to break their jaw to give themselves a stronger jawline. I'm sorry. Sorry. Is this like an incel man thing? No, it's to like, to look like a, a... Just to give yourself a more handsome jawline. This is an incel Chad thing. It has to be.

There's no way. I don't know. Bone smashing. It's a TikTok trend. Bone smashing. Do you bone smash? You're not cool if you don't bone smash. I guess you also lose the weight when you get your jaw wired.

Then you can't eat liquids for a month or whatever. That's awful. It is awful. I don't, you can't eat liquids for a month or whatever. Oh, that's awful. It is awful. I don't recommend it. I don't recommend the youth of America. Um, that sounds horrible. I feel the same way about you.

I know, it's true. No, it's the children who are wrong. Um, yeah, that's, that's not terrible.

They do sell these things that you can chew on that like strengthen and restructure your jaw. I've seen you like, it's like a thing, you chew it and it builds the muscles. So you have a real pronounced jawline. Creepy. Why waste time doing that when you can just take a ball-peen hammer to the face?

Well, speaking of taking a ball-peen hammer to the face, one of you died last week. Who wasn't? What? I don't know, I forgot. We should draw straws. Figure out who died. I don't know i forgot i don't really we should draw straws um figure out who died just i don't know why i'm suggesting somebody here died and i'm not saying who it's just probably somebody at the table but we should all figure out who it was we're all out

here trying to figure out who died listen it was Sydney's character. It was Sydney's character. I'm not interested in this bit. No. And yeah, frankly, I'm surprised you showed up. I know. You texted me not to. You said, don't bother coming back. Well, it was awkward because I called somebody else in and I had to just send them home.

I passed them in the hallway. Sydney punched them in the face. They're downstairs restructuring their jaws, we speak, but, uh, rough way down the year. I know we're all making jokes,

but it was truly so sad. Yeah. Those tears were real. They were. It is weird, like, losing a character that early in the campaign, though.

It's, it's so different than it would be a few levels from now, like, after you've really gotten to know them. It's still emotional, but it's, it's not, it's not the same thing as if it had happened. It's not like i've really got to know them it's still emotional but it's it's not it's not the same thing as if it had happened it's not like a loss it's more so like the i think i was saying to joe you think about the future of the character like the possibilities the potential loss excited for things they could do at later levels and it's like i'm not gonna i'm not gonna

rebuild the character i had you know like that was such a specific character so you lose that you lose like the potential of what they were going to be but character I had. That was such a specific character. So you lose that. You lose the potential of what they were going to be. But you're right. It's kind of best worst case scenario to tie at level one. I wasn't even level two. Not only level one, like seconds from leveling. Seconds. Oh, yeah.

All you had to do was be alive. Like a round from level two. Like one breath from level two. Like one breath from level two. Yeah, no one was closer to level two than you were when you died. Right at the buzzer. Died right at the buzzer. But, you know, the show must go on,

and it will. Troy, who was that character death brought to us by? I don't know. Our sponsors for this show. Are they the ones responsible? They are responsible. All right, so if you didn't like that death last week,

be sure to thank Demiplan, Foundry VTT, and NorseFoundry. And particularly, NorseFoundry, if there's anyone you're not really that fond of, NorseFoundry for all of your random needs. If there's any characters you want to get rid of of? Norse Foundry for all of your random needs. If there's any characters you want to get rid of, Norse Foundry. It was pretty random. I'll tell you that much. Let me ask you this, and be honest.

Was it a Norse Foundry die that you rolled that one on? Nope, and I should have rolled Norse Foundry. I rolled my lucky die, the die that always rolls well for me. I've seen that lucky die because Sydney sits next to me at Glass Cannon Live, and she's used it multiple times to the point where I've said to you off mic several times, stop using that way to die. It's messed up because there's liquid in it, and every time she rolls it, it says 18, 19, or 20 every time.

Today, Satan. So she picked to roll that one, and it was a natural one. She's just wild. The dice giveth and the dice taketh. When you told me your character's name was Lucky, all I could think of was like, oh boy, that's not good. That's tempting fate. Very bold.

I thought maybe you'd be so benevolent you'd be like, well, she is a cat folk. You have nine tries. It's my favorite animal, but you stink. Let's open today's session deep within a forest dark maybe it's night or maybe just the uh trees above are making it hard to tell what time of day it is. It's a familiar-looking forest, as far as forests go.

We just kind of, like, slowly pan across this greenery and wildlife. Until eventually, an enormous arch comes into view. greenery and wildlife until eventually an enormous arch comes into view and surrounded by half a dozen smaller arches there's a small group

of people standing about, people wearing green headdresses that have antlers coming out of them perhaps oak stewards we close in on wearing green headdresses that have antlers coming out of them. Perhaps oak stewards. We close in on them and one of them turns towards us. It's Bolan Nagaso.

He looks anxious, perturbed. It's like looking around. It's like, am I the only one that thinks this is getting a bit ridiculous? Why do they have us out here? Going to get killed by some wild beast before we ever stop anyone from doing something untoward. He just keeps talking.

But now we're looking, like, further back from someone else's perspective, who's, like, in the bushes, watching this go down. We just see Bolan complaining. Suddenly, his ramblings are interrupted by a loud, like, boom! And one by one, all of the gates light up. and one by one, all of the gates light up. This person who is in the distance watching just sees the gates come to life and then watches as each of the oak stewards step through.

One of them, the one that was just talking, very eagerly jumping through the archway. And then just like that, they're gone. The person watches in fear, waits. The gates are still thrumming. And slowly we follow this figure as it emerges from the brush and follow them as they go all the way up to the gates from the side. And as they turn to face the gates, we climb up their body from behind and see

long white flowing hair going down their back. And their body language changes as they turn and look into the archway. We don't see what they see, but they are transfixed. And in that trance-like state, they walk through. We come back to a completely burnt out funeral pyre. There's no body there anymore. The wood is just a couple of blackened branches on the ground. I don't know how they would collect ashes in such a way, or if they even would.

Well, I imagine Zephyr had an urn made so she has the ashes on her belt for now because we figure we can't go. So I imagine that they built something so that they would collect, like funnel her remains into something.

A dust buster. Yes. What is this thing? Oh, shit. Oh, mother. It's jammed. It really opens up in their face. I'm allergic to cats.

To my mouth. And they just, maybe they hand. So sacrilegious, so rude. They hand something to you, Zephyr, a little glass bottle with gray within it. Lucky was so strong and powerful and now reduced to this tiny jar. And the ceremony is over now.

I imagine some of you waited to watch others. Maybe it was too much. And we see a messenger or a lower-ranking oak steward come over to Lemma and whisper something in her ear.

She looks up at all of you and nods. Pardon me, Brother Raymond. He's very distracted and really out of sorts. He's just trying to get out of there and smoke some drugs as soon as possible. Brother Raymond, I can tell you are upset. There is someone here that wishes to speak with you and your friends. They are waiting in the same room where first we met.

Did they say who sent them? No, no, it's someone that's... Asked for us by name? No, by description. Oh. Okay, and he'll look over at Talitha for a moment. She's not in this conversation, right? He's just...

She's smoking some drugs. Yeah. Who's my fucking drugs? Just like all sons. What? Funeral. Talitha. It seems someone is in Lemma's office asking for us by description, perhaps sent by...

What did they say about us? What did they say about us? What did they say about us? It's someone that just wishes to speak with you. What did they call us? Them. I wish to speak with them. Do they perhaps mention

Dr. Riddleson? No. No, it doesn't seem Do they perhaps mention Dr. Riddleson? No, no. No, it doesn't seem like they even know you. There was no name given or anything. Just one of our assistants said that they are waiting for you in the atrium. No, thank you.

We're good. We can't speak to him. We must go to the quaking staff. We only have three days. We're spent right now. This is a very bad time. Very emotional. I'll send them on their way. By the way,

somebody said you have drugs? I don't know what you're talking about. All out. You Holden, Brother Ramius? How much money do you have? You Holden, Brother Ramius? Holden. Let's go find out who this is.

Were they armed? I do not know Brother Ramius draws his book Throw the book at him, Ramius 1d3 bludgeoning It's an improvised weapon It's an improvised weapon Alright It's an improvised weapon. Alright, let's go back. Lead the way.

Alright, so do all of you accompany Brother Wayness? And have you finished gathering the ashes? Yep. And Buggles was just sort of like sitting cross-legged on the ground by the pyre just sort of like humming and rocking until you come and interrupt

him and say, let's go. There's someone asking for us. Let's find out what they want. So Brother Ramius, Talitha, Zephyr, and Buggles leave this scene effectively leaving Lucky and

Lucky's on Zephyr's belt. She's always with us. Always with us. Leaving the memory of her behind. Yeah, sure. I'll never let go. All right. Whatever.

It's time to move on. It's the next episode. It's her funeral. We're at the funeral. I was in denial last episode. Give me a moment. The funeral, like, comes to a close. It's time to a moment. The funeral comes through closed. It's time to leave.

It's time to leave. Good morning. Literally a few hours. Three days till the end of the world. Three days till the end of the world. We still mourning? How are we doing? Time to laugh again.

You walk down back into the wicker house and you walk down this long hallway and turn into an atrium. And what do you see? You see a slight woman. Nobody would have expected this. A slight woman, maybe five feet tall. And she is a woman. Nobody would have expected this. A slight woman, maybe five feet tall. And she is a woman. But she looks...

There's something about her. She has like a fox-ish, like mouse-ish, cat-ish sort of like face. Her features, very tiny nose, these kind of like dark eyes, but this long white hair that it is like quite long, like down to her butt.

So she looks human, but with some vaguely loop, lupine. Yeah, like lupine, vulpine, vulpine, vulpine features. Yeah. Small, small facial features in these black eyes, long, thick hair. She has, like, this white robe, but she is wearing armor. She has on these, like, silver breastplate and these boots. And she turns around and sees you approach and then gets down on a knee and bows. Brother Ramius looks at Talitha,

looks at Zephyr. Is this, is this her, Brother Ramius? But... Please, there is no need to kneel. Stand up. Who are you? She stands back up to her full feet of five feet.

She says, My name is Asta. You don't know me, and I don't know you. But I've seen you. All of you. And I had to meet with you. Asta, I am brother Ramius of Latria. Deletha Breakwater.

She bows as you each say your name. Zephyr. Akolf. And you say you were watching us. When? Where? He's a little suspicious. Put it down in your journal.

She picks up on this. Make a note for next week's recap. Got it. I understand your suspicion. I have been watching you for quite a while. I saw you in the woods.

I saw you... You woods. I saw you... You were alone in the wildwood? Yes, I have... Yes. She smiles, a sort of like sharp-toothed smile. I spend most of my time in... in nature. But I heard you before I saw you,

and I heard some sort of fight. I'm sorry that I didn't help you. I should have. You fought with the Oak Stewards. There was a unicorn. You saw this?

Again, I should have helped you, but I... I didn't know who you were. I didn't know. And she lowers her voice, sort of looking around. You have passed through. You have entered the gates. Have you not? Brother Amius gets a chill

like down his back. Yes. Have you? Yes. Yes. I... I thought perhaps I was alone.

I didn't know there would be so many. Do you know the name Dr. Riddleson? Do you know this name? No. He has not heard of her. Zephyr leans in. Not everyone who's been through the gate is a friend. Mmm, spicy. Like, Zephyr, like, when Not everyone who's been through the gate is a friend. Mmm, spicy.

Zephyr, when you said that you were watching us, she maybe stands up straighter. Because that's kind of like, why didn't you help us? We lost our friends. Her herself almost died three times. We lost our friend. Yeah, you saw us struggling then. I'm a role perception to see what's going on. She did not know at the time what our objectives were.

20. Maybe Talitha would know, maybe, that she is not a human. I picked up on that. Do you want more information? Would you roll more information? At 20, you also see a poison blade hidden in her palm. She's pulling out toward you.

She's got a blade! Not even she knows. I single the blade. Blow her up! It's got a blade! Psychic explosion. Her head bursts to the flame. It's a secret code word. Blow her up!

I just never trust others again. To the Quaking Stacks? No. So, Quaking Stacks? I guess, could I roll, obviously, you recognize you're not human, could I roll a nature check? I would assume maybe Talitha,

out of everybody, being an investigator and sort of understanding and picking up on these things, maybe you know. She is not a human. You maybe believe she is a kitsune? She sort of has these fox-like features,

and you might know that kitsune can take on the forms of humans. They can sort of like... Shape changes. Yeah. Walks. I take it. So Jolitha will take this in and say, I take it we are not meeting you in your true form. And she bows again, smiling.

It seemed better to approach you like this. Again, I understand your hesitation, but please do not think that I was hiding from you because I didn't want to help. I didn't know who you were or what you were capable of. I didn't know who you were or what you were capable of. I only know... I only saw...

another who had entered through the gate. And you were fighting his people. I didn't understand. I... I was changed when I came out. Who? Who did you see through the gate? Walk through the gate? Oak stewards, but different. They were... They wore masks.

They were trying to do something terrible. They didn't have masks. They didn't have masks at the time. But later, when you fought them, they did. You are speaking of... The... Olan. of the Olan? Yes. Olan.

They said that name. So many months ago, you saw this? Yes. Why? I was in the woods. Do you know of the gates? Had you visited them before? Well, everybody knows of the gates,

but no, not in that way. I... I had no idea what was going on, but I... I needed to go through them. Do you understand? Did you return with a mark on your skin?

Yes. Where? It's on my neck. Let us see it. And she pulls her long hair up to the side and you see, clear as day, there is this, like, large symbol. Did you walk through the same gate that Bolon walked through?

I believe so. Well, perhaps we must send another letter to Dr. Riddleson Alright, you've met us But why now? What do you want? Why now? Why do you choose now to reveal yourself?

Because you are the only... You are the only people I know who... Have had this experience I thought I thought you were traveling together for a reason I thought and she like gets a little clearly this is not going how she

she thought that you would accept her with open arms and she she's sort of like bows again I understand it's like I've been stalking you and I watched you fight and I didn't help you. And I watched one of you die. She's not great at talking to humans, clearly. She bows again.

It was a mistake. Buggles is, he's been watching her and he feels like he has a read on her that he trusts. And he turns to the others and says, She is alone. We all felt this way. We were all alone once. We found each other. I shouldn't deny fellowship to one such as us.

I say we trust her. She bows. That was very kind of you, Buggles. Very warm indeed. That blade. Can I see that you're carrying a sword? Oh, yeah. She pulls out her katana slowly.

She just pulls it out and presents it to you. Yes? Then you use it. And she smiles. Of course. These are grave times. Perhaps you might wish to accompany us. Buggles is right.

We are safer in... We're safety in numbers. Yeah, you're lucky you're lucky that Buckles vouched for you we'll let you join we'll let you live she bows

I understand you are perfectly capable of taking care and protecting yourselves I saw that but I will offer myself to you to protect you Taking care and protecting yourselves. I saw that. But I will offer myself to you, to protect you. I'm only searching for answers. I won't be a burden.

We are searching for answers as well. But there is a matter, pressing matter. We must get to the library library would you like to accompany us we have research to do we'll catch you up on the way yes I would like that very much and we tell her everything

yeah so it's as if somehow she's been with us all along ah very good and you send another raven to Dr. Riddleson? We have found another gate walker. I weep for your lost friend. Don't talk about her!

Rape your ear to your throat. Let not her name cross your lips! I don't even know her name! She's dead because of you! You killed her. And it was a fox, too. I know, that's why I'm like, is she serious right now? Is she the fox?

That's a great suspicion. That's very funny. Pretty fucked up. Whoever did that. Whose idea that was? Asta. Asta. La V that was Asta Asta La Vista Asta is going to join

up with you as you head to the quaking stacks oh man this has got to be tough you just lost your friend kind of maybe was dealing with that then went through the whole funeral so all the emotions come back

now you meet another gate walker it's a lot, but if what the Oak stewards have said is true, as usual, time is of the essence. So you go to the Quaking Stacks. Brother Ramius has been here, and as you know, this is

Seven Arches Grand Library. It's one of the city's tallest and most unique structures. I mentioned before, I don't know if I did, that it used to be a spiraling stone tower that tapered like a cone or a seashell. But over time, it's been ruined, and the ruins have been taken over

by a grove of magical aspen trees. So you arrive, and sure enough, Snailfoot Jones is there, and he's just, like, stamping a book, putting it back. Oh! Oh, hello. Snailfoot.

Brother Latria of Ramius, yes? The other way around. Brother Ramius. Latria brother. Ramius. Rami brother. Ramius. How is your aunt? My aunt, she died. Wasp Knuckle died?

Oh, no. She was sick for a long time. I'm sorry to hear that. I've brought friends with me. Our condolences to your uncle. Oh, you've brought friends. I've brought friends this time. Thank you for the condolences.

What is his name? Bill. Uncle Bill. Married into the family, I guess. Yes. Uncle Bill will be all right. He's very handsome and has already started dating. She died last week. What a suspicious

circumstance. It seems it is a local custom to move on from death very quickly here. Yes, yes. Took a terrible fall down a staircase. And her head was caved in. What? And already dating. Thank God Bill's okay.

Very fortunate that he was not also. Very fortunate he didn't also fall down the stairs. It wasn't near her when she fell. It was a horrible, tragic accident. Was he at the pool? Very fortunate that he also happened to be seen elsewhere at the time of the death. Bill was not the one that found her with her head caved in. Terrible fall.

He'll be all right. But what brings you back to the Quaking Stacks? See, you are crying. I'm sorry. I just, I really loved her. First, I would like to return this. Any hands over the History of the Wildwood? It's not due until next week.

You're welcome to go. I've already read it. I wish all of our customers returned books early. You don't know how hard it is to track down people with overdue library fees. I'm very slow. I have a club foot. And I have to go all around town trying to collect fees. Oh, well, that is unacceptable. You give us the names of these people and we will go door to door in the next day and collect each and every one of these fees.

I'm not doing that. Boom, side quest. Collect the library. I'd rather read the books. Is this what you've been doing? We are library fees. We've got a huge phone book. This is last month's.

Thank you. Most of these are within a six-mile radius. Snailfoot, I do... Please, Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones, I do appreciate the book, and I didn't see anything in it about the thin lands. Is this a concept that you've heard of

before or are familiar with at all? No, no. The thin lands. Is that a city? They are rumored to be bordering the Wildwood. Perhaps an extra planar land. Sounds exciting. It sounds mystical yes and it was not in the book.

The book was more of a naturalist approach, and so I felt that it's not surprising that it wasn't in there. But have you ever heard anything of that nature? No, no, no, the Thin Lands, no. It's a very fun name, though. I'm writing a bit of a, a spy novel at the moment. As you know,

I enjoy good mystery. And so I've taken up to trying my hand at being an author and perhaps I will use this, this city as a location in my book. the city as a location in my book. So Letha is going to take the bark writ and slide it across the counter. Oh, you still have the bark writ from before. Well, this is good.

With this, you could commune with the library tree. The tree has knowledge that goes back farther than us all. You could ask it about the Thinlands. I say ask. The process is a bit different, but the caretaker of the tree is down there. If you show him the bark root, you will have the opportunity

to commune, and the knowledge you seek, you will be pointed in that direction. Then we shall do that. Thank you. Thank you. I'd love to talk to the tree. Oh, look at this little fellow. Hello. What is your name, sir?

Buggles. Buggles. His eye's all red. Look at you. Where are you from? I'm from very far away, please. Very far away? Yes.

Well, good for you. Thank you. Sorry, my friends just died. Oh, I'm so sorry. Having just lost someone myself, I know it's horrible. Did they fall down the stairs and have their head caved in? No.

I don't think it's a spree. Do you happen to have any books on geography, local geography? Oh, yes, there are many books on geography. I don't much care for them, but I could point you in the direction of the geography section. Yeah, I'd like to go take a look if I could. Sure, it's right over there. And he shuffles off in the direction of the G section.

G, yes, right there. Speaking of G. Oh, hello. Hello, hey. Do you have any books about Gorgas? Gorgas, no, but I've heard about these attacks as of late. Horrible, horrible. Perhaps that's what happened to my Aunt Waspknuckle.

Perhaps a Gorga pushed her down the stairs and then jumped from the top with all of its weight and landed directly on her head in such a way that it looked like a hammer had smashed her head in multiple times. Yes, that's clearly what happened. Maybe your aunt was

participating in this new trend that people do where they take a hammer and then they just hit themselves in the face. Oh, teenagers and their face hammers. Just a thought. Been thinking lots about death lately.

There may be some books, I don't know specifically on Gorgas, but books on creatures from other planes. That would be near the geography section. Cool. I follow after Buggles. Wait up. Any other questions, Brother Ramius?

I cannot leave my post, but you're welcome to walk. I'm going straight to the tree. Yep. Let me know if you need any help. Is the caretaker of the trees a kind and accepting person, or do we need to letter them up with some gift? No, your barquets, as long as you have the barquets, they will let you commune.

All right. Let's go to the tree. Have I ever heard of this before? I mean, Brother Ramius' libraries are almost, they're like churches to him and his people in a way. Has he ever heard of this before? I mean, Brother Ramius' libraries are almost, they're like churches to him and his people in a way. Has he ever heard of a library tree of like a almost mystical like tree of knowledge housed within a library? The tree is like the card catalog, it sounds like. Yeah, or is this like a decimal tree?

It's completely unique. And this goes back to like the old elves that lived here, you think. Wow. Yeah. That's fascinating. If you've heard about it, you've heard about it in like maybe fairy tales. Wow. This is incredible. True tree of knowledge. I just want to get like

some, like an atlas of the Riverlands just so I can look for some of these places that we... See one? It's big big bigger than you atlas i'm out with it let's go talk to the tree i found a book i find the creepiest book on gorgas i can find yeah also go to the tree because i want to see that book on shadow plane on the shadow plane and creatures from the shadow plane um and you go to the tree and like I said when you first talk to Snailfoot Jones it's like behind his desk is just

all of these trees that are glowing with some sort of faint magic with one large tree in the center and they're sitting amongst the ruins of whatever the original building was so you walk down there and there is a man

standing by the tree, just kind of looking down at the ground. And the tree just goes all the way up into the sky. And you look up, it's like branches are white and the sunlight is filtering through and just kind of like leaving sparkles all over the floor. What time of year is it? It's winter.

January. There's no leaves on it? No leaves. Hello. Good afternoon. Yes, hello. I am Brother Remius of Latria. This is Talitha Breakwater. We are interested in communing with the tree.

Do you have a... Baccarat? Indeed we do Your friends to the Oak Stewards Yes And I am a devotee of the Keeper Has the Keeper ever Made his presence known in this place?

It is quite magical It is not a Being that I am familiar with, though the gods are welcome here. Have you ever communed with the laboratory? No, I have not. I've heard of it in children's tales, but never thought to find one here.

Yes, it's all too real. How does it work? Well, your writ gives you passage to commune. You would drink of its sap. And sap contains, most likely, a pathway to the knowledge you seek. So while drinking of the sap, you focus on that which you seek answers to. And it sounds rather strange,

but the knowledge will be given to you as to where those books may be. Incredible. Sounds like right up Brother Rames' alley. The branches of the tree just go out into the stacks and they're connected. It really is like a Dewey Decimal System. You drink the sap and it knows that's where a book is

and that's where a book is. It may not give you the exact answer. So cool. That's cool. Is there any kind of high associated with the sap? Ask your girlfriend. It is an experience. I have seen some people, in fact, collapse from it.

So I do recommend after drinking of the sap to sit. It can sometimes be overwhelming, but that really depends on the nature of the information you seek. Do we all need to drink? It depends. You can if you have questions or knowledge that you seek. If there's

just one thing in particular looking for, maybe one of you could drink. I would suggest with the permission that you have to experience it nonetheless. How many times per day can we drink of the sap? I wouldn't recommend doing it more than once a day. You could, but it can be overwhelming. Are there any ill health effects to drinking the sap?

To my knowledge, no, unless you have a sap allergy. Hmm. Okay. Do you have a sap allergy? I don't know. We're going to find out. Yeah. I don't know how to phrase this question, like, in world,

but what, is there a mechanical roll or check we'd have to do while drinking the sap? Yeah, there's a number of different checks you could roll. And so if you drink of the sap, you can roll, you know, library lore, arcana, nature, or occultism. You can make a case for anything else, but those are kind of the ones here that would make do.

And you focus on one thing. Like one question. Essentially, yeah. Because we want to know about the Thin Lands. We want to know about Kineppo and the Gorgas. We have three topics we want to learn about. Yeah, so if you each drink of that mechanically, you can each make a roll. I think we all should drink.

See what you think. Yeah. What about the, do we care about the Thin Lands farm, or are we just going to go there? Well, that's why I was, I got the book mostly was to look. I think we're going to go there. We're just going to go there. I mean, we why I was, I got the book mostly was to look at where it is. We're just going to go there. Okay.

I mean, we should know about it ahead of time if we can. I guess the other question, this is what I find a little bit challenging about having a bunch of knowledges,

like thin lands. Would that be cultism or would that be arcana? Society. Or nature? Or society. If it's fey, I mean, it would be nature, right?

Or is it fey? I guess the thing. Yeah. Or is it extra planar? Yeah, I mean. Yeah, I mean, I think be nature, right? Or is it fey? That's the thing. Yeah. Or is it extra planar? Yeah, I mean. Yeah, I mean, I think arcana, nature. And here's for you. You can actually use, whatchamacallit?

Pursue a lead? Yes. Oh, yeah. I can have two pursue a leads active at any given time. And I'm going to have Kineppo and the Thin Lands be my two pursue a leads. All right. So when you roll this check, do that and give yourself a plus one

as an investigator. Well, the other thing I can do is I have a little bit of drugs of my own. I have a cognitive mutagen that would basically give me an item bonus to Arcana, Crafting, Lore, Occultism, and Society checks for recall knowledge. But is this a recall knowledge? It is,

kind of, but it's also like you're it's an investigation. You're investigating. I'll save my drugs for later. Okay. I'll save my drugs for when I don't want to mix. Yeah, my beer don't need nobody. Yeah. You can use the pursue lead action

and give yourself a plus one bonus to any of the skill checks that I just mentioned. And then the rest of you just choose which checks you want to do amongst Arcana. I don't think anybody has Library Lore. Maybe Brother Ramius? I don't. Okay. Well, here's a fun thing.

I also have a reaction called Clue In. So I can share information with one of my allies, and they get a circumstance bonus to my check. Basically, they get my Pursue a Lead bonus if they're pursuing that same lead. Oh, that's fun. Okay. So like as you're drinking, cheers, you give them a bonus. Yeah.

So maybe I'll take – whoever is taking the one that I'm not of the Thin Lands or Gnepo, I'll give you the – I'll clue you in. I'll be like, think about it this way. All right. I would – I think I'll go with nature because i don't have arcana uh and i don't have occultism i think it's just going to be nature for brother ramius and and he wants to know i mean what's that the thin lands i guess i mean yeah you can keep it pretty general i think yeah he's really focused on on what these thin lands are and how to find them. Because what we know or don't know about the creature, perhaps if we know at least where to look, we could just find them.

All right, so I'm going to clue you in. So you're going to get a plus one. Well, maybe give it to somebody else. Because what I'm going to do is my focus spell through his prayer to gruhasta he's going to do scholarly recollection which allows him to roll twice on a recall knowledge and i think it should work in this case because it's like i mean he seriously thinks that these people don't realize that this tree is like a manifestation of gruhasta on earth and they just don't realize it you know like this is so incredibly magically like exactly what would be up his alley so um i just feel like it's you know he should get that that boost these ignorant pagans have no idea what they're doing they have no idea right they

think it's just a library right now the caretakers of this tree for millennia don't know what the fuck they're talking about. Out of my way, rubes. All right. So I can do Arcana. That's my best skill. I could also do Occultism if I need to, if somebody else. I only really have Nature and was going to do something Gorga adjacent. So I could do Canipo with the Gorgas, but I don't. Again, I'm only good at Nature.

Why don't you just focus on Gorga? Yeah. Yeah. How's your nature? I have nature, too. Does anyone have a cult? I have a cult. You do a cult, and I'll do Arcana. And who wants the plus one? I mean, I guess we could do this. What's your nature? My nature's plus four. Same.

So anybody could have the plus one. I'll give it to Zephyr. I don't know you yet. No, yeah, that makes sense. It's okay. You gotta earn that plus one. I'll give it to Zephyr. I don't know you yet. Yeah, no, yeah, that makes sense. It's okay. You gotta earn that plus one. I'll be like, Zephyr, remember that thing when we were fighting the Gorgas? Yeah.

That thing. Yeah, that thing. All right, I would like to... Where is the sap? Yeah. Approach the tree and find a place. You will see it the closer you get to it. And you just put your mouth

on the tree and drink of her. Is Brother Ramius going to freak out right now because he gets to be this close to the tree? Like a tree. Like his god? He gets a French god. You get the French god. You get the French god.

French god. I hereby invite you to French god. And also get a little high while doing it. And get high at the same time. I would recommend once you feel it enter you, take a seat in case it is overwhelming. Like a COVID vaccine. And we'll monitor you.

Wait 15 minutes. We'll monitor you for 15 minutes. Alright, he'll walk up to the tree. Keep a guide in my way. And we'll... Put your mouth on it. And he will French kiss. God. in his awkward

french kiss god than using frenching as a verb frenching is a great verb french god frenching god the caretaker is like yeah

yeah yeah he likes to watch The caretaker Is like yeah Yeah He likes to watch He likes to watch He likes to watch He's like behind a branch Oh you missed a little bit

Dribbling down your chin Do you guys wait for him to experience it Or do you go find your own? Oh, I'm going to find my own sap. All right, so you guys, and it's a huge, huge circumference of this thing, so you can all find different places. Maybe some of you have to scooch down. It's not right at mouth level, and you all drink of this sap.

You're just, like, sucking on the tree, and you feel it enter your body and, like, fill your extremities. And you become super lightheaded. And we'll be back right after this break. You feel the sap coursing through your veins, and you kind of black out for a second. You feel like you're reaching for a chair and sitting, but then there's another part of you that feels like you're kind of floating a little bit. It's definitely a euphoric experience, like a drug high. experience like a drug high but you

feel like in a way you're driving the car and your mind feels wildly open right now to information. It's kind of like an acid trip but not as frightening. What question

do you wish to ask or knowledge do you seek? The thin lands. I guess I'll do K thin lands. The thin lands. I guess I'll do Kineppo. Kineppo. Gorgas. Gorgas.

Gorgas. Gorgas. Kineppo. Kineppo. Okay. Roll your checks and let me know what you roll and what you got. Skid, what did you roll? 15.

In? Occultism. Occultism, 15. In? Occultism. Occultism, 15, okay. 23 in nature. Okay. 11 in nature. No. Wow. 21 arcana.

21 arcana. And 23 nature. Nice, guys. 21 arcana. And 23 nature. Nice, guys. Nice. Nature. Nature. You, like, each of you start asking these questions in your minds. Not even like a specific, where do I find out about Knieper?

You're just, like, thinking these things. And you feel like the tree almost like synapses like searching the library for information and it's pulsating within you and eventually you come to and you're sitting in the chair all of you are sitting in like the chairs that surround the tree and you just start walking off in the direction into the stacks in various different places, you don't feel a little bit lost. She's walking around crying a little bit because the tree made her feel her feelings

and she doesn't know where she's going. Bad trip. How dare that tree. Bad trip. Bad trip. I will say this whole experience takes hours. Whoa. Are we like out of it sitting there for a while?

You're out of it for a little while, and then you come to, and it's not like you're pointed to this one book. In a way you are, but you're pointed to several different books. So all of you start going around the library just taking these books out that you feel like you've been sent to from the library tree, and then you sit down at tables and start poring over them and investigating and trying to figure out what you can learn. In a tome of ancient elven lore that one of you finds, you, I mean, imagine you're just

like reading, reading, reading, trying to find anything. You find a short passage mentioning the defeat and imprisonment of a slender, lurking creature of shadows. If this is a reference to Kniepo, it would suggest the slim

or something like them has been around for millennia, as this book is thousands of years old or at least containing information from thousands of years ago Brother Ramius, you

at one point, deeper into the night are looking through a volume of the Pathfinder Chronicles and this one is specifically about the First World and I are looking through a volume of the Pathfinder Chronicles. Oh, cool. And this one is specifically about the First World. And you, like, light up, because you see a small footnote regarding the Thinlands. And the footnote describes a colorless forest located in the shadowy realm of Nighthold,

colorless forest located in the shadowy realm of Nighthold, once ruled by the exiled eldest Count Rinalc. Wow. And, I mean, it's seven, eight, maybe even nine hours of poring over these books, and that is the information you gain from the quaking stacks. Wow. I mean, that's cool. It makes a lot of sense, too.

Like, you would need the tree because it wasn't a book on the thin lands, right? It's one small footnote in an elven chronicle or a pathfinder chronicle of other things. It's a search engine. And it's a lot for it to sort through, so it took a lot of time to query its tree database. It's like a control F for the entirety of a library. Yeah.

If you look more into Nighthold, now that you get this information, start cross-referencing it, you know that Nighthold is a realm in the first world ruled by this count, and it is the embodiment of the chaos of both creation and destruction.

It's like a dark realm of the First World that embodied the chaos that comes from both of those things. After this Count was exiled, the entire dimension fell apart. All of its buildings crumbled into ruins

and all the inhabitants fought each other and so it seems like it no longer exists in the form that it once did. Oh, so the count was ruling it and then he was exiled from Nighthold. And when he was exiled, it fell apart.

So the thin lands, if this footnote is correct, it was a part of that realm. And is there any indication on how to travel to that realm? Or where, a portal to that realm? You start digging

in and you see a passage that says the border of Nighthold is marked by the Lightline, capital L, which is a series of lanterns that serve as a focus for enchantments and prevents

the realm from expanding. And it was established when it became clear that the First World would not absorb Nighthold back even when the Count was absent. So it defies the realms of material plane physics. But in terms of how to get there, it's unclear. You were looking through that book on Wildwood,

and you read about that Hydra that came upon a gate to the First World. Maybe there was some connection there. You don't see any other mentions of the Hydra that upon a gate to the first world, maybe there was some connection there. You don't see any other mentions of the Hydra. Interesting. In the Tome of Ancient Elven Lore, was there any description about how this slim creature of slender lurking shadows was defeated and imprisoned? No.

No, just like mentions that he was defeated. And so then you think like, okay, wait, if he's the one that started the Abnabula curse, did he do it in retaliation for this defeat? If it was the elves that defeated him, is he getting back at the elves, or is that why he was defeated? Like, it was a struggle over that?

Is it connected at all? Is the Count Elvin? Do we, like, know? Is the Count Elvin? Do we know anything about the Counts? It doesn't have any information on his ancestry. It is like, the gates are Ayudhara, right? Yeah. Yeah, it's just like, have we talked about, it's just interesting that this curse would be directed

against the people that made the gates. Right. It seems pretty, pretty pointed. Right. Yeah. This seems personal, I guess.

Can we just enter the night hold? Like, how do you, I guess that's more of like a, in this world, like how do you travel between realms? Like, is that a normal thing that people can do?

We've all done it, perhaps. Well, that's true. Yeah, like higher... Is it like planes? More powerful people could probably plane walk. Okay. Is it a demiplane of some kind? Speaking of?

It's a realm. Is it a realm within the shadow plane? It's a realm within it. Is it one of our other sponsors? Of the first world. And what's the first world? That's something I don't know. I actually don't know that as a player.

Third check I can do that on. The first world is the realm of the Fae. It is an inner sphere. It is so called because it's believed to be the god's first draft of a subsequent plane that would later split into the material plane and the shadow plane. There are rumors that there are, you know, sort of holes in the world that one can pass through. But there are also stories of even very powerful wizards spending their whole lives trying to get to the other side

and never achieving it. Some people are just chosen. Is this like an idea of where fey creatures come from? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, this all kind of is wrapped up in the origin story of the fey. Okay, interesting. What came first.

So maybe, I guess maybe with that so with that, I guess our cause, or our next step is going to be go talk to this farmer and then Go to the farm. He'll fit out to the, he'll fit out to the, uh, thin land farms. Yeah. Go to the thin land farms. Did you find it, uh, on your map, Buggles? I was looking for that.

Did I, did I find the thin land farms? Yeah, so if you found the most recent atlas, like older atlases, you look, nothing, nothing, nothing, and then you look for the most recent one, you do see right along near the Tymon border a section of the Wildwood that says Thin Lands Farms. So you do know how to get there, and it's a day's journey. Well done, Buckles. Stay away. I know how to get there and it's a day's journey well done Buckles

I know how to read is the farm of the sorry what are the names? Par Mosby? yes is Par Mosby's farm on the way? not really but

it's kind of a triangle you could go to the farm stay there for the night, or camp out, and then go there. You wouldn't want to go there and come back. You'd lose a day. Got it. Just to be clear, where are we in terms of days? Like, is this the next day after the encounter? Eight, nine hours later, right?

Well, it took you two days to get there, right? Okay, so we're multiple days after. Yeah, you're multiple days ahead. I could go back and figure out the exact amount of days i don't need to i just want to make sure like all his spells are like fresh and everything and you're all full you know if you weren't so i should reset my everything yeah such a joke um all right so maybe is it night now what What time is it? Yeah, I mean, if you were like, that's enough for today. We feel like you've got all the information we need. You walk outside and it's dark.

It's night. Where are you guys staying? Where were we staying? Were we staying at Patsy's? No, we didn't stay at Patsy's. We were staying at the Menendez Brothers Inn, wasn't it? Or was that another game? That was another game. That was a strange game. Menendez Brothers. Or was that another game? That was another game.

That was a strange game. I believe it was. That was strange. Menendez Mansion. There is a Menendez Brothers in this town. We just didn't stay there. It's a chain. It's a chain?

It's a chain. It's like a Howard Johnson. What game was that? Now I'm like. You were in there. Wait. No, no, no. That was Strange Angels. That was Strange Angels. That was Strange Angels. But You were in there. Wait. No, no, no. That was Strange Angels.

That was Strange Angels. But you were in there. Yes, I was. Remember? No, you. Oh, your body was there. Oh, yeah. Your character was there.

Well, your body was. Yeah. I was like. I like. It was like a vortex of all games and settings opened up in my brain. And I was like, when did that joke become reality in our fictional narrative? So you want to go back to Minotaur's Mansion? Yeah.

Yeah. All right. So you leave the quaking stacks behind. I imagine you're a little blurry-eyed. That was incredible. Staring at books, drinking sap. That was useless. You really must do that again.

This is what you do? Not always. That was useless. You really must do that again. This is what you do? Not always. That was a first for me. I've done that before. It was quite telling. Yes. How did it work mechanically? Were you doing individual checks

or were we all kind of working together towards this? They're all individual checks and it's like the number of successes is how much information you get. I think we could have gotten more information. I think we needed a 25 or more. There's a number of different ways you can do it. I rolled a three, and then I re-rolled for a ten.

Yeah, I rolled low, too. It's a straight-up investigation, this portion here. I'm going to maintain my leads. Yeah. I pursue leads on maintain my leads. Yeah. I pursue leads on, again, Gnepo and the Thin Lands. Asta, we are staying at an inn in town. Do you have a place to stay within the city? No, but an inn sounds perfect.

You're welcome to join us there. You can room with Zephry. What? Fine, yeah, you can room with me. I don't mind sleeping on the floor if you want. No, I sleep on the floor. Oh. We can both sleep on the floor.

Fine, we can both sleep on the floor. Zephyr, not into Asta. Asta? I had a bad couple days. And the tree sent me to the self-help section and I'm not into it. Asta, not picking up on it. She fell out of her window.

Yeah, that's true. I almost died a bunch. You have your own trauma. A bunch of times. As you're walking from the Quaking Stacks to the Minotaur's mansion, it's very quiet here. Asta, I don't know if you've spent much time in Seven Arches.

Nope. Certainly maybe not at night walking around. What's that? That's Patsy's. That's Patsy's. That's Patsy's. You are a couple blocks from Minotaur's mansion and it's very very quiet there's no one else walking around maybe as you left the stack you saw a couple people and then

it's like nobody for a while and up ahead you have to turn to go on to another street to get to your inn and there is a like alleyway between two buildings that leads to like another street and the way the moonlight is coming in you see a tall slender figure casting a long shadow down the alleyway just staring in direction. I feel like one of us sees it first as we walk by, and then we all see it, and we're like, stopped dead in our tracks. Do you guys all see that?

Do you know them? I see it. It's just one shadow, right? Yeah, just standing there, and you can't make it out. Just standing in the distance, and it's too tall. I hate that. It's too tall. I hate that it's too tall. I have Buggles like presses up against Zephyr's leg. It's like getting, trying to be safe.

Asta puts a hand on her sword. Is this a friend or a foe? I think so. Knowledge check. Yeah. Arcana? It's a foe, Asta. A foe.

It's a 25 if it's regular if it is Kineppo connected to Kineppo or the thin lands it's a 26 okay

I have natural 19 for nature so 23 if it helps is that a 20 on the GCP die the

the GCP logo yay that's where was that last week anticlimax I should have been using the GCP die also Yay! Where was that last week? Anticlopedia. I should have been using the GCP. Also a nice boundary. That's a 26.

26, all right. 21 occultism. Really good rolls. I mean, right now you're seeing something that's backlit by the moon, so it's really just a shadow, and it is way too tall and way too thin. So your mind goes to, is this the slim? Mm-hmm. You can't see its features.

You're about 40 feet away, but the way it, the street you're supposed to go this way, it's just staring at you. Deletha is going to start slowly perching and on the hilt of her reindeer. The ramius will fall in behind and he just starts mumbling like prayers under his breath. Keep it away. Talitha, ramius.

What? Asta will change shape into her kitsune form. So she has nine tails, and she is like a large, not large, she is like her size, but now a kitsune, like a fox-featured face, fully fur.

Nine tails. She has nine tails. Can't wait to see this. We're going to need two portraits. Oh, right, yeah. She's got three forms, baby. It's coming out of your check. She's got three forms.

She can also turn into a fox. All right. So I imagine if you're just walking with her, you guys look, and now there's a different creature standing next to you, and you slowly approach. No time for that. We'll deal with that in a moment. But she's got her katana still.

Weapons are out. Get my bow out, yeah. Say, get ready, Buggles. Buggles, you're just... Well, once they start moving ahead, the two... Fools. The two fools,

Buggles is going to sort of pry himself away from Zephyr's, the safety of Zephyr's leg and sort of ball up his little fist and start marching after the two of them. You guys walk up to the edge of the alley, trying to make out any features on this thing. But it's just this like. It's just standing there. It's not like not interacting.

I always, I don't know if I've talked about this on the show before, like I always used to ask my buddies, like what's scarier? Seeing somebody run into you like,

ah, with a knife or just walking down a road and turning and have someone staring at you? Yes. That's what this is. Like you're just walking

and there's something just staring back. You're trying to make out the features but it's like this absence of light, very similar to when you faced the Gorgas. And you get to the edge of the alleyway.

And the second you step into the alleyway, it just like steps to the side and its shadow goes away. Run. After you get to the end of the alley. Seconds later, no one there. Brother Ramius comes running up behind you.

All this books. Yeah. Right. Perception check? Yeah. Looking around. Perception. Perception, John.

Perception, John, go. Perception. Natural one. That's an eight. Where's my perception? 20 Nothing Not a trace of anything, you don't even see footsteps We all saw that, right? I saw it, yes

Was that what we saw in the tree? Perhaps It's here He's here He's watching It's watching We He's here. He's watching. It's watching. We're running out of time. Yes.

We must rest and go first thing to the farm. First light. First light. We should keep watch tonight. That's a good idea. You think it's not safe indoors? I don't think anything is safe. That creature lives in the shadows.

Wherever a shadow is cast, it could appear. I will keep watch. Thank you, Asta. As will I. I mean, we can rotate. We can all share. Um, yeah, we'll go back. Go back to the Minotaur's mansion. You'd already checked out, so you're checking back in.

Awkward. Two rooms. One for the... Yeah, two rooms. Are you with the lady? Yeah, I guess I'll take the bed. We're both regretful of sleeping on the floor. We have a couple of two-bedroom rooms.

Anyway, so you guys are sharing a room. You guys are sharing a room. Are you taking turns? Like you'll stay up for a little bit, then Buggles will stay up for a little bit, and then you guys are on a rotation? Sure. Okay.

Well, if we do have a suite with multiple bedrooms, we can just have one person at a time. If there are two-bedroom options, we'll do that. Yeah, we'll take that. Okay, you can do that. We still sleep on the floor. I still take the bed. You go to sleep.

You take turns keeping watch. And you wake up the next day, oddly quiet all night. You hear other people, other patrons of the inn walking around, but nothing out of the ordinary. And is the plan to go to the Inland's Farms or to Pa Mosby's farm, the guy that was attacked by a corga? That first. Pa Mosby?

Okay. Yeah. Pa Mosby. Pa or par? Pa. Like Ma and Pa? Yeah. Pa Mosby.

Pa Mosby. It seems like it's a nickname. Isn't there a Port Mosby in Australia or something? Maybe that's where he's from. Maybe. That's where he's originally from. You get all your stuff, gear up, don your armor, get your weapons ready, spend time focusing on your spells for the day,

and you open the door to your room to go to the hallway. You open the door to your room to go to the hallway. And on the ground, right outside the door to your room, is something carved onto the floor. Oh, my God. It looks like halfway between a five-pointed star and like an elongated stick figure. Oh. And we'll see you next week. Oh, no. This is creepy as shit.

This is fucking nice. Yeah. So creepy. Like no fucking way. Like a child's drawing. Ugh. Yeah. He's facing private property.

They're going to get charged for this. Yeah, we're going to get charged. Seriously. Did anyone take a picture of the floor before they went to bed? I don't have any money. I don't have any gold. I don't have any money.

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