Perpetua 29: A Picture of the HIlls 02 Transcriber: frog (fferaldogs) Recap 1 Breakfast at Jonathan’s [0:02:45] 3 Spillaway Peaks Shopping [0:20:37] 19 Conversation At The Shops [0:34:18] 35 Elena’s Gem [0:44:37] 49 Shopping Resumes [0:56:45] 58 The Third Gem [1:03:48] 64 Recap Ali (as Veile): Do you, um, [laughs] do you buy gems? Dre: [laughs] Austin (as Shopkeeper): Do I buy gems. Ali (as Veile): Yes, I— Austin (as Shopkeeper): Of course I buy gems, people come down from the mountains with gems all the time. You don’t look like a gem dealer, but I’ll take a look at what you got. Austin (as Cerulea): Oh no, don’t sell me to him! He has no idea what I’m worth. [“Perpetua” by Jack de Quidt begins playing] — Dre (as Jonathan): Yeah Dad, we found it at the bottom of a ruined tower. Austin (as Jasper): Ruined tower?? Dre (as Jonathan): Got attacked by a ghost dragon priest. Dad, it was crazy. Austin (as Jasper): Ghost dragon priest?? Dre (as Jonathan): Yeah! Austin (as Jasper): You gotta tell your mama these stories! Dre (as Jonathan): Yeah. [sighs] Yeah, yeah I do. — Austin (as Lovinia): [pointed] Your friends brought me a cake. You see that? Ali (as Veile): Jonathan brought the cake. Austin (as Lovinia): [skeptical] Oh, Jonathan brought the cake. And left it on the table before he went to see his daddy in the workshop. Ali (as Veile): Well, he— Austin (as Lovinia): Same as it ever was! Ali (as Veile): We tr- we— Dre (as Jonathan): You look— Austin (as Lovinia): Take a seat, Jonathan. Get yourself a cup. — Dre (as Jonathan): We’ve been, um, we’ve been traveling with Veile for a while now, helping her with her pilgrimage. Austin (as Lovinia): Her pilgrimage? Now I knew she was a woman of the cloth, but I didn’t know she was on a pilgrimage. Where are y’all headed? Ali (as Veile): Oh, [laughs awkwardly] that’s just the trouble of it, ma’am. I’m seeking someone who might help guide me while I’m here. — Dre (as Jonathan): Nicky, you— Art (as Nicky): You just told Jonathan’s family, who you never met and didn’t know why Jonathan left, everything about what we were doing. Within twenty minutes of meeting them. Jack: Elena, blushing [laughing] like bright red. Ali (as Veile): [indignant] We didn’t tell them everything. Jack (as Elena): [quietly] Well… Art (as Nicky): What didn’t you tell them? [“Perpetua” by Jack de Quidt plays until track ends] Breakfast at Jonathan’s [0:02:45] Austin: Okay, it is the next morning. I suspect y’all have slept very well. I think that they are very high on hospitality here. Not just in Spillaway Peaks, but particularly inside Jonathan’s clan and more immediate family. And y’all have the day ahead of you. What’s on the docket? Who wants to talk about what y’all have come here to do and like, big picture, what the game plan is? Dre: Yeah, I’m kind of picturing in my head—I feel like this is a classic scene from a lot of JRPGs where it’s like, the party just got to the new city or the new main area and it’s the next morning in the inn, in this case, Jonathan’s family house, and everybody meets up around breakfast or whatever to talk about like: okay, [Austin: Yes.] let’s reestablish what we’re here for, what are we doing here, what are we trying to get out of being here. Austin: Yeah. Dre: Besides familial strife. Austin: I think, just as a note, I think most of your family is already out and about their day by the time y’all are gathered around the breakfast table. I think there’s like some food to be warmed up for you, but things get going quick here. You know, rehearsal is tomorrow and so your older sibling, older brother, has to like go down to do rehearsal rehearsal. Your younger sister, Mae, Maebela, has gone to do her like—I think she’s mentioned this—she’s been doing some work at the Shining Star, the newspaper in town. And then your mother is still in her room and I think your father is just like, doing the rounds? Which is what he mostly does today- like, these days. He just like, leaves and like, walks around town and checks in with people and sees if he can help them fix a thing, or insists that he’ll help them fix a thing [laughs] even if nothing’s really broken. Dre: [laughs] Austin: And just kind of finds a place to hang out every day, you know? And so yeah, y’all are left here. There’s other folks around that maybe you would know by name, but no one who you’re specifically tight with, walking around the building. So it’s just y’all around the table. What’s for breakfast? What type of breakfast do they leave for you to warm up? Dre: Uh let’s see…biscuits definitely. Ali: Ohh. Dre: Probably some—do you all know what I’m talking about if I say southern ham? Or like salted ham? Austin: Yeah. Dre: It’s- it’s— Jack: Is it like very thick cut— Austin: Yeah, yeah. Dre: Very thick cut, heavily salted ham because it like, helps it keep [Austin: Mhm.] better basically. Art: Alright. Dre: I’m just thinking of stuff that [cross] you can lay out and warm up really easily. Art: [cross] I’m just hearing you say ham, but I hear you. Austin: [chuckles] Ali: [laughs] Austin: Yeah. Y’all got grits? Are grits just on? Is this a grits household or is this not a grits household? Dre: You- oh, it— [laughs, scoffs] Austin: [laughs] Art: [laughs] Dre: It’s a grits household. I don’t know if grits is a thing you can just like leave on the stove. Austin: Sure. Dre: But I’m sure there’s some in a bowl and Jonathan will heat ‘em up for everybody. Austin: Get some. Okay. Dre: Yeah. Austin: Gotcha. Great. So yeah, [Jack: Uh—] y’all are around the table. Jack: I can’t- I can’t tell whether or not—I think, yeah, I think Elena’s like, (as Elena): How’d you sleep, Jonathan? Dre (as Jonathan): [sighs] Terrible. Jack (as Elena): Yeah? Dre: [laughs] I think he has like a little wry smile and, (as Jonathan): [sighs] I- sorry you all had to see all that and have no context for all of that last night. Jack (as Elena): It seems like- it seems like there’s a lot going on! Dre (as Jonathan): Honestly it’s complicated, but it’s simple. Something—I don’t know how much you all know about where I come from and how we do things, but one of the most important things for all Terrapins is: what are you gonna leave behind. You know, when it- when it all happens. Dre: Waves his hands in the air broadly. [laughs] Art (as Nicky): Mm. Dre (as Jonathan): Well, without getting into all of it and having to talk so much that I probably owe you money for it, I left cause I didn’t know what I had left, or what I would have that was worth leaving behind. My plan was not to come back til I found it and I love you all very dearly, but I don’t think it would be fair to say that y’all are it, so. Here I am and everything is just as unsettled and unfinished as I left it. Ali (as Veile): Well you can’t put us in that big hole. Dre: [laughs] Ali (as Veile): Teeheehee. Ali: Veile doing a teeheehee. Austin: [chuckles] Dre: [sighs] Ali: Veile thinking she can manage— [laughs] Dre: No, yeah. [laughs] Jack: Kitty cat Veile. Ali: [laughing] [inaudible 0:08:26] Austin: Kitty cat Veile! Ali: [laughs] Dre (as Jonathan): No, you’re right Veile, that wouldn’t be any kind of a solution at all. [sighs] And neither would be crying into my grits over it, so let’s talk about what we can do something about. Jack (as Elena): We gotta go to the Shining Star. Ali (as Veile): Oh yes. Dre (as Jonathan): Yeah. Jack: Onyx pointed us toward it and—out of character—was it Jonathan’s brother is working there? Or was it just that— Austin: No. Dre: Little sister. Austin: Childhood friend is—little sister’s working there, friend is running it. Friend who you haven’t checked in with yet. Dre: Mm. Jack: Yes. What’s the friend’s name? Begins with a C? Austin: Uh, the friend’s name is Theo. Jack: Oh! [laughs] Austin: It’s Theolonius, Theo. Jack: Um… [laughs] (as Elena): And then, you know, I wouldn’t mind stopping by rehearsal, if that wouldn’t be weird for you, Jonathan. Your mom was- seemed very interested in—I don’t know, showing it off? Or us being a part of it? Dre (as Jonathan): Well, I mean she should be. It’s- you know, I’m sure you all got stuff about your home that you have complicated feeling to, but that you still love to death and—it is worth seeing. It’s beautiful, it truly is. Jack (as Elena): And then there was that lady who bought all the flyswatters. Dre (as Jonathan): Yeah, it doesn’t seem like a coincidence that just before we get here everybody starts talking about somebody else that just got here a little bit ago. Jack (as Elena): No… Dre (as Jonathan): Did we get a name for her? Jack: I don’t—did we, Austin? I don’t think we did. Austin: Mm—I don’t remember. Dre: I don’t think we did. Austin: [laughing] Sometimes you just say someone bought a bunch of flyswatters…augh, you know! Dre: Yeah sure sure sure. Ali: [laughing] I don’t think this is a lead. Art: Yeah. Jack: Well but then- then a second person says it! Dre: People keep talking about it. [laughs] Yeah! Austin: That’s a callback! Dre: [laughing] I didn’t think it was a lead either, but still. Austin: That’s a callback! Dre: Oh, okay. Austin: They call that a callback, in humor! Dre: Okay okay okay. Jack: [laughs] We don’t know what the writing budget for Perpetua is like. Austin and Dre: [laugh] Jack: Whether it’s the kind of game where they can be spending budget on the callbacks or if they’re like, well this is clearly a quest. Ali: [snorts] Dre: Yeah. Austin: “How do you start the flyswatter adventure quest,” the longest thread in GameFAQs history, locked— Ali: [laughs] Dre: If we don’t— Austin: After twelve hundred pages. Dre: Do it now, twenty hours later we won’t be able to recruit the flyswatter optional party character. [laughs] Austin: That’s true, that’s true. Jack: [laughing] The true ending. Art: God. Um, yeah I love the idea of just like, dropped plot hooks. You know things like that, and the idea of the people going crazy [Dre: Mhm.] on the forums. Dre: Um— Art: I wish forums still were around. Dre: They- they kind of are. Art: I know that they would be bad now, but. And were bad then. Ali, Dre, and Jack: [laugh] Austin: Mm okay, keep going, keep going. We’re getting somewhere. Dre: Bad in a different way, is— Art: Sometimes [Austin: Mhm.] I wish— Austin: Mhm, mhm. Art: I was fourteen again. [laughs] Austin: Oh wow… Ali: Yeah. Dre: Mm. Jack: It’s one of the best places on the internet to have a fight. Austin: A forum? Art: Oh, top—yeah. Austin: Yeah. Dre: Yeah, yeah. Jack: You think it’s fun to fight on- on BlueSky, it’s not. You gotta be fighting with like, SephirothEric— Austin and Dre: [laugh] Jack: For twenty one pages about whether the flyswatter quest is real. Austin: I recently— Dre: And he’s got a fucking graphic he made in his forum signature that takes up half the page [Austin: Mhm, mhm.] and has three anime gifs in it. Jack: Hell yeah. Dre: Yep, mhm. Austin: I recently made a document, or added to my Perpetua overall notes—I have like a bunch of different Perpetua documents. And the overall one—or actually it’s the intro and description one, I had to write down like who all of the fake forum users are for the descriptions, because some of the descriptions have forum posts in them. Ali: Mhm. Dre: Oh! Austin: And like I knew in my head, when I wrote the first four of them, who they were and like what their characteristics were, but it’s gotten to the point now where there’s enough of them that I’m like, alright which one’s twelve years old and doesn’t actually own the game and just like— [All laugh] Austin: Read the previews and is posting like he knows- or owns the game? [laughs] You know? Dre: Yeah. Jack: Oh my god. Ali: You don’t deserve my keystrokes… Austin: That— [laughs] Jack: [laughs] Art: Oh my god… Ali: It’s such a fucking bar. Austin: [laughs] I forgot that, I was— Ali: [laughing] It’s such a bar! Austin: [laughing] Many such cases, honestly. Ugh. Dre: Okay…um— Austin: Alright! So it sounds like go to the Shining Star [Dre: Yeah.] is number one. The rehearsal is tomorrow, [Jack: Yeah.] that’s like the actual—as a reminder, rehearsal is their name for like Sunday service or mass or whatever, cause they’re rehearsing for the end of the world. Dre: Mm. Jack: It’s a- it’s like a good version of, “I hear she makes them practice dying.” Austin: Right, yes. Dre: Sure. Yeah, uh huh. Austin: Exactly. [laughs] Damn. Dre: Just to— Austin: Also a bar. You remember that? Art: Yeah… Ali: [laughs] Austin: Phew! Phew! Do you remember when we almost ended the season?? Art: That was like a rough bit of creative time, but it was- it created some good shit. Austin: Oh yeah. Banger. Um, yeah. Dre: Just to further clarify out of character, so what we were originally sent here from, was Onyx, our kind of person inside of the Valte, right? Ali: Accidentally, yeah Austin: Person inside the Valte. Well [laughs] yeah, accidentally the person inside of the Valte, and also, remember, of a group called the Luminaries. Dre: Right, yeah. Austin: Told you, “go find—“ What was the exact phrase? Does anyone remember the exact phrase? Jack: It’s like, you’ll find a friend under the sign of the shining star or something like that. Austin: That’s exactly it, yeah. Dre: Right, okay. Austin: Or very close to it. Let’s say that that’s what it is. Ali: Mhm. And it’s basically my only lead because my mentor tragically got shot in the face, I guess. [laughs] In the chest? Jack: Yeah. Austin: Well, and then got zapped into a realm of darkness. Ali: Yeah. Austin: Caliginia came and [Dre: Yeah.] swooped- swooped him away. Ali: Normal stuff, yeah. Austin: Normal stuff… Dre: All of that was nobody’s fault. Jack: [laughs] Ali: Uh huh. Austin: That’s right. Dre: Is what I remember about that. Jack: Something— Austin: Sooo true. Jack: Else going on here is I know how RPGs of this time period work, and if the Luminaries are at work here, then the other faction are too. And just as a player, I am curious about that. Like what [Dre: Mhm.] is going on in Spillaway Peaks on the other side of the coin? Austin: Mm, mhm. Jack: Which I’m sure will kind of come up naturally. Austin: Maybe. Dre: And the last thing— Jack: Maybe it will be the flyswatter thing. Dre: Yeah. The last— Austin: And maybe the flyswatter thing! Dre: The last thing that’s tickling in my head is, didn’t our assassin friend say something about how he had come here before? I guess that’s maybe not relevant, but that’s just rolling around in my brain and I want to make sure I remembered it correctly. Ali: He got super offended whenever one of his little side character guys insulted it. Dre: Okay, gotcha. Ali: Because he was like, they’re really- they’re at least doing something about the thing? Instead of seemingly everybody else in the world [Dre: Mhm.] either putting their heads in the sand about it or like me, like us— [laughs] Dre: Mhm. Ali: Defying the natural order of things. Dre: Gotcha, okay. Ali: And letting- letting the cycle go. Austin: Yeah. Dre: Okay. Austin: Or, maybe specifically with you, trying to stop it. Ali: Yeah. Dre: Mhm. Austin: Right? Yeah, so. Jack: What’s the weather like here on the other side of the bay? Austin: I think it’s rainy here. I think you wake up and it’s a rainy morning. But you know, we’re not- we are—if this world has similar characteristics to our world, you have not moved very much north, south. [laughs] Jack: Right. [laughs] Austin: And are actually in a fairly tropical climate, if the world exists the way ours does which it seems to because we have snow and ice at the north and south of the map. Of the world map, as a reminder. I’ll pull us back over so we can all see it really quick. But you do have these mountains to your east and north and so I don’t know. My instinct is that you might end up getting rain that gets stuck there, though I guess I don’t know which way the world is spinning, so that would maybe change that a little bit. Dre: [laughs] Austin: I don’t know. But yeah, you’re in the valley of this mountain range, of the Clayridge Mountains importantly. And there’s lots of rivers, and there’s lots of- there’s like some little waterfalls and stuff. But yeah, I don’t think it’s too dissimilar from Calstega overall. Dre: Okay. Oh— Austin: I’m picturing it as more cloudy and rainy than Calstega, but that’s just in my brain. Dre: Yeah. Austin: Maybe that’s cause I’m thinking about turtles and like mud. You know? Jack and Dre: [laugh] Ali: Mmm mhm. Austin: Something I didn’t say though, maybe actually this fits something else, you know the Spillaway Peaks map that I have here is focused in on where places are. Again the big yellow circles or ellipses at the—not ellipses, is that the- what’s the— Dre: Ovals? Austin: Well yeah but there’s another word for it like an elliptical, yeah I guess. An oval’s fine. On the west are like governmental buildings, cultural buildings, like official buildings. Things tied to the- to the culture and the church and stuff. And then the big green ones are like the kind of big residential homes that you’re in and then all the red stuff at the top is shops and restaurants and stuff. And then not pictured, to the north one more tier out and around, is like agricultural stuff. There are big- I think this is a big, you know, it’s an area that floods, and so there’s like rice plains, rice paddies and stuff like that. It’s a very—you know, anything that needs a lot of water does pretty well here in the shadow of these mountains. And then it becomes mountain pathways and passages and eventually the hills and mountains of the peaks, so. Jack: Are there any dungeons up there? Austin: Of Clayridge. There’s- there are definitely some dungeons up there. Jack: Sick. [laughs] Dre: [laughs] Austin: You know. Art: [laughs] Austin: You know, I think you got the newspaper, you got the copy of the Shining Star in front of you, and it says: “Investigations under way. New cave system!” Big exclamation point. Dre: Ooh. Jack: Woah. Dre: Okay! Jack: What’s the vibe of the Shining Star as a paper actually? Austin: Um, you know I’ve kind of gestured at this before, it’s a very proactive paper. It’s a very—the vibe from reading it, I think it fits your vibe really nicely actually, Elena. A lot of the stories are about reports from scouts and adventurers. There’s a real like, you know, “our contact on the western side of the continent sent back word that dadadaduh.” Jack: [laughs] Oh my god, she loves this paper. Austin: Yeah. A hundred percent. That’s the vibe, right. “Secret relic found, you know, outside of Duriel the Splintered Colosseum, what could it mean?” You know, et cetera. Dre: Mm. How big is it? Austin: The paper? Dre: Yeah. Like how many pages. Austin: I think that there is a very- there is a- it’s a single, foldable like page. [Dre: Mhm.] Or it’s like a—you can open it up once, right? So there’s a front page, there’s two inside pages, and there’s a back page. And the back page has games. Dre: Hell yeah. Austin: And then once a week, you know, maybe the day after rehearsal—I think this is a, rehearsal is the first day of the weekend and the day after that is your kind of like, hang out, rest and recuperate day. You know? Dre: Gotcha. Austin: And so the day after rehearsal is like the double wide issue. Dre: That’s your broadsheet issue and then the rest of the week is tabloid size issue. Austin: That’s exactly—you got it. Yeah, so. Dre: Mhm. Jack (as Elena): I would love to go see the headquarters of this paper. Have you seen what they’re writing about? Dre (as Jonathan): Let me take a glance… Jack (as Elena): They found a mysterious gate in the caves. Ali (as Veile): Mm! Dre (as Jonathan): Well, I don’t know what that has to do with what we’re doing here, but I— Jack (as Elena): No, no, but they seem like- they seem like good folks! Art: [laughs] Jack: [laughs] Dre (as Jonathan): Oh, the caves? Jack: [laughing] (as Elena): No the p- the people who write the paper. Dre (as Jonathan): Oh. Well, yeah. So let’s go see how a newspaper’s made. Spillaway Peaks Shopping [0:20:37] Austin: Y’all don’t wanna go shopping first? That’s not— Jack: Ah— Dre: Oh yeah, I guess that is a thing we can do. Jack: I want to go shopping too. Ali: We were- we weren’t allowed to last time because we didn’t have items. [laughs] Austin: No, yeah well now you do. Jack: We— Ali: [laughs] Austin: Now you do. Ali: [laughing] Okay. Austin: If that’s— Jack: We super did go shopping last time, right? Cause that’s— Austin: Well. Ali: We got the cake and there was like a whole— Austin: Yeah. Ali: There was the gem? We had this gem? Dre: Yeah! Ali: Remember the gem? Austin: Mhm! That’s true, that’s true. Jack: I’ve- I do remember the gem. All the shops were shut is what— Austin: That’s what it was. Ali: Yeah. Jack: It was too late. Dre: Yeah. Just the one general store was open, I think was what we said. Austin: Yeah, you could get IP and you could- [laughs] and you could get cake. Ali: [laughs] Austin: And that was it at the time, yeah. Jack: Sell, try to sell— Austin: And you could sell. Jack: A woman in a gem. Dre: [laughs] Austin: That’s right. No one’s investigating—after that, just to be clear, Elena and who else kn—I guess wait, did- was Jonathan the only one who knew about the— Ali: Jonathan’s the only one who knows about this, yes. Jack: Yeah. Austin: Okay so Elena and Nicky did not have any information about [Jack: Nope!] potentially having talking gems. Got it, good, great. Ali: [laughs] Austin: Okay. I love that. Okay. Dre: Hey, it’s not my talking gem to share. You know? Austin: I get it. No no no no, that’s not what I’m saying. You’re good. Ali: [indignantly] I was just told not to share things, so maybe… Dre: [laughs] Jack: I was just told not to share things too! Ali: [laughs] Maybe if Jonathan wants to know about my gem, he can stop being mean to me! Jack: He’s just- he’s just— Austin: Wow! Dre: I’m not being mean! I was the nice one! Austin: God damn. Art: Yeah, you’re— [laughs] Jack: I love— Ali: He said I cared about Onyx more than the group! Are you crazy? Austin: You mean- you meant Nicky. You said Jonathan, you said Jonathan. Ali: Oh, I did mean— [laughs] Art: Yeah. Dre: Whew! Whew! Ali: It’s all good. Jonathan, I’m sorry. Dre: Whew! Jack (as Elena): He’s just had a hard life, Veile. Dre: I’m already getting it from my mom, I can’t get it from my party members too. [laughs] Ali: [laughs] Austin: Damn. Brutal. This is brutal out here. Dre: Yeah, does anyone need to go shopping? Jack: Let’s do it. Austin: Okay. I’m gonna drop some stuff in the chat. Actually, I’m gonna finish typing this last one and then I’m gonna drop some stuff in the chat. There are two big stores. There are two big shops for y’all needs. Maybe there could be more if there’s something that’s not listed here, you know. If you’re like, oh I really need a car. I gotta buy a car. [laughs] Dre and Ali: [laugh] Austin: Maybe there could be a—I mean you know, that— Jack: [laughs] Austin: You know, there’s- there has to be some inspiration for Jonathan’s Little Snail, you know. Dre: Mhm, mhm. Ali: Mm. Austin: So it had to come from somewhere I guess. But if you’re like, I wanna get a carriage. Jack: Unless it’s the first car in the world. [laughs] Austin: Maybe it is! I don’t know—well no, because we know that the Small Snake also exists, right? Jack: Ohh yeah. Austin: Yeah, so. Jack: Yeah and the mafiosos had a Cadillac or something. Austin: They did- [laughs] they did have a Cadillac or something! Dre: [laughs] Austin: So the two stores that are really useful for you are Abelene’s Armory which has armor, weapons, and shields; and Stokely’s Specialties which has accessories. Obviously you can also get IP whenever you want here. I’m gonna drop these in…I just need to remember the name of this one skill—there it is. Do you wanna go to- do you wanna see the accessories or the armor first? The armor and weapons and stuff. Art: Um…accessories? My— Austin: Yeah. Okay, Stokely’s Specialties. Here we go, dropping these in here. I’m just gonna put these in our internal- into the Discord chat. Much easier to read. Jack: Oh sure, it’s gonna be easier to read than the tiny column. Austin: That’s right. Ali: Mm. Austin: Let me go through these. Stokely’s Specialties has the follow special things on offer, incl- along with the kind of basic stuff that you’ll find in the basic equipment list in the book. Ring of the Occultist, 600 Asta: spells you cast with the target of up to three creatures instead have a target of up to four creatures. You must still spend additional mind points for the fourth target. Accessory: Spare Magicannon Chamber. When you summon a magicannon, you also receive an extra Elemental Chamber matching the previous elemental type you stored. I haven’t written this, but you can switch between those two types once per round for free. The Ring of Denial which is: when you cast the spell Dispel from the core rulebook, page 192, its MP cost becomes 10 times target and its target becomes up to three creatures. So you can do like a mass debuff if someone’s buffed themselves or has some sort of special magic on them. The Lightcatcher Cage, 800 Asta. You are resistant to bolt and light damage. If you enter crisis, the effect of this accessory ceases until your next rest. And accessory: Ancient Pocketwatch, 600 Asta. When using the Entropist skill Stolen Time, you may use any of its options one additional time per skill use, paying requisite MP cost as normal. That has a bunch of things like someone else goes right away, or you slow down an enemy, or you know, give an enemy slow and as written, you can only use each of those things as many times as you have the skill Stolen Time. So you couldn’t say, [Dre: Mmm.] you know, Nicky goes and then Jonathan goes because that would be using the same option twice in a row, this would allow you to use that option twice in a row without getting another level of the skill. Which, I guess I should remind everybody, y’all leveled between sessions, right? Dre: Yes. Jack: Yep! Art: Uh huh. Austin: Okay. I say that because I know that Veile has those- has the skill Stolen Time. Meanwhile, over at Abelene’s Armory. So you get it all and you can make comparisons. Abelene’s Armory, let’s start with the armor here. I’m gonna read them after I post them so you can follow along. Armor: Reinforced Mud Suit. Earth resistant armor. [Jack: laughs] 11 phys, 11 physical defense. Magic defense is insight die +1. I should have written m-def there so you can see. Art: Please, phys, I think phys-d is what we want to— Ali: [laughs] Austin: It’s just def, actually. It’s just defense and m-def is what it is. Art: Eh, I think we— Austin: That’s what the book— Art: Phys- phys-d is catching on! Austin: Ah phys-d, yeah. Art: They’re saying it in the streets. [laughs] Ali: Mm. Austin: I know someone who got an art degree at phys-d. Minus 5 initiative and you’re earth resistant, that’s only at 300, pretty affordable. Armor: Meditation Robe, it’s 1,000 Asta. You get your dex die +1 defense, your insight die +2 magic defense, and -2 initiative. Whenever you recover mind points, you recover 5 extra mind points. Choir robe, it’s a 1,000 Asta robe, armor. It’s dex +1 defense, +2 insight magic defense, -2 initiative. It counts as one bonus skill level of Sound Barrier, which is a Chanter skill. Shield: Eyecatching Cape, it’s 800 Asta. You can ignore that z. It’s +2 defense and as long as you don’t have a martial- any other martial armor or another shield equipped, you can apply the effects of the Dodge skill which is a, I wanna say, like a Rogue skill or a Thief skill or whatever the equivalent class name is here. I always forget what it is cause no one has it. It is Rogue, it is Rogue. Which lets you add some extra physical defense basically. Your defense score’s increased by the skill level in it, so it would be—it’s a +2 shield, and then it’s actually kind of a +3 shield because you get to apply Dodge once. Seasoned Potlid, it’s a martial shield. +2 defense, +2 magic defense. When you deal damage with a delicacy, you deal 5 extra damage. You got like a potlid that has a bunch of good seasoning on it. A Plated Tambourine, 1,700 Asta. +0 defense, plus—or sorry, it might be +2 m- regular defense. Let me double check that to make sure, but I’ll do that in a second. If you have the Resonance skill, consider your skill level in that +2. So very powerful shield. Weapon: Giant Fork, 1,000 Asta. Dex plus might, HR +16 physical damage. It’s a spear, it’s two handed meaning you can’t use a shield with it. When you use this weapon with the Knife and Fork skill, you may add the high roll to the attack’s damage. Normally you don’t get to do that. Normally you have to— Art: Yeah, that’s good! Austin: So that’s pretty good! And then Electrified Flyswatter, 1,300 Asta. Might plus dex, HR +10 bolt damage, one handed. You may attack flying creatures, but you take -3 to the roll. Jack: She left one behind. Austin: She didn’t go shopping- she only went to the general store. Dre: Ahh, rookie mistake. Jack: And bought all their flyswatters. Austin: The weapon store was closed when she went in. [laughs] It was late. Jack: Yeah. Wow! Austin: Yeah, missed out. Jack: So the Plated Tambourine is immediately appealing to me because Resonance is just a really good skill to have [Austin: Yeah.] and I have limited opportunities for raising it because of, [Austin: It’s true.] you know, I’m quite- I’m quite near the end of leveling Chanter. Austin: Right. Jack: And being able to get that skill level up is great. Unfortunately— Austin: Without having to spend a skill le- a skill on it, [Jack: Mhm!] that you could now spend on a different Chanter skill basically. Jack: Yes. Or continue to make Resonance, you know. [laughs] Austin: Right right right, yeah. Jack: Stronger. However, it is a shield. Austin: It is. Jack: Which means I can’t wield a two handed weapon. Austin: That is correct. Jack: And my- I think I only have two handed weapons right now. Austin: You could go get something from the base book, right, that’s just like, a basic wand or whatever. Let me see. Maybe I’m wrong. No, there are. There are some one handed things. Things like, Blessed Mace: one handed, melee, no quality. You know. But also you don’t- you can use any weapon that isn’t a martial weapon, Jack. Jack: I can, yes that’s true. Austin: So. Jack: I could wield a dagger or something. Austin: That’s correct. Jack: But the nice thing about my character is that those arcane weapons have me roll willpower and insight, my best skills. Austin: Totally and again, I- we can give you a mace or something that is willpower, willpower. Those exist in the book, they’re just not in that first section. If you go to page, uh, 270 in the book, the first example is a willpower, willpower mace that does HR +2 light damage. Jack: Right, yes I see. Austin: Yeah. Jack: And it’s not martial. Austin: And it’s not martial, and it’s one handed. Jack: Yeah. Austin: And I think from the rare arcane weapons and the rare weapons stuff in the book, we can make a pretty good judgement call as to what’s available everywhere versus what’s available in certain places. I don’t think this place has the Necronomicon, for instance— Jack: [laughs] Dre: Aww. Austin: But I think you could probably get a mace. You know? Jack: Yeah. Art: Have they checked in the back? Austin: Wait one second let me see—uhhh no. No Necronomicon. Unfortunate, unfortunate. Art: Okay…I mean. Austin: Good check. Jack: Wait, roll a 1d100. Dre and Art: [laugh] Austin: Yeah, what’s the number- what’s the Necronomicon number? Art: Six six? I mean— Austin: Six six. Dre: Ohh yeah. Art: I don’t trust these people to look for the Necronomicon if they don’t even know [inaudible 0:30:58] Austin: Ohh so close! Dre: Woww! Austin: 64. Jack: Augh! So close!! [laughs] Art: [laughs] Austin: So they have the Necronumbricon and it’s just a list of evil numbers. Jack: Woah. Art: Oh everyone knows that’s not worth anything. Austin: Yeah, yeah. Jack: [laughs] But one of the numbers, if you read it— Austin: That’s right. Jack: Oh, bad news buddy! Austin: Yeah, big time. Art: I just saw this movie. Austin: Which one? Art: The Nicholas Cage movie where there’s the evil numbers. Austin: Ohhh. Jack: Is that Knowing? What is that movie? Art: That might’ve been the name of that movie. It was a bad movie. Jack: Um…I can’t afford it anyway. Let’s continue. Ali: Yeah, can I do a sidequest to get some money? Austin: Sure. Dre: [laughs] Austin: You could sell that gem that’s worth a fortune. Ali: [sadly] I don’t wanna do that… [laughs] Dre: Yeah. Ali: Where I am right now is I, roleplaying wise, [Austin: Mhm.] as Veile, wearing vestments and also a gangster’s jacket I think is feeling weird. [laughs] It was kind of a cool look in Calstega Bay— Austin: Yeah, mhm. Ali: But I think being here she’s like— Austin: Oh I see. Ali (as Veile): I- I feel out of place! Dre: Mmm. Ali (as Veile): I feel like this is informal… Austin: [laughs] Ali: So what I could do— [laughs] Jack: [laughs] Ali: I could trade my knife— Austin: You could! Ali: And the matching jacket for like 620 Asta? Austin: Mhm. Ali: 625 Asta, I think is it with— Austin: Cause you get half of what you bought it- bought it for, right? Ali: Right, exactly. Austin: Yeah. Ali: S- and then I would have like seven? So I would need some. And then I can’t sell my jacket to just get a pocketwatch and then not have any armor [laughing] cause that seems like a really bad idea. Austin: You could! Dre: You could. Ali: I could! Austin: You could. Ali: I could. [laughs] I don’t know that I will. Austin: Sure. But you c- but you could. [mumbling] I don’t— Ali: I would have to find someone like in town who needs some like bugs killed out of their yard, [Austin: Sure.] or just to be able to do somebody’s laundry— Austin: Well, those are all being taken care of actually. Jack: Well— [laughs] Art: [laughs] Ali: Noo! [laughs] Austin: Someone came through recently. Ali: [laughing] Not the one- the one thing, unfortunately. Somebody who needs some laundry done? Can we just like open like a pop shop of like cake pops? And— [laughs] Jack: I have a similar plan, Ali. Austin: Oh, I thought you were continuing to the laundry. I was like a pop up laundry shop? Ali: [laughs] Jack: It’s me and a bucket. Austin: Yeah! Ali: [laughs] Jack: Elena— Art: Bunch of out-of-towners here to tell you people how to make cake! Austin and Jack: [laugh] Ali: Just like a popsicle stand or something, can we do lemonade? We have a food truck. Austin: [laughs] You are—yeah, uh huh. Which we didn’t mention, by the way, but you presumably drove it off the ferry and into town and parked it somewhere. Dre: Yeah. Ali: Yeah. Art: Does it make money? Ali: I fucking hope so! [laughs] Jack: The food truck? It’s gotta fucking—oh, you mean mechanically? Dre: Yeah, enough to get by. Art: Does it make money we can spend? Ali: [laughs] Austin: I don’t- yeah we’d have to- what’s—you know, we haven’t really- we haven’t really done that have we? Dre: Yeah. Art: [laughs] Austin: You know, I guess we’ve been assuming it’s breaking even, [Ali: Yeah.] that’s the thing, right. None of y’all took the Merchant class right? Ali: Mm mm. Jack: No. Dre: No. Austin: Mm. Much to consider… Art: No, and frankly I’m offended you would ask. Dre: Yeah. Austin: [laughs] Ali: Do you have like a- can we—is there a Wordzin contest with a fucking— [laughs] Jack: Elena is desperate. Ali: Thousand dollar pool or something? Austin: No. You think you can win that? Jack: To get opportunity to— Dre: We- hey. Ali: I don’t know… [laughs] Dre: There is a newspaper that’s publishing stories about a new cave they might pay people to go look into. Jack: This is— Austin: This is true! Jack: Elena wants to be a newshound more than anything in the world. Ali: [laughs] Jack: As soon as we get to the newspaper, she is going to start looking for odd jobs at the paper. Austin: Mm. Jack: There’s possibly money there. In a news- in a local newspaper. [laughing] A thing famous- people famously say. Conversation At The Shops [0:34:18] Ali: Is this a- is this a conversation Veile and [Art: laughs] Elena are having? Like— Austin: It sounds like it. It sounds like it. Ali: [laughs] Tucked in, Veile looking at an eye-catching cape because it’s so eye-catching [laughs] and rubbing her coins together. Art: Ohh my god. Jack (as Elena): [cross] It’s fine— Austin: [cross] How much money do you—sorry. You go ahead, please roleplay. I’ll shut up. Jack (as Elena): We’re smart, they- they’re always looking for new journalists, and did you read the paper? It’s exactly the kind of stuff that we’re interested in! Ali (as Veile): But you think you’re gonna be a whole journalist overnight? Jack (as Elena): Not a whole journalist, but I can go and- I can do an interview. I can review a play. There’s a cave! That they found a weird door in?! Ali (as Veile): Do interviews pay? Somebody already wrote about the cave! Art: [muffled laughter] Jack (as Elena): But has anybody—okay, firstly, do interviews pay? How do you think people get such good interviews? Art: [laughs uncontrollably] Jack (as Elena): You don’t get that kind of work by underpaying a journalist. Dre: [laughs loudly] Ali (as Veile): Well who was the last person you interviewed? Jack (as Elena): I’m a singer! I don’t traditionally interview people. Ali: [laughs] Jack (as Elena): But given the opportunity, I learn fast, I’ve got pluck. Ali (as Veile): Well people always open up to me… Jack (as Elena): People always open up to you and I learn fast and I’ve got pluck… Ali: [laughing loudly] Jack (as Elena): Point two— Art: [weakly] Ohh my god… Ali (as Veile): I just want— Jack (as Elena): Has anybody been in the cave? Ali (as Veile): Well what if we just like find a restaurant that needs dishes washed or whatever? Jack (as Elena): [exasperated] Oh, Veile! We work- we do that already! Art: [laughs] Ali (as Veile): Right, we’re good at it! Jack (as Elena): We have an opportunity. We have an opportunity to see the world! Look, I know we both had- kind of had a rough morning with Nicky. And the thing about Nicky— Ali (as Veile): What was that about?! Jack (as Elena): He’s had a hard life! And he’s seen a life of cruelty. Ali (as Veile): Oh I know what we’ll do! We’ll make a bunch of money for the group and then he won’t be mad at us anymore cause we’re like pulling our weight, right? Jack (as Elena): That’s- And the thing about Nicky is he just thinks everyone’s out there to cheat you, everyone’s out there to rob you, because that’s the career he was in! But he’s not everyone and the world’s not- the world’s not all mafiosos! Austin: [laughs] Ali (as Veile): That’s true. Jack (as Elena): You know? Art: [laughs] The people paying for- paying journalists, those are the best people. Ali and Austin: [laugh] Jack (as Elena): But I feel for him! You know? Ali (as Veile): Well but— Jack (as Elena): Because he has a hard- he—it makes me sad to think about. Ali (as Veile): Oh of course. Jack (as Elena): And to spend your old age so bitter. Austin: Old age? Ali: [laughs] Art: [laughs] Yeah! Nicky, younger than several people on this call. Austin and Dre: [laugh] Jack: Also Elena’s like 120 or something? We worked this out in the last— [laughs] Austin: Yeah. As we’ve established, yeah. Ali (as Veile): He’s even angry in the kitchen. Jack (as Elena): Yeah, but that’s kind of what makes the food good. Ali (as Veile): Oh. Art: [laughs] Ali (as Veile): [quietly] I don’t know… Ali: [laughs] Jack (as Elena): He has spirit. Ali (as Veile): Well what are we gonna do about the Luminaries? We’re gonna go to this- this newspaper and say, “oh can we get a job” and then also “by the way?” Jack (as Elena): No no no, it’s two different things. It’s- it’s—yeah, well, so maybe we—no. Ali: [laughs] Jack (as Elena): There’s ways and ways, right? We could go and say, “we’d like to prove ourselves to you as young journalists” and then we say, “we’re looking for White Lectern, help.” Jack: [laughs] Ali (as Veile): Oh, we’re— Jack (as Elena): Or we say— Ali (as Veile): Wait, “we’re looking for White Lectern,” wink. Ali: [laughs] Art: [laughs] Jack (as Elena): Well no, we’re—it’s not a wink situation, Veile. We are looking for White Lectern. Dre: [laughs] Ali (as Veile): Right, but that’s—I don’t wanna get paid for that. I wanna get paid so I can buy this cape! Jack (as Elena): You don’t—oh I see, right right right. So maybe the other way to do it is say, “we’re friends of Onyx, we’re looking for White Lectern, and!” Ali (as Veile): You should invest— Jack (as Elena): Do you have any side jobs? Ali (as Veile): Yeah…I don’t wanna take money for- for the thing. You know, for the thing? Jack (as Elena): No, right yeah. That makes sense. Ali (as Veile): But to wash dishes or I don’t know, interview cave or whatever. Jack: [laughs] Jack (as Elena): I don’t think the cave is an- needs an interview. Ali: [laughs] Jack (as Elena): But in any case, I have to go sell this gem— Ali (as Veile): [gasps] Wait! Jack (as Elena): What? Ali (as Veile): Um. Ali: [laughs] Jack (as Elena): What what what?! Ali: [laughing] (as Veile): Did you try talking to it? Ali: [laughs] (as Veile): Try talking to it first. Jack (as Elena): What? Dre: [laughs] Jack (as Elena): Are you pranking me? Ali (as Veile): I have this gem with a lady in it. Jack (as Elena): You’re joking. Ali (as Veile): That’s why I couldn’t sell mine! Jack (as Elena): You’re joking! Ali (as Veile): No! Jack: My inventory item is… Ali: [laughs] Jack: Let’s see what I’ve written down here, it is: “one beautiful gem worth 500 Asta, pale beautiful purple.” Austin: Yeah, a pale amethyst gem is what I’ve written here. Jack: It’s my birthstone. Austin: Mm! Yours or Elena’s? Jack: Me, Jack. Austin: Okay. Yeah, okay. Jack: I cup it in my hands just like Veile did [Austin: Yeah.] in the previous thing, and I say, (as Elena): Hello, stone. Austin: What are you wearing right now? Ali: Woah! [laughs] Jack: Damn! Austin: That’s not what it says, this is Austin saying it. Ali: [laughs] That stone said ASL, man! Austin: [laughs] Jack: [laughs] I’m wearing all my Sage Robe, I’m wearing just like a pinafore, my hair- I have a scarf in my hair. It’s a classic Elena look. She’s not wearing her “don’t be a brat, that’s the wurst” apron. Austin: Yeah. I see. So yeah, I think as you cup the gem in your hand, a voice, a woman’s voice, comes through it and says, (as Mysterious Voice): [dryly] Oh we’ve gotta get you styled differently. Jack: Takes the stone away from my mouth, (as Elena): I think my one’s rude. Ali (as Veile): Oh, mine was just stressed cause I guess being in a stone? Jack (as Elena): Hello, stone. I’m Elena. Austin (as Mysterious Voice): [scoffs] Jack (as Elena): Don’t- please don’t talk to me like that. I take pride in— Austin (as Mysterious Voice): Please don’t call me stone, my name’s Violet. Jack (as Elena): Violet, it’s nice to meet you. Austin (as Violet): [dryly] A pleasure, I’m sure. Jack (as Elena): Are you always so rude to someone on their first appearance? Austin (as Violet): Not when they’re actually serving, no. Jack (as Elena): Okay. Ali (as Veile): Is she being nice? Jack (as Elena): I gotta sell this- I might sell this stone. Ali: [laughs] (as Veile): Wait, wait! Let me take out my stone. Jack (as Elena): She’s just insulting my appearance. Her name is Violet. What’s your stone called? Ali: I forget. [laughs] I didn’t write it down. Jack: Is your stone called Cerulean? Austin: It’s just called Cerulea, thank you, yes. Jack: Cerulea. [laughs] Austin: Yeah. (as Violet): Wait, wait, wait. Don’t sell me. Jack (as Elena): I’m listening! Austin (as Violet): Alright, well then step number one, figure out how to get me out of here. Step number two, I’ll pay you back. Step number three, ah, you’ll never have to talk to me again. Jack (as Elena): You’re trapped in the stone?! Austin (as Violet): Apparently! Jack (as Elena): Woah. Ali (as Veile): Wait, let me get my stone, I’m gonna hold it against yours. Jack (as Elena): Stones, speak! Austin: Roll some dice! Ali: [laughs] Jack: Says Violet. [laughs] Austin: Yeah. Give me a willpower, willpower. Ali: Alright. We’re pretty good at that. Jack: What, each? Austin: Yeah, one of you each. One of your insights—you know, one of you pick an insight or a willpower and the other one pick an insight or a willpower. Jack: I don’t mean to be rude, shouldn’t Cerulea and Violet be rolling? Austin: You’re holding the gems, buddy. [laughs] Ali: Willpower, willpower? Austin: So you each—no no no, one of you pick one of those stats and one of you pick the other one. You’re each gonna roll one die cause you’re each holding one of the gems. Ali: Okay. [laughs] Austin: We’re inventing a new way to do group rolls here when it comes to these special gems. Ali: So just— Jack: Okay, I’m gonna r- I’m gonna roll— Ali: Slash roll 1d10? Jack: Yes. Austin: Yeah. Jack: I’m rolling willpower cause I’m mad at my stone. Austin: Mm, that’ll help. Ali: Okay, I’m rolling insight because I had the insight to make the stones talk to each other. Austin: [laughs] Okay! Art: [laughs] Ali: [laughs] Austin: Well that’s a 7 total. Jack: [laughs] Austin: That’s the lowest possible—okay, 4 plus 3 is 7! Jack: [weakly] Can we Fabula—roll the Fabula please? Austin: Yeah you could! It’s a dice roll. Sure! Jack: Okay, I’m gonna Fabula. I’m sorry to be rude to the stone, I’m gonna start again. Austin: [laughs] What are you- what trait are you drawing on? Jack: [sighs] Megadungeon hostess. Sometimes you meet a person— Austin: Ah, I see. Jack: Who, you know, you don’t wanna judge a book by their cover. Austin: Yeah. Jack: Although, generally, when you’re in a customer service role and someone comes in being rude, that’s a good sign as to what they are like. Austin: It is. What are you- what are you drawing on, Veile? Or are you not Fabula-ing? Ali: Um, I— Austin: You only have the one Fabula Point, right? Ali: [laughs] Yeah, I only have the one point. I feel like I’m about to get it back very soon, [laughs] but I— Jack: [laughs] Ali: I kinda thought that I would see how Elena did on this redo? Austin: I see. Ali: [laughs] And— Austin: Fair enough. Wow!! Ali: Wow! Wait- wait— Austin: That’s a 1. Ali: Wait, I can turn mine into a 7. Austin: You can. Which would at least let you have a regular success, the lowest possible success. Ali: [laughs] Right, we’ll have an 8 then, and— Jack: Now I mean I have tons of Fabula Points so I could just Fabula Point again. Austin: You cannot do that. You cannot reroll. Remember, you can do it once per type of thing. You could do—isn’t that true or am I making this up again? Do I always think this and I’m always wrong? Jack: I feel like we looked it up and we can do it again, but— Ali: I think Sylvi also recently looked this up and I think it’s you- if you use a different thing? Or if you— Austin: That’s what I thought, but I’m double checking. Gain Fabula Points… Ali: I think you could do the trait twice, but— Austin: Yeah I guess I’m- I might just be wrong. Those are Ultima Points…yeah I think- I think you can- I think you can redo it. We’ve just, for some reason—I think it’s just the fact that it’s different and sometimes it’s better to just invoke a bond. Sometimes you try to do the trait and when that doesn’t work you do the bond instead or something, you know, so. So then go for it. Jack: Okay then I’m gonna reroll and this time I’m using the theme anger. Now I’m mad at the stone. Ali: [chuckles] Austin: Oh I see. Art: [laughs] Austin: Nope, I’m wrong. I was right to begin with. This can only be done once per check, it’s on page 46- 47. Jack: Ohh okay. Okay. Austin: So. Jack: Fine. Austin: Yeah. Ali: So we can—it’s just 1 and a 7. Austin: Wait! Wait! Wait, wait. Art: [laughs] Austin: Wait the other way. 47, page 47, says you can only do- invoke a bond once per check, I think you can invoke a trait many times… “They may do so any number of times as part of the same invocation, but each new reroll will cost another Fabula Point.” So you can only do the bond thing once, you can do the traits as many times as you want. Which makes sense because what it means is, you can’t buy a success with Fabula Points. Right? Jack: No, no. Ali: Mm. Austin: That’s what it means. Jack: You can roll the dice. Austin: You can roll the dice! Jack: You can take the gamble. Austin: That’s right, but you could never be like I’m gonna spend three Fabula Points to invoke all of my bonds. Jack: That makes sense, yes. Austin: Yeah, yeah. Jack: Okay. [laughs] Austin: Wowww! Jack: [laughing] I rolled a 1 again. Ali: Jesus Christ. Austin: Wow. Art: Jack, I don’t think that- that the universe wants you to succeed in this roll. Dre: No. Jack: No, I don’t think so. Elena’s Gem [0:44:37] Austin: Hey, uh, what would you say your greatest sin is? Elena? Dre: Wha—?! Jack: Wh- [laughs] fuck! Art: [laughs] Jack: Elena’s greatest—I have not had to think about this! Do you mean in action or in character? Austin: In action. This is about actions, it’s not about beliefs or feelings. It can be large or small, it can be something we’ve never talked about. Jack: What do mean by greatest? Austin: Heaviest, worst. Jack: Oh, okay. Um— Austin: What’s the worst thing Elena’s ever done? Jack: She abandoned someone on a floor of Rillspur. Rillspur is a megadungeon, [Austin: Mhm.] it is very, very dangerous [Austin: Mhm.] the deeper you go. It is actively dangerous fairly near the surface. For the Tesserae, it is- the surface is much less dangerous. You know, they—we’ve talked about Tesserae swimming on upper levels, [Austin: Mm.] or, you know, guests- visitors to the megadungeon will stop off at the restaurant that Elena’s family hosts at the top. That place is fine, you can resupply there. But even just one level down you will find Passikans—sorry, you will find Tesserae swimming, eating, talking, moving, kind of flowing through the mosaics. It’s sort of the place where their bodies can do that thing. And then one layer down it starts to get a little dicier. And I think that, in real Delicious in Dungeon situation, Elena saw someone down there [Austin: Mm.] trapped or drowning and she could have helped them and she didn’t, because to pass that way would bring her closer to the actually genuinely difficult bits of the dungeon. And I think she holds in her heart a real pride that Pas- Tesserae aren’t scared of Rillspur, [Austin: Mm.] but in that moment she felt the fear and she let that person drown. Austin: Everything and everyone starts to get further from you. [“Violet” by Jack de Quidt starts playing] Austin: You know, a foot at a time, gliding away as if they’re on a conveyor belt leading them further away from you at the center. The- where are we? We’re at one of the shops presumably, or walking— Jack: Yeah, we’re at the shop. Austin: The, you know, the shelves get further and further away from you. You know, Veile becomes- goes from being just in front of you to being ten feet away, a hundred feet away. The light starts to get further away? So you can see that the- like the light starts to dim in the air because the light particles become further and further apart from one another. It’s like there’s a sunset in here all at once. And the gem in your hands glows just a little bit, and she says—Violet, Violet Caliban, says to you, (as Violet): Alright, don’t panic. Just start walking. Jack: Glancing around, you know, walking towards the now receding door of the shop. Austin (as Violet): So why’d you do it? Jack: Do I know intuitively that this is what is being talked about here? Austin: You can feel it, yeah. Jack: That there is— Austin: Yeah. You know, and maybe we just- this is—the realm of this thing is, as you start walking, you can hear the sound of splashing. You know, maybe you even see in the distance—you know, this is like the wooden floors of this structure have now stretched out to be thousands of feet in every direction. And in strange places there’s pillars from Rillspur, placed, and there is like a little pool of water, there’s like elements of your home. And Violet is like, (as Violet): Just keep walking. Austin: And asks why did you do it. Jack (as Elena): I’d have died. It wasn’t safe. Austin (as Violet): Then why do you feel so bad about it? Jack (as Elena): I don’t know. No one wants to see anybody drown. Austin (as Violet): You regularly do unsafe things? Jack (as Elena): Yeah? Austin (as Violet): Then why didn’t you then? Jack (as Elena): Cause I was- I was a kid. I didn’t wanna put myself in danger. You’d have done the same. Austin (as Violet): I have done the same. You know in paintings, sometimes an artist will indicate regret by showing someone looking over their shoulder. I need you not to look behind you. Just keep walking. Jack (as Elena): What’s behind me? Austin (as Violet): Don’t look behind you. Austin: You can hear something behind you. (as Violet): It’s not too far. Fifteen, twenty minutes, we’ll be out. Jack (as Elena): Fifteen, twenty minutes?! Austin (as Violet): Fifteen, twenty minutes. Jack: I’m gonna actively try not to look behind me. Austin: I love this. Give me a roll, this is willpower, willpower, difficulty 13. Ali: What is my experience of this? Austin: We’ll get there. Ali: Okay. [laughs] Austin: You didn’t roll two 1s in a row. Jack: Okay… Austin: Hey! A 13. Jack: That’s not so bad! Austin: That’s not so bad, that was the difficulty I set! So you’ve done it. For fifteen to twenty minutes, you find yourself walking through a realm of your- this strange stretched out version of the store, plus images from Rillspur the dungeon that you are from. The megadungeon that you are from, and all the while you hear the shuffling of feet behind you. I am not going to put the zombie behind you, but if you had looked behind you, you would have been attacked by this psychic zombie that lives inside of your brain. That— Jack: [laughs] Buddy— Austin: Is just in there now. Maybe it was always in there. Jack: We all got the psychic zombie. Austin: We all got the psychic zombie in your brain. Or in our brains. Art: You don’t gotta tell me. Austin: [laughs] And after fifteen minutes of you walking and, Veile, after about fifteen seconds of seeing Elena kind of just go blank, you come to. Jack (as Elena): [shaken] You gotta be really careful with the stones, Veile. Ali (as Veile): Was she mean to you again? Art: I think it’s good you’re not telling anyone about these gems. Keep ‘em to yourself. Jack (as Elena): I don’t know, I don’t know. She trapped me in- in— Ali (as Veile): What? Austin (as Violet): I didn’t trap you. Jack (as Elena): In like a str— Austin (as Violet): Why would I trap you? You’re my way out of here! Jack (as Elena): Okay. I was taken to a stretched place. Austin (as Violet): Oh that’s good. Write that down, the Stretched Place. Ali (as Veile): Stretched…? Jack (as Elena): I’m not in any mood to be writing anything down! Jack: [laughing] Going to the newspaper. Austin (as Violet): Weren’t you just saying you were gonna become some sort of crack journalist? Art: [laughs] Jack (as Elena): You can hear things we’re saying?! Austin (as Violet): Yeah and most of it’s really boring. Ali (as Veile): They can hear us? Jack (as Elena): I think she can just hear me. Austin: “Murmurmurmah?” Yeah, uh huh. Ali: [laughs] Austin: That’s what you sound like. [laughs] Art: [laughs] Jack (as Elena): You got a good one, Veile? Austin: That- sorry, that was not in character, that was explaining what Violet heard from Veile. Art: Wah wah wah, that’s what you sounded like. Austin: Wah wah wah, that’s what you sound like! [laughs] [All laugh] Ali (as Veile): Mine was like, okay. She just seemed scared I guess. Jack (as Elena): Mine insulted the way I looked and then was all business when I went to the Stretched Place. Ali (as Veile): [sadly] Mm. Austin (as Violet): Listen, here’s the deal. I’ll help you with what I know, and when you get an opportunity to get me out of this thing, you get me out of it. Jack (as Elena): [sullenly] Okay, fine. Austin: You can add—how did we- how did we put this in Veile’s? How did yours get written down? Ali: I went to my journal section, where there is a friends— [laughs] Austin: Right. Ali: [laughing] Tag. Austin: Yes. Ali: Where it now says, “Cerulea gem.” Austin: Mhm, okay. Ali: Presumably the person inside of it is Cerulea. Austin: That’s right. Jack: But she has a last name, presumably. Austin: Cerulea does not. But Violet Caliban does. And so you can write that down as a friend if you’d like to, and for you Elena, it is: “Expert in art, fashion, and culture. Can be used like a trait when you spend a Fabula Point. When you do this 10 times…” And we didn’t really- I didn’t describe what she looked like and I should because just like with Veile’s you can kind of look at the gem and kind of get a vision of something, a character and a place. Violet is wearing a sort of—I would say it’s like high street fashion? She has purple hair. Her eyes glow sometimes, when she asked you what your greatest sin was, her eyes went from being sort of green to being bright pink. I imagine her as sort of being in the—it’s hard for me not to think of her being in the Shin Megami Tensei 5? Outfits? This sort of like blue school outfits with the white—maybe that’s 4. Maybe it’s the 4 outfits I’m thinking of. Is that true? Yeah, the 4- the ones from Shin Megami Tensei 4, these cool blue jackets, which is not exactly what it is because I think it’s less military than this. It’s like a version of this by way of like, a Persona or a- the, um, Tokyo Mirage Sessions style vibe. Jack: And she’s a robot? Austin: No. There’s nothing robot- she’s a human. Jack: Oh! Austin: What do you mean? Why would she be a robot? Jack: Cerulea is a robot, right? Austin: Sure is. She’s just a pers- Violet doesn’t look like she has anything to do with Cerulea. And then also, because you did not succeed at this roll, they do not seem to connect to each other in any way, but the gems do resonate very briefly. They’re very clearly the same type of gem, but what’s inside of them is not— Jack: Wait, didn’t we get an 8? Austin: No, you rolled 1 twice, Jack. Jack: But I was rolling for— Ali: Yeah. Austin: Yeah, you Fabula Pointed and got rid of your 3. Jack: But didn’t Ali make it a—oh right, that’s right. Austin: Oh yeah! Ali, you could- you made it a 7 with your thing. N- yes. Jack: Yeah. Ali: I did. Austin: That does make it an 8, okay. Ali: And I kind of was like, wait what’s happening here? [laughs] Austin: I apologize. All that other stuff still happened, I was—you can’t roll 1 twice for me and me not do something. They resonate very briefly. I think that they then can come into contact with each other, but not in any way that like—there isn’t something special about them where on a- the minimum of a 7, the two of them can [Ali: Right.] join forces, you know what I mean. Ali: And this isn’t like a split party of gems? Austin: Does- they don’t seem to—I think maybe this is what we get. We get Cerulea saying to you, (as Cerulea): Who’s that? Austin: And then they kind of fade each other- fade away from each other. Ali (as Veile): Oh. I thought you were friends with this other gem. Austin (as Cerulea): No…I lost my friends. I have to get back. Ali (as Veile): Okay, well I’ll help you. Austin (as Cerulea): If you ever hear the name Gaile, let me know. Ali (as Veile): Okay. Jack: I’m done here, I wanna go to the newspaper. Dre: Mm. Ali: [laughs] Shopping Resumes [0:56:45] Dre: Can I start a project right now [Austin: Yeah.] while we’re out here getting supplies and stuff? Austin: Absolutely. That’s kind of your specialty. Dre: So, yes. Art: Then I gotta figure out some- I gotta figure out some money stuff. Dre: Okay. I will pitch my idea so you can figure out money stuff. I would like to make a little backpack that I wear [Austin: Uh huh.] that by absorbing expending magical energies cast in combat, at times will produce- condenses that down and produces it into a little cube that is the equivalent of one IP. So I would like to make something that I wear— Austin: Oh interesting. Jack: Woah! Austin: That’s fun. Dre: That mechanically speaking, I think the way it works is that—or the proposal I would have—is that after every battle I, like, flip a coin slash roll a d2 and if it lands on whatever side we designate, an IP pops out and if it doesn’t nothing pops out. Austin: I think- I think that’s a cool idea, but I wanna tie it to the thing you said which was it has to be- something magic has to happen in the battle. Dre: Okay, sure. Austin: But I’d rather then say if a spell was cast, you know, or a spell-like ability is used, roll a 1d4 and get that many IP. Dre: Okay. Austin: Something like that. Dre: Okay. Austin: Getting one IP is really cool, but if you’re gonna make the thing we should make the version of it that can hit, you know? Dre: Yeah, alright. Austin: That can feel like a home run. Dre: Yeah yeah yeah. Austin: So, this is definitely individual, [Dre: Yep.] only gonna be a x1. It’s permanent, presumably— Dre: Yes, so it’s— Austin: So it’s a x5, and then [Dre: Mhm.] what’s the- this feels like— Dre: So yeah, it’s on the potency, cause that’s what we’re looking at right? Austin: Mhm, that’s what we’re looking at. You got it. Dre: Cause it’s individual, permanent. Austin: Yeah. Dre: I feel like it’s either medium or major because of the phrases, “provide short term energy” [Austin: Yeah.] or “provide long term energy.” Austin: I think it’s short term energy. It’s a consumable energy source that it’s producing. Dre: Okay. Austin: You know, or it’s producing IP, it’s producing—yeah. What’s really funny is, IP is already this sort of abstract thing so is it producing IP or is it- is it producing items? Dre: Yeah, I think it’s producing like reagents or like ingredients or things like that. Austin: Right, ingredients that you can then make into a potion or whatever very quickly. Dre: Yeah, yeah. Austin: Yeah. Cool, so yeah let’s say medium. I think that’s medium. Dre: Okay. Austin: So that means— Dre: So medium, individual, permanent… Austin: So 1,000 [Dre: Mhm.] Asta and— Dre: And then I get the free five ticks and minus 500 cost because of my [Austin: Whew!] Tinkerer skill. Austin: Love that. Dre: So then that would put us at 500 cost and 5 out of 10 checks on the clock. Austin: That seems right, yeah. I think so, right? Dre: Okay. I will get all that on my sheet. Austin: Cause it’s—what is it? How do you determine the ticks again? Or the clock size? That’s what I’m looking for right now. Dre: It’s every 100 Asta— Austin: Right, I see, I see. Dre: Is one clock tick. Yeah. Austin: So then yeah, you need 5 more- 5 more clock ticks. That makes sense. Dre: Okay. I will get that put in on my sheet and I will take 500 off of my money. Art: So I would like to buy that big fork. Austin: [delighted laughter] Jack: [laughs] Austin: Ah, the more things change! Art character going shopping for big utensils! Same as it ever was. Art: Uh huh. The Seasoned Potlid is very cool, but there’s only one delicacy that deals damage and I haven’t discovered it yet. Austin: I see, yeah. Art: So investing 1500 Asta into something that could literally never work… [Austin: laughs] and I know what you might be asking at home: “Art, could you just be combining ingredients outside of combat to discover what the things are so that when it comes up in combat [Jack: laughs] you’re not like, well we’ll see if this is useful!” Yes, yes I could, but I’m not really interested in [Austin: Mm.] knowing what’s going to happen. Austin: Mm! Art: That’s for nerds. Austin: Ah, I see. Art: Anyway. So I need to generate 400 Asta to afford my big fork. Austin: Yeah. Jack: [laughs] Art: What is it like to sell things back? Austin: You get half of what it cost. Art: Okay, and a greatsword costs… Dre: How much more do you need, Art? Art: I need 400 Asta. But I should get rid of my big knife. My big knife is gonna be replaced by my big fork. [laughs] Austin: Hm. Dre: Sure. Art: I assume that even though we described this as a kitchen knife that there are still kitchen knives. I’m not— Austin: Yeah, this- yeah, uh huh. Yeah, you’re not unable to do your cooking job, yeah. I think it’s in the—I mean I know it’s in the book, but. Art: The- yeah. Austin: I think it’s a—I don’t think it’s a rare weapon. Yeah, it’s on page…167. It’s 200 Asta so you’ll get 100 for it. Art: Alright, so then I need 300 more Asta. Dre: I mean I could- I could float you some money. I don’t have a ton, but. Art: Alright, I’ll take it. Dre: I have 465 left total. Art: Alright, so I’ll sell that sword for 100 and then I’ll take 300 from you and I’ll- I’ll get it back to you when we- when I can. Dre: Sure. Austin: I love that you’re trading a knife for a fork. Art: I already had a big knife— Austin: Yeah, yeah. Art: So I’ve completed the set of— Dre: Mhm, mhm. Art: Um, so I don’t know if everyone knows this, but I have to leave the show now. Austin: Ohhh. Jack: [laughs] Art: This is what I said when I started, I would— Jack: It’s in the operating agreement. Austin: Yeah. Art: Yeah. I’ll miss you guys. Austin: Weird that we put that in there, I wasn’t sure, especially back then cause the spoon hadn’t even happened yet I don’t think. You know? But. Dre: [laughs] Art: Yeah, in retrospect it feels sort of like I was being railroaded here, but. Austin: I mean, you saw the operating agreement. I- that’s not on me. Ali: You had a lot of involvement in this contract… [laughs] Austin: [laughs] You had a lot of involvement in this contract. It’s so true. Art: Yeah, but Austin was like it’s this or nothing, you know? Austin: Yeah, I did say that. I did say, “It’s this or nothing.” Jack: [laughs] Dre: That sounds like Austin. Austin: Yeah yeah yeah yeah. Art: Yeah, especially that time. Austin: Woah! Woah! Why does it sound like I’ve gotten way more, “It’s this or nothing.” Ali: [laughs] Art: No, [laughs] I don’t think- I don’t think it says that. Austin: [skeptically] Mmm. Art: But from now on, imagine Jon- Nicky walking around with a big fork. The Third Gem [1:03:48] Austin: Okay. Any other things before we go to the place? To the Shining Star? Dre: I’m good. Jack: Yeah, I think I’m good. Art: Yeah, yeah. Austin: Right, I guess that’s the last thing I wanted to make sure of, we don’t wanna talk to the third gem? We don’t wanna do that? Ali: Who has a gem?! Jack: Ohh. Austin: What do you mean who has a gem? Art: Who has the third gem? Austin: Who has the third gem?! Check your sheet, my man! Ali: [gasps] Art: Is it me? Austin: Yes! Ali: Oh my god. Dre: I was about to say, it’s not me. Art: I thought I sold that gem immediately. Austin: No. Did you?! Did you give it up? Ali: [gasps] Dre: I sold mine, because mine wasn’t special. Austin: No, yours was a dragon scale, Jonathan. Dre: Yeah. Yeah yeah yeah, that’s right. Austin: That was not the gem. Dre: It wasn’t a gem, yeah yeah yeah. Art: No, I got a gem and I just instantly put the Asta value in my thing. Jack: Hah! [laughs] Austin: Oh my god…well sorry about— Jack: Oh noo… true ending… Austin: Sorry to— Dre: I love that. Honestly? Love that. Austin: I’m just gonna read you what it says here. Sorry to Sunshine, Armidurge Sergeant, from the Creed of Oracles, not the Windborne Church. Surfer, expert in combat tactics and military hardware, can be used like a trait when you spend a Fabula Point. Jack: Ohh my god! Austin: When you do this ten times…and then there’s another thing written here that I’m just gonna read. It’s like a hyphen, to remind me—actually I already said it. It’s armidurge, armidurge is an important word sort of, you know? There’s other words with these other characters who I have not- I’ve not read you the whole description of Cerulea or Violet. Farewell to our sunshine surfer, who would have been like what if there was a surfer from Valkyria Chronicles that you could talk to whenever you wanted. Ali: What?! [laughs] Austin: Yeah. Jack: And before the listener’s like, well Austin didn’t tell them they were going to be special— Austin: [laughs] I— [sighs] Jack: I distinctly remember, I went to sell it immediately like Art did— Austin: Yep. Even— Jack: Just to like convert it to Asta, and Austin said well no wait, hang on a second. You don’t need to sell that straight away. Austin: And in fact— Ali: And they all had special names!! Austin: In fact— Ali: I wish we were a video podcast so people could see my face with my jaw just dropped. Dre: [laughs] Austin: Yeah. When you— Ali: [laughing] The entire time you were reading. Austin: When you got the gems, I was like- you were like, I’ll just write down gem and how much they’re worth and I was like, no no no, they should all have colors. They should all have a specific color associated with them. And Nicky’s was yellow. It was a yellow gem, so Sunshine. RIP to Sunshine. Jack: Can we ROM hack? Can we figure out how to ROM hack Perpetua? Austin: [laughs] Dre: Where’d you sell it to? Ali: We can just go back to that store, right? Dre: We can just buy it back. Austin: You can go back to the store and buy it back for twice the value. Dre: Yeah. Jack: He didn’t- he didn’t even go to the store. [laughs] Art: I mean I didn’t sell it, I just put the money in my pocket. I didn’t— Austin: Well but you’ve since spent that money, Art. Art: I never like went and sold it. Austin: You’ve spent the money just now on the big fork. Art: Yeah, yeah, but like— Austin: So presumably you got here and sold— Art: I didn’t have a scene where they got to try to [laughs] talk me into not selling it. But I did just spend the money. Austin: He’s a surfer. Sunshine’s chill like that. Sunny’s- Sunshine is like—goes like, you can call him Sunny sometimes. He’s just like, you know, (as Sunshine): Alright dude. Ali: [laughs] Austin (as Sunshine): I’ll catch you later. Dre: Just wasn’t meant to be, brah. Art: But it means I don’t know where it is. Austin: No, you sold it at the general shop! That’s where- remember you got it on the beach, the only place you’ve been is the general store. Art: The general store here? Austin: Yeah! You only just got those gems. Art: Okay so it is here. Austin: Yeah, he’s here, he’s hanging out in the general store. For a grand. Art: Alright well, we’ll- now- well no one—it is specifically that no one is telling me about the talking gems. Austin: [laughs] Ohhh. Art: So if someone tells Nicky about the talking gems, I think he would ethically feel that he can’t sell a person. Jack: If only he’d been nicer at breakfast! Art: You! Morons. Austin and Jack: [laugh] Art: Keep telling everyone everything. Jack: [laughs] Austin (as Sunshine): That Nicky dude seemed cool. Art: I wish I knew the names of the days in this world so I could make one of them shut the fuck up day [Austin: laughs] so we could have an easier way of talking about this. Ali: We literally only told one person. Art: You also told the general! Ali: He- he— [laughs] Jack: Oh that worked out great. Ali: He confessed to us first! Austin: Mm. Ali: We had the water running… Jack: You know when—yeah! Art: He’s an officer in a hostile military! Ali: He confessed to us!! [laughs] Art: [laughs] Ali: He— [laughs] Jack: This is one of those things where like the fight starts early in the day and then it seems like it’s been smoothed over— Austin: Mhm. Ali: [laughs] Jack: But then at like 3pm, the fight starts again. [laughs] Ali: While we’re climbing up to [laughing] go to get a newspaper job. And find my only lead to save the world. Austin: Mhm. Ali: Normal stuff. Art: I hope a foreign military isn’t there when we get there. Ali: [laughs] Austin: [sighs] Okay, here’s what I- I’m gonna give you a little- a little consolation prize. Go ahead and on your little friend notes for Cerulea and Violet, for Cerulea you can add the phrase “broken-hearted heroine of KosmoKairosis.” I’ll paste that. Ali: Thank you. Austin: Ope, I am pasting the wrong thing. I am pasting the Rillspur dungeon icon on the main map over and over again. Whoops. Let me fix that, there we go. And then for Violet Caliban, you can write what I’m about to paste. “Imagist and sinful traitor from Imago.” Jack: Oh my god, and we could’ve had Mr. Morel. Austin and Ali: [laugh] Jack: We might get him back. Austin: Uh huh. Art: I don’t know, a thousand’s a lot. Jack: I would like to talk to Nicky. [laughs] (as Elena): Nicky— Art: That sounds great, let me finish chewing this handful of trail mix. Jack: Okay, sounds good. Austin: Is that in character? [laughs] Art: Nah, that’s more like, (as Nicky): Let me finish this handful of trail mix. Austin and Ali: [laugh] Jack: Art considers podcasting to be the trail. Austin: Yeah, I see. Dre: [laughs quietly] Ali: Didn’t you make a really good trail mix one time? I think we got like a roasted seaweed situation or something. Jack: Oh damn. Ali: Or something? Austin: That sounds good, that sounds good! Dre: That does sound good. Art: I did not make that, that was sold to me by Costco and is no longer sold by Costco so it is not available to me anymore. Ali: W- I’m talking about in the game. [laughs] [All laugh] Art: I’m talking about my real life. [laughs] [All laughing] Art: I thought I was clear that I was not in character until the trail mix was done. Austin: I see. Art: [cross] And I guess I didn’t throw in: and I wash all this peanut out of my mouth. Ali: [cross] I just thought we were all excited about trail mix, but that’s okay. [laughs] Austin: Ohhkay. I, Austin Walker, want to take a nice big sip of this drink that I have. Art: Also Costco used to sell a seaweed trail mix, it was delicious. Ali: [laughing quietly] Austin: Mm. Jack: Wow! Art: Anyway. (as Nicky): Yeah, I love the seaweed trail mix, it’s—- Austin: [laughs] Art (as Nicky): It’s a classic. The salt cuts the umami of the seaweed. Jack (as Elena): It’s good stuff. Art (as Nicky): And it has raisins cause then the kids like to eat it. Jack (as Elena): They like raisins more than they like the chocolate chips? Art (as Nicky): You can’t do chocolate and fish. Jack (as Elena): No you can’t, I suppose that’s true. See this is why you’re the cook. Look, I— Art (as Nicky): Seaweed isn’t fish, but you know. It tastes fishy. Jack (as Elena): I wanted to apologize. I was kind of shitty earlier about the opsec thing. You’re right— Art (as Nicky): I appreciate that. Jack (as Elena): I know that- I know that sometimes things are hard in the world, and sometimes you’re a bit more of a realist than I am, or a pessimist or something, but it’s— Art (as Nicky): Both. Jack (as Elena): Oh- yeah, exactly. So when we go up here, I’m not going to- I’m gonna let you- I’m gonna keep completely shh. But I want to get a job, so if we could angle in that direction, and should I tell him about the girls in the gems? Art (as Nicky): The what? Jack (as Elena): The girls in the gems. Do you think it’s sort of mission important? I- you know, probably not, but given the fiasco with Lovie I wanted to check with you. Art (as Nicky): The gems we found? Jack (as Elena): Yeah yeah yeah, yeah. Veile got one, but I can’t hear what she says but Veile can— Art (as Nicky): Ohh no. Jack (as Elena): You okay? You’ve gone very pale. Art (as Nicky): I sold my gem. Jack (as Elena): There was probably- there was in all likelihood there was a guy in there. Austin: [laughs quietly] Art (as Nicky): Oh no… Jack (as Elena): Where did you sell it? Art (as Nicky): Have I shown you my new fork? Austin: [laughs] Jack: [laughs] (as Elena): Oh no. Do you have any- do you have any more? Money? Art (as Nicky): No, I- I took money from Jonathan for this. Jack (as Elena): Okay. How do you feel about being a journalist? Austin: [laughs] Art: [laughs] (as Nicky): Does it pay? Jack (as Elena): Huge amounts of money, I’ve heard. Austin and Dre: [laugh] Art (as Nicky): Well I need huge amounts of money now! Oh no… Jack (as Elena): It’s okay. We’ll get back, get the job, buy the gem and then sort of unite them all or something. I think that Jonathan didn’t have a gem or hasn’t checked his gem yet. Really it’s only two gems— Art (as Nicky): Do you think they’ll put it on hold for us or something? Jack: Looking back down—this is like a terraced town, right Austin? Like looking back down towards the harbor. Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jack: We can see the shops there. Austin: Well the shops are up, but— Jack (as Elena): We can run down. Austin: You know, yes. Jack (as Elena): I could run up. I think it’ll be fine. It seems quiet, not a lot of people are coming through. Art (as Nicky): Okay, yeah. And we don’t wanna tell that it’s more valuable. Austin: [laughs] That’s right. Jack (as Elena): Aha! Good- yeah. Art (as Nicky): That’s how you end up paying too much. Jack (as Elena): Yeah. Okay. Art (as Nicky): Oh goodness… Jack (as Elena): No you’re fine, it’s fine, don’t worry about it. We’re all gonna be okay. And I won’t say anything about the people in the gems. Art (as Nicky): Good, yeah I think that’s the right—oh my god. I can’t believe—I always told myself, Nicky, no matter what goes on in this life you’re never gonna sell people. Ali: [laughing] Oh my god. Jack (as Elena): [quietly] That’s wise. It’s wise. Austin: Whew! Art (as Nicky): Alright, we gotta- we gotta figure this out. We gotta go and get some of those fat journalism stacks. Austin: [laughs] Jack (as Elena): Yep. Art (as Nicky): That everyone knows about. Jack (as Elena): Yeah. Jack: Falls back and— Art: It’s social commentary! Austin: Ohh okay, now I understand what’s happening. Now I get it. Jack: Falls back to Veile, (as Elena): [whispering] He sold the gem. Ali (as Veile): Huh? Jack (as Elena): He sold the- he sold his gem. He sold his gem. Ali (as Veile): Wait, what? Jack (as Elena): Yeah, I know. It’s fine. We’re just gonna get money, it’s all gonna be fine this time tomorrow. Sorted. Ali (as Veile): That’s so sad. [distressed] Oh god, that poor gem! Jack (as Elena): I know, I know. Just keep up a brave face. He’s really torn up about it, I don’t wanna make him feel worse than he does already. Austin: Veile, the- Cerulea, the voice of Cerulea, the teal gem, in your ear, (as Cerulea): Are you sure he can be trusted? If he’d sell another gem just like that? [All laugh] Ali (as Veile): [soothingly] It’s okay. It’s okay. Ali: Just like cooing [Austin: laughs] like you would a small animal in her hands like, (as Veile): It’s okay, don’t worry about it. Jack: [laughs] Gem anxiety dominos through the party. Austin: Yeah. Ali and Dre: [laugh] [“Perpetua” by Jack de Quidt plays]