Perpetua 35: The Castle Eschatonica 03
Transcriber: robotchangeling
Recap        1
Blue Party — Sand Flooded Throne Room [0:06:19]        8
Amber Party — Oracle Infirmary [0:24:35]        22
Blue Party [0:38:38]        35
Creature Cages [0:45:00]        40
Balcony [0:56:30]        51
Amber Party — Necrosmith’s Workshop [1:02:16]        57
Conflict [1:11:21]        68
Loot and Information [1:29:21]        90
Blue Party — Next Room [1:42:08]        104
Recap
Jack (as Elena): I think the situation that we’re dealing with here is two gem-locked doors, each of which will lead to some sort of unlocking plate that we can carry forward to the central chamber. 
[“The Castle Eschatonica” by Jack de Quidt begins playing]
Keith (as Antistrophe): “Day 11: Well, this academy is dire. Public lectures about the end days, galleries of possible apocalypses—no thanks! I’ll take possible good days instead.” 
… 
Austin: God, it feels like if there was yellow, it would be perfect. If there was someone with a yellow gem in this mix…
Keith: I heard that something happened to the yellow one. 
Austin: That would make that part perfect. It wouldn’t be bright enough; the color, though, would be perfect. 
Sylvia: Hm.
Janine: Is it perhaps time to investigate the hole? The hole is on the yellow side. 
Austin: Who’s investigating the hole?
Art: Alright, let’s investigate the hole. 
… 
Dre: “Day 14: Two days of little progress. There are three doors: one opposite the door I entered and two on the other long opposing walls. The northern wall is made from a material I’ve never seen. I broke my sword on it—what a fool am I! The other two doors seem to be under a soft amber and a calming blue light respectively, though I see no source for those lights. When I approach them and stand on the plate in front of them, they hum slightly, but I cannot get them to move.”
…
Art: I think it’s, you know, reaching for the gem, feeling himself start to fall into the void.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Art: And thinks about the, you know, that he has to get back. 
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Art: For, you know, all the people he cares about, but you know, especially his bond of affection for Jonathan keeps him from falling. 
Austin: Yeah.
Art: It’s, you know, I can’t fall, I have to get back to my friends. 
Austin: And you manage to pick it up. An orange gem. 
…
Jack (as Elena): My gem is amethyst. Her name is Violet. She’s a little rude. [Austin chuckles quietly] 
Sylvi (as Caoimhe): Mine’s light green. I have not named it yet. [awkwardly] Uh, she seems nice. [laughter] 
Sylvia: Still doesn’t understand that you’re talking about actual people in the gems.
Janine (as Brontë): My gem is blue. 
Keith (as Antistrophe): Red. 
Ali (as Veile): Cerulean. And her name is Cerulea. 
Jack (as Elena): And then, Nicky, you got an orange gem? 
Art (as Nicky): Yep. 
Jack (as Elena): Okay. 
… 
Jack (as Elena): Who are they?
Austin: They just stare at you back.
Jack (as Elena): Do— do you speak? [Sylvia laughs quietly]
Janine: Efta and Zolfta nod. 
Austin: They nod. Yeah, nod silently in response to that, yeah. 
Janine: Yeah. 
Jack (as Elena): You’re with the prince?
Janine: Nodding.
Jack (as Elena): Does he pay you? Or are you his friends? [Sylvia and Janine laugh quietly]
Janine: I think they look at each other. 
Jack (as Elena): Are you ensorcelled? Has something happened to your tongues?
Ali (as Veile): [scolding] Elena… [Janine and Sylvia laugh]
Janine: I think, mm, Zolfta laughs and Efta sticks her tongue out. 
[song ends]
Austin: All right, so, we are going. I just want to say it out loud so everyone at home can hear it. Antistrophe, Nicky, and Caoimhe are going through the western amber door, and that is the whole of that group, I believe. Jonathan, Veile, Brontë, Elena, Efta and Zolfta, and Maebela are going through the eastern blue door. Correct?
Art: A six/three split, just like we drew it up. 
Austin: That’s right. 
Dre: Mhm. [Ali, Keith, and Jack laugh]
Janine: It’s not that things are drying up for Caoimhe deliberately, it’s just this is just how it is!
Austin: [laughs] Oh I see! Yeah, uh huh.
Janine: You know? Like…
Sylvia: Uh huh. Picturing him saying that in a confessional now, thanks to Dre. [Janine an Austin laugh]
Keith: Now it makes sense why we’re doing no takesie backsies on the crystal colors. 
Austin: Mhm. All right, the doors open. You say any final words to each other before you head off?
Jack (as Elena): [cross] Nicky, be safe.
Sylvi (as Caoimhe): [cross] Don’t get killed!
Sylvia: [laughs] Sorry Jack, go ahead. [Janine chuckles]
Art: Are we a hundred percent sure this is the right—?
Keith: No. 
Jack: Well, I mean…
Keith: It looks like more than it is, because Efta and Zolfta [Dre: Maybella.] and Maybella are all there. 
Austin: Yes. 
Janine: Yeah. 
Austin: Yeah yeah yeah. It’s really four/three. 
Sylvia: Yeah. 
Keith: Efta and Zolfta can, right now, not do anything. I don’t know what Maybella can do. 
Austin: Nothing. NPCs don’t get involved in fights in that way, generally speaking. 
Jack: No, she’s…
Janine: Mm-hmm.
Ali: Mm-hmm.
Keith: Okay. 
Janine: Efta and Zolfta are just like [Art: All right!] abilities I can deploy occasionally, and also I don’t really know that I can—
Austin: Oh, did they recover?
Janine: Right now—
Austin: Don’t they recover?
Keith: You have to do a roll, right? To—
Janine: I don’t remember if I rolled at the end of the last session for their…
Austin: You did. 
Keith: You did. You got back 1 fatigue for them or something like that.
Janine: [laughs quietly] Right. 
Austin: Yeah. Yeah.
Janine: Right.
Keith: It was not a good roll. 
Janine: Did I mark that down? I must have. 
Austin: I think so, because I remember us all going like, “Wow.” 
Janine: ‘Cause I think they’re— Yeah, I think they’re still at 10? 
Austin: What book is that in? Here, is it here? It’s here. Okay, so you get— Right, it’s only after the end of each session. It’s not when you rest. I see. 
Janine: Yes, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 
Austin: I got you. Okay. All right. 
Ali: I guess there’s something to like bond economy if we want to switch Jonathan for the other team? But I don’t want Dre to not roleplay being protective of Veile and Elena. 
Keith: Honestly, I think Antistrophe will be fine if it’s a combat thing. 
Ali: True. [Dre laughs]
Austin: Yeah. 
Jack: Uh huh, yeah?
Sylvia: Keith has taken, like, 5 damage over the whole campaign. [Ali chuckles]
Janine: Mm-hmm.
Sylvia: Or at least it feels that way. 
Keith: I did get— I was in critical once, I think. 
Jack: Whoa. [laughs quietly]
Sylvia: Great job, man. 
Dre: I’ve been critical before. I know what it’s like. 
Sylvia: I’ve been knocked out twice. 
Janine: I’ve been tapping Efta and Zolfta because they are unreliable right now, but they are here narratively. 
Austin: Okay. [Ali laughs]
Janine: So they’re upside down. [laughs]
Austin: Yeah, I see. 
Janine: Just so we remember.
Austin: Thank you for tapping them. That’s great. That’s really fun.
Sylvia: [laughs] Okay, yeah. 
Austin: That’s really fun. All right, we good? Again, any final words, like in character to each other, before you go down these different things? Is there any plan made? 
Keith (as Antistrophe): Good luck!
Sylvi (as Caoimhe): [sharply] Behave yourself! [Sylvia laughs quietly]
Janine: Who, me?
Sylvia: Directed-- looking right at Brontë, yeah.
Janine: [laughs] Looking like shocked, like wh— I don’t— I’ve been very well behaved!
Dre: Cut to Jonathan [Sylvia: Uh huh.] and Veile and Elena looking at Nicky. 
(as Jonathan): Behave yourself!
Austin: Aww. [Austin and Jack laugh]
Dre: He’s cranky!
Jack (as Elena): Be safe, Nicky. 
Art: How dare. 
Sylvia: There’s an implied “be safe” with the chastizing, of course. 
Blue Party — Sand Flooded Throne Room [0:06:19]
Austin: All right. The doors open, and we see two different situations. The northwest door—and we'll have to pick one of these to go down—goes up to a door, like immediately. The northeast door, the blue door, goes up to a T junction, or kind of a Y junction actually. Who do we want to follow first? Do we want to go blue door, big group?
Jack: Yeah, let’s take the big group.
Austin: Okay. You begin going down this junction. All of the scale here is, of course, you know, hand-wavey. So you're going down a hallway that I think is much longer than what you've seen here, you know? But does begin to change as you move through it. The basic stonework of the castle is soon replaced by, like, it’s the same pattern of stonework, so it’s like, you know, a line of big blocks and bricks that are then, on top of it, offset a little bit, different blocks and bricks. But eventually it becomes like a mix of different types of blocks and bricks to where you are getting these very silver and chrome sci-fi ones, these very basic, you know, cinderblock looking ones from our experience of modernity. Sometimes you'll see them that are kind of covered with a faded bronze, like, plating. So this kind of mishmash of different materials, but the basic form of the hallway continues normally. It’s dark in here. The crystal light from behind you fades pretty quickly. How are you lighting your way? And also, like, who’s taking the lead down this hallway?
Jack: I'll go ahead.
Austin: Okay.
Jack: Trying to be brave.
Dre: Yeah, I think Jonathan’s probably out towards the front as wall.
Austin: Okay. Yeah, I think it’s wide enough for two people to be out front. Jonathan, do you have some sort of light device that I’m…?
Dre: Hmm.
Austin: I know you've had some fire stuff before.
Dre: Yeah. I don't think I have anything, like, specific.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: But like, you know, I'm sure I have a torch or something.
Austin: Yeah, I just want to get the picture. I just want to get the image in my head of what it looks like.
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Jack: What about, like, one of those hand cranked flashlights?
Dre: Ooh! Yep, that’s it.
Austin: Okay. Yeah. And you get to this T junction as a group. Which direction are you headed? North or south? It’s kind of northwestish or southeastish.
Jack (as Elena): Sometimes these dungeons build on strange geometries, strange tricks, and sometimes they have something like a sense of humor about them. 
Jack: I want to go south, closer towards the entrance.
Austin: Sure.
Jack (as Elena): Sometimes, I know in Rillspur, they hide things back in places that they think adventurers won't try and look.
Austin: I just want to note something, because we haven't said it again out loud. Does anyone want to remind us of what you think you're looking for in this dungeon?
Jack: We are looking for either— maybe not either. The refectory— no. What’s it called? [laughs quietly] It’s like a gallery or something that the trickster was like, “You can find me there [Dre: Mm-hmm.] and ask me questions about the nature of this place.” That might be
Austin: It was the observatory. They said the observatory.
Jack: The observatory.
Austin: But to get there, you think… What else are you looking for? There was some other…
Janine: Plates. Moon plate, sun plate?
Austin: Plates. Moon plate, sun plate.
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Moon crest, sun crest, like you're playing Resident Evil, you know?
Dre: Mm.
Austin: That’s the guess, at least. That would make sense.
Jack: Classic dungeon games.
Sylvia: Mm-hmm.
Austin: I mean, kind of they are super dungeon games.
Jack: And I've gotta say: this is the juice in video games. You've gotta be doing more of this shit. Going to a door in a video game, and you've got to put two special plates in it. 
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: That’s good stuff.
Austin: You come to— You turn that southern route, and I will say, some of the different bricks begin to fall away. Not literally, but like, in the mix, they become less diverse, in terms of what bricks are there. Pretty quickly, what we get is this kind of grimy dark gray brick with some, like, little flecks of silver and then these kind of beautiful sandstone bricks. And then you come eventually to another junction. It kind of goes southeast for a while. Then it turns east-northeast, and there's a door ahead of you, and then there's another route north-northwest off of this branch. You've kind of gone, like, up, down, up a little bit, and then you can go either back up and to the left or you can go through this door.
Jack: In for a penny, in for a pound? We could see what’s through the door?
Austin: Yeah, you can also, I guess if you get up to where you're at now, you can see that there is another door to your northwest, so you have kind of two doors to choose between here.
Dre: Hmm.
Jack: [chuckles] I don't want to be the person who’s immediately like, “Split the party,” but… [Austin laughs] No, we should…
Sylvia: We already did!
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: Subdivision. Subdivision. I'm going to push to open this front door ahead of us.
Dre: This one? Okay.
Jack: Yeah. 
Dre: Sure.
Jack: Can I put my ear to it and see if there anything I can hear on the other side of it?
Austin: Yeah, you hear the sound of wind blowing.
Jack (as Elena): Everybody watch yourselves. I can hear gusts of wind. some sort of device or, you know…I don't know.
Jack: I'm going to try and open the door.
Austin: All right. So. This game does not have, like— This game is pretty explicitly not built for traditional dungeon delving. It says, like, “Hey, just remember, you're not supposed to build, like, megadungeons,” because it’ll fall into, like, constant checks of, “Hey, is there a trap here?” et cetera. And it doesn't really give advice for how to deal with that, but I figured out a way. It does have Travel rolls. And so, every major room in this dungeon has a danger the way that a tile on the overworld map would have. And when you go into the room, you make a Travel roll. If you get a— We're going to use our expanded travel roll book thing from…
Jack: Oh, that lets a bit more nuance come into the…
Austin: There's a little more nuance. There's minor discoveries, major discoveries, and dangers. If you roll a 1— As a reminder, the way Travel rolls work. Every tile on the overworld map and every room in this dungeon has a danger level, right? That level is tied to a dice size. So, for instance, the one that you're about to go into now, I believe— Let me just double check it. I have it written here. Where is it? It’s on the eastern side. It is a d6, so it’s the lowest danger level, d6. If you roll a 6 or higher, you'll encounter a danger, on the d6. Sorry, it’s a 6 or higher on anything, and the way it works is, like, a higher danger has more numbers above 6, because it’ll be like a d10, it’ll be a d12, it’ll be a d8. So there's a higher chance that you get a danger.
Jack: I see.
Austin: On a 4 or 5, nothing happens. On a 2 or a 3, you'll find a minor discovery. And on a 1, you'll get a major discovery. So, Jack, in this case, I need you to roll a d6, as you take the lead into this room.
Keith: I have a process question.
Austin: Yep.
Keith: I didn't know this was how we were going to handle this, so I dismissed out of hand my Camp Activity, Cartography.
Austin: Mm-hmm. These are not Travel rolls. These are dungeon rolls, using the Travel system. Yeah. It would not— mm? Yeah, no. That’s about overworld travel. It is not about dungeoneering, you know? Yeah. So, go ahead and give me the…
Jack: Oh, in terms of following the fiction. Yeah.
Austin: Yeah. Yeah, those are different skills.
Jack: Oh, beautiful work!
Austin: Look at that. All right. That is a 1! That is right. That is the highest. That is the best you could get. You enter a—
Jack: It’s because I'm a trained adventurer.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: Yeah, you're in your element.
Jack: No, I'm a cook from a megadungeon.
Austin: So, actually a couple things happen at once, as you step into what is—I'll just say the name of it here—the Sand Flooded Throne Room. You have never been in a place quite like this, Elena. Neither has Jonathan, neither has Veile. But Brontë, you immediately recognize the feel of this place from when you passed through that strange oasis on the way to the train station before you went out to Cenn. This is a Celestial Echo, it seems, of another version of Perpetua. 
There is, in front of you, a sort of columned open-air throne room. You look to the north and the south, and there is, like, an endless desert in both directions. There is also a sort of, like, a doorway to the northwest that is covered with a hanging cloth, like a hallway, and you don't know where that goes. There is a hallway east which, I guess I can reveal now, just kind of goes until it turns and you lose sight of where it goes, leaving this place. So it’s as if you somehow are still in the castle—which again, I didn't actually write this down anywhere, but it’s Castle Eschatonica—but at the same time, you're in this strange sand-flooded throne room. The sands of the sand dunes and the deserts outside have blown in here. They've covered up much of the ground. But this was once some sort of beautiful, you know, noble’s court. It does not seem to be directly connected to the rest of a palace or anything, but like, we are in…you know, we are in that style of sandy palace, and it’s as if you're kind of up a few levels. It doesn't go right down into the sand. The dunes are pretty high, but it feels like you’d be on like the top floor of a palace somewhere. 
A couple of things are true about being here, and I don't think that they're going to come up, because you did not get a danger, but… You know what, neither of these, I think, are immediately noticeable. Something is different about the world here. There are some Celestial Laws in effect, while you are here in the Sand Flooded Throne Room.
Jack: Oh, interesting.
Austin: You got a major discovery. On the throne, sitting there, shining in the sun, is a crown.
Jack: Wow. Okay. Is it safe to approach the throne?
Austin: I don't know. 
Jack: Hmm.
Sylvia: [chuckles] I knew you were going to say that.
Jack: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, I'll say something else real quick. When you get a 4 or 5 and you get to a room, so the kind of nothing happens, you're able to continue to roleplay and investigate the room in order to try to find the things that I've pre-written for each of these rooms as potential dangers, minor discoveries, and major discoveries.
Jack: Right.
Austin: When you do that, you open yourself up to potential danger, you know? 
Jack: On a 4 or 5.
Austin: So if you'd gotten a 4 or a 5 and you'd gotten here, or on a major discovery or minor discovery, if you're like, “Well, I like what I just got, but I want to keep digging,” you're opening yourself up to potential complications.
Jack: I see. I see.
Austin: Like any dice roll in any of these games.
Jack: Okay. With that in mind, kind of walking carefully over the sand—and occasionally, you know, her foot slipping in the sand—I'm going to approach the throne to pick up this crown.
Austin: Yeah. On the throne—or on the crown, rather, there is an image of a sun dipping beneath a sand dune. This is the Crown of Sun and Sand. It is an accessory, and you're not quite sure what it does.
Jack: Oh, we're dungeon crawling, baby.
Austin: Uh huh.
Jack: Found Blue Potion that I don't know what it does. Okay. I'm going to add this to my backpack.
Austin: Not going to try it on.
Jack: Oh, I'll try it on. I'll glance at Veile. This is the business of what you do in a dungeon, you know?
Austin: I'm moving everybody into this room so I can see where everybody is. Feel free to replace yourselves where you would like to be. [laughs] Veile moved out the room! [Ali and Sylvia laugh]
Jack: Before I try it on, [Austin: Mm-hmm.] can I do, like, sort of a sense magic on it, just like get a sense of…?
Austin: You're using, like, elemental? Yeah. Do an Insight + Willpower.
Jack: Yeah.
Austin: I'm going to try my best to be very loose with some of this. We've been really tight on, like, the Ritual rules, and I'm going to try to loosen up with some of that stuff.
Jack: Okay. That’s a terrible roll, but, you know.
Austin: You have no fucking idea. There's definitely magic here.
Jack: I'm going to Fabula Point it.
Austin: Okay, Fabula Point it. Yeah.
Jack: Fabula Point time. And the Fabula Point that I am using here is my Theme, anger, where I picked up this crown. [Austin laughs quietly] I want so badly both to demonstrate that I'm a capable dungeon adventurer and also put the crown on my head, but I know that looking at this thing and getting nothing is…that is an unsatisfactory result. So I'm like, “Bullshit. Let’s look more closely.” Almost like scolding myself.
Austin: That’s our third Fabula Point.
Ali: Mm-hmm.
Jack: [laughs quietly] Oh my god.
Austin: That is a 3, Jack.
Ali: What?
Jack: Sure is.
Austin: I'll give you a real answer here, which is like, this isn't your magic. This isn't your Perpetua. You can't get your head, or you can't do the translation. You can't do the leap that you would need to do. You are reminded of when you were in the Redolencia Celestial Echo and you saw the different statues of the different godis. Gods. Godis? What is a god? What is a godis? [quiet laughter] To the different gods, to the different Ennead. And you're like, “Oh, hmm, the magic is different in this thing for some reason.” There might be types of magic in it you know or elements you know, but they're not the same version of all the elements. In the same way that the being that led you in here had, like, light and color going on, but that wasn't the light. That wasn't Lucena, you know?
Jack: Okay, fine. Not putting it on.
Austin: Not putting it on? Okay.
Jack: No, because I don't want to look like an ass in front of Brontë, but not for the reason that he hopes. [Janine laughs quietly] 
Janine: Okay. [Sylvia chuckles]
Jack: I think, you know, going back to the party, holding the crown loosely, almost wearing it dangled over one of her arms as like a loose bracelet, carrying it back to the party.
(as Elena): I found this. I don't know what it does. It must have some sort of magic associated with it. But…
Jack: And, now taking this as the lesson,
(as Elena): You shouldn't try anything on in the dungeon if you don't know what it does. [Austin chuckles]
Janine (as Brontë): Yes, these usually denote leadership. They can be magical in nature sometimes. It really depends on the kingdom.
Jack (as Elena): I know what a crown is.
Janine (as Brontë): Well, you didn't say that.
Jack (as Elena): [quietly] Jesus. Okay. [Austin laughs] Anyway, I don't think we should do anything with it.
Janine (as Brontë): And you're holding it on your arm. It’s just strange is all.
Jack: Puts it in my backpack. 
(as Elena): This room may still hold some secrets.
Austin (as Maebela): I'll try it on,
Austin: Says Maebela.
Jack (as Elena): No, I don't think you should.
Austin (as Maebela): Let me try it on.
Janine (as Brontë): It might have… Crowns are often very cursed in various ways. It’s sort of a last line of defense in cases of usurpership. You know, sometimes they'll be attached to a bloodline, or they’ll ask questions of you—
Austin (as Maebela): Sounds like a couple of cowards to me. Jonathan, let me put it on!
Janine (as Brontë): Sometimes they'll ask… I'm not going to say what the crown where I'm from does, [Austin laughs] but you should research it before you…
Sylvia: Oh.
Janine (as Brontë): You should look at— I'm not going to tell you what to do.
Keith: Do your own research!
Jack: You're not here! [laughs] 
Sylvia: You're not here.
Keith: That was out of character.
Sylvia: We're not here.
Austin: Anyone else doing anything here in the Sand Flooded Throne Room? There are, like, piles of sand. There's gold columns.
Janine: Are there figs? I'm looking for figs.
Dre: [intrigued] Oh.
Austin: There are no— Well, are you, like, digging around? Or are you just giving it a little—?
Janine: Well, you said it was giving me vibes like the oasis, and then there's sand, so I was like, I don't know, maybe if some figs drifted in.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: Those were good figs.
Austin: Those were good figs. Give me an Investigation Check.
Janine: All right.
Austin: Fuck it. I'll let you look around for some stuff.
Janine: What am I doing for that?
Austin: I believe that that is Insight + Insight, like Study basically.
Janine: Oh yeah. I'm good at those.
Austin: The difficulty here is 13.
Janine: Well, I didn't get that.
Austin: That is a 9.
Sylvia: Whoa. You could Fabula. You rolled an 8 and a 1.
Austin: Yeah, that’s true. You could just Fabula the 1.
Janine: Yeah, fuck it. I'm going to Fabula the 1, is what I'm going to do.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: Uh, right, so I'm just rolling 1d8.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Janine: I'm going to mark what that— I'm going to spend that point with the actual button for spending a point.
Austin: Mm-hmm. [laughs] You’ve written, “Looking for figs to impress girls with.” You rolled a 6. 9 plus 6 is 15.
Janine: 15.
Austin: That is more than enough. You don't find any figs, but buried in one of the little dunes—one of the little piles of sand, not dunes, one of the little piles of sand—is a little trunk, is a tiny little like jewelry box trunk, and inside of that—the rich get richer—400 asta. [Ali gasps]
Janine: [nonplussed] Yeah, okay.
Jack: Oh my god. That’s fucking gem money.
Ali: Aw.
Dre: Mm.
Janine: I guess. Is it?
Keith: This guy cannot stop finding money. [Austin laughs]
Janine: How much was that? 450, you said?
Austin: 400 asta.
Janine: Oh, sorry. Whatever. 
Austin: Yeah, 400. [laughs] You snuck an extra 50 on there real quick.
Sylvia: It’s all the same to you. [Janine and Dre laugh]
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: Was it 850, 9? [Janine and Jack laugh]
Austin: How much could a gallon of milk cost? I don't know.
Janine: I have 1741 now.
Ali: What?
Jack: Jesus christ.
Janine: Plus that dragon scale that’s worth, like, a thousand, so that’s… 
Austin: [laughs quietly] That’s so fucked up. It’s so messed up.
Ali: I just want to buy a cloak and a fucking stopwatch, man. [Janine laughs]
Dre: I just want to build stuff. [Jack laugh quietly]
Janine: I would buy you those, it’s just we don't have a store, and you didn't say it out loud, so.
Austin: Yeah. Yeah. That is, as far as you can tell, the Sand Flooded Throne Room. While y'all hang out here and decide what you want to do next—again, there's a door north, there's a hallway curving out east, and there's of course the way you came—let’s go back over to the western side. 
Amber Party — Oracle Infirmary [0:24:35]
Austin: Antistrophe, Nicky, Caoimhe. You advance up to this first door, presumably.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Who’s opening the door and making this roll, the dungeoneering roll?
Sylvia: Uh…
Keith: Caoimhe was very quick.
Austin: Yeah, Caoimhe just jumped up.
Sylvia: I was trying to be helpful, but yeah, no, she’s very excited about exploring a mystery dungeon, so I think that makes sense.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: I rolled a 3.
Austin: You rolled a 3. A 3 is nothing happens, right? A 3 is like, everything is fine. You head into this room. As far as you can tell… Let me get my room revealing thing. I can just do this with the rectangle. This seems to be a sort of makeshift— Maybe it’s actually not that makeshift. You're not sure who set this place up.
Sylvia: Mm.
Austin: But there are beds everywhere, and there are medical supplies, or there are used, the remnants of medical supplies. This is some sort of infirmary. The walls of your long hallway were immediately all one thing. They were all this kind of what we would look at as midcentury, mid 20th century brick, basically, brickwork. And the interior of this place I think has been plastered, though there are kind of… There are blown-out windows to the north, and you can see it’s dark outside. It does not look like it’s the kind of ether of the Dragon Path out there. It looks like it is kind of a long, desolate, you know, territory. And in the distance, you can hear… It’s something that I think actually, maybe, Nicky, you've heard before. You can hear the sound of gunfire, like what you heard from Genuine Sincere’s gun, going off in the distance.
Art: Ooh.
Austin: Along with some loud, you know, blasts and explosions. Nothing too close to here. You don't seem like you're in any danger. But yeah, you're in a sort of strange infirmary. To the south, I guess there's a door out, and to the northwest there is another door.
Art: Are there, like, supplies here? Like, medical supplies?
Austin: You could poke around and try to find some stuff, for sure.
Art: I would love to poke around.
Austin: Give me an Insight + Insight. Hey, that’s an 11.
Sylvia: Whoa. Nice one.
Austin: All right. Yeah. With an 11, inside of a drawer in a kind of busted up cabinet, you find a single use panacea. It is a sort of injection that you can use that will cure any status ailment for free.
Art: Great. [sarcastic] If there's anything I like, it’s injecting myself with something I found in an abandoned infirmary. [Keith laughs]
Austin: That’s right.
Sylvia: Hell yeah, brother.
Art: I hope it cures tetanus. [Austin and Jack laugh]
Austin: You immediately spend it.
Sylvia: It gives it and cures it.
Austin: Yeah. Maybe there's a fresh pack of needles, you know, that are sealed in something separate that you can then apply, you know?
Art: And if there's gunshots to the north, I think we should go south. I don't know about how everyone else feels about that, but.
Keith: You don't think gunshots are important to go to?
Art: No. No, I don't. I'll listen to your ideas here, but…
Keith: What’s this thing in the corner here, Austin?
Austin: Some rubble. 
Keith: Okay.
Austin: Some busted up rubble from where something did strike this abandoned infirmary, at some point.
Keith: Okay.
Art: I don't want to get shot.
Austin: Are you investigating it? Are you digging around?
Keith: Uh, yeah.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: It just looks very weird. I just want to look at…
Austin: Yeah, give me an Investigation Check.
Keith: Yeah. Okay.
Austin: Study. Insight + Insight.
Keith: Oh, did I close my thing by mistake? I did.
Austin: Hey, that’s a 13. That’s a level up from where Nicky’s was.
Keith: Nice.
Austin: Buried in some rubble, you do find, unfortunately, the uniformed body of a soldier, who seems to have been caught up in some sort of artillery blast. I don't know that you've seen artillery personally—the Valte have artillery or have cannons at the very least—but it’s not good. In their hands, you see a deck of cards. It has a symbol on it of prayer, like hands around an orb, like people are praying to an orb. It’s kind of a stylized simple version of that. 
Keith: Okay.
Austin: And then the cards are…they’re kind of like a tarot deck, except what if all the people in the tarot deck, what if all the things in the tarot deck were like saints or angels? I think more like saints than angels.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: This is a Creed of Oracles Prayer Deck.
Keith: Huh.
Austin: And again, you're not quite sure what it does, but it’s a reusable magic deck of cards.
Keith: A reusable magic deck of cards that does something.
Austin: Mm-hmm. You’d have to, like, spend some time studying it and identifying it and fucking around with it to figure out what it does.
Keith: Okay. All right. You know, if we're worried about the gunshots, maybe north is the way to go, but I feel like where the action is…
Art: That’s the opposite of what I said.
Keith: Oh.
Art: The gunshots are to the north. We should go south.
Keith: Oh, I thought the gunshots were to the south. Maybe I just got it backwards.
Austin: Yeah, they're to the north.
Art: I thought it was through the north…
Keith: Oh, okay.
Austin: Through the northern windows, yeah.
Keith (as Antistrophe): If we're worried about a fight, then we shouldn't go where the gunshots are, but where the action is might be where what we're looking for is.
Sylvia (as Caoimhe): That’s the problem, yeah.
Art (as Nicky): Didn't you just dig through the body of someone blown up by a mortar?
Keith (as Antistrophe): Yes. [quiet laughter] 
Art (as Nicky): What’s your plan if someone to the north has a mortar? [Austin laughs]
Sylvia (as Caoimhe): Look how big those shields are.
Keith (as Antistrophe): Well, there's no gunshots happening in here, and this guy still died.
Art (as Nicky): Yeah. You can get shot and then go somewhere and die. 
Keith (as Antistrophe): Okay. [Sylvia laughs]
Art (as Nicky): I mean, I don't want to… If you really want to go to the north, we can do it, but like, I don't have a plan for a shootin’ fight.
Keith (as Antistrophe): If people are, you know, in trouble, don't you want to help or something, or at least figure out what’s going on?
Art (as Nicky): How long has this person been dead?
Keith: I look at the body.
Austin: Hard to say.
Keith (as Antistrophe): Hard to say.
Art: Well, like, the person in the other room was a skeleton.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, this person doesn't look like a skeleton, but this whole place is weird, you know?
Keith: Yeah.
Dre: You don't gotta tell me.
Austin: This person seems like the wood that was magically enchanted, except they're a dead body. It’s like they were always a dead body. It’s like they’ve been frozen as a dead body forever.
Keith: Mm.
Sylvia: Oh.
Keith: Like a prop.
Art: Look, I don't want to get too into the systems of it, but I can see right here a little thing hanging off the bottom of whatever’s up here.
Austin: [chuckles] I'll reveal that.
Sylvia: That’s the name of the room.
Austin: That’s the name. That’s the name of the room. This is the Oracle Infirmary. This is an infirmary for the oracle of, uh…not the oracle of saints. What’s the name of this weird faction? The Creed of Oracles, which is the name of this church from this strange other place. Again, as you come into this place, none of you have been in a Celestial Echo from this version of Perpetua, but this is another different one. In fact, the person who maybe has some weird feeling of connection here is Nicky. The yellow gem that you used to have [Sylvia laughs] was tied to a version of Perpetua called Armidurge, where warring churches had, like, trench warfare going on, and that’s what the world you're briefly in here.
Art: Uh huh.
Keith: You don't seem as connected to your gem as the rest of your crew.
Sylvia (as Caoimhe): Hey, don't, like… [Jack and Austin chuckle] We just met him. Don't insult his gem.
Art: Yeah, I have a new gem, but that won't talk to me.
Austin: No, not right now. It’s not talking to you. [Sylvia laughs] It feels— 
Art: It’s 'cause we're here, yeah.
Austin: You know, if you try to reach out for it, it actually, what it feels like is something has retreated, like, “Well, I'm not going to this.” Like, it’s as if a fish knows that there are fishers about, and so it’s…
Art: And I don't want to put too fine a point on it, but I think this might be Jonathan’s gem.
Sylvia: So you gotta be careful with it.
Art: Just based on who does and doesn't have a gem now. Yeah, I would vote south, but if the two of you want to go north, we can go north.
Keith: Caoimhe?
Sylvia: I kind of want to go north, is the thing.
Art: All right.
Sylvia: I feel like if there's things happening that direction, we should investigate those things. Oh, I just don't know. [Jack chuckles]
Keith: Let’s go north. Fuck it.
Sylvia: I'm so excited.
Austin: North it is.
Keith: Caoimhe’s very excited to go to the gunshots.
Sylvia: Well, she’s looking between both doors so fast that her head is just like a motion blur. 
Austin: [chuckles] I love it. The northern door opens. It’s kind of this northwest in the corner of this building or this room, and as you go into it, you realize it’s— again, this is not to scale, but it’s still a really short hallway compared to the one you took before. The bricks of the kind of wartorn Armidurge Celestial Echo give way to, I would say, something more…actually, we already described it. It’s kind of the dark bricks with the silver flakes that the other side saw previously. And then there's another door, like immediately. Again, it’s not one-to-one, but it’s not far away. You can see the other doorway from the end, from when you come into this hallway.
Sylvia: Are the gunshots getting louder?
Austin: They fade away as you move towards this next door, even though you're heading to the north.
Sylvia (as Caoimhe): Okay, that is fascinating. 
Sylvia: Scribble scribble scribble in her notebook.
Keith: Hmm. I would like to open the door.
Austin: All right. Give me a Travel roll, d12.
Keith: D12.
Sylvia: That’s double what I rolled.
Art: That’s a really big amount of travel.
Keith: Sorry, what do we roll for Travel?
Austin: It’s just a d12.
Keith: Just a d12. Not like, looking for. Okay.
Austin: You want to roll as low as possible. A 1 would be a major discovery. 
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: 2 or 3 would be a minor discovery. 3 or 4 is nothing. Sorry, 4 or 5 is nothing, I believe. 
Keith: Oh. [Jack and Sylvia laugh]
Austin: That ain't it!
Jack: Good try, Keith.
Sylvia: That's a really impressive macro.
Austin: 4 or 5 is nothing.
Jack: 4.
Austin: There we go. On a d12, you got a 4. That is nothing. You move into a room that has kind of the same brickwork that I described before. It has a big metal plate in the roof, like on the ceiling, and kind of has like a grimy feel. Your voice bounces weird in here. There's like a strange metallic echo as you talk. And there are, from here, three other pathways: one going northeast, one going west, and one going south.
Keith: Hmm. This place is starting to get confusing.
Sylvia: [sighs] Little bit. Could we check— I'm trying to, like, figure out some sort of rhyme or reason to going somewhere here.
Keith: Yeah, we could do a Study roll to see if there's anything, like, any of the paths tell us, if there’s footprints.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Totally. 
Sylvia: That’s kind of what I was thinking.
Keith: If there's noises beyond the door. Anything that could let us know what we might expect to be beyond.
Austin: Yeah, and also I'll reveal a little more of how far these paths go, but I think from here you can't quite see the next choice, so to speak, on each of them. You could also study the room here, as a reminder. Even though you got a “nothing happens, you pass through” situation, [Keith: Yeah.] that doesn't mean that there's nothing here necessarily. But again, there's always that risk that it doesn't go great.
Keith: Could I study the room?
Sylvia: Yeah, I was going to say, do you want to, because you have the bonus to it?
Austin: Totally.
Keith: 11?
Austin: With an 11, yeah. [chuckles] You don't know why it’s here, but you find, in the— Tell me what your poking around looks like here.
Keith: I'm checking the corners for other people who have left notes, [Austin: Perfect.] for any weird— Oh, great, great.
Austin: You don't find any notes, but you do find… You ever see anybody get the money out of, like, a coin operated, like a soda machine or a snack machine?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: That kind of, like, plops open? Like, the coin slot kind of comes down on hinges? Do you know what I'm talking about?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: That happens, and there's 300 asta in there.
Keith: Oh.
Austin: And it seems like it was connected to a tube. You're not sure what…
Sylvia: Ooh.
Austin: You don't understand why it would have dumped 300 asta into this little place. You don't see any coin slots anywhere, certainly. But you do, you find 300 asta.
Keith (as Antistrophe): It’s like a video game in here.
Austin: Antistrophe’s no gamer.
Art (as Nicky): Are we splitting that or what? No, that’s just… [Austin laughs]
Keith (as Antistrophe): Uh, yeah. Yeah, I was—
Sylvia (as Caoimhe): We splitting that or what, man?
Keith (as Antistrophe): Yeah, we can totally split that.
Art: Someone’s got a gem in hock somewhere, and you know, I'm just trying to…
Austin: Sure. [Jack chuckles]
Keith: Yeah, we each get 100.
Sylvia: Yeah. Okay.
Austin: There we go.
Ali: [quietly] It’s pissing me off.
Austin: And while you try to decide which direction, we'll hop over to the other side again.
Sylvia (as Caoimhe): I hope you can liberate your gem, man.
Keith (as Antistrophe): [hushed] Caoimhe. We've gotta teach Brontë about this “splitting” thing. [Austin laughs]
Dre: Mm.
Keith (as Antistrophe): This is going to work out for us.
Art (as Nicky): Y'all don't split on your side?
Keith (as Antistrophe): We've never—
Sylvia (as Caoimhe): He just kind of pays for a lot of stuff.
Janine: Hey, yeah, I was going to say. I have split so many—
Keith (as Antistrophe): Yeah, but only because we don't split.
Janine: I have split money before. Like, very early on, I split money.
Keith: Mm.
Janine: I just, like, cover our bills sometimes. I just, like, buy people treats.
Keith: It’s true.
Dre: Mm.
Keith: [laughs quietly] It’s true.
Sylvia: It’s true.
Keith: Well, you find all the money, and you started with the most money.
Janine: Uh huh.
Keith: And then you cover the most stuff. I'm not—
Janine: Uh huh. I'm just saying I'm a sugar daddy who asks for nothing. [Austin, Sylvia, and Jack laugh quietly]
Keith: Hmm.
Austin: Interesting.
Sylvia: Thank you, papa. [laughter] 
Ali: Need a damn treat. Gotta get to the frickin’ store.
Jack: Dungeon store.
Blue Party [0:38:38]
Austin: All right. Back in the Sand Flooded Throne Room. Have y'all decided which direction you want to head in? As a reminder, there is a long curving hallway east. There is a doorway north that, again, if you're looking north out the sort of sides of this open-aired palace, it looks like there's just a hallway that just is extending out to the northwest for some time. It’s very strange. And then there is the way back from whence you came.
Dre: Hmm.
Austin: Where to? Feel free to talk about it in character.
Janine: My problem is that I'm really bored and I kind of don't care about being down here. [laughs quietly] And…
Jack: Is this something you articulate?
Janine: No. I think it’s a thing that’s very easy to notice, because Brontë is not really paying attention to things in a way that, you know, like he kind of found that chest just by luck. Efta and Zolfta are sort of standing in one place, kind of…not on alert, but you know, they're focused. He’s just like looking around for literally anything to be interesting. He’s like, you know, looking at— he wants, like, a picture. He wants to find, like, graffiti or, I don't know, like a button to push, or like, anything. This is the most boring throne room he’s ever been in.
Jack (as Elena): Well, I think it would make sense to explore the passage to the north. It seems to be connected to this throne room in a way that the other doors, you know, might be taking us somewhere new. I don't know. Jonathan, what do you think?
Dre (as Jonathan): [sighs] I think we could flip a coin. I don't know if there's a good way to make a decision. I think we should just make it and go.
Jack (as Elena): [dismissively] Flip a coin.
Dre (as Jonathan): [cross] Well, let’s go north!
Jack (as Elena): [cross] You feel it with your heart, and my heart is saying that we go through the door to the north
Austin: All right. You open the door.
Ali (as Veile): Perhaps it loops around to the other path.
Jack (as Elena): Perhaps it does loop around.
Jack: Although, having said this, I am going to try and lag behind so that I can try the crown on without them looking at me.
Dre: Hell yeah.
Austin: I love it so much.
Sylvia: Oh my god.
Austin: All right. So, they all see a stairwell going back east, climbing pretty far. Let me go, like, this far, and I'll do… Come on. Why’s it not revealing? It’s not doing the thing it’s supposed to do. There it goes. Heading east, and it just goes and goes, as far as you can see. You're in the back, and you've put on—
Jack: Oh, I said…
Austin: Mm-hmm?
Jack: I said, like,
Jack (as Elena): [lying] I think I left my bag back in the room,
Jack: Or whatever.
Austin: Yeah, great. Hey, you've put it on. I'm going to need you to do two things.
Jack: Yeah.
Austin: I need you to open up your character sheet. Go ahead and open that up for me.
Jack: Yep. Yep.
Austin: I'll watch along so that I know what the answer to this next question is going to be here. Here, Elena. I'm going to need you—and I know this is fun, because you already have some of this going on—I need you to give yourself a vulnerability to fire, earth, or air and then resistance to the two you didn't choose.
Dre: Mm.
Jack: Whoa! Okay. I'm going to give myself a vulnerability to earth.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Jack: And a resistance to air and…
Austin: Fire. Yeah.
Jack: Fire. 
Austin: Love it. This will last until you rest or until someone else places the crown on their head, at which point they will clear. And the next time you rest and put it on after your next rest, you can choose a different alignment of these resistances.
Jack: Oh, I see. So it’s not like it expires for me… I could put it back on my head and get resistances again. They would just be…
Austin: You can take it—
Jack: They could be different resistances.
Austin: Yeah, and if you took it off right now, you would still have the resistances.
Jack: Oh my god. Wow.
Austin: Yeah. But no two people can have them at once.
Jack: Oh, I see. Right.
Austin: It lasts until someone else—
Jack: I can't now give the hat to Veile, then Veile will…
Austin: That’s correct. Yeah.
Jack: Okay. That makes sense.
Austin: Totally.
Jack (as Elena): Okay! 
Jack: I say, and I take the crown off, and I run back towards them. [laughs quietly] No, I'm going to keep the crown on. I'm going to go back in to the…
Austin: Sounds good.
Jack: I'm going to go back in.
Austin: All right. Group, you've come to another choice here. The path continues northwest some, and also there is the break off to the stairwell east.
Dre: And you said the stairwell is, like, very long.
Austin: It seems pretty long. 
Dre: Like, can't see the end of it?
Austin: It keeps going.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: You can't quite see the end of it, yeah.
Dre (as Jonathan): I don't like those stairs.
Ali: I want to keep walking to see if this does what I thought it did.
Austin: Yeah. It does.
Dre: Oh, yeah.
Austin: What did you think it did?
Ali: I think that it connects to the hallway that we walked past before.
Austin: Well, before you get there, you first come to a doorway to your north, another hallway south, and a walkway far— Do you continue on west to check this, past these two?
Ali: Yes.
Austin: Okay. Yes. It goes all the way around and does, in fact, loop you back to where you started. And again, as you move through here, the bricks all begin to change. Sorry, I'll fix this one little bit that has not, for some reason, become unhidden. There we go. The bricks begin to change a little bit. There is a… the kind of dark speckled brick becomes very heavy towards that southern hallway, and then it comes back to the big mix of them as you go further west back towards the central hallway. So what we have here, for the people listening at home, they have like a, from the beginning, from the center where everybody started, they went off east, and then there's kind of a branch north and a branch south, and there are two rooms towards the north that they have not been in yet, and one of them’s kind of in the middle, and one of them’s towards the north. 
Ali: Mm-hmm.
Austin: You have no idea what the size is of the north one, but the middle one is seemingly pretty small.
Ali (as Veile): I think perhaps we should search these other two rooms and then head upstairs?
Dre (as Jonathan): [sighs in dread]
Jack (as Elena): Yeah. I agree.
Dre (as Jonathan): Okay.
Ali (as Veile): Well, just to cover our bases.
Dre (as Jonathan): Oh, I just— No, we should go check the rooms. I don't… I think maybe we should take the other hallway instead of the stairs.
Ali (as Veile): Oh. Do they seem, you know, scary?
Dre (as Jonathan): Yes.
Ali (as Veile): I see. Well, this seems like maybe just a closet or something.
Ali: Going south down this hallway to the…
Creature Cages [0:45:00]
Austin: Yeah. You open the door, Veile?
Ali: Yes.
Austin: Give me a d8 dungeoneering roll, just a straight d8. You want low.
Ali: Roll 1d8.
Austin: You got it.
Ali: That’s a 6. [dismayed laugh]
Austin: That’s a 6. This is a danger. All right. As you move into this room, you see the dark speckled bricks open up to some sort of laboratory or something? There are a bunch of cages in here, stacked one on top of each other.
Ali: Eeugh.
Austin: You hear the sounds of some sort of, I don't know, something chittering in the dark, something moving around. I need everyone to roll 1d100.
Ali: Oh boy howdy.
Sylvia: Everyone everyone, or just that side?
Austin: Just that side. Just them.
Art: Just them?
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: Never good, though.
Sylvia: No, it’s never good, but I'm except from it, so I don't mind as much.
Austin: Oh. All right. Whoever rolls lowest— So, say what you all got first.
Dre: 55.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Ali: 51.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Jack: 68.
Austin: Mm-hmm. Brontë?
Janine: I was muted as I gleefully said 17. [Ali laughs]
Austin: Whoever rolls lowest, take an amount of damage equal to the number you rolled, [Ali: What?] leaving you with a minimum of 1 HP, and take the poisoned status. So that’s Brontë. Brontë rolled lowest.
Janine: Ah, cool.
Austin: So, Brontë, go ahead and take 17 damage as some sort of strange fucking creature bites you [Ali gasps] and runs off into the dark. These are the Creature Cages.
Janine: I yelp. I feel like that should be obvious, but like, you know, ow. What the fuck? 
Austin: Yeah. This place is lit by weird screens in the wall that have, like, symbols for, like, toxicity and poison on them and have, like, you know, “Subject escaped! Subject escaped!” written all over them. [Janine sighs, Jack chuckles] There's also, you get like an interface area, which again, none of you are from a world that has computer screens, but I know, Brontë, you did see that Strange Device in Cenn, so you've seen something like this before, but these all have, like, thumbprint scanners on them that look like they have a little, like, not quite a blood prick needle, but there's some sort of, like, there's very clearly something about you put your hand into a thing to activate it, and it does not look safe.
Janine: Hmm.
Sylvia: Oh, y'all found Dune. [Austin and Jack chuckle]
Janine: Well, the stairs are looking pretty good now.
Austin: But you're in here now, and you've already triggered the big trap, so I don't know, if you want to look around, you can look around. And there is still that northern door. [Dre sighs]
Keith: Someone should put their finger in the thing.
Dre: I really want to put my finger in the thing!
Ali: No.
Dre: Well, but it’s…
Sylvia: I support it.
Dre: Man, you put—
Keith: It’s cool.
Dre: Can you imagine putting a computer in front of a person like Jonathan for the first time? [Ali chuckles]
Jack: Yeah.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: That’s the thing. You doing it?
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Austin: All right.
Janine: Oh my god.
Keith: I bet it initiates some sort of training program.
Austin: First of all, welcome to Genesika, one of the other Celestial Echoes, one of the other previous versions of Perpetua. There are two Celestial Laws here. The first one is, The Dead Remember: “All of the technology in this world rely on necromantic magic. To use any piece of technology, you have to pay the life price, spending HP as required.” Spend 5 HP to use this. It saps life from you as you begin to log on.
Dre: Mm.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: Ain't that the case for so much?
Dre: Does my damage resistance…?
Austin: No.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: It needs the—
Dre: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Austin: You're powering it. You're actually making it go with your life energy.
Sylvia: Oh, shit.
Janine: It’s not the iron in the blood. It’s the life, you know.
Ali: Mm?
Keith: Oh, it’s Twitter.
Austin: That’s right.
Dre: Mm. 
Austin: That’s right. Yeah. [Jack chuckles]
Janine: Oh. 
Austin: Then, what you see is like, you know, what you and I would know as just, like, a really simple computer interface. There's like a— It’s kind of like DOS coded. You know, this is a screen with just, like, monochrome green text on it. You're navigating through a very simple GUI, so it’s not quite DOS, but it’s like, you know like an old word processor interface, and it has information about the tests that were being run on these creatures, which are all really fucked up and sad, and we don't have to go down that road. It says that they were trying to— You're able to read pretty quickly that what they were trying to do was capture the various capacities of these creatures into something, as a way of generating what are written here as, I believe they're called elemental spheres? Is that what they're called here? What have I written them down as? Oh, they're just called spell orbs. They're called spell orbs.
Dre: Mm! Definitely not Magispheres.
Austin: And if you, give me a— Not Magispheres. They're actually literally not Magispheres.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: They're not like the Magispheres in the techno Fabula thing, because I thought that was a little too complicated for this.
Dre: Mm.
Austin: But if you give me an Insight + Insight as you're moving around the system, you might find out more about what they were doing.
Dre: Hell yeah.
Austin: This is difficulty…this is difficulty 13. You don't know no computers. You're learning all this shit as it goes, you know? It’s pretty intuitive, but it is new.
Dre: Having Mae over my shoulder, “No, click that!” Oh, fuck.
Austin: Oh, that’s a 6.
Dre: I am rerolling this.
Austin: You going to Fabula? All right.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, you have 10s on Insight. You rolled a 1 and a 5.
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Keith: Are you keeping the 5?
Dre: Ooh.
Austin: Great question. You need a 13.
Keith: I think Art would tell you to keep the 5.
Dre: Uh, no. I'm not going to.
Austin: I don't think that’s true.
Keith: No?
Austin: Because it’s under the half, right?
Art: Yeah.
Keith: It’s really close, though.
Art: No, that doesn't… [Jack chuckles] That’s not how that works.
Jack: It doesn't listen to that?
Austin: Boom! That’s a 14.
Dre: 14.
Austin: Yeah. So, what you learn is they were doing— They were making animals use their, like, innate spells. In this world, animals can use magic. People can kind of use magic, but there's a special thing in the world of Genesika, where when you cast a spell, it doesn't cast right away. It goes into a crystal that then you can cash in later as a spell. So that means that you can immediately wake up in the morning after a rest and cast a bunch of spells to, like, give yourself these spell orbs that then, in combat, you use the Use Item ability to actually use them. And in combat, if you decide, oh shit, I need a spell I haven't prepared as a soul orb yet or spirit orb yet, a spell orb yet, you have to wait a whole turn as you form the spell orb before using it. But animals don't actually need to do that. They can just, like, do a fireball. And so what they were doing was seeing, can we capture the fireball energy of the fire squirrel or whatever and put it into a spell orb? That way we don't have to burn our own magic points to make our spell orbs every morning. It’s fucked up. This is a bad place. You don't want to be here. However, it does deploy for you the fire squirrel’s Flare Spell Orb. It’s a single use item. It lets you use the Flare spell, even if you don't know it, which is the other power of this, right? Is like, you don't know no spells, but now you can use this Spell Orb to cast spell. “To cast spell.” To cast Flare. [Jack chuckles] It sells for 100 asta. It’s Insight + Willpower. You still have to cast the spell. You still have to use Insight + Willpower. But you channel a single ray of fire towards your foe. Its temperature is so high that it can pierce through most defenses. Target suffers HR plus 25 fire damage. Damage done by this spell ignores resistances. It sells for 100 asta.
Dre: Hmm.
Austin: It’s a little red… It’s an orb. You know, it’s a little red orb. It’s like what if materia was single use, kind of.
Dre: Yeah.
(as Jonathan): Mae.
Austin: And don't mix it up with your other gem.
Dre (as Jonathan): Mae, you want to hold onto this?
Austin (as Maebela): Yeah! I'll hold onto it just in case. No, I won't use it. I won't rush to use it. I know it’s dangerous.
Dre (as Jonathan): Well, no. Use it if you need to.
Austin (as Maebela): Oh.
Dre (as Jonathan): But don't point it at anybody if you're not going to use it.
Austin (as Maebela): All right.
Austin: And puts it in a little pouch by itself in, like, a belt that she’s wearing. Do you go to check the northern door?
Dre: Yeah.
Jack: Oh, yeah, out of this room? We might as well, at this point. I want to see— Brontë, are you okay?
Janine: No. I appreciate that you ask.
Jack: You got bitten?
Janine: I did get bitten. Can I—? This is a question sort of. [laughs quietly] I still have this little bottle of water from Clearwater.
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: Can I, like, rinse my poisoned bite wound out?
Austin: Wait, what is it? What’s the water?
Janine: [laughing] It’s just a vial of souvenir water that, like, was a joke, but I kept it. [laughter] 
Austin: And you're thinking…oh yeah, you've written here, “Useless,” comma, “unless…”
Janine: Yeah. [Art laughs]
Austin: That's very funny.
Keith: You found the unless.
Austin: It is all caps, “UNLESS.” This is from the spa that you went to.
Art: Oh, well this is in all caps.
Austin: It’s in all caps.
Janine: Yeah, it was a bonus. Was it a bonus with purchase? I was, like, buying a gift for my sister and for the lady, and then there's also water?
Austin: I think so, yeah.
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: Remember, they ran, like, a spa. They ran, like, a hot springs spa [Janine: Mm-hmm.] in the middle of the desert, like, wild west town.
Janine: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Austin: You know what? Give me a d10, and if it’s a 10, it heals you. [Janine laughs] You just see.
Janine: Okay. I was looking for it to help with the poison, but I guess a little bit of a heal makes more sense.
Austin: That’s what I mean. Sorry, I actually meant it cleanses you, it clears the status.
Janine: That’s a 9.
Austin: Oh! [laughs] You hate to see it!
Dre: Ohh.
Jack: Ooh.
Janine: That’s a 9!
Dre: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!
Austin: Oh, it feels so… 
Dre: Yeah, Fabula.
Sylvia: Can you boost it?
Austin: You can't Fabula! This isn't a Skill Check. [Dre and Austin laugh] 
Janine: Aww.
Sylvia: Boo.
Austin: It’s a “Is the fancy water I got at the hotel actually secretly magical?”
Dre: All right. You spend a Fabula Point to alter the story, and now the water’s magical.
Austin: Oh, you know what? That would work. If you want to spend a Fabula Point to do that, I'll allow it.
Janine: Is that a thing we…?
Keith: Functionally it’s the same thing as adding 1.
Sylvia: Yeah, that is a thing we can do that our side has never done.
Austin: It is, and no one ever does it.
Janine: I had fully just… No, I just fully never thought about it.
Austin: Yeah. Yeah, you could totally.
Keith: Yeah. I recently relistened to everything up until, like, November, and I was surprised to relearn that at some point.
Dre: Mm.
Austin: Alter the story.
Keith: But we haven't recorded since then, so.
Janine: Oh.
Austin: “Alter an existing element or add a new element to the story.” Yep.
Janine: Wow.
Austin: This is like a perfect use case for it, actually.
Janine: Yeah. It’s magic water.
Art: That was magic water. Come on.
Austin: That was magic water. Come on.
Janine: I was suspicious about it for a reason, [Austin: You were.] because I have an innate sense. It’s like a “Princess and the Pea” situation, right? 
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Sylvia: You're drinking what? [laughter] 
Janine: Where like, it’s just his… He’s so sensitive [Austin: Right.] to the, like, subtleties of something like a water, that he was able to tell from looking at it, like, this is special. They say it’s not.
Austin: You didn't have to taste it. Yeah.
Janine: But there's something about this.
Austin: Go ahead and clear that poison. It clears the poison right up. It’s warm when you pour it on, which is weird, but it reminds you of the nice hot springs from Burzin.
Janine: That’s lovely.
Austin: [laughs] You've written, “This IS special water!” [Jack chuckles] All right. Back up to this north room?
Jack: Yeah, let’s do it. 
Balcony [0:56:30]
Austin: All right. As you open the door, you see the open air of the Dragon Way, the Ether. This is a little balcony, and there's a table and chairs, and it’s a pretty beautiful view here, and you can kind of make out some strange… Let me just give you the view from there, which is there's a room to the northwest. I should actually give you a little bit more here. Well, I kind of went in too far, but whatever. I'll hide that. Let me hit the ol' Hide Area button here. No one saw this big empty room. [Jack laughs quietly] Eh, that’s good enough. All right. 
From this balcony, so again, this balcony is just, like, hanging off the interior side of this castle, like as if there were a courtyard here, but there's not. It’s just, like, the nothing in every direction. You can see some of the various, like, suns I described earlier out there in the distance, and you can see a pair of rooms. There is one to the northwest that is, like, connected by a very strange stairwell going up into the sky. And then, to your northeast, more importantly, there is a really tall, really wide tower to the northeast, that is, again, from the outside, it looks like the rest of the castle. You have no idea what it actually looks like inside. But it is shaped like an important part of a noble castle of some sort.
Dre: Hmm.
Ali: Does it look like that stairwell leads to it? Like, is there a bridge that we can see?
Austin: Uh… From here, let me see if I can draw the line. I think, yeah, if you are in kind of the very edge…
Ali: Like if I was looking in this direction, yeah.
Austin: Yeah, exactly what I was thinking, yeah. I'll show you exactly what you can see from there. Let’s go up to here and then over. You can see that there is a hallway that goes up to there from there. It is like, it’s not the same—
Ali: Oh shit.
Austin: I guess actually, yeah, you can kind of see all of this actually, huh, from here. Make ‘em up to there. I love to draw a little line that’s like, here’s what you can see. There we go.
Dre: Mm.
Austin: That stairwell you saw does seem to go all the way out to another room, and then that room seems to have, like, another little hallway going northeast to there.
Jack: That might take us towards the big, yeah.
Austin: Yeah. The table has a set of plates and has a little teakettle on it—or not a teakettle but a teapot—with teacups, and then, under one of the teapots, there is an invitation.
Ali: Ooh.
Austin: There's a letter with an invitation. It says—let me get their names right here—“High King Eleku and High Queen Sono invite you to witness the end after the end at the High Masque.”
Jack: Huh.
Ali: The end after the end?
Jack (as Elena): Does this mean anything to you? 
Jack: Showing the letter to Brontë.
(as Elena): We don't know these names.
Austin: You've never heard those names in your life.
Janine (as Brontë): No. It does sound like some sort of ball or affair, though.
Jack (as Elena): Yes, I got that.
Ali (as Veile): Quite cryptic, though.
Jack (as Elena): Yeah.
Janine (as Brontë): Could be a metaphor. It could be they believed in some sort of afterlife. It could be… [sighs] 
Dre (as Jonathan): Or…
Jack (as Elena): The end of the world’s coming, prince.
Dre (as Jonathan): Yeah, it could be very literal. [Sylvia laughs]
Janine (as Brontë): But I mean the end after the end. They could have…
Dre (as Jonathan): They could have found a way to go past the cycle.
Janine (as Brontë): Sure, or that. I just thought maybe they were being poetic.
Austin: I'm going to show a little bit more here, as I remember that you can see to the west also and confirm something for you, actually. To the northwest, there is another tall tower that you can see the peak of. It is a domed observatory, presumably where the figure who invited you here is.
Jack: Okay!
Dre: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Austin: And you can kind of see from here that that’s… It looks like that’s where that stairwell from the center entry hall must lead up to.
Jack: Opens the teapot? Look inside the teapot?
Austin: Empty.
Jack: Okay.
Dre: Mm.
Austin: Nice teapot.
Janine: Is there a smell?
Jack: Oh, can I take the teapot?
Austin: 20 asta teapot. Yeah.
Ali: Come on.
Jack: 20 asta? I don't get out of bed for 20 asta.
Ali: Can't buy a fucking coat like this. [laughter] 
Jack: Bullshit.
Sylvia: The other party’s broke.
Keith: So coat motivated.
Ali: It’s so important to me!
Jack: Well, hang on.
(as Elena): [hushed] Veile. Veile.
Ali (as Veile): Yeah?
Jack (as Elena): Veile. This teapot. You know, maybe we could sell it for a good price, ‘cause it’s come from whatever place this is.
Ali (as Veile): Oh, come on.
Jack (as Elena): No. What? No, don't look at me like that.
Ali (as Veile): What if somebody took a teapot from your restaurant and said, “Oh, this is going to get a good price.”
Jack (as Elena): You think that we’d be stealing from these people?
Ali (as Veile): Well just, I mean, look how grand the tower is. I'm sure there's other stuff. It’s a teapot.
Jack (as Elena): [sighs] What if we take the teapot, and we take it back, and it’s, you know, it’s a thousand asta, a thousand asta teapot. Okay. I can see I'm not going to convince you. [Austin chuckles]
Janine (as Brontë): I'll buy the teapot.
Sylvia: Oh my god!
Art: Oh my god.
Ali (as Veile): Excuse me?
Janine (as Brontë): I'll buy the teapot.
Ali (as Veile): We're just joking around.
Janine (as Brontë): All right. Talk yourself out of a sale. [Ali laughs]
Ali (as Veile): I mean, sir, you could just— We're exploring together. 
Jack (as Elena): You can just take—
Ali (as Veile): If you want the teapot, you can just have it.
Janine (as Brontë): You're so sweet. [Ali laughs]
Austin: [chuckles] It’s not even your teapot to give away.
Art: Oh my god.
Sylvia: Oh…
Keith: Elena’s not allowed to have the teapot. Brontë, if you want it, you can just have it. [laughter] 
Austin: What a perfectly charming creature.
Sylvia: What a perfectly charming creature.
Amber Party — Necrosmith’s Workshop [1:02:16]
Austin: People in the amber hallways.
Keith: Hi.
Sylvia: Hello.
Austin: Have you made a decision about where you are going?
Sylvia: Oh.
Art: Well, this way is where your gunshots are.
Austin: The gunshots, you can't hear them at all from here. They seem to have faded to nothing.
Art: Yeah, but they were here when we were here, [Austin: Yeah.] and so it seems like they would be here if we're here.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Art: And the “let’s get shot” brigade wants to go… [Ali laughs quietly]
Sylvia: I assumed they were magic and have disappeared now.
Jack: Yeah, I think they're in an audio volume attached to the room.
Keith: Maybe they were echoes from that room.
Sylvia: Yeah, my…cute.
Art: Well, we could go this way and see if we can link up to the path we didn't take.
Austin: Art has gestured to the south.
Art: You ever try to fill in your map?
Jack: All the fucking time.
Keith: I love to fill in my map.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Art: Or if we're just playing fast and loose with what we might know, there's just not that much space over here.
Austin: I didn't even see where you're motioning to.
Sylvia: To the west.
Austin: Oh, I see.
Keith: To the west.
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I see.
Art: Yeah, this, there's only like four inches over here.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Keith: That’s true, but then it could have a north and south door that go all the way down or up.
Art: I mean, I would vote south because of how I am about this map, [Austin chuckles] but I am…
Sylvia: We picked the last one.
Keith: Yeah.
Sylvia: And I'm down to go south here.
Austin: All right.
Art: All right. I would love to go south.
Sylvia: I'm fairly convinced about the sounds being from a residual world that was erased with the Cycle, but you know, it’s fine. It’s whatever.
Art: Oh my god, it’s going to link up! We're going to connect the map.
Sylvia: Cool.
Austin: The map continues. Or, sorry, the hallway continues to the south. You leave that type of brick away, and it looks like Antistrophe is racing to the south, full speed.
Keith: [laughs] Yes, I've started sprinting.
Austin: And does, in fact, see it does connect back around to the infirmary.
Janine: Landracing, in fact.
Keith: It does connect up.
Art: YEAH! YEAH! 
Keith: Yeah.
Art: Yeah!
Sylvia: Oh, he’s landracing.
Keith: I am landracing. For the first time.
Sylvia: Are you guys, like, high fiving over this?
Austin: Oh, Antistrophe Landrace. [laughs] Are you high fiving that it loops? [Jack laughs] You know what, as you hit the corner, you can start to hear the gunshots again from the room.
Keith: Oh, yeah. All right, gunshots are definitely from in there.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Art: All right. I got what I wanted. Who’s next? Who’s got a…?
Keith: All right. Well.
Austin: So now there are two pathways to the west, one where you all are down the southern hallway and then one from the room that you don't know the name of but I'm looking at the room’s name and laughing to myself.
Keith: Well, let’s do the funny one.
Sylvia: Which is…?
Art: That went really bad for us in Realis. [laughs quietly]
Austin: Yeah. But you're going to go back through the funny room?
Keith: Yeah, the funny room sounds funny.
Austin: Yeah, give me a— okay.
Art: Wait, no.
Sylvia: Oh, do we have to roll again to go back to the funny room, Austin?
Austin: Yeah, you've gotta roll back to go through the funny room.
Sylvia: Yeah, I thought we might.
Austin: Y'all didn't disarm nothing.
Keith: Wait, the—
Art: Wait, what’s the—? Wait, someone ping what we're calling the funny room.
Austin: This room is very funny to me. The room you found all that money in.
Art: Oh.
Austin: For some reason.
Art: The money room.
Sylvia: Oh, the funny money room.
Keith: Funny money room.
Art: Why are you calling it the funny room when you could call it the money room?
Austin: Oh yeah, sorry, I meant to be saying the money room. I pronounce my F’s as M’s sometimes. [Ali laughs quietly]
Sylvia: Yeah. [laughs quietly] 
Keith: Are you trying to muck with us? [Austin, Sylvia, and Art laugh]
Austin: Thank you. That was a race to get to a punchline for that very goofy setup.
Sylvia: Yeah, no, I really appreciated that.
Art: I'm not rolling another d12 travel roll. Let’s go to whatever doom awaits us to the west.
Sylvia: I was also going to go to the west, because I assume that we'll link back up to the funny room.
Jack: That was a d12? The funny room was a d12?
Keith: It was a d12, yeah.
Sylvia: Yeah, we rolled a d12 in the funny room, which does make we kind of want to go back for the laughs.
Jack: I have to assume… I think it’s called the funny room because, if you roll a danger, the asta dispenser dispenses, like, a goblin or something.
Austin: That's very funny. It’s not that, but that’s very funny.
Sylvia: Oh. It becomes an acid dispenser.
Jack: Yeah.
Art: Oh, this is going to link up again.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: You come to another door.
Art: You see?
Sylvia: I'm opening this damn door.
Art: All right.
Austin: You're going to open the door?
Sylvia: Yeah. Am I rolling a 12 again or a d6?
Austin: No, it’s not a 12. It’s not a 12. It’s not a 12. It is a d10.
Sylvia: Okay.
Keith: So the funny room would have made us roll, even though—
Sylvia: I rolled a 9, Austin.
Austin: You rolled a 9. That’s a danger.
Art: You're really not going to give us this?
Austin: Sorry. I'll give you that.
Art: What’s here, Austin?
Austin: It’s part of the hallway. [chuckles] That’s fine. I'll give it to you.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: You don't know it, though. In fact, I'm hiding it again. Art has made me reveal part of the map that— There you go. I'm hiding it again. I'm hiding more of it. [Ali laughs quietly] You didn't go down that hallway.
Art: Wow.
Austin: You didn't go down that hallway!
Art: That’s bigger than it was.
Austin: Yeah. I shouldn't have given you even that much. I'm just giving you that there is a door.
Ali: Well, you see a door, and you put two and two together. [Jack chuckles]
Austin: But you don't see— You know, well, who could say? Maybe by the time we come back, I don't know. Maybe I'll add a little thing. You don't know. You haven't been there. You step into this place, and I guess none of this will come into— The Celestial Laws here will come into— Oh, you did roll bad though, huh? What’d you roll? You rolled a danger?
Sylvia: I rolled bad. I rolled a 9.
Austin: Oh. That’s not good. You step into this room. This room— First of all, the bricks of this room or on the way here have become sort of damp and glistening, dark stone, dark gothic stone. And as you move into this place, you first realize, oh, this is some sort of, like, workshop. There’s like a workbench. There are some tools for like a wheel, like a blacksmith’s wheel, you know, to sharpen a blade. 
Keith: Mm-hmm.
Austin: There is a little forge in the corner, et cetera. There are also, as soon as you step in—
Sylvia: Goblins.
Austin: Not goblins, but three strange—
Sylvia: Oh, okay.
Austin: Actually, it’s not three. It’s only two. It’s only two. Two little freaks crawling around the ceilings. [Dre laughs] They look mostly like humanoid, but they have the sort of webbing of bat wings between their arms and their sides. They are not like bat people of the Valte. They are a different type of being. They have huge teeth. They have big eyes. These are, like… I've written here that they are Bloodstarved and that I need you to make a Group Check to not gain their attention.
Keith: Sure.
Sylvia: What are we rolling for that?
Austin: I think that this is probably… So, you tell me what you are doing, and I'll tell you what it is.
Sylvia: I mean, I'm looking at— I just know that I'm good a sneakin’, for once.
Austin: What is the sneaky thing that the Roll20 suggests? Is there a Sneak button?
Sylvia: It just says Sneak. It just says Sneak, yeah. DEX + DEX.
Austin: But what is it? What are the stats?
Sylvia: DEX + DEX.
Austin: I think this is probably DEX + DEX or maybe DEX + Insight. I would go either way.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Art: Well, as we learned in the previous dangerous situation, I can hit a DEX + DEX.
Austin: Oh yeah, we did see that. This is a difficulty level 13 to not be seen by the Bloodstarved.
Art: It’s not even hard for me anymore. [Jack laughs]
Sylvia: My DEX dice is 10.
Austin: Okay. 
Art: Mine too. You can go. I mean, I got to do a lot of…
Austin: It’s a Group Check, so the three of you should all… Whoever’s supporting should roll first.
Sylvia: So y'all go first, and then I'll go.
Austin: So the, yeah, Nicky and Antistrophe, give me your DEX.
Art: And I will support.
Austin: That’s an 8. That’s a 13. So take 1 from Nicky.
Sylvia: Okay.
Austin: Nicky, you don't have a Caoimhe Bond, right?
Sylvia: No.
Art: No.
Austin: Okay. So then, take a +1, Caoimhe, with your roll.
Sylvia: And I don't get anything for Antistrophe’s Bonds because he failed, right?
Austin: Because he failed. Correct.
Sylvia: Okay.
Keith: Sorry.
Sylvia: I got a 9.
Austin: That is not enough. Are you going to Fabula it?
Sylvia: I'm going to Fabula. Yeah.
Keith: Ooh. Yeah, that 2. That 2 is staring at you.
Austin: That 2 is brutal.
Sylvia: Let me just Fabula Point…
Austin: How many Fabula Points is that total? Have we hit it?
Sylvia: That’s 6.
Austin: That’s 6. Okay, one more.
Sylvia: I think we need one more. And I'm only going to reroll the two, because I rolled a 2 and a 6.
Austin: Okay. And you need a 13. 
[Sylvia inhales hesitantly] [Art groans]
Sylvia: Should I reroll both, Art? Is that what you're about to tell me?
Art: Look. Does the math say you should reroll the 6? No. But you need a 7 or— Hold on. Um, I need to just… 
Sylvia: [laughs] I'm going to reroll just the one. Fuck it.
Art: All right, I'm not sure it’s right, but I think it’s fine.
Sylvia: It’s fine. I'll keep things moving, and if we gotta kill some freaks, we gotta kill some freaks.
Austin: That’s a 2!
Sylvia: Rolled a 2.
Austin: So that’s not there.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Keith: You replaced a 2 with a 2?
Sylvia: That is how I normally roll. Now things are—
Austin: You replaced a 2 with a 2.
Sylvia: Now I'm playing Caoimhe Wake. [Austin sighs]
Art: So if you rolled the other die, even if it had been a 10, you would have still not…
Austin: That’s correct, actually. Yeah. [cross] So it doesn't matter.
Sylvia: [cross] So it doesn't matter.
Austin: It doesn't matter.
Art: Yeah. Oh, no, if it was a 10, it would have been exactly 13 because of the +1.
Austin: All right. And that’s it, right? No one has any other tricks here?
Sylvia: Fuck! [Keith and Art laugh]
Austin: Oh, wow, there's the 10. That’s where it would have been. There it is.
Sylvia: That’s the funniest possible thing that could have happened! [claps]
Austin: That’s the funniest possible thing that could have happened. If you had rolled both, and if this had rolled this way, which who knows if that’s how it goes.
Keith: Wow.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: For the listener, out of sheer curiosity, I typed “Eh, roll 1d10,” and I did roll a 10. 
Austin: [sighs] It’s wonderful. They leap down onto the ground and close in on you. I think we need Initiative.
Conflict [1:11:21]
[“Eyes in the Dark (Dungeon Combat Begins)” plays]
Austin: All right, let me pull these guys up. These are new guys.
Sylvia: Do any of us get a—? I don't think any of us have a bonus. I think, Antistrophe, you have like a negative to Initiative. Am I right about that, or am I wrong?
Keith: Yeah, it’s like -3, yeah.
Sylvia: And Nicky?
Art: I have -1, yeah.
Sylvia: Okay. So looks like I'm rolling again, baby. [Jack chuckles]
Austin: All right.
Art: But don't we—? It’s a group roll, right? Don't we roll to assist on Initiative?
Austin: It is a group roll, right, Initiative? Yeah, I'm pretty sure.
Sylvia: Okay, cool. I cannot believe. I did that just as a bit, and I got the 10. That’s crazy.
Austin: It’s so funny that it worked out that way. [Keith laughs quietly]
Sylvia: I love tabletop games.
Austin: They're simply good. All right. So, yes. What are your goals in this scene?
Sylvia: Our goals in this scene?
Art: To keep all our blood?
Austin: To keep all your blood. Okay.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Discuss the goals of each participant. They want to be less bloodstarved by drinking your blood. That’s their goal.
Sylvia: Yeah, we want to…
Art: Yeah, I figured we were going to be in conflict here.
Austin: Yeah, okay.
Keith: Yeah.
Sylvia: Yeah, I would like to not die.
Keith: Yeah, my goal is to not be involved in anyone’s bloodsucking.
Austin: Okay.
Sylvia: Keith, can you roll Initiative before I do, just so I know which bonuses I get?
Austin: Oh, Nicky’s off by 1. Damn, both of you— oof. Okay.
Sylvia: That’s really funny.
Austin: Okay. Oh, bummer.
Sylvia: I wonder if I'll hit a 9. I got an 11. 
Austin: Okay. That’s not so bad. That’s not so bad. All right. So, I have to explain some things now. You've won. With an 11, you tie their 11. Ties go to you, so you're going to go first. As you raise your blade, you feel that things are different here, because this is not your Perpetua. This is Ichoria, a world of blood and death and magic. There are two Celestial Laws here that dramatically change the way combat works.
Sylvia: Oh boy.
Austin: The first is called The Blade’s Law: All physical defense is reduced by 5. All physical damage is doubled for everybody.
Art: Fuck off! What?
Austin: It’s very easy to get hit physically here and hurt badly.
Keith: Damn, that’s only 10 Defense for me. [someone snorts] 
Art: What kind of—
Austin: The second rule [Art: Oh no.] is called The Red Dance: Everyone in Ichoria gets two actions per round.
Keith: Ooh.
Austin: You can spend one of these actions in an attempt to Parry any physical attack. This roll fully replaces your physical defense. The difficulty of a Parry is equal to the incoming attacker’s roll. We are in Bloodborne Bushido Blade.
Sylvia: That's so cool.
Jack: Hell yeah.
Sylvia: Ah, man. I should have equipped my bigger sword.
Austin: You'll note: magic is not really impacted here. Magic works the way it does.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: And, in fact, in this world, is like reliable in a different way. And you all go first. 
Sylvia: Y'all got moves, or…?
Art: What do I roll to Parry?
Austin: Physical attack. You attack back, basically. But I'll need everyone to track how many attacks they're— so, again, an important thing is you all have two actions this round, basically, right? 
Sylvia: Okay.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: And you could use both of them to attack if you wanted to. You could choose not to try to Parry, or they might miss, you know? You decide whether or not to Parry after the attack comes in, so they might just straight up miss you anyway. But again, your Physical Defense is reduced by 5, so it’s easy to get hit in this world.
Sylvia: There are two of them?
Austin: There are two of them.
Sylvia: If y'all are good with it, I'm just going to swing on one of these.
Keith: Yeah, I'm going to do the same.
Art: Yeah. Go ahead.
Austin: Okay. You are looking for a 5 to hit.
Sylvia: Well, I rolled an 11.
Austin: Well, that’s going to hit. They are going to try to Parry you.
Sylvia: Okay.
Art: Oh, you can use your Parry after.
Austin: That’s what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. You don't choose to Parry first, because the difficulty is the incoming attack, you know?
Sylvia: Oh shit. Does my sword not get the physical damage bonus because it’s dark damage?
Austin: Oh, that’s interesting.
Sylvia: Or should I not have asked that question?
Austin: I think that you're right. Yeah. Mm, no, because it’s physical damage. Sorry, that’s still physical damage. It’s not magical—
Sylvia: Okay, cool.
Austin: Sorry, it’s not physical damage. It’s a physical attack. It’s not physical damage, though.
Keith: Right. Just because it’s dark doesn't make it magic.
Austin: Right. What I should actually be saying is all damage from physical attacks is doubled.
Sylvia: Okay.
Austin: That’s actually what I want. Casting a dark spell would do regular damage. Doing a physical melee hit. Melee damage, I guess and ranged damage. As long as it’s not spell. Non-spell damage is doubled in this way, you know?
Sylvia: Mm-hmm. Cool.
Austin: The fact that you have a dark sword has not changed that. I think that that’s the fiction of the world we're talking about here.
Sylvia: Phew. Listen, hey.
Keith: This is like how in Pokémon, Surf is a special attack but Waterfall is physical attack. Just because it’s water doesn't make it not physical.
Austin: That’s right. That’s right. And then this is going to be a plus— I guess I'll just use this to try to counter. They need an 11 to block you. They do not get it! They only get a 10.
Sylvia: 22 damage.
Austin: So you do 22 dark damage to them. Oh!
Sylvia: Yep.
Art: And they used an action.
Austin: And they used an action. Unfortunately, it is still dark damage, right?
Sylvia: Are they strong to that?
Austin: They are immune to dark damage.
Keith: Ugh!
Sylvia: Okay. Immune? Fuck off!
Austin: Immune.
Keith: Immune.
Austin: Your blade slips through them as if nothing happened at all.
Sylvia: Oh man.
Keith: I hate to say it, but it makes perfect sense, them being immune to that. [Austin laughs]
Sylvia: You know what? You know what’s great is I do have a fix for this pretty easily on my next move.
Austin: I love that for you. Yeah. All right. The one that you attacked is going to use its other action—which now it’s used one here, so it’s going to use the other one—to attempt to…I think because it’s not hurt yet, it’s going to follow up the attempted block with another Vicious Scratch. It rolled a 10. What is your default Defense now?
Sylvia: I mean, it’s… Are we rounding up or down?
Austin: Well, it’s minus 5 is what it is, right? So.
Sylvia: Oh, it’s minus 5, sorry. 
Austin: It’s not cut in half. It’s minus 5. Yeah.
Sylvia: Why did I think it was halved? So, it’d be 7, so.
Austin: So, that would hit you. Are you going to try to Parry it?
Sylvia: I think I am.
Austin: All right. You need a 10.
Sylvia: This would just be the same roll I did.
Austin: That’s a Parry. Successful. 
Sylvia: I got a 12.
Austin: Comes in with its claws. You knock them away.
Sylvia: Let’s go. I love a good stalemate.
Art: Okay, that one’s out of actions, so it can no longer Parry?
Austin: It can no longer Parry. 
Art: All right.
Austin: You have now understood the game.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: And you know that, to hit it—
Sylvia: I also can no longer Parry.
Austin: That is correct. Caoimhe can also no longer Parry. Its Defense is 5.
Art: That’s okay. Keith, do you want to go, or do you want me to go?
Keith: I can go. This one that’s out of Parry, I'm going to attack it two times.
Austin: Well, you only use one action at a time still.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: So you'll still have another action to use in the round. You know what I mean?
Keith: Yeah. I'm just saying my plan is to do that.
Austin: Gotcha. I just didn't want you to pre-roll. [Sylvia chuckles] We got pre-rolls.
Sylvia: Oh, we got pre-rolls here.
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. The good kind.
Sylvia: We've gone from Ichoria to Smokeupia.
Austin: [laughing] Smokeupia. Yeah, uh huh.
Dre: The Icky-oria.
Austin: There it is!
Sylvia: Mm.
Art: There it is, ah.
Sylvia: Sticky-ichoria. Yeah.
Art: We're going to run such a good themed weed shop when we're done podcasting.
Austin: Can't wait. [Keith laughs quietly] 
Sylvia: Smoking on that Mother Glory. 
Austin: [laughing quietly] Oh my god.
Dre: [quietly] Jesus.
Art: The weed that makes you sad.
Sylvia: She smoked weed canonically with us!
Austin: She did smoke weed canonically.
Dre: Yeah.
Keith: It’s true. It’s true.
Austin: But when you say that, it makes it sound like you’re smoking on that Mother Glory pack, and the way things were with Mother Glory, it’s really sad.
Sylvia: Oh, true! I was trying to do a tribute.
Austin: I understand.
Sylvia: And instead…
Austin: [laughing quietly] The tribute pack botch is very funny.
Keith: It’s been so long since I've rolled to attack.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: Do I just roll Might + Might?
Austin: No, you hit the little button. Hit the little Attack button.
Art: Hit the little button on your weapon.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Keith: Okay. Uh…Conflict.
Austin: Well, that’s a fucking hit. That’s a 22 damage.
Sylvia: Fucking hell, dude.
Austin: But again, that gets doubled.
Art: It’s doubled.
Sylvia: It’s doubled!
Austin: So it’s 44 physical damage. [Sylvia laughs]
Dre: Let’s fucking go.
Sylvia: Antistrophe is so busted. It rules.
Jack: Just a bit of damage.
Keith: I recently doubled the bonus to damage that my shields do.
Sylvia: Uh huh.
Austin: Yes, yeah. That’s pretty good.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: It is not in Crisis yet, but you do slam it back with your shields. It crashes against one of the walls of this workshop. A bunch of glass falls and breaks. It roars at you. It goes, [snarls], and it like, snap snap snap! And then the other one is going to roll 1d3 to figure out who to attack. Who’s on this list here? I'm going to go from left to right. That is Antistrophe, appropriately.
Sylvia: Fuck.
Austin: So there we go.
Keith: Okay. That’s fair.
Austin: And it is going to…let’s see. Yeah, what were you going to say?
Keith: I guess I still don't understand how the second attack thing works.
Austin: You have another turn right now. Right? 
Keith: I have another turn. Right.
Austin: So you could use that to attack, or you can counter this incoming…
Keith: Counter this.
Austin: Yeah, exactly.
Keith: Got it.
Austin: Which is going to be a Bloodstarved Bite. That is probably going to miss you, because your Defense is just 10, right?
Keith: It misses. It’s 10. It’s 10 after losing 5.
Austin: Wait, is it normally 15? It’s normally 15?
Keith: It’s normally 15.
Austin: That's unbelievable. That’s so wild. [Keith chuckles] All right, so yeah, it just straight up misses you with its first attack.
Art: That’s great.
Keith: Yeah. Great.
Austin: And so it’s back to y'all.
Art: All right. So, let me use— Oh, no, I guess you should go again, Keith, because I have some trickiness. [someone laughs quietly] 
Keith: Yeah, do you do more damage when you're weaker?
Art: I do more damage when I'm weaker, but I also can intercept attacks.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: I guess, importantly, you could also—
Art: So, like…
Sylvia: This is why I thought you were a tank.
Austin: Right, right. It’s worth saying, I think you could Parry for each other, based on the rules I've written. You can spend an attack [Keith: Mm.] to attempt to Parry any physical attack, so yeah.
Sylvia: Oh, that’s cool.
Keith: Great.
Austin: They were not defending each other, though.
Art: Oh.
Austin: I don't think that they have that sort of deep connection.
Keith: They're not built like that?
Austin: No.
Art: Well, then my Protect is less— Well, I guess I could Protect after a Check is made, so I could Protect after a Parry attempt.
Austin: Sure.
Keith: Okay.
Art: So I guess it doesn't matter who goes next.
Keith: I could just swing on this one that I already hurt, though.
Art: Or let me swing, so we both have a Parry available for the last attack.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: Smart. Smart.
Art: Right? That makes sense, right?
Sylvia: Yeah, that is the right move, yeah.
Art: I'll hit the— Or I could hit the second one and try to make it waste its, use its Parry. No, it’s hit the first one. It’s hit the first one.
Austin: It’s hit the first one, Art. You know this in your heart. You know how games work. That is a hit.
Art: So I also do 44.
Austin: You also do 44. What weapon is this, again?
Sylvia: Fuck.
Keith: Wow. Damn.
Austin: This is not the fire one, right?
Art: This is the big fork. Giant Fork, sorry. This is not the fire one.
Austin: All right. This one is absolutely in Crisis.
Keith: Same Camp Activity. Same damage.
Austin: Yeah, that’s so funny that you've both done 44 damage back to back like that.
Keith: Yeah. On paper, it’s me and Jonathan that have all the same stuff.
Austin: Yeah. But there is a sort of Antistrophe and Uncle Nicky. There's an alignment there in my head, you know?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: All right. Goes back over to you, Antistrophe, because they— Or no, sorry, it doesn't. The Blood-Starved Beast— [chuckles] Sorry. That’s actually, that’s copyrighted. It’s not the Blood-Starved Beast.
Sylvia: That is Bloodborne.
Austin: That is Bloodborne. This is just a Bloodstarved. Is going to… Not liking this and wanting to get a little hit in. I'm going to roll 1d3 to decide a target again. 1 is Art; 2 is— sorry, 1 is Nicky; 2 is Antistrophe; 3 is Caoimhe. It is staying on you, Antistrophe. What is your Magical Defense?
Keith: 12.
Austin: It misses you, as it lets out a ravenous wail. It echoes through this room, but it doesn't ever get up to the heights of doing damage to you.
Keith: Sorry, guy. 
Austin: Yeah. 
Sylvia: [snorts] Sucks to suck.
Keith: Too hard to hit.
Austin: Too hard to hit.
Keith: Even here, in Celestia or whatever it’s called.
Austin: It’s Ichoria.
Sylvia: Ichoria!
Keith: Sure.
Austin: Give me your attack.
Sylvia: This is not My Little Pony. 
Keith: [laughing quietly] Is that from My Little Pony?
Sylvia: I think so?
Austin: [laughs] Imagine if everybody did double damage in My Little Pony. [Keith and Jack laugh]
Keith: Sorry, Austin, what did you say?
Austin: And back to you, because you still have this one last attack.
Keith: That’s true. I'm going to hit the one that’s already in Crisis.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: With my Runic Shields. 8.
Austin: And that’s going to hit, because it cannot defend it, and that’s going to be 34 damage, and that is enough to knock it out onto the ground with a yelp.
Keith: Nice. Great.
Austin: All right, so this is back around to the top, right, Art?
Keith: Yeah.
Art: No, no. This is my second action.
Austin: Oh, you didn't use your first act—
Sylvia: Oh, it is.
Austin: Wait. Did you not already go twice in the previous round?
Keith: That’s true, yeah.
Sylvia: Yeah, that is true.
Austin: Oh, interesting. Damn. Okay. Then, yeah.
Art: So I hit the second one for 42.
Austin: You hit the second one for 42 damage. Boom. Still not in Crisis, but damn good.
Sylvia: My numbers are really terrible, compared to y'all. 
Austin: [chuckles sympathetically] Well, it’s back around. Do you want to try to give it a shot?
Sylvia: Yeah, and I'm going to use Elemental Weapon to make my sword do… Let’s go bolt damage.
Austin: Yeah. Let’s go lightning.
Sylvia: Let’s go lightning. So, just click that to mark it. I need to make sure I take off my MP.
Keith: If— no.
Austin: What were you going to say?
Keith: I was going to say that these things are immune to dark.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Keith: And so I would go— because we have light damage as one of the damage types, right?
Sylvia: I do not have that ability yet.
Austin: What do you have?
Keith: Oh, I thought that you could do anything. [Dre laughs]
Sylvia: No. I can—
Art: No. Air, bolt, earth, fire, or ice.
Sylvia: Yeah. Guess what I'm going to take when I level up, though, Keith?
Keith: Yeah.
Art: Fire is a classic anti-vampire type.
Sylvia: Yeah, but…
Keith: Mm, but, oh, they are flying type, though, and that’s electric.
Art: I thought they were crawling at us.
Sylvia: I'm rolling my dice, because it’s…
Austin: They are not flying type. I am not letting them fly, explicitly so you can melee them.
Keith: Oh, right, yeah.
Austin: You've committed to lightning?
Sylvia: I've committed to bolt.
Austin: Okay. You hit— oh, actually, we'll see if you hit, because this is the beginning of a new round.
Sylvia: I rolled a 15.
Austin: It is definitely going to try to Parry you. Or is it going to wait and take this damage because it’s going to be less than what else is coming in?
Sylvia: The other two?
Austin: I think it waits. Yeah. I think it’s going to wait.
Sylvia: Okay.
Austin: It takes the 24 damage you give it. The bolt damage does not seem to do anything extra.
Keith: Nice.
Austin: It does send it into Crisis, though.
Sylvia: It actually hurts it, though.
Austin: It does.
Sylvia: That’s better than what I was doing.
Austin: It does. You are not wrong. Now it goes, and it is going to… I think it’s going to try to get you, Caoimhe. Actually, yeah, I'm just going to make the call here. It’s going to try to hit you back on this.
Sylvia: Okay.
Austin: And it’s going to try a Bloodstarved Bite. Now…
Sylvia: I'm going to Parry that.
Austin: Yeah, you better. It’s going to hit you, otherwise. Wow!
Sylvia: Wow, that’s crazy.
Austin: You rolled a 5!
Sylvia: I rolled the exact same.
Austin: You rolled exactly what you needed blocking it, which is important, because if you had not, it would have— ooh, actually, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I think that this actually hits you.
Sylvia: Can I Fabula?
Austin: You can. Because look at what the roll was. The roll was it rolled the right stats but it didn't add the right number. You see the write-up in the thing is +4. It’s only getting a +1 here for some reason.
Sylvia: Oh. What?
Art: Oh.
Sylvia: It says DEX + Insight + 1.
Austin: Right, but look at what the thing says.
Sylvia: Oh, no. Yeah, you're right. You're right.
Austin: DEX + Insight + 4, so that should actually be a 6, 7, 8.
Sylvia: Okay.
Austin: You have to beat an 8 here.
Sylvia: Can I…?
Austin: You can totally Fabula.
Sylvia: Yeah. I'm just trying to think of what I invoke here.
Keith: You rolled a 2 and a 1.
Sylvia: Yeah, I'm rerolling the whole thing.
Austin: Yeah, fair.
Sylvia: This is Disgruntled Hexcloak. I'll just say that.
Keith: This is where Caoimhe rolls two 1s.
Austin: Don't put that in the air. [Keith laughs]
Sylvia: And this is also where Caoimhe gives everybody an Experience Point, so be nice to me.
Austin: Yay, everybody gets XP!
Dre: Mm.
Keith: Thank you.
Sylvia: Yeah, I'll just click the thing again, huh?
Austin: Yeah, just do it.
Sylvia: Because it’s just an attack roll, right?
Austin: It’s just an attack roll. Hey, there's a 12.
Sylvia: I rolled 12.
Austin: That absolutely lets you Parry it away.
Keith: Nice.
Austin: Leaving it with its single attack left and you with none, as your round is now over. But it does come back to y'all, so.
Sylvia: Okay, fellas. Squish ‘em. [Austin and Keith laugh]
Austin: Beat that guy with hammers. [Dre laughs]
Keith: Nicky, me or you?
Sylvia: [laughs] Yeah, literally! Let’s beat ‘em to death with shields.
Austin: Yeah. Importantly, if that had hit, it would have healed a little bit, but not by much. Sorry, say again, Art?
Art: And forks.
Austin: And forks. You're right.
Keith: Yeah.
Dre: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Sylvia: And forks. Forks and shields.
Keith: You could use the shield as, like, a plate, so you have a shield and a plate. [Austin laughs]
Art: You looking to get into business or what? What are we doing here?
Janine: Yeah, I was going to say, that sounds like a good couple’s costume, but I don't know what that has to do with anything right now.
Austin: It does. That’s kind of cute. I love it.
Keith: It’s a restaurant for giants.
Sylvia: You two are adorable together.
Austin: There are giants in this world. We met some giants. Or we actually saw some ruins of giants. We didn't actually meet any, I think. Anyway, who’s going?
Keith: Who’s going? I'll go. Ooh, that’s only a 7.
Austin: It’s only a 7, but it beats its 5.
Keith: [chuckles] Okay, great.
Austin: And it doesn't have a Defense left anymore, right? So. Or am I wrong about that?
Keith: Right.
Austin: No, it does.
Keith: No, you said that it was saving its Parry.
Austin: All right, so it’s going to try to Parry you.
Sylvia: It was.
Austin: It’s going to try to Parry you. It’s going to try to bite your sword away, because that’s the better roll for it.
Keith: I don't have a sword.
Austin: Your shields away. It’s going to try to bite your shields away with its Bloodstarved Bite.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: Ooh, it matches! 
Keith: Nice.
Austin: So I do think it— Actually, it beats you outright, because again, this is the one that, the +4 thing.
Sylvia: It beats it because of the thing that happened to me.
Keith: Oh, yeah.
Austin: So yes, it does. It manages to bite at your shields. Your shields bounce off of its extra strong vampire teeth.
Keith: That’s okay.
Austin: But now it’s out of actions, and y'all still have three?
Keith: Yeah. Yeah, three.
Art: Yeah, I'm going to hit it.
Austin: That’s a 4. That will not hit it.
Keith: Oh no! Okay.
Sylvia: That’s why he’s using a fork.
Art: Well, I will use a Fabula Point.
Austin: There we go.
Art: Wait, should I use a Fabula Point, or should I just let our other two attacks kill it?
Keith: Yeah, let’s try for other two attacks first.
Austin: Smart.
Art: Because we're not going to get two…
Keith: 16. 22 physical. 44.
Austin: 16, and 22 damage is 44 damage. It’s still alive, but it is deep into Crisis now.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: What’s this big heavy 44 damage hit look like? All right, you've now just rolled— You didn't even let Keith finish before you hit the attack button, Art? [Keith laughs]
Sylvia: That’s crazy.
Austin: This is the fastest fight we've ever had, and you're— Which, by the way, I guess, this is only round two, right? Take 3 XP, everybody.
Art: Yeah.
Keith: Yeah.
[“Triumph in the Depths (Dungeon Combat Ends)” by Jack de Quidt plays]
Loot and Information [1:29:21]
Dre: Everybody?
Art: I didn't mean to— I just wanted to be ready. I wasn't trying to cut—
Austin: Everybody. Everybody. The whole game gets it when the Conflict…
Sylvia: Everybody.
Austin: We're in them blitz rules, remember?
Dre: Mm.
Austin: I'm trying to support—
Keith: Yeah. Sorry, how many do we get?
Sylvia: Y'all did a combo attack.
Austin: Y'all did a combo attack!
Keith: We did do a combo attack, yeah.
Sylvia: You squished it with your shields, and then Nicky poked it.
Austin: I guess, actually, it does say…
Art: You put it up on the plate with the shield, and I stabbed it with the fork.
Austin: I have to say, it does say these additional Experience Points are gained by all characters who took part in the battle, even if they surrendered or fled at a certain point.
Dre: Mm.
Austin: This is just for y'all.
Jack: Ah, nuts.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Which will fuck us up a little bit, because we've always had…
Keith: Wow.
Ali: Yeah, Nicky’s going to be level 14.
Austin: It’s going to happen. Uncle Nicky. 
Ali: Wow.
Austin: Unc is a little ahead of the game, you know?
Art: Unc? Yeah, Unc’s a little ahead. Don't worry about it.
Ali: Oh, he’s their uncle, not their dad. Okay.
Austin: That’s correct.
Keith: How many do you get from this fight?
Austin: You're going to get a total of 3. You get a bonus 3, because you finished it in two rounds, instead of the maximum of five where you stop getting those bonus points.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: And everybody should get 1 because of the Fabula Point expenditure.
Keith: Okay. So, Sylvi, we're on 9.
Sylvia: Well, I haven't been—
Art: And we're going to get 5 for the session.
Keith: I just mean for now, for right now.
Austin: All right, yeah. You have cleared this workshop, the Necrosmith’s Workshop here, and I'll just— because you have successfully done that, you find a Crimson Whetstone. It’s single use, and you use it to double the damage of the next physical attack you successfully land. 
Dre: Mm.
Keith: Oh, nice.
Austin: How it was made is unknown.
Sylvia: Oh, that’s sick.
Austin: So, one of those. Who gets it?
Sylvia: Antistrophe—
Keith: Caoimhe needs it.
Sylvia: Really? I'm usually a magic user, is the thing. That’s why my damage was so crappy, was like, I'm usually doing—
Keith: Oh, but don't you use that sword kind of a lot? Don't you use your sword?
Art: You can sharpen a shield with this? [Austin chuckles]
Sylvia: I use my sword to cast my spells so I can use my DEX roll for them, but like, for example, if I cast Flare, that’s high roll + 25.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Right. Yeah. That’s the real damage here.
Sylvia: Like, that’s what I'm usually doing.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: Yeah. Actually, if I cast it, it’s high roll + 29, because that’s my Spellblade version.
Austin: Yeah, it’s really good.
Keith: Well, then what makes more sense? Sharpening a fork, or sharpening a shield?
Dre: Hmm. [Austin chuckles]
Art: Hmm.
Keith: I think the fork.
Sylvia: Okay.
Art: All right.
Austin: All right.
Art: Sold.
Austin: You're in this workshop. Anything else?
Art: I'm going to sell this to buy a gem later. [Keith laughs]
Austin: Anything else you guys are doing before you decide to head out?
Keith: You know, I'm going to feel around the walls for more money slots.
Austin: Money slots. I love it. Give me an Insight + Insight.
Keith: Insight + Insight.
Austin: Looking for a 13 here. That’s a 7. As far as you can tell, there's nothing else here.
Keith: Blah.
Austin: If there was, it was probably destroyed in the big tussle, and so…
Keith: Sure. Uh…eh, no. Okay. Eh, you know, I'm going to Fabula Point. I'm going to Fabula Point that 1 that I rolled.
Austin: You're going to keep the 3? You need a 13.
Keith: Eh, yeah, I'll reroll the whole thing.
Austin: Okay.
Keith: Let’s see. Meta, Fabula Point. Mm…did I Fabula Point twice today?
Austin: That seems likely, but maybe not.
Keith: I don't remember doing it a second time, but I will—
Austin: How many points do you have left?
Keith: I have one left, but I thought that I— I started with 3, because we got 2 and I had 1.
Austin: Yeah. I see what you're saying.
Keith: [typing] Reroll find stuff.
Austin: Holy shit. You crit.
Keith: Ooh, crit! Holy shit.
Austin: It’s hidden in the wall.
Sylvia: Holy crit.
Austin: It is called the Blooded Blade. It is the Necrosmith’s masterpiece sword. [someone gasps]
Keith: Oh my god.
Austin: It is a sword that constantly has a wet edge. It is DEX + Might + 2 to hit.
Keith: I found a dripping sword.
Austin: It does HR + 10 physical damage. It’s a one-handed martial weapon. It does 5 extra damage if you are in Crisis, and it has a special action: Whet the Blade. Spend one action and take 10 damage. For the next three rounds, do an extra 5 damage per hit.
Sylvia: Oh my god. It’s the Bloodborne katana.
Keith: Oh, wow. It’s actually good.
Austin: It’s the Bloodborne katana. It is. [Dre laughs]
Keith: All right. I'm taking that.
Austin: It’s worth— It sells for 2500 asta.
Keith: Whoa.
Austin: It’s extremely valuable.
Keith: Does that mean it’s worth, like, 5000 in a store?
Austin: No, no. You will sell it for 2500 asta. I've started writing down—
Keith: No, but if it was in a store. Isn't that—?
Austin: That’s correct. If it as in a store, it would sell for 5— Yes, yes, yes, yes. Sorry, yeah.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Also, you got a crit, so you have to tell me what Opportunity you're doing.
Keith: Faux Pas. [Keith and Austin laugh]
Jack: That was a reflex.
Keith: I slip in the blood.
Austin: One of the Bloodstarved burps. It goes, “Sorry. That was rude of me.”
Art: Never recover from that.
Keith: Is this Opportunities? Is that where that…?
Austin: Opportunities, yeah.
Keith: Opportunities. Okay. For everyone listening, the different ones are Advantage, Affliction, Bonding, Faux Pas, Favor, Information, Lost Item, Progress, Plot Twist!, Scan, and Unmask.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Keith: I would love to learn the goals and motivations of a creature of my choice.
Austin: Uh huh.
Keith: And I want it to be that guy.
Austin: Who?
Keith: Oh, sorry. The laughing person who’s trapped us here.
Austin: Oh.
Jack: Oh!
Austin: The mysterious jester, the mysterious painting jester.
Sylvia: Yeah. The giggler.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: The mysterious painting jester.
Austin: That makes sense.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: How do you find it out? Talk me through a clue you might find here.
Keith: Okay. So, I said Unmask, [Austin: Yeah.] but we do have Plot Twist, which is someone or something of your choice suddenly appears on the scene, and if it makes it easier, it could be that thing. Like, if having them show up.
Austin: No, they are pretty like, “There's one place you're allowed to talk to me,” so I think I'll give you something without…
Keith: Oh, yeah, that’s true. Yeah, you did say that.
Austin: I would rather give it to you through something else for that reason, and they're like really dedicated on that. 
Keith: Yeah. I forgot that they had literally said that.
Austin: Yeah. But I do think that it’s totally fine if you find… You know, maybe you find another adventurer’s journal, you know?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: That has some notes. And they're little…they’re little, what do you call it, like bullet points, right? So you're not getting deep. They're notes for themselves. They'll know what the notes mean. You know what I mean? So you're not getting an essay here.
Keith: Right. Yeah.
Austin: Right? 
Keith: Right.
Austin: And so what you get is, you know, one: the name of this place, Castle Eschatonica, E-S-C-H…
Keith: Okay.
Austin: I'll type it again. E-S-C-H-O-N-T-O… That’s wrong, isn't it? Eschaton. Yeah, Eschaton. E-S-C-H-A-T-O-N-I-C-A. Eschatonica. Underneath that, it says, you know, “past worlds slammed together?” question mark. Under that, it says, “Gnova,” but like, G-N-O-V-A, like gnosis or gnostic, that style of G-N. And it says, “God of distant color and light,” next to it. You're pretty sure this means that this is a god from a previous Ennead. They're not supposed to be around. Underneath that, there's a note, and it just says, “Curator?” question mark, “Librarian?” question mark. And then next to that, it says, like, “Twisted freak?” question mark. [Keith laughs] And then, under that, I think there's a slightly longer note that says… You got a crit. 
Keith: I did get a crit.
Austin: “As suspected, these are all of the shapes Perpetua has taken.” And then it says, “Why did it stop looking like this? When does our turn end?” 
Keith: Huh.
Austin: And there's, like, some jottings, and I think to kind of fill this in, part of what this previous adventurer is noting is, like, and maybe says this explicitly, like, there was more than one Ichoria. There was more than one Armidurge. There was more than one of each of these different previous ones. There was a series of them.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: Perpetua was like Ichoria for some set of cycles. 
Keith: Okay.
Austin: Perpetua was like Genesika, the weird materia, you know, experimentation one that we were in briefly.
Keith: So when we found the journal that talked about the Academy of the Collapse and Burgburg…
Austin: That seemed to be from— Right. Uh huh.
Sylvia: [quietly] Burgton.
Keith: That could have been from another version of the same Perpetua.
Austin: The same blueprint. Yeah. Yeah.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Or it could have been from yours.
Keith: But it could have also been just from…yeah.
Austin: It could have been from 200 years ago. 100%.
Jack: Wait.
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: Just so that I understand it…
Sylvia: My New Game Plus joke was way more prescient than I thought.
Jack: Yeah.
Keith: Which joke? 
Sylvia: I said New Game Plus earlier.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: Oh, New Game Plus, yeah.
Sylvia: ‘Cause we, like, something optimal or whatever.
Austin: Jack, go ahead.
Jack: Just so that I understand it correctly, you're saying that, like, Perpetua as we know it, in distant cycles, [Austin: Yeah. Mm-hmm.] resembled something like Redolencia for a while.
Austin: And that was a thing you knew.
Jack: Yes, that’s true. Oh, I had sort of—
Austin: What you didn't know was that there was a macro cycle. And maybe it says this: “Cycles within cycles.” 
Jack: And so it’s like, are you saying that it’s like, Redolencia, and then that world ends, and then it’s Redolencia again, and then that world ends.
Austin: That’s right, Jack.
Jack: And then that continues for like four or five times, and then suddenly they're like, “Okay.”
Austin: Who knows how many times?
Jack: Yeah, yeah. It goes for a bit.
Austin: I do. I do know how many times. [Jack chuckles] I have the number. This person doesn't know it.
Jack: And then now they're like contemporary Perpetua.
Austin: Yeah. And they're like, “When does our time run out?” 
Jack: And this is interesting, because we've heard a specific number once before, right? Haven't the Ennead talked about, like, you get nine goes as a god?
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: They get nine goes as a god, yeah. Sorry, go ahead, Ali.
Ali: Well, I was going to say that, yeah. It seems like they go through as a set and then get replaced one by one?
Austin: That seems about right. We have talked about there being— I forget who. I think we said Lucena, maybe? Is in her second-to-last go of this?
Jack: And Caliginia is new, I think?
Austin: Caliginia is new. Caliginia is in her first go of this.
Jack: But this is interesting, because it’s like, what are they counting as a set, right? Are they counting one internal go, or are they counting, like, one macro set?
Austin: Right. Well, presumably…right. You don't know. You don't know. Great question, Jack.
Keith: Which means, though, that either way, there's probably…oh. No, I guess it doesn't mean that. There may or may not be gods who cross macro cycles. 
Austin: We just don't know. There might be.
Jack: Yeah, we don't know.
Austin: But you're not sure.
Keith: There might be.
Jack: Hmm.
Sylvia: I'm, like, reading this over— Not over your shoulder, because you're taller than me, but like, to the side, and I'm like, “What the fuck?” [Jack laughs] This is genuinely like, 
(as Caoimhe): I think I need to sit down for a minute.
Jack: Hmm. Also, sorry, while we're on metaphysics.
Austin: Yeah, please.
Jack: And we're going to be on metaphysics, you know. It’s what the show’s about. But I had sort of— When we've talked about Celestial Echoes in the past, we've talked about them as being, like, alternate Perpetuas, and Cerulea and Violet come from other versions.
Austin: Uh huh.
Jack: Is there a sense that, like—and, you know, we might not know the answer to this—that Redolencia or whatever is like multiple server shards, right? You know what I'm talking about? Where it’s like, is there another version of Perpetua currently running out there that’s on another macro set, or—?
Austin: You have no idea. Nothing has given you that perspective. If you could see that that was the case, my guess is you would see it from the Dragon Path. But you're not sure of that, right?
Jack: Oh, I see. Okay, so instead we're talking about history, rather than shattered simultaneous occurrence.
Austin: Yeah, I don't think that there is shattered simultaneous occurrence. 
Jack: Okay. That’s good. That’s good to know.
Austin: As far as you've seen, you know?
Jack: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Austin: I don't think you've seen any— Well. You know that there is some remnant of those past ones that continue to exist. You're standing in some of them. 
Jack: Mm-hmm.
Austin: And the Celestial Echoes that have fallen to the earth before, from the stars, seem to be, you know, coexistent. But.
Jack: But that’s a remnant, not like I'm dialing into U.S. west coast or something.
Austin: That seems to be the case, correct. 
Jack: Yeah. Okay.
Austin: Yeah. Yeah.
Jack: I think that’s all my metaphysics questions.
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: In Metaphysics Minute.
Austin: I think that that’s pretty much everything, as it’s laid out, as you know the information. I'm pretty sure I'm not forgetting anything that you already know. So, yeah. Big questions. 
Blue Party — Next Room [1:42:08]
Austin: I want to end on something slightly different. Does the eastern group head back through that long hallway at the bottom, or do you face the stairs?
Jack: I think we should face the stairs. I'm sorry, Jonathan.
Dre (as Jonathan): [sighs] You're probably right.
Ali: Especially since we know that it, like, creates a bridge to this big thingy.
Jack: Unless we want to clear that last room down here, you know?
Austin: The south-southeast, yeah.
Jack: And then we tidied up the whole thing, yeah. My brain was sort of like, “This path is continuing down here and is going to wrap up,” but yeah, it really does look like the stairs are the ones, so I actually think that I'm changing my answer. I want to clear my map.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: Eastern party agreed? Clearing the map?
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Janine: Sure.
Austin: All right. You take the long walk back south, either— probably not back through the Creature Cages, huh? 
Janine: Nuh uh.
Dre: Mm-mm. [Jack chuckles]
Austin: Probably the safe route past the stairs, through the Sand Flooded Throne Room and up to a waiting room. It’s actually not a waiting room. It is a… Let me reveal the area.
Janine: As long as it’s not a biting room, it’s fine. [Jack chuckles]
Austin: It’s not a biting room. It is a coat check!
Jack: Ooh.
Dre: Ooh.
Janine: Are there coats there? I know someone who wants a coat. [Sylvia, Austin, and Jack laugh]
Austin: There are coats there, and there is a large armored guard standing behind a clerk who is sitting at a desk, who looks up to you. She has green hair in a ponytail and a very simple, like, clerk’s outfit for a medieval— or not a medieval, like an early modern office. And she looks up at you, and she says,
(as clerk): I'm sorry, the Masque is only for those with invitations.
Austin: And you can see from here that there is a door to the west connected to some long stairs that you managed to avoid. [Jack laughs]
Ali: Wow.
Dre: Let’s go!
Austin: And yeah, there is a person here, waiting to take your invitation and welcome you into the High Masque, which is where we'll begin next time, and I'll just reveal it now. It’s big. It’s this whole thing.
Dre: It’s big!
Austin: It’s this whole big tower. It’s a big tower.
Jack: Wow.
Austin: I skipped something really important about these two people. They both have angel wings.
Ali: Mm.
Dre: Oh.
Janine: Ah.
Sylvia: YOO! [Dre sighs]
[“The Castle Eschatonica” by Jack de Quidt plays]