Perpetua 47: Escape from the Rumbling Castle! 07
Transcriber: robotchangeling
Recap        1
Recap
Janine (as Brontë): Do you suppose it counts if we dance?
Ali (as Veile): Um, I certainly hope so.
Janine (as Brontë): All right, then I think we have an ensemble. 
[“The Castle Eschatonica” by Jack de Quidt begins playing]
Austin: You do it. You cast the spell. The elements, as you're performing, begin to get summoned onto each of the remaining little plinths. It shakes the sand that is on them. They shift into the correct combinations of elemental sigils, and all of them kind of sink all the way down into the ground, and then the doorway opens up. The kind of two heroes in the middle seem like they're pulling the doors back, and they kind of recede. The vault opens up in front of you. 
Janine (as Brontë): Did you recently get beaten up by a turtle woman? Sorry, by a terrapine woman?
Austin (as Eaja): She must be a great hero. I don't know why fate decided to pit us against each other.
Janine (as Brontë): Was she trying to kill you and failed, or did she take mercy?
Austin (as Eaja): She—
Janine (as Brontë): Or did she think she’d killed you?
Austin (as Eaja): She maybe took mercy but was distracted.
Sylvia (as Caoimhe): Sounds right.
Janine (as Brontë): Yeah.
Austin (as Eaja): Someone else showed up. I've never seen anyone like her.
Janine (as Brontë): You are a gorgeous and confounding creature.
Austin: And she looks at you and says,
(as Draconic Elf): And you are nothing.
Sylvia: Ooh.
Janine: Ow.
Austin: And all of you freeze in place, as she steps on the gem and it shatters. [Ali gasps] The castle begins shaking. And you can't see this, but all across Perpetua, people look up and see dozens of stars going out.


Austin: As the shield comes down, you see Ushala, Conduit, step forward, blazing with Lucena’s light, and then suddenly it leaves her. Lucena doesn't care about this place anymore. The gem’s destroyed. And it’s as if she comes to, and she says,
(as Ushala): Who are you? 
Keith (as Antistrophe): We're not from here. We just wound up here.
Austin (as Ushala): It seems it was an honorable combat.
Dre (as Jonathan): You, in fact, made that remark about us before it started.
Austin (as Ushala): I vaguely remember that. 
Art (as Nicky): I think we're just gonna hop in this ship over here and be on our way. [Jack chuckles]
Austin (as Ushala): Were those the terms of the conflict?
Dre (as Jonathan): [bluffing] Yes.
Keith (as Antistrophe): There weren't—
Dre (as Jonathan): [hushed] Shut up. 
Art (as Nicky): Well, no one ever asked.
Austin (as Ushala): We have to retain the ship. [Jack laughs]
Keith (as Antistrophe): Well, there were no terms. You started the combat before we were able to set terms, so we're imposing terms.
Austin (as Ushala): No, then it was simply a test of honor.
Keith (as Antistrophe): You don't remember—
Art (as Nicky): No, we're taking the thing. What are you talking about?
Keith (as Antistrophe): Yeah, you don't remember what happened. We're taking the ship. 
[song ends]
East: Discussion
a/ i think we are going to start and try to get some motion going over on the eastern side, near where it says Big Money Maybe.
j/ Mm.
s/ i forgot about Big Money Maybe.
j/ Big Money No Longer.
a/ Yeah. In the distance—
t/ That’s my new album.
a/ Mm-hmm. In the distance, you see the Draconic Elf with her wings spread, flying away, and then the giant dragon owl swings by, and she like lands on it, and it flies off with her.
j/ A collab.
l/ Oh.
s/ Of course they're working together.
n/ Huh.
a/ Mm-hmm. And we kind of pull back over and see your group. Maebela, you know, kind of catching her breath, leaning against one of the walls. Waylon, like, looks over the top of his sunglasses at the dragon elf as she flies away. Like, “Damn.” And what do we see from the rest of you?
j/ i mean, Elena is exhausted and kind of, like, wrung out from the dungeon, but there is also a bit of, like, “we saved Maebela” going on. It’s the double whammy of “the gem got destroyed, this was a disaster, and she was terrifying,” and also, like, “we were involved in the rescue of a great hero.”
a/ Mm.
am/ i gotta thank you guys for that one,
a/ Says Maebela.
je/ It’s nothing. 
sc/ [scoffs]
am/ It’s not nothing. I almost fell to my doom.
sc/ Yeah, imagine what would have happened if you had backup.
am/ You got me there.
s/ i'm not happy with her. I'm not happy with Maebela at all.
am/ If it had just been that damned…
a/ And, like, points over at the soldier who you have now made peace with. You know,
am/ If it had just been her, i would have dealt with it. But it wasn't just her, and i should've expected some backup on her side, i guess.
je/ Do you know who she is?
a/ Do you mean the dragon, or do you mean the dragon elf, or do you mean the…?
j/ The dragon.
a/ She shakes her head.
am/ Never seen nothing like her.
je/ And what about Eaja? Why’d you go tearing off after her?
am/ Well, 'cause she was shooting at all of us. And i wanted to know what she was getting up to, and i wanted to make sure she didn't get away with anything. Or go get friends to hurt you more.
je/ [quietly] It’s hard to argue with that.
s/ [scoffs] Giving Elena a look that’s like: is it?
am/ Oh, what, Caoimhe, you never ran after somebody to help them?
sc/ No, but i usually tell people where i'm going.
am/ Sometimes you gotta make a decision in the moment.
nb/ i don't think that’s true.
am/ That you gotta make a decision in the moment?
nb/ That Caoimhe always says where she’s going.
sc/ Shhh.
am/ Oh. Yeah. i believe that.
nb/ But it might just be because i always go somewhere first, and then i don't stop to listen to where she’s going. [Janine, Austin, and Ali laugh quietly] So maybe that’s on me. I don't actually know.
je/ Well, i'm glad you're okay. It’s a shame about the gem. Is there anything left over, Veile?
l/ Yeah, i think [laughs quietly] Veile has sort of been completely uselessly trying to, like, kick at the dust a little bit and poke at it and—
a/ There's no dust.
l/ Yeah.
a/ It is gone. [Ali laughs]
j/ Just regular dungeon dust, i suppose. Just the…
a/ Yeah, there's the dust of the weird, you know, ad hoc landing pad that you're standing on, but it is…
l/ Is there like a weird mark? Is it like—?
a/ There's nothing. There is nothing. It is gone. It is like, it has broken a fundamental rule of our universe, which is that nothing can be destroyed truly. Nothing can be annihilated, right? It doesn't even seem like there's any energy that was generated from this, you know? Outside of the destruction of everything, i guess.
s/ That’s kind of a big “I guess,” though.
a/ Yeah. Yeah. 
j/ That’s where the energy went.
a/ i don't know all the laws of thermodynamics in worlds where magic exists, you know?
s/ Uh huh.
a/ It kind of gets real squishy. [quiet laughter] 
l/ Then i guess what Veile has actually been doing is, like, nervously pacing and finding nothing.
a/ Yeah.
l/ And just saying,
lv/ It’s gone.
je/ Do you think… I don't know. i don't want to say it. Do you think there was someone in that gem?
lv/ i think there was more than just someone. 
je/ Yeah?
s/ This is when Caoimhe, like, rummages through her pack and is like, “Wait, i'm missing things now.”
lv/ Well, the shaking of the dungeon. i mean, who’s to know how much has been affected by this?
je/ Well, i hope everyone else has been okay on the other side. Your brother, Maebela.
am/ i trust him. I'm sure he’s doing just fine.
je/ Yeah, i trust him too. And Nicky’s there, and that weirdo with the shields.
sc/ Hey. That’s my buddy.
je/ i know nothing about him.
sc/ He’s— Don't worry. Your friends are going to be fine.
nb/ He’s read a lot of books.
je/ Does he have a sword? Or is it just shields all the time?
sc/ Dude, it’s just shields. Crazy, right?
nb/ Doesn't he, like, have a thing, but he just doesn't use it? I thought he, like, had it.
sc/ He doesn't use it.
nb/ Okay.
sc/ He just kind of smushes everything.
nb/ Yeah.
je/ And it works?
sc/ He’s really good at smushing.
k/ i think, for the record, the last time i saw Brontë, i don't think i even had a sword. [Jack laughs]
n/ Oh. Well.
je/ Well, i think we should probably keep our gems… Well, keep an extra watch eye on the gems that we have, right?
lv/ But why this one?
je/ What if it was just the one that she could get to first? What if she’s stalking the realms, destroying any gems she can find?
lv/ Well, then she would have taken them all.
sc/ Yeah, wait.
nb/ Alternately, what if she just hated this gem in particular?
am/ Maybe she didn't know you had one.
je/ Maybe she didn't know we had one.
j/ Quiet, private delight at being agreed with by Maebela. [Ali and Dre laugh]
lv/ Well, then… [quiet sigh]
Austin as (???): Weren't your gems all real frightened of this place?
je/ Yeah, they didn't… Veile saw hers, i think.
sc/ Oh, right. Your ones talk.
nb/ i've never spoken with my gem, and i'm starting to feel bad about it.
je/ Don't do it here. They'll hate it. Wait until we're back out, if we get out. Which we will.
am/ Hey, why is it you all have these gems, anyway?
s/ Austin, given the fact that the stuff i had from— It was Redolencia that got destroyed, right? Or am i thinking of a different one?
a/ It was Redolencia that got destroyed. Is that right? 
l/ Yes.
a/ Is that what i said? Yes. Yes. Yes.
s/ Okay. Given that i have that, do i need to make, like, a roll to figure out that that’s which world was…?
a/ i think you just know it.
s/ Okay, cool.
a/ Yeah. Mm-hmm.
sc/ Yeah, i think… I know Nicky, Antistrophe, and i passed through the place that i'm presuming is gone now, considering all the stuff i had from there is also gone.
s/ Not saying this in character, but Caoimhe is more upset that she lost her weird demon webbing than the, like, weapon she picked up. [Ali laughs quietly] Because she’s like, i didn't even get to do anything clever with that.
j/ And this isn't like a beckonings thing, Austin, where it’s like, we know it’s gone.
a/ You know the stuff that you had is gone. The people— you haven't yet seen that the stars, you know, a bunch of stars have disappeared.
j/ Oh, right. But like, when Waylon became young, he was always young in our minds.
a/ That’s right. Yeah, no.
j/ But it’s not like…
a/ This is a thing that happened in front of you.
j/ Yeah. Where like…
a/ And actually, no, sorry. Remember, Waylon… You remember old Waylon. 
j/ [laughs quietly] Oh, yes.
s/ Yeah.
a/ You don't remember non-warrior Maebela.
j/ Yes.
l/ Mm-hmm.
a/ Yeah.
j/ But we know that Redolencia existed and is gone.
a/ Yeah.
je/ It’s bad news.
a/ Or again, i think that Caoimhe can discern that [s/ Yeah.] from the sort of deduction that she just did.
j/ Yeah.
s/ i love deducing.
je/ It’s bad news. And dangerous.
sc/ Yeah, we should probably get back to trying to get out of here, especially if those two are, one, working together, and two, we don't know if they're gone for good.
je/ Who?
sc/ The dragons. Big owl?
je/ Oh, no, we don't know if they're gone for good.
sc/ Yeah.
je/ But i mean, once we're out of here, we gotta find out who she is.
sc/ Yeah. [cross] No, that’s true, but we need to be alive to do that. 
je/ [cross] You don't seem convinced? 
sc/ No, i'm with you. It’s just, this place has started… i have—
s/ This is the— i can't say, “I have a bad feeling about this” anymore, 'cause fucking Star Wars ruined it. [Austin, Dre, and Jack chuckle] But like, that is kind of… She’s just like, 
sc/ Yeah, the way this place reacted when she did that, i'm really worried that we're going to end up tumbling into an abyss, sooner rather than later.
nb/ Well, we would probably also just get turned into nothing, right?
sc/ Only if she stomps on whatever crystal we're attached to.
nb/ Maybe she left. We don't have to assume she had, like, a big thing she’s doing. She could have just— Maybe she hated that one jewel, and she smashed it, and she was like, “Okay, i'm gonna go home now,” and then she took her owl dragon, and she left. That could be okay.
sc/ i really admire your optimism, Brontë. [Austin laughs] i really do. Agh.
nb/ Sometimes people just want to do one thing and leave.
je/ When that thing is the destruction of a world, of what’s left of a world, that can't be allowed to stand.
nb/ Maybe that world sucked.
je/ We can't know that.
sc/ Okay. Yeah, i don't want to just pass judgment on an entire world.
nb/ i'm not saying it did. I'm just saying we don't know motives.
sc/ This is ‘cause she’s pretty, isn't it?
nb/ It’s in addition to that. It’s not because of it.
sc/ [doubtful] Yeah, yeah, right.
je/ What was that about, Brontë? Telling her that she’s gorgeous.
nb/ She’s gorgeous. [Sylvia laugh quietly]
sc/ He’s like that.
nb/ She’s gorgeous? What, you want me to not say—? What? Like, come on.
je/ We could have gotten the jump on her.
nb/ How?
lv/ It was inappropriate.
je/ It was inappropriate! I didn't want to be the one to say it, Veile, but it was. [Ali laughs]
sc/ Well, as long as we're negotiating the etiquette of how to talk to a lady who’s about to wipe out a world.
je/ i mean, not inappropriate—
nb/ Is it more or less appropriate than, yeah, destroying a world? I just believe in telling people good things, so they know them.
je/ i'm not saying it wasn't inappropriate to her. I'm saying it was inappropriate for the situation.
nb/ i don't know. She might have— What if she’d liked it? What if she’d said, “Thanks”?
sc/ i guess we'll never know.
lv/ i shouldn't discredit kindness. [Ali, Dre, and Austin laugh] This is all so confusing.
am/ i'm gonna ask again, because i don't really… Why do you have these gems?
je/ We found them from a jellyfish?
s/ Sorry, who was asking that, Austin?
a/ Maebela. Maebela.
s/ It was Maebela. Cool.
a/ Though maybe Waylon would be the one who asked, but i already asked it once as Maebela, so.
s/ Yeah. i actually…
am/ You found it in a jellyfish.
je/ Yeah. We were by the beach. We were serving ice cream. Jellyfish came out of the water. Everyone ran away.
am/ You're telling me that these gems, which seem to be the guarantors of an entire reality, echoes of worlds that once were, you found them in a jellyfish, just at random? Did you hunt the jellyfish?
je/ i suppose the guarantors of the universe have to be somewhere, Maebela. Why not a jellyfish?
am/ i just think it’s mighty convenient. That’s all.
je/ Maybe.
lv/ What exactly?
sc/ That we all got these crystals and ended up here?
am/ That two groups of people. Yeah, Caoimhe, did you get yours from a jellyfish?
s/ So, this is where i need help, because i'm sick and can't remember how i got mine.
a/ Mm-hmm.
s/ Out of character.
k/ We got ours in a desert oasis, magic oasis?
a/ No. Not true.
s/ That’s where we found our gems, in the oasis?
a/ That’s not true. No.
k/ i thought so.
a/ Mm-mm.
n/ Is that true? I thought it was later than that.
a/ It’s not true. It was later than that.
t/ Was it a jellyfish?
k/ i'm almost positive that we found it where we found the Oasis Fig and i found a—
a/ That is not true.
k/ No?
a/ No.
k/ No.
n/ It was after Burzin, right?
s/ Yeah.
a/ It was well after Burzin.
k/ Oh, okay. Well, then.
a/ You kind of just found them. That’s why you never had a chance to talk to them.
s/ Mm-hmm.
a/ They were in the basement. 
k/ Oh, they were in the basement.
l/ Yeah.
n/ Right.
a/ Of the Hexcloaks’ base.
sc/ We, uh…
nb/ Stole them.
sc/ i was going to say reappropriated, but yeah, we stole them from the Hexcloaks.
nb/ i mean, they were there, and we took them.
sc/ [sighs] You know. It’s fine. They're not going to notice.
nb/ But it wasn't, like, divine providence. It was just us taking things. 
sc/ i guess.
lv/ 
nb/ You know, it wasn't like a jellyfish came to us and said, “Hey.”
lv/ Well, no. We killed the jellyfish to help the swimmers.
sc/ Oh.
je/ And we were trying to get some ingredients.
sc/ Oh, obviously.
am/ It’s all mighty suspicious. We gotta find my brother. We gotta get out of here. I'm sick of it.
lv/ If we were meant to find them and meant to meet each other, then such is the way of things.
je/ Yeah. We were already sort of fated, i suppose.
j/ Thinking back to the flames on the top of the Dragon Tower.
sc/ My concern is that, like, we don't know— if this is fated, i don't know who’s pulling the strings, because our— This isn't like— We don't live in a world where we don't know who our gods are, and i'm, you know, i'm just saying, i'm a little concerned, given what just happened, that someone is pulling the strings to gather them up together, hence why we're all here.
lv/ No, they're not being gathered. There's something… Caliginia has been acting so strangely, and the people that she’s with… Eaja, do you recognize that dragon woman?
ae/ No. Never seen her. Never really seen anything like her.
lv/ So, she wasn't aligned with either army or Caliginia or Lucena, in that case.
je/ What if it’s like, you know, the gods, they're hunting for it. Lucena wants to use it for one purpose. Caliginia wants to use it for another. And then this third one just wants to see it destroyed. But then i don't understand, because the Night’s Own seem to want the destruction anyway, right, Veile?
lv/ Well, i don't know. i don't know if they're involved with whatever’s happening to the dragons or the cows or that mark on the world. I'm confused.
je/ We saw D.G. Flame with Lucena— 
j/ Or, sorry. Fuck. [laughs] 
je/ We saw D.G. Flame with Caliginia, though.
lv/ Huh.
je/ There's some sort of factional play happening.
lv/ Well, we'll get the answers at the White Lectern.
je/ We will.
sc/ We're already assuming a lot, thinking that this is just stuck to our cycle. While we've been here, we've learned that there were other Enneads or equivalents to them. Who’s to say that she wasn't one of them?
je/ The dragons certainly are very old. Older than everything else.
sc/ Mm-hmm.
je/ i don't know. I don't like thinking about that too long, if i'm honest.
lv/ And they have their own, you know, dedicated.
je/ The dragons?
lv/ Yes, the Watchers.
je/ Well, yes. i remember where we met, and Vinnor. He sent us there for a reason, to the Dragon Tower. Veile had a boss, and things went bad with him almost immediately. He’s not dead, but he’s sort of trapped in another place.
sc/ Like the hospital, or…? [Ali laughs]
j/ Looking at Veile, to be like, “I don't know, man. I dug myself into this hole.”
lv/ No. i tried to protect him, perhaps in a way that these crystals work, but it was Caliginia who took him, and to what end i don't know.
je/ What a mess. And i don't think we can do anything about it here. Nova was no help.
sc/ No, i'm with you on that one.
lv/ Did Nova say anything about the dragons?
je/ i don't think we asked Nova about the dragons.
lv/ [sighs] We should move on. We know our mission. We have to find the others.
je/ Maebela, do you have any way to contact your brother? Some sort of terrapine tech or something?
am/ No. We haven't really spoken until recent.
je/ Okay. Just checking.
am/ Do you not have any sort of way of contacting each other?
je/ We all usually travel together.
am/ i see.
lv/ i suppose i could try the sorts of magics that brought Waylon back, but i think pressing forward was— we're all heading to the same place.
je/ Yeah, i think you're right.
a/ Which is where?
j/ Head through this door to the left.
a/ All right.
Loot [20ish
l/ And there's no just, like, money around? [laughs] 
j/ i was going to say. There's no dragon money? There's not…?
a/ You all got 100 each from the vault area.
l/ Oh, sure. 
a/ Uh huh, uh huh.
j/ And we can't see—
l/ No Big Money? [laughs] 
a/ i'll make sure i didn't forget something. i mean, are you going to look around? Are you, like, looking? There was that big chest that Eaja was leaning on when you came in, and no one really…
j/ Oh, yeah, wait.
a/ Because you had to run to save Maebela.
l/ Sure, sure, sure, sure.
a/ Do you go back to check out that chest?
je/ Eaja, what’s in the box?
ae/ i'm not sure. It’s too heavy for me.
je/ Oh, we can get that open, no problem.
a/ Okay. You want to go take a look at that chest? [Ali laughs]
j/ Yeah.
a/ All right.
l/ Elena just wants to say goodbye to the flowers, so ??? [Ali, Jack, and Dre laugh]
a/ There is a chest kind of in this Springsongian style. It seems to be made of stone, and there does not seem to be a— You can see where there might be a lid, but there doesn't even seem to be a key. It’s just like the lid is extremely heavy.
j/ Wow. Can i listen? If i press my ear to it, do i hear anything?
a/ You don't hear anything. It’s not like there's a mechanism or anything that’s running or anything like that.
j/ Or a Springsong, you know.
a/ Yeah.
je/ Caoimhe.
sc/ Yes.
je/ Can you lift this?
sc/ ??? i can try. Probably not.
je/ Caoimhe, what’s your Might die? [Janine chuckles]
sc/ Whoa!
nb/ It’s the same as mine.
s/ That’s 6!
a/ Who is strong over here? Oh yeah, 6. Sorry, i looked at Antistrophe’s roll for something. I didn't— What’s that roll from?
s/ Oh, that was…
k/ That was a fake Initiative roll for a bit while you were gone.
s/ Yeah. Don't worry about that.
a/ Okay. i see. I see, i see.
j/ Sylvi became the GM.
a/ Gotcha.
s/ Yeah. There was a dragon with an AK-47. It’s all good.
a/ Cool.
s/ Yeah.
a/ They're from the dragon with the HK— AK-47 world. “The HK-47.” 
l/ Oh. [??? laughs]
a/ Ugh. That guy would be insufferable if he had a dragon.
s/ Oh, yeah.
l/ Oh, yeah.
s/ Insufferable without one.
a/ Yeah. You going to try to open this thing, Caoimhe?
t/ It was a different time.
a/ It was.
s/ [laughs quietly] If i'm the one that’s been assigned the opener, i guess.
j/ Aren't you the strongest?
s/ What is your Might die?
j/ Uh, 6?
s/ We are as strong as each other.
j/ Fuck!
l/ No! We're all spellcasters! [laughs] 
s/ Yeah.
a/ Yeah, they're…
k/ Hey.
l/ Can we spell this open?
a/ You can try. If you have the right sort of Ritual magic or whatever.
j/ Can i do some Ritual Elementalism to, like, rapidly expand some ice under the lid, to like, pop it open?
l/ Ooh!
s/ That’s fun.
a/ You could try it. It’s going to be a little tough. Like, this is a really strong thing. So yeah, but you could try it. Like, i'm going to add a little difficulty to the roll, in terms of the… I don't think i'm going to make it a bigger affect, but i do think it’s a higher roll to do this.
je/ Veile, will you help me?
lv/ Of course.
s/ If we're doing Ritual magic, i can also help out.
j/ Let’s do it.
a/ All right. So it’s a Minor Ritual, i think, in terms of MP cost.
j/ Mm-hmm.
a/ But the difficulty is 13, instead of being 7.
s/ Okay.
j/ What’s the cost for a Minor Ritual, again?
a/ Just 20 MP.
j/ Fuck! I can't do it.
s/ Yeah, this is another thing. How much MP does everyone have? [Ali laughs] i only have 13.
j/ i have 18.
l/ i just slurped up, so i could probably do this. Let me see.
je/ i'm sorry, Veile.
a/ But you don't have Elemental Ritualism, Veile. [Ali laughs]
n/ i have 51, but. Unless y'all got some sort of MP vampire thing you can do.
l/ Yeah, we said we can't do that.
a/ Yeah.
l/ Can you, like, shove an arrow in there, just kind of twist it around? [Jack chuckles]
a/ It doesn't have a lock.
n/ ??? more of an HP thing than an MP thing. [Austin and Ali chuckle]
j/ ??? to lift it up with a sort of lever mechanism, Austin?
a/ Yeah, you could try.
l/ ??? good DEX?
a/ i will tell you, a regular—
n/ Oh, you meant the thing. I thought you meant, like, me, to get magic out. [Austin and Janine laugh]
l/ No. That would… [laughs] 
n/ ??? just like, jeez, i guess? No?
l/ i was like, who has really high DEX, to like, shimmy this?
a/ Something that you could lever in there would give you some leverage, for sure. But it would have to be strong enough to not just snap when you put pressure downward on it, and it would have to be thin enough that it could slide into the very, very thin, you know. You'd have to have something as thin as a piece of paper but as strong as an iron bar.
n/ Oh.
l/ i can do a Ritual to teleport creatures or items. Can i just, like, slurp everything that’s in there out of it, and keep the box locked?
a/ i think that that is— i think you need— i think we've kind of gone over this kind of before. i think you need to know what you're doing.
j/ Oh, i can't teleport something i can't see.
n/ Wait. Can you teleport the screws out?
a/ There don't seem to be screws. It’s just a heavy lid.
n/ Oh. Teleport the lid to somewhere else.
a/ Yeah, that you could maybe do. That’s viable.
l/ Okay. But, okay. i mean, i'm certainly— i'm the one with the MP, so i'm certainly the one to try. [Jack chuckles]
a/ Yeah.
n/ That’s the spirit.
a/ All right, so it sounds like you want to do an Entropy Ritual to try to teleport this thing off the top. i think we've— i don't remember what we did for big teleports like Waylon, but i still think— i think this is a medium potency Ritual, if you want to do that, which would be 30 MP and a difficulty level of 10 and just an individual area. It’s a human-sized creature, a door, a tree, a weapon. It’s not a few human-sized. It’s heavy, but it’s not so heavy or so magical that it’s more than that even though it’s less than that, so.
l/ Yeah, it says a door pretty plainly, so.
a/ Yeah. Yeah.
l/ This is a door, right? A type of door.
a/ Is a chest lid a type of door? Yeah, i guess so.
l/ Yeah.
j/ Yes.
l/ It’s on a hinge.
j/ The lid is the door of the box.
l/ Yeah.
a/ The lid is the door of the box.
s/ The lid is the door of the box. Yes.
a/ The lid is the door of the box.
j/ Although this doesn't have a hinge, does it? It’s just something we lift. Veile is planning on lifting it right off.
a/ Well, teleporting it off.
l/ Well, it has a hinge on the part—
a/ It does not have a hinge. No hinge.
l/ Oh, it’s just like a slate?
a/ It’s just a big, heavy. Yeah, like the top of a sarcophagus, you know what i mean?
l/ Wow.
j/ i was just about to say, Austin. And, i mean, i think we should continue to lift it, but have we considered that this might be a tomb?
a/ It’s not a— If it is, it’s a small tomb.
j/ Okay. [Ali laugh quietly]
a/ It’s the size of like a trunk or a small travel trunk.
n/ This is when we meet the vampire Flegg. 
a/ [laughs] Oh, i should have made a vampire Flegg!
s/ Oh.
j/ Whoa.
l/ Oh. Okay, so you said 30 MP, and then this is just Insight + Willpower, right?
a/ Yeah, like normal.
l/ Okay.
j/ Can we help?
a/ Yeah, you can help with a Ritual, always, i believe. i believe that’s, like, in the rules.
j/ We don't have to have the Entropist Ritual…
a/ Nope.
l/ Yeah, yeah, yeah.
a/ Other characters can help, even if they have no ability to perform Rituals themselves.
j/ Let’s do it.
a/ You just have to explain to me how you're doing it, so you have to tell me what this looks like.
j/ Um, what does your Ritual look like here, Ali, and i can kind of collaborate with that.
l/ i have, in the past, described Rituals as, like, Veile getting everybody in a circle [laughs quietly] and drawing some things on the floor and then, like, asking somebody from the Ennead, like, “Hey, can you help me with this?” 
j/ Yeah. So i am happy to stand in a certain place in the circle, you know, try and act as a conduit of magic, whether that’s like putting my hand on the chalk mark of the circle or whatever.
a/ Yeah. That works for me. i like it.
s/ i can also try and help too, since, you know, this is the caster party right now.
a/ Yeah. All right, so…
s/ Maybe i'm just mirroring what Veile is doing. Or Elena, sorry.
a/ Wow, you made the mistake i make all the time.
s/ You know, it…
j/ It’s Lem and Fero.
a/ Yeah.
s/ Yeah.
n/ i was going to say, Jack characters have a bad history of getting GM jumbled a little bit. [Ali and Jack laugh]
a/ It’s very weird. Yeah. i don't really know why. In any case.
s/ Pretending we haven't been recording this for, like, eight sessions: Well, i just met them, you know? [Austin and Janine laugh]
a/ Yeah. This all sounds good. Just give me an Insight + Willpower. Let’s do the helpers first.
j/ The classic Insight + Willpower.
a/ The classic.
j/ Okay. Oof.
a/ Well.
s/ Critical success.
a/ Hey.
s/ That doesn't really matter, but hey.
a/ Doesn't matter, but take the— Both of those are successes. The 10 is a success, Elena.
j/ Yeah, i just rolled it with a 1 and a 9, and you never want to roll a 1.
a/ Yeah, that’s fair.
j/ Sort of spiritually.
a/ All right, so take plus… How many Bonds do you have with Veile, Elena?
j/ 2.
a/ So take +4 here, because it’s 2 plus 1 plus 1.
l/ That’s crazy.
s/ Hell yeah.
a/ Helping is good in this game, especially once you start getting Bonds. That’s a 15. That’s more than enough. What’s it look like as you teleport this away?
l/ Um, you know. [laughs] 
a/ Yeah. i mean, like, what’s the—? Is it like a purple effect? Is it a—? Like, give me color. Or does it just vanish? What’s the visual? Paint me a little picture.
l/ There's probably like a whooshing. I use a lot of, like, purple details for Veile’s magic a lot, [a/ Yeah.] but i feel like this is a little bit more straightforward. Like, it almost probably feels like a force lift, [a/ Mm.] in that there's not, like, a lot of visual magic sense, but there is the sort of amost struggle of lifting it at first, where it’s shaking and it’s in the air and it kind of looks wobbly before it kind of moves to the side and then falls onto the floor with a big clunk. And Veile goes, like,
lv/ 
a/ And inside is a wooden box, like a small long wooden box that is, you know, it has kind of mahogany wood that has been, has like a sheen to it. It has been very nicely sanded down. This box has hinges, and it has a little, not a lock, but like the little flip up, like…
n/ A latch?
a/ A latch on the front.
n/ i was seriously like, “Is he going to say this box is also locked?” because that would be really funny. [Ali and Jack laugh] 
a/ i thought about it, but i decided it would— well?
n/ That would suck.
l/ i don't have the MP to do that. 
a/ Well, this one would be it has a latch and you just knock out the little pins, you know? You watch enough Lockpicking Lawyer, and you'll be good to go. [Janine laughs] Don't worry about it.
l/ i don't have that.
a/ Okay.
l/ i don't have TikTok. [laughs quietly]
a/ Well, it’s not locked. It’s just— [laughs] You should have gotten the weird computer that the other side found, and you would have just logged onto TikTok and gotten a little tutorial.
l/ [quietly] Damn.
a/ Anyway, there's a box in here.
l/ Can i open it?
a/ You can. Inside of the box is a sort of, like, golden cushion, and on that— Golden in color, not golden in material. And on that cushion is a flute.
l/ Whoa! 
lv/ Look! It’s some sort of instrument.
je/ Oh! Does it seem enchanted? Can you sense any sort of spells or magic?
lv/ Well, it must be important.
je/ Is there a trap, maybe, if we lift it up? 
a/ [laughs] Can we trigger a trap that will hurt us if we…? [Ali laughs]
je/ Ought we be careful to avoid a trap?
a/ [laughs] Oh, there we go. It does not seem to be trapped.
lv/ i think that big lid was sort of the trap, right?
je/ i suppose, yes. A flute that only a very strong person could play.
nb/ What?
a/ The flute itself does not seem very heavy.
sc/ What? [Austin and Janine laugh]
lv/ Do you want to try it?
j/ Can Elena play the flute? i don't know.
s/ i don't know; is she strong enough? [Ali, Austin, and Jack laugh]
j/ It was in a box with a heavy lid!
a/ Can Elena play the flute? You can probably play a few notes.
j/ i can probably play a few notes. i mean, she’s a singer, right? She’s not like a— Singers are musicians. She’s not like a, she doesn't play instruments, i suppose.
a/ You almost walked into a real dangerous territory there, Jack. [Janine, Ali, and Jack laugh]
l/ Is there, like, a lore drop here? Is there an engraving, or do i get, like, the item description?
a/ Yeah.
l/ ??? in my inventory, right?
je/ Veile, is there any lore on the flute? [Austin laughs]
a/ Yeah, it is a kind of soft blue ceramic flute, or something that feels ceramic in your hands. And on, like, the upper half of the wooden box, there is a sort of etching in a similar style to what was on the big vault entrance, of one of the— Remember the vault entrance had the other Heroes of Spark or whatever, and it’s in that style, but it is of someone playing the flute, a woman playing the flute as a storm gathers around her.
j/ Whoa.
l/ Whoa.
a/ This is the Flute of Stolen Storms.
l/ Whoa. [laughs] 
n/ Until you said it was maybe powerful and did shit, i was like, “Brontë probably knows how to play the flute,” and now i'm not sure he would touch it.
l/ No! 
lv/ Does anyone here know how to play the flute? [Ali and Jack laugh quietly]
a/ Ah, does Waylon know how to play the flute?
lv/ It’s so beautiful.
d/ Ooh…
a/ It’s such a musical culture. It’s possible Waylon knows how to— They're not really m— Dre, we've always described them as, like, being more into singing than instruments.
j/ You nearly did it then, Austin.
d/ Yeah, but i could see, like, fiddles and simple flutes and things like that being involved.
a/ Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. Then, yeah.
n/ Nothing with too complicated an ???. i feel like that’d be hard if you had, like, a little beak, like a little beak mouth.
j/ Yeah.
a/ Oh, i see. Yeah.
j/ Softness, you know.
a/ i don't know what’s going on with the mouths of the terrapines.
d/ Waylon?
a/ Yeah. i don't know what’s going on with Waylon’s mouth. [laughs quietly] 
s/ Waylon, what’s that mouth do? [Janine shudders] Sorry. [laughter] 
k/ i just picture Waylon to be exactly Turtle from hxh, and so, in a fantasy roleplaying game, that guy could play a flute.
a/ Yeah, for sure. Let me roll a die and just see if Waylon can…
k/ i feel like Elena can. Priestesses can play the flute. Fuck it.
a/ Yeah, i mean, yeah.
j/ Elena is not a priestess.
l/ i'm the priestess. [laughs] 
k/ i mean Veile. Veile, Veile, Veile.
a/ Oh my god, it happened again! 
n/ Oh my god.
s/ Wow.
j/ Veile’s not
a/ 1: Waylon can play. 2: Waylon can't play. 2. Waylon goes,
(as Waylon): i've never seen nothing like that in my life. 
a/ Never seen a flute! Maebela gives him a look. [laughs quietly] 
n/ i do kind of think Brontë should be able to— Brontë feels so, like in the anime…
a/ Yeah.
l/ Mm-hmm.
n/ You know, anime boy who sit in tree and play flute? Like, that’s…
a/ i do know.
n/ Yeah. That feels like it’s really the archetype. So i think, [sighs] yeah, okay.
l/ There is a cute girl looking around the room expectantly.
n/ i know. Yeah, Brontë, i think, sort of… [Ali laughs quietly] i think Brontë, like, clears his throat a little bit and says,
nb/ Well, in the past, i've dabbled.
a/ Mm.
lv/ Oh!
a/ You take the flute? Oh, go ahead, sorry.
lv/ [cross] Would you mind playing us something?
n/ [cross] Probably not going to take the flute unless someone suggests he take the flute.
lv/ Would you mind playing us something?
nb/ If it’s not a weird… Is it weird? Is this instrument weird in some way? [Ali laughs quietly]
s/ i thought you meant is it weird to play the flute.
n/ No, he doesn't care about that.
lv/ Well, it seems as though it may be able to create some sort of weather pattern, but besides that, it just seems like treasure, doesn't it?
n/ i think he steps closer, like, reaches in, very hesitantly takes it, as if, like, picks it up with one hand as if he thinks touching it with two hands might be too dangerous in some way. [Austin chuckles] Like, very cautious. i think casts a kind of nervous look towards Caoimhe, of like, 
nb/ Is this a moment when we would want to conjure a storm? Because i don't…
sc/ Now, that is a good, you know? We can handle it.
n/ Maybe just like a little toot.
s/ Just like a little bit.
n/ Yeah.
a/ Yeah.
s/ Just a tiny toot, yeah.
a/ As you place it to your lips and begin to play, you sense that you could totally play this as a regular flute without doing anything, but you can feel it drawing on the inner reserve of power that you sometimes call on for other effects like your dances or your, you know, follow up shots or whatever you do.
n/ Mm-hmm.
a/ Your MP pool can go into this thing, but it can do one particular thing. Or i guess it can kind of do three variations on one particular thing. This lets you do an Elementalist Ritual to summon a rainstorm. What it does is it lets you do that for a little less MP. It lets you do it as a medium effect instead of a major effect. Normally that’s a major effect: temporarily alter the weather. So it can do that one thing, and it can do it at small, large, or huge sizes, the same way that you would be able to do that in general. It can't do it at the individual size. You cannot summon just a rainstorm over one person or one tree. It does have to still be a proper…
n/ Weather event.
a/ It has to at least be a small clearing scale weather event, exactly.
n/ Mm-hmm.
a/ Yeah. And i'll post that in the chat.
nb/ Wow, they'd love this thing at home.
a/ You're not sure how much— yeah. You're not sure how much it would sell for. i think this is not one where it’s like, you know, this is kind of like a rare artifact.
n/ Yeah.
a/ So. You'd have to get it priced.
n/ This is one of those things that if you sell you kind of risk fucking someone over, because it’s going to be like a Monkey’s Paw situation.
k/ Yeah, you'd have to do a whole thing to try to earn enough money to buy it back, probably.
a/ Yeah. Yeah. Uh huh. [Ali laughs quietly]
n/ Yeah.
lv/ If only my gem wasn't scared, i could ask her about it. [Sylvia laughs]
s/ What a good sentence.
a/ Your gem is— oh, no, right. Yeah, no. i was going to say your gem is less scared after you talked to her, but very scared now. Completely scared after the recent events here.
l/ Mm-hmm.
n/ Mm.
a/ So what’s next for you? I'm going to stay on this side for a bit, as we kind of move towards the end of what’s over on this side.
n/ Also, wait. So i can just play it normal-style for fun?
a/ Yep. Totally.
n/ Okay. i think Brontë is going to become an annoying flute guy. [Austin, Ali, and Jack laugh]
s/ [sarcastic] Great.
j/ Brontë entering his…
n/ Once he learned it’s, like, safe?
t/ ??? want to look around and see if there's, like, an acoustic guitar or something? [Austin and Janine laugh]
n/ No.
j/ It’s Jethro Tull Brontë.
n/ Guitar strings fuck up your fingertips.
s/ Shoutout to the two people who don't travel with him giving him this.
k/ Oh, yeah. 
j/ Posting a picture in chat.
n/ [laughs] It’s like a grandparent Christmas toy situation, yeah. [Ali laughs]
j/ When i was at the dentist the other day, the dental hygienist was like, “I just bought my two-year-old a drum set.”
s/ Fuck yeah.
j/ And it’s like, that’s… I mean, very cool, but also, you're writing a very big check that you might not be happy to cash. [Janine laughs]
s/ Oh, you are making a mistake, for sure.
k/ Some people have basements.
j/ Mm, some people have basements.
s/ Keith, let me tell you: doesn't make a difference.
t/ We just got a drum.
j/ You just got a drum.
k/ That’s fair.
t/ Yeah, we just got a drum at the kids consignment sale. We got a pretty nice drum for six bucks. Just one drum, but it’s been a fine couple weeks. She’s been sick, but.
a/ Which drum is it?
t/ You know, you bang on it, and it goes boom.
a/ You bang on it.
s/ Yeah, there's multiple types, though.
j/ The classic. [laughs quietly] 
t/ i'm in here, and the drum is in the living room.
a/ Okay.
t/ i can't help you.
a/ i see. Okay. Does it have a snare?
t/ When we go on break, i'll photograph the drum.
a/ Okay.
s/ Bass drum with a double pedal. She’s doing blast beats. [Austin laughs]
t/ It is not. It’s like a hand drum.
a/ Oh, okay.
s/ ???
n/ Oh. My grandmother had a toy steel drum, and like, i gotta say, [s/ Ooh.] that’s a good drum for a kid, because you get the musicality, but you also get the percussion.
k/ Mm-hmm.
n/ That’s a fun one for a little kid to just slam around on.
k/ Yeah, for sure.
[0:41:39]
j/ i think we were thinking about, after the horror with the gem, i think we were thinking about reconvening with our comrades.
a/ Totally.
j/ So that might look like pushing out of this kind of launch pad, this sort of ramshackle launch pad, [s/ Yeah.] through the door to our west.
a/ Sure. That door opens up. That’s not a problem. There's nothing kind of stopping you from doing that. It connects to a long hallway that clearly had once been home to— or not home to, but a fight happened here. You see members of both of the previously described kind of churches from the world of Armidirge—The Creed of Oracles and the Windborne Church—dead on the ground. Someone came through here and fought a bunch of people and crushed them, and you suspect it was the being who just destroyed that gem and flew away. But otherwise, straight shot back to the Fortunate Isle Tropical Bar.
s/ [laughs quietly] Ah, okay.
a/ Yeah.
s/ It’s not all bad.
a/ Yeah.
j/ No, we had a bad time, the first time we were here.
s/ You had a bad time. [quiet laughter] 
j/ Okay. Eaja is still with us, right?
a/ Yeah, though i think is, as you're beginning to leave, is laying back a little bit, and is like, 
ae/ If it doesn't bother you, i think i'll go on my way. You're kind of a big target, moving around with this many people.
nb/ Is that allowed from the rules? [Jack, Dre, and Keith laugh]
a/ Sighs.
nb/ Are you asking for an exeunt?
ae/ i am. I was hoping, with all that happened, you would have just let it slide, i'll be honest. [Janine laughs quietly] 
lv/ Do you know where your companions are?
ae/ Further down in the castle.
lv/ Further down.
ae/ We have a base. Yeah.
a/ As a reminder, you know, we're looking at like a cross section of two little parts of the castle. There’s so much more castle here, you know?
l/ Mm.
a/ And so, for instance, if you look at the western side of the map where it says Creed of Oracles Barracks, there's that stairwell that goes down into a door. That goes somewhere further down that is not on this level of the map, you know?
j/ Now, i know that recording a full eight person megadungeon is very stressful from, like, a scheduling perspective, but it would be very good if the other party went through that door and we saw what Austin had to do.
a/ Yeah.
j/ Do we… This door down here, Austin, on the bottom left of the Fortunate Isle.
a/ Mm-hmm.
j/ That’s closed, right? We can't…
a/ No, you could go back there. That is one of your equivalents of going back. You've been that way. You came from that way originally.
j/ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't know whether or not it had, you know, closed down behind us.
a/ No.
j/ But yeah, we could just push north through the hole we made to that one room we haven't explored at the top.
s/ i feel like we probably should, right?
a/ i should just say: the word “dragon ping” is up there, but you're pretty sure you've seen the dragon, at this point.
s/ That is, yeah.
a/ And that that is no longer relevant to you, you know?
j/ Yes. Yeah.
lv/ Might i ask, before you go, and this may seem strange, but what is the experience of living here like?
ae/ It’s strange. It’s changed recently. For a long time, it felt like we were caught, you know? In a cycle. Patrols, skirmishes, but never outright fighting against the Creed. i have a long memory of a time we were deployed elsewhere. It feels like it was yesterday.
lv/ Elsewhere?
ae/ But in the last month or so, everything changed. Things really sparked up with the Creed, and we, yeah, things got a lot more active. We've been losing people.
lv/ And is that because of the involvement of your sponsors?
ae/ It’s because of the involvement of their demonic influence. Our Fated Lady is… [Ali laughs quietly] It’s different.
sc/ [sarcastic] Oh, i'm sure.
ae/ She’ll guide us back to the wind.
lv/ To the wind?
a/ You know, i think, Veile, even with your sort of perspective on the gods, it’s clear that Eaja and the— i mean, you haven't met the Creed of Oracles people, but just from this, it’s pretty clear that there's… This is someone who’s not in her own world anymore and who is maybe being manipulated by the members of the Ennead that you know. Or by someone pretending to be them; you know, you could justify it however you want. But they are not being treated on the up-and-up here.
l/ Yeah, i think some of that, coming to that slowly, [laughs] is part of Veile’s curiosity here.
a/ Yeah.
l/ Because i think she left that ball being like, “Oh my god, that’s horrible. i can't believe people live that way.”
a/ Right.
l/ And is now coming to this phase of the castle and being like, “Oh my god, this is horrible. i can't believe people live like this.” [Ali and Sylvia laugh]
a/ Yeah. You know, to make it maybe as obvious as possible, like, the way people lived here, these people used to live like the people in the ball, in this sort of looping, you know, echo of what reality was for them before, where they weren't really aware. They were sort of aware. They were aware of their own end of times approaching. You know, of course, we know that it’s already come for them. And for the two sides of this war, these particular people kind of got knocked out of that dreamy loop recently because of being manipulated one against the other, in search of, it seems, that gem that just got destroyed. And maybe other stuff; hard to say.
j/ Yeah, it’s sort of an “out of the frying pan, into the fire” situation for them, right? Of like, waking from one dream to find yourself in another loop of manipulation.
a/ Yeah. But of course, in the frying pan, in the first part, you're not even aware you're in the dream. You're just kind of floating. It is a dream. It’s not that feeling of, like, embodied real sense of place, you know?
j/ You were the man dreaming he was a butterfly.
a/ That’s right. That’s right. All right, so, do you head back up the way you came before?
l/ Yeah. i wish i could cast, like, a protection spell or do a prayer with this person, but i bet they're probably not interested in that. [laughs quietly] 
a/ You know, you could do a prayer. You probably could do a—  You could do a protection spell!
l/ Yeah.
a/ Couldn't you? Don't you know some?
l/ i want to do, like, a 0 MP, only for… [Ali laughs]
a/ Oh, i see. Okay. Wow.
l/ Only for the camera protection spell.
a/ You can do a Minor Ritual, you know?
l/ Yeah.
a/ i think that they would appreciate even a prayer.
n/ You could just say, “I hope things go okay for you.” That’s free. [Janine, Ali, and Sylvia laugh] 
l/ Yeah. i just ???
n/ In games and in real life.
l/ Yeah.
n/ You can just say a nice thing to a person. [Ali laughs]
l/ i know, but i want to be creepy.
j/ You want to be creepy. Okay. [Ali laughs]
n/ Oh.
t/ You could. Ali will not.
a/ Yeah.
j/ You don't have any IP, do you?
l/ To me, or to the NPC?
j/ No, you. I'm asking…
a/ The NPC is wild. [Ali and Janine laugh]
l/ “Can i have a potion before you go?”
s/ “Hey, can i hold 10 bucks?” [Ali laughs]
j/ “Give me a potion, and i'll pray for you”? Oof! [Janine laughs]
l/ Yeah, no. No, we're not doing that. Also, i have no IP. But…
n/ We gotta stop reverse engineering Catholicism. [Austin and Ali laugh]
l/ Okay, yeah. I'll say a farewell prayer. Not a magical one, i guess, because i should probably reserve my MP, but…
a/ Sure. What do you say with the—?
t/ We get it. You don't care about these people. [Ali and Janine laugh]
l/ It’s for flavor!
a/ What type of prayer do you say with Eaja? Who is, you know, who has been working with, it seems Caliginia, who you do have a connection with.
l/ i thought we were on the Lucena side.
a/ No. the other side is the Lucena side. i mean, sorry. The Creed has been working with Lucena.
l/ i see.
a/ The Windborne have been working with…yes. Yes, yes, yes. But in terms of—
l/ But we went through the Lucena door.
a/ You went through the Lucena door. That is correct. Yes.
l/ Interesting. Okay.
a/ Mm-hmm.
l/ Okay. [laughs quietly] Okay. Yeah, i guess it’s sort of like,
lv/ You know, i just want to wish you well, and it seems strange to say, but i have somewhat of a connection to the Lady you speak of, and i thought we could pray together for your good health.
ae/ i would appreciate that. i don't know your prayers, and as i am still in hospitality, i am supposed to pray along with you, so can you lead me?
lv/ Oh, uh, yes. Yes, of course. Repeat after me. [Ali laughs]
l/ And i guess, i don't know, i've had a bad time thinking of prayers in the show. [laughs] But i do think it’s just sort of that very direct, like, 
lv/ Dear Caliginia. Uh…
ae/ Dear Caliginia. Uh. [Ali and Sylvia laugh]
lv/ As we face strife and hard times, we wish—
ae/ As we face strife and hard times.
lv/ We wish for your protection.
ae/ We wish for your protection.
lv/ And your good grace for…
ae/ And your good grace, for… [Ali laughs]
lv/ For our future.
ae/ For our future.
l/ [laughing] This is so bad. This means nothing.
j/ No, you're doing great.
a/ You're doing great.
k/ It’s great.
j/ This is what a prayer sounds like.
s/ You're doing great.
t/ Yeah, this is exactly…
a/ This is a lot what, yeah. If you're laughing, what you're laughing at is, unfortunately, prayers.
l/ Yeah. Yeah.
k/ Real, though. That is real, though.
t/ Yeah.
l/ Yeah. Alas. Okay, but, yadda yadda yadda. That is what they do. [Jack laughs]
s/ [quietly] Yadda yadda yadda!
a/ Is there a—
j/ On Earth as it is in Heaven. [Ali laughs]
a/ Right, right, right.
k/ It ends with a “yadda yadda yadda”?
a/ Yadda yadda yadda.
ae/ We don't have that in our world. What is that? [Ali laughs]
a/ Do you have an equivalent of the affirmation at the end of a prayer in the, your religion? Like an amen equivalent. Do you know what i mean?
l/ Oh! No. I've been really… i don't know, because i feel like Veile feels like she’s being heard?
a/ i see.
l/ And i don't know. i guess even if you're, like, talking to a person, you say, like, “Condolences, Veile,” or whatever, right? But like, i don't know. It feels, like, formal, in a way that like, it feels off for the type of prayer that i think of Veile doing.
n/ i mean, if you want someone to listen to you, them hearing the same thing over and over again from a bunch of different people isn't the way to do it. [Ali laughs] Like, there's logic to that, right? Especially because Caliginia seems like a [quietly] bitch, a little bit. [Sylvia and Dre laugh]
l/ Oh. We don't know what’s going on over there, but there's…
a/ Mm-hmm.
n/ Sure.
t/ ??? on that one.
k/ She’s a villain! Obvious villain! She’s mechanically, by the rules of the book, a Villain!
l/ Well, she probably has her reasons.
n/ i'm just saying she probably didn't respond well to when they tried having a book of things that you repeat to her a lot. [laughs quietly] Just a theory.
a/ Yeah.
l/ She’s new at it, question mark? 
n/ Mm?
l/ i don't know. She’s answering my prayers. I really can't…
a/ She is answering your prayers. And, you know, i think, even here, you feel the… You feel the birthmark, you know, glow with a little bit of power or emanate a little bit of power, as you say this prayer.
l/ Yippee.
a/ And they wish you farewell and head off. i think that they just, like, start. They look down at the landing pad. They look back at you. And some, like, wings sprout from their armor, [Ali gasps] and she flies away. Not physical wings, but like mechanical wings like the ones that were on their, you know, robot birds and stuff.
j/ Good luck.
a/ And then you all head back up.
l/ Yeah.
a/ You know, we don't have to belabor this. You walk your way back up through… Do you go back up through the hallway where the door was busted through or where the extra pathway was made by Caoimhe, or do you go…?
j/ Yeah, i think so.
a/ Yeah, okay. So you go through back that way.
s/ i hope so.
a/ You walk past the flower room, and you open the doorway. And what you immediately think is: oh, this room used to be bigger, because now it is destroyed. [Jack chuckles] At some point, this place was tied to Redolencia. You can tell that…
l/ Oh.
a/ i guess you can tell that only by the absence, because what’s left is, like, parts of the Castle Eschatonica that were structural and, like, holding parts of this wing up but are now just gone, and it’s free-floating into the air. As you can see from the map, you know, there are a handful of like— imagine these are beams and support bars and stuff from underneath or lower levels, and you can look from here all around, and you can see behind you and ahead of you, parts of the castle that still exist, though this little section is sort of open air. And to your west, you can see a big airship, and on the top, the deck of that airship, in the distance—they're, you know, a few hundred yards away, i'd say; you know, maybe a half a kilometer away—you can see the dots of your friends walking around on the top of this ship.
j/ Wow!
n/ Do we know the dots are our friends, or do we just see dots?
a/ You would recognize Antistrophe anywhere, i think, Brontë.
n/ Yeah, that’s fair. He’s a weird-shaped guy. [Ali laughs quietly]
a/ Two big shields, you know? Yeah.
n/ Yeah.
k/ Mm-hmm. [Dre laughs]
a/ So yeah, Nicky, Antistrophe, and Jonathan.
n/ That’s kind of a 2.5 dot.
a/ [chuckles] That’s right.
d/ Damn.
a/ They're aboard the Adventure Beckons.
je/ Oh my god. That’s our way out.
nb/ i'm glad they didn't get blown up.
je/ Do you think they can hear us?
nb/ No.
lv/ Well. 
a/ Do you call out to them? [Janine and Jack laugh quietly]
lv/ We haven't tried. You have the flute and everything.
j/ Give a guy a flute, yeah, and he immediately says… [laughter] Yeah, i think i'm going to call out. I'm going to say,
je/ Jonathan!
a/ Jonathan, you hear, just very very distantly, a sort of familiar voice.
dh/ Y'all hear that?
tn/ Hmm?
ke/ Huh? What?
lv/ [distantly] Hey! We're over here!
tn/ Oh, yeah.
ke/ Oh. Yeah, i heard a ghostly cry. [Austin and Ali laugh]
a/ Spooky.
ke/ Is this a haunted ship?
dh/ Oh no. [Jack and Janine laugh]
tn/ No, i mean, it’s clearly coming from far away.
dh/ i can't handle a haunted ship today, y'all. It’s been a lot.
tn/ It’s a haunted skyway. 
sc/ [ghostly] Ooooooh!
ke/ Oh my god. That was clearly a ghost.
tn/ That was pretty clearly a ghost.
s/ Caoimhe over there being like, “Heh. i bet Antistrophe thought that was a ghost.” [laughter] 
a/ i think Wan, the sickly child in the painting, says like, 
aw/ i promise it’s not a ghost. I would know if it was a ghost.
ke/ Oh, okay. Well, that’s good. i guess it’s not a ghost.
dh/ [sighs in relief]
a/ For those of you in the—
ke/ [shouting] Hello?
a/ [laughs] Yeah, okay. You can hear Antistrophe over there.
n/ Oh my god.
je/ Wow. Excellent. [shouting] Can you come and pick us up?
lv/ i really want a jellyfish salad!
a/ Aw. [Jack laughs quietly] That’s so sweet.
tn/ i don't have anymore jellyfish!
lv/ No!
sc/ All right, keep going. It’s fine. We'll get the next one. [Jack laughs]
tn/ All right. Bye!
a/ As this is happening, as you're calling back and forth to each other, the group of Oracle folks who i mentioned last time begin to approach. They are still a little bit aways, but they are coming closer and closer. Let me actually make them visible on the map. One second. Change layer. Let’s put them here, and now you should be able to see them. Sarithe, the Shieldmaiden who seems to be the leader of this group, is at the forefront.
j/ Oh my god.
a/ And they are marching closer. As a reminder, the Adventure Beckons, your new airship, is chained down by four big chains to a lower level of the castle. It is sort of moored here. And i think, Antistrophe, your plan was to climb one of the chains down so that you could bring some of the Agonies down [k/ Mm-hmm.] and let them untangle the ship from the castle.
k/ True.
a/ This is very dangerous. I just want to frame that, just so we know.
k/ Okay.
j/ Do we know what happens if you fall into the depths of the Dragon Path? i mean, we kind of did that, and we were rescued by Nova, but—
a/ If you had not been rescued by Nova, you probably would have died.
j/ Is this a thing where it’s like total obliteration, or is it a fall until you starve to death situation, or does nobody know?
a/ Play to find out what happens, my friend.
n/ Ugh.
j/ [chuckles] Yeah. Okay. Someone should fall. Let’s see what happens. [someone snorts]
s/ Be my guest.
k/ How many times can you reroll a Fabula on something? Just once? i can't remember. i know that we have this conversation.
s/ i think it is just once.
k/ Okay.
d/ Mm-hmm.
s/ i think typically ???
k/ So if you have 3 Fabula Points, you can't just keep using them.
a/ i will say i know for a fact that you can do both types of Fabula thing that we normally— oh, you can do all three types of Fabula thing that you normally do.
k/ Okay.
a/ Which is you can invoke a Bond and invoke a Trait. You don't have to just do one. i believe you could theoretically also alter the story, which is the other thing that we don't do enough of but is very powerful.
s/ Yeah.
a/ But i keep being the person who’s like, “Wait, but i don't think it says you can only do it once,” but then every time, i think someone finds a thing that says you can only do it once.
k/ But see, that’s the thing. Then i'm like, “Or is it the reverse of that?”
l/ You have to use a different thing.
k/ You have to use a different thing.
l/ So you have a limit to 3, because you can only use Bond, Trait, or History.
k/ Got it. Okay.
a/ There you go. 
l/ And you can do those once.
d/ Mm.
a/ Oh, i see what you're saying. That’s it. So you can do it three times.
k/ Right. Okay.
l/ Yeah.
a/ That’s interesting. Okay. Yeah, invoking a Bond, invoking a Trait. I see.
k/ i mean, if it’s so… If it’s super dangerous, and if i fail, i could die, then maybe it’s not worth it. On the other hand, i could use the powers of the Agonies themselves. Trumpet Toss. i could Trumpet Toss my way down.
a/ You could.
d/ Mm. 
k/ Sends me flying across the battlefield.
d/ i also picked up one of the wing suits from someone, and i know we determined that it definitely doesn't fit Jonathan, but can I, like, make it fit Antistrophe?
a/ Antistrophe could totally wear one. Yeah. And also, are we sure it couldn't fit Jonathan? We said that last time, but—
k/ We did. You said you need to do a project to make it fit.
a/ Oh, okay. So maybe you got a special one when you did use one in Calstega Bay, you know? Also, i am putting the Fabula Point rule in our Perpetua chat and pinning it for the future. [Janine and Dre chuckle]
k/ Great.
s/ Good move.
a/ Yeah.
k/ Which is that you can use it three times, once for each different kind of thing.
a/ That’s right. And again, you can also invoke it for a Bond for the flat bonus. But yeah, i think Antistrophe, it would fit Antistrophe just fine.
k/ Okay. Great.
a/ BAsed on the way we've seen them in the past. 
d/ Okay.
k/ If Jonathan is offering me the wing suit to go down there, i happily will wear a wing suit. i want everyone to be able to fly once in this campaign, except for Brontë.
s/ Wow!
n/ i already flew.
l/ Yeah.
d/ Oh.
k/ Oh, you did already fly.
n/ Yeah, i flew at the party.
s/ You've already failed.
k/ Oh, but i mean, after that, your desire to continue to fly, but then everyone else getting to do a flying thing is very funny to me.
l/ What’s wrong with you? [Dre, Jack, and Janine laugh]
k/ Sorry. He already got to fly. i think the desire to continue to fly but then everyone else getting opportunities to fly is very funny.
a/ You are going to try to fly down and carry the Agonies with you.
k/ Uh huh.
a/ By default, you can carry two Agonies. You can carry more, if you're willing to take their negative effects onto you, [k/ Okay.] while you play host to them. So like, you know, what are the two that you have now?
k/ Right now, i have Melo, and i forget who does Devil’s Breath.
a/ Oh, that’s Ira, for sure.
k/ Ira.
a/ Yeah. Who’s pissed at all this, by the way.
k/ Right.
ai/ Bringing me onto a damn boat? Fucking sky boat?
k/ Right, this is the statue that we were supposed to destroy but i just bullied him.
a/ It was a ceramic pot, but yes.
k/ Okay.
a/ You know, and Connie would give you Dazed, and Miss Mephitic would give you Poisoned, and et cetera, right?
k/ Okay.
a/ Or you can make multiple runs and go down and drop two off and then come back and get two more.
k/ Okay. i'm happy to do it that way.
a/ All right. Let’s start a Clock.
k/ Oh, right now i'm Weak from the last fight.
a/ Yeah.
s/ You gotta get rid of that.
k/ i should probably clear that.
s/ Yeah.
a/ Wait, sorry. You mean you should do a thing to clear it, is what you mean.
k/ Yeah, yeah, yeah.
a/ Yeah, yeah, yeah.
k/ i should use IP to clear it.
a/ Yes. Yeah.
d/ How much IP do you have?
k/ i had 7. Now i have 5, because i think a tonic is 2.
a/ Okay.
k/ i recover from Weak.
a/ Love it. All right, i'm going to add a little circle clock thing to the side here, and this is your doing these runs to go down and drop off the Agonies.
k/ Great.
a/ There we go. Who are you bringing first?
k/ i'm going to bring Melo and Ira first, since i've already got them.
a/ All right. [typing] Agony run. That’s my new mobile game, Agony Run.
s/ Yeah. [Keith and Dre laugh]
a/ i can't believe they put— i love the Agonies so much. They won't make a mainline Imago game anymore. They're just making these fucking mobile spinoffs. I'm sick of it. All right. So, you put on the winged backpack, and you take a running leap? What do you do? What’s Antistrophe in the air look like here? You've done this never before. You've never worn wings before, right?
k/ Yeah. So, you know, i think that there's a Marty McFly using a hoverboard aspect to it, of like, i've just gotta do this thing. You know, i don't really know how this thing works. It’s a little bit awkward, but i just gotta go.
a/ Yeah. Jonathan and Nicky, do you give Antistrophe any tips about wearing these things?
d/ Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Especially Jonathan. i mean, this is tech shit, so like…
a/ Mm. Sure.
d/ Probably all sorts of, like, subtle tips about how to manage the yaw and adjust the thrust.
ke/ And now, what’s yaw? [Austin laughs]
d/ i believe that’s the thing that controls, like, the angle?
ke/ Got it.
a/ Yeah, we haven't really talked about how these work. It, in my mind, is like a metal-winged backpack glider situation. Have we seen them give lift before?
d/ Mm…
j/ i don't think we have.
t/ There's still yaw.
a/ No, there is, sorry, but i was thinking about how is Antistrophe going to get back up, is what i was thinking about.
t/ Oh.
j/ We've only ever used them essentially like gliders from high places, right?
a/ Yeah.
d/ Is that what Trumpet Toss is for?
a/ Oh, but that’s what Trumpet Toss is for, but now we—
k/ Okay, so i'll take three Agonies.
a/ You'll take three Agonies.
k/ This is now the fox and the hen and the thing.
a/ It’s the fox, yeah. Because you could— [Dre and Jack laugh]
s/ Oh my god.
k/ i'll just have Melo with me the whole time, and Melo can trumpet blast me back on the last time and stay behind.
a/ That’s right. Well. 
k/ Which means i'll have to take one.
a/ Oh, you're going to leave Melo there so that you don't have to carry Melo with you.
t/ Mm.
k/ Oh, yeah. That works too.
a/ Oh, i thought that’s what you were saying. 
t/ Yeah.
k/ i was actually saying that i was going to go back and forth with Melo, taking one extra Agony and incurring one penalty.
a/ Yes. Yeah, which is what i should have made you do, but then i thought you were saying the other thing, [k/ Yeah.] which is you could leave…
k/ Hey, but if that works, just leave Melo behind.
a/ Leave him at the top of one of the landing areas, basically, and he could blow you back up.
k/ Yeah.
a/ Yeah.
k/ Which also means i'll need more IP, if i'm going to use Trumpet Blast.
a/ Oh. You will.
k/ But i have it. i have the IP. i'm good for it.
a/ Okay.
n/ i've pasted some informational yaw graphics in the chat.
k/ Oh, great.
a/ Okay, good. Thank you.
k/ Now i can fly this thing for real. [Jack and Austin laugh] i'll take an elixir, which is 3.
a/ All right.
k/ All right.
a/ So, who are you bringing first? Melo?
k/ Original plan. Melo and Ira.
a/ And Ira. Okay. Not taking a third one on this run.
k/ Yeah.
a/ Okay.
t/ Oh, see, what i thought was yaw turns out to be pitch.
n/ Yeah.
d/ Yeah, me too, actually.
k/ i played a lot of Microsoft Flight Simulators. I was just in character.
a/ Yeah. Yaw is when you go, like, side to side. Like it’s, on your chair, if you—
d/ It’s the rudder.
a/ Yeah, exactly. If you, like, spin back and forth on your chair, that’s the yaw of the chair.
t/ You're yawing.
a/ You're yawing.
n/ Yawing, you're like prepping for a drift, but you're in the air.
k/ Yeah.
a/ That’s, right, yeah, totally.
d/ Mm.
t/ Mm-hmm.
a/ All right. Antistrophe, give me a roll. i think that this is— it’s definitely DEX is one of them.
k/ Okay.
a/ My instinct is DEX + Insight, but it could be DEX + Might, but i think it’s DEX + Insight. Eh, maybe it’s DEX + Might. This feels very physical to me.
k/ What if it’s Insight and Might?
a/ It’s not.
k/ Because i need to know how to do it and also be strong.
a/ No, because i do think that we have to lean into the DEX part of control.
k/ i think that you're— Look, i had to give myself a shot.
a/ Of course, yeah. No, i get it. I get it. Come to the table, negotiate.
k/ Yeah.
a/ But measures position, coordination, finesse, and reflexes. You need it to move cautiously, defend yourselves from attacks, craft objects, and fight using light weapons, bows, and firearms. i think that this is moving cautiously, finesse and reflexes, et cetera, so.
k/ Mm-hmm. Okay.
a/ So yeah, i'd say DEX and Insight, or DEX and Might. I could go either way. I bet some people do it with one.
k/ i'd love to use Might instead of Insight.
a/ Yeah. i think i'm good with that.
k/ Okay.
a/ This isn't a puzzle in that way, right? But you could solve it in that way. Observation, understanding, reasoning. Investigating situations, casting spells, defending yourself from magic. i don't think you need— i think the DEX kind of covers that part around precision coordination, you know?
k/ Now, could i get a help roll from everyone who’s used one of these and gave me tips?
a/ You get it once. You get it on this first one, but that’s it.
k/ Okay. All right.
t/ And Nicky’s tip is:
tn/ You really want to try not to hit your shoulder if you fall.
ke/ Got it.
a/ That’s a good tip. That’s a good tip.
tn/ You'll feel that all day.
k/ i look down into the void and see what i would possibly hit my shoulder on if i fell. [Austin laughs]
a/ You know, there's two answers there, and you have to decide which one’s worse, which is like, nothing, because you would fall into the abyss.
k/ Right. Yeah.
a/ And then the other one is like, loose orbiting remains of this castle and other worlds, and you'd bounce off of just some loose spikes, like a spike trap from something that fell apart, and then you'd hit the side of the carcass of a monster you've never seen before that’s free floating in the Dragon Path, you know?
k/ Yeah.
n/ You could really Lara Croft yourself here.
a/ You could really Lara Croft yourself here. [Dre chuckles]
k/ Better than falling into the void. I'd rather Lara Croft than Interstellar; never seen it. [laughter] i'm just assuming.
j/ That’s the name of the movie. Interstellar: Never Seen It.
t/ i think you really mean that Sandra Bullock movie.
n/ Gravity?
j/ Gravity.
t/ Gravity, yeah.
a/ Gravity. Yeah.
t/ You don't want to Clooney from Gravity yourself.
a/ All right. So, the difficulty for this one is 13.
t/ Spoilers.
a/ Mm.
k/ Could i get my help rolls?
a/ Again, this—
d/ Yeah, what are we rolling for you?
a/ i think, because of the way help works, you're doing the same roll that Antistrophe is, so that would be DEX + Might.
t/ Is there a DEX + Might button?
d/ There's not a DEX + Might.
a/ Mm-mm. You've just gotta do it. 
k/ Yeah, i just did a custom.
j/ Custom make it.
a/ You just gotta do a custom. Yeah. As a reminder, every supporting character that successfully performs their Check, grants a +1 to the leader’s Check.
d/ Nope.
a/ Not a 7.
t/ Nope.
a/ Need a 10.
t/ And mine was an 8.
a/ Oh, i didn't see it; i'm sorry. So no, you don't get any help here.
k/ Okay.
t/ But canonically, “Don't hit your shoulder” was better advice. [Keith and Austin laugh]
k/ Okay.
d/ It’s true. By 1 point, it was better.
a/ By 1 point. Yeah, exactly.
k/ All right. I genuinely don't know if i can make this roll this many times. Let’s see.
a/ Well, that’s the other half of if you bring them all. You only have to make it once.
k/ Yeah. Yeah, fuck it. Let’s bring ‘em all.
a/ [sighs] My god. They all appear.
k/ Well—
a/ Uh huh?
k/ Okay, no, no, no, no, no. We're good. We're good. We're good. Here’s the thing: i assumed that the flight suit was going to make it easier to do than to climb or to use Trumpet Toss to get down, which was my original idea.
a/ i see, i see, i see.
k/ But the flight suit is so hard that i'm now, like, risking my life to not just do Trumpet Toss, which is automatic and instantaneous.
a/ Still dangerous, though. I still think there's a roll involved in using Trumpet Toss in this way, because you're still aiming the thing. In fact, i think that would probably be DEX + Insight, for sure, because that’s just about aiming yourself and casting it. Actually, no, it wouldn't be. It would be Insight + Willpower, because that's what you have to roll to do magic.
k/ Even though when i use Trumpet Toss in a fight, i don't have to aim it, i just automatically go to exactly where i want to go?
a/ Yes.
k/ Okay.
a/ Notably, you are not using it in a fight to attack a target. You're using it to fly across hundreds of feet and, you know, into a window.
k/ Mm-hmm.
t/ All right. Here’s… i think you should take all of them.
k/ Yeah, i agree.
t/ And the trumpet is your fall insurance.
a/ You Trumpet Toss to—
k/ If i fall, i Trumpet Toss to save my life.
d/ Mm-hmm.
t/ Right. If you get to low.
k/ Like a double jump.
t/ Yeah, like a double jump.
k/ Yeah, okay.
d/ Yeah, because you're gliding down to where you need to go, right?
a/ That’s right.
k/ Right.
d/ Okay.
k/ All right, yeah. I'll take them all. So i'll just hit every button.
a/ All right. [???] Hit every button. You get all of the Agonies here. You get all of the negative effects.
k/ So, now, because i'm carrying them all, there's six, right?
a/ There are six.
k/ There's six. And you actually only get four?
a/ There's Melo and Wan and Hezzi and Miss Mephitic and Connie and Ira.
k/ i only get four, because i'm allowed to get two.
a/ Sorry, what?
k/ Two are allowed to be on me, and so i get—
a/ That’s correct. That’s correct.
k/ Okay.
a/ Yes. You're not getting all of them.
k/ Right. So i'm going to decrease DEX, because it can't decrease any lower.
a/ Mm-hmm.
k/ i'm not going to decrease poisoned, because i'm immune to poison because of my cape.
a/ Ooh.
k/ Well, i'm immune to poison damage, but i just feel, you know, why not pick that one?
a/ Yeah.
k/ And then so i'm going to be Slowed, Weak… Oh, no, not Weak. What is it? Sorry, sometimes they don't pop up. Enraged, Dazed, Shaken, and Slow. Those are my four.
a/ Wait, i think you just said all— Wait, sorry. Say the ones that are—?
k/ i'm not Weak, and i'm not Poisoned.
a/ And you're not Poisoned. Okay.
k/ Yeah. Yeah.
d/ Wait.
a/ Why not—?
d/ Then you should only have three, because you're immune to poison.
a/ You're immune to poison, which means you could choose poison and soak it, you know what i mean? And like, just ignore it.
k/ It’s true. It’s just that if i'm rolling DEX and Might, my DEX already can't go lower, and i've not—
a/ i see.
d/ Mm.
k/ So it doesn't really matter.
a/ i see, i see, i see. Okay.
k/ As long as i'm not losing Might on Weak, then i'm good.
a/ Who has—? Connie was with you, Dre? Is that right?
d/ Yes.
a/ And then who else was with you? Miss Mephitic, i think, right?
d/ Mm-hmm. Correct.
a/ i think that they both kind of materialize, and Miss Mephitic, in the kind of wrapped up weird body form, just kind of, like, crawls around you to say goodbye and then crawls over and kind of disappears and goes into Antistrophe’s soul or whatever. And then Connie, you know, wheels up to you with a squeak, with a squeaky, you know, the kind of squeaky wheels of a push cart TV and plays a video of, like a 1980s commercial of someone getting kissed on the cheek, and then wheels over to Antistrophe and again disappears. Which means that you then had Wan and Hezzi, Nicky? Or did you have Wan and…? Yeah. Is that right?
k/ Yeah, Wan and Hezzi.
a/ Yeah.
t/ Yeah.
a/ Hezzi is, again, the big kind of troll that turns invisible and i think appears in front of you and just kind of puts one hand on your shoulder, Nicky, very cautiously, very hesitantly, and then just disappears. You don't even see them going to Antistrophe, because they turn invisible again. And then Wan, who again is this painting. i think the whole painting just sort of, like, appears in the air for a second, has a moment of, you know, Coyote time and then falls and hits the ground. And then, reaching up out of it from behind the blanket is Wan, who says,
aw/ Thank you so much for helping us. I hope this works.
tn/ i'm going to miss you all so much.
s/ Aww.
Come visit.
tn/ i'm not sure that that’s possible, but we'll try.
aw/ [disappointed] Oh. Okay. Well, bye.
a/ And then there's like a clatter. The painting kind of clatters around on the ground like there was a physics mistake, you know? [Dre laughs] and then vanishes and is now being hosted by Antistrophe again. All right, so no Agony run clock. You're just running them down there.
k/ Yeah.
s/ We're doing a Perpetua No Agony run.
a/ No Agony run.
k/ It was kind of…not confusing, but it wasn't like, like “Agonies” felt like such a strong word for what these mostly harmless-seeming, mostly nice-seeming six weirdos, but now that i'm carrying six of them, oh boy. [Austin and Jack laugh]
a/ Yeah, what’s your stat line at this point, Keith?
k/ i'm Enraged, Dazed, Slow, and Shaken. And so—
a/ And what are your stats?
k/ Oh, and my stats are 6, 6, 6, and 10.
a/ 10 being Might, presumably?
l/ Whoa.
s/ Whoa! The devil’s number!
a/ Yeah, the devil’s number, wow.
k/ Yeah. Yeah. And i feel it.
a/ The Agonies! All right, well, give me your Insight + Might roll.
k/ Yeah. Insight + Might. Uh, DEX + Might, DEX + Might.
a/ Sorry, DEX + Might, DEX + Might, DEX + Might.
k/ Yeah. 
a/ Doesn't matter.
k/ Doesn't matter. It’s all 6.
a/ [laughs] That’s right.
k/ Yeah.
a/ All right, 13. That’s a 9.
k/ That’s a 9. Hold on.
a/ That is, in fact, a 6 and a 3, so you got a 6 on your lower die, which is great.
k/ Yes.
a/ What are you—?
k/ And so i can reroll the 10, the 3.
a/ You can reroll, yeah, the d10.
k/ Yeah.
a/ And you're looking here for, what, a 7 or above. What are you calling on? What Trait are you calling on here?
k/ [sighs] i'm calling on my Theme of Doubt. It’s always easy to act like you can do something certainly, and then when you get in it that first step, and you're like, “Oh fuck, but i didn't think about if i can do this for real.”
a/ Yeah.
k/ And you've just gotta swallow that troubled feeling and still go do it.
n/ That’s real.
a/ i love it. Yeah, it sure is.
k/ Reroll the Agony trip. Declare and spend.
a/ 1 Fabula Point spent. Nicky and Jonathan, as Antistrophe leaps off the side of this thing and you hold your breath, i think the Shieldmaiden and her little set of people, not the previous set that you kind of fought but this other set which, if i'm looking here, is one Pyroclastic, one regular Infantry, not Ushala, Conduit, but the Devout Chef is also with them. [Austin and Jack chuckle]
d/ Oh shit.
a/ And that group has approached the side of the ship. Give me your reroll. [pained] Oh my god. That’s a 1. [Keith laughs] Oh, that’s a 1! That’s a 1.
s/ Doing great, man. Doing great.
k/ That’s a 1.
a/ All right, so Doubt didn't help you.
k/ Doubt did not help me.
a/ Oh, was that your only Fabula Point, Keith?
k/ [ominously] In a sense. [Sylvia laughs]
a/ Oh my god! Of course. [Ali gasps] Read me the move.
n/ Oh. 
d/ Oh no.
s/ Oh no!
k/ We talked about it. We talked about it last time.
n/ Oh no.
s/ Oh no!
a/ [chuckles] We did. We did. We did! Read it to me, though?
k/ Quirks: Ruinbringer: “You possess almost limitless power, but there is a price to it. You shall bring doom to this world. [Jack chuckles] When a rule or ability requires you to spend Hit Points, Mind Points, or Fabula Points, you may instead let your Ruin advance to completely ignore that cost.”
a/ [quietly] Oh my god.
k/ “You describe what dark omens manifest, and the GM receives an Opportunity that can be used to add complications after the current scene has ended.”
a/ Great. 
k/ Now, i don't want to use this until i'm sure that it’s, like, that it will let me do something that will make this work, because i've gone from a 9, and i needed 13. I've gone from a 9 to a 7.
a/ Yeah, you went down.
k/ So i can't reroll that 1 again.
a/ Yeah, you can.
k/ And rerolling the 6 won't do anything.
a/ But you can reroll the 1.
k/ i can reroll the 1?
a/ Yeah.
k/ Okay.
a/ The thing that you can't do is use— you have to declare which of your Traits you're using when you do a reroll.
k/ Okay.
a/ You've already now used your Theme.
n/ Yeah, you can't say, like, “I'm doing this ‘cause i like Caoimhe. I'm doing this ‘cause i like Caoimhe. I'm doing this ‘cause i like Caoimhe.” Like, that’s not… [Jack laughs quietly]
k/ Right.
s/ i mean, you could. [Janine chuckles]
a/ And you can't say, “I'm doing this ‘cause of doubt. I'm doing this ‘cause of doubt.” You can only do it— Right, you can pick one of these once, and so in this case, you could now use your Origin or Identity, if you can justify it.
k/ Okay. Yeah, i can justify this.
a/ i mean, yeah.
k/ Origin: One of the Hundred Burroughs. This is a science- and magic-minded place. I worked in a university, surrounded by people who know about things like this. i know about airships. i know about how, like, technology works.
a/ So yeah, you're figuring out this—
k/ i do have the Tinkerer class.
a/ You do have the Tinkerer class. You're figuring out this backpack. You're like, first you led by “I gotta be careful,” and now you're leading by “I gotta be smart.”
k/ Yeah.
a/ All right. Give me you're— Increase your Ruin. What’s your Ruin at now? And we see it increase?
k/ It’s at 2.
a/ So now it’s at 3?
k/ Now it’s at 3.
a/ Okay.
k/ Uh, let me— i'll increase it now, so that we don't forget.
a/ We just see it. Yeah.
k/ ???
a/ You know?
k/ And i want to bring this back to, like, this is a sort of residual… I felt that Ruinbringer energy seven minutes ago during that fight.
a/ Yes.
k/ And there's something about that that i think makes it easier, like an aftershock in an earthquake, for this to just happen.
a/ Yeah.
k/ 8.
a/ There you go. 8 plus 6 is 14.
k/ 14. 
a/ Yeah. You know, i think it does reverberate through you like an aftershock. The energy wells up in you. It is a… It is a strange resonance. The thing that you look out and see, as you draw on this power, is what you saw from the Observatory, the bit of the Dragon Path that’s being burned away in the distance. You might remember that. You know, sometimes you just look out. You know, you're tumbling through the air, trying to get ahold of yourself, and your eyes lock onto that, and it gives you a horizon to focus on. It’s really far away, but it is there. And then you kind of find it and float down to one of these windows.
k/ There's a sort of, there's a sense of relief and also a sense of sickness to that, i think.
a/ Yeah. The Agonies begin to spill out of you into the world around you. You still have the actual negative.
k/ i'm still Weak and Shaken and…?
a/ Yeah, uh huh.
k/ Okay.
a/ But they leave you behind. i think that Melo says,
(as Melo): So i should stay here so i can, like, shoot you back up there, right?
ke/ Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
a/ Yeah. This level is—the lower level here—has very clearly been taken over by the Creed of Oracles.
k/ Mm-hmm.
a/ Was not them originally.
ke/ Are you guys going to be okay here?
Austin (as Melo): i think you maybe drew enough of them up there that we'll be fine, for now at least.
ke/ All right, cool. 
Austin (as Melo): We got a plan.
ke/ All right.
a/ And i think the last of them, Ira, looks at you, and he goes,
ai/ You know, for a real piece of shit, you're all right. [Sylvia laughs]
ke/ Yeah, fuck you.
ai/ Yeah, fuck you.
a/ And stomps away, little fire, you know, spouts coming out of his little baby nostrils. [Keith laughs] And they begin to go to work. You can see them. They're rolling into the various rooms. They are fighting the handful of remaining Creed of Oracles people who are down here.
k/ And i think, canonically, these people are not so into this shit anymore because of the gem breaking, right? There's like…
a/ What they don't know yet is that the person who kind of led them into this more active war is not interested anymore, but they're figuring it out. The person that you saw that with was the Conduit, who had [k/ Right.] briefly had a direct connection with what we know is Lucena, and that seems to have been broken, and so, you know, they still have this sort of connection to their own faded memories of whatever gave them power before.
k/ Mm-hmm.
a/ Maybe even some remnant of it that’s here in Castle Eschatonica or elsewhere, you know?
k/ But it was those new Caliginia and Lucena orders that was [a/ That’s right.] penning the Agonies in, so they'll probably be fine.
a/ That’s right. That’s exactly right. Now that that gem is gone, now that whatever their— You know, not even just that gem, right? You have the other. There were two gems in the castle. You got one of them, and then the other one got destroyed, right?
k/ Mm-hmm.
a/ And so, yeah. The hope would be that the Agonies, things will go back to normal here, so to speak, minus, of course, all of the Redolencia sections of the castle, which have been annihilated from existence. All right. As you are looking up, back up at the group, at the top of this chain, you know, far away. All the other chains have been broken away. This one, i think, is the one that, you know, is connected to the window that you've kind of— it’s a huge window. I keep saying window, but it’s almost like a landing zone, you know? That one’s still connected just in case. i think Melo has not blown it away until you get back, so that, just in case, you have something to land on. But as you're looking up, Nicky and Jonathan, Sarithe has leapt onto the deck of the Adventure Beckons, and her people are a few steps behind her. What do you do?
k/ Sorry, this is me, still?
a/ No, this is Nicky and Jonathan.
k/ Okay, that’s what i thought. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
a/ Who now are facing off with Sarithe, who, again, is this armored soldier of the Creed of Oracles, has a kind of…has elementally powered armor on and has a huge tower shield and a javelin, and the javelin is kind of humming with power. Very clearly the leader of this group. And she says,
as/ Stand down and turn this vehicle over to us.
tn/ No.
dh/ Aw, i was gonna invite you to lunch and then say no, polite-like. But you want lunch? He’s a chef.
a/ He is a chef. That’s true. The chef goes,
af/ She already ate.
dh/ Oh, did you burn that too?
a/ Ooh. [Keith chuckles] Give me your roll back here, Antistrophe, and we'll see what’s going on here. Again, this is Insight + Willpower, to see if you can get yourself back up here with the blast of Melo.
k/ Yes. Okay. What are we rolling for that? 
a/ Insight + Willpower. Difficulty 10.
k/ Jeez. That’s two 6s, huh?
a/ You know?
k/ And i don't have the IP. Oh! I do have the IP to clear one thing.
a/ Well, there you go.
k/ So i'm going to do that.
a/ People on the eastern side, you can see that this group of soldiers is boarding the airship that your friends are on. You also saw a bunch of weirdos, sort of. You saw, like, the vague silhouette of weirdos appearing and disappearing for a brief moment.
je/ Wow, it looks like they're really in it. There's no way we can help, right?
nb/ i could storm on— Would it be good if i made a storm on them? [quiet laughter] It seems like it could kind of go either way. i don't want to make it worse for people.
k/ Would it be good if i made a storm on ‘em?
n/ i don't know how to use this thing.
s/ God, i wish i had some MP right now.
l/ If anyone needs a Fabula Point, i can spend it for them.
s/ It’s less about the Fabula Point and more like i was like, oh, maybe we could find a way to, like, gust ourselves over there if we had to do some Ritual stuff with the flute, but [l/ Oh.] i don't have any MP left.
n/ Listen, i got 51 MP and 1 Fabula Point, so like, i can go. [laughs quietly] 
l/ Yeah.
n/ i can do things. But Brontë is not a core magic user, and…
s/ Yeah.
j/ Could you try and snipe one of the soldiers from across the distance with your bow?
n/ Oh, yeah.
s/ That would be really funny.
n/ i could do that. You want me to do…?
j/ Just like a real, uh, what’s the bit in hxh where Uvo throws the pebble at 
s/ Oh my god.
n/ i was about to ask if Elena was saying this, and then you said hxh, and i was like, okay, Elena’s probably not saying that part. [Austin and Jack laugh]
je/ Could you shoot them, Brontë? i mean, how far can you shoot?
nb/ i'm pretty good at shooting.
je/ Can you shoot that far? i mean, it’s—
a/ It’s really far, but i would let you roll. i think i'd give you a little negative here.
n/ Yeah.
je/ It’s really far, but if you think you can do it.
n/ i'm looking to see if i have any, like…
s/ i believe in you, champ.
a/ The Heartbreaker was originally some sort of siege weapon, so i think it— but i do still think—
n/ Yeah. The thing is that, like, i traded my bow that was pure DEX for one that’s, like, a little bit fucked up in that way. [laughs quietly] 
a/ Yeah. i do think it could reach. I just think it would be— i think you would take the rare negative on an attack roll, because it’s so far and you don't have a great—
n/ Yeah. i feel like the accuracy would be screwy.
a/ Yeah, exactly.
n/ i'm just double checking my stuff to see if there's anything i can wiggle in a certain way.
j/ Elena to Veile,
je/ [hushed] i bet he can't.
lv/ No…
/ Wow. [Janine chuckles]
s/ The fuck?
aw/ Can't you teleport us over there?
a/ Says Waylon.
lv/ Well, i suppose i could. Well, i'm weak right now, so i actually probably couldn't, unless…
nb/ And that could go very badly. All right, let’s…
n/ Putting the flute away. Pulling the bow out. Shaking his arms out a little bit.
j/ Excitement in Elena’s face.
n/ Serious face on. Let’s see.
a/ Who are you aiming for here?
n/ Does anyone— [laughs quietly] i was about to say, “Does anyone have a slightly larger head than anyone else?” [Sylvia and Dre laugh]
a/ Damn. Well, the chef has a chef’s hat on, so that’s kind of confusing.
n/ Yeah.
a/ There is the Hovering Pyroclastic has a big, you know, has a jetpack thing. I'd probably say the Shieldmaiden is the largest one period, you know?
n/ Yeah. [laughs quietly] 
a/ Want to read that one out loud, Sylvi?
s/ Yeah, sure. I said of course the guy with ties to nobility asks about skull sizes. [Austin, Jack, and Dre chuckle]
n/ i'm mostly talking about silhouette. I would like a big silhouette. It just seems like it would be…
j/ Now, Austin.
a/ Yeah.
j/ Is this the real classic situation as in real life where if you manage to defeat the chef’s hat, you defeat the chef as well? Or… 
a/ It depends on if you get the little rat that’s underneath the chef’s hat.
n/ Mm.
s/ Oh. [Jack chuckles] The weakest part of the mech!
a/ That’s right, famously.
n/ The weakest part of the chef is the rat.
a/ Famously.
n/ All right, so yeah, i'm going to— Is this just a bow? Just a plain old bow roll?
a/ THis is just a bow hit is what it sounds like, yeah. And who are you aiming at? Because i need to know, based on their Defense.
n/ If we were closer, i'd say the little flying weirdo, but i think, again, [a/ Mm.] i think tactically, the tactical call here is the Shieldmaiden.
a/ That makes sense.
n/ Especially because this is a physical weapon that ignores resistances, so like, maybe a Shieldmaiden would have a physical resistance, but it wouldn't fucking matter. i don't know.
a/ Yeah. Give me an attack. i think this is a— i think you have to put a -3 on this.
n/ Yeah. That’s what i was wondering. Oof, 3. Ouch. 
a/ Yeah, -3 on this. Yeah. It’s far.
j/ Can we help?
a/ No, this is an attack roll. i don't think you can…
j/ Oh, sure.
a/ Maybe i'm wrong about this, but i don't think one of the Conflict Actions is help in that way. No. A 4 does not hit.
n/ Mm. No.
a/ But i gotta tell you: a 7 wouldn't have hit either, so that -3… You know. An arrow does go flying. i think the…
n/ Probably get their attention, at least.
a/ Mm-hmm.
l/ The thing that i want as referring to before was My Trust In You: After another player who is able to hear you performs a Check, you may spend 1 Fabula Point and invoke one of their Traits or Bonds [a/ Hmm.] in order to let them reroll a dice.
n/ Oh. That’s cute.
l/ Yeah. So i could do that for Brontë now or anybody who could hear me yelling on the ship, [laughs quietly] theoretically.
j/ i want to see Brontë no-scope a guy, but… [Ali and Janine laugh quietly]
n/ i also want that. It’s tough, but that would be cool.
l/ Yeah. i mean, you got a 3 and a 4, so we're in reroll territory here. What’s your DEX?
n/ Yeah, i would reroll both of those.
a/ That’s true. That’s true. What’s this actually look like, Veile?
l/ Yeah. i think it’s Veile trying to encourage Brontë. i think sort of the, if Brontë overhears Elena being like, “I bet he can't do it,” and Veile being like, 
lv/ No. He seems really skilled. [Janine and Austin laugh quietly]
n/ Oh…
lv/ He’s helped us all this time.
l/ And then the sort of, like, as the arrow is flying, the sort of like,
lv/ You can do it, Brontë! [Ali laughs quietly]
n/ [laughs quietly] Oh, bless.
a/ All right, give me the reroll. And also, i guess i'll note: second Fabula Point. Do you want to spend an actual Fabula Point in the system, actually, really quick, Ali?
l/ Yeah.
n/ All right. Okay, that’s a 6.
a/ Oh. A 6.
l/ Aww.
a/ A 6 is not there, unfortunately. The 1 and the 8.
n/ My damage rolls are great, which sucks.
a/ Your damage rolls are really, really good. You're not wrong.
l/ And you get an 8 that time. An 8 and a 1.
a/ Do you have a Fabula Point left, Brontë?
n/ i do. I'd reroll that 1, in a heartbeat.
a/ Yeah.
l/ Oh.
a/ i'll tell you: you could hit with only a +2 on this. [Ali gasps] So you’d need an 8 to hit her, at this point, and you could use a Bond, maybe? You could invoke a Bond to just get a +2, if there's someone who it makes sense to use their Bond, if you have a +2 Bond that’s relevant. Unless, Veile, did you have something else? It sounded like you were realizing something.
l/ No. i just am excited by the numbers.
n/ Sorry, wait, what about a +2 Bond?
a/ You only need an 8 to hit, right?
l/ Mm-hmm.
a/ And so, if you can invoke a Bond that would give you a +2 instead of invoking— you could just get it. You wouldn't have to roll any dice.
k/ Without even rerolling.
a/ Yes.
n/ Oh! Yeah. Well, i mean, my Antistrophe Bond is +2, and that seems exactly relevant.
a/ It does. Yeah.
n/ To Antistrophe not getting murdered. i have a Bond of Admiration and Mistrust. [Austin chuckles] Yeah, all right. That seems relevant. I'm going to spend this point, then.
a/ All right, so that is Fabula Points equals 3. Janine has written, “Antistrophe, don't get killed,” as the Fabula Points thing.
k/ i won't.
s/ Good advice.
k/ So that just makes that 20 damage go through. We don't have—
a/ That just makes the—
n/ Oh.
a/ Oh, right, yeah, sorry. I was waiting for a reroll, but yeah, of course. It just does the 20 damage.
n/ Yeah. [chuckles] Can I—?
a/ Or are you doing something different?
n/ Could i make it Barrage?
a/ Tell me what Barrage says.
n/ Could i spend 10 MP to give it an extra, to give it a multi?
a/ Yeah.
n/ And they both—? 
a/ Which lets it hit a second target, right?
n/ i want them to both hit the Shieldmaiden.
a/ Can you do that? No, you can't. Multi is not a second attack. It has to be a second target.
n/ Oh, right, right, right.
a/ Yeah, yeah, yeah.
s/ Yeah.
n/ Yeah, okay.
t/ So the second attack targets the little mouse under the chef’s hat. [Austin, Janine, and Jack laugh quietly]
s/ Mm-hmm.
n/ i'd say probably the flying guy.
a/ Yeah. That makes sense. All right, so 20 damage to Sarithe and then also to the Pyroclastic, whose name i haven't said out loud yet, so it hasn't stuck in my head. Oh, Hosi. Yeah. Let’s give Hosi 20 damage. Where is that? Here we go.
n/ That’s probably loud as hell, those arrows. [??? chuckles]
a/ Yeah. Tell me what this even— What’s this look like from the outside in?
n/ i'm gonna be…
a/ Like, what do they see up there?
n/ Oh. i mean, i don't know.
a/ Is it just arrows, like? Do they hear the shot, and then, a second later, cla-clunk, as they hit?
n/ i don't know that you would hear… i think they might be too far away to hear. i think we would all hear. We would all hear the bowstring go, like, fwunggg.
a/ Sure. Yeah.
n/ And i imagine, like, you know, like you said, this is far away, and Brontë has a big bow, but i think this is a— i'm going to be self indulgent and say that this is a rare, like, the moment where the pretty boy is a badass type shot, where he’s, like, using all of his strength to pull that bowstring back. Like, it is arm muscles highlighted. It is like, [a/ Yeah.] face is completely focused. Like, one eye closed aiming sort of down the, you know. This is almost like a vision of a different person.
a/ Yeah.
n/ Like, this is a person who exists within Brontë but just doesn't, you know, isn't around usually.
a/ Yeah.
n/ And yeah, i think it’s a very loud sort of thwang sound of these two arrows being fired simultaneously.
a/ Yeah. And we just, there's a beat, because it’s so far.
n/ Mm-hmm.
a/ Where it’s just, they're in the air. Antistrophe, you see them, like, move across your eyeline as you're trying to get tossed back up, you know? [Jack chuckles]
[
a/ Yeah. [Janine and Jack chuckle] And then they both hit. And i actually think that what we do get is the sound of them hitting from the lower side, the eastern side where you all are, the echo clunk from the distance of them slamming into the armor of Sarithe and Hosi. Which i think is going to trigger combat starting here, but before we do that, can we get your roll to get Trumpet Tossed back up, Antistrophe?
k/ Yeah, that was…
a/ Insight + Willpower; difficulty 10.
k/ Insight + Willpower. Difficulty 10. I've used my last 2 IP to get my Willpower back up from 6 to 8. And Insight + Willpower. 14.
a/ Hey! 14. And then, yeah, you're blasted back up. You have the wings open to give you a little extra, you know, power or a little extra control. And, you know, you land with Nicky and Jonathan, as the arrows, you know, hit, basically, all in one. And in that moment, the boat, the ship comes unchained from the side of the castle. You are all on the deck of it here, you plus these—I grabbed one too many Infantry; put that person back—you and these four people. And the ship is free.
k/ While i'm gliding through the air, can i go like, 
ke/ Thanks, guys! [quiet laughter] 
a/ For sure. The ship just naturally begins to drift away from the side of the castle. With the arrow having slammed into the side of Sarithe, Shieldmaiden, i think she says something that for Jonathan and Nicky actually means something, which is,
as/ i see you don't want to fight honorably.
a/ They will not be using the Pokémon rules in this fight.
d/ Mm.
k/ Damn.
a/ Something else is afoot.
t/ i think that’s to our advantage here.
k/ Yeah, i actually also think that.
t/ i don't think i want to 1v1 the tower shield person.
a/ Okay. Probably not, but now you gotta, right now, 3v8 them?
[“???” by Jack de Quidt plays]
d/ Yeah.
t/ i might not have been fully aware of the…
a/ i mean, it’s 3v4, but she gets four actions per turn, so
k/ Oh, should i have rolled Initiative as well?