00:00:00
00:00:01
Kids On Brooms! š Halloween Special feat. Critical Thinking Witches Collective
30 Plays6 hours ago
Welcome to the most renowned magic academy all across the America's!
Deep in the mountains of Appalachia there is some trouble brewing that it seems our outcasted witches Pen and Rowan can be the only ones to help this mess that is going on! Will they get down and dirty to help their school? Listen now and find out!
Learn more about the Critical Thinking Witch Collective @ https://criticalthinkingwitches.com/
and follow them criticalthinkingwitches
Music
Cozy Autumn Village - Halloween Ambience
Some Spooks - @TaighArtimes
Spook 1 - Permitune
Spook 3 - Permitune
High Tension - Soundridemusic
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Intro & Outro music is by @TaighArtemis
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Transcript
00:00:57
Speaker
The camera pines into a beautiful mountain landscape overhead where you can see the trees, you can see deer, you can see all these wildlife creatures just like having the time of their lives, the day, their normal day to day, some squirrels are gathering up acorns and within the trees you can see a huge school built up a brick and stone. This school is known as the Appalachian boarding school for the magically gifted.
00:01:30
Speaker
kids and young adults, all like from around the United States, come here to learn the very best that they can in their own craft. This school is known for their best program in potions that was hosted by Madame, de I can't even say her name and I wrote it, ah hosted by Madame Demetresk.
00:01:57
Speaker
She is world renowned for her potion making and is known for when she started as a young girl to be just like a normal, simple witch that would just make potions in her kitchen.
00:02:14
Speaker
Along with that, the school has Transfiguration, the Defense Against Malicious Magic Charms, a new class called Curious Cryptids, which is well known only in this school, ah the American Magic History, Mathematics, English, and Sciences, just so everybody has their basis along with all of the magical history that they will ever need. We start in the sort of recreational hangout area of the actual school. This is sort of like an outside courtyard where
00:02:58
Speaker
Oh, a bunch of kids, young adults seem to be just like relaxing. There's a few guys to the side that are tossing a American football back and forth with their magic wand. ah There's some that are playing jokes in the stairwell. And we stop at a large tree.
00:03:24
Speaker
where two of our upperclassmen are hanging out. Julie and Anna, would you like to introduce your characters?
00:03:37
Speaker
OK, well, I guess I will go first. I am coriander Penelope Shatterstone. Sunstone. Shatterstone. I can't believe I already forgot my name. More coffee.
00:03:52
Speaker
he yeah
00:03:56
Speaker
ah Welcome to the unhinged portion of the day. We already started. huh I said we already started. We already had the unhinged. yeah Wonderful. yeah With my giant thing of coffee, of course we are. I am Coriander Penelope Shatterstone.
00:04:15
Speaker
and shadowstone now you names I'm now. now. I'm not going to do an accent. and Penelope corant Coriander, Penelope Shatterstone. Everybody just calls me Penn. There we go, there we go. Penn, nice and easy. I am, of course, 18. I am short, but I think I'm much taller than I am. I tell everybody I'm taller than I am. Nobody believes me because I'm five foot on the nose. Redhead, very stout. I i dress like a soccer mom. Look like a cinnamon roll. Will kill you. Oh, gosh.
00:04:51
Speaker
You know, and I just sort of, everyone knows right away that i'm I'm definitely kind of that weirdo. Like if you give me the opportunity, I will info dump. You say three words to me and I will info dump. And it's gonna be something you don't wanna know about.
00:05:07
Speaker
Why? Like, I don't want to know about like, unless you're interested in human anatomy or serial killers, you're gonna find out about some shit. Also, I am convinced that the coffee shop near school is run by the pixie mafia. I will tell you all about that. Also, let's go get some coffee there because it's so good. and Anyway.
00:05:26
Speaker
You know, ponytail, cardigan, jeans, t-shirt, I look cozy. You know, it's it's generally, it's on the outside, I look like a soccer mom on the inside. I could be your hot goth girlfriend who definitely has ADHD.
00:05:42
Speaker
ah Rowan Wicker is her... counterpart I guess maybe a little less outgoing counterpart maybe a little bit taller but still average height with wavy dark hair dark eyes and freckles um she also wears cardigans ah and an amethyst crystal pendant she's usually crossing her arms um and ah she's not like dour or anything but she's just
00:06:16
Speaker
a little a little less info-dumpy than her best friend, Pen.
00:06:26
Speaker
What are you guys sort of like doing in the courtyard right now? Is it just sort of like a relaxing time for you? Or are you guys just like taking a break from classes for the moment?
00:06:39
Speaker
yeah I'd say we're taking a break. You said you're we're under a tree. Is there something that you want to tell us about the tree, Pen? Listen. As long as you ask trees nicely, they will tell you what is going on. And me and the tree are having a great conversation about the absolute banger of a senior prank that happened here in this same quad in 1978, something about a car, something about like floating pics, not pixies, I'm sorry.
00:07:11
Speaker
floating potatoes, you know, absolute, and I'm just laughing and I'm going on and on and I'm telling you all about it, Rowan. And, and and you know, and you're just, I mean, I don't know what you're doing. You're probably doing your usual thing of just like, make sense. Yeah, she's pretty judgmental. You do get a fantastic resting bitch face. I think that's fair. Yeah.
00:07:52
Speaker
That's kind of why I like you. I like to think of a resting bitch face, but I just don't. I just don't. You must be pressing me, because I will kill you.
00:08:04
Speaker
As you guys are just like relaxing, having a great time, um the bell rings to have you guys go to Rowan's favorite class, which is Charm. All right. So you guys head over there. um You see your favorite teacher, Rowan, miss, is a Baylor.
00:08:30
Speaker
Bylar? Bylar. It's just Spanish. Ah, got it. So you see your favorite teacher, Ms. Bylar, putting all of these papers together. They look like ah papers that you probably wrote like two weeks ago, you're getting grades back. um She sees you and she's like, oh my God, Rowan, come here. I have some stuff that I need to tell you.
00:08:59
Speaker
Miss Butler! What's going on? Walks up. Yeah. she goes So, want your charms paper was, of course, one of the best ones in the class. Congrats.
00:09:14
Speaker
um Also, I need you to be extraordinarily careful at night. Like I know there's a huge rule about not going out at night just in general, but we have been seeing some strange activity and I don't want anything to happen to you.
00:09:37
Speaker
I mean, like, help people? The help people have actually been really quiet. um There's going to be an assembly after class today that everyone's going to be asked to go to, but I'm more worried about you, especially for you and your family. We ah don't want anything ah bad to happen.
00:10:04
Speaker
So we're asking you nicely to just sort of lay low for a little bit. But yeah, again, there's going to be an assembly like after class today. OK. OK. Thanks.
00:10:25
Speaker
Trying to seem like this is normal, right? This is normal? normal. um And then goes goes to sit down and go next to Penn. He starts passing out like all of your papers, of course. Rowan got an A.
00:10:46
Speaker
And um Pen, you've got a B plus that says, this has got a little bit wordy. B plus is a pass.
00:11:00
Speaker
um The charms class sort of goes as normal. ah It's just more of like a seminar on how to charm a animal to doing like ah quick little message then or anything that you need to and then the announcement comes on saying hi I need every one of the students from the school to please come to our amphitheater for an announcement assembly. ah Everybody please pack up as quickly as possible and make your way there.
00:11:40
Speaker
um While you guys are making your way there, of course, it has that normal chaotic high school behavior of just bunches and bunches of people just like running into one another, just being chaotic little assholes altogether.
00:11:59
Speaker
um Bunch of people definitely like running into you guys just because it's kind of like that like feeling of look at these like you're invisible, essentially, like no one actually sees you. I'm speaking from experience. um um When you guys get to the amphitheater, where would you like normally sit? Would it be like in the back? Would it be like toward the middle, toward the front?
00:12:33
Speaker
I think. I think the back, because in assembly, like everyone would be looking at you if you got possibly called on in the front. This is this is back situation. Even if you like your teachers, this is this is back situation. Okay. Penn's not paying attention to where we're sitting. She's just following Rowan and probably chattering about like, tell me what Mrs. Byler tell you. Please tell me. Oh my God, give me some information. I swear to God, please. I don't know. She just didn't want me to go out after dark and she was talking about like,
00:13:04
Speaker
The Wickers or something? I bet you it's the pixie mafia. I'm telling you. And it's not the pixies. If you tell me, you tell me, okay, you've had that coffee, okay? You've had it. It's really good, but this has nothing to do with pixies. Fine. The mafia is right by us, so it's gotten it's fine. It's fine.
00:13:31
Speaker
After a few minutes of pen rambling about the pixie mafia, assuming that that's exactly what this is about. um The headmaster who you guys don't really see that often steps up to a podium. And he does like the voice clearing thing. And you see to the side of him, there's ah Madame Demetresque, there's Miss Eyre, there's ah Miss Hager. Mr. Carr, who is the Curious Cryptids teacher, ah the American History teacher, Mr. Salt.
00:14:14
Speaker
and the mathematics teacher, Mr. Galley, just like on the actual like area behind him. There's no other teachers. Ms. Bailar is not there. um And the English teachers, Mr. Halloway and Ms. Darth and the science teacher, Ms. Chrome are not present either.
00:14:40
Speaker
He's on the podium and he goes, ah hello students. We are making a mandatory announcement. We have already let you know that we have curfews after 8pm here due to the cryptids that are in the forest, we don't want anything bad to happen to you and we don't want anything bad to happen to them. This is their land as much as ours, so we have to share it. However, we have noticed some um unfortunate events where students have been missing.
00:15:16
Speaker
and they have the last time they have been seen would be off campus after 7 30 pm and not to be seen again. So at this time we are asking all students to stay in after 5 pm rather than our last fore-mentioned 8 p.m. till we get this figured out. um We don't know if there's just some happenings happening in the woods with our cryptid friends. However, we do want to make sure everything is okay with those students and all the students here before allowing you guys out till 8 p.m. again.
00:16:05
Speaker
And there is sort of like a chatter that's going around after that, because of course you're in a high school, essentially. There's teenagers, there's chatter everywhere.
00:16:17
Speaker
um And I just need a character sheet up. I don't care whose it is. Penn has been humming this land is your land since that phrase came out. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. I love that. Penn, Penn. What? They said not to go out after after five. It's fine. It's fine.
00:16:45
Speaker
um There is a murmur across a bunch of students, especially like the ones around you guys in the back um that are essentially either the troublemakers or the popular kids that just don't want to have anything to do with anything. And you hear this you hear this one kid who you hate. He's an upperclassman in your in your year. ah His name is Frederick. And he just goes, I bet it's Madame Demetresque. I bet she's putting stuff in like, the kids drinks and is making ah is making them like leave the school for something probably to get like some weird like potions. Yeah, I totally bet it's her. She always has like weird vibes. What an idiot.
00:17:46
Speaker
He's the dumbest. And then of course want and of course once he said that, that's the rumor that's now going to be going around the school. Okay, so cue continuous eye rolling from Rowan. Lots of eye rolling.
00:18:06
Speaker
Penn is now ranting about Madame Demetresque and how it could never be her. She would never do anything like that. Like, yeah, I know she's a top potions person, but listen, listen, listen, listen. I've had some of her magic potions. They're great. She would never just drug the kids. Like, if she wanted to drug the kids, she'd do it on the regular. It wouldn't be something like a random list. Come on, man. If I was going to drug a bunch of people, I'd do it on the regular. They wouldn't be able to expect it after that.
00:18:31
Speaker
She's she's way too well known. Like she's way too high profile for something like this. That's it's idiotic. He just doesn't like her because she doesn't give him good grades. That's because he's stupid. That's why he doesn't get good grades. Yeah, he's just good at flight and brooms. Hey, there's nothing wrong with being good at flight. OK, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That's what he's here for. And she doesn't cater to him.
00:18:58
Speaker
She doesn't cater to anybody. Also, he's a stupid pale male. He's gonna get catered to for the rest of his life. Like, should I go punch him? Do you want me to go punch him? I'll go punch him. Pet.
00:19:11
Speaker
I don't need to get us suspended again. It's gonna be okay. Yeah, that was a rough week. Can we not? Yes, thank you. Thank you for being my friend of reason. Voice of reason. Both? Both. Yeah.
00:19:30
Speaker
Like, there's two of you, one on each shoulder. Like, one tells me to not do things. The other sometimes whispers that I should do things. But it's usually like, eat some more gummy worms, at which point Penn pulls out a bag of gummy worms from her bag and starts chewing on some. And offers you one, of course. Yeah, yeah yeah no she takes one.
00:19:51
Speaker
So in that time from the sort of announcement of kids being missing and that rumor starting. The school day is basically over and it's basically like encouraged that everybody goes back to their rooms. Penn and Rowan are roommates. We're just going to make that like a canon event because and they were roommates and they were roommates.
00:20:24
Speaker
And they were broom mates. Sometimes they are though. I should be so lucky. I like i think i like to think that um Rowan's side is very like clean and organized and has everything put together. And then there's like a weird line where you see a pen side that's just like a fucking nightmare. And the secret is just prestidigitation, I swear. You just use your wand pen. I wanted to know that when I live with people, I am very good at keeping shared spaces clean-ish.
00:21:06
Speaker
like That's you, not Penn. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it would be Penn. I don't want our familiars to be tripping all over my aunt my like dirty panties, okay? like Nobody wants that. Because our familiars are living with us, right? Right, right. Yeah.
00:21:23
Speaker
You have cat trees and shit. Cat trees, stunt trees in this case. Cat and rat trees. I love it. I love it. I love everything happening here. and Just like little ropes. Like is my side messy? Absolutely. Yes. I have doom piles literally everywhere, but most things are off the ground. That's all we can ask for. Yeah. Most things. You're not going to trip most days.
00:21:52
Speaker
If there's a test or something like really stressful coming up, like you were definitely gonna trip because like, not only have I destroyed my side, like I'm starting to destroy Rowan's side, at which point I can only imagine the whole conversations. Just use what you want. There's cleaning magic for a reason. Listen, I'm busy using my magic for other things. It's okay. It's okay. Like it's fine. I can clean it in a minute. It'll be, I can clean it later. It's gonna be fine.
00:22:17
Speaker
a There's not magic ritalin, is there? like Jesus. There should be. There definitely needs to be. Listen, my drugs will kick in, the drugs will kick in, it'll be fine.
00:22:32
Speaker
ah When you guys get back to your room, you do see ah your familiar skunk and rat just cuddling in like the hammock part of a cat tree that you guys have in there.
00:22:45
Speaker
delightful. I love it. Yes. And they actually match color too because Hov is a Berkshire a Berkshire rat, which is black on the top of white Tommy. It's because we were meant to be besties. Obviously, which is I'm sure probably one of the first things I ever said to you.
00:23:05
Speaker
Yeah, that sounds right. like Hi, I decided that you're meant to be my best friend. You kind of went, I just assumed you just rolled with it. Well, you had no choice at this point. Yep. but
00:23:16
Speaker
It's like, okay, so they don't want us out at five. So we can't go get the coffee. Because what time is it now? It's like after class. Yeah, it's definitely around like 4.45. Okay. um But Can we like still go to the cafeteria for dinner? Like what are they doing? You're just not allowed really to go to like get off campus. That's really like. Gotcha. Okay. So I guess we can go to dinner on campus, which is kind of, you know, every day. Or.
00:23:58
Speaker
or we can sneak off campus just to get coffee. I mean, it's right there. Because those, oh, girl, those bagels, I dream about those bagels all day. Look at me, look at me. This is a body. This is a body like Asiago bagels, okay? And I know they're sprinkling some sort of pixie dust in those things. I know it, you know it, everybody knows it. You don't have to eat it if you're worried about what they put in it, though.
00:24:24
Speaker
Why would I, I don't care. Listen, that's not how I'm gonna care. You don't care. I already know, I already know what you're gonna do. Oh, okay, you don't care. Well, listen about it, it's fine. Don't worry about it. Okay. I asked the tree is the tree. Say a little pixie dust is fine. I probably shouldn't be like snorting this coffee all the time. And we don't have to immediately break the rules they just made. Like we don't know why they made them really, but we don't have to immediately break them. But it's more fun that way.
00:24:55
Speaker
Do we even know who's missing? Like, have we noticed who's missing? um It's from your ah perspective, you haven't noticed any of the upperclassmen missing, so it might be underclassmen that they're really worried about. So we don't even know know the kids, maybe? Yeah. Colin Creeby. He just fell on the ground. Okay, disappearing.
00:25:22
Speaker
I mean, like kids go missing all the time. It's because of the pixie mafia. I'm telling you. They don't go missing like that often. Like Ms. Byler was telling me that like the hill people are low key. Okay. um So this is this is different. They're saying like cryptids or something. Like they legit think cryptids are doing this.
00:25:45
Speaker
ah okay well Well, I mean, if cryptids are doing it, we should be asking the trees, because the trees know and see everything, and they talk to each other, and if we ask them nicely enough, they'll tell us what's going on. I'm telling you, we have to like, this like how about we just, how about we go to the border? We go to the border of school campus, so like, we're still technically on school campus, so we're not gonna get expelled, but we can then ask the trees. Is there stuff that I have to study for tonight?
00:26:17
Speaker
Oh, definitely. There's definitely a math test in the morning and you have a transfiguration like yeah you have to show off like a transfiguration spell in the afternoon. And it has to be like perfect or else you won't pass. And there's some reading on curious cryptids that you haven't done yet.
00:26:43
Speaker
Okay, okay. We're gonna go to dinner, and then one hour to talk to a tree. Okay, Penn, and then study time ah doty time. Because you know, if I don't get this coffee, I'm not gonna stop talking. And so you're not gonna be able to say coffee. I said dinner on campus. Compromise. oh Fine. Fine. Dinner. Dinner. I'll get some of the trashy, non dusted campus coffee, I guess. Yeah, right. I guess I'd love you or something. Whatever. It's fine. We're broom mates. It's good. Broom mates. Now I want to make that merch. And they were broom mates. And they were broom mates. We ride our own brooms, but we're broom mates.
00:27:32
Speaker
I'm trying to swallow and laugh at the same time. Okay, so I guess we're gonna go to the cafeteria and then I assume there's like a forest edge or something on campus. Yeah, it has almost like a um magical barrier that sort of like goes around it. So like you can actively see like a little bit of it like shimmers a little bit within the moonlight.
00:28:01
Speaker
You guys are just checking out that border after you eat dinner. After dinner. Yeah, because Penn insisted and we're technically on campus. I'm not gonna get expelled. You're gonna be fine on your calculus test tomorrow. Ew. I know, right? I hate calculus. I hate it. Is there anything you guys want to do specifically at dinner? Or no, it's just more of like an eating.
00:28:30
Speaker
I think it was just sort of regular, I don't know, unless you had anything. I think Penn is a little quieter than normal um because she's actively looking around to see if she can tell who's missing. She can't because she's just not that observant. Hey, you have intuitive. You're like intuitive. You're more intuitive than Rowan.
00:28:55
Speaker
That's fair. That's fair. I am more intuitive to certain things. in world You just have to have that you have to have the the focus to look at it, right? yeah Yeah. Well, and if my hands are doing something, like if I'm sucking down some some pasta noodles, I'm able to focus on other things. so i'm i Obviously, I can't talk with my mouth full, so I'm just sort of like looking around. And so I i do notice that there seem to be a fewer lower class men.
00:29:23
Speaker
But it's also cafeteria at dinner time. They could be doing anything. I don't know. Yeah. You don't know. They could just be doing stupid lowerclassmen shit. Just stupid lowerclassmen shit. Like I don't even remember what it was like to be a lowerclassman because I've always been this old. Because I have an old soul that literally nobody believes. Sure. Nobody believes I have an old soul, I imagine.
00:29:48
Speaker
ah At which point while we're eating dinner, Penn takes out a bag of crackers and starts eating that eating it with her dinner. Whatever. Normal Penn stuff. Yeah, normal Penn stuff. Penn has all sorts of food in this bag.
00:30:06
Speaker
Rowan is the type to like wrap up something she wants later in a napkin and like putting it in her school bag. A study snack.
00:30:17
Speaker
OK, so we've got a whole pile of study stacks because Penn is not having that, not having not having study stacks. So while you guys are on the like border of the school that has the barrier, um does anyone want to make a brains role? OK.
00:30:39
Speaker
um So it's just a regular brains role with no magic added, right? Yeah. Okay, so if like a flat roll. That flat roll. Okay. Oh boy, a three.
00:30:58
Speaker
You don't really know why you're out here. The border seems fine. You're just sort of looking at Penn hoping that she can shed some light on why you're here. Yup. Yup. Yup. Rowan is like, I don't know why I did this. This was really stupid and it's getting cold.
00:31:19
Speaker
Um, I would also like to roll a brains roll at this point. Yeah. Cause I know there's a reason why I'm here. I roll a D 10, right? That's where my, that's what your shoes should say, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Booyah. Don't suck. Don't suck. Don't suck.
00:31:38
Speaker
I also roll the three, three club. We should go to third. It's right there. I'm so inappropriate.
00:31:53
Speaker
Um, you just see the barrier glittering. Everything looks normal. ah You hear an owl that's like in a tree, probably not too far away. You hear some movement in the forest, but that could be actually anything, so. Okay, all right, all right. I'm gonna use my intuitiveness. I will spend one a adversity token. Okay.
00:32:23
Speaker
ah to dit to ti we'd think One adversity token SDM about your surroundings, and you must be honest. it Because I'm figuring that's probably how I have to talk to the trees. Yes, yes, yes, in gameplay. Yeah, cool. So are you talking to the trees that are like directly outside the barrier? Yes, because I imagine we're not able to cross the barrier. We have to go through a gate. We can't just like walk through the barrier, because that's the whole, that's not Yeah. And there's also like that barrier that that comes up normally it goes up around eight because of everything but because ah how kids have just been disappearing it started going up around five now.
00:33:08
Speaker
um So what you see around you and this is the information you gather from the trees is
00:33:20
Speaker
There have been pockets of the barrier that have been um opening every so often and They have seen upwards of five kids leaving the actual school itself. um To your left, you notice that there is some thinness to the actual barrier itself. It doesn't seem like it's at its full strength. And you notice
00:34:01
Speaker
if you If you're like looking at small animals, you notice how like squirrels or like chipmunks seem to be easily just slipping out from underneath the actual barrier itself.
00:34:18
Speaker
Cool. I tell all of this to Penn. I'm sorry, I am Penn. I tell all of this to Rowan. It's like Rowan is definitely thinking Hob could slip through there, but she really doesn't want to. It's like, hmm.
00:34:37
Speaker
We have to know whether or not these kids are safe, though. Yeah, right. Listen. Imagine, okay, think about all the scholarship money you will you will receive if we save a bunch of kids, because you will become even more famous than your family already is. People will give you money to go to whatever school you want, anywhere in the world. Okay. Give all the scholarship money, okay? Okay. e Done, let's go get hub.
00:35:11
Speaker
I'm sure I'm sure hob is like he's he's not still at the room is he do I have to like go get him or can you come he was at the room but if you want him to be with you you can say you slip them inside your bag or something I mean he's a red yeah Yeah, um so I will use my psychic link to discuss with the rat and try to get him to scamper under the barrier into that section and see like what's going on. It says we can maintain contact at any distance. So what would you say Hobbs personality is like?
00:36:01
Speaker
Uh, he's a bit of a goober. Wonderful. Wonderful. Great. But he's no, he's like, I mean, obviously if he is rat rat, he wants all the food all the time. Yeah. But he's like totally down for like pets and stuff. yeah He's just kind of a goober as an attitude.
00:36:23
Speaker
When you ask him to go under the barrier, um he immediately turns on his back and goes belly rubs first. Oh, my God. It's like, we OK, hop we don't have time for Scritches. Like, we can do boggling later. oh Fine. Boggling red Scritches. Yes. Red Scritches. Red Scritches. If you ever won rub your belly, I will.
00:36:50
Speaker
are willing that is my one and will you think I carry this b reasons other than me to eat them yes it's animals
00:37:01
Speaker
okay Come on, Hob, it's getting cold. Okay. Okay. I go, I go under. I go, I go and and you see him like slip under, but the thing is about Hob is he's been eating and finding so many snacks lately. So he just, he squishes in there and he like gets out, but it's almost embarrassing. um And when he gets onto the other side, you just see him just sort of go full pancake mode and goes, I i got over. I'm open now. Okay, hub, you gotta to go a little farther. What's going on over there? i There's trees.
00:37:45
Speaker
a little farther like what what do you see other than trees okay i go i go farther you see i'm like going to the tree line um goes there's there's a lot of grass there is no food here i am upset um there's there's nothing i see that would be there's Oh, that's a big footprint. Oh, oh he know he he like is going around it. Probably three or four times a day. Yes, probably a Sasquatch or something. He keeps just going. It's basically that for the next five minutes. Great. Okay. Don't get stepped on. I don't get stepped on. I'm i'm so fast. I am the date. He looks longer. Yeah.
00:38:39
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I say Penn is going to give you a cracker if you look longer. It's his favorite crackers.
00:38:50
Speaker
Okay. What am I looking for?
00:38:56
Speaker
Kids, like are there any human smells or something? like ah Loose clothing? like Has anybody lost clothing? or Is there something that seems like it shouldn't be there? Got it, got it, got it, got it, got it. Okay, now I have direction. It just keeps scurrying. um After about another like two minutes, he goes,
00:39:23
Speaker
I found, I found this. I'm coming back. And he comes back with, um it looks just like a shoe. It's like a full like sneaker. He goes, I found a shoe. Okay.
00:39:40
Speaker
That was another familiar. Sorry. It's my familiar. No, not really. um ah So what like is this like, it's like a woman's type. It's like a looks like a ah teenage boy's sneaker. Oh, so like he had to physically drag this because it's a teenage boy's sneaker.
00:40:07
Speaker
okay Have you ever seen a chihuahua get like a giant bone and go like, yeah, I can get this. This is totally fine. Same energy. Uh-huh. Okay. Okay. It sounds like you're familiar is very upset right now. I mean, in game somebody else is familiar because neither of us had a cat, but. Sorry. Maybe he stunks you. That's okay.
00:40:32
Speaker
Anyway, okay, so ah yeah, i I mean, I don't think we're gonna recognize like somebody from a shoe, but like there's no blood on it or anything, right? No, just looks like a dirty shoe. Like, but not super old. You know, it's not like been there for years. No, it looks like it's been there for maybe a few days. Okay. Okay, so like a fresh shoe. Yeah.
00:41:01
Speaker
My question was, was it still warm? Which no, it's been there for a few days, so. Okay, so awesome. Now I have a shoe pen and we can't show it to anybody because it was past the barrier. So great. And I just like put it in my school bag. Awesome.
00:41:21
Speaker
Now what? Well, we know that there's probably a young boy missing. Although we do live on a school campus, which means that people have loose clothing items all over the place because people are assholes. Anyway, we know somebody is missing and they've been missing for a few days and it's likely a boy. Not that shoes are really gendered, but you can't really tell. Anyway. It's the size. but True. It's like a size 12. Yeah. um I can tell you right now that Sir Reginald, AKA Slardy Bartfest, is going to have
00:41:55
Speaker
a great time playing with a shoe because I do love shoelaces and crawling around in things. Okay, I'm glad we're taking this shoe home. Although we should probably give it to somebody because I bet there's probably more evidence on it. do Okay, so how are you going to explain this to the teachers? Okay, when was the last time a teacher asked me about something weird I was carrying? Really?
00:42:21
Speaker
Okay, so ah she'll take the shoe and be like, okay, you hold on to it. I don't want should look for something else. There's gotta be more than just a shoe. No.
00:42:59
Speaker
Okay, Penn. I love how this is how I would pressure you with scholarship money. It's like, give Hobbies Cracker. Come on. Of course, of course. I will give Hobbies Cracker. He pulls out, Cracker gets into Hob, gives Hob some little head scratches.
00:43:17
Speaker
The entire time Hob is eating you just hear Hob, do you wanna do Penn's dirty work? She's gonna give you Cheetos, psychic link. Cheetos, I mean, that sounds good, but don't don't you have homework? Isn't yes't it homework time? What happened? Hob says it's time to do homework. i i like home more time I like homework time because I get sleep.
00:44:13
Speaker
This is valid. See, this is valid. This is why I like Hob. See, he gets snoozies and scritches and I get to study. Exactly. Yeah, no. I want to go back. Even my familiar says so. We can look more tomorrow or whatever after the test. Well, only get him one cheetah when we get back to room. Yeah, whatever. Hob's going to go to sleep.
00:44:44
Speaker
um i guess I guess we're heading back for the night so that we can actually do some homework. While you guys are headed back to your dorm, Penn, while you're walking, you hear someone go, ah what if it's like the pixie mafia that are taking these kids? I heard some upperclassmen talk about it.
00:45:08
Speaker
I overhear that I immediately grab Rowan's arm go, Rowan! Somebody else heard about the pixie mafia. We have to go. We have to go investigate right now. And I know- It probably could hurt you. It certainly will. Towards this. Okay. Tell me more about what you heard about the pixie mafia. She now walks up to whoever just do you think said this.
00:45:28
Speaker
I don't know whether or not it's the right people. She goes to where she thinks she heard somebody say something about the pixie mafia. And now she's like grabbing them. Okay, who mentions the pixie mafia? Tell me what you think you heard. um It's this lowerclassman girl. She has a very high blonde ponytail freckles across her face. um She's immediately scared when you start talking to her. She's like, oh, there was just like,
00:45:56
Speaker
some like rumors going around that like it could be Madame Demetresque or it could be the Pixie Mafia or there's like a thousand things that kids could honestly, I should be getting back to my dorm because it's only lower classmen that are getting picked up right now. So I'm gonna go. No, no, no, no. Listen, you're fine. You're here with me. Nothing's gonna happen. You're still on campus. I'm not taking her off campus. I'm not taking her off campus. We're on campus. We're fine.
00:46:31
Speaker
scary. I don't know if I want to give you my
00:46:55
Speaker
I promise not to talk about the pixie mafia again. I don't like this. No, no, no. Somebody else needs to know. Somebody else needs to know. Plus, if we work together, we can make sure that the pixie mafia doesn't get you. Oh my god. I don't want them to get you. I want you to be safe. That's why I found, that's why we found this shoe off campus.
00:47:27
Speaker
mean? yeah
00:47:32
Speaker
Oh my god. Loudmouth. I probably should have picked that, shouldn't I? Close enough.
00:47:44
Speaker
Okay. My downfalls are brash and what, what rude. Brash and blunt. Yeah. That tracks. yeah yeah Um, so the night goes on. Um.
00:47:59
Speaker
And you guys like sleep peacefully after like the huge studying break that you had. um The next morning, ah you wake up getting ready for your studies to a bunch of kids like freaking out. And there's one name, ah Rufus Dumpy,
00:48:27
Speaker
who runs up to you guys and just goes, did you hear? Sylvie's gone missing. we We don't know where she is. Who's Sylvie? Yeah. And he holds up a picture of her and it's the girl that you guys were talking to God last night. Damn it.
00:48:50
Speaker
I told you she should have told me more. She could have stuck with us. We could have taken her back to the room. She could have said it with us and she would have been safe. You need to talk to people. You need to talk to more people, Rowan. Rowan feels horrible and doesn't want to admit it. but Like awful that she sent this girl off like without chaperoning.
00:49:14
Speaker
like
00:49:17
Speaker
She could have popped to her while walking her back to her room. hey pen Okay, Penn. Okay, Penn. Thanks, Penn. Mm-hmm. Yup. She's trying not to cry because she's now terrified. Not terrified, she's sad. Yeah. Nope. Nope, Rowan feels super bad.
00:49:35
Speaker
so' fy Everyone's just so like, the same and has did anyone see her before she disappeared? She just wasn't in her dorm this morning. We saw her last night before she went to her room, but we was headed back to the dorms norms when we saw her at like 5.15 on campus, totally in the safe zone. She was on campus. Rowan is like just trying not to cry. But you saw her? Yeah, we talked to her a little bit. She and I had a very brief discussion about what she has to look forward to in Charms class.
00:50:12
Speaker
And then she ran off because I may have been a little intimidating because I am, so. That's what I saw. Rowan's just doing the like looking between Penn and other people because she totally lied.
00:50:34
Speaker
but Every part of me is wants to be like, do I need to roll a bluff check? I know, right? I know. Not in this game. No, not in this game. They're all just- I can just lie. They're sort of looking at you, Penn, and then back to Rowan and be like, or back to Rowan, sorry, I had a character very similar in this game that I named Rowan, and so I'm like, oh um back to Rowan, they're just like,
00:51:08
Speaker
So, was she acting weird? and Like, did it was... She just, like, was saying she was going back to her room? Yeah. Sent her back to her room? I'd never talked before, so I can't really judge whether or not she was acting weird. She wasn't with anybody else, though. She was by herself. I mean, I think she was talking to people, but they all dispersed as soon as I got there, because people don't like me for reasons I don't understand.
00:51:39
Speaker
Well, it's just kind of like fishy that like she disappeared after talking to you guys and you guys are kind of like outcasts and weirdos, so. Yeah. Really? But if you think about horror movies, usually it's the outcasts and weirdos who disappear too. So. Just saying it's a little weird. Super rude. Super rude. OK. Do not need that right now.
00:52:09
Speaker
What would I do? Nope. Rowan shuts her mouth. I don't know. You're like a part of the Wicker family who's apparently like this big deal, but like you're you. Listen, she's not her grandfather. OK, you can fuck right off. I will punch you. for Rowan's just arms crossed like behind Penn, even though Penn is shorter.
00:52:39
Speaker
like Let me use pen as a shield. Yeah. Just like, what the fuck? Super rude. Do you want me to punch him? I'll punch him. Don't punch anybody. We're already in trouble. No, we're not. There's no teachers here to get us in trouble. It's just this asshole. Who are we talking to? It's just him. His name's Rufus. yeah oh oh the Okay, Rufus.
00:53:08
Speaker
yeah Like, it's not a teacher, right? No. um There is an announcement that goat that comes on that says all classes are canceled today due to Silly Missing. Yes! I just need five minutes.
00:53:32
Speaker
I slowly walk Rowan to, like, an on-campus little sitting area, hopefully with a tree, and just let her have her five minutes alone in peace so she can mourn. were the kid Yeah, all and pulls out her water bottle hands it to rowan have some water sweeteheart
00:54:23
Speaker
I always have weird things. It's OK. Here, Penn now pulls out a bag of nuts and offers some to Rowan. You want a snack? Have a seat. She just passes it to Hob.
00:54:36
Speaker
That's fine. Okay.
00:54:44
Speaker
Let's go over to where we were yesterday. while still We'll still be on campus. It's also not in the anywhere near near five, because I'm pretty sure there were some trees near where we were when we saw Sylvie. Is that true? that Were there any trees where near Sylvie?
00:55:01
Speaker
No, you guys were headed back to your dorm. So you were inside like the hallway area when you saw her. Well, that's fair. That's fair. Okay. No trees. Well, well, I mean, if she's disappeared, there's gotta be a tree that knows something.
00:55:19
Speaker
So let's go back towards the area we were yesterday. I made sure to pack more crackers. This is like super suspicious. So if we keep going back to where we were, people are gonna think we're doing something. Yeah, we are doing something. We're trying to find Sylvie and making sure she's okay.
00:55:40
Speaker
Listen, they were going to try us as adults anyway, so don't worry about that, okay? Let's just go make sure she's not dead. Oh my god. It went from scholarship money to trying us as adults.
00:55:54
Speaker
yeah So yeah, Rowan doesn't usually have panic attacks, but this is fun. Rowan, Rowan, no, it's fine. It's fine. Here, have some more water. It's okay. Meanwhile, I'm very slowly leading Rowan back to where we were. We just, we're we're gonna stay right here. We're gonna sit right here. We're like five feet away from where we were. It's okay.
00:56:22
Speaker
Let's just, you stay here. I'm gonna go just past the border. You can still see me, you can still see where I am, and I'm gonna go ask these trees over here if they saw anything, okay? Okay. I will leave Sir Reginald with you, okay? Okay, definitely nobody's gonna bother us if you have him here with me.
00:56:47
Speaker
Okay, there we go, there we go. You've got your hob, you've got Sir Reginald, little sortie Bart fast. You have so many things to pet, it's gonna be okay. So many things to pet. He's kind of smelly, but he's really fluffy. Yeah, I'm tired of an asshole because he's a stubborn little shit. Like I have to leave several crackers there so that Sir Reginald stays in place and nuts and a couple of carrots.
00:57:16
Speaker
No. So I walk just past the barrier into the trees. I'm like maybe three, four trees deep. Okay. um And I'm going to go to the So I'm thinking, cause I don't quite know where Hob was. So I'm going to about the area where I think Hob was within the tree line. And I'm going to ask, I mean, you'll see me very slowly, you know, put my hand on the nearest tree, sort of run my hand along it. And you'll just see me sort of, you know, gently conversing and asking the tree if it saw anything.
00:57:55
Speaker
Um, the tree.
00:57:59
Speaker
sort of just like shows you kind of where Hob was. Like you could see like him walking like by the tree. um And it sort of does it in like a fast paced motion where you feel like you're seeing things kind of like in like fast forward mode.
00:58:23
Speaker
um Then you see the top of a very blonde head that walks by with a high ponytail, like going deeper into a forest, probably what you could assume maybe an hour and a half later.
00:58:44
Speaker
Cool. Thank you, Tree. Thank you so much for helping me. I want to make sure she's safe. Thank you so much. She drops an apple on your head. Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm definitely gonna eat this later, thank you. So I walk back, put the apple in my bag. i Well, Sir Reginald smells the apple and wants the apple immediately. Yeah. Put it in my bag later. Eat your carrots.
00:59:13
Speaker
Rowan, I have some news. No. We have to go in the woods. But it's not five. What time is it? Like what? All classes were canceled to what, two? Noon? Um, because it was canceled in the morning when you guys found out everything I'm going to say right now, it's probably like 11. So it's like really early. Okay. We have different points. I hate this.
00:59:45
Speaker
Do you want us to go tell a teacher? You think they'll believe me? Fuck no. That's more trouble. OK. Well, little goody-shoe shoes, my favorite little goody-shoe shoes, what would you have us do? Should we go in the woods and go find this girl? Or should we go try to tell an adult and see if they're going to believe us? No, it's go in the woods. Go. You're so mean sometimes. And I follow her. And right.
01:00:15
Speaker
Sometimes.
01:00:22
Speaker
Now, while you guys are going into the forest, does anyone want to make a brains roll? Yes. Is this the stupidest thing we could ever do? I will make a brains roll. I wish. Wait, hang on. Let me see. ah but but but butpa And this one you can add magic to if you want.
01:00:46
Speaker
Really? Okay. Cool. Yeah, I would love to. Like, is there like some kind of like scrying or tracking spell or something I could do to see like, I don't know, like after the girl, but we don't have anything of hers. We just know what she looks like.
01:01:09
Speaker
Remember, you do have two familiars. Yes.
01:01:15
Speaker
I guess he could go after the smell. Yeah. OK, well, I'll get I'll do a brains role first, so. OK, here we go. Come on. Come on, D20. You went behind my desk. Why are you an asshole?
01:01:47
Speaker
The Brainiac is not so smart. The Brainiac's stressed, okay? Yeah. Oh, I have something if I fail a check. Yeah, and I should have you roll because I can give you, ah like, because I can't iffy. Fine, I'm getting a different die. I can give you a plus two if I spend an adversity token when you're rolling. Here we go.
01:02:15
Speaker
I guess this this little buddy is going to dice Yes. That means you can roll again and add you got a 12. I rolled a 12 on brain. Plus, I don't have any pluses towards brains, so that's because I'm not the smart one you are.
01:02:44
Speaker
Not today, you're scared, which is fine. Yeah. I feel dumb. So with that 12 roll, you step into the forest sort of in the same spot where the tree sort of showed you Sylvie like walking to. And do you put your hands on more trees to see if they'll show you more? Mm-hmm.
01:03:15
Speaker
While you're doing that, um you put your hand on one tree where it shows her eyes sort of like almost glazed over and glowing and headed farther into the actual forest itself. You can also hear some ah snarling coming from behind the tree.
01:03:45
Speaker
Hmm. In the flashback or like now? In like the flashback. There's no snarling right now. say anything and I'm going to continue to lead us towards where that snarling went. However, I think I would like to use a spell. And since this is the first time we're doing it, please let me know if we need to fix anything. No, what kind of spell or do you want? And then I will tell you what you need to work. I would like to do um a tracking spell at this point.
01:04:26
Speaker
Tracking spell? No, not tracking. Okay. Oh, you know what? I don't even need to use the spell. I have, I have an ability. Treasure address, add 180 to find a mundane but useful item in your surroundings. so I'm going to do that. So I'm going to use another. I only have one adversity point left. um Julie, make sure you you added that adversity token to that one for that one, by the way. to what Wait, for which? Oh, yes, because I failed yeah twice. You have two. Oops.
01:05:01
Speaker
Thank you. Let's hope this is when we got the three, that was a fail too. Yeah, I think we take every stage. Having these eyes with easy going, I gained two adverse age points when I fail, so I'm- Hot damn! Moo, yeah, back to three. I need to use these. I know, I know. So I'm gonna use my treasure hunter, which is spend 180, which I did, to find a mundane but useful item in my surroundings. Cool, show me.
01:05:31
Speaker
a thing that will help lead us and hopefully protect us towards Sylvie. Because we did find the kid's shoes and we know we're sort of where we're going. But now we need to go, I mean, I heard the growling go one way and I absolutely want to head that way because I ain't afraid of some growling. I'm afraid of people who doggy or fucking books because why? But not that I've told my best friend Rowan anything about this yet.
01:06:01
Speaker
Totally not stressed out. So you're going farther and farther into the forest. um
01:06:09
Speaker
There's small tracks that are kind of showing you that you are going in the right way. um There's like a random pencil that you find. You can see the sort of torn cuff from one of the uniforms at school.
01:06:31
Speaker
Uh, there's a tie on the ground and there's also kind of like a necklace that is just sort of like dropped, but that seems to be like the end of the sort of path that you guys have been walking. Cool. Cause I'm picking up that necklace.
01:06:56
Speaker
Am I able to do like a detect magic on the necklace? Yeah. I mean, I can do this. I'm pretty sure. Yeah. Yeah. And then it's a roll, a stat die. I want to say it's a charm. Cool. I have a plus two for charms. So I roll my d8. Don't suck, don't suck, don't suck, don't suck. Six plus two, eight. Cool. So,
01:07:27
Speaker
what I'm trying to see with the detect magic, because I'm trying to see if there's any protection magic or any sort of like familial or like special like ah special anything sort of attached to this necklace. Because I imagine in a magical world, similar to the real world, if somebody has a thing and they love a thing too much, it sort of becomes real or sort of kind becomes imbued with its own magic. Very a Velveteen Rabbit. That's what I'm looking for.
01:07:54
Speaker
It feels old. It doesn't necessarily feel like it has any protections on it, but it feels old in the way of maybe family heirloom.
01:08:11
Speaker
Yeah, this is a clue. This is going with the shoe. Not that I am not taking note of the torn clothes and shit that we found around here, which I am now mentioning to Rowan. By the way, I found something. Did you notice these closed door these torn clothes? And look, I found this necklace. I'm going to put this with a shoe. Do you think we should go further?
01:08:33
Speaker
um ah Let's see. so Do we like, are there any adults like doing any searches? Like what the hell? Are we the only ones? You guys have been sort of in your own bubble that you haven't really noticed any of the adults like going and doing their own things, but there have been like little announcements of search parties that were going to start.
01:09:01
Speaker
Okay, it's like we can't be the only ones looking for her, right? So maybe we should like leave something for them to find her trail. I know Sylvie would want me to hold on to this for her to make sure it was safe and like didn't get stuck in like a bag or something. You don't know her at all.
01:09:23
Speaker
We're going to be best friends now. She believes in the family. She believes me about the the pixie mafia, so we're best friends now too. She's not the same best friends that you and I are, but we're going to be friends now. Don't worry about it. We're going to be friends once we find her, and no, she's safe. It's going to be fine. I'm not jealous, Ben. I know. It's because we're roommates. But. OK. I'm going to keep this necklace.
01:09:47
Speaker
to If you don't feel safe, we can go back to the room and we can discuss what we found. Or if you want to stay right where we are, I can send Sir Reginald a little bit further, see if they sniff anything.
01:10:03
Speaker
Yeah, no, we're fucked anyway. Send him. We're not fucked. It's fine. It's fine. The adults don't know where we are, not to mention we're legally adults anyway. It's not that they can't know. We have to do a lot worse to get it spelled. Trust me, I already know. I looked at that. It's fine. So I'm going to have Sir Reginald sniff the necklace. And I would like to send Sir Reginald a little bit further to see if they sniff anything else for a little bit more of a trail.
01:10:32
Speaker
Uh, Sir Reginald's little feet starts just like walking around, um, after a while.
01:10:44
Speaker
And it's like a few, so not like a while, while probably like like a minute or two. ah You see him stop by the ground, like just full covered ground of just like dirt and shit. Do a ah little like turn and then fall asleep.
01:11:07
Speaker
Oh no, no, no, no. Okay. Can, can we go up to like ah stay some feedback or whatever? Like I gonna like clamber sort of closer to him. Um, can I cast a, like a dispel magic around the area where he just fell asleep? Cause does it look like a magical sleep? No, it just looks like,
01:11:34
Speaker
He looked like a nocturnal skunk just decided to sleep on the job. You asshole. I thought it was a magical effect. Try to wake him up. Reg. Oh my god. Sorry, Bart, fast, I swear. Sorry, I gently like nudge him with my foot. Wake up. Jerk. Look, it's so much. Can you please? That's he sounds like. Go, can you please, I will give you a bite of it.
01:12:05
Speaker
If you go a little further, I will help you ask a tree for a whole apple and it'll just be yours. You want a whole apple, baby? in your head he and In your head, all you hear is, I'm going to spray you. and just so
01:12:23
Speaker
Wow. You were so rude.
01:12:30
Speaker
ah reggie Reginald skunking 10 the first.
01:12:38
Speaker
Rowan is like embarrassed to be watching this. You're alone in the woods and you're mortified by my behavior. This tracks me up. No, no, no, no. Embarrassed by the argument between the familiar and the witch. Can you please sniff a little longer and go check? Don't you want to show up, Hobbs?
01:13:03
Speaker
Hobbs found a shoe the other day. Hobbs good cuddler. Hobbs doesn't need to show up. Hobbs is a really good cuddler, yeah. I agree. I agree. And so are you. And you'll get more cuddles and belly scritches and a whole apple. If you can go sniff a little bit further, please.
01:13:27
Speaker
Yeah, I'm gonna scratch Sir Reginald behind there a little bit. Can you please go check for me, baby? No smell. You don't smell anything, there's nothing there? Okay. No smell. Do the track stop here? No no smell.
01:13:49
Speaker
Okay, I'm gonna trust you, Reggie. I'm gonna trust you. If I find out later that you're lying, fish I will judge you for five minutes and then probably still- Like skunks do when they're irritated. He thumps his back leg and goes, no, smell. Wow. but This is what I get for wanting a a large toddler of a cat. You're so cute.
01:14:24
Speaker
Fine, fine. I'm seeing Reggie back on his way. Go back to the broom and get in the backpack.
01:14:36
Speaker
Well, I guess we're not going any further. What would you like to do with this information and we have we now have, Rowan? Um, shit. I mean, we are in the woods. This would be the place to do it.
01:14:54
Speaker
Uh, yeah. Yeah, you're right. You're right. I don't know what we're doing. I don't know what we're doing and people are gonna suspect us, so... Honey, people already do. It's too late for that.
01:15:09
Speaker
Thank you so much. Thank you so much Penn for being my emotional support. I really appreciate it and super comforting. I know, people already suspect us. So really what we should do is we should get more information that way we can give them more clues so that we can find these kids.
01:15:29
Speaker
I definitely wanted to graduate, you know? Like I knew I wanted to graduate. We're getting graduated with honors when we find these kids. Scholarship money. Yeah. Yeah. Scholarship isn't going to matter much when we're in prison. In a magical prison. Getting out of your grandfather's shadow. Shush. Just shut up.
01:15:58
Speaker
I love you. Yeah, you do. Okay.
01:16:07
Speaker
okay So honestly, I don't know. Uh, can I, I don't know. It's like, I guess, can I do a brain check for it? it Like rattling any ideas around what we can do? I have no idea. yeah You can do a brain check. Okay.
01:16:27
Speaker
Oh boy, a six!
01:16:31
Speaker
Who's asked, um, what, die? A 20. Oh, you, adversity token. Um, yeah. I need to use some of these adversity tokens. No thoughts and had, no thoughts and had just real stress and would really like to just yeah yeah get shit together. I need to use these.
01:16:59
Speaker
Okay, okay. You know what? When stumped, go to the library, right? Yeah, done. Let's do it. Okay.
01:17:13
Speaker
then Okay. we Let's look up creatures that historically eat children. Or enchant children. Can we do that?
01:17:25
Speaker
Yeah, we can go do that. I love this plan. I love this one. I love the smell of books. I don't love the smell of a certain Reginald right now. Reginald, by the way, has found the apple in my bag and is just eating it. Everything else. Sorry, just in case yeah you weren't aware, I actually ah was yeah ah in grad school to be a librarian. so And I do have the little letters after my name. So that's why I'm doing the fancy library dance.
01:17:55
Speaker
Raise your hand if you're surprised by this knowledge. No one is surprised to find out you're a real life librarian. Only by training, not by job. okay Remember that the first time you ever actually picked me up, it was indeed at a library.
01:18:12
Speaker
Wow, I forgot about that. Okay, yeah so to the library says the nerd. To the library. And I'm just like skipping and humming behind you as we trot off to the library, coming back through the woods, still skipping and trotting. Yeah, you're definitely super happy to to go to the library when all classes are canceled, right? Right.
01:18:37
Speaker
I'm gonna go in a corner and read some saucy books. Well, at the library at the school library. Do you think they have saucy books? Listen, they have a guitar. Okay, that's all that matters. That shit is is that is marked as YA. They don't know. And it's checks out. It's about faith. Yeah, you can't read that mug. But it says cauldron blessed. Thank you. Oh, that's what that means. Yes. Okay. Yes. From a guitar. Yeah. Okay. Got it.
01:19:08
Speaker
Cauldron boil me.
01:19:13
Speaker
So you're looking up, you're looking up some stuff at the library. for Yeah, like thinking about like cryptids or creatures that historically like take children.
01:19:26
Speaker
other than witches. Okay. Listen, the only way you're gonna get some good meat off of a child is it's gotta be young, it's gotta be a little chunky, and like human meat doesn't seem like it would cook very well, you gotta make sure you have like a good roast, and you gotta stick it in a pot, you gotta let it stew for a long time, hence the cauldron, and either way, it's probably not gonna taste very good, and I'm vegetarian, so that doesn't even work.
01:19:49
Speaker
These are all things that Penn says at random while walking into a library full of witches. Yeah, Penn, Penn, less suspicious, not more. You are no fun.
01:20:06
Speaker
ah like god Meanwhile, while she's researching cryptids, I'm picking up just a whole ton of monster-based fiction um to look at and you know try to read. so i come with just We both show up with a stack of books. Hers is actual research, I imagine, and mine is just trash. Monster porn? At a school library, yes.
01:20:32
Speaker
What is this school librarian doing? Listing to my recommendation, thank you. Reading it in her spare time. Yeah, we walk in and I imagine the librarian is just like chilling on her Kindle unlimited like at the desk. Yeah, over there.
01:20:48
Speaker
Yep. Okay, yeah, so let me know if I should roll anything for this. I don't know. I'll say that you don't need to roll for it because you're more you're more or less just like picking up books and reading them. You did learn about um a certain cryptid called the Eirich.
01:21:10
Speaker
which I will spell out for you because I act it's like real. um It's I J I R A Q. And they are known for shape shifting and kidnapping children to hide them away. And where what is their range like in the. ah Geographically.
01:21:37
Speaker
Geographically. chiy doty-oo It doesn't give me that. Okay, so not ah not like Appalachia. it's It says within the ah In unit religion. So it's in within a certain religion that this cryptid or monster sort of reside. Oh, okay. So maybe like more Canada.
01:22:04
Speaker
Um, according to this fantastic, oh shit, this fantastic thing that I've just now written, uh, read, cause I've now picked up a copy of, um, Opal Blacks. How was the name of that book? Anyway, it's a, it's a book about fucking a shapeshifter.
01:22:24
Speaker
oh Like, where were we going? Of course. Not likely what we're looking for, but it takes place in cold places. I mean, it just got pretty cold outside, don't you think? I dig these points. You think it's something to do with the cold based on the book? What are we talking about? Well, the book takes place in like a cold area. Like it's snowy all over. I mean, it's just snow here and we're in the mountains in like Appalachia. Oh my God. Does it actually snow up there? Doesn't it? I have no idea.
01:23:03
Speaker
I don't know. We live in California. It doesn't snow here. and gay It snows in the Sierras. So but the Sierras are like twice the height of the Appalachians, if not more. Yes. The Appalachians do get heavy snowfall. Oh, OK. Cool. All right. So and I don't actually remember what like semester we're in right now or season or whatever. So you're kind of like it's the second to last.
01:23:33
Speaker
second tool Second to Isn't there for semesters? Oh, a quarter? You mean like a quarter for a year? Thank you. Yeah. yeah yeah Second. it's So it's the third quarter. Okay. So it's like like January to March. Yeah. yeah that Okay. Okay. So it could still be cold. Yeah, for sure. Okay. ah Okay. January. Okay. So we're in...
01:24:02
Speaker
The third quarter when it's colder. Okay, so I'm going to tell Penn about this like weird cryptid, but it like isn't known to be around here. Did you say it also enchants children or just kidnaps children? It shapeshifts? It shapeshifts and kidnaps children. Okay, so we don't know about that. It's also like teenagers when little kids are going to be way more easier to kidnap.
01:24:31
Speaker
They are louder, though.
01:24:36
Speaker
Sorry. OK, what did you say, Ellie? No, it was just ah they're known for sort of catching and releasing, so they will kidnap the children and abandon them. ah My only thoughts are, wow, so the so the fae can take them then. So let's just be. Like a circle of life.
01:25:01
Speaker
I still don't think so. OK, so I'm going to try to assuage Penn by also like getting in history, like because they're definitely known for kidnapping. You know, if you step into the wrong thing, but Penn told me about like the glowing eyes, right? Or the glazed over eyes, right? Yeah, I'm pretty sure. yeah Yeah, and that doesn't sound like a fae enchantment, does it? No. Certainly doesn't sound like the fery the pixie mafia to me. Yeah, so okay. Doesn't sound okay. Okay, it doesn't sound like like fae enchantment. Oh, there's a kitty. Hi, kitty.
01:25:49
Speaker
um
01:25:55
Speaker
I'm stumped. I'm stumped. okay It's like, could it be a cryptid that doesn't live here? I guess that doesn't help me at all. I mean, it could live here. Could live here. There's cryptids everywhere. Plus, we're in the Appalachia. Literally everything is in these woods. Everything is in these woods, okay? The Appalachia are so in old. I don't know why. They are so fucking old. Like, everything is in these woods. I'm not even worried about it. Plus, it could be being controlled by something else.
01:26:27
Speaker
And also check out these sweet ass antlers. These are so nice. Come on. Penn, we don't have time for the smut. We always have time for the smut. Anyway, no, we have a better idea of what we're looking for. So let's go back. Well, we know that these are some of the things that we're looking for, because I haven't been eating up with my cryptid classes, which is totally on me. I understand. Let's go back and ask the trees.
01:26:55
Speaker
I don't think the trees are going to help us again. I think we've gotten everything we can get from those trees. There's a limited amount of trees in that radius yeah around that path. hi
01:27:13
Speaker
We have to find something. I mean, what do you want to do? Should we go? Should we tell an adult? You want to tell an adult? I know there's like, I think by now we've heard that they're sending out parties, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's like they they are looking for them. You know what? I've got an idea. Let's go talk to Ms. Harker. She's the Defense Against Malicious Magic teacher. And my second favorite, because who doesn't love Ms. Air? trans trans Transfiguration.
01:27:44
Speaker
Let's go talk to her, see if she'll give us some information. Okay, the dams teacher. Dam teacher, what? Let's go.
01:27:55
Speaker
Class is canceled, so I assume she may be in her office if she's not out in a search party, right? Yeah, she might be. It would definitely be smarter to go office than attempt to yeah find her in her classroom. Yeah, because we need to get some info here somewhere. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:28:17
Speaker
So... While you guys are walking, ah you hear, like, the murmurings of, like, the search party that's, like, being, like, put together within the quad. And when you get to, um, the office of Miss, uh, Parker? Parker. Parker. Amazing. Um, you knock on the door and you hear, like, a flustered, uh, come in!
01:28:47
Speaker
Okay. Oh, hi, Penn. How are you? I don't know that I'm here. I'm so sad that we have the Mr. Class today. But I understand safety first. We got him like, I can't believe what's happening with these kids. I know. And they're all just like, lower classmen. I feel so bad, especially for the parents, because it's like, some of them, it's their first year here. And that's like, not safe.
01:29:17
Speaker
I know it's like this girl, Sylvie, like, oh my God. I met her a few weeks ago and she was just the sweetest thing. We've been talking about books. I just, I just, she's just so sweet. I can't believe she's missing. And I was just, I was just hoping maybe you had some sort of information from me so I could like maybe feel reassured that she was okay.
01:29:37
Speaker
Yep. Oh, hi, Rowan. I'm going to keep calling you, Rowan, and Oh, hi, Rowan. I just got the kid's name wrong, so I failed that check.
01:29:54
Speaker
Know her name with Sylvie. Yeah, Sylvie's right. Okay, cool.
01:30:03
Speaker
ah She looks at you and goes, oh, well, Sylvie is relatively new. she She just came here this year. Isn't she a little bit young for you to be hanging out? Well, you know what, none of my business.
01:30:19
Speaker
um
01:30:24
Speaker
I don't I can't reassure you that so he's going to be okay because we don't really know about the other kids either. So it's it it would be kind of irresponsible for me to tell you that she's going to be okay.
01:30:44
Speaker
That's just so unhelpful.
01:30:52
Speaker
Miss Bylar has been conducting just like honorary just look out points across the school grounds as of late. So she's been really, really putting her best foot forward to help find these children. I know that. Okay.
01:31:18
Speaker
Okay, so Ms. Byler is the one who's been who's been leading. I'm surprised that you're not leading, seeing as how you are a defense against malicious magic teacher, but no worries, no worries. We all have lives. We all have things to do. um But thank you. Thank you for letting me know. Nothing. I will see you when classes resume. um Thank you so much. off I just love your class. I just love you so much. Okay, um we're gonna go.
01:31:46
Speaker
Oh, okay. Bye, dear. As you're walking away, you hear her just go, well, she's failing her next test. Use your hand if you're surprised. Still no hands. Well, you got the blunt down. Oh my God. Just like red in the face, Rowan, like, oh my God. Okay, well, that means that you have to talk to the next teacher, Rowan. Fuck. Yeah, because they like you.
01:32:15
Speaker
They don't like me. Well, when you tell the damn teacher that, oh, I'm surprised you're not the one doing it, that's a little mean.
01:32:26
Speaker
I'm surprised you're not the one leading, I mean, but okay. I mean, at least I didn't call her a Gilderoy Lockhart, her face. I like my face how it is. Anyway, um so talk to Ms. Bylar, who is your favorite, let's go.
01:32:44
Speaker
All right. If she's not out somewhere, we could check her office. I don't even know if she's going to be there. We can check her office. I will wait outside. I will wait outside the door. She'll talk to you alone. But like none of these teachers want to talk to me. I wonder why. I'm so likable.
01:33:04
Speaker
Pep, pep, pep, pep. Yes, dear. Pep has pulled out more gummy worms. It is now eating those.
01:33:12
Speaker
As she rifles through them, you can hear the loose change.
01:33:17
Speaker
um Is she in her office? There's a note on her office that says meet in quad if you're a part of so the search party. Let's go to the search party. Yeah, that sounds right. Yeah, maybe if you know what, blend in. Go to a search party. Let's go to the quad.
01:33:47
Speaker
So on your walk to the quad, ah you notice that this place is more packed than normal. Like there is a lot of upper class students here, as well as a good majority of the teachers. um Do note that the headmaster is here, along with Miss Bylar and Madame Demetresk.
01:34:10
Speaker
So they are both here um and it it looks almost like the entire upperclassmen like year is here to help look for these kids. Okay. Okay. So ah I think I'll go up to you Ms. Byler and ask to join a search party.
01:34:40
Speaker
Yes. Yeah, sure. Okay. She looks at you and goes, Ms. Wicker, I'm so to see you. Yeah, things are awful. I heard this horrible rumor that you saw Sylvie last. Was that true?
01:35:00
Speaker
Yes, we saw her before she disappeared in the late afternoon. and it's just bouncing around her. So it was nowhere in near nighttime then. and it was It was just earlier in the afternoon. Yeah, it was it was right after dinner. Right after dinner? Yeah. Okay. Wouldn't that count as evening? Oh, whatever, early evening, late afternoon. Okay, okay, okay, I just wanted to...
01:35:39
Speaker
Oh, that's so unfortunate. i'm We're so worried for her. um Yeah, you can join a search party. Is there any particular one that you want to join?
01:35:58
Speaker
yo Yours?
01:36:05
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. Great. Awesome. Charm roll. Yay. Oh boy. It's a D10. Okay. D10. Here we go. Come on. Do something, please. An eight. Yay. Um, she immediately lights up and is just like, I would love for you to join my party. Yeah. Yeah.
01:36:30
Speaker
we create search party
01:36:35
Speaker
It's just like desperate for approval at this point, I guess. and Okay. my my So um I guess is there like a group of upperclassmen with her or? Yeah.
01:36:51
Speaker
Yeah, there's a group of upperclassmen. There's three other upperclassmen with her, um two of them being ah boys that you really don't interact with. You know, their names are like Marcus and Devin.
01:37:09
Speaker
And there's one girl that her name is Natasha, which, again, you don't really talk to. The only really rural person you talk to is Penn. But you you know them from like your other classes. Sure. Natasha Marcus and that one dude. Cool. Yes. Devon. Devon. Dylan. Devon. Devon. Devon. Dylan. Devon.
01:37:41
Speaker
Hi. They're like, hi, ah what's up? Yep. Yep. Yeah, this sucks.
01:37:57
Speaker
Okay. ah So yeah, totally. Charmful, charmed, charmed, charmed. Yep. Yep. Social, teenager. um
01:38:11
Speaker
All right. So it's like, so are we going into the forest or? ah Yeah, ah Natasha is the one talking, she goes, yeah, um apparently they want us to all go into the forest. But as soon as it hits like 430, we have to start like heading back. Okay. Do we remember what classes we have with any of these people? Like do I know? Do we do I know what class I have with Natasha? You have potions and charms with Natasha. Okay.
01:38:45
Speaker
I'm gonna see, oh I mean, I don't wanna like magically jump Natasha because that's that's true super I'm gonna see if I can strike up a conversation with Natasha. Okay.
01:38:58
Speaker
Oh my God, this super sucks Natasha, right? Yeah, no, it totally sucks. I would hate to see like any of these kids get hurt. Yeah, I know. Ugh.
01:39:14
Speaker
But at least you don't have to worry about that potions test. I mean, I would rather the kids be here than worry about a potions test. I would rather do the potions test. Fair. so I'm going to stop trying to talk to people because I'm obviously already making them uncomfortable. A plus.
01:39:44
Speaker
I want you to know right now, Penn is gonna cry about this later. Oh, geez.
01:39:57
Speaker
Ouch, ouch, ouch. Oh no, she would rather have the kids be here. She's now just quiet.
01:40:11
Speaker
and just sort of following the group. Yep, okay, so yeah, what are we what do we do in the search party? um It seems like some people have like their own little mage lights going on like floating from their palms. It seems like some are doing some like detect magic spells and tracking spells that are going off.
01:40:34
Speaker
um You notice Miss Bylar just sort of hanging toward the back of the group? Hmm. Not doing much. She's like sort of watching and supervising the upperclassmen, but she doesn't seem to be like taking an active role.
01:40:59
Speaker
Hmm. All right. Penn's going to whisper to Rowan, I think Miss Bylar knows more than she's telling you.
01:41:14
Speaker
I guess I will like sort of fall back and walk next to Miss Bylar because I like her anyway. I think she knows way more than she's telling you, so you need to ask, you need to make her feel safe.
01:41:31
Speaker
So I won't be anywhere in and around. I'm just gonna hang out with these people who obviously hate me. Oh shit. And like follow the search page while you go, please find some more information. And then like, tell me immediately.
01:41:47
Speaker
Tell me whatever you find out immediately, please. So Ms. Bylard, do you think like these kids could be enchanted?
01:42:03
Speaker
What makes you say that? Oh.
01:42:10
Speaker
When we saw Sylvie. I told her to go to her dorm, go back to her dorm like. I thought that's where she was headed. And then later she disappeared. Like, why would she go into the woods or the forest? or That's a good question, especially since we all put out that warning ah to basically not go into the woods. So it's a very good question. Um.
01:42:44
Speaker
was she Did she see have any other signs of maybe something was going on magically?
01:42:53
Speaker
I mean, no, she was just out in the courtyard when we were heading back to our dorm after dinner. She didn't seem like anything off with her. But I don't know, I was just thinking like,
01:43:14
Speaker
If these kids are all wandering, maybe they're being magicked there, right? I think that would make sense. I mean, something has to lure them out of the barrier itself, so... Do you know anything that could do that? There's definitely charms ah that could...
01:43:43
Speaker
have a way of charming someone to do their bidding. There's also different potions and elixirs that could also have that effect. It really depends on the kind of effects that were sort of shown to really know what was going on. There's also different creatures that have that luring ability. There's a lot that could happen with that sort of reaction if she was magically charmed at all.
01:44:20
Speaker
Just, I don't know. It seems really weird for this to be happening the way that it is. I don't know. I guess like i guess I could talk to the history teacher about like if this has ever happened before, but it seems I don't know. This this is definitely newer. we haven't We've had plenty of Fiasco's like the Poltergeist of 62, but that's a different story altogether.
01:44:53
Speaker
um
01:44:56
Speaker
We also had a Sasquatch that broke into the dining hall one time, but again, different sort of situation. um But no, this is definitely a new problem that we did not foresee.
01:45:18
Speaker
So um i is there some kind of like insight check I can make with her like why she's hanging back the way she is or like just getting any kind of read on her?
01:45:30
Speaker
You can make me a charm or a brains, really, to just see what you can either figure out or manage to get out of her, really, depends on what you're trying to do. Okay, and can I spend adversity tokens to give myself a bonus? I can't remember what. Yeah, I will allow that. Okay, so what kind of bonus do I get if I spend a token? You'd get a plus two.
01:45:58
Speaker
A plus two, okay, cool. I'm gonna use that and roll brains. Okay. I want you to know that pen is staring at you from afar. Eye is like watering just like. Oh my God, this D20. I changed my D20. All right, it's a six plus two and eight.
01:46:25
Speaker
Holmes, your dice sucks right now. Move on. Your dice do not love you. This is how it usually is with me. So you're not really getting a read. You don't really know exactly why she's hanging back. So you really ah can't really figure that out. If anything, it's just making you more like suspicious, if that's how you're feeling.
01:46:53
Speaker
Do I take another adversity token? Yeah. Oh my God. I need to be spending these every roll because I clearly get them back. All right. Well, I guess I'll sort of just, you know, ah saunter back to Penn and be just like,
01:47:17
Speaker
a I don't know. I don't know. Like creatures can do it. Potions can do this kind of like weird luring thing into the woods. It's and charms. OK, are there any other? OK, thank you for trying. I don't understand why you're failing so hard right now, um but I understand you're stressed and I know you're heartbroken because we're not taking the test today and that's OK here. Have a gummy worm. I know that I love you.
01:47:46
Speaker
Do we see any other adults around? Is there anyone else that we might be able to ask questions to? Within the trees, you can see the headmaster.
01:47:59
Speaker
And you can see on the other side, Madame Demetresk, which you guys have not had the pleasure of even trying to speak to yet. Okay. I...
01:48:13
Speaker
People won't stop talking about Madame Demetresk, and even though I suck at potions, let's fucking do it. um we're I'm just whispering back and forth to Rowan. um I don't give a shit what Natasha, Marcus, and Dylan, or Devin, or whatever the fuck his name is, um are doing, um because I'm that bitch. Come on. Let's go talk to Madame Demetresk. People keep talking about her. Ms. Byler is obviously not giving you shit. Let's go.
01:48:45
Speaker
And I walk us over to where, well, I mean, whether or not you follow me is up to you, but... No, I do. yeah Okay, cool. Because if you didn't do it willingly, I was going to drag you. I see what you're pretty used to at this point. just If they ask, I'm just going to be like, we're spreading out. They're not going to ask. They're just glad to be ready to be able to imagine.
01:49:06
Speaker
um ah So we walk up to Ms. Demetresk and I say in a very calm, clear voice, Hi, Ms. Demetresk, can I ask you some questions? Oh, yes, you can hardly ask me any questions you desire. How can I help you, darling? Do you? I'm so worried about these kids. Is there, you know, is I like, I i think there's a hole in the gate somewhere.
01:49:36
Speaker
And that hold. Have you seen this? Well, there's an area I can't I can't remember exactly, what but it seems like there's an area where like I've seen some squirrels and chipmunks getting through underneath. And I'm really worried that that might be where these kids are going. But there's no and I know I saw that Sylvia girl after dinner and we told her to go to her room. um Um, and that's the direction she was headed and she was absolutely terrified. There's just no way she would have gone out into the woods by herself. Have you reported the? I did, but nobody believes me. I told Ms. Harker, but she didn't believe me. Bold face lie.
01:50:20
Speaker
is oh well is there anything Is there anything that maybe you know, is there anything else that maybe I know? Like, I'd be so happy to ask some of the trees if you think that there's something that maybe I should be asking them to check for. I mean, the trees only know so much. They can only see, they cannot do, unfortunately. They are very wise because they have seen so much, but they really don't know what's going on.
01:50:47
Speaker
ah
01:50:52
Speaker
is you were the last one to talk to Sylvie, right? Yeah, which is just that's so terrifying to even think of because we would. Oh, my God. Oh, yes, yes, I understand. um Some of the teachers think ah there might be something weird going on with you two. Jen, and you I'm going to be so so clear. I do not think so. I think you are just teenage teenagers that were in wrong place, wrong time. Thank you. I just, I would never, I would never hurt anyone without warning. Yeah. Never. And it has nothing to do with your intelligence. It just more has to do with you don't give off bad vibes. Thank you. Thank you. I don't even know what questions to ask. Oh my God.
01:51:50
Speaker
Can I roll, let's see if, let's see if I can use, I'm gonna use my intuition. ah about Intuitiveness to see if there's anything else I can sort of glean or get information out of about this from Miss Demetrasque. And that is a, I'm using that.
01:52:14
Speaker
I know what things are. What do I roll for internet intuition? I literally just did it. It should be under strengths. Strengths.
01:52:26
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, I don't have to roll anything. I just use my intuition. Booyah. Yeah. So. so Do you get the suddenly this like brain blast of why would anybody want underclassmen? Why would anybody want to take them? What's the motive? If it's a cryptid, that's another situation altogether. What if it's not a cryptid? If not, what's a motive? Yeah.
01:53:02
Speaker
So that's definitely a thought that has crossed my crosser that Miss Demetras knows the motive. it There's a chance, especially how many. kit How many kids have just like started rumors? And here's the thing with the rumors gather rumors. But at some point, the person has had to have done something to have started that rumor to spiral. There's always some truth in those lies.
01:53:32
Speaker
always been through from those lies. Ms. Demetrasque, I was in the woods earlier today because I was taking my skunk for a walk. And I noticed that there were some larger footprints and I'd asked the trees if they had seen anything. And, you know, the it seemed like maybe she was charmed. So Gee, I don't think this was a cryptid. You saw her be charmed from the trees? Well, her eyes were really glazed over. That's what the trees showed me, that her eyes were glazed over. So she must have been charmed. So I don't think this was a cryptid.
01:54:14
Speaker
Do you have any idea why someone would be doing this? Well, young witches and wizards have um more untamed magic, which means it has more of an oomph. That's the way to explain it. They don't really have the control yet, which ah is why we take our classes so seriously.
01:54:47
Speaker
um There is a chance that ah the Z-Cryptids sort of ah felt that magic and was just like, oh, stronger dinner, and went after that, or ah that there could be, I don't want to say there could be someone in Z-School that are taking advantage of Z children, but there might be. Well, there there have been cryptids in these woods for longer than this school has been here. So if this would have been, no they live here this is their home that would have been, this would have happened ages ago. yes It's got to be somebody doing something. Who's the newest teacher?
01:55:35
Speaker
The newest teacher is Mr. Galley, which is the mathematics teacher, I believe. Okay, I'm already already distrustful. What? No, I just the numerology teacher. oh Gross, row gross, gross.
01:55:58
Speaker
We get some more info. So we girl, what do we have? What do we know? We know they're being charmed. Yeah, no, it's definitely somebody's doing something. We know there's a hole in the barrier, which we don't know how that hole got there. Yeah.
01:56:14
Speaker
Somebody's doing some magic shit. like that's That's obvious, because we're at fucking magic school. It's not Voldemort, because that is a copyright enforcement.
01:56:25
Speaker
I don't know. Is this math teacher wearing a turban all the time? Does he smell weird? Does he smell like garlic? like What's going on? He's just a dude that wears a baseball cap and somehow got a job at a magic school, but he's like, they're fucking paying my bills, so whatever. Wow.
01:56:47
Speaker
um Okay.
01:56:54
Speaker
read I feel, I feel like brain drain. Like there's time of ideas i'm like eyeballing pen and I am pen. I'm eyeballing row and like, God, I asked some fucking questions.
01:57:07
Speaker
I don't have any questions. You're the smart first up, that's my BFF you're talking about. Do not downplay your smarts, okay? Good. That's my BFF.
01:57:24
Speaker
How dare you, how dare you, I love you, you're brilliant. Have some fucking questions, I swear to God, all of this is being spoken through, through the eyeballs. Yeah, through eyeball, eyeball. um So ah actually, before I try to ask any questions, ah has the area that but that we were at, like the previous night, has anyone scoured that area and found like the cuff and the hi tie and stuff, like that path?
01:57:51
Speaker
The path that you're talking about has been sort of scoped out by Caldwell Miss Group, which is the Headmaster. um They have noted them, they have like said that they found them, and they started going sort of in the same direction that you guys were headed to the night before. Okay, so we gotta go after the Headmaster now.
01:58:20
Speaker
Oh, God. Okay. I guess we're going to spread out to or toward the headmaster. I don't know what to ask. I'm staying with you. i Yeah.
01:58:31
Speaker
huh I'm spreading out from our search party. I'm here to help keep you calm, which I imagine is actually the opposite of what that's doing. I need to do anything but a brain roll because it's sucking hardcore, so that's fun.
01:58:50
Speaker
but anyway I will give you in my adversity tokens if you wanna do the brain rolls. I will do the brain rolls. I will gladly do the brain rolls and let's see how it goes. Okay, so we have now sauntered up to... The headmaster? Headmaster missed. Like the game. Got that right. Okay, and I am going to do...
01:59:16
Speaker
Can I do a brain and a charm roll? Because I wanna make sure that I, because again, I was using my totally calm, totally normal. Do your brain first and then we'll see where it goes and then I can let you do the charm roll. Okay, 10.
01:59:37
Speaker
Motherfucker. Did it fall? Yes.
01:59:49
Speaker
This encounter is wrong. How does that not count?
01:59:55
Speaker
Maybe it should have counted because it was better than this one I just got. Tell me that one then. I wish it was more to a 2, so. What is your- Your 7 when it hit the ground, so. What die were you using? 10. Okay. I'll pick a different one. Grab an adversity token because there's no- The thing is about Caldwell Mist is ah even though he might not be attracted to men, he is a very attractive person and he make and he does make brain turn off for at least a moment.
02:00:37
Speaker
Well, I mean, and we've never spoken to the headmaster before. This is the person who's know you've never gotten in trouble. You've been very good. I've never been. I have never been in trouble. I'm sorry. I have never done anything bad in my life ever. yeah my god You've never done something bad enough that got you put in the headmaster's office. So the suspending thing didn't actually happen, huh? They didn't use the headmaster for that.
02:01:08
Speaker
All right. Okay. Um, okay. gosh What the heck? Um, okay. Well, we're toward that path that we were yeah on last night. Okay. So.
02:01:24
Speaker
um I guess if I can try to ask him if they have found. I gained two adversity points if I fail a role so back agree. Oh yes, you have to double yours, that's right. Let's see, how do I put this? ah Looking over this trail and stuff and pointing, you know, it's like, oh, have you found Have you found anything? Just trying to ask like questions toward where we were. He stops and he looks at you and he goes, oh, Ms. Wicker, I wasn't expecting to see you. We have found some things from the missing students.
02:02:09
Speaker
ah there There's been like some tears of clothing that very obviously come from the school. um Have you and your party found anything?
02:02:21
Speaker
Well, we found a footprint leading this way, like a day or two ago, like a day or so ago, but that was, that was it.
02:02:32
Speaker
You were out here a day or two ago? Well, it was before we found Sophie, we saw a shoe. But- Sylvie. Sylvie! Listen, listen, there's so many things happening- I mean, after we put out the entire thing of don't,
02:02:52
Speaker
come out again? You can see a shoe that's like three feet away from the border. We didn't do anything. We didn't leave. I just saw a shoe and then the shoe was gone. I don't know why the shoe was gone, but the shoe was gone. Cold sweats, cold sweats.
02:03:13
Speaker
I'm gonna pull out a church fan from my bag and hand that to you. Like, oh, you're sweaty. You must be overheating. Yes. Yes. It's unseasonably warm. Yeah. Well, like we, so like we saw a shoe, which well was before this whole thing that you stuff you found. So something is happening. I want to talk anymore. Yeah. Guess something is happening. Um, children are missing. Um, miss.
02:03:49
Speaker
for i your shadow so it's a good saying i was chatter so shadowstone this such partyty
02:04:01
Speaker
sure
02:04:03
Speaker
wonderful
02:04:09
Speaker
I am going to go back with my potty and I will see you in my office after this. cool so I'm not allowed to talk anymore. Awesome. Because I love talking. You keep failing your brainrolls. I love talking. I'm so good at it. Yeah, but you're the teacher's pet. So, there's been a talking with teachers and principals and I just, I am a human trash fire. I'm sorry, I'm a witchy trash fire.
02:04:54
Speaker
so Oh my God. All right. I'm bringing out new D20s. It's fine. It's fine. Like mine is in flight. Like what do you do? Like I can run away. I'm fast. I can run away.
02:05:10
Speaker
We can run away from this problem. I'm so lost. Let's go to the cafeteria, pack up some snacks, go back to our room, and I'm going to have a good cry.
02:05:29
Speaker
He's not gonna go to to the headmaster's office even though he asked you to I'm gonna have a good cry and then I'm gonna go to the headmaster's office that way when I show up like you can see that I've been sobbing Because he went back to his office before the search party was over. I'm guessing right, right? No, I um it was after it was over. He was at his office Okay. Well, anyway, i've it's later than it should be but I've now shown up at his office Okay um knock on the door. Yes. Okay, he goes, come in. You wanted to see me? Oh, yes. Yes. ah Miss Shatterstone. Wonderful to see you. I called you in because I am honestly just more scared for your safety and the safety of other students. You see, when we asked to
02:06:29
Speaker
stay within the confines of the actual school, we didn't mean, oh, I'm just going to put myself right in front of this border and say I'm still in the school. That's not how that works. You have to be in the school so we know you're safe. So really it's a safety issue. I understand. I understand. Per the school guidelines and rules, because I did read that book.
02:06:59
Speaker
Or rather, Rowan maybe read that book. Per the guidelines, as long as we do not cross the borders, we're not doing anything wrong. We didn't cross the borders. It was still a little bit light out. I'm not you did anything wrong. I just would rather you be within the walls of the school than outside.
02:07:26
Speaker
in Indoors? Indoors? Indoors, yes, yes. Well, I had to walk my skunk. I can't just let her shit in the cat box all the time. It's a really small room. It gets really, really smelly in there. So I was just walking my skunk, still very close to the school, not very far past the border. She just really likes to be able to smell. She is, it's a skunk. She's a little bit stinky too. It's a skunk. Gender means nothing to them.
02:07:55
Speaker
So I was just walking in my stomach. So I wasn't even alone. I understand. I'm so sorry. Thank you for being concerned about me. I'm just so much more concerned about these kids. Can I use my intuition to see if there's... Yeah.
02:08:09
Speaker
cool cool I don't have to roll for that. I just have to use an adversity point back to to be asked. So in your surroundings, ah his office is very large, um dark mahogany walls all around it has several paintings of different headmasters throughout the years. There are books upon books upon books. It's like his own little personal library and a giant just mahogany desk with a velvet chair behind it.
02:08:39
Speaker
um He has several like papers and files on his desk and he doesn't really show yeah If you look at him, you see that he has like dark rings under his eyes, kind of like he hasn't been sleeping for the past few nights. um But that that's kind of like all you're getting from here. Cool. um I'm going to use my treasure hunter, which is spending another AT, to find a mundane but useful item and in the surroundings. So I want to find something around that might, A, give me a little more information, or B, be able to get me to open him up to get me more information.
02:09:22
Speaker
Um, in a pot, uh, like ah almost like leaving the room. It's kind of like on a pedestal. There's a plant that is just sort of sitting there and it seems to be one of the only plants in the room. Oh my God. Wait, wait, what sort of plant is this? I'm going to pull out my battered book of local plants and and try to leave through it to figure out what plant this is.
02:09:53
Speaker
Um, can you, wait, what plan is this? Where did you get this? It's even like this before, and I'm flipping through the pages like, it's a he is it this Is it this one? That's a Wolfsbane flower. It's from ah Madame Delacroix's greenhouse for her potions. She gifted it to me a few months back. Wolfsbane?
02:10:19
Speaker
Really? Yeah.
02:10:25
Speaker
In your office? Why would you need your thing in your office? That's that's weird. That's delicious. I don't I don't say that out loud. It's so pretty. I'm surprised I didn't recognize it as well. Spain. It's one of my favorite plants, actually.
02:10:46
Speaker
How often do you, I mean, do have you had Wolfsbane tea? Like, tell me more about your love of I just genuinely like decorating with it. um I like keeping away nightstalkers with it, so they get a little bit rowdy. um But I just sort of like the plant. Cool. Cool. Thanks. Can I take a cutting real quick?
02:11:15
Speaker
um you that There's plenty more in the greenhouse. The greenhouse, right. Oh my God, I can just do that. Okay, I'm so sorry, thank you so much. Thank you for time for caring so much about me, one of your students, and certainly not me. Yes, please be more, say okay.
02:11:35
Speaker
Anyway, I have now run back to my room. Oh my God. To tell everyone everything. Anyway, now we need to break into the greenhouse to get some Wolfsbane, because that's gotta be something. Tell me everything you know about Wolfsbane. My book's not telling me enough. Tell me everything you know. Let's go to the library. Oh my God. Why is the Wolfsbane important, Pen? I don't know, but I, my intuition told me that the Wolfsbane was important.
02:12:02
Speaker
It was also the only plant in there. And you can tell by this guy, this guy's got to sound like I do. Like if I look at a plant too long, it's going to die. And I can tell that if he looks at this plant too long, it's going to die. So you really have a hunch about this plant? I do. I do. I really do have a hunch. Do you believe me? I mean, I don't I don't really get the hunches the way you do. So I think I have to. Cool. Cool.
02:12:33
Speaker
I'm telling you, we need to go to the library. That's gotta be something. Okay. Okay, let's go to the library. Let's read everything we count on this wolf, Bane.
02:12:44
Speaker
Because the only thing I know about wolves, Bane, is doesn't it keep, it keeps things away? Because I couldn't quite understand what he said. I mean, ah yeah, Akhenite is ah toxic, um but I don't know, like, there is some mythology. I don't know if it's actually about werewolves or something.
02:13:06
Speaker
But yes, okay, maybe the library will tell us. Ooh, the library! Back to the library. Now, what exactly are you looking up for Wolfsbane? Are you looking up just the plants? Are you looking up just different things that would have it in it? Like, what exactly?
02:13:32
Speaker
Yeah, properties, what kind of magical um things it can be used for such as potions like enchantments or something, spells. Enchantments.
02:13:45
Speaker
So there is a um few books that have like different potions for Wolfsbane, one of them being a ah certain form of mind control that can be taken place with them.
02:14:06
Speaker
um When it comes to enchantments, it doesn't seem to have a lot of enchantment properties. ah You do see the line that it is incredibly toxic on its own without like any sort of ah handling on it, so. Okay. But the mind control is pretty ah on point, isn't it?
02:14:38
Speaker
Yeah, that seems pretty on brand. Why does our head teacher have a mind control plant in his office? Headmaster. Now you're suspecting the headmaster of doing something. I mean, why why would...
02:15:02
Speaker
i mean she I mean, I don't know what else to do. like Should we break into the greenhouse and steal some wolfsbane and like eat it and see what happens? No, it's super toxic. Did you not read that line? Right, right, right, right, right, right. I am a teenager and I have a teenage brain.
02:15:21
Speaker
Is it going to get us high? Oh, my God, Penn, no. So ah what? So if I look up the spell for mind control, can I find it or is that like a restricted like we're not going to have that? It's a restricted and a potion. It's not really a component for a spell. OK, so mind control potion is made with old Spain. Yep. And we know these kids are enchanted.
02:15:51
Speaker
I mean, they well, you I mean, the glazed over eyes, like they could have been force fed a potion, I guess, I don't know, right? we are They are disappearing after dinner. So it could be like a potion that has an after effect, or maybe like they have some water after dinner, or they're given a drink after dinner.
02:16:11
Speaker
because and Because we told her to go back to her room. Maybe, and i'm I'm guessing maybe on her way back to her room, she ran into the headmaster. You know, she seemed scared, because of course the younger classrooms are scared. And so he probably gave her a glass of water or something, which was a maybe poisoned. And I mean, maybe it wasn't the headmaster, whatever, whatever, whatever, whatever. It was maybe poisoned, which therefore enchanted her.
02:16:38
Speaker
and probably the other kids too, whatever, I don't care about them. I mean, I do, but also, we're focused on Sylvie right now because she's the most recent one. 48 hours, okay, 48 hours. First 48's the most important, thank you. I watch a lot of true crime. Even in the magical world. But, and that enchanted her and then she went to the woods. Because she was terrified to go in the woods and we know there's not a hole. So they have to go for the younger ones, A, because they do have the untamed magic. Untamed magic.
02:17:08
Speaker
Two, they're smaller. Most of them. I mean, some of the boys are probably pretty tall because puberty. I don't know. I don't remember being 14. It was a very long time ago. She says this 18 year old.
02:17:25
Speaker
Something with a wolf spain. Who should we talk to? We need information. I mean, the potions teacher would know about this potion.
02:17:37
Speaker
Wasn't that Miss Dematrix, Bellatrix? It was French. Dematresque? Dematresque. That's not who... No, because he was mentioning the the herbology teacher. Okay, yeah. Right. The herbalist. What was the potions teacher? You talked to her this time. Fuck. Okay, maybe we do a brain check before we walk in the room. Okay. Okay? Yeah, is it it's late enough now that...
02:18:07
Speaker
Would the teachers be back in the office? It's, uh, they wanted everybody to come back around four 30. So now it's probably around like five o'clock ish. So people are starting to go to like dinner. Oh boy. Okay. Uh, well, I guess we'll hunt down the potions teacher. Yeah. We can act like we ran into them on the way to dinner.
02:18:35
Speaker
Sure. and And then we will get food, I promise. Because I'm out of crackers. Hobbs is going to be bad. Yeah, well, I'm going to get more. Hobbs and Slurry Bart Fast are mad about it, sir rendered old. Sir Reginald Snunkington, the first.
02:18:57
Speaker
yeah
02:18:59
Speaker
um So the potions teacher is not in her office when you go there.
02:19:07
Speaker
um Is the classroom nearby for potions? The classroom is nearby. um The greenhouse is also like across the way from the potions room. That makes sense. um Is the classroom unlocked?
02:19:28
Speaker
a
02:19:33
Speaker
I'm trying to think if it would be or not.
02:19:40
Speaker
I'm gonna say no. Okay, so it's locked. Yeah. I guess I shouldn't try to unlock it with a spell. I was just thinking of like whether there's any but like tools out that could have traces of wolf spain on it, but how would we ever find that? I don't know. Well, I do have the treasure hunter thing.
02:20:06
Speaker
Um, I mean, okay, what do I have? I've got three sports, a metal spoon, a plastic knife, better tarot cards, a flashlight. Oh, I've got a flashlight. We can look through the windows. Okay. Go ahead. if Sure. Right. We can do that. is The potions room, right? That you're trying to look. Yeah.
02:20:33
Speaker
Looks like an empty potion. Well, there's probably no windows, because we're indoors. Okay. Empty potions room. Empty potions room. I'm getting the sense that we are on the wrong path. Hey, what's over at the greenhouse? You want to check for that, Wolfsbane? Yeah, I thought that's where we were. yeah Potions teacher isn't here. The room is locked. Let's look at the greenhouse. Yeah, I thought i thought we were at the greenhouse. oh they The greenhouse is across the way from the potions class. yeah All right, well, let's let's head to the greenhouse for sure. For sure, for sure. The greenhouse is open. OK. And can we find the wolfsbane easily? Yeah, I mean, it's yeah it's flowering right now. So it's like tucked away in the corner, away from like the lavender and sage and okay all the cute stuff.
02:21:26
Speaker
Okay. Okey-dokey. Does it look like somebody has been picking through it readily? Like, I mean, like, does it look like picked through or does it look full? It looks full right now.
02:21:40
Speaker
um
02:21:47
Speaker
Okay. So it doesn't look like anybody's been stealing it, Pen.
02:21:54
Speaker
Wouldn't there be dry wolf spain in like, cause they can't have one little plant to have fund a whole school for potions. Yeah. The teacher in here shouldn't maybe be asking the teacher questions or should we just be heading up to dinner? What are your thoughts? Uh, I don't know. Do I see the herbalist? No, no, there's no teacher in here. It's around dinner time. So normally everybody's going to get food. Okay.
02:22:23
Speaker
Okay, I would like to... I only have one adversity point left, so... Currently, because I haven't rolled for anything. Okay, I'm looking for the thing. I want this one, and I want this one. Oh yeah, thanks friends. I would like, if I may, to...
02:22:53
Speaker
Can I do, I would like to do a magic spell about,
02:22:59
Speaker
there's gotta be something in here. We're running, like we keep running into failings and not finding shit. So like we're on a mystery or what we think is a mystery, but we have no clues to go on. Or we're missing something, I don't know. Can I, can I use my intuition? No, that's, I only have one.
02:23:23
Speaker
Wait, what? Fuck it, okay, I'm gonna use my last adversity token. That doesn't kill me, right? I don't think it kills me. No. Oh, plus I'm supposed to add one each time I fail a roll. Okay, so I'm currently at zero. yeah If I fail this check, I'll have two. see um I'm gonna use an adversity point.
02:23:43
Speaker
um um
02:23:47
Speaker
So in the greenhouse? Yeah, to to check my surroundings. and find a useful item so You see that there are like clippers near the wolf spain, but it doesn't look like it's been clipped through. There are jars of dried herbs on the other side of the actual greenhouse. um And you notice that each plant has a name on it. And if you look closely, they have names of professors on it, meaning
02:24:27
Speaker
Okay. Okay. So I've got my magic book. What professor has what plant? Magic book, I've got my plants. So the lavender is Mist.
02:24:42
Speaker
That's his. Okay. Sage is... Basically, it's a huge plant of sage. It's for ah Madame Delacroix. A lot of the other ones seem to have different professors on it, but the wolf spain has one that just says Miss B. Miss B? Girl, I think your favorite teacher is behind this shit. What does Miss Bylar want with this?
02:25:19
Speaker
Untamed children. Untamed children. Okay, cool. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. Let's go to dinner, I'm starved. and I need crackers for the kids. Yes, dinner, dinner, and then I don't know what. um P.S., I would like to take this wolf's thing. The thing that says Miss B. The entire thing. The tack or just like a little bit of the plant?
02:25:48
Speaker
a little bit isn't oh I thought it was a jar that said the name um no there was a there's a jar on the back side that has like a bunch of it in it that's dried but oh it's a big jar I can't fit that in my bag and let it seem like got a bag of loose change in my bag so I'm going to empty the loose change into my bag and then use that bag to take a little bit of the wolf spain without touching it because that shit's poisonous. Just so I have some. Okay. Like I peel a leaf off. ah But I peel it off the back so like you have to look. Cool. Let's head to dinner homes. Okay.
02:26:36
Speaker
At dinner, you do notice that Miss Bylar is not at the teacher faculty area.
02:26:46
Speaker
Okay, she's not at dinner. she is And it's nighttime. That's weird. Okay, so if possible, after dinner, I would like to sneaky sneak to see if she's in her office without like making her aware that I'm trying to check on her. I'm good at the sneaky sneak. I can help with the sneaking.
02:27:15
Speaker
Hey, hey, flight check. Ooh, ooh, hey, something not rain. You guys can do a flight check. correct Should we both do it? Yep. um If you're good at it, can I give you an adversity token and give you a plus two? Yes. I'm going to use this roll that just landed on the floor because it's a 16. Plus two is 18.
02:27:40
Speaker
of
02:27:43
Speaker
Sneaky, sneaky, sneak. sneak Sneaky, sneaky, sneak. Is she in her office? Um, from what you
02:28:02
Speaker
It looks like there's someone in her office. like You can see shadows from underneath her door. You can see like different lights that are turned on. um It definitely looks like someone's in her office.
02:28:21
Speaker
Do we want to have an excuse to go in there, or do we just let that be? I mean, you're a teacher's pet, so I think that's always an excuse. like you I mean, this is just my guess, but you definitely seem like the type who's going to show up at a teacher's office at super odd hours of the night to ask questions about a paper or a test or an assignment that's due in three weeks. Yeah. Fuck it. All right. Fine. Shit. Uh, yeah, I'll knock on the door. There is no answer.
02:29:00
Speaker
I creak open the door. Is it unlocked? It is not unlocked. Fuck. Okay. I would like to magically unlock the door. Give me a grit. All right. Grit check with magic.
02:29:20
Speaker
which is 12, D12. I finally can roll a D12, woo hoo! I'm also gonna use an adversity token, so that gives me a plus four overall, so. Cool. 10 plus four is 14. Amazing, you bust that lock open like nobody's business. I still creak open the door though, I don't like yeah slam it. Yeah, I still creak open the door. What's moving in there?
02:29:49
Speaker
When you open the door, it's almost like a spell was broken. It's completely dark in the office to make it look like someone was in there. Oh, fuck. Which reminds me, every time I succeed a check, you get another adversity point. So up that. When did you succeed a check? ah Because I got the 16.
02:30:15
Speaker
i do Okay, we're way behind on our tokens. um Okay, okay, not gonna freak out. Yeah, no. Okay, shit. Okay, so okay.
02:30:33
Speaker
Can familiars talk to other witches? Or like, can familiars talk to each other? Shit. Okay. Well, isn't it that familiars are able to talk to their witch with a psychic link? Well, I have a psychic link, like as a as a skill with mine. So I don't know how it works with everybody else. sites I may have misread it because I thought it was that.
02:30:59
Speaker
You have a psychic link with your familiar anyway. Yeah, at any distance, I can speak with them. Oh, okay, so it's just in space. Nevermind. Nevermind. Not the first time in my life I've been crazy. I need both of you to give me a brawn. Don't shit. Done. Okay, brawns. Fuck. Let me take this sweet little d6. No magic or magic, just basic? Basic. Don't suck, don't suck, don't suck.
02:31:29
Speaker
Four. Plus one. No, that's with magic. Four. We both got four. While you're freaking out trying to decide what happens, you suddenly feel like a blanket was pushed over your face. And now you two are both risk but restrained from. Okay.
02:31:58
Speaker
Is there any way to? it So if I can't move, can I not cast a spell? um There are nonverbal spells um and non you can do you're starting to learn magic without your wand, so you're not 100% relying on your wand. So but that sounds like it's maybe not going to work if I i would definitely have to be a high roll.
02:32:24
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. Well, I mean, let's see. I would like to try to dispel the magic, which it trained in grit magic. to smell Dispel magic is a grit yeah check.
02:32:40
Speaker
Okay, so wait, do we take an adversity token for that brawn? Yes, you do. Okay, yeah. Because we both failed that, so you should take two. I technically didn't fail it because it was out of six, but I will i was going to fail it and no matter what. Wait, it was out of six? Yeah, because my brawn is a D6. Why did I think your brawn was higher?
02:33:08
Speaker
I don't know. I'm the one who has a D8. I thought you had a higher brawn, but... No, brawn's my worst. Okay, so... um Okay, grit check. so I'm gonna use another adversity token, because I gotta use these. Beat! No! Beat! No! Trying to roll off the disc. Okay, so that's again a plus four to my 12. Five plus four is a nine to try to dispel the magic without much wand usage.
02:33:41
Speaker
Um... Do it in my able. Go ahead. I was seeing i was seeing what Ana was going to say. um
02:33:50
Speaker
Um... Um... Am I fat? Well, because with flight you're able to avoid to evade problems. I'm wondering if maybe I can do a flight spell to GTFO out of this place and hopefully drag my bestie at the same time.
02:34:09
Speaker
If you want to try that, you can. If you want to drag ah Rowan with you, that will be a very high roll that you will have to pass. Okay. Because I won't leave without you. Don't suck, don't suck, don't suck, don't suck. It sucks, doesn't it? Okay, but...
02:34:31
Speaker
Okay. I gain two adversity points every time I fail a roll, because I rolled two, so I'm at four adversity points, and I would like to try again. Wait, wait. I did try to dispel the magic, so what happened with that? Yeah, so when you got nine on that, right? Yeah.
02:34:53
Speaker
Okay, and what was that from? With a... just what With a D12. D12, you got a 9. Okay, cool. Thank you. um So, as of right now, there is no magic to dispel. It just was sort of like a manhandle.
02:35:15
Speaker
Wait, I um didn't know it wasn't magic. It's actually like a blanket over me. Yeah, it was like a bag. Oh fuck. And I do have resilience, so when using AT to boost a check against a spell that targets you, because I- It's not a spell. Oh fuck. I thought it was a spell, I just didn't understand what was happening. But that's fair, I had a bag over my head, and I'm restrained.
02:35:45
Speaker
ah You two do feel like people are like lifting you up and moving you by the way. Okay, don't be mad at me We're kind of in a shit situation. However things are about to get real good We'll be fine listen, I've got a plastic knife and a couple sporks we can stab them Oh yeah. you hear you You hear like different things opening which sounds like different components and um you get tossed on the floor and oh after like 30 seconds the bag is lifted up and you see Mrs. Bylar in front of you Rowan and she's just like
02:36:30
Speaker
You couldn't just, like, keep to your own business. Is this all, like, any fucking fun? Am I still restrained? Yeah. You're just... Okay. Uh, yeah. Because we were looking suspicious. Don't be suspicious. And you don't think this looks more suspicious? I think you do.
02:36:59
Speaker
That's because I think- Right out of high school, you think a bunch of kids aren't running around trying to break into classrooms all the time? Come on. To have sex, not to look for crime. You don't think we weren't trying to do that? We are primates. Ms. Bylar, why? Why? I lied too! So, here's the thing. I've been so jealous of the wicker line.
02:37:25
Speaker
since I was a little girl. And I just finally got fed up and I decided, huh, I wonder what it would be like to have all that magic. So here we are. To be honest, I thought more people would look at more more into Madame Demetresque because of the wolf spain, but that's fine.
02:37:50
Speaker
That works. stay Okay, so you're eating children for their power? I'm not eating children. I'm soaking up their powers and then I'm throwing them out and as a normie.
02:38:07
Speaker
No one's getting hurt. I'm just taking magic. Yeah, you're literally stealing their entire like life's meaning from them because these kids have grown up and these aren't muggles or whatever we call them in this not Harry Potter world. They're normies. Normies. These aren't normies. They didn't grow up in non-magical places. So you've ripped their whole identity from them, screwed.
02:38:33
Speaker
so yeah Okay, it's like yeah enough psychically, psychically, psychically to Hob. Get the headmaster, get it the headmaster, get the headmaster, Hob, Hob, Hob, get the headmaster, get the headmaster. Where are you? Where where where take headmaster?
02:38:50
Speaker
and post don't know No wait, where are we? Charms? Charms office! Charms office! Charms office! Charms office! Charms office! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms! Charms!
02:39:08
Speaker
stan why
02:39:11
Speaker
why did you like me then are you this was
02:39:19
Speaker
I thought after years of being your teacher, I would finally get somewhere and I haven't. And then I learned that you just actually hate your family. So I spent all that time trying to be your favorite, only to get nowhere.
02:39:40
Speaker
so
02:39:43
Speaker
Awesome. awesome
02:39:48
Speaker
It just deflates a little bit. I'm not special. Miss Bylar, you suck. Yeah, that's that's the word. Don't get me wrong, you're absolutely brilliant. You're a very good student, but your friend gets a little bit too nosy. Just think if she wasn't nosy at all, you wouldn't even know any of this happened.
02:40:15
Speaker
no yeah yep yeah you know where yep you're right right my friend is bad influence and she's always been a bad influence i'm just trying to stop um and you know ah
02:40:35
Speaker
ah actually be really good for me not for you The fact that I can soak out the magic from the underclassmen. What if I do it straight from the wicker source itself? I will fight you. Is my bag snoozy? You're tied up. Yeah, now we're tied up.
02:41:00
Speaker
What? I can still rifle through my back. Well. No, you can't. Do this and rifle through your back. Do this right now. Hands behind back. With her boobs. That was an accident, okay? I didn't start this fight.
02:41:22
Speaker
cant go but Uh, okay. Uh, let's. And the more you scream at the Hobbs, the more Hobbs is just like, I have little legs. yeah i have legs Psychically. Okay. Um, okay. Let's see. Oh boy. Hobbs might be able to get, um, I know what I'm going to do. Stucky to do it.
02:41:48
Speaker
Okay. What you wanna do? I am gonna do that skill that I put in here, the Pied Piper. I would like to summon the school's rats to attack her.
02:42:07
Speaker
I fucking adore you. hope I want you to know that that is both Anna saying that to Julie and knowing, you get this look on your face. You just get this look on your face that I- You have to roll anything for that. Okay, so so Pied Piper, ah skilled at Pied Piper, assumed to succeed when making even moderately difficult checks involving this skill. And I wrote that, ah well, if it would pop up, that would be great.
02:42:37
Speaker
Um, that it's like, they only last for a certain amount of time and it's GM discretion. And like, I can call the rats with like a whistle or a song or something or like music from the wand. I don't know. But, um, and yeah, I track a pack of rodents to do your bidding, um, with some kind of music and, ah but it has a limited timeframe, whatever you decide.
02:43:01
Speaker
And GM determines um if I need to do a roll for a more difficult check, add up to plus three to the roll. So I don't know. We'll call it a grit.
02:43:15
Speaker
Oh, grit. Okay. I was thinking it was like a charm. It doesn't matter to me. I feel like the rodents are one of the same and you have no reason to charm them. Oh, okay. All right. Okay. So it's magic plus two. Yeah. And I'm, I'm totally totes gonna, I mean, you can add more than one adversity token, right?
02:43:40
Speaker
yeah Okay, so ah let's see, two adversity tokens is a plus four, right? Okay, plus my magic too, so that's a plus six, so 12 plus six, or D12 plus six, let's see. Yeah.
02:43:58
Speaker
12! I Okay, and 11. It's 23. 23 plus 6. 29.
02:44:23
Speaker
Did you just inadvertently, accidentally murder our, our, our, our child of rats? Listen, you have never been hotter to me in our entire life. I have to show you my tattoo now. Listen, same listen, I was born in 84.
02:44:43
Speaker
Rat is my jam, not to mention because of that. And also for other reasons, my parents nicknamed me Anika Bubonic or the Plague Baby, so I do have an obsession with the Bubonic Plague, which did start because of rats. So, well, let's please Anika, let's go.
02:44:57
Speaker
and So the school's rats. So rats. So good news, even better news than that 29. You notice that you seem to be in almost like an underground area from the Charms teacher's office, and you want to know what loves the underground rats. So you called way more than you normally would ever call.
02:45:24
Speaker
It's around a pack of 20 that you have called into this one area. And is your one thing just like, get her? Like, is that your only? I mean, I don't know if I can give them two commands of like chew through the bonds or something. I was more like, you rolled a 29. Okay.
02:45:50
Speaker
She's like, Freya's Freya's also attacker, attacker. I mean, there's plenty of rats, so. Yeah. By the way, Penn is just staring at you and like shear off, just like, that's my best friend and she's weird.
02:46:07
Speaker
I love, I love casual weird best friend. I've never been both you in my life.
02:46:18
Speaker
In a way of not doing going gory, because this could very quickly, um the rats sort of just ah do what rats do in burrow. Oh, we're doing Game of Thrones. Oh, fuck. We're doing historical medieval torture. I'm going to stop there.
02:46:47
Speaker
Yeah, and that's that's where I'm going to go with that. um The headmaster does show up go and the way he shows up is there's a rat on him, which is Hobbs, that's chewing at his ear, telling him to go certain directions. Because Hobbs doesn't know what else to do. it's great um hes He he has to do something because he understands this is a student's familiar. But he's like, I'm just going to go with this. He goes downstairs from
02:47:28
Speaker
the cellar and he sees the mass of rodents, a um disposed of Miss Baylor. You guys in the corner and him going, what? Okay, what happened? I didn't mean to kill her.
02:47:52
Speaker
Besides the silence and then a lot. What happened?
02:48:00
Speaker
My shoes were never going to be the same.
02:48:09
Speaker
Okay, um so we suspected Ms. Byler, so i we went to check her office, and there was nothing but enchanted shadows, and then there was a bag over our head, and we got tied up. And then we were here. She tied up and picked up us, and then she threatened us, and- Yes, she wanted our magic. She's been taking the children's magic and making them normies, and I called Rhett.
02:48:38
Speaker
And then my best friend called the whole trail of rats who absolutely sleep today. You're never getting rid of me. I'm going to whatever college you go to.
02:48:51
Speaker
Do you know where the students are? Oh, we didn't find that part out. They were released to their normies. We should check the local orphanages because I imagine if she's releasing them of normies and we haven't heard anything about them, they probably don't remember who they are.
02:49:09
Speaker
i mean for obstacles did Did we hear that she successfully stole the underclassman's magic? Yes, she said that it worked and she was going to try it on a wicker.
02:49:23
Speaker
when
02:49:27
Speaker
ah Yes, you're you're the wicker. I get that. Yes. um Not the wicker man. There's no bees here. No. um He like gets more and he goes, will your rats bite me if I get down? say They were supposed to attack her. Okay, so they they shouldn't attack me is what I'm asking. No, okay, beautiful. Scratching rats at this point. Yeah, he like walks around the space, looks, to go grimaces. um Sort of like...
02:50:06
Speaker
puts his hands up to the wall and goes, there's some form of magical sort of thing happening here. And ah then he goes, ah! And he kicks something that looks like a glass orb. He goes, illusion orb. And a wall just sort of melts down and you see like all five of the kids that were missing just like in chairs strapped up. He goes,
02:50:31
Speaker
She did not succeed. See, I question why if she succeeded, because if she succeeded, I would simply just be dead. I would be dead right now. There'd be no reason for me to be alive. But no, I am still here. So she got had to have not succeeded yet. Why would you be dead? Wait, what? and the strongest had I'm the strongest headmaster in the Americas, telling me she wouldn't go after me.
02:50:57
Speaker
Everything's about power, just like everything is about money with the knowledge. She was going for the the untamed magic of children. Yes, the more powerful one, yeah.
02:51:13
Speaker
You know what? It's fine. It's fine. The kids are safe. You saved the kids, yay! The lesson is always about capitalism, and magic is capitalism for wizards. We're at a boarding school, dude. Everything's about capitalism here.
02:51:40
Speaker
Okay, this has been fun. This has been a very good time. ah Julie, where can people find you if you want to be found? Or what do you want to plug if you have anything to plug? Oh, the same thing that Anamor would plug, which is? The Critical Thinking Witch Collective.
02:52:01
Speaker
um So we are both organizers of the CTWC, which is why we decided to play this little witchy game. um And Allie has actually spoken for us before. She spoke for us for a brew, which if you are on our Patreon will be available to watch ah the recorded version of that. Eventually I got to work on it like it's coming. If you ah have any questions or want to know more about that, just go to critwitches.com or email us at help at criticalthinkingwitches.com.
02:52:31
Speaker
yeah We're also on Instagram under Credible Thinking Witches. We're on the Facebooks. We're on the threads. We're on the things.
02:52:44
Speaker
We're way cooler. Thank you. ah yeah This has been fun and chaotic and unhinged. And hopefully you guys liked it. Yeah.
02:53:06
Speaker
Hey hi hello friends! I hope you enjoyed this Halloween special with the critical thinking witches collectives Anna and Julie. We had the best time playing Kids on Bikes and we hope you had a fun time listening to it. Fellow Appalachian Magic Academy shenanigans.
02:53:23
Speaker
More about the Critical Thinking Witch Collective. ah Their con just passed. Did you know? Their 2024 con in August. But tickets are still available to purchase with all the recorded content that's including exclusive presentations and panels featuring.
02:53:43
Speaker
Kate Sherrill of Barrels & Beyond, Shannon Knight of Tarot Diagnosis, and more are still available on November 1st. Check out all of this at critwitches.com for more info. You can also contact Ana through the info that she gave at the very end of the podcast. ah So you guys are wondering, hey guys, this is great, but when are we getting back to normal scheduled programming? That will be on November 2nd.
02:54:12
Speaker
So we'll talk to you then, of course, as always. Music intro outro is by Thai Artemis. Okay, bye!