Willie's existential crisis and revival
00:00:00
Speaker
Last time with the Hermit Chronicles, Willie went through an existential crisis, not knowing what to do with his life now that he's had adventure in it. And then all of a sudden, all of that stopped. But all of that comes to a screeching halt. Sorry. When we find our friends are in danger, in which we rush in to find
00:00:22
Speaker
our favorite hugger dead on the floor after some very intense negotiations. And remembering that I had a cookie in my backpack, we were able to revive our lovely lion friend. And that's where we ended things. Or did we?
00:01:33
Speaker
Hey everyone, welcome back to Hermit, Hermit Chronicle. Wow, I'm just throwing it out there. I'm not wasting any time. Hermit Chronicles, let's do it. No, I'm just kidding. Welcome back to Really Pressed Upon. I'm your James Jesse, and we are doing Hermit Chronicles today. My allergies, so I'm gonna be sniffing and coughing and sneezing, and my whole family's kind of doing the same thing, so we might hear from my daughter in a bit. Who knows what'll happen.
00:01:58
Speaker
Hello, I'm Isaac. Be playing Willy today. See if today's session ends in hugs or more rock thrown. Hi, I'm Luke. I'm going to be greater than Moose. I'm going to try my best, but I'm sorry, Isaac. Whoa, what are you playing? Nothing. It's the problem.
Caesar's revival and humorous negotiations
00:02:30
Speaker
right yeah so you heard caesar cough and he kind of kind of is coming too he gets he gets one hit port back i wanna okay am i gonna do this i'm very curious what you're about to do because you were like i'm gonna i know me too i'm gonna and then you made like a is that morally this is why our listeners need to beg for our face camps and the expressions we make sometimes i know that i wave
00:02:58
Speaker
Yes, you didn't wait. You should beg for the cams just for the wave. Our facial expressions are a bonus. Yeah. I'm going to go up to him and be like, you got this, Caesar. Pull through using healing word.
00:03:12
Speaker
Oh, wonderful. And with that inspiration, he gets, what, a d4? So I roll 2d4 plus 2 for 7. So he has eight hit points. I just don't want him to be like, ah, I'm alive and then something happens. And he's like, well, we're back where we started. He kind of, he's standing there. Well, it's fancy meeting you guys here.
00:03:42
Speaker
Yeah, isn't this where we always meet? I listen to. I'm very confused all the time. I see you found
Caesar's family betrayal discussion
00:03:51
Speaker
one of my hidden meat spots or my hidden recon spots. So what happened from your perspective?
00:04:00
Speaker
uh just one one second and he like he does like this weird like he grabs his nose and he does like a like a you know when you're popping your ears like he like oh and he um does healing uh healing touch on himself for another 10 hit points so that's 17 and he's like oh man
00:04:23
Speaker
Well, mate, it's not good. I don't even know how I made it out. But this is the only place nearby that I knew was gonna be the safest place. No one knows about this except for the guy upstairs. Isn't he nice? Isn't he? I would just brother him a little bit of a thing, but I'll tell you right now.
00:04:44
Speaker
If you take the tunnel down more, we'll just end up underneath the brother's place. It's literally, they're actually united in a way. It's a little funny joke I play with myself. It's cute. So they, so your rival knows where we are. Oh no, no, thank God. I mean, well. So are you an allies detective? So, okay.
Austin's interrogation and mysterious past
00:05:07
Speaker
If you want, basically, he was my father.
00:05:11
Speaker
Apparently I found this out I mean not even a month ago, but I found out that My father has actually been our benefactor. I knew he had a like some sort of position back that My mother had me find had somebody find me when I was a baby and she took care of me and I
00:05:34
Speaker
in that she had, I thought she had been stealing money from Darren to give to us. And that's how he was the benefactor. So they thought they were stealing money from Darren, but Darren was freely giving it to this lady who would be your benefactor. Yes. This is what she's told. She told me about a month ago. But she said that he stopped doing it and he wanted us to stop. But I, you know, he's not in charge.
00:06:02
Speaker
Yeah, well, don't we still have more artifacts to collect, or? Exactly, we have so many. There's endless amounts. We could go on forever, but for some reason he wants us to stop. And as I was escaping, I just, I was given this after he holds out a note. We're not giving it, but like, it was thrown at me in a way.
00:06:30
Speaker
He's like, yeah, just trying to put a good spin on it. But basically it says he has my mother, my earthly mother, and he's gonna kill her if we don't stop now. But because we didn't stop, he destroyed everything that he bought, quote unquote. But I never told anybody about this place. And as he was talking, you guys are looking, Austin, the beak, is starting to be like, what are they looking?
00:07:00
Speaker
Oh, yeah. But he is starting to pick up that something's there that he's not noticing. Hey, who are you guys talking to? What's going on? I'm going to turn around at him and hold up my axe. And I'll be like, my axe is saying I should hit you with it. And I'm saying, no, give him another chance. Do you want me to try to convince him no? Or do you want to interrupt again?
Deceptive plans with fungus and clone
00:07:20
Speaker
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. OK. Great. I'll go over there. I'll be out of your hair.
00:07:29
Speaker
You see that corner? Make sure no one comes from that corner. Okay. Okay. I'll make sure. I'll face the corner. All right. And I'll ask what, what was the purpose of the wall at the bottom of the stairs? Actually, it's just a fun little slide. It is not a trap or anything. It literally is just for me to like do a trick over it. That's what I was saying. Make sure to us. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And did you guys do well? I did. No.
00:07:58
Speaker
And they had it in you, Willy. I didn't even realize that this would be able to fit you guys. You'd be surprised how much fluff this is. Yeah. That's good. Okay. So why did they have to think of the password? That's another thing. What password? Then the birds, the birds were like, Oh, what's the password? But weren't they here? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. So they weren't part of this fight.
00:08:25
Speaker
no so this this this place this is not where we normally meet this is alpha grid so was so everyone was attacked separately no no we were all at the headquarters we were all at headquarters but my father knew the headquarters because he paid for it okay bought all the stuff so
00:08:47
Speaker
You came here and then immediately died. No, I was barely hanging on the whole time and then I just collapsed and you saw me passed out. But the birds weren't with you. No, no, no, no, no, no. They know this place because I shared it with them.
00:09:07
Speaker
So this was kind of like, like if things go south, let's meet here. Yeah. Okay. This is, this is like stage number two. And then we have another one in the Baloch kingdom. We have another one in the coal farms. We have throughout this time of traveling and doing this stuff. I've created contacts and different safe air, safe house houses, safe safe zones, safe underground bunkers for us to go, but they have very little supply, almost nothing.
00:09:37
Speaker
What is the epiphany? I remember writing down something. This will come in handy later. Nice. For reader. As ominous as that sounds. True. Well, wait, how did you guys... So, you guys are okay? Physically, yes. Yeah, I was actually just about to say that.
00:09:57
Speaker
Oh man, I'm sorry. I'm actually a little distraught. I know. I'm sorry. I didn't want you guys to come back just yet. You know, I just felt like that last time, the last time we were all together, I remember it as of yesterday, but you guys literally, it was probably, it would have been yesterday for you guys, but it's been years for us all. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I had to think about that. Yeah. Time is a bit funny that way.
00:10:27
Speaker
So who all came here? Was it you three pointing to the birds and Caesar? The three of you came here? I came here all by myself. Then who closed the door behind you? You did. No, it was closed when we got here. No, no, no. Pixie's like, Pixie's like, uh, no. Reader closed the door.
00:10:50
Speaker
No, no, no, no, no. Okay. We were gonna, we were gonna dig over the hole, remember? And then Willie did Mulder. No, we're talking about the first time we came here. If this is everyone's first time, who closed the door since Caesar was passed out on the floor? You did. How are we here before we weren't here? Just, just me, reader, right? No, no, no, no, no. So, so you entered.
00:11:20
Speaker
OK, this from upstairs, right? Right. But before you brought us here, before, before, before the five of us showed up, who closed the door behind you? No one. I didn't. Why was it closed? I didn't. I didn't come through that door. So you came through the opening in the in the ceiling that you molded earth to close. I came into the back entrance, the exit, the escape route. I came through that.
00:11:50
Speaker
So you came in through the back door. Yes. Hence why the front door slash secret entrance was still close.
00:11:58
Speaker
Probably. No one else knows about this place except for us three. And Jeffrey. Yeah, and Jeffrey. So you're... And that's why Jeffrey, that's why Jeffrey said at the beginning, Caesar usually helps me with this when he arrived. So he didn't see Caesar before that. This is Jesse talking now. All right.
Artifact theft and wish-granting horn
00:12:18
Speaker
So if I'm getting this correct, Caesar's dad was our benefactor. He stopped paying us.
00:12:25
Speaker
Caesar's like, we're not going to back down. And he did this coordinated strike upon him, Pixie and Clive. And Orr. And Orr. Kylie wasn't there? No, Kylie was not there. Orr's status and location are unknown. Yes. Them three are like, all right, that site is compromised. We're here now. Yes.
00:12:48
Speaker
So Caesar, what does your father have to benefit from taking out the Rooster's crew? I get why we're on his bad side, but why would this all happen now? I don't know. I had a best guess. He's trying to keep something? He found something and he doesn't want us to find it maybe?
00:13:09
Speaker
because I wanna walk to the corner, grab the rooster out of the corner like by his scruff and like hold him in front of Caesar and be like, tell him the next artifact you were going for. That's all we want. We want you to tell the truth. If you can't tell us the truth, you're useless and no better than corpse. So tell us the truth. So he's like, who am I talking to? Is this the Caesar? Caesar you guys keep saying?
00:13:39
Speaker
Caesar. Yeah. He's like trembling. He's like, um, I don't I don't want to die. So I want to I want to hand him be like reader. Hold him. Hold him by a scruff. Both hands just double secure. I want to I want to like, put my hand on his chest and be like, buddy, buddy, you have nothing to worry about. As long as you tell the truth. And if you don't tell the truth, I want to grab a fistful of feathers and rip them out.
00:14:07
Speaker
okay I'll tell you everything so so when I was little I I I didn't have a good growing up I I grew up in in in actually I don't remember that yeah I had a very awkward childhood and I grew up in a
00:14:29
Speaker
a very privileged home from what I remember. I have great parents. I just really like to steal things. And so I, and like, I'm so used to money. And so I like money and it's just going on and on. So you don't steal these artifacts for you. You steal them to sell them, correct? Yes, yes. Who are you selling to?
00:14:53
Speaker
Oh well we we have auctions there's like underground auctions that happen. Who's usually the buyer because I feel like things are clicking too much. I think Caesar's dad is not on the up and up. Caesar you're a good guy but you know sometimes our dads are not the best. Oh Darren's terrible yeah he's not good. He's like mate yeah yeah he's not good yeah.
00:15:19
Speaker
And your dad does have a lot of money, especially since he's been funding us. I almost feel like this is a, this is like, I'm sorry to break the immersion, but this is a Palpatine, you know? He's over here as Shiv being like, oh, stop the war. But then he's also as the empire, like, yes, die.
00:15:35
Speaker
Yeah. We might be all taking artifacts, thinking that they're going separate ways, but it's all culminating at one person. It could be the case. Usually, it's like rich families.
00:15:54
Speaker
Yeah, and, like, those people who like to show off their rich, like, maybe King Darren? Yeah, he likes to do those things. And he does show up sometimes in the auctions, and the- Do you remember which auctions in particular?
00:16:14
Speaker
You're tearing me to the ground if you're inviting your government to join you. Sorry about that. No, I don't remember, but he... Oh, wait, he did. It was an auction. So he did show up in one of the auctions. They were selling this horn and it supposedly granted one wish or something.
00:16:44
Speaker
I don't know, it was like a weird thing. You could ask for one thing and it would do it, but it would do it for a certain area.
00:16:53
Speaker
Wait, an AOE wish? Yeah, like it would do it over a plot of land. Now, King Darren wasn't there there, but his soldiers were, and so they bought it and walked away with it, and we all assumed it does go to King Darren, but we never knew.
00:17:17
Speaker
Who's the main, who's the person you normally talk to?
Austin's mission disclosure
00:17:21
Speaker
Is it a different person from the auction and from who told you to come find me? Well, it was a few. He's like, so the one that told me to come find you is it was a massive tortle. Wait.
00:17:43
Speaker
You said that you were just wandering around and you happened upon reader. You never said that you were sent to find reader. That was all. No, I did say that. I did. I did. Yes. Yeah. I told I'm like, I was like, I'm going to punch him. It's like, we're good. No, I did. He so so he told me to come find reader and
00:18:12
Speaker
yeah and get all that but usually it's like uh i don't want to i don't really know what they look like but it's a hooded figure that usually comes in with it's like this like shimmery cloak and uh this insignia and and they come with a knight so i we just assume they're both knights just this one's very special and they buy the product the auctioned items and and then leave
00:18:40
Speaker
and really talk to anybody you don't mingle they just get in late um but but yes yeah then i was told uh i wasn't told i was on this mission to get this gem on the coast and i was high hijacked or killed or
00:19:01
Speaker
My right hand, my best friend was beheaded and then I was captured and told to try and convince you guys to take me in here so I can get your information and get your location and finish you off, really, in the fastest way possible. I don't want to do that anymore.
Earpiece miscommunication and humor
00:19:24
Speaker
What, just be threatened? Obviously, that's why.
00:19:27
Speaker
I don't mean to laugh at your expense, but... Is the earpiece still in your ear? I believe so, yes. Just so we know if they're close. Am I still hearing just static? Roll insight? Well, wouldn't that be perception? I'm just listening? Yeah, sure, perception. Just about the end of the vantage. Well, that's an 18. No, you're not hearing anything yet.
00:19:51
Speaker
I'm glad that was with advantage because that almost was a pen. I guess they don't know we're here. They're just waiting for no way. No, they know we're here because they heard the overheard. He's like, welcome to daggers, daggers and coffee. Yes, that's true. Which was like the worst. It was like, it was like, come on, I try to invest it. I could super secret it. It was like, should I even bring Austin? I'll put a hemp bag over his head. And he was like, welcome to daggers, daggers and coffee. And I was like, ah.
00:20:20
Speaker
And then Cesar's like, you did that. I can't believe. Oh, Jeffrey. That guy. He's a hoot. And he's starting to get his like spirit back. You can see his glow is starting to return. And he's like, all right. So, quick question. Aren't you like super strong too? Like wasn't an, did you take an entire army to take you down Cesar?
00:20:40
Speaker
I can neither confirm nor deny that I hurt some some people and I'm not proud of it, but That's fine. I self-defense I just want to know what your weakness is if so that we can cover it if you'd be I've just never seen you this hurt
Willie's protective ring offer
00:21:00
Speaker
Well, I'll tell you, reader, I will tell you. My secret, my weakness, apparently, I just found this out, bombs. Lots and lots of bombs. Good enough. I'm guessing it wasn't a tiger bomb then. Well, those tigers, you know, they fart really bad as well, so sometimes. But yeah, I mean, I'm healing up, but all right.
00:21:29
Speaker
Um, I'm still hit a bit and, uh, I just, you know, and he goes up to Pixie and Clive and he's like, you guys need to leave. I love you. So you're my family and I need you to leave now because we're in danger and they're very little. I want to take reader to the side. Sure.
00:21:49
Speaker
Set the rooster away to the corner. I want to look at the rooster and be like, even though I'm not looking at you, my eyes and my hands are everywhere. And I want a signal to Caesar to lay his invisible hand on his shoulder. On Austin's shoulder? Yeah. Oh, wait, no, no, don't touch it. Yeah, don't do that.
00:22:14
Speaker
All right. I want to take reader into the corner and say, this is my time. This is... Are you uguing me? I'm not uguing you. You're my dearest friend and I consider you a brother. But I know what I have to do. And right now it's buying you time.
00:22:35
Speaker
I know what I'm gonna reach into my bag, and I have like a small jewelry box, and I want to be like reader. I've had some time, and I made this for you. I know you don't really like my culture's totems but I made something different.
00:22:52
Speaker
I open it, and it's a ring infused with bone around it. I made this out of your parents' wedding rings and bones. Put this on, and this will be a ring of protection for you. That way, your parents are always with you to protect you.
00:23:12
Speaker
I like, as soon as I give it to him, I want to like usher him to the corner, be like Clive, Pixie, grab Caesar, I'll take care of the rooster. And I like demold the earth and I'm like, trust me, I want to snap my fingers. As soon as I snap my fingers, I use one of my wild shapes to take an exact form of the rooster.
00:23:40
Speaker
and I expend my other wild shape, and the fungus and bugs off of me crawl off and take the form of Caesar by my side. Go, and I'll buy you time. Shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo. Austin knows what Caesar looks like. Oh yeah, now you know. Austin can see a Caesar. Can I roll insight to see what is happening? Is this the last time Willy and Rita are gonna meet?
00:24:07
Speaker
Roll, roll, roll inset. Well, you can roll a conga on your ring or whatever, but you have to, uh, roll persuasion, Willie. Persuasion? Ooh, okay. Yes. Oh no, what did you roll? That was a nat one. Oh, cause I rolled a two to be like, beautiful. And she's a roll a three.
00:24:32
Speaker
Like literally. I got a three because I have a plus two. I know that doesn't count. Caesar looks at you and he's like, mate, I appreciate this, but I'm invisible. I mean, whoever's after us isn't after. Like, like, I don't know if they can see me or not, but at least a 50-50 chance and rather than
00:24:55
Speaker
But they know you're associated with us or else they would have never attacked Pixie and Clive. So if I could feign your death, no one looks for a dead man. Oh, that's another idea. Can we kill those bug things? Yes, yes. I could either call them away or I could make them as fight as hard as they can. It's literally a clone of you made of fungus and bugs.
00:25:19
Speaker
He's, but he's just like, mate, I'm not going anywhere without you. Oh, you'll be fine. The best hands I know. I look at reader wild shape. You can come with us and then you can use your earpiece to sound like Austin and stay like, Oh yeah. I've found them. They're over or over here. And then just send them to the wrong spot. Wouldn't they need to run Austin? Oh yeah. What, what, what, what? Yeah.
00:25:43
Speaker
Who's that guy? You. No, no, no. I see me. I saw you do what you did. But who's that guy? Who's the lion thing? Are you asking me or are you asking my ass again? You're the lion thing. I'm the lion thing. I just want to tell, I'm like, are they looking to meet up with you again or are they like, hey, find his location and we don't have to deal with you again?
00:26:06
Speaker
Basically that one. I tell them I, as soon as they can terrain, we'll see where I am. I run out. I'm free to free. You know, I don't know if they're going to come after me again, but at least I have a chance to run away. All right. Caesar, is there anywhere nearby that you guys could stay stashed and I can act as him, give the signal and that way we could all run. I love it. I love the idea.
00:26:35
Speaker
but I'm not leaving you. You're not going to leave me. I'll be right behind. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You're going to be in front of me. I'm a protector. I know this is me. I'm slow. I know. It's for the greater good. That's why you're a part of, you know, a reader talks of sensitive. We're not leaving it. Why me talk?
00:26:58
Speaker
It's true. Why'd you put me on the spot?
Willie's deceptive betrayal plan
00:27:04
Speaker
Don't go. If you die, I will kill you. You're coming with us. You're Austin now, so you are a prisoner. You're coming with us. I want to get the ring and put it onto Reader's Hand and be like, you'll see me again. Yeah, I promise that.
00:27:24
Speaker
You can't wish for it. No. And Caesar stays and even even Pixie and if you see this is like you can't you guys go and they're like, no, we're going together. He rolled persuasion and they're like, they roll higher. Oh, I guess I should probably do that. I should actually like try to persuade Willy. Bring it. Well, he did it to Caesar mainly, but the constitutional saving throw.
00:27:50
Speaker
And as you're talking, as we're having this argument and back and forth, you do hear something on the comms. Now, what do I hear?
00:28:01
Speaker
you hear like instead of like the static that you heard before you hear like like like a pop like like a like a like a signal has been reached and you're no longer in searching mode you've connected to something okay and then you hear are they in place
00:28:24
Speaker
I want to look Caesar dead in the eye. Put a hand to my ear and be like, we're underneath dagger daggers and coffee. Watch out. There's a slide ending at a wall in order to get to Caesar. He's laying here. He's very badly hurt. You could finish him off now. And the other two? I haven't seen the birds, but I know. I meant, I meant, William the reader.
00:28:46
Speaker
Oh, a reader took off saying something about he's more scared of the library mafia than he is of you guys. Willy, I guess they tried to get him to come along, but something about his family. And now he needs to stay behind and protect them. All right, we'll be there in no time. All right. You'll know I'll be upstairs drinking coffee. Okay. This is your chance to run, but okay. I don't mind taking you with us. Oh, no, I just
00:29:16
Speaker
Oh, I thought you wanted it. Okay. All right. I'm out. And you hear, you hear in the comms cause they don't know how to turn it off. He's like, all right guys, let's move in. And I'd say you have one to two minutes to figure something out in literal time, not in game time. And then we'll roll initiative.
00:29:37
Speaker
So that insight, I guess Isaac would be the one to answer this, but with the 19, is this, are you expecting this is the last time that we'll see each other in Herma Chronicles in this episode? Maybe. If my plan goes through, they kill the fake Caesar, they go away, and then I meet back up with you guys.
00:29:59
Speaker
I know some people who are willing to take you in. Let's say they have mush room for you guys. The problem we're having, Willie, Isaac, you roll the natural one.
00:30:16
Speaker
We cannot leave without you. Caesar, Caesar, your plan is broken by that. Yeah, you got it. At first, I was trying to persuade you to go on without me. Now I'm just saying, hey, here's a head start. I'll join up with you. Number one, I have 100% faith in my friend, Rita, to protect you along the way.
00:30:38
Speaker
And if you get back to my family, I literally have a network of tunnels underneath a mountain with people bigger and stronger than me. You gotta remember I'm the runt and remember how big and strong I am. And Caesar, you should know this by my aunt working with us in the past. That was a frail old lady back then. I have brothers and cousins who are farm strong.
00:31:08
Speaker
I'll help him. I'll help Caesar. So disadvantage. I have to slightly stay behind or else my bug fungus dies. There's no way to convince them that you died if I'm not here to puppeteer. Roll, roll, strings. What is the range? 18. What is the range, Isaac? Oh, actually. Actually, there is no range.
00:31:37
Speaker
so you can come with us but how do i puppet what i can't like what what is what is willy's strength like modifier plus three oh you get an extra plus one because you are the rooster so you're euro plus four ah yeah so that's a 19 yeah so you still rolled a dirty 20 so
00:31:58
Speaker
But I'll ask Jesse, is peace, or I guess both of you guys may know this, is peace sense exclusively self? I'm not sure. Or can we leave Austin here? Then Isaac can look through his eyes to see the puppet. I mean, in general, I think you have to have approval though, right? Like the animal has to approve it.
00:32:21
Speaker
Yeah, even through extortion or threats of violence. Sure. It works because it is a beast, but I think it would be just do you. Okay. As soon as Caesar squeezes me and picks me up, I'm gonna fart a halo of spores. It's toxic. I'm like, all right, get away from me. I'm trying to do this for you. You and your Dane Messiah complex, I will take those 17 points of health back.
00:32:50
Speaker
before I let them take it from you. So how much damage does he get? He needs to do a consave. Oh right. Breathing in a dirty owlbear for us. I guess I'm there too right? Yes. Oh this is a 10-foot status.
00:33:06
Speaker
Sorry, 18 is good. Yeah, 18 is good. 16? Yeah. All right. You guys are just breathing. Doesn't mean it's not stinky. Like, come on. Come on, Willie. We've smelled this before. I was going to say, you're dirty all the time. We're used to this. Let's go. Oh, that's fermented, though. Oh, and Austin, it's a trap. It's a trap for the people that come in and are like, oh.
00:33:35
Speaker
Yeah, literally, I'm setting up this big trap. It's all I'm saying is let me put the light switch to dead and then I'm right behind you. If this helps, that smells like a corpse.
00:33:51
Speaker
Yeah. Like I said, I was like, hey, Caesar's over here dying. I'm trying to sell the bit. All right. Caesar, stay with me then. If you don't believe I'm gonna go with you, you stay with me. Reader, take the rest of them to my family. No, he's carrying you out. And he's like, well, we'll figure this out on the run. But we're going. We gotta go. You don't trust me. And
00:34:16
Speaker
And he takes you out and I'm just gonna dead weight and just, just, I'm just gonna flop like a toddler. So you, so.
00:34:26
Speaker
There's just a magical rooster flopping in the wind. While another rooster, two cranes, and a moose walk by. So you run, roll. Oh man, what do we roll? So you said, let me roll something. Okay, yeah. They're taking their time. So it does mean you guys have a time.
Austin's loyalty interrogation
00:34:49
Speaker
Austin is staying with you?
00:34:53
Speaker
I'm gonna rip another, as I'm like ragdoll as a child, I'm gonna rip another handful of feathers off. I'm like, that's just cause I feel bad. That's a proper child. Proper child, Andrew. Will is going through a rollercoaster of emotions. He's a broken man. And now the man he looked up to doesn't trust him to help. The natural one, I can't, you know, I can't.
00:35:21
Speaker
You have to reward the dice. And so you take off. I'm going to roll, and I'm assuming Willy's not going to roll this, but if you want to roll survival, reader and Willy, if you want, but you can roll it with disadvantage if that would be better. Well, I got a nat 20 on the first one, so.
00:35:44
Speaker
No, no, you don't need to roll it with disadvantage. Willy would. 23. 23 with disadvantage? Oh, with disadvantage. 74. I'm just kidding. 17. 17. Oh, I mean with a natural 20. Oh, that was a 19 plus 4. I get plus 4 to survival.
00:36:03
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. So yeah, you guys were all able to take off into the forest area next to the Winterhold. Roll perception.
00:36:15
Speaker
Yeah. C-Zero is distracted. 18. Level four, so it's 12. Willy, you see them. Kind of. To not make too much of a ruckus and stuff like that, they kind of go into the shop inconspicuously, but also at the same time conspicuously. Basically, it looks like they're radiant because Jeffrey. The giraffe. Has done something wrong. A new Toys R Us is evil. I'm just kidding. Yeah.
00:36:44
Speaker
uh reader you you you you see them go in but you're not like they don't they look kind of chaotic see caesar's like okay we have two options well for me there's really one option i need to get my alien mother back her name
00:37:01
Speaker
is Eden and and she you know she means a lot to me she's not my real mother but she means a lot to me so i need to rescue her and we need to figure out why King Darren has done this done why is he stopping us why is he stopping everybody else hey man you know i love my real family but you know
00:37:21
Speaker
I love my buddy, Rita, as well. Yeah. We love that the oven was thicker than the water of the womb. But I know, Willie, you wanted us to go back to your family. Do you want us to start there? I just wanted you to be safe. We're safer together. That's why I wanted us to stick together with numbers. But you're not listening. I'm going to throw another tantrum and toss myself on the floor.
00:37:44
Speaker
Yeah. No, no, I think the least amount of numbers, the better. I think we have a play. I have another place we can go. And he looks at Austin and he's like, but we probably should get rid of that dead weight. Or do we trust him now that he's been fairly honest with us? I'm guessing by now, I'm back to my original form. Oh, sure. Or like how much time has passed since we've escaped? I mean, I would say like 30 minutes, 45 minutes. Okay.
00:38:15
Speaker
Of course I had to use both of my wild shapes. Use both.
00:38:19
Speaker
Yeah, because I use one on myself and one to make the fake one. So just for clarification, when they killed that Caesar, it's going to be like an Obi Wan like situation where like they stabbed and then the blanket just falls. Yeah. Cool. OK, that's right. I mean, it makes sense. You know, look at me. I am totally that kind of aesthetic. Your socks untied, though. And then I walk away with the rooster.
00:38:46
Speaker
I'm gonna look at him and just like lightly like put my hand to the back of like the bald spots where I ripped out feathers. And I'm gonna lean in and say, I'm the one that blew up Carl. Now, if you don't want to end up like him, are you on our side?
00:39:06
Speaker
Roll intimidation. I mean with advantage, with 100% advantage. Because he seemed like it. No, because he's already intimidated. It's just like... It's on 15. Hey, that can still... Yeah. Oh my goodness. Yes, he's like...
00:39:23
Speaker
Um, yeah, I, I'm, yeah, yeah. You guys, you, you keep it. He was on our side. Yeah. So imagine what I'd do to you. I know. I, Carl, I can't believe it. He was so nice. He was such a, he was just a kid. He was like, why would you do that? Internally, I'm like, yeah, a kid who tried to stab you with a sleep dart.
00:39:48
Speaker
and ruined your game. He's not thinking about that. He's thinking about his life. But yeah, yeah, I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm not gonna get in the way or anything. I will be quiet. I'll be in the corner. Just really one question. Who do you guys keep talking to? My ex. His name is Rehab. It's doing his job, isn't it? No, no. I mean, yes. If the job is to scare me constantly, yes. But who's a Caesar?
00:40:17
Speaker
I wanna, I'm gonna take the crystal he had, I'm gonna crush it. Who, who had? Oh, no, I'm gonna take his earpiece, because he didn't have a crystal. No, he didn't have a crystal. Yeah, yeah, yeah. His earpiece, I wanna crush that, get rid of it.
Infiltration plans and disguises
00:40:33
Speaker
Go to my other ear and be like, we've been talking to someone here. Oh. And I'm gonna slip it back in. You don't have to worry about that. Okay, that's not- And let's just say- Don't believe that. Once you do figure out who he is, it's gonna be too late.
00:40:48
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Two handfuls of feathers that I pulled from in my head and my pocket. And I'm just going to go that is like, like rain down. Okay. Okay. Do you need anything? I'll get you anything you want. Do you want water, coffee, food? I just want to try. Go ahead. I have any other gadgets. Not anymore. They took them all away from me when I was captured.
00:41:15
Speaker
I kind of like magic items. Magic items? Is that not what they are? No, they're technology. Literally, they use these things called the waves of some kind. I don't know, like gibberish, but they use, there's no spells or nothing. They just, they go off of these little wire things. R was magic, right?
00:41:38
Speaker
he gave magical gadgets. Yeah, or did magic with like sometimes he had tech in them but it was mainly magic. I'm just I want to I want to be like yeah check out this rock I'm gonna toss it straight in the air and then catch it and be like see it came back.
00:41:54
Speaker
So yeah, boys, what are we doing? Is he coming with us? Are we going directly to my dad? I made the bad decision to bring him, so I'll leave it up to Willy. I'm going to pat his back and then leave my hand there and get a fist full of feathers and say he knows better to do anything else. Isn't that right?
00:42:19
Speaker
I don't pull it out yet. I just, he knows I'm holding on. I don't know what I'm agreeing to, but yeah, I, yeah, I know what to do better. Hey guys, I got a new squire. I'm the squire. Cool. I, out of curiosity, did you just say those things about us being friends just so that I'll bring you to our secret lair? I mean, they, I finally saw her friend.
00:42:44
Speaker
we we are friends ish like i liked you know our back and forth but i didn't i don't care about well now i care about you a lot i i would die for you would you i i mean it feels like the opposite if i was told to die for you i would die for you i was willing to die for my family they didn't let me
00:43:09
Speaker
I wouldn't have died if I was willing to. Caesar puts a pole on you really. Oh, a beast. Mate, I know. We felt it. We saw it. But we got away, didn't we? If it was anybody other than Rita, I would have said something along the lines of like, well, we would cry if you died. So are we going to continue tracking it? Or is there a destination we have in mind? I thought Caesar was leading us to.
00:43:36
Speaker
So Caesar, it's up to you. We haven't decided. I'm very sad. You were going to we were going to get another artifact. Yes. What was this next one you were planning? So this could be the debrief because nobody can hear you anyways, right?
00:43:52
Speaker
yeah only you guys and the people in the head in the headset so yeah right the artifact that i was going to get we heard rumors about a uh it was the original artifact that i was going for which was the staff of old or the the um
00:44:13
Speaker
What what did I call it something at the museum? They had a replica. I don't remember it completely I don't have those I don't have the daggers in front of me. No, no that that was that was next to the replica of what what that so that was what I was trying to focus on because I was trying to go through our archives of what we what we were going for because I haven't gotten any new cases, but then I heard this rumor that
00:44:35
Speaker
that there was this other, like, instrument. I don't know exactly what it is. Some people say it was a string instrument. Some people say it was a brass instrument. But once you, once, they all conclusively had said that it would cause you to go deaf, basically. I mean, in irreplaceable, like, you stay that way.
00:44:57
Speaker
it's been played but it it entices you and then once you listen to it in the same room you go deaf and so I was going towards that and we were we were getting more information while we're at our base but we're also having a relaxed time you know we were
00:45:16
Speaker
hanging out you know it's stressful and i i know again we didn't have we didn't invite you and and i i hate not including you guys in it because you are top of the line help but that that's what we were doing and that was in uh the near the uh green climb mountains and the bailock kingdom haven't i didn't yeah we hadn't and we haven't we hadn't had
00:45:46
Speaker
gone that way yet we were you know just having chill down time and then we were gonna go then all that took off and now all I want to do is basically take out my father he says it's like a little sad chuckle and like with a little bit of hate inside you've never seen Caesar with anger but he and he and in a way he doesn't know how to handle it he doesn't know what to do with it so he's just kind of laughing it off like
00:46:13
Speaker
Like, I just want to take care of him somehow. Or even just get my mother safe. I don't know one of the two. So you're saying if we could get her safe, you'll be safe. If we could get her safe, then we can go underground and they won't have any more leverage. And we can, yeah, we can be at peace. Or separate from others for helping you out. All right, I'm for that. Peter.
00:46:43
Speaker
roughly the same thing, but like grass blanket on his bag to be like, yeah, and the ring now, I guess. Yeah, sure. And Pixie and Clive are like, you can't get rid of us. Yes, sir. But we're with you. There's no doubt about it. And if we can find, uh, what we'll do is we will look, we will go look out for Kylie.
00:47:07
Speaker
and see if we can contact her and see if she's okay. That's what we can do. And I'll be like, and don't worry, Austin will be on our side. He's too scared of the exclusive consequences, if not, am I right? A hundred percent you are correct. I do not want anything bad to happen to me anymore. I'm running out of feathers.
00:47:30
Speaker
Can I borrow a shirt from somebody? I'm gonna pull out like a small bolt of burlap sack and I'm just gonna use my claw and just slice a head, pull and just be like, punch him. I love it, I love it. Thank you, thank you. This is wonderful. I will cherish this. I will wear this with honor. Thank you so much. Just don't hurt me. And I assume you head towards the Volden Kingdom.
00:47:57
Speaker
Uh, are we, or are we going to the, uh, going to Walden for the mother, right? It was like, we could kill two birds with one story. And if it was both in Bay lot, but.
00:48:09
Speaker
Let's go save Martha. It's not Martha. It's Eden. This is not Hector. So I want survival roles and what we'll do is we'll do group survival checks.
Willie's recon in wild shapes
00:48:20
Speaker
So as long as we get above 40 and that includes Austin and the birds. So we shouldn't be a two problem.
00:48:28
Speaker
If we get above 40, there's not going to be any problems. But if there's below 40, we'll have maybe an encounter too. My first one is 14. 11 is for CZ. Oh, no, he gets a plus. What's survival?
00:48:46
Speaker
A wisdom, is it? Yeah, it's wisdom. It's a wisdom modifier. So he had a 13. And so then, let's roll. Yeah. Austin gets an eight. So we have more than enough. And so we make our way down. Well, the birds have left. Yeah, but it would have been nice to have them because that's the whole things that they're tracking.
00:49:10
Speaker
yeah yeah so you guys make your way to the volden kingdom roll roll uh maybe insight or investigate no maybe perception because you're hearing about it yeah perception first was the sixth second was a 13 13 13 13 you guys are hearing about this raid that happened with the daggers daggers and coffee and like how there was uh maybe a casualty
00:49:37
Speaker
think about it and minor spoilers this guy's like been attacked multiple times with multiple raids I wonder he was looking for the free publicity yeah yeah and it does have like his logo on there and he's kind of smiling with his thumbs up and uh yeah it's oh you mean just like the mug that you could purchase on our website
00:50:02
Speaker
Exactly, that logo. Yeah, you do hear that rumor, but you're not sure who it is, and it's more of a rumor than a substantial credit, but it does say in like different parchments and stuff like that, this dagger-staggering coffee is home to an underground thing that was weird.
00:50:20
Speaker
some would say or he it says in like fine print in there that he's he was thinking that his brother was stealing stuff so he made this tunnel to go into his brother's store and she's a guy that has a laugh and he's like oh that is so beautiful i love that they're coming together now but he's actually made it worse for them and you guys make it to the folder like the telltale like reader will remember that
00:50:46
Speaker
So you make it into the vaulting, not make it into, you make it to the vaulting kingdom. And what do you do? Where's Martha? What information do we have? So Austin would probably tell you like where he was kept captive during the time. Yeah. So that was, that was in the red wire territories. So some time has passed, right? Oh yeah. Like probably a week or two. It's been a long time. Okay. So we had a long rest.
00:51:15
Speaker
Yeah, you had a long rest you had time to chat you had time to deeply Caesar Caesar tells you like kind of the layout that he knows of the of the Voldemort kingdom and where he would normally keep prisoners But who knows where he actually key has kept Eden Yeah, oh, so we're not just going to her home. We're at the lake. No, no. No, she's been captured Yeah
00:51:42
Speaker
i want to spend multiple days each day disguised as a different animal scouting where austin said he was held oh i love it and well no that's in the red water territories though oh yeah that's far down all right i either way same thing just but yeah for all over the city every day i'm a different person
00:52:07
Speaker
Uh, roll. Oh man. Do I do performance or deception? Whichever one's higher. Is there anything I can do to help? Cause I don't have any. I grabbed some of my, uh, a cloth and I go, that was 11. But that would probably be more your cell thing. Am I, am I not acting as a horse or a penguin or whatever I am that day? No. So, uh,
00:52:32
Speaker
Literally just walking around looking. Roll it five times and if you the like the first time if you roll bad then the second time it'll be a higher so like if you get like a 10 the first day then if if you pass that then it stays a 10 if you if you get less than 10 it goes to 12.
00:52:52
Speaker
9 okay so it goes to 12 the next day 20 okay so then it goes to it stays at 12 keep going five okay so it goes to a 15 and the last day 16 oh
00:53:09
Speaker
So basically, you were being casual, but at some point, there was times when you were a bit nervous that day or something, or those days, and you were like, I am just a horse, just Gallopy.
00:53:27
Speaker
and then like your wild shape would disappear and you'd have to like book it and run hide and if you on the last time you went out because it would be the last time you went out anyways because if you were to get caught or not let's say this is like okay the plan is going to come into action the next day or you get caught and you're on the run so either way it was the last day and uh so with the 16 you're able to get
00:53:57
Speaker
a lot throughout this time you're able to get enough information now i want you to roll a investigation with advantage 16 with that you're able to oh actually you know what yeah roll stealth for me reader for three times but with that you're able to kind of get the lay of the land like you already you went down where caesar had asked like or where caesar had assumed like
00:54:26
Speaker
This is this is where kind of things were casual and there's normal normality like there'd be normal animals normal shops and so you kind of went down there made like the first attempts to kind of just casually blend in and then you went in to like the more secure ish areas and
00:54:45
Speaker
and then you did see like where they did hold the captives which is kind of up north nearish the castle just so that the king can keep an account of things but you did notice that they didn't keep every prisoner there as you saw sometimes they would deliver a prisoner and then the next day they weren't showing up where everybody else was that's what you get with 16 what did you roll for stealth 16 14 and 7 okay in that order
00:55:15
Speaker
Yeah, basically 1614. The times when you were like on lookout and making sure no one would notice you guys if you needed to get food or something like that. It was obviously more up to Willy because he was shape-shifting and wild shape and stuff like that. But you would need to like open the door and stuff like that. So the seven is gonna be your lucky roll of six. Wait, where's Kylie?
00:55:43
Speaker
Yeah, there you go. And they still didn't notice you. It was a bit strange that this one door was open in one of the... in the middle of the night, but, you know, it happens. And, yeah, the plan starts to unfold and what does Willie and Rita want to
Emotional moments and friendship affirmations
00:56:01
Speaker
do? We're still wanted. Am I correct? Yes, so they know that Caesar is dead, but they don't know about you guys.
00:56:11
Speaker
Oh, wanted by the peoples, the soldiers. Oh, and by like the museum and like... That's what I thought he meant. Both. Yes. We're wanted in general. Yes, yes. We're desirable and charismatic. Yes, you're wanted, yes. I could easily infiltrate, disguise myself as one of them, you know, just taking the shape of a guy that we could possibly take out in an alley. And then you let us in.
00:56:37
Speaker
Yeah, I was gonna say I could I can let you guys Caesar you could of course follow easily you're invisible and then reader you could be by my side with prisoners. Yeah, and I'll be like, oh yeah, I brought in this prisoner. Very good. Very good. The Han Solo approach.
00:56:57
Speaker
You're doing great, how are you? Where is the service at the museum? Further in, in the city. So nobody would know us as the vandalized Ishmael? What crime did we do there? Severy? You killed somebody? Just trying to picture how high the bounty would be on us. Oh, with everything, the bounty is quite high. Larceny, anarchy. Staffed. Murdered. Murdered. Murdered, yes.
00:57:24
Speaker
to paint a picture. Finally! Sorry. Somebody drew a fanart. Ah, the night before you go out and you all sit down, you're all having a wonderful meal. Willie explains this plan. Caesar's for it. Austin's like, what do I do? And reader, you're invested. And Caesar does at one point just take a moment. And he's like, hey, mates.
00:57:54
Speaker
tomorrow whatever happens if one of us doesn't make it if one of us makes it if we
00:58:02
Speaker
If all this is for nothing, I just want you to know I love you. And I'm glad you're my friends. And I'm glad that the keeper, my actual mother, pointed me in your direction. I don't know if I can handle losing you. Hence why it's not that I didn't trust you, Billy, but it was better for us to stay together. And he just pokes at that a little bit. Yeah, he had poke in the elbow. I plucked one feather off of it last time.
00:58:34
Speaker
I'm sorry to tease him, but I'm just like, sees there's that full health, I can't get back at him now.
00:58:41
Speaker
I don't know where Pixie and Clive are, and I hope Kylie's okay, or I don't know where he is, but let's hope we see him again one day. I'm gonna give it my all tomorrow, and I'm not the prettiest or the nicest when I do that. So I hope you don't judge me on what happens, but... Have you seen me slowly torturing this rooster for the past week?
00:59:05
Speaker
We're going to pass that. Willy, I've been meaning to tell you, should I touch Austin? Should I include myself in this so I can at least heal him sometimes? Because I think he is literally losing feathers. Most of it is God. I think you're right. I think the main cause of it is this, and then I rip another one off. Like, I'm just kidding. I'll stab it right back in. That's worst.
00:59:35
Speaker
We're like, Austin, I know you're waiting for your part. Your part is to keep Pixie and Clive good company and protect them. Oh, okay. And if you think that you could escape on this, I want you to know you see Pixie's sharp beak right there. No, she's not here. Or they're not here. You know what she they look like. Yeah.
00:59:57
Speaker
I've seen that. I've heard stories of that beak stabbing straight through a book. Now imagine what it would do to you. Yeah. Okay. I've seen the beak. Yeah. Yeah. Pixie. Pixie seems rough. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Clives also. Don't let that loving facade pull you. Yeah. Sure. I understand. Okay. I'll stay here. Don't worry. Even the library mafia fears them.
01:00:22
Speaker
Let's hope. Yeah, that's the night before. And that is where we will call it for today. Thank you for listening. Don't forget to follow our socials with Rolling Across the Pond, at Rolling Across the Pond, or email us at hello at rolling across the pond dot com, or go to our website, rolling across the pond dot com.
01:00:44
Speaker
yeah all that jazz we love what we're doing and yeah this is a bit different but it's it's still hermachronicles and i hope you enjoy it all right till next time bye and luke waved and yeah isaac waved this time wow we're so close to having one episode where i didn't yes well no last time don't think you did last time