Transcript
Garrett: Hello, everybody, and welcome back to another episode of Into the Malediction. ah This one is jam-packed. ah As always, I am one of your hosts, Garrett, also known as Admiral Tater, and joined by Nick and or Alan.
Nick: Hey, everybody. This is Nick of 8315 in the discords.
m3rcier: ah This is Alan or Mercer in Discord.
Garrett: And... Man, like I said earlier, we got a lot going on here. Uh, unfortunately ah we're recording this the day before, Nick and I had the Gen Con.
Garrett: and like the week before LSO. So I'm gonna bow out early of this episode and Nick and Alan gonna be on their own, talking about all the news and by the awesome new like novelette basically here, short story by shield or by sword.
Garrett: But I'm gonna start off by plugging our sponsor. Our sponsor's me, Admiral Tater. Admiral Tater and his official officially licensed maladdiction products that just came out.
Garrett: I'm super excited about them. ah They're available at amortator.com and I'll have a bunch of them at Gen Con. I don't think this episode going to come out before Gen Con though. So you'll just have to get them online.
Garrett: that's That's it for me.
m3rcier: The comes out tomorrow.
Garrett: Oh, it comes out tomorrow? Oh, well tomorrow in in this time.
m3rcier: Yeah.
Garrett: So July 28th. So yes, ah find me at Gen Con. I will have a limited number of items. They're all extremely nice. And so there's not just a million of them because they're not just mass produced.
Garrett: um Okay, I'm going to say goodbye, and you guys are going to continue forth. So long. Okay,
Nick: We'll miss Garrett.
m3rcier: Thank you, Garrett.
Garrett: goodbye.
m3rcier: Later, man. All right. ah So next topic is going to be the incursion. We just had the incursion. What was it?
Nick: Friday, 24th,
m3rcier: Friday the 24th, so like a few days ago, three days ago. So I'll have a link to the video in the show notes so you can go watch it or give a brief overview. There are nine new products launching on August 26th.
m3rcier: Four of them are gonna be the faction themed reinforcement packs, which will have 14 physical cards along with six STLs. So the STLs will be, there'll be a little card with redemption code. You go to your account, you redeem the code, you get your STLs.
m3rcier: There's gonna be three units on one of each rank. So that's gonna be a six total of six cards. Same thing with the spells, one of each rank for another total of six cards. And then one unique item.
m3rcier: The other four products are going to be the standee packs to go with the reinforcement packs. So you'll you can buy your standees if you want, or you just print your SDLs. And then the punchboard cardboard terrain. This is what I think everyone's been asking for, a way to buy just the cardboard terrain separate from everything else. Because if you bought in with just the secure decks, you don't have any terrain.
m3rcier: So you buy this, it is all four sets of the terrain in the cardboard form.
Nick: Mm-hmm.
m3rcier: However, just like the new two-player starter decks, it does not have the fifth piece, which is one of the small. So one of the small pieces is missing, which is odd because when you buy the two-player starters or the Seeker decks, the STLs include all five pieces of terrain. So a little bit weird how they're doing that. But we finally have cardboard terrain.
m3rcier: which is great. I know I'm going to probably be buying a couple of those. So I have extra terrain sets for the local store and for the events I do.
m3rcier: And then again, August 26th is when the sales open up. I will have a show in the show notes. have a link to what they call their reinforcement pack webpage.
m3rcier: It just gives a brief overview of what I just went over. You put in your email and they will email you when the website has the product available. And then the other thing is from Friday until launch.
m3rcier: It seems like they've been doing it every day, but I'm not sure. No, actually, yeah, we got three of them. They are giving us spoilers. So the first spoiler was Ciro, Hand of Law.
m3rcier: He is the unique in the order deck or in the order reinforcement pack.
m3rcier: On Saturday, we got Athan, the Prime Decimator. He is the unique in the Conclave pack. If you're on the discords, this is the guy we all call Mega Man because he's replaced his arm with a huge cannon. He's amazing.
m3rcier: And then yesterday we got Courtly Spectacle spoils. We got the three spells from the Legion pack spoiled. So they didn't do the unique unit.
m3rcier: I'll have links to the Instagram where all of those spoilers are shown. And then also you can hop on the discord and get them. And the last thing they shared with us is they gave us the silhouettes and they confirmed there are two new seekers <unk> releasing in the fall of this year.
m3rcier: And then if you watch the video, you get to see the silhouettes of the minis. But other than that, that was the incursion. It was maybe 15, 20 minutes long. Fabio ran through it. But they had a lot of marketing, the images, just all of it. It was it was it was pretty cool. I like how they do their product releases with an incursion before every one of them. It's pretty cool.
m3rcier: Nick?
Nick: Yeah, no, i was um I'm really excited for these reinforcement packs. I've been waiting ah since the roadmap, when they announced or i think it was before the 2027 roadmap, when they announced the idea of the reinforcement packs. I forget exactly when that first email or or newsletter came out.
Nick: um Just new cards, new things to play with. I like that they're not tied to a Seeker. um Because you right now, everything else in the game is, you know, you get it in a Seeker deck. You get it in, you know, it's already kind of a pre-built deck.
Nick: And so having someone that's dedicated to like a theme that's not necessarily built for a specific Seeker deck, is it's going to be really fun to to experiment with, play around with.
m3rcier: Yeah, and that isn't to say that some of the things in these decks won't be used with other Seekers, but I can tell you right now, one of those spoiled Legion spells will absolutely be in every Vornhall deck.
m3rcier: It's another damage-eating spell, and Vornhall likes those, and there's not enough of them, so... oh You'll definitely see that one in the Voronhall deck. And then on Discord, some people have been talking about how good Syro is going to be with Grieza.
m3rcier: So definitely take a look at them, watch the Incursion video, and then go from there. think our next update Nick is going to take.
Nick: Yeah. Yeah. So um yeah, the encouragement was, was real big. It was really fun. So in addition to that last week, we also got an update on the rule book and the FAQ.
Nick: So they've been collecting a lot of feedback for, I mean, I think for months now and they've kind of compiled everything. ah Again, if you're not subscribed to the newsletter, I think you should be. if you're listening to our podcast here, because they did include a link to the new rule book and the new FAQ, July, 2026. And we're not going to go through all the changes here. A lot of them were just clarifying rules and and terminology.
Nick: ah But the big thing that we're going talk about is items no longer give mastery when they are attached to a unit that is defeated. And that's a big, it's a big deal. I think, especially for Auric players,
Nick: And just in general, we we talk all the time about how items are just not really taken. They're not really included lot of decks because they take up a card spot. they you know You can't always use them to the best of you lose the master ear You give mastery when they get destroyed or defeated.
Nick: ah So pulling that kind of that drawback out, I think, is going to really open the floor for some more experimentation with equipment and give Auric a little boost, which... um you know I don't think we have universal stats yet. I know we're um we're getting some slowly through some some really dedicated players out there collecting some stats. but you know I feel like we don't see a lot of orc, but that could be just my area.
m3rcier: We didn't see any orc at Adepticon, and I think he might be doing fairly well in the Trials of Everlasting this month. But other than that, I don't see him that i don't see him at all locally, and I don't know how many people do.
Nick: Yep. And then ah they also did introduce a new game mode. This is going to be for three and four players. It is called Dominion, and it is a free-for-all format.
Nick: So now you've you know you don't want to play Nemesis or you don't want to play Allegiance 2v2. You can just play a free-for-all. The initiative token passes or goes around clockwise, and that's how you kind of resolve that imbalance activations. so Looks pretty fun.
Nick: um'm I'm down for it. ah I enjoy Allegiance games enough, and so I'm down for trying some Dominion.
m3rcier: Yeah, Dominion's fun. So the way the the you still bid, but once you bid, it it goes clockwise to see to see if everyone bids. And then you know the initiative itself doesn't move clockwise, the bidding does.
m3rcier: So if you have initiative, you keep initiative until someone bids to steal it from you. oh If I remember correctly, I haven't read the full rules in a little bit for it, but... Fun mode. And then they did rename the standard 1v1 to Clash.
Nick: Yeah. Yes.
m3rcier: And that may or may not be because a number of us were like, hey, everything else has a really cool name. Why is standard just called standard, guys? So ah one of the heralds.
Nick: It's for those competitive players, you know. They just like everything standard.
m3rcier: Yeah, well, they...
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: I don't know. but So one of the Heralds, ah i I call him KV. I don't know how to say his whole name. He threw out, man, half a dozen really good names.
m3rcier: And then the the loot team picked the one out of that bunch they liked and threw it in there. so we They didn't even tell anybody any of the Heralds. It was just when we saw it, when we released it, and a lot of us were like, oh, that's awesome.
m3rcier: just it's It's so minor and pointless, but it's so cool to be, you know, like all my events are now called Malediction Clash. ah So something minor, but still really cool. I think the biggest one is going to be the Mastery with Items. And there's a bunch of other changes, but we couldn't go through all of them in the detail you need it. So again, I'll have links in the show notes to the new rulebook and the new FAQ. Just go check them out.
Nick: Well, all right. So are we ready to get into the the main course of this episode?
m3rcier: Yeah, the first of, they confirmed three of them in total during the incursion, right?
Nick: want us add That sounds right. Yep.
m3rcier: Pretty sure it's three. So the the first of the series of short stories that are focused on the Seekers themselves.
m3rcier: Do you want to introduce us to the Seeker in question and name of the article, Nick?
Nick: Yeah, I can do that. So unless you have been living under a rock, you probably have heard about this. It was a really big announcement. We got a story written by George Mann, who's collaborated in a lot of different IPs, including a Doctor Who, Sherlock Holmes, and Warhammer 40K.
Nick: And he's written for us by shield or by sword. And so we're gonna we're not going to read this to you guys. That's not what this podcast is, but we're going to go through it. This is going to be an adventure following everybody's favorite order seeker, Sigrith Andravos.
Nick: And so it opens up. She's returning to the city of Karn, or Charn, accompanied by a knight, Sir Marlow. And we get a little bit of a peek into it that she's returning to her foster home.
Nick: Uh, basically Sigrith was an orphan who was raised by a lady Wellstead, uh, just a noble family in the city of charm.
Nick: And so, it seems like it's been decades or at least at least a decade since she's been home, uh, going out on her adventures with her legacy. Uh, but as she returns home, she's instructed by her foster mother to brave the dangers, of the malediction once more and retrieve her son, a man named Jothan.
Nick: Uh, so Jothan, uh, Jothan. Yeah.
m3rcier: Yeah, Jothan, I think.
Nick: you know Jothan. Yeah. um Joseph Thurston takes a family legacy um and goes into the malediction.
Nick: And sorry, Alan, think am I might get ahead myself. i didn't mean to cut you off.
m3rcier: Oh, no, was still letting you go. I just ah said Jothan.
Nick: Yeah.
Nick: Yeah.
Nick: But yeah, we so we we get a little bit introduction to the city and to her home. It's a manor, the Wellstead Manor. a Did you have anything you wanted to add into that? Anything that stuck out to you at this part of the story?
m3rcier: No, I mean, it's so the the first two parts of the story are kind of just backstory as she's going there. We learn she hasn't been there in a while. We kind of get a feel for how she feels about going back and about being there. like She calls it ah pretty much a cage, referring to Karn, calling it a cage to keep her in, which I kind of think speaks very much to how she felt when she was there.
m3rcier: And then we get to learn about the relationship between or her and her mother, her and her brother, and then some of the other family members. I know her, specifically her and her brother, it was a very, since she was an orphan, ah her older brother did not appear to like her that much. You know, his mother spent time with the orphan and not with him. You know, he was very, was a very adversarial relationship they had.
m3rcier: and then we learned that, I guess this is, since we've got Lyanna Grieza, this is the first new Seeker we've learned about. So Jothan, what's the last name? Westerwild?
Nick: Wellstead.
m3rcier: Wellstead. Uh, and we learn our first new legacy also, which is the spear of Katasar, uh, which is pretty cool. So we get, a we get a new seeker and we get a new legacy, even though they're not in game units.
m3rcier: Uh, don't know if we'll see them in game or not. Uh, maybe they're one of the new two new seekers to be released later this year. Who knows? Uh, But no pretty cool. I think it's it's awesome we we learn about a new legacy, and it is the family legacy.
m3rcier: As we all know, Sigrid does not carry her family's legacy. She found her legacy. It called to her. But her brother does wield the family's legacy.
Nick: Yeah. Yeah. and I really enjoy the, the imagery as Sigrid kind of enters this manner. You know, you, it's, it's exactly like what you'd expect an order um order like manner to look like, you know, it's a lot of marble, a lot gold trim, but they specifically note that there's the um there's like, I think paintings or or maybe I forget exactly the detail, but they have the,
Nick: all of the legacy wielders throughout the family's history
Nick: imparted in the manner.
m3rcier: Yeah, it's like a hall of honor.
Nick: And it's, you know, yeah, it just kind of reminds you that it's like, oh, like, you know, ah you you you are born into these noble houses and destined to one day wield the legacy of your your ancestors.
Nick: And your story is going to be forever remembered in kind. sir
m3rcier: Yeah, and then I would be, i mean, Spear of Cadassar. Who is Cadassar? What is Cadassar? Kind of interesting that maybe we'll maybe we'll find that out in a later lore story or something if we get any more lore on that legacy.
m3rcier: so But that was pretty cool. ah I guess the the next part of the story as we go down, and we kind of broke this up into, what, six?
Nick: Six rough parts, yeah.
m3rcier: Yes, six segments, because that's roughly how they have it broken up. And we kind of gave our own title so we could know. The next part is is probably one of the shortest parts of the story.
m3rcier: But we we get a glimpse at... So after Cigarette is passed by her mother to to go into the malediction, she doesn't agree to it.
m3rcier: She basically says, hey, look, I have to pray to get guidance, which her mother knows... means she's going to talk to her shield. so she goes to the family chapel, which is apparently a big part of this house because it has its own room that's fairly ornate.
m3rcier: And she's praying, but she's really just talking to Androvan, who does speak back to her. But here apparently, from what we can tell, because they do this quite a bit through the story, it's more in riddles. The shield's not telling her what to do. It's just presenting her with a number of options, maybe giving her a little bit, hey, if you do that, this would happen.
m3rcier: so it's it's pretty cool back and forth, and it's pretty interesting to see that...
m3rcier: It's very clear that Sigurd and Androvan have their own set of goals separate from the Order. And that Androvan may have its own set of goals separate from what Sigurd's goals are.
m3rcier: But it's very much a... Man, I think I would say this is probably much just as much as a relationship as Lyanna and Karl Marmok are. Just the reverse relationship.
Nick: Yeah, yeah, really, you know, we only got that little tidbit in Sigrid's like lore primer entry about she followed the voice that like led her to the legacy, but it doesn't really go into like a ton of detail on how they commune and and what kind of guidance that it gives her. But, ah you know, the Andra Evan is, it it's really, it's clearly a like very strong guiding force. And it really opens up you know, I start now I have questions.
Nick: Is this true for every legacy? Right. Like to what extent can a legacy kind of retain a sort of sentience?
Nick: And so, you know, it it, yeah.
m3rcier: And then impact.
Nick: Yeah. So like we know Sigrid communes and like, you know, she, she prays for guidance and asks and drive on for, some kind of, so you know, some kind of, uh,
Nick: sense of what to do. um But, you know, it it throughout the story, it speaks in riddles, right? It always gives her like, it always seems to give her, you have option A, you have option B, right? And so it's kind of like up to her to make sense of what it's telling her.
Nick: But we'll get into that.
m3rcier: it's never very straightforward at all. It's always in a riddle or, ah very vague, information or, know, these are the paths you can go. So it's not telling her what to do. It's more advising her, but also probably, or it seems a little bit manipulative in how it advises her.
m3rcier: So, uh, the next part is the one that we've, I mean, we we don't have a story about this. This is Sigur's war ban has entered the malediction. Gives us a little bit of insight about some of her ah her war ban. You know, there a lot of them have been with her for a while. But in this one instance, ah because of what they're going to do, they're going to collect her brother and or his legacy if he's fallen, which I guess to go back to the family thing,
m3rcier: Yes, ah the mother wants her son back, but she didn't actually ask for that. When she told Sigrid what she wanted, she said she wanted the legacy back.
Nick: Yeah, yeah, because.
m3rcier: Sigrid kind of had to drag out, well, you want me to get Jothan back too? And the mother was like, look, just being honest, I would love for you to collect your brother, but we want the legacy back.
m3rcier: We need the legacy back. Because if they lose this legacy, it's their family's legacy, it'll put the family into ruins.
Nick: Yeah, yeah, it's so really it's a good moment where she kind of says, like, you know, without the legacy there, he would have no house to return to kind of, you know.
m3rcier: So with
m3rcier: yeah so it's it really shows the, I guess, it's going to really weird, the conclave side of the order. that They, just like the conclave, they value stuff and they value their legacies for their family's heritage. So they're thinking more about the family and the order than they are about that particular family member.
m3rcier: uh which is odd because it seems like cigarette doesn't like that aspect of the order but it's also a family member she doesn't like that much so i don't think she's like she's like yeah no one really liked him who cares but uh so they're
Nick: Yeah, but, you we you know, going to say the Order also sees like these legacies are like gifts or tools or weapons from the everlasting. Like they they are also like holy relics. And so to lose one would be, um you know, like almost blasph blasphemous from the standpoint of like the rights.
m3rcier: Yeah, you lost it you lost your a tool. You lost something important to us.
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: So with that in mind, the lady sent Sir Marlow, who was the knight that fetched Sigrid from wherever she was to come home. He is tasked with going with Sigrid.
m3rcier: We learn that through the kind of their interactions and some of the imagery, that this is his first time in the malediction. like he sees some... rock formations and he's like man that is like what is that and sigurus points out that you know that's a giant that's the bones of a giant and all that and this guy can't believe himself he's like those are myths and cigarettes is like no no they're they're real it's right there and she explained it to him so it's it's A lot of the stuff in The Malediction, unless you're a seeker or a member of a seeker's warband, a lot of people take the stuff in The Malediction.
m3rcier: It's myths. It's not real. you know it's It's the boogeyman, which Sigrid very calmly and clearly explains, no, that's not the case. So like some really good imagery there.
m3rcier: Anything you got from that part of it?
Nick: I always find it. Oh, I was just going to say, I always find it funny in like your fantasy stories where there is so much like blatant magic and so many different, like in this, you know, in this world, we have different races, we have different factions, you know, all of this stuff, especially the things that everlasting did, like the everlasting were seen as gods.
Nick: And so like what they did, would have been it's unthinkable right the the power they wield the creativity the everything they could do and so they have a character who's just like no that wasn't real i was just a legend right it's like why but why why would you think it was just a legend if you knew if you know and everything else around you is so um majestic or magnificent so grand um why wouldn't there be giants and So i just i was i always enjoy that kind of character revelation in these kind of stories where it's like, oh, I didn't i i know magic's real, but I didn't think like that kind of magic was real.
m3rcier: Yeah. Anything else that stuck out for you in that that part of the article?
Nick: i I like that she she describes how the giant is still bleeding. Because you know that's where we get like the noxious flesh gardens, the terrain piece. And she kind of points out, like oh yeah, like the the ground is bloody.
Nick: because the giant that's buried is still alive, entombed in the Earth, and it bleeds.
m3rcier: I'm going to read this part of it. Let's see. So this is part of the article. It's a few meters from where he was standing, he being Sir Marlow, several pale, brittle-looking structures jutted from the coarse earth, towering almost twice his not inconsiderable height.
m3rcier: They might have been some kind of sacred structure, strange, abstract archways or hinges, raised in tribute to the great betrayers, which are the everlasting that fought the triumphant.
m3rcier: But Sigurath knew well enough that they were something far stranger. She replies to Marlow that they're bones. And his reply back was bones in disbelief.
m3rcier: What manner of creature could have bones so great that a single limb could tower thrice the size of a man? Sigurath just smiles before she responds and you know lets him know that it's a giant.
m3rcier: So he's just completely blown away. ah
m3rcier: And actually, the other thing that's pretty cool you hear here is while they're conversing, Sigureth
m3rcier: like looks at the horizon and then also tells Marlow that there are others searching for this legacy. like She can sense that there are others in the malediction searching for what she is. We don't know if that's just Sigureth or if that is part of her power from Androvan.
m3rcier: but she's able to sense that there are others searching for that legacy too.
Nick: Yeah, I think, I think like the Androfen is like, ah somewhat like maybe attuned to like the,
Nick: like, I guess like the disturbance in like the malediction or, you know, something, it you know, it gives her that sense.
m3rcier: And then, so the next part is the part that I was super excited when I got to it.
Nick: But.
m3rcier: Because there was, i think we read the the flavor text on one of the cards where it was Sigareth and the Herald of Salvation talking to each other or something like that. And this actually confirms it.
m3rcier: We learned that the Herald of Salvation, before she was transformed into the Herald, Her and Sigurds were friends, and they are still friends afterwards, and they still converse with each other.
m3rcier: But they give us her name. Her name is Kalina.
m3rcier: She still very much works with Sigurds. She advises her. it's pretty cool to see that. We get a little bit of their backstory.
m3rcier: It's like a flashback of where they're talking. They're at the Sanctorium. And they're just discussing the Androbin. it's It's a really good character backstory, not just for cigarettes. we I mean, we learned about the Herald, which is pretty cool in my mind.
Nick: Yeah, we get a little, you know, it's like a, you know, mental flashback, but it kind of helps frame Sigrid's point of view, her, her like personal perception. Um, I guess one thing we hadn't really talked about this entire story is written from Sigrid's point of view. So we get a lot of internal monologue. We get a lot of her kind of thought process with a lot of this, um,
Nick: Yeah, so it's, there's a you know, it's interesting because we know through the stories, everything else that's written about Sigrith is always from kind of like a third person's perspective. know, her Lord Primer entry, other flavor texts, everything's written about Sigrith.
Nick: And this is the first thing we've really seen that's written like, almost like from her.
Nick: So it's,
m3rcier: Yeah, we get to see her point of view. we get to see her inner monologue. So it's... I really liked it because we got a you know more backstory on Sigurath and then we learned something about the the Herald.
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: So that entire section is just a flashback. I think probably the purpose of its inclusion is to inform us on the relationship between Sigurath and her legacy, Anne Groban.
m3rcier: Because that's that's what her and the Herald are talking about is like, hey, can I trust it know Has it ever steered you wrong? It's it's very much a her being consulted by her friend on to trust or not trust or how to take the wisdom from the legacy when it decides to get it.
Nick: yeah and um you know a pretty consistent theme throughout this story is that Sigrid has um almost like a hesitation uh she you know she had everything every choice just put before her everything she considers she she heavily weighs and so um you know she doesn't come across as somebody who just she doesn't automatically know what to do or what she should do it's a lot of, doubt is not the right word,
Nick: um but she's very cautious, right? And so the the conversation with the Herald is a lot about, um you know, how how do I know I'm doing the right thing? and It's like, well, you won't, you know, you you you can't, you can't know because there's no such thing as as certainty.
m3rcier: Yeah, well, and she also, we don't know what it is, but she has a a goal in mind because she actually was not 100% going to do this.
m3rcier: Like, she had to go ask the shield if she could spare the time to go to the malediction to recover her brother.
Nick: Mm-hmm.
m3rcier: So, um you know, her mother had to convince her. the shield, you know, kind of weighed some options and all that. So she finally decided to do it. But that's why i kind of think it's, it's, it's,
m3rcier: Very much a symbiotic relationship that Sigurth and Androvan have more so than you would get if you just played the game. Like in the game, it's just a shield that gives her powers, but within the fiction, it's its own entity, and it does have a heavy influence on Sigurth.
Nick: Yeah. Yeah. and And one thing I think to, to never, to never really keep out of your mind is that Sigurth is very young. Uh, you know, it's like, so we don't have like exact ages or anything like that, but we know that she was a young, young woman when she found Andraven.
Nick: Um, I think it mentions her return home. It's been like a decade, um, And so, you know, like late, may late twenties, I think is, is like the maximum.
m3rcier: Yeah, so late 20s, early 30s maybe.
Nick: I think, yeah I think she might be like early to mid twenties. um And I know we've mentioned it before, I think in our order episode was like, you know, I see a lot of Joan of Arc inspiration for her story.
Nick: And ah Joan was like 13 when she had her first like vision. And so if you parallel that, like, you know, I could see Sigrith being 23, 24 in like young 20s.
Nick: m And so she she kind of has that uncertainty about, you know you know, having the lack of life experience, the lack of wisdom, but then being called upon to this role of importance and having to make the decisions that, you know, ah other other the choices she makes determine who lives and who dies.
m3rcier: Yeah. All right. We will move to the next portion. and This, i will say, I didn't didn't do a word count, but this the last section of the story, and I'm pretty sure it may be larger by itself than the other five sections combined.
Nick: Yeah, this is the the big part.
m3rcier: if If not, it is fairly close. Like when I was reading it and scrolling, I was like, when... This is just going to end and I'm not going to be happy because it's been going to be a cliffhanger, but it just kept going.
m3rcier: So I will let you take it away from with our notes. We'll just work through those and we can talk about more and more too.
Nick: Yeah, so... So at the end of a yeah know our last section, Sigrid senses another force. She senses people out there.
Nick: Something that's seeking the spear. So we get like a short little time skip because this is when you know they have that flashback. But then we come back and they're at the top of a cliffside a ridge.
Nick: And basically Marlow is just like, or Sir Marlow is just like, hey, I don't think you want to see this. And she's like, uh, yeah, I think I think I've seen some horrible things. You're not going to surprise me.
Nick: And, uh, so we get this scene of just a bloody massacre of corpses of Jothan's warband, uh, basically almost in like a ring of bodies.
Nick: And, uh, She notices at first, she's like, this is, this is unusual because they were in like a loose circle as if like an explosion happened, but it doesn't look like magic because you can see like um weapon wounds.
Nick: And so, yeah.
m3rcier: Yeah, limbs limbs hacked off and and whatnot.
Nick: And so, you know, she's like, you know, she, yeah at a first glance, she can't tell what could have caused this. But the center of this ring of corpses is a blackened, corrupted tower of flesh with a pale light emanating from it.
Nick: And this is our first description of a husk.
Nick: And so she confirms that like all relic bearers that die within the malediction, their their body, their physical form is... taken by the power emanating from their artifacts and just forms a shell around it to keep it.
Nick: And it mentioned specifically just that, you know, a legacy bearer succumbing and into malediction is ah is a slow and terrible process to become a husk.
m3rcier: Yeah, so this is the first time, and I think the only so far, where we we we learned that a legacy bearer that dies within the malediction suffers the same fate as a relic bearer.
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: Because, you know, in game, on the on the table, when your Seeker dies, they don't turn into a husk unless they're carrying a relic. And they just go back off and can come back. So we know now that if if you have a legacy and you die in a malediction, you also turn into a husk, which is...
m3rcier: Probably kind of terrible, too.
m3rcier: But it's, from the wording in some of the article, it makes it seem like the for a legacy bearer, it's much more slow, probably more painful than if a relic bearer falls.
m3rcier: Which makes sense. There's more more power in the legacies than there would be in a relic.
Nick: yeah so
Nick: yeah so I don't know I love this because you know this is where we really get to blend and you know we start getting kind of more like a blend of the actual game mechanics with the lore instead of just always having a backstory to justify a character and this is like actually how the game plays
m3rcier: backstory to justify the game mechanics.
Nick: Yep. Yep.
m3rcier: But in this instance, Cigarette does also like point out and mentioned that she's not sure what killed them because she cannot see the remains of any opposing force. All she sees are the corpus of order and then the husk, which he assumes is going to be her brother.
Nick: Yep. Yeah. So then they kind of, don't know. She speaks with Andrew Ivan for a second, but it's nothing really too...
Nick: noteworthy. um But they so she senses movement. And on the other side of the ridge, they see a seeker drawn to the site.
Nick: And so this is where, you know, we kind of get introduced to this other, this rival warband. And so, you know, they start just kind of running down the ravine towards the husk.
Nick: And Dravon just tells Sigrith like, hey, Why don't you don't you just go down and and take them out? They've already, like you can see from here, like they already carry wounds.
Nick: You have the high ground. You could end this quickly.
m3rcier: Well, he's kind of teasing her because he offers her that or he tells her, you know, she could take the path of diplomacy.
Nick: Basically said, yeah.
m3rcier: But before that, the interaction when she realizes that that's her brother, like Androvan is kind of antagonizing her with because Androvan makes a comment to her.
m3rcier: She makes a comment back and then the scene continues. But if you read the comment, he's kind of saying, hey, your brother's dead. You're not bound to that family anymore. And she replies back that the memories remain.
Nick: And so, and so the...
m3rcier: So it really seems like Androvan is like antagonizing her there.
Nick: Well, I wonder too, because it's, it's kind of reflecting her own feelings, right? Like, cause she, even before, like the very beginning of the story, she has this, you know, hate is like maybe not the right word, but she does not like her brother.
Nick: You know, he was, he was pompous, he was arrogant and he looked, he was disrespectful to her because like the Andorraven, because she was chosen by by a legacy.
Nick: And it seemed to overshadow his accomplishments as being like the eldest of the family, being the, right you know, I think he, they say something about he
Nick: he had like fight to claim the family legacy. We don't necessarily know the full story behind all that, but like, it seems like he wasn't the first choice for like the inheritance, but he, you know, however he arranged it or made that happen, he acquired it one way or another because he was like this, and he you know, he had ambition beyond wisdom.
Nick: And so Sigrid has never liked him, but she sees him like being, his warband being murdered, him now in the form of a husk, knowing the fate that befell him, she has this like hesitation where she's like, I'm like, I'm sad. I'm sadder than I thought I'd be.
Nick: And then you kind of get in drive and just kind of saying, you know, kind of poking at her a little bit. And I wonder if that's more of a reflection, like he senses her, like both sides of her, her feelings in that moment.
m3rcier: Yeah, I mean, is Androvan just a mirror of her and or is its own entity or both? i mean, it could be a mixture of both.
m3rcier: So it's just weird that it feels like it's trying to antagonize her a little bit at that moment.
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: And then it also, it's much more pushy with, hey, attack them, they're wounded. Because i don't think they could see the wounds. Because they can't even tell that it's a Conclave Mage from where they are.
m3rcier: Androvan tells her those things. So it like it can sense that they are wounded, that they've had battle. So I guess maybe the legacies themselves are connected in some way. So Androvan knows that the other Seekers' legacy has been in battle.
m3rcier: We don't know any of that, but... ah
Nick: Yeah, or maybe it just has some like magical perception that it like it can it can feel like the wounds leave like a diminishment of their life force, and it can tell that, like oh, they're not at full strength.
Nick: And so it can even from a distance, know it can pick up on like these like subtle echoes in the malediction.
m3rcier: Yeah, and then,
Nick: yeah know i'm That's total speculation, but it could be that.
m3rcier: i mean, it's it does push her. i guess part of because like it says, Sigurath said, go on. Like she urged Sigurath.
Nick: Like it didn't want to continue with option number two. Yeah.
m3rcier: Yeah, and she pushed it to do it. But this is where I definitely wouldn't want to be in the malediction with her. But did she say that out loud in her war baron here? Or did she say it mentally in her head? like Because if she said it out loud, at some point her war band's got to be like, oh she's just talking to the shield. like That's pretty standard practice for her. They're used to it.
m3rcier: Marlow might not be.
m3rcier: doesn't really tell us there if it was, you know, out loud or internal we're assuming internal because there's no reaction from anyone around her but
Nick: Well, and it does it does say a little bit later, it mentions when she said, oh I will shall speak with their seeker. She said, raising her voice so others could hear her. So, you know, there could be implication there that like she mutters when she's speaking to Andravon specifically, but then now she's speaking with the warband. But, you know, you you're following a like destined holy you know warrior of the faith.
Nick: And you know she talks to her shield, right? I don't
m3rcier: Yeah, and it's, I mean, it's, and and he, and this this is the part I think is cool.
Nick: know if it'd be too weird.
m3rcier: The shield, we haven't seen it actually referred to the order. And in this case, it doesn't even refer to the conclade. it just refers to them as followers followers of Moa.
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: She just, like, she's smart enough. We all know. She's like, oh, they're conclade. But the shield doesn't refer them like that, which I find... I say one I find pretty interesting, but since it speaks in riddles, maybe, or maybe it just doesn't recognize the factions.
m3rcier: Maybe it just recognizes the other ever the followers of the ever other everlasting.
Nick: Maybe, yeah, because it could be, i mean, again, we you know these are magic soulbound um thousand-year-old relics.
Nick: Maybe Andrivan has a different perception. It doesn't see the Conclave as an organization, but it does see the people who choose to follow what Moloch first set out. And if the Conclave disbands or falls apart or fractures, the people will still be the followers of Moloch as long as they choose to follow like the use of Leastrum and study of Leastrum.
Nick: So it could be like, it's a title that supersedes the Conclave itself.
Nick: Yeah. So.
m3rcier: right. And then we are, so you're right there where, guess, where Marlo is trying to to trying to be the leader.
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: but but
Nick: Yeah. Yeah. So Sigrid decides that she's going to speak with the seeker. We're going to, we're going to go the path of diplomacy and peace. And not, you know you know, there's already been one war band slaughtered here.
Nick: There doesn't need to be more death. ah But Marlo, yeah, Marlo is like, no, I don't, that's not a good idea. I don't think we should do that. And she just looks at him as like, a it is not your decision to allow or disallow.
Nick: So, you know, she, that's one thing I really like is that even though she's written at this as a somewhat kind of doubting, and throughout like her, she, again, it's not doubt. It's a hesitation. She's being cautious with her choices, but when she makes up her mind, she's immediately just like, no, like I've made up my mind. This is my conviction.
Nick: And so she just steps forward and he's like, uh, yeah, yes, ma'am. I will follow you. So she has her war band kind of wait on top of the ridge and am as as a sense of, I guess, maybe good faith to show that they're not coming to fight.
Nick: But, you know, it even says, like, she knows that, like, all she has to do is give the signal, and they would, you know, they would already be be on their way down.
Nick: So, yeah. So we cut cut forward a little bit. She comes down to the area around where the husk is. It ah seems like... Maybe she gets there first um because she steps like she stands near the husk as kind of a sense of like, you know, I'm not letting you take this spear.
Nick: She's contesting it, one might say.
Nick: And so, um but yeah, so the seeker the enemy seeker, the conclave seeker, and his warband of a few mages are standing off. We have Sigurith near the husk.
Nick: And they yeah they have a little parlay.
Nick: You know, the mages seem to be ready to fight. You know, they come out, they already have their weapons drawn.
m3rcier: Well, they didn't have them drawn to begin They were just coming up. But when the Conglave Seeker ordered Sigrid to stop, you know she didn't listen. she kept She kept walking to make a point, which pissed off the Conglave warriors because you didn't listen to their secret, which I find hilarious. And it just shows you how, least in my it shows how confident Sigrid is in her own abilities.
m3rcier: Because remember, it's just her and Marla down there. She doesn't have a warband with her.
Nick: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It's just her, ah which I mean, I think that's wild. I don't know how many concave mages would, would be the correct number, but I feel like you should at least have like a second.
m3rcier: So she's very, very bold that she kept walking, which also, like...
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: when you read this story, it's clear that the other, the conclave seeker is also very arrogant, uh, also. So,
Nick: Yeah. Yeah, so they they they kind of go back and forth. The mage seems very... He's almost almost like a little disrespectful. He's very aggressive. um
m3rcier: but he knows of her.
Nick: Whereas Sigurd...
m3rcier: Like is, he's,
Nick: Yes, yeah, he calls her he calls her by name, right?
m3rcier: that he's very, very clear to her that he knows who she is, her legend perceives her, but he's still very like aggressive and very arrogant, which is crazy.
m3rcier: Or maybe he's crazy, we don't know. So,
Nick: Yeah, so um he introduces himself as Seretrin Atraxxus of the Sphere of Vertan. So that's going to be our our battle mages, battle casters.
Nick: But again, he's ah ah here's the line. You're shorter than the stories would have you.
Nick: But I just enjoy i enjoy that, you know, given the opportunity, he makes a barb at that, right?
m3rcier: Oh, yeah, yeah but cups but she gives it right back um by stating, like, he says, i think, something like, your infamy precedes you, and she's like, any worse does not.
Nick: your infant Your infamy precedes you. Yes.
m3rcier: So, like, they're they're trading barbs. I mean, it's it's very clear that it's two people in power arguing, trying to gain more power by grabbing that husk. We did get a little bit of a lore drop here, though. I mean, this whole thing is a lore drop, but...
m3rcier: this, uh, conclave seeker tries to invoke, uh, something he refers to as the waypoint accords, like section 17, something like that. Legalese, and cigarettes, you just very nonchalant.
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: You, you know, that doesn't apply within the, in the malediction, which I guess, uh, my interpretation is the waypoint accords are some type of treaty between the three big factions and maybe even the sovereign cities, uh,
m3rcier: on claiming the spoils of a war. So like there's a battle, the accords are how the battles fought, probably how the spoils or the loot is divided up.
m3rcier: And this guy tries to invoke it within the malediction.
Nick: Yeah, and it could even, I mean, I was i took it to be more of a ah you know, it could just be simply a process by which the comp Conclave operates, because maybe, you know, you the Conclave, more so than like the Order of the Legion, could have like rival warbands that are simultaneously ah adventuring within the Malediction. And so when you run ah one and run into each other, you can invoke like, hey, I was here first, basically.
Nick: um And, you know,
m3rcier: Waypoint's a city within on the continent.
Nick: yeah yeah, I think it's one of the, yes, yeah.
m3rcier: It's kind of like our Geneva Conventions would be.
Nick: Waypoint, is Waypoint one of the free cities? thought it was a conclave city on the coast. I'm thinking, I might be thinking a gate i might be thinking a gateway, actually.
m3rcier: I'm pulling them out now.
m3rcier: Gateway is one of them. Waypoint, I'm pretty sure, is one of the free cities.
Nick: Yep.
m3rcier: Let me look.
Nick: It is, it's on the Golden Road.
m3rcier: Yeah, it's the free city by new author.
Nick: Yep.
m3rcier: So i'm going to it's probably like the Geneva Conventions.
Nick: Yes. So, but yeah, so he says, we claim this battlefield and it spoils. and She says, the only law inside the malediction are those of Amiri's.
Nick: So they, are yeah, they, they are just not in agreement. He's here for the spear. She's here for the spear and they can't seem to make any common ground.
m3rcier: And he, i guess, and it's it's not clear how, but he knows it's this, well, he's looking for the sphere, the sphere. He doesn't necessarily know that it's in this husk. He's, you know, making an assumption ah because he's not surprised that, you know, to see another seeker searching for it. So either his legacy has helped him determine that there's, you know, a legacy unclaimed in a malediction you word got to the conclave and they sent somebody out. So it's pretty clear that this instance, that like this is continent information, like a seeker died and the entire continent is aware of it, or at least all the the powerful people on the continent are, and they want that legacy back.
Nick: Yeah, I'm really curious how he kind of knows, am you know, and that's what it makes me think too, it's like, is the husk from our legacy different than the husk from a relic to the point that like, oh, you can tell right from a distance?
m3rcier: Well, he didn't, I don't think he could tell.
Nick: Because if
m3rcier: It didn't seem like he knew from a distance. I think once she confirmed that it was the sphere is when he was, because he did act a little bit surprised that, you know, hey, it is the sphere, which tells us that the sphere has a reputation.
Nick: Yes. Yeah, but he does he does say he's here to claim the legacy.
m3rcier: So.
Nick: So he knows it's a legacy, but he doesn't know it's a spear.
m3rcier: Yes.
Nick: So that's why I'm like, the the only thing I can think of would be that the husk itself is different somehow.
m3rcier: Maybe.
Nick: But yeah, or or maybe it's just we're reading too much into a a single line.
m3rcier: Yeah, there's i mean there's some instances of that, and in some cases, we we very well might be. But that's our jobs. we We're supposed to read too much into this and theorycraft and create all that stuff.
m3rcier: so
Nick: Yep. That's why you're listening to it right now.
m3rcier: but Yeah, i think we put a note in here somewhere. This is the second seeker we're aware of. So now we're aware of 10 seekers within the confines of the Malediction. So could this be the other seeker that we get later this year Maybe. We don't know yet.
m3rcier: But it is a Conclave seeker. he's He's a Sphere Vertan. And I keep saying sphere when I'm talking about the spear. It's very maddening because I catch myself doing it.
m3rcier: But yeah, so there's, you know, they're trading barbs. They're talking back and forth. They're both trying to claim the sphere.
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: This is an interaction where Sigurath, like, lets him know that, hey, you know, that's my kin. I'm reclaiming this, not just for my family, but also for the Order. And he makes it clear he's not claiming it for the Conclave.
m3rcier: He's claiming it for himself.
Nick: Yeah. Yeah. He's, I think he mentions he's, he's there for his own study.
Nick: Yeah. um So, yeah, he says, you know, there's nothing you can possibly give me that's gonna make me turn around right now. And... a
m3rcier: which this is this is my favorite part, the this this back and forth portion of it.
Nick: Yes. she ah So Sigrid, you know, she she kind of senses his his tenacity on this. She looks at all of the all the conclave warriors around him.
Nick: They're all tired, injured, and none of them look ready for battle except for the seeker. And then she so she tells him, she says, i you know, we can tend to you. We can tend to your wounded and we can escort you back, you know, back to your gate, get you out of the malediction in exchange for you let us take the spear.
Nick: And this is our first mention.
m3rcier: which he immediately says nope
Nick: Yep.
Nick: Yeah. Well, but we do get, we do get like a, so a second command kind of steps up and says like, hey, you know, listen, that's not a bad idea. Like a lot of us are are injured, but he's just like, no, no, he's, and that's, yeah, so that is not for you to just decide, Belame, or Bel, Bellamy, Belame, Bellamy, okay.
m3rcier: Bellamy is how I'm reading it. So also just to note, Sariton and Bellamy are the two conclave people that were referred to. It was Bellamy saying it, talking about Sariton in one of the conclave articles.
m3rcier: I think it was the sphere.
Nick: Yeah, the Sphere, the Verton Sphere lore article.
m3rcier: Yeah. So we got a call back to, I think two weeks ago, the conclave lore article, which is pretty cool.
Nick: Yeah, so, but he he he waves it off and says, like, no like, we're not taking it. I'm still here for the legacy.
Nick: And, yeah, so he kind of spits it spits in her face and says, like, okay, so you think a legacy that's so powerful that it's drawn... the lady and drive us into the malediction to claim it is worth some healing herbs.
Nick: And, uh,
m3rcier: is what And what is his counter offer to her offer?
Nick: his counteroffer is he, Oh yeah. His counteroffer is, uh,
m3rcier: Give me your shield and I'll let you have the fear.
Nick: that if she wants to, she wants to spear so bad, then he can have the and drive him. Give me your shield.
m3rcier: Which is hilarious.
Nick: Yeah, no, I was just like, well, that's, there's no way that's going to work. Um, Yeah, I couldn't imagine seeing Sigrith part with with that for any reason.
Nick: But yeah, so... ah But this is where we get the the mention of the spear of Kadassar.
Nick: Sigrith stands up and says, like, no, this is my family legacy and I'm not leaving without it. And this is why he's like, oh, okay, so this is important to you. And that's, he makes his bid for the Andravam.
Nick: And it just yeah goes quiet.
m3rcier: And then... we
m3rcier: Well, she you know she tells him no, but in more and more colorful words than that. And she says, look, you know, maybe we both need to retreat. Your warband obviously can use some rest and we can cool down and we can come back and talk about it.
m3rcier: To which Sariton agrees. Oddly enough, because, you know, he's been Kind of prick up to this point. So he agrees.
m3rcier: And as Stigarette is turning to give Marlow orders to, you know, stand by or whatever, she sees in the other Seeger's eyes a different intent.
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: And as she's turning, she goes to turn back. He lunges, launches himself towards the husk, driving his arm into it, and pulls out the spear.
m3rcier: And it says like he his he's up to his arm in blood and gore. It's a pretty detailed graphic scene about how he does it.
m3rcier: But at the same time, Sigrid is moving to try and prevent him from pulling it out of the husk. Because she points out, at least internally, she points out to the readers, you and i that she's still not sure how the hell Jothan died. Like, what killed him and his warband to create this husk?
m3rcier: They've just been talking so far. They haven't seen anything that does it. So she's still in the back of her mind. She still has the tactician turned on.
Nick: yeah and she even notes that like the conclave mages have like their wounds seem to be more like jagged and like they like they were fighting a beast or something bestial and wild and not like trained the soldiers so she like even the injured soldiers yeah even the soldiers she's or the conclave soldiers she's like they weren't fighting like Jothan's like order like war band they fought something else that's what that's what wounded them so she's still just like i don't know what did this
m3rcier: Maybe a bit of primal.
m3rcier: Right. And then we are at the, this is the climax of the story. It's, and man, George outdid himself in my mind. i I know he was probably limited by the size and the word count they wanted, but it's i mean, Sigureth and Saraton engage in melee. They start attacking each other. It's a really, really good read of a battle.
m3rcier: I'm sure every one of us would read it and kind of, you know, imagine it in a different way. So don't want to get too bogged down with that because we'll all read it differently.
Nick: Mm-hmm.
m3rcier: But the key point is we find out what caused Jothan's team or his warband to fall. It was Jothan, because when Seroton pulls the sphere, he immediately attacks Sigureth.
m3rcier: he turns on them. ah He starts attacking them, bouncing from one to the other as he kills them. He's in a blood rage. And when he finally turns back to look at Sigrith, she, like she mentioned, she can see the corruption in his eyes.
Nick: Yeah, like
m3rcier: the There's no humanity left there.
m3rcier: So he's murdering his own people.
Nick: how it's...
m3rcier: And at the same time, it's it's battles are confusing just because there's so much going on. This one's gotta be one of the worst because your the the Order of Warband at this point had rushed down too. So there were Knights coming up there to attack and they were getting you know blown up by spells from the other mages.
m3rcier: Then one of your own leaders starts turning and fighting you. So the Order Knights, not only are they a watching this Conclave Seeker kill other Conclave people, those Conclave mages are still fighting the the Knights in the Order too. So just utter chaos.
Nick: Yes, no, this is the, I mean, this is the best you know this is the best part of of the story, right? This is the big the big battle. um I really like how they describe the spear as he starts attacking her and she's blocking it with the shield.
Nick: It's described as like a pale blue light that's crackling out of the spearhead. But as he keeps fighting and attacking He does get a a blow on her in her hip and gets like gets a really good stab in. But at this point in the battle, as he starts kind of getting more blood lusted, the text starts describing the magic as like a blue-black.
Nick: And so i like I think that it's it's interesting that like the more it's being used, there's this almost like darkness, like this shadow magic that is like taking over. And so then he starts becoming like corrupted.
Nick: And ah so it's interesting because it it it makes it seem like this legacy is like the more the spear is used, the more like bloodlust the wielder like feels until they're completely consumed.
m3rcier: Yeah.
m3rcier: Or the longer he held it, I took the blue being that he's conclave. So he is infusing it with ice cream as he attacks because that is what they do.
Nick: Yeah. Yeah.
m3rcier: And then the longer he wills it and or the more, you know, violence he dealt does with it, it's slowly and we say slowly because this happens in a matter of minute minutes.
m3rcier: ah It consumes them. So the the blue becomes black because of corruption.
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: So it could be just from purely wielding it, which we can get to in a little while, and or from the actual kills. But he he becomes consumed with with it before he even makes a kill.
m3rcier: Like he hasn't killed anyone when he wounds Sigreth. He turns after wounding her. and i guess that's the arrogance in him. He wounds her and then turns and starts attacking his own people as they approach. doesn't need like He doesn't finish her.
Nick: No, no. um She, I think she, don't remember if she turns and parries like the next attack, but yeah, he, he already, he pretty fluid.
m3rcier: that never come.
Nick: Yeah. I think it's, he doesn't, it doesn't come. He fluidly just moves on to the next person. I think the first person he attacks is one of her knights and then he turns.
m3rcier: Oh yeah, and she she protects the night.
Nick: Yeah. Then he turns, then he turns on his own. Like he just attacks whoever's closest.
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: And then just keeps going, which is crazy. But he does end up murdering all of the Conclave down to four.
Nick: Yeah. Yeah.
m3rcier: So at some point, there's four of them left. Bellamy is one of those four. And it's at this point that he turns back towards Sigareth as she's charging at him.
m3rcier: So she's, I guess, made it clear that she's a threat to him again. So he's going to re-engage with her. And this is where the arrogance and the pin slaying catch up with them.
m3rcier: Bellamy lunges as he is preparing to re-engage Sigrith. Bellamy takes him from behind and wounds him, stabs him with what did they say, like ah a wave blade dagger or something?
m3rcier: Probably Lyastrum poison dagger, ah which causes him to turn towards Bellamy, leaving himself exposed to Sigrith, which, as we all know from game mechanics, is a horrible place to be.
m3rcier: ah And she does smite him. And going to let you describe what how she smites him because it it is awesome.
Nick: Oh, yeah. Yeah, so yeah. She's, you know, charging forward, she's wounded, she's in pain. um She sees the opportunity. She takes her sword and channels the Oathbound Light, and he turns to face her one one last time as her sword comes down and separates his arm above the elbow The Vambrace and the spear both thud to the ground as he falls backwards in shock.
m3rcier: he He takes both legacies in one blow.
Nick: Yeah, it's that's that's the end right there.
m3rcier: ah And then she whips around a little bit. She whips the blade around a little bit and catches and you know cuts his throat to finish him. ah But yeah, i mean he he turned to, i guess, attack Bellamy for attacking him.
m3rcier: And that was it. He's dead.
Nick: Yep.
m3rcier: Like one mistake. He should have kept facing the larger threat then. But he was you know he's blood rage. He's corrupted. So... ah but she didn't give him any ground. Once, once she had him separated from the legacies he carried, she finished him off. Um,
Nick: And that was it.
m3rcier: Yeah, but the in the battles over and that's it. Like once Saraton was gone, the other the Conclave ages stopped casting their spells. You know, there was kind of silence over the area.
Nick: kind of done.
m3rcier: Sigrith fell like she didn't like she didn't walk off. She was wounded and she fell. She was wounded by a a corrupted legacy. So she fell back. And Marlow at that point kind of takes command. He's summoning the healers up to heal her.
m3rcier: ah Cigarette is trying to decide what to do with the remaining Conclave mages. like As she's sitting sitting there, she's in her mind, she's trying to figure out like what do I do with them?
Nick: well and
m3rcier: all that kind of stuff. And i don't really think she, she doesn't get to finally decide what she wants to do because Bellamy kind of scutes up there and grabs the vampire.
m3rcier: Before she falls, she does wrench the spear from the dead arm.
Nick: shein Yeah, she grabs the spear first.
m3rcier: And it's very, like they're very descriptive in, she takes it, she uncurls the fingers and, But she very quickly tears her tabard off and wraps the spear. She does not want to hold the spear lest she be corrupted by it.
m3rcier: So she wraps it up and then she kind of falls and is taken by the healers. But as that's going on and she's in her monologuing what to do.
m3rcier: Do I kill the kill them and take the extra legacy? Blah, blah, blah. I think... I'm trying to get to it. I think Andruvin is actually chiming in at this point.
m3rcier: Is he not?
Nick: Well, yeah, think I think Bellamy comes forward to grab the Van Brace. And Androvan's just kind of like, this is your opportunity. Like, you could you could have two legacies.
Nick: It's like, you know, he's like, you have another choice here.
Nick: m
m3rcier: Yeah, they they those mages kind of held their hands up and surrendered to her, so they did they did not want to fight anymore.
Nick: He's like, you could return.
Nick: Yeah, there's like there's only three of them left. Right, right. So he's like, you know, cut them cut them down.
m3rcier: me see. decisionary
Nick: You could return a hero with two legacies. However, that's going to, you know, really make you enemies of Sphere Vartan. Or you let them leave. You show them mercy.
Nick: However, you know, you can't guarantee that they will show you the same if your paths ever cross again.
Nick: And so, yeah.
m3rcier: Yeah, so while she was while she was contemplating what to do with him because the mages, they just stayed put. They stayed together. They figured they were hostages. But while she was contemplating, I guess Bellamy got up the courage, and he went and got the Vampyrus, and then him and the other three mages, they beeline.
m3rcier: Now, Marlow, being a member of the Order, like he was sorry he was going to order them to
Nick: Yeah, run, like cut them down.
m3rcier: go get him and Sigurath stayed him said no. like i mean He says,
Nick: Yeah.
Nick: Yeah, should I run them down? And she's like, no, let them go.
m3rcier: yeah so we don't ignite the fury of Sphere Vertan. so you know she's and she But she does contemplate and she talks to Androvian about it like she let a legacy go.
m3rcier: the Order would have liked to have that legacy because, you know, everyone's power hungry for legacies. So she's like, how is this going to be interpreted when I get back? they' gonna Are they going to think I'm a traitor?
Nick: Right, right. But, you know, she's also, you know, I think at one point, I think she says um kind of to herself, not really to anybody in particular, but she says like enough blood has been spilled this day.
Nick: And so, you know, she has that, that still has that kind of noble sense about her.
m3rcier: And then
m3rcier: the diplomacy like she doesn't want to kill unless she has to and then one of one of the last lines like on her arm of course andro and her shield she can feel the shield silent amusement uh as to what happened so which is i still i still love the interaction between the legacy and the shield like i can't wait for mean i want all 10 David Price- Or at this 12 of the back stories like I want jokes and backstory serotonin stew because those are the other two secrets we know about.
m3rcier: David Price- want to see how much of them are like cigarettes and what i'm going to assume is liana and car momak where they're basically symbiotic. David Price- And we also now know of a second.
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: gauntlet vampirous if it is a legacy within the conclave so that it's kind of a theme there which makes sense that that item is already a something that's required of them and a ah powerful thing so it only makes sense that they would make multiples you know make something that's already integral to how they function a legacy because those things existed before the fall because the conclave existed before the fall
Nick: Yeah, i um I'm curious. We didn't we know that Saratron is wearing the Van Brace, but at no point does he use it. We don't really see it do anything. So they really didn't give us anything to speculate on what it could what it could do.
m3rcier: No, he... He very much uses the spear once he had it. Which to me is like, yeah you now have two legacies. My take on this is going to be that that spear is much more powerful than the Vampyrus was because it overpowered the Seeker almost immediately.
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: The other legacy didn't even counter or didn't have time to counter. Like, did it overpower the the legacy and then the Seeker? If it did that, that's even more powerful. Like... But it it does make clear that Sigurth did say that she would have to return this to her family. They would have to take it to a little city to get cleansed. So something corrupted the spear in this last outing.
m3rcier: Was it something within the malediction that Jothan's warband encountered? Was it the wickedness of Jothan finally like breaking the legacy and corrupted it himself?
m3rcier: I'm not going to go with that one because it seems like Jothan was just a weakened vigil. It might have been something they encountered within the the malediction that corrupted it.
Nick: Yeah. Well, and it could have been the malediction itself. Like we, you know, we, we were only given bits and pieces of like what the malediction is even capable of doing.
m3rcier: s
Nick: And we know that people, you know, even seekers like risk of themselves, just even entering the malediction, not necessarily what they face, but just the nature of it.
Nick: So maybe it was, you know, um, you know, maybe the malediction corrupted him. Maybe it corrupted the legacy. Um, maybe it just fed off of, he has, you know, maybe that darkness was already in him and it just exacerbated.
Nick: So, yeah, no, I'm, as we expected.
m3rcier: Oh, actually, she's talking he's talking to Androvan in this very quick thing.
Nick: Yep.
m3rcier: Like, her and Androvan have a conversation about should she or should she not let them flee. So Androvan does kick in after she's kind of set down to be healed while she's trying to decide she has a conversation with Androvan.
Nick: Mm-hmm.
m3rcier: And during that conversation is when Bellamy just is like, we're out. okay So...
Nick: Well, and, you know, we kind of mentioned too, like the Androvan is, it seems aggressive in this story. And it could be maybe, you know, maybe that's part of it too. The malediction is just this,
Nick: maybe it has this influence, this realm of some kind of corrupting force. And so even though Androvan is not like immune to being more aggressive, being a little bit more,
Nick: ah urging her to take the the violent course because each time it gives her a choice while they're within the malediction it always starts with yeah yeah
m3rcier: It leads with the violence. ah So also we have, didn't so we weren't reading this word for word. yeah We have show notes and we refer back to it. But looking back at it now, the before Bellamy leaves, as Sigur is watching him, he's ushering his other three mages away. He does pause, look back at Sigur.
m3rcier: He meets her gaze and smiles at her. So like he's kind of like, hey, I'm leaving. You good with that?
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: And then when she doesn't do anything, he kind of leaves. So I would bet there's going to be some goodwill had between Bellamy, who we assume is now a seeker, and Sigreth later on if we get more stories. So also, we can't say he is a seeker, but he wields a legacy now. So maybe there's our 13th seeker that we know of, Bellamy of s Sphere Vertan.
Nick: Maybe. i Yeah, I'm really curious to see because we didn't really see anything about Jothan. um Seratrin's been mentioned before, but we you know he you got taken out free pretty handedly.
m3rcier: Yep.
Nick: So it you know makes also makes me wonder too, like are we going to see seekers that canonically are killed within the stories or are they simply just all part of the history now?
m3rcier: Yeah, could they be dead in lore but still be playable in the game? So I guess, is it a living game when it comes to its fiction?
Nick: yeah
m3rcier: Or is the separate is the fiction separate from the game state?
Nick: and if if they if they go hey you know I'm all into it if they want to do am like oh you know we now the malediction is crazy and time doesn't mean anything so we're going to give you a secret that we wrote a story where they got killed that means like any story can happen right you know you you kind of remove that sense of like, oh, there's plot armor because like they're not going to kill any of these Seekers because like they're canonically in the game.
Nick: So it'd be interesting to see if they they write that way. But I don't know. I don't think I've ever seen
Nick: seen that in a game. But Malediction kind of gives the grounds for kind of anything goes.
m3rcier: we do get some new artwork. The one I'm looking at now is almost to the bottom. It is a picture of who I believe is Saraton and also a sketch of his gauntlet, of his, well, I assume is awesome. Well, we know it's his legacy because it tells us it is.
m3rcier: there's that new piece of artwork about 70, 60, 70% down. The article and the rest of the artwork to me looks like stuff. we Yeah, the rest of it's just artwork we've already had before.
m3rcier: I want to look at something. going to keep that piece of artwork pulled up.
Nick: including it does finish up with my favorite Sigurath piece. Right.
m3rcier: Oh, yeah the One of her. So, I mean, we all know her shield is badass, but look at that sword. That sword is also badass. I want to know more about the sword now.
m3rcier: And she is in gleaming armor. So.
m3rcier: Man, that's a good piece of artwork too.
Nick: Yeah. Well, that was...
m3rcier: On the, oh, go ahead.
Nick: I was going to say, so but that was a by Shield or by Sword. I was going to say, we I think we highly recommend you go check it out and read it for yourself because it's it's it's hard to do it justice. It's it's very well written.
Nick: It's a fun read.
m3rcier: Yeah, I think I've read it two or three times now. I mean, we're also preparing for the the podcast, so there's that.
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: But just trying to read through it. Like my first read through, I was like, stop it. And I was like, oh, we know of another secret. Oh, this is the first secret we know of.
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: It's not in the game. This is the first legacy we ah know of. It's not in the game. ah was just things like that were stopping me as I read it. to the point where I was finally like, look, I'm just gonna finish reading it, but then I can go back and do this, which did not happen. I still stopped when I saw something new. so that is the Sigrid story. Our next one is our community spotlight, which is gonna be, gonna open the website, cause it is a website,
m3rcier: Again, sorry, we haven't seen too many 3D printed models or stuff like that, or we just I need to look around some more for them. But another website called maledictionstats.app,
m3rcier: and it is by Seeker Josh on the malediction discord. His name in discord is actually maledictionstats.app, and then he has Dash and Josh. so Very easy to find on the Discords.
m3rcier: You log in, you create an account. It allows you to enter your game stats and all that kind of stuff, which is really handy. But some of the things are you can report your statistics and all that, your games. It has a round, a digital round Echo and Mastery Tracker.
m3rcier: and then because You can use that while you're playing your game. When you finish your game, you can put in who won, who lost, what seeker, what other seeker.
m3rcier: And then it does have links to the two malediction podcasts, ours along with Critical Graze. And then also gives he gives us some links to some of the YouTube channels that have battle reports.
m3rcier: So he's trying to kind of try to circular feed the community, which is really cool. So there's a spot for community decks, which I'm looking at now.
m3rcier: What deck is winning the most? The cards that's in most winning decks is the Valkyrie's Priest, which go figure. It does give some card synergy stuff. There's a lot of stats on here. I would highly recommend hitting it up. It's www.maledictionstats.app.
m3rcier: You don't have to say the www anymore. I just showed my age. ah But yeah, maledictionstats.app and just play with it. like Create an account, play around with it. It is a pretty fun website to play with.
m3rcier: i enjoyed it. And then...
Nick: Yeah, I haven't gotten to use it myself too much, but I've i've logged into it and set it up. Yeah, it's really it's really it's really clean.
m3rcier: I mean, it it's got a great UI. It looks clean. my My only personal hesitation with it is that it's self-reporting. So like there's no tournament software built into it.
m3rcier: You have to go there manually and enter all your games. It doesn't care if you know, your opponent's a member of the site or not. So ah there's some hesitation with the reliability of the data, but I don't think we're to the point now where we really have too many people that are going to try and mess with, you know, the data on a game like this.
m3rcier: So that is our community spotlight. But Nick, I think you are going to share something on behalf of you and Garrett.
Nick: Yeah. So, um, we, uh, well, me and Garrett, um, we were recently, guests on the critical craze podcast and, uh, we, uh,
Nick: It also um my wife Savannah was with us. We talked about ah the Ingor, Ingor the Spirit Bound and his deck building and competitive play. So I don't know if they're posting in their episode before we post ours or or which order that's going to go into, but they're great guys.
Nick: So I definitely recommend go check them out, give them some love. They definitely do a different show than we do, where they talk more about deck building and competitive play, whereas we focus more on the lore and the storytelling.
m3rcier: Yeah, and and the community community side of it. So Lorde community.
Nick: Yeah.
m3rcier: So we're not competitors. We're friends. Except for pretty sure the Ingor versus Laundriel battle y'all talked about was when Bodhi beat the hell out of me this past weekend with his Ingor deck.
m3rcier: ah that was pretty rough, but it was fun. So Bodhi's good. I haven't met Jabroni, but I do know Bodhi both in-game and other games and in real life. So...
m3rcier: Great group of guys go out there and ah listen to their podcast, sub to them. Just, you know, if there's any talk about Aspic, please don't encourage Bodhi.
m3rcier: I'm going to try it anyway.
m3rcier: So ah next one is going to be our events. So we're just going to cover the tournaments this episode. Our next episode, I'm going to do a recap of tournaments plus all of the weekly events. Our next episode will be a little bit longer when it comes to the events portion of the event.
m3rcier: discussion So again, Trials of the Everlasting for August. Hop on the Discords and the Organized Play. I've already posted all the info. If I haven't, I will be doing so tonight.
m3rcier: It's going to run August 9th to August 29th. It's It's going to be Clash, so this weekend from when we're recording this. So I think Garrett mentioned it, but Nick, y'all leaving to go to Gen Con tomorrow, right?
m3rcier: Or y'all going on Wednesday. this This episode will release tomorrow, which will be Tuesday.
Nick: ah We'll be going up tomorrow night. Yep.
m3rcier: Okay, so y'all are going to leave just after the episode releases. so they're going be at Gen Con. I'm going to be at Lone Star Open in Dallas on Friday night. The tournament is on Saturday.
m3rcier: We hit Gen Con there. End of August, August 29th and 30th, you're going to have Allegiance, so it's 2v2 on Saturday. And Clash 1v1 on Sunday at Tacticon in Denver, Colorado.
m3rcier: And that is Harold Ogrekin is running that. Ogrekin on the official discords if you want to tag him. and He can hook you up.
m3rcier: Tournament of the Everlasting at Pandemonium Games in Michigan. That is going to be Harold Matt or Nurgle painting on the Discord. August 29th, it's going to be Clash.
m3rcier: Tournament at the Forge and in Chaska, Minnesota. September 19th. Harold Kavija.
m3rcier: Am I saying that right? Are you where you can read that name?
Nick: get to Kivelja, maybe?
m3rcier: Yeah. i not sure. It's going to be a clash.
Nick: know You know who you are.
m3rcier: Yep. ah And then i just got everything set up this past week. On September 16th, we will have a clash at Warzone Houston in in Houston. Sorry.
m3rcier: Again, I'm running that one. Just got all that stuff finalized. I've already posted a couple of things on the social media and discord and stuff. September 5th, Harold ToxicSpunk will be running a clash at the first Conclave.
m3rcier: I'm not sure what store, but get on the Discord at ToxicSpunk and he will give you all the details. So that is over the course of the next, what, month? Month and a half? Eight separate tournaments, one of which is an online. so So seven in person tournaments.
m3rcier: And these are all just the U.S.-based ones. I couldn't get too much information on, like, U.K. or European-based. But in the incursion, they do go over a map of where all the heralds are, where all the events are happening. So still encourage you to go watch that incursion.
Nick: Yeah, there's a lot ah lot of maldiction going on, so it's great to see.
m3rcier: And we don't have Garrett to sign us off. So should we text Garrett to get back on to sign us off or let him continue with his Gen Con prep?
Nick: I think the boy needs his rest.
m3rcier: right. Well, we're going to keep with our thing. It's been Alan.
Nick: And it's been Nick.
m3rcier: Thank y'all for listening.
