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Ep. 163 The Voluntary Truth - Bellum Draconis
18 Plays13 hours ago
In this episode, the party sets out to uncover the meaning behind the mysterious list of thirteen names. What do these names represent? Why are they so important? And, more unsettlingly, how are the heroes themselves connected to them?
As clues unravel and hidden motives come to light, the group is forced to confront uncomfortable revelations and decide how far they’re willing to go in pursuit of the truth.
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Intro written and produced by Joseph McDade
Music kindly provided by Fesliyan Studios
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Transcript
Introduction to Fellowship of the Tabletop
00:00:00
Speaker
What's the 13th? Just in case we needed to know the note-taking purposes. Because Alpha's never going to actually tell us. He's had like a year of this information and he's not dropped it. So fuck it. We're going to find it out ourselves.
Character Introductions
00:00:43
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of the Fellowship of the Tabletop, Bellum Draconis. Sit down, grab a drink, sit by the fire, hold a whiskey, hold balls, hold anything.
00:00:54
Speaker
We're a live play 5e 2024 D&D podcast and we're set in a magical homebrew world of Aerith in the kingdom of Sleetgard. Now, you might be wondering who's joining us for this week's episode, and I'll tell you.
00:01:05
Speaker
I'll tell you right now. Joining you for this week's episode, we've got our first player. His name is Puby, and yeah he plays the rules consultant, human cleric, Emron. Hello, listeners. Can you spell Aerith?
00:01:17
Speaker
Ian, we've got him as well. He's playing the Teevlin Warserer, called Nyx Corell. And I've bought my twanger. Will! He's here. There's two of them, actually. ha He's playing the Dragonborn Druid, Balvalcom.
00:01:30
Speaker
I've got many leather-bound books. We've got Darren as well, and he plays the half-orc barbarian, Tharaxanjari. I'm a doctor, don't you know? Finally! we We've got... Lock up your pies, girls, because it's at the apple pie-smashing Edgelord Callum who plays the war-forged shartificer Alpha.
00:01:49
Speaker
Can offer you a glass of port? Or a glass of starboard? My name's Mark, and I'm playing the human blade singer Seth Farerever. And last but my name iss least is our D&D master.
00:02:01
Speaker
He doesn't need an introduction. who doesn't need a preamble, who doesn't need an oversized, overzealous, large, four-headed man telling him how great he is.
00:02:12
Speaker
All he needs is these simple words.
00:02:16
Speaker
Danny. You said words. That's a word. Did that happen because your word document disappeared? Yeah, I closed the wrong screen. It was very romantic what you did as well.
00:02:29
Speaker
And speaking of romance, we see old Gale walking through the streets of chaos and death of Sleep Guard. And yet, beneath there, he sees the fallen and the
Journey to Gold Port Keep
00:02:37
Speaker
dead and the dying. And as he walks through, again, deftly dodging damage and death and decay on every step of the way, stepping over bodies as he looks through time and space, he looks directly at us, listener.
00:02:49
Speaker
And begins. Before that, we do his long toes, catching some of the mucus and and blood and corpses on the ground as he skitters along by. And he begins saying, I thought it just don't did it again. Oh!
00:03:02
Speaker
Puppet master! Baal sweeps up the armor and ashy remains of the king. Delmon cleans up and suggests that we gotta run, bitches! Seth goes full scout and the party follows, apart from Nix, who flies to the treasure room, but somehow turns away from it. Emron frees the kitchen staff and lowers them into the poop-shooting Baal restrains some bitches. Seth opens up the tunnels to the kennels and leads the undying champions away, heading west. for three, four, seven miles out.
00:03:35
Speaker
And they find the horses, but no, Sparrowhawk, he's just simply disappeared and the party can't work out how. Delmontre's all like, oh, by the way, bitches, we've got the Sparrowhawk so you can let me walk free. Go fuck yourself. And Biles's like, I'm gonna immolate you, bitch.
00:03:55
Speaker
you write Good summary, yeah. but You ride through the night to reach Gold Port Keep. need you all to roll Constitution saving throws to see if you sustain i don't want to any exhaustion. I don't want to. Demontrae's also has to make those rolls. Good.
00:04:16
Speaker
Can't we sleep, guys? You can a sleep. gi Get a ball to drive. Balls deep. In next? Seth 10 Also 10 Thank you, Darrick 15 Alpha 21 What is it? A con Constitution is saving throw Thank you And Baal 17 You all managed to avoid a point of exhaustion ah Oh, fuck Also ah you will not find out the result
00:04:54
Speaker
Does he look tired? No. bags under reside You've only really been this close to him now. So you don't know what his default appearance is. Apart from looking like a knob. his His elven skin and his flowing white hair kind of projects a shaving a youthful A youthful and unbroken complexion. I cut his hair off. Take his ears. Yeah.
00:05:24
Speaker
His kneecaps. A rather silent, i by the sounds of it, the past without trace, the fact that no one's willing to necessarily speak to him, ah journey south, away from the city, for a good six hours on horseback, before the summer sun begins to rise again.
00:05:47
Speaker
You're maybe 15, 20 minutes from Goldport Keep.
Arrival at Gold Port Keep
00:05:50
Speaker
you're approaching the similar milestones that again you once travelled with Marota in tow.
00:05:59
Speaker
Is there anything people wish to do before they arrive at the keep? Yeah. So as we make our way through the night and we're getting closer and closer, just keeps bothering Nix that Delmontre has put this spy on him for what must be weeks, months, however long since he got arrested. So he just kind of pipes up out of interest.
00:06:25
Speaker
Look, I know you said that you've um gotten rid of it, but like, why, why, why in the first place did you put that on me? That whole trace thing. Was it a scry?
00:06:36
Speaker
Was it a spell? Was it, was it the, what was it on?
00:06:43
Speaker
What do you think? The, But got Holden? Yeah.
00:06:52
Speaker
And why? guess that's a dumb question. But why specifically specifically me? Could you ask me that question again after we've spoken?
00:07:06
Speaker
And maybe you'll find your own answer. Okay, yep, cool. But if you still wish to know, I'll answer it.
00:07:18
Speaker
Okay, okay. And just getting more back into the fluid conversation. like So you watched things. like what what Did you see all things?
00:07:31
Speaker
Was there like a Nick's viewing channel thing going on at some point? The Nick show? again Ask again later. Yeah, great. You're this proverbial magic ball.
00:07:46
Speaker
Should have been pay-per-view.
00:07:50
Speaker
I think it sounds unkind if I answered now.
Delmontre's Revelations
00:07:58
Speaker
That's all I'll say, but I'll answer again later.
00:08:03
Speaker
Definitely magic ball vibes. Anyone else want to shake? Just want to get there, Nick's.
00:08:11
Speaker
Get there. Get some answers.
00:08:17
Speaker
Okay, are you happy with how things have gone this evening? Yes.
00:08:24
Speaker
Even the complete destruction of an entire city? That's regrettable, but
00:08:32
Speaker
Necessary. He doesn't give a shit because it's not fucking Dralak, Nyx. I'm just trying to understand. It's not true. I care about all of Aerith. I call bullshit, Trace.
00:08:49
Speaker
Maybe it seems that way right now. Okay, okay, okay. So this prophecy about Nyx will point to the sky. Are you, like, totally aware of what's going on?
00:09:02
Speaker
Mostly. And are you trying to defend the realm or encourage the destruction of it? Defend it. Entirely. Whilst also taking over and gaining control?
00:09:22
Speaker
It's hard to think about where it's best to start. My motivations will make sense.
00:09:30
Speaker
They will. You may not agree but you'll begin to understand why, I think. Okay.
00:09:41
Speaker
But we might need to approach this slowly.
00:09:46
Speaker
I'm happy to start but I want you to have assurances that you're getting the truth. Yep. Okay. We can wait until then. One way of assuring we get the truth is You tell him the fucking truth.
00:10:03
Speaker
But what if you don't believe me? Well, yeah. Yeah, don't believe anything you say. I'll be able to know if he's lying or not when we cast the spell.
00:10:14
Speaker
So when did you become the leader of the Kriska? That is a really good question. And when is difficult to place? I've got an easier question.
00:10:26
Speaker
When I banished you, where did you go?
00:10:30
Speaker
Somewhere dark. Okay. Somewhere very dark. Okay. Not fun? I couldn't see anything. No. Awful if you stayed there for forever, wouldn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
00:10:44
Speaker
How old are you?
00:10:48
Speaker
Don't go around asking elves that age. yeah This elf, I feel like we deserve. Careful of burning a pub. Apparently that's their MO. Yeah, that's a season one throwback there. observ Sorry to my mum that gets that reference.
00:11:03
Speaker
Anyone who listens. ah love you all. How old am i Yeah.
00:11:10
Speaker
It depends on how you measure time, I suppose. ah That's not meant to be cryptic. Rotations, usually. yes but
00:11:24
Speaker
Let me guess, you've jumped full time, so your rotations don't match ours, everyone says jokingly. And he meets you with a stern and earnest face. Yes.
00:11:35
Speaker
For fuck's sake. Okay, so, like, um the Gartrans, were you around for them? Yes. Right. And your thoughts on...
00:11:49
Speaker
Them being the rightful rulers? Absolutely not. They'll destroy everything we've built on Earth. Right.
00:11:58
Speaker
did you what this As Farad looks at him for the first time, is he like blonde hair? is he this this Pure white. Brilliant white hair. Farad's going to put two and two together, not knowing the intricacies of policies, but he but he thinks he may have just hit gold and he's going to go those blonde-haired fucks from Shadow Men seem to want an awful lot to cause problems in Goldview.
00:12:19
Speaker
You're not supposed to be related to those in any way, are you? Absolutely not. I'm not.
00:12:29
Speaker
If there's two things I abhor most are about Aerith, it's Shadowmendians and Sleek Guardians. Oi. He's from Shadowmen.
00:12:40
Speaker
you're not You're not from Shadowmen. i He means those blonde-head fucks. He'll say the... Quarrox will say he starts to pull up his horse again.
00:12:51
Speaker
i was born there. So far as your final meal Aerith, what would it be? Can we just, please, can we just get him to where we need to get him to? We are still... We're not. We're just asking him questions and questions. We're moving.
00:13:07
Speaker
We're moving. It's like we can travel in silence or we can have a casual conversation and learn maybe some more about the other side. But he's not telling us anything of... Silence sounds good. Doesn't that say something in itself? Silence is still an answer. Sometimes the non-answers are just as important as the actual answers.
00:13:26
Speaker
Hey, Delmontrese, what's with the 13 names? What do they mean? Which names do you have? All 13 that you've got or you had in your pocket. We've read them. What do they mean?
00:13:42
Speaker
The 13 names on this, and he produces said ledger. Yeah, we've read it. Those 13 names, what does it mean? are the... Age hand just goes out from Nick's to grab the... He's still holding it. I know.
00:13:58
Speaker
I'm just wondering if he would... Just looks at you. Do you mind? Do you mind? You say you've read it before? I could read it again. never read it.
00:14:12
Speaker
Okay, then he lets go his grasp. Amazing. And this purpley hand comes back and gives it to Nyx. And Nyx says, yoink. It's like, yep, this is awesome. And he opens it up.
00:14:26
Speaker
Go on then, what's the names? We know the names, Nyx. What do they mean? What's it for? Are they all the names that we know? Yeah. Unchanged. What's the 13th?
00:14:39
Speaker
Just in case we needed to know. Because Alpha's never going to actually tell us. so because He's had like a year of this information. He's not dropped it. So fuck it. We're going to find it out ourselves.
00:14:54
Speaker
They read as follows. oh and i can i'll I'll edit the original list. Please do. can tell you the one that was missing if you wish. Yeah, that would help. Grand Cronomancer Johan Veritas.
00:15:06
Speaker
Olgel. Edna Fizzlebang IV. Erikas the Lunatic. Delmontreis. Viserrin Blackheart. Cogsley the Knowledgeable.
00:15:18
Speaker
Pyral Thunderscale. Aveline, Reader of the Fates. Bramble the Wanderer. Malachy the Temporal Enforcer.
00:15:29
Speaker
Thorn Blackwood. And Astrid Stormwarden. but with a With a cross through Erakas the Lunatic. cool So, um Mr. Traze,
00:15:42
Speaker
As Nix is looking at this list and pockets it up and puts it in his jacket. ah These names, o are they, given the fact that you're from a different time, are all these names from different important time periods throughout the history of this world?
00:16:02
Speaker
You could be forgiven for thinking that. These are the 13 Cronomancers of the Weave.
00:16:14
Speaker
Okay, um so a couple of questions. Define Weave and Chronomancer. So at one time,
00:16:27
Speaker
at one moment, we existed out of Arithian history. And we were an order that just watched time.
00:16:40
Speaker
Eryth?
00:16:43
Speaker
back a long time ago
00:16:48
Speaker
was home to dragons and dragons alone this I imagine you might suspect until a great war came to this realm a war between the Gartrans and Tolkelon yeah that we know
00:17:11
Speaker
That war was not supposed to happen here.
00:17:16
Speaker
We intervened. We being the 13 on this list? Yes.
00:17:26
Speaker
And we froze those forces. But in the midst of that war, all of the dragons here were destroyed, which meant there was a realm
00:17:40
Speaker
with no superior beings.
Plans Against the Steel Nightmare
00:17:42
Speaker
And in time,
00:17:46
Speaker
that led to your ancestors and Ereth as we know it, thousands upon thousands of years later. Okay.
00:17:58
Speaker
Cool. So, um where did you guys come from?
00:18:06
Speaker
And what are you? If you weren't of this world, But you came and froze and offended. Where did you come from?
00:18:17
Speaker
You've met other from our world.
00:18:22
Speaker
People not originally from Eret.
00:18:29
Speaker
what was Where did you come from? Did you all come from the same place? Or you all dragged through different places to be here? We all had our own journeys here, but From another plane known as Faerun.
00:18:47
Speaker
And what has kept you here?
00:18:51
Speaker
This. And points to the sky. Some of us stayed because we fell in love with Eren.
00:18:59
Speaker
Where do you end up in that? Nick says, interrupting.
00:19:05
Speaker
That is something I would prefer to tell you without any shadow of doubt on my character. and directs his vision back at Emron. Once we've rested we'll know that for certain.
00:19:21
Speaker
What does it mean that some of the names on that list are dead?
00:19:27
Speaker
It makes things harder.
00:19:31
Speaker
But the the short of it
00:19:36
Speaker
is that the leader of our order Johan Veritas, who I think you've met now.
00:19:48
Speaker
He is the reason behind the Steel Nightmare.
00:19:54
Speaker
And its reappearance. but We've met Veritas?
00:19:59
Speaker
One of you has. I'm sure of it.
00:20:05
Speaker
Do you mean the grand one that called himself the Grand Cronemaster? That's him. The one that spoke to when I looked in your crystal ball.
00:20:15
Speaker
That ball, it's that's his.
00:20:20
Speaker
He's been watching you too. Are you fucking serious? That's fool. so oh But that ball game from Orgel?
00:20:34
Speaker
No.
00:20:36
Speaker
What?
00:20:39
Speaker
His ball was just being used by Old Gal. We went and got his actual one. It was the temporary one that Old Gal had. Old Gal nicked it from Veritas.
00:20:51
Speaker
It was gifted to him. Is Veritas a bad guy? He is now. Okay.
00:21:03
Speaker
So, one of your own group who decided to come and save Eryth has now joined the people he tried to save Eryth from. Yep.
00:21:14
Speaker
You're also one person down. At least.
00:21:19
Speaker
So we've met you, we've met old Gal. What the fuck are the rest of you?
00:21:28
Speaker
We're still trying to find some of them. But I think we're beyond waiting.
00:21:34
Speaker
So, um you've been following me, Us. Through me. You're aware of the prophecy and any dreams that some of us have?
00:21:46
Speaker
Dreams?
00:21:49
Speaker
Just about like sunny islands or sailing a ship and wanting freedom. Those kind of dreams.
00:21:59
Speaker
Nix will trail off. since Farrokh will chip in with
00:22:07
Speaker
The bad ones, Erakash.
00:22:11
Speaker
He'd literally cautioned entire population to vanish, why didn't you do anything to stop him? What makes you think I didn't? Well, because as the story goes, his life ended at the end of the Blade of Robin of Neverwinter.
00:22:24
Speaker
Not you. Wasn't he banished to the smallest island in the kingdom? Where his damage was minimal?
00:22:35
Speaker
Without grunts, there's a point to that. it But if you can travel through space and time, surely you could have taken him to some rock in the middle of... Yes, the siren space continuum far beyond the stars, unless the blackest of holes, his corpse could have been left for aeternium.
00:22:55
Speaker
Yeah, but he said it could have been left for aeternium.
00:23:02
Speaker
Ask me no more. Then ask me that question again under oath. I need you to believe me. Seriously, though, if you had one last meal, what it would it be? Does that mean everything up until a now you've just been making up?
00:23:15
Speaker
No, but... He doesn't want be able to doubt him. and then I don't but now believe anything he's just said, and now I don't believe that he doesn't believe that we don't believe him. He wants... us to believe him for certain so it doesn't cause any doubt so we don't muddy the waters and nearly fuck things up like we have done. Like a good piece of chicken or a really delicious cake?
00:23:35
Speaker
Emerald, do you need to rest before you can cast that fucking Zona Truth spell? Maybe a good sandwich? Good, because I want to fucking sleep. One meal. Are we going into the camp or are we waiting outside? we're going into the keep. As dawn is breaking. Good, because I'm bloody hungry now. I feel like bacon.
00:23:50
Speaker
And you see on your southerly horizon a familiar path. A familiar path that leads to a very familiar keep. But the surroundings of said keep are very unfamiliar to the four of you who were here previously.
00:24:07
Speaker
Goldport Keep. it's all three It's all on fire, isn't it Three. Excuse me. Three. As Goldport Keep now resembles more of a cesspit than an actual keep.
00:24:20
Speaker
Oh my god. Restored, yes.
00:24:25
Speaker
But then abandoned, it seems. And
Camp Discussions and Telepathic Interactions
00:24:28
Speaker
then occupied by what could only be described as a horde of goblins. Oh god. Oops. As you ride in through its northern pits, surrounded by pits rather than walls. What have they done?
00:24:42
Speaker
And you see... Are there walls or not? because They're pits. Okay, they're pits, sorry. And you can see detritus of goblin everywhere. Where the fuck these lakes come from? Alpha.
00:24:56
Speaker
As you inspect, but well, quite luscious grounds once you see goblin pits dug. Some for breeding purposes, some for filling with goblin excrement.
00:25:10
Speaker
So what looks at first like a lake on second inspection is a bog of goblin fecal matter. For fuck's sake Alpha. And that expands through most of the exterior.
00:25:24
Speaker
The lush green pond that once exists is now an acidic pool. Oh man. Good times in there. Goblins also restored the stonework of the original keep, it seems.
00:25:37
Speaker
But cobwebs again once littered the space. Like a shitty World of Warcraft 2.
00:25:43
Speaker
It lays abandoned, restored, but dusty. Do we see any signs of goblins? Not anymore. Goblins typically will stay in a place for as long as possible until there's another option on the table.
00:25:57
Speaker
But it looks like they've lived here for months prior.
00:26:02
Speaker
Who is supposed to be here? this is this is that This is the keep? This is this is where we're going? This is where we're meant to going. This is where Sebastian said we should meet everybody else everyone else is going to meet us here. But who is everyone else? well The other ghost wing, Drago, all that kind of stuff...
00:26:21
Speaker
This is what we we're supposed to meet. Or maybe they're inside. Let's go and... yeah. What's that smell? Alpha!
00:26:37
Speaker
Or Callum.
00:26:40
Speaker
I'll tuck it up. so Alpha. Sorry, exhaust fumes. There is graffiti in all sorts. that just The words Clan Alpha in Goblinoid and Common are just kind of sprawled everywhere around the keep.
00:26:56
Speaker
In fecal matter, in paint, in blood. Forks sake, Alpha. This is not how you look after a legend. They painted and shit. This is not how it was supposed to go. it was supposed to be here...
00:27:09
Speaker
Looking after them, watching them. Orla was Dralak with us, wasn't she? Because she was a prisoner of Watts' face. We saw her. She was, but we got her freedom and then she never left her there. She never left. She stayed in Dralak because she was still there when we left, remember?
00:27:25
Speaker
I'm sorry, I am not a chronomancer. I can't predict the future of what people will do. Yeah, but they're not people. They were goblins. You give them a space, they will consume everything. Unless you give them strong arms.
00:27:37
Speaker
I gave them instructions to look after it it. was the first pet I ever had, or pets. Clearly it has not gone as I planned. If it does your mistake, you treated them like pets and not as a small army, which is what they are.
00:27:49
Speaker
And where the fuck are they? I do not know. They're just worrying if there is a band of goblins out there that could have a leader and don't. Varrock's inspecting this keep with a kind of neutral stance. He's familiar with like goblin tribes. How efficient, but even though it may look chaotic, how efficient is this goblin tribe? Is this is this a well-functioning goblin society, even though it may look like a cesspit?
00:28:15
Speaker
It's kind of a hybrid. It's kind of a hybrid of most... They've met some spells of civility. Like they were they were kind enough to dig some latrine holes.
00:28:27
Speaker
um But they still smeared the walls with shit and blood and paint. um But everything that's kind of for non-goblin kin around this keep has been preserved, has been repaired and not used.
00:28:43
Speaker
So they haven't like slept in the beds. They haven't like raided. ah but Like it's in a good state of repair. They just existed kind of around it, it seems. Let's go and tether the horses and find somewhere to rest. There's a bunkhouse.
00:28:59
Speaker
You want to rest in that? We don't. It literally says like, elf in shit on the wall. We just need to sleep. We'll either sleep outside with all the shit, or inside.
00:29:14
Speaker
don't know.
00:29:17
Speaker
Just go in and have a look. There's mentally more people here. I thought that's what was going happen. So welcome to the Goblin Humble Abode. It's not the Goblin Humble Abode.
00:29:28
Speaker
The Goblin Abode? I've stayed in Morse. When?
00:29:35
Speaker
A few times. Where? He's going to say, oh, ask me that question again, but when I'm under the zone of truth, and then I will definitely tell you the truth. Go on, say it. um I've missed your voice, Seth.
00:29:50
Speaker
I bet you that's what what you're going to say. I've missed your voice too, Seth. Shut up. Right. Kick the door in. Open it. Open it with his foot.
00:30:01
Speaker
On the horse. The horse hit the door in. No, he's off the horse and he's just opening up, a sword drawn, doesn't know what he's going to find in there, ah to the room that Emron... He's never been in before. To the room that Emron points... Yeah, to to saying this is the room where you can sleep in. And opens the door tentatively and we'll look in, sword first, drawn, and peer in to see what kind of state repair it's in.
00:30:22
Speaker
And you find a series of beds entirely made. It's dusty in there. The air is dense. The windows haven't been opened in a long time. There's a heavy creak on the door.
00:30:34
Speaker
But it's tidy. Other than that, it's clean.
Roles and Intentions Discussion
00:30:39
Speaker
Seth's going to start, he's going to open the windows and then start stripping the beds from the covers and taking them out outside and kind of like flapping out to get all the dust off and then relaying them shoddily over the bed. He's going to do that for all of them so that at least when we all sleep in here it's not a dust laden, no one wants to be getting asthma.
00:30:56
Speaker
It's not like a good time year for that the summer, you know, with all the pollen anyway. It's just going don't know what trace. And the fecal putrid pull. snoring as well. It's really upsetting. So yeah, he's going to go around do that. And plants.
00:31:11
Speaker
And yeah, do that for the next half an hour or so. yeah Being busy, doing things. He's good at doing things. He'll do things. Farok is going to go into the room. He's going to pop down his weapon. He's going to take off his sword belt. The spear is going to come out with bits out of its sheath. The shield will come off his back.
00:31:33
Speaker
And the mithril half-plate is also going to come off. He's then going to just try and find a source of natural water, and he's just going to just try and make sure there is at least something to drink and some and access to somewhere to bathe that isn't just covered in goblin shit.
00:31:51
Speaker
that That might prove tricky without magical intervention to purify any of this space because it all acrid and acidic. Sounds like my secondary school. Yeah. After I've been through with it. You'd have to go like deep into the woods and like rely on Jew and Galad. Yeah, not going to do that. yeah Fucking goblin shitbags and we'll just come back.
00:32:12
Speaker
I'll be able to sort some water after a rest. Who are your family?
00:32:21
Speaker
I can't say. i Not because I don't want to tell you the answer, but... You just don't know? No. no How does that make you feel? I've made other friends.
00:32:33
Speaker
Who's your best friend?
00:32:39
Speaker
I've not been asked that question in a very long time.
00:32:43
Speaker
I'll have to get back to you. We'll put in the zone of truth and then we'll do losing.
00:32:50
Speaker
flapping of sheets if if seth gets time after that sorry i'm jumping in but whenever seth's done with that he's also then going to assume everyone's going to stay in and he's going to spend 11 minutes stood at the door and he's going to cast alarm on the door frame it's going to be mental alarm to wake him up cool if anything happens course that's what he's going to do for the next pretty much half an hour or so so he's busy and be muttering about dumb untrace in the process nice Emmer's got off his horse, brushed it down, made sure it's tethered somewhere, not going to wander around, look after the horse.
00:33:17
Speaker
And then I'm going to go find somewhere to use the Sending Stone. Okay. um My first question is, because of how the Sending Stone works, um if no other creature bears the other stone, you know that fact as soon as you use the stone and don't cast a spell. So do I get the sense that someone who still has the stone?
00:33:37
Speaker
Yes. Okay. Um...
00:33:44
Speaker
I am going to then cast the spell Sending, who which has 25 words. And if the target is on another plane of existence, there is a 5% chance the message doesn't arrive, but I know if delivery fails. All right.
00:34:01
Speaker
um Like Microsoft Outlook. Yeah. I get i get a can rid receipt. Read receipt, yeah. Yeah. ah If the target hears message it's mine recognises you a sender it knows you and can answer it in a like-minded manner immediately the spell enables the targets to understand the meaning of your message.
00:34:18
Speaker
So I might get answered straight away. um I'll say we got Trace, went to the meeting point
00:34:30
Speaker
of Krisgra have Sparrowhawk Leopold dead.
00:34:39
Speaker
God, you know what Your description of this Goblin Keep is so good that the putrid smell or the has come through. i've not had any of this, which I've been quite overjoyed by.
00:34:53
Speaker
Calamon is fucking arse. So Will is sat next to We've done, what, seven episodes today in one day. He's crying. Will has literally spent most of it with his t-shirt over his fucking nose because he's sat next to what Clevius described as the Stinkmaster Callum. Turdzilla. Do you need me to roll a percentile dice? I've just rolled it. ah it You know that it's been received.
00:35:19
Speaker
okay His name's not Alpha, it's Ouch My Sphincter. don't know. You hear the following instantly replied.
00:35:31
Speaker
Can't talk right now. yeah
00:35:39
Speaker
Sounds like he's fucking. I'm not there. I didn't hear it. Just everyone would hear it. yes Fine. Okay. i' like okay um It'll be Drago's turn to contact next time because it's only the the pair can have once per daughter until next dawn.
00:35:56
Speaker
Okay, and everyone's like, okay. Makes for the horse right, and he goes to find a bed. Okay. And just sort of collapses down onto the bed.
00:36:09
Speaker
So we have an alarmed bunkhouse. People are beginning to put a long rest in. Anybody wanting to stay up, do anything else? Yes.
00:36:21
Speaker
So did you bet for the Jewel of the Desert Championship?
00:36:27
Speaker
Do you really want to know? i do.
00:36:31
Speaker
I lost my money. Kay?
00:36:36
Speaker
Who did you put it on? Marota? Not this time. I would have put on Marota. This time, Emron. Ooh, sucks to be you.
00:36:48
Speaker
Why Emron?
00:36:51
Speaker
He looks at Seth. Rolls his eyes.
00:37:01
Speaker
I'll do this one without the zone of truth. Because last time Emron won. What?
00:37:10
Speaker
Won what? this happening in the bunkhouse? Mm-hmm.
00:37:15
Speaker
I'm sort of lying there with his eyes open, just listening.
00:37:21
Speaker
Last time Emron won. Yep. emron one
00:37:29
Speaker
You've been in more than one Jewel of the Desert Championship. Are you saying that this has happened before, Delmon? Are you high? Not today. Delmon, are you saying this has happened before?
00:37:40
Speaker
Yes. So you're saying that the dreams I'm having are actually memories? What dreams? ah the The ship one where you're sailing. Oh, let's just fucking put the sub-future aside, Nick. The dreams I've had of being on the Steel Nightmare. Just trying to protect your dreams.
00:37:57
Speaker
What? What are you seeing in those dreams? Well, we can't do that until he's under a zone of truth and then you can possibly probably, probably believe him. um I'm seeing myself and others climb up the chains. I'm seeing us climb through into the city. I'm seeing this this town, the city, someone shouting, um he's in there, it's the alignment, it's time. It's not my story to tell, but your friend's.
00:38:26
Speaker
What do you mean our friends who? Your friend's story to tell.
00:38:34
Speaker
Oh, you mean Tilwar? Yeah. Tilwar's done this before.
00:38:44
Speaker
I refer to my earlier answers that Seth does not like to hear. Oh.
00:38:51
Speaker
oh Nick looks nix looks down for a moment, kind of letting that soak in from the... You have to understand, I'm here now because you were deceived by me.
00:39:05
Speaker
So you think we've got no reason to trust you? Therefore we're going to doubt anything you say so you want to make sure that what we do set what you do say is believed by us to avoid muddying the waters. What if I've told you two or three lies already?
00:39:19
Speaker
What if under the zone of truth you don't necessarily lie, but you don't also tell the truth? What are the size of your feet? don't know.
00:39:30
Speaker
That's a good question. Is it bigger than Theric's feet? Foot? I haven't had them measured. Theric, how big are your feet?
00:39:41
Speaker
He's sleeping. They're probably smaller than the half orcs.
00:39:49
Speaker
You're close. Do you get them from, like, a personal shop? Or are they old and have been with you for ages? Or are they, like, heirlooms? I had this set of robes made when I attended the duel, actually.
00:40:03
Speaker
And why did you attend duel? Was it fun?
00:40:09
Speaker
Because a number of important people were going to be there. And the event in the sky. How many times have you been to a Duel of the Desert Championship?
00:40:21
Speaker
I've been to nearly all of them. How many have you won your bet in? None. o So this has happened before? And why, if you've... If you can see through... This is Seth laying back on his bunk, about the lights off, and he's just hands behind his back on his pillow, just kind of asking questions like, are you still awake?
00:40:40
Speaker
Yeah, okay, that kind of thing. Why, ah if you can see through space and time... Why don't you just know the answers? If it's happened before, then how come you didn't get it right? I can't see through space and time.
00:40:53
Speaker
Not anymore.
00:40:56
Speaker
Now his eyes are too small and close together. Shh. And we didn't get it right. That's why we're here.
00:41:07
Speaker
So this has happened before, or will happen
00:41:12
Speaker
Or you like, ah I don't even understand. like Rest first. Yeah. Collect your thoughts. What if you leave in the night? Do you think I will? Yep.
00:41:24
Speaker
Well, then, i suppose this is goodbye. How about I tie you down? Would that bring you comfort? No, but your discomfort would comfort me. Hmm.
00:41:38
Speaker
um been in love
00:41:41
Speaker
No. That's a shame. Have you ever been with someone intimately? Yes.
00:41:49
Speaker
I'm not going to name names. Don't kiss and tell? yeah but So have you ever had any children? No. No descendants from you? No. Must be quite lonely to live so long and pass through so many generations of this world and yet have nothing to show for it.
00:42:10
Speaker
Yeah. I had friends. I've had friends. I hope I'll have friends again. So you've learned the ways of loss.
00:42:23
Speaker
What does that do to someone who's just witnessed and surpassed so many lives? You tell me, Nyx the Undying. Uno reverse, bitch.
00:42:37
Speaker
um Shots. Fire. He makes a good point, Nyx. Yep, that one took me. That one was good. Not really the undying champions. It's just the undying tiefling, really, isn't it?
00:42:51
Speaker
I mean, are we asking me the questions here? like Oh, we're just chilling. Unless he's in a zone of truth, he won't tell us Look, rest. You keep telling us to, but makes quite unnerving.
00:43:04
Speaker
keep telling us to fall asleep. And Nyx keeps asking questions. if Nyx is then instantly asleep. So what do you think? Nyx, just shut up.
00:43:17
Speaker
Let us rest, please.
00:43:21
Speaker
I'll take the first watch, if that helps. what Not really. We'd all do... Nyx, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. We're all tired.
00:43:34
Speaker
But let's just rest. Alpha, you don't need to sleep, do you? I do, but I'm awake while I sleep, I suppose, is the best way describe it. Good, so you can stand in the middle room and stare at Delmontreus. If he tries to go anywhere, you can wake us all up.
00:43:52
Speaker
The door is alarmed as well, but only if... We can all leave it, but Delmont can't. So if you need a week, go in the corner. no you said The goblins have anyway, so he might as well. No, you said we can leave. Yeah, we can leave.
00:44:05
Speaker
Okay, so Delmond, don't do any pissing. No, Delmond can piss in here, but if he tries to leave to go for piss or go and anywhere else, the alarm will go off in my head and it's bloody loud. Okay. Alpha, you watch Delmond, yeah? And if he pisses, make sure it's in the corner.
00:44:18
Speaker
What's your favourite time period that you've been alive through?
00:44:23
Speaker
This one. It has the least death.
00:44:28
Speaker
No, if we had anything to do about it. Of course it'd say that. Farrak will stare in his sleep and go, for fuck's sake, will somebody cast silence on this room?
00:44:40
Speaker
And with that, it sounds like that pierces through and we'll turn to Baal. Baal will have taken himself further away from the group and he's going to pull out the breastplate of King Leopold
00:45:00
Speaker
And over the course of a short rest, I'd just like to kind of identify if it's got any properties to it.
00:45:11
Speaker
Over the course of an hour? Mm-hmm. It's just a metal plate. There's no magical qualities to it.
00:45:20
Speaker
But we'll take that hour, as everyone started their long rests,
00:45:27
Speaker
Because the time area is slightly shifted. It's sort of going to be midday by the time you will get the chance to complete. So at the moment, Baal is awake. But at some point, you're going to need to rotate watches or just accept you're all going to sleep. Alpha gets to sort of be semi-alert there. Alpha still gets to be semi-alert there. Yep.
00:45:48
Speaker
And then Baal has the option then of waking someone up because you haven't got automatic alarm clocks unless someone tries to leave. So it's really in, Barl, your decision.
00:45:58
Speaker
Cool. Is Delman Trace still awake? No, he's also gone to sleep and on not afforded a bed. Or meditating. He's asleep. oh you You do see Alfred just kind of stood over him.
00:46:09
Speaker
In sentry mode. How unnerving. It's getting closer and closer. As he was falling asleep, um as he was fallen asleep
00:46:21
Speaker
Nix had linked his mind to Delmontre's as he has been this whole time. And we'll just keep peppering questions. Mentally.
00:46:31
Speaker
Which favourite is? Left or right? He was pissing off his friends. What's your favourite colour? Do you like chips? you ever lost tooth? Shall we compare guys? Does he get any responses for... Have seen a grown man naked? Have you seen a grown man cry? Have you seen a grown man naked?
00:46:49
Speaker
No, I know. You got any tiefling in you? You ever jump through the air while firing one gun? You've never seen Bad Boys 2?
00:47:05
Speaker
As he's asking these questions, um does he get any ah responses ah telepathically? And it will be ah questions again, just ah pulling from like different time periods of Aerith history, any background on him,
00:47:20
Speaker
um the biggest bet he ever won what i'm struggling what is it you're asking or everything so but that's so that as a as a means of distraction until like he just goes silent and but are you are you saying that so that you can cloud him out and drown him out or is it just question after to question after question question after question after question until he stops because so far he's given me an answer to everything He'll continue, but he'll slowly, like someone trying to go to sleep while they're being spoken to, the gaps get longer and doesn't answer. You have to like repeat a bit louder.
00:47:57
Speaker
He is also just as tired. Okay. So what is the biggest bet that you've ever won?
00:48:05
Speaker
don't know. 100 gold. What was on?
00:48:13
Speaker
The bet. What was it for? He's fallen asleep.
00:48:21
Speaker
What are you really hoping that will happen to Aerith? Huh? What do you really hope will happen to Aerith?
00:48:31
Speaker
End the nightmare. Stop the demons. What happens to you? don't know. What happens to the others, youse? don't know. He's grunting now. As he moves in and out sleep.
00:48:46
Speaker
I can tell you what happened.
00:48:51
Speaker
You die. And you've got nothing to leave behind. No family. friends or dead.
00:49:04
Speaker
You haven't had that much luck.
00:49:08
Speaker
You die alone. That's what will happen.
00:49:15
Speaker
And there's silence.
00:49:18
Speaker
he just lets out in a breath. Some of my friends are dead.
00:49:26
Speaker
For all your seeing of me, I can see you just as clearly.
00:49:34
Speaker
I know.
00:49:37
Speaker
We got way back.
00:49:46
Speaker
Next we'll be silent about that one.
00:49:51
Speaker
And one by one, you'll begin to fall asleep. Do you sleep, Val, and leave it to Alpha? Yes. If I ascertain that Alpha will be fine to keep the watch, but yeah, he'll try to keep himself awake soon as long as he can to eventually fall asleep.
00:50:11
Speaker
Alpha Trace doesn't really move from his corner of the room until you start to see and feel the midday sun really warm the room up. And at that point, first to sleep, Seth begins to reawaken the group with his morning coughs.
00:50:31
Speaker
And you all complete a long rest. Thank the lords Time to wake up Wake up Put on a little make up Time to spell this bitch Grab a brush and put a little make up Pull away You want to?
00:50:44
Speaker
No? No, not you oh But I killed the king Wake up Time to go fill some He who wears the crown Are you still going along? No I haven't If Seth is up and he's going to quite perkily wake up and his voice is going to be sore from talking ah he He likes to do, and so the first thing he'd do is he'd go and try and find a shovel somewhere and start filling in some shit pits.
00:51:10
Speaker
Okay. So it doesn't stink of goblin shit and blood and mucus quite as much. Nice. If I want to just start, it's going to make a barely a dent in it, but it's a start to start, and it's a nice way to wake up is be around pile of shit. You notice when you wake up, it's not to the heavy breathing of your closet companion as...
00:51:30
Speaker
He has not been summoned without to request this morning. he's not there? He's not there. And it's not occupying a spell slot. It seems you have control of that now.
00:51:43
Speaker
He's going to summon him. Okay. As you spend the 10 minutes necessary to... Before you couldn't choose that. You couldn't elect. He was just there. Now you were you made that choice. Yeah. It feels empty without him.
00:51:56
Speaker
Okay. Once I'm back. Okay. So he spends the time. me But he probably sits there for like 10 minutes like, oh, brilliant. Oh. And then begins to realise the task you're doing and is very disapproving of said task.
00:52:09
Speaker
And that's better because then I can shout abuse him and stuff. And you continue to do that for maybe an hour just to get yourself sort of... Whilst the others wake up. Warmed up. But one by one you all wake up.
00:52:22
Speaker
And then Delmon Trace also. He steps outside and gets some fresh air, realises it was probably fresher back in there.
00:52:32
Speaker
Not if Callum's in the room. Emron will have got up and gone to see if the Great Hall's in any state be occupied. Yes. Again, the same conditions. Spider-webby, dusty, but in a good state of repair and keep.
00:52:47
Speaker
No provisions, though, whatsoever. Yeah, I didn't think so. Um...
00:52:56
Speaker
Just going to try and make the place, you know, fit for us to occupy in the morning. Yep. Maybe leave the doors open and hopefully the stink from Try and aerate the place out. Yeah.
00:53:06
Speaker
And I guess you all kind of contribute to these. Get through draft. Yeah. A little bit of light maintenance work.
00:53:15
Speaker
And then Delmontrese enters the Great Hall as well and kind of follows suit, but just kind of waits around expectantly.
00:53:23
Speaker
Are used to doing jobs like this or is this the first time that you've had to put in manual labour? No, this is the first. Look, do you want to get started
Final Showdown Preparations
00:53:33
Speaker
or are we just leaving Sparrowhawk to, or Sebastian, whatever he's called these days, to his own devices in the safe location we've got him?
00:53:46
Speaker
I'm ready whenever we want to go. thought we were taking him to the other group. To all of them. To everyone. We're meant to be meeting here and no other fuck is here.
00:54:00
Speaker
Trust yourselves to ask the right questions. And Drago said he couldn't talk right now when I spoke him this morning.
00:54:08
Speaker
He sounded like he was fighting.
00:54:13
Speaker
Well, I guess we can put, like, you on record mode. Maybe write down the answers. Nick looks to Alpha.
00:54:24
Speaker
That would limit the distribution of the information. Perhaps just bit of old pen and paper would be suitable as well.
00:54:38
Speaker
how does this work, Emron? Emel sort of clears the space. You stand here in the middle of all these tables. So Emel sort of like tucking down to the south end of the hall where those six tables are, sort of moves them out the way and move the benches in. So basically we can sit and he's in the middle.
00:54:55
Speaker
um You stand there.
00:54:59
Speaker
I'll cast this spell. I'd like you to not resist it and let it happen. Will you know if I do? Yes. I'll know if i'll know if you're i know if you resist it and it doesn't make it tell the truth.
00:55:12
Speaker
Good. So I'll know if it affects you or not. And everyone's saying this to everyone in the room so that they know that he will know if he's telling the truth. And he watches. He takes off two of his rings and places them on the floor in front of him.
00:55:29
Speaker
Go ahead. could just telepathically link my mind back up. Everyone's actually going to go over to Nick's and say, actually, if you do detect thoughts while I talk to him, you'll see what in his mind as well, which would much better way of seeing also what he's saying.
00:55:47
Speaker
Oh.
00:55:50
Speaker
And looks over to Paul, and i I don't know a word of draconic if, you know, you need to talk without me knowing.
00:56:00
Speaker
That sounds like someone who knows Draconic would say something like that. Ask me again in a second. Right, ready to do How long does this ah sign of truth last? Ten minutes. I can do it three times before need to rest again.
00:56:11
Speaker
Okay, I can do some reading the thoughts for two minutes. Okay, how many times can you do that? Two minutes. Just once? Two minutes. Okay, so I've i've got a list of questions already.
00:56:28
Speaker
And we'll go from there, yeah? Save your mind fucking for when you need it. I'm linked at the moment, so... Okay. At least it's that. We ready to do this? Yep. Oh, I'm excited. Are you excited?
00:56:42
Speaker
i am. Yeah. I didn't think I would be. You could ask him again in a minute. So, everyone sort of does... Adds a little bit of ceremony to this. It's completely unnecessary, but it works thematically. so that He found like a a pot of like flour or salt or something like that, and he marks out this 15-foot radius sphere centring on Del Montrese and has literally Del Montrese stood in the middle of this circle. He sat.
00:57:12
Speaker
Well, sat. Fine. He's allowed to sit. With the rest of standing outside of it. Mm-hmm. And he he calls up, he holds his maul. Let all who stand here be witness, as a leader ensures the truth is spoken.
00:57:32
Speaker
And the the the circle he's created glows almost, as if, like ah almost like a spotlight, but not quite, but almost like a little ring typical clearly show that something is active. Mm-hmm.
00:57:48
Speaker
do Could he either make a charisma save or automatically fail it? He automatically fails. Thank you. And Emron looks at us. What he says now will be the truth. Or at least he cannot deliberately lie.
00:58:02
Speaker
Ask away. What is the alignment?
00:58:07
Speaker
It is a period in, I believe, 47 days' time. Where the power of the Steel Nightmare will be so great that it will crash into Aerith, destroy every location it's tethered at, and all of the forces of the Steel Nightmare will walk on this plane once again.
00:58:29
Speaker
What we've seen so far is mere wave as to what is really coming.
00:58:39
Speaker
Has this happened before if you managed to stop it? It has happened before and we have never managed to stop it. How many times has it happened? This would be the 13th.
00:58:52
Speaker
What happens after each time?
00:58:57
Speaker
Aerith ends and it is destroyed.
00:59:03
Speaker
All life apart from the Gartons.
00:59:07
Speaker
And then eventually, and then how do they go away for us to come back? Do you intervene? Have you intervened?
00:59:17
Speaker
Me, once. You, a lot more. Okay, come then. So when you mean me, do you mean Tiloire or us as a group?
00:59:33
Speaker
The Cronomancers.
00:59:39
Speaker
When we first froze the war between the Gartrans and Tolkelon, we came up with a failsafe called the Arithian Decision, where the steel nightmare, because we couldn't hold that war in suspense forever, would be reintroduced at a point where Earth's civilization was strongest.
01:00:01
Speaker
And its timeline starts at an event you all know as the unmending. and concludes in 47 days time.
01:00:13
Speaker
so it's like a loop that you keep resetting every time it fails? Yes. With the same pieces at the game. And the same players. The Erythian decision was an idea that the fate of Verith would not be decided by those who became kings or queens, merchant princes, demons, devils, demigods of gods.
01:00:38
Speaker
that we would entrust a group that represented views from every corner of Earth. A sailor, a wronged prince, a farmer, an acolyte, an entertainer, and a veteran.
01:00:56
Speaker
They would be given every power
01:01:05
Speaker
to stop the nightmare continuing. But did something different happen this time because... Something different happened every time. Alpha's not in that list, is he?
01:01:16
Speaker
Alpha has only existed this time.
01:01:22
Speaker
Okay. Anyone want to ask any questions, expanding any of that? How do we stop the steel nutmail? I don't know. How do we really stop the steel nutmail?
01:01:35
Speaker
You must have a hypothesis. there are so many want There are so many heroes on this plane, literally still alive, those who defeated the Blight, and yet you pick to follow the people in this room. You're not following Drago, you're not following Hell in the Sleek, you're not following Robin of Neverwinter, you're following us.
01:01:51
Speaker
the company or them. yeah That's the rest that's a lot of questions. What? the company that fine maybe simple it why us
01:02:02
Speaker
lot You weren't around on the first cycle. Fine, let me simply it again. Why them? Let me guess. is it can Can I answer one? one him No, ask him another question.
01:02:15
Speaker
Pick a question. it was Why them? Because... six of you, who some of you are no longer here...
01:02:29
Speaker
as a collective, represent nearly every view of what Aerith grew into. Not twisted, not warped.
01:02:40
Speaker
That's why.
01:02:42
Speaker
Okay, la-di-da, look at us being nice and diverse. But what, how, if 47 days and the whole of Aerith fails again, and you reset your little clock, we all go back to the unmending,
01:02:56
Speaker
and Roth Hawk Splitter retains the throne of Erith, and then the Blight happens again, and then loads of death happens again, then the Duel of the Desert Champion again, and all this shit again, and then we will repeat this over and over again forever.
01:03:09
Speaker
One of the other twelve that have come this far must have done something different. Every time. Got them there, or got close to destroying it, or found a weakness. You can't...
01:03:21
Speaker
Tell me every single time we did this, no one made any progress. Oh, you made progress. Then what was it? We don't... We did not expedite in order to... Time was reversed.
01:03:36
Speaker
I don't know exactly the progress that was made. All I know is the impact. Oh, so...
01:03:45
Speaker
You destroyed the ability for us to do this again. So this is it? This is it. You have to stop the Grand Chronomancer before those 47 days.
01:03:58
Speaker
You destroyed the means to do this again, but you also created Alpha.
01:04:06
Speaker
Was that deliberate that we did this last time we stopped it from happening, or was it do you think it was a mistake? There are two people that exist that could tell you exactly what happened.
01:04:17
Speaker
Wait a minute. so we got rid of the ability to go back in time and try again. What we got in return was a farting dry robot. You're telling me that's ah that's what we got? You must have learned that that was going to help you complete this. It's blackened memory that forgets everything.
01:04:33
Speaker
So who who who were the two that knew what we did?
01:04:38
Speaker
One is now in the hells, as I understand it. Pretty cool. and the other is Tilwak. Okay. These dreams you're having. Yep. They're, I believe, your last steps in the last cycle.
01:04:54
Speaker
So, Emeron, if you just turn into Tilwa, we could put him in the zone of truth as well. not Cast on yourself. Yeah. Yeah, for about a minute. Jump in now I'll ask you some quick questions.
01:05:06
Speaker
Therox good at asking really quick questions. We could smash through about 20, I reckon. Well, let's just finish our questions first. How long have we got left on the spell, Danny? ah You have three minutes. fine um Are you really working for the good of Erith?
01:05:20
Speaker
Yes. We... This cycle started because the first Erithian decision the Grand Coroner Mancer didn't accept despite agreeing that universally we would accept the decision of Erithian citizens.
01:05:41
Speaker
He didn't accept it and thus caused this event And what was that decision? I don't know what what the six of you decided, but of course yeah I know that the Cronomancer disagreed.
01:05:54
Speaker
And now this has come about. And the only way to stop the Steel Nightmare is to destroy him. So did you do the reset or was it the Cronomancer, do you think? I think it's both. Okay. Wait, wait.
01:06:07
Speaker
Alpha, we're putting an awful lot of stock on you in this conversation here. What what did what what do you want to ask?
01:06:19
Speaker
i I am the difference. I am the odd thing out in this. Not just you. Not just me. Not just you. What else is that? Baal, I believe you only existed in the last cycle.
01:06:32
Speaker
You have been a recent discovery. Which is, what, one? I've only been involved in one. Yes. And, Tharok, you've never been.
01:06:42
Speaker
Regrettably, and I'm sorry, but Rain's always made it to the alignment. We're told. You said a disgruntled prince and a farmer.
01:06:54
Speaker
There's six. A sailor. Looks at Nyx. A wronged prince. Yes. A farmer. She was... The Valkyrie?
01:07:08
Speaker
I think this year. The Acolyte. Yourself, Emron. The Entertainer.
01:07:22
Speaker
Who do you think?
01:07:25
Speaker
Karsten. No.
01:07:29
Speaker
Prego? Yes. Fuck. You said that you told us some lies on the way here when we were asking those those questions. What were those lies? I didn't tell you any lies.
01:07:41
Speaker
Who owns this? And Nix pulls out the crystal board. Grand Chronomancer, Johan Veritas. Are you going to betray us?
01:07:52
Speaker
I don't know. It depends on what your decision will be. Sorry, I didn't finish my list. The last was the veteran and looks at Seth. Yeah, yeah. yeah we was quite straightforward that one The easiest one, actually. Am I going to betray you?
01:08:05
Speaker
Not currently. Your spell ends. Okay, I'm on cast again. Okay, ten more minutes. Does...
01:08:16
Speaker
Will... Whatever decision we come up with, do you accept?
01:08:21
Speaker
I will accept your decision. I suppose because he's got no choice. It won't be set again. Correct. It'll be what it'll be. Did Old Gel get the crystal ball from Grand Cora Manso Veritas willingly or did he nick it?
01:08:39
Speaker
Trace pulls out an exact same crystal ball. We all have them. They keep us connected. That's how we know what each other knows. So he knows exactly what you know right now?
01:08:54
Speaker
Yes. That we're here. Did I always have this? Past me's? No, this was the first time you and Gel crossed paths. Gel thought it was important on this cycle.
01:09:04
Speaker
So does Gel know about what happens each time then? Little bits. His memory is a bit more broken. He always seemed bit cuckoo. Each cycle, every single one of the people on this list...
01:09:20
Speaker
loses much of their mental state. I'm the last one who remembers most of what our order has been. Oh, so you don't remember what was happening in the cycles, but... Erakast wasn't always a lunatic, put it that way. Oh, okay.
01:09:36
Speaker
And having a fizzle-bang and slaves orcs, you know. Where is Sebastian? He is in a pocket dimension.
01:09:49
Speaker
Are we going to get him back? Yes. Are we going to get all his stuff? And is he going to be alive? Yes. Do we need Prego out of the hells, do you think?
01:10:03
Speaker
Thirteen cycles ago, he was your best friend, Emron. Fuck. Does he know that? Yes, he is the only person other than Grand Chronomancer that has retained the memory of all 13 cycles. Apart from you seem to know so I get drips and drabs, just what's told.
01:10:23
Speaker
Okay. Why did you spy on me?
01:10:29
Speaker
We were friends once. You asked me earlier.
01:10:36
Speaker
If I had any, then I did.
01:10:42
Speaker
I've watched you for 13 cycles.
01:10:45
Speaker
I skipped building a relationship for a 13th time this time.
01:10:53
Speaker
I have a question. Yes. And that question is, from what I know of any point of the Shattermen T, in how many cycles was Emron growing up in the poor pitch of Shattermen?
01:11:07
Speaker
He was placed there this year in order to access Reigns Haddow. To make him. To make Alpha. Did you ever ask yourself how you had the knowledge of a person's memory who you'd never have met?
01:11:20
Speaker
No, it just came to me. It just came to you. didn't sort of doubt it. The memory of an ancient lost princess of a civilization locked in time just came to you. Well, the designs for Alpha did.
01:11:33
Speaker
The memory was Reigns. The memory was taken... Well, Tila can tell you that, or Prego. Are any of your order still able, because clearly you said that I was placed in Shadowlands, are any of your orders still active and able to help out?
01:11:51
Speaker
But, you know, apart from you. That's why I formed the Akrisker. That's why I built the largest army on Aerith. I am helping. I'm stopping the Nightmare from destroying us. Why haven't you let us make our choices then?
01:12:07
Speaker
What choices have you not been able to make? i don't know, you and your people seem to have thrown in our way a lot. We got a lot wrong. And forgive me after the first couple of failed cycles if I decided to throw my lot in with different options than you six.
01:12:25
Speaker
Now, we got the blight wrong.
01:12:29
Speaker
We thought the blight
01:12:35
Speaker
was all sorts of entities before what it turned out to be on this cycle. It turns out the Blight was not an attempt to resurrect our dead, but the Gartrans.
01:12:49
Speaker
By Tilwa's brother.
01:12:53
Speaker
By Grazit? Yeah. No. Tilwa? No, by not Tawad, by... No, not... Yeah, Prego. And Tolklon. And Tolklon, that's what meant. Sorry.
01:13:04
Speaker
My turn now. Why the dragons? Why have you been stealing the eggs? We have a time well.
01:13:15
Speaker
One of the last residual pieces of magic my order holds. It's now destroyed.
01:13:28
Speaker
But what we were able to design was a space, a dimension where we could put eggs.
01:13:38
Speaker
And hundreds of years later, these would rehatch at the start of a new cycle.
01:13:48
Speaker
Why dragons? Because they're probably the strongest force to stop the steel nightmare. Are they your insurance if we fail this time? That the eggs will eventually, once the Gartons have destroyed everything and it's all gone to fork and everything's gone, the dragons will restart the world?
01:14:05
Speaker
I don't know. But you must have had a plan, like because you created this pocket dimension to store eggs in. You knew that this wouldn't reset again. So what sort of insurance policy is it?
01:14:17
Speaker
It's a, pardon the pun, but all the eggs in this one basket. All of these armies are converging on Aerith. In 47 days, I wanted us to have the biggest.
01:14:30
Speaker
Still me.
01:14:33
Speaker
You know full well that the Matriarchs and the Dragon Lords lose their power relating to the Monarchs of Aerith, right?
01:14:45
Speaker
Yes.
01:14:48
Speaker
How many dragons do you know still maintain their power? None. They're all crippled. Does that mean all the monarchs are dead? We've hidden them all.
01:15:00
Speaker
You, the Abkrisgra, have the monarchs? Think, who else was going to be in every single kingdom and who else has this influence? Yes. And you've just said that you were trying to have the dragons rise up against the Steel Nightmare and yet you have weakened their leaders? Temporarily.
01:15:19
Speaker
And when will you un-weaken their leaders? When we need our strongest...
01:15:26
Speaker
47 days? If we look weaker, maybe they'll act sooner before they are at full capacity. But really, since I cannot lie, it was to draw...
01:15:42
Speaker
Leopold Sleetgard out of hiding. And he's dead. He's in my fucking bag, what remains of him. Does that weaken the Gartrand cause, do you think? It does. There are two existing Gartrands on Aerith.
01:15:54
Speaker
You have just killed one of them, and we have one more left to defeat. Who? I am Alda. No. Oh. She is a memory. Who?
01:16:05
Speaker
Uriand Cardinal. He's a Gartrand? Yes.
01:16:12
Speaker
Then where is he?
01:16:15
Speaker
Somewhere at sea. Sea is a big place. We are not a naval force. We're trying to find him.
01:16:26
Speaker
Do you know where he was getting to the Hells? Yes. Do you think we need to go get Prego? Do you think we can do it without him? I think you could do without him.
01:16:37
Speaker
However...
01:16:41
Speaker
and looks at your arms, you may not be able to. Yeah. But also, you owe it to your oldest friend.
01:16:55
Speaker
knew were going to say that, and that wasn't in a dream. What are the Garchan's going to do? Destroy all. Why? Because this is their home, and they feel like you have taken it.
01:17:09
Speaker
They are singular mind. Who are the Gartrans? Are they the steel things are there other people waiting in the steel nightmare to come down and occupy the place? Both. Okay. You see how Alpha exists?
01:17:21
Speaker
Yes. The Gartrans are the original creators of the idea of the memory room before they trickled its understanding to Aerith and that's how it exists.
01:17:34
Speaker
in the kingdoms that use this power because it comes from Gartran technology. All Gartrans exist in these creatures, these stone creatures that are flying around. They are powered by memory runes just like Alpha is. It's just Alpha contains the rune of the most important memory of all Gartrans.
01:17:53
Speaker
What happens to you all if we fail? The same thing that happens to you if you fail. We all die. We aren't chronomances anymore without the ability to use time. We are just... mages.
01:18:07
Speaker
Can Veritas use time again, or is he fucked as well? I don't know what secrets he has. I know you've never been able to to defeat him. It sounds to me that we have two pathways forming in front of us. One definite and one option. We've got any questions?
01:18:24
Speaker
The spell's about to end again. I can do it one more time. We might want to have a chat before we do it again. Before this ends, who needs to be sat on the throne of Sleetgard to restore Valkareth to her power?
01:18:36
Speaker
Who do you think? I think Sebastian. Why? Because I think it's his time to rule.
01:18:46
Speaker
My understanding of Sleetgard is right.
01:18:50
Speaker
Valkareth's power will come when the throne is undisputed. You need to convince him and his sister that he is the rightful person to sit on that throne. And if it's his sister, her instead?
01:19:03
Speaker
Then you've fulfilled the role. Between the two, right. Where is she? I don't know. You just said you had all the monarchs. Not her.
01:19:17
Speaker
She went her own way. Is she aware of what's going on? Yes. the depths that we do? Yes, we explained everything to her. Her and her friends decided they were going to take matters into their own hands.
01:19:29
Speaker
And they weren't going to let us protect them. Something about ah obscured history with us. Where did you trace them to? You must have had eyes on them. Where did you lose them? They're in this kingdom. They wouldn't leave.
01:19:42
Speaker
Drago said he was going to the hells. Yes. The spell has ended.
01:19:50
Speaker
Is there anything we want to have a discussion before we cast this again? I no longer think we need it, and I mean it. We're tied, our fates and his are tied together. He needs us and we need him.
01:20:02
Speaker
Why haven't you tried to work with the Windwatch? What makes you think we haven't? We've been watching everything you do. We have not aggressed against you. But but why the subterfuge? Why not be out and just...
01:20:16
Speaker
Surely it would be helpful if you'd said, hey, guys, by the way, let's have a sit down about this. This has all happened before. and What are we doing right now? Yeah, but it could have been much fucking sooner. Could it?
01:20:28
Speaker
Oh, you're going to say that we weren't ready to listen until now. and Oh, for fuck's sake. You were hellbent on us being... Not all of us. My point still stands. And we got things wrong. We were not clean in all this.
01:20:46
Speaker
Do you think us killing Leopold was a good thing or a bad thing? A great thing. Then, okay. You're going to say that the innocents who died is just a small drop in the ocean and it's the needs of the men out with the needs of the few. it Sounds like you're saying that.
01:21:00
Speaker
You knew.
01:21:03
Speaker
Way back then in the Blight, you knew that Leopold was an absolute shit. And that's why you removed him from the throne. Yes. To dispute his reign. Yes.
01:21:14
Speaker
And he escaped from you.
01:21:17
Speaker
He did.
01:21:23
Speaker
We've killed one king. Why don't we kill a fucking other?
01:21:27
Speaker
I think we need to go get Prago. I think you do.
01:21:33
Speaker
Right. mean, Drago said he was going, but I don't know whether... ah don't know. What's the best way to get him to hell?
01:21:41
Speaker
I have um a proposal, but it might be worth sharing once all of your company are here. We don't know if we're going to get here, though. And as you said, time is... Hang on a minute. Does that mean you'll let Sparrow Up come here without you leaving?
01:21:58
Speaker
It depends on what your intentions are with me, and I would invite someone to step in the circle with me. Fucking hell, step in the circle and everyone casts the spell again.
01:22:10
Speaker
Okay. It sounds like our purposes are aligned. For good or ill, for whatever's come before this,
01:22:20
Speaker
everything, unfortunately, people may have different opinions, but my opinion is, and everyone looks at the group and says, and Jess just said to step in as well, my opinion is we are bound to try and save Eryth and this guy despite what he may have done that we see is actual bad has been to do that as well so we can't kill him
01:22:52
Speaker
Farrakh will walk into the circle either make a charisma save or choose to fail it fail cool I don't understand why i have made it to this point for the first time, but I would like to think that I can, that it is to try and fill some of the void left perhaps by the Valkyrie in that farmer sense.
01:23:10
Speaker
Now I'm not trying to be Marota or the Valkyrie, but I want to help
Urgent Mission: Euron Cardinal
01:23:15
Speaker
you all. And that's why I understand it. There is a thing that we should do because we think it's in our best interest. And then there is one thing that we have to do.
01:23:24
Speaker
And he'll point to Alpha and say, Euron Cardinal has to die.
01:23:31
Speaker
That one is a definite. Even if we take Prego as something that we should do, the one thing that we have to do is kill that fucking elf. don't to We have to get on our boat at some point, we have to find wherever he's hiding in the ocean, and we have to put his ship to the depth of the oceans and can make sure he's dead with it.
01:23:49
Speaker
Prego is the one who, according to Delmond, remembers a lot of all the different cycles, so if we needed to know what we've done before and what worked and what didn't, he would be one to ask, which would save a lot of time of bimbling in the darkness. He could have told us this before.
01:24:04
Speaker
He chose not to He chose fucking tricks maybe he like riddles. Maybe he's like Delwyn, doesn't remember everything perfectly. May I be permitted a spell? Yeah, fine for me.
01:24:16
Speaker
Wait, is this spell going to be damaging to us in any way, shape or form? Not physically. Well, that's fucking cryptic.
01:24:26
Speaker
Just mentally, I think is what he's meaning.
01:24:30
Speaker
He casts an all-encompassing spell.
The Dream Sequence
01:24:34
Speaker
Changes the terrain around you. And to most of you, this is an unknown space.
01:24:41
Speaker
Spectral city made of chains. Ice white stone. For you, you're walking through a memory. You're walking through your dreams. Now it's just everyone else can partake. Yeah.
01:24:59
Speaker
And as you're walking through, you're able to see exactly what Emron has been describing all of this time in the dreams. around entering the platform, walking in the hall, seeing these figures shrouded in light, seeing Drago, seeing Prego, seeing yourself.
01:25:18
Speaker
And this other figure, not the female human that's yet to kind of be identified, the dwarf figure recognise, this other figure shrouded in light in your latest dream, now reveals to be Delmontrese.
01:25:33
Speaker
And you're walking, step by step, as that dream plays out.
01:25:40
Speaker
and you enter into a further chamber.
01:25:46
Speaker
He just pauses this dream.
01:25:51
Speaker
Ask that last question again. Ba.
01:26:00
Speaker
I forgot my question. You said all the tricks and you could have been told at telling us before. Yeah. He's a tricksy little fuck. Why hasn't he told us before? Thank you.
01:26:16
Speaker
Trace nods. and The dream fasts forward and you're in this this chamber and around you are corpses. Delmon Trace lies destroyed.
01:26:30
Speaker
The woman shrouded in bright light destroyed. The dwarf destroyed. But it is you. it is Prego. Clasping your hands.
01:26:41
Speaker
On a small glowing shard.
01:26:47
Speaker
Prego is pushing it towards you. And ushering you in towards a portal.
01:26:55
Speaker
And telling you over and over and over. Take this. Do
Emotional Turmoil and Cliffhanger
01:26:58
Speaker
it again. Do it again.
01:27:01
Speaker
Your reply how am I going to do this? I'm not going to know who you are. What's going to happen? You need to do it.
01:27:12
Speaker
And Prego is crying at this point.
01:27:18
Speaker
How? How, Emron, do I make you believe me?
01:27:25
Speaker
And with your dying breath, as you're succumbing to this magical energy that's hitting you from behind, You just say, make me hate you.
01:27:36
Speaker
Make me want to rip your throat out.
01:27:41
Speaker
That'll get me there, Prego.
01:27:47
Speaker
Prego grasps you with two hands and kisses you really firmly on the forehead.
01:27:54
Speaker
Takes this shard, steps through this portal and the dream ends.
01:28:05
Speaker
That's where we're going to end this week's episode. The Fellowship at the Tabletop, Bellum Draconis. Goblin dump, then a lore dump. Goblin, goblin. Shit, damn.
01:28:17
Speaker
All right. some See, now I've got to go rescue prey. Chewing and digesting today there. I really want to just let him die. No, I can't now.
Podcast Conclusion and Gratitude
01:28:26
Speaker
So if you wanted to keep in touch with the podcast, there's many ways to do so. But like, I would just give a lot of props to Danny. So you can follow us all individually. But the one person you definitely should follow individually is our VIP of the D&D. And that is Dungeon Master Danny.
01:28:43
Speaker
yeah like And for running, i know that you've listened to these episodes separately over seven weeks. We've done seven episodes one day and he has DMed the entire fucking lot. So I think big props to Danny running that shit. Thank you. These episodes would start in October and finish in January. That's the length that we've done in... With a bit of Christmas in the middle.
01:29:05
Speaker
Until next time, guys. fellow