WWW #46: Their Sorrow is My Sorrow

This is the sound of worlds beyond number. In a smuggler's cave less than a mile north of the city of 12 Brookes, under a dim orange sky of roiling clouds, on an ash and debris choked, dying river, we find Ursulon, Suvi, and Amé reunited as Joryn and his shapeshifters enter the cave. Suvi! Oh, okay, good energy. Yeah, Suvi's gonna immediately like embrace Amé as she's hugged. Well I do want to know why King's dead, but first I would love to introduce you to my old family friend Joryn. Joryn. Yeah. Amé steps back from the hug that looks over at Joryn. Greetings. I'm Joryn. These are some of my shapeshifters. So how did you meet each other and are all the shapeshifters here? Are you here to help us? And I assumed that he didn't, you know, it wasn't responsible for, um, how do you do that? Do what? What are you referring to? The shapeshifting. Magic? Do you want something more in depth than me saying magic? Um, well, I suppose you don't have time for all of that, because I did ask a lot of other questions. Yeah, my best friends. Oh, yes, I'm Amé, the witch of the world's heart. Uh, well, the kid is, uh, delivered here to your fellowship once more, and it's my understanding that- And you see here he nods to you, Ursula. You've come here in search of the children of the Grinnell. That's correct. You have reason to believe they're in 12 Brooks. I know they are. Then, we're here to help. That is good news. What is this place, this cave? It's Smuggler's old den. We have a map of the different sewers and irrigation ditches and, uh, hidden caves from the run-runners back in the day. Apparently, Grandma Ren fucked a run-runner. Good for her. I don't know why I hated you for so long. You're a hoot. Sufi, how are you alive? Oh, that's fun. So, arrested? Yes. We were on the road back to Bracken, and then all of a sudden, all of the horses turned and jumped into the river, turned into animals, and tried to kill everyone. Oh, yeah, and I'm just gonna turn to the shapeshifters. Whichever one of you I rode, I'm sorry? You see that there's a guy in the back who goes, That's fine. Okay, cool. I felt weird about that for like a day, so thank you, I'm sorry. Killed all the wizards, tried to kill me, couldn't. I see you're in shrugs. Well, the kid's cheating, so that's why. I'm very glad that I was compelled by my solemn vow to your parents. I would have been ashamed for you to die in the dark water there, but, Survive, she did, and it's my understanding that Skies agreed to come with you and see these children freed. You have maps leading into 12 Brooks, yes? Yes. Well, I think more than anything, Suvi here needs to rest. She's been up all night prior to swimming down the river. We won't be able to get any further down the river than this. It peters out a while away, it was already getting shallow. Have you managed to take a look up top and see what's going on in the landscape? No, I was going to do that before we rested. No, alright. Well, kid needs rest, we'll be alright. We can go and take a survey of the land if need be, and then come back and rest, but, you know. Is there any chance we can get the fucks to take a little peek? He needs some rest too, as well. He was very, very brave today. Or yesterday, it's hard to tell here. You know what? Honestly, same. I was in an underwater cave, and then underwater. Underwater cave? What do you mean, you were underwater? Did you? Are you gonna breathe like Ursuline? Oh yeah. Did you change your shape, Suvi? I was giving Gills, but then no other part of being able to be good underwater, and my skin feels terrible. I would love to lay down. Okay. When you've rested, we were able to take some of Keen's things, and would appreciate your knowledge on them. And Vandal is...he's gonna be okay, but he was also very brave. Is very brave your code for Almost Dead? Uh, I hand her the spellbook. The fuck happened to the spine? Oh, I was helping a brave little warrior. I just opened the book to where the binding is cracked and would fall open. You see a slender rivulet of red ink at the broken base of the spine. Are you okay? An arcane torpor comes back to you, a feeling of a kind of roiling, deep slumber of deconstituting in order to reconstitute. Then I will take out my pen and just write in next to where I see that little rivulet. You're a real piece of shit. Thank you for taking care of them. Oh, close look. I'm sorry, Sufi. I'm sorry for a lot of other things too, but yeah, we all could use a rest right now. I would rest easier if I got a chance to take in the landscape before morning. Do you want me to go with you? No, I can go alone. I'm just going to look and come back. Okay. So you, Nazin says, for those of you here, it seems like you have secret ways into the city. The landscape's been pretty chewed up, so I don't. This map is faithful to a version of the city before this war broke out. So I would just be aware that there may be some hiccups or surprises. We're close enough that I may need to consider making myself known to the sorcerous houses, sieging the city. Remember, I'm behind my own lines right now. I don't remember, because I really don't know much about you, sir. Well, it's my understanding that you killed, you see, Nats, you're a son that you did battle with some shape-shifters in Abyssin. Those were companions of mine. We've been busy here in the Shroud Mountains fighting the Empire. Whatever revelations you came to sense Abyssin, which they had been a few days earlier, but such is life, I suppose. Is there anything you wish to know? Which of the world's heart? Well, in my capacity as Amé of Toma, I want to know about your time with Grandmother Ren, and I want to know about where you've been, and I want to know why your blood smells bad, I guess? I've got that one covered. Oh, why don't we circle up? You go do what you need to do. Whatever questions I don't have coverage for, you can absolutely assault him with when he has sort of no bandwidth and desperately needs to sleep. Okay. Prime time. He turns to depart, he looks at his shape-changers and says, you should all remain here, provide protection for the wizard sky and Amé. And he's going to walk up the bank with you, Ursula. Great. And I think you and Sufi have a chance to interact in this moment. I'm very happy that you were able to make your way from Keen. Sufi, I'm so sorry you told me specifically. Don't do it, and I did it. I feel a pressure all the time to be good and to do the thing that's right, and I think I tried to do the thing that was right for the spirit and for the town, but I didn't do the thing that was smart or clever. I promise that I will try to be more careful with my actions and also with my words. I'm really sorry. I think a lot of times I've been scared to tell you something. Me? Yeah. But I'm so approachable. And at that, you see that as you were speaking, Sufi is immediately exhaling. She was spinning up to have a hard conversation that she didn't want to have. Yeah. And instead is just going to actually grab you by the shoulder and pull you into her. And she gives you a kiss on the top of the head. Thank you. It's been a very tough day, but I can't even imagine how are you... Do you need anything from me now? Oh, in this moment? Thank you. I... I'm sorry for the ways in which I have made it so difficult to have difficult conversations. I will do better to remain open to things that I don't feel ready to hear because the course I am set on requires a single-minded focus from me. I'll be more open like you and like Ursul on. And I'm sorry if I've made you feel like you have to pick your words so carefully that you'd rather not say anything at all. No, it wasn't. It wasn't just you. I think I was scared of saying something that would hurt you or make you go away again. I don't ever want us to be apart again. Well, sometimes we get arrested, so... Yeah, and sometimes we fall into traps or trying to help a spirit. But we always find our way back. Always find my way back to you, Suvi. You'll never be rid of me. That's what true friend means. Can't do it. Impossible. I don't need anything except desperately to sleep, and if you see me pick up my spellbook, just don't. Don't let me do that. I need to rest so badly. I can smell colors. Okay, then I'll wait to give you the thing that we also found on Keen. Fucking thing? No, show me the thing. Why would you say that? No, no, no. Why would you tell me there's a thing to look at? From Keen? You stole stuff from... What is it? Just show me. Just show me and then I'll know. Okay, you just get one look at it, but you're not allowed to do any magic about it. Okay. Deal? I'm lying. Can I see it anyway? I pull out the glass disc from my pouch and carefully unwrap it. Hold it out. This is fragile. Linguarucana, hold on. I try to find enough light with the candle that's lit. I don't know if we've gotten around to building a fire. Keen, go ahead and give me an arcana check. Dirty 20. Yeah. This is the language of a very powerful teleport spell. Oh man, I love you so much. Oh, I love you too. Stuff is my love language. This is great. May I hold onto this? It's a teleporter. I don't know what it's going to do yet, and I know I would have to do more magic about it, but I did say I wasn't going to do that yet. Well, I'll figure it out. Oh yeah. And this feels very good and useful. Oh, fuck you. How did he die? He was the worst. I don't even know if you heard it because I can't tell when you were unconscious or if you were just sort of like so angry you weren't really moving, but he was disgusting. He was a real sicko, Suvi, and he died horribly, and I don't regret any part of that. I love you so much. So much. Good. Good. Okay, sleep. You have to sleep. Yeah. Oh, and just for the record, all of them are very amazing, especially that one guy that I rode, Delightful Horse. You... Oh, yes. No, not like that. We have got to tell... I'm not getting any sleep tonight. And as Suvi's like making her bed, she's like doing the thing where she's like telling how to sleep, like telling half-weird anecdotes about like stuff that she's noticed from the Shape Changers, and also just being like, oh, yeah, also talked to Yoran, and he's not responsible for my parents' death, and like Steel's been lying about basically everything. Stuff you've, that you all said before, so like, of course. Just such a meandering, wild, eclectic conversation of important pieces of the story and feelings about what I experienced and what Suvi's revelations were like, also with, you know, speculations about how do they... How do they... Do you think they're shape-shifting when they... No, for sure. They have to be right. So like, you've got to... You've got to... You've got to fuck as an animal, but then like as a part... God, we've got to get one. Hold on. LaHana! LaHana turns around to gaze over at you. Okay, are we in a place now where you feel comfortable with a less serious conversation? Potentially. I don't... Ooh, can I do an inside check on her? Yeah. Does she like me yet? Yeah, 16. 16? Yeah. Hard to say. I think that... I think on a 16, you can't tell if it's a cultural... If it's like, is she being playful? Maybe in her culture, dead, impassive glares are playful. You know? I think there's a degree of unfamiliarity that obscures her intention in this moment as she looks at you. Great. But yeah, I don't think you... It's not going to stop me. Yeah, yeah, go for it. Okay. Nah, we're great. So do you fuck as animals when you shape shift? Would you? Yes. She smiles and goes, For the most part, anything that you would want to do, you'd want to do from a human perspective. And the gear tends to make that better. Oh, that's great. Yeah. Thanks. You try it a couple times and then you go, oh, there's a reason that... Yeah, okay. Thank you so much. That question comes up. It's almost always the first question to come up before we have the ceremony where we take on our first shape because that usually happens when you're around 13. Oh my God, yeah. So it's the first... Have a certain morning, you can juice to do that. When you're a really little kid, you go, am I going to be able to fly? Am I going to be able to swim? How do you keep from crashing? How do you keep from... Yeah. And then right before the ceremony, there's usually a much more hushed, embarrassed conversation. That's really funny. My dad told me that if I did anything in that shape that you get stuck in it. I can't believe that that's true. That just sounds like it. No, it's something you say to your kid. He said it as a joke. He said it because he was messing with me, but... That's fun. Well, I'm going to keep guard. What? Okay. Well, there's a... Outside on the riverbank. Ha ha ha! Gray Ash. Chokes the riverbanks. Perseulantes, you ascend to the top with your end. And look out over a landscape. Over the western edge of... 12 brooks. An oil slick. Painted on the underside of the clouds is burning. Much like the flame on the underside of a log, it is not tall and dramatic because it's not stretching up into the clouds. In that way where you look at the bottom of a log and there's a ripple, a small ripple of flame, you see rippling flame on the underside of a two mile stretch of clouds seeking to go up and it cannot. Underneath that orange light, you see... Shapes of giants that have to be 100 feet tall. Dark, many-legged monstrosities is the only way to describe them. That shift from side to side ever so slightly, but due to their enormity, these shifts move them a score of feet in any direction at a shifting of their weight in wind that carries gray ash across a destroyed landscape. Within your field of vision and the miles and all directions that you can see, there's probably two dozen skeletal remains of imperial sky ships. You see massive carcasses of these things that are the size of craft, but you see the carrion birds crawling over these many-legged flesh behemoths, eyeless and featureless but with some sort of skeletal structure. These walking flesh vehicles are rotting on the ground covered in ash being picked apart by birds under the dim light cast over the landscape from a burning sky. In the city of 12 Brooks, you can pinpoint a number of gem-like gleams of purple and green light and a shimmering diamond blue cascade of prism light only reflected at strange angles. Sort of like if you took a 16 faceted sided diamond and removed all of the flat planes to just keep the angles and then transpose them into a gem-like light. And even then it's not constant, it flickers and pulses so you kind of get the outline of a diamond shape being projected over the city of 12 Brooks from an old castle. 12 Brooks as a city used to be this beautiful waterfall mid-sized city in this region where the waterfall hit the edge of an old castle from hundreds of years ago during Circurrence time. There was a lords castle here and the castle oversaw the expansion of a big city that was sort of a place for musicians to come and celebrate. The Brooks of 12 Brooks are these irrigated falling Brooks. There are frog statues all throughout the town, frog gargoyles. You're too far away to see any of this, you just sort of see the image of the castle that projects that prism of light down towards a massive crater that you recognize as a cracked and waterless lake. There is sort of a graveyard of boats piled up from where the water vanished as they crashed into each other at the mouth of 12 Brooks where the water meets the lake. You see some constructs at attention under that perimeter within 12 Brooks. 12 Brooks is not a walled city but you see that there are large barricades. Many places in the outer city of 12 Brooks have been completely demolished. But still that rubble has been quickly used by the Imperial forces there to barricade roads. 12 Brooks has all these waterways that you can see are covered by bridges. The very thing that's going to save 12 Brooks is also the very thing that is now putting it in jeopardy. The depletion of the riverways that's going to allow Imperial forces to get here to break the siege also means that the Brooks that were partially making the city more defensible. Now the Empire has barricades but ways around them through the dry Brook channels. Outside the city there are multi horned rhinoceri, slightly larger than elephants, but in addition to the horns on their noses also have them curling up from their brow as well. Huge jeweled palanquins on their back. Endless tents of sorcerous soldiers, bright orange, blue and yellow. All of these rich colors of the houses of Gautamai completely covered in gray ash. You see the flags of three different houses. You see the symbol of Bahá'í here and two other sorcerous symbols. In the far distance you see with decreased invisibility because as the ash blows at a far distance it becomes almost like a sandstorm where you can't see the horizon here. But you can see the smudge of those massive flesh craft like moving and patrolling the supply lines farther to the west. And you see several points of light, one of them a lone sorcerer hanging in the sky eight miles away so radiant that you can see them through the ash storm. Your instants at your side surveying the ruin around the crumbling remains of 12 Brooks. Behold the fruits of empire. If they keep getting their way eventually it will all be this. This is not the dream of the Arch Magi of the Citadel nor of the great lords and ladies of the Contaranot. But given that they don't want the other to have their dream they're happy to settle for this. I think Ursulán has stopped breathing and feels every individual hair on his body stand up. What are those? Ursulán is going to point to the multi-legged living craft. It does help to know that they have a name when you see them and you don't know what they're called. And they're coming for your village. You almost hope that you'd die of something else before they get to you. Those are Grednaughts of the house Kashif. That's what they're called. That's what they are. And as you see from their carcasses out here in the wasteland they can be brought low. Don't freeze. And he claps you hard on the back and says, and remember to breathe. You said you knew sorcerers here. Yeah. Rounza, the House of Light and Kashif are the flash grafters. You swam here, right? I did. Did you see the giant at the bottom? Yes, with the lens. The arcade. Yes, yes, yes. So that was a harpoon gun from an Imperial sky ship and that was a shohoran, which that giant was a human. That was a...what? The sorcerers of House Kashif work the magic of flesh. Ursulán, at the phrase work the magic of flesh. I think there's a chill that goes through Ursulán that he...that feels of the spirit. Joran feels it palpitate in this moment. I've referred to what I practice as a gift. And I think there is something...I think there is something good about receiving a gift yourself rather than inheriting it. The spirits that gave their gifts to the great sorcerers of old. Some did not know where that gift would end up. The sorcerers of House Kashif are. And you see that Joran sort of lists to one side and gets a far away look in his eyes. He says, I want them dead. I want them all dead. I want the cousins and the distant relatives. I want the ones that don't know what the house is doing. Dead. I want everyone who's ever looked up at their banner with pride. Just because it flew over the grain house where they brought their barley, I want them dead. House Kashif, long ago, was the first of the great houses to pass a law calling for the capture and death of shape shifters. So, so engulfed my shape changes are forced to fight. Have always been. Ruslan feels that energy so white, so stable, ripple and the frequency gets higher as he feels himself get angry for the first time in days. That is not right. Not right. You see that Joran nods and as he lowers his head in defeat, he swells in size. So he goes from a man standing tall to a massive garin crouched down with his head hanging low. Hating them with every fiber of my being. And I am here fighting alongside them. That is how great the danger is. Is your true form, or is the other how you see yourself? When you go to the spirit world to ask for your first form, you don't get it until you are at peace with the fact that all forms are your true form. He reaches out a massive clawed hand knotted with thick green hide, huge claws that you can see are veined with iron and can tear through the wooden hull of a sky ship. You can tell at the full extension of his armspan, it's probably like 25 feet wide. And he wraps a whole hand around you and lets it lightly on your back, this massive claw. And he just goes, if I am you and you are me, because we are of the breath of this world together, how distant can I be from one form to the other? The thing in me that lives forever honors that in you which lives forever. You are here in the wholeness of what you are. The only difference between you and me is that when I go I'm gonna leave a mess. But I believe deep down that we are one. I agree. My old man asked me one time, because he thought I was losing the way, that my hatred for them meant I was losing sight of the impermanence of this world. Because if this world is a dream as I believe that it is, why should I be so filled with hatred? And I didn't understand his question, it made so little sense to me. Because if the point of this world is to dream something into being, why the fuck would you dream of hurting people? And yet here I am, having devoted my life to hurting people. I guess they picked the game and it's just our lot to try and win it. But that is not what you do, from what I have learned, Suvi's parents and their goals. It was that the game would not exist at all. I don't know a way to end it without playing it. And I've been doing this a long time. Have you seen what you needed to see up here? I'm going to open up my divine sense and see if I can't notice a certain firefly. Behind you, down by the water, you see a minute glow. I've seen everything I need to see up here. I'm going to go down to the water and make sure that we got everything out of our craft. He turns to you and says, I'm very honored and grateful that you're fighting for our world. He turns and lobes off into the ash, headed towards the sorceress encampment. Gersalon stands moment, watching him go, looking to the fire in the clouds, strange living crafts, and the diamond shape piece of arcane above the city, and then descends. You head down towards the water and see the firefly take to the wing and sort of lazily fly out over the water. You hear a noise from upriver. Tap, tap, tap. Keeps in time to the watch. For a moment, it sounds like boots walking on a road, until you see in the distance, small light. There is a ferry moving downstream, a wide broad watercraft, and at the front of it, a ferryman with a long pole. Tap, tap, tap. Behind the ferryman's head, there is a globe of glass with a small opening in the basin. A slick of sugar water, and the firefly moves towards the globe to join its brethren. Fireflies illuminate, casting the man's face in shadow as he approaches on his ferry. Tap, tap. The man pulls up the pole, leans it across his back as the ferry slows, but still inching forward, imperceptibly slow, as the figure in black regards you from the ferry. Brother Ursulon, to think that I would find you here. You see, he reaches to a post of the craft and takes a wide-brimmed hat and puts it on his head. Smiles, you saw my boat in the cavern. That's Lucio's Ferry. Lucio's Ferry? I am called that here. To some, the rivers are roads, Brother Ursulon. You have been on my mind. Supposedly, in this part of the world, you are part of a trio, those worshipped and looked to. The Grinneau, yes. They had given me their songs. This is true. When we last were together, you spoke of purpose. I did. What is your purpose, Brother Ursulon? While we were at the edge of Hallecker Forest, we met a family that begged us not to take their children, because they had come to understand that children were being taken. And I have never known a feeling like the one I felt in that place, that there was nowhere else in the world that I was meant to be, that wasn't breaking the shackles and undoing the binds of those children. It's all I've thought about. Their sorrow has become mine, and I can think of nothing else. Any other feeling has been a moment, something passing, before I again imagine them in cages held against their will. Wind blows. Ursulon, give me a perception check. Natural 20. As you speak, the wind finds its voice, and for a moment conspires, as if on the edge of darkness in the face of horror, a distant dawn cries out to be unleashed, that a new sun would rise, that the better world is on its way. Hands and hammers, wide wings open and unfurling, clean water and bright skies, breaking of chains, the unfastening of bonds. You, on a nap 20 perception, feel the weight of responsibility and purpose. That weight is, for the first time, not pushing down on you. It is pushing up like the great force of wind-filling wings. The heft of responsibility is not a burden. It is that which allows one to soar. On a nap 20 perception, for a moment, you catch an edge of the man in black's face, and just a crescent of the edge of his eye, which is the most you have ever seen, and see it wide in recognition, not of the enormity of what you are, but the enormity of what you could choose to be. On a nap 20 perception, you may ask me any questions you wish about the man in black yourself, and this moment in space and time. The first of the man in black. I have seen him in many forms. Are any of them his true form? And if they are not, does a true form exist in this world somewhere? Those of Euron's statement come back to you. You cannot change your shape until you realize they are all your true form. The nature of spirit that reveals itself to you in this moment, as certainly as the hardness of stone, the movement of wind, is that the forms of the man in black are facets of a diamond, the trees of a forest. They are faces of a truth. No less true in each and every instance for representing but not being the whole. The man in black's true form does not lie in this world, but rather in the spirit. And it may be that his true form, much like the center of a diamond, can only ever be seen through its facets. That you will never see his true form, but maybe one day you will understand it. Of this present moment in time, with regard to the path it lays before Ursulon, will you tell me who is the most powerful entity that physically stands between here and Ursulon freeing the children of the Grinneau? At the edge of the spirit, all wind and air, all root and stem, the whisper of branches, the chirping of crickets, the sawn of urns, far distant from this ash and wasteland, reaches you beyond the ruin in this place, connected as you are, in any depth of horror and despair, still in your spirit to all things. A force moves to interpose itself between you and these children. The forces that now exist between you and it are overcomeable, and the one that comes is not. Your greatest opponent is time. Enough myself. Once upon a time, a cub in a forest found a mushroom, and everything that has followed since then has been your story. Of quests and honor, of shame and failure, of wizards and witches, the world of Umor has unfolded itself to you, and you have always been Ursulon, even when you have been bare the strongest man in Silbri. You wear more than one form, and you wonder if you have seen every facet of your own. Beholding the man in black who has held his breath since the dawn of time, and who calls you his brother, you feel the vastness of breath that avails itself to you. But wings only soar when they are spread wide. Great quests come with great burden, even if that burden lifts us up rather than pushes us down. And I think you feel yourself standing in the threshold of a doorway, with great power calling itself to your need. The heartbreak and the tragedy, Ursulon, is that the ability to do what you want requires you to name what you want, requires you to choose who to be. When you dedicate yourself to something, you dream of a world and stand any chance at all of making it possible, but it means something to choose a dream, and there is a heartbreak and a sorrow in the choosing of a path. A moment of great decision awaits before you, and on that nat 20 perception, the man in black regards you understanding that a spirit before him may choose to go from being a wild one to a one of the wild, may go from being the cub of the great bear to being the spirit of something. Ursulon, you feel power and potential brimming, and you feel the ability for it to wait there in reserve. But all things flow, the wind rises and subsides, and the power that has been called to you in this moment will fade unless it is named. Freedom. White ash rises in all direction as a wind rips down through the riverbed. Water and ash spraying in all directions. Throughout the river, you hear clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink cl In the reflection of that water, the reflection of the light of the now swinging glass globe, the man in black's cape unfurling around him and sort of reaching off past the reach of his hand, he beholds a spirit of freedom. You feel your breath mighty within you. It cannot be called a decision. It is you naming what has been you. You feel changed to even become aware of who you really are is a form of change, maybe the most potent because it's not really a transformation. The greatest change is actually catching up with yourself, realizing who you've been. And in this moment, you realize too that the freedom that you mean is grand and mighty. And you remember the shining on the armor of those knights. Freedom is a virtue. It is something like and of the world of honor. You were a cub and a wild one. And yes, wild ones are free. The fox would chew his paw off to get out of the trap, but you would chew your paw off to get the world out of a trap. When you were a child, you hid your breath in honor. And when you say their sorrow is my sorrow, and in yourself take up the cause of freedom. You know a truer piece of the honor of the world than you have ever felt before. You know what freedom is. There are sorcerers in the Ashing Wasteland and wizards in the sky who believe in a word that they call freedom, but by which they mean power, the freedom to control, to own, to bind. Your freedom is full bellies for everyone. Play and chase and trust. For truly, while any yet are captured, how can any be free? When Ursulon realizes the power he has come into and that his identity is now wrapped in and of freedom and its cause amongst all beings, what images and sights and senses, what feelings come to his mind in this moment of assuming his true nature. Amongst the wreckage and ruin of this landscape, Ursulon's mind play memories of his earliest days at the feet of the Great Bear and the choice that he and his siblings had to rest, to play, to eat, to chase. That choice should exist for all. Far distant laughter, dance and song and play at the river bed fills with song again. Clean clear water rushes through the stones towards 12 brooks, still not filling up the river bed, but you hear something distant. The spirit world has been hurt here and spirits are answering the call. Somewhere in the world of spirits, your siblings are still marching. The man in black lowers his cap and nods in deference to you in this moment. Brother Ursulon, you are mighty. You can go ahead and level up to level five and choose your subclass. The man in black looks to you and you see that he does not have his sword on his belt. I thought I would not see you again, Brother Ursulon. You tread carefully around the heart of Hallecker Forest. Did you dread then to see me? I did not, but I traveled with those who do. Your cause will fail in their company, Brother Ursulon. Though their hearts are with you, their spirit is not strong enough to see the great work done. They will not when the time comes commit themselves to see the tower fall. I have hope and my hope leads me to stand beside them and my cause lends me to let them make that choice for themselves. The man in black looks at your impacability in this moment and looks for the first time in a long age. The king of night sees a smudge of distant light on the eastern horizon. Hope indeed. Very well. You go then to 12 Brookes to free the children of the Granot. It was the task I wished to give you in the heart of Hallecker Forest, but I see now that you have turned to it yourself. I was as surprised as any that after you skirted the heart of the forest, that I could feel the footsteps of your horse head on the road to 12 Brookes. I was aghast in a God, Brother Ersmond, that you would avoid me and then seek common cause to think by some measure of a few days had your friends taken up this new banner earlier. You might be my champion. Little light on the edge of his cheek as a smile rises. I see that you are great indeed and it is as it should be that this task was chosen for your own sake and your own cause. I have come here in this moment to send you off for I would see the children of the Granot freed as well. The river ends here and thus the road. What aid can I give you brother Ersmond? You've already provided me with much and I would not ask for more. Very well. Then I turn from this place to wind my way. Those children now count on you. Oh, Ersalon of the golden pauldron who is called Bear the strongest man in silvery. Spirit of the wild and of freedom. I honor you. And though you will not accept my gift, let me instead give as one of the greatest gifts of my life. And though you will not accept my gift, let me instead give as warning. Let no shadow betray this noble spirit. You feel that a certain kind of freedom has been placed in and around you. Honored here in this moment as you have assumed this great station here before the king of night. Brother, you have your road and I mine. I'm sure I'll see you by and by at the crossroads. The lantern of the man in black fades as he wins his way back up the Lithuin River. His path to 12 Brooks broken by the subsiding of the stream itself. Ersalon, you look up and see the entrance to the smugglers cave. An enormous lion and a huge buffalo rest at the entrance to the smugglers cave, looking down as you approach up the riverbank and nod at your approach. Pass them, goes to find a place to sleep beside his friends before the daunting day ahead. You sleep. Suvian Amé, we can compress time here a little bit so you guys are going to have your long rest and you are also going to be able to, I think, Amé, if you want to create those tokens. Yes, I will. That may give you the time you need to complete because you were halfway done, I believe, with counterspell. Yeah! So go ahead and give me and we'll bring those difficulties down by five. So now it's five, 10, 20. Oh, sorry, 10, 15, 20. So rolling with advantage because task is out. Cool. 10 completes the transcription, 15 completes it and pre-prepares it, and then 20 does it in half the time. Perfect. 15 on the die. Hey! We've done it. So, waiting in your own spellbook that you cannot cast them are fireball and counterspell. By the way, this completely tracks with D&D leveling up processes because the moment you level up you just have two spells in your spellbook. So we're just kind of narrative. We did it! We did it! We narratively played through it. I love it. I love alignment. So there's a moment while Ursulana is still snoozing that Amme, you see yourself side by side as Suvi spreads out arcane tracks and treatises with a tiny mirrored spider skittering to you and fro. Who is this? Oh, this is Task. Wait, did we not meet that? We met that happened, but I didn't know that he was... Hello? This is Task. I stole him from the music box. We are friends. Well, he stole himself from the music box. We're friends now. Task projects the word hello onto the ground. By the way, it's in very clearly Suvi's font. I think, or like handwriting, I think we've done a bunch of like normal things to say and like Suvi's written them out. So Task has some pre-prepared responses. Like it's very like Ouija board, like yes, no. A full thing of letters, like sort of put it together. Well, it's a pleasure to continue your acquaintance Task. And as Suvi lays out her papers and scrolls and inks, Ame sits and stitches things out the gold thread that she got from the keep of the world's heart and a little needle and she starts sewing. Ready to work it on? Well, I was thinking that it seems like you've learned a couple of things from your time with the witches and maybe you might want a little something to hold on to that might help you with that later on. Wait, you're making something for me? Mm-hmm. A token. Oh, thank you. And Ame stitches into a glove, delicate golden needlework of a grasping glove. She remembers the spells that have protected her when she'd reached out both in a bit of friendship and in retribution. And she wants Suvi's very clever hands to have that ability as well. That's very kind. A token of witches grasp. Incredible. This does not consume a spell slot. It is a, it just finally gives you the ability to cast a spell as if Ame was casting it. But also it's an important thing too because even if you decide not to use it, you're holding onto it and I think that, well, not to brag, but I think holding a token from witches is something that, it means something. It means something deeper. I still have the bracelet you gave me. Oh, does it still smell like lilacs? It absolutely does not because I've worn it for 14 years. Oh. Oh god, don't sniff it. No, don't say, Alexi, like take some hand. Like give it, don't smell it. Don't smell what I smell. Thank you. Ursulon, would you mind if I added a little something to your shield? Of course. Hand you the chip. I sketch a little fox's face on the inside. I think that the reminder of his friend might help Ursulon with protecting those he loves and you gain sanctuary as a token in that little doodle. So you can ward a creature within range against attack. Ursulon is always so good at shielding others, but this is Aume's little way of helping him. So it doesn't consume all of his energy and magic because Lord knows he's given enough of it for her already. Thank you, Aume. It is beautiful. After watching Aume work for a little bit, especially she's sketching the fox, Suvi's going to like pull some sheets from her spellbook and write out two long missives. Task is nowhere near this, so it's clearly not like academic or wizardly work. And then she folds them and seals them with blue wax. And then I'm going to pull out the other two vials, Cyril and Enzo and Uncork. Oh, I know it's not great to Uncork, too, at the same time. Uncork, both Enzo and Cyril, at the same time. Oh, he's not dead. He's just sleeping. It's in the book. I will have to amend my poem. I was wrong. I thought he died. Do you think it will be as well received if he is merely badly injured? Absolutely. Sleep rhymes with deep. I use the word sleep, but not at the end of any lines. Are you going to do it? Replace sleep with deep? No, perform the poem. Oh, yes, I shall. Hark and avail the tale. Work you with sleep. Go, but you go back to sleep. I start pushing Ursula on. I'm going to woken up to look at this sketch. I demand a poem. I never get to finish my ballads. Oh, it's a ballad. Okay, I am going back to sleep. Hark and avail ye the tale of Vandal. Of great might, though the size of a sandal. He who braved the castle walls and loved to say stuff like cock and balls. Stevie. It is beautiful. That's verse one of eight hundred and seventy four. As he goes on, Stevie's just looking at Armey. Going, please, please may I stop him. Please, just silently like, I beg of you. Cross rhymes with ass. Okay, well, I don't like, I don't like this. I don't. Gentlemen. Yes, mistress. I need you both to do something for me. And then we need to have a discussion about what happens after. Very well. I have a letter for each of you to deliver. Cyril, you're going to give a note to Sworn. You have to find him and then you can tell him your whole ballad to Vandal. He's going to want to hear all of it. Very well. I shall hunt high and low for the wizards, Sworn. They are in to deliver my mistress, Missive. Thanks. And after that, about the whole mistress thing. What do you want to be? Published. Was that the right answer? No. It's a good dream. Do you think? Do you know anybody? I don't know. Is there anybody who's accepting queries? Interestingly enough, I'm telling you the entire truth. I've never sought poetry or the publishing of it, so I don't know anyone. And I might not be the best fit for you. More of a prose person. Definitely more of a nonfiction girly. Yeah, rough. I know. I'm sorry. Sworn, I hear he loves a sonnet. A-B-A-B. There you go. You can stay with him if you want after you deliver the letter, or you can destroy your own bottle and choose your own way. You feel a moment of depth and profundity. This ridiculous little inky gargoyle looks up and holds his bottle, which you realize you've never seen one of them do. It holds it from the outside. What if we do? Yeah. I accept. Will you not be left without attendant or service without me? I will have to manage to make my own coffee from now on. I don't know what's going to happen today, and I think the worst thing I can think of is not offering people their best chance. Cyril takes the missive for Sworn and tenderly wraps it, tying a tiny piece of twine around it, and putting it into his own bottle for safekeeping. He turns to look at you, and as he does, there's a blue gleam in his eyes, and you see something which Ursulon lying next to you sees as well, and Ursulon just recently has the power to describe, which is all of the space of spirit behind Cyril. Just as each blade of grass with a tiny spirit of its own through their eyes can be seen, the wholeness of the living world, the plants and creatures of its wild places. And though Cyril is diminutive and, in the classical sense, a grotesque, a gargoyle, a accidental byproduct of the wonderful workings of the great Citadel, through his eyes you see the vastness of a love for language and the written word of poetry and song, of the desire to capture in some degree of permanence great truths and passions. Even in this comical creature is some corner of the great and beautiful truth of your world, Captain. Thank you, Wizard Sky. I will see it done. And though it is my own Jesus, I wish I hope what I do in my freedom gives you cause for comfort and joy for pride and purpose, that you would know happiness from what I pursue in this wide world. Thank you for everything. I don't think I said that enough. You are very strange. Not many wizards like this have I ever known. Thank you for being the only like the Wizard Sky that I have ever met. Get out of here. Goodbye. And as he left a hand he raised, in silent voice a gestured praise, that lights the way for all her days. Glory, honor, the sky to blaze. My greatest and most important poem. Farewell, he flies off. That was very nice. Oh, hold on, don't talk. I gotta do this one more time. Oh, God. Ends out. Bless Lord. Same thing. I have some notes on Cyril's phone. Okay, there we go. And we're back. Hey, bud. I need you to deliver this to the Wizard Silver, who you have delivered a message to you before from me. You'll find him with the forces marching in report and on the road to here. Very well, mistress. From there, your will is your own and your bottle is yours. Understood. Thank you for everything, including the ways in which you wanted desperately to help and created more work for me by adding inaccuracies in the marginalia of my work. Wizard Skye, would you trust me to break my bottle before my final task is rendered? I am a demon, you know, so I would not fault you your distrust. I gotta trust someone. Why not you? He smiles, long nose and long ears and long claws and bandied legs. He shatters it. And you see Enzo stands up, two foot, four foot, six feet tall. A true demon of ink. Mistress Skye, might I add some final in-house? The inaccuracies that I feel may aid you in the journeys yet to come. You're bigger. The bottle was, I am afraid, a stopgap. Did you know that black is the most common color of ink in the writings of the Citadel and that my form was somewhat constricted by the enclosure in which I was kept? Oh, we should have done this a while ago. I owe you an apology. I owe you some spellcraft. And I, like, gesture to my book. It's sitting on the ground. It flies to my hand and I open it to a blank page. He lays a hand on it and from his hand spreads one of the most complex, gorgeous, calligraphic runes you have ever seen in an encryption of the lingua arcana like you have never seen before. And he is going to cast non-detection on your spell book. And as it leaps one to the other, he begins to point first at a flap of white silk on Amé's robe at the bottom of Ursulon's boots as he lies on the ground and he covers you and all of your known belongings with glyphs of non-detection. Inaccuracy, Marginalia Urata, instances by which miscategorization can be seen as a benefit when the librarians are not to be trusted. Oh, friend, I wish we would have had more chances to talk like this. Chances taken are rewarded. Your trust in faith given in the face of some risk is, of course, a great working of magic. A final task to be done and my thanks is at sky. And mine in return. And he flies from the cave. I too am glad for the strangeness of the wizard sky. His calligraphy is gorgeous. He has very nice handwriting. Oh, Suvi. It was the right thing to do. I've gotten rid of almost everything that was lent to me by the Citadel. I think that you have more than enough that is already yours. I'm sorry. It's okay. You have to make space. The mountain at the cave and massive Garen lands. Joran does not shed his shape instead pushing through the opening much larger than it and pulling himself into the cavern. Hulk came over you here. Times of the essence. They make a move on 12 brooks. Now I've spoken to Kashif and Rounza the houses Bahavi. They are moving. You must move at once. Okay. Let's go. Going back to the sluice you see Joran doesn't waste any time looking for a key. He pulls the gate off the stone. You six to the sky. The rest with us into the cavern. Six of the shape changers. Hulk take to the wing. Massive eagles, birds of prey. And you see that the others. Joran drops down into a medium sized creature. He turns. That takes the form of an enormous wolf and the rest of them get small enough to go through the passageways and begin to tear off. I'm going to need you guys to make a group investigation check. That's a natural one for your girl. We're back. We're so back. 14. 19. 19. Okay. On a 14 you which will be our group check roll you make your way down through the tunnels moving through you are in a sewer way here moving along stone masonry work. Long ago storm drain. You see it's been dry for a while. It's not even it's it's to be this dry in this place. The water has truly been sucked out of the landscape. On a 14 you have a hard choice to make the war and battle that has rocked the landscape here has suffered a collapse in one of the tunnels. The collapse ahead of you is the fastest route to 12 Brooks. Looking at the collapse you see an image up at the top of a little bit of that orange light breaking in meaning that this tunnel got closer to the surface that when something hit up above it collapsed the tunnel. You're not sure how much land there is but you know by the nature of the collapse that some distance ahead the tunnel opens back up directly leading you into 12 Brooks. So here's the devil's bargain you have to make. This is the smuggler's path in and smuggler's path continues in one track getting you deep into the heart of 12 Brooks. If you peel off from here and work your way back to go through another gate the sewer is going to lead you to the outskirts of the city. So yeah you'll avoid being in the open air but you'll be deposited potentially outside of the empire's defenses. So the bargain you're making here is a short sprint across open landscape to get back to the shore bet or staying away from open air and danger but depositing you at the beginning of way more problems at the edge of 12 Brooks. What do you do in this moment? I think Ursuline moves to take the riskier option. Amé also instinctively goes for the direct route but looks back at Suvi. Risk it. Let's go. As you begin to scramble up towards the light knowing that it's gotta come back down so the tunnel's gotta open up somewhere through the rubble. You climb up and you see Joryn behind you with the other shape changers. You get to the top of the rubble. Suvi, Amé, Ursuline, the fox, you stand up. Orange light. Massive legs. As tentacles extend from a Kashif dreadnought, barreling down on you. The lights of 12 Brooks gleam as Gautamai pushes to take the city. They stand no chance there, those last soldiers of empire. And in this moment, the clouds part. Airships dropping from the sky. 10, 20, 30 imperial warships from where you do not know. But at the head of their vanguard, red, gold brocade, the flagship of the citadel, steel's vessel rides to war and opens fire on the dreadnought that they've seen just before your eyes. War is here and I need you all to roll initiative. That was Lou Wilson as Ursuline, Erika Ishii as Amé, Abria Iyengar as Suvi, and Brennan Lee Mulligan as everyone and everything else. Worlds Beyond Number is edited, designed, and scored by Taylor Moore at Fortunate Horse, with additional sound design from Michael Gelfie Studios. For even more like this, join us on our Patreon. We'll see you there.