WWW #52: No Loose Ends

This is the sound of worlds beyond number. The bright light of early afternoon fills the majestic columns, faunting arches, emerald and cream tiles of blue and ruby and emerald. The Perian dome, five throes, the arc magi, saber, sand, sorrow, serenity, and silence, smiling at his apprentice arc mage. In recognition of your field promotion, to sage of the penumbra, you are welcomed amongst the leadership of the citadel with its sky. A quick ascent befitting the honored heritage of your name clock. We are sorry to see your staff has been sundered. A replacement will be requisitioned for you. Appreciate it. Thank you. See if he takes a deep breath. No notes, but even in the brief time she's had to try to organize her thoughts cohesively, it's still the waffling back and forth. She knows and remembers everything that she said she was stepping back from and away from. But at the end of all things, this is my home. I will protect it. I will save it. And I know enough to save it from what I know is coming. And see these hands immediately go to clasp themselves and you can see that her thumb is running across the space on her other thumb where her father's ring, where her ring, would be. Don't forget the things you put away. You know why you are willing to put them away. Standing a little ways behind you towards the entrance hall is the smiling wizard's steel. It was brought you here directly from Lucent. She a little bit impertinently leans against a column mostly due to exhaustion rather than a reverence. It is happy as she watches you address the assembled Ark Magi. Ark mage silence. Ark Magi of the Citadel. My time away from the Aryan in a calm and the North Pole and the Shroud Mountains has been both personally illuminating and essential for the preservation of our home as an imminent threat has made itself known. A great spirit who counts among his many Appalachians, the man in black, King of Knight, Pilgrim Understars, the stranger, Lucio the Fairyman, has formed a coalition whose goal is to attack and destroy the Citadel, calling it and I quote, a knife plunged into the heart of the world. The Covenant of Elters whose conclave I attended in the retinue of Ame of Thoma which of the world's heart has voted three to two to join themselves to the man in black crusade. While unanimity would have had a multiplicative effect on the power they would blend, this remains a cause for concern. Other members of this coalition include two great spirits, Arima of the reaching green and the King of storms. Their inclusion seems at first glance an act of vengeance for the capture of Nauram of the gentle sea within the Calabelle not-amount. The Calabelle, not-amantic apparatus in Port Talon, given their relation to this great spirit as partner and parent respectively. It is worth noting that Nauram himself is not counted alongside them. Additionally, some unknown but likely sizeable amount of the forces of Rueve are aligned to this purpose as well, though I have not yet surmised the connection between the man in black and the dominion. The witches that voted for war on the citadel are Hakeya of the Woodland Green and ancient and powerful forest witch that formed the Covenant long ago. Her gradually stems from an abundance of nostalgia for the forest that predates the Arulian Desert. Grimoire of the Wild Hunt, the hyper-violent patron witch of predators, and murder of the Wizard Straw. Her potential weak points include her very young apprentice, Aksha, her wolfman spirit, Paramore Heinroll, and her own impatience. Marara of the waning moon, second youngest but physically strangest of the Covenant, and Paramore of the man in black. At the conclave, she was shocked to discover that she was also to be destroyed alongside Ame of Toma to preserve the balance of the Covenant's ability to create a majority vote, meaning her shaken loyalty to her sisters is a potential point of exploitation. Those that voted against war on our home are Ame, the witch of the world's heart, and Indri, which of the Windon stars. It is imperative to note that Indri possesses the ability to bypass our wards and scribe directly into the Erian. I witnessed her doing so the night of my name-cloking when she additionally sent a pair of ice fairy spirits to contact Ame directly on Gavriel Court. A spoke of long-lancing spells and vexing hexes of old being made many to pierce and plunder through the geysers and guile of wizards, and seeing into this hidden place through crystal and through cause. What a little I could parse magically at the time placed a star as the scribe's point of origin. I apologize for the appearance of withholding this information until now, but I lack context for the import of the occurrence. Given my subsequent journey to the palace at the North Pole, I've ascertained that her library of stars is the means of her surveillance. The mechanism is devastatingly simple to work, which I managed even in the limited time I had within the library. A little light giggle from the Archmage eye at this last demon. But back to my broader point, I believe that the man in black and his retinues best chance to lay low the citadel with maximum casualties to both the global population of citadel-trained wizards and key figures in the imperial administration would be a surprise ambush during our bicentennial later this year. It would be the highest risk tactically, given the added security protocols we would have in place to support such gathering and the aggregate strength of the personnel in attendance, but would yield the highest reward if successful. It would tip the scales of war in our enemy's favor, but it would also send quite a message to all of Umora about the fragility of young, impetuous wizardry compared to the magic of witches and spirits. Pagentry in the service of cowing mortal striving and intoxicating draw. If injury is persuaded to join their cause, her library of stars could be the key to bypassing or dismantling our defenses. Unfortunately, without some means to remotely access it or replicate it and create countermeasures, my best proposed course of action would involve somehow tampering with or completely destroying hers. To that end, I have drawn up the best map of the palace of windows and stars that I could manage in the brief and heavily monitored time I spent therein, as well as outlined the abilities both inferred and witnessed of all relevant figures. May this knowledge stoke and safeguard the light of the tower, and see if it just gives a little nod in a salute. Silence goes brava brava! Ah, an exceptional report marked for posterity the opening of the office of the sage of the Penumbra, who is tasked in the utmost with protecting the citadel from the enterprising and cunning of witches. Well done, wizard sky. Sabers is a question, and if you would, this coven of elders, what weakness of their, have you come across, is there any source of their magic or power that may be interacted with directly other than engaging with them as individual compartments? Yes, sir. Every coven is magically marked by the presence of a wand of covenant. It binds them together, and their rules for the numbers they must maintain is a part of the magic that keeps their coven magically tied and powerful in their agreement and unanimity. The wand of covenant, when I departed from the conclave, it was in the top of a tall tower in the palace of wind and stars. I assume it is still there. Saber turns to the Archimedes, and it is more important than ever that we mount some assault on that frozen north and the witch who lays at the top of our world. You see, silence nods and says, arc major apprentices in sage of the Penumbra we thank you for your report in this endeavor. Please turn your attention to the amassing of any information you can give about the nature of this wand, its construction or discovery, as it may hold the key to breaking the coven strength without need of individual combat. For indeed, with apprentices, it seems that these witches may be able to repopulate even if defeated hand to hand. Understood. When I was giving information about the library of stars, can I make an insight check to see if there was any sort of like reaction to Suvi's discussion of the library of stars? Give me an insight check. 13. These arc magi aren't familiar enough with the details of your mission to know what you're talking about. Oh, that was very good intel. Got it. You suddenly realize the sort of the citadel is holding a lot. Oh, that's interesting. Okay. At that, Suvi takes that like big, you just gave a big presentation. Thank you. You're dismissed with its guy. And Suvi gives a deep and respectful bow. As you turn to walk, you see that steel smiling at this incredible report that is just given all this wealth of information to the period dumb, winks and flicks something with her thumb to you. Oh, yeah. I'm gonna like do a little like adjustment of clothes to try to hide catching it center mass instead of like looking like she's catching something. Gotcha. You just get it to your body. Yeah. Your father's emerald ring lands in your hand. Oh, yeah. Heart to throw away. She puts a hand on your shoulder. You knocked him dead, kid. I do feel like everything I said you might already know. Well, no, you told me a bunch of this in bracket, but the delay, it's important to lay it out for them piece by piece by piece. Like, we got the covering up about the stars because you told us that but the it's all good. Yeah, everything's good. You see that she starts walking through the gardens of Malacanth towards the tower of the glove. I have a lot of work. I have to go manage following up on these battles. So I'm gonna go head off and do that. Go get the curse taken off of your arm. The fuck. Oh, shit. Yeah, I'll go get I'm I'm also why aren't you dying of that? Oh, ladies got some tricks. Okay, okay. Hold ladies got some tricks. Okay. To mean the die. Oh, you haven't seen me mean. I mean, I think I have. I think me and all of house rounds. How about it? You see, she looks, he says, Amen, Ursula. Where did they head? When did you part ways with them? We got separated in the garrison and here, CV like gets a little slow and scrambles to like editing film to create a truth that cuts out their participation as much as possible. I was moving through the halls and a shadow jumped out at me and when I ducked from that, I got arrested. So somewhere in the garrison. Give me a deception if you feel that's appropriate. Yeah. 12. Steels rolling disadvantage with a level of exhaustion. Oh, God, thank God. She just sort of goes, yeah, what we should talk about that because they're, uh, with the covenant and everything, Amen is going to be very important in what is to come and, um, Ursula and as well as interesting. I'd be so clear. I ran it by them. It was a big ol' no. But I know you're not surprised by that. What's a big ol' no? Oh, they're continued assistance. Oh, God, I got to get to get to get to get to get to understand. I understand. Hey, real quick. Just last question before I let you go off and again, not go to work. Go get a curse taken off of you. Yeah, sure. What was Slate going to do? Oh, arrest them. All right. Uh, give me an insight check. Why worse? Nine. Wizard's steel looks at you. Uh, arrest them if she could. But who knows? I didn't know, you know, I didn't know what was, I didn't know you were. I knew you were alive because I saw the flare go up, but I didn't know if you were free or captured or the Ursula and Kepher or Rame capture the Coven. I didn't know. I didn't know what's going on. Okay. Oh, uh, Wizard Keen. What's his deal? Wizard Keen, I don't know who that is. Who is that? No, just made a weird dude in bragging. Guild mages are trash. Yeah. Yeah. He was weird about the prince at me. Yeah. Yeah. What do you know about the prince? What I know about the prince, I'll never tell you. This is my one chance to win this fight. Uh, uh, I'm gonna grab her and be like, you tell me, you tell me if I have a shot. Prince. Oh, if I tell you this, the prince is, uh, he's, uh, the prince was impressed. He likes me. I knew it. There was, there was a moment on the ship. Yeah. All right. Go, go, go away. They don't marry wizards and you see this? Okay. I could be the first of a lot of things. She smiles. Uh, as she's turning, she says, and he brings you to the tower of the glove and just goes, the curse, taking care of business, looking into things, well done in the dome, get any books, do get started on work. This is your position. It's yours to make what you will. We're counting on you and it's really, you want to, you want to hit the ground running. You don't want to get, don't become one of the hustlers. Don't become one of the people who's making connections with other wizards. Be someone who gets things done. The, the arc magi, they're not interested in the people that we all in deal. They're interested in results. That's who they reward. It's your opportunity to make the most of this which war is being put squarely on your plate. I think your ace in the hole here is probably Amé and I know that she doesn't want to help, but yeah, Toma does not have the amenities of the citadel. If we were to bring her into the fold, there's a world where maybe she's a covenant of one. Who knows? Gotcha. Get you all here to get anything for you. Get your ink demons to get anything for you. The, um, because, um, what I want to remind you of is, um, I'm still cleaning some things up. So I would, um, I would just stay, I'd stay seated in the tower for the foreseeable future. Uh, and just because we've had this problem in the past, I really mean it. Yeah, okay. Okay, I hear you. Is there any way to spare silver? You look at a very tired woman. I know, I know, I know. Please, I am already responsible for the destruction of a wizard. I don't want to, on my ledger, we have magic. We can take away the conversation and take away him having my name and it will be fine. We can excise the bad and save the rest of him. He's good. He didn't do anything wrong. Give me the inside, Jack, Suvi. Five. Rolling with this advantage, steal rolls in that one. And you look at her face and see her looking horrified. As she wonders why you seem so familiar with the magic of modifying memories. Fuck. What do you mean, Suvi? I don't know what happened to me, but I know at some point my memory was modified by magic. I don't know what I lost, but I assume that I agreed to it. I'm a timeline, don't work. If that wasn't the case. Please. Still, looks like her bell's wrong. She's so tired. Get in the tower. I'll figure everything out. Just get in the tower. I love you. I will not survive another disappointment. And Sevi turns and walks and goes into the tower. Striding across the sky bridge into the tower of the glove. Suvi. Arrives back at her wizard's tower. Much changed, I think, since last year we're here before boarding the Meridian to fly to the far north. God. This first few steps in, remembering the emotional sort of timbre that I left in. I like peek into the rooms that were assigned to Amé and Ursula I had Julia pack them up immediately. I was mad at the way they left. I understand better now. And it all feels just so big and still unfilled and unfamiliar. And really, really lonely. It does not get less lonely as you stand in that feeling. I'm going to go up to the very top of the tower. My little sanctum, the only room that is warded and locked so that I alone can decide who goes in and out of that place. I just kind of sit in and knowing that I had just asked to have the illusions taken away. I'm just going to enjoy kind of laying down in the middle of the carpet that still has the stains of serals ink from his poetry. And just look up at the illusory sky and feel how different I feel from the last time I did this. Just a month ago. Yeah. You see your effects have been left and a beautifully carved wooden chair outside of your sanctum. One of which is Vandals book, his little empty glass bottle next to it there. Oh, that's a thing I can do or I guess try to. Yeah, I'm going to go for the book. And I don't want to interact with the rest of my objects because that reminds me too much of that awful interaction with slate and go back in. And I know whenever happened in that altercation with keen and the other guild mages put Vandals into some sort of torpor but I know if I had my magic bag this would be a simple ritual to bring him back. And I move over to one of my ritual circles. Chalk lines meticulously drawn out when you have plenty of time and you want to make it extra pretty. God. God, meet a month ago. So fussy. I still don't know if I can do magic when I try. And I haven't put the ring back on yet because the ring is still a snitch. I want to reach for my magic again but I'm scared because I don't know what I am if I reach for it and nothing comes back. This is all I've ever known. This place and the achievement that comes with moving into this tower is all I've ever known and all I've ever known to want. I don't know who I am if I'm not the wizard sky in the tower of the glove and I don't know who I'm supposed to be but I don't feel like any of it right now because I'm too scared to try to cast a spell to bring back Vandal who is safe my ass so many times. Give me a history check. Natural 20. Empty glass bottle. Book open. A line of wet red ink resting in torpor near the spine of the book. On a nat 20, Suvi, what was your favorite color when you were young? It was red even though I remember. I remember one of the first things I ever told all man when we met that my favorite color was like but it was red. Even though no other mortal or spirit in the world knew that because for some reason you would not tell them that was true. What is true on that 20 history you have to rely somewhere on something solid. Finding the truth is maybe impossible. You feel the yips, impossibility, this terror of reaching out for something that defines you and it not being here and wouldn't that in a sense destroy you. You can't find the truth right now. You're too shaken. Are you the person that shattered the glass staff in the smugglers cave? Are you the person that felt an embrace from an uncle you never thought you'd have? Are you the person that walked arm and arm up an invisible staircase where the woman who was going to show you the world? Those can't be the same person can they? You can't find the truth but you are brilliant and on a nat 20 history you can find lies. You said the only thing you'd ever wanted was something like this achievement in the tower. That's not true. On a nat 20 history I want you to remember the things that Suvi has wanted in her life. There were things long ago that she wanted. You have to remember them. I wanted to learn magic. I just wanted to know how many ways I could touch and know and be known by this world. So big and magical. And before I could touch magic and cast it, I wanted to know about the plants, all the trees, all the leaves around in the forest around grammar ends, around all may's cottage. I wanted to be able to keep my family safe and together. I wanted to play with my friends. I wanted to know magic. I wanted to know magic because I love magic. I love this world so much and I want to understand it. And I don't know when I stop asking any questions and just listen and do what I was told. That's who you were before you stopped asking questions. This was not all you ever wanted. You wanted to know how to catch a rooster under a bucket with your true friend. You wanted to know what kept your mother and father up at the kitchen table. It's excitedly jabbering with each other about some minutia of a spell that found spirits. The tiniest criticism of one another in the way that intellectuals do about the working of a shield spell. Their love for you, their love for the world, your love for the world, your love for those you hold close. It cannot be separated. It is an insult to wizardry to insist on its cold sterility, on its perfect geometry, the geometry of wizardry is a love letter to the mathematics of creation, to the music of the spirit and the real and where they dance together. This is art and science. It is magic true. This is what you love and you loved it more than you loved any tower. I look down and I'm holding Vandals book. Then my eyes kind of flash to that little bit of sand in an old vial, the white sand from the shattered glass doth and just looking at it. It shatters. And just with her eyes no hands, no gestures. She wills the sand to trace over the talk outline of the sigil that she's sitting in. I love my magic. I love magic. I can do this because I am not limited by the things I have learned and have to remember. My friends are magic and so am I. The sigil, a light replicates surrounding you in light. The white sand of the Arulian desert covers you and you see the sand shoot towards the bottoms of your hands and under your fingernails suddenly light is pouring out of your eyes and you are lifted up in the air and it pours out of your mouth and you feel a tickling sensation of something cold and effervescent. The bubbles of a carbonated drink or something like the cool breath of a mint medicinal bomb that makes you suddenly the hackles of your neck rise up, moves through you and throughout. You are hanging in mid-air and your wizard's sanctum as this magic is called to you. Do you want to level up right now? Fuck yes, you level up to fifth level. In front of you, your own spell book opens wide and you instantly scribe the rest of counter spell. It just starts burbling out of you. It's flow state. You can't help the writing is effortless and immediately you need ink. You need ink to finish this writing and yeah, fuck. A bandal pops out of the book surrounded by glass hand and begins to bring you suspended in the air vials of arcane ink from your shells. Oh, dick, this is great. I fucking love you. Let's go. I love you. And Rorz too has lights shine even in broad daylight from below. People can see the light of the tower of the glove as spells fire off from within in an act of pure discovery, creation, craft and wizardry. Some time later, having descended from the sudden burst of magic as you finish transcribing the last, it's so not what was immediately pressing to you. But finishing counter spell, it's just the first time that you allowed passion to dictate flow state and move you into like, wait, what I love is the spell. I think that's what the moment is. Like, Suvi putting that together and finishing and feeling like joyful and in sync with the things that she wants and that she cares about and that she wants to know more about. She thinks one more time back memory to the thing that she learned a wrong lesson when she was very young. And she thought that when her father was telling her about where magic began, she thought he was gesturing to his ring. She thought she needed that. That was the thing that would allow her to cast. And it was just her hands. What will you take into them? What will you care about? What will you craft? What do you hold? And she looks down at like, the like splotches of ink and looks over at Vandal and the ink on her hands is red because her favorite color is red. And she thinks of all of me and she realizes, where the fuck are my friends? Coming to having slept a deep exhausted slumber on several sacks of flower in a dark closet, ame, which of the world's heart awakens hiding in a supply area of the candle street bakery. The fox snoozing beside you, having a lighted to malacanth court. You immediately when did your way to find a safe place to rest after almost 20 hours of flying? Morning. Morning boss. It sort of nuzzles up at your neck and I feel it. Feeling a little hungry. It's not too much meat around here. I hate a mouse but that's it. Oh, like your breath is so great in the morning. Okay, well let's see if we can wrestle up some grub for us. The door opens and Mr. Calum pokes his head in. Hello, hello, Ms. Witch. Good to see you again. How was your slumber? Oh, thank you so much for letting us sleep here. Oh, it was a delight. It was a request that I had no idea how to respond to so I defaulted to the affirmative. Yes, you know, a lot of times they don't make rules until somebody crazy enough to do it, does it? Well I can't report it yet until my shift is done. I wouldn't say? In about six hours? Okay, well six hours. Great. I hope you enjoy the new berry, the berry tart recipe. Yes, and your little fuzzy friend here would he lot something along the lines of we have some cured meats? I think he did appreciate that very much. That was meat so cure me, am I right? Mr. Calum. Mr. Calum. And Mr. Calum turns around and walks off, gets some meat and tosses it to the fox. So boss, what's the plan? So first I think that we should investigate into what happened to the artificial cult. I think we have some time yet before the epiphany arrives back in Malachanth. Oh, the piffy's back. Oh? Yeah, piffy's back. Don't worry I didn't wake up. But I know you needed your rest. What? One of you ever? Okay, all right. Okay. Cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Task freaked out. He was freaking out. And he was like, don't you wake her up. Where's TASK? Oh no. Don't know. Yeah, he was like, he was like, dick, dick, dick, dick, and he was like trying to wake you up and I was like, get out of here, you bug. I saw through all of it. Okay, thank you so much Mr. Calum. And I grabbed my things and I head out, disguising myself once more. Whoa, whoa, whoa, where are we? Where are we? Where are we going? Um, can we pick up the send of gold again, by the way? Go ahead and give me a survival check for the fox. 16 total. Yes. Not gold, but maybe the, I got the send of the guy, the one that we followed from Marshmallow Sandwich. Yeah, whoever Marshmallow Sandwich is, I have his send. I could probably follow him somewhere, but, but boss, listen, what, where, when you charge down a hole, it's not always just rabbits down there. What's the plan if we find where gult is? Well, I may, rifles running or bag for a moment and pulls out a sheep of papers. In the store room, she lays out the correspondence she found in grandmother Ren's cottage after her flight from the citadel. There's some sort of blueprints or schematics here. I know that whoever Marshmallow Sandwich is or was working for was looking for it. Perhaps that can elucidate a bit? Go ahead and give me investigation or arcana. Oh, that's a not 20, baby. Oh my god. Oh my god. You begin to look at the pendant and you see that these schematics were drawn up in a particular ward of the city. There's one of the, one of the courts of the citadel is called Tuckland. And it is a secretive, artificing ward. That is not with the general mill production down in Havroward. It looks like these plans were originally drawn up in Tuckland. It's where a lot of theoretical work happens. Blue prints schematics, things that they don't want to leave lying around in Havroward. It looks like gult at times if he drew up these schematics there, as you believe he did, would have been working during that chapter of his life, not in Havroward, but in Tuckland. And you look at the schematics and see that these are copies, and that anyone that would have been able to attach gult to this project may have been able to pull the originals of this from records likely in that court. Do I know where the court is? You see that Mr. Calum nearby goes, well, are you looking for? About Tuckland Court. Tuckland Court. It will be the one of the beautiful bronze and copper with, it will have many various clock towers on it. It's about, I think, seven courts behind Malacca. Oh, excellent. Thank you. Is there any chance that you wouldn't have to report this? Give me a persuasion check. Perhaps an exchange for a recipe for a glaze for the tart, and that is 21. Why? A new recipe? Well, I would love to see a new recipe. All right. And do you produce a recipe for a nice sugar glaze? That's right. As you produce it, you see he says, very well. Normally, I am absolutely given to report any strange occurrences in the bakery. However, new recipe research is actually one of my directives, and therefore, this is completely pro-former. Thank you. Absolutely not. Strange at all, I say, as I finish copying down from memory, a beautiful lavender sugar glaze. Gorgeous sugar glaze. So the fox has the guy sent, and you know the court that you think has some connection to these schematics there. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Can I do a little cursory search for task, or see if perhaps he's left a note? Give me an investigation. 13. It does not appear that task has left anything here by way of an investigation. Well, I assume that he went to go find Suvi. Oh, okay. Let's chase this down first. Okay, talk like that. You and the fox head back out. It is now you're having slept. It is getting into the late hours of the afternoon. The sky is darkening a little bit, and you get a boardier gala with your artificer's gloves, and fly all the way back up. Because now Malacanth is lowering, so you have to fly up towards Tockland, which is up near to the height of the citadel this moment. I am in the form of a sandy-haired, older man, very gruff, and with rough hands. You arrive in Tockland. Go ahead and give me a survival check. That's another nat 20. Oh my god! That's crazy. Which of the worlds heart you are fucking cooking with gas. And you realize you are exactly in Ren's footsteps, a witch who came to the citadel as a friend many times. As a friend so that she would be able to come here and occasionally steal Pilfer and rescue. And as you arrive in Tockland, it is a massive copper court. Numatic tubes shooting schematics and missives back and forth. Just rife with clock towers. The sounds of ticking make stealth effortless here. There is so much noisy clockwork everywhere. Kuku clocks going off all around as you and the fox dive into the shadows and begin to move. Of course, actually, the and the fox is in front of you sort of sniffing away, but you look just like a blonde artificer moving through this space. You arrive at a massive, polatial, very embossed and feel-agreed. There are like stone flowers and leaves, but it's almost a civic bank-like structure, or like a big civic courthouse, with many clock towers above it. And you see at floor level on a nat 20 that there are in the basement of this place some iron barred windows. It looks like it might be a courthouse, something like that. Obviously, this is not a long-term prison, but what you suddenly think or realize to yourself, if you're able to follow the Marshmallow man, the guards, sent here. You see the fox looks up at you and says, boss, I'm getting gulped again. He's nearby. All right, he's in the temporary jail. On that nat 20 survival, I'm going to say you realize the reason he's in the temporary jail is not that he's there temporarily. He's in the jail of the building where he that has the research. Like he's being kept here and basically pressed for schematic information, review. They've dragged him to a location to squeeze what he knows out of him. In a place where that information can go to immediate work. All right, what do the defenses look like in this place? The bars are magically sealed. You see the fox looks at them and goes, oh, dang it. If only we knew someone who could break bars or chains or something like that. Ah, Mei, it's going to look around for a door. I'll say on that nat 20 survival, you see that there are a number of shops in places nearby. You see in the middle of a three-street intersection. So it's like one of those little whimsical three-park intersections. In the middle of that, there is a tiny little one-story gift shop that sells watches and clocks and wind up toys and little dolls. And you see that it has a door that goes into the shop and there is a smaller closet door in the back over the kiosk counter. Is it man right now? Yes, it is. You see that there is an old grave sort of broom-like moustache man who's standing there at the kiosk. It's not very busy. It's getting sort of later in the evening. So only a few carts are going by. Looks like he might be wrapping up for the night pretty soon. When he said pretty soon, I think I can wait for a moment. Okay, you wait. And after a while, he locks up. It's now true evening. The sun has set as you stay here. And you feel yourself looking at that shop. He walks away leaving the kiosk unattended and a little iron grate lowered to cover the front. After the shop has been closed, how easy is it for me to find my way in? The door inside is locked and the iron grate closed. But there is an interior deadbolt on the kiosk door and the grate, while it would keep a person out, would not keep a fox out. Oh, hey fox, can you go on and get us in there? You got it. You see the fox pops through the iron grate, skitters around. There's something falls, a bunch of little wind up monkeys scatter on the ground. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, he hops up onto a counter and gets his paw and pushes the sort of swinging mechanism of the deadbolt and the door unlocks. I slip inside, lock him behind me. Now, yeah, you get inside the kiosk and you see that unattended, very plain wooden closet door. Is the door locked? I try it. You open it and see there are some small supplies, various refreshments of some of the, you know, packaging for some of the wearer's sold here. I duck into the closet and close it behind me. I start taking out the door knob and placing it with the door knobs of common cause. Go ahead and give me a tool proficiency check and the fox will help you here. Another nap 20. . Footsteps on the road from Starling's Ford to Toma. This road has been here for centuries, dirt packed, ditches on either side, broad, wide. It's a dark forest. Well passed the hours of night where some would stay wakeful. A lone spirit walks down the road in the dark. A spirit of freedom, a wild one, an honored friend. How does it feel walking down a road alone at night? How does it feel walking back to the cottage after all that noise and marignment, knowing that there will not be a single waking human waiting there for you. The cottage will be silent when you return. . Ursula's head hangs low as he walks along the road. His eyes fixed on his feet, focusing on his steps, making sure he doesn't fall as he replays the moments in his head. . The man in black on his ferry, succuring, pleading, neith, the children, neurom. The moments play and replay, Ursula unlost in thought. There would be feelings that most would have walking down a dark road in the middle of the night. Ursula's wild eyes perceive the forest perfectly here in the dark. Has any nocturnal creature would? You've come down this road before, you came down it as a child. The truth is, Ursula has usually been safer to walk in the middle of the night. It's a time for spirits, time when, humans, their spells and cages are less likely to be out and about. And yet there is something so strange about hearing the echo of footsteps off the little embankments, the pastoral fences. There's that windmill up on that hill. You've seen that a couple times. This is about as close as you got to Starlings 4 the first time you came by here on your way away from grandmother Ren's cottage. So quiet and pleasant in the countryside on your long walk back. You just saw two great spirits. You just saw a ghost. You just saw those children waving to you with every ounce of gratitude for the spirit that saved them all. Heartbreak, triumph, your quest achieved, and yet new horrors abound. What moments do you come back to over and over again on the long walk to Toma? First of all, the temps to dwell and focus on the children and teeth being carried away by that wave headed for Rhymer's Bay. But again and again, the memory is muddled and interrupted by the insistence of the man in plaque that Sir Curin tell Ursula how he died. Ursula and Fixates not just on the strangeness of the requests, but also the tone and the insistence of the man in plaque that Sir Curin tell it to him. You have to keep going back to that. It is a side of that spirit you had never seen. Orima had clearly kept her word. Nourom was ready to answer the call of wavebreaker. Something made you turn around and go back to Toma even when the man in black had laid out that he would transport those children home. Something made you turn around. Perhaps it was simply you had grown tired of not staying dedicated to your purpose. You had set out to speak to Orima and to Orima you would speak, but was there something else? Even then, beneath your awareness but still present in your heart that said you must speak to another. Orima inviting you to eat of the offering for you are a spirit too. You are not a cub. You are a warrior, a hero, a knight. If you may indeed be called that, what else is one who completes a quest to save those that cannot save themselves, to choose danger for themselves over another, to seek a brighter day. The man in black spoke to current in a way you had never heard him speak, always in speaking to you, in the forest of fire in the near spirit of the citadel, in the grove of the well when Bodze swallowed you up. And on the river before 12 brooks each time he had spoken to you, there had been calm understanding. There was something there that you've never seen before. On the long walk back to Toma, I'll allow Ursula to make three separate skill checks as he replays those moments in time. I'll let you roll the numbers before you assign them, but you must pick three different skills for each one. 19 insight. 11 survival. 5 religion. You walk by some old moss-covered statues, whether orrode the faces aren't even visible anymore, they're covered in light. But the statues were of some kind of humanoid figure. On that five religion, he just wonder, man in black is a great spirit. He is present here in a calm, but he is worshiped by a different name in the Shroud Mountains. It is the rare great spirit that is truly omnipresent. Those chalices on his vast even seem to sing his songs in ruff. On a five religion, you don't find any answers, just a vast and mighty spirit. On the 11 survival, you look at the road here. What did he say about Ren? Was he trapped on this road? He started to piece something together like you're tracking some prey somewhere. Because he did, right? He tried to kill Ren. He said it was desperate, but you know what attacking a witch can do. Was there something Ren could do to him as a result of his effort to strike her down? Was he trapped? Why did Ren tell Suvi never to set a foot on the road? Why was it Suvi's foot that mattered? What is it about her and her alone that was the thing Ren couldn't stop? You don't have answers there either, but you know that there's a trail. On a 19 insight, why does Ursula want to think the man in black spoke the way he did? It was different. How? What was different about it? You know it was different, but what did you hear in his voice at the river? Replaying the memory, Ursula, fixates on the aggression, the insistence. The man in black wanted Ursula to know that moments hours after he was inspired by Sir Currim that he fell in a way that was not honorable. It was a show for you that you know the aggression, the display of it was for you, but on a 19 insight it wasn't directed at you. He wanted you to see it. What could that mean if it if it was meant for you to see if it was all a show for you, but that you weren't the source of it? What was the source of his fury? He called Currim a dog. You've never heard the man in black speak like that. You've never heard an awful word of insult to anybody. What is that? Give me one last check with advantage, and I think this is whatever check you feel like would be purely accessing your breath, whatever you think that role should be on your character sheet. 19 Survival. He degraded him because he hates him. In Ursula's long experience, as a spirit, trapped in the world of mortals, what are the things that make you hate something? Why hate? Why would the man in black hate Currim? Ursula begins flipping through memories, times he has experienced or witnessed what he believes is hatred. He thinks of the peddler at the tavern. He thinks of the soldier and the village under the waterfall. He thinks of the citadel and the Kassoff collection. And I think his mind rests on this idea of hating that which you do not understand, that which you cannot comprehend. When Ursula first came to the world of mortals and saw something he could not understand what filled his heart. Excitement, joy, wanted. The wind picks up and rustles all the branches of the trees of these woods, whips at your cloak. The wisdom of your breath comes to you. Spirit of freedom. You came to a world and saw what you did not know and loved it. You came to a world and saw what you did not know and deemed it fair. You were wild of the woods so far from the world of mortals and you came and saw what was good and true and noble and though it cost you your home and way shadowed you in long years of heartbreak and sorrow. Always within you, your breath rested on what was good here. The King of Night is in many ways not only distant from you but now you realize perhaps the most opposing force you could know. The man in black hates what he sees in current. He hates it because he cannot know it and in this moment you know the truth. He is a spirit of the world of men and represents a deep truth of them. The cottage comes into view. What do you do as you approach? Ursula stops a moment to raise his head from his boots in the road to the stars, taking in the beauty of the night sky. Look down, down, down at the cottage, into walking, that walk becomes a run, that run becomes him on all fours, charging to the home. The land, feeling free and strong and wild as you arrive at the cottage, at the front door, that door you walked in all those years ago, opening the door to step inside to fill your belly with some food after the long travel. You hear another door open up just beyond in the hallway. You don't see, it seems the spirits might have returned to their shrines and places because neph is no longer here. There is no mortal, so they're just in their spiritual forms. The bees are quiet, it's nighttime, the goats are in the shed, you see Hannah Hannah mohaze up on his pole. It is a place of time of rest here. But as you walk in, there's nothing light lit. The cottage is perfectly dark as no one has had a fire going or anything. But as you walk in, the door in the hallway closet opens and Hello. Hello. What? Awe. Awe. Everyone is gone. Neath. I sent my fingers and light's going on. Little fire in the hearth and some candles in the kitchen. Where's Neath? Neath has taken the children to their on-rarmish bay. Neath? Yes, the children? Yes, Neath now has a familiar? What? Yes, and a hat. Wow, she's a real witch. Yes, very much so. Oh, that's wonderful. Are you OK? I'm hot. Oh, it's been quite a few days. But the children are safe, and on their way, I sought help to return the children from the man in black. Yes, he has been a friend and kind to me in times before. However, not in this case. A friend to you in past, OK? And he was not a friend to you this time. Is this the important part? Yes, I do believe he understood what I was asking for. And yet, hope to use the children to serve his own aims. But of course, you didn't allow that. No, and I fought his champion, his... Secure of the Hawthorne. Immediately, Ami, you are filled with a rush of the whispering of wind on the branches. Are you here chimes outside going in the breeze and the water and all of the landscape of Thomas tells you that quite near to hear a spirit of the dead walked this place? A ghost. A ghost. You fought the night. Who? Who I chased into this world. Oh, Ursula. Ami tightens her hug. You are a night true. I'm so sorry. Oh, you're all right. I am. Physically you're all right, at least. For the most part, yes. And I think I have a great deal to share with you about where I'm going on what I think I can do next. But I also, Neuron, I could not stop the man in black and so currera long. And Neuron, interceded at great cost to himself. And he is the one who is seeing the children home safely. And he will see me to gouth my to be with Kaliah. Oh, wonderful. I had been... Well, I... In light of this, I was hoping to borrow your assistance in a bit of a prison break, not Suvi. I just haven't found Suvi yet, but a true friend of grandma rents. But I... Where? The fox looks up with a mouth full of cream. Like 80 feet that way through the closet. I understand. We're in the citadel. The citadel. Yes. Oh, yeah, through that door's the citadel. I hope no one comes to that kiosk. That'd be so bad. Kiosk. Oh. Yes, the gift shop. Let's attend to your runes quickly. And so as I go, start rummaging around in cupboards, pulling peltices and salves and powders, I fill him in on everything that I've done so far. Yes. And then we stole the papers from a clam seller, and then we went into hoverboard, and then I just guidance myself and went to Hannah and then Gold. Yes. And I update him up until I walk through the door. Yeah. And honestly, Ursula, as Ami's getting stuff in heels, are you going to cast cure wounds? Yes, yes, cure wounds. Give me a medicine check by the way here. 12. As you rush in and begin to sort of affix the medicine, Ursula, on Ursula, you can feel the wound healing back. Go ahead and roll. And let me know if you are able to heal all the damage that will be an additional effect. Eight points is the total. Cool. So you need to get at least eight points healed in this spell to achieve an additional effect. That's a seven on the die. Let's go. As you are healed by that potent spell and that medicine check from Ami, your attunement to wave breaker is restored. You can feel even mentioning the rom that, like, your feeling of attachment to that blade comes back to you in this moment. Peeking your head out, go ahead and give me a perception check. That one. Looks crazy out there. It's noisy. There's a lot of clocks. We're in the Citadel. Is this? Oh, it's a tockland court. It's sort of an artificer's, well, we're near the courthouse. And I think that gold, the artificer, is being held there in order to extract information from him about something about Suvi's pendant. Makes sense? You've said that the sapphire was crafted with grandmother rent. Yes, grandmother rent and stone and with gold's help in procuring the sapphire. And I suppose he was picked up shortly after we visited him. Understood. I can help you in this arm, eh? OK. Do we know or do you understand the nature of Suvi's dilemma or where she rests after all this? Not yet. And I have lost track of task. I think the epiphany has landed again and task has gone to find Suvi. Hopefully he'll find us again to try and tell us whereabouts. OK. We can talk more later, but the man in black, he had offered you the sword. Yes. Some sort of prophecy in the spirit world. And he chose Sir Curran instead, the ghost of Sir Curran. That seems it must be the son of a great bear. No. Prophecies. It seems like some sort of a cruel needling for him to do such a thing. I do not believe the man in black takes pleasure in choosing Sir Curran over me. Though I do believe in our meeting, mine and Sir Curran's destinies were intertwined forever. And you're saying that Narama is going to take you to Kalyas? Yes. He will send a messier or a messenger some days time. OK. We so you have some time? Yeah. Well, I'll leave a note anyway. And I'm going to I think I'll just leave a note. Great. We just leave a note and say that we are nearby and shall return shortly. You leave the note on the kitchen counter. You stand in the hallway of the cottage of the witch of the world's heart, looking through the closet door to the interior of a gift shop and iron grate and see the sky of the Arulean desert on the horizon. As I step through, once again, my disguise shifts me. A little taller, a little wider and sandy hair. Don't be alarmed at some skies. We're doing disguises then. Ursula is going to step through and resume his glamour. Ah, me. You feel on that nap 20 check you made before to install the door knobs? Because the normal space beyond this closet door that is filled to all these little magical toys and brick a brack is suddenly unaccessible. There's no way to get to it because it's on the other side of a door that can't open there. The minute you install the knocker, and there is suddenly a way to open that. There's a weird warping of extra-dimensional space as you open the door and a bunch of tiny little monkey toys, like lined up monkey toys just all shoot through the door into your satchel and the space around the echo. You hear a rushing of water under the cottage and the tiny little monkey toys, I'll go, you see, I'll go, you see, I'll go, you see, I'll go, you see. And, uh, okay, just, I was, I'm sorry. These are the fox goes, these guys are tickling me. Whoa. And you can add a bunch of lined up magic animated monkey toys to your inventory. Yes! Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Thank you, men. Ursula wants to have a pass of the door. It's going to turn to Arme. Arme, are we entering the jail soon or is there some sort of observation element to your hoping to include the fox, it has a nat 20, I don't know, nat 20 survival to track him. Yes. You know the exact window that you believe Galtazin. Oh, no, actually no. This is going to be pretty simple. We know exactly which window he's in. And I just need the bars to be cut. Understood. Thank you. I'm going to need both of you to give me a stealth check as you approach the courthouse. Ursula is going to attempt to again call the shadows to our side and see if they respond. How does Ursula feel as he calls on the shadows? The curse on has a moment of wondering if the gifts given to him by the man in black, he should abandon those because they are now truly foes. Can I do an inside check? Sure. 18. What does Amé Ciannétis? I think Amé sees Ursula conflicted. I think there is a part of Ursula that admits that the man in black is truly his foe and that using the powers and gifts that were given to him by the enemy means that those gifts and powers should be rejected. And conflicting those feelings is a sense that maybe this cause is not lost and that perhaps someday that foe could be made friend and that these gifts could be worth having. Seeing the conflict that Ursula feels and calling shadows, are you hurting anyone by using these resources that seem so dark? I mean, I do not believe so. Then I say that once a gift is given, it is yours. Ursula calls the shadows to our aid. As you call them, you remember that they follow the command of the King of Night. And what you can see is that the King of Night has not ordered them otherwise. The shadows move to your call. Whatever there is to be said about the events of this past night, the man in black knew your intention to save those children by bringing them to their families in Rhymer's Bay. But what he did was adhere to your word, which was simply to bring them home. He seemed happy to give that his own meaning. A sword cuts both ways. You can hold the King of Night to his word. You walk unseen in shadows. Give me the stealth check. 16 plus 10 for 26. Yes. 28. You guys are gone. You walk through tockland. The clocks ticking. Your sound so muffled. You're also rolling with advantage from your boots. That's a 33 33. Shadows. Ursula, you are a spirit, fully possessed of your breath. Ame, you are a witch with a flying broom. You walk through shadows. The fox ahead points out to a set of bars. You look down completely sure that you are settled and find. Ame, do you leave the, you had the brass knocker up on the door knob? You look down and see in chains is gult. The issues that it face you solid iron bars also with an arcane lock upon them. So there's a spell across the iron bars as well. And then through the narrow window opening, you see that that gult is also chained with similar arcane manacles on the other side. There's no one's going to gently remove wave break. To dispel the magic on the iron bars holding the sword of the wave Lord loft. You hear the crashing of a wave and the magic leaves the bars. Second level arcane lock dispel with no need for a role. Now the bars need to be removed. So the one can get through. Yeah. Ursula is going to put hands on them and give them just a good nudge. Give me give me an athletics check strongest man and sobery. We'll see any arm. If you want to give a help action, you can do something. Just put your back into it. Here you go rolling with advantage. That's roll 20. Let's fucking go. We're wrapping the story up, baby. As Ame gets behind you, you have unfailed so much of the truth this world. You've called the shadows to you. You've seized your breath as you reached down. Ursula, are you the strongest man in silver? It has been said. Surrounded by shadows covered by the ticking of clocks, you kick the bars in. Um, ocean kick. You're like pushing a nudge. Push them in. Uh, Ursula, I will allow you to receive in this moment on this not 20 straights day. You can either take a boon from me as a DM as you embrace your breath or you can uh, renew the dispel on wave. I will renew the dispel on wave. There it goes. Um, you kick in and both of you can squeeze into the room as gulped alone. I dropped my, uh, my, I dropped my disguise. A ghost in us. Oh, what bear? Ame. Yes. Oh god. Wow. What a wonder. That's a shower here. We're gonna get you out. Oh, okay. I, I, he holds up the chain. He says, I can't get out. I, I, I, I get the, the chains on my, one of my, uh, I'm gonna cast knock or do, do I get, do I get this as we can pick these? You could probably chop through. It's because it's a spell on a, on a lock. Oh, can I chop? Yeah, baby, let me chop. Okay. Uh, here, go ahead and give me an attack roll. 18, 18 hits. Go ahead and roll damage. 21 points of damage. The links of the chains shatter as the spirit of freedom unbinds gult. He has both manacles around his wrist with that spell still on them, but the chains are severed. So there's a few links on the end of each chain around his manacles. Oh, oh, oh, thank you. Thank you, bear. Oh, my goodness. You chopped right through that spell chain. What was that? Um, why does it smell like honey in here? It's, uh, I, I am a spirit. Wow. Oh, yes. All right, let's get out of here. Agreed. We gotta go. We gotta go. You guys head back out, group stealth. Can I stand past with that? I know it's, I'm supposed to want to cast it. Give me survival. Give me survival. I'm supposed to call it DC 15. 18. Great. Um, you envelop him in shadow. Everyone, uh, stealths out of here. No role necessary. The bars are broken. The chain shadow, gult is gone. And you are headed back towards the kiosk. Either to go through or to retrieve the door. See, he looks, you got my gloves. Yes. Uh, thank you. I've been able to use them to get where I need to. You are a criminal. I am so grateful. Yes, absolutely. It's not my first time committing crimes. Right. And you're not. At least not the extent that we are. So, uh, you don't deserve to be there. Yeah, I kind of pushed. I pushed the envelope with some of those side projects. But sure, yes, absolutely. Uh, all right. My daughter. My daughter has no idea where I am. Do you need to go get her or should we get you to safety first? And then, then, said, where I go? Oh, God. They'll come back from me. I don't know where we go. I don't know. I don't know where I go. Have you been to Grandma Ren's cottage? A long time ago, is that, is that open to me? I don't know how I'd get there from, from here. Oh, yes. Well, we have a way. At the back of this delightful gift shop. Huh? All will be explained. I think both of you just shove him through the door, right to the cottage. He goes, please get my daughter. And, uh, you can disassemble the doorknob and the knocker. No problem. And take off from here. The question is, are you both on this side of the door when you take the knockers off? Do you want to come with me in case we need to? It's jailbreak smoothie? I will come. Okay, I promise that we will get you back in time for the messenger. Good. The doorknob and the knocker comes off and rush off to your galathopter. In beautiful, flowing, red ink, Souverine Kedberichet, arc-major apprentice, wizard, sky, finishes, the final marginalia, putting her own touches and improvements on, shall we say, the base-crass edition of a classic counter-spelling measure taken from a spell book of a guild major, the glass core, and that. Vandal hovers around overhead, flipping and wheeling happy to be alive and constituted once more, and holds his little glass bottle in his hand. Oh, oh, bud. Hey, I asked your boys for one last favor before shattering the bottle. But it's yours to shatter. Thank you for everything. Thank you for helping my friends. I want you to do whatever you want to do. His gaze softens, and he holds his little bottle in his hand. You gotta be fucking with me. I'll show you not. He wears to raise the bottle over his head to smash it when you hear a knock at your sanctum door. Okay, hold that thought real quick. Come here! And I'm going to, like, without having to physically interact with my spell book, flip it to the page I have taken or I've written about my father's writings on the knoll clef. And I'm going to pull back the rug in my sanctum, so it's just the bare floor underneath. Can you copy that down here? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's my last favor. Yeah, done. All right, shatter that shit when you're ready. And I'm kind of running. He starts writing this glit and doing a very careful job at it. Oh. You open the door, and Julia, your page is there. Oh. Hi. Wizard's guy. Welcome back home. I can tidy up any of your effects if you'd like, or wonderful. And I wanted to check again about the, you seem to displeased when I gave the report on the books on the astronomy book. Oh, thank you. Yeah. Come. No, I'll, and I'm going to, like, step forward and then kind of close the door mostly behind me. It wasn't disappointment. I was just a little confused. There's a book that I know of that I didn't seem make the list. Oh, I'll find it right away. Yeah. Okay. You can deep breath. You're doing great. Stars of the Southern skies. Stars of the Southern skies. I am on it, and I will get it for you as fast as I can. How odd that, I mean, that stars right in the title. I, I, I cannot believe that I missed it, but I missed it. I must have, and I will get it. Hey, let's operate from the place where your thoroughness, and you know what? I think I've, yeah, I probably have like the list sort of rolled up somewhere in a pocket on my present. And I just hold up the chiefs of parchment. This is a pretty exhaustive list. I cannot imagine that this would have missed your festitious notice. So let's assume the next thing. Why wasn't it around? Oh, redacted or something like that. Yes. Okay. I'll, I'll look into it right away. Okay. Thank you so much. She, uh, scurries off, and as she does, you hear a noise from inside your sanctum of Vandal going. Brammy's. What? Oh, God. Uh, yeah. And immediately go in, shut the door, uh, and sprint back up. She's going to come into your sanctum, and see Vandal at your arcane locked window with tiny little cereal and massive Enzo, fluff hovering outside of your study. Come in, let them in, let them in. Open them up. Hello again, mistress. Hi. Hi. Nice to see you. Yeah, it's just a guy. Hey, you see it's just a guy now. I see her because this is where we were born. Huh. Vandal! And gives him a big hug. Vandal says, I bloop you can. Uh, uh, Vandal tasked with a little bit of arcane calligraphy. Yeah. Doing quite well. Uh, you see that Enzo turns and says, we had come here to collect our brother. Oh! Wait, so you guys, there's like a unit. I like that a lot. You see that neither of them has their letter on them. Oh, did you? Did you? Were you able to? As a courtesy to you, as its guy, I will let you know that we were in pursuit of you for some time aboard the epiphany, though we did not realize it. Oh, I'm so, that's right. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't have a way to it. Yeah, I, they ended up being where I was. That's on me. Who could have predicted the fall of war and all that? But our mischief took us off to the epiphany for some time and we parted ways. She turns to Cyril. You see Cyril says, I want to tell her. She's so nice. She's freed us. You see Enzo shrugs and says, free as we are to say our peace we may. We came to the company of the witch of the world's heart. Ame! Mid-sky, a stride broom. What? Since when could she always be on a broom? The fuck? It seemed novel to her. Oh, okay, great. Well, hmm, give her her. She traveled in the company not only of her familiar, but task the spider as well. Task. The moment I hear task, I have connected with the ink demons over distance before. Yes. I just instinctively reach in that same way just to see if I can Bluetooth connect with him in the same way. And the task is in Malacanth searching for you. Ah! Buddy. And immediately it feels like... Yeah. And basically says, I'm looking... You can feel... It's not full language, but you can feel in your heart basically like, I'm looking for you. Should I come find you or is there anything you want me to do? I immediately try to mentally send back. It's actually kind of relieving to not have to filter things through the precision of language. Of just imagining my tower and then backing up connected to like silences tower and trying to give a like widening aperture view of exactly where I am. And then zoom back into the window that Enzo and Cyril just came in. And I'm going to like leave it cracked so if he can make it back. Oh, great. You leave it cracked task sort of communicates back. Like, I am on my way. And you feel... Give me an insight check. 13. 13. Tess says, I am on my way. And I think on the 13 you go like, oh, on your way. On your way it's such a funny choice of like expression or like feeling in this regard. Rather than like, I'm coming straight there. Yeah. I'm on my way. And I'm just sending back like even without intention. Just like so much like, ah, good, good, be safe. If you need anything, ping back. You see Enzo says, Oh, that's so smart. I mean, wait. Oh, I think it can't infire that her. Oh, you good? The witch in the world's heart saved my life. Oh, that's wonderful. I'm sorry you almost got shot. Well, what are you going to do? However, we are parted ways with her in half-word. So she's here. Yes, in the citadel. Oh, amazing. Where she had it? Is she had it? What is she doing? Why is she here? I believe that she did not. She had only what's task could tell her of your fate. They befell you in the Gasslam 12 Brooks. I believe she is here because she wants to make sure you are all right. That's my friend. I said it was a trap. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Do you have, I'm so sorry, thank you for delivering the letters. The letters are delivered. The letters are delivered, it is true. Cerel looks to you and says, I delivered my letter to the Willow Sworn. He read it at once and departed for the war. Court of Gavriel. Why? Do you say? Do you say anything to you? He thanked me for my service and said something about needing a drink. God damn him. Okay, okay. Thank you, thank you. Noted. And so did it go, oh God, how'd that go? And so, Trincent says, more strange than my companions was my encounter with the Wizard Silver. I deemed it best to give the missive to him in a time of privacy and did not arrive upon him in a time of privacy. He was in hushed conversation, tense in nature with the Wizard's slate, outside of his home near Alabast Hall. Today? Following the docking of the epiphany. The conversation was tense in a certain point the Wizard's slate laid a hand on him in, I think, but I would say, in aggressive manner. What? I gave the message to the Wizard Silver, handed it to him, and he would not take it. So I inserted it into his coat and asked him to acknowledge its receipt, which he would not. Did it seem like he just didn't want to take it or that he couldn't take it? It is very challenging for me to say, he observed my approach making contact with my eyes, and I thought would recognize me given the role that all of us played in his rescue from Abison. He made no verbal remark to me of any kind, and as I offered, the mischief he would not extend the hand to take it, but neither did he prevent me from placing it into the inside pocket of his robes. I said that my business was done, and if he disagreed, he should make some remark of it, making no remark I considered my business concluded and flew to recover my brother and now Vandal. That's strange. Okay, thank you. Thank you. One last thing. Is there anything I can offer you in order to ask you one more favor? Do you like money? No. Yeah, okay. I like words. I have books. I'll take them. And Suvi's going to gesture to like the prize of her collection, not just books that she's checked out, but like anything precious that she's found a way to collect over the years. Take your pick. Thank you. What favor would you ask in exchange? Can you find Aume? If she's still here and tell her to come to the tower? The tower of the club. Yes. Yes. In exchange for the books, I will do this for you. Thank you. And she's going to reach forward and like put her hands on his shoulders. Thank you. That non-detection protected things that are so precious to me. I didn't know what I would do. Thank you. I am sorry you were ever bound, but I am happy to have known you. Enzo Smiles. Vandal finishes his cliff in this moment. Looks up. It goes. And smashes the glass in the tall scorpion tail. Sort of matching. If not quite as tall as Enzo, but a little bit taller than Serial. You see, uh, Vandal looks at. Enzo Smiles pointing to his smaller brothers to retrieve a few tombs dealing with abducks. I guess she doesn't go for anything that is like super dear or critical to you, but you see that there are books of abduration there of disbelling encounter magic. Give me a perception check. Actually, we're going to call it a DC 15. Okay, okay. She did not get there with a five on the dice. Oh, great. Some other books, non-magical in nature also move to Vandal's side as his unbound brothers and he stand here. I think I'm just the lost looking at Vandal's true or form. Yeah. Vandal looks up and you smiling. And what you see is his face, his little devil's face. As he grows taller, it's quite beautiful. It's, when it's not, it's not small and impish. It's kind of handsome with these red horns, but it's a scorpion tail. And you see that he smiles and chatters and Enzo turns to look at you with these books assembled. He and his two brothers now with this repository of knowledge who you see with everything you've seen and loosened. You see these three brothers who seem to be the exact opposite in that the great imagination of wizards to concoct spirits of their own. And these spirits were born completely naturally as if to show that wizardry has always had a part true in the world of spirits. It is my dearest hope, wizard sky, that you live a life as free as the one you have given to us. Away, brothers. I'm gonna go try to tackle Vandal on the way out. And it just blotches of red ink all over you. Get the fuck off me! Nope. Try to pin him down and just go. Hey, thank you for everything. And I'm gonna come up with newer crazier curse words. For you. And you see that heat whispers something in your ear. And you see profanity, vulgarity. Something from the dawn of time. But you see a very first person in the wild woods of Umorah in the early days of Mordel's walking under spirits. And you see one of the first acts of wizardry as this mortal stubs their foot upon a stone and calls out a word that makes the injury hurt less. Wizardry has always lived side by side with Mordel's in this world. Words and language have a power all their own. And I'm gonna cast protection from evil and good on Vandal. He gives you a kiss, can't help himself licks your cheek a bit. Hey! Weird energy. It's weird that you're hot now. All right. How the window he goes. As the ink demons rush away, you stand there wondering what you have heard and what it can mean. Try and joy your library in the books away. Take a moment knowing that they are going to go speak to Amé. You walk through the halls. It's time to get somebody to eat. You've forgotten how to eat. You need food. You need rest. And as you contemplate that, you hear magic from outside the tower. War magic. The fire in a million bolts screams. I sprint to the window. You arrive at the window, flashes of magic everywhere. A crowd gathered outside of silence is tower. Silence has collapsed on the ground. Injured being held by wizards calling for a doctor as he clutches a wound at his side. His attacker lies dead on the ground, riddled with bolts. The wizard's silver. No! That was Lou Wilson as Ursulon, Erika Ishii as Amé, Abria Iangar as Suvi and Brennan Lee Mulligan as everyone and everything else. World's Beyond Number is edited, designed and scored by Taylor Moore at Forcheted Horse with additional sound designed from Michael Delphi Studios. For even more like this, join us on our Patreon. We'll see you there.