WWW #54: There Is a Path and We are On It

Hey team, it's Brennan, the final episode of chapter four of the Wizard of the Witch and the Wild One is coming out the week of August 11th. That's the end of our first book of adventure in the world of Humora. But don't worry, that world isn't going away. And neither are we. Isn't that right? Famed producer and composer of worlds beyond number. Taylor Moore! Hey, it's me, producer Taylor. Brennan, I sound a little like you, but worse. For regular, every other Tuesday release schedule, continues this fall with some new things. What are those things you're thinking and screaming at the inside of your car and or hospital waiting room right now? Well Brennan, all I can say is, take a break and be a player in the game for once, huh? I'm so excited. A brie will kick off the new year with a brand new campaign that will take us to the stars. Lots more to come on that. So make sure you're following us on Instagram or even better Patreon, which is chock full of bonus content, notifications about merch drops, bonecombe classes, etc. Everything your heart could desire and more. Truly worlds beyond number of content. And now Brennan, I'm still speaking to you. Enjoy the episode. I will. The sound of worlds beyond number. A sword of the citadel. There she is in shadows. She's leaning against the post, like she was in the period dome, when she applauded your report. She's still exhausted. But she stands there. Null clef, huh? Little trace of a shattered eras ring around. I gave you that ring a couple times. World holding truths. Truths world, the world holds the truth. That's your end, right? How did you open this? How did we not find this? Remind me. I asked, is a little six year old entirely in your care? What do you tell me when I asked you how you got those scars? I don't remember. Hard to keep track. You have no idea. I loved them, and they lost their minds. We chased the league for years, and their pride made them go mad. We were wrong, Suvi. It was not a corruption. It was a protection of a department that they would rather burn this place down that admit that they were wrong. We would rather burn down a thousand lives than consider for a minute that maybe you were too. I did everything I had to do. I did everything I had to do. I followed them to hell and back. And when it came time to admit that Jordan was going to leave, and we had been part of it. Jordan said it's not good enough. How can it not be good enough? We are going to trade away our home. Everything we had, everything we are. You are always more than this. This place is amazing. It's all I've ever had, or the lie that I believed my whole life. That this was all I had ever been. You were better than that. You still are. You are better than this. Give me persuasion. Give me insight. Give me both with advantage. Persuasion is a 19. An insight to 22. Steel looks at you. She could never have anticipated in years that this moment she has dreaded has arrived. And for you to say in discovering her greatest treachery that she is better than the place she has devoted her life to. You see, gears grinding against each other deep inside her. She looks at you and says, I met Chantry in cupboards. It's a part of banners you wouldn't know. It's where they could put the kids that get here fresh. And there's this thing called slumber. It's like a milk that has some herbal, some honey. And it just helps. It's a thing when you get to coverage, you're usually crying so hard that you get sick. Slumber helps settle your stomach. Six years old, homesick. You understand that this is important. Six-year-old can't understand the weight of what we're doing here. You need to start your education then, but you can't. You can't feel the weight of it. The slumber would make me... I don't know if I was allergic to it or what it was, but I couldn't keep it down. And so I wasn't. I just couldn't stop thinking about my mom and dad. And... Chantry came over. She got into bed with me because I couldn't stop crying. She wrapped her arms around me and said something magic. It was going to keep me safe. She was the best of us. And something happened that I couldn't... She and Soft were out on these missions and they touched something out there in the world that I don't know. There's just something out there that drives people crazy. It did for you. What happened? Or what happened when you went back two months ago? You weren't like this. Is it them? Is it a spell? Did Amé do something to Ursula? Even if I said yes, what would you do? You cannot burn away all the parts of the world that can affect me, that can affect us. Touching the world changes you. No. We touched the world. We changed it. Listen to me. It took everything. I gave everything. I looked at the woman I loved most and I did what had to be done. She was a sister to me. I saved her. Her legacy, her memory. She is a hero here forever. You are the child of heroes here forever. It's a lie. It's a lie. I've shown you everything we're doing here doesn't that matter? Doesn't any of this… I love you. I love you so much. But take a step back. What have you done? What have you made me do? Did you think at all about that last moment when Silver, free of the gaze that you had put on him, saw, understood what he had done before he was obliterated? I will do whatever it takes to defend this Citadel and make the world that you and her to serve. On that 22-in sight, you look into the eyes of the sword of the Citadel. The geometry, geometry, language mathematics, glorious machinery of light and logic, sound and reason, meaning and magic. She has a machine in her heart that made killing your mother and her best friend, the act of a hero. But can't that machine do? I think Suvi takes a step back like she's been hit and puts her hand over her own heart. A little machine that's already so good. I'm your daughter. So believe me when I say we are the same in this, there is nothing I won't do to save my home from anyone that would see its purpose corrupted. If you don't kill me exactly right now. I don't have to kill you. I just have to make you different. I spent my life turning you into the woman she should have been, not you, not anybody gets to throw that away. She raises her hand, her emerald ring glows, and she calls on the deepest magic she can to sundown all the magic in this place, dependent the books, the memory of softened stone. Task and the fox both look out ahead of you in horror hiding under your seat that you stand before. And in her left hand, she summons the ability to modify memories. You see her, lunge towards you, and in her eyes, though she does not speak it aloud, you see the language written plain. That witch and that wild one took you from me, and if I have to break every facet of your mind to rid you of them, I will do so. Personal on and Ami. Moving forward on the prune, you head to Catawall Lane to rendezvous with Subey. Ami flying, you hear the fox. Boss, boss, boss, something bad, something bad, something bad. See his in danger. I blink my eyes for a moment and see what the fox sees. You see steel in her last few words shared, preparing to lunge. Ami, I would love a acrobatics check. Or actually, no, this is going to be a flying vehicle to see how fast you can fly. Though it's wisdom plus proficiency, 25 means you are there immediately. Twenty means you are there in the immediate aftermath. Fifteen means you make it there in time. I don't need to be there physically because my familiar is there and he is a part of me. In that case, roll, because your physical presence may still be useful, but you may also act through your familiar if you wish. Ursulan, I'm also going to need a dexterity saving thread from you. The pilot of this broom has just left her conscious mind. Seven. Twenty-three. Ursulan, you on a seven sort of drop and Ami's body lids out of one side, you can keep her on the broom, but at the expense of you having to hang on with one hand. That will be the case. You grab, hold her with one clawed hand, hang on with another as you begin to spin down. Humbly. With that, twenty-three is so good, but it means that we are going to resolve this moment only with the fox acting and sous-viennest place. So I'm going to need just everyone here roll initiative, but there will be effectively a surprise round of just those present in the row. Twenty-two. Steel is going to watch with a ninth level spell. You see the lights of Havardward, Dim. Steel should not be reaching into the air at the repositories to do this. She is going to cast a disjunction in ninth level spell to destroy and disanimate all of the magical objects that she can. This disjunction also would unravel the magic of task and destroy every memory he has recorded of soft and stone, and it would render the fox lifeless, unmagical, unspeaking. What does Sivy do and what do we behold? I have never raised my hand against steel. I've talked back. I've made choices. I have never raised my hand against her. But I raised my hand against her and in a voice that rumbles in the sand under my feet, like zero, the first time I heard it. I say worth it. And I cast for the first time counter spell. Hell yes. Okay, task is giving you advantage on this roll. You are adding your intelligence modifier. You are trying to beat in nineteen. Wee. Okay, it's a plus five. Seventeen plus five. Twenty-two. Oh! The sword? Yes. I have to give, I'm giving full narrative reins to you. The sword of the citadel is casting the most powerful disenchantment spell that she can possibly cast. It is coming right for you to make your pendant, which she still cannot see. It's coming to make your insfang, the sea glass ruin, everything, just fully humiliate and magically undress you in this moment before her. You remove from you the ability to cast magic. I don't know if it will ever work like this again, but the intention behind it in this place that I've already poured so much of my magic in and I remember something steel told me a very long time ago when I still believed and trusted her, but the things you put your magic into, that part of the world you put your magic in, it stays a part of you and this place is a part of me by blood and by magic and I choose it and I'm looking at her she is throwing violence at me because she is afraid to consider a world where things aren't what she decided they were when she made the hardest choice she's ever made. She is what I would be if I didn't remember that before everything else I was cute. I'm curious and even in this I have never seen this spell before and I'm curious about it. The secret of warp and weft that runs through this place I run it through her magic I want to see it, the build of it. All of that bloat, all of the unnecessary things tacked on to make it trackable, traceable, homogenized. That's what's draining the air in this spell but she puts her hand into it like a stream and lets all of that wasted air through run over to the bright little trout. The spell itself, she snatches and in her hand crushes it, scattering the heart and the point of that spell and letting the aireth be wasted into nothing. Vast, powerful, dominating and overwhelming is the effort of the Empire to control what is limitless, miraculous, unbound and magical. The effort has raised armies and flags, it has laid low enemies and that effort is, as the memory of your father said, a waste. Curiosity, love, joy, rushing through, your magic is so much more agile than this thing which is in addition to being cruel and destructive, inefficient and reckless and stupid, a misunderstanding of the core principles and swinging like two young wizards in love through the grammar of this awful spell, your counter magic scatters by seeking to understand and coming to the conclusion that this spell doesn't have a good reason to be. It is gone. You know in this moment, corruption of this place runs deep, the sword of the citadel is bent on an unworthy task. You are a truer air to what this place should and could mean than she. That legacy of which you are not alone lives on in you. Looking at the spell fail, she must continue on with the second to modify your memory in this moment. Erica. We'll actually move out to you guys descending. You look and see the roof of 28 Caterwall Lane, see the light building and, uh, Ursulon, your divine sense as you hang from the broom, your divine sense is open. You see the fiery forest, the place that you discovered when you first went looking for a colliah, you see that there is a room that is only here in spirit. You see it plain before you. Ahme, you and Ursulon are, I would say, 40 feet from the window looking in through that study. Inside the fox's mind, ice cream, no! Capture spell. The fox leaps forward as an extension of your will and is going to give you the help action on this spell check, modify memories lower level so it is only a fifth level spell that is coming because she doesn't have access to her higher level spell slots. You need one of these two to be a 10 or higher. We can do that. I know we can. There's a 14. Let's go. Thank the good lord. As Suvi scatters the most powerful magic that she has ever witnessed, at least this close right, 12 person pretty intense. As you scatter a ninth level spell, you scatter a disjunction, the true twisted knife. For that would have brought you low. This would have changed you. You see in steel's eyes the panic because if you were changed by the love that was shown to you and why wasn't she. So she needs to rob you of it, needs to take the people that loved you when they didn't have a reason to, no flag to walk under, no service that you could provide for them. The reason they loved you was because of who you were and what you and you alone meant to them. She cannot let that stand. As it comes towards you, your joyful ringing counter spell is matched by a magic you recognize as fully deserving in the splendor of the magic world. Get her! As a fox bites her hand as hard as he can. She skids across the rug towards your feet. The window crashes as Ursula and Ame jump through the study, landing on either side, steel has used her legendary actions to cast that modified memory and that is going to be all three of you taking your turn together. I think Ursula is going to make an inside check on Suving. Give me an inside check. What are you looking for? I think Ursula looks to Suvi. I mean this is a me, this is like a, I think it's truly a glance. You watch Ursula's hand reach for wave, breaker and unsheath it. And I think in a glance to you with his eyes, he attempts to ask the question, fight or flee. You get back the strongest flee you've ever gotten. Like this is a look that maybe has been mirrored from the first time you saw her when we got into the garrison right before she told you about what steel is capable of. You are seeing her know exactly who the wizard's steel is and there is no part of her that thinks we go toe to toe and walk away from this. Ursula raises the shield and thinks of his friend, Amen. There is a gust of wind, the sound of the waves from a red tree shaking. And I think that the wind stands with Ursula in protecting Amen. The spirit is here, your green cloak billows, tree of blue and red on your shield as you stand before your friends. Steel looking at you, the bleeding hand, the other, we're clutching her ring and reaches to grab her sword. Bonus action. I'll close with steel and attempt to make a shabbatite. Hell yes. Go ahead. She rolls a 21. Not even close. Ursula goes, remembers training with steel, turns back to Suvi whenever you're ready. You do something incredibly brave as she brings her sword up, exhausted beyond measure. She has not slept since she ended the house of rounds. She gets a sword up, you are so much bigger than her, hit her and she is a brick wall. In my tower I won't be moved. You're going straight to the back of the gallery, kid. And she is good as a legendary action is going to swing out with a sword attack on you. Is a 17 hit? Yes it does. No no no. In a single stroke of her blade she steps in behind your shield, knees you in the gut to get you back far enough that she can extend and deals 32 points of damage with one stroke of her sword. Blood scatters throughout the library, steels steps forward, ready to finish the job as she stands here, says, I won't have it. Ame lands, snatches her room, places it on her back, points a finger at steel, the sword of the citadel and whispers fire. And in that word, he's imbued the wrong that steel has done every kindness that grandmother ran and Ame have ever extended to her is turned against her. Ame says, every word from your lips has been a lie. Delay, delay, delay, always deferring what was right. Well now you can only speak truth, you will only ever be able to say the truth of the citadel and of yourself. And a wizard is known by their secrets and you no longer have any and I use tongue dye. Incredible. Also, this is the first time you have seen the sword of the citadel since you learned that she cursed you. So she will be rolling the saving throw at this advantage as your retributive curse comes too. You may also pick one of your retributes of curse effects that you want on her in this moment as well. I say, make the light of the tower always shine and she's reed and fox fire. She greens with light and cannot hide that she has been marked by a witch as she resists the spell. You see the curse that you cast on her to speak truth. She needs a five or higher on the dye to save against this. She is rolling with this advantage. That's a 19 on the dye. Fuck. And another 19 on the dye. You go to tongue tie a steel to force her to speak the truth. And I may you see why this spell does not take effect. Steel no longer lives in a world with truth. All she has is saying those things which may advance the cause of the tower. She believes that she has saved her friend. Stone by killing her. She believes that she has made Suvi the woman she should have been. And what is the tower? Well, the tower is the earion unless it's not because sometimes the tower is the five arc magi unless it's not because sometimes it's the empire unless it's not. The citadel is whatever steel needs it to be in the moment of her doing. And she can't even see that that's what's happening. It all feels so true to her already. At the end of your turn, honey, she is going to race forward and attempt to attack you. It does a 27 hit. Yes it does. You take 38 points of damage. Amir you still up? No. She looks at you. You're going to have to take a little bit of damage. You're going to have to take a little bit of damage. You're going to have to take a little bit of damage. You're going to have to take a little bit of damage. We win! Sooner you watch Amir slide off of steel sword. What kind of curse are you going to put on me for killing you? Breathing raggedly, dying of ground. Amir, give me your first death saving throw. Six. She is losing the light. Darkness comes. Everything slows down. And I'm in this place that for a second was mine. A place of power and a place of a home. And now it is filled with blood and screams. I will sunder it for my friends. I will break my home to save it. Brennan I would like to cast Shatter. My intention here if you will allow it is to destroy the surroundings, but also Shatter the Sea Glass Teleporter. And hopes to use the effect to get us out of here. I fucking love it. And I'm thinking back. And I just haven't been able to leave that thought that urine put in my head. He became something monstrous even to those he is here to save. Steel is one of the things in my home that I would save, but I must become a monster to do it. So I lean into everything in me that is not a wizard of the Citadel. And I will use secret of the twilight crown. I pull the darkness of this place and the fire from outside. I command all of it to flee from me and drop this place into Shatter. Except for my eyes and the sigil over my head. I can't walk, fire, breathing my mother as the sound of this Shatter. It's not loud. It is a whisper in her ears and her heart. You're right. With time, I will win. The moment before Steel regains enough composure to be able to counter any magic you might do. The first moment you have, you raise up your hands. Shatter the windows of this place, Crash. The teleportation begins to take effect. The fire, the forest, it's surrounding you, Ursula, Ami, the fox, task, whew, whisking you away. She can't get rid of it. And in the last moment, before she can press her mind to see where you are going, you hear, explosion, the last thing you hear. As the roof of the castle of collection goes up in light, laughing, very singing spirits, a massive dragon. Sprinting towards the glass of the Aryan followed by a parade of flying, screaming, seeing things that have been bound but will be free, a questing beast charging forward on air. The dragon roaring back in a language of spirits. The glass ripples opening to a forest of fire as well. In ages from now, if scholars can parse the language of that mighty beast, perhaps they will say some version of, we gotta go. The three of you are suddenly in the rain, as you appear in a flash of grey, salty sea wind magic. Standing in the rain, Cavendor Court, the city of Carro. Gargoyle's loom on massive spires gazing down at the entrance to a squat industrial-looking building. A bleep place, and yet with elegant calligraphy and wrought iron over the gate. The colonisery and Cavendor Court. Ami is prostrated on the ground, bleeding to death. Ursulaan throws wavebricker from his hands and runs. Ami, Ami, and places both of his hands over a wall. Bring in his going to push spirit from himself into her. Honey, Rosemary, Pine, Deep Forest, Healing Slumber. How much do you heal Ami for? Twenty hitpoints, with a mighty use of your breath. Ami is healed, but the injury is still there. It is large and scabbed over. Ami, you can feel yourself not fully restored as you look at each other. The three of you. You are no longer in the citadel, but you are in the city with a massive gate to it. Are you okay? Yeah. Oh, good job. We should move. Do you believe she could find us here? I...something happened. Did you hear? There was another explosion. And so did it. Do you know what? No, not last later. She will have bigger problems than us. You look at the coronacery in front of you, time is of the essence. However long it takes for her to dispatch with whatever has just happened. It shall court in the cast off collection. You need to move quickly. By virtue of escape happened to have come to this place due... ...the thought in your weakened state how exhausted you are... ...the thought of facing whatever is in this building is a daunting one. But who knows when you will ever be here again. If you guys think you can manage... ...this is our best chance of getting ghost up. Let's go. Thank you. You walk up through the gate. Wizard, the witch, the one of one. You approach the doors of the coronacery. Large, periped double doors. It's late at night here. Seems if there might be a skeleton crew inside. It looks to be shuttered for the night for the most part. Maybe there are some custodians but it is not the busy work of the day here at the guild hall. You approach and see a locked door in front of you. Stealth or fight? I'm not sure. But my breath can muster us through the door. Do you cure wounds at a second level for Ursula and cure wounds on myself? What is Armée's healing looks like in return to Ursula? I go into one of my apaches and I pop two pieces of bark out and I start chewing on them. I can feel the scab starts closing over. I go over to Ursula and I take one of his paws in mine. He can feel a warmth like that summer sun. The nights we spent together, all of us, grandma runs cottage. You feel it travel up from your hands, up your arm into your body. It just feels like you stepped out of the cottage on a warm summer day. You held 39 hit points. What? Because of a heart-skiffed. I'm back at full. Re-invigorated by that feeling, Ursula looks to Suvi. Quick and dirty. I'm going to attack the door. Ursula, roll your attack roll. 24. That is a hit. Go ahead and roll damage. 23 points of damage with a first-level smite. You watch Ursula wild one in spirit of freedom walk up to the door of this wicked place and bring the wrath of the spirit world to it. These doors fly off the hinges in a single stroke of wave breaking as Ursula strides into the darkness. I thought you were going to just be like, I talk to the spirit of the door and ask you to let me in. No, I'm bleeding too much for that. Let's go. Okay. You guys begin to stride through the guild. As you do, it is abandoned, but there is no way elsewhere of some late-night work or labor is happening here. Far distantly, you hear a door open way down another passageway of some night custodian who had a giant locked double door in a city where this is a respected guild. Night custodian is walking towards the front door. That doesn't matter. You're surging down a hallway towards where you hear effort. You walk through these creylations, torches of alchemical light that have been diminished at night here in the darkness. You see a steel vault door with a drain in front of it. It is unlocked. It can be opened normally. You open it, a two-hunched pale guild mages with cruel faces. Their lips pulled back by hooks to expose their teeth are carving into a massive antlered giraffe. It is filled with tubes extracting blood and bile. It has an open segment of its stomach. You see both these guild mages are sucking blood from this massive beast. They each turn to regard you. Some of them have nearby food and you see that they have some implements and seams to keep the creature awake with electric prods. You see that one of them turns and does. Is everything alright? No. I introduced myself to them so early. We were. I would like to participate in this as Ursulaun's familiar and provide the help action. Incredible. Roll in your first line. I provide the help action. Go for it. Roll it. Yeah, really good. That's about as helpful as TVS. I'm quite injured. I'm not quite injured but I have. You remember. You start walking across at this point and you see that one of these two guild mages have not anticipated battle at all. Have spent their spells. But each turn to look at you as you just walk across the room and go, Hey, stop! They're going to take attacks against you with firebolt cantrips. Does a 14 hit? No. 13. Well, 13 does not hit. So Ursulaun, you just stride across the room as they each go, Hey, hey! One of them's up on a ladder and they breathe their hands and fire these extremely weak little fiery cantrips. So, these are the guild mages that are working the graveyard shift at the spirit blood factory. And they have not seen combat. They have not had anyone other than an operating table in front of them. Ursulaun, you lift your shield effortlessly back a couple of these across and one of the guild mages on the ground level with the tube in this creature's stomach is across from you and you are close with him. Yes, absolutely. Does a 21 in this man's life? 21 damage? Yes, describe, describe away. Ursulaun does not take pleasure in ending this man's life. But there is an intensity with which he grabs the back of this man's neck, holds it in place, and brings wave break or across with a surgical precision that might make you question. Whether or not he takes glee. Wave break removes the cross, slick! And this guild mages dies. You are not seeking an ideal outcome, nearly one where the spirit is free. That's your first attack, you have another. There's a 25 hit the second. He's up on a ladder, yeah. You killed a ladder too? Yes. 22 points of damage. Ursulaun, how does this second guy go? Ursulaun uses one of his legs to break the ladder in half beneath where the man is holding on and catches him on the way down with his sword. And decapitated as he falls from the air. Ursulaun, that is your turn. This room is free of guild mages of the class, Cornette, Ami and Suvi. I want to run over to the creature on the table and try and stabilize it and do a medicine check or spare the dying. Give me a nature or survival check as you do so. Does it 27 survival? Ami, as you cast spare the dying. The circle of salt around this table can be scoffed easily with one foot. I take one arm and I sweep the salt circle away. I reach out to the creature ahead of me and making soothing noises and place my hands gently on it. I can feel some of what I have. My spirits flow into this creature. Beautiful forests. For a moment, this horrible room fades away. The creature breathes easy. Opens its eyes and the last thing it sees of the mortal world before it returns to spirit. Is the witch of the world's heart, bidding in safe travel. You restore the spirit to the spirit world. I watch Ami and Ursula on work leaning into their abilities. Suvi does not know where ghost is, but like every six seconds, again and again, she is making a beat under her feet as she casts over and over message. In every cardinal direction, 120 feet, ghost waiting for a ping. Ghost waiting for a ping. If it hits her, I don't have to see her. I'm blind firing messages trying to see which direction to go into find ghost. With that strategy, you get your ping and know exactly where she is here in the guild hall. I point, I move. The three of you fall in. You find another vault. This one in a series of vaults. Most of which are unlocked in slightly a jar, but one of which is locked. The keys rest on a guard stand. The guard rests forever more of a few feet behind you. I'll get it. I don't think it's trapped. I walk in. I touch keys. Keep it pushing. You open the vault. Suvi, what is the thing you most fear to see on the other side of this door? She is awake and in agony and recognizes me immediately. You have sacrificed so much. Suffered. Lost. What tortures could they have visited when this young girl whose only crime was taking your word? We're telling a story of a wizard a witch in a wild one. And it falls to me from time to time to tell you truths of Umorah, which sometimes are unkind. In this instance, they are not. Unconscious. Riddled with injuries, but healed. Tubes entering her body, one of the clavicle, another in the abdomen. But alive. Not dismembered. Not destroyed. Breathing weakly. In slumber. Strapped to an iron chair. It's ghost. I immediately move in and want to make a medicine check to know how best to remove the tubes with minimal damage. Give me medicine. Also looking at it and from what I could see if the other one I give data to Suvi and help. Great. Oh thank you. The help is a natural 20. Oh! With Amazes, guidance. You rush forward Ursula and you stand in the door and Suvi carefully looking at the arcane marks on the wall. Looking at where this is going. You see that some of these tubes are leading in and are sustaining her. Others leading out. You see there are schematics for ways to do this process. After having removed a creature's head. Such that their escape is less likely. That technology for the moment alludes the grasp of the glass cornnet. And you have made it here in time. You remove this wicked apparatus. You see the blood, white and milky leaving her body off to some corner of a factory. Where it will arm the soldiers of empire. Saving countless lives. It is undone in this moment. The moment she is free of the tubes. I'll move to unstrap her from the chair and like tag Ursula on it to grab her. And with a series of those self-same weak but infinite fire can trips. They waste to this machine and it's damned research. This schematics destroyed. The chair worked and bent. I want to be clear. I do not use the knoll clef. I sign my fucking work. Ah! Ah! You leave your signature proudly on this one. I may you watch Sufi's face lit. Much like yours was lit by lightning in that basement when Keen made you his target. Your true friend and sister is by your side calling magic to work as you have. You have saved this girl. Healed her. And now you remove the weapon that would be raised against her once and for all. If she allows I slide my hand into Sufi's once more. I think even as like one hand does the working the hand you grab is hot. But not like fire hot like standing underneath the sun on the Arulean sand at noon. You... Hold her. You move from this room. You notice in one of the vault areas that is opened, seated, hugging its legs to its chest, is a stone construct covered in candles. What do you do? I slip my hand from Sufi's. I go to Flicker, placing the Artifixers glove on my other hand. I reach out towards Flicker. I snap my fingers and light the candles. When it begins to animate, you put your Artifixers glove on him. What do you say? She's safe now. Give me persuasion. Fifteen. Flicker. Sholt's up. Almost through the vault of the guard. There's a lot of holding ghosts. In this brief moment, Amé, before you can say anything, Flicker turns to guard you Sufi. No facial expression but the body language is enough to let you know that Flicker recognizes you and is terrified. This is who we spoke to before the world turned bad. Raises a fist up to defend ghosts. No, no, please. They saved her. More. Flicker turns. I want a tag in task. Can you help? Task. Skitters up. Shows the light of Sufi. Saving ghosts. Flicker looks. Doesn't understand but knows that things beyond his grasp have happened here. All he can do is not in understanding. He steps forward. He doesn't use hands out for ghosts. I pass it from my home to his. He looks around. Unsure if he should trust you or if he should flee with his person. Would you come with us somewhere where she can be safe and heal? Give me one last persuasion with advantage. It's going to be a DC 20. You got this? You got this? New half of this. I need at least a 13. That's an 18 on the die. Yeah. Hell yeah. 25. Let's go. Artifist's glove, comfortingly, on the shin of this mighty construct. As you touch him, you realize there's no way for something to be alive without the spirit. This Artifist's glove is letting you talk to what was always there. Spirit of flicker. A candle, a light of hope, a guardian and protector. Here's the voice of a witch speaking comfort. And seeing a cold and rainy sky knows that the best chance for his girl is to come with you. Where will you go? A door? A door. You see a door. You find one. A small wooden door. With a sign on it. The sign reads under repairs. You see the name Keen has been scraped off. You change the door knob. Open the door. Who was her Keen's office is not here? No. It is Tomah and the sun is shining bright. You walk through. Zumi, Ursula. Amme. If you all walk through together, the door knobs will be left here in the carna-sary. Oh, it's all right. You go on ahead. I'll go the traditional way. Brim? Brim? Ghost being carried to lie in rest. In the living room of grandmother rent, flicker, scraping and crawling down the hall. Trying as hard as he can not to let his candles go out. But being so large as to barely fit in the cottage, pulling one arm, then the other. Down the hall, past the kitchen, and finally to the farmhouse door where he can pull himself out of the cottage, standing to his full height. Hana and Galt, sitting at the kitchen island in stunned silence, politely put down their tiny saucers of breakfast cake. Ursula, you were the last through the door and look out and see Amme in the hallway of this hateful place. Travel safely. Who was she who so? Thank you. You close the door. Amme. You're a witch standing in a dark hallway. Looking at a pair of magic door knobs. I remove them, not taking too much care, just yank them out. As I leave a trail, some of the oil I have in my bag, on me. I get out to the tacky, rot-hired gates. Snap my fingers. Flame springs from my hands, igniting the trail of oil. Fire races behind you. To the green, you'd almost see the laughing faces of foxes, there within the flickering fire. The fox jumps into your bag. Walk out to that warped gate and see the fire start to spread. They will know that Suvi was here. They will see and smell the rosemary implying the spirit that came to blast the doors of its hinges. What are they hear that night when the fire starts to spread? The good people of Carol begin to smell smoke. See the licking flames and senders of fire. And the hear disappearing into the night sky. A few days later, when Ami lands, Ghost is resting, sleeping much of the day. But a few days later, maybe there's a smile. Flickr stands in the yard. Very preoccupied with chickens and how they work. Spirits once again have a young girl to tend to. The morning that Ami lands in the yard, just like Ren used to, Ghost has on her crutches made her way to sit at the kitchen counter for the first time. This tea is really so lovely. It's good to be back in the car. Ami! Hi! I lock in my hair absolutely wild. Just the light and the light of the flight still in my face. Ghost, you're right. How are you feeling? I'm okay, so I've been resting for a few days and flickers here. It's been good. Um... I think I've had enough of adventure. Do you need a housekeeper? I would love if he stayed with us here at the cottage. This is your home now. She just leans her head into your shoulder. There's some interesting gadgets and stuff like the weatherfade. I've never seen a rooster like that with a snake's tail. If I can fix anything up or grease any hinges, I'd be happy to do it. If it could be pleasure to do so then absolutely. There...oh, I don't imagine you've even been into the attic yet. Why does there is stuff up there? Oh, there's so much stuff. You see... You see that flicker outside waves of massive stone hand at a cart of people with some hay bales headed to Tata, and you say they go, and put the reins of the horses at this massive candle-covered constructors waves. And they're like, I wish things had gotten strange with the cottage again. In the day or two that follows, Ghost excitedly takes up learning artificing from Hana and Galt, who know everything there is to know about artificing, and can teach all of it to her. She immediately has people looking after her, and they excitedly get to work fixing hinges on cabinets and looking after old wheelbarrows and more to gadgets to maybe escape grandmother Ren's notice, but this trio of artificers as Hana and Galt welcome Ghost get straight to work. Looks like in the journeys that now face Suvi, Amé, and Ursula, the cottage will be well cared for by these people in desperate need of safety and home. As night comes, it's a foggy, foggy night. Ursula and UC missed pouring out of the forest. You can smell the sea, you all can't. It is time. I'm still unsure of who Narama has said, but they have come to take me to Gauthamaya to Sicilya. I know you were headed that way when I called you to help me in the Shard Mountains. Yes. I don't want to interrupt it again. Do you want to go alone? No. She asked me to both. She'd like to come. Really? Really? Yeah. I'd like to go. Amé smiles and then rushes back and starts grabbing everything she can and stuffing it into a sack. You have to bring some sort of a gift, like a burrow warming gift. And I'm probably need this one. I think Ursula and Waits for Amé and Suvi outside kind of anxious and wanting to go. Suvi is happy that Amé's excited energy makes her bustle and go grab things. But the moment Suvi was allowed to, she's just at your side. And if you look anxious at all, she's just going to kind of hook her arm into the crook of your elbow. From her head. She'll do it. The mist beckons, assembling in the yard to bid farewell. The spirits of the house. Elbeth. Dr. Yagi, Hannah Hennamohae, and Dalma appear waving cheerfully with once again people to look after. Hannah and Galt, the young ghost. Ghost turns around smiling. Flickr also helps light the yard, his candles burning bright. This gorgeous little home. This magical place. Ghost waves. Mist forms. It begins to open like the massive mongrel of mighty whale. And you hear a voice from within saying, I have been called to carry forth those friends of the Lord of waves. The sea of the gentle sea. Let those approach the forest who would come. Anyone who wants to give me a perception check. God, yes. That's a natural 23-year-old. We're back, baby. 22-12. As you stride into the mist, you look over and see a shape and emissary of Nauram. The person who calls the mist, you see in shrouds you each with a piece of Nauram's mist from his cloak. It raps you like a cloak and see that it emboldens and makes stronger. The magic of Enzo's room, hiding you from the detection of the citadel. And as you step further into the mist on that nat 20 perception, there is a figure you recognize in the last moment before it vanishes. A suvi, you see a mage made of coral. And you see a familiar voice says, Welcome, Archmage apprentice and morrow. Guides you through and says, I've had time to think about mistakes I made. And back into you through and you vanish. And are in the jungles of Gouthmye, stepping out of the mist and smell pancakes. I immediately walk through clock, morrow, and then just going from the overly emotional and inner-own-ahead moment, Suvi just turns and slaps your arm. What? What? You said he was gone. Death was too kind for him. He's coral. I pinned him to the bottom of the ocean and Nouram gave him the ability to breathe. As the mist fades, you see morrow goes, goes, we had weekly conversations down there. I improved as a person, I think. Nouram is very gentle. Wow. Okay. This way. You move through the jungle. And Suvi and Ami, you behold. A tree in a deep canyon just like the one painted on Ursula's shield. The doors open and Ursula's family pours out. Suvi, they look like you. They look like soft and stone. Ursula, why do they look like me? As they rush out, you hear. Uncle Ursula! Roar, roar. Who are up in his arms? Bella comes running out. You see, people are laughing. Only one or two people are crying. You see Mahars for crying for somebody. Ami, she's like, I don't know. This one is to blame. Yes, sorry. This is the wizard sky. Sky! Hands go off and you are embraced and hugged. You see, Adi looks at you and says, oh. You're okay. Come inside, have a pancake. Does it make sense to you? It does not make sense to me. Well, time. And that's all she says. You're in the box inside. Pancakes. And this is the witch of Tomah. Ami. Pancakes. Rocky says, yeah, we got pancakes. The fox goes, now a big tree with pancakes. We should only adventure in places like this. And this is the fox. Hello, I'm the fox. And you see that this, Rocky says, you ain't got a name. And you see the fox, someone says, heaven name. And then walks into the house. You have a name? Um, you see, you're saying that because he doesn't want if you left out. I have a vote. I have a name. And what I know, it's a pancake. Okay, hello. You see that task comes inside. I mean, it's just like projecting light on everything. And it's immediately picked up by one of the kids. And he goes, this broken watch can talk. Kind of. Yep. And see that. As the kids start running around, you, the family is all pouring over you. And you see walking out with a tiny can, looking so old and so sleepy. But suddenly beaming is a clyah. You see she looks out and goes, oh, her salon, your friends. Oh, I give the deepest and most respectful bow. I know. And greet. Hello. Sister of my brother. Sister of my brother. daughter of my friends. She bows deeply. We're having a big party tonight. It's wonderful. You see she squeezes your arm and says, well, not for your old man. I never would have found my way here with this family. And if it were never for that tower, I never would have found my brother. She smiles. Wait, did you, did you have sex with my dad? Is that why they all look like me? I know it's because of Ursula and I think he wanted to look like you. And wait, but when the wider time. Okay, okay. He got to the future before I got to the past. And that's all I'm going to say about. I am on her just, woo. If there's any soft cookies, I'm getting them. She says, I knew the water and the streams were very clear that tonight was going to be a big night. A celebration. I'm so glad we're having such a big party. We got everything started. We didn't know you were going to be here, but we were told to get a big party ready. You were told. What is? Well, it's sort of uncle of yours this year as well. Oh, slide him. Oh, my god. I'm wearing a corner of pancake at home. He goes, bat, you see that heat without looking, catches it in the hand. And says, I knew that was going to happen. I tackle him. He goes, ah, he gets a big hug. You see, he gives you a huge hug. And he goes, torture you were on the right track. Big, big hug. I didn't die. Oh, I love it when the people at Teller Warnings do. Don't die. You see, he burst into tears and starts crying. All right. Light the lights and spread the cake and get some jam on these pancakes. We're going to have ourselves a shindig. Oh, my god. Light celebration wonder. And I will ask, how long do you spend here in the burrow feeling and knowing joy? I'd say about, I think it's on the third day that I think Ursula Kather's his friends. At the beginning of the third day before your friends are up. Suvi, you've had days of looking over. So Kaleisborough is filled with texts. And you see texts from branches of wizardry that predate the aquar dotty and the antivoli. You see all things she saved from an older version of the citadel. You see scripts and scrolls from wizards of old, of gouthmine and rove. And you see elements of the antivolists. Who are not only in the free roads. You see some texts seem to imply that there are antivolists working in the empire itself. All of these spirits gather you and shower you with love. And you see a wide, wide world of wizardry is just beyond this doorstep. Ami, you spend days communing with the spirits of a new land as the which of the world's heart. And, and playing with children and all these young magical, these badger children, these little badger sorcerers. And the fox is so fat and happy and hunting weird things out in the jungle. And at the end of that second day before the third, you see Sly comes and finds you Ursula and putting his flat cap on his head. Oh, I'll be heading off. Goodbyes are not much my style to sort of find them hard to believe in unless they're very specific. But your sister needs you tomorrow. Tomorrow? Tomorrow. He puts a hand on your shoulder. I will be there. I'll be out there in the world, my friend. You never alone. There are many beyond what we can see working towards the will of good. Our world is lucky for you and your companions. You see that he dons his cap, walks off. Sly. To a bright future tomorrow. That's my favorite one. Any vanishes? The next morning, Ursula. Kalyas breathing is very shallow. I think Ami with a medicine check, you can tell that the time for this mortal body has come to its conclusion. Ursula. You should bid your sister farewell. Thank you, Omen. Kalyas spent these days with you, Ursula, in a depth of warmth and light and love. It has been three days of holiday, of holy days, sacred in the love of this family, and its embrace of your true friends who are family here. On that day, what does Ursula do? Ursula spends the day reveling in memory of the days when he and Kalyas were young, complaining about Nari and chasing and being chased, telling stories of the life they share together. But at some point Ursula asks, Kalyas. I believe I need to go home. All right, let me come with you. And you see Kalyas stands up, away from her body, with you, and starts walking towards a forest that only you and she can see. Ahead of her, you see a path through the woods, the far distant cottage, and the spirit of a man who has been waiting there for her. To the left, you see a path through the woods, you can hear the distant marching and singing of those myths to the company of the great bear. She stands at the flocking of rod with you, looking unsure. This world is a wonderful one. Is it not? I have loved it with every part of me. I as well. What would you do in my stead? We had a lifetime of play together. It was beautiful. This world has taught me one thing. There is also a beauty in growing up, in changing and becoming new. She looks down and sees the marching of the bear and the children singing. It's so joyful. This is the right and sees a man who loves her, waiting, hoping beyond anything to see her again. She looks to her brother who has given her permission to follow her heart. She smiles. I could never run in play, like I once did, knowing he was still out there somewhere waiting. She kisses you on the cheek. I hope I see you one day. You will, but not so soon. She kisses you on the cheek and walks down the road, and the look of love and joy on her face is matched only by the face that waits for her. In answer to this choice, the path on the left, was suddenly wide. A choice like this is not made lightly, and deep in the woods, a bear greater than mountains turns, and for the first time since you were young, be whole to you. See and growls low. My son, father, who you have been, way shadowed, have you found your breath? I have. Not only that, I had named it. You are not my cub anymore. You are my son, full grown. You have undone the mistakes you have made. You have completed the quest and found honor. Let me rid you of this metal something, and he stamps a paw and a door of hiding grows in front of you. Come home. Come home, my son, where the sun never sets if it does not wish. Come home to life joyful and unending. I am sorry you have been long lost. It is a kind off of father, but one that is no longer true. The wars of this world have reached the edges of spirit, and will soon engulf our world as well. I would make you the same offer, but ask the Jew pass through the door. He turns, give me a persuasion check with advantage. Natural funny. The pilgrim understands the man in black. He raises an army of great spirits. I would raise a banner as well. One that seeks to end the war. Not join it, not win it. The citadel is a knife in the heart of the world, but to destroy the knife is not my head, only those who wield it. Great Bear looks at his son. Too much under my son's banner. His children stop dancing and marching as they look at their father. He intershakes his mighty shoulders. Too much under my son's banner. Would be, and as he steps, he stumbles, and wears for the first time you have seen an age, a glamour. Of a nine-foot tall man, reed and leaves, tunic of gold, a war club like that of a tree trunk itself across his shoulder. Too much under my son's banner. Would be, and oner. That was Lou Wilson as Ursulon, Erika Ishie as Amé, Abrea Irongar as Suvi, and Brennan Lee Mulligan as everyone and everything. World's Beyond Number is edited, designed, and scored by Taylor Moore, at Forcheted Horse, with additional sound designed from Michael Gelfi Studios. For even more like this, join us on our Patreon. We'll see you there. In a dark castle of shattered ramparts, ruined stairs, crumbling towers, lightning races across our horizon, over a sea of nightmare. Shadow, darkness, waves of pure void, lap against rocks, of ebony and onyx. High in the crumbling castle, a shattered throne, ancient beyond words, reed and shadow. Feet approach, hand in hand, to N'aram and Aurema, bedecked and resplendent in garb of war, approach through the ruins. Are you alright? This is the only way. N'aram says to his wife. King of Night, we tread before you, in honor of your station, to fight beneath your banner. A voice slithers out from the darkness. It is not my banner you will fight under. Fire erupts in braasures, repost across the throne, legs dangling over the arm, a jester's mask of her face held on an extended wand. O'Bulphind spreads his inky wings. What is this, says N'aram? I am keeping the chair of my legelord warm in his absence, the King of Night's senses regard. I am O'Bulphind. Most faithful servant of the King of Night, and it is good to see you, O'Bulphind, the reaching green, N'aram, the wave lord. Does the King of Storms come with you? N'aram, for us, is brow in distaste, and the fiend he now perceives. My father is busy with work set out for him by the pilgrim under stars. Oh, I'm sorry to miss him then. Seek the need, O'Bulphind, where is the King of Night? In dispoased, I am afraid, and yet he has sought foot from me to entertain you as we wait for him. Would you like some entertainment? Boys! Flitting from the shadows, Enzo, Ciro, and Vandal, the Light. We are very pleased to see you. It has been some time since we have beheld the world of spirits. I don't know if we ever but held it. We were born in bottles. Yeah! This is... working something else. Or perhaps you would like a gesture, O'Bulphind, points of finger, crawling miserably out from the shadows, a warped, beaten, maimed, and injured spider. It's silky white fur blowing in unseen wind. Pomeroy, make our guests feel welcome as we wait. The End Deep in the forests of the shroud mountains, arcane fire rains down, driving the last of the forces of Gautmine from these shores. Deep in the shadows, low-ping as fast as possible, panting heavily breath-ragged, bleeding from an untold number of injuries, urine runs as fast as he can. Good to safety! Take the Nasee Slimdeep! We have done all we can! The lights of skyships. The... open, pinning him to the side of the mountain. Raise your claws, sheep changer. It's done. Surrender now, or... The lights extinguish. Your hands eyes go wide, no doing of his. What is this? Darkness. Darkness everywhere. Troops nearby. Press in through the darkness. Find it if you can't. He is their leader, the leader of the... What the... Run, run, run! Run! No, don't do that. Gla! An antler form moves through the darkness, followed by wolves, panthers, bears. An injured urine can only look on an amazement, as the forces of empire fall. Holding his wound... is this his final moment? Has death finally caught him? No rest for you yet, my handsome friend. Finds grow. Smell of pollen. Touch of a care, which of the woodland green, on your ins chest. Look alive, my boy. Look alive! The game is only getting started. Who? Who are... A porcelain mask from the dark emerges over IKEA's shoulder. You have much plan. An antlered visage, mouth filled with blood. There is much we can discuss. You're in. The light of Thomas falls on an imperial battalion, at their front, a war wizard, queen cloak waving. Soldiers, today we march on the cottage of a witch, a traitor to the empire. You have been given our orders. Keep your wits about you, which is going to be cunning. We march to deliver justice. In the light of the citadel, ever shine. Forward march! Heading out upon the road, giving their orders, a to burn the cottage of the witch of Tongla to the ground. Boots ring out, and the village's weep. Lohan looks in disbelief, that anyone would have harmed their heart for their village's gentle witch. He is with even more disbelief that he looks. His son begins to set so suddenly. Soldiers upon the road, suddenly seem shocked, scared, frightened. How can they have lost so much of the day upon the road? Captain? Everyone, careful. This could be a piece of witchcraft, perhaps an illusion. As the sun fully sets, a voice from the road ahead. No illusion, brave captain. The sun has truly set for you most of all. Say your name. I have never done so, and I will not do so now for you. No only, that I keep my word. I promised a witch that I would be at her door in one year's time. That means that door must stand for that year's time. A promise to a witch is never lightly broken. Snap of bones, scatter of blood. Fear so deep, it cannot be said to have an ending. When the sun rises, there is nothing there to find. Deep in a cellar, stacked with wine barrels, some two or three stories tall deep in the recesses of an ancient castle. Tears of joy, as families are reunited. Warriors and witches of the grinole gathered here in this place, trying to make sense of a world after the death of the great Bullfrog. Torchlight, boxes of treasure maps, sharing of information, and suddenly, all is right with the world. Lifted up on their shoulders, the witch's neith can only blush and immonish the cheers that go up for her, in Toroi, over and over again, as her elk bellows. Turning around, she says, it is not me who saved them, it was bear, the strongest man in Silvery, who journeyed theirs, who was the spirit Ursula, he is a friend, a friend to the grinole, and Ami, the witch of the world's heart, my rescued me from certain, and the wizard's sky, though not, who opposed the citadel that trained her. It was them who saved the children. I nearly completed their journey home. Did you say bear, the strongest man in Silvery, neith turns to regard the shadows, turning to a grinole wise woman. You should meet this man, we reached out to him for help, as soon as we realized how wide the problem was. This is a friend of us from across the sea, a dead man strides from the shadows to regard the young witch. I'd like to meetWill Gallows. Did you say bear of silvery is an honored friend? Well, now I have seen everything. Deep and a palace of ice, an observatory filled the light. A crowd woman beholds a group of three friends traveling by ship from Gouthmine. The deck of the ship beholds them and sees. They're wizard, wearing a finally mended cloak of blue, reflecting the constellations of the vast sky. Injury which of the wind and stars furrows her brow, scowling, has coasta hides sheepishly in a corner. Five days left. I don't think she's getting me a gift at all. Hi, Hater. Hi! I really hate her. Come coasta. We have business to attend to. In a dusty gulch, guarded by a solitary dead tree, the rusty tin roof of a lone train station, with but a single counter behind class stands baking in the sun, the rails riding to the horizon in both directions. The wind picks up and creak of the sign on its post as the sleepy ticket-seller completes a crossword on a printed broadsheet. Looking up from the page, he beholds a wizard, a witch and a wild one. Welcome. Can I help any of you with anything? Passage for three. Ruslan produces the ticket, given to him by Teflin. To where? Anywhere.