WWW #39: Into the Woods

This is the sound of Worlds Beyond Number. The thundering of feet and hooves, sprinting at breakneck pace surrounded by arcane mist, with slanting early morning sunlight, shafting through as scrambling soldiers make their way to the base of the ridge. In the far distance, the roaring of waters fades away, shouts and horns of the forces of Gautamai as those soldiers here make at breakneck pace and advance deeper into the forest, having escaped certain death. We leave the combat of Abyssin and Ursulon with Rahon at the front of this group, Aame and Suvi bringing up the rear. You travel now with a few dozen soldiers, Imperial infantry, azure battalion, fellow wizards of the citadel, two artificers, all assembled here, mortal. Leave your one spirit in the lead. What are you doing in this moment as you flee into the forest? Ursulon at the front has stopped shouting into the woods, as to not give away, as to, I think, with the sound of the horns and the marshalling of the enemy is like now just still banging the shield, but moving forward, trying to navigate routes and kind of the best path forward, but also kind of is having that like adrenaline rush is kind of replaying, seeing the moment with the shape changer and the description of him as eternal and the kind of shock and surprise of that moment of the shape changer describing him as fighting with them. And I think just in hitting his shield, sees his hand start to change, his glamour emerge, kind of peak just almost just like a touch just his fingertips and decides that's a good idea and is going to allow and change his shape to be his human form. Flying past and sort of getting down lower to the ground and tucking his legs slightly so that his feet don't touch, but he stays eye level. You see silver flies next to you and suddenly narrows his eyes and looks and goes, Bear? Yes. And looks back to regard Suvi so some two feet and just sort of looks with wide eyed amazement that your what was rumored to be a long lost brother or half brother is in fact an honored friend and a wild one. He goes, Wonders never cease and sort of surging forward into this place. You see he calls back at the gathered sort of wizards here. Sudden, do I have anything anything left and you see that there is someone reaching through a bag of sort of spell components and a Citadel wizard, a ruddy face sort of warped scar in between the nose and the cheek reaches in and says, This is the best I can do silver and casts a major image illusion and creates a mob of 30 people running through the woods in another direction as best he can. He says, That's what I can do right now. And you see that silver begins to bark some other orders and the Arulian bolts stop streaking behind you and this begins to become all magical effort put into covering a trail. Suvi along with that pops a detect magic just to keep eyes on anything behind and is just doing countless pressed digitations to scrub the runnings of damn near 40 people and they're like magic sprinting off in different directions. So she's like healing scars from where the Arulian bolts hit plants and trying to like turn earth so it doesn't look like foot and hoof prints everywhere and just trying to cover tracks from the back. Seeing the efforts of everyone to create the illusion of second escape. A may uses presto digitation to create more tracks to scar up the trees to create as many hoof prints and footprints as possible leading off in the direction of the illusory image. Go ahead and what kind of role would you like to make survival. Let's do it. 14. You begin to create those imprints in the landscape as best as you can and silver flies back to you Suvi. He goes sky. He stands in front of you very clearly just wanting to be close to you in this moment and then reading the panicked energy so you can smell sweat and blood on people. You see that everything that wants to be an embrace a kiss a moment is instead a almost vice like but adoring squeeze on your arm as he keeps directing people down the hillside as though the only part of his heart that he's letting be in this moment is just in his hand on your arm to let you know that he's here but stays with his face pointed to these troops saying down the hillside follow bear follow the commander at the front with the white horse and you see he looks and goes you saved us. You were no slouch. We needed something we needed everything to change we needed big chaos and that's what we got that saved everything. My friends and I are very good at chaos and Suvi can like feel the part where he's like gripping her arm like when you like someone squeezes you tight enough that you're aware of your own heartbeat and she can feel it slowing down just being in physical contact with him and I think is just going to and she's just sighs. Just fuck it and just grabs him and pulls him behind a tree and is just going to throw her arms around him. He pulls you close buries his face in your neck and just breathes and just you can feel that what could have been this moment of like in his head he was like she's here she saved me there's something like passion and romance and a kiss instead just becomes two people feeling their heartbeats and breath in this moment where adrenaline is being commanded to subside because now really rational important decisions need to get made and for a moment your presence and the safety of your embrace serves to calm one another. Going past you see there is a much older sort of stout looking artificer at the back who's clearly having trouble and is limping down the hillside seems to have some kind of sustained injury but you can see gets down to where the the you're steep enough in the ridge to create shadows and just takes reaches into a bag places a couple mines and like scoops dust and things over them you see these sort of like glyph centric spinning silver discs and he just goes and compresses them into the ground and you see that silver looks over him and says rust you need anything you good and he goes yeah and he silver says what more than that more than that and he says yeah let's hope they let's hope they follow let's hope they aren't flying they'll probably be flying these are yeah well these are gonna go bad soon anyway and you see he gets up and and just continues to like hobble after the group um I'm a you see the fox rushes up leaps into your arms um he goes we had to get away and we did are we did we or are we doing we are doing it's true let's turn this doing into a did and you see that he's sort of like scampers off to go give the help action to Ursula and up in the front a couple of the Imperial infantry around you you see they have matchsticks on their back but unlike the Azure battalion the Imperial infantry never were selected for the Citadel they didn't bomb out so this all of their training is just how to use the war staves there is no like there is no spell casting they can cast outside of the use of these war states and you see they sort of look a gog at you as the fox speaks and have this sort of wide-eyed look of whatever like the sort of calm emotions you cast I give me an insight check as you're sprinting through the woods with them ten um you're being regarded in a way that is pretty you don't think it's hostile but it is certainly othering it is very alienating how you're being looked at I look back and I smile real big and I nod give me persuasion with disadvantage that's a 12 okay you look and you don't none of them seem to be mortified by your smile as you are sprinting but you see that one of them sort of looks and smiles back and just goes you you did something I heard you speaking in our in our hearts yes I'm Amé the witch of the world's heart I am a true friend of the wizard sky huh who what may I call you worth worth are you injured worth uh no okay then we should we should keep going if any of your fellows are injured or need assistance please please let them let them know they should tell me you see that they fall behind as they continue to run you see worth looks over to two of his companions and you see one of them sort of playfully shoves him and they continue running behind you if I wasn't distracted um first line in the front you are searching for a place to get to as fast as you can you get to the bottom of the ridge and there is a moment where the noise has faded away the most it's going to there has to now be a you need to know where you're going yeah um so there's a momentary stop and I think the three of you come together again thank you of course which way are we headed uh uh now you're in a position where you are definitely behind enemy lines with a troop of soldiers you have no supply lines no food and are totally unsure about what you know whatever silvers orders were you know silver actually turns at this point to speak to you and says my we we we have to uh I my mirror was shattered so I don't have any intel about where is safe for where to go to and I stopped receiving orders I was told to hold the garrison at Abyssin oh god it's fun being the bearer of last good news fort kirin was retaken by galth my are we headed back we can't go back that way we need to go in and through and find a new way out but right now we just need to rest we can't we can't we can't rest here I'm assuming they will follow us yes absolutely we need to push uh sky the where were the lines where where were the closest lines where how did you approach I'm gonna reach into my bag and get the map that swar n gave me way back when we were like first headed in this direction so I came in uh with my ship from the east fort marlin but that's not an option now and Amélie Ursuline came from the north Mount Korah all right well if we can't go east we could try to go southeast to fort kirin or we could try to head just ahead for the marriage us just just get as south as we can the halakor forest is thick enough that it's even galth my is not going to be able to run supply lines through there that if we can get to halakor forest that will be largely deserted moving through there with 30 people will be hell but it'll be hell for larger groups than that as well okay let's do that silver turns out to the assembled group here and says all right soldiers we've made our escape from abison we are out of the frying pan and there is fire as far as the eye can see there is a long way to go but we are free once again for as long as we can fight for it thanks to the wizard sky and you see he takes a knee and the soldiers here take a knee as well those on horseback bow their heads thank you uh uh cv just gets a little overwhelmed and actually doesn't know how to respond it's just nods swar n looks up from the bowing as the moment of silence like and reverence extends to its utmost and you see swarm looks up clearly very tickled and goes commander you should say something speech speech on my looks over at swar n nods i'm in the hell uh thank you all for holding on for as long as you did i know i did what any of us would do and thank you ame which of the world's heart and i look over are you fully glamored again fully glamored and bear my protector for joining us and helping the easy parts over we're gonna make it out we're gonna be safe we've done it light at the tower and cv just like taps her staff uh and like the very tip of the glass like not enough to glow and throw light but just like a caught array of sun that wasn't there like lights from the very like tip of it for just a moment and then she kind of makes a weird grimace face like please let that have been enough i'm so tired a little applause a little applause ame give me an insight 22 your friend the wizard skies lack of theatrics uh is not the first time that imperial soldiers have witnessed a wizard of the citadel work wonders and follow it up with uh some let's call them terse and academic follow-ups uh but you see that it doesn't really the the the glimmer of light and skies words of acknowledging the trials to come uh the eyes of all those around gays at the woman who came to their rescue and who called up the mist around them to obscure their escape firing irulean bolts and uh look at your friend suvi who began this adventure wondering if she would ever have a chance to prove herself and see a hero you also look and see some of the soldiers here as she remarks at both of you some on that 22 insight check have it confirmed for them that you are a witch and look at you with some strange sort of fascination and wondering about how their panic was calmed almost supernaturally you see that one uh worth corporal worth who spoke to you looks at you with you realize a strange look of the beginnings of something like fascination or obsession that you have made him you have used magic to make him feel away and now he's sort of looking at you as you like smiled at him and he's like she smiled at me please let me see this give me an insight check sorry i wanted to keep happening 17 you notice this and you see this is the first time your magic is the magic that all of these soldiers have been trained to know about mist light fire called by the the brilliant minds of the citadel but no one's ever had someone reach into their heart and whisper that everything's going to be okay and have their soul know that it's true and you see these imperial soldiers are not handling it professionally necessarily and uh you also see that as you speak about bear though first one is wearing his glamour once again you see that the citadel wizards from your coterie are as you guys get it get ready to move are already fielding questions from people that believe they saw him on the ridge in a different form and those wizards not being sure what to say you can see that their people are beginning to speak and wonder if there's like a spirit in their midst leaving abyssin as fast as you can we're gonna make some roles here to see how dire this gets i'm gonna need a survival check 17 for suvi 14 for us along 22 for amai nice so three days traveling from abyssin south to try and reach the edge of halakor forest over those days long hours of marching multiple rests scrabbling up ridges through thick roots trees branches parts of the forest that again are not pleasant it's not like oh a hiking trail this is like thick poisonous ivies and plants moving through underbrush having areas where the rot or detritus of trees is so thick and deep that you can't even see as you're moving through and of course this is the safest route that ursilon as a wild one has discovered to go through the forest primeval if you don't want to be spotted don't go where other people are walking so you've spent days feeling the claustrophobia of not only the trees but underbrush thorns briars moving through this place which has slowed your pace to a crawl even though halakor forest is only about 40 miles from abyssin it takes multiple days of just hacking through underbrush to get there at night sleeping as you must at least the soldiers are able to overcome some of their exhaustion so you can rememorize spells your wizards are back to where they need to be though the artificers and some of the wizards that are working off of material components are woefully you know unequipped they don't have the supplies they need to be able to do some of the effects of their magic the exhaustion now is coming from hunger and you can tell that your soldiers are at the precipice of a level of hunger that their ability to march will be impacted and that's where the death spiral really starts where in dnd terms if they have that second level exhaustion and their speed is halved that means suddenly means you're traveling like six miles a day looking at this assembled group there are certain social realities that are seeping in the only people that really seem to socialize at night openly are the citadel wizards silver silver and sworn you see are starting to get along the imperial infantry largely keep to themselves and you know salute and or have their respect commanded by the citadel wizards who are here the artificers sort of stay largely to themselves as well camp together at night anyone that wants to can make an insight to check for me on as these nights of travel approach where you can't even really have a fire 17 seven 10 sky well i think to you things you know you're focused on the mission you're not focused on the social reality of this group of survivors that you are trying desperately to get to where you need to go and on a 10 irsalon i think you're largely focused on there the voices you hear everywhere the voices of the forest which are all around you am a i think that you are aware that though you all these soldiers serve together and sleep together the chasms between these groups feel enormous the deference and respect that the citadel wizards command from the imperial infantry isolates them you see the azure battalion who mostly don't speak when citadel wizards around will come and take things from the imperial infantry sort of without thinking about it like if they need a tool that one of the imperial infantry is using the azure battalion will just come and take it and it will be offered up freely by the imperial infantry you see that on a 17 the azure battalion look at citadel wizards with a sort of mix of wonder but a little bit of that curtness of like oh that like could that have been me one day whereas the imperial infantry look at the azure battalion with a little bit more familiarity and look at the citadel wizards as being effectively spirits themselves things that are like past or beyond their understanding of the things they are able to do and you can see that all of this admiration common cause a devotion to service is very different the the citadel wizards here swore and silver even though they're very different one from the other have a level of adoration for each other and for sky because of their pride in the citadel and their pride in the empire the imperial infantry kind of gaze at ursalon at you kind of stunned to be here this was not promised for them to see this much magic there was a version of their lives where they fought in a part of the war where the most magic they saw was fire shooting out of war staves and fire shooting out of the war staves of people they were fighting and that would be that looking at worth as he sort of chuckles with some of the other soldiers that he's with looking over it some of the citadel wizards some of whom are not particularly uh let's put it uh physically imposing there's a sort of chuckle from them about that that you can tell they find it all simultaneously are grateful for the magic that is saved their lives but find it all somehow so alien and strange the bridge of shared cause spans chasms deeper and darker than i think any of the people here can articulate or vocalize we're all busy surviving there's not much time to examine or much less work on bridging this gap i know that it would be distracting and possibly detrimental to expend energy on that but at the same time i try to think of things that unite us other than our sheer need to survive and scrabble hard scrabble for survival at night i do little prestidigitations and minor illusions and entertainment things that can help bolster spirits and remind them of home if they're willing to talk to me i ask about where they come from uh and and things that they're looking forward to give me a persuasion check 12 those that were already warm to you are very delighted by it and you see that one of the citadel wizards that you've saved the wizard shelter speaks and says those are those are marvelous marvelous tricks uh i can't thank you enough for whatever it was that you did when you and the wizard sky descended from from on high and we turned to start fighting as i think we were worried we didn't want to leave anyone behind but of course as we started to turn so that we didn't leave anyone behind the people that were turning were now themselves at risk of being left behind it just was i've never been in a potential route before and that was about to become that well i think this is putting it a bit crudely but i would say that if the types of magic that i think we're all very adept at uh the wizard sky is is a sword a bright shining and and incisive magic and bear of toma his is as a mighty shield behind which we can all rally and mine i think is i like to imagine maybe uh like the the music of the pipe and the drum and uh something that can bring everybody together and gives them courage and times when it is hard to find such a thing you see that as you sort of had this conversation some of the other soldiers have gathered around on this last night before getting to halakur and you see that you know one of the imperial soldiers says you said bear has magic yes uh much in the way that my magic is a little different than yours mine all my magic came in this stick well i feel that magic is mostly just a tool it can it can be used for many things is the bear is he is he sorry is bear yours or childhood or a childhood friend of the wizard sky and myself you were friends with the i don't mean to prior speak at a station but are you both spirits and you see that he gets elbowed by worth who steps up and says she's not a spirit she's a witch and you see that leia goes how would you know the difference and um you see he says your mother told me and you see he shoves him in the chest and he laughs and you see worth says don't pay any attention to lint ah me he's a moron is his mother a witch usually witches don't write written they raise moron you see that gets up and says call my mother a witch one more time and find out what happens and you see that worth says oh i'll be happy and you see that shelter gets up and says that's enough we're conversing but we are still very much hiding from the enemy we are behind lines go get your tent fastened this conversation isn't for you and you see that the two uh imperial infantry salute crisply walk away and you see the shelter turns back and says i wouldn't waste your time on imperial infantry they've got sand for brains there that's why why would you say that well they they're not look i have respect for for people that engage in staff fighting the azure battalion you know are the decision was made by the citadel for those that enter the azure battalion that they would be most effective as combatants but imperial infantry they i mean half of those men if they hadn't enlisted or been drafted they'd be conflicts ame um starts to tear up a little i i don't ame doesn't know where to start with with this i think ame has never encountered this line of thinking and somebody saying something out loud before quite so straightforward and she knows she can't say any one thing in this moment to change a mind or a heart but she's trying to imagine how she can make somebody see what she sees shelter was it yes the wizard shelter where where did you come from before the citadel before the citadel oh uh a no account village called off me off me do i know anything about off me give me a history check 21 uh you've been to off me on a on a trip with grandmother ren off me is a beautiful little fishing village with like white limestone cliffs that have you remember like running your hand over the cliffs hanging off of grandmother ren's broom and the cliffs have little nautilus shells and fossils and other kind of sediment underneath them like they like they when the ocean used to be higher there was more there was like things left in the cliffs there and the fishers uh there's a lot of cliff fishers there and they have long poles that drop nets into the reefs and then there's divers that dive for urchins and clams and other things like that oh off me uh the white cliffs the fishing do you remember much of your time there there's an incredible uh a sort of a seafood dish that's a mix of of of rice and um give me an insight check 17 uh golly golly is the name of the um the dish the dish yes well i don't yeah the i yeah i've had it it's uh i i think my mother or my aunt maybe made it i don't you know i was five so i don't uh why have you gotten back and gotten the recipe no i haven't uh i haven't made time as someone who spent a little time in the citadel i was so impressed by its wonders and i sent her i sent her letters obviously oh sure so we've correspond and i know that she's healthy mm-hmm but you should really go visit sometime maybe you could um share uh the recipe or or the dish with your friends in the citadel i think that it's important that i don't cook well i'm sure somebody here cooks one of your friends in the citadel well in any case uh i appreciate your magic it was it was very instructive to see up close um and and you see she looks really rattled and kind of upset and gets up and walks away i think suvi was sort of on this like off doing tasks but was able to kind of like watch the flow of the conversation and with observant was reading lips and was going to originally interject when it looked like ame was about to cry and then hung back and then almost interjected when it looked like like shelter was on the ropes and then hung back and is now going to kind of come over and be like hey hey bud how you doing i'm okay you know as much as okay as we can be behind enemy lines mm-hmm i think that some of the folks in the camp are having a having a tough time with each other okay i think that there's tensions between the inventory and the wizards ten is something something's happening is there no well nothing really dangerous but but in a time in which i think we really all should be united and invested in each other's safety i think it's hard for them to care about each other just due to what i would i suppose might be the dynamics of what they believe are you worried about the sort of dynamics in the group or are you concerned that these 35 people in the middle of enemy territory do not have each other's backs yes both yes i think that i mean within your unit usually there's there's got to be an amount of trust who doesn't okay syphie's like yeah doing a lot of like working into like uh like very authoritative clip into ame and like it is an active like you're watching her like walk it back and wait for a full thought give me an insight check and you can do with advantage syphie thank you for the flat roll ten yeah oh i said with advantage oh flat roll yeah i still sleepy i think out of ten you look around everything looks fucking fine everything's looking fine listen you haven't spent a ton of time around imperial infantry like especially being leadership track at the citadel you're like right in the pocket mostly what you're doing is just focusing on the citadel's tasks requirements objectives aims you know you know that silver has spent a lot of time silver as a war wizard is stationed with imperial forces constantly but it's like you're looking right it seems fucking fine and also like it's i think you can see even on a ten that ame is like talking about a lack of cohesion or camaraderie and you who have shit to talk about every designation of the citadel like you're you're here like you know like are you azure or citadel are you banners or demons are you bonny or jou fuck you and i think there is a level of that degree of um a cohesion created through competition and rivalry that is just not being uh beheld in this moment yeah suvi has all of those thoughts and is trying not to jump in with them immediately and is waiting to see if ame has like sort of presage something in the group that is deeply concerning but you can kind of see suvi's like rapid decay of like oh i think you're sad we're not hugging i i i just worry because i think that those who are trained in magic see the infantry soldiers as disposable but the more worrisome part is i think they see themselves sometimes as disposable and that they are being treated as such okay i value your insight and your understanding of community i do not necessarily believe that this is a problem for right now i think uh and again it's just a lot of suvi like do not say the thing you're thinking first find it you see swar n steps up behind you in goes um just wanted to come and talk about the last push tomorrow because i think if we if we really go for it we can get into helik or before nightfall okay uh everything i'm sorry ame can we put a pin in this and can you do me a favor and maybe not try to emotionally rock my wizards with uh things left undone and uh emotional vulnerabilities until we're out of the shroud mountains okay thank you okay swar n yeah everyone's beginning to flag up a little bit i'd like to make that last push i'm circling an idea of perhaps taking one of the horses with which we've arrived and contributing it to the cause to make sure these people have enough calories and them to push a little harder tomorrow swar n nods and says a hero's sacrifice i'd rather do it now before everyone gets desperate and it goes from sacrificing one horse to slaughtering them all yeah no it's the right choice i'm happy to avail myself of that responsibility if you'd like i'll i can help um let's use mine oh and you just see across suvi's face like again the thwarted horse girl in her is like this sucks we should probably the second we get somewhere reliable we should probably ditch the horses anyway i mean going overfoot on high elevation changes with horses it's been one of the main things slowing us down even if we weren't trying to be stealthy all right i'll i'll give you a hand uh swar n turns to you ame too and says everything all right yes just i worry about troop morale and all what do you usually do to keep folks spirits up and keep the camp uh keep them fed remind the most in charge well we can't do the first thing um we're working on it and that's when suvi storms off yeah swar n turns around to you and says you omitted talk to shelter did she say something that bothered you no no not at all it's it's not her fault did worth say something to you i can go straighten him out no i think that this is not something that can really be solved by chain o command sir i think this is something deeper the way that i was raised when you're in community with other members you value them at not necessarily what they can do but who they are and i i think it's it's new to me to have to think of certain people in different um classes oh do you feel that the wizard shelter may have been somewhat dismissive of the contributions of our imperial brethren well yes and i didn't know if it's specific to shelter or if it's more of a that's uh part of the training yeah shelters a citadel wizard to the man who's born we are the few in the proud she's a bit of a snob and if she talked down to some of those imperial infantry then uh maybe it was a bad look i wonder if after sharing a meal with the imperial infantry you would feel as warm and cozy well what's not to like about them if you want to find out you could overhear some of their conversations i would just advise you that when the time comes to haul off and slap corporal worth straight across the face make sure you have some backup respectably sir i think i could do all right just by myself you got it seve's gonna swerve out uh to find Ursulon i think you find Ursulon kind of standing at the edge of the firelight closest to kind of in the direction that we'll be traveling the next day hey bear you really like the white one rah who what was his name i'm a source rahul so i'm about to make a bit of a tough call would you like to send rahul on his way before i make dinner um what do you mean we don't have any food and we have to make a big push the horses are slowing us down and if the if we're headed is older growth they won't be useful horses are for roads and we're staying off of those we need meat not horses please don't make me say i'm about to go kill the horses you're about to go kill all the horses not i mean not all of them if it's all right with you i would prefer not to be involved oh uh yeah that's that's fine um i don't i don't want to do it but i don't know how to feed this many people without doing it i understand were any of them that you talked to kind of dicks sorry i'm trying to make this not super sad um i sadly do not believe that any of the horses were ruder or more deserving than the others you okay i do not want to be here suvi there are other places that call to me but we are close at least to what i believe will be a safer space thank you for coming i know this isn't easy and i'm sure you'd rather be with your family your sister looks really nice she is um if you hear crying in the woods no you don't see we're gonna roll up her sleeve i swar n swar n and silver bow the company yeah i would like to after i left swar n uh go talk to the horses okay you go see the horses are gathered here ron it takes it takes off there's another five horses uh that are all sort of like yeah tethered up and around and yeah you approach them you speak with animals uh ron is there as well or i guess ron is with irsalon right or no they got stuff yeah they're all together yeah yeah yeah good evening ron good evening fellows i as i'm sure you've seen our group is much the worst for a way thank you so much for all that you have done to help us on our way what i'm about to ask of you is something that i do not ask lightly my people need food and like unlike you we cannot graze on the grass or go for as many leagues as you can without eating and i i think that there is talk of the need for your need from one of you i'll say give me insight 22 rice you see that one of those beautiful chestnut mare speaks up and goes all we have ever wanted was to be a hero thank you give me a luck check in this moment the beautiful chestnut mare kicks you in the face and runs away 17 on the die 17 on the die she looks up and says i have fought in many battles by all rights i have been more lucky than most it should be me and you see that ron looks and says no and like the muscles against her and you see that suddenly because speak with animals allows you to understand all animals and verbally communicate with beasts for the duration you hear you hear up in the tree branches over you is there food is that what you're talking about and you look up and see two squirrels in the branch of this pine tree overhead hello you can help us get food well yes yes i can i'm army would you come down you see the fox says yeah come down what okay fine um and you see that the squirrel looks down and says okay and leaps down and lands on your shoulder and sniffles his little buttony nose on your cheek and says you asking these horses about where food is yes oh wait a minute you got hands i do have hands you could open the big barn where they keep the food the what the big barn where they keep the food we know they got seeds in there i could get you so many seeds i bet they even got nuts full nuts come with us to the to the town oh my god there's a town yeah that's where they hide the barn and that's where they hide the seeds okay all right okay um seavee is making your way over at this point uh you see swan is rolling his sleeves yeah seavee's just tears fully streaming down her face no like racking sobs just full horse girl i see are you are you're approaching yeah nobody has to die what nobody has to die barn food town squirrel friend whoa whoa whoa whoa who are all these new people they want seeds they have hands strong dexterous hands yeah it only takes one hand to open the barn but it takes four mouths to eat four times as many seeds as one mouth i know but listen to me how are you gonna get those nuts open hmm forgetting you uh what you think i don't know how to get a nut open i'm just watching my friend chitter at a rat on her shoulder you see the fox looks up at you suvi and goes on three you grab the squirrel's tail i'll jump up and eat the front half of the squirrel okay so all seeds will go to you we will take things that you do not want to eat all right that's true there's a lot of things there we don't want to eat and how do you know that this is not defended by other squirrels many squirrels squirrels defending the barn i don't know who can say no i don't think so hey i'm a hate to cut you off what there is apparently a barn full of food and supplies garden where i'm trying to get some of the details but i say that you me and our salon go we bring back enough supplies and we can push on tomorrow are we taking food from enemy soldier supplies are we looting the town stores are we causing a bigger problem at the very least we need to go and see do we because perhaps that will alert the people of the town or enemy soldiers to our presence here i don't want to do what i have committed myself to doing here but are we creating the potential for a bigger problem whose food is it and how mad will they be that we took it i love you so much if you tell me that this is a good idea i'll go do it i am asking you to consider is this actually solving our problem or are you sparing temporary discomfort and not just taking out uh silver furrow says brown looks at you suvian says am i to understand that there's a possible store of food that is just being kept by townspeople here in the shroud mountains by civilians with respect wizard sky food can be reallocated we don't need to eat anybody out of house and home we're talking about a small group of 30 people if these people are loyal to the empire as they should be then they should be glad of the opportunity to help save these soldiers who have been fighting to liberate them from the forces that are in these mountains and if they're not what do you mean if they're not if they're under gouth mice control then we'll either have to make an assessment to avoid the village and keep marching until we find ourselves behind our own lines or if it's possible that with the forces we have here we can engage in combat free the town liberate the people inside and find a way to feed and water ourselves then yes that's that's the best possible outcome this would be a much needed boon but you're right we don't have all the information but i will say the horses were meant for war and they would not be a verse to helping provide what is needed for the troops you talked to the horses i did yes can you give me like a pair of them that maybe want to stay together wherever they go next can we please just answer my question is trust me for two seconds i relay the question to the horses yeah two of them step forward worst case scenario we trade two extremely good horses for enough food for our troops and move on huh you're so smart that's brilliant okay i just like information soobie says to no oh okay with soldiers collapsing having just made your way to the very edge of the halaker forest you see these two farmers gathered together and step forward taking off their hats to approach the band of soldiers here and shepherding you forward uh i can now describe for you the haven you have found here in the shroud mountains as they lead you to the village of stone rail walking through the beginnings of the forest massive trees the temperature drops by eight degrees just moving forward through this space cool deep dark shadows as you and the soldiers move forward and you begin to approach a village that is hidden in the overhang of a massive waterfall where the water would normally come over the ledge of a cliff the cliff drops and then scales back into a sort of cavern or opening so that behind this curtain of a waterfall the interior of this mountain face actually opens up creating a large cavernous opening partially behind the waterfall and it is up high high high in that cavernous area behind the waterfall that as you approach with these farmers you see buildings suspended from the ceiling of that cavern in this little hidden village in this place and you can see of the buildings that are suspended from it that they are largely built into the side but there are some like rope bridges and planks kind of suspended on rope or vine leading from one to the other so most of the larger structures are built into the rock wall itself and you see this strange hidden little village up here in the shroud mountains and you can see indeed that some chirping sort of chittering squirrels rush up and that one of the stone buildings moss covered with the damp of the waterfall nearby it does have a large pair of closed doors like a barn clearly whatever this place is it is like a hidden sanctum deep in the mountains and you can see right away that these buildings are old old old one of the older farmers leading you up through this place is we we made our way to stone reel once the once the violence broke out this this place here has been hidden up in this part of the mountains for a long long time and my name is Yule uh hello i'm sky who is it sky we i can tell you this for certain we are glad to see you beast men and and strange folk from far away shores have been here in these mountains but we are true we are loyal and true to the flag of the kensares and empire where everyone and all of us were praised for the emperor can i insight check him yeah give me an insight check hey don't trust it i continue to trust it within the leaven can i insight yeah give me insight yeah 25 only 14 on a 25 ame i think the the words of the farmer strike you is true i think that you have failed your stealth check in the most opportune place to do that and if you'll allow on that 25 do they seem to be although frightened in in healthy spirits i think that they don't seem to be in healthy spirits i think that as you walk up a long switch back stone staircase with these sort of wooden railings that have been like varnished with pine resin over and over again until they gleam so they're like shiny varnished uh raw pine wood railings because the steps themselves are like slippery and lossy so close to the waterfall goes up and down the cavern and you see that there is what appears to be like a little hidden village but it's wildly impractical and what you really see is there looks like it is this place as you see multiple lights and people shouting up from the village as you approach this appears to be a place of safety and security that is very far away from anywhere that would be like aerobol or whatever this appears to be like a place of safety to retreat to when things are bad and looking by the stones that are built here this place looks very very old this doesn't seem like it's a new thing that the people of this land have built more like an old ancient settlement that nearby farmers know about that's nowhere near land that they can work or live off of but a place to come to if say a massive war breaks out kind of eyeing the layout of the symptom what threat would warrants living on the ceiling give me a history check 16 you can't say i mean this place is unassailable but you know that wouldn't do you any good unless you had stores but then you look at those big stone doors and you go well there's the stores you know that the shroud mountains in times long ago had you know feudal lords and wars that broke out there were different castles like the original castle of 12 brooks was like a place that was defensible that those streams could be flooded so there was you know there was a period of history here where something like this might have happened you don't know exactly what they're defending against but i don't know you'd have a hard time attacking this place you all we are so very very grateful that we happened upon you and that you are giving us such a friendly welcome as you can see our friends here are much the worse for wear well i understand you have you come here from fort kiran i look to see the a little farther north do you have news from there or for kieran no i think it's back in the hands of the enemy but we the last we heard um the soldiers that were were here came by about five days ago were headed for um allies in brakin that's where they said forces were were gathering brakin thank you so much did you see soldiers came through here five days ago yeah of the empire yes of the empire they were too frightened to go through hallaker so they went around the long way but um it's you know hallaker is a haunted forest so oh what haunts it oh spirits they're dangerous ones they're old rune stones that only cooks and fools go out and in the strange little nighttime pilgrimage out to the standing stones up on the cliff's edge nighttime pilgrimages you say there's uh some holy sites out there that they uh you know journey to by night but there you know where's fiddle faddle well i i'm a collector of uh folklore and i would love to hear anything you have to say uh should time allow unfortunately we don't have much but how many of you are there here about three score of us here right now okay i'm going to cut straight to it do you have any provisions that you could see your way to parting with to the empire yes yes oh yes absolutely we'd be more than happy to uh we can offer you okay it's high up um down there are a pair of very good horses that you could use not here when you this felt like a better idea until we got to this place and now i feel like the horses are a bad gift well i mean the with any luck the folks here won't have to be hold up here for very long and they can go back to their homes and their uh places that would need horses says you require you require rations and feeding yes please well we let's get everyone up the stairs and and we we have a we have a stables up here we'll have to get down lower the row of the ropes and you see these big sort of woven hammock underbelly saddles come in and some of the farmers come out and begin to affix them under the bellies of the horses and just start to hoist them skyward oh well one of you too please apologize the horses for me keep keep your core tight ron goes i'll keep my core tight and you guys enter the village of stone rail this hidden sanctum at the top of the staircases you see a number of planks and bridges there are some like stone balconies that seem to hug almost like a little street going through a town but just stay on the outside of the many sort of buildings built into the cliff face and you see as one opens up you see that there is a bright fire lit and warm stone benches carved that have blankets placed out on them and you see that this appears to be like a small gathering hall and you see as the soldiers come in sort of beds are laid out for them and you see that the farmers start to gather and you see an older woman comes out and says hello i am demure i am the matriarch of stone rail welcome all of you how have you gathered your way here are you part of the advance guard and you see silver turns and says our squadron was rescued by the wizard sky of the citadel and we are currently falling back to regroup and rejoin our number with our companions on the other sides of our lines well a rescue mission a success well i we have precious little to go around but some libations then yes and some food and drink and and a celebration for for you heroes you can be you can make a racket here the waterfall it's hard to hear anything and you see that they light some little lanterns and you see they have some little extra fireflies floating around in these glass bulbs that have some like sugar water in the base and they begin to sort of cart out food in this moment what are you all feeling looking around and doing you've just been through i think all of you feel like acetone on the back of your tongue and stress in your blood and a certainty that these farmers are going to murder you as you sleep yeah and there's a feeling of uh what is going on physically and emotionally for you guys in this moment i am trying to introduce myself to as many people as possible and to uh somewhat smooth the way i try to introduce some of different representatives from the groups as well i'm hoping that uh while we are here that everyone will be on best behavior and i try to find ways of bastardating that without outright saying it i'll lean over at some point be like you can just say that oh do you want me to say it yes can you say it for them i just turn into the group if any of you fucks up you'll be at the bottom of this cavern give me intimidate with advantage six oh the words the words are hurt and she says that but i'm like well but uh also if you'd like just but please try to be polite um uh best behavior everyone sui just gives you a look and is nodding and i think she's already lost inside of the actual thing she's feeling right now which is struggling physically with a setting that keeps it like insisting that you can relax here and her like inability to coach her brain into relaxing that she just looks really uncomfortable and almost like hunched over it's that like it's not just like the ass in the back of your throat you're like i could throw up from how like hard it is to stop being this stressed out for this long ame you cease to expectant little squirrels on the road itself i wink at them and i make sure uh on on the carts of food i assume that there have to be some sort of grains or oh yes yes yeah yeah yeah absolutely see there's a little a little assortment of like tree nuts and there's some other like uh blows of bread that have seeds and grains on them and things like that um but uh uh so what do you do as you see the squirrels there you see the fox goes this is our last chance we got provisions here and you'll have them and you'll be great for for them and i take a little attractive arrangement of the nuts and the seeds i put it on a little leaf uh and i set it by the window and i bow squirrels and take the seeds we're good and they scamper off the seeds oh some of the farmers come with some folk instruments looks like one of them uh has like a simple like flute and another one has little stringed instrument and they uh come together and begin to play some music and share some libations here you can tell that there is a degree of generosity in this space uh you will the older farmer uh is sitting down and talking with sworn and sworn is sort of smiling at him politely it looks like she should be doing an okay job you know chatting with him and um silver at a certain point as the soldiers look around and kind of cannot believe their turn of fortune over the last five days from being trapped in a lumber mill where they thought for sure they were going to die to now being here in this space with music playing being weighted on by farmers who are to appear to be grateful that soldiers of the empire have shown up and it there's this feeling of of like oh my god look maybe we're gonna be okay uh and you see that silver stands up and raises a glass uh as the music sort of comes to a pause for a moment and you see he says to those who fought bravely and who with their lives bought our freedom to those that paved the way here to the bravery of those who risked everything to see us saved he drains it and everyone cheers and i think that there's just uh you know uh a little party breaks out in this place celebrating the successful rescue this mission and you see that it begins to look uh you also notice that the imperial soldiers are laughing and smiling they appear to be a little more comfortable around the farmers here that are in this space and there's a lot more gregariousness and camaraderie um a couple people come up and look what like look to be like making offerings to the citadel wizards that are here of just being like you see like a young woman approaches you and it's like we don't have uh very very much stored but we do have some cured meat um do wizards eat meat oh uh gent it very yes thank you you see she bows very deeply and holds it up like an offering oh um what's your name a door a door oh that's that's a beautiful name you don't have to uh and i just kind of like pat her on the hand like this can thank you i will take this like a person to a person you're good i is there anything we can do for you while we're here um we just know that we know that they eat people and i know that you're here to stop them and that they've eaten everybody in the land that they come from oh oh oh i'm gonna grab a door and just pat her on the back and be like hey they're still let them eat us i i won't and i i don't can i make a history check like that's crazy that is no check required that is not the case yeah hey uh you want to take me on a tour of this place and i i want to explain to her that that's not necessarily true like there's got to be a way to talk about sort of wartime propaganda in a way that isn't in front of everyone to be like hey they don't eat people but fear is understandable and i just want you to be able to walk this off a little bit great yeah you you walk off with her and she starts to show you around stone with a little bit ercelon what are you up to i think ercelon's having that energy of like a upset kid at his favorite restaurant yeah where there's just this desire to dislike a thing you know you enjoy i like there's something to this moment that as like libations are poured and music is playing i think the reason ercelon can't shake the reason that he's here and doesn't want to like like it really the voice even like in my own head is like very childish and like i don't want to i don't want to have the wine i don't want to embrace the food and the and the community uh i want to be mad i want to be mad that i'm here and i want to be mad that i'm not with kalaya and that i'm not back at the burrow and so i think as kind of the music kicks up i think ercelon excuses himself and takes a bit of drink outside uh and it's just going to stand and listen to the waterfall and i think at some point open up his divine sense and try and hear more of that music from halakor forest give me a perception check only a four smell of wine and human grain and there's a familiar scent in this space that they've made ready for the soldiers here your nostrils are filled with the smell of soap and i don't think you can focus on anything else beautiful waterfall is gorgeous buildings the moss everywhere shroud mountains are an old place but there's something here there's something that it's like a cored apple or the honey taken out of a beehive it's hard to put your finger on me you see silver approaches you and puts a drink in your hand and puts a hand on your shoulder exceptional thank you so much i know that sky would do whatever it takes to see these soldiers saved and it's incredible that we didn't lose anybody getting out of avicen she played it smart and safe yes but i know it would have broken her heart to especially those horses that she'd taken all the way from marlon to here and you found you have tremendous skills we're very lucky to have a witch of your caliber serving our cause well i i'm here to rescue suvi and to rescue those that suvi loves you see he blushes he goes those that sky loves well well well he smiles and says your service is deeply appreciated and i do want to offer something to you just in a brief moment as we arrived and the wizard sky made a request for behavior of the soldiers here i know that you also made a request of their behavior and i just want to acknowledge that we are very grateful for your service but in order to not confuse the men it is not your place to offer command or orders to them and i just want that to be very clear yes that makes sense i am not in your chain of command but my request comes from a place where it would be safer for your men were they to heed my warning let's call it let's call it advice understood i think in service of clarity which is clarity chain of command these are not ephemera these are the arteries and veins of the body of our military the clarity provided by these chains of command is how we survive how we stay alive when circumstances are ordered against us in so doing i would just say that your advice is best offered to the one you serve i do not intend to overstep my boundaries that being said your modes of survival are highly effective in battle in the citadel in the lands of civilization where your systems are accustomed to being but out here is my where i'm accustomed to being and i think perhaps that there are things that you and the wizard sky and the rest of your compatriots do not see but i shall take care to relay that just to the wizard sky in future much appreciated you see silver looks around you see that swan has gotten into a little bit more of a serious conversation with you all the farmer over in the corner and silver looks out you see just like he does a quick head count and he turns to leave irslan closer to where you're sort of trying to hear the forest you hear the noise of some boots approaching behind you i turn you turn around you smell alcohol pretty strongly you know the smell of alcohol pretty well two of the imperial soldiers are behind you and there is a sort of shy looking the other artifice are not rusty is behind them looking a little bit meek or shy and you see that one of the soldiers is swaying really drunk you know that this guy had like lost a lot of blood he was one of the ones that had been riding a horse for a while and looks pretty fucked up like he's been drinking pretty heavily and just sort of sways on his feet looking at you i hold his gaze what do you feel in this moment or is there anything you want him to feel as you hold his gaze i think that as the tension draws out irslan is conveying more and more fury and anger as he looks at you and looks at your eyes give me a intelligence saving throw eight you feel your glamour slip just from your eyes a little bit as the fury intensifies the soldier you're not looking at turns around and sort of playfully shoves the artificer goes told you told you told you and looks up and says can you fly the one you're looking at who you've not broken eye contact with urine spreads in a giant patch down his leg as he can't break his eye contact from you looking into the eyes of a predator of a spirit and you see he's sweating and looks on the verge of vomiting and passing out and you realize that he is like he's sort of in a paralysis and on the verge of having a seizure i blink and shake i i think the the smell of the urine and the the hint of a seizure i think kind of make irslan blink out of and is and i'm now actually trying to understand the fact that maybe feeling a little bit that his glamour faded and being surprised and confused by that the other guy who you are not looking at takes a sort of drunken step towards you and says can you fly what can you uh this guy says your spirit what did you say kudorza you said spirit uh and you see the the um artificer who's a kind of wiry young kid uh dark skin dark hair uh sees how sort of a silver cap on one of his teeth goes honored friend honored friend didn't say didn't say didn't say other words that honored friend and you see that the soldier turns around and says yeah i just they saw you on the ridder the citadel the citadel wizards they said you um and you see that the wizard who's sort of soiled himself grabs the other one and pulls him back and turns around back to look at you and you can see is in a state of extreme emotional duress now that you've broken eye contact he's clearly drunk but he's sobered up with this fear so it's a mixture of cortisol and panic and alcohol and humiliation and he grabs his friend you can tell that he is about to surge out in some kind of violent emotional direction that you can't anticipate in this moment irsaline what do you do as it looks like one of the soldiers has come here just to gawk at you maybe the other one did too but instead feeling your fury has entered into like a place of emotional panic and do you think that you're saying that the the one who's about to enact some kind of violent is is about to do that onto the gawker or you or something else you can just tell that that person's in a peak of emotion where he's like you know what i mean like like you see someone drunk in a bar and you're like i don't know who they're gonna try to hit yeah right like it's a but it's a moment of peak feeling the the energy rising in this moment irsaline is going to raise his voice you all need to go back inside go ahead and give me intimidate ten you see drawing the attention back onto yourself this imperial soldier whips around cocks a fist back and takes a swing and with disadvantage misses pretty effort like you just step back and he can't connect you know it's not but just just takes a swing and says put the put the evil eye on me what you're not i'm gonna grapple this person okay give me he's rolling disadvantage give me athletics ah he got a 12 i got a 13 okay you pin him and he goes ah you see the other guy the guy goes oh and he begins to go get his like matchstick off his back get his like staff off his back and you see that the guy you're pinning goes you're you shape sazer you don't know a thing about me and i'm gonna it was once realizing that this isn't he's there's nothing here and it's just going to get up get up and start walking give me one last charisma check as you attempt to diffuse this situation 11 okay um you walk away the guy gets up off the ground as you attempt to start walk away it tries to get to his feet the other guy going for his matchstick sees that this is over and though you're not able to calm down the guy you are grappling you see that he goes and gets his drunk friend and sees that this is over the drunk soldier on the ground calling out after you and says if you're spirit why aren't you bound if you're spirit why aren't you bound shape changer uh person keeps walking down the stairs out of the village suvi you are out to get like a tour of the town with adore uh what are you explaining to her as you begin to walk with her so war is hard and bad obviously but it's important to remember that the reasons that we fight at the end of the day we are people fighting other people and wizards of the citadel despite the way most of this act are not particularly special and the shape changers don't eat people in my experience so uh we don't have to make monsters out of men or myths or just people fighting for our homes but we will protect our homes and you i promise give me a persuasion check and you can couple that with an insight check natural one for the persuasion and a seven for the insight you just can tell on a seven that nothing you have said connects with this young woman yeah if anything she is more distrustful of you because of how much much how many bitter tears and deep nightmares have been devoted to knowing that shape changers eat people you advocating for them doesn't change her opinion of shape changers it changes her opinion of you yeah yeah and i think there's something that's very obvious to suvi in that moment that she's like oh this was never about allaying adores fears i'm just pulling a scared young woman into like my own storm of stuff and like is also like very like sort of self-chasen in that too uh i'm sorry can you do me a favor uh yeah i'm very tired uh and my friend and i would love a place to rest for just a little while is there an empty room yeah yeah i i can i can find you an empty room uh give me a perception check second natural one oh my god the other the other die is great so the sound of the waterfall obscures the shouts of the soldier shouting after irsalon and you are led to a bed where you can you see the blessed sleep ame as suvi disappears with the young woman and irsalon heads out you see silver walks around you see inquiring after where sky may have gone to you look over and see sworn speaking sort of heartfelt with uh the farmer you will who are going to be having a serious conversation and you see sort of nods he says oh understood all right thank you he looks up at you stands and offers uh one of the sort of little pockets of looks like a little dough and some rustic potatoes and stew in it ame has already stuffed herself um and oh no i couldn't possibly thank you but you and your people deserve this rest sworn looks even says we wouldn't have it without you there's nothing more dangerous than panic and a lack of clarity that spell that you cast was remarkable and finding this village i many things speak highly of the wizard sky's character and there's no one that i've been more honored to serve in my time at the citadel but of the thing that speaks highest to her character is the respect she commands even from those that do not owe it to her as a mark of their station in respect yes i i would not have described it that way i suppose thinking of i would have said our love our love for the wizard sky will always bring us to her side it's similar it's the same i think sometimes people give a different poetry to these words i think there's a mark of difference oh well if you're talking about what i feel it's not respect or love duty loyalty loyalty is there a scoff in your voice at the thought of loyalty no not at all not at all but i are you loyal to a person or to the ideals or to the people around you that uphold those ideals i don't think it matters as long as you just pick one i think when you pick more than one thing to be loyal to you can trick yourself into thinking that you're giving the world nuance but what you're really doing is giving yourself a way out so you just pick one and you stay with it no matter what i got my name clock about four years after you're supposed to i passed into the citadel it was very talented and squandered any possibility i had of meaningful contribution i thought maybe i'd do this maybe i'd enter this school maybe i'd do that and the only mentor i ever had that really meant anything to me died with me being a fly at the bottom of a bottle and unworthy of the care and attention that they had given to me and they never got to see me take my name clock you can waste a lot of time weighing things in the balance my judgment has only ever thwarted me and led me astray so i know that the best thing for me to do is to find someone who gets it right more often than me and follow them nobody can be right all the time and there's nothing wrong with having a curious mind i'm glad you found purpose but i think that as for me i hope to continue to find purpose many of them different ones and just continue on that way i'm not afraid to have picked wrong well then it's very good that you are you and i am me thank you for taking care of the wizard sky for your loyalty to her i do appreciate that independence is a lovely thing for a small number the world doesn't work unless most people get in line you see swan walks off to go look for silver and you see that now it's there's a couple other scheduled meetings around uh fox is sort of chewing see fox looks up at you and says seems like everything is going great oh because your belly's full yes oh yeah that's true things are going better than they were before i'm just so in my head here and not in a good way like the kind where we can talk way yeah i think it's i still don't know what to say so give me a perception check 12 are you here some shouting outside i don't hear exactly what's said but you're some shouting what's the tenor of it aggressive violent dang it do you hear that yeah with me come i see scoots out you arrive you see two soldiers in an artificer heading back from the entrance to the village uh and you don't see urselon anywhere there see the fox looks out and says uh not this again and begins to sort of scatter off forward suvi room acquired i'm gonna like pull out just the sort of like whatever candles and like lamp and just try to make it a little nice uh and then i'm gonna go find silver silver finds you oh okay okay i think she's still a little shook from how badly the conversation with a door went uh so i'm gonna use my last second level spell slot to just cast detect thoughts just to get a little running vibe of i gotta know if i'm doing a bad job or if i'm swinging wide is this for silver not like just the like glancing thought she's not gonna like force a save on anything you cast detect thoughts silver walks in and all you sense coming from him is i wish i still knew her name suvi is going to immediately end the spell and there's parts of her that are like i should go let amin urselon know that i'm gonna sleep here i should go check on the other soldiers i should check in with sworn i can't keep doing this i'm so tired and he's right there and all he wants for me is to know my name and she's gonna pull a little scrap of paper out and sit on the bed and pat the space next to it this doesn't have any expectation attached to it we can just rest but i need you to know that my name is suvi because i really liked the way you said my name and i put it on the sheet of paper so he has it he takes it looks at it his hands are wreathed in light as he smushes the paper between his palms and burns it in between two cold hot exteriors of his hands as he calls a little flame spell and he goes suferin lie down i love you and he takes a blanket and folds it over you and then curls you up in an embrace and lies behind you with his arms around you you can feel his nose on the back of your neck as he matches his breathing to yours first one at the base of the steps cool dark forest in all directions what do you do first one is desperate to stop spinning on the thoughts and fears that are filling his head and is going to open his divine sense give me perception with advantage 19 peepers there's frogs down here below the waterfall they're telling a story this is an old forest the stones hold stories here the frogs sing songs there's fairies in the woods and deeper in here there's an old old hum they used to worship night in this place that was lu wilson as ursalon erica ishii as ame abria iran gar as suvi and brennan lee mulligan as everyone and everything else worlds beyond numbered is edited designed and scored by taylor moore at fortunate horse with additional sound designed from michael delphi studios for even more like this join us on our patreon we'll see you there you