0:04

Pickaxe. When

0:06

you need mealtime inspiration, it's worth

0:08

shopping Kroger, where you'll find over

0:10

30,000 No

0:15

matter what tasty choice you make, you'll enjoy

0:17

our everyday low prices. Plus, extra ways to

0:19

save, like digital coupons worth over $600 each

0:22

week. You can

0:24

also save up to $1 off per gallon at

0:26

the pump with fuel points. More

0:28

savings and more inspiring flavors. Five

0:36

below means hot stuff. Cool

0:38

prices and the best kind of fun

0:40

anywhere. The trends you see all over

0:43

your feed can be yours for way

0:45

less than the rest. Like, can't keep

0:47

in stock candy and snacks. Brand name

0:49

beauty, the latest tech, room decor, and

0:52

lots more. Plus get extreme value finds

0:54

you just have to see to believe

0:56

in our 5 Beyond Shop. Yep, you

0:58

could say we're kind of a big

1:01

deal here. Shop over

1:03

1600 stores nationwide and

1:05

5below.com. Welcome

1:07

back to part two of Althea the Dragon

1:09

Empire with Daisy's

1:12

sudden transformation. With

1:14

Ophelia's channeling of the Gravelord.

1:17

With a critical strike from

1:19

Gruffrth and various support and

1:22

assistance from Rowan and

1:24

Xanthius, Benedicta, Greal, and many others.

1:29

The battle for Ashen's Rest has

1:31

been won. The

1:34

Everlight destroyed. The

1:36

demons defeated. And

1:39

whatever power that Tobias Leite was

1:41

trying to channel dispersed.

1:45

The dome dissipates. And

1:48

you have a few moments. Those

1:51

of you who were stable but on sort

1:53

of like, you know, you can

1:55

be at one hit point as Xanthius. Oh,

1:57

thank you. What a gift. At some

1:59

time. passes. Ophelia,

2:02

you have a,

2:05

at this point, very dejected, like

2:07

Morris Goldsight, this aging dwarf, has

2:09

just given up and is

2:11

just head down, following

2:14

wherever you sort of drag him or push

2:17

him or shove him to. I'll drag him.

2:19

Yeah, doesn't speak, just head

2:21

down, no words. That

2:24

figure that was flying towards you, you watched

2:28

as the demon's power,

2:31

this ballast gore and these demons

2:33

that were appearing of

2:35

this weird phosphoristically light, as

2:38

that power faded, that figure just seemed to

2:40

almost drop out of the air as they

2:42

were flying, as if the power was suddenly

2:44

taken away from them, as

2:46

they were flying towards you, so a few streets

2:49

down basically from where you currently are. Mmm,

2:52

it's rough. You

2:56

can distantly hear, you

2:59

can still hear sounds of battle,

3:02

but quickly you begin to hear

3:04

cheering as well, as if

3:06

victories are being won, you know, people are

3:09

overcoming things. You begin to

3:11

see like several of the civilians that you

3:13

guys helped escape, they are beginning to return

3:15

with things like water buckets and like people

3:17

that are dedicated to putting out

3:19

fires, the buildings are, most of them are

3:21

either being evacuated, some of

3:24

them will probably burn down, but the effort to make

3:26

sure that the fires don't spread beyond anywhere

3:29

else begins in earnest.

3:33

Unless, is there anything you guys would

3:35

like to do, like immediately? I'm

3:40

laying on the ground, I've just put an arm up

3:42

to Gruff, can you help me up? Alrighty

3:45

boyo, how you feeling? Pretty

3:47

bad, actually, pretty bad, oh by

3:49

the way, Benedicta? Yeah,

3:52

knows about, yeah. We'll deal with that another

3:54

day. I know, I know, I

3:56

just, they were gonna find out eventually. killing

4:00

her sister already knew. Oh yeah, definitely, 100%.

4:02

I'm bad at keeping secrets. Speaking of secrets, Rowan

4:07

is bathing in the light of a

4:09

celestial daisy, having been healed.

4:13

And aim dropped. I

4:15

will dismiss, I will drop the form. So

4:17

you watch as the wings kind of disappear,

4:21

the light slowly fades until it

4:23

is daisy once again. What?

4:28

Hi. What? He's

4:34

just doing two thumbs up. And

4:37

it's stomped towards.

4:41

I can talk about it at some point, but at the moment. Everything's

4:46

fine. You flew, you flew. You had wings.

4:49

Lots of people have wings and flying wings.

4:51

I don't. No? Nope.

4:54

Benedicta sort of looms behind Daisy. So

4:56

Rowan, you see her, you hear her

4:58

daisy. You hear like a clank of

5:00

armor and things like that. And

5:02

when you turn around, you see her quite

5:04

tall, broad muscular form.

5:07

You know, she's very beautiful in a sense.

5:09

She has like this shorter cropped blonde hair,

5:11

but she has a very kind of like

5:13

picturesque face, like a statue. She's, you know,

5:15

incredibly beautiful, but also powerful. And

5:18

she's looking down at you. And

5:20

her face is difficult

5:22

to read. Can Rowan and Daisy give me insight

5:24

checks? Cause she's just got this

5:26

very strange expression on her face. Nope, four.

5:29

Eight. Eight. The two

5:31

of you don't really know

5:33

what's going on, but like, she's

5:36

just gonna, she's like staring down at you

5:38

Daisy. She's quite tall. She's like six feet.

5:42

Nothing bad. It's fine. Everything's

5:45

fine. She takes a knee.

5:50

Child of light. Huh?

5:53

Of pirates. Huh? You

5:55

were sent to save this place. Sorry.

5:59

Ron's sent you to save

6:02

us. A

6:05

miracle, a true miracle. Stop praying

6:07

on the floor. Yeah, and Benedicta

6:09

holds her hands up and it's

6:12

like... It's a

6:14

sign. Sun Warrior, thank

6:16

you for sending one of your blessed chosen.

6:19

Thank you so much. And

6:21

Benedicta is in absolute awe

6:23

of you, Daisy. There's

6:26

no way you expected to happen. Ron

6:28

is crying. Stop crying. That's

6:30

grotto. That's why. How

6:33

are you looking? Stop it. Well, Gruff and Xanthius

6:35

and Ophelia. Ophelia, you can just walk down the

6:37

wall with Morris, so you've got to find. I

6:39

feel like Ophelia would be like tutting and like

6:41

scolding Morris. Like, you see, Morris, this is what

6:43

happens when you put your faith in demons and

6:45

devils. They can't be trusted. If you trust the

6:48

grave father, however, you would live a life of

6:50

promise and luxury. So just

6:52

heed my warning. This is what happens when you

6:54

follow demons and the like. This did not happen.

6:57

If it were not for you, our plan would

6:59

have succeeded. They have shown me such

7:01

wonders that I could not imagine. I

7:04

was going to learn so much. Tobias

7:06

and I, we were going to change the world

7:08

with the gifts that they gave us. It

7:11

was you, not the demons. It

7:14

was you. And then if you had

7:16

not destroyed that girl, the angel, if

7:18

she had not destroyed the light, I

7:20

would have fixed it. I would have

7:22

had such knowledge. Such knowledge.

7:25

All of it lost. Tobias.

7:29

Oh, Tobias. He's just

7:31

shaking his head. Will you answer

7:33

for what you have done to this town? So

7:37

be it. There is

7:39

nothing more. I am an old man. What

7:42

will they do to me? Imprison me? Kill

7:45

me? A few

7:47

years. I would have died anyway.

7:50

I'm sure the Duke will think of something. Yes,

7:53

the Duke. Stuck in

7:55

the past, not

7:57

looking to the future. I

8:04

just imagine you every now and then if you start talking up

8:06

again you like flick his forehead. No, shump. Uh,

8:09

Gruff and Xanthius, your

8:11

main way down is a burning building from the

8:14

walls. What do you guys want to do? You

8:16

can wait and they might be able to put

8:18

it out but you might be waiting a while.

8:22

I think that's the thing like Gruff is literally just going to

8:24

sit on the wall with his paws dangling

8:27

over the side. Just looking at

8:30

everything and just, he's tired, he's

8:32

exhausted. Yeah, that's how we're over there.

8:34

He's very, very. That goes up. Yeah. A

8:37

burning building that's the only way down. I guess we're stranded. This is

8:39

who we are now. I think there's nothing wrong. We're

8:42

warm people now. This is

8:44

where we belong. I think there's nothing

8:46

wrong with taking a moment's rest. I,

8:50

I'm going to sleep. All

8:53

right lad. Uh,

8:55

the two of you sat on the wall, Benedicta

8:58

and Rowan just in prayer

9:00

next to Daisy just who

9:02

is looking bewildered. Ophelia comes

9:04

up dragging Maurice behind you.

9:07

Um, a few

9:09

minutes pass and that

9:11

cheering becomes more audible as obviously

9:13

victories and the guards and maybe

9:15

even the civilians themselves throughout Ash

9:17

and Rest overcome those last remaining

9:19

demons. Now not able to resummon

9:21

themselves back into the world. They

9:23

are dispatched and the threat is

9:26

eliminated. You

9:31

would hear a booming

9:34

voice maybe

9:36

just shortly after that of

9:39

the Duke himself. Citizens

9:43

of Ash and Rest, my

9:45

loyal people of Northvale. The

9:48

threat has passed and

9:51

I beg of your forgiveness for

9:53

my actions and my weakness.

9:57

Please assist your neighbors, your kids, your family.

10:00

your kin and the guard and

10:02

rebuilding and attending to what matters there need

10:04

be. I will dispatch and

10:06

send for our forces to come and assist

10:09

with the recovery effort. But

10:12

fear not, the creatures are gone." And

10:17

that sort of echoes across the town for a moment. I'm

10:19

laying on my back, I just do a week. Yeah.

10:23

I will take like his satchel or something and

10:25

just put it under his anthias head. Mm-hmm. A

10:28

little pillow. Yeah. Um, yeah.

10:31

The next, now again, you guys are more than, I

10:33

would definitely like to know what you're going to do

10:35

with Morris and where you're going to go from here.

10:39

But the next few days

10:41

are going to be, the town is

10:43

going to be busy on rebuilding, putting

10:46

out fires, any dead that need to be attended

10:48

to. And there's going to be

10:50

a lot of hustle and bustle guards going around protecting things

10:52

and things like that. You probably would be summoned to go

10:54

and speak with the Duke at some point, but we can

10:56

do that when you guys are ready. But I want to

10:58

know if there's anything that in that time period you guys

11:01

do, and especially I'd like to know what you do with

11:03

Morris or anything immediate. Um, while

11:06

rethinking just, um, I guess there's a little

11:08

admin point as we get down or something

11:10

like that. Yeah. Like

11:12

imagine like after a few minutes, like, you know, you can make your

11:14

way down and they get a fire crew up here and start putting out

11:16

the flames. Gruff is going to try and

11:18

dismantle one of the, dismantle? Why don't you just say

11:20

it like this? I want to see! Oh, how

11:23

fancy! Gruff is going to do it! Gruff

11:25

is going to do it! Gruff is going to do mine too. One of

11:27

the lights. One of the other lights. Um,

11:29

fuck me. One of

11:32

the normal everlights. Yeah. All

11:34

three of these have been destroyed. So they are damaged.

11:37

The one in the tower? He just remembered. One in

11:39

the tower was also damaged. Yeah. He

11:42

remembered that, um, Black Queen wanted a

11:44

disc from an everlight. Um, so

11:46

he will try and find a disc from an

11:48

everlight. Go out into the city and find like

11:50

a functional one. Yeah. I'd say he

11:52

remembered that. Yeah. He made a

11:54

promise, bro. Yeah. He spat on his core

11:56

and everything. He did. Yeah. Yeah.

12:00

how to like dismantle them and how to like, you

12:02

know, it takes you a couple of times like maybe

12:04

some of the everlights aren't because not All of them

12:06

didn't have these discs, but you eventually would find one

12:08

for sure. Yeah, and yeah, that's just a little

12:10

admin point Sure. Yeah. Okay. Well remembered and you

12:12

can note that down that you have an everlight

12:14

is The

12:18

demons didn't really leave anything behind like anything

12:20

that they were carrying Went

12:22

with them when they were defeated but Morris.

12:24

I don't know if you would like take

12:27

his things off of him Yeah,

12:29

I was gonna say like he has Like

12:32

this weird monocle thing that

12:34

he has on him. He's got that he

12:37

has Various kind of like

12:39

they look more like our chemical ingredients like

12:41

powders and acids and things like that I'm

12:43

could be worth some money if you took

12:45

those but that demonic looking gun Is

12:49

this ornate carved of like

12:51

brass and almost this ebony

12:53

black wood? It's you

12:55

know barrel is almost shaped like this

12:57

Senuous kind of demoness and she's like

13:00

got her mouth open and like the

13:02

hands are like cradling the barrel and

13:04

it's all shaped There's no that's rebate.

13:07

There's um, there is a chamber That

13:10

seems to be almost like a kind of

13:12

revolver like a spinning thing that can house

13:14

four things, but they're all empty And

13:17

Morris doesn't answer any questions about it Oh

13:21

Does the vampire want to add a gun

13:23

to her whip and her sword? It's a

13:26

demon gun though No, it is demon. It's

13:28

a demon gun. You can try and break

13:30

it. Yeah, I'll smash it. Okay

13:32

That's it's taking months. I was just like

13:35

oh you I guess you could destroy it.

13:37

Yeah. Yeah, you can transmit Give me a

13:39

yum. It's really cool. Give me like a

13:41

straight Check your spiritual damage It's

13:45

so cool For

13:49

what is this is this like you take the gun you just like bash it

13:51

on the wall or on the floor It's like a wretched thing and

13:53

just like I try and like throw it at something

13:55

or like sure you throw it out

13:57

of disgust and

14:00

it hits like a stone pillar, like

14:02

the edge of a building, and

14:05

you see like fire kind

14:07

of spark along its barrel.

14:10

And there's almost, those of you who are nearby,

14:12

I'd say all of you basically hear this

14:15

voice kind

14:18

of almost like speak from it,

14:20

like you hear it in your mind. It's like a

14:22

sentient demon gun. No good, sentient weapons. We

14:25

love those. I have a good track record with those. I'd

14:28

send you a demon gun. I guess

14:30

Phoebe would then probably just pick

14:32

it up again because it's dangerous. Like she

14:35

probably wants to destroy it somehow. The kid

14:37

might pick it up. It's

14:39

hot to the touch when you pick it up. Oh. Just

14:42

wrap it in like her cloak or like in

14:44

her dress or like shove it

14:46

in like a bag or

14:48

something. Okay. Can

14:53

you put down demon gun in your inventory? I will put

14:55

down demon gun. Thanks. Morris'

15:00

other equipment, there's probably like, in terms

15:03

of raw materials, it's basically

15:05

an alchemist kit that he has on him. And then

15:07

he has this like weird, yeah

15:09

like monocle device thing, almost

15:11

like a one eyed sort of like,

15:15

not eye patch, I'm trying to think. It's like, I think

15:17

of what to use it as. It's like a

15:19

leather band, like an eye patch, but it has like all these

15:21

different lenses and like pieces of

15:23

metal, like it looks very artifice-y kind of

15:26

stuff. Like in the opticians, when they go,

15:28

they put the lens in, they go one.

15:30

But only on the one eye. One or

15:32

two, yeah. So spikids, yeah, I get it.

15:35

Spikids. Steam

15:37

punk magic spikids, sure. Like

15:40

Vegeta. Like a scouter,

15:42

like that, but like a steam punk-y version

15:44

of it, yes. I've never watched it. It's

15:47

good though, good reference. Vegeta,

15:49

what does the scouter say about

15:52

his power? 9,000! 9,000! Fucking love

15:54

that show. Anyway, so

15:57

those are the, and yeah, you can write those down. That

16:00

thing that he's wearing, this scouter device,

16:02

it does look ornate. Nobody doesn't

16:04

speak to anybody. But it does look very

16:06

ornate, and I'd say that you,

16:08

having experience, because you've looked at the

16:10

stuff out in Arceus, again,

16:12

looks like the tool, like an artificer, probably

16:15

a magic item of some kind. I

16:17

think Ophelia would probably gather all these

16:19

up with the intention of handing them

16:21

over to the authorities. Yeah, sure. Just

16:24

to make sure they don't get used. That's what?

16:26

Nefariously. I recommend, outside

16:28

of character, is to go to

16:30

the High Authority. With Morris, yeah.

16:34

Yeah, because you have Tobiases also somewhere.

16:38

Wow, just on the ground, supplied. I mean,

16:40

there's like a, not a force, but a

16:42

crowd coming towards us. They're probably gonna see

16:44

him first. But yeah, we can have

16:47

a little peruse. I think, yeah, High Authority with

16:49

Morris. Wait, we think

16:51

the flying person's Tobias? I

16:54

said it was Tobias, didn't it? Yeah. No. No?

16:57

No. Was it not? I didn't

16:59

say anything. I said nothing. We don't know what it was.

17:01

Because it disappeared with the, so it's probably something demonic. Oh,

17:04

the demon dude was talking about. It fell out the sky,

17:06

it disappeared. It fell out the sky. It fell out the

17:08

sky. Okay, so. I thought you said something

17:10

like Tobias, so I will not forget the deal. Yeah, demon

17:12

dude. Yeah, but. We could say that. I will

17:14

not forget this deal. I say

17:16

nothing. Should we go and investigate

17:18

what fell out the sky? We can head in that

17:20

direction. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh. We

17:23

definitely wanna hand over Morris to the

17:25

authorities. Grownups. Yeah, because of grownups,

17:27

because we can't do that. Because it's basically, if

17:29

you pass me the map, I

17:31

apologize, podcast listeners, I won't be able to describe

17:34

this very well for you.

17:36

You're very thirsty. So you guys, you

17:38

were fighting sort of here, at this watchtower on

17:41

the far west. In the western corner, on the

17:43

west. The flying thing,

17:45

basically the body fell in like this

17:47

street near here. Oh, not too far

17:49

away. So you basically. A

17:51

hole in the far west was so close. Yeah. Yeah,

17:53

so it was literally, it would have, that flying

17:55

figure wasn't gonna arrive at the next turn. So

17:59

they've landed just like. on this intersection, this street

18:01

here, next to the Tawnyfield. So

18:04

if you wanted to, you could head that way and

18:06

then head south towards the Forge where the authorities and

18:08

that is. Because if we have two- It's also towards

18:10

the way where our place as well,

18:12

so. Citizens arrest them as well, depending on

18:14

who they are. Citizens arrest everyone. Yeah,

18:17

when you guys kind of gather up, you've

18:20

got Morris in hand, the civilians start coming

18:22

back, they're putting out the fires, they're attending

18:24

to things, you see a few of the

18:26

Duke's guards basically helping, they're doing things like

18:28

clearing rubble, making sure everyone's okay, tending to

18:31

injuries and things like that. When

18:33

you reach that point, you do find

18:35

a body just laying on the ground,

18:37

not fully dead, but clearly so

18:40

critically injured that they can't move

18:42

basically. As

18:45

you find blood kind

18:47

of pouring down his mouth, clearly

18:50

unable to move from such

18:52

a devastating height, the broken,

18:54

twisted body of Tobias Leito.

18:56

Oh, Darry. Grandmaster, guildmaster

18:58

of the Lamplighters Guild. He's

19:01

wearing robes of

19:05

that same sickly green yellow light.

19:08

And you can see though,

19:11

very similar to when Ophelia was

19:13

attacked by that poison creature, that

19:16

kind of lingering black vein like

19:18

Mark from the poison inside the

19:20

body, his body is

19:22

laced with it, like his arms,

19:24

his neck, all around his eyes

19:26

has got that same black viscosity

19:28

to the veins. And

19:31

you can see that his eyes are all

19:33

red, his mouth is all bleeding, his teeth

19:35

are all blackened. Help

19:39

me. He's just on the ground in

19:41

his inner pain. We

19:44

do have to help him. Oh,

19:47

we can help him. We can arrest him and we can help

19:49

him. Got a healing word. Yeah,

19:52

okay, you healing word, Imroan. And I'll

19:54

suit you as well. Okay,

19:56

how are you gonna subdue him? Gonna ramp

19:58

him up. For. all his

20:00

legs, tie his arms to his legs. Okay.

20:03

I'm not gonna say that. I'm

20:07

gonna say the healing word is like, he

20:09

clearly has like broken his back and like

20:11

a healing word's not gonna fix that. Like

20:13

he cannot really move. But

20:16

the healing word like coughs and

20:18

all this black phlegm

20:21

and gunk comes out of his mouth

20:24

and kind of draws down

20:26

his chin. Whatever the

20:28

healing spell is giving him enough to hold on. But

20:31

he's in a bad way. You,

20:36

you've ruined it. You've

20:39

ruined everything. You deserved

20:41

it. I

20:45

deserved a second chance.

20:51

You can just see his struggling to like breathe. Based

20:53

on how the demon was talking, you're gonna get a

20:55

second chance. Punishment,

20:59

eternal maybe, but. His

21:03

bonus goal has already

21:05

taken from me. I've

21:08

already been punished.

21:15

Well, I said, hold him up. I

21:18

put him in my pocket. Yeah, literally put him on your

21:20

shoulder and you can just carry him back. Yeah,

21:24

you carry this broken

21:26

man. He

21:29

looks even older. Like when you saw him before, he was

21:31

quite an old guy, like nearly in his 70s. It

21:34

looks like he's aged like 20 years. Yeah,

21:36

between dinner with

21:38

him to now, something bad

21:40

has happened. He's aged like 20 years,

21:42

maybe more. He's like not

21:45

quite Last Crusade Indiana Jones,

21:47

like when he's the skeleton, but like

21:49

when, like yeah, literally like he's so

21:51

sunken, his skin, all the veins, like,

21:53

you know, this black poison in him.

21:56

He looks in a bad way, barely

21:58

able to speak. He parties. while

22:00

he's on your shoulder, just falls fully unconscious.

22:03

He does draw. When

22:05

you, as you make your way back

22:07

through, you can see that

22:10

there was a lot of damage done to Ashen Rest. More

22:13

done mostly by the Duke himself in

22:15

his fit, in his confused state. He's

22:18

done more, probably, damage. There's been fires.

22:20

You can definitely see that there's where

22:22

the demons were attacking. There

22:24

have been casualties. There have been injuries. The

22:26

latte fun. We

22:29

run! And

22:32

the inn. The inn

22:34

is untouched. Well,

22:38

because the Everlight outside the inn was already

22:40

broken, so the demons couldn't appear there. And

22:43

for whatever reason, it seems that nobody's

22:46

attacked it or gone in it. Maybe

22:48

it was Tyria's influence. Maybe you don't know.

22:51

Percival is just stood

22:53

there waiting. Everything's

22:56

looking tidy. He's tidied everything up. Brilliant. He's

22:59

done his job. Full boy. The

23:01

latte fun. It

23:03

has sustained some damage just from broken windows.

23:05

I can't, no! It's

23:08

got some broken windows and things like that.

23:10

We all fought to our knees. The beans!

23:12

How are the mugs? No!

23:14

That means everywhere. The mugs are fine. It

23:16

smells so good. The mugs are fine. It

23:19

doesn't look like it was hit by any fire or

23:21

anything like that. It actually looks like people maybe took

23:23

refuge in a latte fun. And you

23:26

can see that there are some guards walking around

23:28

and escorting people back home and checking they're all

23:30

okay. You can see Maeve tidying up

23:32

the glass and trying to get things back in order. Maybe

23:35

bringing drinks to a couple of people

23:37

who are in shock and injured. They've

23:39

got blankets wrapped around them, sort of

23:41

attending to the aftermath, basically. When

23:45

you make your way to the forge, however, there

23:47

is a bit of a somber atmosphere. You

23:51

can see a number of guards, the Lord

23:53

Marshal, Logan Gray's kind of coordinating efforts.

23:57

And as you approach when he sees you, He

24:00

immediately kind of whips his head around. He's just

24:02

like you there You're the

24:04

adventurous that spoke with the Duke once who

24:07

were investigating things and he's like his eyes

24:09

fall on Morris and Tobias By

24:12

silence and saints you've got them. Was

24:14

it you the ones who stopped this madness?

24:16

I Look at angel

24:19

Daisy who's no longer angel Yes,

24:24

we yeah we helped we yeah, we

24:27

tried our best well we did it yeah, we did

24:29

we yeah Where is You

24:32

are indeed that my friend

24:35

subtle He

24:37

nods his head. He's like there is no

24:39

need for subtlety or humility you if

24:42

it were not for you I do not know what would

24:44

have happened next our Duke the town Things

24:47

would have been worse, and he just

24:49

nods and all of like the Duke's guard snap

24:51

a salute I

24:53

salute back throwing Tobias off my shoulder you See

24:58

the like the soldiers like glance

25:00

at in Logan Gray's just like Take

25:04

him take him to a cell and the

25:06

dwarf as well to Morris we

25:09

will interrogate them in time, but He

25:12

like looks you are I'm afraid to say that in

25:15

the battle the high authority

25:17

was sadly killed What?

25:22

You remember that a number of the

25:24

lamplighters were arrested during

25:27

our initial investigation I Don't

25:30

know how or why but when

25:32

the demons and the dome appeared some

25:35

of those lamplighters they Transformed

25:38

they gained demonic strength and power

25:40

and they broke out of their

25:43

cells Myself and my troops

25:45

we were dispatched around the town trying

25:47

to deal with the attacks It

25:50

was high authority Wilhelmina

25:52

and Zaron tekis who

25:54

held the line here Tekis

25:58

is badly injured but stable,

26:00

but I'm afraid the High Authority is,

26:03

unfortunately, she's

26:05

lost to us. It's fine. You

26:09

have my deepest condolences. Thank

26:11

you, it is. She gave her life,

26:13

stopping those possessed cultists

26:16

from getting out and doing more harm in

26:18

the city. Her and Teckis

26:20

held them here, along with another

26:22

guard. Yes, and he

26:24

points, and you see,

26:26

you see Bliss. Oh.

26:29

Yeah, you see Bliss, the little pink teeth

26:32

fling. She looks like totally shell-shocked.

26:34

She's just kind of sat there.

26:36

She's got like a cup of

26:38

coffee, and it's

26:40

just sort of like staring into space. She

26:42

definitely is probably a bit shocked. She's got

26:44

lassetations all over her face, her arms. Probably

26:46

got one of her arms bound up as

26:48

well, so she's kind of holding the coffee

26:50

in one hand. It looks like she's been

26:52

through it, but yeah, it

26:54

sounds like the three of them basically held

26:56

the line here at the forge to

26:59

stop the lamplighters who were

27:01

arrested from basically getting out and causing

27:04

more harm. Rowan, run over to Bliss.

27:07

You run over, and she immediately, like the sound of

27:10

you running over, she kind of freaks out a little

27:12

bit. It's like she drops the coffee. It's me, Rowan.

27:15

Rowan, hey, hey. Oh,

27:17

wow. You guys are okay? Yeah.

27:21

Ah, good. You guys

27:23

didn't get hurt or anything? But

27:25

it looks like you took some scrapes. Yeah,

27:28

yeah, I was the high

27:30

authority. She

27:33

wanted me to, well,

27:35

she asked me to join her staff, you know,

27:37

promotion. And I was

27:40

with her and authority

27:42

techies, and we

27:44

were checking on the prisoners,

27:47

those lamplighters, and Lady Teresa.

27:50

And some of the lamplighters,

27:52

they just, it's like

27:54

all this smoke came in through the windows and through

27:56

under the floors, and it like went in their mouths

27:59

and in their eyes. and they

28:01

changed, they got strong, and they were bending

28:03

the metal bars and they were getting out,

28:05

and we just, we

28:08

did our best to hold them here, but it

28:10

was bad, it was real bad. You

28:13

were very brave. Thanks,

28:16

yeah, yeah. She's

28:19

obviously struggling to like take some of this in,

28:21

but the conversation definitely seems to be helping a

28:24

little bit. I'll give her a little gem. Put

28:27

a little gem in her hand. Oh,

28:29

what's this for? A

28:32

gem. Oh. It's a really

28:34

nice gem. Yeah, it's really

28:36

pretty. Thanks, you sure? Of

28:38

course. Thanks, and she's, you

28:40

know, just gives her that distraction of like, she's like

28:42

looking at it, like kind of examining it

28:44

a little bit. I think Rowan

28:46

will join the group. Yeah, she just gets lost in her own

28:49

thoughts, but like she definitely likes something, she's like, thanks

28:51

Rowan, I'm glad you're okay. I'll

28:55

make your fist chew one more better. That

28:57

sounds real good. Yeah, that sounds nice.

29:00

I'm gonna get Guy and some of the others. Sounds

29:03

good. Yeah, I just need

29:05

to sit here for a bit. You

29:08

do that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah,

29:10

it just takes a minute. I

29:13

think while this is going on, I imagine Sir

29:15

Greal is with us. Yeah, yeah, them ping along,

29:17

he sort of falls, he starts

29:19

having a conversation with Logan Gray separately while this

29:22

is going on. I'll probably interject

29:24

with them and be like, you

29:26

need to look out for Ilkara's own sword as well.

29:29

She's a part of this. Ilkara's own

29:31

sword, what do you mean? It's the hike of the

29:33

Lord Marshal, it's like, what do you mean? She

29:35

was fighting the demons. She

29:38

had a connection with Tobias Leto. It

29:43

needs investigating. Other

29:45

way, I'd say just don't let her out of your sight. She's

29:48

back at the cathedral, she led a, there

29:50

was a group of them actually, no. Sorry,

29:53

I'm gonna wreck on that. My own notes,

29:55

there's a lot going on. When

29:58

you say Ilkara's own sword, the

30:00

atmosphere kind of changes a little bit. And

30:02

Logan Gray. Sunsword,

30:06

well, she is, I

30:09

don't know where she is. Something

30:13

happened. She left

30:15

the Dukkal Palace, the reports that we've gotten, she

30:18

left the Dukkal Palace. She galvanized

30:20

civilians in a few nights, talking

30:23

about this being

30:25

a moment to prove their faith to Pyrrhus,

30:27

to prove their strength that only the weak

30:29

would fall. And

30:33

she moved through the streets, she battled demons,

30:35

she slew them, along with some

30:37

of her followers and some of the knights and

30:39

civilians even, galvanized them to take

30:41

up arms and fight alongside her. But

30:44

when she reached the plaza, something

30:48

happened. She became

30:50

taken over by something, some power.

30:54

The reports were that she was mad

30:57

with rage and anger at

31:00

the weakness that had grown

31:02

here at Ash & Rest. She

31:05

started turning on civilians, on demons, on

31:08

anything that she could. A

31:10

few of the knights and civilians with

31:12

her seemed to undergo a similar transformation.

31:15

We lost sight of them, they charged out somewhere into

31:17

the city. We don't know where they went. In

31:20

the sake of it, we had other concerns at the time.

31:23

It sounds like she became possessed. We've

31:25

seen this happen before. Yeah,

31:28

Grey old would come in and be like, I, Lord

31:30

Marshal, I have witnessed it myself. Civilians

31:32

taken over by this, by

31:34

whatever this demonic power was. You

31:36

said, Graffoth, you said it fed

31:38

on negative emotions. I. That

31:41

sounds like maybe the sunswords

31:43

hatred and zealousness,

31:46

or maybe that let in the demon itself. Sounds

31:50

like it. She's going to be a

31:52

problem in the future, but not one that

31:54

we can deal with, Nary. The

31:58

High Marshal will say. We, I will

32:00

dispatch scouts as soon as I'm able, but our

32:03

first priority has to be securing the town, rescuing

32:05

civilians, we have people trapped in

32:07

buildings, rubble, there are injuries. Where

32:11

do you need us? Right

32:13

now, I think you've done more than enough. Take

32:15

some rest, get your strength, recover your energy. There

32:17

will be more to come in time, but for

32:19

now, you've done everything you can. We

32:22

can take care of the rest now. We've

32:25

got these two, any gestures to Morris and Tobias?

32:28

With Teckis injured and the High Authority

32:31

lost to us, I will take

32:33

them into custody and await Teckis' recovery.

32:36

We will send for a High

32:38

Authority to come and pass judgment, but until then,

32:40

we'll just hold them in captivity until

32:42

necessary. Maybe make sure

32:45

there's no ever lights near them. Oh,

32:47

I don't think that's going to be a problem. Call

32:52

upon us if you ever need us, for anything.

32:55

Indeed, and I'm sure the Duke himself would want to speak

32:58

with you. You need to be rewarded

33:00

for your heroism, and I'm sure that

33:02

if you had Sir Greald with you, a Knight

33:04

of the Realms witness and testimony will

33:06

go a long way to

33:09

spreading your tale of heroism. And

33:12

Sir Greald will say, "'Aye,

33:15

Lord Marshal, aye, these five

33:18

are thee. "'They

33:22

fought like heroes.' "'There's no word

33:24

about it. "'Nights, heroes, the

33:26

lot of them. "'I'd stand

33:28

by any one of them again.' "'Thank

33:33

you for your assistance, Sir Greald.' "'Ah, I

33:36

felt like I barely did anything. "'Aye,

33:38

can he fly?' And he kind of glances

33:40

his eyes towards Daisy. "'Or

33:43

summon, turn into a spider, "'or summon

33:45

flames out my hands, but...' "'No, but

33:48

you are a great shot.' "'I

33:50

am. "'But

33:52

I... "'But let's... "'I'll stay here at

33:54

the Forge. "'I'll help them with things here.

33:56

"'You go attend to whatever business you need

33:58

to.' I'm sure the Duke will want

34:01

to speak with you and I'll come and collect you when

34:03

he's ready. But perhaps we give our, well perhaps we give

34:05

his draconic majesty a bit of time. I'm sure he has

34:07

to process some things himself.

34:10

You can see he like looks over a building

34:12

which has clearly got like dragon marks through the

34:14

roof and like extensive damage and

34:16

things like that. But

34:19

I know the Duke, he will, this

34:21

will cause him great pain. Well,

34:25

hopefully Ambarisa is okay. Yes,

34:28

she is a dragon she will heal, but

34:30

I'm sure it will not be a pleasant

34:32

injury. Ain't

34:36

Gruff kind of stunned

34:38

by what Greal said. Like

34:40

you almost see tears forming in his

34:43

eyes. It

34:46

was a great honor to fight by your side, Sir

34:48

Greald. You as well. I

34:53

know it is perhaps a frivolous thing to think

34:55

of now. And

34:58

it may be canceled given these events,

35:00

but there is a tournament to

35:02

fight in, a nightly tournament.

35:06

And I expect to see you there, Gruffrth

35:08

of Tramoro. Gruffrth

35:10

will be there. He will, he'll be

35:12

there. Well,

35:15

I did think maybe I would sleep for a few

35:17

days, but who am I to turn

35:19

down and invite? You have time for that

35:21

at least. Rest, recover, and

35:24

let us hope that the Duke maintains. It is

35:26

an important celebration, not just for knights

35:28

and glory and things like that, but

35:30

I think the town will need something

35:32

like that, something to rally behind. And

35:35

a hero of the town. People

35:38

will want to see, and perhaps

35:40

your companions. There

35:43

are bouts where knights can

35:45

fight alone, but there are bouts where knights can

35:47

call upon allies to fight alongside them as well.

35:50

Team games and the like. I'm not a

35:52

knight, not yet. Not yet, but a good

35:54

way to prove that you're capable of being

35:56

one. Mm.

36:00

If I may, and he puts like a hand on your, you

36:02

have to reach up a little bit, he puts a hand on

36:04

your arm and he's just like, humility

36:07

can be a great virtue in a knight. But

36:11

it is important for a knight to recognize

36:13

their own glory too. One

36:16

cannot be a knight if one is too humble

36:18

to recognize their great deeds and the great purpose

36:20

that they are apply themselves to. You

36:23

said that you seek to join the circle of

36:25

that loyal hounds. Yes. A

36:28

fine order. Given

36:31

what you've done here, I

36:34

have no doubt that an invitation will be waiting for you

36:36

at that tournament. One

36:40

can hope. Hope

36:42

is all we have. I

36:47

think Groff just is stunt, like he

36:49

has no words. Yeah. He's

36:52

on the verge of passing out from

36:54

tiredness. Yeah. He's very sore. He's bleeding.

36:56

The real patch on the arm. He's like, well, to

37:00

business then, there's still a few things to do. Thank

37:03

you for the healing, Groff. Thank

37:06

you for keeping the minions off me. I did

37:08

my best. Let's hope that none of

37:10

us have to face any of those horrible,

37:12

nasty demon beasties in a while. Till

37:16

next time, my friends. Till next time.

37:18

We'll see you at the tournament. See you at the tournament.

37:21

Tournament. Is

37:23

Benedictus still here? She did

37:25

not come with you. She headed straight

37:27

for the tab, straight to the cathedral,

37:30

because that's where she left Malady. I have

37:32

news. She runs off. I

37:34

mean, her first priority after helping, like you guys

37:37

would have been to go back to Malady. Yeah,

37:39

yeah, that's right. Well,

37:43

we can go and rest. Yeah,

37:45

that would be welcome, yeah. Shall we go back to

37:47

our inn? We

37:49

can do. I mean, I

37:51

was about to suggest we could go back to the

37:53

church or to Blackwing or something, but I'm going to

37:55

be honest. I want to sleep. I

37:58

want to lay down. You're not having a sleep.

38:02

Well then let's all get some sleep. Who

38:05

wants a piggyback? Me!

38:09

What, no! Why? I

38:12

want one. I'm only smart! You can fly!

38:14

I'm only smart! You can fly now! I

38:17

can carry two. She can fly now? She

38:19

flies now! Ha ha ha! Are

38:22

you telling me? This

38:24

is like, it's like the

38:26

sound of you running. Like look at my

38:28

nowadays. You're flying flying. She

38:31

flies now! She flies now! I

38:36

got paid to write that dialogue. Yeah,

38:39

a lot of money probably. Yeah. Okay,

38:42

let's just go back. Jetpack troopers.

38:46

No, we're not gonna go into it. No, just not start that.

38:48

We're not gonna go into it. Just not start that. Somehow, palpatine

38:50

rings. Stop! Somehow,

38:52

to buy it, it's ridiculous. Yeah!

38:56

Okay, you guys can

38:58

go back and have a long rest.

39:02

Yeah! I have some other good news for

39:04

you. Oh yeah? It's

39:07

a big fight. It's a big milestone.

39:10

You only recently did it. But

39:12

I think that deserves a level up.

39:14

Yeah! Yeah! Let's just fly! We're

39:17

flying! So, there's also gonna be a

39:19

couple of other things. This is gonna be a bit more of an

39:21

admin conversation. I kind of want to save some of the role play

39:23

for when we get back. Let's have a

39:25

good think about things that we wanna do and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah,

39:27

yeah. But, couple of things that we can

39:29

process in the downtime as well. And

39:32

we'll maybe close this episode out with you

39:34

guys meeting with the Duke and I think

39:36

that there would definitely be a ceremony to

39:38

celebrate you guys. You

39:41

are going to get a very

39:43

big payday from the Duke. Oh,

39:45

okay, that's nice. Yeah, yeah. Are

39:47

we talking? The Duke is basically

39:50

as part of the celebrations for

39:52

you rescuing Ash and Rest. With

39:55

Sir Greal, the witnesses of the

39:57

civilians, like this town, you

39:59

are basically. basically now heroes in this town.

40:01

Everybody knows it was the five of you

40:04

that saved Ash and Rest and

40:07

saved the Duke and everything else. So

40:10

your reputation here in town, immensely,

40:12

your reputation is very, very high.

40:14

You are paid, you are given

40:17

a stipend, sorry, like a

40:19

reward of 5,000 gold. Oh

40:23

boy, howdy. We can make

40:25

the Inn livable. Oh,

40:28

you're one very good door. This is

40:30

the best. You

40:32

still have Tyria to sort of maybe deal with

40:34

as well. Yeah. Because she's stable

40:37

for now, but like she's gonna potentially

40:39

revert. But yeah, you are the Duke,

40:41

basically, this is assigned to you via

40:43

the Auric Bank. It's not like you

40:45

are given a big pouch of gold,

40:48

but basically you are given access

40:51

to a large amount of

40:53

money to be withdrawn from the Auric Bank

40:55

from the Duke's sum. That

40:57

can be handled by the Duke and his considerate

41:00

at the Duke of Palace if you need to.

41:02

That can be received. Yeah, basically. I

41:05

bought five coffees. This is six weeks

41:07

worth of a latte fun. I

41:09

think it'd be more like here's like a thousand gold

41:12

or here's a 500 gold or whatever, but you basically

41:14

have a group pool of 5,000 gold. Where

41:16

we held safe. Yeah. And

41:19

yeah, your reputation within Ash and Rest and

41:22

within Northvale, this will spread out. So in

41:24

Ash and Rest, you are, yeah,

41:26

basically you have your exalted rep in Ash

41:28

and Rest. Can you get Tabod? And then

41:31

Northvale itself is, that reputation

41:33

spreads out. So if you go anywhere in

41:35

Northvale, which is the northern part of Cauldron,

41:37

you will be known as the heroes of Ash and

41:40

Rest. Not full Kaskara. No,

41:42

not in the full Cauldron, not in full

41:44

Kaskara. If you go elsewhere in Cauldron, you

41:46

may be able to play on this. So

41:49

anywhere in Northvale, basically assume that most

41:51

people will treat you as heroes. If

41:53

you go elsewhere in Cauldron, you might be able to

41:56

use that as leverage for advantage on Charisma checks. So

41:58

if you're trying to be like, hey, we need to

42:00

go and speak to this person in

42:02

this bigger town, you can leverage like, we're the

42:04

guys who saved Ash and Rest, and maybe you'll

42:06

get advantage on your thing. But remember, if you

42:08

do things to ruin your reputation or bring disrepute,

42:12

that could- Disarm your own you, dishonor

42:14

on your cow. Exactly. That

42:16

might affect your reputation here in Ash

42:18

and Rest as well. But for now,

42:20

your reputation, your renown, is very, very

42:22

high. So you'll have things like discounts

42:24

in stores, people will treat you very

42:27

well. Student discount. How's

42:29

our reputation in the Twin Pits though? Well,

42:32

that is a whole other thing. You

42:35

don't really know to what extent is.

42:37

I would say that with enough research,

42:39

speaking to Blackwing or your own research,

42:42

there are, within the Twin Pits, within

42:44

the Twin Pits and the Helium Throne,

42:46

there are many different factions. One

42:50

thing you might be able to learn, and maybe

42:52

we'll make this more of like a research project,

42:55

but Balas Gore, the name that kept being thrown

42:57

around, is what's known as a

42:59

Greater Demon, a powerful demon who holds a lot

43:01

of influence within the Twin

43:03

Pits, but they're not the only

43:05

one. They're always in rival with each other, even

43:07

within their own pit, within the Pit of Diablos,

43:09

all the different demons are vying to get to

43:11

the top. It is a literal

43:14

hierarchy. The higher you are in the pit,

43:16

the more influential and powerful you are, and

43:18

the lower the weaker you are, basically. Balas

43:22

Gore definitely is somebody who's gonna

43:24

remember your name. Whether

43:26

or not they're gonna come up again is

43:28

entirely dependent on you, the people

43:30

that you make enemies with, and other things

43:32

as well. But

43:35

that is definitely a potential enemy

43:37

made, and depends on how much you

43:39

guys wanna get involved in. You might be like, we never wanna see

43:41

that guy again, we're never gonna get into it. Maybe

43:44

the lamplighters weren't the only people that were

43:46

trying to help this guy, maybe they were.

43:48

You don't know, and I'm gonna leave out, if you wanna

43:50

add to your quest list, you

43:53

would find out that Sansa Bilkara, when the

43:55

Dome came down, fled with a number of

43:57

Herakolites, seemingly possessed of...

43:59

some sort of demonic strengths, she

44:02

became like a sort of infused

44:04

with demonic power, but also holy

44:06

power as well. And has escaped

44:08

into Kaldra somewhere. There

44:10

are posters wanted like, not like wanted

44:12

for like a death, but like people

44:14

like wanted for capture missing, like, you

44:16

know, report this person to the little

44:18

authorities and things like that. Approach with

44:20

caution. Yeah, approach with caution dangerous. But

44:24

yeah, so that is a potential loose

44:26

end, perhaps. And

44:28

if you always want to explore more what happened with

44:30

Tobias and things like that, you obviously can

44:33

do, but this little arc

44:36

is done. This is a self contained

44:38

story in a sense. There might be some follow-ons

44:40

and lead-ons, but this is now done. Oh, and

44:42

my plan was originally basically to kind of maybe

44:44

skip a few days until the tournament. And then

44:46

maybe when we come back in, the tournament would

44:48

be the first thing that we kind of come

44:50

back into. Got a few days of peaceful downtime.

44:52

If you want to, yeah. Like we could do

44:55

the downtime and stuff like that. I guess

44:57

one thing I want to do in the

44:59

downtime is fulfill my promise to Blackwing and

45:01

return with the two items they asked for,

45:03

the demonic residue and a disc from the

45:06

Everline. Yeah, I think maybe that's a good,

45:08

but maybe that's the avenue where Blackwing would tell you

45:10

like when they examine the essence, they will tell you,

45:13

ah yes, this demon,

45:16

Balus Gore, known

45:19

as the Phosphorus. I

45:24

know very little about

45:26

them. Experimented

45:29

with celestial light. Gained

45:32

it to their own power. Toxicity.

45:36

They are very influential. Not

45:39

the greatest, but powerful.

45:45

Very interesting. And they take the essence and they

45:47

take the Everline. These will

45:50

be valuable. Thank

45:52

you for honoring your oath,

45:54

Gruffath of Tramoro. Swash

45:58

I do, I honor oath. For

46:00

now, I

46:03

name thee Oathkeeper. Oh.

46:06

A name that I, and perhaps

46:10

other elves, will remember. I

46:13

thank you. And your haven

46:16

was very helpful in the battle. I

46:18

am pleased to hear it. They

46:21

are beautiful creatures.

46:24

Absolutely stunning. Blackwing

46:28

just nods their head in a mutual

46:30

appreciation of birds. But yeah,

46:32

I mean, like, there's no payment.

46:35

This was the payment for his, their help. So

46:38

they're like, thank you very much. Put that away.

46:40

You may leave. Well,

46:42

it's also for Gruffrath, because Gruffrath will not want

46:45

to break a promise, especially if... And

46:47

that's kept you in good standing. You think that, again,

46:49

that's kept you in good standing with Blackwing. So

46:51

if you do want to go and speak to them again, they are always going to be

46:53

an ally here in Aisling Rest for you to go to. Great.

46:57

Some other little things. I

47:00

think at some point, Theresa

47:02

Lavendale, the illuminator of the

47:04

guild, she is released, like, she clearly had nothing

47:06

to do. She wasn't part of the group. She

47:08

was never part of it. She was a stooge.

47:12

You know, talking to her, like, what she said was true. Morris

47:14

basically gave her instructions, but she didn't

47:17

have any idea that it was connected to the

47:19

Everlights. Interrogation of Morris confirms that, that basically a

47:21

number of the engineers were sent out with these

47:23

things, not knowing what they were. You

47:26

also would find out that Jania Cooper, also

47:28

not involved, sadly killed by

47:30

Tobias. Oh, shit. That

47:33

screaming when you passed the Pharos and the

47:35

fighting and screaming you heard. Jania,

47:37

most of the Lamplighters' guild were killed by those

47:39

loyal to Tobias in that moment. They were sacrificed,

47:41

basically. Jesus Christ.

47:45

So there are there are

47:47

still some surviving Lamplighters' guild members,

47:50

but it's a handful of them now. The

47:53

Pharos is basically given

47:55

over to the Duke. That tower is

47:57

now basically handed over to the Duke to

47:59

do that. to do with as he wills,

48:01

the Evelites are all taken down, all of

48:03

that gets dismantled. And those lamplighters

48:06

who were part of the gildog just left as

48:08

now free agents. Theresa Lavendale

48:10

one morning would come by seeking

48:12

Ophelia. Oh, hmm. Well,

48:16

I wanted to come and see you because you

48:18

spoke of something and I think in those moments

48:21

when I was in the cells and I could

48:23

hear those frightful things sort of

48:25

trying to get out and well, I was very

48:27

scared. And I prayed

48:29

to the saints and sions and

48:34

I didn't, they

48:37

didn't hear me. Oh,

48:39

she's recruiting, but you spoke of, I

48:43

was afraid to die. Yes,

48:45

it's very natural. And I remember what

48:47

you said about your faith

48:50

and could I learn

48:52

more? Oh, of course you

48:54

can. Oh, I'd be delighted to tell you all

48:56

about it. I can't promise that I'm

48:59

going to be a believer or anything like that,

49:01

but it's just made me realize that

49:03

there are things in this world that I don't, I

49:05

seek understanding of things and I've

49:08

always enjoyed making things. It's why I

49:10

joined the lamplighters and I enjoy the

49:12

process of creation and I'm a talented

49:15

glassblower and an engineer and things like

49:17

that. But

49:19

I feel like I've been quite ignorant in

49:21

most of my life and

49:24

perhaps learning about something brand new I

49:27

think it, I feel like it would help

49:29

me in some way. Do

49:32

I, should I, can I? You

49:34

know, just come in, come in, come in. I've invited her

49:36

into the tavern, I suppose, and we'll sit down. You

49:40

have your first follower. Yes, yes! So

49:44

for Ophelia, as this is

49:46

a thing that you gauge, you are

49:49

gonna potentially gain followers and like depending on your

49:51

actions and if you go out and do things

49:53

and things like that. And Theresa

49:55

is like the first step of that. She

49:57

is like a first convert. Another

50:00

thing that relates to that, because

50:03

obviously I know there were some concerns with

50:05

Daisy's origins and Xanthius's origins and things like

50:07

that. One

50:10

thing that would become clear is

50:14

the Duke Ignarius. I'll

50:19

save that for when he does the big group thing. I'll save

50:21

that, but he has something he's going to say about that. Some

50:24

other things that happen, or if you guys have got anything.

50:26

Can I go see Malady and Benedictine? Yeah,

50:29

absolutely. You would find that... Did

50:31

you back up? How

50:33

soon do you think you would go? After that first

50:35

night's sleep, would you go the next morning? I think,

50:37

yeah, I'd make a point to go and

50:39

see them. Not as soon as possible necessarily, but I want

50:42

to just make sure. A friendly visit.

50:44

I would maybe go with him. I'll tell everyone.

50:46

Okay, yeah. I'm going to go and speak. So

50:48

Daisy and Xanthius is going to go? What? Yes.

50:51

Okay, so Roman's going to go? Yeah. Everyone?

50:54

Yeah, so everybody's going. Okay, because Ophelia

50:57

obviously is like, I don't want to

50:59

fucking hate that bitch. Well, yeah. Yeah,

51:02

maybe not actually, but Benedictine's up to you. You can

51:04

go if you want. Theresa

51:06

needs some guidance, you know. I

51:09

think they're willing to help, just by

51:11

the way. I just think it's Benedict

51:13

who wants to hit you around the head or something. Benedict

51:15

will probably hit me in the head, yeah. You

51:17

would find them, not on the Grumpy Hog, they're actually still

51:20

at the Bright Shadow Cathedral, where

51:22

they've been helping. The

51:24

Speaker of Secrets on

51:27

Savarin is being like trying to

51:29

keep everything together. The loss of

51:31

Sansaude Elkhara and her betrayal basically

51:34

has hit the cathedral quite heavily.

51:37

Knight Glory, Ser Glory is basically

51:39

acting as the head of the

51:42

Pyrrhus part of the church

51:44

right now, and is totally

51:46

too young and overwhelmed for it and

51:48

just does not know what's going on.

51:51

Apparently another Sansaude will be sent from

51:53

Kelskaris to take over Elkhara's duties here,

51:56

but in the meantime Ser Glory has to maintain it.

51:58

The Speaker of Secrets... and Sir

52:00

Morning are helping out where they can, but

52:02

Sister Benedicta and Sister Malady have also been

52:04

helping us. The ecliptic order is part of

52:06

the church. Malady

52:08

is recovering. When

52:11

you go in, you would probably find Benedicta

52:13

is like working with Sir Glory. They're out

52:15

busy doing things, like speaking to acolytes and

52:18

trying to like, you know, make repairs and

52:20

heal and things like that. Malady is like

52:22

propped up in one of the sort of

52:24

priests rooms, like her private chambers. She's like

52:27

in bed and you can see that she

52:29

has like ledges and books, but she's basically

52:31

being confined to bed and she's not allowed

52:33

to like do anything. She's still, she looks

52:36

deathly pale, even more pale than she normally

52:38

does. Her like slick, dirty

52:40

blonde hair, like really plastered to the side of her

52:42

face with sweat. She's in like

52:44

a loose kind of like simple priest shirt.

52:48

The cover's kind of pulled up and

52:50

she, you guys knock and enter

52:52

and she's like, ah. Ah. Well,

52:55

if it isn't the heroes of Ash and

52:57

Wrist, welcome. That's what everyone

52:59

keeps saying. It's nice to see you. Well,

53:04

thanks to as I am led to

53:06

understand it, your timely

53:08

intervention at the inn. Some

53:11

of you helped my sister deal with one of

53:14

those demons that was trying to kill us. Yeah,

53:19

we tried our best to get as many as

53:21

we could. We couldn't be everywhere at once, but

53:24

luckily we got to you just in

53:27

time. I'm very grateful for that and

53:29

also grateful to see that the curse

53:31

of Harrow is, as its

53:33

business and it seems, damn

53:38

birds, everything. It's

53:40

that elf's tower. That wing is black

53:43

wing, yes. It's nearby that tower. She,

53:46

Malady will look at Ophelia and be

53:48

like, ah, deeds. Number

53:51

of miracles, it seems, have happened over

53:53

a few days. The dead return to

53:55

life. Angels fall

53:57

out of the sky to defeat

53:59

demons. It's quite an

54:02

interesting time. Stones

54:04

move around the battlefield,

54:07

seemingly of their own devices. I've

54:10

been told of your masterful work

54:12

with illusions, Master Owen. You've heard

54:15

of it. My sister did not realise

54:17

it was illusion, but I suspected it

54:19

so. I'm instrumental in the battle, in

54:22

fact. What do

54:24

I owe the pleasure? Well,

54:26

we just wanted to make sure that you were

54:28

OK, and I thought it... Checking

54:30

up on me. Checking up

54:32

on you. She actually starts laughing

54:34

to the point where she coughs.

54:38

I do not believe that anyone since my

54:40

sister has ever thought to check up on

54:42

me. Well, you've been very helpful

54:44

to us, and I

54:47

know that you wish to help us more. Certainly

54:52

you are a very interesting

54:55

character. I'm not a Benedicta

54:58

Xanthius Oregon. My offer

55:01

to you still stands. It

55:05

is a shame that a Benedicta has

55:07

learned the truth, but leave

55:10

that to me. Is Benedicta...?

55:13

She's not here, not here. No, she's

55:15

not here. She's not here at all. You do not need...

55:19

I will tell you this. For

55:21

now, you have nothing to fear from the ecliptic order. Your

55:26

secret shall remain between us for now. But

55:30

I would like your assistance in

55:33

dealing with greater matter. And

55:37

I will help you. Good. Good.

55:43

I want you to know, by the way, it wasn't

55:46

my choice. I

55:48

didn't want this. And

55:50

I want it gone. Oh,

55:54

and by the way, you're dead right. Yes,

55:58

I had figured as much. I...

56:02

based on things that were told to me, but also

56:05

you should be aware that... there

56:08

were rumors in Kelskaras. I

56:11

was already investigating matters

56:14

and descriptions. No

56:17

names, but descriptions. Witnesses,

56:20

rumors, things that I

56:23

pieced together when I

56:25

heard from Zaren Teckis of

56:27

a gold dragonborn with magical

56:30

gifts and a strange...

56:37

problem of the chest. Well,

56:41

I hedged my bits. Yeah,

56:44

I'm finding myself to be awfully suspicious recently.

56:47

Well, you have at least... you have... this

56:51

business here in Ashen Rest. You have both

56:54

done yourself a favor and a disservice at

56:56

the same time. The name

56:58

of Xanthias Oregon will now spread. And

57:02

those who covered what you

57:04

have, those who initially wanted

57:06

it, they will know. But,

57:10

as I understand it, you have gained quite

57:13

the ally in Duke Ignarius. And

57:16

that is no small thing.

57:21

No, we intend to... speak with...

57:26

My apologies. Speak with

57:28

the Duke very

57:30

soon. But again, wanted

57:33

to make sure you're okay. Know that

57:35

you have allies in us and... Can

57:38

you make a persuasion check for

57:40

me? Because I think Malady's such

57:42

a paranoid character, I don't think she would... I

57:44

want to see if she believes that you genuinely

57:46

were checking up on her. Yeah,

57:48

this is like a... I mean... Like legit. Aside

57:51

from the making sure they're not taking up arms

57:53

to kill me. Yeah. Is

57:55

it still a genuine like... You

57:57

came to see her right. Yeah. Sorry,

58:00

what was it? Persuasion. Persuasion. You are

58:02

being honest. I just want to measure it against her. I

58:04

have a plus three, which makes 23, nat 20. Interesting,

58:09

I got a nat 20 on her inside. There's

58:14

a real genuine moment where she kind of smirks when

58:16

you say like, oh, we wanted to check on you.

58:18

She kind of is like, of course you did. But

58:21

then like you kind of catch each other in

58:23

the eye and she's, she like cocks her head

58:25

and you do see almost

58:28

like, like there's like a slight watering to like

58:30

one of her eyes. And she just like, you

58:32

know, rubs her eyes if like she's got something

58:34

stuck in it. You,

58:38

you mean that, don't you? Oh, I do, of course

58:40

I do. May I

58:42

ask why? Is this because

58:44

I represent an ally,

58:47

I can help you? Why

58:49

would you care about some sickly

58:53

zealot? Well, for starters,

58:55

you're not trying to kill me. It's

58:58

true. But you helped us

59:00

and we need all the help

59:02

we can get. In times like this, if

59:05

threats like this can attack Ashen's Rest, it

59:08

can happen anywhere. And it's true. It's

59:10

something that the ecliptic order fears

59:13

to see that a prominent guild such as

59:16

this in a place of Ashen Rest, one

59:18

which we consider to be quite pious, to

59:21

be quite loyal to the empire, to see

59:23

this cult manifest.

59:28

It's a worrying sign. I

59:30

do not say this lightly. She

59:33

kind of like leans in conspiratorially with the

59:35

five of you. Since

59:40

the Empress's death, incidents

59:43

like this have been growing across the

59:45

empire. Cults of the

59:47

ember, devotees of

59:50

the planar powers, not

59:53

religious worshippers such as yourself or

59:55

those perhaps

59:57

gifted powers without their consent. Without

1:00:00

their knowledge, those who

1:00:03

actively seek malicious, what

1:00:05

we would call a crime of malfeasance, they

1:00:09

are growing. It is

1:00:11

like, it is like as

1:00:13

if the powers beyond this realm sense

1:00:16

a weakness in the empire. So

1:00:19

be guarded, be wary. So

1:00:23

I don't, I'm not a

1:00:26

criminal in your mind then?

1:00:29

You are an interesting case,

1:00:31

young Daisy, isn't it? Terms

1:00:37

of legality, the ecliptic order does

1:00:40

not hold any authority to, we

1:00:42

are not authorities. We cannot

1:00:45

arrest you, we cannot harm

1:00:48

you without a bounty or

1:00:50

some such post-it. We are

1:00:52

investigators, officially, of course. There

1:00:54

are members of my order who take the

1:00:57

law into their own hands from time to

1:00:59

time. This

1:01:01

crime, malfeasance, it

1:01:04

refers to those who strike deals with

1:01:06

the planar powers to

1:01:08

cause malicious harm, to

1:01:10

subvert the souls, to endanger the

1:01:12

souls of a citizen of Althea.

1:01:14

Now there could be a case

1:01:16

with you. Oh,

1:01:19

definitely no. That this,

1:01:23

whatever it is, you

1:01:26

are not seeking to harm others.

1:01:31

You are not trying to corrupt others, but

1:01:34

there is a legal, shall

1:01:37

we say, difficulty. Because

1:01:41

a good authorator could argue that

1:01:43

your soul has

1:01:46

been endangered, thus making you guilty

1:01:48

of a crime against yourself. Now,

1:01:52

I personally don't believe in that hogwash, but

1:01:56

be cautious. I have no

1:01:58

problem with you, dear. You clearly

1:02:00

care for the people around you and the people

1:02:03

here. I do not believe that you would have

1:02:05

done something as... My

1:02:07

sister is quite taken. She believes you to be

1:02:10

sent by Pyris. Also

1:02:13

not true. No. Not

1:02:15

got any bad things. Also

1:02:18

not sent from anywhere. May

1:02:21

I ask, where does this

1:02:23

power of yours come from? I'd

1:02:26

like to know also. When

1:02:33

I was very, very young, my

1:02:38

family passed away in

1:02:41

a fire. I

1:02:44

would have to if

1:02:47

I hadn't been

1:02:49

saved by my

1:02:53

friend, by Nim. Is

1:02:57

Nim a presence that you can

1:02:59

feel? The one who

1:03:01

gives you these powers, this magic of light and

1:03:03

radiance? Yes. So

1:03:08

it was only to keep me alive. And

1:03:12

then that's just all I've known. Would

1:03:15

you like to know more? Yes.

1:03:20

I rolled a Nat 20 on an arcana check.

1:03:22

Oh, God, don't tell me. It's

1:03:24

been a ride. I have

1:03:26

heard it is a very rare phenomenon.

1:03:30

The one I am familiar with, it is spoken of in

1:03:32

the ecliptic order. You

1:03:34

are what we call a deva. Your

1:03:39

friend, Nim, is

1:03:42

of the celestial realm called the

1:03:44

Lucent Peaks. A

1:03:47

former soldier of the Angelic Legion.

1:03:51

Now, as I understand it, very few of

1:03:53

these deva, they keep themselves hidden, often

1:03:56

not revealing themselves, but they form a sort

1:03:58

of bond. with

1:04:00

a soul here on

1:04:03

Arthea. Why? I

1:04:05

do not know. It is not spoken of. I do not have

1:04:08

records of it, but it is a symbiotic

1:04:11

relationship. They

1:04:13

protect you. They ground you. These powers, they

1:04:15

assist you. I have heard

1:04:17

talk of them giving advice, acting as advisors,

1:04:20

mentors, friends even. Yeah,

1:04:23

I didn't really have any friends when I was growing up. Just

1:04:26

people didn't want to talk to the girl who talked to herself. The

1:04:30

faken expressions. Oh,

1:04:33

by the saints and signs it all

1:04:35

makes sense. I knew there was something

1:04:37

there. You have a friend inside. Yeah,

1:04:39

but good friend, friend good.

1:04:42

Good friend, okay. Yes, they felt very much.

1:04:44

And I've, now I, yes, see, no, people

1:04:47

didn't want to be my friend. Yeah, how does

1:04:49

this work? Hello, Nim. Rowan looks at

1:04:51

Daisy's forehead. Hello, Nim. Nim. It's a

1:04:53

pleasure to meet you, Nim. No

1:04:56

response? I mean, there is no sense

1:04:58

trying to hide it now, but you do not need, I will

1:05:00

not speak with them if you do not wish me to. You

1:05:03

can speak with them if you want. I'll say it

1:05:05

by head. Like, you can speak with them if you want

1:05:07

to, but I don't feel like... She's

1:05:10

doing the look, Ian. She's doing the faster

1:05:12

look. She's talking to him. The only

1:05:14

thing that concerns me, I, I, I

1:05:17

have heard that there have been others like me who have

1:05:19

performed these bonds with mortals

1:05:22

like yourself. I still

1:05:24

do not know if I trust

1:05:26

this Inquisitor, this, this malady. She...

1:05:28

I mean, it's not that I

1:05:30

don't, not trust her, but... She

1:05:34

seems better than the religious

1:05:36

one, at least, but... I'm

1:05:38

not used to people knowing of me and my kind.

1:05:40

This is... It

1:05:43

is meant to be a secret. If the legions find

1:05:45

out I am here, if the legions were to

1:05:47

learn that I have hidden within you, they

1:05:50

would send their agents to find me and

1:05:52

take me back. Well,

1:05:55

well, well, I just won't tell them about you.

1:05:57

I won't give them your full name. I won't

1:05:59

give... them anything else. No but you don't understand

1:06:01

the one it is it is not simply a case of knowing

1:06:04

my name if if they

1:06:06

learn that I am gone and they start looking

1:06:08

for you and they hear about what you

1:06:10

did in Ashen's Rest what we what

1:06:12

we did I am

1:06:15

just worried perhaps this melody well

1:06:19

if we need to perhaps she could be an ally

1:06:22

in some way but let us be cautious. Okay

1:06:25

that's fine but

1:06:27

I'll probably tell a bit

1:06:29

more to my

1:06:32

friends. Yes well I think just we just

1:06:34

learn to trust them yes and

1:06:36

then oh I hope Nem likes us then

1:06:39

maybe just they're the only ones

1:06:42

they're the only ones who really need to know maybe

1:06:44

yes I agree but uh

1:06:47

melody will kind of continue on a little bit

1:06:51

this symbolic relationship the the spirit

1:06:53

gets a refuge here a place

1:06:56

to hide but they also retain their

1:06:58

memories I've said that if they go

1:07:00

too long without bonding to a mortal

1:07:03

their memories become destroyed they lose themselves

1:07:06

and it is possible that the

1:07:09

angelic legions of the Lucent Peaks

1:07:11

reclaim them and

1:07:13

reforge them into a new soldier. Fascinating.

1:07:19

They are as I understand it

1:07:21

and forgive me Nim if one

1:07:24

can hear me and I am incorrect they

1:07:26

are deserters of their army they

1:07:28

flee the angelic legions and hide here. I've

1:07:33

heard that I've

1:07:35

heard mixed stories in some cases they

1:07:37

are friends allies protectors in

1:07:40

other cases there

1:07:42

was a story once of a man who had

1:07:45

this bond who was a deva but

1:07:47

it was not a pleasant relationship

1:07:50

the angelic spirit sort

1:07:52

of tricked forced him into accepting the

1:07:55

bond used

1:07:57

him as a place to hide Not

1:08:00

always to his own will Remember

1:08:04

this if you remember anything at all

1:08:06

the planar powers They

1:08:09

are not like you and I they

1:08:11

are beings of alien

1:08:13

intent morality is

1:08:16

skewed you might think

1:08:19

Celestials angels things that in our

1:08:21

Scriptures and things like that speak of as

1:08:23

these protectors and warriors, but

1:08:26

that is not always the case. They are

1:08:29

devotees of law of

1:08:31

justice Justice

1:08:33

is not always blind.

1:08:36

It can be twisted a

1:08:38

tyrant even So

1:08:41

be cautious and that applies

1:08:43

to two creatures such as demons why one

1:08:45

of our very own saints was a devil

1:08:47

herself Reformed redeemed

1:08:53

The undead You have

1:08:55

great faith in your Lord. I'm sure I

1:08:57

do sister Ophelia But

1:09:00

can you tell me that you trust all

1:09:02

of the undead servants That's

1:09:07

my son's name But

1:09:10

as I am to understand in your country you

1:09:12

have the different houses yes I'm

1:09:14

also led to believe that there is some rivalry between them

1:09:17

Oh, yes, but isn't rivalry

1:09:19

not natural like amongst all

1:09:21

factions and deep nations indeed

1:09:25

But these different these undead Creatures

1:09:28

these undead beings they

1:09:31

are not always kind Some

1:09:36

seek their ambitions above all else

1:09:39

not all put

1:09:41

their faith in loyalty Am

1:09:44

I wrong I Suppose

1:09:47

not no All

1:09:50

I'm saying is with the planar powers

1:09:52

you can never be too sure This

1:09:55

name seems a

1:09:59

hero a soldier. Perhaps

1:10:01

that is why they fled. They could

1:10:04

not stand the tyrannical nature of

1:10:06

their army. He didn't want to fight anymore.

1:10:12

But so far it's just all

1:10:14

been, it's just been me and them.

1:10:16

It's just me and them. And

1:10:22

that's just it. That was my

1:10:24

first friend, my only friend, until

1:10:26

now. And then they've

1:10:29

never led me astray. I've

1:10:31

always been very clear and

1:10:34

there for me and wouldn't want me

1:10:37

to get in any danger. So I

1:10:39

would appreciate it if nobody mentioned them. Oh

1:10:42

no we won't but very wise. Whether it was

1:10:44

your fate or Nim's that led you to us,

1:10:48

I'm thankful. I

1:10:50

will say this young Daisy, I

1:10:52

do not think it's such a bad thing

1:10:54

for people to believe that you are perhaps

1:10:57

a warrior of pirates. It

1:10:59

will protect you in many circles. Well

1:11:03

I don't want to do anything bad. I just I

1:11:05

just... Oh my dear, my dear. Sometimes

1:11:09

lies can be good things. Okay

1:11:13

I'm just really bad at it though so um.

1:11:17

We can workshop it together. You're good

1:11:19

at it. Nope. White

1:11:22

lies. Yes. Gruff is

1:11:24

scrunching up his snout at this. He's like,

1:11:26

I'm not saying anything but he's like scrunching

1:11:29

his little face. You see Malady wipes a little

1:11:31

blood from her cheetah. She has another bad coughing

1:11:33

fit really bad. Like she can't stop for a

1:11:35

long time and she like wipes the blood. Forgive

1:11:37

me I have spoken a bit too long. My

1:11:40

illness is taking its

1:11:42

toll. It's okay. Um we'll leave

1:11:45

now but you rest. I

1:11:47

just from the sounds of it our work

1:11:49

is far from over. You

1:11:52

have at least a bit of time. Rest.

1:11:54

Recover. I hear you

1:11:56

are to receive quite a reward from Duke

1:11:59

Ignarius. I

1:12:01

hope so. I spend

1:12:03

it wisely. And I'm sure

1:12:05

that we will meet again. My sister and I will

1:12:08

not linger here in Ash and Ras much longer once

1:12:10

I am recovered and things are settled. We will head

1:12:12

back to Kelskaris most likely. But

1:12:14

you can always send word to me if you

1:12:16

need. OK.

1:12:21

But again, thank you for everything you did. It

1:12:25

is rare that I am thanked in my line of work

1:12:27

and in my life. I think that

1:12:29

perhaps you

1:12:32

might be the first to ever thank

1:12:34

me. I'm

1:12:37

learning to trust people. Hey.

1:12:41

Yeah. Well, then

1:12:44

until next time, she kind

1:12:46

of gives you a nod. She reaches

1:12:48

over, pulls like medicine, begins taking

1:12:50

some medicine. Yeah.

1:12:53

Well, dear. I don't want anybody

1:12:55

to be worried. Everything's

1:12:58

fine. It's all good. I

1:13:00

just... Oh, Daisy, I saw you

1:13:02

fly and glow and blew up

1:13:05

a lantern in one dagger.

1:13:09

We're not worried. We're... Impressed.

1:13:11

Yes. In all... Amazed. But

1:13:14

I don't want you to think it's blasphemous. Graff,

1:13:16

I'm sorry if you think it's wrong. It's just

1:13:18

that I didn't really have that much of a

1:13:20

choice because I was three. But also, they've been

1:13:22

really nice. My

1:13:24

darling, it sounds like that's not my voice.

1:13:28

Hello. Just

1:13:30

give me the minutes. My dear, it sounds like

1:13:34

you have a celestial being. Yeah,

1:13:37

pretty much. That's the

1:13:40

holiest of holy. Well,

1:13:44

yeah, but people don't... I want

1:13:46

to clarify one thing, because I know Graff's religious. Celestial's

1:13:50

like angels aren't a part of the

1:13:52

sign of faith. You could

1:13:54

think it's like a warrior of

1:13:56

pirates that's been sent. It's very different to being

1:13:59

a celestial. They are. or a planar thing. This

1:14:01

would be like a, it'd be more like

1:14:03

Daisy being like given the power of a

1:14:06

saint temporarily is like what that would kind

1:14:08

of manifestation would be. The

1:14:10

saints, the scion, sorry, do have servants, like

1:14:12

heralds and things like that, but they aren't

1:14:14

celestials like the game celestials, like what Daisy

1:14:16

has. Just as a, just so I don't

1:14:18

want you to get confused and think that

1:14:21

like it's the same thing. This

1:14:23

is Pyrrhus. Yeah,

1:14:25

Gruff could think like ignore

1:14:27

what Malady was talking about and be like, no, no,

1:14:29

no, you're blessed by Pyrrhus, that's totally fine. Yeah, I

1:14:31

think it's tough because Gruff is religious, but

1:14:33

it's more just because it's been always been

1:14:35

there. He's never been a thinker about it.

1:14:38

And the last few events in the last few

1:14:40

days is really kind of like messed with his

1:14:42

core belief system. I would say it

1:14:44

would depend on how much stock Gruff puts in

1:14:46

what Malady said about it being like a planar

1:14:48

thing. You could be like Benedicta and be

1:14:50

like, no, no, no, that was a

1:14:52

blessing from Pyrrhus. I know what that

1:14:54

was. He trusts Malady. Yeah, Malady, yeah.

1:14:57

So he would probably know that, yeah, that

1:14:59

the celestial is actually a planar creature, not

1:15:01

a holy like, oh, something from the scions.

1:15:03

I just want to clarify, I know it's

1:15:05

world building for the Fennengling, but. I retract

1:15:07

my statement. It sounds like Pyrrhus. But

1:15:10

I'm not, it's

1:15:12

not anything that's getting any better

1:15:16

or worse or, you know, making

1:15:18

someone's arm look. Okay.

1:15:21

I mean, it's not hurting me, whereas

1:15:25

your thing is hurting you and that's not good. Well,

1:15:27

yes. No. Because you're

1:15:29

being hurt. As long as you're not being hurt. I'm not being

1:15:31

hurt. And I'm not gonna

1:15:33

hurt anyone else because it's just

1:15:36

me. Hey, how

1:15:38

often can you do that flying

1:15:41

thing? Oh, I don't know. I've only done it that once.

1:15:43

That was your first time? Yeah,

1:15:46

I kind of panicked

1:15:49

and it happened. I kind of

1:15:51

piddened. Cause

1:15:54

you know, there's a lot of fire around. There's

1:15:57

a lot of demons. It's

1:15:59

quite terrifying. and

1:16:01

I could do something about it and I

1:16:03

just kind of willed that to happen and

1:16:05

it happened and then the

1:16:07

problem was gone because the light was gone

1:16:10

and yeah. Well

1:16:12

you very much did something about it.

1:16:15

I think that saved us there. So

1:16:18

again thank you Nim if

1:16:20

you can hear me. They can't hear you that well.

1:16:22

Really? Just muffled it's like mmm not

1:16:25

so much. Don't get closer. Okay. You

1:16:28

know what Daisy what

1:16:30

I yearned in all of this I can't

1:16:33

tell you if you're blasphemous or not. What I

1:16:35

yearned in all of this was a

1:16:38

very young girl lost her parents and

1:16:40

this thing whatever it is kept

1:16:42

you safe. Yeah.

1:16:47

And in my eyes that

1:16:50

can't be blasphemous. Thank

1:16:53

you God. It's a very good

1:16:55

gruff response. Daisy will give gruff a

1:16:57

hug. Oh good okay

1:16:59

I'll part that. I know you don't like it

1:17:01

but I'm gonna make you a good hug. No don't cry.

1:17:04

Don't cry. It's okay. It's okay

1:17:06

my fur is all wet now. So

1:17:09

before we wrap up the episode one

1:17:13

thing that would happen is you

1:17:16

are you are brought to Duke Ignores

1:17:19

for a private chamber conversation

1:17:22

but a parade is

1:17:24

basically arranged. Not just for

1:17:26

you guys it honors

1:17:28

the high authority who gave a life it honors

1:17:31

many of the soldiers who also died in the

1:17:33

fight and also the soldiers who you know fought

1:17:35

and survived like it's kind of a we

1:17:38

all did it but you guys are like

1:17:40

the guests of honor of like and these

1:17:42

are the heroes who destroyed the lantern and

1:17:44

stopped the demon and stuff like that. The

1:17:48

private conversation with Duke Ignarius you

1:17:52

would find his tall powerful humanoid

1:17:55

form you know the ten feet

1:17:57

tall dark skinned dreadlock but all

1:17:59

scarred. and cut up, slightly

1:18:02

more Marose than the last time you've

1:18:04

spoken to him. That never comes across

1:18:06

when he's publicly speaking. Publicly speaking, he

1:18:08

is as bold and brash, you know,

1:18:10

when he does the parade, he speaks

1:18:12

of your heroism and the unity of

1:18:14

Ashen's Rest coming together and fending off

1:18:17

this attack and how it's made it

1:18:19

stronger and, you know, it proves that

1:18:21

cauldron spirit and pride is all there.

1:18:24

Yeah, don't look me up. Yeah, there's

1:18:26

a bit of a lot of that. But

1:18:29

in private, there's definitely a bit more of a guilt

1:18:32

and regret to him. He

1:18:36

will say, you have my humblest of

1:18:38

thanks, heroes, not

1:18:43

just for destroying the

1:18:45

light and freeing us from that spell, but

1:18:48

for saving me before I did

1:18:51

something truly, truly terrible.

1:18:54

And he glances over and Lady

1:18:56

Embrisa, his daughter, is there. And

1:18:58

you can see that her arm, even

1:19:01

in her humanoid form, still bears

1:19:04

this horrific burn scar all up her.

1:19:06

And, you know, she was a very

1:19:09

beautiful kind of pretty humanoid, like, elven

1:19:11

figure. But now it's got

1:19:13

this really intense, quite nasty, burnt

1:19:15

scar-like chunks of flesh missing. And

1:19:18

she's trying to cover it up with silks, but

1:19:20

you know it's there. And his

1:19:22

eyes kind of dart towards her and she

1:19:24

looks away and he can see that he's,

1:19:27

yeah, very guilty. But

1:19:30

for saving me from myself and my

1:19:32

family, from myself. Whatever

1:19:35

you need, I

1:19:38

consider you to be champions of

1:19:40

Northvale. I will make sure that

1:19:42

you are rewarded

1:19:46

as befits, heroes of

1:19:48

this place. Not just some

1:19:50

inn, but true

1:19:52

heroic reward. Gold, which

1:19:55

is whatever is in my power to

1:19:57

grant. Uh...

1:20:02

I, um... Just

1:20:05

a couple of days ago, we were just thinking about repairing

1:20:07

the stairs. You do not need to

1:20:09

tell me now. Just know

1:20:11

that in me, you

1:20:14

have not just a friend, but

1:20:16

one who owes you a

1:20:18

great debt. A

1:20:21

debt of a dragon is no small thing.

1:20:28

Sister Ophelia dell'Arosa, I

1:20:31

do not know by which miracle you

1:20:34

have returned to us, for

1:20:36

I saw your body laid out as it

1:20:38

was. But I

1:20:40

fear that, given the... I feel

1:20:43

that given... The...

1:20:50

Betrayal is perhaps the wrong

1:20:52

word, but the actions of

1:20:55

the Church of the Scions, there

1:20:57

have been voices speaking

1:21:00

to me that you are

1:21:03

bringing a heresy to my land. No,

1:21:08

just education. Please.

1:21:12

You used your power

1:21:15

to defend my people, to

1:21:17

defend my home, to defend

1:21:19

me, my family. It

1:21:23

is in my rights. You know,

1:21:25

the dragons, we have

1:21:27

our own belief. We do not follow

1:21:30

the saints and scions as the Il'kir

1:21:32

do. We were taught differently.

1:21:34

I see no

1:21:36

reason why you should not be permitted

1:21:39

your worship here in

1:21:42

my land. I

1:21:45

don't know what to say. I'm... I'm...

1:21:49

So thank you. That would be a

1:21:52

great honour, not only to me, but to Osseus.

1:21:56

I would trust that you

1:21:58

would seek only to... Help

1:22:00

my people grow to become stronger

1:22:02

to prosper with this religion

1:22:05

of yours this grave father Oh,

1:22:08

of course, we would only wish for

1:22:11

your people to experience nothing but joy

1:22:13

and bliss For

1:22:15

they have suffered so much already surely giving

1:22:18

them joy would be what they

1:22:20

would deserve then it

1:22:22

isn't within my power as Regional

1:22:25

juke to allow you to

1:22:28

preach the word of your

1:22:30

faith here in my lands

1:22:33

I cannot rave maybe we should put this to

1:22:35

a vote Cannot offer you

1:22:37

this beyond my borders. Of

1:22:39

course, of course you have to contend

1:22:42

with the church and then Interactions,

1:22:45

of course, you have a

1:22:48

splendid Simon so thankful You

1:22:51

almost walk But I

1:22:53

see this is only fair for

1:22:55

if the Church of the Psions can nearly bring ruin

1:22:58

To us and he doesn't look that there's a

1:23:00

look of like fucking pirates fucked up

1:23:05

And I see no reason to deny you your

1:23:07

faith here nor should any

1:23:09

who are plain touched He

1:23:12

kind of looks around. Thank you, sir suffer

1:23:17

Prejudice I am led

1:23:19

to believe as well from I consider it

1:23:22

and I marshal that you've encountered you've uncovered

1:23:24

information that the Former owners of the inn

1:23:26

that I bequeathed to you. They were mistreated

1:23:28

by the church Yes

1:23:31

for name alone enticing devil. We cannot

1:23:33

have that I Will

1:23:35

make sure that this does not happen again. We

1:23:38

must make sure that our sir this

1:23:40

these religious matters This

1:23:42

zealotry is already taken and it's

1:23:45

corrupted the Sun sword Turned

1:23:47

this town into a battlefield against these

1:23:49

demonic demons We

1:23:52

cannot have this happen again I'm

1:23:54

glad because I was running blanks on names You

1:23:58

are free to change it as you wish you don't It does not even

1:24:00

need to be an inn. Turn it into a house,

1:24:02

a business, a shrine, whatever you so see fit. It

1:24:05

is yours, your land, to do as you wish. And

1:24:08

I am proud to have you here as citizens

1:24:10

of my land. Think

1:24:12

on what you would like. Think of what

1:24:15

I can aid you with. And

1:24:17

we will speak again. But for now, I

1:24:20

think a healthy donation from my

1:24:22

treasury should at least enable

1:24:25

you to build a future here, if

1:24:27

that is what you wish. Mm-hmm.

1:24:33

With that, we get the Star

1:24:36

Wars medal scene. And chatter. To

1:24:39

clarify, Gruff doesn't get a medal. Gruff doesn't get a medal,

1:24:42

that's right. Rrrr. Or

1:24:44

we can do it like the Ewoks, where you're

1:24:46

all banging on the heads of demons. Like, like.

1:24:49

Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo,

1:24:51

doo, doo, doo, doo, doo.

1:24:54

Then you dance with like the, you

1:24:56

know, the halflings or whatever. I

1:24:58

don't know the ghosts in that scenario, I

1:25:00

guess Janja and the high authority or. Yeah,

1:25:03

yeah, yeah. A bit of a high authority,

1:25:05

I think, for sure, yeah. I get 5,000

1:25:07

medals, though, right? In

1:25:09

all the coins. Yes,

1:25:11

yes, sure. But yeah, that's

1:25:13

gonna be it. That is the end of this

1:25:16

little first arc, basically. Oh! The action

1:25:18

threat. We did it! To the point that we

1:25:20

have now got a nice established base. You got enough

1:25:22

money to build up the inn into like a nice little

1:25:24

home. Cool.

1:25:26

We're probably gonna jump back in several days

1:25:29

later with the tournament and we can

1:25:31

go over things that happen in between that and stuff like

1:25:33

that as well. And

1:25:35

yeah, a brand new arc will begin.

1:25:37

Oh, we did it. We

1:25:40

lived. Very close, very close.

1:25:42

We're at five now as well. Yeah, but. That

1:25:44

is gonna be it for this episode. Thank you guys so

1:25:46

much and we will see you next time. Bye! See

1:25:49

you later! Bye! Bye!

1:26:00

you