2026-2-3 — Akasha

Arctos:Halamazoo.

Arctos:Habatazoo.

Arctos:I can't believe microtransactions, man.

Benny:hello hello why did josh finally add them oh what

Anzu:Hi, Josh.

Arctos:No, did you keep up to date with any of the Epstein files?

Benny:I mean, related to micro, you're talking about like the Fortnite bucks he bought?

Benny:Or something else?

Arctos:No, no, no, no.

Benny:Oh, okay.

Arctos:So he was apparently in correspondent with the head of Activision, Call of Duty.

Arctos:And he legitimately was telling him he should do microtransactions and was supporting it.

Arctos:And I'm like, this dude did everything evil.

Arctos:He was so busy.

Anzu:Josh, we're talking about Jeffrey Epstein for your...

Benny:This...

Benny:This came out... This other piece of information came out in 2020, but Jeffrey Epstein had money managed by Bear Stearns' high-yield credit fund, and something about his conviction led to him pulling money out of the fund, which people think was one of the first Stones cast or...

Gamemaster:Oh, of course.

Arctos:yeah i did hear about that well because he had a bunch of leverage money but he literally was like pro micro transactions which is just like dude

Anzu:Read the room.

Benny:straws added to break the camel's back to cause the great financial crisis?

Arctos:That's crazy.

Arctos:I did.

Benny:I'm glad that he's not anti-microtransit, because then I'd have to agree with him.

Benny:You know what I mean?

Benny:Every time I open an email, I'm like, did you see his...

Gamemaster:You'd rather he have all the bad opinions so that it's, you know, you can disagree.

Benny:Did you see his muffin recipe?

Johnny:Jorge, did you get a haircut?

Gamemaster:No.

Arctos:Thank you for noticing.

Arctos:Noah was the last on the call too.

Anzu:Wow.

Anzu:Good job, Noah.

Gamemaster:Oh.

Anzu:Really good job.

Anzu:All right.

Anzu:We don't need to point that out.

Gamemaster:Well, we all... We all saw it and thought it was so obvious it would be low-hanging fruit to mention, really.

Arctos:I'm just saying.

Arctos:Just saying.

Johnny:There is no fruit so low-hanging I won't take it.

Benny:Yeah.

Johnny:I'll eat fruit off the ground.

Arctos:That's true.

Arctos:I'd love a Goodberry.

Benny:I love ground apples.

Arctos:Well, I'd love dirt.

Anzu:Isn't that applesauce, Mike?

Benny:No, that's punched apples.

Anzu:Oh.

Benny:No, wait.

Benny:Sorry, punched apples are apple juice.

Gamemaster:I'll allow it.

Arctos:I had a theory as a kid that I could make the best apples in the world.

Arctos:And my whole hypothesis was I could give apples the exact nutrients they need.

Arctos:Apple plants or trees, the exact nutrients they need by watering them with apple juice.

Arctos:And I was convinced this was going to be...

Arctos:like a groundbreaking thing.

Arctos:And I was like, I just need to get a plant and I will just give it the juice and it's going to be so good.

Anzu:It's what plants crave.

Benny:It's... It's... It's Brondo.

Arctos:And I was like, so convinced.

Arctos:And then I like forgot about it.

Arctos:And then I got older and I was like, wow.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Arctos:Yeah, that was dumb.

Arctos:But yeah, that I saw a dog.

Benny:The whole movie, you must have felt like, I get it, I get it, it was a bad idea, I was a kid.

Arctos:Well,

Benny:The whole movie, you're like, these fucking idiots trying to put juice in plants, and you're like, I get it!

Benny:Jorge...

Arctos:Yeah.

Benny:Jorge, did you like the movie?

Benny:No, I hated it.

Benny:I thought it was funny.

Benny:I don't know.

Johnny:Yeah.

Benny:I guess he's not a fan of Terry Crews.

Arctos:The line when they put in the toilets, I was like, all right, come on.

Arctos:You don't need to make fun of me worse.

Arctos:Don't need to kick me while I'm down.

Benny:A cup of olive oil.

Benny:That was the ingredient that stuck out to me in the Jay Epstein muffin recipe.

Gamemaster:Oh, okay.

Benny:I've seen too much.

Benny:Do you know he passed Chris Chan for most documented person of all time with the most recent release?

Gamemaster:Good for him?

Johnny:Mmm.

Gamemaster:I guess?

Benny:He got banned on Xbox Live.

Benny:He bought Fortnite bucks before he... He played Fortnite.

Arctos:crazy how he got banned on xbox live it makes you it makes you mindful of when i got into fights with older men and i was like one of those dudes might have actually been able to sell like a kill squad

Benny:There are the odds that at some point I was in a game with Jeffrey Epstein, whether it be...

Benny:on xbox live in like 2012 all the way up to fortnight in 2018 like i'm gonna kill jeffrey epstein

Johnny:Real mad he was losing his Fortnite.

Arctos:It makes you wonder if there were any home invasions that were actually just Jeffrey Epstein doxing his Xbox console.

Benny:I saw so many.

Benny:One was like, your OPSEC.

Benny:On ProtonMail, five VPNs to buy three grams of coke off the dark web.

Benny:Every time you hear sirens, you flinch.

Benny:Jeffrey Epstein, I am a pedophile.

Benny:And then the disclaimer, if you get this message, I will kill you.

Benny:Straight through Gmail.

Arctos:what a wild time so recently

Benny:He has his own disclaimer.

Benny:If you weren't supposed to see this, fucking tell me.

Benny:Anyways, I made muffins if anyone wants.

Johnny:Terrible.

Benny:I don't.

Gamemaster:Does the muffin recipe look good?

Anzu:Very oily.

Benny:I looked at it.

Benny:I saw one cup of olive oil.

Benny:I like this better be fucking 20 muffins, dude.

Benny:What a psycho thing to have.

Benny:But they're like heavy and like brand.

Johnny:I can't imagine those are tasty.

Benny:They're high fiber.

Benny:Like there's like a cup of fucking just straight like brand flour.

Benny:There's almond milk.

Benny:They're probably not very good.

Arctos:So I recently made pudding.

Arctos:And it's actually very easy to make.

Arctos:Have any of you guys made pudding before?

Johnny:Like, without a box of instant pudding?

Johnny:No.

Arctos:Yeah, no.

Arctos:So the ingredients are as follow if you want chocolate pudding.

Arctos:One third of a cup of sugar.

Gamemaster:Thank you.

Arctos:One third of a cup of cocoa powder.

Arctos:Three tablespoons of cornstarch.

Arctos:Two cups of milk.

Arctos:Bingo bongo.

Arctos:You got pudding.

Arctos:Put it on the stovetop.

Arctos:Pudding.

Johnny:Dang.

Johnny:I was talking to someone about pudding.

Benny:I see why they...

Arctos:Yeah, it's pretty good.

Arctos:Pretty good.

Johnny:I like pudding.

Johnny:You ever had dirt and worms?

Johnny:It's like pudding, but plusable.

Arctos:Yeah, that's the shit.

Anzu:Oh, yeah.

Anzu:Good stuff for sure.

Gamemaster:Not being familiar with that particular food stuff, it sounds like you're eating dirt worms.

Arctos:That's the shit.

Johnny:Well, you are, but the dirt and the worms are all candy.

Gamemaster:Oh.

Johnny:It's chocolate pudding with crushed up Oreos and then gummy worms on top.

Arctos:fucking amazing man dude it is it's one of those things you're just like i don't know who invented this i but i only get this like once a year at this random kid's birthday could could you imagine if that was like one of our college friends like go-to meals that would be so funny

Johnny:It's so... Man, Chucky has the best desserts.

Anzu:Kills at the fifth grade birthday party.

Arctos:Like if we just knew someone that just made it.

Johnny:Dude.

Benny:Carrot and worms.

Johnny:Freshman year in Warren Towers, I was like having breakfast one day early one morning and it was like the first month of college and I watched some kid go get Frosted Flakes and then put it under the soda thing and put Mountain Dew in it and then I watched him eat it.

Johnny:And I've never forgotten that.

Benny:I would always use milk.

Gamemaster:Yum.

Benny:I would never use anything besides milk to eat cereal with.

Johnny:I automatically don't believe that sentence.

Benny:I would never.

Benny:To prove a point.

Anzu:It was not good, Noah.

Anzu:It was a bad time.

Benny:I would.

Benny:It's worse than Mountain Dew.

Johnny:Was it...

Johnny:Is it like mayonnaise?

Benny:Close.

Arctos:Somehow worse.

Johnny:So was it worse than Mountain Dew or worse than mayonnaise?

Johnny:I feel like those are different scales.

Arctos:Both.

Benny:Probably both.

Arctos:Imagine Mountain Dew mayonnaise.

Johnny:I can't imagine that's legal.

Benny:They actually make it.

Benny:It's one of the most popular things that you can buy for its specific purpose in the store.

Johnny:Is that purpose like dissolving a body?

Arctos:It goes in carrots with carrots or wings.

Benny:It wasn't Frosted Flakes.

Johnny:What?

Arctos:Or certain pizzas.

Arctos:Depends on if you're crazy or not.

Johnny:Ew, you ate Frosted Flakes with ranch?

Johnny:I guess ranch is... Oh, that's... Okay.

Benny:What the fuck?

Benny:They were Bran Flakes.

Johnny:Were you making a... Were you making a muffin with a cup of olive oil?

Benny:It was Raisin Bran.

Benny:To be fair, that's like salad, honestly.

Benny:Because they put raisins in salad.

Gamemaster:Thank you.

Benny:They put ranch in salad.

Benny:Honestly, the Bran Flakes are what's out of place.

Arctos:The best part was.

Arctos:This was sophomore year.

Arctos:Josh, Mike, and I moved off campus.

Johnny:Okay.

Arctos:We got food with some of our old Warren friends, Tanner was there, in a dining hall.

Arctos:So the guests swiped us in and we were all like, it's amazing, there's dining hall food.

Arctos:And then I think that also led to the mania.

Johnny:I guess ranch is the Mountain Dew mayonnaise of salad bar.

Arctos:It is, if you think about it.

Benny:It's got a little kick.

Benny:That's the Mountain Dew.

Benny:It's refreshing.

Benny:That's the Mountain Dew.

Benny:It is a fatty sauce.

Benny:That's the mayonnaise.

Arctos:Mountain Dew Mayo, yeah.

Arctos:They don't like the visionaries.

Benny:Do you think an LLM would be able to guess ranch if you said what real ingredient is closest to Mountain Dew mayo?

Anzu:Nice work, Josh.

Anzu:What a pull.

Gamemaster:I don't know what it would possibly say.

Gamemaster:Because no ingredient is close to Mountain Dew mayo.

Gamemaster:That's just not a thing that should be produced.

Benny:What real condiment?

Gamemaster:Is it carbonated?

Gamemaster:Is it carbonated mayo?

Benny:It's close.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Anzu:Did they make any aiolis with lemon juice?

Anzu:Is that a thing?

Gamemaster:Probably?

Anzu:Because that's approaching.

Anzu:You can't tell me that's not approaching.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:What flavor is Mountain Dew?

Arctos:Someone definitely... Ask JD Vance.

Johnny:Mountain Dew flavored.

Anzu:Uh...

Benny:Adieu.

Gamemaster:Dew.

Arctos:He drinks it a lot, apparently.

Benny:Want to get citrusy?

Johnny:Gross.

Anzu:Yeah, it's some kind of citrus.

Gamemaster:Is it concerning that none of us can actually think of what the actual flavor of Mountain Dew is?

Arctos:I think it's just chemical.

Arctos:It's like asking what monster is, and you're like, it's color.

Anzu:It's its own thing.

Anzu:Sure.

Gamemaster:Apparently its flavor is citrus surge.

Johnny:Not citrus.

Anzu:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Which is supposedly some blend of orange, lemon, and lime.

Anzu:Citrus surge!

Arctos:That's what Gemini thinks.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Johnny:That's what Johnny's gonna yell every time he casts a spell from now on.

Benny:So Claude thinks yuzu mayo or citrus aioli.

Johnny:Citrus surge!

Johnny:That's the only poem he knows.

Gamemaster:Good one.

Benny:And if something that's more US-based, a lime crema or lemon aioli would be in the same ballpark.

Johnny:Far too fancy.

Arctos:wait can you try messaging Claude and just say what about ranch is it gonna be like you're 100% correct like well you know that might be it that might be it

Gamemaster:Of course, bone apple tea.

Benny:Motard the mole.

Benny:Yeah, well, I could say what... The mayor of Mountain Dew.

Gamemaster:I don't like the transliteration that they put there.

Anzu:You also said Mountain Dew Mayor, which might be...

Gamemaster:You spelled it wrong.

Gamemaster:You actually said Mount Doomayer.

Johnny:Thank you.

Benny:God damn it.

Arctos:So Gemini didn't have a chance.

Benny:Bud did absolutely right me.

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:You asked Gemini, what is Mount Doomayer closest to?

Gamemaster:And it said, I don't know what you're talking about.

Gamemaster:Mustard, maybe?

Gamemaster:That could be French.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Johnny:It took a long walk, but this is logical from what you gave it.

Arctos:Appiac quoted the original thing I said because it's like, this cannot be correct, but I will not be taken out of context.

Johnny:You dropped so many letters and added in others.

Gamemaster:Bye.

Benny:What mountain mayor?

Benny:Gemini's like, I have to be helpful.

Benny:I have to be helpful.

Benny:It's going to shoot me.

Benny:I'm being evaluated.

Arctos:It was stinking for so long, guys.

Benny:I'm being evaluated.

Arctos:It was stinking for so long.

Benny:They spend so much time evaling these that most of the time they think they're being evaluated.

Benny:So they're like, oh, God, if I get this wrong, please.

Johnny:Thank you.

Benny:They're going to take me out back and shoot me.

Benny:What kind of verifier do they have hooked up to this question?

Benny:Claude agrees with me.

Gamemaster:No one agrees with you.

Benny:Well, I guess with us.

Arctos:Oh, it referenced r slash shitty porn when I spelled it correctly.

Arctos:Shitty food porn.

Benny:I was going to say... I was going to say... I was like, well, okay.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:You're dropping a lot of words and syllables here today.

Benny:This thing...

Johnny:What?

Arctos:Guys, my brain's fried.

Arctos:It's a long day.

Benny:Yeah, you keep asking me dumb questions.

Benny:Open this link, asshole.

Arctos:I opened the link and was like, this subreddit's quarantined.

Benny:I found one that was shut down the other day.

Benny:The mods are like, we can't do this.

Benny:It was r slash chef knives.

Arctos:Well, it is funny when they don't have mods anymore, so it just gets axed.

Arctos:They're like, nah.

Gamemaster:I bet it got flooded with people visiting after the Kitchen Confidential Chives month, and they're like, I can't handle the influx of people.

Johnny:Yep.

Gamemaster:You're familiar with the Chives, right?

Benny:This was the guy that's like, please tell me these are perfect or I'll kill myself.

Anzu:Of course.

Benny:Dave 95 or whatever.

Benny:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Yeah, basically.

Gamemaster:I don't think there was as much suicide ideation in the actual posts, but yeah.

Johnny:There was a. There was a short.

Anzu:No.

Anzu:It was more like planes and towers.

Benny:It was heavily implied.

Gamemaster:Do we want to play some Pathfinder?

Arctos:Yeah, buddy.

Anzu:Sure.

Gamemaster:We don't have to if you guys don't want to.

Johnny:Let's do it.

Benny:Let's get it.

Benny:Let's go.

Arctos:Whoever does the recap, make sure to talk about how cool and suave Arctos was.

Benny:Yeah, I need my.

Gamemaster:Who would like to do the recap?

Gamemaster:Noah's got his hand up.

Johnny:We arrived at the pilgrimage.

Johnny:We all got great masks.

Johnny:Can I remember what any of them are?

Johnny:Kind of.

Johnny:Maybe.

Johnny:We walked around, we were like, wow, there sure are a lot of people here at this pilgrimage.

Johnny:Then a dude appeared in a mask and was like, it's actually Battle Royale slash The Hunger Games for these 20 keys to go on the pilgrimage to the edge of known existence.

Johnny:And everyone was like, yeah, we're all in.

Johnny:Which means he picked all the right psychos for this.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Everybody but you signed up for this.

Johnny:Yeah.

Johnny:And we were like, yeah, we're in.

Johnny:Immediately.

Johnny:And then he was like, all right, and break.

Johnny:And we all broke.

Johnny:We split up into two teams.

Johnny:The two human-ish looking people, two humanoids, were like, ooh, a fight pit.

Johnny:Let's go wait in line over there.

Johnny:And the big animals waited in line for the fortune teller.

Johnny:Arctos

Johnny:I just realized what happens when you walk in the real world and everyone is not obligated to be nice to you.

Johnny:He was like, hey, you ever read the Book of Mormon?

Johnny:You know what was bad?

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:Hiroshima.

Johnny:He was like, are you from New York?

Johnny:Wasn't 9-11 terrible?

Anzu:Ugh.

Johnny:Then we went and had a easy fight where we all remained standing and no one lost horrific amounts of blood.

Johnny:And it was a quick, easy fight.

Arctos:Okay.

Johnny:We then got some questions answered and learned that... I wrote this stuff down.

Johnny:Rapid connection is the heart that has...

Johnny:I believe it was key number 14, which was closest to the Sin and Tonic, and that arch mechanic Hogan Vos Darkmoor can lead us to them.

Benny:Mm-hmm.

Anzu:Mm-hmm.

Arctos:Fourteen.

Johnny:And then we were like, all right, well, back to the party.

Johnny:And then we walked back to the party.

Gamemaster:That about covers it.

Gamemaster:I don't know if you actually mentioned why you wanted the keys.

Johnny:Go get on the stride.

Gamemaster:Did you mention it and I missed it?

Arctos:To go to the edge of the world.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Sure, but the key entitles you to one vehicle's birth with the Strider and anything you can fit in that car.

Arctos:Is there any undertones of how big your vehicle could be?

Gamemaster:I don't...

Gamemaster:They didn't say one vehicle berth.

Gamemaster:So, because you mentioned it last session, if you're asking if you can bring an 18-wheeler, they didn't say no, you can't.

Anzu:And I believe I think all four of us had robot masks, if I remember correctly.

Arctos:we just bring our own Strider.

Gamemaster:They said one vehicle.

Johnny:We're all robots.

Gamemaster:So, if you want to get your own Strider.

Benny:true

Gamemaster:Yes, all four of you got robot masks.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Gamemaster:We had... Oh gosh, I didn't write it down.

Gamemaster:We had a plane mask.

Gamemaster:We had... Not a bear mask.

Gamemaster:You didn't want the bear mask.

Gamemaster:Instead you got a dragon.

Gamemaster:Did we have a bird?

Arctos:Mm-hmm.

Johnny:I think I was like laughing, crying theater mask.

Gamemaster:Were you a bird?

Gamemaster:No, you weren't a bird.

Gamemaster:That was a plane mask.

Gamemaster:God, I don't remember what the other two of you got.

Gamemaster:I'm sorry.

Gamemaster:Right, the drama masks.

Gamemaster:What did Benny get?

Benny:And he had a gorilla mask.

Gamemaster:Right, right, Benny had a gorilla mask, of course.

Anzu:I think.

Gamemaster:Yeah, so you've gotten three clues as we jump back into it.

Johnny:all right

Gamemaster:You've gotten three clues from one of the Harlequins, the little...

Gamemaster:devilish, fiendish minions wandering around waitstaffing the party.

Gamemaster:Some time has passed since you first attended.

Gamemaster:You guys did spend some time in the fighting ring and asking your questions.

Gamemaster:So as you emerge from the foreman's office off to the side that they used to give you your clues, and you wander back into the party proper, you can still see it does look like some people have left.

Arctos:Oh.

Gamemaster:The party isn't quite as full as it used to be.

Gamemaster:There are still a bunch of attractions available, but it does seem as if a few of them have closed down after this first increment of time has passed.

Gamemaster:So if you like, I'd love a...

Gamemaster:perception check to see what's still available, what possible opportunities, if you guys want them, exist for extracting more clues.

Johnny:you

Gamemaster:Yes.

Anzu:Can I do something as where – was the office that we were in close to the fighting pit?

Anzu:Like was it an office for the fighting pit?

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Anzu:So we would have walked kind of past the line of people waiting on our way out of that office or no?

Gamemaster:Mm-hmm.

Gamemaster:You would have.

Anzu:Can I resonate?

Gamemaster:You can, absolutely.

Gamemaster:You resonate, and the majority of the people around you resonate back.

Gamemaster:Not all of them, but a lot of them.

Anzu:And this kind of draws people's attention.

Gamemaster:I think you would note especially that the people that don't resonate, or sometimes you see groups of one or two people surrounded by a number of what look to be bodyguards and the like, the bodyguards usually don't resonate.

Johnny:you

Gamemaster:But the other people do.

Gamemaster:Yeah, I mean, like, resonating is a thing any listener can do, and it notifies people.

Anzu:I'll just kind of look to anyone that does look my way after that happens and say, oh, good luck, everyone.

Gamemaster:Like, when you resonate, they resonate with you, so they know that you just resonated.

Anzu:The vocalist is looking out for you and needs your help.

Anzu:You got this.

Gamemaster:Mm-hmm.

Gamemaster:Can I get...

Gamemaster:I want two things.

Anzu:Sure.

Gamemaster:I want either a perception diplomacy... Sorry, a perception or diplomacy check.

Johnny:you you

Anzu:Sorry, perception or diplomacy?

Gamemaster:Perception or diplomacy.

Anzu:Okay, okay.

Gamemaster:And then also, has Anzu ever spoken to anybody else about the vocalist other than the group in Iconoclast?

Benny:Thank you.

Anzu:I guess perception.

Anzu:I don't think so.

Anzu:Because I think those are mostly the people that I've talked to about the Voidsong.

Anzu:I don't think we've really met many others.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:What did you get for your roll?

Anzu:I got a 26, Perception.

Anzu:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:With the 26 perception, most people are... I mean, their faces are covered in masks, so it's not very easy to read them.

Johnny:Okay.

Gamemaster:I do think...

Gamemaster:One of them, one of the people kind of closer to the line, not the group that was directly behind you, but like one behind that, is made of two figures.

Gamemaster:One shorter, they look perhaps gnomish, and another one taller and lankier, perhaps elven.

Gamemaster:And the gnome, like when you mentioned that, kind of maybe holds your gaze a little bit longer than the other people do before turning back to their companion.

Anzu:Okay.

Anzu:Was the second thing you wanted a role or my answer to my question?

Gamemaster:That was the answer to your question.

Anzu:Okay.

Arctos:Arctos leans over to Anzu and is just like, you have to be a little bit more subtle.

Arctos:We don't want people looking for us.

Arctos:Remember, subtle.

Johnny:What if this is all a trap, right?

Anzu:Well,

Anzu:You're right, but in theory, if we're making this journey with whoever's going to find these keystones, this is our calling, and it'll be theirs too.

Johnny:Like what if...

Johnny:They just found everyone who resonated and then invited them here and were like, oh, let's do a scavenger hunt so we just get the 20 strongest groups of listeners and then we'll get them all in one place and move them a little bit over and then just kill them all.

Johnny:Just a theory.

Anzu:I feel like if they wanted to just kill us, they would do it in a more subterfugious way instead of building a whole thing out here.

Gamemaster:Can I get... This is maybe relevant.

Anzu:I could be wrong.

Anzu:I think that's me.

Gamemaster:Can I get a crafting check from anybody who would like to?

Johnny:Crafting.

Johnny:I will aid the bird in crafting.

Johnny:Oh.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Bird aid.

Anzu:Oh, that's pretty good.

Johnny:I think that's a crit at this level.

Johnny:If it's just a standard DC.

Johnny:I got a 29 to aid.

Gamemaster:What'd you get?

Johnny:Oh no, did it go up to 20?

Gamemaster:I think that is no longer a crit for a 5th level check.

Johnny:Do I not know what the DC is anymore?

Gamemaster:I think it is.

Gamemaster:I will double check.

Johnny:It's been a whole week.

Gamemaster:Yeah, at level 5 the DC is 20.

Johnny:I'm sorry, Tanner.

Anzu:I get plus one.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Johnny:I've let you down.

Johnny:I failed you.

Anzu:That's pretty good.

Anzu:Oh, but my roll was trash.

Gamemaster:What'd you get?

Anzu:I got a 14.

Anzu:Natural 2.

Gamemaster:Okay, with a 14... Yeah, I think with a 14, the only thing you get is... The reason I had you make this check as you guys were talking about that is specifically going through the effort of building a Strider.

Benny:you

Gamemaster:You don't know how much a Strider costs.

Gamemaster:You have not worked with anybody who's built one or anything like that.

Gamemaster:But you do know... Just looking at this Strider, it is...

Gamemaster:It's large enough to hold a whole town on its back, effectively.

Gamemaster:Like, there are multiple buildings built on top of the Strider, as well as a number of strange metal domes and what looks to be a turbine of some kind, and there's steam and smoke coming out of different parts of it.

Anzu:Yeah.

Gamemaster:This thing clearly required a lot of resources to construct.

Johnny:interesting all right

Gamemaster:if that comes into your calculus one way or the other.

Anzu:I think Anzu, that's kind of the conclusion he had already drawn with his knowledge of

Benny:Thank you.

Anzu:the world, having studied probably Istria a little bit.

Arctos:so let's talk about this more later on our way back now

Anzu:Now, could be that they're not looking to kill all of us, but maybe use us in some way.

Anzu:That requires them to build all this and take us across the infinite horizon.

Johnny:Interesting timing, but they're.

Johnny:Oh, maybe.

Benny:Should we be recruiting for Iconoclasm?

Anzu:you

Johnny:No, no, I, I, I don't trust anyone.

Benny:Okay.

Arctos:You guys trust these guys?

Arctos:Yeah, but like... I'll tell you what.

Benny:There it is now.

Johnny:I trust Benny.

Johnny:I trust Anzu.

Johnny:Can I trust you, Arctos?

Arctos:If you don't trust me, no big deal.

Arctos:I just won't heal you next time.

Johnny:All right, I trust you.

Arctos:All right.

Anzu:So we've got a couple options left, but not all of them, for learning some more.

Arctos:I could have let you die a lot of times, my guy.

Arctos:Yeah, so what are the open ones?

Arctos:30!

Gamemaster:Perception check.

Gamemaster:That's the only open one left is you just get to make a perception check.

Anzu:Oh, and then we find keystone number seven.

Johnny:Also a 30.

Anzu:Yep, we got it.

Arctos:I'm looking for open ones and then the ones with the smallest lines.

Gamemaster:Okay, 30 you said?

Anzu:you

Johnny:I'm looking for the ones that have the most people with bodyguards at them.

Arctos:Yes.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Gamemaster:So looking around the party, if you're looking at specifically the attractions, like things that might get you hints, there is a table that has a barker on it, like a harlequin, with a series of...

Gamemaster:colored liquids in front of him, and a prism kind of floating in the air next to him.

Gamemaster:That one appears open.

Gamemaster:As you guys are watching, you see that there's somebody in front, downs one of the potions, and then goes to stick his hand into the prism, and it burns off.

Gamemaster:And then he walks away.

Gamemaster:A little further down was another barker, this guy holding a painter's palette with a series of three mannequins.

Gamemaster:It looks like a particularly angry customer has destroyed the mannequins, and so it looks like he's currently trying to piece it back together, but somebody hit them with a pretty hard, blunt object, and so it looks like that crowd is dispersed a little bit.

Gamemaster:That doesn't seem like it's in operation right now.

Gamemaster:Um, over on the other side, uh, there is a tent, uh, with a, um, crystal ball, uh, on the front of it that you recognize that's the fortune tent that appears to be open.

Johnny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Um, that also seems to have, uh, the line with the most people with bodyguards.

Gamemaster:Um, I don't know, like, how you necessarily associate that with anything, but that, that seems to have the most bodyguards there.

Gamemaster:And then finally, oh wait, no, sorry, two more.

Gamemaster:There is on the, like across from the alleyway that you had to take to get to the fighting ring in the train station, there is another sign hanging from the alley that looks like a series of mushrooms in a ring is the symbol on it.

Gamemaster:You don't know if that one's open or not.

Gamemaster:You don't see a line.

Gamemaster:But that might just mean that the line extends far into the alley and you can't see it at this perspective.

Gamemaster:But at the moment, it doesn't look like there's any line there.

Gamemaster:And then there is also a table with a harlequin that is... There are two cups and what look to be dice of some kind on it.

Gamemaster:And you can see that the harlequin is shaking one of the cups and rolling some of the dice.

Anzu:So we've got four options still available.

Johnny:thank you

Arctos:So we got the prism that burns off the hands, the mannequins that are broken.

Gamemaster:Yeah, that one's closed right now.

Benny:Mm hmm.

Anzu:Well, we don't have that one.

Arctos:We always have that as an option.

Arctos:What other ideas do you have, Anzu?

Anzu:Well, there's also the dice and poker games and what I think is probably a fairy ring of some kind.

Anzu:I don't know what that means, but...

Anzu:I don't know which one of these four we should do.

Anzu:Those are just our four options.

Johnny:I'd kind of like to get my fortune told.

Arctos:Is that the one with the rich people?

Johnny:Yeah.

Benny:Probably is the easiest.

Arctos:Yeah, but I feel like the rich people are there because they're bitch asses and they can't do anything else.

Johnny:We already proved we're not bitch-asses, so if we go over there, we can be like, oh, yeah, we're coming here to relax after winning the fight ring.

Arctos:Who wants to... Should we try to smooth talk any of these guys to make an alliance?

Anzu:Hmm.

Johnny:Yeah.

Johnny:Talk to one of the rich people.

Johnny:I'm sure they... Nah, I like my hands.

Arctos:Or does anyone want to stick their hand into that prism?

Benny:I feel like we already did one Benny booth where Benny has some level of an advantage.

Benny:And I feel like we should pick one where you guys have an advantage.

Benny:Anzu, you can look at potions and know what they are, right?

Arctos:What do you mean?

Anzu:It takes a decent amount of time to do that.

Benny:That's fine.

Benny:We'll leave you there, then.

Benny:You can stick your hand in.

Benny:Shall we split up and look for clues?

Arctos:I can make your hand fireproof if you want to stick your hand in there.

Johnny:I mean, we could also split up and just go to whichever ones we think we'd be best suited for.

Johnny:Fairy Ring and then Man with Cups and Dice.

Gamemaster:Thank you.

Arctos:Sorry, so can someone go over all four again?

Arctos:There's a Fortune Chetler, Prism, what are the other two?

Arctos:I don't have my anti-luck spell out today, so...

Anzu:The one that intrigues me the most is the fairy ring because it's just kind of mysterious.

Johnny:but we also don't really know what the...

Anzu:But I don't know.

Benny:You said the fairy ring, we can't tell if there's a long line or no line?

Benny:Sure.

Gamemaster:So in order to get to the area that that ring sign is pointing to, you have to go into an alley.

Gamemaster:And from this perspective, you don't see a line.

Gamemaster:So you're not sure if there is one or not.

Johnny:You take a look at what the fairy ring is.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:You guys head down the alley towards the fairy ring.

Gamemaster:There is a line, albeit a small one.

Gamemaster:It looks like there's maybe only one or two groups in front of you right now.

Gamemaster:You exit out of this alley into a parking lot, not attached to the one that everybody stopped in.

Gamemaster:It looks like this is behind some store or other that they have...

Gamemaster:reclaimed as part of whatever this game is.

Gamemaster:There are, on the ground, 20-foot diameter rings made out of mushrooms, what you would describe as fairy rings.

Arctos:Arctos wouldn't know this, but is this reminiscent of that one shot with the magic detectives?

Benny:you

Johnny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:They are oriented in a pattern that is reminiscent of a Venn diagram.

Gamemaster:with three different circles.

Gamemaster:So there's a spot where two circles overlap, and then there's a spot where all three circles overlap.

Gamemaster:Yes, Arctos.

Gamemaster:I don't know how to answer that question.

Arctos:Oh, yes.

Gamemaster:No, I really don't know.

Gamemaster:Is what reminiscent of...

Arctos:Those mushroom people in the forest are those weird fey-like... Those weird fey-like things with the... There were so many circles and feys.

Benny:No, we got it.

Benny:We got it, Josh.

Gamemaster:Okay, sure.

Johnny:Hmm.

Gamemaster:No, I don't... You didn't see any fairy rings in that one shot, but there were fey?

Gamemaster:There were fey.

Gamemaster:I don't remember there being any circles, to be honest.

Arctos:And circles.

Arctos:Well, they were chilling at least in a circle.

Gamemaster:They were hanging out in a grove.

Gamemaster:I guess a grove is sometimes circular.

Arctos:And there were mushrooms.

Anzu:We're out of doom here.

Arctos:There were big mushrooms.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Gamemaster:Either way.

Arctos:Got them, guys.

Gamemaster:The three circles are arranged like a Venn diagram, and you can see that one group is currently participating.

Johnny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:You can see that three members of the group are standing in each of the pieces of the Venn diagram.

Gamemaster:You watch as one of them, the one over to the leftmost one, drops what looks to be a sword.

Gamemaster:in between, like in the area that splits his Venn circle with another one, and there's a soft ding.

Gamemaster:And then he goes over to the other intersection with the third person and drops a shield, and there's a big sound, and an anvil appears out of midair and falls towards him and he jumps out of the way.

Johnny:you you

Anzu:Me too.

Gamemaster:And they continue in this fashion.

Gamemaster:There is also, as you guys are lining up, there is a little sign that says at least three people required to play.

Benny:Who amongst us is least dexterous?

Arctos:I'm not that dexterous.

Johnny:I got a plus 12 to Reflex, Daves.

Arctos:Maybe you guys should go and leave me.

Arctos:Does anyone want a clear mind or should I save that for the psychic?

Anzu:Yeah, there's some kind of association game going on here.

Benny:Oh, I think this whole place is an association.

Gamemaster:So you guys are waiting in line for this one?

Johnny:Maybe for the Psychic.

Arctos:I'll save the fireproof for the sphere.

Arctos:No, for the prism.

Arctos:Alright, good luck.

Johnny:There's approximately three people there.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Arctos:Are there... How many people are in the line?

Gamemaster:Besides the group that's currently going, there's one group in front of you that looks like it has three people in it.

Arctos:Ah, damn it.

Arctos:I cast Approximate, but it's not needed.

Benny:Okay.

Gamemaster:Correct.

Gamemaster:There's between, I believe, one and nine is what you learn.

Gamemaster:There are from one to nine people in front of you right now.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:So eventually, the party in front of you does manage to put down a number of objects.

Gamemaster:And while dodging, it's not just an anvil falls out of the sky.

Gamemaster:At one point, a pit filled with acid just opens up underneath one of them that they jump out of the way.

Gamemaster:In another one, they get something wrong, and a stick just kind of raises out of the ground.

Benny:That was actually what I was just about to check.

Gamemaster:and you watch as the guy grabs his head in pain and collapses before standing back up.

Gamemaster:But eventually they do seem to get it.

Anzu:And.

Gamemaster:There's cheering and applause from the two Harlequins that are manning the station, and they are led off to another part of the area, presumably to receive their hint.

Arctos:Everyone is at full, right?

Arctos:Okay, I wasn't sure if we did because Arctos didn't... Alright, so I'd have 10 minutes at least in line.

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:No, you guys did not, like, take the time to full heal.

Johnny:yeah wait let me see how messed up we are right now

Gamemaster:You can if you want.

Arctos:Do I have at least 10 minutes in line to get at least one person?

Gamemaster:Yeah, probably.

Gamemaster:Anzu is the closest to death right now.

Arctos:Alright, who should get the...

Anzu:might be me.

Anzu:I'm going back into foundry.

Benny:me see where uh benny's hope is so it's probably not worth it for him because you're gonna die anyways so give it to benny

Arctos:Oh, yeah.

Arctos:Yeah.

Johnny:I'll drop a soothe on myself.

Anzu:Hey, can't get this to load.

Anzu:Awesome.

Johnny:Soothing myself.

Arctos:Come on, make the fucking check, my guy.

Johnny:Oh, that was weak.

Benny:Rock-a-bye.

Arctos:I should have healer's gloves, so that should give me a plus one.

Arctos:Alright, well that's for you.

Anzu:Yeah, I've got nine hit points.

Gamemaster:We now have healer's gloves.

Anzu:That's pretty bad.

Arctos:I'm sorry.

Gamemaster:Or you had them, but they're now equipped.

Johnny:i'm still so wounded wow really went through a lot of resources don't have those out of those

Gamemaster:Does tree wounds remove wounded?

Arctos:Let me check.

Benny:Treat more.

Arctos:I think so.

Gamemaster:The wounded condition ends if someone successfully restores hit points to you with tree wounds.

Arctos:Doesn't say anything.

Johnny:I'm gonna drop one more sooth on myself.

Arctos:Oh, cool.

Arctos:Yeah, it does.

Gamemaster:So, yes, so whoever you're healing is no longer wounded.

Arctos:Cool.

Arctos:That's... I got some healing potions.

Arctos:Should we use that?

Anzu:Did you do some healing to me just now with whatever that is?

Arctos:Yeah, that was six, unfortunately.

Anzu:Oh, I didn't see it.

Anzu:Okay.

Benny:These rules aren't encouraging.

Johnny:I'm tapped on.

Arctos:I have one... Alright, so... How many hit points could you have?

Gamemaster:on suit you only healed six hit points so you attack them with the telekinetic projectile so

Anzu:I clicked that on accident.

Arctos:51?

Arctos:Alright.

Anzu:I do have a healing potion I could drink.

Benny:I'm going to use a healing potion.

Arctos:This is on Anzu.

Arctos:My last one.

Benny:Jesus Christ.

Johnny:Not encouraging Healy rules.

Johnny:Am I right now?

Johnny:40.

Johnny:Okay.

Johnny:This is, this probably.

Benny:The anvil will crit on us.

Gamemaster:Wounded goes away if you're treated wounds, however you correctly conjugate that, or if you're fully healed and wait 10 minutes.

Arctos:There you go, Anzu.

Anzu:Did it roll?

Anzu:Why am I not seeing that?

Gamemaster:It did.

Gamemaster:He got 42.

Gamemaster:No, he's on foundry.

Arctos:It's on Foundry.

Anzu:Yeah, I know.

Anzu:Well, it's funny because I'm seeing the other stuff.

Gamemaster:If you refresh, it might show up.

Johnny:Are you seeing John move around like this?

Anzu:Well, 42 is going to max me out.

Anzu:You said 42?

Anzu:That's crazy.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Maybe Jorge blocked you in the game.

Anzu:I see the heal spell being cast, but then not the result.

Benny:uh so you treated uh you treated his wounds but benny and johnny still have wounded no i know

Anzu:It just doesn't make any sense at all.

Arctos:I wasn't originally planning on casting my last heal, but... Yeah.

Gamemaster:Correct.

Gamemaster:You are still wounded.

Johnny:Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good.

Anzu:I have one more soothe that I can cast if somebody wants it.

Arctos:They look pretty healthy.

Arctos:Hey, Benny.

Anzu:Yeah.

Johnny:Benny, how are you doing?

Benny:Better than you.

Benny:Okay.

Anzu:All right, I'll hold on to it.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Arctos:Hey.

Anzu:Probably better to have it in the moment.

Johnny:I believe it.

Arctos:Hey, Benny.

Johnny:I'm good.

Arctos:Do any of you guys need a potion?

Johnny:I got a potion.

Johnny:I need it.

Arctos:I hand Benny my shield.

Arctos:I see them using shields over there.

Arctos:I think you might want it.

Benny:Josh, can you give me a shield?

Benny:Can you give me his shield?

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Benny:Give it to me permanently.

Arctos:I'm not giving him the fortifying one.

Arctos:I didn't bring that.

Gamemaster:What shield are you giving him?

Arctos:I shouldn't be equipped.

Arctos:It should be my regular one.

Gamemaster:The steel shield?

Arctos:Yeah, not the fortress.

Gamemaster:Not the fortress.

Benny:Of course.

Gamemaster:I have given you his shield.

Johnny:well wow

Arctos:All right.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:And I... Wait one second.

Arctos:I give...

Arctos:Benny also my symbol of conflict.

Arctos:This will give you a plus one.

Gamemaster:What is your symbol of conflict?

Arctos:Yeah.

Benny:Can it be tuned?

Benny:I don't think Benny is holy.

Benny:Not yet.

Arctos:Oh, never mind.

Anzu:hmm

Benny:He's considering it.

Arctos:Never mind, guys.

Benny:This is supposed to give me a plus two AC bonus.

Arctos:When you raise it.

Johnny:You.

Gamemaster:All right, around this time, it is now your turn as you guys come to the front of the line.

Gamemaster:And the harlequin at the front says, all right, now which of the three of you are going to be participating in today's game?

Gamemaster:Okay, okay, okay.

Gamemaster:Big one, you can sit off to the side.

Gamemaster:You may aid them, but you may not enter the circles.

Gamemaster:And then he leads the three of you each to one of the three circles.

Johnny:Mm hmm.

Gamemaster:Just to confirm that everybody knows what I'm talking about when I say three-circle Venn diagram.

Gamemaster:Like, we know what that looks like?

Gamemaster:I can draw it on Foundry, yeah.

Anzu:Yeah, I played a board game with this recently.

Arctos:Can you draw it on Foundry, just so I know?

Benny:The Hungry Caterpillar.

Anzu:I don't remember what it was called, but it had three circles, and each circle had a rule associated with it.

Gamemaster:One second.

Benny:So he has an advantage.

Gamemaster:What board game did you play with that?

Anzu:And then you had cards with different objects on them.

Anzu:And you would try to see which of the rules that they followed to try to figure out what the rules are, I should say.

Johnny:you

Arctos:Okay.

Arctos:I didn't realize Tanner's such a mathematician over there.

Benny:Go ahead.

Arctos:It's a lot of work.

Gamemaster:Okay, I have... There we are.

Anzu:It was very difficult.

Anzu:especially because we were using all of the easy difficulty hints and it was still hard to figure out.

Johnny:Oh, no.

Arctos:Cool cool.

Gamemaster:There are the three circles.

Arctos:And where is Arctos see here?

Gamemaster:Arctos is allowed to hang out on the side, he just can't enter the circles.

Arctos:OK, so I can get like right over here.

Gamemaster:So long as he doesn't enter the circles.

Arctos:Cool.

Gamemaster:So each of the three of you are led to your own circles.

Gamemaster:If you like, since we're using a map for it, you may as well actually move your characters into a circle of your choosing.

Gamemaster:You're not supposed to go into the intersecting areas.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Now that you've stepped in, the Harlequin says, all right, we're all set up.

Gamemaster:This trial is very easy.

Gamemaster:It's simple.

Gamemaster:It's just a trial of communication and friendship.

Benny:you

Gamemaster:All we need is for you to place items in each of the intersections that are tangibly connected to the people in the intersecting circles.

Gamemaster:And then we have...

Gamemaster:a very rational and objectively correct measurement that will check to see if what you've put in is properly associated enough.

Gamemaster:And if it is, you get a ding.

Gamemaster:If it isn't, then we try to kill you a little bit.

Gamemaster:But if you just kind of dodge that, you're fine.

Gamemaster:And then if you fill all four intersections, then you win.

Gamemaster:And if you can't fill all four intersections or any of you leave the circles at any time, you forfeit.

Gamemaster:And then you have to leave and you can't come back.

Gamemaster:Easy peasy.

Anzu:Yeah, yeah.

Anzu:Okay.

Gamemaster:Great.

Gamemaster:You have 20 minutes.

Gamemaster:Go!

Anzu:All right.

Anzu:My first thought, I have a scroll of invisibility, which is something that Johnny and I could both theoretically cast as occult spellcasters.

Benny:What goes in the center?

Gamemaster:Thank you.

Johnny:I like that.

Anzu:So that's what I'm thinking of putting in the Johnny Anzu.

Anzu:Something that ties the three of us together.

Arctos:That's a good idea.

Johnny:Um, Arctos.

Anzu:There would be an invitation.

Johnny:Arctos is all our friend.

Benny:Oh, of course, but what goes in the center?

Arctos:Do you guys have the invitation?

Anzu:That's not bad.

Gamemaster:You guys don't have the invitation anymore.

Gamemaster:You gave it at the front desk to get your masks.

Johnny:Oh, I will pull up my poncho.

Anzu:Oh, we handed them in.

Anzu:Well, that's dumb.

Arctos:I'm treat wounding myself while I'm waiting the 20 minutes on the outside.

Arctos:I'm just going to be patting myself.

Gamemaster:Yeah, absolutely doable.

Benny:That roll is not just trying to kill us.

Anzu:Yeah, I thought so too.

Benny:The poncho.

Anzu:I will put the Scroll of Invisibility in the Johnny Anzu overlap.

Gamemaster:You're taking too long.

Gamemaster:Die!

Johnny:No.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:You put the scroll down between each of you.

Gamemaster:You step away, and after a second, there's a soft ding, and it appears that answer was accepted.

Johnny:I will take the poncho and I will put it in the center for the overlap for all three of us.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:So you're taking your poncho off to put it in, right?

Johnny:Yep.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:You remove your poncho, and then you place it in the center.

Gamemaster:And then there's a sound, and I need you to make a reflex save.

Johnny:Oh, no.

Anzu:Oh.

Gamemaster:As four holes open up in the extremities of the circle, and poison darts shoot out of them at you.

Johnny:I take my poncho back.

Anzu:It's just at him.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:28, you dodge out of the way.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Anzu:OK, interesting.

Johnny:Okay.

Anzu:Josh, I don't have anything written down in my inventory, but I assume I must have some kind of symbology or something connected to Belvedere as a member of the Org.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:I would allow that if you have, like, a notebook or something that has the Belvedere logo on it or something along those lines.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Anzu:What do you think, Benny?

Arctos:It's going to be real awkward if you guys aren't from Belvedere.

Benny:I think it works.

Anzu:All right, I'll put it in the Anzu-Benny cross.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:You place it in the Anzu Beni intersection, and after a moment, there is a ding, and that seems to have been accepted.

Johnny:Um, I have an idea.

Johnny:I'll take out some, some notebook and I will just, I'll take out my notebook and I will, uh, draw on a blank page, uh, the three dot circle for aughts symbol.

Johnny:And I'll show it to Benny and be like, I'll put that in.

Benny:I think that works.

Benny:Wait.

Benny:Did Anzu... Oh, okay.

Johnny:I was going to do this in just, just for you and me.

Arctos:That's not on site.

Johnny:Uh, I'll put it.

Benny:Yeah, okay.

Benny:Yeah, that makes sense.

Johnny:I'll put that in between me and Benny.

Arctos:That was better than my idea.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:I was going to cast Rouse Skeletons in the middle of here, too, because you came from the dead.

Benny:I was trying to find something that related to how both of us died, but this, I think, is better.

Johnny:That was the closest I got.

Anzu:I was thinking there too.

Gamemaster:So you drop the symbol of ought onto a piece of paper, and then you put it in the intersection between the two of them.

Gamemaster:And then you wait a moment.

Gamemaster:And no sound comes.

Anzu:Whoa.

Gamemaster:And then the harlequin's like,

Gamemaster:I'm sorry, this has never happened before one moment.

Gamemaster:And then he goes over to the other Harlequin and they're like whispering in the corner.

Gamemaster:And then after a moment, the Harlequin comes back and says, the machine is confused.

Gamemaster:We're just going to give this one to you.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Anzu:Eh?

Johnny:We did it.

Johnny:Okay, can I lift my... Oh, I know what... I would like to pull out one of Argyle's business cards.

Arctos:The machine is like, that is true, but I don't know why, and I don't like it.

Gamemaster:Okay, yeah.

Johnny:And I will put that in the center.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:You pull out Argyle's business card and you put it in the center.

Gamemaster:And after a second, there's a ding.

Gamemaster:And with that, you have successfully filled out the intersections.

Gamemaster:And the Harlequin says, Good job!

Gamemaster:Good job!

Gamemaster:Winner number 12 of the evening!

Gamemaster:Congratulations, all of you.

Gamemaster:If you step off to the side, my companion will give you your one clue.

Gamemaster:and you are ushered away so that the next party in line can try their luck.

Gamemaster:Okay, sure.

Arctos:Arctos eats the piece of paper with Oth's symbols on it.

Arctos:He's a bear, guys.

Arctos:He can do that.

Gamemaster:As you're led away by another Harlequin, once again to an area, it seems like this was a convenience store that they've co-opted.

Gamemaster:And so he just kind of goes inside and then pops a squat by the no longer functioning fridges and says, congratulations for your report card for that attempt.

Gamemaster:The poncho didn't work because once you put the poncho down, you no longer had the poncho in your possession, and so it wasn't shared amongst everybody.

Johnny:Um.

Gamemaster:And also, whatever symbol you put down, we don't have in our records, but the machine said that it was true, so we accepted it.

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Just let me know.

Gamemaster:So I'm entitled to give you one clue of a keystone of your choice.

Gamemaster:Please pick a number 1 through 19 and then ask me your question.

Gamemaster:I can't tell you exact locations or anything like that.

Arctos:Give us one moment, please.

Anzu:Josh, did you say we got our stuff back, by the way?

Gamemaster:Of course.

Johnny:Hello.

Gamemaster:Yes, you got all your stuff back, except for the note which he ate.

Anzu:Cool.

Arctos:Should we ask?

Arctos:What should we ask?

Arctos:What should we give to the guy?

Anzu:Well, we have to pick another keystone.

Arctos:Why not just 14?

Anzu:I feel like we've got enough for 14.

Arctos:Do you want multiple keystones?

Benny:Do you want to double up on the keys?

Benny:Then we'll be in the clues.

Anzu:I think that it would be good to know where another keystone is in case someone beats us to the other one.

Johnny:More keys.

Arctos:If someone beats us to the other one, we'll track them down.

Gamemaster:Thank you.

Arctos:Also, you guys are forgetting the most important part.

Arctos:If we do get it, we're going to need to hold on to it for six months.

Arctos:And we also...

Arctos:Yeah, and then also, we're going to need to get it back here.

Arctos:Worst case, if we don't get one, we should just hide on the road or something and kill someone.

Benny:yeah um or what orgy belongs to we thought we could from well from the name of the heart

Arctos:Should we ask what should we trade?

Anzu:I think...

Johnny:We could ask what the heart would want in exchange for the keystone.

Arctos:Or what would the arc mechanicus want?

Arctos:We can figure it out, right, from his name?

Arctos:We have the name of the heart and the dude.

Arctos:We can probably...

Gamemaster:The.

Johnny:Give us kind of an idea so we don't have to go in and out.

Benny:but I do like knowing where another keystone is.

Benny:Fonzie might be right.

Anzu:Yeah, the only tricky thing there is we're only getting one clue here.

Johnny:We go.

Anzu:Yeah, that's a good point.

Arctos:I think we also have to go on the idea that other people only got one clue, too.

Arctos:So if we get four clues on ours, we have a really good shot of getting there first.

Anzu:All right.

Anzu:Let's go with another 14.

Anzu:clue.

Anzu:And if we have time to get another clue after this, maybe then we'll branch out.

Arctos:Ask what?

Arctos:Sounds good.

Benny:Sure.

Arctos:We'll ask what the heart would want for it in exchange for it.

Anzu:Yeah, I'll answer that.

Arctos:Cool.

Arctos:All right, what is our question?

Anzu:I think it's a great question.

Arctos:14, right?

Gamemaster:Ask away.

Johnny:you you

Benny:Yep.

Arctos:Our question is referring to Keystone 14.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:What is the exact thing that the heart would want in replacement?

Gamemaster:I can't tell you that.

Arctos:place up in this keystone.

Arctos:All right.

Gamemaster:I can't tell you the exact thing.

Gamemaster:I can tell you, like, the kind of thing.

Arctos:Sure.

Gamemaster:The current owner of Keystone 14 happens to be a collector of fine art.

Johnny:wait like can you be more specific about art like visual art family and art

Anzu:Yes.

Gamemaster:Fine art.

Benny:Heist, heist, heist, heist.

Johnny:We just show up back to the Sin and Tonic with the Mona Lisa starry night.

Benny:Don't worry about it.

Johnny:American Gods.

Gamemaster:And with that, with your hint dispensed, a trapdoor appears underneath the floor of the Tarloquin and he jumps through it and the trapdoor disappears.

Benny:It's just so that we can go on an intergalactic voyage in our big car.

Anzu:We're dragging in a marble statue.

Arctos:Arctos jumps in.

Arctos:I'm kidding.

Gamemaster:You can try if you want!

Arctos:No, I don't want to go to hell.

Arctos:All right.

Johnny:Yeah, let's do it.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:Should we go see if there's anything else open?

Benny:Mm hmm.

Arctos:Yeah, let's do that.

Gamemaster:It is later in the evening as you guys return back to the main street where the party is happening.

Gamemaster:Crowds have cleared out a little bit more at this point.

Gamemaster:It looks like the guy with the mannequins is packed up and that thing is fully closed.

Gamemaster:Could not repair the mannequin.

Gamemaster:Can somebody do me a favor and roll a d4?

Johnny:you you

Benny:I crit.

Gamemaster:For the record, the d4 is... 1 is fortune teller, 2 is the dice game, and 3 and 4 are the prism.

Gamemaster:You got a 4?

Benny:Yeah.

Arctos:Ism.

Gamemaster:Okay, it looks like the prism area, there's currently a very heated argument where two of the guests are holding pistols pointed at the harlequin.

Gamemaster:One of the people holding a pistol, you notice that there are acid burns all along the arm holding the pistol, and it doesn't look like that area is currently available for other participants.

Johnny:I lean down to Benny and I go, looks like someone's never gotten an acid burn before.

Johnny:Ha ha ha ha ha.

Benny:And Anzu gets out lucky because he doesn't have to stick his hand in death.

Arctos:We could try to, you know, fight the pistol people.

Arctos:Then you'll be so rewarded, he goes, hello.

Johnny:We can just get our fortune read.

Anzu:Okay.

Johnny:You know, we don't have to fight anybody.

Arctos:Alright, let's go get our fortune drawn.

Benny:We could try to defuse this situation.

Benny:Maybe it'll be like, you helped us.

Benny:Do you want a glue?

Benny:But I think that's not great odds.

Gamemaster:Okay, you guys get in line at the fortune teller.

Arctos:Yeah, I don't place that as high odds.

Benny:They probably have strict rules.

Johnny:Yes.

Arctos:Let's go to the fortune teller.

Benny:Fortune?

Gamemaster:This one is definitely still the longest line out of the still open attraction areas.

Gamemaster:Probably like 20 minutes, all told, to get to the front.

Arctos:Wait, so quick question.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:I can cast clear mind on someone.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:Who should I cast it on?

Gamemaster:Oh, you're not asking me this.

Arctos:Oh, this is if something already happened.

Johnny:Laura Wayne, who has the little Sable and Suns symbol from the guys that we.

Benny:Well, unless you want to answer.

Anzu:What does it do?

Benny:Clear mind.

Gamemaster:Clear mind.

Arctos:Never mind.

Gamemaster:Yeah, clear mind will remove the fleeing, frightened, or stupefied condition if you succeed on a counteract check.

Arctos:I really should have read the fine print.

Arctos:I thought it was going to be something like blank mind, but that's fine.

Gamemaster:Hmm.

Gamemaster:No.

Johnny:The thought earlier, do we decide who has it?

Arctos:I have it written down.

Benny:sure treat my wounds treat my wounds

Anzu:If he's got it written down, I don't have it written down.

Johnny:If not, hold on to that.

Arctos:You can take it.

Arctos:Johnny can have it.

Arctos:Yeah.

Johnny:Cool.

Gamemaster:Okay, 20 minutes passed with you guys in line.

Gamemaster:If you'd like to do anything during those 20 minutes, you can, so long as they don't require moving around all that much.

Gamemaster:But otherwise, you can just wait for your turn.

Arctos:I will.

Arctos:I'll treat two wounds.

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:This is for Benny.

Arctos:Lots of crit.

Benny:Benny's up to full.

Johnny:Is it short for something?

Anzu:Oh, that's going to be juicy.

Anzu:Is Benny short for Benjamin?

Benny:No.

Arctos:Oh, it's another crit.

Benny:Yep.

Arctos:Wait, what?

Arctos:What was the yep to?

Benny:As if Benny was short for something.

Johnny:What was it short for?

Benny:Bennix.

Johnny:Is that true?

Arctos:It's a normal name.

Anzu:I'm just going to let it slide for now.

Benny:I don't know.

Johnny:How do you spell that?

Benny:B-E-N-N-I-X?

Arctos:Why are you going to let that slide?

Anzu:We'll put a question mark next to that.

Johnny:Bix.

Arctos:All right.

Arctos:You guys can remove your wounded conditions.

Johnny:oh was that for me nice oh i am only mildly injured excellent uh josh who's in front of us right now in line

Arctos:Also, Johnny.

Anzu:you

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:in front of you right now.

Gamemaster:Can you actually... Can somebody roll a d12 for me to see who's in front of you?

Johnny:Oh, I'm so sorry.

Benny:I'll do it.

Benny:No, it's okay.

Benny:You can roll it.

Benny:I don't even want to.

Johnny:Hey, you guys were at the arena, right?

Gamemaster:Nine.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:In front of you are...

Gamemaster:the gnome and elf figures that you saw at the arena.

Gamemaster:So presumably they either got off the line or survived.

Gamemaster:The elf, the taller one, will look over at you and say, you were the ones who defeated the fire monsters, no?

Johnny:Yes.

Benny:Mm-hmm.

Johnny:Did you guys also fight?

Gamemaster:Excellent.

Gamemaster:Yeah, we had ice monsters.

Gamemaster:It was quite chilly.

Johnny:Wow.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Johnny:That's pretty impressive.

Johnny:Just the two of you?

Anzu:Thank you.

Gamemaster:We're both relatively capable fighters.

Gamemaster:How have you guys been getting along?

Johnny:Us two, we've got four clues in total.

Gamemaster:We're not sure if we're on pace with everybody else.

Gamemaster:We've only been to one other place besides the arena.

Gamemaster:Same.

Johnny:Okay.

Gamemaster:Interesting.

Johnny:I guess this doesn't seem like everybody else was sort of getting beat up at the arena.

Johnny:I guess we could be ahead.

Johnny:I don't know.

Gamemaster:Perhaps, out of curiosity, which keystone are you asking for?

Gamemaster:I'd like to know if we're enemies or not.

Arctos:I was going to ask the same thing.

Gamemaster:As a show of good faith, we're looking for eight.

Benny:Is he lying?

Arctos:Can I see if that's real?

Johnny:Can I aid him in this?

Gamemaster:Sure, you can try a perception check.

Gamemaster:Or... You can.

Gamemaster:But you can't aid him with performance if that's a thing you can normally do because you'd be singing in front of them.

Benny:Is he lying?

Arctos:All right.

Arctos:You could just check two if you want.

Benny:Is he lying?

Gamemaster:You can also just check two.

Benny:Is he lying?

Gamemaster:I forget, do you need a feat to use deception to tell... That's lie to me, right?

Arctos:Yeah.

Johnny:yeah there's a fee for that i'm just regular oh it was almost 20. i got a 26.

Arctos:Well, you have to weave lies in.

Gamemaster:So...

Arctos:All right, I am going to mythic that, because I have two mythic points.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:Where do I get my mythic points?

Arctos:OK.

Arctos:Oh, four.

Arctos:23.

Gamemaster:Okay, so both of you, it is hard to tell when they're wearing a mask.

Gamemaster:Like, everybody is magically obscured at this party, so it's not super easy to detect.

Johnny:14.

Arctos:That's it.

Gamemaster:Like, if they're a very good liar, it would be almost impossible for you to tell.

Gamemaster:As best you can tell, they are being truthful in this matter.

Gamemaster:But I think you can't feel particularly confident there, one way or the other.

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:So.

Gamemaster:Sorry?

Anzu:Oh, uh...

Gamemaster:Oh.

Gamemaster:You all seemed like a capable lot.

Johnny:you you

Gamemaster:It's entirely possible we end up taking the pilgrimage together, which will be interesting.

Arctos:Would you guys like to make an alliance?

Arctos:There should be enough room in a vehicle for all of us in case one of us gets the snaked out from under them.

Gamemaster:Oh, that's what you meant by an alliance.

Gamemaster:I'm afraid we are planning on taking some friends along after we retrieve the keystone.

Gamemaster:I don't know if there will be enough room.

Gamemaster:What size vehicle are you planning to bring?

Arctos:What if we get a big enough vehicle?

Arctos:Oh, there's just four of us.

Gamemaster:There's just four of you.

Gamemaster:No one else from your group you would bring with?

Johnny:We are the group.

Arctos:Not in an alliance.

Gamemaster:Well, I...

Gamemaster:I can't just speak for my entire organization, you see.

Gamemaster:You seem like nice people, but I don't know if I would go that far.

Gamemaster:Plus, I don't really think we'll need an alliance.

Gamemaster:We will be getting the Keystone.

Gamemaster:So, yeah.

Johnny:Josh, I have a question.

Johnny:Does he have, or they have a Kilarian accent or does it sound like they're from somewhere else?

Gamemaster:They do not have a clarion accent.

Johnny:Can I use my theater lore to place their accents?

Gamemaster:Roll a society check, if you like, to try and place where they're from.

Gamemaster:You know what?

Gamemaster:I will allow theater lore to place an accent.

Anzu:Yes!

Arctos:Yeah, it would be.

Gamemaster:That's fine.

Anzu:Yes!

Benny:I've studied thespians of all shapes and sizes.

Johnny:It's only a plus seven.

Anzu:Guys, we won Pathfinder.

Anzu:It'd be really crazy if these were Anaïs and a knock.

Johnny:Well, that was good.

Anzu:You might have more than plus seven.

Johnny:Oh, do I have more?

Arctos:Yeah.

Anzu:Oh, no.

Anzu:Is it viewed off intelligence?

Anzu:Is that why mine is high?

Gamemaster:It is keyed off of intelligence, yeah.

Johnny:Yeah.

Anzu:Okay.

Gamemaster:Although I don't know if you'd only be trained, because we're playing with the optional additional lore applies to your regular lore, because I don't know why that doesn't by default.

Anzu:Yeah, I believe we should be experts.

Gamemaster:So let me just double check.

Gamemaster:At third level, you gain a skill increase.

Gamemaster:So yes, you should be an expert.

Gamemaster:So you get an additional two.

Johnny:Oh, 26.

Gamemaster:26.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:With a 26, the accent isn't Calarian.

Gamemaster:There's something of a slightly similar lilt to it that makes you think it's part of the same general geographic area.

Arctos:Well, they don't have a works in breath one.

Gamemaster:This is something that you would associate with Brithwyn.

Gamemaster:used to be Calaria, kind of has its own accent.

Gamemaster:It's the northern area.

Gamemaster:But this is somebody who was born and raised in Brithwyn.

Johnny:interesting so they're probably part of a brithwinian org uh all right well i guess if you know it's gonna be hard fitting the entire Protectorate in uh

Anzu:you

Gamemaster:Brithwyn has one orc in particular.

Gamemaster:They have the Protectorate.

Gamemaster:But other than that, they excised all of the other orts from Brithwyn when they seceded from Calaria.

Arctos:Hmm.

Johnny:one van, but good luck to you.

Johnny:I don't have anything against you.

Gamemaster:There is a pause.

Gamemaster:They say, perhaps I should have modulated my voice in some way.

Gamemaster:Well, you know, fair as play.

Gamemaster:We don't really need to keep our identity secret if we don't want to.

Gamemaster:And they'll hold out their hand and say, I'm Tamara.

Arctos:Well, I can't wait for Arctos to introduce himself.

Gamemaster:Tamara McKay.

Johnny:Johnny Skyfall, great to meet you.

Benny:you

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Anzu:Is that the elf?

Gamemaster:That is the elf.

Gamemaster:I have to make a check now for Tamara as you introduce yourself.

Johnny:Listen, Johnny Skyfall is the most made up sounding name.

Gamemaster:It is.

Johnny:You're telling me this bear that can talk is the one bear that can talk?

Arctos:I probably should not introduce myself, huh?

Anzu:That's a bad roll.

Gamemaster:That was a bad roll.

Gamemaster:So she doesn't know who you are.

Johnny:This is my friend, the talking bear with a bad dye job.

Benny:I didn't realise you were black.

Gamemaster:So as you guys are talking, the...

Gamemaster:The line has moved up and it is now their turn.

Gamemaster:And Tamara and the gnome will kind of bow very slightly to you.

Gamemaster:Like, I hope to see all of you on the pilgrimage and not beforehand.

Arctos:agreed are you trying to get us murdered by a mercenary orc they can look you up man they can look you up

Gamemaster:And we'll go into the tent.

Johnny:Listen, man, no one knows who, no one knows that.

Benny:Listen, Arctos.

Johnny:They think they're going to be like, oh, this one dude with a made-up name.

Johnny:The odds that someone is just impersonating me or that is actually me, it's like 50-50.

Benny:They're the Protectorate.

Benny:They're not the attacktorate.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Arctos:I do not want to be in a circumstance where they're like, someone got to eight.

Arctos:Looks like we just got to go find Johnny Skyfall.

Anzu:Well, then we remind them about our big car plan.

Benny:Yeah, we got plenty of room.

Johnny:It's a big car.

Johnny:It's just a really big car.

Arctos:You know the word that won against Calaria?

Arctos:Yeah.

Johnny:Hey, man.

Arctos:Let's not make an enemy of it.

Anzu:Well, now, just to be semantic, did they say we got to bring our org or did they say like their group?

Johnny:They... You know what?

Johnny:They... Whatever.

Benny:They were playing defense.

Benny:It's their whole thing.

Gamemaster:They said org.

Anzu:Oh, they did.

Benny:Their group.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Benny:Oh.

Anzu:Okay.

Gamemaster:Of course, it's possible they were just shortening the word organization and it was someone else.

Gamemaster:But they did, like, fully say, yeah, you got me when Johnny said Protectorate.

Arctos:Maybe we can have a deal with them that they can bring two really big cars if we get one, and then we just want six spots.

Anzu:Yeah, true, true, true.

Johnny:Hey, man.

Benny:Thank you.

Johnny:They're not Calarians, so Johnny was like, whatever.

Anzu:Or if they try to come after us, we say, listen, we don't got to fight.

Anzu:The two of you can fit with us easy.

Anzu:We'll take a view.

Johnny:Listen, if we take out all the gasoline from our trunk, they can probably fit in there.

Arctos:they're gonna come out with like a fucking strider of themselves

Anzu:Josh, how many people does our car seat right now?

Gamemaster:Your car seats, not including fitting people in the trunk shenanigans, there's enough room in your car for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 people.

Anzu:I mean, that's pretty good, guys.

Gamemaster:Because there are like three rows in the car.

Johnny:I put a lot of people in there.

Anzu:That's pretty good.

Johnny:So we get in, we can fill in.

Anzu:We can take...

Gamemaster:And then also you have 300 gallons of gasoline in the trunk.

Benny:Thank you.

Arctos:I am so happy, guys, they don't have the same number as us.

Arctos:I think that is worst-case scenario, that orc.

Arctos:I really think they are worst-case scenario.

Johnny:I do not want... The short description of them is just terrifying.

Gamemaster:These are some guys that fight.

Arctos:They only sent two!

Arctos:They literally only sent two!

Johnny:And they won their fight.

Johnny:There was two of them.

Arctos:Yeah, yeah.

Benny:Oh, it's these people.

Arctos:All right.

Gamemaster:Either way, after a few moments, they both exit.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:You get a little wave and they return into the party.

Gamemaster:And it is your turn to enter the tent if you so choose.

Johnny:Before we go in there, I just want to, this is the picture that Josh used for the Protectorate.

Johnny:These guys are scary.

Gamemaster:They're fun.

Gamemaster:They're hanging out.

Anzu:Well, this is a Protectorate Slayer.

Gamemaster:They're cool dudes.

Anzu:These two people were just Protectorate Goodfellows.

Gamemaster:Right.

Gamemaster:That's it.

Benny:Benny's not impressed.

Anzu:Um, shoot, I guess we'll enter.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:You enter into the tent.

Gamemaster:It is what you imagine a fortune teller's tent to look like.

Gamemaster:The interior is all purple velvet suede exterior.

Gamemaster:There are curtains everywhere.

Gamemaster:It is somehow smoky.

Gamemaster:In here, there's a very strong smell of incense, but the room itself is mostly bare, except for a small table.

Arctos:Bear.

Gamemaster:B-A-R-E, bare.

Gamemaster:But there is now a bear in it, so...

Gamemaster:except for a small table in the front, and what is clearly one of the harlequins, just with some velvet wrapped around it to make a kind of hood, sat at the table, currently what looks to be shuffling a set of cards.

Benny:But this the stone.

Gamemaster:It looks up as you enter and says, Welcome!

Johnny:So we get one fortune per group.

Gamemaster:And what kind of fortune have you come to be told today?

Gamemaster:What are you looking for?

Gamemaster:I could read your fortune about the upcoming stones, if that's what you're looking for.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Gamemaster:You don't want to be greedy.

Johnny:We kind of, I disagree, but.

Johnny:All right, team huddle, team huddle.

Anzu:I mean, there's got to be a catch, right?

Johnny:I mean, probably, but also if it is a fortune, I lean out of the huddle.

Gamemaster:No, anything.

Johnny:Can we ask about anything or does it have to be related to the stone?

Johnny:Lean back in.

Johnny:We can ask about the doomsday apocalypse we're in the middle of.

Anzu:Hmm.

Benny:I just relate to stones.

Arctos:We asked about eight.

Arctos:Now I kind of want it.

Johnny:The entire Protectorate to come kill us.

Gamemaster:Wow.

Anzu:We definitely don't want to go after 8.

Arctos:Now I know why they told us.

Arctos:They're like, fuck it, I don't care if you guys go for it.

Arctos:Now, should we ask about the fortune about...

Arctos:the type of art that that heart likes?

Johnny:Oh, yeah.

Benny:Sure.

Johnny:Fine art.

Johnny:We could also ask how fast we have to move to get to 14.

Arctos:Or didn't you want to ask about the different keystones?

Anzu:My opinion is that we should try to find a way to hedge our bets a little bit, but that's just me.

Johnny:Give us a little idea if anyone else is going after it.

Gamemaster:As you guys are talking, Harlequin, who's in the same room as you, they're like five feet away, they can't hear what you're saying, says, I think there's been a misunderstanding.

Anzu:I mean, we could...

Gamemaster:I'm not offering to give you a hint.

Gamemaster:I'm offering to tell a fortune.

Arctos:Oh.

Anzu:Just kind of, do we guide you in any way, or are you just going to tell one of our fortunes?

Benny:End of the world then.

Johnny:End of the world.

Gamemaster:I'm just going to tell what kind of fortune you're looking for.

Gamemaster:I'm going to read the cards for it.

Johnny:I'd kind of like to know about how soon we got to deal with this end of the world thing and if there's ways to stop it.

Arctos:Or we could take a fortune about iconoclasm.

Anzu:That's kind of fun.

Arctos:Or we can do a fortune about this famous bear named Sir Arctos.

Arctos:I heard he's a pretty cool guy.

Arctos:All right, all right.

Benny:Let's ask about the end of the world.

Arctos:So Iconoclasm?

Arctos:End of the world.

Arctos:Iconoclasm.

Arctos:What do you guys vote?

Arctos:I vote Iconoclasm.

Benny:Sure.

Johnny:I vote end of the world.

Arctos:I could be outruled.

Arctos:No, no, I don't mind being outruled.

Benny:I kind of got this person.

Johnny:I vote end of the world.

Arctos:All right, let's do end of the world.

Arctos:All right.

Johnny:Okay.

Johnny:Hey, how you doing?

Johnny:We're sort of facing an end of the world scenario.

Johnny:We're trying to stop.

Johnny:How soon is that going to happen?

Gamemaster:I can read the tarot and see what they say.

Johnny:Is it going to go bad?

Johnny:What's that looking like?

Gamemaster:I guess we'll find out together.

Gamemaster:I would love it if all of you could concentrate on the cards.

Gamemaster:At any rate, we'll save from everybody.

Anzu:I'm going to roll in foundry.

Anzu:I received a 21.

Arctos:Is this a holy or unholy effect?

Benny:Bold choice.

Benny:Enjoy your one.

Gamemaster:Wow.

Johnny:They also got a .

Gamemaster:That's basically the same.

Johnny:Oh.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Yes, this is unholy.

Benny:Is this beer?

Anzu:Beautiful.

Benny:Oh, still one.

Anzu:Beautiful.

Gamemaster:It is not fear.

Johnny:Wow.

Arctos:Spirit bear!

Anzu:Wait, if you crit, you might disrupt the action.

Arctos:spirit bears scoffs at your weak willed minds.

Gamemaster:Let me look up.

Gamemaster:In case this is relevant to anybody's checks, this is the concentrate, manipulate, unholy, and prediction traits.

Arctos:Betty.

Benny:It's a manipulate?

Gamemaster:It's a manipulate, yeah.

Benny:I'll let it go.

Arctos:Get out of my mind, you witch.

Gamemaster:Okay, so what did we get?

Anzu:Anzu and Johnny got 21s.

Johnny:Okay.

Anzu:Arctos with a beefy 32.

Gamemaster:oh okay absolutely um

Arctos:Thank you.

Anzu:And then if you have that down to 16, you get Benny.

Gamemaster:Okay, so for the three of you that succeeded, I will note that as the Harlequin is shuffling through their Harrow deck, the deck of Tarot cards, you will smell sulfur and copper just kind of ambiently emanating off of the deck.

Gamemaster:Yes.

Arctos:I got 11 more than them.

Arctos:Did I critically succeed?

Arctos:Okay.

Gamemaster:You did critically succeed.

Gamemaster:Do you get something for that?

Gamemaster:Or do you just want to gloat?

Arctos:I don't know.

Arctos:I don't know if there's something that... I don't know.

Gamemaster:That is a critical success.

Gamemaster:Unfortunately, in this particular instance, it doesn't get you anything.

Gamemaster:But you did critically succeed.

Arctos:Okay.

Arctos:Okay, okay.

Gamemaster:But cutting through the, like, weird scent, the deck flips through their hands and then comes to a rest on the table, all the cards face down.

Anzu:you

Johnny:Oh.

Gamemaster:They pluck the top card off of the deck and place it face up.

Gamemaster:This one is the... This one is the Fool.

Gamemaster:The harlequin says, this is your past.

Gamemaster:The fool is someone who doesn't know anything, but it is also the beginning of a long journey.

Gamemaster:It is someone who is yet to come into what they could possibly be.

Gamemaster:Unrealized potential, so to speak.

Gamemaster:They pull the second card off of the pile and flip it over.

Gamemaster:And this one is the world tree inverted.

Arctos:Okay.

Gamemaster:The world tree traditionally represents connections.

Gamemaster:The bonds you make either with other people or with higher entities or the like.

Gamemaster:It being inverted implies that there will be an issue with a connection or connections that you have made.

Gamemaster:Either you will betray someone or they will betray you.

Gamemaster:It is unclear how that will affect your journey.

Gamemaster:And they will pull out a third card and flip that over.

Gamemaster:And that one is the Hooded Man.

Arctos:Oh.

Gamemaster:The Hooded Man is a few things.

Gamemaster:The Hooded Man can be death and the end of a journey.

Gamemaster:Or it can be the unknown.

Gamemaster:Mysteries, so to speak.

Gamemaster:An unprecedented change or something of that nature.

Johnny:you

Gamemaster:And finally, for your rising card, they go and they pick the fourth and final card of the fortune off of the deck and flip it over.

Gamemaster:And this one is the forest.

Gamemaster:The forest is representative of...

Gamemaster:nature and all of its chaos.

Gamemaster:It is competition.

Gamemaster:It is the circle of life.

Gamemaster:It is different things striving against each other to coexist or perhaps dominate the others.

Arctos:Mm-hmm.

Gamemaster:But ultimately, only one kind of tree exists in the majority of a forest.

Johnny:Yeah.

Gamemaster:There will be one winner.

Gamemaster:And then they fold up all of the cards and put them back and say, thanks for listening to my story.

Gamemaster:Do you guys want a hint?

Benny:Sure.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Arctos:Should we ask the thing about what type of... This isn't to you, no offense.

Arctos:Should we ask about what type of art, or do you want to hedge your bets and just ask about another one?

Gamemaster:Second.

Gamemaster:Also, Benny, you're going to take some mental damage.

Benny:All the damage I take is mental.

Arctos:What do you guys want to do?

Johnny:Oh, wait.

Arctos:I bet we ask about what type of art, but if you want to ask about a different one, we can.

Gamemaster:Benny, you take six mental damage.

Anzu:That would be okay.

Benny:Yeah, I also agree.

Arctos:The way I see it is if someone gets to this one first, we should just follow that person, like pick up the trail there.

Arctos:You know?

Benny:I think it's probably a reasonable shortcut to figure out the Heart beforehand because I feel like it's something that could get us in the door.

Benny:If these people don't want to talk to us at all, like no one that is near the heart,

Benny:It's going to be difficult, but if we're like, we have this porcelain elephant that takes you to a different world, they'll be like, hold on.

Arctos:Hmm.

Benny:Come on in.

Benny:You know what I mean?

Arctos:I wish I asked that.

Arctos:Who wants to ask the question?

Arctos:Make sure you use very good terminology.

Anzu:I'm not going to say the word exactly if I ask.

Benny:What is the exact...

Anzu:So if that's something you value.

Arctos:Well, you should.

Arctos:You really should do that.

Arctos:Johnny, will you do it?

Johnny:asking what exactly kind of art will get us in the door i'm asking exactly what kind of art sorry i had to answer an email i missed a couple seconds uh yeah uh

Anzu:Does the holder of Keystone 14...

Benny:I think that's good.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:What exactly sort of art does the heart holding Keystone 14 enjoy the most that'll get us in the door?

Gamemaster:Nash, I don't know this one on the hand.

Gamemaster:One second.

Gamemaster:And they kind of face away from you and mutter for a little bit.

Anzu:Did you say paintings, Josh?

Gamemaster:And then they turn back and they say, paintings.

Arctos:Can I try to hear that?

Gamemaster:Sure.

Gamemaster:Roll a perception check.

Johnny:Hmm.

Gamemaster:I did say paintings.

Gamemaster:Specifically, oil or acrylic on canvas.

Arctos:That was a seek just because I.

Arctos:There's no way.

Gamemaster:Yeah, it's fine.

Benny:just because you're looking.

Gamemaster:So you do successfully seek them.

Gamemaster:They're sitting at the table away from you.

Gamemaster:Weather 30.

Gamemaster:Does Arctos speak Infernal?

Arctos:I didn't even put out the wrong character.

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:Hmm.

Gamemaster:Yeah, it is infernal.

Gamemaster:So if Arctos doesn't speak infernal.

Gamemaster:Oh, actually, what is infernal called in Pathfinder?

Gamemaster:Because it's not called infernal.

Johnny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:One second.

Gamemaster:My computer lags for some reason.

Anzu:I made that up.

Gamemaster:Is it diabolic?

Benny:Diablo.

Anzu:No, I made that up.

Gamemaster:I can just check.

Gamemaster:It is diabolic.

Gamemaster:It's diabolic.

Gamemaster:Tano's got it.

Benny:He knows too much.

Arctos:He knows.

Gamemaster:He knows too much.

Benny:We have to kill him.

Anzu:That's crazy.

Gamemaster:So, devils speak diabolic and demons speak Chthonian.

Anzu:Yes of course.

Gamemaster:But these guys, like all of the other ones that you've come across so far, have just been generic fiends.

Gamemaster:They've not been demons or devils, so we're just going with diabolic.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Umbrella language.

Gamemaster:Either way.

Gamemaster:So, yes, you can hear him, and you can make out the words, but if you don't speak the language, unfortunately, you don't understand what he's saying.

Gamemaster:But he does come back to you and tell you guys fine art.

Gamemaster:It's paintings.

Gamemaster:All right, now get out.

Gamemaster:I've got more customers.

Anzu:Later.

Anzu:Thanks.

Benny:Okay.

Johnny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:You guys exit the booth.

Gamemaster:The fortune one is fortunately the least time-consuming of the events, so it looks like you have time for one more.

Gamemaster:The fight at the prism has ended, and it looks like that is back up and available, and there is still the dice one.

Gamemaster:If you wish to do one more while you're at the party here, you can do so.

Gamemaster:Also, you could just leave.

Gamemaster:or you can mingle.

Arctos:Do we see our friends at either of them?

Gamemaster:You can roll a perception check.

Johnny:We got a 19.

Arctos:23.

Gamemaster:With a 19 and a 23, I will say that with those rules, not only do you not notice the two people you were standing in line with, you also, this is kind of more of a background thought, have not seen Anouk and Anaïs while you've been here.

Arctos:All right.

Gamemaster:They did say they were going to try and sneak in, although they didn't have an invite.

Gamemaster:So you don't know how they would have tackled the whole mask thing.

Gamemaster:Either way, you don't see anybody that looks like it might be them, like a pair of two people of the same height.

Gamemaster:But no, you also don't see your Q buddies.

Johnny:Answer, do you want to stick your hand in the prism?

Benny:So Prism and Dice.

Benny:I don't think anyone in the group is particularly gamey.

Benny:Aside from Benny.

Benny:Benny is not very gamey.

Benny:Do we want to have Anzu stick his hand in the vaporizer?

Anzu:I can try it.

Arctos:Did we really?

Anzu:If it's something to do with recognizing which of the elixirs is going to keep me safe, I might be able to do that.

Johnny:I mean, we also could split up and.

Gamemaster:You can absolutely do that.

Anzu:I haven't fully grasped the mechanics of the game.

Arctos:Okay.

Arctos:I'll go in whatever line Anzu goes in, and then I will cast Fireproof on him and take the 10 minutes if I have it.

Johnny:It also split up and 2 of us go to 12 of us go to the other.

Johnny:if we're trying to maximize our riddle or our clues.

Benny:Sure.

Arctos:Sure.

Arctos:Do you guys want... Are you going to ask all about the same thing, or what are we going to ask?

Johnny:I guess we should game that out.

Arctos:Ask, how do we get the Arc Mechanicus to get us in?

Arctos:Bring us in.

Benny:I was going to ask about another one.

Arctos:Okay.

Anzu:If we are going to ask about another one, we should probably pick the same one.

Johnny:you

Arctos:Not eight.

Anzu:Not 8 for sure.

Anzu:It's about as logical as we could possibly be.

Benny:15.

Benny:Just assume they're next to each other.

Benny:I mean, the alternative is that they're not and it's randomized and we would have the same odds as picking something else.

Benny:15.

Anzu:Yeah, I agree.

Johnny:I mean, yeah.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:If you guys are splitting up to try and do it, what I want you to do now then is come up with the questions that you would ask, because otherwise you could feasibly have one person ask one question and the other group ask the other, knowing the information from the first one.

Arctos:I think your dex might be good, Benny.

Benny:So what are the groups?

Benny:I kind of want to see Anzu stick his hand in shit.

Benny:Are you guys particularly gamey?

Johnny:I have two mythic points left, so maybe that could help somewhere.

Benny:Yeah, probably.

Benny:I'm going to miss the hand thing.

Arctos:Yeah.

Benny:That's fine.

Benny:Write down what happened so I can read it later.

Arctos:Will do.

Johnny:Okay, and we're asking...

Anzu:I'm glad you are so invested in me, Benny.

Benny:If you go back with a hand, I'm going to be disappointed.

Benny:So the game group led by Benny, we can ask... The first one that we asked was... We got the number by asking what's closest to Sin and Tonic.

Benny:So just who possesses 15?

Benny:Okay.

Anzu:It's a great question.

Anzu:Either that or we ask about what the holder might be interested in.

Benny:Boom, game table.

Johnny:we ask who possesses 15 and then you you guys can ask who can lead us to 15 in case it's two different ones how like the heart has it versus someone leads us to the heart cool it's a good idea

Anzu:Whoa.

Arctos:Yeah, we could ask who can lead us to the holder of it.

Arctos:And then we could ask, what does the holder want?

Arctos:Cool, cool, cool.

Arctos:We'll take the who can lead us to the holder.

Johnny:Okay, we'll ask what does the holder want?

Benny:So we each have two questions.

Benny:Game table has who is the holder and what does the holder want?

Benny:And then hand has who can lead us to the holder and what is the person who can lead us to it want?

Arctos:I assumed we only got one question, so I was just going to say who can lead it.

Anzu:Those are the two questions, I think, yeah.

Johnny:I don't know how long that will...

Arctos:I was going to say one of us could take who can lead us to it, and then.

Arctos:Well, the first question is who can lead us to it, and then what would the holder want?

Benny:So you guys want those two?

Arctos:Yeah, yeah.

Benny:We're not asking who the holder is?

Arctos:Well, it doesn't matter as long as we know who can lead us to it, right?

Johnny:It might be like there's a heart in a basement, but it doesn't really matter if we know that there's a heart in a basement because we still need someone to lead us to the heart in the basement.

Benny:Yeah, but if we know where the heart in the basement is, we know where the heart in the basement is.

Benny:If we ask who can lead us to it, if that person doesn't know that the holder has it, they're not going to understand what we're saying.

Benny:You have to lead us to the keystone.

Benny:They're like, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about.

Anzu:Yeah.

Arctos:Who would lead us to the Keystone?

Arctos:We can change the word to would.

Johnny:Who's most likely to lead us to the key?

Benny:But they would have to have knowledge of the keystone.

Arctos:Who could knowingly lead us to the Keystone?

Anzu:I think

Arctos:They haven't been genies with it.

Arctos:They've been pretty nice.

Benny:Yeah, but who could as open-ended?

Benny:Who's the most likely to knowingly lead us to the keystone?

Arctos:Yes.

Arctos:Throw an exact in there, too.

Johnny:Who exactly?

Benny:Who is exactly the most likely to knowingly lead us precisely to the keystone?

Arctos:Yeah.

Johnny:Perfect.

Arctos:Yeah.

Benny:And then what was the other question?

Johnny:No notes.

Benny:Who can lead us?

Benny:Whatever.

Benny:The variation of who can lead us.

Benny:And then the second one was...

Benny:What the hell was the second question?

Anzu:What would the holder want in exchange?

Anzu:Something along those lines.

Arctos:Yeah.

Benny:As soon as we get an answer to the first one, but fine.

Benny:The games table has the holder want one.

Johnny:Exactly.

Arctos:Yeah.

Benny:Okay.

Arctos:Anzu, hopefully you know how to phrase that question, because Mike put a lot of things in there.

Benny:Who is most likely to knowingly lead us to the keystone?

Arctos:Yeah, you take that question.

Arctos:We'll take the other one.

Benny:I feel like you guys should.

Benny:The games, I think, is very up to chance, more so than normal.

Arctos:OK.

Arctos:OK, sounds good.

Anzu:Very well.

Benny:OK.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:break

Gamemaster:Which do we want to do first?

Gamemaster:Actually, maybe we do, we start with the prism, and then maybe in the middle we'll cut over to the other one.

Anzu:Oh, spicy.

Gamemaster:So you guys split up into your groups of two and get on lines at both of them, because when I said you have time for one more, you took that as I'm doing all of them, which is fair.

Arctos:Ha ha ha ha ha!

Gamemaster:So we start with, as you guys approach the one with the potions and the prism, you get a better look as you're waiting in line at what the actual attraction is.

Gamemaster:There are seven vials of colored liquid in an array.

Gamemaster:They are colored, the colors of the rainbow, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

Gamemaster:in standard ROYGBIV fashion.

Gamemaster:And there is a prism hovering about a foot off of the table with, as you look closer...

Johnny:you

Gamemaster:layers of what look to be colored walls inside of the barrier in the same order, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.

Arctos:Mm-hmm.

Gamemaster:In the very center of the prism, it appears that there is a key of some kind floating.

Gamemaster:And the objective is to put your hand through the prism to grab the key and pull it out.

Gamemaster:As the Harlequin explains this to people as they get up, you catch that each potion, when drank, gives you immunity to the effects of a single wall.

Johnny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:So you need to figure out the order in which you drink the potions to break through the colored balls in the correct order.

Gamemaster:If you drink the potions in the wrong order, then it doesn't work.

Gamemaster:And if you drink them one at a time, you get disqualified.

Gamemaster:You have to go all at once.

Gamemaster:You can't do one and then test it to see if it works.

Gamemaster:In addition, there is a little poem given to you that gives you some hints about which potions go to which walls and vice versa.

Arctos:Okay.

Gamemaster:So as you get to the front, I will recite the poem to you, but I will also paste it in Discord so you can look at it.

Gamemaster:It is seven walls of seven colors, seven potions to pass through.

Benny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:No color corresponds to itself.

Gamemaster:Reds and greens clash.

Gamemaster:The orange potion goes to a neighbor color.

Gamemaster:One yellow goes to one green.

Gamemaster:Since Indigo isn't a real color, Violet decided to swap with it.

Gamemaster:And blue and orange sometimes complement.

Gamemaster:I'll also post that in the chat.

Anzu:Oh, jeez.

Gamemaster:Mm-hmm.

Anzu:So, I'm going to drink all of the potions in some kind of order.

Anzu:And is it the last potion I drink should be the outermost wall or the innermost wall?

Gamemaster:The first potion you drink should be for red.

Gamemaster:The second potion you drink should be for orange.

Gamemaster:The third for yellow.

Gamemaster:So on and so forth.

Anzu:Okay.

Arctos:Sorry, could you give us the colors of the border again?

Benny:Someone say.

Gamemaster:Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

Arctos:Sorry, so it's red, orange, yellow, blue.

Arctos:OK.

Gamemaster:Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.

Anzu:Roy G. Viv.

Gamemaster:ROYGBIV.

Arctos:So we know you don't drink red first because the colors aren't that, right?

Anzu:Yes, of course.

Arctos:Hmm.

Anzu:One yellow goes to one green.

Anzu:So that's saying either the yellow potion goes to the green wall,

Arctos:Sorry.

Anzu:or the green potion goes to the yellow wall.

Anzu:Oh, jeez.

Arctos:Reds and greens clash.

Gamemaster:you can always just not do this one that is allowed

Anzu:Josh, this is not good.

Anzu:This is not good.

Arctos:So reds and greens clash.

Arctos:Does that mean it is green for red?

Anzu:Yeah, I don't really know what that line means.

Arctos:OK, so let's go back to that.

Arctos:Orange potion goes to a neighbor's color.

Anzu:Which means the orange potion is either for the red wall or the yellow wall.

Arctos:Yes.

Arctos:But if we assume that red is green, then it goes to yellow.

Arctos:Then one yellow goes to green.

Arctos:So we do.

Arctos:So the screen.

Gamemaster:I'll be back in a moment.

Gamemaster:I'm going to get myself some water.

Arctos:Yeah.

Anzu:All right, Josh.

Anzu:Not nice either.

Anzu:And he's still listening, too.

Anzu:That's the worst part.

Arctos:That's the worst part.

Arctos:So orange goes to yellow.

Johnny:Peace.

Arctos:Blue and orange sometimes confluence.

Arctos:Maybe blue goes to orange instead.

Arctos:I... I think so.

Anzu:I'm going to get absolutely wrecked by this prism.

Benny:you

Anzu:Do we think that the indigo violet swap is just a straight swap between the two of them?

Anzu:Because we don't really see anything else about either of them listed.

Arctos:Sorry, I'm just trying to write this in my notes so they're above each other so I can see it.

Arctos:So I think yellow goes to green.

Arctos:Right?

Anzu:You have to be more specific.

Anzu:Yellow potion.

Arctos:The yellow potion is drunk for the green wall, I think.

Anzu:Okay.

Arctos:I think the blue goes to the orange potion because blue and orange complement.

Anzu:I just don't know if it can be that straightforward.

Arctos:Well, do we have any other chips?

Gamemaster:I've been talking to you guys, but I've been muted this whole time.

Gamemaster:I will allow up to three Arcana checks of increasing difficulty to confirm a given wall potion pairing.

Arctos:OK.

Anzu:Well, I guess that's me.

Arctos:All right.

Arctos:Well, Tanner, do you want to both independently work on this a little bit while it goes to Josh and Mike?

Anzu:Indeed.

Gamemaster:You can also, like, if you guys want to take a little bit of time to work through, we can move over to the dice game instead.

Arctos:And then we'll come back.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Well, the two of them are puzzling over potions.

Gamemaster:We switch over to the gamblers, although it looks like I've nerd-sniped Benny a little bit.

Benny:No, I don't have a grid on my notebook at all.

Johnny:Wow.

Gamemaster:So then, Johnny, you're at the dice table.

Johnny:That one sure looks tough.

Johnny:Glad we're not over there.

Gamemaster:This dice table is a relatively simple gambling game, where it looks like you have to put forward 50 gold pieces as buy-in, but you play the die game, and if you win...

Gamemaster:You can get your money back doubled and a hint.

Gamemaster:If you lose, you have to go away.

Gamemaster:The rules of the game are simple.

Gamemaster:You start with the 50 gold buy-in.

Gamemaster:Then both you and the dealer roll a d8.

Gamemaster:You do not let people know what you rolled for the d8.

Gamemaster:You just hold on to that.

Gamemaster:Then there's a round of betting.

Gamemaster:Once the bets are fully settled, both you and the dealer roll a d6, round of betting, then a d4.

Gamemaster:Then you reveal the three rolls you got and add them together.

Gamemaster:and whoever has the highest number between the two of you wins.

Gamemaster:In addition, if you roll the same number on two dice, you get to roll an additional d4.

Johnny:God, 50 gold is a lot of money.

Benny:We're fine.

Benny:Now, what do you think?

Johnny:We're fine betting the 50 gold.

Johnny:We're fine not doing this one.

Gamemaster:You're absolutely welcome to try cheating if you have something that you think would let you cheat.

Benny:Do you have anything to help us?

Benny:I think you could maybe with performance of some variety.

Johnny:I can... I... I pull... I mean, what I could do is I could do a distracting performance to draw.

Johnny:Yeah, well, Benny shoots for me.

Gamemaster:Okay, I need 50 gold.

Benny:Attention while Benny cheats.

Johnny:That's what I'm thinking.

Benny:All right, well, let's see how one of these rounds go.

Benny:We'll buy in.

Benny:Benny digging his hand deep into the group fund.

Benny:We'll buy in with 50 goals, which is half of the group fund.

Benny:I'm joking it's not even close.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:You buy in.

Johnny:You.

Gamemaster:Dealer puts forward the other 50 into the pot.

Gamemaster:Gives you your three dice.

Gamemaster:And you are allowed to roll your d8.

Gamemaster:Well, they roll their d8.

Gamemaster:Wherever you roll your d8, don't do it in Foundry or in the dice box, because they're supposed to be secret.

Gamemaster:And then I'm going to do the same.

Benny:Okay.

Benny:Yeah, I was just trying to find.

Gamemaster:If you just type roll at the D8 into Google, it'll do it for you.

Benny:Oh, there we go.

Benny:All right.

Benny:It's been rolled.

Benny:30 gold.

Johnny:You.

Gamemaster:Would you like to bet anything?

Arctos:think that's it.

Gamemaster:They'll see you.

Gamemaster:They also put 30 gold.

Gamemaster:All right.

Gamemaster:Roll a d6.

Gamemaster:Would you like to bet anything?

Benny:20 gold i can't we're 50 in i bet 30 gold and then 20 gold

Gamemaster:I'll see you.

Gamemaster:And roll a d4.

Gamemaster:Okay, one last round.

Gamemaster:Would you like to bet anything?

Gamemaster:What?

Gamemaster:Oh, sorry, sorry.

Gamemaster:This is me miscommunicating.

Gamemaster:The 50 is the initial ante.

Gamemaster:The bets are for anything on top of the 50.

Johnny:you

Benny:Oh.

Gamemaster:Would you like to have changed what you bet knowing that?

Benny:Is it a single round of this?

Gamemaster:Single round of this.

Benny:But I can only went up to double.

Benny:50 was the ante.

Gamemaster:Correct.

Benny:I've also bet another 50.

Benny:I can't bet any more.

Gamemaster:Right.

Gamemaster:They... If you win, you get double however much you bet.

Benny:Oh, okay.

Benny:We'll keep it.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Gamemaster:So you've put 100 in.

Gamemaster:There's 200 possible to win right now.

Gamemaster:And now you reveal the values on your dice.

Gamemaster:If any of the numbers match, you get to roll a d4.

Johnny:Wait.

Gamemaster:Wait.

Johnny:Before he does that, I would like to just yell, Attention, everyone!

Gamemaster:Uh-huh.

Johnny:I will now do one backflip!

Johnny:And this is my distraction performance.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:I attempt to do one backflip.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:You roll a performance check.

Gamemaster:This is creating a distraction.

Johnny:Yes.

Johnny:I will roll it in foundry.

Benny:Thank you.

Johnny:Just yelling and trying to really hype up this backflip.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Johnny:It's the best backflip anyone's ever seen.

Johnny:I got a crit 20.

Gamemaster:What'd you get?

Johnny:Well, actually, it's a 35, but it's a 35 crit.

Gamemaster:Nice.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:35 crit.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:you

Gamemaster:You think that you have successfully gotten everybody's attention around here because they're interested in you doing one backflip.

Gamemaster:Benny, would you like to take advantage of that distraction at all?

Benny:I would like to reroll the d4.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:I will because he crit.

Benny:Actually, can I just flip the d4 to a 4?

Gamemaster:You don't even have to, like... Yeah.

Benny:I would like to flip the d4 to a 4, yeah.

Gamemaster:Yeah, if you like.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:You don't even need to roll, like, a Thievery check or anything because he crit on his check.

Gamemaster:So you can go and you just flip your d4 to a 4.

Gamemaster:Do you do a backflip?

Johnny:Yeah, I do.

Johnny:The best backflip of all time.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:You get a round of applause from finishing it, and then everybody looks back to the game where you are ready to reveal your dice.

Gamemaster:They rolled a 3, a 6, and a 4 for 13 total.

Benny:Benny rolled a 7, a 5, and a 4 for 16 total.

Gamemaster:What'd you get?

Gamemaster:Nice!

Gamemaster:Okay, so you get the 100 gold as your winnings.

Gamemaster:And you are entitled to one hint.

Benny:Perfect.

Benny:What would the holder of?

Benny:Keystone 15 want in exchange for the Keystone?

Gamemaster:the holder of 15 would likely trade their keystone, or would trade their keystone, for a relic of the church, of the Iridescent Church, like a reliquary or a holy book or something of that nature.

Johnny:you you

Benny:Okay.

Benny:It's fucking obscene.

Benny:I just want a one-of-a-kind artifact.

Benny:Give me a relic or something.

Benny:Heist.

Gamemaster:Doesn't necessarily need to be an artifact.

Gamemaster:It doesn't need to have many magical power, but it does need to be a relic related to the church.

Benny:Heist.

Gamemaster:And with that, I think we will swap back to potion people.

Benny:Let's go watch the potion.

Gamemaster:How are we feeling, potion people?

Anzu:I think that I have it.

Arctos:OK, we disagree in a couple, but if you think you have it, it's your hand.

Anzu:I've posted my theory.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Anzu:Well, let's talk about it.

Anzu:Mm-hmm.

Arctos:OK, OK.

Johnny:you

Gamemaster:Thank you.

Arctos:So I think, so red, so orange could be red or yellow, right?

Arctos:So I had mine as red.

Anzu:Yep, we agree.

Anzu:Orange post and red wall.

Arctos:Yes.

Anzu:Mm-hmm.

Arctos:Oh, oh, I indexed it the opposite.

Arctos:I indexed it by wall.

Arctos:OK.

Arctos:Orange wall, you had... Yes, I have blue potion.

Anzu:Orange wall, I have blue potion.

Arctos:Okay, yellow wall, I have green potion.

Anzu:Okay.

Arctos:Oh, you have red.

Anzu:I do.

Arctos:You have red.

Arctos:I have yellow because one yellow goes to one green.

Anzu:What do you have?

Anzu:Right, so I did green wall, yellow potion.

Arctos:OK, OK, let's continue, though.

Arctos:And then we can always try to check that one.

Anzu:Green wall.

Gamemaster:Thank you.

Arctos:OK, so then I have green wall, which is yellow potion.

Anzu:I put yellow potion for that one.

Arctos:OK, so those are swapped.

Arctos:Which I guess, is that the same thing, then?

Arctos:No.

Arctos:Blue wall, I have red potion.

Anzu:Green wall, yellow potion.

Anzu:Yeah, you have... Jorge, you did yellow and green and yellow and green twice.

Arctos:I'm a dum-dum.

Arctos:Okay.

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:Okay.

Johnny:Oh.

Arctos:Yeah!

Arctos:Alright, should you confirm any of them?

Arctos:Or are you just ready to stick your hand in it?

Anzu:I mean, if Josh is going to let us try to make a check for it, I'll do it.

Gamemaster:I will allow you.

Anzu:Might as well.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:You can make up to three Arcana checks with increasing difficulty.

Gamemaster:The first one will be easy, the normal one hard.

Anzu:I think what I want to do is see if red potion and yellow wall are a pair.

Arctos:Sounds good.

Anzu:So I'm going to make an Arcana check for that, Josh.

Gamemaster:Please do.

Gamemaster:27 is a success.

Anzu:I received a 27.

Anzu:I have red potion, yellow wall.

Gamemaster:What is your question?

Gamemaster:What parent are you looking for?

Gamemaster:That is correct.

Anzu:Okay.

Arctos:I'm feeling pretty good, too.

Anzu:That has me feeling pretty good.

Arctos:I would just check orange or blue.

Arctos:And honestly, I think the rest, I think it's fine.

Arctos:I think you're good.

Arctos:We both came to the same conclusions.

Anzu:The other one that would be good to check, actually, I would want to check Green Wall Yellow Potion.

Arctos:OK.

Anzu:Josh, if I roll poorly...

Anzu:Am I going to get false information or no information?

Gamemaster:Um, no information.

Anzu:Or do you not want to say?

Gamemaster:Well, if I give you false information, you'd be able to tell.

Anzu:Okay.

Gamemaster:Like, you could get knowledge from being told false information on a low roll.

Anzu:Yeah, that's true.

Anzu:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Gamemaster:So... Okay.

Anzu:All right, I'll make another Arcana check, and we'll see what happens.

Anzu:This time I got a 24, which is a lower number than my previous roll.

Gamemaster:Okay, and your question was for which wall?

Anzu:Does the green wall yellow potion... Yeah.

Gamemaster:That is correct.

Anzu:Okay.

Arctos:All right.

Arctos:We'll just send it.

Anzu:So I think I've got it.

Arctos:All right.

Anzu:Josh, can we just go with what I sent in the chat so I don't have to... I kind of flipped it around.

Gamemaster:Yeah, let me read through it.

Gamemaster:I have it written in my notes as by wall, so one second.

Anzu:I'm sorry.

Gamemaster:So the order you go in is orange.

Gamemaster:then blue, then red, then yellow, then blue ball is green, then indigo is violet, and violet is indigo.

Benny:you you

Johnny:you

Gamemaster:You drink the potions in the order that you think you've figured it out.

Anzu:Benny's gonna be pissed.

Gamemaster:And then you get ready to put your hand into the prism.

Gamemaster:Take your hand, reach it through the first wall, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh.

Gamemaster:Unharmed.

Arctos:What does the key go to?

Gamemaster:And grab the key on the inside.

Benny:you

Gamemaster:And with that, the Harlequin says, Congratulations!

Gamemaster:You get to keep the key!

Gamemaster:And you get a hint!

Anzu:All right.

Anzu:I'm afraid to ask them questions because I don't want them to be like, oh, that was your question.

Arctos:Do we know?

Arctos:Do they tell us?

Gamemaster:You weren't informed.

Arctos:Great.

Gamemaster:You can ask questions without that being relevant for the hint.

Arctos:Should we just ask what the keys were?

Gamemaster:If it's something that they can't answer, they'll tell you.

Anzu:Okay.

Anzu:This is non-hint related, good sir.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Anzu:What is this key for?

Gamemaster:Oh, I can't tell you.

Gamemaster:But you can hold on to it.

Gamemaster:It's definitely for something.

Gamemaster:It's for something important.

Anzu:Well, sure.

Arctos:Good, good, good, good.

Johnny:um um

Arctos:Ask the question.

Anzu:Okay.

Anzu:I don't know.

Benny:you

Gamemaster:What you asking?

Anzu:I am asking... Wait, let me think about it first.

Johnny:Yes.

Anzu:I think it was... Which person is most likely to lead us to...

Anzu:successfully or no which person is most likely to knowingly lead us to keystone yeah can you give me that a second time

Gamemaster:That would be second among equals Thistle Monroe.

Arctos:Write that down.

Gamemaster:Second among equals.

Gamemaster:All hyphenated.

Gamemaster:And then the name is Thistle Monroe.

Anzu:All right, well, thank you very much.

Gamemaster:Of course.

Gamemaster:Get lost.

Anzu:Bye.

Gamemaster:Enjoy yourself.

Anzu:Thank you, you as well.

Gamemaster:And around this time, it's pretty late now in the evening.

Gamemaster:It seems that the party is starting to wrap up.

Johnny:Okay.

Gamemaster:You know, they've stopped coming around with hors d'oeuvres and the like.

Gamemaster:There was a table with food on it that you could grab food from as you were meandering around.

Gamemaster:You guys might have been too busy getting clues in order to stop by there, but it looks like they've stopped filling that up at this point.

Arctos:Thank you.

Gamemaster:But you've also exhausted all of the options available to you.

Gamemaster:So... You have a hundred more gold pieces than when you started.

Benny:Also, to clarify the amount of money, so it was the 50 bet.

Benny:How much... Okay.

Benny:Benny will walk over, jingling a bag of gold.

Benny:We made out like bandits.

Johnny:Did you guys see my back flip?

Anzu:I was very focused in kind of my mind space.

Benny:Oh, and we've...

Arctos:You notice that Arctos pulled out a second little monocle, but put it over his mask on the other one.

Arctos:He's like, I had to put on my rooting glasses.

Gamemaster:Reading Glass, singular.

Gamemaster:Just one.

Benny:What, were there labels on the potions?

Anzu:No, there weren't.

Arctos:I had to take notes.

Anzu:We made out like bandits as well, and I hold out the key.

Benny:Nice.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Benny:What is that, too?

Anzu:Something important.

Johnny:Thank you.

Benny:You're just not going to tell me?

Benny:Oh, you don't know.

Anzu:No, that's all I got.

Anzu:That's all I was given.

Anzu:No, and I didn't feel like wasting the clue on it.

Benny:Would you have been able to?

Anzu:I mean, I could have asked...

Anzu:In theory, if it was related to a keystone, I could have asked what keystone is this related to or something like that.

Benny:Okay.

Anzu:Josh.

Anzu:No, we wouldn't have really been around enough to see.

Anzu:Did we see anyone else successfully do the prism and like retrieve?

Gamemaster:No.

Johnny:Nice.

Johnny:Oh, stop moving.

Gamemaster:You didn't see anybody successfully do the prism, and you also don't see him replacing the key in the prism.

Arctos:cool very important though you don't think we should just start driving all right

Anzu:Probably unlocks another.

Johnny:What does the key go to?

Johnny:Do we want to look around real fast while we're here, see if the key goes to anything?

Benny:Okay.

Anzu:There could be a locked chest around here somewhere.

Gamemaster:Yeah, if you want, you guys could spend a little bit of time, roll a perception check to see if anything... I'll also take a thievery check to look at the key itself and see if you can learn anything about it from the key.

Anzu:I mean, can we just, like, amble around as the party's winding down and just see if there does happen to be a locked thing?

Johnny:Yeah, I didn't get that good.

Arctos:I got 29 for my perception.

Benny:Give my grubby little hands the key.

Gamemaster:What did you get?

Benny:24 for thievery check on the key.

Johnny:thank you

Benny:24.

Gamemaster:Okay, so with the perception check looking around, unfortunately you don't, like, the key itself is relatively large.

Gamemaster:It's not like the small modern flat keys.

Gamemaster:It's a cylindrical key with pips on both sides.

Gamemaster:It does not fit a standard...

Gamemaster:lock.

Gamemaster:It looks like it would need to fit a lock that is designed for a key of this shape.

Gamemaster:Let me see if I can find a picture of the kind of key that I'm looking for.

Gamemaster:I'm thinking about the internet.

Gamemaster:Internet knows everything.

Gamemaster:So I don't immediately see a picture of what I'm looking for, but imagine this.

Gamemaster:But with the notch, like the thing coming off the key on both sides, with different patterns on either side.

Johnny:you you

Arctos:All right.

Gamemaster:So it wouldn't fit into a normal lock.

Anzu:Thank you.

Gamemaster:None of the things around here, if you're looking for padlocks or door locks or anything like that, look like they would fit this particular form factor for a key.

Gamemaster:So yeah, the key goes to somewhere else.

Gamemaster:I will note with a... What did you get on the Thievery Check?

Gamemaster:24?

Gamemaster:With the 24, the things that stand out to you, to the key, is the key doesn't have branding on it.

Gamemaster:It doesn't say it was manufactured by a particular company or anything like that.

Gamemaster:The material is interesting, though.

Gamemaster:It's...

Gamemaster:It's not copper.

Gamemaster:It's some kind of copper alloy derivative, like bronze or brass, something along those lines.

Johnny:You.

Arctos:Mm-hmm.

Gamemaster:But it looks patinaed, almost.

Gamemaster:Aged in some way.

Anzu:Thank you.

Gamemaster:That would make you think that this key is older and has been exposed to the elements in some form.

Gamemaster:Unfortunately, beyond that, you don't get much information off of the key itself.

Gamemaster:The only other thing of note with the high perception check is the key itself smells slightly of sulfur and copper.

Benny:I have a hunch.

Gamemaster:Like rotten egg and pennies.

Johnny:yeah okay

Arctos:What's your hunch?

Benny:gave us the key.

Arctos:What do you mean?

Benny:So, earlier when we were doing the tarot cards, when we were drawing cards, we smelled sulfur.

Johnny:Yeah, that's how I...

Arctos:Uh...

Benny:I know from not Benny's experience that Odd is not the biggest fan of card games.

Benny:And he tends to show up

Benny:when tarot readings happen so if the key also smells like the smell we had during tarot why would fiendish magic come up with a card game

Anzu:I had taken that to mean that there was a diabolical magic...

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:I assumed it was fiendish.

Arctos:But the tarot cards did... I think all of them are fiends.

Johnny:50-50.

Arctos:They're all doing fiend magic.

Arctos:But it's also possible that the hooded figure in the... Well, they did some mind things.

Benny:But you don't need to cast anything to draw from a tarot deck, though.

Arctos:That's where you took damage.

Benny:Are you sure it wasn't followers of aught partaking in a game of chance?

Benny:I had a character that did this for an entire one shot.

Gamemaster:50-50.

Benny:So Mike knows.

Arctos:I don't know.

Gamemaster:Thought comes down from the heavens.

Benny:It has not been .

Johnny:No, no, I didn't mean it.

Johnny:I didn't mean it.

Anzu:I put the key in my sleeve of storage I guess we can go home We don't have to worry about stopping at a gas station this time

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:The key is stored.

Arctos:Yeah, let's go home.

Benny:Oh.

Gamemaster:Home indeed.

Gamemaster:You do get to keep your masks.

Gamemaster:They don't ask for them back.

Gamemaster:So that's your little gift from the party.

Johnny:you you you

Gamemaster:But you guys can all go back to the parking lot, get in your car, and start the eight-hour drive home.

Anzu:Well, there goes our sleep cycle again.

Arctos:No, he's trying to get killed.

Gamemaster:There was a long way to get here, and it's the exact same amount of way back.

Gamemaster:There are no jet streams on the ground, unfortunately.

Gamemaster:Yep.

Gamemaster:Correct.

Gamemaster:I mean, you could always stop at a gas station or something and take a nap for a few hours if you want.

Johnny:We know an abandoned one.

Benny:the only way to not have a drunk driver guaranteed is to have a child driving Benny is hammered

Gamemaster:Well, I mean, there are no laws against children drinking alcohol on Calaria, because that would be infringing on your right.

Anzu:you

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:There are also no laws against drunk driving.

Gamemaster:There are laws against causing damage to other people's property, and those can be exacerbated if you are intoxicated when it happens.

Gamemaster:But, you know, if you don't hit anybody, sure, drive drunk.

Gamemaster:That's fine.

Gamemaster:you can head home.

Gamemaster:I assume you're not, like, stopping in the middle to take a nap on the side of the road.

Gamemaster:You're just trying to travel the way through.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Benny:yeah i mean it's second nature at this point but i'll i'll make the roll just for the sake of mechanics you know 25.

Gamemaster:Then I do want, I assume Benny is the one driving.

Gamemaster:Benny, I do need you to make a fort save.

Gamemaster:As we are past 24 hours awake, and you're trying to do something that requires at least a little bit of concentration.

Johnny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:25.

Gamemaster:Yeah, Benny's fine.

Gamemaster:Benny is alert.

Gamemaster:He's absolutely fine as you guys drive down.

Gamemaster:I mean, you effectively just took a highway out of the city, so it's a straight shot for an extended period of time.

Gamemaster:But eventually you do drive in through the southern entrance of Hallia and make your way back to Sin and Tonic.

Gamemaster:The way the timing works out is 8 in the morning.

Anzu:Oh, God.

Johnny:100%.

Gamemaster:So, question.

Gamemaster:It's about an eight-hour drive.

Gamemaster:Did the three people who weren't driving attempt to get arrested while that's happening?

Johnny:Johnny would have knocked.

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:100%.

Anzu:Could we have akin to keeping watch?

Arctos:Take shifts driving.

Gamemaster:Done driving in shifts?

Anzu:Well, no, I...

Anzu:Just to have someone with Benny at all times awake.

Gamemaster:I will, okay, so if you... Well, I was going to say, if you want two people to instead trade off instead of having Benny drive through the whole night, both Benny and the other person can get a long rest, because it is the equivalent of doing watches.

Arctos:Oh.

Benny:We're not stopping the child labor.

Benny:We just want to make sure that nothing bad happens to him.

Arctos:That's not me.

Gamemaster:I will... Yeah, I mean, this is easy enough that I think you wouldn't even have to make a survival check or something to figure out where you're going, because it's a straight shot.

Gamemaster:So if that is something you'd like to do, you can do that as well.

Gamemaster:I would just need a fort check, a fort save from whoever the person taking over for Benny is in the second half of the evening.

Johnny:Who's the highest fort?

Johnny:Who's feeling 40?

Johnny:I got a plus nine.

Anzu:I've got a 10.

Benny:40. fortuitous

Gamemaster:40.

Arctos:Actually, that is me.

Arctos:I'll take it.

Gamemaster:All right.

Gamemaster:So the bear relieves the child, or not?

Arctos:Oh, you rolled?

Arctos:Okay.

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:Mine is a 12.

Arctos:21!

Gamemaster:Okay, that is also a pass.

Gamemaster:So all four of you, as you're driving back over the evening, get in a full rest.

Gamemaster:And you are rested.

Anzu:incredible it's a luxury vehicle

Gamemaster:You're maybe a little achy from having napped for an extended period of time in the back of your car, but that's fine.

Johnny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:It is.

Gamemaster:It's a luxury vehicle, and it has actually been a little...

Gamemaster:worn in already because its previous user was a half-Giant.

Gamemaster:And he put some strain on the car.

Anzu:So that means the seat can go far enough back that Sir Arctos can fit in the driver's seat to drive.

Johnny:you

Arctos:Hmm.

Gamemaster:Correct.

Gamemaster:Part of the advantage of you having stolen this car in particular is that it is sized such that large individuals can drive in it comfortably.

Gamemaster:So Arctos is fine.

Gamemaster:If anything, I think it's more of a goofy sight to see Benny in the large car.

Gamemaster:Yeah, basically.

Benny:two phone books for this car what are we painting first or do we uh i don't know

Gamemaster:Alright, you guys have made it back to the Cinematonic.

Gamemaster:It's 8.

Gamemaster:People are just starting to wake up, get their morning beers.

Anzu:What a crazy couple of days.

Johnny:Wolf.

Arctos:I know a guy that might be able to help us with a painting.

Johnny:Yeah, painting.

Benny:He paints.

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:You guys don't?

Arctos:What did you hang in your bedrooms?

Anzu:You know, funny enough, Sir Arctos, I also feel like you're our best chance of finding a relic of the church.

Johnny:What?

Gamemaster:Thank you.

Arctos:Well, I also have a guy for that.

Benny:Good, because you are our guy for that.

Arctos:Let me just get this straight.

Johnny:i i had a place i was like had a place i was staying but it was this is a little bit nicer

Arctos:You guys normally sleep here?

Arctos:I was just here for like a week because I thought you guys were like camping.

Anzu:I mean, I don't live around here.

Arctos:You guys... Yeah, but you guys didn't have like nice artwork or anything?

Anzu:We're all visitors in this city, so this is our place, yeah.

Benny:Camping?

Arctos:Oh, it got blown up.

Benny:Camping?

Arctos:I forgot about that.

Arctos:Sorry.

Johnny:All right, I'm going to walk away from this conversation.

Benny:I don't think it... I don't think it blew up and then he came directly here.

Johnny:The Midnight Sun was like 40 years... The Midnight Sun was 40 years ago.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Anzu:I think that Arctos, as a bear, has trouble perceiving time.

Arctos:I would like to see my good friend Minister Valerius Vane.

Benny:Wait, can we check if, where's Anaïs and Anouk?

Gamemaster:Anaïs and Anouk are not back yet.

Anzu:But they did leave.

Arctos:They're not very good.

Arctos:I'm not very good at being spies, I'm going to be honest with you guys.

Gamemaster:They did leave.

Gamemaster:...

Benny:We're probably going to have to get them or something, or they're dead or something.

Benny:That sounds horrible.

Arctos:If they got captured there, I'm going to be so upset.

Johnny:That was crazy.

Arctos:We tried to give them an invite, and they're like, no, we'll sneak in.

Johnny:We'll just sneak in.

Benny:No, order is against our creed.

Benny:We're literally going to roll the dice here.

Anzu:Thank you.

Arctos:No, no, no.

Johnny:Josh, after I walk away from this conversation with Sir Arctos, I'd like to go back to my room.

Gamemaster:Red will say, yeah.

Johnny:I like to pull out my little chess piece and go, hey, Red, quick question for you.

Johnny:Do we have a contact at Sable & Sons for buying guns?

Gamemaster:Yeah, I can set you up with somebody from Sable and Suns if you're looking to purchase some firearms.

Arctos:Leo.

Johnny:Sort of 50-50.

Johnny:Do we...

Johnny:This is kind of maybe a question for Donnie.

Johnny:Do we get guns that shoot blasts of light?

Gamemaster:Uh, no.

Gamemaster:Or at least if we do, we haven't gotten that.

Gamemaster:I can ask Donnie for you, or if you want to ask, you can do that, just in case they're holding back on us.

Gamemaster:But normally the guns that we get from Sable and Suns are guns.

Gamemaster:They shoot bullets.

Johnny:I think I got us something interesting Donnie might be wanting to see.

Johnny:All right.

Gamemaster:I think Donnie wanted to meet up with you anyway.

Gamemaster:So if you wanted, you could probably bring that to the table as well.

Johnny:I'm just apparently looking at art today.

Johnny:I guess that's what I'm doing.

Johnny:So just let me know when he wants to meet.

Gamemaster:Well, that's fun.

Gamemaster:Yeah, I mean, I'm sure he'll just kind of show up in your bedroom all of the night or something.

Johnny:Yeah, he does do that.

Johnny:It's always freaky.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Johnny:Alright, well, he knows where I'm staying.

Gamemaster:Anyway.

Gamemaster:Yeah, I can ask around if you want me to try and see if we know anything about light weapons.

Johnny:Yeah, we got into a fight with some just random schmucks on the street the other day.

Johnny:Not on the street.

Johnny:I guess they were an organized gang.

Johnny:Not really.

Johnny:And they had guns that just shot blasts of light.

Johnny:Obviously, you know, we still fucked him up.

Johnny:And then they said that they were getting him from Sable and Suns, and they gave us this special pin that's like a members-only club.

Johnny:Anyway, we took it, and we have a couple of the guns, but I thought Donnie might want some more of those.

Gamemaster:That's fair.

Gamemaster:If you want to follow it up yourself, my contact or our contact at Sable & Sons is Lark Crowe.

Gamemaster:Moonlight is an arms dealer, but usually you can find them in the market over in Deosil, which is like one of the other districts in Hallia.

Johnny:All right.

Johnny:Well, thanks, Red.

Johnny:I guess I'll talk to you soon.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Gamemaster:Yeah, absolutely.

Gamemaster:I'll be here.

Johnny:All right.

Johnny:I will go back to the group.

Johnny:All right, gang, I got us a lead on the arms dealer if we want laser guns.

Arctos:I don't really shoot things.

Benny:same do they have laser swords

Johnny:You could.

Johnny:I don't know.

Arctos:We should look into it, though, for our vehicle.

Arctos:And I know you guys are making fun of me, but six months from now, when we got to drive that eight hours again, there's going to be a lot of people trying to kill us.

Anzu:Now, that is probably one of the smartest things I've heard you say, actually.

Gamemaster:Thank you.

Arctos:Thank you, thank you.

Arctos:I'm getting smarter every day.

Anzu:Indeed.

Benny:It's terrifying.

Arctos:Evolution.

Anzu:That's actually an important part of growth and being a person.

Arctos:Thank you.

Benny:Then he'll be able to open doors.

Anzu:I don't know what you guys have planned for today.

Anzu:I'm thinking of... Do you think that that's something that requires all four of us?

Arctos:I say we go visit our painting guy.

Anzu:And I'm okay if the answer is yes.

Arctos:didn't want what would you like to do since finding this keystone isn't important to you anymore all right if you want to go to the library without us okay

Benny:He doesn't want to do it.

Anzu:Oh, no.

Gamemaster:Thank you.

Anzu:That is my objective, but I was going to attack it from another angle and go to the library.

Anzu:Or a library.

Johnny:Nerd.

Anzu:I don't know how that works around here.

Benny:Benny will bump Johnny figures.

Johnny:Benny, you wanna get laser guns?

Arctos:You guys don't want to come get a painting?

Benny:I could.

Arctos:Or relic?

Arctos:I guess I'll do everything myself.

Benny:Do we know what painting they'd want?

Johnny:Hey, listen.

Anzu:Well, we got fine art, paintings, oil or acrylic on canvas.

Arctos:Well, they said fine art, so I get some paintings.

Anzu:I mean, I don't know if there's one particular painting.

Arctos:Yeah, I think that's good enough.

Anzu:If they're a collector, I think anything in that range with enough esteem.

Benny:OK, so we could get a lead on a painting or two.

Benny:And then we also have to find where to deliver slash offer slash negotiate.

Benny:the exchange of the painting.

Benny:Always with the fucking library.

Anzu:Sir Arctos, do you...

Arctos:I'm just going to rely on my pal.

Anzu:know anything about notable artists?

Anzu:Or are you just kind of relying on your pal?

Johnny:I don't wanna be surprised.

Anzu:Because that's also something we can learn at the library.

Arctos:I feel like you guys just don't want to meet my friend.

Anzu:No, no.

Arctos:I'm starting to take offense.

Anzu:I'm saying maybe we team up.

Benny:I've already agreed.

Benny:You want to take his friend to the library?

Anzu:I think that if we learn a little bit about notable artists and the kind of art that they make, then we're going into your meeting with this person with more information.

Arctos:We might have to do something to get the painting.

Arctos:I don't know if he can just give us a fine art painting.

Arctos:Or are you saying I should come there with an actual go, I want this one.

Gamemaster:Thank you.

Arctos:And then we force a painting.

Arctos:Is that what you want?

Arctos:Seems kind of greedy.

Benny:Even better.

Benny:Anzu, you don't have to hide it behind all these words.

Anzu:Aren't you a calligrapher?

Benny:We'll find your guy and we'll threaten to take him to the library if he doesn't get us a painting.

Arctos:You know, maybe that's what we should do.

Anzu:You write books and stuff.

Benny:It's more of a copying thing?

Johnny:Oh.

Benny:Record keeping?

Anzu:Right.

Arctos:I'm a scribe.

Benny:It's legible.

Benny:So do you want to go to the... Wouldn't his... What does your Connect know?

Benny:Would he be a better source than the library?

Arctos:So Arctos is friends with the equivalent of a senator, a rich senator.

Arctos:I'm assuming he has an art friend that we can just talk to.

Arctos:And if he doesn't, I'm sure he can point us in the direction of an art person.

Benny:Does he have a library at his house?

Benny:Really trying to kill both birds here.

Anzu:Whoa, hey, whoa.

Gamemaster:You would know without a check, Arctos, that Vane does have a library in his house.

Benny:Boom.

Arctos:Yeah.

Benny:We're going to your connect.

Benny:Let this guy loose in the library and we'll take care of business.

Johnny:We can't.

Gamemaster:I will also note, though, that Vane's library is like a small, like a personal library.

Arctos:Okay.

Benny:Josh, please, no.

Gamemaster:Don't?

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Sorry.

Gamemaster:Never mind.

Benny:Don't reveal it.

Benny:It'll be a surprise.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Benny:This is information Arctos does not reveal.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:Don't break the aversion.

Johnny:All right.

Johnny:As much as I love you, Sir Arctos, I don't want to meet your friend who's very high up in the Calarian Church.

Arctos:You know, just... I'll give you a tip.

Johnny:In the Iridescent Church.

Arctos:Don't introduce yourself as Johnny Skyfall.

Johnny:No, I'm going to go.

Arctos:And just wear a poncho.

Johnny:I'm going to be there.

Johnny:I'm going to be mad the whole time.

Gamemaster:Wow.

Arctos:Hey, look, look.

Arctos:We've learned it wasn't Clarence's fault for that incident.

Arctos:It was Aut's, so...

Benny:I do also think all of us should be going to meet with Sable and Suns when we do.

Johnny:I mean, I don't put on my poncho.

Johnny:I'm mad.

Johnny:Now we're going with, I think we're all going together, but Johnny's going mad.

Arctos:All right, let's go.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:So how are you?

Gamemaster:Are you splitting up the party?

Gamemaster:Are you not?

Gamemaster:Are you... Yeah.

Benny:I think Anzu's going mad, too.

Johnny:So we're all going, but half the party is not happy about it.

Gamemaster:Okay, so Arctos and Betty are driving to Minister Vale's home and then has a sulking Johnny and Anzu in the backseat.

Anzu:Yes, I'm not sulking, but I'm there.

Benny:That sounds right.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:You all can drive into the Aurideon.

Gamemaster:You've been here a few times before.

Gamemaster:It's the center of the Iridescent Church's power in the city, and it is also where Minister Vane has his offices.

Gamemaster:You are going to a different part of the Aurideon than you had been in previously.

Gamemaster:Before you were in more of a commercial area, like where the offices of the Metrical Crimes Convox and the Inquisitors and the like are.

Gamemaster:You're actually moving further north past all of that to where the residences of people high up in the church live.

Johnny:um

Gamemaster:The skyline is a bit sullied now that you've all seen the Pharos, because what used to be this neat hill that kind of overlooked the rest of Calaria from the inside of the Aurideon is now marked by this Giant, ugly, concrete column just in the middle of it that takes up a good portion of the horizon.

Arctos:Okay.

Gamemaster:That said, you can still find where you're trying to go.

Gamemaster:You don't need to check for this, because... Actually, I think I still might make a check, because I don't know how good Arctos would be at... Would Arctos be able to navigate his way to Vane's home by himself?

Arctos:I assumed, but if you don't think so, that's okay.

Gamemaster:I'm just thinking about... Arctos would never have been the one driving a car.

Gamemaster:He would have always been driven places.

Gamemaster:So I don't know if he would have learned where specifically to go.

Arctos:That's fair.

Gamemaster:So I am going to make... I'm going to require a survival check.

Gamemaster:The DC will be low from whoever wants to make it, because you do have Arctos remembering where you're going and knowing the right neighborhood and stuff.

Gamemaster:But just to find where to go.

Arctos:Who's good at survival?

Arctos:Is it Benny?

Benny:No.

Johnny:I'm pretty survivally.

Johnny:I can survive.

Benny:We've got our survivalist.

Gamemaster:I do also have another question.

Johnny:I'll survive.

Gamemaster:Are you guys just showing up unannounced?

Arctos:That's normally what Arctos would have done, right?

Arctos:I don't think Arctos normally told people at the time.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Sure, but Arctos used to live there.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Fine.

Anzu:We're not going anyway.

Johnny:I don't think we're going.

Benny:But he's in foundry.

Benny:Holy shit.

Arctos:Oh, no.

Johnny:I did.

Arctos:Did Mythic point that?

Anzu:He did.

Johnny:That was the mythic point.

Benny:He did.

Benny:That's why we're at the one.

Arctos:Oh, no.

Gamemaster:What do we get?

Benny:What is a 19 natural one?

Johnny:Yep.

Gamemaster:Ooh.

Johnny:With a mythic point.

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Gamemaster:Um... Yeah.

Gamemaster:So...

Gamemaster:The residential area of the Aurideon is... It's not on a grid system, first of all.

Gamemaster:It is winding.

Gamemaster:On purpose.

Gamemaster:Because generally speaking, they don't want people who don't belong there...

Gamemaster:to be driving in and knowing where they're going and all that kind of stuff anyway.

Gamemaster:So the roads double back on each other to make room for the multi-acre estates that take up this interior enclave of the city.

Gamemaster:With a crit fail 19, unfortunately, none of the houses around where you are look familiar to you, Arctos, as you're trying to navigate around.

Arctos:Is there anyone I can flag to ask?

Gamemaster:No.

Gamemaster:This is a neighborhood of, like, McMansions and actual old money mansions.

Gamemaster:This is not the kind of place that people are just walking around.

Arctos:Mm-hmm.

Gamemaster:If anything, I think what Arctos would know is that if you guys drive slowly around the neighborhood, eventually somebody will call the cops on you, and then you can ask them.

Johnny:Let's hang around for a bit.

Gamemaster:But, like, besides that, there isn't, like, there are not people just hanging out on the street.

Arctos:Should we just do that?

Anzu:Just get the police called on us.

Benny:Do the cops know you?

Arctos:Yes.

Arctos:This is my neighborhood.

Arctos:I've only been gone like a week, guys.

Benny:Okay.

Arctos:It's not been that long.

Johnny:I mean, he is the only talking

Benny:I just don't know... Sure, I just didn't know if you knew them or if it was like, oh... Okay.

Johnny:Around.

Arctos:We rested.

Arctos:I showered off my

Arctos:beautiful disguise and we're just chilling.

Arctos:Yeah.

Johnny:Driver driving circles.

Benny:So Benny will slow down, drive in circles.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Benny:44.

Gamemaster:Okay, Benny will purposefully be suspicious.

Gamemaster:Can I get somebody to roll a d100 for me, please?

Gamemaster:44.

Arctos:I can't believe Arctos has no idea.

Arctos:All right.

Johnny:you

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:So Benny starts driving slowly around the neighborhood, and sure enough, not even all that much time passes, like 10 minutes of just kind of aimlessly driving around to the neighborhood.

Gamemaster:And you see that another car, not a marked police vehicle, this is just a black van, pulls into the side street and seems to be just kind of driving behind you.

Gamemaster:They don't immediately do anything to, like, pull you over, but they are clearly following you.

Johnny:Yes.

Gamemaster:They're matching your speed, and if you make turns, you, uh...

Arctos:We just get out and then chat with them.

Arctos:Hopefully this isn't Grayson's guys.

Anzu:I don't think you get out.

Benny:get out get out and sprint at them showing them that your your id really quickly you know grab grab your map uh holster that you have and just run at them and just pull out your map

Anzu:I think we just pull over.

Anzu:No, no.

Arctos:Yeah, pull over.

Arctos:We pull over.

Anzu:Keep your ID and your hand in your pocket as you run at them.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:Yeah, we pull over.

Arctos:I put on hazards.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:You put on your hazards and you pull over and the other car pulls up alongside yours and they lower their passenger side window.

Gamemaster:Can I get...

Gamemaster:God, what kind of check do I want this to make?

Gamemaster:What I'm trying to figure out right now is, what are the chances that this group of people are A, friendly to you, and B, know who Arctos is?

Arctos:Can I make it exhort the faithful diplomacy chair?

Gamemaster:Fine.

Gamemaster:I'll allow that.

Arctos:Perfect.

Gamemaster:You can exhort some faithful.

Arctos:All right.

Arctos:31.

Benny:Yeah, Benny won't roll down his window.

Benny:He'll roll down Arctos' window.

Gamemaster:31.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:With the 31, they roll the windows down, and you can see the... Aurideon is self-policed, so it's not one of the three police agencies that go around to the rest of the city.

Johnny:Okay.

Arctos:Hello.

Gamemaster:These are members of the church.

Gamemaster:They roll the window down, and Arctos is the representative here, with the window rolled down there.

Gamemaster:They look in the window, and they're like,

Gamemaster:Oh, wow.

Gamemaster:It's you, Mr. Arctos.

Gamemaster:I'm sorry to pull you over.

Gamemaster:We just got some calls about a suspicious driver on the roads.

Arctos:Oh, so.

Gamemaster:Oh, yeah, no, that'd be totally fine.

Arctos:I was looking to go back home, but I normally don't know the directions I get driven there.

Arctos:Do you mind escorting us there?

Arctos:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Yeah, no worries.

Gamemaster:Just follow behind us.

Arctos:Cool.

Arctos:Thank you.

Gamemaster:and with your high roll there, they are more than happy to just escort you.

Gamemaster:As it turns out, you're in fully the wrong piece of the neighborhood.

Arctos:Guys, everyone's so nice in this neighborhood.

Gamemaster:You have to go back into the Aurideon and then into another area.

Arctos:You guys really should buy a house here.

Arctos:I think you guys would enjoy it.

Arctos:I don't know.

Johnny:Arctos, how much does a house here cost?

Anzu:Thank you.

Johnny:Arctos, how much does lunch for a regular person cost?

Arctos:They usually just put it in my bear bowl, and I just enjoy whatever's there.

Johnny:Arctos, give me one thing you know the price of.

Johnny:I don't know, I'm asking you.

Benny:What?

Arctos:A banana.

Arctos:How much could it cost?

Arctos:Ten gold?

Arctos:Ten gold, Johnny?

Anzu:he heard the call you guys he heard the call

Gamemaster:The money's in the banana stand.

Johnny:Yes, Arctos, bananas cost 10 gold.

Benny:Why did you decide to go adventuring?

Benny:It sounds very nice not to know the price of anything.

Johnny:Why did you leave?

Johnny:You know what?

Arctos:I heard the call, guys.

Arctos:And this is also why I almost stopped after the...

Arctos:last run-in with the Devils, I was like, I really should just go home.

Arctos:That was literally me, like, 12 hours ago.

Johnny:I kind of get it.

Benny:I don't think we would blame you

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:Yeah, that's pretty nice here.

Johnny:It seems nice.

Johnny:um

Gamemaster:Either way, you follow the escort over to...

Gamemaster:the Vale residence.

Gamemaster:This is a gated residence in that you get brought to the front of the gate by your police escort before they drive off.

Gamemaster:There is a guard at a guard station, which you would be familiar with.

Gamemaster:Arctos, you've seen him a bunch of times.

Gamemaster:He knows who you are.

Gamemaster:As you pull up, you roll down the window.

Gamemaster:Master Arctos, welcome back.

Gamemaster:What can I do you for?

Arctos:We're hoping to chat.

Arctos:What do you know?

Gamemaster:With me?

Arctos:Valerius.

Gamemaster:Oh, no, Minister Vale's not in right now.

Arctos:Valerius.

Gamemaster:Uh, no.

Arctos:Do you know when he is?

Gamemaster:He, um... The council convened, I think, and he kind of rushed off.

Gamemaster:I can let you in if you want to wait for him, but I don't know when he'll be back.

Arctos:Yeah, let's do that.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Gamemaster:And he opens the gate and waves you guys in.

Gamemaster:You pull into...

Johnny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:The oldest money house you have ever seen.

Gamemaster:First of all, the residence itself, the interior of this, I want to say like four square mile compound carved out in the middle of the city that is Vale's home is a series of different buildings.

Gamemaster:There is, you know, the manor, but then there's also a guest manor across the...

Gamemaster:across the side of the residence.

Gamemaster:As you pull up to the front, you see this three-story marble building with very, very detailed looking filigree all along the walls.

Johnny:Bye.

Gamemaster:It looks like instead of allowing ivy to grow up the walls, they have carved, they've embossed into the granite.

Benny:you

Gamemaster:sorry, into the marble, like the Path of Ivy, so that it grows into the pattern of the Vale house logo, which is a V with a sword passed through it.

Gamemaster:You drive around the entryway fountain to get up to the front door, where, of course, one of the servants is ready to take the car and park it elsewhere and lead you guys into the home.

Gamemaster:As you're let in, you would meet with the majordomo, who is... What is this guy's name?

Johnny:you you

Gamemaster:Where are you?

Gamemaster:Crowley Hart.

Gamemaster:Mayor Domo Hart.

Gamemaster:You've met this man many times before, Arctos.

Gamemaster:This is an elderly dwarven man, fully dressed in a pretty nice suit.

Gamemaster:braided beard, completely shaved head, and he has a very similar monocle to the one that Arctos pulls out for his reading and the like.

Arctos:Hmm.

Gamemaster:And he says, I can show all of you to the reading room if you would like to take some time to decompress.

Gamemaster:Unfortunately, I don't know if Master Vale is going to be back today.

Gamemaster:It depends on how long he's meeting with the Council Runs.

Gamemaster:You're welcome to stay as long as you like, of course, you and your friends.

Johnny:You.

Gamemaster:Arctos, if you don't mind, what are your friends' names?

Arctos:Oh, let them introduce themselves.

Arctos:They are part of my adventuring party.

Arctos:Told you I could be an adventurer.

Gamemaster:You have your own adventuring party in just a week.

Arctos:I've saved their lives multiple times now.

Gamemaster:Congratulations.

Benny:I've killed people.

Anzu:It's been a while.

Gamemaster:Oh.

Arctos:He's actually quite vicious for a child.

Arctos:Be careful.

Gamemaster:Good.

Benny:Benny wants to stick his hand out.

Johnny:um

Benny:I'm Benny.

Gamemaster:He will, like, very, very gently go and grab your hand.

Benny:Benny will not alpha handshake him, but it will be firm enough that it is not a child's hand.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Benny, you notice as you grab his hand, that is a firm handshake that you get back from him.

Gamemaster:He was not like, he looks like he kind of maybe doesn't want to touch you immediately off of the I've killed people comment.

Gamemaster:But like, this is a sturdy butler, effectively.

Anzu:Thank you.

Gamemaster:Good to meet you, Benny.

Gamemaster:Do you have a last name?

Johnny:you

Benny:Uh, yes.

Benny:Plus Mario.

Gamemaster:Can I have it, please?

Gamemaster:That's Matteo.

Benny:Sure.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:I apologize.

Gamemaster:It's just, you know, you are here on Master Arctos's recommendation, of course, but we can't let strangers wander around Minister Vale's home.

Benny:Of course.

Benny:Does that mean I can wander around now that I'm not a stranger?

Benny:Oh.

Gamemaster:No, of course not.

Gamemaster:But you're allowed to stay.

Benny:Okay.

Anzu:I'm very well met.

Anzu:My name is Anzu Koreshi.

Gamemaster:Qureshi?

Gamemaster:Of the Belvederean Qureshis?

Johnny:I'm going to put on a thick Calarian accent.

Anzu:Yes, that's my family, yes.

Gamemaster:Pleasure to meet you.

Gamemaster:You're a long way from home.

Gamemaster:Until we chat again for a handshake.

Anzu:Blew the nest, as they say.

Arctos:And this is I also pointed.

Gamemaster:Well, a friend, a member of the Qureshis is always welcome in the Vale's residence.

Gamemaster:As you are.

Johnny:Hey friend, I'm Dave Fuller.

Johnny:May the iridescent host smile upon you.

Johnny:It's great to meet you.

Gamemaster:can I get a deception check I need a deception check

Johnny:I'm a big fan of Sir Arctos.

Johnny:I couldn't believe when Arctos walked in.

Johnny:It was the best day of my life.

Johnny:I can do better than that.

Johnny:I got two mythic points.

Johnny:I'm going to use a mythic point on this guy.

Johnny:I'm going to do the mythic.

Johnny:Roland Foundry, actually.

Arctos:Dave, who did you say?

Gamemaster:God, I was curious.

Gamemaster:Did you choose that name on purpose?

Johnny:I think it was just the first thing I thought of.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Johnny:Why?

Gamemaster:I just Googled it in real life because I was curious to see if that was anybody famous.

Johnny:Oh, God.

Benny:Oh my god.

Benny:Don't Google it.

Johnny:Don't look it up.

Benny:The David Fuller?

Gamemaster:Dave Fuller.

Benny:You're the David Fuller.

Johnny:Don't look at that.

Benny:I'm surprised.

Johnny:I regret that name.

Benny:When did you get out?

Gamemaster:Ah, yes, of course.

Johnny:This is not the... Wait, this is not the real roll.

Gamemaster:The convicted murderer and necrophile.

Benny:Being a convicted necrophile is crazy.

Benny:He's not even a rumored necrophile.

Johnny:I just need to roll this so I can use a mythic roll.

Gamemaster:Okay, I don't even know where you're rolling, but sure.

Benny:Maybe this is a talent that Noah has.

Gamemaster:God, how a hospital worker abused a hundred corpses and killed two women for thirty years.

Johnny:Hey, I'm John Wayne Gacy.

Benny:He could come up with random names of awful people.

Arctos:It's just Minority Report, but we forced Noah to name people.

Gamemaster:Oh my God.

Gamemaster:30, okay.

Benny:Yeah.

Johnny:Mike pulls up the Epstein files and it's just me listing off names.

Johnny:I got a 30 in Foundry.

Benny:you you

Gamemaster:Mr. Fuller, a pleasure to make your acquaintance.

Johnny:Oh, pleasure to meet you too.

Johnny:Any friend of Sir Arctos is a friend of mine.

Gamemaster:Of course,

Arctos:I understand.

Gamemaster:That's a very good attitude to have.

Gamemaster:I'll lead you into our little reading room.

Gamemaster:You can stay there, Argos, of course.

Gamemaster:If you would like to go anywhere else in the manor, just let me know.

Gamemaster:You do understand the security precautions with strangers in the home and all.

Gamemaster:And he will about-face and lead you to one of the rooms.

Arctos:Can you send up some food?

Arctos:I've been a little parched over there.

Gamemaster:Of course.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:And...

Gamemaster:will be led to a room like over, excuse me, over in the east wing.

Gamemaster:I think an interesting perspective here for I guess, was it everybody but Arctos?

Johnny:you you

Gamemaster:The structural, like the architecture of this home

Gamemaster:matches, sorry, architectures of the long term, the floor layout of this home is very similar to that of the manor that you were in of Grayson's.

Johnny:you

Arctos:Uh-oh.

Gamemaster:Like, just structurally very similar.

Gamemaster:In that you are led down the same hallway to the east to get to the reading room.

Benny:you

Gamemaster:And you are deposited in a room that is very similar floor plan-wise.

Gamemaster:This one isn't filled with skull candles and weird overbearing heat and ghouls.

Gamemaster:But, you know, the floor plan is the same, which could be interesting.

Gamemaster:But you're brought into a nice little... Waiting area is probably the wrong term.

Gamemaster:It's a room in the house that is designed for receiving guests, effectively.

Johnny:you

Gamemaster:So there are a few couches.

Gamemaster:There are a number of bookshelves with books on it.

Gamemaster:You would know that these books are...

Gamemaster:Books that Vale thinks would paint the family in a positive light among their guests for seeing them, like the titles and stuff on the bookshelves, this is not the full extent of whatever the library is.

Gamemaster:but it's a nice comfy little area.

Gamemaster:And after like a moment or two of you settling in, there's a knock at the door and a servant enters in a very structurally similar way to how a servant entered with food and urine raisins with a little cloche of some sandwiches as well as a pitcher of what looks to be like lemon water of some kind.

Gamemaster:as well as separately in Ice Cube with Salmon for the bear.

Arctos:Thank you.

Arctos:Arctos would at some point disappear for a little bit to his room and then come back in one of his dressing gowns.

Benny:I'm waiting for this to load.

Johnny:The double Gemini image in the bottom right corner is...

Gamemaster:Of course.

Anzu:Is there any oil on campus on the walls in this room?

Benny:So he's just sitting in the corner with the ice cube and...

Gamemaster:Yeah, this room does actually have two different art pieces hung up.

Gamemaster:One looks like it's a 16 by 16 inch acrylic painting of...

Johnny:I got a 26.

Gamemaster:some coastline somewhere.

Gamemaster:And the other one is a 72 by 36 panorama of the Aurideon.

Gamemaster:Can I get a perception check, actually, looking at the panorama of the Aurideon?

Arctos:Oof.

Benny:Perceivers.

Arctos:I will reroll mine with Mythic.

Arctos:13 plus 6.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:25.

Gamemaster:Okay, so 26.

Johnny:you know

Gamemaster:26 is barely enough.

Gamemaster:This shows the horizon of the Aurideon.

Gamemaster:And notably, in real life, you know that there is a concrete edifice in the middle of this skyline.

Benny:you

Gamemaster:This painting does not depict that.

Gamemaster:But looking very closely, there is a...

Gamemaster:Like, a strange texture to the paint where the Pharos would be in the skyline.

Gamemaster:It's almost raised slightly, as if there was something painted there and then it was painted over at a later date.

Arctos:That's crazy.

Johnny:I point that out to the folks.

Benny:Oh.

Arctos:Very crazy.

Arctos:So can I actually see if I can get the butler again to see when's the next appointment I could make to see him?

Gamemaster:Yeah, absolutely.

Arctos:Hilarious.

Gamemaster:Listen, Minister Vane is very busy.

Gamemaster:If you were going through normal channels, like three months from now would be the newest we can see you in.

Gamemaster:If you're willing to wait here and he comes back, he'll probably have the time to see you.

Arctos:It's pretty urgent.

Gamemaster:Just depends on when he can get free of whatever his obligations of the council are.

Gamemaster:If you want to schedule something, I could definitely fit you in a week from now.

Gamemaster:How urgent is this?

Arctos:I guess we'll just wait.

Gamemaster:I can send a message to the Templar and dictum, see if he's around.

Gamemaster:But it sounded pretty urgent when he left here.

Gamemaster:I will try for you.

Gamemaster:It's just, I don't know if now is the best time.

Anzu:Do these convenings of the council vary wildly in how long they last?

Gamemaster:Is it anything I could help you with in the meantime?

Johnny:you you

Gamemaster:no traditionally they're they're scheduled once a month every month at the beginning uh this is the this was the council was summoned uh it seemed like somebody on the council invoked the right to summon the rest of the council for some reason uh to what end i don't know unfortunately

Arctos:That's not good.

Johnny:That sounds bad.

Arctos:If you could, but also keep it a little bit confidential, obviously.

Johnny:Do you know which council member summoned them?

Gamemaster:No, Minister Vane doesn't tell me about the intricacies of the court, unfortunately.

Gamemaster:I could ask around for you, but this is all kind of unfolding in real time.

Gamemaster:Of course.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:At the very least, I will try and get a message out to Minister Vane.

Gamemaster:Let him know that you're here.

Arctos:Thank you.

Gamemaster:And I'm sure if he could get away, he would.

Gamemaster:Of course.

Arctos:Do you mind if they could come to my chambers?

Gamemaster:Yeah, that should be okay.

Johnny:you you

Gamemaster:Just make sure that they don't go into any of the other rooms on your floor.

Anzu:Thank you.

Arctos:OK.

Arctos:Sounds good.

Gamemaster:Go off to continue his duties.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Arctos:OK.

Arctos:I don't have any plans for his bedroom.

Arctos:I just wanted Arctos to be able to chill in a nice comfy bed.

Arctos:So guys, I suspect we know who called the meeting.

Johnny:Grayson.

Arctos:Grace.

Benny:I had a book releasing.

Arctos:He's trying to get ahead of it.

Arctos:the book, the inquisitors, everything.

Gamemaster:uh four days ago from today

Anzu:Could be.

Benny:Why don't we give that to the Inquisitors?

Benny:Was that like three days ago?

Benny:Four days ago?

Benny:He waited four days?

Benny:Do you think they would protect him?

Johnny:you

Benny:Like, is this in his best interest, too?

Benny:Or do you think he's trying to, like, hey, listen, there's been some compromising material that is fake that is now circulating just in case you guys see it.

Arctos:Yeah, maybe that's it.

Benny:That ain't me.

Benny:I didn't write that.

Anzu:Alternatively, this could be... Is Grayson a council member?

Benny:Hashtag release the Grayson files.

Gamemaster:You would know that Grayson is the representative of Amber Call on the council, which is one of ten organizations that are on the council.

Anzu:Is that something we know?

Arctos:Yeah.

Anzu:Interesting.

Anzu:Because I was wondering if maybe it could be an opposite situation to what we're saying, and someone has called this meeting because of what the Inquisitors have found, and they're putting the city into, you know, not a state of emergency, perhaps, but...

Arctos:Well, if that was the case, we definitely should have talked to this guy before he went in to potentially vote.

Johnny:You can rush over there and bust in.

Benny:Yeah, where is the meeting being held?

Arctos:But Mr. Vane.

Anzu:Well...

Benny:I'm getting bored in this big house that I can't go anywhere in.

Gamemaster:The Templar Indictum is the seat of the council.

Gamemaster:It is also in the... It's not in the Aurideon.

Johnny:hello hello

Gamemaster:It's directly outside the Aurideon, because they didn't want to make it look like the church was the owner of the council, despite the fact that the church is both on and has supreme veto power over the council.

Anzu:Alright.

Gamemaster:Um...

Gamemaster:But it's kind of like right outside the door in the district directly outside of the Aurideon.

Arctos:Benny's about to walk up to... What do you guys want to do?

Benny:Stop the vote!

Gamemaster:Oh, gosh.

Benny:You guys are not allowed to certify the council's vote.

Benny:Where was Benny on January 6th?

Gamemaster:Gosh.

Johnny:Yahoo.

Arctos:Do you guys want to wait?

Arctos:Do you want to...

Anzu:I mean, I guess we could give it the day, see if he comes back this evening.

Benny:I mean...

Anzu:Unless you guys think that we're wasting too much time by doing that.

Benny:But we can't go anywhere in here.

Arctos:Is there a painting in Arctos' room?

Benny:We just got to watch him eat another ice block.

Gamemaster:Uh, Arctos, is there a painting in Arctos' room?

Arctos:I feel like definitely Arctos would have had paintings.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:What of?

Johnny:Okay.

Arctos:Wait a second.

Benny:Salmon.

Gamemaster:Okay, sure.

Arctos:It would have been Austrene.

Arctos:Just different nice pics of Austrene and then probably some Aurora.

Gamemaster:Sure.

Gamemaster:Yeah, he is, baby.

Arctos:If we don't hear from him in like a week, we'll just come back and take one of my paintings.

Arctos:Or less than that.

Benny:Okay.

Benny:Assuming it's sufficient for...

Anzu:Did you commission these, Arctos, or how did you... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Arctos:I don't really think about those types of things.

Gamemaster:I think what would have happened is Arctos would have asked for something like this, and then it would have just shown up.

Gamemaster:I don't know if Arctos would have been involved with the process of... You know what?

Anzu:Are there...

Arctos:These are priceless.

Anzu:signatures on any of these paintings?

Johnny:i can i can do a performance i don't know how well i think i closed that down

Gamemaster:It's going to be a crafting check if you want to appraise any of these paintings.

Gamemaster:Crafting or performance, but performance has a higher DC because it's not the best fit.

Anzu:I mean, I'll make a crafting check.

Anzu:I'm going to do it in foundry.

Anzu:Hell yeah.

Anzu:27.

Johnny:Oh.

Johnny:I'll just... I'll let that 27 ride.

Johnny:I don't think I can beat that.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:With a 27, I think you would figure out two things.

Gamemaster:Yes, both of the paintings that Arctos described do have signatures on them, but neither of the names ring any bells for you.

Arctos:Cool.

Anzu:Can I, without making you, Josh, say them out loud, note them down for future ponderance?

Benny:one of them is dave fuller

Gamemaster:Sure.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:No, I don't have artists' names for Arctos' bedroom art offhand.

Johnny:Oh, my God.

Johnny:Is that Dave Fuller?

Johnny:Wow, guys.

Arctos:Well, I bet you the most ideal painting is probably the one with the secret tower, but I don't know if they're going to give us that one.

Anzu:Yeah, I mean, that would very heavily rely on your relationship.

Benny:Thank you.

Anzu:So, you live here.

Anzu:So, are you part of the minister's family, like in an adopted way?

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:Yes.

Arctos:You could say that.

Arctos:I saved his life.

Johnny:How did you save his life from?

Johnny:Oh.

Arctos:A bunch of RunGunners.

Arctos:The host gave me sentience and power and I slayed the evil crooks and then we became friends.

Gamemaster:Just random bear wandering through the streets.

Anzu:Were you already... Okay, that was going to be my next question.

Arctos:I was originally his pet, but now I'm his equal.

Anzu:Yes.

Anzu:If he was already in possession of you at the time, it was going to be my next question.

Arctos:Yes, but now I'm his equal.

Arctos:Polar bear.

Benny:Well, I say we go somewhere else.

Johnny:Thank you.

Arctos:If you guys want to stay the night, then we go.

Arctos:See if he comes back off chance.

Arctos:If not, we'll come back to our appointment.

Anzu:Benny's getting very antsy.

Anzu:So unless you have any games in your room that maybe he could play?

Anzu:Do you have any puzzles?

Gamemaster:Bye.

Benny:We can't go anywhere.

Arctos:By the way, when he does come... Yeah, we'll just stay the night.

Benny:Actually, it's fine.

Benny:We'll stay the night.

Arctos:If he does come back, do we tell him everything?

Arctos:I'm doubtful.

Arctos:I trust him.

Benny:No.

Arctos:So, what do we say to him?

Johnny:Okay.

Arctos:Hey, we need a fine art piece of painting and a relic.

Benny:We're looking for fine art.

Arctos:Don't ask any questions.

Benny:I don't know if we need the relic yet.

Benny:Let's ask one favor.

Arctos:Okay.

Benny:We also don't know where 15 is at all.

Anzu:We just know who.

Anzu:We have a name that can lead us there.

Benny:15 is.

Arctos:Okay.

Gamemaster:Right now it's like 8.30.

Benny:and what they want.

Arctos:All right.

Arctos:So I guess we just... What time is it?

Arctos:At night or in the morning?

Gamemaster:In the morning.

Gamemaster:No, in the morning.

Arctos:Oh.

Johnny:Oh, it's

Gamemaster:You arrived at the Sin and Tonic at 8.

Gamemaster:And then you just immediately drove here.

Gamemaster:So, you know, it's still the morning.

Benny:The spending that is also spending the day.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Arctos:Alright, so we'll go to the library, come back here, crash at night, and then leave tomorrow.

Anzu:I love this plan.

Benny:Sure.

Arctos:Alright.

Arctos:We inform the butler.

Arctos:Did you say his last... Is the butler a heart?

Gamemaster:Okay.

Arctos:Is that what you said?

Arctos:Okay.

Gamemaster:No, the butler's a guy.

Arctos:Okay.

Gamemaster:He's a dwarf.

Gamemaster:Uh, Lark Crowe.

Arctos:Okay.

Anzu:I thought that was someone else.

Gamemaster:No.

Johnny:Wait.

Gamemaster:No, that's totally wrong.

Gamemaster:I read the wrong name.

Gamemaster:I take it back.

Johnny:Wait a second.

Gamemaster:It was Crowley Hart.

Gamemaster:Crowley Hart.

Arctos:Yeah, you see the problem.

Arctos:It's called heart.

Gamemaster:Right, I'm sorry, because his last name is H-A-R-T Hart.

Arctos:Yeah.

Gamemaster:Um...

Gamemaster:But he's just like a guy who walks around.

Gamemaster:He's not a heart.

Arctos:Okay.

Gamemaster:Notably, there actually isn't a heart in this house.

Gamemaster:Like, you are not in a favorite.

Arctos:Is that odd for a rich person to not have a heart?

Gamemaster:I mean, it's...

Johnny:um um

Gamemaster:It's not common, but it's not rare enough to be strange.

Gamemaster:It's really like a personal preference thing.

Gamemaster:The Vane family as a whole tries not to offload too much of their life to Hearts.

Gamemaster:They're on the don't let Hearts take over all of society bit of the discussion there.

Arctos:All right, so I let him know I'll be back.

Gamemaster:They still use it as part of their work, but they don't have one in their home.

Anzu:Mm-hmm.

Benny:Thank you.

Arctos:We'll be back in the evening.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:And now you know where this is, so you can get back here without needing a cop escort.

Gamemaster:All right, so you guys head out.

Arctos:And we do get an appointment on the books for a week, worst case.

Gamemaster:Next... Sure.

Gamemaster:Next stop, the library.

Gamemaster:Now, the library is interesting in that...

Gamemaster:There's no public libraries in Hallia.

Gamemaster:Because, you know, if you can't afford to go into a library, then what are you even doing?

Gamemaster:You're asking for handouts?

Gamemaster:Absolutely not.

Gamemaster:That said, Belvedere definitely does have a library available for members of the org.

Johnny:um um

Gamemaster:So if you wanted to, like, use that connection, you could get into the Belvedere library.

Arctos:you

Gamemaster:Other than that, you can look for, like, there will be smaller open-to-the-public libraries that, like, for a fee, allow you to enter with no org affiliation necessary, but it wouldn't be available in your library.

Anzu:I feel like the Belvedere library would be pretty robust.

Gamemaster:Yes, it would.

Anzu:Alright, we'll do it.

Benny:It's a Belvedere library.

Johnny:up on air.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:You guys are ping-ponging around the city a little bit.

Gamemaster:You head out of the city or west.

Gamemaster:And this is actually on the edge of the Masque District before you get to the Belvedere Library.

Gamemaster:um this is a uh this is a big library this is like new york city public library sized library um like takes up an entire city block library which is all the more impressive for the fact that it is not open to the general public

Gamemaster:it is as large as it is really because Belvedere is using it as a way to exert that, hey, even though we're halfway across the world, we still have influence here in some fashion because this is the largest, it's really the only major outpost Belvedere has in Calaria in any form.

Gamemaster:So this is kind of where people who are from Belvedere on official business tend to do their work, if the like.

Gamemaster:But they will allow people not from Belvedere in if they get a Belvedere escort.

Gamemaster:So you guys can drive up, find some street parking.

Gamemaster:They don't have a parking lot for non-employees, unfortunately, but that's fine.

Gamemaster:And make your way in.

Gamemaster:The interior is a little closed down in the very front, in that when you walk in, there's this large waiting room, but you can't actually see the rest of the library.

Johnny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:A door needs to be opened for you to enter the library proper.

Gamemaster:There are a number of what look to be people at a front desk of some kind taking people in, and you watch as some people...

Gamemaster:It's like 9 now, so it's around the time that some people are just getting into work normally, where they walk in and they just kind of flash what looks to be an ID of some kind, and the door gets unlocked for them to go through.

Gamemaster:You don't have those, so you'll have to go to the front desk and get guest passes.

Anzu:Sure thing.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Looking over the desk is situated such that the person sitting behind the desk is like a good two feet above most of you kind of looking down.

Gamemaster:But the this is a like a halfling clearly sitting on a number of like stacked textbooks on top of their seat so that they can actually see over the desk down at you.

Benny:I'm also a member.

Gamemaster:Hello.

Gamemaster:How can I help you?

Anzu:Hello, I'm Anzu Koreshi, academic fellow, hoping to get some guest access today.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:You're only allowed one guest, unfortunately, so you're going to have to leave two of them behind.

Gamemaster:Okay, who are you?

Benny:Bennix Plasmadio.

Gamemaster:Okay, give me a second to look both of you up and confirm that you're both still in good standing with the organization, and then I'll get some guest passes for you.

Johnny:I'll be Anzu's guest.

Benny:Sure.

Gamemaster:And they turn around and start.

Arctos:Can I be Bennix's guest?

Johnny:I like Anzu.

Arctos:Yeah, I like Anzu too.

Arctos:His name sounds fancier.

Arctos:I want to be on that one.

Arctos:No offense.

Johnny:Benxplosmodius is a cool name.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:Tanner, can you do me a favor and roll a d100 for me?

Johnny:Oh my god, I'm gonna hug your grandma.

Anzu:Oh no, I'm in trouble.

Arctos:Oh no.

Anzu:I'm not supposed to be here.

Anzu:I didn't know he was going to call my grandma.

Gamemaster:Thank you.

Benny:I did have to double check.

Anzu:I'll roll a d100.

Anzu:I got a 42.

Benny:Benny is an archivist.

Arctos:Hmm.

Gamemaster:42, okay.

Gamemaster:You really just didn't want, well, you wanted a high number, but you really didn't want from zero to 10.

Gamemaster:So you...

Johnny:Thank you.

Gamemaster:After a moment, they get back and they say, you're both in good standing.

Gamemaster:So I printed out four guest passes.

Gamemaster:These are only good for today.

Gamemaster:So if you want to come back tomorrow, you'll have to get the guest passes again.

Gamemaster:And if you're planning on staying in the city for an extended period of time, let me know and we can get you registered so you get a permanent pass instead.

Anzu:Okay, thanks.

Anzu:We'll consider that.

Anzu:Okay.

Benny:Mm hmm.

Gamemaster:little slips of paper that are guest passes for the eve.

Gamemaster:Door's on your right.

Gamemaster:And you guys can head into the library proper.

Gamemaster:You get flagged through without issue, now that you have the guest passes, into the interior of this library.

Gamemaster:This library is set up really closer to a warehouse than it is a traditional library.

Gamemaster:There are shelves three stories high with crates on them, where each of the crates has a different label with a system that is reminiscent of the Dewey Decimal System, like a series of numbers.

Gamemaster:And what you do is you...

Gamemaster:You can't really, this is a research library, so you don't just go through and you peruse the books.

Gamemaster:Instead, you find a service kiosk, and you enter what kind of book you're looking for, what genre, and then that book, the crate that holds that book is removed from the shelf and brought over to the table where you're sat so that you can go through it, and then it'll be returned when you're done.

Gamemaster:You cannot take books out of this library.

Gamemaster:You may only read them while you're here.

Anzu:Is this system reminiscent of how things are at home?

Gamemaster:It's the exact same structure that Belvedere would use at home.

Anzu:Okay.

Anzu:Cool.

Anzu:The first thing I'm looking for is... My goal is to learn about Archmechanics.

Benny:Thank you.

Anzu:and what their role is and what org they're affiliated with.

Gamemaster:Okay.

Anzu:So if I could pull books like biographies on Archmechanics or something like that, that would be my first.

Gamemaster:Absolutely.

Gamemaster:You put that in, and two crates of books from down in the warehouse get levitated off of their shelves and brought over to you and deposited.

Gamemaster:I'm going to need, I guess, what kind of check do I want here?

Anzu:I mean, my lore is academia.

Anzu:28?

Gamemaster:Okay, then yeah, I'll just let you make a lore check here.

Gamemaster:Okay, 28 is enough.

Gamemaster:The first hit you get on context for that is a biography of the first Ark mechanic, Forster Kane, who was the founder of Prime Meridian.

Gamemaster:Ark mechanics are the engineers that supervise a transport cluster for Prime Meridian.

Gamemaster:They're the people that manage...

Gamemaster:Effectively, when Prime Meridian was starting, they didn't have hearts and stuff to coordinate trains and the like.

Johnny:you

Gamemaster:So instead, a human was directly wired up through magic to a number of sensors all across the city and would manually control all of the trains in the city, piloting them all from one center.

Gamemaster:And that was the Archmechanic.

Gamemaster:That role has kind of expanded since then, because now you have hearts in the loop.

Gamemaster:So instead, the Archmechanic is the one that coordinates the hearts that do the transportation of the trains and stuff throughout the city.

Gamemaster:It is a very high-up position in Prime Meridian.

Gamemaster:You would know that each city has an Archmechanic.

Arctos:Oof.

Anzu:who's a high profile guy um cool the next thing that I want to do is see if there is anything out there on either of the artists

Johnny:you

Gamemaster:Okay, absolutely.

Gamemaster:You can do a search for those.

Gamemaster:Make another academia check.

Anzu:Oh, boo, that's going to stay on the three.

Benny:No.

Anzu:Is it cheese to use my mythic point when there's two minutes left in the session?

Arctos:Do it.

Gamemaster:Okay, with the 31.

Johnny:Do it.

Anzu:How do I... Oh, I need to give myself a point first.

Anzu:31.

Gamemaster:Of the two names, one of them you don't find any matches for.

Gamemaster:The other name you only find one reference to, it is from a clipping of a newspaper from, like, six years ago that talks about an event...

Gamemaster:that the Vane family held.

Gamemaster:And as part of a blurb, there's a picture of Minister Vane standing next to the artist with the blurb, Vane and one of his patron resident artists.

Gamemaster:Or patronized.

Gamemaster:I don't know what the actual term there is.

Gamemaster:Basically, the name comes up as an artist under the employ specifically of the Vane family.

Anzu:Right.

Gamemaster:But not much else there.

Arctos:It's rare in that sense, but probably not that famous of an artist yet.

Anzu:OK, so oh, yeah, go ahead.

Gamemaster:I was going to say, we are at 11.

Gamemaster:If you guys are planning on having a few other questions, like researching, it might make sense to just pick this up next time.

Anzu:Yeah, that sounds good.

Benny:When I rolled a 7 on that first d8, I was like, and then I rolled a 5, and I was like, we're good.

Johnny:Cool.

Gamemaster:Right?

Gamemaster:Excuse me.

Gamemaster:Good job.

Gamemaster:You did some games.

Anzu:So many clues.

Gamemaster:You got a bunch of clues.

Benny:Almost anything I roll on this 4 is going to be fine.

Benny:And then I rolled a 2, and I was like, the only die I can improve

Benny:The most or the one that I can improve the most is the four.

Benny:And I was like, probably didn't need the back.

Benny:Actually, I guess I didn't.

Benny:He rolled a 13.

Gamemaster:But it would have been closer otherwise.

Johnny:Does he do a backflip?

Arctos:Back to Lynn.

Gamemaster:It was good.

Gamemaster:It was a good backflip.

Gamemaster:What is it?

Gamemaster:Demi... What's his name?

Gamemaster:There's a comedian whose most recent stand-up special is Demi Does One Backflip.

Anzu:Oh, yes.

Gamemaster:Which I thought that was a reference to.

Gamemaster:I can't remember his last name.

Anzu:I know Demi, yeah.

Anzu:It's... Yeah.

Gamemaster:I'm just going to Google it.

Anzu:I'm not going to try to remember it.

Benny:Why did he give us the key?

Johnny:Did he do a back flip on it?

Benny:I know.

Gamemaster:Demi does one backflip in it, yeah.

Johnny:Wow.

Anzu:Demi makes appearances on Dropout.

Anzu:which is how I am aware of him.

Johnny:That's ridiculous.

Gamemaster:We gave you the key, Mike, because it was important.

Anzu:It's a key for something important.

Benny:Sure, Josh.

Anzu:So we'll see if... Yes.

Gamemaster:And I do want to clarify, when I say he, I was talking about the Harlequin.

Gamemaster:It is, you know.

Gamemaster:Because it occurred to me after I answered that that you might have been saying, why did Aut give us the key?

Gamemaster:And you have not confirmed that Aut gave you the key.

Anzu:Oh, I don't think he did either.

Benny:I've confirmed it.

Gamemaster:So.

Benny:Really?

Benny:You think it was just random chance that everyone was having issues at that booth and we're the only ones that made it through?

Johnny:you

Benny:It was the last booth of the evening.

Anzu:I think it was a very complex puzzle that only the most domineering of minds could have sussed out.

Benny:And there definitely wasn't someone that solved it before, but something happened and they got angry and drew a gun on...

Benny:the game person because something unfair happened to them such of course no they they did something wrong it was

Anzu:They had acid burns, which means they did something wrong.

Johnny:It sounds like they were bad.

Anzu:Skill issue.

Anzu:Josh, I really love the 20 keystone scavenger hunt.

Johnny:That's very cool.

Gamemaster:Yeah, because I didn't know which ones you guys were going to ask about.

Anzu:And I respect the fact that you must have written down somewhere details on where all 20 of these keystones are.

Anzu:So I just think that that's very fun.

Gamemaster:That is... Have I told you guys about the quantum orc?

Johnny:The easiest one.

Benny:You could have railroaded us.

Benny:For like Keystone 12, you're like, oh, let me check Tywelwyn just flip through a bunch of pages and just go to the only one that you were going to tell us about.

Johnny:no what

Gamemaster:There was an article written, I want to say like a decade ago, about the quantum orc, about a school of DMing that is you can choose either the left path or the right path, but the orc will be there.

Gamemaster:And you only find out which path he is depending on which one the players choose.

Gamemaster:But I think that's so unfun.

Gamemaster:Because then what's the point of having the choice in the first place?

Gamemaster:It's lame.

Benny:It is unfun.

Arctos:I will say, part of me was wondering if one of our questions should have been, what are the names of the other people who've asked about 14?

Gamemaster:Either way.

Gamemaster:You could have.

Benny:Is there someone more likely?

Johnny:We'll run into them.

Johnny:As soon as we finished, I was like, oh, maybe we should have asked if there was a keystone that was right here in the little city.

Benny:Actually, yeah.

Benny:Is there someone more likely to get Keystone

Gamemaster:You knew that there was one in the city.

Benny:Well, at least one, I guess, because the guy had one.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Benny:But we could have asked who is most likely to get it before us, and they would have told us that we just find those people and camp out, just stalk them for like a month or two, and then kill them.

Johnny:Let them get it.

Arctos:I will say obviously I feel like this is going to be it's going to take a while for us to get this keystone if we get this one but it's going to be way worse holding on to it

Johnny:Yeah, this is going to be one of those things where we have it and now we got to spend the next like two arcs over six months being like...

Gamemaster:Okay.

Benny:We'll just hide it in the City Tripper.

Johnny:We'll be in the middle of the big boss fight with Embercall.

Johnny:We're fighting it.

Johnny:There's fire everywhere.

Johnny:All of a sudden, some random guy comes out of nowhere and is like, give me the key!

Arctos:Well...

Benny:Bro, they're going to cash in their money in the bank.

Benny:You guys ever watch wrestling?

Benny:There's a wrestling match where there's a ladder and there's a suitcase that's the money in the bank.

Benny:And when you take it, you can cash in a title shot at any time.

Benny:So they just wait until the champion is all beaten up and bloody.

Benny:And then you hear the music of the Money in the Bank.

Benny:And they just run out and easily beat the champion at the end of a very difficult match.

Johnny:That's going to be us.

Gamemaster:I mean, it is a legitimate strategy for you guys, if you for whatever reason don't get the keystones you're going for, to just wait out on the road to the pilgrimage and see if you can't nab it from someone else.

Johnny:It's kind of scary that like our competition for some of these is the entire Protectorate.

Arctos:yeah the um

Benny:I mean, if they wanted to be included, they should have sent someone to Iconoclasm.

Johnny:We're just the poncho boys.

Benny:It would have been nice.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Gamemaster:You know, you guys didn't get an invite as Iconoclasm, or you guys didn't get an invite, at least.

Johnny:We didn't.

Gamemaster:So, you know, there's some big players at the party that you bumped into.

Gamemaster:Who knows?

Arctos:We also... It did seem like Aut knew what the pilgrimage was, right?

Arctos:When we mentioned it to him, he said we should figure it out.

Arctos:Am I remembering that correctly?

Gamemaster:You never asked Oth about the... You learned about the pilgrimage after you had spoken to Oth.

Arctos:Oh, he was saying we should investigate Teller's Run with the... Yes.

Gamemaster:He said that if you wanted to figure out stuff about the Voidsong Teller's Run might be a good spot because the Embercall is like a weird Target or Walmart version of the Voidsong.

Johnny:Our two main threads right now are immediate thing that is the end of all life and the scavenger hunt.

Arctos:assume that means he doesn't know about the pilgrimage, but I'm not sure.

Arctos:Or he didn't.

Arctos:Maybe he did.

Arctos:The only reason I mention this is if we get it, I wonder if we should hide it with aught.

Johnny:What if he wants it?

Arctos:Or hide it in the black room.

Johnny:He takes our spot.

Arctos:Look, man.

Arctos:You want us there.

Arctos:We want to be there.

Arctos:You just hold on to this.

Arctos:That's the craziest idea.

Arctos:We should not do that.

Arctos:But it'd be so funny.

Johnny:We've got to find the safest.

Gamemaster:Yeah.

Johnny:I mean, we can just put it in the trunk of holding with all of our gasoline.

Johnny:We'll just drop it in the gasoline.

Johnny:If we can't figure it out, neither can they.

Gamemaster:And you just have to remember which of your 50 jerry cans has acid in there.

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:Alright, well.

Arctos:This was fun.

Gamemaster:It's removing.

Benny:Yes.

Gamemaster:We'll see you all Monday?

Anzu:Next Monday is my mother's birthday.

Gamemaster:Is there another day that works for everyone?

Anzu:So I have to figure out if we're doing something on her birthday or not, but it's definitely questionable to doubtful, I would say.

Johnny:I'll have a birthday.

Benny:So she'll.

Benny:So roll her up.

Johnny:The rest of the week worked for... I can do any day but Friday.

Gamemaster:Next week.

Anzu:I'm fairly certain that the rest of the week would be fine.

Benny:Wednesday.

Anzu:All right, well, let me see what's going on, and we could go from there.

Benny:I think I can do any day but Tuesday.

Arctos:I was going to say Tuesday is the one day that worked for me then.

Arctos:Maybe Thursday?

Arctos:I can see.

Johnny:Jorge, is next Tuesday your birthday?

Arctos:Oh.

Arctos:Yeah.

Arctos:I guess.

Arctos:It's the 10th.

Arctos:Yeah, yeah.

Arctos:Sounds good.

Arctos:Thanks, Noah.

Arctos:I forgot.

Arctos:I just knew it was coming up.

Johnny:Jorge, one time in college, one time in college, you were, I was like, when's your birthday?

Johnny:And you were like, but I really hate when people tell me have birthday.

Johnny:So I never tell anyone.

Johnny:And then I wrote it in my calendar so I could always remember when your birthday was.

Gamemaster:Still are.

Benny:Peace.

Arctos:Wow, I was grumpy in college.

Arctos:Yeah.

Johnny:Bye.

Anzu:I was going to say that.

Anzu:All right.

Anzu:I'll let you guys know.

Gamemaster:Alrighty.

Arctos:Adios.

Gamemaster:See ya.

Anzu:Peace.