Faith and Fury - Elysia Rising Ep15 Pt3 - Blades in the Dark Actual Play

[00:00:02] Speaker A: Previously on Alicia Rising. [00:00:06] Speaker B: Do you have the plans that I asked for you? The ones of bell tower prison and the areas beneath it. [00:00:13] Speaker A: These were drawn from before. All of this getting wrenched from the ground and hurled into oblivion could really do a number on the underground tunnels, you understand. As far as the hollow who are concerned, the birth of the hollow man is one that will forever change. Alicia. Magpie. You recognize Samuel, and he recognizes you. Oh, Amina, what have you done? It's the children of Arya. It's the children of Arya. [00:00:46] Speaker C: Oh, no. [00:00:47] Speaker A: Algaenon, you can see that in the tunnels that will mark your escape. There appears to be a vermin tide heading in your direction. [00:00:57] Speaker C: Oh, fantastic. [00:00:59] Speaker B: Frida, I was wondering if you had any further inroads with our arsonist friends. If you know where to find them, I might propose an olive branch. [00:01:07] Speaker A: The clerics kind of fan out. Lukraji looks at you and her eyes fall on you. Specifically. Algernon, get them. And you also hear a heavy, slow footstep. [00:01:20] Speaker C: Oh, geez. Not this guy. [00:01:23] Speaker A: As the figure stands to full height and looks to you, it slowly, kind of creakily lifts a finger to point at you. Frieda, I've been waiting for this for a long time. As it begins down the steps towards you, welcome to Elysia, the jewel of the north. [00:01:55] Speaker D: On our gilded streets, fortune and fame. [00:01:58] Speaker A: Can be found by anyone. [00:02:01] Speaker C: Hi, I'm Julia, and I'm playing magpie, an ace of our lurk. [00:02:06] Speaker E: Hi, I'm nate, and I'm playing cavernous, a dragon scent slide. [00:02:12] Speaker D: Hi, I'm meg. I'm playing Frieda, a wolfkin cutter. [00:02:17] Speaker B: Hi, I'm JC, and I'll be playing algon, an ace of our spider. [00:02:22] Speaker F: Hello, I'm Erol. I am playing atta, a goblin whisper. [00:02:27] Speaker A: And my name is Dm Dan. I will be the games master on this adventure. So come on in and marvel at our wonders. [00:02:36] Speaker D: Make sure you see the beautiful views we have to offer. And don't mind the ghosts. Friendly. Really. Grab yourselves a seat and make yourselves. [00:02:46] Speaker C: Welcome in the city of Elysia. [00:02:54] Speaker A: Uh, who wants to go next? [00:02:58] Speaker D: I really regret using all my good abilities on that stupid drawbridge. Now. God damn. [00:03:07] Speaker C: Uh oh. [00:03:08] Speaker E: Uh oh. [00:03:09] Speaker C: Uh oh. Has anyone got a special make mech suit? Not work ability. Atta. [00:03:18] Speaker F: No. No, I don't think I do. [00:03:21] Speaker C: That's okay, that's okay. It was a long shot, if you wish. [00:03:26] Speaker D: Where's the off switch? [00:03:29] Speaker C: Is there a power cell at the back? We can just flip. [00:03:32] Speaker D: I mean, an EMP bomb. [00:03:35] Speaker F: Sorry. I know Kevin wants to say something. But I. I mean, I could ask a ghost to try and turn it off from the inside. [00:03:42] Speaker C: That is exactly what you should do. Sorry, Catherine. Go ahead. [00:03:47] Speaker E: I was going to say I could possibly do something to distract Caleb while that happens. While you do that. Frida, would you have told us that Caleb is an iron nut? [00:04:01] Speaker D: Is a what? Sorry? [00:04:03] Speaker E: Is a nut for the mother dragon. Is like a. Yeah. [00:04:07] Speaker D: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I would. Yeah. [00:04:11] Speaker E: In that case, Kevin is going to try and spout some like massively like contradictory verses from some anti doctrine, some anti doctrine to just rile him up a bit. [00:04:26] Speaker C: Wow. [00:04:26] Speaker E: To just make him go a bit. Because obviously like the more important thing is of him attacking Frieda is probably that we're not bashing on his views of what Aya is all about. So I wanted to sort of recite some sort of verbs that maybe sort of like get him to go. Actually, no, just get them slightly wrong. Yeah. And just make him really angry about it. To distract him from hopefully then a. [00:04:54] Speaker C: Ghost getting less than are the cheese makers. [00:04:56] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm, I'm on board with this. I'm on board with this. Uh, I'm just gonna. I've just realized when you drop the drawbridge, that is one further segment on the escape clock. You're. You can absolutely attempt to have a faith off with. With who you. Well, to. I suppose you're just wondering who this. Who. What is this suit? What is this large pressurized suit walking towards us? [00:05:26] Speaker E: I mean, has Frida mentioned and gone like. Oh no. [00:05:29] Speaker D: In all fairness, I think you probably at the recognition of the Frida recognizing the voice, the colour would have just drained from her. And I think Frida very, very rarely lets herself appear here frightened to other people. And the only other time you've seen that sort of terror even come close to her face is when she has been talking about Caleb. So based on that I think you could quite easily make an assumption that that is who is in this thing. [00:06:10] Speaker A: Yes. Especially as this thing appears to know Frieda. [00:06:15] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:06:15] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:06:18] Speaker D: And most people really like me. [00:06:20] Speaker A: Yes. What I will also very quickly interject with is there's this hulking figure stomping its way down towards you. Seemingly its focus fixed on Frieda but Cavern. You also then notice that like one of the faces in the. In one of the tunnels overhead, like watching down, is a slightly deranged looking goblin woman. Have you. Have you been to the hollow? Have you met Umi've? [00:06:54] Speaker E: Met Umi. [00:06:54] Speaker A: Yeah, of course it's Umi. It's Umi. Um. And she's sort of like watching everything that's transpiring below with this, like this gleeful expression on her face. Like it's the most exciting thing. But you notice that next to her is a badly beaten wroth who's seemingly being held by two more of the Hollow. [00:07:17] Speaker E: Oh, my boy. [00:07:18] Speaker A: She's just watching. Yeah, watching wildly and roast. Like he can only just about peer out of one eye because the other one's swollen shut and he just like he's hanging, holding like he's hanging limp in the grips of the. Of the other two kind of mad scientists. Yeah, she. It's almost as if Umi is watching what this suit is doing as like a test experiment. [00:07:46] Speaker F: Is it Gorban time? [00:07:48] Speaker C: It's Gorban time. [00:07:49] Speaker E: It's corporate time. [00:07:52] Speaker C: Does anyone know what that means? [00:07:55] Speaker A: Are you doing the dance off? Sorry? Dance off. Are you doing the faith off first to distract Caleb before you go ball over him. [00:08:04] Speaker E: Yeah, let's try and distract you. [00:08:08] Speaker C: Really early this morning on the WhatsApp, we had a message from Errol saying it's gawbing time. That's my pitch for the episode. [00:08:20] Speaker D: Right? [00:08:21] Speaker C: Yeah. G h o r b. Yeah. [00:08:24] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:08:27] Speaker A: Cavern first step of Operation Gorb. How are you? What ability are you using to attempt to out recite? So are you like slight. Deliberately, slightly getting it wrong in the. [00:08:44] Speaker E: I'm sort of just like. Yeah, I am just trying to get it wrong and just make him really angry. Can I use a sway for that? [00:08:54] Speaker A: Sure. Yeah, I guess you're attempting to manipulate his emotions. [00:09:01] Speaker E: I would also like to push myself as well. [00:09:04] Speaker C: We're all gonna get trauma. [00:09:08] Speaker E: Finale. We might as well. [00:09:09] Speaker A: Okay, so the. The hollow are a tier two. The same as you'd lot now. Oh, so we're gonna start you on a risky standard, surprisingly. [00:09:25] Speaker D: Oh, I'm not saying it's all your fault for helping them, but I'm highly implying. I'm heavily implying. There's all your both are helping them. [00:09:34] Speaker A: Freed us in the background. Look at the consequences of your actions. [00:09:42] Speaker E: I'm wondering there are nothing to change it to a desperate. [00:09:50] Speaker C: What's the worst that could happen? [00:09:52] Speaker E: Besides from me getting xp. [00:09:54] Speaker C: Exactly. [00:09:56] Speaker D: Turned out fine. [00:09:58] Speaker A: Desperate extra. [00:09:59] Speaker C: I've done a desperate and it turned out really well. [00:10:02] Speaker E: Oh, I'm desperate. Extra desperate. Greater one extra dice. Three sway. So should be four dice. Desperate. Great. [00:10:16] Speaker A: What could go wrong? [00:10:18] Speaker E: Oh no. [00:10:25] Speaker D: That five just saved your butt. [00:10:28] Speaker A: Okay, 1235, squeeze out a five so you begin to like. What's the theme of the. Have you got, like, a particular kind of psalm, hymn like, passage that you're shouting out? [00:10:48] Speaker E: Yeah, I think Katherine's talking about how the greatest, like, the greatest believers of Arya will inherit her light and her magic. But I'm just slightly getting it wrong, or I'm not just quite finishing it. I'm just like, what. What was that last bit? Light energy. [00:11:12] Speaker C: Vibes. [00:11:13] Speaker E: Vibes. [00:11:16] Speaker A: I might interject and kind of aid you here, because if that's your angle, you know, saying that, like, you know, her true believers will inherit her grace and so on and so forth, but then you're pivoting to be like, but this. Yeah, like this. Okay. [00:11:31] Speaker E: But she was specifically against this. Like, he really doesn't like this. I should know I'm a dragon. I should know. [00:11:38] Speaker A: She doesn't like. [00:11:38] Speaker D: It's almost like fighting the Old Testament of the Bible with the New Testament, you know? Because, like, if the Old Testament was all fire and brimstone, the New Testament is very much about, you know, love and acceptance. You're fighting that fire and brimstone with that love and acceptance. [00:11:57] Speaker A: Well, as you presumably, almost, like, borderline, like, subtly mocking him for his life choices. They're like, the figure stops and sort of, like, the head turns to look to you, and there's a grinding of metal on metal as it turns this large, kind of, like, globe of a head to face you and then amplify. Um, you hear Imbello. Through our actions, I have ascended your flesh and become spirit. I am closer to ire than you will ever be. And as he says that, uh, you are gonna do it, but he lifts a hand. [00:12:51] Speaker C: Up. [00:12:52] Speaker A: In the palm of the hand, you see what appears to be an iris open up to reveal a bluish glow. [00:13:01] Speaker C: No. [00:13:02] Speaker A: And his fingers tense, and then a beam, like a bolt of blue, like atta. You recognize it to be some sort of, like, spiritual arcane ghost energy courses from a pack on his back through, like, uh, transparent tubes into his arm, into his palm. And then he'll fire, um, a blast at you, cavern for severe harm. [00:13:28] Speaker C: No. Oh, boy. That was with a five. [00:13:33] Speaker E: What does severe harm mean? [00:13:35] Speaker A: It's gonna be level three. [00:13:39] Speaker C: What? And I resist? No, you can't resist. You'll be traumatized. [00:13:46] Speaker A: And I resist unless you can. I would also throw it out as a reminder that people can step in to protect their teammates. [00:13:59] Speaker D: Okay. [00:14:00] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:14:01] Speaker D: Freedom is gonna invoke her bodyguard ability, and I'm gonna resist that for you. So I'm gonna sort of see what he's about to do. And sort of push that arm up and away is specifically how I want to do it. [00:14:21] Speaker A: Okay. So also, you're rushing the hollow man and knocking the hand up. [00:14:26] Speaker D: Yeah. So I've got an ability called bodyguard. When you protect a teammate, take one d to your resistance role. [00:14:33] Speaker A: Okay, I'm going to call this, uh, it's effectively. It's a kinetic blast. It's effectively an elysian iron man part, like hand blast. We'll call it prowess. [00:14:53] Speaker D: Okay. [00:14:53] Speaker A: Because you've got to tough this out. [00:14:55] Speaker C: Oh, boy. [00:14:57] Speaker D: Ows. And then it's plus 1d. [00:15:03] Speaker A: You know what? Cavern rolled a sway. Resolve is kind of. Of the spiritualness of magic. I'm gonna call it a resolve. [00:15:12] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:15:13] Speaker A: A resolve. Resist. [00:15:15] Speaker D: Okay. Resolve. Resist. Plus one dice. [00:15:18] Speaker A: Mm hmm. Which I believe takes you up to a five dice. Resist. [00:15:26] Speaker C: Okay. [00:15:27] Speaker D: Okay. There's a success in there. [00:15:30] Speaker A: This good one. Stress. And I believe that means. So you take the effects. So you take one stress. And Frida, as you rush in, you sort of, like, grab this hand, and it's heavier than you expect it to be. Like this. This figure is dense. Like, it's. You don't know what it's made of. Some sort of really heavy metal. But as you go to, like, lift the hand out of the way, it blasts you and sears across your side and your shoulder, leaving you sort of, like, partially burn as the beam courses just past your head on a resistance will reduce that to a level two harm. [00:16:17] Speaker D: Can I expend my armor to make that level one? [00:16:20] Speaker A: You can, yeah. [00:16:23] Speaker D: Gonna do that. No more armor for Frieda. [00:16:27] Speaker A: Okay, so we'll put that as light burns as this soul, and, like, you hear, as it rips past your head, you hear the kind of noises it tears past you, but intermingled with it, there's also sounds of sort of, like, screaming whales. Like the. As in w a I ld I. And you. Well, have to be fair, it's not that. Not that far off, but, yeah, it. Like, in this moment, it just. There's something in your mind that pings that. This seems upsettingly close to the sort of sounds you'd hear from the spirits that haunt the outside of Alicia. [00:17:18] Speaker F: Okay. [00:17:20] Speaker A: And. Yeah, you. So you knock the hollow man's hand backwards. The beam, like, carves through the stonework, like, up the side of the storm drain. And then as they kind of pulls its arm away from you, it turns to regard you. It's slow and cumbersome, but you are now toe to toe with the hollow man. And you hear a shout. Yes, yes. Uh, who wants to go next? [00:17:53] Speaker D: I've got a thing I want to do, but I know Atta had a. Had a thing, a ghost thing. [00:17:58] Speaker F: Well, maybe this. Maybe this can help you sort of get an edge on the fight with Holo Caleb. But, like, I think Atta's gonna try and use. Yeah, try. Gonna try and use compel. It's mostly likely there's a ghost around recently, possibly from Faith rat encounter. [00:18:21] Speaker A: Well, Atta, you realize watching this beam that's just arced past Frieda and nearly, like, blown her to bonet half her head away, this thing, this creature, this. This construct appears. It's almost as if it's powered by spirits. [00:18:42] Speaker F: Dear, I want that suit. I want to be. Wants to be Iron Man. I could be. I can do good with it. I'll do good with it. I won't be corrupted by it. Also, JC, looks like they might maybe want to say something. [00:18:59] Speaker B: I was thinking if it's powered by spirits, perhaps there might be some effect of putting a very decent, kind hearted spirit of leadership into the suit. [00:19:13] Speaker F: That's good, because I was. I was just gonna do an overload of it, but Tavarean would like a body. I love the idea of Tavarean being in a big. [00:19:25] Speaker C: What are you gonna do with Caleb, though? Caleb won't go along with that. [00:19:30] Speaker D: This might actually go along with. With my second part of the plan. So what, like, I'd quite like to do is. Oh, gosh, I feel like it ruins the reveal a little bit. [00:19:44] Speaker F: We can wait. [00:19:45] Speaker D: We can wait because I've got an idea. I've got an idea, but do your plan. And I think. I think what I'll do next will help if it works. It might not work. [00:19:54] Speaker F: Yeah, I really like the idea of Tabarian getting in a mechs, so I like it more than exploding it. So I want to try and compel, like, as Kavron's, like, talking about the Church of Ireland, like, tavareans in this little ghost or papoose as well, and it's like a dire situation. Yeah, I'm going to use compel on Tavarians ghost and just go, you know, get Caleb out of there, try and, like, try and eject him so that Frieda can survive. I'm absolutely gonna push myself. I'm taking trauma for this. Absolutely, yes. It's worth Tavarian in a mech is worth taking trauma. [00:20:45] Speaker E: I was gonna say, errol, I can use my emergent divinity because I don't have to do the role and it just works. We take two heat. But if we want to have. If you want to have Tavare and mech, then I can make that work. [00:20:58] Speaker F: Let's do it that way, I think. [00:21:00] Speaker C: Save your trauma for later. [00:21:01] Speaker F: Let's make it work. [00:21:02] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:21:03] Speaker F: Okay. I'll take. I'll get traumatized later, right? [00:21:06] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:21:07] Speaker C: There will be plenty of opportunities to get traumatized. [00:21:09] Speaker E: I was holding. I was holding onto it. But Tavare and mech is. Is the needed thing, right? [00:21:15] Speaker F: I think it's essential. [00:21:17] Speaker A: Okay. Uh, sure. No, this is. Okay. So, uh, is. So Karen would need to do, like, an attune to fundamentally uncork Tavareen and send her on her way. [00:21:36] Speaker F: Do you want me to, like. Do you help with, like, compelled stuff? Like, how do you. Do you want me to take some stress for. [00:21:44] Speaker E: I mean, I don't need to roll for it, so it just automatically works. [00:21:49] Speaker D: So I just had a thought. Like, those. If those ghosts can't get out of the mech suit, then I would have thought they can't get in at the moment. But I might be able to help with that if I do my thing first. Or has Dan got a deus? [00:22:12] Speaker A: No, no, you're right. You're right. Between Frieda and potentially, what? Algernon, if Magpie wants to jump in on. Yeah. You will have to create some sort of entry point for. For Tavareen, because it seems like. So, Frieda, in this moment, as you kind of peer up into the faceplate, like, the glowing faceplate of this. This figure you're expecting to see, like, Caleb's kind of distorted face, like, through the glass, but you realize you're just looking into an empty helmet. There's this blue kind of energy flowing around in the headspace, but there's no head, right? [00:23:04] Speaker D: That's okay. Cause Frieda wants to do two things. First off, she wants to fight crazy with crazy, and she's gonna neck a rage essence vial. [00:23:15] Speaker A: Come on. Okay, okay, okay. [00:23:20] Speaker D: Secondly, Frida wants to get her bloodletting blade. She wants to use her final ability, which is ghost fighter. She wants to imbue that melee weapon with spirit energy. So I gained potency in combat with the supernatural, and I'm gonna jam that bastard right in his big, glowing eye. [00:23:41] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. Sure. This sounds like a skirmishen. [00:23:50] Speaker D: Does it? [00:23:52] Speaker A: This sounds like a skirmish. So, rage essence. A single dose increases your strength, right? So I was going to start this as a risky lesser. Given his fortitude, your. Your ghost fighter gives you potency, so that increases you up one effect level to risky standard. The rage essence increases your strength and resistance to pain. So we're gonna bump you up to greater. [00:24:23] Speaker D: And also, the bloodletting blade empowers the wielder as they take damage, of which I now have two level ones. [00:24:30] Speaker A: So. Well, so you have level one harm on you. So any attacks you make with it gain one extra dice for free. [00:24:38] Speaker D: Okay, so what does that bring it to? Total. [00:24:41] Speaker A: So if you're using skirmish baseline, that is a three dice risky, greater. You can switch to desperate if you want to for the XP. And, yeah, you can push yourself. [00:25:00] Speaker D: But I get an extra dice if I push myself, don't I? [00:25:02] Speaker A: Mm hmm. So it'll be a three dice, a four dice, even. [00:25:08] Speaker D: Okay, so. So what? Plus four. [00:25:10] Speaker A: No, no, four total. So plus two. [00:25:12] Speaker D: Four total. Plus. Wait. Plus two. Okay. Grand. Okay. Yeah. Bugger it. Why not? Let's push ourselves. Yay. So let's do. Let's do desperate, greater plus two. [00:25:27] Speaker A: Just. Just on the off chance, does Algernon want to do a help somehow for a stress, maybe little, just throw a rocket in or something? [00:25:40] Speaker D: If Algernon can, like, jump on his back and, like, almost angle his head, like, forward into the blade or put some force behind it, I don't know. Or Algernon might have a better idea than that. That's pretty dumb. [00:25:57] Speaker B: Once this is over, okay. [00:26:00] Speaker A: We'll come straight to algae and after. Right. So two extra dice. [00:26:05] Speaker D: Yep. [00:26:06] Speaker A: Risky grater. You can switch it to a desperate grater. You're gonna go for desperate grater for that sweet, sweet XP? Sure. Okay. Roll those dice. [00:26:16] Speaker D: Oh, no. This is. This is gonna be the bad roll, isn't it? Oh, okay. [00:26:21] Speaker C: It's okay. It's all right. Oh, no. It is a bad roll. [00:26:28] Speaker D: That's a really bad roll. [00:26:30] Speaker C: Oh, no. [00:26:31] Speaker D: I'm gonna get another trauma, aren't I? [00:26:33] Speaker F: Can you resist it? [00:26:35] Speaker C: Don't necessarily take level three harm. [00:26:38] Speaker D: Can I resist it? [00:26:40] Speaker C: Well, you can. [00:26:41] Speaker A: You'd have to roll a six. Whatever it would be, right? Okay. [00:26:46] Speaker C: What is. What is the effect? [00:26:50] Speaker D: Damn it. [00:26:52] Speaker A: Okay. [00:26:53] Speaker C: I put all the things into that severe harm. It could be a serious complication or a lost opportunity. [00:26:58] Speaker A: Frida. You pull like you drop, you know, down this radessence, and you feel like the red haze begin to rise from seemingly, from your gut to your throat to your head to your brain. And, like, the world seemingly tinges red. As the effects of this potion, uh, overcome you, and as you, like, perhaps feeding into your reckless trauma, as you kind of cast aside any notions of defense, you draw this bloodletter blade and as you thrust at the. The faceplate of the hollow man, um, you don't see the arm come up with surprising speeds to grab your wrist, like, just as the point floats in front of its faceplate. And then it, like, it, tightens its grip and twists your arm in such a way that as you scream, your hand, your fingers involuntarily unfurl. And the five of you watch as the bloodletting blade slips from your grasp and tumbles down the storm drain, disappears into the horde of rats. So you can resist, and then I will say that the blades falls from your hands, but it doesn't disappear into the. The death pit. [00:28:47] Speaker C: Is there any way one of us can resist? As in dive for the blade? [00:28:52] Speaker A: Yeah, you can step in to help an ally. [00:28:55] Speaker C: Hmm. What does that. Remind me what that involves? [00:28:59] Speaker A: So you take the effects of it, and you would, like, make this the resistance roll. [00:29:08] Speaker C: Hmm. [00:29:10] Speaker A: Which is a prowess roll. [00:29:13] Speaker C: Okay. I mean, I could try that. [00:29:17] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:29:19] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm. Yeah, I think I would visualize it as Magpie going in to grab the blade before it clatters out, out of sight. Yeah. [00:29:30] Speaker A: Okay. In which case, yeah, if you want to. So, as this blade, like, tumbles out of this, like, screaming Frieda's hand, you can absolutely, like, sort of pluck dive for it. You'd have to kind of come off the stairwell slightly to grab the. [00:29:51] Speaker C: I'm very graceful. [00:29:52] Speaker A: Sure, sure. [00:29:53] Speaker C: I'm gonna try. [00:29:54] Speaker A: Okay, roll me. [00:29:56] Speaker C: What do I click? [00:29:57] Speaker A: So just the prowess button. [00:29:58] Speaker C: That's fine. Okay, so two stress for. [00:30:03] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay. [00:30:06] Speaker D: Thank you, Magpie. [00:30:07] Speaker A: So, freedom. You're kind of oblivious to it, but the. The other three of you watch as Magpie, like, seeing what's happened. She darts between you, scales up the steps behind Frieda, and then Frolicson's purposes. Frida magpies, you kind of leap off, and you grab the inside of Frida's leg as something to hold on to. You manage to swing and snatch this kind of rune sword as it plummets through the air, and then you're able to pull yourself back onto the ledge behind Frieda. Now armed with the bloodletting blade yourself. [00:30:44] Speaker C: Oh, nice. [00:30:45] Speaker D: So I'm still under the effects of rage essence. [00:30:48] Speaker A: Correct. [00:30:49] Speaker D: Which I'll say for a few minutes, I will be. And that, like, basically, I have resistance to pain. [00:30:55] Speaker A: Yes. [00:30:56] Speaker D: So would I be able to pull a bit of, like, a hero of an over the top anime move and just almost, like, ignoring what's happened or even actually using the sort of. The fact that he's got my wrist as leverage to pull myself closer to him. And with my other knuckle dusted fist, just starts slamming into that faceplate again and attempt to wreck it. [00:31:30] Speaker A: Yes. [00:31:31] Speaker D: Would that be too much? [00:31:33] Speaker A: No, you can start wailing on him. I mean, you've got a fist and a forehead, so it's pretty. [00:31:40] Speaker D: It's pretty reckless. [00:31:42] Speaker C: Yeah, it is reckless. [00:31:43] Speaker A: Yeah, a little bit. Okay, so we'll start you back again on because of the Ray drescence. Okay, so it's now just a ray Jessants and your ghost fighter. So that gives you potency. So we'll start you again on risky grater. [00:32:01] Speaker D: Risky grater. I think I will keep that because I don't really have much else to give. [00:32:09] Speaker B: I thought of a way I can assist via foresight. [00:32:12] Speaker A: Yes. [00:32:16] Speaker B: So we flashback to the conversation that Algi had with Frida just after she had almost killed that guard captain on the bridge and Algi stopped her. Restrain yourself for now. But when time comes to kill the person who really deserves it, then that's when you can fully let yourself go. Isn't that right, Frida? Something about that conversation seeps through the reg essence into Frida's brain as she pulls her fist back. [00:32:49] Speaker C: Nice. Nice, nice, nice. [00:32:50] Speaker A: Yes, and absolutely. In this moment, whilst like you, Frieda, as you rage tunnel visions, you. You're able to direct all of this, like alchemically induced anger into a single target. And even though you know there's a voice in the back of your head that says this, this suit is empty. It does not contain the physical form of Caleb. You don't know whether it's real or a figment of your imagination. But details of his face begin to emerge behind the faceplate of the hollow Mandan. [00:33:31] Speaker C: Oh no. [00:33:33] Speaker A: A focus of your anger. So what? That's one extra dice from Algernon? Yeah. Your rage essence and your ghost will take you back up to the effect. So presumably it'll be one extra dice. Risky or desperate? Risky. Greater wreck. [00:33:57] Speaker D: Let's keep it at risky this time because I'm so close to trauma again. [00:34:02] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:34:03] Speaker D: Okay. Okay. Right. Just do it. Let's get over and done with. [00:34:06] Speaker C: No success. Came out as a four. Thank God for that. [00:34:12] Speaker D: Okay, I want to sort of flavor this with like Frida is just thinking about all those times when she was a kid and she was left starving. All of those times that she was hit for getting her scripture wrong. All those times that, like, she had to look into his horrendous, smug face while like, you know, she toiled away for in abject poverty for this man. [00:34:45] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. As you. As all of those thoughts flick through your head, like, your wrist in. In his grip. Yeah, you absolutely use. You push back on one of the steps with your heels to get as much kind of spring in it. And then you use the momentum to bring your left fist forward. And as the knuckles, the knuckle dusters, connect with the glass pane, you hear, like, a crack, and I. Your hands kind of moves, slides off ever so slightly, but a enormous kind of crack appears across the faceplate. Great effect. So that is three segments of the clock. But as you crack the faceplate of the hollow man, the momentum rocks you forward and him back. And as he takes the steps backwards, its left hand kind of swings out to balance itself. And, Frieda, you're kind of carried with it until the point where you're teetering like your tiptoes are on the side of the stairs. You're effectively only being held by the hollow man as you flail for a moment. We're going to move that to a desperate position as you're currently being. Yeah. Held. Held by the wrist by Caleb over a 60 foot drop into a sea of swarming rats. [00:36:10] Speaker D: Ideal. But you'd now have your entrance into that suit. [00:36:14] Speaker A: Yes. [00:36:15] Speaker D: By a crack. By a hairline crack, but it's there. [00:36:19] Speaker C: Oh, gosh. Would any pips have appeared on the battle for the hollow man clock? Oh, my God. What is it gonna take? [00:36:29] Speaker A: Battle for the hollow man is the post tavarening? [00:36:32] Speaker C: I see the Gorban. [00:36:35] Speaker A: Who's. Yes, uh, well, now that there is a crack. Uh, Algon, is this. What is. Is now the time for the Gorban? Is it Gorbin time? [00:36:43] Speaker C: Gorban time. [00:36:45] Speaker B: Algernon looks at the camera and says his catchphrase. It's Gorban. [00:36:49] Speaker C: Simon. [00:36:52] Speaker F: Makes it all fall. [00:36:55] Speaker A: Um, is. Is this now it is this when Kevin is cavern now asking Tavareen to invade? [00:37:04] Speaker E: Yes. [00:37:04] Speaker A: Okay, so you like what. What is it you say to her as you invoke your emergency? [00:37:13] Speaker E: He's gonna recite. The way that this sort of papoose is kind of working is that he recites some sort of draconic, like how he got her out of the original orb, that he recites some sort of draconic scripture to sort of arise the ghost. And probably again, from Meladani, because he. Well, that worked the first time. Let's give it another go. I guess he's gonna recite a scripture of calming after. Sort of like a raucous sort of event. Calming down the souls like a sort of chill out. Like, let's all get this chilled out. And he's gonna recite that Indrakonic to get a sort of tavarian out of her orb, and then just politely ask her, like, do you think you can handle this? [00:38:03] Speaker A: There's, like, the world seemingly slows as you kind of have this con. As you kind of think this conversation, as you have this conversation, like, almost internally with yourself and this. This awe. And as you. You kind of watch as the. The form of, or a form Tavareen almost seemingly emerges from, like, her confinement. And, you know, she's taking steps, but she's, you know, stood on nothing. But she kind of glances at you for a moment and then casts her eyes over the group of sanguvar prisoners that are kind of tailing behind you. And then she turns, she glances down to the screaming, like the bloody murder, screaming children of Ayah that are still tearing up the stairs behind you. She then turns to regard the hollow and Frieda battling with the hollow man. And she looks to you, and her face is one of abject sadness. And then she closes her eyes. She grips her fist to her breastbone. And then when she opens her eyes and looks at you, there is a fierce determination, termination. And is this as you explode with your emergent divinity? [00:39:39] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:39:40] Speaker A: Okay. Carried by your sort, by this wave of divine energy that bursts out of you, she is carried along like a ship in a storm and hurt. You watch her hurtle towards the hollow man and cavern as you like. The world is still going in slow motion. And you see, um, that the hollow man has realized that it's the only thing holding Frieda in place. And you watch as the fingers unfurl. And you watch as Frieda's hand becomes free and she begins rocking backwards and falling. Tavarian slams into the hollow man. And you watch her seemingly kind of filter in through the cracks, the faceplate, and there's a burst of light within the headspace. And then in the blink of an eye, the arm reaches back out and grabs Frieda a second time around the wrist to hold her in place. And you can see that the suit is moving a bit more erratically, like one of the other hand comes up and starts, like, scrabbling at its face as if something happening on the inside. But it would appear that Tavarian is now fighting for control of the suit. [00:40:57] Speaker C: Yay. [00:40:59] Speaker F: Can I then compel Caleb out? [00:41:03] Speaker C: Yes, I try. [00:41:10] Speaker A: Yes. [00:41:10] Speaker F: Okay. I can at the very least try. [00:41:13] Speaker A: So it's. [00:41:16] Speaker F: Okay. [00:41:18] Speaker C: The power of atta compels you. [00:41:20] Speaker F: Well, I only get. I only get two dice for a tune because I'm still soul drained. [00:41:26] Speaker E: Would you like help? [00:41:31] Speaker A: I just have. [00:41:35] Speaker F: We're all looking rough. You've. You helped. You helped plenty. I will absolutely push myself for that. Well. [00:41:42] Speaker A: Well, you know what? [00:41:43] Speaker F: Stop me some. [00:41:44] Speaker A: Someone will help you. Oh, Tavare. [00:41:48] Speaker C: No. [00:41:51] Speaker A: Tavareen will take a stress. [00:41:55] Speaker F: Okay, you get. [00:41:57] Speaker D: How. How does a ghost get stressed? Like, you can't be more stressed than dead, surely. [00:42:03] Speaker A: Well, you know, so just. Just to bear in mind, the moment anyone hits full stress, they fundamentally bamf out of the mission, you're gone. [00:42:15] Speaker C: Out of the mission, you're just, like, slung over someone's shoulder and carried out. [00:42:18] Speaker A: Of that, you just drop down catatonic. [00:42:23] Speaker D: Just FYI. One pip away from. [00:42:26] Speaker A: Yes. I'm more happy to give you a free dice for Tavareen, who's currently battling against Caleb within the suit. [00:42:36] Speaker F: Okay, is it a risky standard or is it. You said the position changed, right? [00:42:41] Speaker A: Yeah. So this is. Yeah, I'm gonna say. Well, it's desperate for, like, the fact that Frida's teetering over the edge, so. Acting. Okay, you know what? Yeah. Let's. Free XP program. We're gonna start you on a desperate standard because Caleb is but one. [00:43:00] Speaker F: Okay, I'm gonna. You. Yeah, I'm still gonna use Tabarian's help for just an extra dice because I'm still. I'm feeling. [00:43:09] Speaker A: Okay, so a three dice desperate standard. [00:43:13] Speaker F: Let's go. [00:43:14] Speaker B: That's wrong. [00:43:16] Speaker F: Why did it do that many? [00:43:18] Speaker C: Oh, I don't know. [00:43:20] Speaker A: We can drop off the last. The fourth result, which was a five. So five. Five two. Like, you reach out to Caleb spirit in an attempt to sort of wrench him from the suit. Meanwhile, Tavareen is. Is kind of pushing from her end. I'm gonna classify this as the reduced effect. So that's two pips on the battle. Battle for the Hollow man, the suit, the pit, like, because you're. You're desperately trying to not let Caleb gain control. Because currently tavareans the only thing holding, you know, saving Frieda from a very messy end. Um, who. What's Magpie doing? Magpies not doing. [00:44:03] Speaker C: I think, uh, magpie is now. She's got her bloodletting blade. Is probably standing at the top of the stairs, daring any children of ire to come any closer. At this point, she's, like, places between the Sangreva and the children of Aya who are coming up the stairs. [00:44:21] Speaker A: Okay, I would argue then, given the size of your group, I suspect that with a very kind of acrobatic flair, you could effectively kind of skip down one rotation of the steps to them. [00:44:32] Speaker C: Besides, that's probably what I do. And I think I'm going to call to Samuel because I know he's got some skills. [00:44:37] Speaker A: Okay? [00:44:38] Speaker C: So I'm going to sort of indicate to him that I want. I need his help. [00:44:43] Speaker A: Which case, as you kind of swing down to be behind the sangrevar, as you call out, like, Samuel looks up to you, nods, and, like, he pushes his way through the crowds to join you. And as you pick yourself up and sort of, like, put yourself in a defensive position, and you are face to face with high priestess lucrative at the head of her five other clerics. [00:45:10] Speaker C: Let's go. [00:45:11] Speaker A: She looks to you and looks to Samuel and then looks back to you with this, her face contorted in anger and step aside, girl, and allow Aya to give you her forgiveness. [00:45:26] Speaker C: You, Aya, and all the rest of you bastards can come through me. [00:45:31] Speaker A: She bares her teeth at you in an animalistic state. Gnarl. And she sort of, like, grits her staff with two sides. And the glow from the edifice at the top of it begins to glow even brighter as she wields it like a mace. [00:45:45] Speaker C: I am going to attempt to knock it out of her hands and down the stairs with with the blade that I'm holding using my finesse. [00:45:55] Speaker A: Okay? Okay. We will. Okay, so. Finesse. Lucrative. Soft. The head of the children of Ayah is tier four. [00:46:06] Speaker C: Whoops. [00:46:09] Speaker A: So we're gonna start what? We're gonna start no effect on a risky. No effect. [00:46:19] Speaker C: What am I supposed to do now? Dan, Dan, can I have a devil's bargain, please? Because I can't push myself without getting trolled. [00:46:29] Speaker A: I think. [00:46:32] Speaker C: Okay, sure. [00:46:35] Speaker A: Because that's why he's there. [00:46:36] Speaker C: Sure. [00:46:37] Speaker A: But that will mean he's also implicit in any outcomes. [00:46:43] Speaker C: Sure. So does that mean we can convert that die into limited effect? [00:46:49] Speaker A: Correct. So you're at risky limited. You can switch to desperate standard for free. [00:46:55] Speaker C: Yes, please. So desperate standard two dice roll. [00:46:59] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:47:01] Speaker C: Can I have a devil's bargain, please? [00:47:02] Speaker A: Dan, no matter what happens, the rats unexpectedly surge. [00:47:13] Speaker C: Oh. [00:47:15] Speaker D: Oh, boy. [00:47:16] Speaker E: Oh, Boyden. [00:47:20] Speaker C: How quickly can you guys resolve this? Hollow man, because rats be surgeon right now, and we need to get out of here. [00:47:29] Speaker F: We're trying. [00:47:30] Speaker C: I know, I know. I just. I want. I can taking the bargain. I'm so sorry, everybody. So plus one, die. Yeah, desperate standard. Roll it. [00:47:41] Speaker D: Nice. [00:47:42] Speaker C: It's a six. [00:47:45] Speaker A: In which case, this seasoned, like veteran of the war strides forward, and with a. She swings her staff at you. [00:47:58] Speaker C: Does Samuel just come in with a little, like, punch to the nose? And I take the moment to knock the thing out of her hand. [00:48:07] Speaker A: The two of you duck and this staff over your head and bounces off the side of the wall. The force of it kind of knocks her slightly to the side. Samuel goes low and sort of, like, jabs at her knee, and then you're able to kind of get your rapier around her hands, and with a twist, the staff, like, the recoil of the staff coming back, it slips from her hand, spirals down into the pit. [00:48:36] Speaker C: That's what we like. [00:48:37] Speaker A: And lucrative watches in panic as her magical staff disappears. And you watch as this staff, like, flies down and, like, it just is absorbed into this massive rats, which seems to be growing like a. It's almost like the storm drain is flooding with these rats. As they begin, more and more are just forcing themselves in. They're climbing on top of one another, screaming and screeching and scrabbling as they begin. Like, some of them are coming up the stairs. You see the last cleric at the back of the group, so, like, trying to fend them off and stamp on them, but you watch as they sort of, like, start scrabbling up her leg, and she slips and disappears into the pool of rats. Lucrative is now disarmed. And as you watch this iron fall into the rats and just you dare consider what's happening to them, the most curious thing happens. I think Algernon would also kind of pick up on this through your kind of 360 observation skills, is that for the faintest of moments, the swarm of rats almost seemed to form a shape of some sort. Like a face. [00:50:04] Speaker D: Oh, no. [00:50:05] Speaker A: A screaming humanoid face. [00:50:08] Speaker F: What? [00:50:13] Speaker A: An algonon in your head. You heard, feast, my children, feast. As the rats, like, the shape of this face, which is only there for a few seconds, just kind of collapses in on itself, and then they direct, and a wedge of vermin begins pouring up the staircase after the irons. [00:50:44] Speaker C: Sorry, since when has there been a rat? Mother goddess or something? Like, what is happening? [00:50:51] Speaker F: I'm into it. [00:50:53] Speaker C: You would be. [00:50:56] Speaker A: Who would like to step up to the plate? You know what, Algernon, you've. You've seen this. What's Algernon doing before? [00:51:03] Speaker D: Sorry, JC, just quickly, like, question to the group, who's got a free loadout slot? [00:51:12] Speaker E: I do. [00:51:12] Speaker D: Okay. [00:51:13] Speaker C: I probably might. [00:51:15] Speaker D: Maybe Atta. Then is it possible to have a flashback where breeder like, basically, palms one of the remaining alchemist fire when handing over to Fiennes, and instead give the last vial to Atta and say to her, just keep this safe, just in case. [00:51:38] Speaker F: To take that incredibly seriously. Although, you know, if you hadn't said that. Yeah, keep it serious and very safe. [00:51:48] Speaker D: Yeah. I would have been like, just in case it gets quite hairy down in those. Those sewers, we never know what we're gonna come up against. So keep this on hand. This one won't go to Fiennes. This one's for you. Just in case you need it. [00:52:04] Speaker A: Meanwhile, on the river, fiends is looking at the box thinking, oh, no. I thought there were six in here. Oh, God, where's the 6th one gone? Oh, no. [00:52:14] Speaker D: Okay, anyway, back to JC. Sorry, JC. [00:52:18] Speaker A: So to set the scene facing the rats, magpies bare knuckle boxing with high priestess. Lucrative. [00:52:29] Speaker C: Not bare knuckle. I've got a sword. [00:52:33] Speaker A: Frieda is currently being held onto by a sealed, no longer sealed suit of armor inhabited by Tavarian and Frieda's rival. And, like, you and Cavor, you covered it at just kind of in the middle of it all. Yeah. [00:52:53] Speaker B: I would like to look up and address Umi. [00:52:56] Speaker A: Okay. [00:52:58] Speaker B: Um. Ah. Umi. There you are. We've been waiting for you. [00:53:05] Speaker A: Umi. Like, it takes. It takes a moment. And she sort of, like, glances at you, then kind of glances back to the. The fight like the hollow man. And then she. Oh. Oh, hello. She shouts and she kind of waves. [00:53:23] Speaker B: We've brought the final spirit that is needed for the full evolution. Were you not aware of the plan? I see you've found our boy, Ruth. Did he not have the time to fill you in? [00:53:34] Speaker A: There's two looks of confusion. One from Umi and one from roath. Um, the. The plan. The plan. What? What. What do you mean, the plan? [00:53:47] Speaker B: Well, our girl atta's been studying so diligently with you, we. We got a part of a task to achieve ourselves. And it's all kept hush hush to keep prying eyes away. Of course. [00:53:59] Speaker A: We like hush hush. We like hush hush. Um, love. Sorry, who are you insinuating as this final spirit? [00:54:12] Speaker B: Tavareen. [00:54:13] Speaker A: Oh, okay, okay, okay. [00:54:17] Speaker C: So she's gonna help finish the. Finish getting Caleb out. Nice, nice, nice, nice. [00:54:22] Speaker A: In witty crater. [00:54:26] Speaker B: If you could give us a hand, old girl, it would be awfully appreciated. We've got some nasty folks coming up the rear and they don't even believe in evolution. [00:54:38] Speaker F: Algernon, you are like, such a goblin whisperer. Like you manipulate all of the goblins. [00:54:46] Speaker A: That sounds to me. Well, you tell me which ability you're angling for. [00:54:53] Speaker B: I am using my pre existing relationship with her and stuff we talked about before. [00:54:58] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, I will. I will. I will start you on a risky standard. What's like? You want a risky standard? [00:55:11] Speaker B: I want to bump it up to desperate because everyone's being so desperate tonight. [00:55:19] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. We're gonna go desperate. Greater. Okay. Marvelous. Do you want to push and. Or would you like a bargain and. [00:55:29] Speaker B: Push myself anyway for an extra tie? [00:55:32] Speaker A: Okay. Regardless of what happens, you have to. [00:55:37] Speaker C: Become the new leader of the hollow. Umi will just assume that's what you're gonna do. [00:55:43] Speaker A: Regardless of what happens. Lukraji strikes out against this heresy. [00:55:53] Speaker B: That's sinister. I think I'm just gonna keep it on the plus one dice from the push myself. [00:56:05] Speaker A: So this is a three dice desperate. Great. [00:56:10] Speaker C: Oh, good. [00:56:12] Speaker D: Success. [00:56:13] Speaker C: Five is good. [00:56:15] Speaker A: Okay. You do it. But there's a consequence. She gives you a thumbs up and then shoots you. So, severe harm, serious consecration, or you have reduced effect. [00:56:30] Speaker C: With reduced effect. I guess that would leave one pip still open, wouldn't it? Potentially. [00:56:36] Speaker A: Okay. She kind of nods to you and, like, she's blinking. Sorry, did you name drop Tavareen? Sorry. [00:56:45] Speaker B: No. [00:56:47] Speaker A: Okay. She's blinking as her mind races about who or what you mean, and she goes along with it, however, she believes. You're referring to the high priestess down below. [00:57:12] Speaker C: Right? [00:57:13] Speaker A: And she sort of, like, excitedly starts chattering to herself. And you. Like, she shouts, I've always wanted a high priestess. I've always wanted a high priestess. And in this moment, so, like, as she's kind of loudly chattering to herself and she's already beginning the throes of celebration, magpie, like, lucrative has kind of got her hands up open palm, like, facing you, and she's sort of, like, in a slightly defensive pose, but the two of you are kind of caught. Like, you catch the. Like, your attention is caught by this. By Umi, like, further up. And as Lucrati looks up, she reckon it seemingly recognizes this other goblin. Further up, and, like, she looks to you magpies. She looks up and her palms begin to glow, and she thrusts a hand up in the air and brings it down. And you watch as a holy. Like a pillar of holy fire strikes out. Like, Mithrae materializes and strikes out at Umi. And you hear her scream. You hear Umi scream out in pain as that, uh, drainage corridor explodes in holy fire. And Algernon, you realize that whilst Umi has been kind of, like, umi disappears as does Roth. [00:58:50] Speaker C: Oh, no, no. [00:58:53] Speaker A: And you can resist if you want, but like, umi, like, surges forward like heavily, but like her hair has begins begun to melt on one side of her head. She, like, utterly delirious, but Rose does not reappear. [00:59:12] Speaker B: Can I resist her stove, Rose? [00:59:14] Speaker A: You can, you can. So we. Yeah, we'll go for, uh. Yeah, let's just call it a resolve. So. Resolve resist a roast? [00:59:25] Speaker D: More like roast. [00:59:27] Speaker C: No, my boy. [00:59:33] Speaker A: So, yeah. Reset a resolve. Resist will be four beautiful double crit you have. Reduce or avoid the effects of the consequence. [00:59:42] Speaker B: Clearest track. [00:59:43] Speaker A: You clear one. Stress. You're so cool as a cucumber. Like, presumably part of the plan because Roth, seeing what's about to happen, like, looks up and in the moment where his two captors sort of like looking at this glowing ball of holy light that's materialized like in front of them in the storm drain, roathe breaks himself three and throws himself backwards as the holy fire incinerates the two hollow captors that were holding him immolates Umi. She. And he watches as she kind of collapses to the ground in front of him and then kind of looks at him with this mad, gleeful look in her eye before she surges back to the front, desperate to get her prize on the a high priestess soul. And she produces a magic item from her little vantage point and she interacts with it. You watch as these sort of like exhaust vents on the back of the. On the back of the hollow man open up and this kind of gray wispy, this blue grey wispy smoke starts kind of filtering out of it. And you hear Caleb roaring in anger as his movements become a bit more slow as the soul energy is arguably being siphoned out effectively. Umi's begun to turn it off. She's venting Caleb. We'll move that. That whole desperate scenario back to risky. But we'll also tick up two on the hollow clock because they've all been. Loads of. Have just been cremated. Um, Frida Frieda's been dangling for a while. [01:01:36] Speaker D: Yeah, he's been dangling for a while. Oh, my gosh. What's been going on? Um, how far down? All the rats. [01:01:45] Speaker A: So the rats are about. Well, now they're about 50ft below you, but they're surging. They're not using the stairs, really. It's just the sheer volume of rats. They're just kind of clambering on each other, getting higher and higher. [01:02:00] Speaker D: Right, okay. [01:02:03] Speaker A: Yes, you're. You're being held by the wrist you're about. There's rats about 50ft up. They appear to be climbing on top of each other to just rise up the storm drain. You've just, like. You've heard. You can see bits of a child of ire just, like, disappearing into the throng. Magpies fighting with Lukraji, who's just, like, exploded a load of hollow with holy magic. Yeah, it's all going down. [01:02:32] Speaker D: Okay. What's the situation looking like ahead of us? Like, in terms of our actual exit? [01:02:39] Speaker A: So it looks like if you manage to get past Caleb, the hollow. Mandan, now that the hollow have been, like, largely incinerated, the way forward is pretty much clear. After this very imposing obstacle, the only other consideration is that Lucrati is still chasing you. [01:02:58] Speaker D: Yes, yes, yes. The only thought I've got, but this might. It might not be quite this desperate yet, is to either ask Atta or re obtain from atta that alchemist fire and throw it down amongst the rats. They can't surge up if they're on fire. [01:03:18] Speaker C: I mean, they can try. [01:03:19] Speaker D: They can try. [01:03:20] Speaker C: They can set us on fire. [01:03:22] Speaker D: They could set us. Well, that's the problem. I think maybe it's a bit too. [01:03:26] Speaker C: Yeah, it's a bit risky, but you are. [01:03:28] Speaker D: I am quite reckless. [01:03:29] Speaker C: You are quite reckless. [01:03:31] Speaker D: To be fair, I think Frieda would probably. If there was a target to be. To be targeted, it would definitely still be Caleb, because that's the one that's really. [01:03:46] Speaker A: Well, if you're kind of swinging at the moment. And do we want to switch over to atta, see if you could enact your plan that would then potentially help Frida? [01:03:55] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. You go first, and then I'll swing back round. [01:03:59] Speaker A: You want to do an exorcism? [01:04:03] Speaker F: I want to try. I want to try and, like, goblin, like, just kind of leap at the, you know, run and leap at the. Scramble up the leg or whatever, like, inelegantly. And so glasses just essentially try and see if there are any extra valves to, like, manipulate. [01:04:22] Speaker A: Sure. [01:04:23] Speaker F: To kind of. Yeah. Speed this Caleb venting along. [01:04:26] Speaker A: Sure, sure. You can absolutely, absolutely do that. What skill are you thinking of using? [01:04:35] Speaker F: I'm thinking tinker or wreck. They're kind of both the same noise. [01:04:40] Speaker A: Tinker would be okay. So here, wreck will be more impactful, but Tinker will provide safari and better controls or whatever's left if you feel. [01:04:54] Speaker D: Like Tinker, if you do manage to expel him, if I am still under the effects of ghost fighter, I can grapple and restrain and capture spirits. [01:05:05] Speaker F: So we do have a spare orb. [01:05:08] Speaker C: Since Tavareen moved out. [01:05:15] Speaker F: Don't want a caleb in a papoose. I wouldn't want anyone to have Caleb in. [01:05:20] Speaker C: I mean, it's a safer place for him. [01:05:22] Speaker E: Yeah, we can just put him in a chest. [01:05:24] Speaker D: Put him in the papoose and then get him. [01:05:26] Speaker E: Put him in the attic. [01:05:27] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. [01:05:30] Speaker D: Did anyone ever watch the, like, animated BFG and, you know, he's got, like, the, like, the good dreams and then all the really naughty bad dreams, like, locked in a chest, chained up. [01:05:42] Speaker C: You know, we can have that. [01:05:44] Speaker D: Yeah, we're gonna do that. [01:05:46] Speaker F: We can put Caleb and the wizard orb facing each other for eternity and they can have a conversation about faith and the arcane and that will be the epilogue for them. Um, okay, Tinker. Because I don't necessarily want to marianne to have a rougher time than she already is. [01:06:02] Speaker A: Okay? So in which case, tinker it up. Yeah, we're gonna start you on a, um. We're gonna. The whole Caleb situation has been downgraded in severity, so we're gonna start you on a risky standard, you devil's bargain. Lucrati, now spell slinging, because she is a high priestess, begins to push Magpie and Samuel back. [01:06:38] Speaker F: Oh. [01:06:43] Speaker A: Or if anyone wants to help, wants to help atta, presumably not Frida. [01:06:52] Speaker E: Well, I mean, I can spend one. Okay, thanks. I can help. I can lift you up and chuck you. [01:07:00] Speaker F: I would love to be a gim lead. Please. [01:07:05] Speaker C: Gimli me. [01:07:08] Speaker A: Gimbal. Me gimbaling me. Now, Cameron goes up to eight of nine. Stress you get one extra dice, so you're risky. Risky. Standard one extra dice, you can go to risk desperate grater. One extra dice, if you so wish. [01:07:23] Speaker F: Or I could. I could use the dice to increase the effect and keep it risky and then grater. But I don't feel confident with. I still don't feel confident just rolling two dice. [01:07:36] Speaker C: No, it's. It's tricky. [01:07:39] Speaker F: Two dice, but it will only fill. I only fill one segment and we've still got two segments. [01:07:46] Speaker A: Go desperate. A success is three. Unless I choose lesser. Lesser effect, in which case it'll be two. [01:07:55] Speaker F: Oh, okay, then I'll have an extra dice. I think. I think the vibes this morning as the sun comes up is, one extra dice, please. [01:08:13] Speaker A: You are launched kind of over the throat, like round the throng of Sangrevar. And you kind of land on the steps, kind of give a thumbs up to cavern. And as you skitter up, you can see, like, the arm that's holding freedom by the wrist is sort of like. You can see that there's clearly some sort of battle happening within it, which means that you're able to just, like, scramble up the side of the other side, like the other arm relatively undetected. You notice that? Yeah, there is this sort of, like, sol pack, this, like, power pack on the back of the hollow man. There are a number of tubes, whatnot kind of connected from it to various parts of the suit. But up close, you can see that there's this face. The faceplate is kind of looking off into the middle distance, in effect, but you notice that there is a, like a seal, and you could, like, swing it open to just openly expose the spirits to the outside world. [01:09:22] Speaker F: Yes, I shall. [01:09:24] Speaker A: Okay. In which case, you. You kind of get your fingers in, and there's a suction sound as you open up this faceplate. And as it swings open, you hear this ephemeral roar. Anger. And you watch as this, like, it's a shape that's like ink underwater that just kind of slides out of the front of the faceplate, and it kind of floats around you. And it's moving in an agitated kind of jittery manner, but you can hear this, like, this scream of frustration coming from it. [01:10:06] Speaker C: Oh, no. [01:10:10] Speaker A: And as you, like, close the faceplate, the suit kind of slumps a little bit, and then the head slowly tilts up and then turns to look to you. And there's a distinctly more gentle manner in which the suit is moving. And as the suit sort of, like, looks around, realizing what's happened at, you have to hold on tight as the other arm swings around. And I grabs Brady, like, both arms, one on the wrist, one on the elbow, and heaves you back onto the stairwell. [01:10:45] Speaker F: And with that, as things are happening, can I just take some duct tape and duct tape up the cracker? [01:10:52] Speaker A: Absolutely. As you evict the spirit of Caleb from the hollow man, we will finish the hollow clock, which also ticks you along two segments, obviously. [01:11:13] Speaker D: Can I try and grab him? [01:11:15] Speaker A: Uh, you absolutely can. Yeah. We'll just say yeah. Using your. Using your ghost orbs, um, you're able to, um, like, free that as you're kind of pulled up. Um, who's got the ghost orbital cavern? [01:11:29] Speaker E: Yeah. [01:11:30] Speaker A: Okay, so in quick succession, a pitch of a threat, like having just pitched at her. Kevin, you're able to pitch this ghost orb to Frieda and Frida. You're able to grab it and then swipe it. Caleb. And you watch as he. The spirit is drawn into the orb until it. The just the glass. Or Ben begins to glow with this misty, misty spiritual energy. [01:11:57] Speaker C: So pretty. [01:11:59] Speaker D: And I just, like, just before I cork it, can I just spit in the bottle just. And then. [01:12:07] Speaker A: Absolutely. [01:12:09] Speaker E: Shake it about a bit, did we? [01:12:13] Speaker A: We didn't take the devil's bargain. That lucrative pushes forward on mag by the beat. No? Okay. In which case, Cavern Algernon, you kind of look up, you see that the. The way forward is clear. You see that Magpie and Samuel are currently fighting some sort of, like, desperate rearguard against Lucraji and her ever dwindling number of clerics. Frieda appears to have been saved by the suit of, you know, this sealed suit. And what seems to be the spirit of caleb has just been captured in a ghost bottle and spat on, and spat on. What's algonon doing in this moment? [01:13:01] Speaker B: I think if the ways ahead, I'm just going to be shepherding all the sangrevar further on ahead. [01:13:07] Speaker A: Sure, sure. Okay. In which case is your shepherding them on algonon? You would know because with your photographic memory of this whole kind of structure that this storm drain, if you kind of exit it at this specific point, um, that will. It's a bit of a detour, but you can still fundamentally arrive at the exit point that you wanted to head to. You just be going via, like, the sewers rather than the. The subterranean tunnels. Um, but yeah, if the two of you wanted to escort the sangrevar out, you, for all extensive purposes, have a free run through the exit. [01:13:47] Speaker E: I'll do that then. [01:13:49] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm gonna instruct cavern and roth and amringer and whoever else is capable of to, like, just help each other get out via that route. [01:14:01] Speaker A: Sure. Okay. In which case, yeah, sort of like, as you shout up to roth, because Roth just popped his head out. Um, like, um, he's disappeared. Um, kind of leaving rof on his own, just like, surrounded by these smoldering hollow bodies. Um, yeah. As you instruct ammeringer, his. His two daughters, and, you know, to help everyone kind of get up, the two of you begin making your way to the top of the storm drain and then into the adjoining tunnels and then to freedom, to the predevelop assigned, like, exit point. Like in Rookridge, over the river bordering with Dusklin. So Magpie, Atta. Well, Frieda and Atta, the sangreval will be filing past you. Are you also going with them or are some of you going back to help with. To help Magpie? [01:15:01] Speaker F: I think I want to. Magpie and I also want to try and figure out what? The heart gem thing. What? What? It's. Whether it's trying to do something. Like, if it. I don't know what from the. Had like a heartbeat. Yeah, sorry. Yeah, the crown gem. [01:15:23] Speaker A: Okay, well, at is you. So are you getting it out to like, inspect it? [01:15:30] Speaker F: Yeah, yeah, I was thinking about giving it to Algernon at some point because I kind of feel one. Algon's got some. Some stress to play with, but also a decent score. But I kind of. For some reason I feel like it's Algernon's thing. I don't know whether that's. That's accurate, but yeah, I was planning on Algon, if you. [01:15:56] Speaker B: Once everybody's safe, I would like to sort of hang back or circle back to the others and help with either lucrative or whoever needs help. [01:16:06] Speaker F: Then I'll hold on to kind of maybe help out Algernon with any roles with my last bit of stress. [01:16:16] Speaker A: Frida, you're looking kind of tuckered, but are you going with the sangrevar and cavern or are you dublin back to Magpie? Are you kind of holding fire with Atta and Algernon? [01:16:28] Speaker D: I think I'm gonna go with the sangr, but I am just gonna, like, almost like whisper in Atta's ear as I go past to say, like, once they've dealt with lucrative, those rats, they'd look awful pretty up in flames, wouldn't they? And then I'm gonna. Yeah, I'm gonna. I'm gonna limp out cuz I'm looking a bit battered. [01:16:53] Speaker A: All of your rage essence has been expelled. Scrambling against the hollow, man. Okay, so Frieda and Kevin are fundamentally. Yeah, escorting the sangr way. So we'll switch back to Magpie. [01:17:10] Speaker C: Yes. [01:17:12] Speaker A: You and Samuel are currently face to face with lucrative. Like, her eyes are now blazing with this kind of white energy. Her hands are wreathed in kind of holy, holy flame. And it becomes more of an exercise in avoidance as she starts, like, hurling these bolts of, like, white fire, like, at you, at your feet. She's trying to, like, summon the. Summon an orb, like, off the platform, and then strike you with a pillar of flame. Yeah, she looks like she's just using her kind of adept divine magic to push you back. What do you do? [01:17:56] Speaker C: I'm just a girl. [01:17:59] Speaker D: Just Sparta, kick her down into the rat. [01:18:01] Speaker C: I kind of want to sparta, kick her into the rats. That's what I was thinking. And then indicate for atta to set everything on fire and just run. I don't know if I can. That sounds very strength. Based sparser kicking is the thing. I mean, I could very, very well go in for a little spin kick to sweep her legs out from under her. I love doing that kind of shit. [01:18:32] Speaker A: Yeah, no, you can absolutely do that. I mean, that sounds like. What? [01:18:38] Speaker D: Finesse. [01:18:40] Speaker C: Pretty finesse. Yeah. Employ my acrobatic arts against her. [01:18:47] Speaker A: Sure, sure. Rome a finesse. We're gonna start this as well. [01:18:53] Speaker C: Risky zero. [01:18:54] Speaker A: Risky zero. We're back to risky zero, right? [01:18:57] Speaker C: Yep. Cool. [01:18:59] Speaker A: So you. [01:19:00] Speaker F: Can I help by lobbing like the alchemist? [01:19:04] Speaker C: If you cannot help with anything right now at Samuel, there's one help left at us. Well, there's one helping you. Fine, fine. If you must. [01:19:13] Speaker F: I either help you now. [01:19:15] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. [01:19:16] Speaker F: Or I help Algernon with something later. [01:19:18] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:19:18] Speaker B: How does foresight to use. [01:19:20] Speaker A: Yes. Does Algon want to jump in? [01:19:22] Speaker B: If anyone. If anyone can think of a pre prepared way I could help with foresight. [01:19:29] Speaker A: You have already aimed with your pistol. [01:19:34] Speaker C: Ooh. [01:19:38] Speaker B: No, because my pistol is concealed. [01:19:41] Speaker A: Yes, yes, yes. [01:19:43] Speaker D: You tied her shoelaces together. [01:19:47] Speaker C: In the. [01:19:48] Speaker B: Confusion, like two days ago when I went to. To speak to her. [01:19:54] Speaker C: Love that. [01:19:56] Speaker F: And Tabari and Mek not help Magpie by stamping the ground and making the ground go pop up. [01:20:03] Speaker B: Yeah, I might just come along and help with some in the normal fashion, by just appearing at your side. Ah, high priestess. [01:20:16] Speaker A: Lucrative kind of stops for a moment, her eyes revert back to their pupil form and she snarls. I should have known. She says she, like, looks at you, Algernon, and like, you can, like, all her focus is now focused on you. [01:20:36] Speaker C: Right, so now is. Does that make it a risky, limited. [01:20:40] Speaker A: Yes. [01:20:41] Speaker C: So can I make it a desperate standard, please? Okay, I'd love to. Let's do that. Desperate standard. I don't think I'm getting any extra dice for this, am I? [01:20:53] Speaker A: Devil's bargain, sure. Oops, more rattos. [01:20:59] Speaker C: Yes, I will take more rats, because there are already so many rats, I don't think it's going to make a lot of difference. Oops, more rats plus one. Okay. [01:21:13] Speaker F: It'S all dudley. [01:21:15] Speaker C: Oops, all sixes and more rats. Yeah. So as Algernon appears at my side and goes, ah, high priestess. And distracts her, I don't. I don't think magpie even has anything witty to say. She's just gonna sweep her legs out from under her and send her flying. [01:21:36] Speaker A: In which case she, like as her. As Lukaji's attention is focused on you, Algernon, and you know in this moment that her. She is hyper fixated. On your pupils, very specifically, your pupils. And, like, you can see her almost begin to shake with indignation. She, like, her face thing, kind of is confused. And as it computes, as her legs are swept out from under her and she crashes to the ground and her, like, her dense body and the armor she's wearing means that when she kind of bounces off the step and rolls back a bit, she knocks over the cleric behind her, disappears into the mass, and then as the remaining two sort of, like, look up and. Oh, priestess. And they kind of surge forward. Um, Magpie, Alganon and Samuel. What? You watch as they are just enveloped by this tide of fur and teeth as the rats complete their clock. [01:22:45] Speaker C: Uh oh. Uh. [01:22:48] Speaker A: And like, they know they don't manage to reach lucrative before they are swarmed and pulled off the ledge into. And then you just watch them almost like floating the mass of bodies before they poured under the surface. [01:23:03] Speaker C: Oh, no, that's grisly. [01:23:05] Speaker A: And Lucraji, like looks, is looking over her shoulder at where her clerics were. And she instinctively kind of recalls the light that she's been flinging around into her right palm, and she thrusts it forward to create a, like a shield of sorts. And the rats kind of skitter forward and like that, they get. They're plowing into it and igniting and singeing as they try to push through the light that she's emitting. And then she turns to look to you and you notice that her rage has suddenly been supplanted with abject fear and horror as she's, like she's holding back the rats and. But they're growing higher and they're threatening to kind of rise past her, then collapse on top of her on you. [01:24:00] Speaker C: And everyone else, I think seeing her fear, Magpie is going to grab her by the wrist that isn't up hold doing making the shield, and just pull her as if to go, come on. No, you're beaten. Let's go. And it's just going to. I think the plan would be to start, you know, running after the sanguivol, but then push her down a different tunnel. As if to say, just take your chances. Go. [01:24:29] Speaker A: In this moment, roll me a sway. [01:24:36] Speaker C: I have not cooked sway. My sway's only one. [01:24:40] Speaker A: Like, there's no extras to it, no nothing. [01:24:43] Speaker C: It's just. It's almost like a sort of straight fortune roll type thing. It's just. Let's just see. Risky standard. Yep, fine. [01:24:53] Speaker A: I mean, effectively, it's just dice first roll. [01:24:55] Speaker C: It's just. It's just dice. It's a two. It's a fail. [01:25:01] Speaker A: In which case she's holding back the rats. She looks up to you and there's this, like, look of fear. And Magpie, what do you say to her as you reach out a hand? [01:25:14] Speaker C: I say, it's over. Come quickly. There's no need to die here. [01:25:20] Speaker A: She looks from you to Algernon, to Samuel, to the sangreval, leaving through the top of the drain, led by Cavern and Frieda. And like, as she looks back to you, Magpie, her face begins to furrow again. It's never over, she says, and she brings her right hand round to fling another spell at you. And as she does, and the wall of light that was protecting her drops as she goes to conjure a new spell. She is throat, like pressed to the steps as the rats surge over her. And they kind of scrabble up over her shoulders and, like, start nipping at her cheek and chin. And she stands up and there's an explosion of light as she explodes them back, but they rally and they're now in her arm. And you see us all, like, no, no, no. Sort of like scrabbling to try and get them out. And as you watch this goblin woman struggling for her loss, Samuel puts a hand on your shoulder and shouts, we need to go now. [01:26:30] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. I'm gonna go. [01:26:33] Speaker D: You tried. [01:26:34] Speaker C: I tried. Let's go. [01:26:36] Speaker A: And as you go up, the storm drain is punctuated with flashes of white light as lucrative desperately tries to stem this tide of vermin that's crawling at her, eating her piece by piece. And as you get to the top, Algernon, you rendezvous back with Atta. And you watch as Lucraji kind of looks up to you from her position, she's only made it perhaps another few feet further up the stairs. And she looks to you with this look of unrepentant, regretless determination. And then in a moment, she's gone, along with the light that she was emitting. All that's left now is you. This storm drain, and what can only be hundreds of thousands of rats. [01:27:40] Speaker C: Oh, my God. [01:27:42] Speaker D: Alchemist fire. [01:27:43] Speaker C: Alchemist fire. [01:27:45] Speaker D: Alchemist fire. [01:27:47] Speaker A: What was the plan with that red. With the red gem from the crown? [01:27:51] Speaker F: I think I mostly just wanted to make sure that Algernon had it. But, like, the gem, from what I could remember, was it responding when we were in the tunnels? Like, get down? It was telling us to go down. [01:28:06] Speaker B: He wanted to return somewhere. Yeah, I want to take it whilst we're still here underground and just try a little attune roll, using my connection to house antelir, just to see if I can get any kind of response from it that might point us towards something buried underneath Elysia. [01:28:29] Speaker A: Okay? In which case, as atta hand you the crystal, the moment it's in your hand and you begin to focus on it, I won't ask for a role, but suddenly the stone feels heavier in your hand, like it's been. Like a magnetic force is pulling it down. And you can. It sounds like you're in a winds tunnel, but it's. It's voices of a sort. It's. You try to decipher what it is. And Atta, as you watch as Algernon's kind of focusing on this gem, and there's. There's something happening, you chance a glance and realize that every rat below you is looking up, all focused on Algernon Ratchet. And you watch as much more in a much more defined and clear way. The. The tide of rats begins to shift and move to form a face. The same face you saw a few minutes ago. Return it. Return it to me, the face says, as you realize that the chittering of the rat is being influenced in such a way that it's forming words. And Atta, you feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end as there's this surge of immense arcane power coming from below you. [01:30:18] Speaker C: Wow. [01:30:20] Speaker A: They seem to be drawn to this stone. Return it to us. Return it to me. The rats cry. [01:30:34] Speaker C: Burn them. [01:30:39] Speaker A: You. You never forget a face, right? Algernon never forgets a face, right? As you glance down at the. This impossible sight in front of you, these hundreds of thousands of rats forming what is effectively a highly detailed face of woman, you postulate. There's this gnawing feeling in the back of your mind that the visage laid out in front of you is eerily similar to the face of Lady Turia Valonmar, previous leader of Alicia and head of House Antelir, the leader who was run out by the irons during the war. Return it to me. The rats bellow a second, feel like. [01:31:49] Speaker B: She'S trying to tell me to do something. I am going to look towards Atta, gesture to the gem, and I'm just going to toss it back down the staircase and watch it go. Dink, tink, tink, tink, tink. Into this swarm of rats, you. [01:32:11] Speaker A: As you watch this red gem kind of flip over itself as it clatters down the stairs. You watch as the. The swarm instinctively reacts and it almost looks as if like the surge of their movement almost makes it look like this large hand reaching out and enveloping the gem, and pull, like scooping it into the center of the horde. And there's a. There's a frenetic energy in the like amongst the rats, um, that slowly begins to calm. And you watch as the rat. The. The tide, the. The rising sea of rats slows and then seemingly begins to recede as the gem is lost further and further in amongst their number. And as the rats begin to filter away, back into the tunnels beneath Elysia, emptying out from this storm drain, you feel, Algernon, this sense of content, but it's like it's the. It's this. It's the false content of a strict parent passing judgment on their child's achievements. And before long, Atta and Algernon, you watch as the rats disappear, leaving a floor of half devoured body bits, bones, scraps of armor from all those unfortunates who never made it up fast enough. [01:34:13] Speaker D: Oh, look, more slurry. [01:34:16] Speaker A: In the center of it, you see a bloodied and chewed white armor. Lacquered armor that you know once belonged to high priestess lucrative. [01:34:35] Speaker B: I told you that my threats weren't empty, high priestess. [01:34:41] Speaker A: As the two of you, like, hurry to catch up with the other three. Magpie, you've kind of rushed on to, like you've paused, waiting for Algernon and Atta to catch up with you. As the three of you make your way through the tunnels to the xenore, it you find Cavern and Frieda at the exit of the tunnels as planned, with the sangrevar in tow. But they're all. They haven't emerged out onto the streets. They appear to be at the entrance, the exit, if you will, and cavern and Frieda, you've stopped because barring your exit, is a blonde Loravar woman, flanked by an il Naishi man, a thin il Naishi man with wired muscles, an Algernon magpie at. As you kind of push, like, make your way to the front to see what's happening, you recognize songbird stood with a pistol aimed at Cavern and Frieda. [01:35:51] Speaker C: Oh, boy. [01:35:52] Speaker A: I trusted you. She says. You notice that? As she says that, the pistol moves to Frieda. [01:36:07] Speaker B: Um. I'm gonna set freedom now. Now, Songbird. No need to get excited. Why don't we. Why don't you tell us what this is all about? [01:36:24] Speaker A: Why don't you tell me why you haven't got your house in order, Alcadon. This bitch has been frolicking with the kindling boy rollicking. [01:36:36] Speaker B: I see. I see where the controller confusion lies. But weren't you the bitch that was frolicking with Algarve? You're his private secretary. I remember. [01:36:46] Speaker A: I was doing it to try and make Elisa a better place. She's going around trying to burn it down. [01:36:51] Speaker B: Songbird now you know I'm an old spy. [01:36:54] Speaker A: The Ineishi then turns to you like with a raised eyebrow. What is also curious, songbird, is that these individuals were responsible for the missing muster. She looks back to you and without skipping a beat, pulls the hammer back on her pistol. I let you in. I showed you what we were doing, and you betrayed me, she says, and there's spittle forming between her lips. I should cut you down like the dogs you are. Just like I did Velka. [01:37:40] Speaker B: Yes, I was about to say, I do understand you further when it comes to the infinite, given your personal history. [01:37:50] Speaker A: She, like her face kind of softens in surprise, and then it reinforces back into the defiant snarl. [01:38:01] Speaker B: I can tell you where he is if you want to know. [01:38:07] Speaker A: You see, like she's struggling for a moment. [01:38:12] Speaker D: I suppose at this point, I mean, you know, Lucragio is rat food. Well, probably soon to be rat shit. So Frieda also steps in. And what's more, I'll have you know that Mustow is far from dead. If anything, he's living it up at the mansion at the moment. And that stuff with the kindling, it was a means to an end. I am not their friend. And she sort of spits that last bit out. [01:38:47] Speaker F: She is Tavareen. With us, I was gonna say. [01:38:50] Speaker C: Thanks, Tavarian. [01:38:52] Speaker F: And where's Eli? [01:38:54] Speaker E: Was able to speak through the mech. Can Tavareen speak through the mech? [01:39:01] Speaker A: Yeah, she can wait. [01:39:03] Speaker E: If Katherine put a hand on mecha Tavaren's shoulder and say to Songbird, it's like, if you're not gonna believe us, perhaps you'll believe her. And I'd like Tavareen to speak to Songbird. [01:39:20] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. As, like, songbird looks at you, cavern slightly confused, and like, her attention turns to this hulking seven and a half foot tall construct behind you, and the thing kind of steps forward and like songbird takes a natural kind of step back, an instinctive step back, and you watch as, like with the grinding of metal on metal, the suit lifts a hand up and you hear it say, it's me, Melina. It's me, Tavarian and songbae. Bird blinks. What is it? What? What have you done? What is what? Is this? And the suit takes another step forward and places a hand over the barrel of the gun and gently pushes it down. When we first met, you said I was like the white flowers you loved from your childhood. And you watch as all resistance just seemingly melts out of songbird in this moment. And she looks at her reflection in the suits, the cracked reflection. And as she tries to formulate words, the silence is punctuated, is perforated by an explosion to your. To the west of you. And as you turn to look, Algernon, you see this plume of fire rise up into the sky. And you realize, judging on its distance, and that was the cathedral. And as the explosion, kind of. As the concussive force of the explosion rips through the city, it kind of shakes songbird back into, like, herself. And she kind of pulls her pistol away from Tavarian's hand and, like, holsters it and then looks to the marionettes around her. And with a sharp, kind of instructive whistle, they retreat from your group as they can hear the sounds of sort of like, city guard begin emerging from whatever holes they're in and begin kind of rushing towards Abbott's gate, because the cathedral seemingly has just been attacked. [01:42:12] Speaker C: Oh, gosh. [01:42:14] Speaker A: And as songbird disappears back into the shadows, you turn to look and realize that you've made it. Are you beelining back to kabola da mana? Yeah. [01:42:29] Speaker E: With all our new Sangreval friends, did. [01:42:34] Speaker C: We have a plan for where we were taking them? [01:42:35] Speaker D: Well, I mean, the people who wanted the them dead are now kind of a bit dead themselves or being attacked. [01:42:42] Speaker C: So, you know, I think maybe we've got a perfect opportunity to slip through the streets, avoiding the cathedral, and get them back to the manor. For now. Yeah. [01:42:52] Speaker A: Okay. In which case, as you, Tavarian, reanimated mecha spirit and approximately 40 sangrevar make your way to the ivory, to Cadwallader manor, moving against the tide of the the stream of people that are gravitating towards Abbott's gate to see what's just happened, as the purple sky is filtered with flecks of orange flame, as the cathedral begins to burn, akin to the ruby keep. Elsewhere in Alicia, a glass of expensive liquor is gently placed on a coaster on a rich wooden desk covered in ledgers, receipt books, other scriptures of business, and they're all unimportant to the Auron sprite that's currently wringing his hands, his monocle hanging limply from his, from his breast pocket, as Odal Merce desperately tries to figure out how to whip work his way out of these constant incessant assaults from the shield bearers. He takes a deep breath and another swig of the drink, finishing it before slamming the glass back down when he hears a sighs as he looks up to see the silver corvid mask of the raven, the. The errand boy of the lodge. Reticent. What is it that you want? He says with a hint of exasperation in his voice, and the raven steps forward with a large package, square package, about two foot by two foot by two foot. And silently the mask wearing individual places this box on Odal Mercer's table and with a nod and a second, the raven is gone. Odomus looks at the parcel curiously. It appears gift wrapped with a small note. The note, in an eloquent cursive writing, says, I understand you have some problems. I believe I have a solution. N and Odal Merce, unbuttoning his top collar, kind of loosening it a bit, begins unfolding the parcel, the package in front of him to reveal what appears to be a softly glowing glass cube with gold banding with a light that appears to be thrumming and moving on the inside. And as he looks at this magical artifact curiously, his face illuminated by by its shifting glow, it begins to glow brighter and brighter. It begins to vibrate more and more across his desk and his eyes open wide as an explosion rips through the room, destroying the top floor of Odal Mercer's villa and three blocks away, the burning cathedral. To her right, the smoking villa of Odelmarsto. Her left Nephernae looks to the raven and smiles as she pulls her hood up and moves back to the shadows. [01:47:32] Speaker C: Girl boss, I told you she's a badden. [01:47:37] Speaker D: Oh boy. [01:47:38] Speaker A: Congratulations everyone. On completing episode 15, the good times. [01:47:46] Speaker C: Just keep on rolling. [01:47:49] Speaker E: Couldn't just have one head of a factor dying. It had to be two. [01:47:53] Speaker C: Had to be two at least. [01:47:56] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, we took out two. I can't believe we took out two faction leaders. [01:48:02] Speaker A: What is that going to do? [01:48:05] Speaker C: Raji? Caleb. [01:48:08] Speaker D: Yeah? [01:48:08] Speaker C: Look how Nellie's got rid of odalmas. Dan's just knocking them all. Um. [01:48:16] Speaker F: What's, um, perfectly safe. Um, has to be safe. She's perfect. [01:48:21] Speaker C: What happened to Umi? I lost track of her in chaos. [01:48:24] Speaker B: She disappeared. [01:48:25] Speaker A: She got scratched and vanished. [01:48:27] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:48:27] Speaker C: Oh, she's all right. [01:48:30] Speaker A: Oh. [01:48:30] Speaker D: What's that gonna do to our tier? Like? [01:48:33] Speaker C: Yeah, seriously. Toe to toe with faction bosses. [01:48:36] Speaker D: We've just taken out two factions, essentially. [01:48:40] Speaker C: Tier three for actor. [01:48:42] Speaker E: I have to find out next episode. [01:48:46] Speaker F: We'Re going to be so mega wanted. We're going to be mega Ultra. [01:48:50] Speaker B: We've just done our time. We've just done our time. So we, I was going to say. [01:48:55] Speaker E: You, technically, that should remove two. [01:48:58] Speaker F: Yeah, good point. [01:49:00] Speaker C: It's always nice to fill one, though. [01:49:04] Speaker A: So with all that in mind, if you enjoyed that, make sure to hit the like button and comment down below on who you think is the next faction on the chopping block. And to find out if you were correct, make sure to hit the subscribe button and the bell icon for notifications when we release some videos because that's happening super frequently. We won't want you to miss out. And we are officially on the home stretch of the Alicia rising campaign. [01:49:33] Speaker C: Lots to talk about in Algin and angels. [01:49:36] Speaker A: Oh, yes. So with all that said, thank you for watching. Thank you all for playing. This was a mega bumper episode. So, yeah, I appreciate and love you all. We'll see you next time. [01:49:54] Speaker E: Bye bye. [01:49:54] Speaker A: Bye bye. Ramdez.