Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: What's up?
[00:00:00] Speaker B: What?
[00:00:00] Speaker C: I am.
[00:00:01] Speaker D: Well, good evening, everyone.
[00:00:03] Speaker B: How we doing? Good.
Hello.
[00:00:07] Speaker D: Hello. That was a sudden entrance, wasn't it? I'm not even gonna fade in from black on that one. Yeah.
Welcome. Hi. Hello.
We have returned for another episode of Elisa Rising, the second campaign on the explorers of Elsewhere Channel.
Hello. We have a full compliment as well. Again, welcome back, Rick.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: Hello.
[00:00:29] Speaker A: So glad to be back.
[00:00:31] Speaker D: Hello.
They have been very, very well behaved in your absence.
[00:00:37] Speaker A: Have they? Have they have heard differently?
[00:00:42] Speaker D: Yes. Contrary to what you may have heard, they have been very well behaved and everything's gone swimmingly well, hasn't it?
[00:00:52] Speaker A: Right, so what you're saying is we've dismantled the church and we've solved the bubble problem and we're now back in Elyse here, and everyone's super happy and. Yeah, it's all. It's all done and dusted, right?
[00:01:06] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:07] Speaker D: Yeah. That's certainly what you've been told.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:01:12] Speaker D: Everyone else here knows that is 100% not the case, but. Yeah. Because you found yourselves in a slight spot of bother at the end of the last session. And I reckon we should drive straight in to see what sort of predicament.
[00:01:29] Speaker B: You lot find yourselves in.
[00:01:32] Speaker D: Yeah, let's go.
[00:01:33] Speaker E: Okay.
[00:01:34] Speaker B: Let's do it.
[00:01:41] Speaker F: Welcome to Elysia, the jewel of the north. On our gilded streets, fortune and fame can be found by anyone.
[00:01:52] Speaker C: Hi, I'm Julia and I'm playing Magpie, an ace of our lurk.
[00:01:57] Speaker E: Hi, I'm Nate and I'm playing cavern, a dragon scent slide.
[00:02:03] Speaker A: Hi, I'm Meg. I'm playing Frieda, a wolfkin cutter.
[00:02:08] Speaker G: Hi, I'm JC and I'll be playing Alganon, an ace of our spider.
[00:02:13] Speaker H: Hello, I'm Erol. I am playing atta, a goblin whisper.
[00:02:18] Speaker D: And my name is DM Dan. I will be the games master on this adventure.
[00:02:23] Speaker F: So come on in and marvel at our wonders. Make sure you see the beautiful views we have to offer. And don't mind the ghosts. They're friendly, really. Grab yourselves a seat and make yourselves welcome in the city of Elysia.
[00:02:45] Speaker B: Once upon a time, Elysia was a.
[00:02:48] Speaker D: Bustling powerhouse of commerce, learning and manufacturing, marking the city and its rulers house Antalir as one of the most powerful.
[00:02:57] Speaker B: Forces in the known world.
[00:03:00] Speaker D: A lot of this power came from the various guilds, faiths and workers who called Elysia home. In the wake of the eschaton, however, much like the city herself, the factions.
[00:03:11] Speaker B: Of Elysia became a shadow of their former selves.
[00:03:15] Speaker D: That said, the factions which have emerged and risen to the top of their respective food chains now hold all the power within Elysia.
In a more peaceful time, a truce of convenience and mutual survival, forged by the elderly keeper Tavarian, kept the factions in line. But with Tavarian's death, there is no longer a custodian of cooperation.
As rumors about the veil begin to circulate, tensions between the factions rise.
[00:03:47] Speaker B: And who's to say who will strike the first blow?
[00:03:55] Speaker D: And so we find Magpie. Atta, Algernon and Cavern stood on a street just around the corner from the.
[00:04:10] Speaker B: Spectre in the heart of Dusklund.
[00:04:18] Speaker D: Opposite a yellow scaled dragon scent flanked.
[00:04:23] Speaker B: By clerics of ire.
[00:04:26] Speaker D: And the words that had just emerged.
[00:04:29] Speaker B: From the dragon sense mouth lingered in the air.
[00:04:34] Speaker I: I have a job for you.
[00:04:40] Speaker D: And Catherine. You feel the weight of her victorious.
[00:04:49] Speaker B: Smirk heavier than anyone else in your number.
[00:04:55] Speaker D: As you know that she is the only thing that's currently in between you and the guard that rumbled you in.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: Celestry the night before or this morning.
[00:05:11] Speaker D: She.
[00:05:12] Speaker A: The.
[00:05:13] Speaker D: The dragon scent nods her head and.
[00:05:17] Speaker I: Perhaps we should move somewhere more discreet to discuss details.
This is a delicate matter.
[00:05:28] Speaker D: And she, without really kind of waiting for a response for you, she kind of gestures a hand behind her and the clerics kind of move to usher you to follow, moving kind of towards the center of the city. So, moving westwards, you come to a pause at what appears to be an old, kind of rundown, not particularly used shrine of sorts, a small, narrow stone building.
It's difficult to say. Well, it's difficult to say who this shrine originally was dedicated to, as all the signs have disappeared and the stone.
[00:06:12] Speaker B: Is worn from neglect.
[00:06:15] Speaker D: But, Algernon, given that this is so close to your childhood home, you know that this shrine was once dedicated to seleneth the nurturer, a deity of.
[00:06:29] Speaker B: Of peace and order.
[00:06:33] Speaker D: And the clerics kind of look either way to see if anyone's kind of watching as you enter. But Dorothea leads the group of you directly in, and, like, you see her as she walks along, like in front of you, she turns her hand up and a glow, like a white glow, emanates from her palm and you see a crystalline lamp on the altar at the far end of this narrow shrine.
[00:07:08] Speaker B: Illuminate.
[00:07:12] Speaker D: Out of curiosity, how.
[00:07:14] Speaker B: How do you find the use of magic? Ever since the. The Eschaton.
[00:07:21] Speaker D: Like, how are you around spellcasters?
[00:07:25] Speaker B: Magpie.
[00:07:29] Speaker C: Sorry, could you repeat the question?
[00:07:32] Speaker D: So, how.
So ever since the eschaton, the use of magic has been a lot rarer. But how. How do you find yourself in the.
[00:07:44] Speaker B: Presence of spellcasters.
[00:07:51] Speaker A: I think.
[00:07:56] Speaker C: Probably most, well, probably most of my contact prior to the eschaton with spellcasters would have been like the church, because their family are kind of churchgoers.
So I think kind of that sort of divine magic type casters and stuff. She's quite, she's quite familiar with, but, yeah, sure.
[00:08:27] Speaker D: Atta.
[00:08:29] Speaker H: I think there's still, like, a immediate reaction which is very, just like the id, I think. Is that the right one? But like, ooh, magic.
[00:08:41] Speaker C: Cool.
[00:08:41] Speaker H: But then there's sort of like a, I don't think we look like these.
So there's like a curiosity, but like a hesitancy around it.
[00:08:52] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:08:55] Speaker D: Algernon, I guess you traveling the world, you've probably seen your fair share of powerful spellcasters.
[00:09:02] Speaker G: Yeah. This world travel sort of opened Algernon's eyes to different kinds of magic and sort of shattered the illusion of exceptionalism that the church here in Alicia have around magic and his own experiments with arcane magic as well. He kind of, he kind of believes that there's no good or bad magic necessarily.
[00:09:32] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:09:33] Speaker D: That's a very, that's a very important viewpoint to have. I mean, certainly, I guess when in your travels, there was, there was one, like, wizard commander in, in particular, she was very, very, very headstrong and very.
[00:09:52] Speaker B: Very confident in her arcane prowess and.
[00:09:54] Speaker D: The sort of like the, the kind of the bull headed use of it to kind of obliterate her foes.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: Yeah. She was a fierce Majani called halidradis.
[00:10:10] Speaker D: And, yeah, just like the things that.
[00:10:14] Speaker B: She did with her magic to achieve.
[00:10:15] Speaker D: Her goals was quite intimidating.
But, yeah, certainly here, I guess it's all in, in comparison, what seems to.
[00:10:28] Speaker B: Be like a light cantrip seems positively tame by comparison.
[00:10:35] Speaker D: Cavern.
[00:10:38] Speaker E: He's probably not flinching at spell casting because he's been around Dorothea for a while.
As she was his mentor, I like to believe he doesn't particularly trust spellcasters.
[00:10:58] Speaker D: That's fair. That's fair. I mean, it's, yes, I guess proximity to divine spell casting has kind of doled you to it slightly. But you certainly remember the looks on those guards faces as Dorothy's hand as she used a very similar cantrip. It would seem to intimidate the guards into letting you go, but, yeah. So in which case, Dorothea illuminates this crystalline lamp and you hear, like, the scraping of wood as the kind of misaligned door is pushed closed. Dorothea sort of, like, crosses her arms and props herself on the edge of the altar, which you notice is bare, like any valuables that were in here.
[00:11:49] Speaker B: Have disappeared, presumably during looting years ago.
[00:11:56] Speaker I: Thank you for your cooperation, she says.
[00:12:00] Speaker D: With somewhat of a wry smirk on.
[00:12:02] Speaker B: Her face.
[00:12:06] Speaker D: As she begins.
We flash over to Frieda as you're kind of sort sauntering of across the bridge from Spire park into Duskland, you stop and notice that the rest of the crew seem to be getting chaperoned into this small little shrine by another dragon scent. That's probably this. This yellow scale dragon scent is probably what caught your attention.
And given the, like, the bright scales, the clean white robes of a adherent, a child of ire.
Yeah, you notice that they don't seem to be. That the crew don't seem to be too jazzed as they kind of get bundled in by these clerics. What are you doing?
[00:13:07] Speaker A: What day is it?
[00:13:09] Speaker D: What day is it?
[00:13:11] Speaker A: What time of day is it?
[00:13:12] Speaker D: Like, morning.
Is morning.
[00:13:14] Speaker A: Yes, it is morning.
[00:13:16] Speaker D: Okay, so presumably you're heading out, like, whether you've come from Spire park or we're heading through, but this is certainly a lap of victory of sorts, and you can choose what victory you're lapping.
[00:13:31] Speaker A: Okay. I definitely want to get closer and find out what's happening, but knowing that I'm not a very.
Not exactly a subtle individual.
So with some quick thinking, can I maybe grab some, like, crates or sacks or barrels or anything nearby and sort of haul them up onto my shoulder? And I want to sort of, like, bold as brass, sort of walk towards and look like I'm walking past, just like another. Another laborer on the morning shift carting, carting goods across the city.
[00:14:09] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:14:11] Speaker D: In which case, yeah, as you, like, hike this. This sack over your shoulder as you walk past. As you kind of reach the shrine, you can see one the clerics kind of struggling to, like, push the door across the stone floor work because the doors slightly come off its hinges.
But, like, as the. That you notice this child of ire kind of look at you as the door is finally pushed closed, like, just before it closes. You can see the. The rest of your crew inside, but there's enough gaps around the door frame that you can hear what's happening inside. And you can see that there's a. There's a glow coming from something inside as well.
[00:14:51] Speaker A: Uh, yeah. As soon as that door closes, I'm dropping the sack and going to press my ear upper against the crack.
[00:14:57] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:14:58] Speaker I: I see that you are traveling with.
[00:15:01] Speaker D: Good company, gathering Dorothea starts.
[00:15:07] Speaker I: I hear you are all individuals of particular skills, so I come to you with this offer as an olive branch.
[00:15:21] Speaker D: There are a number of criminal syndicates.
[00:15:23] Speaker I: Running through this city who would seek to benefit and profit from Elysia's current predicament. And I can tell you now that the church of ire does not abide by this behavior.
We have heard that there are some who are trying to unearth and perhaps even use artifacts of power, which are have long been illegal within this city. We believe that there is a. A safe house of sorts. It is owned by one of the. One of the guild lords of the pillars. The job then, is simple.
We have reason to believe that these pillars have been procuring illegal contraband, and we wish you to relieve them of it, to bring them to us, so we may safely dispose of it.
The safe house is located in Rookridge.
The address is marked on this slip of paper.
We have knowledge that this safe house has become home to a number of illegal items, but not of their nature or number.
Although we know there to be enough to warrant our attention.
[00:16:56] Speaker G: And we'll know these items when we see them.
[00:16:58] Speaker I: I assume absolutely every child of Elysia knows what is a legal contraband in the city.
[00:17:05] Speaker B: No.
[00:17:07] Speaker I: Anything of an arcane nature expressly prohibited within the veil. We would not care to inform you how you do this, only that it be done.
And naturally, these actions of yours are yours and yours alone.
Does that sound doable? Cavern did here.
[00:17:37] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:17:39] Speaker E: We can get that done.
[00:17:41] Speaker I: Good.
I will give you until lamp lighting tomorrow.
I think that should be enough to make your plans and execute them.
Don't let me down, Catherine.
It would not go well for you all.
Are there any questions?
[00:18:06] Speaker B: Um.
[00:18:08] Speaker H: You want us to get this to you?
How and where do we deposit these artifacts?
[00:18:22] Speaker I: It would be best if you could deliver these items, these contraband, directly to the cathedral of our mother Savior in Abbottsgate.
But we wouldn't want to raise any panic or alarm, so you must do this discreetly.
[00:18:41] Speaker B: It is best if the flock know.
[00:18:43] Speaker I: Not of these items existences in the first place.
If there's nothing else, you have a long day ahead of you.
[00:18:56] Speaker B: And she lifts herself up from the.
[00:19:01] Speaker D: From the altar, and as she, like.
[00:19:04] Speaker B: Boldly, kind of walks between you, as she leaves, she stops and places a.
[00:19:10] Speaker D: Hand on your shoulder.
[00:19:11] Speaker B: Catherine.
[00:19:12] Speaker E: Catherine stiffens when she does.
[00:19:14] Speaker B: That eye is blessings for you, child, she says coldly as she walks past you.
[00:19:23] Speaker D: Um, and Frieda, like you've heard all of this from inside and you can.
[00:19:28] Speaker B: Hear the sounds of footsteps coming towards the door.
[00:19:31] Speaker D: Um, so are you kind of ducking out the way, or you just go.
[00:19:38] Speaker A: Yeah, I'll I'll duck up the out the way. I'll put the sack back on my back and like, I don't know, just pretend to be looking through it, like, you know, sort of 20 odd paces away.
[00:19:50] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:19:51] Speaker A: In the corner.
[00:19:53] Speaker D: In which case, yeah, as you hear the sound of the door gonna scraping across the stone floor and this yellow scaled dragon scent and the two flanking clerics leave the shrine and you see them heading in the direction that you came from over the, the canal bridge into spire gate.
[00:20:13] Speaker B: Presumably they're heading back to.
[00:20:16] Speaker D: I mean, I guess you'd assume they'd be heading back to Abbott's gate and the cathedral.
[00:20:25] Speaker B: And.
[00:20:25] Speaker D: Yeah, when the coast is clear. Are you poking your head in?
[00:20:30] Speaker A: Mm hmm.
[00:20:30] Speaker D: Okay, so everyone. Yeah, Frieda Frida has appeared. Frieda has joined the party.
[00:20:41] Speaker A: Right. So, uh, none of that sounded good at all.
What on earth have you got yourself into now, Avon?
[00:20:50] Speaker G: Would you care to explain? I'd quite like to know more about your relationship with this woman.
[00:20:58] Speaker D: That's a good point. Everyone else just be like, who the hell is this?
[00:21:04] Speaker E: Uh, Cavern is looking down at the floor.
He is gonna walk up to the altar and probably give it a good kick out of frustration.
Then he's gonna turn around to everyone once he's sort of calmed himself down a bit.
That was my old mentor. And it's probably not a wise idea that we get on her bad side.
We'll just do the job and we'll leave it there.
[00:21:54] Speaker A: You, uh, you say that like someone who's been on her bad side before.
[00:21:57] Speaker E: No, not on purpose. Most of the time.
She is a disgusting woman.
[00:22:08] Speaker A: Right. I've been away for a couple of days, but I'm, uh, I'm assuming this isn't something we can just wriggle out of.
[00:22:16] Speaker E: We're gonna see a lot more trouble if we don't. And he's gonna look quite shameful. He's gonna look. He's just gonna look down the floor.
[00:22:26] Speaker C: Shall we go somewhere more our own turf to discuss this?
[00:22:32] Speaker A: Good plan. I've got some.
I've got some news myself, so. Yeah, aye, let's get, let's get comfortable with a drink first.
[00:22:40] Speaker C: Let's go. Yeah, let's go to the spectre.
[00:22:43] Speaker H: Hang on.
[00:22:43] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:22:43] Speaker A: I thought they found us at the spectre.
[00:22:46] Speaker H: Right? They came to the spectre.
[00:22:51] Speaker D: Yeah, no, that. Well, yes, they, they. So, Cavern. I'll fill in the gaps, but Cavern, it tells you that.
Fun cavern, fundamentally you were escorted from celestry to like, on the instruction of gather your crew and Dorothy have followed you to dusk and, like, effectively to the spectre.
But you asked her very politely to wait, wait around the corner and she wasn't. She was confident that you're not going to do a runner, given your history.
So, yes, whilst she kind of knows roughly where your base of operations, like you were found in the spectre, but she knows the street that Cavern retrieved you from. But, yeah, that was a very kind of cavern between a rock and a hard place moment. So, yes, I guess, yeah, in a sense, she does know where you're based out of, where you happen to.
[00:23:53] Speaker E: Doesn't know our hideout.
[00:23:54] Speaker D: Yes, she. She happens to know where you were having morning drinkies that day.
[00:24:00] Speaker A: On the way there. Does Cavern sort of fill us in on what happened or are you keeping that to yourself?
[00:24:10] Speaker E: I'm keeping that to myself.
It might be once we get to the spectre, he can fill everyone in on what happened. He's not going to give full details, but he will say that obviously she found him in celestry and in flagrante. Yeah, obviously inform everyone that the guard came and interrogated him, hence why he's a little bit bashed up and he's.
[00:24:46] Speaker D: Got a good old shiner.
[00:24:48] Speaker E: Yeah, and hence why they haven't had their position sort of given away. Or he's lost any money because Dorothea ended up turning up.
[00:25:02] Speaker D: How convenient.
[00:25:06] Speaker C: Yes, how interesting that she turned up exactly when you needed help and she needed a favor.
[00:25:15] Speaker E: Exactly.
Seems to be her way a lot of the time.
[00:25:22] Speaker D: So as you head back into the spectre, you make it back down to speakeasy, like Eric kind of gives you the looks and he asks you, you.
[00:25:34] Speaker I: Know, is everything all right?
[00:25:36] Speaker D: As you just kind of all got frog marched out by. By cavern, like, less than an hour ago.
Yeah, as you kind of grab your. Your booth over in the corner that you like, your regular booth.
[00:25:52] Speaker I: What's the plan?
[00:25:54] Speaker D: What knowledge? What knowledge are you gathering and or divulging? Frida?
[00:26:00] Speaker A: Yeah, I think when we sit down, Frida's gonna sort of turn to the others and say, right before we. Before we get started on this job, I've done some digging around, doing some odd jobs here and there, especially after all that nasty business with the city watch and Eric, I thought. I thought I'd better go find some stuff out and. Well, I have found some stuff out, so.
Yeah, it's not good news, really. And I'm really sorry, Algernon. This especially isn't going to be good news for you, I'm afraid.
[00:26:39] Speaker G: It rarely is nowadays. Have you seen the front page of the newspaper?
[00:26:44] Speaker D: So Algonon flashes you the newspaper, and on the front page is like mugshots of three. A savage who seemed to have been disrupting the security of Alicia. But they've been arrested by the valiant guard.
[00:27:02] Speaker A: Right. When you say Aesavar, do you mean Sangrevar?
[00:27:04] Speaker D: Sangrevar, yes, it is.
[00:27:07] Speaker A: So they've been rounded up all over the city?
Not really given any logical reasons why, otherwise than disturbing the peace. And they're all being taken to bell tower prison. I did sort of ask around to see if there any. Any names that we might recognize in amongst those prisoners, and one came up. Well, Magpie, I, uh.
I know you've mentioned your friend before. Samuel.
[00:27:38] Speaker C: Yes.
What about him?
[00:27:41] Speaker A: Well, he's there. He's in. He's in bell tower.
[00:27:46] Speaker C: Oh, God.
[00:27:49] Speaker A: I'm sorry.
It's. Yeah, they're tightening security up around the keep.
And then on top of that, I've heard from the guard about the intelligence corpse spies.
They've been sniffing around, asking about that purple woman again.
So I'm not sure if the two are connected, the. The sanguiva being rounded up and this. This purple woman. And, you know, as we know, with the. With the.
The bubble failing, I I'm not entirely sure how it all connects up. But. But it's got to be something there.
So I think if we're going out to night on this job, I think we're gonna have to be extra careful, especially if you're coming with us. Algernon.
Last thing we want is for you to be rounded up, too. You know, I've been out and arranged for some boys to come over and have a, you know, sort of set up around the place. Just look after.
Look after old Eric there. But it's getting quite serious. I'm not quite sure what else we can do, really.
[00:28:59] Speaker D: I guess one other thing, that it's not necessarily something that you would have, like found out, Frieda, but just like your gut instincts, and for anyone else that's even remotely street savvy, you probably come to the same conclusion.
Based off of the reaction from the crowd when the guard were trying to round up Eric.
News of all of these arrests are surely going to ruffle a lot of feathers and provoke a lot of anger and freedom. You've kind of seen kind of wandering around listening to tales here and there, like the watcher rounding up these kind of sangrevar, but they're also dealing with a lot of. Kind of disruptive citizens and a lot of them can be silenced with a.
[00:29:54] Speaker B: Swift beating with the truncheon, but, yeah.
[00:29:59] Speaker D: Like, the city seems to be getting.
[00:30:01] Speaker B: More and more agitated.
[00:30:03] Speaker A: Would you say it's been quite divisive, you know, between people who are sort of pro round up and people who are, you know, anti roundup?
[00:30:14] Speaker D: It would seem so, yeah. I mean, there are, like, there are some people that, like, don't agree the fact the sanguiva being allowed rounded up, but there are some that are just like, well, if they're being, you know, if they're threatening the sanctity of the.
[00:30:27] Speaker A: City, then tensions are high.
[00:30:31] Speaker B: Yes. I thought.
[00:30:35] Speaker H: A clarifying question for, like, lore that I believe maybe we learned early on sanguivar.
Is the theory that the sanguivar from the, like, noble houses were more attuned to arcane magic, or is that something that my brain is, like, filling in for some reason?
[00:30:59] Speaker D: No, that would definitely be, like, over the space of the last two years, like, a lot of ideas about the song Sangrevar would have risen. And so, like, the popularity and the spread of those kind of, like, inscrutable pieces of knowledge would have kind of ebbed and flowed over time. But enough people have put two and two together to realize that those ace far whose eyes turned red at some point in their kind of ancestry have links to house Antillea.
[00:31:36] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:31:37] Speaker D: And reactions to kind of the. The red eyed ace of are varied largely, kind of, usually depending on a given person's stance on house Antillean. I mean, they were branded traitors. They were kicked out the city, they would know, chased out by the sisters and re. But, um, a lot of the time, like that, that a lot of the anger was directed at, like, the Antilir nobles. And, I mean, you glance across at Eric, and there's not a shred of.
[00:32:14] Speaker B: Nobility in him.
[00:32:17] Speaker D: But clearly, at some .1 of his great, great descendants was.
[00:32:24] Speaker B: An Antillea at some point.
[00:32:26] Speaker H: Okay.
[00:32:27] Speaker D: So, yes, it's very kinda, I guess, also over the space of the last two years, regardless of what people have or haven't thought about the rise, like, the emergence of Sangrevar, there's not really a whole lot you. They could do about it. Like, the sangvar here, the sangvar can't go anywhere.
There have been, you know, there was a very unpopular move to invoke some sort of segregation, but it's just like, well, where, like, where. Where would they go?
[00:32:59] Speaker B: But.
[00:32:59] Speaker D: And also Sangre, like, the numbers of ace of all that became Sangrevar were high enough that that's that would be a sizable dent to a workforce. So the pillars weren't really in favor of it. The faith are too keen on Sangrevar because they are, for all extensive purposes, branded with the mark of the traitorous house Antillea.
But also, the faith knows that the flock largely sits on the side of the comp of ace of art, who just so happened to be, and obviously, for all of this kind of nuance, is forefront at Algernon's mind, because this.
[00:33:45] Speaker B: Is two years of immediate history and experience.
[00:33:52] Speaker D: So how. What is. Anyone got any thoughts on Frieda's discoveries?
[00:33:59] Speaker B: She.
[00:34:00] Speaker D: She explains to you the results of her homework.
[00:34:04] Speaker A: That takes a really deep drink.
[00:34:08] Speaker C: I think Magpie probably looks a bit rattled, for. From the revelation about the person that she knows called Samuel, and, yeah, I think she just kind of takes a deep breath and goes, thank you, Frieda.
Thank you. It's not good news, but at least we know.
[00:34:32] Speaker A: Are you doing all right? You never mentioned how close you were. I just. Yeah, I remember you mentioning something called Samuel in passing, so.
[00:34:40] Speaker C: Hmm.
I mean, I suppose we were. Samuel basically taught me everything I know about doing what I do, everything that doesn't have to do with being a noble woman.
He worked for my family when I was young. But the moment the eschaton came and his eyes turned red, that was it. He was out mother's decision. Of course.
I can't believe I've let this happen to him.
As soon as I heard about Sangrevar being rounded up, I should have done something, protected him.
[00:35:22] Speaker A: I. Well, you know, we've had our minds elsewhere. I don't think you're to blame.
[00:35:29] Speaker C: Well, thank you, anyway. At least we know where he is now. And I'll.
I don't know.
Maybe I can get a message to him, or maybe we can find someone who works at the prison or something. I don't know.
[00:35:47] Speaker A: We can look into it.
[00:35:48] Speaker B: We've.
[00:35:48] Speaker A: We've got you back, and. And that goes for you, too, Algernon. This. This can't be. Can't be good news for you. But, you know, we've. We've all got your back in this. I hope you know that.
[00:36:01] Speaker G: Thank you, Frieda. And good work on the intelligence.
I will say on that. On that note, I'm not afraid of a stay in Baltaur. Nor am I ashamed of being a criminal.
[00:36:13] Speaker A: Well, you're the very best of us.
A king amongst criminals, if you will, sir, as, uh.
[00:36:21] Speaker D: As you kind of process through everything that Frida's just told you.
Like your minds begin to turn to the job at hand. Because as you all glance at Cavern and notice, like, you can almost see the time ticking down etched onto his face.
Like cavern, every passing moment seems longer than the lock before the one before, but yeah. So for this. For this job, you presumably need to gather some intel.
In which case, what information are you looking to gather?
[00:36:55] Speaker C: I think Magpie's first thought about this whole mission is. I think she'll say this to Cavern sweetie. I didn't say anything because, one, it seemed like a bit of a tense situation.
And two, it's always possible that a member of the Church of ire could recognize me. So I was quite keen not to draw attention to myself.
It seems a little odd to me that she would come to us. This is illegal contraband. Why all the cloaking dagger? Why not go to the guard?
[00:37:30] Speaker E: From what I know about Dorothea, she's not being fully truthful of what her intentions with these items probably is.
[00:37:42] Speaker A: Mm hmm.
[00:37:44] Speaker E: We should very much take what she says with a very large grain of salt.
This is mostly an opportunity to get back at me.
And I'm ever so sorry that you have all got involved in this.
[00:38:01] Speaker C: We're a crew, Cavern.
You don't have to apologise for that. We're all in this together. I just want to make sure that if Dorothea really is as slippery as you say, that we're being very careful. That we've scouted out all the possible dangers of this mission.
[00:38:24] Speaker E: It'd be interesting to see where she's trying to get us to go.
It may just very well be that she doesn't want to get her own people's hands dirty before we begin looking.
[00:38:39] Speaker G: Into this safehouse cover. And you're sure we don't want to flip the script on your former mentor? I'm an expert in blackmail. I don't appreciate me or my friends being on the receiving end with that.
[00:38:56] Speaker E: I think cavern smiles for the first time since you've all seen him. Like, he gives, like, a small grin, and he says, I mean, to be fair, she said there are items.
She didn't know how many and she didn't know what they were.
Perhaps we can get some benefit out of this, out of the shit she's putting us through.
[00:39:29] Speaker D: Algernon, as you kind of look at the scrap of paper that's got the address on, it's.
It's a bit difficult when it comes to the rook ridge slums, given that.
You know, once upon a time like that, there are streets that have emerged within Rook Ridge that never was never there officially, once upon a time.
So it's very much a. Like the address is fundamentally a second left off, like Grosvenor Avenue kind of thing, just. Just some unnamed street.
But you. You know that Rook Ridge is kind of a black hole once you're in it. Like it's his own kind of self contained, like, ecosystem, if you will. There are some people in Rook Ridge that will very, very, very rarely ever need to venture out of Rook Ridge.
[00:40:34] Speaker B: It's almost like it's own little city inside a district.
[00:40:39] Speaker D: Like everyone, there's such a. Like a close knit community. Like everyone's kind of looking out for themselves, even if their, you know, intentions aren't particularly noble. But, like, if you cause trouble in Rook Ridge, Rook Ridge will cause trouble back.
[00:40:53] Speaker A: So Frieda grew up around Rook Ridge?
[00:40:56] Speaker B: Yes. Yes.
[00:40:58] Speaker A: Thing is with Rookridge, Frieda says to the gang is it's full of people who have fallen through the gaps in life.
[00:41:07] Speaker B: Perfect.
[00:41:08] Speaker A: It is. It is.
It's full of cracks. And in order to make your way around that place, the last thing you need to do is stand out.
So how about I go poke around some of my old networks? I know a lot of.
Lot of the boys and girls and otherwise that, you know, still are quite heavily involved in the fighting rings.
And I also have. Still have some former associates from my. From my factory days.
There are a few so called guildmasters that operate out of that place.
None of them are very nice people, let's put it that way.
But how about I go.
Go find out which one exactly we're dealing with first? You know, find out how dangerous we're talking, because I think magpies. Right.
[00:42:15] Speaker C: We've.
[00:42:16] Speaker A: We've got to cover all angles on this one, okay?
[00:42:21] Speaker D: No one's in disagreement. Frida, did you want to go?
Is this a consort or a sway? I imagine consort. If there's people that you kind of know.
[00:42:33] Speaker A: Yeah, let's go consort. Okay, let's do that.
[00:42:38] Speaker D: In which case, yeah, you're.
[00:42:39] Speaker B: You.
[00:42:40] Speaker D: You know that probably the best place to go to. To kind of speak to people.
It's a very kind of hidden in plain sight kind of location.
Your best bet is going to be to head to the keel hall. So, it's one of the oldest pubs.
[00:42:54] Speaker B: In the city.
[00:42:57] Speaker D: And it's named because for what is effectively the front, like the bottom. It's a multi floor kind of tavern. The ground floor is stonework, and then the floors above it are made of. But the front of the venue, the front of the tavern, is actually built from the front part of a ship, so it kind of, like, juts out, like almost like an anvil head.
And surprisingly sturdy, despite everything by everything that's happened.
Yeah, you know that they've got all sorts of different types, types of kind of spirits and ales, as many as you can get from mushrooms and eels and even a dwindling supply of whiskeys.
That's specifically for the rich folk who are known to frequent the keel hall and one of the only places where the rich and the poor will, will happily, quote, unquote, rub shoulders just while they're enjoying the food and drink and music and whatnot.
It's the closest that, one of the closest things to pre Eschaton, Elysia, the.
[00:44:21] Speaker B: Inside of the keel hall.
[00:44:23] Speaker A: Oh, let's just hope they've forgotten that whole mishap with the table through the front window, eh?
[00:44:31] Speaker D: Okay, so as you go to meet your contacts, Romney, I consort.
[00:44:35] Speaker A: What position and am I doing is.
[00:44:40] Speaker D: I'm gonna say a risky standard.
[00:44:44] Speaker A: Risky standard.
[00:44:45] Speaker D: I mean, to be fair, this is.
[00:44:46] Speaker B: More just for the information you gather. So.
[00:44:56] Speaker A: One.
[00:44:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:44:58] Speaker D: Okay, so you, okay, so you gain exceptional details, complete information, follow up, reveal follow ups, reveal related information, slash more than expected. So just real quickly again, what was your kind of line of inquiry?
[00:45:17] Speaker A: So my line of inquiry was finding exactly who the Guildmaster is that we're, that we're stealing from, essentially who he is. Like, what his, what's dangerous about him, potentially? Like, what, what are his weak points? If I can, if I can get that far.
What's his favorite color?
[00:45:42] Speaker D: You. Okay, so you, favorite mushroom?
[00:45:47] Speaker B: Favorite mushroom.
[00:45:48] Speaker D: You go and meet, like, one of your old workhouse laborer buddies.
[00:45:57] Speaker E: And, like.
[00:45:57] Speaker D: You explain that, like, you give them the address details and this, this wolf, Kim man looks at you like you, he's very hard.
[00:46:10] Speaker I: How you doing?
[00:46:11] Speaker B: You good? Yeah, yeah.
[00:46:12] Speaker I: Amazing.
[00:46:14] Speaker D: And then when you say the address, like, you notice his eyes open wide and he goes a bit pale.
[00:46:25] Speaker I: Well, I mean, perhaps, perhaps I can do you one better than just giving you the name.
[00:46:36] Speaker D: All right, and this wolf kit, this burly wolf king, like, points a big kind of muscled, like a sinewy muscled tattooed arm. And, like, points to one of the, like, the booths on the second floor. And you see the booth is kind of covered by, by drapes.
[00:46:56] Speaker A: I said no funny business, is it now? I mean, you and I go way.
[00:47:02] Speaker D: Back, but the, the wolf kin like sympathetic nods and it will be fine.
[00:47:11] Speaker I: We're all, we're all watching up for you, all right?
[00:47:14] Speaker A: Just know if I get jumped up there, then I'm coming for you.
[00:47:18] Speaker D: The wolf kin, like, laughs at the threat, which isn't a dismissive laugh, it's a. Or there's the fire.
[00:47:26] Speaker B: There's the freedom fire.
[00:47:29] Speaker D: But as you kind of make your way through the keel hall, up, up the stairs, like, you can hear the bar, like the bard is kind of prancing and dancing and singing on the table below. In, like, the mess hall, you arrive at the booth and, yeah, it's covered by some drapes, so you can't really.
[00:47:50] Speaker B: See who's in it.
[00:47:52] Speaker D: Bar a pair of feet hanging from sort of like the seat at the table.
And you can see that between the two hanging feet is what appears to.
[00:48:03] Speaker B: Be a cane of some sort.
[00:48:09] Speaker D: And as you approach, you hear a.
[00:48:12] Speaker B: Very softly spoken come in.
[00:48:16] Speaker A: I enter cautiously.
[00:48:22] Speaker D: As you pulled the drape aside, sat on the other side of the table. So effectively, it's a semi circular table with a semicircular like seating, like a bench around it, and sat at the back with a glass, a full glass of that expensive whiskey. From the bar is a sprite, an Auron sprite with kind of lavender skin, sky blue white hair, rich sapphire eyes, one of which is obscured by a golden monocle, wearing a form fitted kind of green, green outfit with a very.
[00:49:11] Speaker B: Prominent gold chain hanging across his chest.
[00:49:18] Speaker D: And you're taken aback as you recognize this sprite as Odal Merce Oran.
[00:49:26] Speaker B: He's the guildmaster of the largest guild in the pillars.
[00:49:30] Speaker D: If there was a de facto leader.
[00:49:33] Speaker B: For the faction, it is this sprite man in front of you.
Please, take a seat.
[00:49:43] Speaker A: Breeder was not expecting that.
Oh, boy.
[00:49:49] Speaker B: It would seem that you were not expecting me.
[00:49:54] Speaker A: I think you could say that I.
Hello.
[00:50:00] Speaker B: Hello.
I'm sure, given your history and your upbringing, you are acutely aware of the dangers, the threats that present themselves to you, the threats that you must overcome in the most civil manner possible.
[00:50:23] Speaker A: Say that it's a mushroom eat mushroom world out there.
[00:50:29] Speaker B: Yes?
Dorothea is a hag of a woman.
[00:50:37] Speaker A: Aye, and she sounds like she been smoking 60 cigarettes a day since the day she was born, too.
[00:50:45] Speaker B: Yes, quite. It still behooves us to be as civil as we possibly can.
I understand that someone like her would not let you and your companions off.
[00:50:57] Speaker D: As lightly as you would have.
[00:50:58] Speaker B: She would. If you do not achieve what she wants you to, she will hound you like a. Like a fiend from the hells.
[00:51:07] Speaker A: And, uh. And how exactly do you. You seem to know exactly why I'm here.
And exactly what I'm about. Oh, how do you know so much?
[00:51:19] Speaker B: You see, knowing your competitors is all part of the business plan. Frieda, we have a counter proposal for you.
[00:51:32] Speaker A: I see.
[00:51:33] Speaker B: Dorothea would like you to investigate our actions regarding our inventory.
We would like to help you and keep her appeased, but not necessarily with our own inventory. It is fortress that it is you here speaking to me, rather than your companions. There is.
There was one of our own. Very, very successful. Made a lot of money.
But in recent times, he has become a bit too unreliable. And unreliability. He is bad for business.
We also know that he happens to be stockpiling a number of artifacts of interest.
So we propose that you instead go for his stash rather than ours. You pass it off as ours to Dorothea. She should be none the wiser.
Best of both worlds. You win. I win.
[00:52:49] Speaker A: I mean, it's definitely a tempting proposal, but despite my appearance, I don't actually like people getting hurt.
And at the moment, there's a risk that a very good friend of mine might get hurt if this goes wrong.
[00:53:10] Speaker B: Well, when I tell you that the inventory held by this ex chain bearer is impressive, there is.
It's. It's almost remarkable that he's been able to achieve as much as he has, which would lead me. Lead me to believe that he has new friends in support of him.
I appreciate your worry for your companions, but perhaps I have not been quite so forthcoming with the details.
I propose that instead of raiding our supplies, you target the inventory of one Caleb McNaughty.
[00:53:55] Speaker D: Oh, ever the.
[00:53:57] Speaker B: The man of whom religious virtue. We have found that McNaughty's practices are too unsavory for us, and thus, we have expelled him.
We stripped him of his chain.
Suffice to say, the man did not take it well.
[00:54:17] Speaker A: Unsavory? That's an understatement. Enough.
[00:54:21] Speaker B: Well, yes, he is fallen in on his religious fervor, but perhaps amusingly, so much so that even the faith have disowned him.
[00:54:35] Speaker A: Is that so?
I mean, any opportunity to give that man a bad day always sounds good to my ears, but I can't help think that I'm. That I'm being used as a bit of a poor here.
Oh. I want a little bit of information.
[00:54:56] Speaker B: Of course.
[00:54:57] Speaker A: Why are these artifacts so important to you?
Because when I say that, I don't like people getting hurt, it's not just my friends.
It's the people around here.
I know enough of Rookridge. And I've been. Been living here long enough to see so many people get hurt because of the machinations of people like you. No offense.
[00:55:28] Speaker B: None taken.
[00:55:30] Speaker A: And Caleb, he is.
He is a piece of work.
But how do I know that you're not any better?
[00:55:42] Speaker B: Because, dear Frieda, our intentions are noble.
[00:55:49] Speaker D: They are long term enough to be.
[00:55:52] Speaker B: Of use to the city of Elysia as a whole.
Because you are not the only one who knows. The veil is failing.
And through our efforts, through our inquiries into the artifact in which we are looking for, we are seeking to create a new veil.
One to replace the one we already have.
And the faith would deprive us of these artifacts, would deprive us of our prize, of our goal. And in doing so, will condemn the city to death.
[00:56:42] Speaker A: Well, that certainly is compelling.
What do you know of the purple lady?
[00:56:48] Speaker D: The sprite looks a little shocked and then ponders for a moment, and you can immediately kind of suss that this is the look of someone being very careful. Sort of like what they're saying or like what they're divulging.
[00:57:04] Speaker B: We had a meeting.
She is how I know the predicament of the city.
[00:57:14] Speaker A: Okay.
Okay, I believe you. I think you're being candid with me, Ole Miss.
And, uh.
And I thank you for that candidity.
I'll go back and speak to my crew.
Is there a way I can contact you?
[00:57:35] Speaker B: If you flag down a courier, you can have them sent to my offices.
[00:57:41] Speaker A: Right. Gotcha.
[00:57:44] Speaker B: Hey, I look forward to doing business with you, Frida.
[00:57:51] Speaker D: And the small sprite holds a hand out, which is tiny in comparison to your own.
[00:57:56] Speaker A: Frida is not used to delicate handshakes, so she kind of probably takes it a little bit too forcefully and sort of shakes it. But not in a.
[00:58:09] Speaker C: In a.
[00:58:09] Speaker A: In a malicious way, just in a. You know. Yeah, she's used to big, you know, gruff people with bulging muscles giving the sort of, you know, the full arm and like, back pats. Not this delicate little, you know, business handshake.
[00:58:29] Speaker D: Yeah, he seems taken. Taken off guard slightly, but yeah, the handshake he gives you in return. And he can only really wrap his hand around, like, three of your fingers, but, like, it's quite firm. In return.
[00:58:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:58:45] Speaker D: Are you heading off with that information?
[00:58:47] Speaker A: So, yes, I am indeed.
[00:58:49] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:58:51] Speaker A: I'm relaying it back to everyone.
[00:58:55] Speaker D: Okay, wonderful.
[00:58:56] Speaker B: Who.
[00:58:58] Speaker D: So with that information in mind, who else would like to gather information?
[00:59:04] Speaker C: I mean, that could radically change the information we're looking for. Right? I think we should decide as a group what we're doing with it.
[00:59:12] Speaker A: It help if I. Alongside. If Frieda, alongside, sort of relaying what she found out, tells the gang a little bit about this Caleb minulty.
[00:59:23] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:59:25] Speaker D: Okay, so in which case, yeah, Frida Frieda returns to the spectre and informs you of the counter proposal.
[00:59:34] Speaker A: I don't like to talk about my past very much.
It's a little bit of a sore subject. But I think it's quite fair to say that I've come from rough upbringings.
As far as I know, I was orphaned to the city and I was taken in by this one, Caleb McNulty, who raised me essentially on his factory floor. Him and his associates ran this factory for people who have slipped through the cracks. Like I said earlier, Rookridge is full of such people. And I was one of those people. And he raised me and pretty much set me to work from the time that I was able to walk to handle things.
And it wasn't just me. There were dozens, hundreds of people on that factory floor. We were brought up to think that that work that we were doing was a way of paying off a debt, a debt of living of them so called looking after us.
I don't know if you can really quote it, looking after, though, you know.
Well, it was no loving family, put it that way. Personally, I would like nothing more than to see the worst come to that man.
He is a brute and he sees.
He sees life as a commodity, something to exploit.
[01:01:30] Speaker B: So where's everyone's minds at?
[01:01:35] Speaker D: As Frieda explains the. The history of Caleb McNaughty and the counter proposal from Odel, Merce Oran, no less. And Magpie, you're like, you would certainly be a bit like, in inverted commas, he's the Jeff Bezos of Alicia.
[01:01:58] Speaker A: Yeah, he's a bit nicer than Jeff Bezos.
[01:02:01] Speaker D: Well, yeah, like, well, nice depends on how profitable things are.
But, like, odormas is top of the food chain when it comes to the pillars.
[01:02:17] Speaker A: For what it's worth, he seems sincere.
I definitely don't think that. I think if I had to pick between two rich bastards to hold that level of arcane power in the city, I would choose Odal Merce over McNulty anytime. No good can come from that man having access to these.
These kinds of.
This kind of power.
[01:02:46] Speaker G: I concur.
And we always have the details of Ouran's safe house for a later date if we need to hold it against him.
[01:02:54] Speaker H: I mean, would that even information still be accurate if he. Know what, Dorothy?
[01:03:07] Speaker G: Well, that's something I can look into with foresight. The problem at hand, I believe be best suited to tackling this McNulty character. And if it serves Frieda's personal vendettas, then I'm all for it.
[01:03:22] Speaker D: What's Magpie thinking about?
[01:03:25] Speaker B: Changing the objective parameters.
[01:03:33] Speaker C: I think hearing what Caleb's been doing and what he's done to Frieda and others like her, I think she's probably all for it. Like, she knew he was a very powerful, rich man with lots of businesses and ventures around the city. And I think she probably knew he had links with kind of, you know, orphaned children and stuff like that. But I don't think she quite understood quite how bad it was. So I think she's quite shocked and wants to help Frida get back at him. And she's probably also a bit disappointed in herself for not realizing how bad he was.
Sorry. Go ahead, Meg.
[01:04:22] Speaker A: Frieda sort of turns to Katherine and she says, I.
I think that the real risk here is that if it goes tits up, then this could come down on you from Dorothea.
So if we're gonna change plans, Catherine, I. I need your blessing, because I don't want you to.
To get the flack for it.
[01:04:51] Speaker E: Even if we were successful in changing our plan.
But Dorothea was to find out at a later date, there would be repercussions from that.
However, if it means she gets something that she wants and you also get something that you want, then I'm fully in heart for it. So, yes, let's do it.
[01:05:22] Speaker D: Okay. So it looks like we are changing our mission from Dorothea's to Odin Mercy's, and you are heading after Caleb instead. So, Algaon, once again, you compare the. The dress that Frieda has been given, and it is another dress in Rook Ridge. Like another kind of safe house of sorts. So you have your target. Perhaps there will be a new slew of gather informations, but we will have to see. I think we're gonna call it a break there. So.
So if you enjoyed that little plot twist, make sure to, like the video and comment down below.
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So in that case. Yeah, thanks for watching. Thanks for playing. First off, we'll see you in a bit.
