Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello and welcome to explorers of elsewhere's second campaign. Hi. Hi. Hello. How you doing? It's you.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: It's me. It's all of us.
[00:00:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
Hello.
Hello.
We're having an evening, aren't we?
Emotional roller coaster. It's been a long time coming, but hello, all you beautiful people who have joined who have joined the player seats, jumped in the player seats. I'm DM Dan.
These are my beautiful new crew members. Crew mates, crew members, something along those lines.
We've got a Julia. We've got an errol.
[00:00:42] Speaker B: We've got a JC.
[00:00:43] Speaker A: We've got a Nate.
[00:00:44] Speaker B: We've got a meg.
[00:00:45] Speaker A: Hello. Hello.
[00:00:47] Speaker C: Hi.
[00:00:48] Speaker D: Hello.
[00:00:49] Speaker E: Hi.
[00:00:50] Speaker C: We've also got two daisies in the chat.
[00:00:53] Speaker A: We have got two daisies. Yes.
Cat Cam is now officially going to be a thing.
Yes. We have arrived on this auspicious day, which is the start of the second campaign of the elsewhere setting. Alicia rising. I'm excited. I don't know if you could tell.
Are you five?
Are you excited? Are you pumped? Are you ready?
[00:01:23] Speaker F: No, not really.
[00:01:27] Speaker C: Pumped.
[00:01:28] Speaker A: Of course we are. Amazing, right?
[00:01:30] Speaker D: The great thing about blaze is you don't have to be ready. You can do it in flashback.
[00:01:37] Speaker A: You can retroactively be happy. Amazing. Well, there's new campaign, there's a new cast, and also there's a new title screen. I reckon we should watch it right now.
[00:01:57] Speaker G: Welcome to Alicia, the jewel of the north. On our gilded streets, fortune and fame can be found by anyone.
[00:02:08] Speaker C: Hi, I'm Julia and I'm playing Magpie, an ace of r lurk.
[00:02:13] Speaker H: Hi, I'm Nate and I'm playing cavern, a dragon scent slide.
[00:02:19] Speaker C: Hi, I'm Meg.
[00:02:20] Speaker F: I'm playing Frida, a wolfkin cutter.
[00:02:24] Speaker D: Hi, I'm JC and I'll be playing Alganon, an ace of r spider.
[00:02:29] Speaker E: Hello, I'm Errol. I am playing Atta, a goblin whisper.
[00:02:34] Speaker A: And my name is DM Dan. I will be the games master on this adventure.
[00:02:39] Speaker G: Now, 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 Alicia.
[00:03:02] Speaker A: Anyone with the ability to remember has memories of a beautiful world filled with flourishing civilizations and peace and prosperity. These are the kinds of memories we cling on to to lift our spirits.
But anyone with ability to remember will also have memories of seeing their first gods descending from the skies, the conflict that engulfed elsewhere and the devastation that followed in the lead up to the eschaton for most, the cataclysmic crisis that shattered and restructured the world is a memory they have started to put behind them as two years have passed since the end of the war of dragons. As we speak, explorer expeditions have struck out into the wilderness, new towns and outposts being established, and civilizations are piecing themselves back together.
But most is not all. Some remain lost, struggling to survive in an unprecedented hell. This is the story of the fall and rise of Alicia.
And so we find in a swirling sea of pinks and purples a gleaming blue sphere, ever so slightly translucent.
And within the sphere is a skyline of a once great city called Alicia, and counterpoint to the somewhat bleak situation that Alicia finds herself in.
The people of Alicia are coming together with a tad more happiness than they might normally have.
Children, orphans run through the streets, laughing and crying, shoving and pushing into one another in a playful manner as matrons and carers desperately try to herd them together. There are barks and calls from pop up market vendors desperately trying to sell different types of mushroom based cuisines.
But for all the extra splashes of color, all seem to be gravitating towards the center of the sphere spire park, once a place of gleaming white stone roads, soaring towers topped with azure tiles, all glimmering in the sun.
The purple light that rains down from above diminishes it somewhat, but not enough to dull the spirits of the citizens of Alicia.
As the crowds gather in the shadow of the large castle keep that dominates the center of this city district known as Spire park.
As they gather into a place that was once verdant and green, but now is a peculiarly pale, petrified kind of color.
There is excitement, there is trepidation, there is hope for what is to come.
As the crowds murmur and chatter excitedly to one another, eyes turn to what appears to be a stage of sorts that has been erected under the Statue of Liberation, a statue, relatively new, less than two years old, just over two years old, that commemorates the removal of the traitorous house antelier, the ace of our great house, who once upon a time built this fine city.
The statue celebrates the freedom the city of Alicia won for itself during the war of dragons, when house Antelir was found to be traitorous and cast from the city.
An elderly female keeper slowly ascends a flight of stairs up to the stage, wearing rather regal and fine clothing, which for the crowds, quite unusual for her.
And with a smile, the elderly keeper, called Tavarian, looks across the gathered crowds of Alicia, and a heartfelt smile spreads across her face.
As she raises her hand gently, the crowds begin to simmer down.
Children of Alicia, she begins, I am honored to see you all here on this day.
This day marks the second anniversary of the shrouding, and it is on this day that my mind remembers everything we have sacrificed and fought for to make it to this day.
It reminds me of all of our heroism.
It reminds me of all of our pain and loss that. It reminds me that we are one.
As the old keeper continues her speech, one individual, one listener may or may not find himself slightly distracted from what the old lady is saying.
Algonon, where do we find you?
[00:10:16] Speaker D: So, within the crowd of people, from behind a grey umbrella, keeping him sheltered from the constant drizzle that he's become accustomed to. In Alicia, we see Algonon Cardwalida, dashing acevar with black hair and piercing red eyes.
He walks around underneath a heavy cloak with the aid of a crutch on his right arm.
His hood is up, concealing his features somewhat from the rest of the crowd.
And he is paying attention.
He is paying attention to what Torvienne is saying, taking it with a pinch of salt.
Taking it with a pinch of salt.
But he's also scouring the crowd, looking for one person in particular.
[00:11:28] Speaker A: As you kind of scan the crowds left and right, even as you stand up straight as, as best you can to see, to peer over the heads of the other crowds, you struggle to kind of pick out someone who you would assume to be quite easy to pick out given the description of this mysterious person.
And as you kind of frown to yourself, this park is busier than you, perhaps, well, maybe you did expect it to be this busy. But your head glances up to one of the nearby rooftops of one of the tall kind of noble buildings off to the sides of the park.
And as you peer up, you see a shadowy figure crouched like a gargoyle.
Magpie, why are you up on the roofs?
[00:12:46] Speaker C: Magpie has gone up onto a roof overlooking the park to get a better view of the crowd. She's managed to slip away from her family, who were obviously at the speech, listening down in the crowd. I think she said something about, oh, I see my friends. And she sort of slipped away and got the dark cloak, hooded cloak out of her bag that she was carrying and managed to make it up, shimmy up into an alley and shimmy up onto a rooftop. And so she's having a look from up there to see if she can spot this person that they are meant to be looking for, this purple clad lorevar I believe so. She's scanning the crowd from above. She likes to have high vantage points.
[00:13:41] Speaker A: And from your purchase, you scan the crowds. You can see quite impressively be, it looks like from way up here.
It's almost like the entirety of Alicia is beginning to filter into Unity park to listen to Tavaren, the sweetheart, the mother of Alicia, the grandmother of Alicia. Some have referred to her as and as you see, even from where you are.
Whilst you maybe can't pick out all of the words that she's saying, her calm, seemingly soft voice still has this kind of presence and resonance, almost as if everyone is deliberately kind of focusing on listening to her words, such as the respect that the people of Alicia have for this old keeper.
[00:14:50] Speaker C: Magpie definitely smiles with appreciation at Tavarian's words. I think she has a lot of admiration for her.
[00:15:03] Speaker A: Out of curiosity, Magpie, what was it that Tavarian did over the space of the last two years that really kind of won you round?
[00:15:14] Speaker C: I think it's just the way she is such a. She cares so much for the people of Alicia and uses her reputation and her influence to better the lives of people who are less fortunate, who go without. I think that's the thing that magpie, I don't know. There's probably been quite a lot of specific acts that she's done, but overall, I think it's just her dedication to the city and the people Magpie really admires.
[00:15:45] Speaker A: Okay, as you think back to that, in the crowd, you catch, you glance upon Algonon, who's peering up to you on your perch.
And as you return to your scanning duties, who do you spot in the crowd?
[00:16:08] Speaker C: I think my eyes alight upon a rather muscular lady.
[00:16:17] Speaker A: Okay, as you glance upon this rather kind of stocky, well muscled woman, what do we find doing?
[00:16:30] Speaker F: Oh. So Frida, who, as you both put it quite succinctly, is quite muscular, quite brawny, and sort of hair tied back, very sort of quite plainly dressed in fairly plain clothes too.
But she will be by the city watch and some of the guards that are sort of overseeing this event, particularly on the sort of the more of the sort of outskirts, the ones that aren't necessarily on full duty of guarding Tavarian and will be doing her best to distract them with banter and sort of rib old chatter and maybe even sort of a challenge or two to an arm wrestle while the sort of the goings on of the crowd happen around them, just in an attempt to sort of distract them away from other members of the crew that might be skulking around, sort of draw, draw their eye and attention.
[00:17:56] Speaker A: Sure.
In which case, as you kind of relatively flippantly interact with some of the city guard and looking around, as you would kind of expect, there are a lot of city guard in this place as well. And you can see from the differentiations in the patterns and like heraldries on their circular shields that it's all different kind of precincts from around the city, all kind of converging here.
And there's a couple of guard that after kind of giving each other a little glance, kind of step forward to take you up on some of your offers of feats of strength and arm wrestling before who you presume to be almost like sergeants, pulling them back in line and briefly chastising them and flicking you a look as if to say piss off.
And as you kind of smirk to yourself, you hear an applause and a cheer from the crowd, and clearly they've reacted to something that Tavarian has mentioned in her speech.
And as you look up to peer at the old keeper on the stage all the way on the other side of this crowd, your eyes are drawn to Tavarian's right and stood behind her with somewhat less joy and enthusiasm. On his face, as the crowd has, is a rather stiff and stuffy looking bald lorevar, with a sweeping kind of curled moustache, mutton chops, wearing a very kind of regal looking red sash across his chest, his arms like his hands clasped at the small of his back as if standing to attention.
And even from this distance you can pick out that ever so slight sneer that he has on his face as he stares at the back of this old keeper's head.
You recognize this man as Marshal Guillon Algarve, the marshal of the city watch and currently ruler of Alicia, thanks to the continuing martial law that has been established for the past two and a bit years.
Flanking martial Algarve are two heavily black armored soldiers. You call them soldiers in contrast to the guard that you've been chatting to. You recognize these as the black guard.
They stand stoically. They're gold face masks gleaming in the purple light that comes down from above, authoritatively holding the wicked looking halberds that they're known for wielding.
And as you watch Algarve, Tavarean says something and you see him kind of like roll his eyes, shake his head ever so slightly and then carry on, like putting on a begrudging smile for the crowds as you sort of like laugh and kind of turn back to look through the crowds who do you see?
[00:21:48] Speaker F: I see a rather handsome and well dressed dragon scent.
[00:21:57] Speaker A: Okay.
In which case, yeah, as this kind of burly Wolfgang woman appears across, what do we find? Cavern doing?
[00:22:10] Speaker H: So, Cavern, who is a sort of light greyish lilac dragon scent with piercing blue eyes, standing there quite well dressed in his sort of finest that he can find at that time, is actually standing with a couple of other sort of more sort of more aristocratic group of people.
And he is currently sort of holding his arm for a lady, a lure of our lady, who's currently sort of hugging his arm tightly as her sort of companion for the day's events. And while she is sort of tittering to her friends, who are sort of around there as well, Averyn is sort of sort of looking in, pretending that he's listening, engaging, laughing, chortling politely, but also sort of scouring the crowd as well for the target that we've been given.
[00:23:21] Speaker A: Okay.
Have you very casually asked any of your companions if they've seen this kind of purple clad lore of our lady, or are you just engaging in their Tata tet?
[00:23:38] Speaker H: I'm more engaging in their tata tet. I'm sort of not pulling, not trying to pull away the engagement from them. If they feel like I'm looking at other ladies, then obviously that's not going to be good for the day's events.
[00:23:56] Speaker A: Of course, in which case, as you kind of do your due diligence with the smiling and the nodding and the laughing, when required, the company that you're with, they're kind of looking over with their parasols kind of resting on their collarbones.
She is wonderful, isn't she? I mean, she's not got any money or anything like that, but she's like a nan, isn't she? She's like the nan we never had. Oh, we do love. Tafarian is a sweetheart, bless her. She doesn't look like she's got much left in her, but I'm glad that she's here. You hear them just kind of whittering to each other, and as you take the opportunity to glance left and right, you spy, like, you happen to glance down slightly through the crowds and you spy a peculiar goblin.
What is Ata doing?
[00:25:11] Speaker E: Atta is let's go with, like, just over three foot tall. Let's go around about that.
[00:25:20] Speaker A: Very small.
[00:25:20] Speaker E: Yeah, very small.
In some reasonably clean, like overalls, in a bright yellow and distinctly mismatched boots. So definitely two different boots on the feet.
She has long dark hair that goes right past her butt to the backs of her thighs. It's kind of frizzy from the rain.
She's sort of chewing on what looks like a sort of dried rat's tail in the same way that you would, like, chew on licorice, just like, gnawing on the end of. And she. She has whatever Alicia passes for the paper, the daily paper, kind of over the top of her head to try and keep some rain off of the top of her head. Just kind of balanced there.
And she's doing a couple of things. She's listening to.
Can you pronounce the name again, please, Dan?
[00:26:31] Speaker A: Tavarian.
[00:26:34] Speaker E: She's listening to Tavarian, but every now and again, she's looking in the crowds. She seems fixated on a number of things and then kind of snaps out and kind of does a little bit more of a searching motion, presumably for this purple clad individual that we're looking for, but just maybe only once or twice during the speech, she kind of looks a little bit more skyward and kind of slack jaw, chewing on the rat's tail, staring up at the sphere.
[00:27:06] Speaker A: Okay, so, yeah, as you glance up at the blue energy field that arcs overhead, it's peculiar. As you look kind of like wherever you're looking at it directly, it's almost completely see through. It's only as it kind of reaches the peripherals of your vision that it becomes a bit more opaque. In a very kind of sky blue, like electric sky blue. But through the part that you're directly looking at, you can see this roiling kind of purple thing, like this fuchsia miasma.
And you squint ever so slightly because every so often, what could almost constitute as, like, a face appears like someone pressing their face against a window, peering in before the shapes shift and move away.
And have you got any kind of trinkets or doodads with you?
[00:28:13] Speaker E: The doodads and trinkets.
Know, I feel like there might have been some kind of talking to before we left the hideout. They're mostly hidden in pockets and pouches at the moment. Not to kind of draw too much suspicion at the nature of the doodads and the what sits that Atta keeps upon her person.
[00:28:32] Speaker A: Okay.
As you're kind of gazing up, lost in a bit of a daydream, you hear just to your side, you got a tail, and you glance down to see a young kind of lore of our girl who.
She's quite kind of muddy, she's got mud and dirt on her face, but she's clearly been dressed in, like, the finest dress, that kind of goes down to her knees kind of thing, like a little roughly sleeves and whatnot.
The family's best dress for her, but yeah, say, bit of dirt and mud on her face, like there's a string of boogers and snot running down from her nostril, and she's looking at you with puffy, freckled cheeks. But yeah, she's just looking like at the slightly swishing kind of tail that's poking up from your fire length hair. I've never seen a copying river tail.
[00:29:39] Speaker E: Before, she says, no, you have.
[00:29:45] Speaker A: And you watch as like, this girl's eyes light up for a moment and then she just runs off, like shouting, matron, Matron, I found a gobbler with a tail. She says she's lost to the crowds.
And I guess for you it would be quite odd, because as far as you've known, you've had a tale for all your life, as did the rest of your family.
But yes, you've noticed that other goblins tend not to mention it. You might catch a couple of furtive looks, but otherwise it doesn't really come up, apart from with children, it would seem.
And as you kind of turn your head away from the small child to carry on, kind of looking back up at the bubble, you hear like another kind of applause from the crowd as Tavarian continues her speech.
Algonon. You furrow your brow as it's ever so slightly frustrating that you haven't managed to find your target yet. Even though you've got all of your fellow crewmates spread out through Unity park, no one's kind of let you know that they've laid eyes on this lorevar.
And as you think back to the meeting that led you here, the sounds and colors around you kind of fade away as you kind of move into your memories.
Would it be safe to say that all five of you were in attendance?
Yeah.
In which case the meeting itself took place in, like, the upstairs office study of a converted townhouse.
Clearly the prized possession of the rather overweight and sweaty goblin in front of you was the large, lacquered wooden table that he currently kind of has his feet up on as he leans back in a creaky chair.
And because of the angle with which he's leaning, his chins kind of squish slightly against his breastbone as he tips up his kind of bowler hat to get a better look at you with his squinty little eyes.
Musto varm, the kingpin, if you will, of the coalition of gangs known as the cobbles.
And he studies you.
So he studies you with his eyes. And you see him just sort of like rolling his kind of cane, his kind of gem encrusted cane in his right hand.
[00:33:10] Speaker B: Look, it's an easy job, okay? But basically, ever since you've decided to spring up in my turf, I'll very be quick to remind you.
I feel that just a small task.
[00:33:30] Speaker A: And we can let relatively bygones be bygones.
I hear you're pretty good at moving through the city with a bit of subtlety.
[00:33:45] Speaker B: And unfortunately, I would have some of my boys do this job for me, but it would seem that they're a bit too loud.
I'll pay you, obviously, as long as you get me the information I need. But there are rumors, I've been told, as this strange woman has been seen walking around the streets.
She's been noticed looking at a couple of my holdouts. I hear that she's been snooping around.
[00:34:25] Speaker A: She'S been accosting some of the guards. She's been seen in quite a lot.
[00:34:30] Speaker B: Of the gamblings at the tellers. Thing is, no one's ever seen her before. And then suddenly she's all over the place. And you know what that says to me?
[00:34:44] Speaker A: And he leaves with very long pause.
[00:34:48] Speaker F: Aye, it seems to be musto, that if you want to get yourself a girl, you know, you can take ads out in the paper for that. It only costs a couple of silver.
[00:35:02] Speaker A: Flecks of spit fly out of his mouth as he kind of.
And yeah. Algonon, you have to move your hand ever so slightly to avoid one of the spittle bubbles from landing on the back of your palm.
[00:35:14] Speaker B: No, it means she's up to no good.
I don't like people who are up to no good unless it's my people doing the no good. All right.
It's an easy drop. I just want you to find this woman tailor a little bit. Find out what she's up to if you have to break a couple of ribs in the process. I'm not condoning that. Maybe I am. If you have to, then you have to. But the more subtle you can do it, the better. Because if I can find out what she's up to without her knowing that I know what she's up to, I'll be laughing.
[00:36:00] Speaker D: Musto.
We've done this dance several times before, you know. We are smugglers.
Perhaps if we do this job for you, you might land an actual smuggling job across our desk.
[00:36:15] Speaker A: He.
He thinks about it like you see him. He's.
He does the thing that, you know, he does when he's deep in genuine thought, you see him start chewing on the inside of his gums.
[00:36:34] Speaker B: Well, tell you what, I've got a couple of enterprises that are springing up a couple of. Couple of little passion projects, you could call them, just kind of popping up here and there around the city, and some of them may involve transferring supplies from a to b.
So if you can demonstrate to me your discretion in doing this job, then I suspect I will be that much more confident to give you one of these logistical jobs.
[00:37:15] Speaker D: Well, it must be a relief for you to have a competent crew in your pocketbook for a change.
[00:37:23] Speaker A: As you say that, his face goes a bit blank as he looks at you. And the rest of you all, you all kind of immediately hear you see, you comprehend the zinger the Algonon's just launched out. But musto blinks at you a few times and it's quite clear he didn't get.
[00:37:52] Speaker B: Of course.
So if you're all interested, let's say it would be an introductory fee.
We'll say four gold for information you can bring, substantial information you can bring me back on this, on this woman.
I had lazy Tom do a sketch.
[00:38:21] Speaker A: Of her and he slides across this really badly drawn picture of what you presume to be a lore of our woman.
But even through the kind of lacking artistic direction, there are a number of very kind of defining features that stand out. This woman appears to be wearing like a top hat. She seems to have dark hair bar a shock of light hair running across her sort of right fringe to look at it. Magpie, as you kind of peer down at the picture, she almost looks like a circus ringleader from the days of past when there were circuses in Alicia, her face is like, you notice that she's had a pair of, they look like glasses perched on her nose, and you suspect they're sort of like pince nez.
So a pair of those glasses, those have been kind of drawn in very thickly over the top of her face, which is just like a circle with two dots and a line for a mouth kind of thing.
And she appears to be kind of. She has a cane, crudely, like a walking stick type thing drawn in her right hand.
[00:39:59] Speaker B: You'll clearly be able to immediately identify from this drawing.
Lazy Tom's a bit of a virtuoso with the charcoal, as you can see.
[00:40:10] Speaker D: Quite. I imagine Rick will see it next summer in the National Gallery.
[00:40:15] Speaker A: As I say, I've got a few.
[00:40:17] Speaker B: Passion projects, but yes, well, unless you've got any questions?
We have our suspicions. Like, given that she's getting her nose into all of our businesses, we can't help but imagine that she's probably going to be in and around Unity park when that old bird Tavareen is giving her a speech. When she rattles on for ages about everyone being happy and everyone working together.
That's a brand new idea.
So I reckon you get your little peepers down to that park, and then you'll be able to sniff her out dead easy. And when you do see what she's up to, give her a little follow, see how she goes.
Don't spook her unless you have to.
But you come back and you tell me, even if it's where I can find her after the fact.
Any questions?
[00:41:21] Speaker F: Well, I mean the obvious.
[00:41:25] Speaker B: Go on, love.
[00:41:28] Speaker F: When we find her, what do you want us to tell her? Do you want us to approach her on your behalf?
[00:41:36] Speaker B: Well, no. This is what I mean. If you can be a bit discreet. If you can find out stuff about her without her knowing that you found out stuff about her.
[00:41:45] Speaker E: Right.
[00:41:45] Speaker B: Then that means that I'll know stuff about her without her knowing that I know stuff about her.
[00:41:49] Speaker F: I see, right. Like her favorite food and where she likes to go for warps on the.
[00:41:57] Speaker C: Weekend, what flowers she likes.
[00:42:02] Speaker A: I mean, the goblin blinks quickly for a few moments.
[00:42:08] Speaker B: If you're good enough to find out that, then bloody hell, you are confident in you.
[00:42:16] Speaker F: Like Algie said.
[00:42:19] Speaker A: And the like throws a look to you. Cavern.
[00:42:24] Speaker B: And you, pretty boy, you keep your mitts off her. At least for now.
Maybe we'll need your skills at a later point. All right.
[00:42:36] Speaker H: Okay.
You just let me know.
[00:42:41] Speaker A: Absolutely, he says, and he kind of mops his top lip and yeah, if there were no other questions.
Algonon, we return to the present as you shudder slightly at the thought of that little gremlin of goblin.
And yeah, he was right. It should have been relatively easy to see someone as kind of stand outish as a slurrifile. But no, what do you do in this moment?
[00:43:23] Speaker D: So I'm going to make my way through the crowd towards where Cavern is, and I'm going to approach the little group of people around him and just speak to the lady he's accompanying.
Excuse me, miss. I am an old soldier and I was wondering if I could borrow the dragon scent to bless my injured leg, just for a second.
[00:43:51] Speaker A: And the two women in the group that caverns in turn to look to you, and as they, one of them turns and starts to say they stop and look at you and stare for a moment too long to be comfortable because you know that in this moment these two lorevar women are staring directly into your eyes.
Your.
[00:44:21] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:44:22] Speaker A: Bright red eyes.
And they immediately kind of seemingly throws them onto the back foot slightly. And they of course.
Come on, Tilly. But Papa was saying that he needed us anyway. And the two women, like one of them places a hand on your shoulder cavern. And then they scoot away.
As they do, the final member of the group, like a really kind of quiffy young Lorevar man turns around.
Where did Tilly go?
If you find them, tell them that I'm looking for them. He says to you, catherine, the young man kind of looks you up and down. Algonon. And then this oath disappears in the other direction. Looking for the two girls.
[00:45:25] Speaker H: I'm sure you're used to it, Ali, but don't pay any mind to them.
[00:45:30] Speaker D: Yes, quite. Well, maybe your divine nature can heal my affliction. Any sign of our quarry cavern?
[00:45:37] Speaker H: Not that I've seen, no. I mean, obviously there's quite an eclectic amount of people around here, but I can't say that it's been.
Any luck?
[00:45:53] Speaker D: No.
[00:45:53] Speaker A: Al.
[00:45:53] Speaker D: I've yet to find our purple suited ringmaster as expertly drawn by Lazy Tom.
[00:46:05] Speaker H: I was quite eager to ask whether or not lazy Tom was actually three years old or something.
[00:46:10] Speaker A: But.
[00:46:12] Speaker H: I guess this is all we've like.
[00:46:15] Speaker A: As you say that, Cameron, you hear yet another kind of ripple of applause and cheering through the crowd. There's a couple of like kind of bursting from the gathered masses and it seems like her speech is coming to a close.
Catherine, you have spent a large majority of your life kind of using your words to manipulate people.
And as you kind of look over at Tavarian, who's arguably kind of doing the same but perhaps with different intentions.
What is it that kind of warmed you up to the old deer?
[00:47:03] Speaker H: Avrin has definitely seen her have talks with people from the church in sort of civilized debates, I would say.
And he has seen a couple of times her actually making his old mentor quite flustered during these debates, which is a very rare sight.
And he highly appreciates seeing that.
[00:47:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
If there's something that you definitely know about Tavarem, like her physical posture is arguably quite disarming and no one expects the kind of firebrand oratory that comes out of her mouth as she deftly outmaneuvers people in kind of arguments and seemingly gets them to agree to things that they arguably wouldn't want to agree to. Without kind of they only realize when it's too late kind of thing.
And hence how she's been able to kind of accomplish and achieve so much for the common people.
Yeah. As you kind of look over at her and you kind of smile to yourself as you watch this maestro at work.
Yeah. What is it you do with Alganon at your side?
[00:48:37] Speaker H: I think we need to check in with the others.
Maybe they've had a bit more luck.
[00:48:42] Speaker A: Sure.
As you mentioned that Atta, again, as you're kind of staring up, kind of lost in thought. As you stare at the blue shimmering field overhead, this shadow looms over you and Frieda. You kind of just move your head slowly into Atta's field of view from.
Found you. Found your goblin companion.
[00:49:16] Speaker E: She sees you make a better door than a window.
[00:49:25] Speaker F: Right. Coming from you, I have no idea whether that's a compliment or not. So I'll take it as the former. I think.
Yeah.
Have you been keeping an eye out for this woman? I've just been speaking to the boys in the city watch and no one's seen anyone of her description about. I think it's a bit of a lost cause if you ask me.
[00:49:48] Speaker E: No, I haven't seen her. But I was going to maybe ask the kids if they wanted to play a game. Find the purple cloak.
[00:50:04] Speaker F: Right. You know what? That's actually a pretty good.
I mean, you know, better than nothing.
[00:50:11] Speaker E: But who's good with kit? Is cavern good with kids?
[00:50:18] Speaker F: I don't know. I saw you speaking to some stock nosed brat earlier. So I think you're probably better with kids than Catherine. You probably, I don't know, charm them to death.
[00:50:34] Speaker E: Yeah, we don't want that. Okay, I'll go start a game, I guess.
You tell Cavern and Algonon that I gonna go over there.
[00:50:50] Speaker F: I absolutely. I've heard kids like fireworks. Maybe show off some of your lovely firework collection. I know you always keep a couple on you and Frida gives Atta a sort of conspiratory wink.
[00:51:05] Speaker E: Sure, Atta gives you like a really big one back, but it kind of glitches a bit and then sort of spins and heads towards where the kids ran off to.
[00:51:22] Speaker A: In which case, as you kind of rush up to like, there is a gaggle of children.
And it's clear that they are from one of Elise's kind of many orphanages. They all seem to have like a coloured bit of ribbon attached to them, like tied around their arms. So the orphanage workers know which ones are theirs.
As you approach. And a couple of kids kind of turn and look to you and they don't seem as kind of shy around you as they do the adults, like everyone else around them. Perhaps because you are all of a similar height.
Are you kind of tasking these kids to.
[00:52:11] Speaker E: Yeah, I think because I don't have any pips in social skills.
Okay, Dan, are you ready for my pitch?
[00:52:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:52:27] Speaker E: I'm going to approach these kids and I'm going to kind of look in my pockets for any sort of the just unhinged junk that I cobble together with things like toys, anything that looked. I make things that look ridiculous and dangerous. Like, you know, in toy story, all the weird looking creepy toys think that, but, like, extra dangerous.
I'm going to kind of rummage around in my bag for one of these hellish contraptions and kind of go, hey, kids, I want to play a game. And if you can win, and winning is when you find.
When I think you find a person or people wearing purple, I'm going to show you how cool these toys, how much fire these toys can make.
Can that be, tinker?
[00:53:36] Speaker A: Well, straight on, bartic, there's just a smorgasbord of just wonderstruck faces.
Like their eyes are bulging out their heads almost as much as your own and they're excited, murmuring throughout amongst the children.
And one of them, a slightly kind of pudgier little boy with kind of bracer, trouser like, dungry type things, looks left and right and goes, I'm going to find her first. Just barely rushes off into the crowds and you hear like a cry of surprise from one of the carers. And whilst the carers distracted, the other kids, like, taking it as their opportunity, they all kind of scatter as well. Just kind of leaving you with your little trinket, stood in front of the orphanage worker.
[00:54:29] Speaker E: Could I possibly, if I have a rough idea of where Magpie might be, I just kind of look and glance around the roofs and just try and make some eye contact.
[00:54:41] Speaker C: Magpie, you do catch sight of the roof that you sort of last saw Magpie on. And she catches your gaze and you just see a kind of like a shrug from this shadowy figure.
Not seen them.
[00:55:00] Speaker F: Well, breeder's going to come behind you and just clap her hand on your shoulder. But I can see. I knew you added in time.
[00:55:11] Speaker E: Thanks. Well, maybe they find someone and maybe our eyes in the skies will see.
[00:55:22] Speaker A: Well, as you kind of suppose that to Frieda magpie, up from your vantage point, as you peer down, you see these small little shapes of the children kind of disappearing into the crowds. And you see sort of like Atar and Frieda looking up at you. And as you glance over, you can see Algonon and cavern kind of on the other side over that way.
And it would seem that there's a final kind of cheer and applause.
And you see tavarian kind of just slowly and gingerly do a little bit of a bow. And she kind of, like, holds her hands up. And she's kind of pumping the crowd a little bit just to giving them a little wave. And it would seem that her speech is coming to an end.
As that happens, you notice, like a squire or a scribe of some sort, like a messenger. They definitely look like a messenger who kind of sneaks up onto the stage, sort of like behind everyone else. And this individual approaches marshal Algarve. And you see them sort of like, whisper something in Algarve's ear.
And even from this distance, like Algarve's body language is clear as day to read that he did not appreciate the news that he'd just been given.
And you see him look from the messenger. And then his gaze turns back to Tavarien.
And then looking as he sees the crowd start to disperse, Algarve says something to one of the black guards. And they quite quickly remove themselves from the stage and disappear back towards the keep.
And as you ponder what on earth was happening as the crowds begin to disperse, you can start to see that as the crowd becomes thinner, you can see the children kind of moving about and sort of like, seemingly harassing people that are wearing the slightest shades of purple and trying to drag them back through the crowds. And a lot of these kind of adults are like, get off. Like, throw the kids off. But as they do, you notice that more and more of them are gravitating to a spot relatively near the front of the stage, quite central.
And as the crowds part, you see a couple of the kids stop as they notice a woman wearing a shocking purple coat with a top hat, both hands lent, like holding the top of a cane, a walking stick that's kind of pressed against the ground.
And as the kids surround her, you see the woman kind of slowly look down to them and just sort of, like, chatter and nod. And she kneels down on one knee and starts talking to the kids.
And you realize, based off lazy Tom's rather suspect drawing, this is almost certainly her.
[00:58:54] Speaker C: Okay, so I'm immediately going to see if I can catch the eye of someone on my crew.
I know Algie and Cavern are together. Atta and Frieda are together. So I'm going to see if any of them are kind of looking so that I can sort of give a signal and point in that direction.
[00:59:17] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:59:18] Speaker A: Okay.
In which case, the other four of you collectively, as you peer up at Magpie, it's quite clear that Magpie has noticed something.
And when you see your ace of r companion, like, frantically pointing towards the front of the now dispersing crowd, Magpie, as you kind of look back, you see that the kids have kind of taken a step back from the woman, and they all appear to be clutching something.
And as one of them moves what they're holding excitedly in their hands, you see the glints of the purple light coming from above reflect off what seems to be a coin, a gold coin.
And the kids, just like you see them looking at each other excitedly and then just kind of wildly running off into the crowd, seemingly forgetting an atta's prize because they've just been given gold coins.
[01:00:17] Speaker C: Right?
[01:00:19] Speaker A: And you watch the lore of our woman stand back up straight, watches the children disperse. And then there's a moment where she looks up to the stage and she and Tavarien both catch one another's gazes.
And Tavarien, who up to this point had a very. I've just given the speech, and I'm being the kind of the mascot of the city. Happy, happy.
There's a moment where she freezes. She sees the lore of our woman, and the demeanor changes for a moment before she also leaves the stage.
And as you see that, as the purple woman, Lorevar looks around the crowd, sees everyone dispersing. You see her begin to head what is colloquially known as north, given that there is no real compass direction in this place, but north towards Abbott's gate.
[01:01:22] Speaker C: Okay, now that I have spotted our target, I'm going to climb down as fast as I can and start moving north towards wherever she seems to be heading to.
[01:01:36] Speaker A: Okay.
In which case, yeah, as you begin heading down, are you kind of rendezvousing with the others or you?
[01:01:43] Speaker C: If I can smoothly do it without losing too much time, I will absolutely try and meet up with the others. Yeah, sure.
[01:01:50] Speaker A: In which case, as you begin heading down, now, having clocked your eyes on your mark and as you rush to kind of join up, rejoin your companions.
Let's go. A quick break.
Hi, DM Dan here. Thank you so much for watching the first episode of the brand new second campaign in the elsewhere setting, Alicia Rising. If you liked what you saw, make sure to hit the like button and comment down below and remember to subscribe and hit the bell icon for notifications of any new uploads.
