Episode 11: Under the Rubble Transcript
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JAS: As the world caves in, only one thought dances through his head. They don’t deserve this. They have no right to wield any kind of power. This belongs in his hands, not theirs. And if he has to take it from them, then so be it. But for now, he’ll let them… recover. Pull themselves out from under the rubble. This is Next in the Order.
[THEME MUSIC]
JAS: Hello one and all and welcome back to another episode of Next in the Order! I am your not-so-humble Dungeon Master, Jas, and Wink is making fun of me? I see you. I see you, you got anything to say for yourself?
WINK: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?
JAS: Fuck right off. Anyway, what are your pronouns today?
WINK: Uhh… nah.
JAS: Got it. “Nah.” Do not refer to them.
WINK: You just referred to me!
JAS: I just did! Do not refer to Wink.
MAR: Do not refer to Wink.
WINK: Do not refer to [INTENTIONAL SILENCE]
MAR: Do not refer to [INTENTIONAL SILENCE]
JAS: Radio silence.
JAS: So, last time, we were having some more discussion about the Fissure Core Fragment, we were investigating Decadraz’s forge, recovering from the conversation with Valren Hydrox. Greasy little rat man. And then you were down in the forge and you were questioning how centaurs go down ladders, and discovered a door that led to dirt after the power of lesbianism opened the door.
WINK: Fuck yeah, dirt.
JAS: And then… and then Hesperis decided to… cast Earth Tremor.
WINK: Teehee.
JAS: To see if they could, y’know. Displace the dirt by the door. And boy howdy did they, did she displace the dirt by the door.
MAR: Yeah.
WINK: Only by a nat 20.
NORTH: So like, I know Valren says he has like eyes everywhere, did he - he just left and this thing immediately happened. Like, he’s gonna hear about this, right? I mean, like, surely he’s now going to think, “I have absolutely nothing to worry about in the fucking world about getting this.”
JAS: Fair enough. On that note, everybody except for Valus, roll Constitution saving throws.
MAR: Wait, where is Caelum?
MERCER: I am on the floor, like the main floor, with Henry and Wayne.
JAS: I will be rolling for Henry, Wayne, and Sylacrum.
MAR: Constitution saving throw?
JAS: Constitution saving throws.
MAR: What is my Constitution modifier?
JAS: Wayne succeeds just fine with an 18.
WINK: I have a 15.
JAS: Henry rolled a 15.
MAR: Mine fell on the blanket.
JAS: Try again. [ROLLS] Eebert Deebert. Um. That was a nat 1.
MERCER: I also rolled a nat 1.
MAR: Okay, um…
JAS: Uh-oh, sisters.
MAR: Uh. Nat twenty! It’s on the blanket but it’s very decidedly a nat 20. So that’s a 25 for Cire.
JAS: 25 for Cire. Hesperis was a 15. Fifteen from Henry, eighteen from Wayne. Nat 1s from Sylacrum and Caelum.
MERCER: Tee hee.
JAS: So what happens to Caelum is less bad than what happens to Sylacrum. Because Sylacrum is down actually in the forge. Um, you all see… you all see, feel, experience, Valus, you’re like flying above, and so you watch this happen as the side of this hill that this barn is on just caves in, and there is a full-on rockslide as it goes down the side of this hill, and you see the barn shakes and tremors with the force of an earthquake, and we see the entire thing shift slightly, and creak, but it does not fall. However, in the barn, Henry and Wayne manage to stay standing. Caelum, you are going to take 18 points of bludgeoning damage as you fall and are shaken around due to this earth tremor.
MERCER: I’m bloodied.
JAS: Yeah. Hesperis and Cir- well, Cire, because Cire rolled a nat 20, Cire’s like “I’ve got this.” Hesperis, you take half damage in the forge.
WINK: Okay, so that’s nine…
JAS: Nine points of damage. But as it shakes and erupts, and Valus, you actually see on the side of the hill, now that, the door that Hesperis was standing in front of, now opens to the world, but there is also now a flood of dirt that has traveled into the cow pastures and down into the different fields and such. Um, and Cire, you are the first to notice that Sylacrum is fully knocked out.
WINK: Are the cows okay? Are the cows okay?
JAS: We’re gonna roll…
WINK: No, don’t roll! Word of God, word of God it!
JAS: Nope, I’m rolling. [ROLLS] I shit you not, that’s a nat 20 for the cows.
WINK: Fuck yeah!
JAS: The cows are okay!
[RELIEVED LAUGHTER]
WINK: I was so scared.
NORTH: Curiosity did not kill the cows.
JAS: I’m looking at it. Wow.
WINK: That do be a nat 20.
JAS: That do be a nat 20. Nat 20 from my Summer-themed dice.
MAR: Delicious. Um…
WINK: God, that was so scary.
MAR: So, is Sylacrum unconscious or…?
JAS: Looks like it. You heard a pretty heavy thud and now Sylacrum is on the ground in a heap.
MAR: Cire has healing magic.
JAS: Healing is not going to bring Sylacrum back up. ‘Cause this is a concussion. [MAR: Okay] He is badly concussed.
MAR: Okay, cool…
JAS: You are welcome to roll a medicine check, but also the Fissure Core Fragment has now bounced its way, it jarred its way out of Sylacrum’s wing and has bounced across the ground and is sitting pretty much in front of you.
MAR: Okay, I’m going to leave the Fissure Core where it is for a minute, and I want to take a closer look at Sylacrum and see, like, what’s going on here. Specifically, I want to know if there’s anything I can do.
JAS: Roll a medicine check.
MAR: Uh… fourteen, plus whatever my medicine modifier is. Fifteen.
JAS: Cool, you can tell that Sylacrum is badly concussed. You can see blood just dripping down the side of his head, and you can see that their metallic wing has kind of crumpled, in a way that is definitely not how it should be crumpled. You know that there’s nothing you can do about the wing; that’s not your circus or your monkeys. You don’t think that healing would help Sylacrum in this moment. You…
MAR: I don’t think.
JAS: Yeah.
MAR: So I’m gonna use one point of my Lay on Hands.
JAS: Okay, yeah, you see a little bit of that blood goes back, like, kinda - that wound on Sylacrum’s head kind of closes up just a little bit, but…
WINK: Does it schlorp the blood…
NORTH: Does the blood just [SLURPING NOISE]?
JAS: You know how in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, when the police officer starts crying and he goes “Get back in there!” and sucks it back up, that’s what the head does with the blood.
MAR: Jesus Christ, okay. Seeing that, Cire wants nothing to do with this. So, she’s gonna take kind of a… I don’t have a perfect idea in my head of what Cire is wearing, but there should be something in her clothes that she can separate from the rest of her outfit and use to pick up the Fissure Core without making direct contact with it.
JAS: Yeah, you can absolutely do that.
MAR: I would like to do that.
JAS: Yes. Smart decision. You now have the Fissure Core Fragment, to do with as you please.
MAR: Terrifying.
JAS: Upstairs, Henry and Wayne come rushing over to you, Caelum, and Wayne starts to help pick you up, and he says [as Wayne] Caelum, are you okay?
MERCER: What the fuck just happened?
JAS: [as Wayne] I don’t know. [as DM] And you see Henry like, runs over to the side, to the door of the barn and looks out, and looks down, and turns back to Wayne and says, [as Henry] There’s been some kind of avalanche… or mudslide, I… what in the hell?
MERCER: Well, we did just send three people with… less than desirable impulse control down into a forge.
MAR: Cire can’t hear that, but she takes offense anyway.
NORTH: Cire’s nose itches.
JAS: Henry makes a face, and you can see he has a moment of just staring at Wayne as they have a full silent conversation about this. And he says, [as Henry] We need to get them out of the forge. Out of that forge, into the house, away from whatever the fuck. [as DM] And he is already speedwalking up to the hayloft and down that ladder.
MERCER: Caelum is going to walk out of the barn and just look up at Valus.
NORTH: Yeah, so the point where the hill kinda tremors with the earthquake, and Valus watches as the land starts to slide, and is kind of just like a “Oh, fuck, fuck fuck fuck fuck,” and just a full dive towards the - you said I could see that the door is now like, open?
JAS: Yeah, the door to the barn is open.
NORTH: The door to the barn or the door to the forge?
JAS: Oh, the door to the forge, that too, is open, and you see Hesperis standing there. And what’s the expression on Hesperis’ face? [00:11:55.17]
WINK: Um… so she’s still got her bass, like, in hand, right?
JAS: Yeah.
WINK: And she’s just looking out, and she’s like, huh. That’s where it goes. Okay.
NORTH: Okay, so Valus is gonna land.
JAS: Uh-huh.
NORTH: And obviously is going to see Sylacrum lying on the ground.
JAS: Yeah.
NORTH: And is just going to kind of run his hands through his hair and just… what the fuck? Happened?
WINK: The fuck! And Hesperis like, waves a little bit. Like, as though announcing that she is, in fact, the fuck that happened.
NORTH: I would ask if everyone’s okay, but…
MAR: Sylacrum is very decidedly not.
WINK: Yes, well, when has Sylacrum ever been okay? That is my thought on that.
NORTH: How much does the Fissure Core weigh? Fisher? Fissure?
JAS: Fissure. I know I say it poorly. Fissure. It weighs probably about fifteen pounds. It’s not light.
MAR: It’s just in Cire’s backpack. It’s wrapped in a scarf or something.
JAS: Yeah it’s… it is a piece of masonry, right? Like, it is hefty.
NORTH: Well, someone needs to carry him out of here. And it can’t be me.
JAS: At this point, Henry arrives downstairs, and is like… [as Henry] I can get him out, what in the flying fuck?
WINK: I don’t fly, but I am the fuck.
JAS: [as Henry] What did you do?!
WINK: I played my bass a little too hard.
MAR: She wanted to know what was behind the stone door.
MERCER: She girlbossed a little too close to the sun.
WINK: Yes, well…
MAR: It was dirt. And she was not satisfied with that answer.
WINK: You wanted to know what was behind the door. I wanted to go through the door, because dirt is not a fun story to tell.
JAS: Henry fully puts his head in his hands.
WINK: In my defense, you only said not to light your barn on fire.
MAR: Can I…
JAS: [as Henry] I thought that not destroying my property was implied.
WINK: It was an accident? I did not mean to play my bass so well.
JAS: [as Henry] I am going to go take fifteen minutes. I’ll be back. Don’t do… anything else.
WINK: [INTAKE OF BREATH] Hesperis is holding her breath. [00:14:22.26]
MERCER: Caelum was not here for this conversation and is casting Mending on all the things that he can, at like, the top level of the barn.
JAS: I think Wayne’s like, yes this is fine, with you with that. And he says [as Henry] You can get him some help - pointing at Sylacrum - but I…
WINK: Sorry!
JAS: [as Henry] I’ll be in the house. [as DM] And he walks out the now open door. And is like, shaking his head, and…
WINK: [distressed] He’s not mad, he’s just disappointed, which is worse.
MAR: Can I, uh, see how Sylacrum’s doing?
JAS: Yeah, uh..
NORTH: Well, he’s folded on the ground like a Family Guy character, so. I don’t think it’s very great.
JAS: [LAUGHS] He’s not doing good. Um…
MAR: Okay, do I have a sense of, like, if he’s gotten worse? In the, like, minute that I’ve not been…
JAS: He is crumpled on the ground. In a heap. With some blood, that’s a little less bloody now because you put one point back into them, but… you could roll another medicine check, but I will tell you that it’s pretty much unchanged. At this point, Wayne is leaving Caelum to his mending, and goes down the ladder, and enters in the forge. And he says, [as Wayne] Is anybody hurt- oh.
MAR: Uh, Cire goes to cast Cure Wounds on Sylacrum and realizes that she is out of spell slots.
JAS: Yikes. Um…
MAR: We have not had a long rest since the spells I cast earlier, so…
JAS: Nope.
MAR: Yeah, there isn’t shit Cire can do.
JAS: Wayne is going to go and like… trying to minimally move Sylacrum’s head, goes and tries to… he’s like, [as Wayne] Wait, I’ll be right back. [as DM] And he runs upstairs and you see him, Caelum, you see him run and grab a massive thing of wood, just that, you know, is in the barn for some goddamn reason. And he goes back downstairs with that piece of wood and lays it out on the ground. And kind of, as gently as possible, starts to move Sylacrum over onto it like a stretcher.
MERCER: Caelum is going to follow him down, moreso out of curiosity than concern, because he doesn’t know what the fuck happened down there.
JAS: Yeah, you see the whole crew here, Cire and Hesperis are a little banged up, but not as banged up as you got, but clearly… there’s Sylacrum.
MAR: [smugly] Am I? Am I really?
JAS: Not really, but, a little. Oh, no, you’re not, ‘cause you didn’t take damage.
MAR: [LAUGHS]
WINK: Teehee.
JAS: Teehee, natural twenty.
MERCER: What the actual fuck?
MAR: [SIGHS]
WINK: The actual fuck.
MAR: Hesperis has more magic than common sense.
MERCER: Okay, that’s fair. Is… he okay, or?
WINK: I don’t think so, but there isn’t anything I can do about it.
MAR: I also don’t think so, um. There isn’t anything I can do about it, ‘cause I’m out of spells.
NORTH: Here’s what I’m gonna do. Wayne, are there any medical supplies or anything in the house?
JAS: [as Wayne] I mean… we have your basics, but nothing special. We got some bandages, some…
WINK: Ye Olde Fantasy Band-Aids.
JAS: No, not fantasy Band-Aids, ‘cause we’re not in Winter, bitchass.
WINK: I said Ye Olde Fantasy Band-Aids!
JAS: Okay, fair enough. Uh. bandages.
MAR: That’s what those are! Bandages.
JAS: [as Wayne] And we can maybe clean up his head with a little alcohol, but…
WINK: You know we got moonshine up in here.
NORTH: Okay, I’m gonna go and see what I can find, and start getting it ready. And you just get him to the house.
JAS: [as Wayne] Sounds good to me.
NORTH: So I’m going to, actually, to get back there quicker, to get as much ready as I can in the meantime, I’m going to use Jump, and kind of push myself off and use my wings to kind of just shoot back to the house.
JAS: Great, yeah, you do that.
MAR: Love that for you.
JAS: Roll an investigation check at advantage to see what kind of medical supplies we’ve got.
NORTH: Um… please? Okay, eighteen.
JAS: Eighteen? Okay, you, sure enough, you find some bandages, you find… like, they had a couple of guest rooms where the stable hands stay from time to time, that y’all had stayed in the previous night, and so, you’re like: okay, we can set up Sylacrum in this bed, and you start to get it ready, and you find just general medical kit. Psst! Whatever you think you’re going to need, you find.
NORTH: Okay, not a doctor, but…
JAS: You are a doctor, actually.
NORTH: Well. Not a MD, but, yeah. All right. I’m gonna going to rip everything but the fitted sheet off, and a pillow, and can I just… where was the medical kit at? I’m assuming in like a bathroom or something?
JAS: Yeah.
NORTH: I’m just gonna grab a towel and just lay that over the pillow in case, we don’t want to get bird blood everywhere. So, yeah. I’m gonna do everything I can to get the area prepared.
JAS: Okay, yeah. About fifteen minutes later, Wayne pulls up with Sylacrum in the stretcher. What are the rest of you doing?
MAR: If Wayne needed help with the stretcher, I would help with the stretcher.
JAS: I think, yeah, that would probably be… yeah. Wayne’s a beefy dude, but not that beefy.
MERCER: I would be spotting the stretcher.
JAS: Fair.
WINK: Hesperis is just kind of walking behind, sort of sad-looking, knowing that everyone is disappointed in her.
JAS: Oh…
WINK: Teehee.
JAS: Yeah, you make your way into the house, and bring Sylacrum to bed, and anybody who wants to, can roll a medicine check with advantage.
WINK: Advantage.
NORTH: But still. Oh, okay. That a, that’s a three at first and then an eighteen.
WINK: I rolled a nat 2 and a nat 20.
JAS: Oh, my God.
MAR: I rolled a dirty twenty.
MERCER: Twenty-one.
JAS: Twenty one? What is yours- natural twenty plus…?
WINK: It’s medicine? That’s a 23.
JAS: Okay. So, you… you are looking at Sylacrum and you’re like. Wait, I can deal with this. I think at some point you probably had to help some people in the gardens, just, like. You gotta keep ‘em healthy, for a while.
WINK: Right. You know.
JAS: Yeah.
WINK: Just until they leave the gardens.
JAS: Until they leave the gardens, you gotta keep ‘em healthy. And so, I think you’ve dealt with something along these lines before. Especially because, with how tall the gardens are. Injuries happen all the time.
NORTH: You deal with a lot of concussions in that garden?
WINK: Some of the walking paths are a little bit… more advanced than people care to admit that they are not equipped for.
NORTH: Okay.
MAR: Is Hesperis fucking with me?
WINK: Roll an insight check. I know I’m not the DM, but roll an insight check.
MAR: Uh.. that was very on the blanket, hold on. Again, on the blanket!
JAS: That’s a thirteen.
MAR: Okay.
WINK: Yes, Hesperis is fucking with you.
MAR: What did you roll?
WINK: A four.
MAR: Plus? Oh, wait, never mind. My insight is high enough that I think…
WINK: Yeah.
NORTH: What did everyone roll on their medicine checks?
MERCER: 21.
MAR: Dirty 20.
WINK: 23.
NORTH: Now we’re just turning into a Grey’s Anatomy cast. All right.
[LAUGHTER]
JAS: Really, fully dead. So, Hesperis, you’re like, oh, I’ve dealt with concussions before, and so you like, are looking Sylacrum over, and you are like, pretty much what he needs at this point is rest. Since they have been naenaed. Gently. You notice that there is something weird about this. With a natural 20, there’s… it’s not medical, it’s almost like there is an ambient magical effect hanging around Sylacrum.
WINK: That is fucky wucky.
MAR: I’m out of spells!
NORTH: [normally] What’s fucky wucky? Oh, sorry. [in Valus’ voice] What’s fucky wucky?
WINK: Um, there is a weird magic around…
NORTH: I’m gonna cast Detect Magic.
JAS: Yeah. I want you to roll this check at advantage.
NORTH: Okay. That’s two seventeens, plus six. So that’s twenty three.
JAS: 23. Okay, you’re about to get some tasty knowledge.
NORTH: Oh, yay!
JAS: So first off, you - I don’t know if Hesperis shared, did Hesperis share that he just needs rest, or?
WINK: Yeah, sure.
JAS: You also, Hesperis, I would also say that you know probably a Greater Restoration, would be fine, but…
WINK: Um, does… anybody have that spell - fuck - what is it called? It restores you greatly.
[LAUGHTER]
MAR: I don’t have anything stronger than Cure Wounds!
MERCER: Caelum’s gonna cast Lesser Restoration on Sylacrum.
JAS: Okay, cool.
MERCER: I don’t know if it’s gonna do anything, and neither does Caelum.
JAS: Cool. Uh, Lesser Restoration, you do see that- you see that Sylacrum stirs a little bit, moves for the first time, but still, he is asleep.
NORTH: What level is Greater Restoration?
MAR: …Fifth.
JAS: Yeah, fifth.
MAR: It’s much higher level than any of us would have.
MERCER: That is all I can do.
JAS: You see, with the Lesser Restoration, he kind of stirs a little bit, but still ultimately, really is out. You can tell that you would need something more powerful than this to get Sylacrum back functioning. Valus, with that sick ass arcana roll, you can tell that there is an ambient magical effect lingering around Sylacrum, just like Hesperis pointed out. And you… you, I think Valus kind of mind-palaces for a moment, as the possibilities rush by him.
[LAUGHTER]
JAS: I’m mostly kidding, however, I am exactly envisioning, like, the math meme where it’s just Valus, but like all these different magical possibilities, right?
NORTH: [CHUCKLES]
WINK: Not the mind palace!
JAS: So, your best- your best guess is that there is something with the Fissure Core that is happening with Sylacrum’s brain, right? We know that the Fissure- you know that the Fissure Core’s a thing that can affect people’s minds, and so, you can tell that there is something there, and even as you look at Sylacrum, since Caelum cast that Lesser Restoration, you see that he starts… you can see looking at him, his body isn’t moving, right? And this is like a gross description, but it it - you can see his eyes moving, with his eyes closed. You can tell that they’re moving, looking frantically, moving. Looking around.
NORTH: Okay, that’s… strange. Actually, would I know, Sylacrum mentioned that they’d attuned to the…
JAS: Yes. Correct. They had in some capacity bonded with it.
MAR: Can we tell if their attunement was broken?
JAS: You could investigate or do an arcana check on the Fissure Core.
MAR: Sure.
JAS: Great, tell me which one you’re rolling.
MAR: I have a zero to both, so it’s just a straight roll.
JAS: Straight roll. Great.
NORTH: Actually, I’m going to do the same thing. Since I also did the.
JAS: Uh, you can give help to Valus. And be like, this is a thing that you should look at.
MAR: Yeah, um, Valus, roll at advantage, I don’t want to roll this.
JAS: Not to metagame, but you’re like, this seems like Valus’
MAR: This seems like Valus’ wheelhouse.
NORTH: So, what does helping someone mean again?
JAS: You get advantage.
NORTH: Okay.
MAR: So instead of me rolling, I give you advantage.
NORTH: Sixteen.
JAS: Sixteen, you can tell that Sylacrum is no longer attuned to this, and you realized, this has somehow broken the attunement, and in doing so, Sylacrum has now… like, okay. You all didn’t have to worry about this, because you have remained in the range of the Fissure Core this entire time, but Sylacrum in passing out, is now experiencing the fear effect from the Fissure Core. So that, eyes moving around, you realize that Sylacrum is probably having a nightmare right now.
NORTH: Okay, so, first thing’s first. It’s still on Cire’s back, what is it like in her backpack right now?
MAR: It’s outside of my backpack for us to look at now. I took it out and…
NORTH: Okay, so, that needs to go back into the bag and about as far away as we can throw it from this house, or whatever. It’s very obvious his connection to it was broken and now it’s having a very negative effect.
WINK: Um. I could attempt to soothe him? If you think it would be helpful.
NORTH: I think that would be very lovely.
WINK: Okay, and so, she’s going to do the little thing where… I don’t know how it would actually work physically, but now her bass was on her back with the little strap in the front, and she pulls out her… what other instrument does she have, I think she has a lute? No, she has a viol. Teehee. She pulls out her viol and does the same little thing that she did kind of while she was playing for Oberon, that soft little melody. And she’s going to use that to cast Calm Emotions.
JAS: Okay.
WINK: Which, the effect that I’m going for is “you can suppress any effect causing a target to be charmed or frightened.” And when the spell ends, “any effect resumes, provided that the duration has not expired in the meantime.”
JAS: Cool. Sylacrum is no longer moving their eyes around. You can see that they have kind of calmed, and even relaxed into the pillow a little bit.
NORTH: Out of curiosity, how hesitant are Wayne and Henry to allow Hesperis to pull out another instrument?
JAS: They’re not in the room right now, I think they’re kind of giving the party space, and trying to figure out what the fuck to do.
NORTH: All right.
WINK: Are they within a twenty foot radius?
JAS: No.
WINK: Damn.
JAS: Caelum, what’s up?
MERCER: Do we think that we need to get the core away from Sylacrum?
NORTH: That is what I said.
MAR: Do we remember how far away the fear effect stretched when it was in the…
MERCER: I don’t know, but I can... why?
JAS: It was 30 feet.
NORTH: So a little bit outside should be perfectly fine.
MERCER: Well, we don’t want to cause any of the other living creatures around here to experience that effect, so… I could maybe fly somewhere, into one of the unused fields.
NORTH: If that’s what you think is best, then yes, go ahead.
MERCER: Cool. Pop.
JAS: Are you- you’re taking the Fissure Core with you?
MERCER: I’m taking-
JAS: And you are keeping it wrapped in a scarf?
MERCER: I’m not touching that thing!
JAS: Great, I just wanted to make sure.
MERCER: I am not touching that.
JAS: Great.
WINK: Aw, Hesperis didn’t get a chance to poke it.
MERCER: Um.
JAS: Would you like to poke it before you go?
WINK: Hesperis, yes. Me, the player, in charge of what Hesperis does? No.
MERCER: I am using my Aasimar feat to let me-
JAS: Cool.
MERCER: -fly.
JAS: Yeah, you get it the fuck out of the house, and you can tell that Sylacrum is… Sylacrum was chilling ‘cause of the Calm Emotions, but is extra chilling now.
MERCER: I’m gonna sit in the middle of a field with the Fissure Core.
JAS: Great.
NORTH: Now, you said that because we were inside the radius, it wasn’t affecting us, but now that we’re…
MAR: We all saved against the fear effect, so as long as we were in the radius…
NORTH: I’ve never made a save, so.
JAS: Because Hesperis cast Calm Emotions to…
MAR: No, I cast Heroism on you so you automatically succeeded.
JAS: No, I was just listening to it! You did make a save; after Heroism ended, you made a save and you passed.
MAR: So when you first entered the thing, you were under Heroism, but then Heroism expired or I cast another spell or something. And… you did have to make a save but you made the save. So you weren’t subjected to it.
JAS: That was during the mooze fight.
NORTH: Oh, so I was just like immune to the Fissure Core?
MAR: For as long as you’re in the- like if we re-enter, I would assume that we would have to make the saves again.
NORTH: That’s what I’m saying, because I was above the barn.
MAR: That’s very meta of me, so…
JAS: So earlier, on your arcana check, the Fissure Core has two sides to it, right? There is a lighter side that is pouring out this white light, kinda yellow, warm-toned light, and the other side looks like a black light. And in your investigation of it you realized that they’re throwing out two different effects. The purple side, the black light side, is throwing out a fear effect. And then the other side is actually… you haven’t figured out exactly what it’s throwing out, but it is… it doesn’t seem nefarious. Because like, Sylacrum saw celestial energy on that side of it.
NORTH: Okay, so, Fissure Core’s here, Sylacrum’s over here, purple side’s facing him, yellow side’s facing us?
JAS: Yes, yeah exactly, that’s what was going on, and now we’ve had Calm Emotions cast and it has left the room, so we’re Gucci.
MAR: Do I still have Decadraz’ warhammer?
JAS: You do.
MAR: Okay. Just making sure.
WINK: Doctor, in your professional opinion, what do you think would happen if we smashed it? The Fissure Core, I mean.
NORTH: Okay, so, metagaming. Valus would have no fucking clue because it’s not his area of study, but can I roll for something?
JAS: Um.
WINK: You can roll Sylacrum.
NORTH: Because Sylacrum did talk about it a decent bit, off the notes.
JAS: Sylacrum knew the answer to this question, actually, so roll a history check to see if you remember Sylacrum mentioning it.
NORTH: Okay.
MAR: Does Sylacrum still have his book on him?
JAS: He does.
MAR: Can I yoink it?!
WINK: I thought Hesperis had the book.
JAS: Hesperis had the book when you were talking to Valren, but Sylacrum took it back.
WINK: Oh, okay.
JAS: Twenty. You remember that Sylacrum said that this this isn’t destructible. It can only be taken into pieces, so this is only a piece of it, but the thing itself is indestructible.
MAR: So if we were to find a way to break it and separate it into more pieces, those pieces would still have some weird… some weird shit happening?
JAS: You don’t even… you don’t think you could even break this down into- like it has separateable pieces, that it is already broken into. But, this is one piece.
NORTH: But we wouldn’t know that.
JAS: No, I think y’all would, I think Sylacrum talked about it being… and if you take out the book, and look.
NORTH: Oh, okay, so yeah, you need the book.
JAS: Yeah, if you’re looking at the book, Hesperis can flip to the page and can see, oh, the drawing of this thing, right? It is a inner circle, it’s got six spokes sticking out of it, and you can see that there are six different colored… they almost look like stained glass pieces on each part, in between each of the spokes, right? And then in the middle of it there is another, it looks… it’s marked off to the side, it’s written as being made of gold in some capacity, and then there is an outer thing that looks almost like it’s made of limestone. Around the whole thing. So there is the frame piece that y’all have, and then one, two, three, four, five, six, different ones between the spokes, a center piece and an outer frame. Does that make sense?
NORTH: Kinda. Can I show you what I’m envisioning and then just…
JAS: Yeah.
NORTH: Okay.
WINK: I am going to say yes and mean no.
MAR: Which piece do we have?
JAS: You have the frame piece.
MAR: This is what I’m envisioning the actual fissure core looks like.
JAS: That’s exactly it. [00:38:04.13] You currently have just this round circle, with the spokes pointing off of it, and it’s made of this stone masonry thing. This inner part right here is in the notes, noted as made of gold, and then in between each one of these is a different pie-shaped piece, almost. That is made of a different color of what looks like stained glass. And that’s what it says in the notes, is that it looks like stained glass.
MAR: So there are nine pieces total?
JAS: Yes. And then there is an outer piece that closes the whole thing, that is made of a limestone-like material.
MAR: Could you dissolve the outer piece with acid raid?
JAS: That’s a good question. That is not in the notes.
MAR: I’m just curious! Thanks, rock class.
JAS: Thanks, rock class!
NORTH: Okay, so, what I was envisioning was entirely wrong.
JAS: Cool.
MAR: The frame piece is the one that we have [JAS: Yes.] So, kind of this circle with the spokes and then there’s another circle inside it?
JAS: There is not the outer circle.
MAR: The outer circle is formed by the outside of this.
JAS: Yes.
NORTH: So that middle part is the thing that’s… double-sided, like…?
JAS: So the actual, like, it looks like it is made of masonry. It’s not… but with that it glows. Does that make sense? It looks like it’s made out of stonework, when you inspect it, and it feels like stonework in your hands if you touch it - you have not touched it. But the whole frame that y’all have, glows. And one side glows like a black light and the other is like warm and light. And it’s like one of those good black lights, not one of the shitty ones.
MAR: Right. So my brain immediately looks at that and thinks, “Citarya.” Would Cire look at the frame piece and think, “Citarya?”
JAS: Probably. Yeah, I mean, looking at… you’re looking at this diagram, right? And I think since you’ve- you have said it, so like, I’m gonna give it to you, right? Like, the inner piece is probably the Wasteland Forest in some capacity. And then you’ve got the different seasons, in six pieces, and then you’ve got the outer thing, which is limestone, which is associated with marine- the Forever Sea. Caelum is sitting outside with that, and you all are in the room discussing what to do with this… thing, and I need perception checks.
NORTH: That’s an eight.
JAS: An eight?
MAR: I should not have rolled that die.
WINK: That’s a twelve.
MAR: What was the roll?
JAS: Perception.
MAR: That’s a whole five.
JAS: Okay, great. So all of you are startled when…
WINK: Mine was a twelve!
JAS: Yeah, you’re still startled.
WINK: Okay.
JAS: When you see, literally, like, I think you’re all standing at the end of Sylacrum’s bed, talking, and then you hear, [as Valren] [TSKING NOISE] [as DM] and you see Valren is kind of weirdly brushing the feathers away from Sylacrum’s face and looking at the head would.
WINK: I did not say your name, why did you come?
JAS: [as Valren] I wanted to amend my offer, because, clearly, you don’t know what you’re dealing with. [as DM] He pauses and he looks down at Sylacrum.
MAR: This is unrelated.
JAS: [as Valren] I know. I know it is. I told you; eyes everywhere. But you are clearly not equipped to handle an artifact as precious as this.
WINK: As precious as what? I’m confused, I’m sorry.
JAS: [as Valren] The Fissure Core.
WINK: I’m not entirely sure what you’re talking about, I’m very sorry.
JAS: [as Valren] Do you take me for a fool?
WINK: I do not take you for anything, but it is better to let people assume you are a fool than to open your mouth and prove it.
JAS: [as Valren] I don’t have time for this. I’m retracting my original offer. You have three days, and, I’m taking this one back with me. That wing of his belongs to a friend of mine, and I think he’d like his money’s worth. [as DM] And he grabs Sylacrum, and vanishes.
[THEME MUSIC]
JAS: Hey guys, it’s Jas, and we are at the part of the episode where I come in and do some adver-tis-ments for you. Yes, that is how you say the word. I’m sorry, you’ve been saying it wrong the whole time. It is in fact “adver-tis-ments.” Before that, I do want to apologize; there is some weirdness with some of the audio in here, there’s some weird popping that I’m sure you have heard or some weird cutoffs; that is where I tried to edit around some of the popping noises. I did the best I could to get rid of it so it is not absolutely insufferable to listen to, but I’m really sorry about that. We had a different than usual recording setup, so, y’know, shit happens I guess.
JAS: Speaking of shit, do you got some shit to say? Make a podcast about it! And what are you gonna do with that podcast? You’re gonna take it to a hosting site like Buzzsprout. Buzzsprout is the best and easiest way to start a podcast and get it onto all of the major networks out there. Buzzsprout lets you upload your content and get it out into the world, and they’ve even got some things like Magic Mastering, which helps audio sound just, incredible. And when you sign up and use the link in the description of this episode, you will get a $20 Amazon gift card with a paid account. So head on down to that link, start your podcast.
JAS: You also wanna head on over to patreon.com/nextintheorder to support the show. We’ve got a patrons-only discord server, where we’ve got memes, we’ve got hints about upcoming episodes, we’ve got all the goings-ons happening behind the scenes, and it’s great! You can chit-chat with the cast if you’d like. That is patreon.com/nextintheorder. You can also, if you’re like, “Aaah! I wanna support the show but I don’t got the money to commit for monthly!” You can just head on over to our Ko-Fi. I’m not sure if it’s “koh-fie” or “coffee”, but either way, you can still support the show. And that it ko-fi.com/nextintheorder. That’s K-O-dash-F-I dot com slash nextintheorder.
JAS: Lastly, and as always, I would like to thank Magic Sword for the use of their song “Battlefield (Dance with the Dead Remix)” as the theme song for our show. It’s a bangin’ tune. You already know. Go ahead and check out the link in the description of the episode to see more of their music, more of their content, maybe go see them on tour! They’re great, it’s a fun show! All right, I will let you get back to your regularly-scheduled content, I’ll talk to y’all next time, buh-bye!
[THEME MUSIC]
NORTH: Just, out?
JAS: Just teleports out.
WINK: You’re telling me I wasted a spell for nothing?
NORTH: At least he’ll have a nice sleep there, I guess. Well, fuck.
MAR: I am going to cast Message, because Caelum is still within 120 feet? Basically gonna give them the rundown on what happened.
MERCER: Well, shit. And that’s all he says.
[LAUGHTER]
MAR: Fair enough. What do we do now?
NORTH: Admittedly, I’m not sure. This is progressively getting worse.
MERCER: Caelum’s going to make his way back to the house, now that we don’t have a Sylacrum problem anymore.
JAS: Great.
NORTH: I don’t like the way Valren just pops in. It makes me think that when he says he has eyes everywhere, he’s watching when we shower.
[LAUGHTER]
WINK: You have to shower?
MAR: God, I wish I was higher level. Except I don’t-
[MAR IS CUT OFF BY THE TABLE LAUGHING, THEN SHE JOINS IN]
NORTH: I’m sorry? Please tell me that Hesperis stands outside when it rains, or something!
MAR: Is Hesperis fucking with us?
JAS: Hesperis is not a stinky person.
NORTH: [UNINTELLIGIBLE COMPLAINTS]
MAR: I don’t think I can tell if Hesperis is fucking with us.
NORTH: I got a nat 1.
WINK: That’s an eighteen.
MERCER: Did I walk into this conversation?
WINK: An eighteen for fucking with you.
JAS: Uh, you all fully believe that Hesperis does not shower.
MAR: Here’s the thing though -
WINK: I just naturally smell this nice- that’s not her voice. I just naturally smell this good.
MAR: Fully don’t believe you, but fine.
NORTH: Don’t shame other cultures.
WINK: I do not need to, I do not have sweat glands the way that you do. We don’t get stinky when walk up a mountain.
NORTH: You still get dirty.
WINK: Yes, that is what puddles are for.
NORTH: I fully believe this.
MAR: That’s adorable!
NORTH: Just take little bird baths in puddles?
MERCER: Caelum walks into this conversation with no context and says, well, Aalir made dirt, dirt don’t hurt.
[EVERYONE LAUGHS]
MAR: I’m about to cry actual tears.
JAS: Chef’s kiss.
WINK: That was so perfect.
JAS: I think at this moment, Wayne walks in with like, some water and a few things, clearly to put on Sylacrum’s bedside and freezes when there is no Sylacrum in the bed.
NORTH: I feel so bad for these two ranchers, they just wanted our help, but now they’re just being tormented.
WINK: Yes, um. The bird got kidnapped. But it’s okay, we’re fine with it. I think? Are we fine with it, I’m fine with it. Are you fine with it?
MAR: I don’t know that there’s anything I can do about it.
WINK: Are you fine with it?
NORTH: I don’t- I don’t know what to think anymore.
MAR: I’m kind of helpless against whoever this man is!
MERCER: I really don’t know any of you all that well.
WINK: I’m fine with it, are you fine with it?
JAS: [as Wayne] What the fuck?
MAR: So… the part of the story that we didn’t tell you, we were in the barn, and this guy showed up, and threatened us, and told us to give him the thing that we found, but, he came again and said that… so before he said we had a week to decide, and now he says we have three days to decide and he took Sylacrum with him because apparently we’re not equipped to deal with something this… I don’t know. Anyway, I don’t trust him, and now he has the bird.
WINK: I do not understand, when he said, you are not equipped to deal with something like this, and he took Sylacrum, and so, are we not equipped to deal with Sylacrum? Or.
MERCER: I don’t think that anyone is equipped to deal with Sylacrum, and whatever is going on in his bird brain. [00:50:23.00]
WINK: You have a fair point.
MAR: I think he was referring to the Fissure Core, considering he gave us three days to consider, again. Well, he shortened our time. And then, I think he said something about the wing? Sylacrum told us that he stole the components for the wing, didn’t he? Maybe whoever he stole from wanted it back?
NORTH: But it’s useless now, so…
JAS: I need y’all to roll insight checks on Wayne.
NORTH: Wayne wants us the fuck out of his house, I know that. I don’t have to - and I rolled another fucking nat 1.
WINK: That is a nine.
MERCER: Eleven.
MAR: An eight.
JAS: Uh, yeah, Valus, you are reading that Wayne wants you out of his house. The rest of you - Wayne is a little bit too hard to read right now. You can tell that there is a lot going on in his head right now, and he kind of stares into the middle distance for a moment. But he doesn’t say anything.
MERCER: Jas, just out of curiosity, how far away did we say the closest temple of Theradite was?
JAS: It was… two days north of Aurora, and Aurora’s about a day away. So, three days north.
MERCER: So, my family doesn’t live far from here. About three days, so the time that we have left, but my brother and my mom, they both work with Theradite at the temple, if we need a place to stay and to figure out this situation with the Fissure Core.
MAR: Well, we need a solution to the situation sooner than three days, because in three days, [MERCER: I know.] He’ll be back. Demanding an answer.
MERCER: Well, if he comes back and we are at a temple, maybe he won’t try to kill us?
JAS: [as Wayne] I think you’re assuming a hell of a lot about the humanity of those people.
MAR: What do you mean, ‘those people’?
JAS: He leans forward and he says, [as Wayne] It’s not entirely my story to tell, mostly it’s Henry’s. But Valren Hydrox does not care about anybody but himself. And he doesn’t care about religion, or any of that - he says he praises Oathar, that’s a damn lie. He does that to save face. He doesn’t give a shit, and he will come find you, and wring you of everything you are worth.
MAR: So what do we do?
MERCER: Where do we go?
WINK: We could go to Spring.
MERCER: I feel like that is more than three days away.
JAS: Wayne says, [as Wayne] I’ll be right back. There’s something we need to talk about. But I’m gonna check with Henry first. And he steps out of the room for a moment.
MERCER: Great, while he’s gone, I’m going to patch up my head.
JAS: Cool. Great.
NORTH: Valus is going to sit in somewhat of an extended fetal position, just flat down, his knees are kind of bent, he’s going to fully encase everything but his head in his wings, and think.
JAS: Okay. Wayne comes back with Henry this time, in tow. And he shuts the door. He shuts the door behind him, so it’s just y’all in the room. And they look at each other one last time, and Henry says, [as Henry] I haven’t been entirely honest with y’all. I…
WINK: People rarely are.
JAS: [as Henry] Well, I had to see- I had to make sure that y’all did not mean harm.
NORTH: And we proved that.
MERCER: We didn’t mean harm.
WINK: I didn’t mean harm, I just wanted to see what was on the other side of the door. I did not mean to see the other side of the door so aggressively.
JAS: [as Henry] And I could tell. I could tell that you were upset. And that in itself means a great deal to me. I know Wayne just told you that we’ve had interactions with the people of Endless Night, and that is 100% true. What I haven’t been entirely honest with y’all about… when I went to Endless Night, I… [as DM] And he gestures to the Fissure Core Fragment. [as Henry] I was trying to find another piece of that. And for my investigations, they stuck me with this. [as DM] And he points to his cybernetic eye. He says, [as Henry] I had to steal most of the pieces to this, but they said that if I couldn’t keep my eyes looking away, then I wouldn’t get to keep my eyes in general. Wayne saved me from them, and I’m forever grateful to him for that.
JAS: And Wayne goes [as Wayne] It really was no problem. [as DM] And he goes, [as Henry] Shut up. [as DM] And he kinda smacks him gently, and he says, [as Henry] Truth is, this world of ours is a weird, fucked-up place. I know you’ve figured that much out. And I thought that if I could at least get the other piece of the Fissure Core Fragment that Valren Hydrox has, then I could help my friends in Endless Night - it’s where I’m from, it’s where I grew up. And I miss it there, miss it a great deal, but I can’t live there anymore. Because of the people in charge. They’re nasty, vile people, and Wayne tells me they took Sylacrum, and I shudder to think what’s going to become of Sylacrum.
WINK: There is a way we have of doing things in Spring that I think Endless Night could benefit from.
JAS: [as Henry] Whatcha mean by that?
WINK: People who want power for the wrong reasons usually do not have it for very long, because we take care of them.
JAS: [as Henry] Well, that’s mighty threatenin’ soundin’, and honestly good. But, um, I don’t think you truly understand the scope of how dire it is there. You can’t do anything without one of them involved.
WINK: Is it… are they… people, or are they constructs?
JAS: [as Henry] Both. Companies, um, Ozrum is headed up by three people. Hydrox, Inc; you met the founder.
WINK: He is so greasy, I feel like he would clog my throat with hair oil.
JAS: He lets out a slight little laugh. [as Henry] Yep, that he would. He’s… the worst. And there is… [as DM] let me check my notes, hold on. Pause for note-checking.
MERCER: Did anyone ever cast Detect Magic on Henry’s eye?
NORTH: [MUMBLING INDISTINCTLY]
MAR: Can I use my Channel Divinity to regain one of my spell slots?
JAS: Yeah, go for it.
MAR: And then cast Detect Magic.
JAS: Yeah. He says, [as Henry] There’s Bottom Line, that…
MAR: Did we have the names of the corporations before?
JAS: You did- you had two out of the three, I think. I don’t know if you had Ozrum.
MAR: We have Ozrum and Hydrox, in my notes, from session 10, “could Henry’s eye be a source of Valren’s information?” It’s just in my notes!
JAS: Yup, so he says, [as Henry] Ozrum is run by a few people, just a couple - you’ve met the sole person in charge of Hydrox, Inc., and there is a board in charge of Bottom Line.
MAR: How many people are on the board?
JAS: [as Henry] There are seven people on the board. Obviously, there’s kind of a hierarchy within the board, but, they’re fairly secretive about who they are, just quietly spending money and controlling everyone’s lives. Those three corporations control everything there. Hydrox does the water and the electricity. Ozrum does all of the healthcare, which in turn leads to a lot of them doing technology.
MAR: Does that include your eye?
JAS: [as Henry] It does include my eye. However, these are mostly stolen parts that - there’s a massive black market. Oathar knows they weren’t gonna let me back to get in official means.
MAR: Could that be how Valren knew what was going on?
JAS: [as Henry] I’d hope not, but…
MAR: Me too.
JAS: [as Henry] I don’t think so, but, [as DM] You said that you were gonna cast Detect Magic, didn’t you? You cast Detect Magic and I need you to roll a spellcasting check.
MAR: Let me write down that Henry’s eye is stolen parts and then I will.
JAS: Great.
MAR: Okay, spellcasting check…
NORTH: I’ve heard this conversation going on, can I help? Like, can…
JAS: Because it is Cire casting it…
NORTH: Oh, I thought it was an Arcana check.
JAS: No, this is a spellcasting check to see how good-
MAR: Charisma plus proficiency?
JAS: Sí.
MAR: 18.
JAS: 18, so yeah, you can tell - you see a few different effects on it. You see that there’s a lot of - it’s almost like cracking open a piece of technology, where you see all of the little bits and pieces, and you’re like “I don’t know what the fuck that does, but someone out there does,” you are like, “oh, there’s a whole lot of tech in this.” Like there’s a lot of, because a lot of Endless Night’s tech and, you would know this bleeds into Winter, because a lot of Winter tech was originally from Endless Night, a lot of the tech is like, kind of like our modern technology, but infused with magic.
MAR: Right.
JAS: So, you’re looking at this eye, and you can see that there is even a level of truesight that can be added in there, there’s the light spell in there, so he can see. But you don’t see anything that is transporting this knowledge elsewhere.
MAR: Okay.
JAS: Like you see that there is several ambient spells here, but there is not something making it move elsewhere.
MAR: So, Detect Magic would also tell me what school the magic is from, do I detect any kind of divination magic here?
JAS: No.
MAR: Okay.
JAS: There’s no kind of scrying, no kind of anything like that.
MAR: You caught what I was actually asking.
JAS: Yeah, there is no Scrying in here.
MAR: Is that one of the spells… is that one of Cire’s 17th level domain spells? I can’t remember.
NORTH: Seventeenth level?
JAS: Not for a while.
MAR: Yeah, so Cire doesn’t get fifth level spells until 17th level. But in her subclass-
JAS: That’s how paladin do.
MAR: Yeah, that’s how paladin do; they’re half casters.
NORTH: What about me?
MAR: You get fifth level spells at, I believe, ninth level.
JAS: Yep.
MAR: I don’t get them ’til 17th because I’m a half caster. So I don’t get 2nd level spells until level 5. But Cire’s domain spells, as an Oath of Paradox paladin, at 5th level, are Scrying and Mislead. I was like… I know it’s a domain spell for one of my characters, I just can’t remember which one.
JAS: So, yeah, no Scrying or anything like that. You can tell that the magical effects are located in…
MAR: Love the lore dump.
JAS: We love a good lore dump.
MAR: Obviously, we can’t trust him with this Fragment. But how do we keep it away from him?
JAS: [as Henry] I mean, your best bet is gonna be to continue adventuring, and as shitty as it is, be on the run.
MAR: I’m guessing the closer we get to Endless Night, the more vulnerable we are to the “eyes” that he has in places, so…
JAS: [as Henry] You’d be exactly right.
MAR: Maybe we move the opposite direction? How far away from here is the border to Endless Day?
JAS: To Endless Day… you’re probably about a week’s journey, is what I believe I said. A week and a half.
NORTH: What about Endless Night?
JAS: Much further. Opposite side of the wheel.
MAR: We’d have to go through most of Autumn and all of Winter to get to Endless Night.
JAS: Yup. [as Henry] Well, he says he has eyes everywhere, I’ve known for a long time he’s had eyes on this farm. But he doesn’t have eyes everywhere. He’s not omnipotent. He wants you to think he is, he’s not.
MAR: Right, and if he’s careful enough with the way in which he appears, he could trick people into believing that he has eyes everywhere. So… once we leave the farm, there might be a chance of avoiding the eyes?
JAS: [as Henry] Yeah. I truly didn’t mean to burden y’all with this. I didn’t…
MAR: Well, from Sylacrum’s notes, he was looking for it, too. I think we would’ve stumbled upon it eventually, whether at this farm or somewhere else.
JAS: [as Henry] Well, and that’s-
MAR: Did you not know that you had a fragment on your farm?
JAS: [as Henry] I knew. I’ve known for a long time. Decadraz was a very thorough notetaker. And once… once you decipher some of his code, it’s not hard to deduce things. And of course there’s rumors spread throughout the family, you just pass it from one to the next - I’m the only one that’s been remotely interested. And it’s true; this is my family’s farm.
MAR: So, why did you need us?
JAS: [as Henry] Because the last time I tried to get my hands on it, in any capacity, let’s just say I was indebted to Wayne once again. I…
JAS: Wayne looks and says, [as Wayne] He went catatonic. He’s not gonna say it, but he fully went catatonic.
MAR: Okay.
WINK: For the stupid bitches out there, what does catatonic mean?
JAS: Essentially braindead.
MAR: I think mechanically it would reduce all of the mental stats to one.
JAS: Correct.
MAR: So, Wisdom, Charisma, and Intelligence would all drop to 1 so you wouldn’t be able to understand language… it would be bad.
WINK: And that was for the stupid bitches out there, not for me, definitely not for me.
JAS: Uh-huh.
NORTH: Fully confused that with cathartic.
[LAUGHTER]
WINK: He fully shit himself.
JAS: He fully shit himself.
MAR: Have we explained that?
WINK: I think I have.
MAR: We must have.
JAS: However, comma. I learned in one of my classes last semester that catharsis, the original definition was “to relieve oneself,” and that was meant in a literal capacity of a like, play being so emotional they literally shit themselves. And I told that to this lot and we have not stopped using “catharsis” in a wack way since.
MAR: But it’s horrifying, and I hate it, and I would like it to stop.
JAS: Go with that knowledge.
MAR: You know more about the Core than we do, but if Valren has eyes on the farm, I don’t think it’s a good idea for us or the Core to stay here.
JAS: [as Henry] I would agree with that assessment. I think your best bet’s gonna be to get out of here. If… you talked about going to Endless Day, that wouldn’t be a bad idea. It’s lawless land out there, so you can do whatever the fuck you want and no one gives a shit.
WINK: Oh, really?
MAR: Was the grin that just came onto your face, was that also in character?
WINK: Oh, yes.
MAR: Okay. Hesperis. We’re not murdering without cause.
WINK: Oh, never without cause, my love. Never without cause.
MAR: [giddily] Can I get Hesperis to roll an insight check?
NORTH: I like how Sylacrum got taken and we’re all like, “all right, Endless Day.”
WINK: That’s a 13 + 4, that’s a 17 on my insight check.
MAR: Would Hesperis realize that Cire fully did not register the “my love” as an affectionate term?
JAS: I don’t know, this is on you!
MAR: I wanted you to roll to see if you could sense the total lack of recognition of “my love” as an affectionate term. As Cire, but Cire’s not trying to hide it, she just doesn’t recognize it.
WINK: Okay, so she doesn’t see it as Hesperis being gay on main?
MAR: Yeah, she fully doesn’t realize, and I would like to know if Hesperis knows that.
WINK: Hesperis does, and will try harder next time.
[GIGGLES]
MAR: Fair enough.
JAS: Fruits!
WINK: Fruit salad, [EVERYONE JOINS IN] yummy yummy!
MAR: I cannot stress this enough, Cire does not realize that what’s happening is gay on main.
JAS: Excellent. So yeah, your best bet’s gonna be to go to Endless Day, there’s no laws out there, not really. It’s one of the easier places to hide. I will say, you might be able to find another piece. If you want. I’ve been doing some research. I’ve been doing a lot of research, and best I can tell, if you assembled all the pieces of the Fissure Core, put it all back together, all nine pieces, you would have a hell of a lot of power, that’s for sure, but…
MAR: I think… we should start with focusing on making sure Valren doesn’t get that.
JAS: [as Henry] That’s fair, but… you could fix what’s wrong in the center of our world, and on the underside.
MAR: What IS under Citarya?
NORTH: Australia.
WINK: No hesitation!
JAS: [as Henry] It’s a twisted place. It’s… you’ve likely heard a little bit about the Wasteland Forest. It is effectively, as far as I can tell, this is what I have come to understand. Now, there’s only been two people to travel there. Ever. And it got kept under wraps, because a few people with power didn’t want the knowledge to get out there, but, underneath Citarya is… a twisted reflection of our own world. And interestingly, where the Wasteland Forest is in our world, is sort of paradise. The rest of it is… to put it lightly, hell. It’s damn near impossible to travel there.
MAR: Who’s done it?
JAS: [as Henry] Well, firstly was Volumon. The warlock. He’s done it, and then he, you know… he did it before the Fracture happened. And the other was Decadraz, went with him. They went together, and it was with their combined power that they were able to do it. But at the time, they were both working for Tabriah. And then they saw, it’s funny - Decadraz writes about it, and it almost sounds like Citarya now, a little bit. Like a premonition of what was to come. Separated into seasons, but the absolute worst parts of every season.
MAR: So no one’s been there since the Fracture?
JAS: [as Henry] Not since the Fracture, no. Well. There’s people that live there.
WINK: But no one from Citarya?
JAS: [as Henry] No. Well, I mean, not as we think of Citarya.
MAR: Right.
JAS: [as Henry] They still call it Citarya there, but…
WINK: What, so everyone in Spring just gets bad hay fever? And mud in their mud rooms? They get too much mud on their boots?
JAS: [as Henry] It’s constantly storming. You can’t build a settlement, because a tornado will rip it away next week.
WINK: That is pretty terrible. My apologies.
JAS: [as Henry] And the sun is so hot in Endless Day that… going outside, you can’t even think about it. It scorches the skin right off of you. And the bugs, a whole hell of a lot of bugs.
MAR: And they’re always like that because, like here, the seasons are unchanging.
JAS: [as Henry] They’re stuck. Now, theoretically, you could use the power of the Fissure Core to undo that. To give them - give all those people a semblance of a decent life. But…
MAR: Or, if you’re Valren, you use it to expand your business interests into people who have no interest in being… under your control.
JAS: [as Henry] Exactly.
WINK: We have a word for that… I think we call people like that, um, I’m confusing the two, is it a colonizer or an imperialist?
JAS: [as Henry] Yes.
MAR: I think either would be appropriate here.
JAS: [as Henry] Either of those two would be absolutely appropriate.
NORTH: Since Winter is modern, would Main Character Syndrome be a phrase they use in Winter?
JAS: Absolutely, it would be.
MAR: If there isn’t anything we can do to get Sylacrum back, which I assume there isn’t.
JAS: [as Henry] I mean, theoretically, you could trade the Fissure Core Fragment for it, but…
WINK: That is not an option.
JAS: [as Henry] Good. I’m glad my judge of character has continued not to fault me.
NORTH: To be fair, we’ve known him for… about four days. Tops.
MAR: We’ve known you almost as long as we’ve known him.
JAS: [as Henry] Well, there you go.
WINK: Someone you’ve known for four days, as she holds her hands up like, weighing something, someone you’ve known for four days, the fate of the known and unknown world, someone you’ve known for four days, the fate of the known and unknown world…
MAR: Fair enough.
WINK: I think we should go to Endless Day.
MAR: Agreed.
MERCER: That works for me.
NORTH: Doesn’t seem like we have much choice.
JAS: [as DM] He says, [as Henry] Let me equip you the best way I can. And he gets up, and he goes- he leaves the room, and he comes back, briefly, and he gives you each four loot.
WINK: Motherfucker’s loaded.
NORTH: His cow farm is making bank.
JAS: Who says it’s from the cow farm?
NORTH: You know what, that’s fair.
WINK: Cow farm…
EVERYONE: There’s gonna be cows outside.
NORTH: I didn’t even get that much from a university grant.
JAS: Yeah.
MAR: Wait, you mean I have to put something in my currency section other than, “currency? in this economy?”
JAS: To be fair, it’s not really currency. It kind of is, but it isn’t.
MAR: Schrödinger’s currency.
WINK: Teehee.
MAR: We love Schrödinger’s currency.
JAS: And he also hands you like, basically a picnic basket. And it’s just full of food, and you see that there’s the cornbread that y’all baked is in there. And he says, [as Henry] I gotta stay here, there’s several things that I need to work on, including… moving some dirt.
WINK: I’m very sorry about that, if there’s any way that you could think of that I could help… I don’t think I could tremor it back into place, I think that might make it worse. But I could… um…
JAS: [as Henry] Unless you’ve got Shape Earth, or, any kind of…
WINK: Do you think I could suggest the earth?
JAS: [as Henry] I… no.
WINK: I could suggest the earthworms to move the earth for us.
JAS: [as Henry] You’d have to do one by one, I think, ‘cause…
MAR: It might be easier to just do it ourselves.
JAS: [as Henry] At that point, yeah. Y’all don’t worry about it. Honestly…
MAR: I think the best thing we can do for you is take the Fissure Core Fragment and get out.
JAS: [as Henry] That, and honestly, there were less damages than I expected, so we’re doing all right. As far as we’re concerned, and I’m not worried about getting it fixed. You best bet’s for you lot to head to Endless Day, may Oathar’s lantern guide you.
WINK: I don’t know what that means, but I appreciate the sentiment. [01:18:23.01]
NORTH: You try to stay safe as well.
JAS: [as Henry] Thank you.
JAS: And he says, [as Henry] Oathar is my god, e are the god of prosperity, survival, and not just survival, but thriving.
NORTH: Shit, he gave us four loot, you’re damn right he’s thriving.
MAR: Can I give Henry a hug?
JAS: Yeah.
WINK: It was Wayne that was wearing the Kiss the Chef- [JAS: Yes.] Or, Kiss the Cook.
JAS: Yep.
WINK: I’m going to give him another kiss on the cheek, as like a little goodbye.
JAS: He kisses you on your forehead.
WINK: UwU.
JAS: And you all head out to Endless Day.
NORTH: Valus is going to leave a business card with an email.
[LAUGHTER]
MAR: Yeah, like… fair enough.
WINK: ‘Cause they definitely have-
WINK and MAR: Email-
MAR: In Autumn. They definitely have Internet connection in Autumn.
NORTH: They’ll figure something out.
MAR: They might, though.
JAS: You don’t know.
MERCER: We don’t have e-mail. We do have b-mail though.
WINK: B-mail?
NORTH: B-mail?
MERCER: Bird mail!
WINK: God fucking damn it.
NORTH: I thought bees carried the letter, I was gonna be way more excited.
MAR: That would’ve been so cute!
JAS: That would be adorable.
WINK: In the Feywild, how they carry mail around is, you know how in the Feywild, things aren’t as they are in the Material Plane, so they have like, big bees, that carry the letters for you. Kind of like the owls in that one book and movie franchise that we will not name.
MAR: Oh, like carrier pigeons!
WINK: Yes, exactly like carrier pigeons. But bees.
MAR: But bees! Can someone please draw a very large-
WINK: Chonky.
MAR: No, it has to be like the chunkiest bee that you’ve ever seen, but a large, very chonky bee with wings that are like… barely large enough to hold it up, carrying a letter.
WINK: By all known laws of aviation…
NORTH: It’s sitting on a whiteboard in their apartment.
MAR: Please, I am begging you, someone draw that for me.
JAS: And if we have nothing else to do, we’re heading out to Endless Day.
[THEME MUSIC]
