Autumn in Hieron 14: A Fire Hydrant of Divinity
Transcriber: Kai Gee (alpha3nine#4800) 0:00-34:00, lune @daffodilian#8872 34:00-1:22:00
CWs: Torture discussion 27:00-30:00 (description ~27:30-29:00), highkey fantasy racism from 36:10-37:00, imprisonment/jails after 1:00:00.
ART: ...what was that?
NICK: I’m gonna mute myself on Skype real quick.
ART: I think that’s still inside the fives.
NICK (muted to everyone else; overlapping next 30 seconds): Aaaaaaaah… test… aaaaah. Aaah, ah ah. Ah ah ah ah. Hey, I’m super-excited, waaaa, wooo, testing. Audio testing, wooo-wah, woowaaaah. Hey, hey. Shhhhhhhhhh.
AUSTIN: I don’t think we’re f— are we — aren’t we done with those ice dudes? Have I (cross) fucked up my prep?
DRE: (cross) Yeah, I think we — we, we killed all the ice dudes, I mean, unless there’s more ice dudes in that tower. We don’t know!
AUSTIN: Yeah.
ART: I didn’t think it stopped being (cross) cold, I just thought we weren’t near that — I dunno…
DRE (cross): We don’t know!
ART: Any time it’s cold, I remember ice dudes.
AUSTIN: No, it’s still cold.
ART: Who lives in cold? Ice dudes. I’d be s— pretty surprised if we were fighting fire dudes they’d be uncomfortable. [overlapping with DRE and AUSTIN, waves of Hieron theme fade in]
AUSTIN: You fought a fire dude last week.
DRE: We did, in fact, fight a fire dude.
("Autumn not Winter" by Jack de Quidt starts)
AUSTIN: Hey everybody, welcome to Friends at the Table, an actual play podcast focused on critical worldbuilding, smart characterization, and fun interaction between good friends. As always, we are presented by StreamFriends.tv and RunButton.net; our agenda is to portray a fantastic world, fill the characters’ lives with adventure, and to play to find out what happens. We are continuing our Dungeon World game today: Dungeon World, a game by Sage LaTorra and Adam Koebel based on a system originally by D. Vincent Baker. Joining me today, uh, Nick Sondgeroth.
[pause]
NICK: Hello. Hello — (AUSTIN: Say hi, Nick.) — hello, hi, sorry.
[quiet laughter]
AUSTIN: Uh, Art Tebbel.
ART: Hey!
AUSTIN: And, uh, Andrew Lee Swan.
DRE: Hey, hi!
AUSTIN: Where can people find you, in that same order? On the internet?
NICK: Uh, you can find me at Twitch, Twitter, and Youtube slash DrEvilBones. (cross) Or “drevil-bones.”
ART (cross): Uh, you can — oh, oh, [hesitant] sorry.
NICK: Nope.
ART: Uh, you can find me on Twitter (cross) at atebbel. If you go on now,--
NICK (cross): It’s cool; I’m just gonna keep interrupting you.
ART: —(stumbles) you can, you can see the crazy photos from my New Year’s Eve party.
("Autumn not Winter" ends. NICK laughs)
DRE: Your New Year’s Eve party?
AUSTIN: ‘Cause it’s, ‘cause it’s the future. ‘Cause by the time this is out—
DRE: Oh, right. (laughs)
AUSTIN: —it’ll be the future.
DRE: Yeah, perfect.
ART: It probably won’t be the new year, actually.
NICK (in the background): The fuuuuuutuuuuuure!
AUSTIN: No, it will.
DRE: Yeah, probably.
AUSTIN: It might be. By the time we get to here, it might be.
(NICK giggles)
AUSTIN: And Dre, where can people find you?
DRE: Yeah, sorry, I didn’t know if Art was going to keep that bit going. (AUSTIN inhales, amused) Uh, you can find me on Twitter at andrewleeswan.
AUSTIN: You can find me on Twitter at austin_walker, thecalcutec on twitch, and at clockworkworlds.com. (DRE: Mhm.) Again, we are back on, Team Ice Party. Uh, so Keith will have to listen to this whole thing anyway, so… He’ll— he’ll have to enjoy this (??? 2:45)
ART: (cross) But he likes when we say his name, so…
AUSTIN: He does; he has told us he likes— I think just, he likes when anyone says his name. And it just—
NICK: Wait, who— who are you guys talking about? (DRE giggles)
AUSTIN: Oh boy.
(laughter)
AUSTIN: Does anybody—
ART: The word-eaters got him, ahhhhhhh…
(laughter)
AUSTIN: Does anybody remember where we were last week and what— what kind of happened last time we played?
DRE: Ummm, yes… But I feel like I’m always the person who jumps in with this. (laughs)
NICK: I saved the day.
ART: Yeah, that happened.
NICK: I saved everything.
DRE: Yeah, Nick— Nick saved the day.
AUSTIN: Nick did save the day. Fantasmo did save the day, um... by… (DRE: And did— and— and—) uh… confronting a very big word-eater.
ART: Yes.
AUSTIN: What were you going to say, Art?
ART: Pushed us closer to us being done way before Boat Party. For us like just, crashing Boat Party.
AUSTIN: Yeah, I haven’t— we haven’t run another Boat Party game, I think, since your last game, ‘cause Ali went on vacation. Um, so now you guys are actually passing ahead, uh...
ART: We’ve been ahead the whole time, right; like, that’s the worry—
AUSTIN: Right.
ART: —that we’re going to be like, just… it’s over.
AUSTIN: Ri— I— Iunno. There are ways. I have ways.
NICK: Yeah, we’re winning!
DRE (indistinct): I’ve heard of that. (??? 3:50)
AUSTIN: And also— also, means. I have ways and means (DRE: Oooh!). Also, a committee. I have— (laughing)
ART: Yeah, you’re like a committee over there. They call him Austin “The Committee” Walker.
AUSTIN: —the Ways and Means Committee. That’s— that’s what they call me.
DRE: What sort of rules of order are you employing here?
AUSTIN: None, actually, I-- we thought about— about using Robert’s for a while, and then, eh... it’s a lot of work.
(quiet laughter)
AUSTIN: So, in the downtime, did anybody level up?
DRE: Yes, I did.
AUSTIN: What moves did you guys take?
(loud typing in the background)
ART: Uh, the one that lets me cast cleric spells.
AUSTIN: Right, okay.
DRE: Ooooh!
ART: Uh, it has a name that I could tell you… once I stop stalling to get to there on my character sheet. It is called Divine Favor.
AUSTIN: Good job. And, uh, Throndir?
DRE: Uh, well, you and I had conversations ‘cause we ended up making a move, uh—
AUSTIN: We did!
DRE: —for Throndir. Uh, ‘cause originally, uh, there’s a move in stock Dungeon World for rangers called Half-Elven.
AUSTIN: Mmhmm.
DRE: And the way that works is if you’re an elf, you get the human move, and if you’re a human, you get the elf move.
AUSTIN: Right.
DRE: And I liked the idea of doing something with Half-Elven because Throndir discovered in our last playthrough that he has goblin blood in him.
AUSTIN: Mmhmm.
DRE: Um, but we were trying to figure out what— how that would work, um, so the move we came up with, uh, I believe we decided to name it Kindrali’s Chosen.
AUSTIN: Yeah.
DRE: Um, and so after we killed that Word-Eater and during that flash of knowledge that we all got, um y’know, Throndir kind of — he learned the name of his people’s, y’know, one of their main gods, which is— which is a big deal for— for his people and his belief system, so… He now has a— a connection with Kindrali that he probably doesn’t have complete control over (AUSTIN: Mhm.) right now, but it’s there.
So the skill that we ended up making is somewhat similar to, I believe, the bard skill. Um, so it reads, the way that we’ve written it out: “When you consult Kindrali, he who knows, about a historical artifact, place, or event, roll +WIS. On a 10— on a 10+, get something interesting and useful. On a 7-9, get something interesting, but without an explanation of its usefulness.
AUSTIN: Right. It’s sort of like Spout Lore, but it’s— it’s specifically for, uh, kind of getting visions from Kindrali; the reason it’s—
DRE: Mmhmm.
AUSTIN: It’s plus wisdom is because what you’ll be s— what— what you’ll— the actual experience of it will be visual, and we’ll see how that turns out in play.
DRE: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Uh, Nick, did Fantasmo level, or— or nah?
NICK: Nope. Still level 2. (AUSTIN: Okay) I’m like 1 away, so I’ll probably level after today.
AUSTIN: Yeah, so this— It would be really weird if you didn’t. (laughs)
NICK: Yeah.
(DRE laughs)
AUSTIN: You know— (cross) given the way this, this game works.
DRE (cross): Just fail something really quick.
AUSTIN: Yeah, exactly. Uh, so we left off with you being able to see Auniq, the snow-elven city, uh, or, or, kind of the snow-elven… I… is it a city? Wha- what’s it like, Dre?
DRE: Um, I would imagine it looks probably, uh, it’s probably closer to a village than a city. (AUSTIN: Okay.) You know, they have walls that are functional for like keeping out animals, (AUSTIN: Mhm, right right) like they gotta keep the owlbears out, right? But, they, they’re not— they haven’t built this to like withstand uh, you know, like attackers from like other like humanoids, uh… or other species, so, uh...
AUSTIN: Right. In a real way, the Mark of the Erasure is already a sort of wall, right?
DRE: Yeah! Absolutely.
AUSTIN: Yeah.
DRE: Um, so I mean, they have walls, but they’re not, like, you know, big impressive city walls. So (AUSTIN: Right) It probably looks more like a, you know, like a large village. (AUSTIN: Okay. Mhm) You know, within it, there’s probably some— there’s like some farms, and— and some agricultural stuff, um, but it’s— I mean, it’s definitely not towering or impressive. Uh (cross) it’s functional; it’s nice; it’s well-kept; but it’s not... ostentatious.
AUSTIN (cross): What— what’s the population like in, in Auniq?
DRE: Uh, I would guess, ummmmmm… What’s the population of Velas? I wanna get a sense for scale here.
AUSTIN: (sighs) I think we ended up saying—
ART: Uh, we had a number once.
AUSTIN: We did have a number once. Uh, it’s a city, you know. It’s thousands of people, it might be— but not like, but not a million people; not a hundred thousand people, do you know what I mean?
DRE: Yeah. Sure.
AUSTIN: I think we ended up saying five to ten thousand? We ended up going deep into like, how many people were in medieval cities, or like, pre-medieval cities, you know?
DRE: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Um, I feel like this—
ART: Yeah, I remember we were looking at the population of Kyoto at one point.
AUSTIN: Yeah, I think we were saying like ten to twenty-five thousand, somewhere in there, in like the entire region, in that whole like chunk of the map, (DRE: Yeah) including the big, mostly abandoned, um, ruins of the city, you know?
DRE: Let’s say about 800.
AUSTIN: Okay. That seems fair. That’s— that’s like a healthy population, uh, (DRE: Yeah) for, for a town that big. Um.
So, you see those walls in the distance, and then beyond that, when we left off, you could see a fallen tower, similar in design to the one that you— that you, uh, stormed on the Isle of Eventide, um (DRE: Yeah.) but, but much bigger. Um, so the architecture is similar, but the scale of it is— is ostentatious, and in a real way, Auniq is in the shadow of that— that fallen, grand um, uh… building, right? Like, there— there is something interesting there about their space being practical, but also being, you know, reasonably close to this thing that was, just pure power and spectacle. Um… so what are you doing?
What’s your plan? You know that you’re heading for this tower, like in your hearts, you know that that’s where you’re going. But between (DRE: Yeah) you and there is Auniq.
Mm, say it’s probably early in the day today.
DRE: Well, I mean— we already know that they know that we’re like, out here. ‘Cause we ran into some snow elves when we were going through the mountains, uh, to go fight the word-eater, um… so they know we’re here.
AUSTIN: Mmhmm.
NICK: What was— what was our initial— why were we sent out here, again?
AUSTIN: The, um, the Velasian Council is sending you here to investigate one of the marks that was on this map. Remember, r— remember you found that (NICK: Oh, yeah yeah yeah. Okay) kind of tactical map that had the kind of plumb-bob style floating crystals on it. One of them was in the center of the mark of the Erasure.
NICK: Yup. We’re looking for a probable other tower, probably.
AUSTIN: Right, well, you see this one that is probably it (NICK: yeah), you know. The— the one that is fallen here.
NICK: Oh, I see, okay, yeah.
AUSTIN: You see what I’m saying? This is the same type of architecture.
NICK: Yup. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I getcha.
AUSTIN: Um, and— um, you guys should also— everybody should remove another ration from use over the last, like, day, of travel. (DRE: Oh, yeah. Cool) And I think you’re probably… Let’s say four days away, four more ration uses away from this tower, maybe three? Let’s say three. Um.
But, uh… but that's if you went in a straight line, right? If you went around Auniq—
DRE: Mmm. That would take us through Auniq.
AUSTIN: Right, if you went around Auniq, it would probably be another, another day or two on that, depending on what happens, you know?
DRE: Austin, how much does Throndir know about this tower? Um, ‘cause I, almost wonder, like (AUSTIN: Mhm) while we’ve— while they’ve— the snow elves have been under the, you know, the thrall of the word-eaters— Like I almost wonder did nobody even notice this tower existed?
AUSTIN: That’s interesting; I hadn’t thought about that. Um, I could run with that. Uh, part of me— so, there’s a practical reason why no one has ever been there. Which is, you know that it’s really cold (DRE: Yeah) near there. Like, it’s colder than here. Uh, this is a thing that we didn’t really talk about and, uh, you know, this is on me for maybe not emphasizing it hard enough, um.
Part of that is ‘cause, ‘cause Andrew’s character— for Andrew’s character, the cold is, is normal, right? The snow here is like part of daily life, snow isn’t a big deal for him. For uh, Fantasmo and for Hadrian, the Sword of Samothes, Defender of the Undying Fire, Member of the Order of Eternal Princes, uh…
(DRE giggles)
AUSTIN: ...This is… unheard of. Right? This is, or, it’s not unheard of; it’s spoken in whispers, right? Like, people know what snow is because you’re in the kind of quadrant of Hieron where there is snow because of the Erasure, the Mark of Erasure, like people have been towards the mark of the Erasure before. But it’s never snowed in Velas, It’s only ever snowed near this space. So, for the Great Fantasmo and for Hadrian, (rapidly) Sword of Samothes, Defender of the Undying Fire, Member of Eternal— the Order of Eternal Princes (ART chuckles), uh…
ART: Please only refer to me by all of those titles at any time.
(general laughter)
AUSTIN: This is, something— I guess I should ask you: Hadrian and Fantasmo— Hadrian, Sword of Samothes, etcetera— and the Great Fantasmo, how has it been, being in a place this cold and like, walking through snow?
ART: Ah, well, those are two questions for, for... I gave myself a promotion that, that you’re also not recognizing and how dare you.
AUSTIN: Oh, what?
ART: It’s, uh— I, I haven’t changed it on my character sheet because I’m the worst, but it’s, uh...
AUSTIN: (overlapping ART) Well, there you go! (DRE laughs)
ART: Uh, um... it’s, it’s… Hadrian, Sword of Samothes, Defender of the Undying Fire, Officer of the Order of Eternal Princes—
AUSTIN: Oooh.
ART: Thank you very much.
AUSTIN: Officer.
(NICK laughs)
ART: Officer of the Order of Eternal Princes.
NICK: Is “thank you very much” part of the title now also?
(DRE laughs)
ART: Uh, yeah, definitely, absolutely.
DRE: Esquire.
ART: [laughing] Yeah, also he travels through time in a phone booth. Uh… [NICK laughs] But you know, it doesn’t come up a lot in, in this play. Um, ‘cause, ‘cause I made myself immune to cold. And I don’t know [AUSTIN overlaps] what that mea— like, do I feel cold and it just doesn't affect my body?
AUSTIN: (overlapping ART) Right, right.
ART: Or is it like “Welp, this just feels like room temperature.”
AUSTIN: I don’t know, you tell me.
ART: And then what isn’t medieval room temperature? Probably colder than contemporary room temperature…
AUSTIN: Yeah, definitely.
[DRE laughs quietly]
ART: But, uh, um, I guess it’s more interesting if it just f— if it’s— feels cold but it doesn’t do anything.
AUSTIN: That is more interesting, yeah.
ART: Like it feels cold, but like, my circulation’s the same.
AUSTIN: Mmhmm.
ART: Umm… Yeah, it must be— it, it must be insane, right? Like it must be like— it must be like seeing the world come to an end.
AUSTIN: Yeah.
ART: Like, this must like— “Oh, if it’s like this here, then, then ten miles to the south, it must just be— it just— must just be nothing, right?” Or must just be rocks. Rocks and, and, and nothing.
AUSTIN: Mmhmm, mmhmm, hmmm.
[pause]
ART: Uh, and that must be like challenging, ‘cause, ‘cause presumably, that’s not what people think. You know, it’s not like “Oh, yeah, it’s cold over there, then over that mountain range the, world ends.” Like that’s probably, that— some people might think that, but that’s probably not what a— what a religious person would think.
AUSTIN: Right. Uh, what about you, Fantasmo?
NICK: Um. Fantasmo has been, uh, prestidigitatedly warming his robes from time to time. (DRE laughs quietly) So, I mean…
AUSTIN: He’s dealing.
NICK: Yeah. He’s— he’s not comfortable, like, you got, like the two of them have probably heard a lot of very sarcastic complaining under his breath, maybe some elven swear words here and there, but…
(DRE and AUSTIN laugh)
NICK: He’s—
ART: Oh man, what are elven swears like?
[NICK laughs]
AUSTIN: Good question.
Let’s think about it. Let’s think up some as we, as we continue. (NICK: yeah) So, again, what’s— what’s the plan here? Again, Auniq is— is kind of dead ahead, uh, it’s early in the day... What’s your— what’s your plan?
DRE: Well, I think, for me, just like a survivability point, if we’re gonna make it to the tower and then back to Velas, which I hope is everyone’s plan [AUSTIN scoffs], uh, we’ll, we’ll have to load back up on rations probably.
AUSTIN: Right.
DRE: So we will have to go to Auniq sooner or later.
AUSTIN: What are you guys at in terms of rations right now?
DRE: Uh, I have nine uses left after marking off that one you mentioned a few minutes ago.
AUSTIN: Okay, so you’ll be— it’ll be close.
NICK: I— [pause] I only have four left, so yeah.
AUSTIN: And a great feast.
NICK: Did I use that, ‘cause it’s not on my character sheet anymore.
AUSTIN: Oh, did you use it?
NICK: I think I might have used it—
DRE: Maybe?
AUSTIN: Oh, did you use it while you were staying… [NICK overlaps] Okay, it was Mee Kosh’s...
NICK, overlapping AUSTIN: I think I might’ve eaten at— in— Yeah. In the goblin’s hut, in the goblin’s hut.
AUSTIN: It was Mee Kosh’s.
DRE: Oh, that’s right!
NICK: It was Mee Kosh, yeah.
DRE: Mm-hm, I remember that now.
AUSTIN: Okay.
DRE: Good ol’ Mee Kosh.
AUSTIN: So yeah, you’re low on food.
ART: I have... I have 10 rations and I don’t need to eat.
AUSTIN: Well, you don’t need to eat now. What happens when you find the, the secret of this temple or whatever?
DRE: Yeah, when you finish the quest...
ART: Then it would— then it would seem my, my quest has been fulfilled.
AUSTIN: And you’d have to eat. So… (ART: I just--) these are the practicalities that we don’t think about when we take holy crusades. (laughs)
(DRE laughs)
ART: Whatever, my crusade’s over, then; I’ll be at peace with my god and I— it’ll just be time to die, then. I mean, that’s the, that’s gotta be the thinking, right? Like on some level.
AUSTIN: Yeah, ha, yeah. Um…
ART: I mean, what is there to do? Right? Like, is there, is there hunting? Is there… gathering? How does one make...
AUSTIN: Yeah, there’s, there’s, yeah, I guess this is, again, a question for Throndir. How do the people of Auniq survive? You mentioned some farms...
DRE: Um, yeah, we do some farming, uh, but I imagine there’s probably, I mean, hunting parties is probably like a regular thing; I mean that’s— that’s how Throndir learned how to shoot a bow and hold a spear and track and, you know, move through woods and move through the environment, um… y’know, hunting is a big part of snow elf life because they have to have meat to eat [AUSTIN: Mhm], because they can do some agriculture but it’s just— it’s not enough to live on just that alone.
AUSTIN: While meanwhile, Fantasmo is a vegetarian.
NICK: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Right?
DRE: That’s true.
AUSTIN: That’s an established fact, um. So, hunting wouldn’t, wouldn’t do him any good.
DRE: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Which, again, seems to emphasize the need to be in Auniq.
DRE: Yeah. Well, and I feel like with the— (NICK, quietly: Okay.) With like everything that happened that Throndir has learned, you know, about his people, he probably feels some sort of tugging to go back and to try and share this knowledge with people.
AUSTIN: Right.
DRE: I mean, who knows if anybody will listen… (AUSTIN: But…) Um, but he feels, you know, an obligation to, to his home, and to his people and his family.
AUSTIN: Uh, I—
ART: When is the— when is the appropriate time to bring up the, the, the stated danger of us being tortured to death by these elves?
AUSTIN: That’s a good question.
(NICK laughs)
DRE: Yeah, well, I— We— we ended the last session with, with Throndir saying like, “I wanna tell you why I left.”
("Autumn not Winter" by Jack de Quidt starts playing)
ART: Sure.
AUSTIN: Okay, so.
DRE: Um…
AUSTIN: Um, there is one other thing I just remembered. Uh, can you guys give me 5 minutes? Keith, you’re gonna need to edit this. This is very early for a break, but I remembered something I promised you all last week that I didn’t deliver on and I— we need to deliver on immediately before we move forward. So give me f—
DRE: S— Is it that loot?
AUSTIN: Yeah, it’s that loot. Gimme— gimme five minutes; Keith, seriously, this is going to need to be reduced. Um… and it might be less than five minutes; I’m very good at this. [laughs] But, still.
[DRE laughs]
AUSTIN: Alright.
ART: What, you mean, like, are we starting in like five minutes and then you’re telling us like… go… take a…
AUSTIN: I’m just saying like, yeah, can we take a five minute break really quick.
NICK: Yeah.
DRE: Yeah, sure.
AUSTIN: 6:15— 6:17— s— at whatever-seventeen be back.
ART: Right, add 5 to the current minutes it says on your clock.
AUSTIN: Right. Exactly.
NICK: I’m gonna hit the restroom quick, then.
AUSTIN: Sorry, sorry.
AUSTIN: Uh, and you can find me at austin_walker, uh, the calcutec on clockwork worlds— clockw— er… man! I’m all over the place today!
[ART laughs, AUSTIN sighs]
AUSTIN: It’s been a long week, guys. You can find me on Twitter @austin_walker, thecalcut—tech, man!— thecalcutec on Twitch, and at clockworkworlds.com. Uh…
DRE: There you go.
AUSTIN: I’m gettin’ there. I have to like get [ART overlaps] all these… [tongue-slurring sound like “bleh”]
ART: (overlapping Austin) I like how we’ve— we’ve all just stopped pretending that Keith will cut out our mistakes.
[DRE laughs]
AUSTIN, simultaneously: Keith isn’t gonna cut, I’m not gonna redo.
ART, simultaneously: You didn’t redo it, you didn’t ask for it to be cut, you’re just like—
AUSTIN: Well, it’s here now.
ART: Well, it’s out there forever.
AUSTIN: Keith is gonna love this.
("Autumn not Winter" stops playing)
AUSTIN: So, last session, one of the things I said, I don’t remember if this was on the recording or not— but, uh, I realized that I owed you loot. From defeating the word-eater who had, taken the form of Kindrali. Uh… Because that was uh, y’know, even though you didn’t beat him in combat, like, that was definitely defeating uh, a major foe. Uh.
ART: Gimme the loot, gimme the loot.
AUSTIN: So, Throndir, you received—
ART: Yeah.
AUSTIN: That’s not you!
ART: Oh, right. Whatever, they’re all me.
DRE: Yeah. Simme— simmer down.
AUSTIN: [snorts] Throndir—
ART: I wait ‘til they’re sleeping; I don’t sleep; I get all the loot; run away.
[DRE laughs loudly, AUSTIN laughs as well]
AUSTIN: Throndir, you receive ah, a small quiver of, of arrows. Um. These look like something that— that, uh, were handmade by the form of Kindrali. Um, or not Kindrali, but the form of the word-eater who had tak— who had taken Kindrali’s form. Uh—
DRE: Yeah.
AUSTIN: And what they do is, and maybe this is the first thing that Kindrali’s vision shows you, uh, is that, on a hit, they let you, uh, they let you perform— ask the questions from Discern Realities, except of the person who was hit. Uh, they’re also magical arrows, which means like, they g— they get hit, and then they kinda like vanish into that—remember the, the kind of blue sparks, the kind of blue, or like embers (DRE: yeah) that the— all of the word-eaters turned into when you defeated them?
NICK: Mmhmm…
DRE (faintly): Yeah.
AUSTIN: So, so, that’s what they do. So if you, if you hit someone with them, they’ll, one-- uh, it doesn’t do damage. Like, they feel like, kind of like a— a brief pressure, as if— as if being like pushed on. And then you can ask the questi— you know, three of the questions from the Discern Realities list. (DRE: Mm.)
But from their perspective, so it’s what they would s— how they would see the world, kind of. Uh, and you’ve three of them. Or you’ve, you have ammo 3, which doesn’t mean that you only have three of them, it means that’s kind of the abstract ammo system; we’ve talked about this before.
DRE: Yep.
AUSTIN: Uh, so write that down. Uh…
DRE: What’s the weight on that? One?
AUSTIN: One, yeah. Great Fantasmo? You received the Book of Names.
NICK: Ooooh!
AUSTIN: Um. Once per session, you get a +1 on Spout Lore as if it were a bag of books. Ah, and y— that recharges each session. Um, I don’t know what this looks like. I don’t know if this is like literally you open the book and… new names, new words come to the forefront? Uh… but once you u— once you refer to it, they go away? Or if it’s— or if it’s more abstract that that; just a matter of— of pure game mechanics? But I kind of like the mechanics being— being narrative, too, you know?
NICK: Sure.
AUSTIN: I kind of like this idea of like once every…
(someone coughs)
AUSTIN: Every once in a while, you can go into that book and something important comes out. So, so, (NICK: Right) again, kind of a +1 on Spout Lore um, the way a bag of books works, except you don’t lose it. It doesn’t go away like a book from the bag of books does. Um...
NICK: Did we... did I get that by— from a drop off of the Janine of Hawkins? [laughs]
AUSTIN: [laughs] Right, yes. You got, you got Janine Hawkins’ Book of Names. [laughs] Exactly.
[DRE laughs]
AUSTIN: And Art. (ART laughs very quietly) I think while you were leaving— yeah. (amused) What’s up? I know that laugh!
ART: Uh, I wish I had— I wish I had also said yes when you said “Great Fantasmo,” (AUSTIN: Yeah) and then I like that you said Art instead of Hadrian because you knew that I clearly don’t know my character’s name.
AUSTIN: (laughs) That’s correct. [ART laughs] Uh— (laughs) While Hadrian was leaving— Hadrian is your character, Art. Tebbel. Arthur Tebbel.
(laughter)
ART: I know that?
AUSTIN: Y— You know th— okay. [laughs] Uh...
DRE: God…
AUSTIN: On the way out [ART chuckles], in the mess— you remember, in the corner of the, the kind of lair that you were in, there was that kind of bone pit?
ART: Yeah…
AUSTIN: Ye— Okay. Uh, while you were leaving, Kodiak, Throndir’s dog, runs up to you with something in his mouth. And, uh, upon closer inspection, um, it was a very strange arm. Uh, it— First, you thought it was just like a piece of metal? Thought it was like, a piece of armor? And then you realized that, like, the armor was filled in with a metallic or a stone substance.
ART: Mmm.
AUSTIN: Um, I think a stone substance—I think it’s like marble in there—broken off, like as if ripped from a statue. But inside of uh metal, metal armor. And you recognize that it is missing the ring finger. The gauntlet on it is missing the ring finger. Uh, and there is a holy symbol, just like yours.
ART: Hey!
AUSTIN: Um, this doesn’t do anything. It’s very valuable; you know people want to see this. You know you should bring this home. It’s a little— it’s, it’s heavy; it’s two weight, uh, by itself.
ART: Sure. Uh-huh.
AUSTIN: Um, maybe it’s more. But let’s say two weight. Ah…
ART: Okay. I’m, still doing fine.
AUSTIN: Okay. Um. But— eh, let’s make it three weight. It’s— it’s a big marble arm in, in plate metal armor… you know?
ART: Sure.
AUSTIN: Like, that’s… um...
DRE: Man, Kodiak’s got a strong mouth.
AUSTIN: Kodiak is a, is a strong boy; he’s part of the strong boys gang. So, um...
DRE, overlapping AUSTIN: Uh, I’m gonna take part of Kodiak finder’s fee, uh... on that...
[laughter from AUSTIN and ART]
ART: Okay.
AUSTIN: Uh, when you—
DRE, putting on a tough guy voice: Hey, my dog; h-he takes 20%, takes 20%!
AUSTIN: For a brief moment, when you take it out of Kodiak’s mouth, you swear you can, you can feel muscles tensing in the arm.
ART: ...Great.
AUSTIN: It’s pretty good.
ART: Yeah, I hope it doesn’t like just strangle us all in our sleep. (laughter) Uh, y-- y-- y’all are dead, the arm did it. (laughter) Roll new characters.
AUSTIN: So, what are you doing? (amused) Again, faced with Auniq in front of you. And, and as you were asking, when would be a good time to talk about that— that thing about torture?
DRE: Prob— probably now. Probably now.
AUSTIN: ‘Kay; go ahead!
DRE: Okay. Um…
AUSTIN: I mean, th-this should be a question that, that, uh, Fantasmo or Hadrian puts forward, right? Um—
ART: Well, Throndir was gonna— was gonna tell us something first.
AUSTIN: Oh, oh. Okay.
ART: You know, it’s not like, “I’m gonna tell you this.” “Shut up: torture.” Like that’s, that’s rude.
[DRE and NICK laugh]
AUSTIN: Okay, sounds good.
NICK (as FANTASMO): My dear boy—
DRE: So glad you have your manners. [AUSTIN laughs]
FANTASMO: —I believe it is time for you to discuss this torture that you spoke of.
[DRE laughs]
THRONDIR: Well, I didn’t— It was, uh, it was Mee Kosh, but um… So you all know, um—
DRE: I’m speaking from Throndir’s point of view, now.
THRONDIR: You all know that, um, you know, I’m, I’m part goblin and I guess that’s, that’s why we live longer, but we weren’t sure—the people in my village weren’t sure—why some of us were living longer than others and some of them desperately wanted to know. Um… And then people began disappearing. Um. It was slow, we… you know, one person would go missing, you know, maybe once a month and we just assumed it was, it was a hunting accident. I mean, it’s not common, but it happens, living out here, but… um...
One night, I came upon some of our village elders and they had— well, they were, they were— they were just— they were cutting someone up, just— just to see what was, what was inside of them and… I think that’s where everyone was disappearing. I think they were experimenting on us and...
...trying to figure out what about us was different. So that’s, that’s what Mee Kosh was saying when he said his— the torture thing. They don’t— they wouldn’t do it to you.
(soft laugh from someone)
They would not do it to you; they don’t care about you. But… Me, on the other hand… And that’s why I left.
ART (as HADRIAN): Sure. Alright—
AUSTIN: Did we discuss how old Fantasmo is?
DRE: Yeah, that’s a good question.
ART: It did come up du— I think it came up during the first [session.
AUSTIN: Mmhmm.
NICK: I think it came up— (someone: I rec—) It came up in the last session, too, like he…
AUSTIN: Mhm.
NICK: Um, y’know, I, through Fantasmo, mentioned that he had been— he’s at least over a hundred years old.
AUSTIN: Right. Uh, but he’s aged, right? (NICK: Yeah) Like, that was part of the thing was he looks like an old elf, despite quote, “only" being a hundred, or something. Um.
NICK: Right. No, he is— He is old, yeah.
AUSTIN: Okay, okay.
NICK: Uh, I mean, old for current elves, I mean.
AUSTIN: I just wanted to confirm that. Right, that’s what I mean.
NICK and AUSTIN (unison): Yeah.
AUSTIN: Yeah, okay... Um.
(ART makes a noise of realization)
AUSTIN: Yes?
ART: I— I just had a flash of where this game would go if it were an old World of Darkness game, which is that somewhere (AUSTIN sighs a brief laugh) there are still immortal elves controlling everything—
AUSTIN: Right.
ART: —and we’ll never, we’ll never do anything but dream to be [AUSTIN laughs] a tenth as powerful as they are.
[DRE chuckles]
AUSTIN: World of Darkness, man, World of Darkness. Uh, I hear they released a new book that’s really good. Or, the game part of it I heard wasn’t very good, but like some of the narrative stuff was cool.
[quiet laughter from the table]
AUSTIN: Anyway! Uh… [laughs]
ART (as HADRIAN): But— but we, we have to go there, that’s our only chance at— at survival, yes?
DRE as THRONDIR: Yeah. [pause] Yeah, probably.
ART as HADRIAN: We can be careful—
AUSTIN (interrupts): I wanna be clear that I— that I’m not railroading you guys into this.
DRE: No, I know.
AUSTIN: Okay, I wanna make sure that’s clear, like: this is news to me. Going to Auniq is news to me; I wanna roll with it, I’m excited, but [DRE laughs] I, I hope this isn’t coming across like, “Well, Austin wants us to go to Auniq.”
ART: I mean… We could— we could discuss other ways to not starve to death, but…
AUSTIN: Right, I just wanted to make sure that we… that, ‘kay, that’s it.
NICK: I mean, aren’t we gonna be—
ART: Or, or, or: we could all go finish this and when we’re close to unraveling the mystery, I could run into the hallway and put my fingers in my ears, so I won’t know… and then I still won’t need to eat and I can try to save the rest of you guys.
[DRE laughs]
AUSTIN: That...
NICK: Hmm...
DRE: Let’s not do that.
NICK: I’m not sure...
AUSTIN: Samothes— Samothes into those sorts of loopholes? Is that what—
[someone laughs loudly; there is overlapping laughter]
ART: Like— like all religions, it’s all about the careful loopholes t-to really get under the, the, the bar of that, that omniscient deity.
DRE: Oh, boy.
[AUSTIN laughing quietly]
NICK: I mean, maybe Samothes has some sort of, uh, indulgence that you can purchase to uh—
DRE: ‘S got a grace period! [everyone laughs] What’s the warranty on this— on this holy crusade, huh?
[laughter]
ART: It’s real bad; I— I shoulda gotten the protection plan. [NICK laughs] Anyway.
DRE: Uh, and I think, y’know, to your point about railroading, Austin, I think with these new arrows that Throndir has, he very much has in mind someone that he would love to put one of these arrows in.
AUSTIN: Y-yeah? Who?
DRE: Uh, probably one of the elders that he saw performing these experiments on people.
AUSTIN: Okay. Does he make that desire known at this point?
DRE: Yeah, I think so. I think he trusts, he trusts Hadrian and Fantasmo enough.
ART (as HADRIAN): I—
AUSTIN (interrupts): Alright!
ART (as HADRIAN): I guess I— I’m— I struggle to see… No, I guess, I guess this is fine. I— I don’t wanna— us to get bogged down in a— in a journey of, of revenge—Samothes, of course, does not teach that that is the, the correct path—but I’m not— I’m not a hunter. I’m not a gatherer. Without— without the help of these people, we’re, gonna starve.
DRE (as THRONDIR): Yeah. I mean, I could hunt for us, I could get us food, but it would not be food that Fantasmo would be very happy eating.
HADRIAN: Well, you— you probably also know what plants aren’t poisonous, right?
THRONDIR: Yeah, but the closer we get to the Erasure, I’m willing to bet that they get fewer and fewer.
HADRIAN: Oh, yeah. Most edible plants aren’t— aren’t evergreen, huh?
[AUSTIN laughs, followed by DRE]
AUSTIN: Alright, uh so you start making your way, like, like you guys are going in the front door, so to speak?
DRE: Yup.
(AUSTIN breathes)
ART: Uh, wait, really?
(someone laughs)
DRE: I—
ART: Do we have a— is there a map that I’m missing here— do we have a— do we have a—
AUSTIN: No. There is not a map here.
ART: Um…
AUSTIN: I thought about drawing one, and then decided that like, no, you don’t— there’s no map, you don’t have a map of this place.
ART: Well like, how ‘bout just like, we’re— we’re at the question mark?
AUSTIN: You’re at the question mark, yeah.
ART: Okay.
AUSTIN: You’re at the point at which, you're like, on the border of where the space resists mapping.
ART: Right.
AUSTIN: Um, I can like, I mean— eh, you know, I, I can (ART: No, that’s fine—) imag— I kind of picture it as being, like, right now when you’re making these decisions you’re on a kind of, uh, a kind of low hill, looking at Auniq in the distance. Um, with the tower behind it, and just woods in every other direction. Again, some mountains to your south, like low low low mountains. But, but that’s about it. All ice, all snow.
NICK: If— if we’re worried about (ART: Right. Uh—) if we’re worried about Auniq, why don’t we try g— I mean, is it a long distance around Auniq to the tower?
AUSTIN: It’s a couple of— It would add like, two days to the, to the thing. The thing that people seem to be worried about is food. That—
NICK: Right. No, I understand that, but I mean, I was going to say, like, we probably all have enough food to at least get to the tower? So we can go to the tower, fulfill our objective, and then see if we need to swing by Auniq before we leave.
Right? No?
ART: I mean, probably? Maybe?
DRE: Yeah. But I mean, maybe we could find out something about the tower, too, from the elders of the village.
NICK: Yeah. That’s true too.
ART: I’m, I’m wary of a situation where we end up having to, you know, do a three person siege on an elven city.
(NICK and DRE laugh, pause)
DRE: I really— I think if it came down to it, they would take Throndir but they would not be interested in taking you all.
ART: Well that’s not— we’re not, that’s not, we’re not doing that. (NICK laughs) We’re not gonna leave you— (DRE chuckles softly) I mean, yeah, that might not be what they’re interested in, but they’re gonna take, they’re gonna take all of us or they’re not gonna take any of us, that’s—
DRE: I mean, the other thing, and Throndir voices this, like, they know we’re here, someone’s probably— multiple someones are probably watching us right now. We either go on our terms or we might end up being taken there on their terms.
(pause)
NICK (as FANTASMO): Gentlemen. May I remind you that you are in the presence of the slayer of the Word Eater. Surely—
AUSTIN: Oh boy.
(DRE laughs)
ART: Oh boy.
(AUSTIN makes a small pained laugh noise)
FANTASMO: Surely these people will have some respect for a wizard as fantastic as I.
ART: I’m really enthusiastic to see this plan now. (DRE and AUSTIN laugh)
FANTASMO: They are elves, after all, even— partially. (DRE: Wo-ahh.) Tainted thusly—
DRE: WOAH.
AUSTIN: …Mmmmm.
FANTASMO: —the goblin blood, but—
DRE: Hold on, let me change my bond with Fantasmo—
(AUSTIN and NICK laugh loudly)
ART: Oh.
AUSTIN: Oh, brother.
DRE: I can see, uh, the word eater taking that pride from Fantasmo has really done a lot for his character. (laughs)
NICK: Oh—
AUSTIN: (laughs) I only took a little bit. He only lost a little bit of pride. He didn’t lose it all. There are a lot of synonyms for pride that he still has. (laughs)
NICK: (chuckles) Yeah, yeah.
(DRE laughs)
NICK: Like this isn’t pride, this is just arrogance. (ART laughs)
AUSTIN: Right. Exactly.
NICK: Like—
AUSTIN: Alright!
ART (as HADRIAN): Yeah no, I think— I think this is, I think, that Fantasmo might be right—
NICK (as FANTASMO): Surely, being elven, they have a respect for— they still have an innate respect for magic.
(pause)
DRE (as THRONDIR): Uh… not quite.
HADRIAN: But surely Fantasmo must have some point here, they must be thankful that we’ve vanquished the evil that terrorized their land, they can’t—
THRONDIR: I mean, I grew up here and I had no idea word eaters existed until, until Mee Kosh told us. I— I (HADRIAN: Oh wow) have no idea what has… I’m sure someone knows. (cross) I’m sure someone knew.
HADRIAN (cross): Well they’ll be— they’ll be especially grateful that we’ve solved— we’ve solved a problem they didn’t even know they had. (THRONDIR (doubtfully): Yeah, maybe.) Or didn’t have a word for. Hey, maybe the word eater ate their word for word eater, and that’s how they didn’t know it was the problem. (NICK laughs)
THRONDIR: Yeah.
DRE: I mean I— Throndir is very unsure of what his people will be like with the word eater’s spell kind of like, lifted.
ART: Did it do that? Did it uneat the words that were gone? I mean I know it did for us, but we were right there, I don’t know how this—
DRE: Yeah I don’t— listen, I don’t know how word eaters work.
(NICK laughs)
DRE: I have no idea.
ART (as HADRIAN): I’m— I’m s— I really want to see, I need to see what’s happening.
AUSTIN: Okay.
ART: I wanna see Fantasmo roll in there and be like, “I’m your hero”—
AUSTIN: Well, we’re gonna roll in! You guys start, head down the hill, across the, the pines, through the pines, towards the large wooden wall that separates Auniq from the rest of the Algid Pinelands. Um, I’m guessing there’s a kind of a door with a tower, is that like, a gate with a tower? (DRE: Yes.) Does that seem right, Throndir?
DRE: Yeah, I think so.
AUSTIN: Okay. Um,
One of— I think actually, as you’re approaching, like you don’t get to the— you don’t get to the gate, you get kind of, you know, five minutes away from the gate when suddenly, the sound of bows being drawn is heard and from behind one tree, a… a snow elf in, kind of um, bright, almost white, almost white leather and steel armor slides from behind one of these trees and into your vision, and draws a long, sharp, straight blade. Um.
AUSTIN (as SNOW ELF): Halt.
AUSTIN: You recognize him, Throndir. This is uh, (DRE: Yeah) Belador. He holds the rank of Talon, which is high up in the, uh, kind of small militia that Auniq keeps.
AUSTIN (as BELADOR): (sighs)
AUSTIN: He sighs.
BELADOR: Throndir, we— didn’t expect to see you again.
THRONDIR: I didn’t expect to be back, but. The best laid plans, huh.
(pause)
AUSTIN: He’s— kind of… I think he’s trying to gauge your intentions, you can kind of see that in his eyes. Um. He has… uh, kind of, short pulled back black hair and pale eyes. Given the fact that the snow elves are pale, this dude has a little bit of color to his skin. He’s definitely, like you, came up as a hunter, out and about, exploring this area, getting a little bit more of a tan than the people— I, I guess there’s nothing saying that snow places can’t, can’t get tans, right?
NICK: Actually, they—
DRE (faintly): Yeah, I mean still have sun, man.
AUSTIN: Yeah, cause all that light gets reflected, right?
NICK: Right. Yeah.
AUSTIN: Yeah, yeah. It seems like, I think that’s how I’m kind of picturing this dude.
BELADOR: They’ll want you, you know.
THRONDIR: I know.
AUSTIN: He shakes his head.
BELADOR: Come with me.
AUSTIN: The other snow elves kind of move in, with their bows drawn pointed at you. Uh, and then one of them approaches Throndir with some rope and twine. And gestures for you to put your hands out. Um.
THRONDIR: We’re not here to fight. Is this really necessary?
BELADOR: Yes. You are a criminal. You have betrayed us.
ART (as HADRIAN): Wait wait wait we are… we are heroes of this land. You don’t understand.
NICK (as FANTASMO) (in an even louder and more pompous voice than usual): I am the slayer of the word eater. I will have you unhand me.
AUSTIN: He gestures, and they move away from you and towards Throndir.
BELADOR: The two of you can come in as prisoners or not at all. Throndir is coming as a prisoner whether he wants it or not.
FANTASMO: Now, wait a minute. This young elf is under my protection.
(pause)
AUSTIN: He looks at his, his people, (laughs softly) with a smirk.
BELADOR: Who are you?
HADRIAN: Oh, no.
FANTASMO: I am the Great Fantasmo, (cross) former head of the Re—
BELADOR (cross): Your mother name you that, or?
FANTASMO: Mmmmm. Ucgh.
(NICK laughs)
AUSTIN: Yeah— okay.
DRE: Fantasmo, I don’t want to say “I told you so,” but. (laughs)
THRONDIR: Look. Belador, you know me. I don’t know what they said about me, but I know that you know it’s not true.
AUSTIN: (pause) Hm.
BELADOR: It doesn’t matter what you say, or what they say, I have my duty. Now come with me, or I’ll have to hurt you and your friends. And you know I’m capable of that.
ART: How many of them are there?
AUSTIN: You know he is capable of that.— You see four. You see him and four others. Uh, uh, Throndir knows that there are more. This close to the gate? Um, here’s what you know.
Throndir, you know that these groups move in groups of eight. There is a Talon, and then four Feathers and three Beaks. Those are like, the ranks in these like, militia wings.
ART: Euuhh, wings.
DRE: Euh.
ART: Euh.
AUSTIN: (sighs)
HADRIAN: Look. We just did these lands a great service, and all me and my dutifully deputized companions need are some simple travelling supplies.
HADRIAN: If you could just kindly supply us, we can all move on, with our days, (AUSTIN exhales, amused) and nothing, nothing bad has to happen here.
AUSTIN: He laughs and shakes his head.
BELADOR: Here are the negotiations. This is what, this is— I’m saying, you can come with us as a prisoner, and you’re saying you want the things we have. This is bad, is what this is. You are bad at this.
(DRE laughs)
BELADOR: Make your choice, you two; Throndir, raise your hands, and you will be tied, and brought to the elders. There isn’t a choice here.
HADRIAN: (mumbling) I think there’s a choice here. (raising his voice) Um—
NICK (as FANTASMO): Look here, you backwards buffoons— (HADRIAN (in the background): There we go.) (NICK laughs quietly)
BELADOR: If you raise your voice again you will be shot.
THRONDIR: Fantasmo, it’s not— it’s not worth it.
DRE (quietly): And he puts his arms out.
BELADOR (loudly, over DRE): Throndir, shut up.
AUSTIN: They start to tie Throndir.
BELADOR: You two have five seconds to make your choice. Hands up or leave.
NICK: Fantasmo is gonna cast Magic Missile, at, (cross) uh, Mr. Thorny Man.
AUSTIN (cross): Okay. Go ahead. This is, uh, Belador, (cross) is his name.
NICK (cross): Belador. Yeah.
AUSTIN: Talon Belador.
NICK: Talon. (laughs)
AUSTIN: Yes. Uh, Talon is his rank, so, so Belador is fine.
ART: Let’s watch this roll.
DRE: Can I…
(AUSTIN inhales sharply, NICK laughs)
DRE: I guess it depends on the roll… Can Fantasmo, er, can (NICK: Oh boy) Throndir do anything to like, jump in front of Belador?
AUSTIN: I, do—
DRE: To block those missiles?
AUSTIN: Uh, no. There’s—
ART: Traditionally that’s not how Magic Missile works, but I don’t know how it works here.
AUSTIN: Yeah, it’s not— Magic Missile is a heat seeking, like, it has a target. Um. I guess like if you surrounded him with people though, of course it would hit you and not him, right— (DRE laughs) that seems silly. But no. Especially not with a— not with a roll like six. Um. (laughs)
It’s quick. Uh… You— You’ve, I don’t think you’ve seen a person move this quickly before. Like a, like a humanoid. You’ve probably seen monsters and creatures move like this, like birds, or, or fast land animals, but Belador rolls under your Magic Missile, which slams into the snow behind him as he stands up, kind of, it billows up behind him. Um, and… where is this, uh… this is, this is gonna seem high for a second, but it’s because of a weird thing.
Okay. (ART: That’s—) You take… ten damage. This is— his sword is the best of two d8, so it’s one of those two d8, but he rolled two 8’s. I just wanna be clear that that couldn’t have been a better roll. (DRE: Oooh.)
So you take ten damage as he pops back up, the snow billowing behind him, and slams his sword into you, and pulls it back out, Fantasmo.
BELADOR: Kill them.
AUSTIN: What do you do?
ART: I hit him. I hit him with my, my halberd.
AUSTIN: Go for it.
ART: Uh, as hard as I can.
DRE: Oh boy.
AUSTIN: That’s a hit.
ART: That is. Um, and then it’s this plus one. Or plus, uh this plus a d4. (AUSTIN: Mhm.) So that, that’s not good.
AUSTIN: That’s not great.
ART: Um, plus…
AUSTIN: What’s the d4 from?
ART: Uh, I get one d4 to atta— to damage when I’m on a quest.
AUSTIN: Oh. Nice.
NICK: Uh—
ART: That helped, and then plus one, so seven.
AUSTIN: Okay.
NICK: Were we at… full HP at the beginning of this? Or (cross) whatever we were at before?
AUSTIN: No. You were at— Where were you at— what you were at before. Um.
NICK: Okay so. I am down. I am at zero hit points.
AUSTIN: Uh, where were you at before?
NICK: Eight?
AUSTIN: I’m trying to remember did you rest in between the two, um, things.
DRE: Um, we got back to Mee Kosh’s place, we took him all the armor.
NICK: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Right. You did take him all that stuff. So yeah, go ahead and— everyone should have rested once, (NICK: Okay) which is uh, I think, you get back… from a rest you get back some amount of, of, something. Uh…
(ART laughs)
AUSTIN: Make Camp, uh, here we go. You… half your max HP, is what you get back.
NICK: Rounded up or down?
AUSTIN: I always say rounded up, so you get back seven.
NICK: Okay. Alright. I’m—
AUSTIN: You’re still in a bad place. (laughs)
NICK: Yeah.
(DRE laughs)
AUSTIN: You’re still at three, three, now. (NICK: Right.) You… cut into, into Talon’s armor, and you feel that you hit, you definitely hit flesh, Hadrian, (ART: Great) but he turns, and looks you in the eye, y’know. His, stare is one that is, uh, there’s a promise in the look he gives you.
The arrows start (ART: Probably a bad, bad promise) flinging down on you from the unseen places. You should roll… you, meaning, whoever goes next, should roll Defy Danger DEX, or some other sort of Defy Danger, or take the hit. And, and before you do anything else at this point, Defy Danger, you’ll have to Defy Danger, this is kind of everyone at this point.
ART: Sure.
(pause)
NICK: I got hit with arrows.
AUSTIN: What are you doing? What are you— yeah.
ART: Oh, no.
DRE (quietly) Oh, boy.
NICK: Uh, I guess I’m just trying to run away from the r— like out of the area of effect?
AUSTIN: Okay.
DRE (in the background): ’kay.
(ART laughs)
AUSTIN: I mean, what was your action going to be? ’Cause what I was basically saying was, to do an action, you have to, roll Defy Danger.
NICK: Uh…
AUSTIN: Like, retreating is like, I mean, that would be your action, you know what I mean?
NICK: Yeah. No, that was my action.
DRE (in the background): Mhm.
AUSTIN: At which point, at which point, like whatever, you run away, they’re gonna keep firing at the center, where Hadrian and Throndir are.
NICK: Sure. (AUSTIN: Uh—) Well, yeah.
AUSTIN: Alright so, at this point Fantasmo is high-tailing it away, as the ar— under, under threat of arrow fire…
ART: Suuuure.
AUSTIN: Back towards the hill and stuff, I’m guessing?
NICK: Yeah. I mean, (sighs) so, am I getting hit? Like, what—
AUSTIN: I’m saying, I’m saying I wanna deal with whoever is doing something that is a, either a combatative action, or using a move. (NICK: Oh. Okay) Do you know I mean? Um, I guess, I can treat this as Defy Danger and you can take this damage. If you want that to be the thing we do here (laughs).
(DRE laughs)
NICK: No I— yeah, I mean, yeah, I was just, (cross) I wanted clarification either way, I didn’t—
AUSTIN (cross): I I— Yeah, sorry. Right now, you’re not taking damage, like fleeing isn’t the thing— remember, they didn’t want you. They were saying you can either flee, or you can come in as a prisoner.
NICK: Oh. Yeah.
AUSTIN: Originally, right? So now you’re fleeing— that doesn’t mean they’re done with you, necessarily, but, but, when they have two able-bodied characters— or, y’know, enemies in front of them, they… they’re gonna deal with those first.
So, what about Throndir, what are you doing?
DRE: Oh, Christ.
AUSTIN: Remember, you were in the process of (laughing) being tied up.
DRE: Yeah, yeah. Um… I mean, I think Throndir knows there is no way to win, quote unquote “win” this fight. Like, it’s just gonna go bad. Um… Uhhhh. I’m trying to think of what he can say or do to try and get us out of this mess or at least… keep us in this mess and keep us alive in this mess. (laughing, AUSTIN laughs too) Um.
God, I think his only shot is trying to appeal to Belador, who’s controlling all of this mess.
AUSTIN: What are you doing?
DRE: Umm. (pause) Hmmmmm.
AUSTIN: I guess, let’s— let’s paint this picture in moments, again, I just wanna paint this picture in seconds. Because that’s what’s happened here, it’s been a matter of seconds. It’s been.. (DRE: Yeah) ten seconds since this started, right? It’s… you’re being tied up, Fantasmo says like, “Unhand him,” basically, Magic Missiles just barely miss, Belador stabs Fantasmo in the gut, pulls back, and then almost instantaneously Hadrian steps in and cuts deep into the upper shoulder of Belador, drawing blood and causing pain.
This is, and then, mo— and then the arrows start to come in, they just barely miss Fantasmo as he starts to flee, at this point y’know, you’re doing your best to seek, seek some sort of cover, like you’re not getting hit with them right this second, but whatever you do, first you’re gonna need to get to a safe spot if you’re doing something besides— actually, Throndir has to— has to do Defy Danger no matter what he does, (DRE: Yup) um, whereas, whereas, Fantasmo and Hadrian, if they’re fleeing, can just flee, because they don’t give a fuck about you.
(DRE laughs)
DRE: Um… Goddamn.
NICK: I’m sorry.
DRE: God, Fantasmo, why did you shoot missiles at these people!? (both NICK and DRE laugh) Uh—
NICK: I mean, me as the player, like Nick, I am sorry,
DRE: Nononono—
NICK: Fantasmo still thinks he did the right thing here. (AUSTIN: Yeah, of course, of course.) Even as he’s running away—
DRE: It’s the perfect move for Fantasmo. Bleeding (NICK laughs) profusely from his gut.
NICK (laughing): Yeah.
DRE: Um.
ART: So, so Fantasmo’s safe? Ish?
AUSTIN: He’s fleeing. Uh— (exhales) it depends on how this shakes out.
ART: Alright. (DRE: Mm.) I don’t want to preempt Throndir, but I have a plan of action.
AUSTIN: If Throndir doesn’t have a thing, or if Throndir’s trying to collect his thoughts, then we should go with your plan of action. D’you know what I mean, like, that’s—
ART: I would like to Discern Reality.
AUSTIN: Um… you’ll have to Defy Danger, and— so what does Discern Realities look like for you here, what are you doing to Discern Realities?
ART: I— I’m trying to, to draw on my experience as, a weapon of war.
AUSTIN: Okay. Um, w—
ART: I’m trying to figure out, cause what I said when we walked up here was like, we can’t— the three of us— two of us can’t siege this city.
AUSTIN: Right. Give me a,
ART: And I’m trying to figure out if that’s— if I’ve gotten to a point where like, that’s it, right. Even if I keep fighting, I kill all of the people I can see, is it that I have to kill everyone in this city?
AUSTIN: (laughs) So then, give me a Defy Danger. How are you—
ART: Dexterity.
AUSTIN: Uh, dexterity if you’re trying to get out of the way, right? Um.
ART: Sure.
AUSTIN: CON, if you’re trying to like, take these hits and deal with it and still perform your action successfully, y’know?
ART: Sure.
AUSTIN: But you’ll take that damage, it just means you’ll be also able to Discern Realities.
ART: Um,— right. Yeah, I guess CON is most—
AUSTIN: Yeah.
ART: Cause like dodging and then like, figuring shit out, that doesn’t make sense. To me.
AUSTIN: I— I think it kind of makes sense, like if you’re dodging behind a nearby rock or tree and then like, okay, okay, okay. Let me peek out— like what’s the situation here. (ART: Alright. That makes sense.) That makes sense to me. I can picture that in cinematically in my head, (ART: Yeah) with Hadrian like, getting behind cover.
ART: Alright, I’ll try that. I’ll try to get behind a, let’s say, tree.
AUSTIN: Sounds good.
ART: Oh, I fucked up. Fucked up real bad.
AUSTIN: Okay. (laughs) Uh. Christ.
ART: Took an XP though.
AUSTIN: Yeah— uh, yeah. Nick, make sure you take an XP. Take, uh, one damage, Hadrian. (ART: Armor—) Armor piercing one, but I think you have two, right.
ART: I have two armor.
AUSTIN: Yeah, so, so. The arrows clink off of you as you dodge behind cover. Go ahead and give me your Discern Realities.
ART: Alright.
AUSTIN: And then we’re going to go to Throndir, because otherwise, at this point Throndir either needs to have to do something or get hit, y’know.
(DRE, quietly: Yeah)
ART: Alright, I got a nine.
AUSTIN: Okay, on a seven to nine, Discern Realities, uh, you get to ask one of the questions. What question are you asking?
ART: I think like, like given what I’m looking for, I wanna know what is about to happen.
(AUSTIN exhales)
AUSTIN: I think at this point, you know that the, capture of Throndir is imminent and necessary. Everything else can be negotiated. Your death— like, death can be negotiated, death can be stopped. What’s going to happen? Is they’re going to bring Throndir to these elders.
ART: I surrender.
AUSTIN: You like, drop your weapon?
ART: I drop my weapon, and I put my hands up.
AUSTIN: Okay.
ART: I’ll go with Throndir, my place is to protect the people I’m with, Fantasmo appears to be safe, Throndir’s in danger, I’m gonna go.
AUSTIN: Okay. You drop your weapon, the— Throndir, what are you doing, how are you acting?
DRE: Uh, I mean if I see… if Fantasmo is getting away (AUSTIN: Mhm) relatively safe, albeit bleeding a lot (AUSTIN laughs), um—
AUSTIN: Yeah, the blood is in the snow, for sure.
DRE: Yeah, and Hadrian has surrendered, I mean, I don’t need to do any kind of action. I think the only thing that— he would just continue to plead with Belador to not hurt his friends, and I’m trying to think of what sort of, any kind of leverage that Throndir would have to give him to stop, and (AUSTIN laughs) the only thing I can think of is that power.
AUSTIN: Yeah, I don’t think you have anything he wants, man.
DRE: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Yeah— you. You are the thing he wants, y’know? (DRE: Yeah.) Um, it— that’s one way you could negotiate this. You could totally say— I mean, this is the thing, he’s already offering you to let them go. If you went with him. That was on the table already.
Now, I think he’s— he holds up his hand and the arrows stop, and he gestures toward both you, to you, Throndir, and to Hadrian.
BELADOR: Tie them up. Bring them in immediately. Let the old elf die in the snow alone.
AUSTIN: Um,
ART: I sure hope that doesn’t happen.
(AUSTIN laughs)
NICK: Me, too.
(DRE laughs)
AUSTIN: They— Throndir, take uh, three damage, they give you just a nice little knee in the gut and shove you into the snow before tying you up. One of them, hm. Yeah, one of them takes your halberd, Hadrian (ART: Yeah), ties you up, and they start leading you guys, you two away into the— into Auniq.
(pause)
NICK: Uh—
AUSTIN: Uh, Fantasmo, you’re at some distance and you can see this happening, I think, probably also from behind a tree or a rock?
NICK: Yeah. (pause) I am going to—
AUSTIN: Bleeding is bad.
NICK: Yeah. Hmm.
AUSTIN: Like this system doesn’t have any sort of like, automatic penalty for being low on HP, (NICK: Mhm) d’you know what I mean, that isn’t the way Dungeon World works, or actually ’cause it’s not the way D&D works, um, but. I will say that if you don’t get this taken care of in the next day, you’ll start to take debilities. You’ll start to like, become weak, and shaky, and sick, you know, like, that’s, (NICK: Sure) I’ll, will begin to pile those things on. Um.
But you know, you’ve had a long life, and you know how to at least, like, keep yourself from bleeding out. (laughs)
NICK: Yeah. Um, and I assume there’s like, something I can bandage myself with in the adventurer’s kit, stuff like that. Uh—
AUSTIN: Yeah, yeah. Again, like, not to get HP back, but to—
NICK: Right, yeah, but to (AUSTIN: prevent you from—) keep my guts from falling out.
AUSTIN: Exactly.
(ART laughs)
NICK: Uh—
ART: I mean, I don’t intend to be a prisoner forever, and I can heal you when I finish here.
NICK: Okay. Well, um. I am going to, uh, I’m gonna cast invisibility, or at least try to, hopefully I (AUSTIN: Go ahead) roll better than I did next time!
(pause)
NICK: 11. Okay, yeah.
DRE: Yay…
(collective “Yay” rises from the group)
(DRE laughs)
NICK: I’m invisible, so I’m going to try to… uh, follow them through the gate if I can.
AUSTIN: Okay. You can totally do that.
NICK: Okay.
AUSTIN: Um, I think as, as Throndir was explaining before, as you pass through the gate, uh, first of all as you pass through the gate, you get glares from the people working the tower, and then from some of the people working the fields— what fields there are here. What sort of thing grows in a climate like this? And like, we can be ridiculous and magical, but what’s it— what is it?
DRE: I would say probably a lot of things that like, grow under the ground. (AUSTIN: Okay) Like potatoes, carrots, all those kind of like tubers and stuff like that.
AUSTIN: Alright. So like, lots of people kneeled, and bent over, checking on crops, and maybe planting some new stuff, um. Maybe it’s, maybe it’s harvest season to some degree, like maybe people are harvesting a bunch of like, sweet potatoes right now. Um, and, some of them give you looks, one elf waves her child, her children back inside to like, their little farm house. And, you’re kind of paraded down the main path towards the center of Auniq.
These buildings are all, are all made of this kind of pine wood, um. I’m picturing some of it, though, as— I don’t know from woods. Um. (sighs) What— (typing) what’s some, what’s the wood I’m thinking of. Like birch, is actually what I’m kind of thinking of, that, that type of coloring, that like white and black, coloring? You know I’m talking about?
NICK: Yeah.
AUSTIN: In, in trees? That sort of coloring, a lot of the buildings have, mixed in with a more traditional dark brown. There is some, some mixing of color here.
NICK: That fits because birch trees tend to grow in northern climates, actually.
AUSTIN: Okay. I, I’m— totally—
NICK: There would probably be a lot of birch and pine and firs.
AUSTIN: Okay. Sure. Uh. So, man. How long ago did you leave, like two years ago? Throndir?
DRE: Yeah, I guess so.
AUSTIN: Okay. Um, things are… things— the space seems mostly the same. Like, there haven’t been many major changes, there aren’t like, all of the things that you thought were there are still there. This isn’t one of those trips home where everything has changed. Um, but to some degree, that makes it even more… weird for you, right, because it’s as if you never left at all; it’s as if your leaving, despite it being this huge deal because no one ever leaves, um, it’s as if it didn’t even matter.
And, it’s also like, it’s weird being back in the normal part of town. You know, you grew up playing here. And, you can’t see it as a fun place anymore. (DRE: Yeah.) I think that, I’m kind of picturing there being a town center with something in the middle. Probably not a fountain (laughs), um, maybe a tree? Maybe like a single tree in the middle. This is, this is the space that Kindrali talked about where the great divide between the goblins and the elves happened. Like this is where those debates were held, about the future of their civili— of Auniq.
Fantasmo, it’s weird seeing all of these elves working. Like, doing manual labor, and lots of it. Like, it’s weird seeing anyone work this hard, to live (NICK: Sure). And they’re doing as if it’s no big deal, right. You know, you’ve seen people work this hard before, but in way nicer climates. (NICK: Yeah) So, that— (cross) and, you haven’t seen elves.
NICK (cross): I mean, I spent time in Velas. Right, yeah.
AUSTIN: Right, right yeah. It’s, you know, it’s, a nice autumn day in Velas basically all the time (NICK: Sure), like an early autumn day, I’m kind of picturing it. Whereas here, it’s freezing. And most of these people, ninety, one hundred percent of these people (laughs) can’t make them, their bodies warmer with magic.
NICK: Right. (ART laughs) Yeah.
AUSTIN: And it’s colder here than it was, where you were earlier, ’cause you’re getting closer and closer to the center. So, it’s— even for you, it’s, um, an accomplishment, or maybe you can view it as like, this is uncivilized, I don’t know, I don’t know how you view it, I don’t want to put words in your mouth. Um.
They—
NICK: I think that— I think Fantasmo would definitely have a certain respect, but also, that respect is tempered with questions of why.
AUSTIN: Right. Right.
NICK: I respect their accomplishments here, but why don’t they just leave? y’know, is what he would probably be thinking.
AUSTIN: Right. Alright, so, they take… at a certain point, I think at the town center, they split you into two… um, into two groups, or, I guess not groups, right. Uh, Throndir they begin start taking towards like, the kind of High Hall, where the Council of Elders kind of meet and talk about the future. Um.
Hadrian they begin to take you deeper into the, into the kind of south, southeast, where things again, you can— even in this like, ten minute walk, you feel it getting colder, and colder, and colder. And eventually you reach a stone structure that has no windows. And they pull open, the big stone door, it’s one that grinds against the ground, and lead you inside. There is torch light in here, there are some holes on the roof to let smoke out and air in, and there’s a bit of sunlight through those holes. And as your eyes adjust, you realize that you are in a prison, or a jail. Um. And—
(ART: Sure. That makes sense.)
AUSTIN: The smell of death is strong here. Um. There are— there’s a hallway to your— as you come in, there’s a hallway to the right that, uh, reeks. And, that— based on the body language of the guards leading you in, is— is a place where they don’t even like to think about. But they turn you left, which is, which is nice. (DRE chuckles) Um, and that’s a long hallway of cells. Inside the cells are, goblins, mostly. Um.
ART: Hm.
AUSTIN: They take you to the kind of far end of this— I’d say that there are, six cells on this floor, and then there is a, uh, staircase kind of right near the front door also that goes up into another level. But they take you to the bottom floor, the far left side, there’s a cell that they shove you into and close the gate. The gate is kind of an iron, um, that they shove closed. A guard spits. Um.
AUSTIN (as GUARD): Food will be once a day. Your uh, your toilet needs are in the corner there.
ART (as HADRIAN): Mm.
GUARD: Once a week we’ll come by with some hot water. (pause) You need anything, well, then, I guess you’ll be needin’ somethin’.
ART: Oof.
(DRE laughs)
ART: Uh… I, I’m glaring at him.
AUSTIN: (exhales, amused) Fantasmo, which— when they split, which direction did you go with?
NICK: Um. I went, uh, with Hadrian.
AUSTIN: Okay. Did you go inside this structure?
NICK: It depends, is it obvious from the outside that it’s probably a jail?
AUSTIN: Huhh. I think from the outside it’s even more ominous, because who even knows. It’s so different than any other structure in Auniq. You know it’s a bad— it’s a place where bad things happen. Like, you get that sense. (NICK: Sure.) Um, there aren’t like, there’s no like, “oh, this is the jail” sign, and there’s no… (NICK: Right) like jail-style windows in this place, there are no windows outside. Uh, into— on the wall of the place.
NICK: But I can probably surmise that because this building is ominous and that’s where they’re taking him,—
AUSTIN: Right, but I want to be clear is, you don’t know that, if it’s a jail or something worse.
NICK: Oh, I see, sure.
AUSTIN: Like, see what I mean. (NICK: Yeah) You know it’s not a nice thing, but you don’t know where on the bad scale it is. Is this a slaughterhouse? (DRE laughs) Is this a— you know. It’s hard to know from the outside.
NICK: Hm. Um, yeah, I guess I follow, follow him in then.
AUSTIN: Okay. There are, let’s say three guards at any point in time, kind of patrolling here. One at the front, kind of recessed into the back, I should just map this out for you guys, now that there’s like, a building.
ART: Do the guards, do the guards appear, do all of the guards appear to have keys?
AUSTIN: Uh… there are keys… Okay. I’m going to draw it out for you guys. Sorry podcast listeners, this is maybe—
ART: That’s okay, I’m gonna make really short work of this whole situation.
AUSTIN (incredulous): Yeah?
(NICK and DRE laugh)
ART: Yeah. I’m gonna be out in ten minutes.
AUSTIN: You only do two days, right?
Ah, you should be on a blank page right now, you see that?
ART: Mhm. Yeah, yeah.
AUSTIN: Okay. So, uh, what’s the zoom level I want here. Roll20 is neat, but, sometimes weird.
(NICK laughs)
DRE: As are most handy things on the internet.
AUSTIN: Yeah, exactly. Um, and kind of, picturing this going back up this way, and then… uh… there, oop that did not go as far as I wanted it to. So, it’s kind of a long rectangle, horizontally, is what I’m seeing. Man, this is— okay. Get rid of that. Okay. So. Long rectangle horizontally.
On the, left side, which is where they’ve taken you, there are six cells, um. Three on the top side, three on the bottom side, why is this not doing the thing I want it to do,
You guys are seeing this, right? Just want to be clear.
ART: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Okay.
NICK: Yup.
ART: Oh, and did they untie my hands, or are they just like.
AUSTIN: Um, yeah. Yeah, they untied your hands once they threw you in there.
ART: Sure. I mean, that hurts a little bit of my, my mystique coming up, but it’s okay.
AUSTIN: You, right, your—
ART: I’m gonna be out in two seconds.
AUSTIN: (LOUD) Uh— (normal) hm. The other thing that they do is— Oh, that’s too many, that’s too many cells. Eh, fuck it, there’s eight cells. (laughs) There’s eight cells and two of them are empty. Doesn’t have to be one goblin per cell, that’s, that seems silly.
(DRE laughs)
ART: Yeah, what, they didn’t just happen to have the only empty cell.
DRE: Pretty spacious accommodations.
AUSTIN: Right, exactly, that’s really silly. Um. And then over here, on the right— so, so on the right side, it’s a long hallway that leads to a door, on the far right side, and you don’t know what’s beyond that door.
ART: Sure, something worse.
AUSTIN: So— Something worse.
ART: Their, their slaughterhouse.
AUSTIN: Right, and then at the top here, up here, are stairs. I’ll just freehand these stairs real quick. Hot stairs. (pause) Aw, these are shitty stairs. (ART: I’m not sure that’s—) Undo that.
ART: That’s fine.
DRE: You tried real hard, that’s what matters.
AUSTIN: But— No, that’s even worse. Ah, whatever. That’s— These are stairs. Uh (NICK laughs) and then there’s—
ART: That’s a—
AUSTIN: (laughs) That’s a single stair.
ART: And there’s more stairs going that way, yeah, I got it.
AUSTIN: Yeah (DRE laughs). And then, back in this corner…
AUSTIN: …There is a desk and a man and a pair of keys. There’s always a desk and a man and a pair of keys. Um, and he’s kind of back in this recessed corner.
NICK: I love that part of Bioshock.
AUSTIN: (laughs) Yeah, exactly. And Art is in this one.
ART: Oh. Okay.
AUSTIN: And then, there’s goblins… there’s a goblin across from you, uh, big G, thatta G, there’s one next to you, big Geee (voice makes swooping inflection like it’s a question), uh. And then here, one two three, right there should be two empty ones, right? Yeah, okay. One here, one more.
ART: Okay. So one horrible mistake, I made coming into this whole thing—
AUSTIN: Right.
ART: Uh, what here is evil?
AUSTIN: Oh yeah, you should have asked that like, man, a long time ago.
NICK: Yeah.
ART: Yeah, it’s fine. I’m making up for lost time. I should’ve done both of these things.
AUSTIN: Um, nothing in this space. No one here, no one in your immediate vicinity is evil.
ART: That’s good to know. Next—
AUSTIN: Um, including the guards, including like, yeah.
ART: Yeah, they’re just following orders.
AUSTIN: The— (amused) yeah. They’ve taken your armor, they’ve— your weapon was never even with you, here. (ART: Sure.) They didn’t even, um. And, they’ve taken your holy symbol from your hand.
ART: It doesn’t matter. I’m a living holy symbol.
AUSTIN: Sure.
ART: The divine rushes through me.
AUSTIN: Does it?
(NICK starts to say something but stops)
ART: Um, I mean, always, I am a, a fire hydrant of, (DRE bursts into laughter) (AUSTIN: Mm.) of divinity. (NICK laughs)
AUSTIN: Okay.
DRE: Can you add that into your name?
ART: I wish I had come up with a period-appropriate reference, but uh.
AUSTIN: Yeah, me too, okay.
ART: We’ll figure something out.
AUSTIN: Okay.
DRE: Font of divinity.
AUSTIN: Let’s go over to Throndir while you scheme, Art.
ART: I mean, my scheme’s done, but yeah, go ahead.
AUSTIN: Okay. (DRE laughs)
DRE (in the background): Ah, stuck in here, ah—
AUSTIN: Hadrian (he means Throndir), they similarly take your stuff from you, the difference is that like, they just go store it in another room. You’re in the like, council room, which you’re very familiar with, you’ve been here many a time as a boy, as a teen, as they started to inquire about your, your, or like as an elf teen, whatever age that is. (ART: Mmfh.)
It’s the same as it ever was, which means a lot of waiting around. They kind of put you in a waiting room, um.
DRE: At the elf DMV.
AUSTIN: Right, exactly. Uh, and (DRE laughs quietly) I’m actually kind of picturing this as not a waiting room in the DMV sense, so much as like, a therapist waiting room, d’you know what I mean? Um, or like the room attached to a receptionist area, in a sense? Where like, the judge’s chamber would be behind that door, or something, or a governor’s room, or something? And you’re just kind of like, it’s a small room, there’s some wooden tables, there’s a fire in here, roaring, to keep you warm. Um. (DRE: Yeah.)
And, uh, there’s no one else in this room with you, but the door is certainly locked. And this structure is a combination internally of like, very nice, smoothed, uh stone, lacquered wood, like, this place is rad compared to everywhere else. (DRE chuckles quietly)
After… I mean, so, thirty minutes, are you doing anything? Are you just like, waiting patiently?
DRE: Uh,
AUSTIN: You’re still tied up, and stuff.
DRE: Yeah. Can I try and loosen the bonds a little bit, like I don’t want to take them off.
AUSTIN: Yeah, I think over that thirty minute period you can get it to where, um, you could break free, quickly. D’you know what I mean?
DRE: Yeah, like, I don’t want to break free at that moment (AUSTIN: Yep) but I wanna be like, this is loose enough that if something happens, I can like (cross) break free pretty quick.
AUSTIN (cross): If something— right. If something pops off. Yeah.
Uh, after about thirty minutes of waiting here, the back door opens, and you’re brought into a long kind of council room. Like a, I’m picturing almost like a conference call center? Like a long table (DRE: Yup. Mhm), everyone’s kind of seated around. Um, and they… you’re seated in, a chair kind of surrounded by members of the council. Hey. Uh, Throndir. (DRE: Yeah) How old are you, actually?
DRE: Uh, that’s a good question. So we said, that Fantasmo’s about a hundred?
AUSTIN: Yeah.
DRE: Um, I’m gonna say that Throndir’s about… sixty…?
AUSTIN: Cool, what’s your father look like?
DRE: Oh, man. Uh, I would say he’s probably, he’s a big stout man. (AUSTIN: Okay) He is, like— he is a man who grew up on a farm and (AUSTIN: Okay) always wanted to stay on a farm.
AUSTIN: Okay. What’s his favorite color?
(long pause)
DRE: Purple.
AUSTIN: Alright so, among the people seated here (the waves of Autumn not Winter start fading in), there’s seven or eight people here— one of them is your father, wearing very fine purple robes, (piano starts) something you could never imagine him wearing before, despite his love for purple. Um, he is seated kind of off to your left, at this long table.
He’s definitely, his presence here, is official. He hasn’t been brought— this isn’t like, well, we called your dad, y’know, have a sit down (DRE laughs). Uh, the principal will be in—
DRE: To the principal’s office.
AUSTIN: Yeah, exactly, no this is like, he would be here no matter who it was. Um. But there is still a tension in the air because of who you are, and because of— (DRE: Yeah) because of who he is, um. But someone else speaks first.
She is, she is getting up there in age, and she was in the room where you saw the other elves being tortured.
AUSTIN (as ELF): What a surprise! Throndir. We thought you’d left us forever.
(music finishes playing, waves fade out)