Vaesen - This Too is a Gift, Episode 4

[00:00:02] Speaker A: Hello, friends, and welcome to another single serving tabletop adventure from Queen's court games. I am Aaron, and this is the last time I'm filled with profound sadness because after tonight, I have to return to the GM's chair. I have to give up the mantle of playerhood, take on all the responsibility, make plans instead of break plans. And it is tragic. That said, this is our last evening inside the frozen north as we are on a quest to solve some mythical mysteries in the scenario. This too is a gift. An original scenario for Vezen written by our very special guest GM, who you have met. If you are just now watching this episode and you're like, I don't know who any of these people are, you need to stop and you need to go to YouTube, and you need to watch the first episodes because like a spoilers, right? There's a really good story going on here. I don't want you to, like, have any ruined for you, but also, you're gonna be so lost, my guy. Like, imagine showing up in the third Star wars movie and, like, not knowing who Luke is, right? Come on. We'll wait. It's fine. We have all the time in the world. We are patient, kind people. You can go take care of that. Now. Everyone who's watched the first few episodes, while our new friends go back and check that out, let me remind you, introduce you to the rest of our cast. First up, she is our social media menace and has become tradition at Queen's court games. Award winning best player character two times over as outdoor occultist Elizabeth Jensen. It is Laura Tutu. [00:01:28] Speaker B: Hi. [00:01:31] Speaker A: Next up, they are our part time producer, full time fiend playing the dashing detective Axel Rollin. It is Kato aci. [00:01:39] Speaker B: Hello. [00:01:40] Speaker C: Hello. [00:01:41] Speaker A: Alongside playing probably a doctor, maybe, I don't know. We're getting some resolution on there. It's not quite what it seems. Dragomarkovich. We know him as Jonathan. You know him all over the Internet as Latinos against spooky shit. [00:01:55] Speaker D: Hola. [00:01:55] Speaker E: Buenos tardes. [00:01:57] Speaker A: And lastly, but not least, hero of my heart for allowing me to play in a game for once. Our special guest GM, drawing on his deep expertise of the frozen north. It's bleak season. [00:02:08] Speaker D: Hey. Good evening. [00:02:11] Speaker A: You can find links to their assorted social media accounts by sending exclamation point cast to chat or use exclamation point scenario if you're interested in exploring Vezin for yourself. Also, tonight's story may include topics that certain viewers find uncomfortable or objectionable, including insects, occultism, self harm and violence. You can use exclamation point. Safety to see the complete list in chat. The cast and I have discussed our lines in veils in advance via session zero and have agreed to a code of conduct to ensure a safe and respectful environment. But we want everyone at home to stay safe as well. Now, I assume, given the speed up feature on YouTube, our newest viewers are currently back. Everything good? Like type a chat? Let me know. Awesome. In that case, it is my forever GM honor to hand the reins back to bleak season. Bleak season? Will you tell us a story. [00:04:10] Speaker D: My friends? We traveled once again to Stavanger in northwest Scandinavia, where you have been sent by the lawyer Berltolt to investigate strange happenings at a shipyard run by a company called Locke Spindler. You traveled by train, having a few misadventures along the way, but finally arrived at Stavanger at the aforementioned dock, where you discovered that the place had been abandoned. Apparently, some form of giant Lindworm monster had been found somewhere in a cave nearby and had been brought here in the hopes of, as people believe, ingesting its flesh to earn various sorts of treasures, only to discover that the creature had been playing possum and quickly began killing people and infecting them with strange disease. In time, the entire place had to be shut down and the Lindverim itself was left for dead, covered in silver shavings. In one of the docking bays, you discovered this lynworm, found that it had been carrying a clutch of eggs, which you dutifully rescued and saved the linverm, removing the silver shavings and allowing it to perhaps in time, regenerate enough, heal itself enough so that it might be able to return to where it came from. You then repaired to your lodgings, some little cabins nearby where all of you had strange occurrences during the night, strange dreams, strange encounters. Most notably the last of which, which was in the captain. In the captain? It was in the captain, yes. The strangest encounter of all. Isn't the captain? No. It was in the cabin of the colonel, where the doctor and the colonel had a bit of a conflict, discussing the fact that it seems the colonel not only being the new friend, owner of Aspertus, an insect sent straight from hell to grand. The colonel is most fervent wishes, but that he also had a bit of a dark secret, which the Doctor uncovered in their discussion, revealing that inside himself, inside the Doctor was no longer Doctor Markovich, but in fact, that sold the soul of Captain Birkeland, the former aide de camp, to the colonel. The two of them came to, well, not blows, but certainly a bit of verbal repartee. The doctor decided to go and open the window where he was hearing sound of a ring knocking on window, a sound that had been pursuing him ever since you had left Uppsala. But before we discover exactly what that sound was all about, we are the sum total of our memories. We are what we have done, the decisions we have made, the roads we have taken. But we are also the things we have not done, decisions not made, roads avoided. Memory binds all of these together, like barbed wire around flesh. The things we forget fall away from us like missing siblings, former selves, friends we have betrayed, and lovers who have left their marks on us, then walked away. A chilled wind blows and branches shed leaves. So too do we shed skins, leaving behind old scars and wounds, summoning a fresh canvas for new ones. We do this by forgetting, either by choice or through the eroding power of time. Pain and shame pruned away with the dagger of forgetfulness, except when it isn't. When we can't forget. When the shame burns our faces years down the line, when a scent brings back a memory fully formed from the murky depths where we had banished it. When outrage or anger burns always deep in the pit of our stomach, then our new skin rips apart, and scars long buried erupt anew, blood welling up from wounds long thought closed, now laid bare for all to see. Betrayal stokes our fire. Unfinished business sharpens our ire. Old sins are justified, and the taste of old lovers turns to ash in our mouths. And the only question that remains is, which skin will you wear next? To forget is a gift. And to remember that, too, is a gift. Doctor. The sound comes from the window. That same sound that's been pursuing you. Metal on glass. The colonel has just admitted to you that he did what he did in that battle so long ago, willingly, that he did it because he felt it was the only thing he could do. It was the lesser of all evils. He knew it was evil, but it was the lesser of all evils. You, of course, having kept his secret and having dealt with so much grief, you, captain Berglin, that you took your own life over it, find it perhaps a little difficult to reason with, to understand, to accept. You walk to the window. You pull aside the curtains. Doctor markovich. You see yourself in the window. You see yourself on the other side of the window, staring back at you. Colonel. The window in front of Doctor Markovich explodes as this strange creature, with this elongated face, with sharp claws, wearing this dark cloak, reaches through the window, reaches for the doctor wraps its hands around the doctor's throat, pushing him back inside the room. Doctor, the claws of this creature digging into your throat. And as it looks at you, fires burning in its eyes, it says, I made a mistake. Give it back to me. As it digs into your skin. My friends, let us do initiative. Elizabeth. You have just banished your friend Bergamot. And you and Roland have had a bit of a discussion together where Roland extracted a promise from you to take care of them if ever their werewolf, their wolf problem got out of hand. And just as you acquiesce to this, you hear glass breaking, a scream. A sepulchral voice that resonates throughout the little valley where you are. Somewhere up above where the captain's. Sorry, the colonel's cabin is, something dark and strange is afoot. I'll now draw cards of initiative for everyone does. If anyone has a power that allows them to affect initiative, please let me know. I don't think so. Except maybe the colonel. [00:12:14] Speaker A: I draw two and take the best. [00:12:17] Speaker D: Well, we shall begin with you, then. You have the choice between. Well, it's gonna be a hard one. Four and five. [00:12:23] Speaker A: Ooh. Ooh. [00:12:26] Speaker D: Ooh. Stomp. Four. Four. You will go at four. [00:12:36] Speaker E: Good answer, Steve. Good answer. [00:12:40] Speaker D: Rollin, go at five, Gabe. [00:12:43] Speaker C: Master, I had a question. [00:12:44] Speaker D: Yes? [00:12:44] Speaker C: What form am I in currently? [00:12:46] Speaker D: You were, I believe, back in your human form. Okay, so that was a six for Elizabeth. That was a three for the doctor. As you can see, you are at the base of the hill. Roland and Elizabeth, you can run up. It will take you one full action to get to the cabin. That will likely be your first action. Inside the cabin, the doctor and colonel had been speaking after the colonel had been found hanging upside down, covered in flies on the wall. So the colonel is here, just at the base of the bed. Had been sitting, perhaps on the edge of it, and the doctor having gone to the window, and now seeing this lovely creature with its sort of skeletal face, strange raggedy clothes wearing over it, shackles around its wrists, these strange bits of wood and metal hanging from its next little runes. And things of that nature. And just pure, pure hatred burning in its eyes. [00:13:59] Speaker A: I feel like you left out a really important part there, which is the hideously long bone claws which are currently. [00:14:07] Speaker D: Buried in the doctor's neck are about to be. Unless the doctor finds a way out of this myth. [00:14:13] Speaker E: I'm gonna get a checkup. [00:14:17] Speaker D: You will. Unfortunately, the beast goes at two. And so the beast will proceed to attempt to throttle the doctor. I will ask the colonel, who is looking at the situation whilst the situation is occurring before you make your move, to make a vigilance and logic roll for me. Meanwhile, doctor, you may, if you wish, trade your future action for an attempt to dodge this thing. [00:14:53] Speaker E: Yeah, absolutely. I'm not really built for combat, so. [00:14:57] Speaker D: Very well. So you will roll your physique and agility and hopefully get more successes than the beast does. [00:15:06] Speaker A: He's hoping that there's two sixes on my roll. [00:15:13] Speaker E: I'm gonna push. [00:15:15] Speaker D: You can push. If you push, you will take a condition. Condition on your physical scale. [00:15:24] Speaker E: I think I'm gonna take exhausted, because your boy is not really designed for physical altercations. Hey, that's two sixes on three dice. I will take that. [00:15:37] Speaker D: Well, that's pretty good because I had three. So you managed to take away two of his successes. You take two more physical wounds as this thing digs into your neck. So you take battered and wounded. You're not quite broken yet, but you are in very, very bad trouble. As this thing has jumped you and clawed into your neck. You feel it just, just misses, really kind of anchoring in you, and you pull away from it and your skin rips apart under its claws. Colonel, what you noticed. Which hand does the doctor wear? The ring on. [00:16:18] Speaker E: His right. [00:16:20] Speaker D: The creature seems to be focused on the right hand. It was attacking and clawing at him, but it looked at the right hand right away, and it seems to be trying to grab at the right hand. That was the creature at two. At three, it will be the doctor. But you've traded away your action. So, colonel, you are on deck. [00:16:43] Speaker A: Fire's been running hot, right? [00:16:45] Speaker D: Mm hmm. [00:16:46] Speaker A: Which means, presumably, all fireplaces in the universe are equipped with a fire poker. Right. Like it's the law. [00:16:53] Speaker D: It is the law. It is, in fact, the law. [00:16:55] Speaker A: So I should have a fire poker with a searing hot end on it. I would like to scramble over and baseball club the hot end into the back of whatever this thing is. I know Elizabeth said you can't shoot him, but, like, I fire. I remember that someone said fire at some point. [00:17:15] Speaker C: Also iron, maybe from the poker. [00:17:19] Speaker A: Oh, that. That's. That's fae 201. I'm not that advanced with color yet. [00:17:25] Speaker D: Um, let's go for it. [00:17:30] Speaker A: Are you like physique in close combat? [00:17:33] Speaker D: Then you would do physique and close combat? Yes. [00:17:39] Speaker A: As one six from me. [00:17:41] Speaker D: Well, that's a very excellent attempt. However, this creature has a special ability that allows it to trade a fast action to switch between physical and spectral form. And as you come switching at it, it trades its second action to switch into that and the creature becomes incorporeal and you just miss. You just miss clobbering the doctor. I will say that you got the sense that the creature reacted to it because it feared the searing poker. And not just that, if you had just been weaving a truncheon or something, it might have just ignored you and taken it. But it did seem to have a moment of bullshit before it turns and sort of sweeps around to the side. At five, Roland. [00:18:36] Speaker C: I am running towards the source of the sound. And as I'm running, I would like to use what I'm presuming would be a slow action to maybe go into full werewolf mode, if that is allowed, or if both of those. I don't know if I'd be able to do both. [00:18:51] Speaker D: You run up to the stairs, and as you're running up there, you reach deep inside of you where that power to change, to transform, comes from. You know there's a voice hidden there, something that lives inside of you that is perhaps the spirit of this wolf form that you have. And you reach out to it and you tell it, now would be a good time. And it says no. [00:19:18] Speaker C: Is the door locked? [00:19:21] Speaker D: I'm gonna say no, because the doctor came in, so it wouldn't be opened. But as you reach for it and you grab the handle, you can easily turn it open. [00:19:34] Speaker C: Would it take my entire. [00:19:37] Speaker D: Yeah. So it would be your long action to get there. So you can kind of get into the doorway there. You can say something or you can do a fast action, basically. [00:19:50] Speaker C: Yeah. I think it would probably be a moment of shock and assessing the situation. I don't think that I would do much other than that. [00:19:59] Speaker D: Excellent. [00:20:04] Speaker B: At six, Elizabeth, a dead sprint to the cabin. [00:20:12] Speaker D: Do you wish to take a fast action as you run there? [00:20:22] Speaker B: I'll make sure that I have the wand at the ready. [00:20:27] Speaker D: Excellent. I will say that as you approach, the scene has changed a little bit, as the colonel would have gone there to try and poke the revenant. But the revenant swoops around in his incorporeal form and is hovering between them and you. Back up to the front. It is the revenant again. The revenant turns physical again and reaches once more for the doctor, this time reaching directly for the hand and not attempting to attack the doctor. Doctor, would you like to trade your action again to attempt to get away from him, or will you just let him do what he wishes? [00:21:05] Speaker E: I wonder if this will work. Could I use the ring's ability as he tries to lunge for me. [00:21:17] Speaker D: Monior, it would have to be on your turn. [00:21:19] Speaker E: It would have to be on my turn. [00:21:21] Speaker D: Okay, but you could do that on your turn. [00:21:31] Speaker E: Then. Yeah, I'm gonna. I'm gonna just wait. I'm gonna try to keep my turn. [00:21:35] Speaker D: Okay. He reaches down and with a couple sixes manages to grab your hand. I'll say it doesn't do any damage, but he's holding your hand very solidly and he's clawing at your fingers, and he's starting to remove the ring. He's saying, give this to me. And he's just trying to rip your fingers off. At this point, I will ask the colonel to give me a fear check. [00:22:00] Speaker A: Yeah, I was wondering when that was gonna pop up. [00:22:02] Speaker D: Yeah. In fact, Elizabeth and Roland should also give fear checks. You do get. I should say you do get each an extra two dice for being near friends. [00:22:16] Speaker A: Well, I've already rolled. I'll roll two more. I have one success so far. No, just one success. [00:22:27] Speaker C: Two successes. [00:22:30] Speaker D: Three successes. All right, you're good. The colonel, you had one success. [00:22:38] Speaker A: Just the one. [00:22:39] Speaker D: You're good also, colonel, as this creature turns incorporeal, turns around, comes corporeal again and starts to rip at the hand, all of you hear this spectral voice that seems to be emanating from it. As it's focusing on the doctor's hand and trying to rip his hand out, you hear this strange voice that seems to be emanating from it, and it fills the entire hall and says, come on, colonel, we all know what you did. You think some sort of devil spawned insect is gonna absolve you of your crime? Killing your troops like that with no remorse? What sort of a monster are you? [00:23:21] Speaker A: The colonel has never once been quippy. I definitely think that he's the kind of person who the anti Joss Whedon will say. So there is just a narrowing of eyes and intensity of purpose, just jaw clenching, just enough to show that he is mentally reacting to that statement. But otherwise, the colonel is a man of action. So if we're back to my turn. [00:23:50] Speaker D: Few words, decisive action. In fact, it is the doctor's turn. [00:23:53] Speaker A: Right? [00:23:57] Speaker E: Yeah. In that case, as he's trying to take the ring off my finger, I want to try to activate the rings ability to see if that lets me get some distance. [00:24:08] Speaker D: Do you choose to remain visible or not? [00:24:12] Speaker E: Um, I'll remain visible during that way. I don't want anybody else to. To think that I'm also a threat. [00:24:21] Speaker D: In the same way that the creature became incorporeal a second ago, you now all see the Doctor do the same thing. The Doctor becomes a ghostly version of himself, pale, evanescent, still there very much, but almost becoming see through as the. The ring's power takes hold. [00:24:49] Speaker E: Ghost of Christmas past, you know very much so. [00:24:52] Speaker D: You can stay in this form for as long as you want. Until the end of the scene, basically. But whenever you decide to turn it off, you turn it off. And so that's your action at four, colonel, you now are faced with a ghostly doctor, but a very physically real creature. Now, you've seen the creature, even though it had moved already, turned itself into something else. So what would you like to attempt? [00:25:21] Speaker A: Do I need to fear react to drago also being a ghost person? [00:25:26] Speaker D: No. I will say that since he is ostensibly a friend and you've just seen the same thing with something far more horrifying. I'll say you're fine. [00:25:41] Speaker A: Just the little guy and this. Okay, so the colonel's understanding is that if they are the same kind of incorporeal, this gives him a lot more room to maneuver. Previously, you don't want to put your hole back into it in case you miss and then kill the doctor with a swing. In this case, Drago is no longer in the picture. I mean, like half in the picture, half out of the picture. It's complicated. I will use one of the spurtus powers for strength to get a plus two bonus on a whale on this guy with a hot poker roll. [00:26:17] Speaker D: As you call on the spurtus to help you, you feel a little pinch in your chest. You know, it's in your pocket there. And you feel a little mostly kind of like a bite, almost like a suckling action that has begun through your shirt. None of it. None of it good, none of it remotely of any interest to anyone. But it is happening. Go ahead then and make your attack. It seems to be very distraught now that it was holding the doctor and the doctor now is incorporeal. It has been done dirty, as it has done dirty before, and you know, these things don't fly, so it seems kind of distraught and so may not think of doing the same thing again. So go ahead and make your move. [00:27:06] Speaker A: Oh, getting to roll eight dice and. No, there's one. Okay. Two successes. I feel like I can reroll all the ones I missed. And I feel like there's a bit of a desperation, but also a how dare you? Having been taunted, the jaw clench Drago would have seen in the past, because the anger on the colonel's face is never there. It's always just like right here, where you can see just the corners of his cheeks puff out a little bit with tension. And that's how you know he's mad. Mad. So I will take angry as the condition to re roll the six dice that did not have sixes roll away. That adds two more. So four sixes. [00:27:54] Speaker D: Very excellent. I'll also say that the poker gives you an extra success by its very nature. So that is five success. It is not happy with you. [00:28:05] Speaker A: Me neither. Join the club. [00:28:07] Speaker D: As it you hit it with the poker. The poker embeds itself and kind of gets lodged in there. But the searing hot metal is right away starting to set this thing's cloak on fire. This thing's cloak looks old and dry and musty and you can see fire already start spreading and you can see some fear in this creature's eye as this fire starts to spread over it. And you can see that it's really damaging. The bone itself is burning underneath. So that was a really good hit that you managed to do there. It howls in pain. And at five we have. Rollin, you have entered the cabin. Rollin, you have reached out to whatever it is that lies inside of you and it has come back with a negative. You can sense it there just laying in wait like a wolf, just lying at the edge of the entrance to a cave, waiting on you. [00:29:08] Speaker C: I have a moment of kind of like of all the times. And I reach to my hip and I pull out my rapier and I would like to use my fencer ability to go for an attempt at maybe cutting off one of the remnants bony, gnarled claws so that it has less to work with. [00:29:32] Speaker D: Absolute make an attack as you do, you hear inside of you. Disappointing. Giving up so easily switching to the long claw made by man that is as effective as everything else made by that boooooy creature. [00:29:53] Speaker C: And I have a moment of snarling to myself and I go, shut up. [00:30:02] Speaker D: Snarls but doesn't bite. [00:30:07] Speaker C: No successes. [00:30:09] Speaker D: No successes. You come in and reach out with your rapier. It goes through the cloak, but then you feel it just go through the bones. Like this thing is way too much of a skeleton. You just, your rapier goes right through it and kind of gets lodged as this creature is moving around and you're kind of having difficulty drawing it back at six. Elizabeth, you disappoint wolf. Perhaps I should stop calling you wolf. You disappoint human, Elizabeth. Well, well, what shall we do? [00:30:54] Speaker B: I mean, there's already the beginnings of a fire. [00:30:57] Speaker D: Yes. [00:30:58] Speaker B: On its cloak. [00:30:59] Speaker D: Mm hmm. [00:31:02] Speaker B: One of the curses that I have at my disposal is fire. [00:31:07] Speaker D: Well, I'm. [00:31:09] Speaker A: I'm really close to him. Just. Just throwing that out there, just saying out loud, in case anyone needs that information. [00:31:17] Speaker B: That's. That's true, but hold on. [00:31:20] Speaker E: So I don't know how fire affects an incorporeal doctor either, so, you know, you're probably safe. [00:31:29] Speaker B: Can I focus it onto the cloak? [00:31:36] Speaker D: Absolutely. You can. You can do anything you want. Roll your magic. [00:31:43] Speaker B: That's four successes. [00:31:46] Speaker D: Describe to us what it looks like as Elizabeth invokes this ancient curse, this ancient power that she wields. [00:31:56] Speaker B: There's a moment where I stop and stare because it's been a while since I've seen anything quite that angry come tearing through the veil. But I raise the wand and I shout a phrase in Latin that I remember. It feels different. Normally when the magic comes, I can. I can feel it centered around the power that I have in the wand. And this is coming from me. And I think anyone would. Watching would see the not quite human iridescence that highlights itself over my skin and the way my ears seem to have a point to them. But the fire on the cloak flares and spreads. [00:33:20] Speaker D: How many successes did you get? [00:33:22] Speaker B: Four. [00:33:24] Speaker D: The fire indeed does spread to a lot of. You hear this incantation coming from Elizabeth, and suddenly, what was a few little patches of fire here and there erupts into this giant gulf of flame that completely engulfs the creature. It screams this unholy scream of terror. It turns incorporeal again because it didn't do it earlier, so it can't do it. So it does it now, leaving behind just this puff of smoke and burning debris that are floating in the air. And it travels at high speed and pops up right in front of you. Elizabeth. And on its second action, at eight, it wraps its arms around you and says, you burn with me. And it grabs you and holds you and pulls you right into it. You feel the sharpness of the bones under the cloak start piercing your flesh as its ghost pressing you, grabbing you, and grinding you into it. The fire on its cloak starts to spread over to where you are. Your hair, the bits of your hair, the tips of your hair are burning. Your clothes are burning. You feel your skin being cinched as this thing just grabs you and holds on to you. I've got two successes. So it successfully grabs you and holds you. You take two damage, two physical wounds as it's holding you and you will keep taking two. Damage every turn that this thing holds you as it is ghost pressing you. You can see pure hatred burning in its eyes. You can tell that it's weakened. The fire is having a ravaging effect on it. It's very weak. But this is its dying throes. This is a. The most dangerous animal. It's just on the edge of going, but it hugs you to death. [00:35:11] Speaker B: I start screaming. [00:35:17] Speaker D: Doctor, you are incorporeal. You can hear what's going on. You can see what's going on. You don't smell the burning that was just in front of you. But you do see that the creature has traveled quickly to Elizabeth. Fire is starting to catch around it, and it is pressing and absorbing Elizabeth and I inside itself. [00:35:41] Speaker E: Do I recognize this spirit? As far as, like, whom it represents? [00:35:48] Speaker D: Give me a empathy and observation role. [00:35:54] Speaker E: Two successes. [00:35:57] Speaker D: You saw it in the window. The face that was reflected at you was yours, Doctor Markoviche. [00:36:07] Speaker E: I'm going to go through it, because right now it's. It's hugging Elizabeth, right? I want to go through it to where Elizabeth is in the center. I want to get between her and it, make myself corporeal again and try to push Elizabeth out. [00:36:38] Speaker D: Oh, interesting. Interesting. I did. I will correct one thing. The creature did go at two, which is before three. At two. What it would have done, simply, it would have intoned a curse of its own, Elizabeth, you would have recognized it and you would have felt a whirlwind of coal surround you. And as this whirlwind of coal surrounding you, we've seen some of the fire on it start to be extinguished, as it would continue to press you. And it says, as it's doing this still somewhere off in the cabin, this voice echoing, do you hear the sound of the ice cracking, Colonel? The screams of the men you killed, drowning out the call for retreat as this echoes through the room. And then, doctor, you move through and you will attempt to interpose yourself between the ghost. And this is what I will give you the option, doctor. I will give you the option to succeed automatically. But what will happen is that you will be in the ghost. Press. [00:37:43] Speaker E: Fully. Yes. [00:37:45] Speaker D: As suddenly, Elizabeth, you feel yourself being pushed back, as this ghostly form of the Doctor slips in between you and the creature starts to push towards the creature and slowly takes on physical form. You're pushed back. The creature's claws let go of you. The spikes from the bones exit your body. You are protected from the flames as you see the doctor there, and you see this creature now engulfing the doctor and pulling the doctor into him. Colonel at four. [00:38:20] Speaker A: Now we're back in the. In the realm of. Might accidentally hurt the doctor. Don't want that. So it's on fire, and the fire. [00:38:30] Speaker D: Has mostly died down at this point because of the curse of frost that it intoned. [00:38:35] Speaker A: But it's the smell that is in the colonel's nose, because that is. That's wadding, that's powder and shot. That's the. When the artillery pieces, you have the long plunger to push everything in and the end of it has that damp cotton, but you still get that smell of smoldering fabric. So there's this very scent based memory of an adrenaline surge that kind of fills up the nose. Or maybe that's the demon who I'm breastfeeding. You never know. It could be either. So with that strength and having a done the swing and the plunge at this point, from the side, I see the colonel lifting up like a spear overhead and wanting to plunge down through the shoulder piece of it, hopefully having done enough trigonometry to not accidentally pierce through and into the doctor, but like, hey, man, fog of war. We'll see what happens. [00:39:36] Speaker D: Excellent. Make your roll, please. [00:39:39] Speaker E: Also with. With the. The spirits back to everybody. Would they have seen me take Elizabeth's place? [00:39:50] Speaker D: I would think as he approaches to strike the creature, he would see. You'd see that you were there and they would have seen you move towards it because you were incorporeal, but you chose to remain visible. Right, so they've seen you move towards it. [00:40:06] Speaker A: I'm also guessing that Elizabeth is making a very pointed noise as she is like ghost foot pushed back. Right? [00:40:12] Speaker B: Yeah. No, there's more shouting and gasping for breath, trying to get bearings. [00:40:21] Speaker A: So having used that, it's only one success. I know that the worm creature gives me an extra wound before being incapacitated, so I'm going to push again. [00:40:31] Speaker D: Hmm. [00:40:32] Speaker A: I'm gonna go for exhausted. Not the spry man I used to be. Wow. So rerolled all seven. Got no successes. [00:40:44] Speaker D: So that is just one your abject horror. The creature goes incorporeal. Your poker plunges right into the doctor's chest. Doctor, you feel this iron still very hot, plunging right into your podbelly. You have a quick thought for the fact that it is burning hot and so will cauterize the wound. And so maybe the only thing that saves you in the long run. But as it enters you and you take the damage, you are now broken. You stare up at the colonel as the colonel I assume with some degree. [00:41:38] Speaker A: Of horror. [00:41:41] Speaker D: Is poking you right in the belly. [00:41:45] Speaker A: There's just like, horrified, paused eye contact as, like, all time stops. And you get the camera panning up from the wound to the face of just. And then the soundtrack kicks back in. [00:42:06] Speaker D: Rollin, it's your action. The creature has materialized behind the current. [00:42:11] Speaker C: Having just. Having just seen this woman, who might be the only answer, I have to get rid of this curse. Engulfed in flames, and then seeing my colleague and friend attempt to save her and my newfound colleague absolutely mistakenly impaling him, I feel this flood of panic and rage and anger. And I am shaking where I'm standing, stricken by shock. And then I hear the voice again. I go, now's the time. And I try and flame on and go for this revenant in full werewolf form. [00:43:02] Speaker D: You hear deep inside of you this lupine yawn. I'm not convinced yet. Tell me, Wolf, if wolf you are, what will you give me for this gift? Will you give me control? [00:43:36] Speaker C: And I bite down hard on my own cheek and taste blood in my mouth. And I go, I will give you everything. [00:43:46] Speaker D: Very well. In the distance, everyone, you hear this extremely loud wolf howl that erupts. What does it look like? As Rollin transforms, it starts at the. [00:44:05] Speaker C: Spine, at the top of the spine, as he is unfurling out and growing impossibly tall, the jets of the vertebrae sticking out, ripping through his shirt. You see the snout elongating, the teeth sharpening, long, dangerous looking claws. Sleek black fur coming off of my face with a huge white streak off of it, remaining with the one green, one white colored eye. And I turn to the revenant with blood and saliva dripping out of my mouth and bare my teeth. [00:44:45] Speaker D: Make your attack. It does not see you come in. It is behind the kernel, intent on the colonel. You do have an advantage if you want to use it. Everyone's got an advantage, right? Two extra dice. Two extra dice. [00:45:03] Speaker C: That's twelve. [00:45:06] Speaker D: That's a lot. Nice. [00:45:09] Speaker C: Um, gm. I'm gonna push. [00:45:14] Speaker E: Did you roll? No. Sixes. That's a mathematical impossibility. [00:45:21] Speaker D: Almost correct. You are right. [00:45:24] Speaker A: Now we have. [00:45:25] Speaker D: Wow. [00:45:26] Speaker C: Clara must have cursed us because I got no sixes on the second coat round. [00:45:30] Speaker D: No, I find that interesting. You are, as a werewolf, a very, uh. Let me look at your character sheet. I'll let you do something with Aldo. If I let you do something like that and you don't get any successes, I'm never talking to you ever again. Here's the thing. As a werewolf, you normally draw two initiative cards and act twice in a round. And so I'm willing to let you take your second action. Now you do. [00:45:58] Speaker C: Oh, boss. [00:45:58] Speaker B: Okay, let's go, let's go, let's go. [00:46:01] Speaker C: I am. I am taking the condition of angry because I am angry, I would say attract. Oh, geez Louise. Devil's luck. [00:46:10] Speaker E: Ah, there we go. [00:46:12] Speaker D: Devil's luck. [00:46:13] Speaker C: Devil's luck. [00:46:15] Speaker D: Describe to us what it looks like as this giant white werewolf rears up behind this unsuspecting revenant who is about to do the Colonel dirty. And you, devastated. Tell us what this looks like, kato. [00:46:38] Speaker C: I'm rising up behind it. I am easily taller than it. And I take one massive hand and I grip the top of its jaw and pull back as I reach down into its maw and just start cracking it from top of the jaw and bottom to the jaw, just pulling it apart as hard as I can, splitting it down the middle, letting whatever is inside this thing wash over me. [00:47:07] Speaker D: As you pull it apart and you hear the bones start to snap. Just going down the line like this. You hear a final cry from it. No, I made a mistake. I must fix it. As these bones snap and you pull it apart, the rest of you are standing there looking at this werewolf with this two halves of this revenant in their hands. The bones fall apart. Just fall to the ground. And you're all left staring at this very angry, very big, very scary werewolf. Elizabeth at six. [00:47:48] Speaker B: I have an important question. [00:47:49] Speaker D: Yes. [00:47:51] Speaker B: Did Rowland throw off his jacket? [00:47:54] Speaker C: Nope. [00:47:56] Speaker A: Fuck. [00:47:58] Speaker E: Big wolf bud. [00:48:00] Speaker C: It absolutely ripped through his whole very lovely little jacket. [00:48:06] Speaker B: So. So, um, like, is he wearing like, a little, like, little half vest? Am I gonna have to. [00:48:13] Speaker D: Yeah, he's got. He's got, you know, remnants of tatters. He's hulking it out. [00:48:19] Speaker B: Okay. All right. [00:48:20] Speaker C: Oh, and you know, he loves fashion. [00:48:24] Speaker B: I'm more concerned about the thing that I'm gonna have to get out of his pocket. Oh, I've got. Okay, I've got a dying doctor and an angry werewolf. [00:48:35] Speaker D: Mmm. Choices, choices. [00:48:39] Speaker B: Shit. Colonel, can you stabilize him? [00:48:45] Speaker A: Yes, I. Yeah. [00:48:50] Speaker B: Okay. [00:48:52] Speaker E: There is a bit of the doctor that what he hears that he kind of does. Okay, they're gonna stabilize me. [00:48:57] Speaker A: Oh, no. Colonel Brugland's lying. He's gonna try, but he's not a doctor. He's not even a medic. He just needs Elizabeth to focus, so he's taking that off of her plate. [00:49:05] Speaker B: What's Rowland doing? Is he just kind of standing there? [00:49:09] Speaker D: Rowland looks like he's wondering who he's gonna eat next. [00:49:15] Speaker B: Got both hands up. I'm not looking him in the eye because I know enough that you don't look a predator directly in the eye because that's a. But I'm focused somewhere, like, on the jowly area, um, so I can be aware if it tenses and looks like it's gonna rip my face off. [00:49:36] Speaker E: Great movie. [00:49:38] Speaker B: Well, then remember the lock of hair, dear. You told me that would help, and I need to get it. May I retrieve it from your pocket, please? [00:50:09] Speaker C: Rowland stands there with two halves of a revenant, remains in his claws, just breathing heavily, watching her. [00:50:20] Speaker B: Oh, I'm gonna die. I will continue to approach. I'm gonna go for the lock of hair that I was told was his anchor, the thing that could help bring him back. [00:50:39] Speaker D: I'll ask you to make an empathy and manipulation room. [00:50:42] Speaker B: Oh, sweet Jesus. At least I'm good at that. [00:50:45] Speaker D: You have one penalty from your mental condition. [00:50:51] Speaker B: Devil's luck. [00:50:56] Speaker D: Rollin. You're not there. You're not in the wolf. You're not in the cabin. You're far away. You're going up the steps in a white tower. You hear the distant din of roaring, fighting, something going on. But you also hear sounds coming from upstairs. You hear him humming a melody that you know well, the one he hums when he's painting. Just as you are about to climb the last few steps, you hear Elizabeth's voice from far away, trying to reach you. You can't really make out what Elizabeth's saying. You don't know exactly what's going on. You get the feeling that if you want to take a moment to think of her, you might be of assistance to her. Do you want to do this? [00:52:06] Speaker C: I do. [00:52:08] Speaker D: What do you think about what memory most readily comes to mind about Elizabeth? [00:52:15] Speaker C: When I first had the impetus to go for the shed. And she stood in front of me, putting herself in harm's way, and clasped her arm with my arm, and she saw me for what I was. And remembering the smell of rosemary. [00:52:52] Speaker D: Elizabeth, as you approached a wolfenhe, the first thing you notice to your great horror is that the two eyes are the same color as burning amber. And then briefly, for a moment, you see the left eye change, become pale. And for a moment, for a brief, brief moment, the werewolf looks at you with kindness, friendship, and you know you have but that one moment to approach him and do what you need to do. [00:53:29] Speaker B: And I do. I approach. And it's slow and careful, the same way that you would approach a wounded dog in the street. The wounded creature is the most dangerous. I keep one hand where he can see it, palm open, and the other hand goes into the ruin of his suit coat. [00:54:01] Speaker D: Give me a precision and stealth. [00:54:05] Speaker B: Oh no. Two successes. [00:54:17] Speaker D: You reach in, you find the pocket has been ripped. There's nothing in it. You reach a little deeper, you feel something at the tip of your fingertips. And you see from underneath the pocket, which has been ripped, a lock of air, silver, that starts to fall down. You snatch it. [00:54:40] Speaker B: And I hold it up. [00:54:45] Speaker D: Rollin, we'll come back to you. But as you step through the door at the top of the tower and enter what looks to be an artist's garret, and you see Rasmus there, working away at a painting for a brief moment. You get a brief flash of the smell of his hair and something tells you that Elizabeth has heard you from wherever Elizabeth is. And we'll get back to you in a moment to see what happens in this room. Elizabeth, you hold up this lock of hair. You feel the breath of the wolf on your hand as it approaches, as it's inhaling it, you feel its warm, humid breath just washing over your hand and washing over your face. You have never felt more like a meal in your entire life as you do in this moment. Then the warm breath is gone. When you open your eyes, you see no one standing in front of you. Behind you, the colonel tending to the doctor. What do you do, colonel? [00:56:20] Speaker A: In panicked, sharpen breathing, the colonel is simultaneously reciting things he has learned from memory, but also trying to make light of his situation. He remembers specifically the surgeon attached to their unit discussing what to do if somebody has a penetrating abdominal trauma, if you're fancy, because the first impulse is to rip out the thing and to do pressure. And that's the exact wrong thing to do if you're a folks at home and someone has an evisceration, you don't push the organs back in and you leave whatever has impaled in the impalement. [00:57:01] Speaker D: If you take it out, all emergency. [00:57:03] Speaker A: Services, well, I'm presuming they know how to do that. But you don't want to. So you don't want to push the organs back in, cause you'll damage them. You don't want to pull the impaling object out because it is probably stopping bleeding where it is right now. The most important thing to do and what the colonel is doing is to cover anything exposed with a wet cloth, saline if you have it, but just to keep everything wet and tidy. So that is what he is doing to the best I don't know if they knew that in like 1800, but we don't want to give incorrect medical advice on Queen's court games. [00:57:36] Speaker D: They do. [00:57:37] Speaker E: We are not medical professionals. Do not listen to us. [00:57:41] Speaker D: Go ahead and make a. You don't have medicine, but you can make a precision rule. [00:57:45] Speaker A: Two successes. [00:57:47] Speaker D: Well, that's most excellent. That's most excellent. So you get to, you cease to be broken and you can even heal one more box. However, because you took the broken condition, we are going to have a little roll on the critical injury table. [00:58:06] Speaker E: I don't like that. [00:58:07] Speaker D: Yeah, you get a critical abdominal injury or it was cured within the roll of d six. [00:58:16] Speaker E: One. [00:58:16] Speaker D: Oh, hey, you had one day to get cure of it or you would have died. So. Yeah, very good. Very good. You now have a defect from now on, which is a stiff body, which will give you a minus one to close combat. But we'll deal with that later. You seem to have done quite all right, Colonel. As a man perhaps more used to delivering death than delivering from death, you have managed to provide surcease to the doctor. And as you minister to him, you see him starting to come to. However, before you come to doctor, as this creature, as the poker went into your body and ruptured your stomach and you fell back, you found yourself lying atop a very cold metal table in a medical examiner's office. You're fully clothed. You don't appear to be wounded, but you are lying there. It's night. There's a little bit of moonlight coming in through on the windows. You recognize the place. It's. Well, the doctor's. Medical examiner's office. You hear a distinct but somewhat quiet coughing. [00:59:38] Speaker E: I sit up if I can. [00:59:40] Speaker D: You can. You're perfectly free to move. [00:59:43] Speaker E: Yeah, I think I do. I think while laying there, I do a quick, subtle check. I move my fingers on my hands. [00:59:50] Speaker D: Everything seems to be in perfectly, my toes. [00:59:52] Speaker E: And then slowly start getting up, recognizing this place, I'm gonna slowly start making my way to where I can hear the coughing from. [01:00:02] Speaker D: Well, you don't have to go very far. As soon as you sit up on the slab, right next to you is the naked, cold, dead, and very much medically examined body of Jacob. Ask. [01:00:20] Speaker E: And right now am I seeing it through? [01:00:23] Speaker D: You are the captain. [01:00:24] Speaker E: Okay. [01:00:26] Speaker D: In fact, if you catch a quick reflection of yourself, you will see the face of the captain. The cough comes again. It's coming from Jacob. [01:00:41] Speaker E: I'm perturbed cause I know Jacob's gone. And so. And also I just got stabbed in the belly and we just fought a revenant. So I'm a little on edge, but I swing my legs over, and I start the small gap between tables. I start crossing it. Jacob. [01:01:02] Speaker D: His head turns towards you. Oh. Hi. Chilly in here. [01:01:14] Speaker E: The white cloth that they drape over the body, I pull it up a little bit, like right underneath his deck. [01:01:19] Speaker D: Oh, thanks. [01:01:26] Speaker E: I've been. How are you? [01:01:36] Speaker D: Dead. [01:01:37] Speaker E: Yeah, no, that's. [01:01:39] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:01:42] Speaker E: Suppose we both are now. [01:01:45] Speaker D: I don't know. It's the first time I usually. I travel with you, see what you see, go where you go. There's somebody else here also, before, but he's gone now. He kind of sits up a little bit, looks around. Some sort of quack. [01:02:06] Speaker E: Pot bellied man. With the doctor? [01:02:10] Speaker D: Yes. Oh, the one who took my ring. Your ring? [01:02:16] Speaker E: Our ring. As he kind of slides his hand into, uh. [01:02:25] Speaker D: Into his, um. Oh, that's warm. That's nice. He sits up. Hmm. Do you think you're dead? [01:02:40] Speaker E: Well, last, uh. Last I remember was the Elizabeth getting washed. I got in between, and then the colonel and I accidentally injured me. [01:03:04] Speaker D: Oh, the colonel. Oh, yeah. There's something I wanted to tell you about the colonel. Yeah. Yeah, the colonel. You remember that night I was coming to see you and. And he looked sad for a moment. You. I saw you through the window, and I waved. And you did what you did. [01:03:36] Speaker E: Right. [01:03:39] Speaker D: I was coming to see you to tell you what I'd found out about the colonel. [01:03:52] Speaker E: Did you find out? I thought we knew. [01:03:56] Speaker D: We did. Um, just. I'd been watching him and talking to people he was talking to, and I wanted to tell you something. I wanted. I was coming to tell you that I feel like the colonel did what he felt was the moral thing within. Within the confines of what morality is afforded him. In an instant, such as the one he was in. I think he's just attempting to overcome the guilt by erasing the past. But he can't do that. He needs. He needs to confront his actions. Even if he. Even if he forgets what he did, his soul would never be at ease. It would still. He would still have done it. Part of him would always know. It'd be like a niche he could never scratch. I was coming to tell you. And he looks up and he puts his hand on your cheek. I think the colonel needs his friend now. He needs you to put aside your own guilt and help him with this. That's what I was coming to tell you that night. [01:05:43] Speaker E: I hold his. His hand on my cheek, and I give it a kiss. It's like, you know what's really funny about that? That there was a weird glimpse of that in a small scale the second that he accidentally stabbed me in the belly. When I realized that sometimes good actions lead to bad consequences. [01:06:18] Speaker D: And I'd laugh, but I'm dead. [01:06:22] Speaker E: Yeah. No, you always had a dead sense of humorous. Also, you really gotta work on being. Well, not anymore. On time. Five minutes earlier and we could have really gone around a lot of this. [01:06:38] Speaker D: That thought hounded me. I've been dead for a while. You have to forgive me. No, it's fine. [01:06:48] Speaker E: No, it's. Words are hard. I get it. You were never good with words. [01:06:52] Speaker D: I was good with other things. [01:06:57] Speaker E: Stop. [01:07:01] Speaker D: The doctor. I think the doctor needs rest, too. [01:07:11] Speaker E: Yeah. [01:07:11] Speaker D: Would you do me a favor? [01:07:13] Speaker E: Anything. [01:07:17] Speaker D: I think. I think if you bring the ring back to me, wherever my body is now, I lost track of it. You know, I was never really good at keeping track of my things. [01:07:28] Speaker E: I know. Tense the ring. [01:07:33] Speaker D: If you could do that, I think it would let me rest. And I think it would let the doctor rest. [01:07:43] Speaker E: I, um, place my hand on the back of his neck and gently guide him back down to the table. You're like. I know you're tired. I know you're so, so tired. And I'm sorry that I've dragged you halfway across this country. [01:08:05] Speaker D: Hmm. Never traveled much in life. At least I got to see a little bit more of it. [01:08:14] Speaker E: Sorry I never got to take you anywhere. I know Rowland would have loved to have had us go out. [01:08:23] Speaker D: He's always an interesting fellow. [01:08:26] Speaker E: He is. I can see why the doctor liked him so much. [01:08:32] Speaker D: But I did some research on him. He's a bit of a beast. [01:08:40] Speaker E: You have no idea. [01:08:43] Speaker D: I think your friends are calling you. Will you come back and see me? Wherever they put me, I will. [01:09:00] Speaker E: Imma kiss him on the forehead. And before whatever light fades me back into the realm of the living, I'll whisper in his ear. In this life and the next. [01:09:20] Speaker D: I like that. Searing pain in your stomach. The kernel just looming over you. Doing some things right, some things wrong, but giving it an honest, honest, honest attempt. [01:09:39] Speaker E: She's pushing his face away. Just. [01:09:47] Speaker D: Brawl in. You enter the room, you get the last little with the hair. You know that wherever Elizabeth is, she's probably okay. You find Erasmus there, painting a scene from memory, something you saw on your travels last summer. You come in, he looks at me, goes, hello, little wolf. You've been displaced, I see. [01:10:29] Speaker C: I think I have. [01:10:33] Speaker D: Well, this is a good place to come. It's a safe place. You can come here and he takes over. You can make a home for yourself here. [01:10:48] Speaker C: Look around the room. [01:10:51] Speaker D: I'd like that. You can even be with me here if you want. But I'm not here. This is a memory. You're painting from memory. [01:11:08] Speaker C: Where are you? [01:11:11] Speaker D: Waiting for you. Come sit with me for a moment. And he takes your hand and leads you to a little bench under a window. And there's soft sunlight that's coming in. Birds outside, singing. You'll have to make a choice soon. When he takes over, you can come here. You can choose to fight it. It will be difficult. But if you win, if you tame it, it will control it. Except during the full moon, of course. When lunacy grips you, it's at its strongest then. And even I cannot control it, as you well know. There's another option. There's an old proverb among the Soviets. Only memories survive the grave. If you kill the one who cursed you, you may yourself become free of the curse. We must all make choices that dictate who we become. With a wolf. [01:12:43] Speaker C: I slide down onto the floor next to him and just lay my head in his lap. [01:12:51] Speaker D: He runs his fingers through your hair. You're quite shaggy in here. [01:12:58] Speaker C: Haven't been paying much attention. [01:13:02] Speaker D: So many things happening. [01:13:05] Speaker C: Yeah. So many things. [01:13:12] Speaker D: Sit with me a while, then. Until your friends find you where you may not get to sit quietly again. I love you, little wolf. [01:13:32] Speaker C: I know. [01:13:39] Speaker D: Now, tell me of something beautiful you saw, so I can paint it for you. [01:13:49] Speaker C: In the woods outside. [01:13:55] Speaker D: This. [01:13:58] Speaker C: Cluster of impossibly small pine trees, no more than six inches tall. I've never seen something so beautiful in my life. [01:14:16] Speaker D: Sounds lovely. Shall I paint you in the scene? [01:14:22] Speaker A: No. [01:14:24] Speaker D: Just a little pints. [01:14:28] Speaker A: Please. [01:14:31] Speaker D: With pleasure. And before we continue, my friends, I would suggest that this is perhaps a good moment to take a break. I will pass it on over to the master of ceremonies, Aaron, to take us out of here. Thank you so much. You've all been absolutely wonderful. We will come back and see what happens with Elizabeth and with the colonel. [01:14:58] Speaker A: Oh, boy. Well, yeah, no, I'm going to spend the next 20 or so minutes processing my feelings for those of you at home. Process some feelings if you'd like, but definitely not optional. Go up, grab a snack, grab a drink, come on back. Ten minutes, we'll be here. See you then. Welcome back, friends. We've all taken a big old emotional poop together. Just a little bit of crying, a lot of sighing, a lot of smiling. I hope you all feel better, too. You did hydrate right. Cause if not, I'm gonna stick Rollin on you. Don't doubt me, Arlin Rolon. I was gonna say it, but while we wait for your impending werewolf doom to arrive, in the meantime, I will return it to bleak season. We've got a hell of a story to end. [01:15:51] Speaker D: That's right. And just before we went on break, we saw Elizabeth bravely reaching out to Rollin to break the smell of the werewolf, so to speak, who was in control of the body. We saw Rowland have a bit of a discussion with his husband and realizing that there are some hard choices ahead. We saw a good doctor, the captain, also get a chance to say goodbye to his lover, Jacob, ask, and to perhaps get a new point of view on his discussion with the colonel. And we saw the colonel do something that perhaps he has not done that much in his life, and that is to save a life rather than take a life. And he did so brilliantly. When we return, you have managed to sort of stabilized the captain, colonel, or the doctor at this point, who knows? But he is still in pretty bad shape, still wounded. Elizabeth, you have realized that the wolf has left. The colonel will tell you how the wolf just literally leapt over him and the doctor on his way, making an exit. Stage left. What would the three of you like to do. [01:17:21] Speaker B: After. After making sure the doctor is stabilized? At the least, try and clean my own burns. [01:17:37] Speaker D: Imagine that. Sorry. You can make a medical trick if you want to try. And. Sorry, colonel. [01:17:45] Speaker A: We're gonna say if it helps at all. I can see the colonel would have gone and retrieved Doctor Markovich's bag, so we're not just stuck with. Yeah, yeah. [01:17:53] Speaker D: We'll give two extra dice. [01:17:55] Speaker B: That is two successes. [01:17:58] Speaker D: Excellent. So I will say that you managed to heal up one condition, one physical condition from anyone in the room present currently. Well, I'll give you a choice. You can either heal two of yours or one to anyone who needs it. [01:18:21] Speaker B: Of the two of us, the doctor is in worse shape. So I will do what I can to make him more comfortable. [01:18:34] Speaker D: Okay, so you will set him up in the bed, go over the work of the colonel, which is quite good. You're impressed that the field surgeries or field work that he performed looks to be holding up quite well. I don't remember. Had you pulled the poker out, Colonel? [01:18:54] Speaker A: No, not at the time. [01:18:56] Speaker D: So I will say that between Elizabeth and the doctor kind of being there, knowing that it was burning hot, you would think it's probably safe to remove it as it would have cauterized on the way in. So you would probably be able to. Just so the doctor doesn't go around with the rest of this adventure with a poker sticking out of his belly. [01:19:12] Speaker B: Yeah, it's very. Doctor, what manner of sedatives do you have in your bag? [01:19:23] Speaker E: Already down a bottle of whiskey. [01:19:26] Speaker D: Just. [01:19:27] Speaker B: Okay. [01:19:28] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:19:28] Speaker B: Now, just gonna make sure that he is appropriately sedated and very carefully. At least remove the poker and then pack. Dress the wound. [01:19:41] Speaker E: I was gonna say, I think it's a dual thing where you pull it and I'm instantly shoving gauze in there like a teddy bear that's lost his stuffing. [01:19:52] Speaker B: Oh, boy. [01:19:55] Speaker C: Um. [01:19:58] Speaker B: My. My wounds aren't fatal. I'll be fine. Um, I need to find our friend. [01:20:13] Speaker A: I can stay and tend to our friend here. If nothing else, I'm certain the good doctor can provide me with clear instructions. And between the two of us, I think Axel will be more inclined to cooperate with someone who shares that part of the world. Right. [01:20:37] Speaker B: Uh, if for some reason I don't return. Well, it's been an honor, gentlemen. Game master. As I step outside, what do I see as far as a trail? [01:21:00] Speaker D: Very difficult to see anything. The wolf seems to have been able to bound fairly far, and it's not quite your. Well, let's see what you have. I don't want to just tell you you can't. Oh, no, you have pretty good lines. You could do a logic and vigilance if you would like. [01:21:21] Speaker B: One success. [01:21:23] Speaker D: Well, one success is good enough. You do pick up the trail heading a little bit further north, and you can engulf yourself over into the forest with that. [01:21:31] Speaker B: If you want, I will follow the trail. [01:21:37] Speaker D: Meanwhile, back in a cabin, the doctor and the colonel. [01:21:45] Speaker A: Well, there you go. Not so bad. [01:21:52] Speaker E: Yeah, no, you guys. Yeah, we would have made a great student. [01:22:00] Speaker A: Um, I'm, uh, sorry about, um, that. [01:22:13] Speaker E: Accidents happen, colonel. I think between bleary eyes of, like, just being battered and wounded and having been stabbed, cut, gashed, thrown, squeezed, and all manner of other physical wounds. Kind of doesn't really look at you, not for any purpose other than just tired. His eyes are just heavy in the moment. But he. He kind of puts a hand out, not needing to touch you, but just. Just, you know, almost as to wanting to reassure you in some way, shape or form. But I like. Colonel, I get it. I understand. It's. Listen, sometimes. Sometimes when doing the right thing ends up being the hard thing, the wrong thing. But, you know, we live with it and we learn from it. We grow from it. Right. [01:23:25] Speaker A: Well, that would be nice. Live with it, I think, is the harder part. [01:23:36] Speaker E: It's hard, but, you know, I think sometimes you have to live with it. [01:23:46] Speaker D: Hello. [01:23:50] Speaker A: Do you know what's profoundly unfair about it, doctor? [01:23:56] Speaker E: At this, he starts peeling his eyes. What's that curtain? [01:24:05] Speaker A: Have you read any philosophy in your medical education? Are you familiar with the Hobbes? Thomas Hobbes? Leviathan. [01:24:18] Speaker E: Briefly. [01:24:20] Speaker A: They make us study it at the academy. Because one of the most important ideas is the thing that makes a state. A state is its monopoly on the legitimate use of violence. That kings and governments and dukes and barons, they are the ones who are allowed to hurt people. And they make us read that because the state is. It's amorphous. It doesn't exist. A country, in the abstract, cannot do violence for that. It requires young men and old Mendez to do it on their behalf. There's not a religion in this great wide world that says it's okay to kill people. But we have created a system wherein if the right crown or the right revolutionary says no, I give you permission, then you can go out and do that. But the state doesn't have a soul. It doesn't have a brain, doesn't have morality. Sweden will never have to contend with the decisions that people made on its behalf. The rest of us have to do that. And sometimes it kills very well meaning people. Because at this point, he will actually reach over and put his hand on top of yours. Who couldn't come to terms with that responsibility? In some people, death is less literal. It just takes away the thing inside of them that makes them themselves. Do you remember this picture? And he'll reach into his pocket and pull out the watch and flip open the lid and hold the image of the king and the metal and all that. [01:26:41] Speaker E: You. [01:26:45] Speaker A: You know what I was thinking the whole time we were standing there? [01:26:53] Speaker E: Hmm? [01:26:58] Speaker A: Fuck you for making me do that. [01:27:04] Speaker E: Think. The doctor moves his hand and squeezes it. Squeezes your hand to embrace it. You know, that's the unfortunate thing of war. The casualties live long after the war is over. And you've had to burden yourself with all that grief, Colonel. And if I may speak so bluntly to you right now, not as your captain, but as your friend, we all trusted you. And we all went out there knowing what we were doing and what we were fighting for. And yeah, in a moment, I was angry, I was mad, I was confused at your choices. But we all went in knowing that you would do what you thought was right. And I think those boys out there, I think they'd understand. And I think all we can do. [01:28:34] Speaker D: Now, hold a deep breath. [01:28:41] Speaker E: Let's just try to live and try to make the world a little better for the sacrifice that they were willing to make. [01:28:53] Speaker A: You know? It's so. Hmm. And you can see the colonel looking down towards the part of his chest where. This is a clarification for me. When you said there was a pinching pane, I interpreted it as the creature had actually latched on. So there's a leech like thing? [01:29:19] Speaker D: Yeah. In fact, by now, it's kind of halfway burrowed into your flesh. [01:29:26] Speaker A: So he kind of peels open and looks down to regard it. I was told that you wouldn't understand and you wouldn't know. [01:29:46] Speaker D: That was the point. Biting even more. Burrowing faster. [01:29:52] Speaker A: Seems I've been twice a fool. First for thinking I could run from a decision and denying you the piece that led you to taking your own life. You didn't need a commander at that point. You needed a mentor and a friend. And now, until. Reach to the bottom of his shirt. I'm not going to do it. Because mail presenting, nipples on twitch. But show the thing. And said, now it seems a second. [01:30:32] Speaker E: Imagine that you're human, like all of us, and you make mistakes. I inadvertently killed the doctor. So, listen, I don't think anybody in this group is exactly. What's the word I'm looking for? Absolved of sin. You know? [01:30:55] Speaker A: Well, then allow me to make the most of your kindness. Cause in a world where you of all people can choose to forgive me, then I suppose this tough old man can, at least for a little bit, forgive himself. [01:31:17] Speaker E: Sorry that I wasn't a friend before I was a countryman. [01:31:24] Speaker A: It's not your fault. And he'll knock his ring against the table. That's what they teach us to be. But if it's not too much a burden, perhaps I can enlist you under my command once more. [01:31:42] Speaker E: You never say the word enlist again, as he kind of just slumps into the pillow. [01:31:48] Speaker A: Not for Sweden this time, captain. [01:31:51] Speaker E: Then you will have my whatever is remaining of my medical bag. [01:32:01] Speaker A: I don't know that the science of men is what's going to solve this problem. Hopefully, Elizabeth will return in one piece with Rollin in tow, and then we'll talk about what to do. [01:32:17] Speaker E: Well, actually, imagine Elizabeth would have left the bag somewhere in my vicinity in case I needed gauze or anything. I reach in, pull out that journal that I received, and I flip through a couple pages and I present it over to you. I'm like, well, although man of science as much as I can be. I think between Elizabeth and I, we should be able to do something about your little. What should we call him? Son. [01:32:54] Speaker A: Of all the words you could have picked. And he will hide his face, essentially, behind the. The journal. Flipping through it, I'm assuming it makes zero sense to the colonel, but the two of us can figure it out together. [01:33:11] Speaker D: Meanwhile, out in the forest, Elizabeth, you follow the tracks of the werewolf. Eventually, they get smaller and smaller and become more human sized. At that point, the tracks become more erratic, going left, right, stumbling around, breaking branches. You are approaching a bit of a clearing. When you hear from nearby, be careful, Elizabeth. He's very dangerous. [01:33:54] Speaker B: It's not the first dangerous thing I've had to deal with. [01:33:59] Speaker D: I'm here if you need me. [01:34:03] Speaker B: If things go poorly, then, yes, I just might. [01:34:09] Speaker D: I will wait. [01:34:13] Speaker B: Should I survive this, you will help me find them. That is not a request. [01:34:24] Speaker D: Yes. You entered a clearing, and you see on the ground, dressed in rags, mostly naked, is the form of Rollin. Unconscious, asleep, it's not clear, but not moving. [01:34:46] Speaker B: Axel, I'll move over and turn him onto his back. [01:34:56] Speaker D: As you feel yourself being moved, Rollin, you hear a voice that's receding deep inside of you that says, until next time your eyes open, you see sunlight. It's very cold. You see Elizabeth over you. [01:35:19] Speaker B: Axel? [01:35:21] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:35:25] Speaker B: Oh, thank God. [01:35:30] Speaker C: Sit up on my elbows and look at her and go, I'm sorry, did I hurt you? [01:35:43] Speaker B: No, this wasn't you. [01:35:48] Speaker A: But. [01:35:56] Speaker B: Are you injured? [01:35:57] Speaker E: I don't think so. [01:35:59] Speaker C: I take a look. Am I injured in any capacity other than bare feet in the woods? [01:36:07] Speaker D: Your heart is a little bruised and tender. [01:36:11] Speaker E: It's to be expected. [01:36:14] Speaker C: No, I'm all right. Sore. Hungry? [01:36:24] Speaker B: Yeah. We should get back. The. The doctor seems to be stable enough, but, um, well, they're not entirely sure if I was going to come back, so. [01:36:40] Speaker C: Yeah, don't worry. You'll make it back. I think I will, too. And I won't stand up. [01:36:50] Speaker D: Hurts everywhere, but nothing broken. [01:36:55] Speaker B: I'll tuck myself, like, against your side and put your arm over my shoulders. Thank you. [01:37:05] Speaker C: The doctor's okay. [01:37:07] Speaker B: He will be. I've never seen someone take an iron to the poker or a poker to the chest, but, um, I. [01:37:21] Speaker C: And the colonel. [01:37:26] Speaker B: I'm not sure. I don't know exactly what was happening, but. And as we're talking, I'm guiding him. [01:37:36] Speaker C: Back towards the cabin, limping along. [01:37:40] Speaker D: As you are about to exit the glade, I see Bergamot step up, and he says, elizabeth, I wanted to tell you, things always return. The worm that your friend brought back, the worm that birthed it, can destroy it. Things always go back. And so, if you ever want to go back, I will take you. [01:38:35] Speaker B: That's not a decision I can make right now. [01:38:40] Speaker D: I know. I am sorry. I turns away, and he walks off, and the branches barely move as he seems to vanish into the forest. [01:39:07] Speaker B: All right, well, we have a man full of ghosts, a werewolf, and a changeling. Turns out the colonel is the only one with both feet in this world. [01:39:48] Speaker C: What a motley crew are we? Now, you're an incredibly powerful person, but. [01:40:03] Speaker B: If you ever. [01:40:06] Speaker C: Need help and call on me. [01:40:20] Speaker B: This. Much appreciated, Roland. [01:40:25] Speaker C: Least I can do. [01:40:30] Speaker B: Come on. [01:40:32] Speaker D: Yes, let's. You return to the cabin without any other incident. Arrive just as the colonel is reading through the book. And, Colonel, you've just read something about having to pour blood into an egg and then eat it as part of a ritual that looks very, very, just not right. [01:41:04] Speaker A: I can't possibly be that I'm understanding this correctly. It says, and I'm regurgitating the instructions to Drago, I think, as Elizabeth. [01:41:11] Speaker D: And. [01:41:12] Speaker E: And I'm mouthing it along with you because I've read it so many times. I know. And I'm like, yeah. [01:41:18] Speaker A: Who's blood? What's blood? [01:41:22] Speaker B: If you'll let me take a look, I might be able to suss it out for you. [01:41:27] Speaker E: Oh, Elizabeth, my dear, you're fine. [01:41:30] Speaker A: End hour, turning and peering over to. [01:41:33] Speaker D: See. [01:41:37] Speaker B: He is once again human. For now. [01:41:45] Speaker A: It's amusing to me because we kind of established that Rollin does not change with their clothes. They burst out of them. So unless Elizabeth took a change of clothes, is Rollin just shatter. [01:41:54] Speaker D: Just tatters, Hulk. [01:41:56] Speaker B: Hulk shatter. Hulk tatters. [01:41:58] Speaker C: Yeah, just kind of tucked it to the side to make sure I'm not totally indecent. I'm very bashful, Rowland. [01:42:09] Speaker E: I do the thing. I'm like rowling. [01:42:13] Speaker A: There's a change of. And I can gesture towards my traveling bag if you can. I'm assuming the kernel is larger, around. I don't know about high, but you'll be able to find something, I'm sure. [01:42:27] Speaker C: Many thanks. I'll just do that, then. [01:42:35] Speaker A: All right, then. The easiest problem solved. Elizabeth. And then, handing over the journal, I. [01:42:43] Speaker B: Will begin to pore over the information. And without the fog of war, anyone who would have noticed the pointed ears and the odd. And it's like the shine on an opal, an odd sort of pearlescence that makes the skin look utterly inhuman. [01:43:16] Speaker A: I don't know that the colonel would call attention to it, if for no other reason than he's very new to this part of things. It might be rude to point out that someone hasn't unchangedling. He doesn't know. He does know that Elisabeth can light people on fire, so it doesn't seem like a good place to experiment. [01:43:40] Speaker E: Yeah. The name of the game is Takt. [01:43:42] Speaker B: The name of the game is Takt. Game master, what am I reading? [01:43:48] Speaker D: You are reading a very ancient book, um, of lore. It's very difficult to ascertain whether the lore in it is real or not. You do know that a lot of the gifts that you got from, um, the, uh, sailor who gave them to you on the train were magical in nature and had some form of, uh, power. The particular one that you are reading seems to be about the banishing of ghosts, things of that nature. It does seem to indicate in it, as you're reading it, that there's a possibility of it working on a spiritus. But from your knowledge that you have about the spiritus, there's literally like no known ritual that can banish it. It always returns after a certain amount of time. It is basically a impossible to destroy by human hand. And if anything is done to get rid of it, usually it just returns after a number of days. So while this ritual would probably. It's very disgusting, first of all, but would probably work, it would probably be a short term solution. [01:45:05] Speaker B: I have good news and bad news. Which would we like to hear first? [01:45:11] Speaker D: Colonel? [01:45:11] Speaker E: It's your baby. [01:45:14] Speaker A: Let's start with the bad news. [01:45:20] Speaker B: It's not permanent. Anything done to remove the creature will give us time. But as far as destruction, I'm not sure. But it's not this. [01:45:42] Speaker A: We can get it out of me, but we can't kill it. [01:45:49] Speaker B: And it will come right back to you. [01:45:55] Speaker C: That is bad news. [01:46:02] Speaker E: And the good news? [01:46:05] Speaker B: The good news is it. It should be gone long enough to give me time to potentially find something else. [01:46:18] Speaker D: As you say these words, Elizabeth, you recall the last few words that Bergamot told you. Everything returns. If the worm that begat this wormhood, if it were to be returned to it, this one might be able to dispose of it. You remember that the Spiritus was taken from the scales of the Lindworm from the dock by Mister Thorstein, the leader of Loch Spindler. Destruction by a magical creature that begat it might be what you need. [01:47:15] Speaker B: Better news. The creature that we did not destroy, the Lynferm, this is of that creature and could potentially be destroyed by it, it will not have gone anywhere. It's too weak. It's still resting. So we can remove the thing and give it back to the lindworm. [01:47:51] Speaker A: And we're sure that will accomplish the ultimate objective of stopping it from. [01:48:03] Speaker E: Be shy. [01:48:04] Speaker D: Colonel, show them. [01:48:05] Speaker E: He pokes at you. [01:48:08] Speaker A: I don't know that that is, uh, proper. [01:48:13] Speaker E: It's starting to burrow in deepen. [01:48:17] Speaker A: Now. [01:48:18] Speaker D: You just see, like, half of it. The tail end, it's got little legs that's just trying to push itself in. And it's kind of just. There's like, talking and it's gurgling like, it's so happy. Like, it's just. [01:48:32] Speaker B: Oh, my God. Can we hear it making noises? [01:48:34] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:48:34] Speaker C: Can we see and hear this thing while it's doing this? [01:48:40] Speaker A: Not gonna take it off. [01:48:42] Speaker E: I was so wrong. Yeah, no, it wasn't doing that earlier. It wasn't doing that when you showed me. [01:48:47] Speaker D: Oh, no. [01:48:48] Speaker A: That means. That means you can see, like, underneath the shirt. The little feets are like, oh, God. [01:48:57] Speaker D: Just these cute little legs just kicking away. [01:49:03] Speaker A: It's fine if it doesn't work at time. Being of the essence, a delaying action is a perfectly valid tactical maneuver. [01:49:11] Speaker B: I am about as certain as I can be. [01:49:16] Speaker E: Can we do one and then the other try the lindworm? And if that doesn't work, we can try the ritual. [01:49:25] Speaker B: We need to remove the Lindwyrm, but remove the spirituous. But yes. Once we take it to the lindworm, hopefully that will be the step that we need. [01:49:39] Speaker C: I must your expertise. [01:49:43] Speaker A: I shall place myself in your capable hands. [01:49:51] Speaker B: We, um. Doctor, do you feel well enough to move. [01:49:58] Speaker E: Before you guys even? He's already prepping a vial of adrenaline. He's like, what was that? [01:50:04] Speaker B: Hmm? [01:50:05] Speaker E: Hmm. [01:50:06] Speaker B: Um, 20 minutes. And we need to return to the, um, the creature. [01:50:19] Speaker A: Very well. [01:50:20] Speaker E: Sounds good to me. [01:50:22] Speaker C: Doctor, do you think you can stand? [01:50:29] Speaker E: Yeah, I'm gonna. I'm gonna. As morbid as it is, he's gonna use the poker as, like, a makeshift cane. [01:50:36] Speaker B: Oh, dear. [01:50:37] Speaker D: Brilliant. What does not kill you? [01:50:41] Speaker C: A narrow walking stick. [01:50:45] Speaker E: Mm hmm. It's my revenant beating stick. [01:50:49] Speaker D: What would you like to do? So you'll take a little bit of time, I assume, to perhaps rest up and just recenter refocus yourselves. What would you like to do in that time? Anybody? [01:51:02] Speaker C: I would be taking, presumably that I will have taken some time to clear the angry condition that I had from wolfrage. [01:51:16] Speaker B: I will take the time to clear the frightened condition. [01:51:22] Speaker D: How will you do that? [01:51:27] Speaker B: There is a book about the size of two poems, worn stamped leather with a brass clip on it. And I would like to use that in conjuncture with the information from the doctor's journal, comparing this new knowledge with the knowledge that I have in this book. And on the inside cover of that book are names. My name. And then Marta Jensen, and then Elena Janssen, then Marguerite Jensen. All of the women in my family who have passed this knowledge and this power down to me. Although I suppose power is just my own at this point. But the knowledge is something that they've given me. [01:52:57] Speaker D: As you think on this and take a moment, you think about these very powerful, and it came before you. The wisdom and knowledge you have been given by them, you become strength. And you know that you have the strength, the wisdom, the knowledge necessary to undertake this particular quest of yours, because, well, you have been well brought up and well trained, and you can, in fact, erase your mental condition. Anybody else? [01:53:34] Speaker A: I'm operating on the assumption that the conversation that I had with the doctor about the memento calms down the angry condition. [01:53:43] Speaker D: Yep. Perfect. A little later, you find yourselves back again at the scene of the crime, so to speak. You came here originally to Stavanger, to this place. You came here to solve the mystery of the disease that was spreading throughout the people who worked here. You solved that. But in solving it, you realize that it had been used in some kind of elaborate ploy to lure members of the Hellstrom society here in order to infect one of them with the spiritists, so that the spiritists would be brought back to the Hellstrom manor and, in short, begin tearing down the society from the inside. It was Trojan horse. As we have already discussed, one of the things that you know from your studies of the spiritus is that one of the things that happens, holder of the spiritist, the host of the spiritist, starts gaining things. They can gain powers, they can gain riches, they can get their wishes granted, but everyone around them, everyone connected to them, starts suffering misfortunes. And that was basically the intent behind this particular plot. You think of that now, knowing that the colonel is now rejected. Asperitus, as you are traveling back and heading back where this, in some ways, all began so long ago, a few months ago, you can't help but wonder just what dark misadventures might now befall the rest of you. As the spiritus is very powerful and also probably somewhat angry right now. This is on your mind as you approach and see, once again the old gatekeeper. Although it is so late now in the night, that as you approach his little cabin, you see that the wick is burning very low on his lamp and he has his feet up on the counter, half drunk, bottle of gin in his lap, and he is snoring very happily. [01:56:05] Speaker B: I don't think there's any real need to wake him. We're just gonna move past, sneak on past. [01:56:19] Speaker E: Yeah, he's just a sleepy guy, you know. [01:56:25] Speaker B: He's half drunk. He'll be fine. [01:56:27] Speaker E: That's what I said. [01:56:30] Speaker D: The doc. As sinister as the first time you were here. It's dark, it's quiet, especially this late at night. And you know what's happened here. You can almost hear and feel the ghosts of all those who died here, gathering around, wondering what it is that you intend to do. As you head towards the boat building shed where you first encountered the lindworm, where you showed mercy to dislind worm, you had realized, of course, that it had only been trying to defend itself had only been trying to protect itself from the predation of this company. You approached a shed. You, I don't actually don't remember exactly how you got in the first time. Did you break the lock the first time? [01:57:27] Speaker B: I'm pretty. Didn't Rowland, didn't you hulk out? [01:57:32] Speaker C: I did, but I didn't open it properly. You picked the lock. [01:57:36] Speaker B: Yeah, I did. Oh, I did. Because I forgot I've got lock picking because I'm good at that. [01:57:42] Speaker D: You make short work of the lock this time. You remember it from last time. You might even have left it open. Who knows? You open the door, you once again see this creature, this long worm like creature with two little t. Rex like arms. It's got blue green iridescent scales around it, and it kind of looks like a cross between what you might think is a dragon, a serpent, and a sea worm or something like that. Like it's this strange kind of amalgam of these different types of creatures. And as you left it, it is floating in between these two docks. There were ropes that were attached to it, which you severed when you tried to help it. You had removed the silver shavings which were preventing it from regenerating. It is still floating there. What did you do with the eggs? You had not taken the eggs or you had left the eggs? [01:58:43] Speaker E: That's right. [01:58:44] Speaker B: We had left the eggs. [01:58:45] Speaker D: All right. The one thing that's encouraging is that the worm has turned from floating on its back to floating kind of on its side. Now, as you walk into this boat shed, it stirs a little, but it's still apparently quite weak. What would you like to do. [01:59:12] Speaker E: Elizabeth? So just. Do we. Does the colonel. Just how do we. Does he have to bite it off? [01:59:23] Speaker B: I think it's best if I ask permission. So one moment, please. I'll approach the lindworm. [01:59:39] Speaker D: Um. [01:59:42] Speaker B: There'S a moment of concentration and I'll. It's odd. I've never really noticed the glamour before. But now that I know that it's there, it's like wearing a sweater made out of bat woolen. I'll let a little more of it drop, and I will crouch before that giant eyeball. [02:00:15] Speaker D: The eye opens up, sort of like a snake, and stares at you. You can see a little bit of fear in its eye. [02:00:27] Speaker B: I'll pull my hair back so it can see my ears. Hello again. We need your help. We, um. Something was taken from you and we'd like to give it back. Carnal. [02:01:05] Speaker A: Just kind of not say anything, but stiffening up and waiting. [02:01:12] Speaker B: Hold my hand out. Gesture for him to approach. [02:01:16] Speaker A: Take a few cautious steps forward. Eyes like looking at Elizabeth, but in a way that lets me also keep the worm in focus. [02:01:29] Speaker B: Can you show it? [02:01:34] Speaker A: And he will just reach down and pull his shirt up. It is incredibly cold this far north, but it's quite all right. [02:01:46] Speaker D: I. The worm's eye moves, looks over. You don't notice any sort of recognition or anything in it. The eye starts to close slowly. [02:02:11] Speaker B: I just need one thing from you. [02:02:18] Speaker A: Just. [02:02:21] Speaker B: Just an egg. [02:02:24] Speaker D: The egg closest. [02:02:32] Speaker A: Am I to understand that our parlay has not succeeded? [02:02:38] Speaker B: I think if it hadn't succeeded, it would have tried to eat us. [02:02:42] Speaker D: So. [02:02:45] Speaker B: Nonetheless, you may want to take a few paces back. Game master, I would like to try and retrieve one of the non viable eggs from the clutch. [02:02:59] Speaker D: Right, go ahead and give me a physique and agility roll, actually give me precision and stealth roll, to be honest. [02:03:11] Speaker B: Two successes. [02:03:13] Speaker D: Very good. You reach down where you remember the pouch to be and you slip your fingers inside. And as you do, your two successes allow you to remove your hand just as the worm starts to spin on itself, uh, emitting this high pitched noise as it starts to spin on itself in the water. And if you hadn't removed your hand, you would have gone into it. Uh, it's thrashing and it's moving around and it's going all over the place. Um, what would the rest of you like to do? [02:03:47] Speaker C: I would like to move, kind of put myself between it and the kernel out of safety. [02:03:55] Speaker A: I'm happy to back up. [02:03:58] Speaker D: Doctor? [02:04:00] Speaker E: Uh, I. Yeah, I think in my state. I'm standing behind rollet as well, with my poker to the side. [02:04:10] Speaker D: The worm keeps spinning for a little while and then stops slowly and then lays there. [02:04:16] Speaker A: Would it be fair? We still have advantages left from our. Our researchy thing about the lindworm. Right. Is there anything in there that we could use to. To accomplish this goal? [02:04:33] Speaker D: Well, there are several things here. There are hooks, there are ropes. There are anything you could want, Dave. These people were captured it and drug it in here. So everything is there. Um, so if you want to go and try something like that, you can. [02:04:57] Speaker E: I. Drago, I don't think we should piss it off in that manner. I think diplomatic, but Drago speaks of like, okay, what if. Did you tell her we're doing a trade? Elizabeth, did you? [02:05:15] Speaker B: Yes. Although it's. [02:05:18] Speaker D: You felt like you weren't really getting rude, really is what was going on. [02:05:28] Speaker B: Game master, with the knowledge of my background that I now have, is there. Is there a language that this creature would know outside of common English or common Swedish? [02:05:50] Speaker D: You could try a magical role. [02:05:54] Speaker B: Four successes. [02:05:56] Speaker D: Wow. You in this moment, as you think back on it, recall a time where a wolf, wounded, had staggered in near your home. You recall you were very young when you'd hidden inside the house and your mother had gone out and had spoken to the wolf and had spoken to him in a way that seemed to reach the wolf. The wolf seemed to understand. She had approached the wolf and put a hand on its head, and eventually the wolf had followed her docilely inside the house and she had tended to the wolf. And all the while she was speaking to him in a language that you didn't understand. After a couple days, when the wolf had become better and left, you had asked your mother about it and she had said, all creatures made by the power of the world of nature speak the same language. Most have just forgotten it. It's easy to remember it. Odin had to sacrifice himself. Nine days, nine nights, hanging on Yggdrasil to get the knowledge of the runes which he passed on to men. Secretive language. We have this knowledge. We've just forgotten it for the most part. If you ever need it. And you remember her drawing on the table, this room, strange design. And as you recall it now, it burns into your mind and you know that it's there. You just have to reach out for it. You just have to draw the room, read it out loud, and perhaps you too can remember the language of all things. [02:07:54] Speaker B: I'll sort of pat my pockets until I find a piece of chalk and I'll crouch on the old sort of weather beaten wood, and I'll start sketching this rune. [02:08:10] Speaker D: As you start to draw it, you draw a line that goes down. And then at the top, another line at an angle, and another one just below it. It looks kind of like an f. If the two bars of the f were pointing down. You remember the name of this rune. It is Ansuz. It is a rune that means message. And as you draw this rune, you feel a very ancient, very, very primal power emanate from it. And you can draw it inside of you. And as you do, you start hearing all these different words, all these different languages, all these different things talking to you. You realize the water is talking to you. The wind is talking to you. [02:09:01] Speaker B: One at a time, please. [02:09:04] Speaker D: You focus. Just like you do in a crowded room. And someone mentions your name. A crowded, busy, loud room. Someone mentions your name. It cuts through and you hear it. And you manage to do that. And you hear. Do not touch them. They are all I have left. [02:09:40] Speaker B: I'm sorry. [02:09:44] Speaker D: You were kind earlier, so I did not hurt you. But if you try to take my children away, I will kill you. [02:10:01] Speaker B: I understand. I. I can tell you for certain that at least one of them is gone already. [02:10:15] Speaker D: That is not one of my children. It is a parasite. I was pleased when they took it away from me. You are a child of the elders. You should understand that there are things in this world that come from places that do not belong here. And that is one such thing. [02:10:43] Speaker B: Yes. [02:10:45] Speaker D: It is not mine. Were kind, and I would help you if I can have you children of your own. [02:11:04] Speaker B: No. [02:11:09] Speaker D: Perhaps one day you will. [02:11:14] Speaker B: Very much doubt that. [02:11:18] Speaker D: You'Re a child of the elders. There is nothing you cannot do if you want it. But if you do, you will understand that the things you fear become a million times more fearful when it comes to protecting your brood. Even something as insignificant as a human becomes exponentially more dangerous. There are four of you, and I am direly wounded. If you wish to take one of my children, you will have to fight me. And you will kill me. But I will take one or more of you. If you are strong, and if your friends are strong, perhaps I can help you. But you must swear you will not take my children. No matter what happens, I will not stand for it. [02:12:33] Speaker B: I do not want to fight you, and I do not want to hurt you or your children. But I need to help my friends. They will be destroyed if we do nothing. [02:12:54] Speaker D: Elwyn, the one who is infected, is he strong? [02:13:03] Speaker B: Strongest. [02:13:07] Speaker D: I hope for his sake. If you have any means of helping him with pain, begin with that. Once that is done, I will tell you what else you need to do. [02:13:25] Speaker B: Doctor. [02:13:29] Speaker E: What did it say? [02:13:35] Speaker B: Do you have morphine with you? [02:13:38] Speaker E: Yeah, no, I got a little. Got a little something for this guy. [02:13:44] Speaker D: Private stash. [02:13:46] Speaker B: Colonel. [02:13:52] Speaker A: Are we sure this is the wise choice? [02:13:57] Speaker B: As of right now, what is the. [02:13:58] Speaker A: Oh, not about the eggs. But if something's about to go horribly wrong, are you sure you want me? And he'll make a dragged up gesture. [02:14:13] Speaker B: If we try to take a one of her children, she will fight us and at least one of us will die. [02:14:28] Speaker A: We don't want that. Fair enough, doctor. [02:14:36] Speaker E: Great. Colonel, what do you weigh? About 200, 4220? [02:14:43] Speaker A: Yeah. [02:14:45] Speaker E: Okay. And a little bit extra just for you. There we go. What do you want it taking too long? Jab you on the leg, give me. [02:14:57] Speaker D: A precision and medicine check. That's two successes they should have rolled. One die less, by the way, because you have a battered condition, but it's okay. [02:15:10] Speaker E: Oh, that's true. That was a. That was. You're right. [02:15:11] Speaker D: You're right, you're good, you're good, you're good. Don't worry about it. [02:15:14] Speaker E: All right. [02:15:14] Speaker D: Uh, two successes. [02:15:16] Speaker E: We. [02:15:17] Speaker D: All right, Colonel, note that down. You will need those later. [02:15:20] Speaker A: I'll need those two successes. [02:15:22] Speaker D: Yes. Okay. [02:15:24] Speaker A: Okay. [02:15:25] Speaker D: I'm so sorry. [02:15:25] Speaker E: I love you. [02:15:28] Speaker B: Oh, dear. [02:15:29] Speaker A: I did this to myself, remember? You were all there. [02:15:31] Speaker D: You are feeling no pain. This thing is burrowing into your chest. It's eating its way inside of you. It wants to nest. It wants to make a home. It wants to merge with you. And you're, you know, you're not perturbed by it. You're like, you know, seen worst in the war. As that's happening, that lindworm will speak to you again, Elizabeth, and say, is he prepared? Sorry? I went into Bergamot. Is he prepared? [02:16:10] Speaker B: As prepared as he can be. [02:16:13] Speaker D: You said he was the strongest. Is there another who is strong? [02:16:22] Speaker B: Not over to Rowland. [02:16:25] Speaker D: Once I begin gnawing that your friend, I may not want to stop. It would be good if someone could help stop me before I eat the problem as well as your friend. [02:16:48] Speaker B: Oh, good. Colonel? [02:16:59] Speaker A: Yes. [02:17:02] Speaker B: Colonel. Do you trust me. [02:17:07] Speaker A: Elizabeth, there is no one else in the world right now who I trust than you. [02:17:21] Speaker B: This is going to be invasive, to say the least. Rowlin. Our compatriot here will have to consume the spiritus. There's a small chance that the colonel might be a bit of a temptation. [02:17:53] Speaker A: Ah. [02:17:56] Speaker D: Right. [02:17:56] Speaker C: And I start taking off the large jacket that I had taken out of the colonel's stash of spare clothing. And, like, adjusting myself as best I can, knowing I'm gonna just preemptively go beast. [02:18:19] Speaker B: I'll turn to the Lynnworm. I have. I have my magic. Magic that can hold a thing in place. Does that work on you? [02:18:35] Speaker D: It will not be as effective as chains or brute strength. I may resist your attempts, however, there is something you can do. The spiritus will be attempting to fight. It will be attempting to fight physically, but also through its infernal magic. If you would be be vigilant, and if you see it attempting to do something, you should be ready to stop it. [02:19:14] Speaker B: I can do that. [02:19:18] Speaker D: Bring the victim. Ay, me. Bring a friend. [02:19:26] Speaker B: Hold my hand out for the colonel. [02:19:30] Speaker A: It's not the steadiest step forward I've ever taken, but. [02:19:34] Speaker E: Oh. [02:19:34] Speaker D: Yep. [02:19:35] Speaker E: No, it hits you quick. It hits you fast. [02:19:37] Speaker A: Getting closer to the edge of the pier kind of thing. [02:19:42] Speaker D: Here, the lindworm rolls over slowly and approaches the little dock where you are. And slow, it's little alarms and reaches up and climbs and it reaches up, and it's like a good, it towers. It's a good, like almost 3 meters tall. Once it kind of reaches up and then it brings its head close. It's almost all the way inside. Looks at Elizabeth. Tell him this will hurt. [02:20:17] Speaker B: Colonel, remember, you trust me. This is going to hurt. [02:20:24] Speaker A: I know. [02:20:27] Speaker D: And as you say that, the lindworm rears its head and it shoots forward and it bites right into your chest over where this thing is. And it starts to gnaw and just grind its teeth into you and just starts reaching out for it. It just starts diving right in there. Elizabeth, as soon as this happens, you feel a surge of power as there's thing that's inside of it. You don't know how you know, but you can sense it. It is trying to make itself disappear, to make itself turn into nothing so that it can evade this bite. I would ask you to make a magical roll. I think you also have troll dust you can use if you want. [02:21:09] Speaker B: I'll do that. That's three. I'm gonna push. I'm taking the angry condition. Five successes. [02:21:24] Speaker D: Beautiful. You reach out with your senses. You blow the troll dust into the face of the kernel. You can feel the worm inside sort of shake and start to sneeze as the troll dust hits it. And you managed to just grab this power that it was using. And you just grab it with your fingers, and you pull back on and you're pulling back on almost physically, almost kind of like you're pulling this weird miasma off of it, and it smells bad and it's just dirty. It's this foul, infernal magic as you're pulling on it. [02:21:52] Speaker B: No, you don't. [02:21:55] Speaker D: Colonel. Yeah? I'm going to need you. Go ahead, give me a physique plus force. To that, you can add the two dice as successes that the doctor gave you earlier. So you have two successes already. [02:22:16] Speaker A: It's a seven of which I succeeded on zero. So I will have to, I think, push and take wounded. [02:22:24] Speaker D: Right. [02:22:25] Speaker A: Because instead of pulling away and being like, nope, nope, nope, it's like, don't need that rib. [02:22:32] Speaker D: It's fine. You still have your advantage. [02:22:40] Speaker A: Yes. [02:22:41] Speaker D: So if you did roll it first, so that if you're rerolling after, you can reroll it also after failures. [02:22:46] Speaker A: Ah, okay. [02:22:47] Speaker D: It's two dice. [02:22:50] Speaker A: Well, on my first reroll, that was two successes that came through and then a third from that advantage. So that is three. Plus the two is five. [02:22:59] Speaker D: Five successes. This thing bites into you. You take two wounds as it just gnaws at you. And then you feel its tongue reach out, go into the hole made by the spiritus. Just wrap around it, pull it out of you. This thing fights the spiritist, fights it holding onto you, but it's not just holding onto your body, it's holding on to your soul. You can feel it pulling all the way inside of you. And eventually you feel that rip out and you feel it screaming as it gets pulled out. And this thing's tongue wraps around it and pulls it into its mouth. And then you feel the Lindworm relent a little bit and pull away from you. Then it looks up and then it dives again and its teeth burrow into your chest again. [02:23:54] Speaker B: Can I troll dust it? [02:23:57] Speaker D: You've used your action. [02:23:58] Speaker C: I'm claws out. [02:24:00] Speaker D: Are you trying to. Are you trying to shift? [02:24:04] Speaker C: Yes. [02:24:04] Speaker D: Yes. [02:24:05] Speaker E: Can I overdose it? [02:24:07] Speaker D: You can try to hit him again if you want, Roland. As you reach for that and try to change again, you hear? Back so soon? [02:24:22] Speaker B: Yes. [02:24:25] Speaker D: I don't eat snake. [02:24:32] Speaker C: I don't care. [02:24:36] Speaker D: You don't, do you? Then perhaps I'll stay right where I am. I don't really need me. [02:24:41] Speaker C: Get in here and help him now. [02:24:44] Speaker D: Why? Because he said so. Rollin, give me. And empathy plus manipulation role. [02:25:11] Speaker C: Two successes. [02:25:20] Speaker D: A lot of you see Rollin, body snapping, elongating, changing, fur sprouting. Just in the blink of an eye, this giant werewolf against standing there, you can see, rollin that the lindworm is digging into the kernel. He's just going right for the heart. He's going to eat him completely, snap him in half. You can try to restrain him. Give me a physique plus. Or. Actually, it's not physique plus force at this point. It is a might might against this creature's might. [02:25:56] Speaker C: Okay, um, I'm. I'm not half to push. [02:26:06] Speaker B: Y'All. [02:26:09] Speaker D: Oh, okay. [02:26:10] Speaker C: Two successes. [02:26:12] Speaker D: How many successes total? [02:26:15] Speaker C: Two. [02:26:16] Speaker D: You grab this thing, you wrap your arms around it, you pull it back, and you can see you're pulling it. You're managing to pull it, but it's still clinging onto there, and it's fighting you with all it's got. Pull. You pull, you pull. It's kind of giving. It's almost there, but you're not quite there yet. Back around the table. [02:26:39] Speaker A: Does, uh. Can. Can we say that the colonel had the foresight to have brought his gun with him? [02:26:46] Speaker D: I'm sure the colonel brought everything with him, yes. [02:26:48] Speaker A: Yeah. Cause in that case, I mean, his hands are busy, like, wrapping around teeth, trying to keep the jaws from clenching shut. But if, uh. If Drago has, like, the. The syringe out and is like, I'm gonna medical this, then the colonel can be, like drago, pointing. Like. [02:27:11] Speaker E: First of all, how dare you give me that voice. Captain's instincts kick in. I'm gonna take the. The musket or the rifle, because it's the 18 hundreds, not a musket. And in whatever gap I can in the mouth, I'm gonna just shove it in there and just. [02:27:30] Speaker D: Elizabeth, you see this? And you're not sure that that's a good idea. If you anger this thing right now, it's. [02:27:34] Speaker B: Don't shoot. [02:27:36] Speaker D: It's its nature, what it's doing. [02:27:39] Speaker E: Okay, then in that case, I'm gonna. I'm gonna pull it out. I'm gonna put it across and use it as leverage to try to pry the mouth open. [02:27:47] Speaker D: Ah, excellent. What do you want to do, Elizabeth? So you are assisting. I will say that you are assisting the captain. So when the captain makes his resistance roll in a minute, I will get extra dice from you trying to leverage out the mouth. Elizabeth, what will you do? [02:28:06] Speaker B: The water is speaking to me. [02:28:08] Speaker D: Mm hmm. [02:28:11] Speaker B: Will it listen if I ask a favor? [02:28:14] Speaker D: You could try. [02:28:17] Speaker B: Magic. Roll. [02:28:19] Speaker D: No. Empathy and manipulation. You have to convince it with your words. [02:28:27] Speaker B: Three successes. [02:28:29] Speaker D: Devil's luck. Pretty good. As you reach out with your senses and start speaking the language of the water, what would you like to say to the water. [02:28:39] Speaker B: We are doing what we can to keep lochs Spindler from making this world darker. We are doing what we can to keep Lochsman from corrupting everything that keeps this world green and beautiful and magical. Please help us. Please do not let him die. [02:29:07] Speaker D: You start seeing little eddies, little swirls of the water. They start connecting, making a bigger and bigger one. And this world keeps growing. The water is exiting out of the dock where you are. The levels are the water levels going down. But the whirlpool is dragging this creature down with it. It's dragging it down. I will give you, you had three successes. I will give Roland three extra dice to roll when you do the strength pull on this thing. Colonel, this thing's trying to eat you. Physique plus force. You have the two successes from the morphine. And I will say that you have two extra dice to roll from the captain attempting to help you with the lever. [02:29:54] Speaker A: The big old pilot ice. Come on. Statistics. [02:30:00] Speaker E: Garbage. [02:30:02] Speaker A: Not a single one. [02:30:05] Speaker D: Are we pushing? [02:30:07] Speaker A: Yeah, I can push with mental and do frightened. Seems appropriate. [02:30:18] Speaker D: You are at what, right now? Physically? [02:30:19] Speaker A: You are at what, uh, within terms of conditions? Yeah, I have three of the physical. [02:30:27] Speaker E: Oh, no. [02:30:30] Speaker A: And then that's one on mental. [02:30:34] Speaker D: I will, I will, I will allow you to take angry or frightened or hopeless. Yeah. Because any of those would apply. I would feel so, feel free to grab one of those. [02:30:44] Speaker A: So frightened worked because I am legitimately scared. That seems right on the nose. And there are two sixes in that. So two on the re roll plus the two from Drago. [02:30:59] Speaker D: Excellent. You don't take a wound this turn. It is still latched onto you, however, and it's trying to eat you. Rollin, this thing is incredibly powerful. You feel that the water's working with you. It's pulling it away from, from the captain. It's dragging it, it's shaking. You know, you're not far from it, but you're going to get the three extra successes that Elizabeth got as extra dice to make on your physique plus force. Roll or your might roll. [02:31:35] Speaker C: I'm pushing. [02:31:36] Speaker E: Jeez. [02:31:41] Speaker C: I'm going to go with bloodthirsty. [02:31:43] Speaker B: Oh, no. [02:31:45] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. I'm mad. [02:31:48] Speaker A: We said someone's gonna die here, and you all thought it was me. Turns out. [02:31:54] Speaker C: Two successes. [02:31:56] Speaker D: Rollin, you were trying to pull this thing off the captain. It's so close. It's so close. It's just not there. The captain, sorry, the colonel does not have much left in him. You can see that he's already just on the verge of broken. [02:32:20] Speaker C: Hey, boss. I have double initiative in this form. Just throwing that in as a last ditch effort. [02:32:30] Speaker D: The one thing you know would work would be to kill this thing. Would be to bite its throat out. You're feeling bloodthirsty. You know it's there. You don't want to kill this thing. You don't want to kill this thing. You just went through so much. Helping it, saving it. It's helping you. But it's that or it's the colonel. [02:32:56] Speaker A: In fairness, we held our on the bargain. And the lindworm is the one that, like, drew first blood here, right? [02:33:04] Speaker C: So I look over at Elizabeth, clearly communicating where we're at. [02:33:19] Speaker D: You have one extraction. You're right. So you can either try a strength might thing again or you can bite it. We go around again, it gets another bite on the kernel. I was nice. He should have been broken on that last one when I let him take a mental. [02:33:42] Speaker C: We gotta do it. [02:33:48] Speaker B: Can I say something before we kill it? [02:33:51] Speaker C: Yes. [02:33:59] Speaker B: I'll mean it, Ty. And I'll say you promised. I'm sorry. I can't let him die. [02:34:18] Speaker C: Rowland, go open my mouth and go from the throat. [02:34:24] Speaker D: You open your mouth, you bite into this thing's throat. The second you do, you feel its muscles relax. Colonel. You feel the bite lessen in your own chest as blood and gore just explodes from the throat of this worm, splashing all over you. And you just see Rollin just tear into this thing. Just tearing into it, ripping out scales, ripping out veins, blood flying everywhere. Chunks of meat as it's falling back and as Rollin's dragging it onto the side of the dock and just feasting, just going to town. The wolf inside of you, Roland, just exalting and howling and happy. Elizabeth, you get a final look at the Lynnworm, and it's looking at you, and it says, you must protect your own. We live and we die. Make sure my own live. The sounds of Rollin eating this thing goes on for 510 minutes. It's sickening at some point. And then after a while, Rollin, you feel so full, almost nauseous from it. You stagger back. You feel the wolf inside of you, fat, happy, go back into his cave. You feel yourself coming smaller as you transform back, you start vomiting. You're throwing up all this stuff that you've just eaten. Bits and pieces of flesh and scale and blood. Colonel, you're on the ground. Doctor. The colonel is. He's dying. He should be head broken. I'm gonna need you, doctor, to you have chief physician, which is good. I'm gonna need you to go ahead and make a medicine check to see if you can prevent the kernel. [02:36:50] Speaker B: Can I offer assistance? [02:36:51] Speaker D: You can offer assistance. You get an extra dye. [02:36:54] Speaker E: Just straight medicine. [02:36:56] Speaker D: Medicine and precision. [02:36:57] Speaker E: Okay. [02:36:59] Speaker A: Is this the part where you can just sprinkle some full dust on it? [02:37:04] Speaker E: And with that, we've got devil's luck. [02:37:07] Speaker D: So you won't need a chemical equipment to figure out the cause of death. You managed to stabilize. The wound is deep. It's all the way in there. He's got some serious damage. He's gonna wear some serious scars. Right over here. His chest. Right over where his heart is. He's gonna have the worst scars ever. Colonel, you saw the other side. It was right there. It was coming for you. The doctor just managed to tabilize you, save your life for now. Rollin on the floor nearby. Having emptied yourself of everything you'd gorged on. What would everyone like to do? [02:38:06] Speaker A: I imagine in his current state, the colonel's not capable of speaking. There's probably gonna be a. A bloody aspirant instead. [02:38:16] Speaker E: Nope. Yep. Don't even. Don't even bother. Carl. I got you some patching them, you know, dousing of them. I'll even. I'll even undo one of his bullets and use the gunpowder to. What's the word? Carterizes some of the wound if I can. Just trying to stop the bleeding as much as I can. So that's my focus. [02:38:44] Speaker D: Elizabeth. [02:38:51] Speaker B: Is there anything left of the lindworm? [02:38:54] Speaker D: Most of the body's intact. Seems they're Rollin had a predilection for snake throat. [02:39:05] Speaker B: I'll. I move past Rowland, but as I do, I sort of smooth a hand over his hair. I'd like to collect one of the eggs if it's still possible. [02:39:29] Speaker D: You reach into the pouch, you immediately feel liquid. Thick, viscous. You feel shards of eggs. You root around until eventually your fingers curl around something that seems still solid, round, warm. [02:39:51] Speaker B: Hope, please. Please. [02:39:56] Speaker D: You withdraw it and you see slightly cracked, but otherwise intact. There's one egg left. [02:40:12] Speaker C: Crawl over to Elizabeth. I sit at her feet. [02:40:20] Speaker B: Like a. [02:40:21] Speaker C: Tame wolf, and I look up at her and I say, I'm sorry. I tried. [02:40:31] Speaker B: No. You would have lost the cardinal had you not. [02:40:38] Speaker A: I do not. [02:40:42] Speaker B: We have to protect our own. [02:40:45] Speaker A: You. [02:40:51] Speaker D: The poor of you, sit there contemplating the price of choosing the lesser of evils. Move ahead a few weeks, doctor. You have managed, with the help of Roland the detective, to find information on where Jacob's body was taken, where he was buried. We've been followed the past few weeks, here and there. Hearing knocking sound on windows. Tongue, tongue, tongue, tongue, tongue tone. Following you everywhere you go. Now you're here in the cemetery. You've found the grave. It says simply. Jacob asked beloved son, standing in his grave, what's the doctor feeling? [02:42:18] Speaker E: He is sad. It's bittersweet, right? There's this feeling of being so close and yet so far. But there is a solace in knowing that I saw him before I crossed over, in that moment that I was almost dying. [02:42:43] Speaker D: So. [02:42:46] Speaker E: The saying that they used to share in this life and the next is more palpable. And it fills him with a little bit of hope. And so, obviously, we're not gonna grave rob, but he's gonna dig a little notch right by the headstone, by the base and bury the ring there, bringing it as close as he can to him. I think he's just gonna sit there and just gonna talk to him and he's gonna talk about what they would have done if things had been differently, which will then shift to what they'll do the next time they meet and how life will be different. And he'll stay there as long as the light will allow before kissing the tombstone and saying his goodbyes. [02:43:53] Speaker D: And as you do this, prepare to leave. You hear a discreet cough behind you. I'm sorry to intrude, Doctor Markovich. [02:44:07] Speaker E: No, not at all. Apologies. What can I do for you? [02:44:13] Speaker D: You turn. You see a man dressed in a dark jacket with a bowler hat. You immediately see him and remember him from the train. He was on the train going to Stavanger. And you saw him again at the station in Stavanger. I'm sorry, doctor. My name is Hakon Herlinghouse. I am a colleague of your friend Axel Rollin. [02:44:45] Speaker E: Axel, my boy. Yes. Yeah, of course. Yeah. [02:44:48] Speaker D: What, um. [02:44:49] Speaker E: What can I do you for? [02:44:51] Speaker D: I'm sorry to disturb you here in your moment of peace. I waited until I felt you were about to leave. Um, I am a private detective. I was hired by the family of Jacob ask. It seems that in the time between, his body was found at the military academy, and when it was given to the funeral home, some of his personal effects had been taken. I've managed to find out that one of the coppers who was involved with the investigation took a few of the things and they have been recovered. But the family seems to believe there was a ring that Mister Asga taken to wearing. Apparently, it was a gift from someone dear to him. I. I don't suppose you know anything about that, do you? [02:45:58] Speaker E: Well, funny enough, I'm here paying my respects and returning what was lost. It came upon my possession, and I quickly recognized it and decided to bring it to mister ask. [02:46:18] Speaker D: Well, his family will be happy to hear this. Guess that solves my case. [02:46:25] Speaker E: And before you go, actually, I never had a chance to meet the family. Would it be possible to deliver the news myself? [02:46:36] Speaker D: I don't see why not. [02:46:39] Speaker E: I think I'd like that. [02:46:44] Speaker D: You know, I have here in my notes that the last person to see Jacob ask was you. I think it's fitting that you would tell his family I have a car. Oh, good. He notices to your I'm still using the poker. [02:47:09] Speaker E: Oh, yeah. No, I can't. Can't do long distances with this thing around. [02:47:13] Speaker D: Excellent, Elizabeth. You have returned to your family home. It's been in your possession for a while. Perhaps you had been able to come, perhaps not. But you decided it was perhaps time to come and clean out and air out the place and see what you could find. You've been here a few nights, when one night there's a knock at the door. [02:47:56] Speaker B: I'm going to take the liberty of assuming that in the time since the end of our little adventure, I managed to convince either Rowland or the colonel to show me how to operate a pistol. [02:48:14] Speaker D: Certainly. [02:48:20] Speaker B: It's not very big. I think it's a 22. But I'll take it in hand and have it at my side as I answer the door. [02:48:34] Speaker D: You open the door, and standing there is what appears at first glance to be a child. But when you look more closely, it has the face of an old man, this scrawny, with a fairly big head, long, floppy ears, and looks up at you and goes. Who are you? Elizabeth? [02:48:58] Speaker B: Who wants to know? [02:49:00] Speaker D: Oh. Needs patchwork. [02:49:05] Speaker B: What can I do for you, patchwork? [02:49:08] Speaker D: I can't come in. It's been a long walk. [02:49:12] Speaker B: I'll step outside and close the door. [02:49:14] Speaker D: It's not okay. Good old patchwork. Just want a glass of water. Maybe the rest is feet, you know? [02:49:25] Speaker B: You'll forgive me my caution. [02:49:29] Speaker D: Oh, hey, it's fine. I. I get it. Get it. You know, just a goblin. Oh, yeah. Uh, I have a message for you. You would happen to have a bowl of milk, maybe a bit of honey in it? [02:49:55] Speaker B: Wait here. I will go into the house. I will pour a bowl of milk and put a dollop of honey into it. Two dollops coming into my damn house. [02:50:08] Speaker D: Two dollops. Two long road. [02:50:13] Speaker B: Second dollops. Yes, mister Patchwork. [02:50:22] Speaker D: Give it. Give it. [02:50:24] Speaker B: Say please. [02:50:27] Speaker D: Please. [02:50:30] Speaker B: Hand it over. [02:50:32] Speaker D: Thanks. Oh, that's good. Oh, yeah. That's all. Oh, that's fantastic. Oh, that's good. Oh, thank you very much. That's very good. Be on my way then. Oh, no, that's right. I have a message for you. Just, you know, forget myself sometimes. Um, yes, I bring a message from a friend. He says, pulls out a piece of paper and rolls it. Oh, yeah, sorry, sorry. He says that Queen Huldra has decided that bergamot. Has decided that Bergamoth. Bergamot. Is to be put to death for failing the server. My friend thought you might like to know. [02:51:44] Speaker B: Do you know where he's being held? [02:51:47] Speaker D: I'm gonna go out on the limb and say. Queen holders dungeons. [02:51:58] Speaker B: Thank you, patchwork. I may need your help again in the future. [02:52:07] Speaker D: Oh, hey, old Patchwork's always happy to lend a hand anyone gives him two dollops of honey. Good people. [02:52:16] Speaker B: We'll be in touch. [02:52:18] Speaker D: Okay. Alright then. Um. Guess I'll be on my way without getting to rest, but that's okay. You know, uh, thought a cookie crumbles. No, no, it's fine. It's okay. [02:52:31] Speaker B: It's cool. I give you permission to enter my home with hospitality and offer you bread and salt. [02:52:43] Speaker D: Thank Loki. Oh, um. Yeah, by the way, the message is from Brynjolf. That rang any bell. [02:52:54] Speaker B: Gm why do I know that name? [02:52:57] Speaker D: It's your brother's name. [02:53:05] Speaker B: Come in, patchwork. It's cold. [02:53:08] Speaker D: Yeah, freezing, man. Not soft. Out of here. Um. [02:53:17] Speaker B: GM, I would like to write a letter. Three letters, actually. [02:53:32] Speaker D: Will you send those letters? [02:53:34] Speaker B: I will. [02:53:39] Speaker D: Speaking of letters, Colonel, you have recovered. It's been a long haul. You're no longer as young as you used to be. But with the good advice, not just the doctor, because it seems that ever since you went through that whole thing with the rev and the doctor is less and less a doctor every day. But I, with the help of some good military doctors, your connections, you've bounced back just in time for the unwelcome. The annual graduation at the military college. And this year, of course, you are the keynote speaker at this thing. You are standing there in the wings as someone has been talking for 15 minutes, introducing you, telling everyone of your illustrious career. Are you feeling as you're standing there in the wing, waiting for this opportunity to go speak? [02:54:44] Speaker A: It's also very tired. Was never one for the pomp and ceremony, even before. But now he just needs on and on and on and on. Ultimately, it doesn't matter though, because what he has to say is going to hail. In comparison to what I'm going to say, no one's going to remember his speech. [02:55:13] Speaker D: If you're getting ready to go on, one of the corporals comes up to you. Sorry to bother you, Colonel. Message from the general. He hands you a folded bill. [02:55:25] Speaker A: Taking the notes that I've written for my speech, kind of tucking them aside so I can open up this note. [02:55:30] Speaker D: There's a message from General Lund, who you know is in attendance, as he always is. My dear Colonel, I do look forward to hearing your tales again. It's always quite a jolly good time to be regaled by your stories. I never tire of hearing them. However, I was hoping I could perhaps impose upon you a little bit. You see, the family of your old aide de camp, Captain Berglin, are here tonight. They might like to hear a few words about him. Perhaps from the man who was his closest friend. Might do them some good. I'll leave it up to your discretion. Knock him dead, soldier. Signed, General Lund. [02:56:14] Speaker A: So that last sentence feels a little different when you know the whole story of, uh, how the captain came to pass. But you know what? Colonel Bergland is nothing but a man of duty. And if the general wants a special speech that people will remember and wants the captain's family to have peace of mind, well, who is Colonel Johann Berlin? If nothing, a dutiful servant of Sweden's glories. [02:56:50] Speaker D: Military ladies and gentlemen, Colonel Johann Berglin. And as the applause rise in the theater, you step onto the stage. Rollin. It's been a long trip. You helped your friends, came back, took care of a few loose ends, and you're finally here, near a small lake in Denmark. You can see the cabin exactly as it was in the painting that Erasmus left you. There's a few additions. Now, there's a garden. You can see a glass house behind, smoke curling from the chimney. As you approach the cabin, you can smell his maid as venison stew. You know that he altered the recipe in time, changing out some of the herbs that you weren't so fond of substituting in some that you were was always a favorite of yours. You see plants and flowers as you approach, smell the air. You smell him. Unmistakable. He's in there. Smell a cat. A dog. You wonder why the dog hasn't reacted to you yet. Certainly the dog smells you. But as you approach the door, you hear Rasmus voice say, down, boy. That's a friend. What would you like to do? [02:58:54] Speaker C: I hitch up the leather bag on my shoulder, and I knock. [02:59:03] Speaker D: Come in, little wolf. [02:59:07] Speaker C: I open the door. Step in. Just past the threshold. [02:59:18] Speaker D: You see him standing there, wiping his hands. Stew's cooking on the stove. He's been burning some bread. I'm glad you could come. [02:59:38] Speaker C: I had to see. [02:59:41] Speaker D: I would imagine you have a lot of questions. Always doing that, speaking over each other. Some things never change. Would you like to eat with me. [03:00:08] Speaker C: Or you'd like me to stay? [03:00:16] Speaker D: I would like that. But it is up to you to decide. [03:00:28] Speaker C: The bag off my shoulder, place it by the door, haphazardly kick off my. [03:00:35] Speaker D: Boots. [03:00:38] Speaker C: Right next to them. We have a lot to talk about. And then close the door behind me. [03:00:55] Speaker D: Passerby with thee, keen here, might at one point hear a softly spoken down boy and wondered what is happening behind the door. And to know an outcome for certain is a rare pleasure, but to venture bravely into the uncertain, that is a gift. [03:01:30] Speaker A: Oh, boy. Ah, well, that was a treasure. And a light and a little traumatizing that has been. This, too, is a gift. An original scenario for the nordic mystical horror role playing game Vezen by our very own bleak season. Not our very own. He's our friend, but I think he belongs to somebody else, uh, himself. I don't know. You'll figure it out. He's gonna tell you about it. I'm gonna ask him what he's up to, and you're gonna find out. But before then, I'm going to take this opportunity to talk about. About how incredible that story was and also give all of the rest of our cast an opportunity to do the same, starting with the werewolf, whose clothing budget has to accommodate so many ruined outfits. The costume department for this movie is furious with the writing staff, but they are Axl Rollin. They are Kato. Ac Kato. What do you think, story? Where can people find you? Who does your makeup? [03:02:24] Speaker C: I do my own makeup. Thank you so much. I thought the story was beautiful. It was everything I wanted and more. And I hope that there is more to be done with these characters. You can find me on the Internet, on the website formerly known as Twitter as onlyhandbasket or the hell in a handbasket, wherein I have all of my burlesque and horror acting film goodies for you to enjoy. Check out Revealer on Shutter and Amazon prime and Black mold on Tubi. [03:02:56] Speaker A: Oh, is it out, out now. [03:02:58] Speaker C: Out, out now. [03:02:59] Speaker A: Oh, hooray. Awesome. Well, and sitting next to Cato, they are a font of knowledge about the mystical world, including don't let strangers in your house and don't give people in the woods your true name. For this and more, information, you can consult Elizabeth Jensen, or you can consult Laura Tutu. Laura, where can people find more of you? [03:03:21] Speaker D: Hi. [03:03:22] Speaker B: Hello. You can call me Laura or Tutu or Laura Tutu. You can find me on the Internet. Usually is some iteration of Laura Tutu on the twitter. And you might have to throw an underscore at the beginning at the end of that if you're looking for me elsewhere, because that's just kind of how the cookie crumbles. When I'm not crying on cue, I am crying at Aaron's table as calamity Madden in the all night society are multi award winning number two in the audio fiction World cup vampire. The masquerade podcast. [03:03:57] Speaker A: Yeah. Number one, AP. Number one, us. Number two, globally, I mean, it's all right. [03:04:03] Speaker B: It's pretty decent. And when I'm not hanging out at the court and causing problems on the Internet, I hang out with the fine folks at obsidian brews, the all black tabletop collective, telling stories and carving out space for the black folks who love ttrpgs. [03:04:20] Speaker A: Oh, that cult game was so, so, so good. And I'm sure that people can see that on YouTube now. We'll pop a link in chat. Cause I'll probably be running the stream and I'll let you go see that there. I need you all to know that I shared a joke with Kato, and I shared a joke with Jonathan in the middle of all of this because bleak season made the comment about, there's all kinds of stuff in this bag you don't understand. And then I sent a message to Cato saying, ah, yes, this is some kind of wound plug. It has a flared base. That way it doesn't get pulled into the abdomen. And then sent the same joke to Jonathan. Unfortunately not. I made the mistake. I assumed that Jonathan had some time to recover before bleak was going to go. Then ask a question. No, I sent that joke. Jonathan saw it. Bleak went. So anyway, doctor and Jonathan had to keep a straight face the entire time. That is one of the many talents demonstrated by our good friend Jonathan. You know him as Latinos against spooky shit drago Markovich. And our good friend, the captain Jonathan. How'd you enjoy the game? Where can people find more of you? And was it a butt plug? [03:05:30] Speaker E: It. I plead the fifth for fear that it would incriminate me at this time, your honor. But hola buena, stardes. This game was incredible. The storytelling was phenomenal. The character arcs, the development, and just watching everybody try to keep a straight face after saying something sassy in chat truly speaks to our ability to keep it together as performers. So cannot wait to roll dice again with everybody. Bleak. You did phenomenal. Everybody can find me at Latinos against spooky shit everywhere. Um, you can also find me in the future. This summer, 2024, actually, tabletop Tempest, AP channel that is founded by immigrants or the children of immigrant parents raising the voices of marginalized communities in the TTRPG space. So very excited. We've got our three AP's casted and they're going to be recorded. And official launch should be summer of 24, so keep an eye out for that. [03:06:30] Speaker A: We certainly will. If you are a fan, if you're a follower on the Queen's War games, TTRPG, stuff like Twitter or whatever, will be sure to be retweeting some of that if you don't remember to follow it now. But you could do it right now because we're all here. And, like, I can stall a little bit until you go and you open a little browser window and you click it and you put it in a follow. And I mean, Jonathan can go look right now and check the new followers. And if we see that you're not doing it, I will be able to correlate who is in chat and who is not following. And then we're going to make a list. Just saying. [03:07:01] Speaker C: And you know, Aaron loves lists. [03:07:05] Speaker B: Never seen Virgo. [03:07:09] Speaker A: Lastly, but certainly not leastly, in fact, in this case, mostly for being the GM, the true hero of this story from the great north, bringing tales of ice and sadness, mystical creatures, bleak season. [03:07:28] Speaker D: You know, it's in the name I come as advertised. That's all I'm gonna say. [03:07:36] Speaker A: Bleak as shit. Fairly seasonal. [03:07:38] Speaker D: There you go. So I roll and you can see me roll on my own channel. Folk and myth, where at the time of you seeing this, I might be doing my vampire campaign. I might also be doing a sabbat campaign because I'm gonna do a vampire in a sabbatical. Like the dark stuff. Um, and yeah, so folk and myths, that's twitch, folk and myth. You can check out our website, also folk and myth.com. and same thing on Twitter. We were pretty lucky no one wanted this name, so we snagged it and it fits pretty much everywhere we go. I best tables in the biz. Queen squared gaming. That's basically what it's at. This was a dream true for me to be able to run a game over here and to have such resplendent, beautiful, amazing players and people at this table has been an absolute dream. And so thank you so, so very much. You're all so, so wonderful. I love every one of you. And yes, absolutely. Hopefully we get to do this again sometime. Thank you to Aaron and V for the invite. Come and do this here. Appreciate everybody. You're all so good. My heart is all full and all kind of making weird little noises right now, so you did that. You did that to me. You did that to me. [03:09:01] Speaker C: Same sounds as the spiritist. [03:09:04] Speaker D: Yes, exactly. It's exactly the sound my heart makes. [03:09:09] Speaker A: Ugh. I knew that I'd made a mistake, but a good mistake when we said suckling and then it turned into breastfeeding and I have no regrets at all. Well, if you want to see more of me, you can do Soaron in words on Twitter and pretty much nowhere else because I'm bad at social media, which is why we asked Lauren to do it for us instead. More likely, you are going to be interested in what is happening at Queenscourtrpg on Twitter, or Queenscourtgames literally everywhere else. You can follow us on YouTube, on Twitch, on Spotify, on your favorite podcast app. You can listen to our award winningest vampire, the masquerade actual play, the all night society. You can listen to all of our one shots and other mischief on our podcast. One shots and other mischief available wherever fine podcasts are sold. We will be back the same time next week, but 3 hours ago with a game that is going to be surprised to me because we haven't figured out the scheduling yet. So come along. We'll all find out together. Until then, bye for now.