Cursebreaker | 25 - It's Not a Cult
Last time on curse breaker. We are running out of options in our battle against Tonberry's curse. Uli moved to absorb the remaining magic water, causing the curse to flee by jumping into the fountain before it was consumed. But just as she overflowed with magic, she'd lost control of its power and lost consciousness in an explosive blast. Some days later, after Uli awoke in the infirmary, Margo and Benjamin wasted no time in conscripting some of the party into the ranks of the curse breakers.
Tim / GM:They've got their tattoos, and they know how to use them. It's time to break some curses. So, Margo had led all of you into the basement of the Tower of Knowledge, into a section that not even Bert knew existed, below the basement, in a secret compartment Tops. In the very bottom of the tower. Down there, she asked which of you would like to become curse breakers.
Tim / GM:3 of you. That would be Uli, Tito, and Holly.
Hannah / Eryn:Present.
Tim / GM:Agreed to sign up as a curse breaker. You got your tattoo. One more time, where did you get those tattoos?
Tara / Journey:I got mine over my heart.
Hannah / Eryn:I was, like, in the basement.
Speaker 4:I I think I said forearm so
Hannah / Eryn:I could, like, finger gun. Holly has hers on the inside of her left arm on her bicep.
Tim / GM:Cool. So you're all kind of, flexing and checking out your tats. Bert even did Uli's tattoo to get used to his inks a little bit. Bert, you were given the silver light quill, that is, Benjamin Blank's handmade masterwork piece that he used himself for a number of years that he's bestowed onto you.
John / Doran:It's a good quill.
Tim / GM:Margo says, I have here some cursed items. And she, opens up a canvas and shows you three things. There's a small golden ring, a small sewing needle, and a little compact mirror. She says, these are all cursed to a certain degree. Some of them worse than others, and she, gestures towards the mirror.
Tim / GM:She says, we're going to learn how to deal with these first hand. Snack and, Bert, I think it's important that you pay close attention.
John / Doran:Snack walks back into the room.
Tim / GM:Let's start with this. She picks up, the cursed ring, and she says, snack, would you care to demonstrate? We're going to curse you for a brief moment. I agree to this. That's a good boy.
Tim / GM:And she grabs your hand.
John / Doran:It fits over 2 fingers.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. So she takes this big gold band and slips it over 2 of your fingers. Make a, wisdom save. Tough one.
Tim / GM:How is a 5? Inadequate. Damn. She, she takes a big step back from you, and you feel yourself reaching immediately for your sick looking dagger. And the only thing on your mind is to puncture.
John / Doran:I pull out the dagger and I got it, equipped to stab. I'm holding it out towards, anything.
Thomas / Guy:So is this gonna curse him or what?
Tim / GM:I mean, look at him. He's he's poised to stab. It This ring makes anyone want to stab who wears it.
Speaker 7:I What if they already wanted to stab? Does it increase the stab ability or
Speaker 8:Do I enjoy it more?
Speaker 9:I stab, the floor quickly?
Tim / GM:Margo says, that won't do. It's got to be flesh snack. I agree.
John / Doran:I look around and don't see any enemies. I'm quite torn.
Tim / GM:Benjamin Blanc, is just kind of like holding his arm out subtly, but he's also loosely pointing at Bert. Like, don't stab me. Stab Bert.
Thomas / Guy:Oh Oh, boy. I take a step back.
Speaker 8:Bert, do you have any, pains in your leg?
Thomas / Guy:I've never felt better, mister snack.
Speaker 8:You can always feel better.
Tim / GM:Bert, this is what we call a lesser curse. And, like, Snack is like moving towards you. What do you do?
Thomas / Guy:I just keep backing away, keeping pace with them.
Tim / GM:Bert, if I'm not mistaken, remove curse is in your repertoire, is it not?
Speaker 8:Oh, it is. Is this a lesson for me? Because I'll gladly not get stabbed.
Tim / GM:Indeed. Remove curse would be the correct option here. This is something that doesn't need the power of these tattoos. Go ahead, Bert.
Thomas / Guy:Alright. Get out of here, curse.
Tim / GM:Snacky, feel the ring, vibrate for a moment, and then it gets really slippery. And it just falls right off your fingers. And, you're just kind of holding the knife, and all of that stabby joy has left you.
Speaker 8:You feel
Tim / GM:like it wouldn't even be fun to stab Bert.
John / Doran:I just kind of, like, haphazardly, like, throw it into the ground to try to get it to stick him to the floor.
Tim / GM:Go ahead. Yeah. Roll roll
Hannah / Eryn:to attack against the
John / Doran:floor. 25?
Tim / GM:Yeah. It sticks.
Hannah / Eryn:Nice.
Speaker 8:Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait.
Speaker 8:Wait. Wait.
Tim / GM:She says, yes. Minor curses can be broken by a wide array of people. The same is true for this needle, and she picks up a needle off of the canvas and she holds it up in the air and she says, you see, at its base a curse is just malfunctioning magic. That's all it is. An enchantment gone wrong.
Tim / GM:This needle was intended for a specific effect, but it was poorly crafted. And, well, have you ever heard of an immovable rod?
Hannah / Eryn:Mhmm. Those are cool.
Tim / GM:I have
Speaker 8:not heard this joke.
Tim / GM:Those are cool. An immovable rod is it's a small silver stick, I suppose, usually with a button on it that, can be clicked to cause the rod to stay in mid air as long as you want it to. Unfortunately, this needle functions much the same way and she, like, lets go of it and just it the needle just stays in mid air. She says Wow. Hard to see, isn't it?
Tim / GM:This could withstand up to a £1,000 of force moving through it. Pretty clear why that would be a problem. These are the kinds of items you need to get rid of as your duty. And, she casts remove curse on it as well, and it falls to the ground harmlessly. Those are easy to deal with.
Tim / GM:These, and she points to the mirror, are different. Ben Blank walks up to the mirror and says, allow me. This one's a little more scary. He picks it up and, looks into it, and he turns his back so that you can all see what he's seeing in the mirror. And, as he's holding it, you can see this reflection of a a large, dog like beast with multiple tails kind of creeping up behind Benjamin in this reflection.
Tim / GM:Margo quietly says, this casts a spell called phantasmal killer on whoever holds it. It's also an extremely bad curse. There's a chance that a specter could slip through. And, sure enough, you guys see a little bit of that white curse energy start to emanate from the mirror and move towards Benjamin Blanc. She says, okay.
Tim / GM:Cursebreakers, it's up to you.
Speaker 4:Step 1, save a curse. Wait.
Hannah / Eryn:What are you saying?
Speaker 8:Feed. Bait. Beat. Bait the curse.
Hannah / Eryn:Bait the curse. Okay.
Tim / GM:Very close. It's bait the curse. I'd like all 3 of you to try at the same time.
Speaker 7:This is the manoflare. Correct?
Tim / GM:Correct. It's the first circle. Is it the manoflare?
Speaker 7:We cast the Mana Flare from the 1st circle.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. On the count of 3, 1
Speaker 4:Oh, I did mine already.
Hannah / Eryn:2. Alright. Tibio. 1, 2, 3.
Tim / GM:And on 3, Tibio and Holly do theirs. And, so Uli's is is first. But, Uli, you, you take on that look again, that sort of white prismatic energy, that causes those geometric patterns to show up all over your skin. And, you kind of fuse with the weave. And then shortly thereafter, Tibio and Holly, the same thing happens to you, where you can feel your magical energy, kind of filling you and then fading away as quickly as it came.
Tim / GM:The, the curse, immediately effuses out of that mirror, and you can see that same multiple tailed dog Cerberus kind of shape work its way into the real world and growl at the 3 of you. Benjamin Blanc drops the mirror and gets the fuck out of there.
Hannah / Eryn:Alright. Step 2. Tibio, master student.
Speaker 7:We use, the disenchant from monsieur Blanc to suppress the magic.
Hannah / Eryn:Alright. 321. We need some sound effects here in the post
Tim / GM:We'll have
Speaker 8:a ding. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Each of you layer over The boy are you with?
Speaker 4:Just please. What is step 2 called? Disenchant.
Thomas / Guy:Blanks disenchant.
Speaker 4:They just never say it.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Okay. Yeah. They don't call that one out so much. It doesn't have a snappy name.
Tim / GM:The 3 of you layer your disenchant effects over each other, calling this thing to be super disenchanted. And, the curse has nowhere to run to. And she says, this is it. I hope none of you had, more spells you wanted to cast today, because this is going to be it. Here's the last circle.
Tim / GM:Give it everything you've got, because if that's not enough, well, that's the end of the line for you.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly just, points her left hand up in the air, like fisted, open handed. Okay.
Speaker 4:I point straight up
Hannah / Eryn:the I
Tara / Journey:do the Kamehameha.
Tim / GM:Nice. So from each of you springs this pure white thin line that races towards this curse energy and slams into it. So each of you are going to roll, a d10 of force damage for each spell level that you have available to you at the moment. So if you've got a level 4 spell available, you automatically get 4 points. If you've got a level 3 available, that adds 3 points and so on.
Speaker 4:So do you want our
Tim / GM:Yes. Give me your your total here. 45.
Hannah / Eryn:Damn. 53.
Tara / Journey:Damn. So 34.
Tim / GM:Okay. So we got 45, 53, and 34?
Tara / Journey:Yeah. You rolled a lot of threes.
Tim / GM:A 132 damage between the 3 of you. You guys absolutely erased this dog from existence. You can see that the curse has just been deleted. It did not retreat back to where it came from. It is gone.
Hannah / Eryn:Who let the dogs out? Not us.
John / Doran:Snack is pulling on Margo's sleeve right
Tim / GM:now. Yes, Snack.
Speaker 8:I, Snack, want this power now. Because you saw the big laser beam? Yes. I want to do this thing.
Tim / GM:Make a, charisma check Benjamin Blanks, perception here. 11. Ben shakes his head side to side and he says, I don't think it's a good idea. Margo says, he's right. If your motivation is the explosive power Yes.
Tim / GM:Yes. Not sure that's the right motivation.
Speaker 8:I see. Snack needs to earn this power.
Hannah / Eryn:No, Snack. You have to help want to help people break the curses.
Tim / GM:Benjamin Blank looks at Bert for, like, a quick second, kind of hiding his expression from the rest of the group. And, Bert, he nods at you just really subtly, really briefly. And he says, when he's ready.
Thomas / Guy:I subtly nod back.
Speaker 8:This is fine. And I scamper away.
Tim / GM:On another note, Bert, you're gonna need to learn how to properly use these. And, he shows you those inks again.
Speaker 8:Mhmm.
Thomas / Guy:I am ready.
Tim / GM:Let's start with this one. It's a silvery ink, in a little bottle that he shows you. He says, this is a special concoction I call the ink of ingress. I'll just paraphrase here. You can, draw a line on the ground, and this can be done by swiping the quill, not actually making contact with the ground.
Tim / GM:Oh. But you kind of like throw it out. You've got 15 feet worth of ink in this thing. So wherever you draw a line, nothing can cross that. When they attempt to, a, a wall of text, 30 feet high, blocks them from doing so.
Tim / GM:And, the wall has 1 d 4 times 5 HP.
John / Doran:Okay.
Thomas / Guy:So it's invisible until
Tim / GM:Until they bunk into it. Great. He says, this is called the ink of ingress. And he, takes out the quill, and he, like, swipes it across the ground or close to it. And, then he, like, takes a running start and just kind of shoulder checks the wall, and it just goes
Speaker 8:boom
Tim / GM:and kind of shivers. Oh. As you see, all these, like, words, like, just stack up over each other until they're, imperceptible.
Tara / Journey:It's just lorem ipsum.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Yeah. That's what I was like, what is that?
Tim / GM:It's just placeholder text. Yes. Says this next one, I call it the ink of ether. This creates a, temporary tattoo that increases their AC against magical attacks by 4 and reduces all magical damage they take by 2. At this point, he takes the time to show you the other function of the silver light quill.
Tim / GM:He picks up a book off the ground, and he holds the pen to the page, and you see all of the letters disappear on the page and suck into the quill. He says, the nice thing about this quill is that everything's reversible. Everything you do, it can suck up any ink no matter how long it's been there.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, it's beautiful, Ben.
Tim / GM:He, he pokes a tattoo on his own skin, and you see this koi fish just disappear. Oh. It gives you a lot of room for revisions.
Speaker 8:Cool. He
Hannah / Eryn:he's probably gonna need that, so that's good.
Tim / GM:And this last one, well, it's the best thing I've ever made. I call it the ink of the weave. This ink, can contain magic. Pure and simple. It can store one spell of the highest level you can cast, and you just give somebody a tattoo and you store one of your spells into it and they can use it.
Tim / GM:Cool.
Tara / Journey:That's neat. That's extremely good.
Speaker 4:Hey, Bert. I was wondering if you could get rid of a tattoo for me. I pulled down my, the back of my shirt, and it just it says
Hannah / Eryn:Dave. It's like a it's like a stick and poke. Yeah.
Speaker 4:I definitely gave this
Tara / Journey:to myself.
Hannah / Eryn:It's upside down. It's very faded.
Speaker 8:It's like
Tara / Journey:your own shoulder.
Speaker 4:Clearly not a fresh touch.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly and Tibio. Like, like, each other, like, I knew it.
Speaker 8:Oh, Uli, are you are you sure you too soon to hit it off so well?
Speaker 4:Yeah. It's old news.
Thomas / Guy:Alright. Good time to check out the silver quill.
Tara / Journey:That's hilarious. That's so good.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You, you undo a very poorly done it's like she did it on her own back. You can imagine what that looks like.
Hannah / Eryn:It's backwards because I did it in the mirror.
Tara / Journey:Yes. Backwards and upside down.
Thomas / Guy:Who's EVAB?
Speaker 4:EVAB.
Tara / Journey:It's a lowercase.
Tim / GM:Oh, yeah.
Speaker 4:Thanks, Bert. Here's to making better decisions in the future.
Tim / GM:Margo says, I feel like you have the tools now to go out and do some real good.
Hannah / Eryn:Thank you for, sharing all this knowledge with us. I'm I'm so excited to get out there and I don't know, just be able to face these things on our own. It's it's gonna be a game changer for sure. Thank you.
Speaker 7:We will not let you down.
Hannah / Eryn:Also, I can't believe you withheld this information from me for, like, the 15 years I've known you. So, also, unthank you for that.
Tim / GM:I I apologize. I I should have known you for more than just a humble cobbler.
Hannah / Eryn:Thank you. You should have.
Tim / GM:If if you find other people who you deem worthy and might join our cause, I I urge you to enlist them, to give them the curse breaker tattoo. We need to grow our numbers as we seem to keep losing them.
Hannah / Eryn:As, Margo says that Holly is, like, getting shifty eyed, like, are we in a cult? Are we in a cult? Is this a cult?
Tara / Journey:We're kind
Speaker 4:of in a cult.
Tim / GM:It's not a cult.
Hannah / Eryn:That's what people in cults say.
Tim / GM:It's it's unfortunate how often we need to reiterate that this is not a cult.
Speaker 8:Why can't I be in the cult anymore? I don't understand.
Thomas / Guy:Well, when we're looking for candidates, we'll be sure to let them know upfront it's not a cult.
Tim / GM:That's usually the first thing we say. When you leave, you realize that it's well past midnight that you all have been here, like, the entire night. When you get back to the main floor of the tower of knowledge, you all hear footsteps even though this place is otherwise completely empty.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly, like, gets in the curse breaker pose again with 1, her left arm up in the air. She's a little on edge from everything that's happened the last few days.
Tara / Journey:I would like to do a check, using what I called Ronnie's radius.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Speaker 4:And I would like to
Tara / Journey:check for curses and dark magic.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Okay.
Speaker 7:Nasty 22.
Tim / GM:Nice. Okay. So you do not feel the presence of a curse here. You know that much is true. Whatever threatens this space is not a curse.
Tim / GM:I'd say you do sense an evil presence.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay.
Tim / GM:Yeah. And you realize it's coming from above you.
Tara / Journey:Like the floor above or in the same space place?
Tim / GM:In the same space above.
Speaker 7:There's something there's something here with us. Something something malevolent.
Hannah / Eryn:Where is it, Tibio?
Speaker 7:I can feel it above us.
Tim / GM:You all look up and see a bridge descending.
Tara / Journey:I scuttle toward a wall.
Speaker 7:Snack fly
Hannah / Eryn:up there and see what's on there.
John / Doran:I fly up. So Snack,
Tim / GM:as you, levitate up, you lock eyes with Judge Flan. Hey. As she's being lowered to the ground and her eyes just go wide upon seeing you, and you see her, like, reach into her robes.
Speaker 8:I wouldn't do such a thing. She says, you're not supposed to be here. Judge Flan, we would like to speak with you.
Tim / GM:You all hear that echo out on the main floor. Flann is here?
Speaker 4:Who let her go?
Thomas / Guy:Isn't she in prison?
Speaker 4:Yeah. I thought we
Tara / Journey:We don't have any spell slots, kids.
Speaker 4:They do.
Speaker 8:Don't say that out loud, Tibio. Sorry.
Tim / GM:The bridge, kind of sets onto the main floor, and she realized she's effectively encircled by your group.
Thomas / Guy:Is she alone?
Tim / GM:She's alone. And she says, no spell slots, That's unfortunate for you. Tibia clearly didn't say that.
Speaker 8:We have something to say to you, Flynn, and it does not involve a cult.
Thomas / Guy:Snack?
Tim / GM:She she flicks her
John / Doran:eyes down at Snack. I check her sleeves
Tim / GM:and her arms. No tattoos, if that's what you're looking for.
Speaker 8:There's quite a lot of canvas here for you, Bert.
Thomas / Guy:Not a good candidate, mister Snack. I see.
Speaker 8:I don't know what's going on then. Snack walks away.
Speaker 7:Judge Glen, how did you get out of the nesting doll?
Tim / GM:That's not important. What's important is that I leave quietly, and that's the end of this. Listen to me. I am no longer a judge of Tildry.
Speaker 8:Good.
Speaker 4:Doesn't mean you're not a bitch.
Hannah / Eryn:Hey. The
Tara / Journey:sense that I got from her is that she's evil.
Hannah / Eryn:We can't let you leave. Who let you out of your cell?
Tim / GM:I admit I might have had to force the issue.
Hannah / Eryn:Mhmm.
Tim / GM:I didn't kill anyone. Everybody give me a perception check.
Speaker 4:Natural one. Ma'am.
Hannah / Eryn:15.
Speaker 8:18.
Hannah / Eryn:15. 14.
Tim / GM:Okay. I think everybody but Uli, notices that parts
Tara / Journey:Uli hears a bird and looks behind
Tim / GM:You all notice, parts of Flan's clothes are singed. She says, I I didn't kill anyone, I just needed to make an escape. I needed to grab some things from my office, and now I'm leaving. And you'll never see me again.
Hannah / Eryn:We can't let you leave. You're a prisoner of the city.
Speaker 8:I agree. And I pull out
John / Doran:the rock rope and start wrapping it around, Judge Flynn, not ex Judge Flynn.
Tim / GM:She, she takes a step back, and kind of like she doesn't wanna spend too long in that circle of rope. And she, like, holds up both of her hands, and she's like, you wouldn't want anything terrible to happen, would you?
Speaker 8:I love lots of terrible things.
Tim / GM:You see her, like, point her palms at the entire group.
Speaker 8:Hey. Not here in the tower of knowledge. Let's take this outside, maybe? That's right. How bad do you want this to get?
Tara / Journey:I cast Raya Frost. Dirty 20.
Tim / GM:Yeah. That hits her. Nice.
Tara / Journey:5 cold damage.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Speaker 4:And her
Tara / Journey:speed is reduced by 10 feet until the start of my next turn.
Tim / GM:Okay. Snack. She's, like, too slow to really elude your rope much longer. She keeps, like, stepping away from you so that you can't get around her, but now you can see that, like, rime is forming over her feet every time she touches down, and she has to, like, snap her boots away from the ground.
John / Doran:I I run around quickly and say rock rope.
Tim / GM:Okay. So, you can see her, like, take another step and kinda fumble now as, her her legs are, like, loosely tied with this, stone hula hoop. She raises her palms to each of you, and she says, you've seen fireballs, haven't you? You've never seen a fireball like this. And you see her, like, raise her hands to the ground, and she's within 10 feet of each of you.
Tim / GM:And she just drops them to the ground.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly quickly, points to Snack and messages him. Call someone to help us with the gavel. Who could help us right now?
John / Doran:I smacked the gavel on the ground. I summoned Dave.
Tara / Journey:Oh, god.
Tim / GM:Give me a contested initiative. You are rolling against Flan to get the gavel off before she gets the fireball
John / Doran:off. Mhmm.
Speaker 4:Okay. I would like to bend luck on her roll Okay. To give a d four disadvantage.
John / Doran:Mine's an 11.
Tim / GM:She rolled an 11. Got a minus 3. Nice. Dave shows up and says, he just, like, looks around. And you can see he's, like, wearing, like, night clothes.
Tim / GM:He was gonna, like he has, like, a nightcap on with the ball and everything.
Speaker 8:Dave, did you know that Uli had a tattoo on her back shoulder? This is Dave.
Speaker 9:Also, there's a fireball about to go off.
Speaker 8:I don't know how to stop it.
Tim / GM:Dave goes, you did?
Speaker 8:And then
Tim / GM:you see the fireball go off. Oh. So you see this bright flash in her palms, and then everything goes white. And her fireball turns into icy fog, and nobody can see anyone. From the ground in this space, 6 floors up, it just plumes like a fire extinguisher.
Tim / GM:The icy protocol has gone off. Right. That prevents fire from being used in the tower of knowledge. None of you can see anything. What do
Speaker 8:you do?
Thomas / Guy:I cast, locate objects.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Thomas / Guy:The object is her robes.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Thomas / Guy:Is it, like, generally the same place she was, or is she like
Tim / GM:You can tell she's moving, towards the east exit. Okay.
Thomas / Guy:Slowly. I want to race and drop a little ingress line in front of the exit.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. Give me a contested, dexterity check
Speaker 8:against that. 19.
Tim / GM:Damn. I also got a 4. Okay.
Speaker 7:Hit. Hit.
Tim / GM:Go ahead.
Speaker 8:Hit. Hit. Hit. Hit. I, draw a line in front of
Tim / GM:the Exit. Okay. And you hear the characteristic
Thomas / Guy:And then, like yeah.
Speaker 8:Yeah.
Thomas / Guy:Get out of the way.
Tim / GM:And, and you hear her kind of collapse. Snack. You can feel this rope being tugged away from you. It's I mean, stiff as it is. You can feel that she never took the time to get it off of her, like, feet or off of her knees.
Tim / GM:So she's just dragging this along the ground, and you still have a hand on it.
John / Doran:Okay. I'm trying to dig my heels in, but I'm just slipping and falling on my tail.
Tim / GM:And Yeah.
Speaker 8:Dave, you're supposed to help me.
Tim / GM:He says, I can't find you.
Speaker 8:Where are you? I'm right over here.
Tim / GM:Keep talking.
John / Doran:Alright. And I'm just saying something. Under the mountain, snack goes.
Tim / GM:Oh, there you are. Okay. He grabs the rope, and you just see, the veins in his arms, like, puff out as he flexes as hard as he can. He says, she's not going anywhere.
Speaker 8:Yes. We are going to stab her to death.
John / Doran:Well, Snack approaches Judge Flan and, pulls out his sick looking dagger. Brandishing it gives me, a bonus to my, intimidate check.
Tim / GM:Okay. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 8:Ex Judge Flan Snack has not had the opportunity to stab much recently, and he quite desires this. Do do give me one more reason.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Okay. Go ahead and give me that intimidate check. 19. Okay.
Tim / GM:So, because of her circumstances, she took a disadvantage on that. Ended up with a 2. Okay. So she is, just moving backwards away from you. Kind of scrabbling, over herself.
John / Doran:I'm, like, stabbing the knife, like, around her leg, just to extra intimidate her.
Tim / GM:Yeah. She keeps, like, pulling her feet away from you
Speaker 7:and Snack, stop. We have her.
Speaker 8:Of course, prosecutor Tibia.
Hannah / Eryn:We need to bring her back to the cells and figure out what happened. It looks like she may have hurt someone.
Speaker 7:Do we know who is in charge of the law now that the judges are not?
Tim / GM:You see, Margo and Ben are coming up through the spiral staircase now, into the main floor.
Speaker 8:They were
Tara / Journey:just shooting the
Speaker 8:shit in the basement. Yeah. And you
Tim / GM:hear Margo say, so anyway, I was thinking of getting into local government now that they're sort of a vacuum. What is going on up here? Oh,
Speaker 7:miss Bingo, ex judge Flynn has been attempting an escape in
Tim / GM:Oh my god.
Speaker 7:Oh, yeah. Apprehended her.
Tim / GM:No. No. You did good. What have we here? And Flann just, like, stares at the floor, like a scolded child.
Tim / GM:You see Henry, walking into the tower of knowledge from outside. His clothes are singed. He is holding a shattered nesting doll.
Thomas / Guy:Well, hold up, Henry. Let me suck that up for you.
Tim / GM:He goes, boom. He gets close to the entrance again, and he, like, is too afraid to go through now.
Thomas / Guy:It's good. It's good.
Tim / GM:I'll be the first to admit I, made a bit of a mistake. Took my eyes off her for a bit. Yeah. Sorry.
Hannah / Eryn:It's okay. We caught her for you. But you definitely shouldn't be in charge of jail keeping anymore.
Speaker 4:You seem to, do that a lot, actually.
Tim / GM:I mean, when you're right, you're right. Not a good track record so far.
Speaker 7:But you came and found her after we got her.
Hannah / Eryn:Can we just get her on lockdown again, please? It's making me nervous having her just tied up in the rope.
Tim / GM:And they, they kind of deal with with Judge Flan. They, they give you your rock rope back, and, they just use regular, manacles to to bind her and keep her. But now she's got Margo Bingo, Benjamin Blanks, and Henry Muldrifft on her, leading her back to captivity. I'm tired. Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:It's been a long day.
Speaker 8:Yeah. You 3 must be, pretty beat,
Speaker 7:I don't have any magic left. I am very tired.
Speaker 8:Bye, Dave.
Hannah / Eryn:Bye. He goes,
Tara / Journey:I'm serious.
Tim / GM:Before Margo leaves, she, she says, by the way, I'm, having a barbecue, tomorrow if you wanted to come.
Speaker 7:I don't know if I want to see anything else on fair.
Hannah / Eryn:Maybe I'll make a decision about a barbecue in the morning.
Tim / GM:That's great. And she, catches up with Henry again. So you guys actually have some downtime in Tildrey. The next morning, Holly, you get a visitor from your guild. It's Mina.
Tim / GM:She says, that a bunch of the craftspeoples came together and are currently at your house fixing everything that had been done.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, that's such great news, Nina.
Tim / GM:I mean, it didn't take much and they should be done by tonight actually. We just we put out a little bit for collections, and we knew you guys were worth it. And we knew you needed a place to stay. So
Hannah / Eryn:You guys are the best, and Holly gives her a big hug.
Tim / GM:And, I've got something else for you.
Hannah / Eryn:Presents?
Tim / GM:Well, present. This was a little concoction I came up with, inspired by what happened to my store. I call it a bottled Blizzard. The, bottled blizzard, when when you unstopper it, it puts out all fires in a 50 foot radius. That's a huge area.
Speaker 4:I feel like that would be very useful around me.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. Hopefully, they're building it with some reinforcements this time because, apparently, I bring around a lot of trouble.
Tim / GM:They're doing a very good job. They're really taking their time with the woodwork. Perfect. What else do you guys wanna do in the last few days that you have in Tiltree?
Hannah / Eryn:Holly, wants to just try to spend time with her sister. So, Ivy, Rose, Mary, Holly just try to hang out and be together because they haven't really been together.
Tim / GM:Yeah. The 3 of you, Holly, Rosemary, and Ivy, spent some time at Holly's Cub, just kind of catching up on work and going back to life as usual for just a little bit here. Rosemary has come up with some fantastic ideas for the store. She's kind of the ideas person. Ivy, being your sister, is pretty talented, in crafting things as well, just not to the magical degree that you have.
Tim / GM:But they've come up with these little patches. One of them says, use your voice, referring back to the voice of the people that secured Bert's innocence. Another one says, don't hurt Bert. Another patch says, stand up to Flan. And, these things have been selling like hotcakes cakes in the last
Speaker 4:few weeks.
Tim / GM:They're little badges of freedom.
Hannah / Eryn:It's fantasy punk. Yeah. I fucking love it. You guys are amazing for coming up with these.
Tim / GM:Margo is over visiting that afternoon as well. And, she wants to talk to you about that weave thread that you guys found. Margo has a bit of it too, and she's been experimenting with it. She explains that you can make magic items with it. It's a very versatile, thread to use.
Tim / GM:The thing is, when you cut the thread, it destabilizes. It'll disappear over time. So if you weave something and you cut it from the spool, that thread is gonna disappear in one day. You can stabilize it by tying it to a crystal. So if you make a magic item, it has to have a crystal to, like, keep it, make it permanent.
Hannah / Eryn:Cool. Awesome.
Tara / Journey:That's very cool.
Speaker 4:Bedazzle it.
Tim / GM:Its uses go beyond that even. Let me demonstrate. Do you have a crystal on you?
Hannah / Eryn:Always. Holly pulls 5 out of her pocket.
Tim / GM:She takes, her very own spool of weave thread. She pulls on the thread, and it comes out of the spool. And she says, the weave thread is infinite because it's it's tied back to the actual weave, it just pulls from thin air. But, look at this. Those of us who are arcane inclined can pinch, and she takes her 2 fingers, and she pinches the thread, and it kind of separates where she pinches it.
Hannah / Eryn:Hold on just a second. Holly pulls a tiny pair of, little half moon spectacles out of her pocket, and she perches them on her nose just because it's really fine thread and it's hard to see. Yeah. Also, since she aged a little bit more, she realized that she needs readers to, like, basically see her little comics now. Oh, that's cute.
Tim / GM:And when you, get this new clarity on the thread, you can see that it's it's not white like you thought it was. It's actually it's a little prismatic. It reacts to the way that light hits it.
Hannah / Eryn:So beautiful.
Tim / GM:She, ties one end of this thread around a crystal, and then she pinches it to cut the thread. And then she ties the other end of the thread around an apple on the counter. And then she pinches the thread between those things, and the thread becomes blurry. And then she walks away with the crystal. And she kind of walks into the next room still holding that crystal, and then she yanks the crystal, and all of a sudden the apple disappears and reappears in her hand.
Tim / GM:She says, you can pull things through the weave. The crystals are the anchor and you can tie them to anything. And when you yank on the crystal, that thing comes to you. Leave the house without your umbrella, as long as you've got your umbrella crystal, you're fine.
Speaker 7:Excuse me, but does the size of the crystal matter?
Tim / GM:Doesn't seem to.
Speaker 7:Could you do very small flat crystals that are incorporated into the fabric?
Tara / Journey:I'm picturing a sequin dress that's entirely crystals on threads.
Tim / GM:Does anybody have, action items they wanted to get to before we go to Margo's barbecue?
Tara / Journey:I do. Tibio wants to check records to see if his parents came here. I imagine that after the conversation with Margo, Holly's kind of supervising the reconstruction.
Hannah / Eryn:At my house? Yeah. Sure.
John / Doran:Make sure they don't mess it up.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, that teacup goes on the 3rd shelf, actually. I think
Speaker 7:Everyone, I was hoping to very quickly stop by wherever they keep records of visitors to Tilderie. Just to look for for my parents.
Hannah / Eryn:Your parents?
Speaker 8:Your parents.
Speaker 7:I just want to see if they came here ever. I don't know. I don't there's every chance they did not, but I have not seen them in a long time. And so I was hoping that maybe they stopped by and would have kept a record. So if maybe they got the tattoo, but it's not important.
Speaker 7:But I was just hoping to check. Do you know where they keep those?
Speaker 8:Tibio. Yeah. I've looked through those records many times. I could help you out.
Speaker 7:I would very much appreciate it.
Hannah / Eryn:Tibio, were your parents did you know them as a child or did you ever know them?
Speaker 7:Of course. Yes. They, much like I am doing now, they went to, find ancient bones to add to our family's repertoire, and, they, did not return. But and so I mostly was raised by my grandmother, but, the bone springing.
Hannah / Eryn:I was gonna do a rum springing. Rumspringer? Rumspringer.
Tim / GM:Bone bonespringer. Bone springer.
Hannah / Eryn:Bone springer. That's good. I couldn't forget it. Hold on.
Speaker 7:Sorry. But, yeah. So I'm I'm not supposed to necessarily be searching for them. That is not my primary goal, but I was thinking while we are here, I might check.
Speaker 8:Well, if they were ever here, we'll find them.
Speaker 7:They maybe did not want to come back.
Speaker 4:I will,
Hannah / Eryn:I doubt that.
Speaker 4:I'm gonna, pat Tibia on the shoulder and say if you ever need to talk about family stuff, I I understand.
Speaker 7:It it is okay. I am okay, but thank you. I it will I just want to check-in, then we can move on.
Thomas / Guy:So I wanna spend time in the tower of knowledge researching anything
Speaker 8:I can about curse breakers Mhmm.
Thomas / Guy:That have been written about. And then I also want to write a biography about Veronica Venus to have in the tower of knowledge.
Tara / Journey:A eulogy. Or what's the Obituary.
Speaker 7:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 8:Yeah. A short biography, long obituary. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Okay. Cool. Bert, give me I think it's gonna be a performance for the obit, and it's going to be, investigation for cursebreakers.
Speaker 8:That's, 17 on the obit.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Speaker 8:17 on the investigation also.
Tim / GM:Alright. For the, biography about, Veronica Venus, for as much as you appreciated her and, enjoyed what she represented and enjoyed her company and she meant a lot to your group, You didn't know her all that well, which which kind of stunts some of the more poignant points that you try to make. You find yourself setting up these really grand, passages, but you're just kind of lacking in the payoff because you don't really know where to go with it. Well,
Speaker 8:I mean, I guess I have limited ways to communicate with, like, sheriff Tandy. Is that her name? Like, people who knew her in Lamplight. Yeah. So it would be based kinda on interviews with them.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. So you you get a couple of bits of information out of out of them to, to round out your piece. In the end, it's a a very well respected, article. Everybody from Lamplight, you hear from them on it.
Tim / GM:Dave, Todd, Tandy, all approach you at different times to tell you what a wonderful piece you had written And, how much it means to them that she was properly recognized. Margo actually, comes to you and shows you that she had, like, clicked it out of a newspaper. Veronica and I were very close for a long time. May not surprise you to learn that we were the same age for a good while. We were even closer then.
Tim / GM:But, she made some stupid mistakes. She was reckless, self sacrificial, but sometimes it does take people like her, acts like that, to hold it all together. I just wish it didn't have to be her. I miss her. You know?
Tim / GM:As for your, research into Cursebreakers Mhmm. They have had a continuous presence in Tildry. They've always had successors. They've always had, like, a club here. They've just been kind of a sideshow for most of history.
Tim / GM:What you find is that this is a brand new threat. Their their previous purpose was, like, find cursed items that are giving people a hard time and deal with them. It has never been on this level before. No mention of specters or things coming through the veil like
Hannah / Eryn:that. Okay.
Thomas / Guy:So the ranks have never been, like, very high or anything like that? Even though they have been getting picked off lately.
Tim / GM:Right. Yes. They were they were a very quiet thing that never had really, like, a time in the limelight.
Thomas / Guy:Okay.
Tara / Journey:So I'm just looking to see if there's a record of them arriving and doing that, like, in town intake interview.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah.
Tara / Journey:Because I imagine that there's those papers are being housed somewhere
Tim / GM:Interesting.
Tara / Journey:For reference.
Speaker 8:Are you
Tim / GM:doing this by yourself?
Tara / Journey:Probably asking Bert for help because I wouldn't even know where to start.
Tim / GM:Okay. In that case, you can take advantage on your investigation role.
Tara / Journey:Okay. So I find I don't know how they're organized, so I kinda look around for a little bit and then I find what I think is a binder that might have their information in it. Natural one.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh. Oh.
Speaker 9:Do you have advantage?
Hannah / Eryn:You have advantage. Oh. Gosh.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. I thought that didn't count if it was a natural one.
Tim / GM:No. You still get it first.
Tara / Journey:Okay. That's better. 15.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Okay. You find two things. 1, when you check with Jason Pigeon at the front gate, he does find both of your parents had come through here about 1 year ago. So he pulls out their interview file, when they came through.
Tim / GM:And it's got, Thales and Maxilla Fimeur that came through. Their reason for visiting was to, learn about our neighbors to the north.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, you mean learn about Tildree because they're from the south?
Tara / Journey:That's not what it said. And we live east of Tilderie.
Tim / GM:They said to learn about our neighbors to the north. Okay.
Speaker 8:I thought
Thomas / Guy:it was south. I haven't seen that map before.
Tara / Journey:That'd be Vindorn.
Speaker 8:Shit. Did they get stamped? Does it say?
Tim / GM:They did get stamped.
Speaker 7:How long do the stamps last?
Tim / GM:Well, they were on, like, a a guest pass, kinda like your friends. If you're only here for a week, let's say, it would fade in about a month.
Speaker 7:Do you know how long they stayed or is there no record?
Tim / GM:I don't. And he, like like, lifts up a couple sheets and he just keeps saying, I don't. Yeah. I don't. He just his whole body just gets more and more vague, and he kind of shrugs.
Tim / GM:I I don't.
Speaker 7:Okay. Mister Pigeon, I appreciate your time and your effort. I know that your job is very difficult and you meet a lot of people, so it is very, helpful that you remembered so much.
Tim / GM:Yes. Yeah. I guess I do work hard. God. Thanks.
Speaker 7:I I hope that, the new way the city functions, I hope they all treat you well.
Tim / GM:I don't know. It might just be me. Bert's part of this investigation. You check the, the Tower of Knowledges library records. Mhmm.
Tim / GM:You find that Talos and Maxilla had checked out a book on vampires and another book on curses.
Speaker 8:Oh, boy.
Speaker 7:Bert, did you see anything in the library about my parents?
Speaker 8:I
Thomas / Guy:did. Did you see anything in
Speaker 8:the registration office about your parents?
Speaker 7:Yes. I think they were here to learn about Vindorin, but I do not know why.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, Vindorin, That place with, f f f
Speaker 7:vampires? Yes. That is where the vampires live. Do you think that they may be met a vampire?
Thomas / Guy:Your folks checked out some books on vampires and curses while they were
Speaker 7:here. Vampires and curses?
Thomas / Guy:I don't know, man.
Speaker 7:I don't I don't what would they be doing? Thank you so much, Bert, for your help. I hope I'm going to go back to Ollie's house.
Thomas / Guy:Okay, Tims. I hope everything works out.
Tim / GM:Going back to Holly's to prepare for the barbecue, which is tonight.
Speaker 7:Be cute.
Tim / GM:So Margo has invited you all to a lovely barbecue in a, fantastic fuck you to the, judges that have just been, removed from Tildrey. The barbecue is being held on the burnt remains of the guild house. Wow. The the entire establishment is, you know, just burnt to the ground between 2 other buildings. But she's got a big grill set up in there, and, the, refreshment table has been revitalized a little bit.
Tim / GM:Bit. Holly, you had stopped by earlier today to see that your home, is also nearly fully repaired and, done in spectacular fashion. Your Guildies really pulled a solid for you.
Hannah / Eryn:My Guildies.
Tim / GM:As you approach the barbecue, you see, Margo is at the grill with her tongs, the grill master, wearing her apron.
Speaker 9:Yeah. What does her apron say?
Tim / GM:It says, kill them and grill them. Oh. I
Tara / Journey:am now questioning this meat. It says uncurse the cook.
Tim / GM:Yeah. That's good. Uncurse the cook. You also see, the Barrow family is there. Ulrich and all of his farm boys are there.
Tim / GM:The Lamplighters are all there. That's, you know, Dave and Tandy and and all them. And of course, the remainder of Holly's guildmates are there. Nina, Benjamin Blanc, and, everybody else. So Ulrich and Ilya are kind of clinging to each other for a lot of the time.
Tim / GM:You can see that Ilya's pretty, like, uncomfortable and doesn't know who to, like, hover around.
Tara / Journey:Mhmm.
Tim / GM:And just, like, you know, she's a she's a fighter. She, like, you know, she takes people out for work, and, like, she finds herself at a barbecue and doesn't know what the hell to do.
Speaker 4:That's a family trait, I think. I'm also standing awkwardly in a corner.
Tim / GM:She, walks up to you and, she says, oh, man.
Speaker 4:Yep. I take a very loud sip of my ill.
Tim / GM:She immediately looks towards you and says, can I get you a refill? Or
Speaker 4:sure. Thanks.
Tim / GM:The extent of your interaction.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I I'm like arms akimbo. I don't know where to put my hands. Geez. Very uncomfortable.
Tim / GM:Walks away with your drink, and you're just kind of standing there alone. And, Ura comes up to you and says, hey, people's champion.
Speaker 4:Yep. It was all me.
Tim / GM:How've you been? Recovering well? And he, like, slaps you on the back super hard.
Speaker 4:Little little tender. You're, like, a a big name in the city now.
Tim / GM:He, gets this kind of self satisfied smirk, and he says, yeah. Guess I am a little bit. You know, Margo and I were trying to, integrate. And he, like, pulls up both of his hands, and he, like, slides his fingers together. And he says, the, the farm people in the inner city, for the first time, they're equals.
Tim / GM:You know, it's a big deal.
Speaker 4:That's pretty cool. Proud of you, man.
Tim / GM:Thanks, Dooley. I I didn't expect that out of you.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Well
Tim / GM:Why are you doing that chicken wing thing?
Speaker 4:I'm trying to, like, nudge him in the arm, but he's too far away.
Tim / GM:Then. Says, well, hey, you've heard of the multi magic triathlon. Right? I mean, that's what we were gearing up to train for.
Speaker 4:I mean, you only mention it every single time we talk.
Tim / GM:Right. It used to be the judges that ran that whole show, and, Margo and I have kind of called it off.
Speaker 8:Mhmm.
Tim / GM:We've got enough on our plate needing to rebuild the whole city and, you know, work on adult stuff, you know. Yeah. Not my forte, but Margo's helping out. Anyway, they had a prize set aside, for whoever, you know, completed 1st place in the triathlon. And we figured it should go to you.
Tim / GM:Right? I mean, you're the one who ultimately got rid of the the thing. We all saw it, that big explosion on top of the tower when the top half came tumbling down.
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah. Little little foresight would have been better next time.
Tim / GM:Well, you know, they're working on fishing at the top half of the tower out of the lake, but championship gloves are yours. Gloves. And he, holds up a pair of thick leather gloves with steel plates on the knuckles.
Speaker 4:Oh, hell yes. I finally get my brass knuckles.
Speaker 7:Punch gloves. Punch gloves.
Tim / GM:He says, whenever somebody, throws magic at you, you can catch a little bit of it and throw it back at them. So the the technical behind this is, it has an active ability and a passive ability.
Speaker 7:Okay.
Tim / GM:So the active part is, once per day, you can give yourself advantage on a spell save.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay.
Tim / GM:The passive ability on it is whenever you, succeed a spell save, like a spell has been cast on you and you roll high enough, your gloves become charged with magical energy and you can use that charge as a bonus action to deal 1 d4 damage per level of the spell that you grabbed. So for instance, if somebody throws a fireball at you, that's a third level spell, If you succeed the save against that, you automatically get a, like, 3 d4 magic bolt of fire that gets stored into the into the gloves. And then as a bonus action, you can release that on somebody.
Speaker 4:Punch it back at
Tim / GM:them? Correct.
Speaker 9:Snack goes up to, Margo
John / Doran:who is working the grill Mhmm.
Speaker 9:And pulls on her apron. And just just to mention, Snack is now basically the size of a normal person. It's just a habit. So he, like, reaches down and pulls on her apron
Tim / GM:at eye level. She looks down as if a child had got her attention and then immediately looks up to look snack in the eye.
Tara / Journey:That's so cute, though. Margo.
Tim / GM:Yes. Snack.
Speaker 8:I I was thinking about something.
Tim / GM:It's almost done. I promise. That's that's wonderful.
Speaker 8:Marco, not too long ago, Holly's basement was full of animals.
Tim / GM:Yes. All of the polymorph victims. Correct?
Speaker 8:What was weird is, I've killed a lot of animals in my day, and there was no way to tell that they were people. I was just thinking about that while you're Did you did you check? Just to be sure before
Tim / GM:She, takes her tongs and flips over a chicken breast on the grill, and and looks down at you. And she says, it'd be better if we didn't know, wouldn't it?
Speaker 4:Secret cannibal.
Speaker 8:And
Tim / GM:she winks at you.
Speaker 8:I suppose,
Tim / GM:would it bother you if you were eating human flesh? She, picks off a rib off of the grill, and she, like, puts it between your teeth and takes it by, and she says, doesn't bother me one bit.
Speaker 9:Snack's eyes are wide, and he doesn't make eye contact with Margo. But, takes a couple steps back, comes back, and then grabs one of the chicken wings
John / Doran:off off the grill.
Tim / GM:Yeah. She just smirks as you as you take it off the grill. I scamper away.
Tara / Journey:As Zach walks away, Mario takes a big drag Yeah. Of whatever she's been smoking. Yeah.
Tim / GM:She's like, people meat. Actually, Snack, as you're walking away chewing on a chicken bone, you bump into Todd Pohl. Hey there. Hey, guy. Todd.
Tim / GM:Yeah. He's a good guy, And he like pats you on the head like you're an animal.
Speaker 8:Yes. We are both heroes. What is it?
Tim / GM:Well, hey, I just, you know, I saw you futzing with something, back in Lamplight. And, well, hey, I found another one just like it. Craziest thing. See, I pulled up this fish the other day. I was, fishing out in the lake and, good fishing out here by the towers, by the way.
Tim / GM:If you're are you a fisher? I Anyway, not a big deal. So I pulled up this big sucker, right, and, pulled him upside down, and he just started spitting up all this garbage. Right? I mean, like, coins, shiny things, all this stuff.
Tim / GM:But then there's this rock. See? And I've seen you with a rock like this before, and he he shows you the hawk rock.
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah. The spiteful stone. He found it.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Haven't you used this before?
Speaker 8:I have.
Tim / GM:And he hands it to you.
Speaker 8:Todd, who do you dislike the most in this room right now?
Tim / GM:He he points to Sheriff Candy and he says, on the down low, she's a thorn in my side sometimes.
Speaker 9:I see. Well, snack with his back turned. Yeah. I just toss it over my shoulder casually, aiming for yeah. Sheriff Tandy.
Tim / GM:He says, why do you ask? And, you see, sheriff Tandy is, talking to, Tibeo and Bert. And she's saying, it's just it's been a a tough couple of months, but, there's brightness and even the And she, like, turns around, and you see a stone fall to the floor. And she, like, scans the crowd. Todd, pull.
Tim / GM:Tandy, like, looks at the 2 of you. Todd? How are
Speaker 8:you doing, Todd? It's so wonderful to see you. Oh, sheriff Tandy. You as well.
Tim / GM:Todd looks down at you and says, last time I help you. And he, like, walks up to Tandy to try to smooth over the situation a little bit.
John / Doran:I woke up, gleefully.
Tim / GM:You can see the stone sitting on the floor, kind of in the space between them.
Speaker 9:Chef Tandy,
Speaker 8:this is outside your jurisdiction. Right? Jurisdiction? For crimes?
Speaker 7:Snack, she's not here on business. She's here to help us.
Speaker 8:I thought you were a sheriff.
Speaker 7:Not here.
Tim / GM:So, yes. It is out of my jurisdiction.
Speaker 8:Sheriff Tandy, I do apologize. It was out of my usual behavior to have thrown this rock, but snack.
Tim / GM:And she boops you on the nose.
Speaker 9:Oh, and I I reach in and grab a handful of coins.
Speaker 8:Oh, I'm sorry.
Speaker 9:This is all I have. And I give her a handful of coins.
Tim / GM:She glances down at it, and, she says, 27 gold pieces?
Speaker 8:You are amazing at counting.
Tim / GM:She goes, no. I should have gone into mathematics, but it's the law for me.
Speaker 8:It was an it was a magical experiment that you were a subject of, and I do apologize. This Roxy, it will hit anything we so wish. And, Todd had mentioned,
Tim / GM:he admires you most. So She, looks over at Todd and says
Speaker 9:One other thing before I, go back
Speaker 8:to the barbecue. Be careful. Some of what you are eating may have been human flesh.
Speaker 9:I'm gonna shift around my eyes and skip for a while.
Thomas / Guy:Bert has a big mouthful of hamburger, and he kinda lets it drop out of
Tim / GM:his mouth.
Tara / Journey:Tibio is flabbergasted. And as Snack is running away, he just goes,
Speaker 7:Snack, don't say that to anyone else.
Tim / GM:Snack, you look up at Margo and she's just pointing at you with the tongs and a winking.
Speaker 9:I flinch a little bit.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly, walks up at that moment with a turkey leg in one hand, and she's like, oh, look at this pretty rock, and picks it up off the ground, and she pockets it.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Snack, I think you see that happen, that she pockets it, and she kinda walks away with it. Yeah.
Speaker 4:I forgot that we let snack be our treasurer.
Tim / GM:Uli, you're you're kind of standing off to the side by yourself and
Speaker 4:Waiting for my beer.
Tim / GM:Ilya shows back up, with your refill and one for her and, sees you standing with Ulrich, and she says, hey. And Ulrich says, hey. And they both look at you. Hey.
Tara / Journey:I wander over.
Tim / GM:Tibia, when you walk up, they all just kinda look at you and go,
Tara / Journey:I'm grinning ear to ear because I think it's wonderful.
Speaker 4:Hey, Tibio. What? Do you need something?
Hannah / Eryn:I can go
Tim / GM:Ilya says, did you guys go ahead.
Speaker 4:No.
Speaker 7:I was just going over to say hello.
Speaker 4:What were you gonna say, Elliot?
Tim / GM:Nothing. I'm just I'm good. How are you? No. I'm doing good.
Speaker 7:Have you, recovered from your injuries?
Tim / GM:Mostly. I mean, that guy, she points at Bert. I don't really know how to talk to him, but he helped me out a lot, and I don't know. I feel like I've had a hard time getting that across, but he saved my life twice, and he didn't ask for anything.
Speaker 7:That is what we do. We help wherever we go.
Tim / GM:But it's like, someday he's gonna ask me for something, and I don't know what it's gonna be.
Speaker 7:No. Never.
Tim / GM:No. He could though, and I'd do it. I'd do anything. Yeah. Well, Rick is just nodding his head like, yep.
Speaker 8:Yeah. That's how it works.
Speaker 4:That is that's how it works. Right?
Tim / GM:From across the room, Bert, Ilya looks at you and says, just whatever. Okay? Just whatever you want.
Speaker 8:Excuse me?
Tim / GM:Just say it.
Thomas / Guy:I could use another drink?
Tim / GM:Finally. Okay. Yes. Yes. I can do that.
Tim / GM:And she, like, heads over towards the desk.
Speaker 7:Great. It's so it's so good to see you all together. Aren't aren't there more of you? I think there are more siblings.
Speaker 4:Yeah. There's a lot more of us.
Speaker 7:I know there is the brother who makes the ale who is.
Speaker 4:Right. That's Bent. And then there's Barrett and Dor and Viri.
Speaker 7:Oh, no.
Speaker 4:That's And then my parents, and then I have, like, probably 23 cousins. And my grandparents and aunts and uncles and second cousins back home, there's, like, a whole lot of us.
Speaker 7:Oh, wow.
Speaker 4:Which one are you thinking about?
Speaker 7:I don't know anymore.
Tim / GM:Hey, everybody. Sorry to, steal your attention momentarily, but, I'm heading out. I'm, headed east, still looking for my brother. If anybody gets information, please send word.
Speaker 7:Dave, are you heading back to Lempellet?
Tim / GM:No, actually. I, seems like they didn't go west at all. No sign of, of my brother or Joe in Tildry. So we're gonna try scanning east and see what that turns up. Well, I am anyway.
Tim / GM:The rest of the lamplighters are heading home tomorrow.
Speaker 8:Dave, you be sure to let us
Thomas / Guy:know if you run into those 2 also. I don't think you should take them on by yourself.
Speaker 7:Where are we heading next? Holly, are you planning on staying?
Hannah / Eryn:No. I think I guess I never really thought of myself as an adventurer that would leave my shop, but, Rosemary and Ivy really seem to have a handle on things. The business is booming, and I got this tattoo for a reason. So I'm all in wherever you guys need to go.
Speaker 7:Maybe we should be tracking down Joe again now that Tilta is safe.
Thomas / Guy:That is pretty much our only lead.
Tim / GM:Almost as if some kind of governing force was controlling the momentum of this story.
Speaker 7:Benevolent god.
Tim / GM:Someone shows up at the barbecue saying I was told to seek out, Holly Hyacinth.
Hannah / Eryn:That's me. Holly perks up and walks on over.
Tim / GM:Holly Hyacinth, I have a missive.
Thomas / Guy:You've been served.
Speaker 8:Yeah.
Tim / GM:You've been served.
Speaker 8:You're gonna
Speaker 4:be More?
Tim / GM:I I I have a missive, and I won't accept a copper less than 2 gold pieces for it. Two gold pieces? I came a long way in a short amount of time.
Hannah / Eryn:Where'd you come from?
Tim / GM:A long way in a short amount of time. I came from the road where I met this, aggressive blonde haired guy with a big old sword who handed me this note and said find Holly Hyacinth. And here I am.
Hannah / Eryn:Emery. Bank of snack.
Tim / GM:What?
Hannah / Eryn:Holly sticks a hand in her pocket and pokes 2 fingers through the back of her pocket, a little hole.
Speaker 8:Mhmm.
Hannah / Eryn:And then she, like, wiggles her fingers at snack, like, hey, give it to me to give her give me some money.
Speaker 9:I give her the rest of my, drumstick.
Hannah / Eryn:She, like, she, like, drops it, and then she messages snack. She's like, no. I need money, you dumb dummy.
Speaker 8:Oh, you dropped it on the ground. I'll still eat it, but rude.
Hannah / Eryn:I need 2 gold pieces.
John / Doran:Okay. I give her
Speaker 9:2 gold pieces, and they're covered in barbecue.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly, like, pulls them out of her pocket.
Speaker 7:That's Dicky.
Hannah / Eryn:And she's like, I'm sorry. And she gives them over to the courier.
Tim / GM:It's a a very let's say it's a halfling. It's a potbellied halfling, takes the coins, and they're, like,
Speaker 8:covered in barbecue sauce. And he just, like, takes the coins
Tim / GM:and puts both of them completely in his mouth,
Hannah / Eryn:just fuck you. Holly. Yeah.
Thomas / Guy:Fuck you, guys.
Hannah / Eryn:Holly grabs the piece of paper and has, like, barbecue on, her left hand fingers and she opens up the piece of paper. Holly, like, gets a thumbprint over some of the text and she can't read it at first. So she's like, and she press it she shakes it and press the titrations, her fingers and the piece of paper clean.
Tim / GM:Beautiful. The missive says, I've been following a trail of people who claimed to have seen a beetle monster. The clues all seem to lead east towards a small town called Hogwild.
Hannah / Eryn:Fuck. Holly reads it real quick, and then she says, hog wild.
Speaker 4:And then immediately, all of Luna's children
Hannah / Eryn:heads turn. Heads turn.
Tim / GM:You hear Ullrich goes, Bent. And And Barrett. Yeah.
Speaker 4:And Barrett. And Dor and Viri and
Tim / GM:Now what?
Speaker 4:Our parents and
Speaker 7:wait. Wait. Wait. Is this where your family lives?
Speaker 8:A lot
Tim / GM:of them. Definitely.
Speaker 4:Guess we're having a family reunion.
Speaker 7:Yay.
Tim / GM:Thanks so much for listening. I'm Tim, your DM and your genie.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm Hannah playing Holly Hyacinth.
Speaker 8:I'm Thomas.
Thomas / Guy:I play Engelbert FF Wisherspoon.
Tara / Journey:I'm Tara, and I play Tibio Femur.
John / Doran:I'm John. I play Snack the Cobalt.
Speaker 4:And I'm Maggie playing Uli.
