Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Hey Al Hey Barry, why will no vampire ever work for a corporation? Why they can't stand stakeholders? It's time for compelled duel.
Speaker 1 00:00:25 Hello everybody. And welcome back to Capell dual
Speaker 2 00:00:28 I'm Barry and I'm Al and we are a single-player co DMD, fifth edition,
Speaker 0 00:00:33 Dungeons and dragons actual play podcast.
Speaker 2 00:00:36 Oh, last time on compelled duel. Oh God. Val sine entered the Voltaren city of guitarra. <inaudible> went on a shopping spree, experienced a lot of information in a very short amount of time, and then went to decompress at a nightclub where he almost had a very interesting night with Zed stone bloom. I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to talk about it before being interrupted by running headlong into a sister. So, um, today
Speaker 0 00:01:12 We're going to figure out how fie ended up in that nightclub.
Speaker 2 00:01:15 We share our
Speaker 0 00:01:24 Fi the ship that you stowed away on to get out of Ester lore docks in the neutral port town of cave shore. Quite a bit later, it's mostly just been you and Fen Colossae Arivale Phineas and Verity all hunkered down behind these big crates in this hold of the ship for most of the time. But it's not hard for you to feel the kind of slowing of the ship and the lurch as it is lashed onto a dock. Okay. We're not still invisible. No, absolutely not. That wore off after an hour. So yeah, you're going to have to visibly walk off the boat. You can try to stealth. Yeah. I'm going to turn to everybody and ask, does anyone have something that could die help us off this boat without being noticed? And presumably captured Verity actually raises a hand and goes, um, I, yeah.
Speaker 0 00:02:27 Uh, if you need something that can make us really quiet and like a little bit invisible, I actually, and she grabs her necklace. That's around her neck, the big court's crystal point and way past, without a trace bell drops on all of you. So all of you have plus 10 to any stealth checks. You just have to be within 30 feet of Verity. Excellent. Excellent. Okay. Uh, then yeah, we're going try to get off the boat. So stealth check from you, please. And then I will also roll groups. Don't check. Okay. So I got a plus three plus, so I have a 29. Okay. Uh, so fan gets fence still gets a 26. Even with disadvantage close. It gets a 37. I love Colossae actress. Calissa, just straight up disappears from in front of you guys. You, you don't know where she is. She's gone. Arivale gets a 24. Verity gets a 15. Verity's just bringing down these stealth averages, man. I don't know what to tell you. And, uh, Phineas, because we have to roll for Phineas gets a dirty 20. So you guys are fine again. Verity casts this past without a trace
Speaker 3 00:03:50 And you guys, and still manages to trip over herself, getting off the boat. I love her. Let me just roll. Yup. Okay. You guys are all very unnoticed as you sneak off the boat. However, there was at least one person on this vessel that knew that you were here fee this captain of the boat that you saw. Latia talking to you again, very willowy, kind of tall infernal elf woman with long spiraling, like antelope horns and Jade green skin and a tricorn hat kind of half cocked between her horns. She makes eye contact with you as you get off the boat and just slowly, very cordially nods as you disembark. Excellent. I nod back and yeah, you are down in the docks of cave shores. So there is a ferry that goes to the city of <inaudible>. Colossae explains this to you. As you guys get off, she is kind of just rattling off facts to everybody else as you hop off the gangplank. Yeah. So the thing about him Tara, is that it's all like built inside a big dam and inside a big semi-aquatic cave. Uh, there's really not a land route in there. So you've got to get a ferry. It's a total pain in the ass, but it's really, really cool. Alright. So Calissa knows exactly where the ferry booth is, where you go get your tickets and everything. She goes and handles all of that for you. You see the ferry, it's a big flat bottom boat that has kind of a really interesting wooden wheels
Speaker 0 00:05:35 Feel apparatus on the back. You've never really seen it. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:05:38 There's no sales, which doesn't strike you as anything you've ever seen before. And yeah, this big flat bottom boat pulls up and a bunch of people on the dock start piling in. Uh, I'd like you to roll me a perception check. That's a 19. Yeah. Okay. You don't see anything. So yeah, you pack onto this ferry with your party. Phineas raises a couple eyebrows as you guys get on Arivale I think keeps him up on deck. So he's not down sitting with people and yeah, you guys purchase your tickets. You hop on the ferry, peels off into the ocean and you start the several hour journey up the coast. Again, Tara, is there anything you'd like to do while you're on this boat ride with your party? A fee is try not to have a fucking panic attack, like Fenn doesn't know the exact details of why you're upset, but he's just kind of there trying to help and just kind of sits there with an arm around you on the like big kind of public bench seats on the lower floors of this ferry. And yeah, you move up the coastline and close in on the city of guitar fee. It's fucking wild.
Speaker 0 00:07:01 It's just this huge
Speaker 3 00:07:04 Broad sided wall almost
Speaker 0 00:07:07 Is what you would read it as that comes up out of the ocean that you can see from miles off in this boat. And as you draw closer, you can see that it's actually a dam that is stretching off between these two mountain peaks that is holding back the ocean. There's a very narrow entranceway that this ferried expertly navigates its way into. And you start to see technology working technology like you've never seen before this ferry boat pulls into this narrow space and the water that you're in starts draining and lowering. And then another gate like a flood gate opens ahead of you and you glide forward at the same process starts repeating. You've never seen anything like this before. Yeah, no. This is super wild. I think fish is kind of watching the water, thinking about a recent experiences she's had that have changed her view on the ocean with that said Calissa and Verity actually draw up beside you.
Speaker 0 00:08:13 Colossae looks pretty calm. Caelus has been here before several times. Verity's eyes are taking up half her face. Her jaw is on the floor and her eyes are so big. She has no idea what's going on here. Feet. Just watching the water just says so Calissa. Um, I would assume, you know, your way around the place. Well enough. Yeah. I mean, this is typically where Australian delegates or merchants stay whenever they're on their way, somewhere else in the country. There's a good bit of a Cherian population here. The city itself is actually cool. It's all built into this big under, well, you'll see the lock in front of you clicks open and the water rushes out and you guys glide forward through this very narrow cave mouth and the city of GIM Tarm opens up before you this massive subterranean cavern with a city, literally hewn into the rock.
Speaker 0 00:09:20 It is pretty expansive in terms of size, but in terms of population density, it is beyond anything you've ever seen. There are just people crowding each other along these docks that you find yourself sailing up to. You can see a big press of people in the streets beyond them. And it is a diversity of people. That fee is definitely not used to fee has probably seen dwarves and gnomes before as part of vulgar and political delegations that have come to bell and tall for certain things. And the majority of the population here is dwarfish and no mesh, but you see a blend of people that you have only even read about or seen illustrations of before. There are humans and goblins and orcs from the far reaches of toward dune. There are to backseat from the far North. You even see a couple of Sterian elves kind of darting back and forth, and a couple of infernal elves in all of these crowds of people pressed into the docks. It's it's culture shock.
Speaker 0 00:10:33 Yeah. I think fee like stops on the docks for a minute and just takes a couple of deep breaths as you stop at the bottom of the gangplank. Go ahead and roll me one more perception. Check it's a seven as a big fat seven. Now you don't really notice anything. You are just so shocked by this brave new world that you were encountering, that you don't really have time to notice anything in your immediate periphery. Again, Colossae looks fine. Arivale looks more than a little unsettled. Fen is pressing himself back up against the edge of the docks and getting as far from people as he can and looking a little freaked. I think fi just like reaches back a hand to him and just waits for a minute. He exhales kind of shakily, but then he reaches forward and grabs your hand. And it's going to follow you down to the end of the docks. Colossae is leading the charge. She knows
Speaker 3 00:11:29 Exactly where she's going. You get to the end of these docs and, uh, you have the alert feed. So you can't be surprised. You see a short, dark haired blur, just fucking booking it for you
Speaker 0 00:11:47 From like down the road where the docks
Speaker 3 00:11:49 Are before you
Speaker 0 00:11:51 Really have time to process what's on, there
Speaker 2 00:11:54 Is a pair of arms that are locked so tightly around your waist and you look down and a volt during garb clad. You noticed that the style here is very different. So like leather over vests and very practical
Speaker 3 00:12:11 Like pants and boots. Are you
Speaker 2 00:12:14 Garb clad? Laura Lasha chrono has got her two arms just locked around your way.
Speaker 3 00:12:21 Fi hugs her back super tight. And I think like crouches to like hug her tighter, Laura you're okay.
Speaker 2 00:12:30 Laura, like you hear jingle jingle, jingle jingle, and you see a similarly Holdren garb clad Sabine Javares making her way up the road behind Lorelei. And she looks up at you and smiles in a way that's kind of bittersweet. The two of you look at each other and kind of have a moment where she just smiles at you and nods and she reaches down and squeezes it, Laura licensee
Speaker 3 00:12:55 And says it is an image,
Speaker 2 00:12:58 Measurable relief to see you in such good health grand Duchess
Speaker 3 00:13:04 You as well. Welcome to Kim Tara. Uh, thankfully
Speaker 2 00:13:08 Arivale was able to get in touch with us and we were able to
Speaker 3 00:13:11 Meet you here were quartered,
Speaker 2 00:13:14 Not too far outside the city. I don't want to drop any specific locations for, and she looks around at all. The people pressing around you and says certain reasons, but
Speaker 3 00:13:25 Laura Lee and I have been fine. I understand.
Speaker 2 00:13:29 And that you're here to tackle something to do with Soren's research. Yes.
Speaker 3 00:13:34 Ah, yes. Uh, Soren and Aerobase research and I gestured airway. Well, I'm afraid
Speaker 2 00:13:40 I can't help you much there. I didn't ever really have much of a brain for wizardry,
Speaker 3 00:13:45 But, um,
Speaker 2 00:13:47 Ferrara, if you have a moment, there have been some things that, um, we talked about briefly
Speaker 3 00:13:56 In previous exchanges that I have figured out since we've been here. Okay, let's go somewhere with chairs. You make your way into this pretty soon.
Speaker 2 00:14:09 Dockside bar Sabine seems to definitely know where she's going. She has a hand on the back of Laura <inaudible> neck, like a mama cat with a kitten. The entire time you are in
Speaker 3 00:14:20 This place. And just like
Speaker 2 00:14:22 Pilots, Lorelei to a table and sits her down. Laura looks fine. Like she doesn't care what's going on because she's involved her in clothes. She has a very like steam punk kind of style belt that attaches to like a bag on her hip. That's also buckled around her leg. She reaches down into that and just pulls out a book and starts reading. While you guys sit down, you see Sabine kind of ruffle her hair and go up to a bar and order you guys drink. She comes back with a round of
Speaker 3 00:14:52 Ale for everybody. The inside of this bar is, Oh, wild. Again, it's a very like concentrated amount of people that you're not used to like just high population in a small area. And also again, just like that variety of people that you've never seen before. When you were pulling up to the docs, you saw like orcs humans, goblins, a couple of <inaudible>, couple infernal, elves, dwarves, gnomes, you see a couple other people milling around in here that Romi Robey history, that's a 24 with, but given your lack of knowledge that you realistically would have these people. As you look at them, they almost look Australian, but then you do a double take and you see these people in very clearly sailors, garb that are all grouped around a table in the far corner. You think they're a Cherian at first glance, but when you look harder at them, you can see that they look very different from any Australian health you've ever known in a few different ways.
Speaker 3 00:16:03 Australians are bioluminescent. Obviously, you know, you glow softly in the dark and you have a certain amount of luminescence to your blood, into your skin. These people are also bioluminescent. You see in the low light of the bar, they are glowing slightly. They are also opalescent as the low lights of the bar reflects off these people's skin. You see flashes of rainbow color, depending on how the angle of their skin is hitting the light. Almost like an abalone shell. They have solid white eyes in the way that you have solid black eyes. And you see one of them kind of smile as he's joking with one of his buddies. And it reveals a mouth, a very sharp, sharp teeth, and they have the long Elvin ears that you do. Sabine sees you looking and nudges you and kind of leans in and goes storm folk merchants.
Speaker 3 00:17:01 They're probably bringing in a shipment of pearls or artwork from those Fri Isles that's what's storm folk look like I've had the privilege, meaning a couple that are much prettier than that, but yes, interesting fi nods and then takes a long sip of a drink. You all sit down around this big table and Calissa kind of slowly raises a hand and goes, okay. Um, I, I, again, you know, I don't have the full picture. Hi everybody. I'm Calissa. I don't think we ever know we did meet Sabine. I'm sorry. We didn't get to talk about Jen. Colossae winks better. He's gonna kick her under the table. Okay. Um, anyway, I have a particular set, which is that
Speaker 2 00:17:50 I really like him, Tara, and I've been around here a lot. So if you need help navigating
Speaker 3 00:17:56 Refining anything, um, Oh, we should find somewhere to stay. There's not a consulate here. Yes. Uh, somewhere to transfer the night would be a good idea. Okay. Um, well how about I handled that and you know what, no, I have a little bit of experience
Speaker 2 00:18:15 With this. We should stay at the screeching seagull. It's a little bit rough, but also they're super good at keeping their mouth shut and they know
Speaker 3 00:18:22 Me. So, um,
Speaker 2 00:18:24 Fen, how about you and I roll out and handle lodgings and then you guys come and meet us when you're done with whatever you need,
Speaker 3 00:18:32 Right? Uh, yes, of course, Fen looks
Speaker 2 00:18:37 Really uncertain about leaving you. Like he's been sticking very close to your personal space this entire time, and he looks back and forth between you and Colossae and then looks back at you with a look that almost asks for permission,
Speaker 3 00:18:51 Fi grimaces yourself for a second and then nods and says, Fen, it's fine. I'm safe with Sabine. Okay. He gets up, he looks really uncertain.
Speaker 2 00:19:04 He does reach down and squeeze Lorelei shoulder though, before he goes, because they know each
Speaker 3 00:19:07 Other Arivale
Speaker 2 00:19:10 Stands up, brushes off the front of her pants and says, well, I assume that while Fen and Colossae are handling our lodgings, I should probably take point on the portal situation, given that I have the most contextual knowledge. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:19:26 Uh, yes, absolutely. I trust your instincts on this issue and we'll follow your lead by. Well, my
Speaker 2 00:19:34 And my past experience tells me that we need to find some sort of archive of information. I've heard very good things about Boulder and library. So, and Sabine raises a finger and says, um, actually we, uh, I have some business lined up for the grand Duchess and I at the Northridge university library. So that might be a very good place to
Speaker 3 00:19:59 Start very
Speaker 2 00:20:01 In the background, just sipping her drink slowly goes, okay, this all sounds really fun. What's a lie.
Speaker 3 00:20:06 Very, uh, it's a place where they store a large amount of books for people to read and hypothetically take other places.
Speaker 2 00:20:17 What's a book
Speaker 3 00:20:20 Fi pause this for a second, like brain buffering and says it it's a, it's a, it's a bunch of paper,
Speaker 2 00:20:30 Laura light without even changing the aspect of her face. Just lifts up the book that she's reading. So Verity can look at it and Verity kind of frowns it down to the pages and goes, huh?
Speaker 3 00:20:43 Yeah, that's a book. Libraries have a lot of, you've never seen it. We'll talk about this later. Let's go to the library. Sabina goes up and pays for your drinks.
Speaker 2 00:20:55 You guys are walking along, you feel her hand kind of pressed to the small of your back and guide you to the back of the pack. So you can talk, as everybody is walking, she's still directing them. And it also seems like Lorelei knows where she's going and it's kind of trotting off towards this library, leading everybody down the
Speaker 3 00:21:12 Road, Sabine
Speaker 2 00:21:15 Leans in. As soon as you guys are far enough back from the pack that you won't be overheard
Speaker 3 00:21:20 And says. So I, I hope that you will
Speaker 2 00:21:29 Forgive me. My perhaps inappropriate curious,
Speaker 3 00:21:36 I've been doing,
Speaker 2 00:21:37 Doing some digging since Lorelei and I landed here.
Speaker 3 00:21:41 Um, all right, dicking about what about your particular situation and how it relates to beacon
Speaker 2 00:21:53 Matters in the grand scheme of things
Speaker 3 00:21:57 And what exactly is my particular situation? Savine being someone that is perhaps
Speaker 2 00:22:06 Closer to the center of power than you were ever intended.
Speaker 3 00:22:12 Can I roll insight to see what she means by that? Yeah. So 12,
Speaker 2 00:22:20 She looks a little uncomfortable as she's mentioning this, like she knows it might be a sore spot for you. You would surmise that it has something to do with like your father and your family.
Speaker 3 00:22:30 Okay. Yeah. That was great. That was it. Yeah. Uh, feed grimaces and says, right? Uh, there's someone who wants to talk to you as soon as I knew you were coming. I,
Speaker 2 00:22:48 I realized that this might be a bit of a sensitive situation and asked him to meet us in a
Speaker 3 00:22:54 Public space to make it a little
Speaker 2 00:22:56 Easier on everybody. And he wholeheartedly agree.
Speaker 3 00:23:00 But I think that if you,
Speaker 2 00:23:02 You really are in the business of wanting the truth,
Speaker 3 00:23:06 Now that despite any discomfort, it
Speaker 2 00:23:09 May be worth hearing what he has to say.
Speaker 3 00:23:13 I'll, I'll write who exactly Sabina
Speaker 2 00:23:17 Just out and grabs your hand and stops you where you're walking. I'm going to tell you the truth because you deserve it, but I need you to not bulk and run on me.
Speaker 3 00:23:27 Okay. All right. I found your family. We're going to talk to your uncle fees, posture, stiffens dramatically. And if I don't want to talk to him, like I said, there's no conditions on this. If you don't want to, you don't have to. But after having several conversations with him, myself, I think he has some things to say that you'll be very interested in hearing clear her throat. I think this has become like a nervous gesture for her, like the past week or so. I think she like presses her hand to the base of the throat again. Right. I'll be right there with you the whole time. I wouldn't put you in the situation. If I didn't think you had anything to gain from it.
Speaker 3 00:24:25 I appreciate that. Yeah. Sabine has not stopped holding your hand. As you guys are walking down this road, there's a big, long building that Laura lie leads you up to. As you turn this corner, everything in <inaudible> is very utilitarian looking. It's all very flat roofs, very functional looking buildings. You can tell that the city has been hewn out of the rock. So there's not a lot of very artistic architecture, like you're used to in Australia with the big towering spires and the conical roofs. So yeah, there's this big, long squat building that Lorelei leads you all up to you go in. It is a large, very, well-stocked very well organized library. You see Arivale immediately. Bee-lined for the card catalog. She knows exactly what she's looking for in here. As she goes, I go, Arivale good luck. And then she's off. She just puts a thumbs up over one of her shoulders as she goes, Sabine turns away from you and lets go of your hand for the first time.
Speaker 3 00:25:33 Since you guys started walking, she crouches down and gets Laura lie by the shoulders and says, okay, Laura, like you remember where the entomology section is, right? The place with all the butterfly books and Laura nods and goes, yeah, it's upstairs to the left down three shelves. Uh, do you want me to go hang out there? Sabine nods with a big fake smile and says yeah, you know what? That'd be great. I'll come get you before we leave. Okay. Laura lies, shrugs and goes, okay. And trots up off a big staircase. That's going up into the upper floors of this library and she disappears Verity. I think peels off with Arivale and goes to like maybe trying to help her, which is comical. Yes. Verity is going to be of so much help in the library full of books, which she doesn't know what those are. And you're left alone with Sabine. She turns around to you and nods and says, I will wait for you to be ready. He's already here. If you don't want
Speaker 0 00:26:44 To do this, you can
Speaker 3 00:26:45 Back out. No, you think this is a good idea.
Speaker 0 00:26:50 Yeah. So let's get it.
Speaker 3 00:26:55 Okay. She leads you back through this library. It's pretty similar
Speaker 0 00:27:00 Alerts of the library at the order of I Luna, there's a lot of big, long tables where people are sat down, studying extensive stacks of books, winding off into the distance and like many libraries. There's a suite of private study rooms out towards
Speaker 3 00:27:17 The back. You see
Speaker 0 00:27:19 Sabine reach into the pocket of her leather corset that she has on over her puffy Voltaren shirt. And she pulls out a key on a ring. She reaches down and unlocks this door. It swings open behind the store is a well appointed study room. It has a nice rich mahogany table. The several seats organized around it. A couple books of small bookshelf in the back, but sitting at the table is an infernal elf man equivalent of early forties. He has very similar shaped horns to you. The big curling black horns, he has dark black hair, kind of curly a little bit shaggy down around his pointed ears. He has similar lavender skin tone, flat black eyes and a very well trimmed kind of pointy black goatee. He has a clever look about him. You kind of notice he's dressed very fabulously like he's in Voltaren clothes, but you see that he has like a peacock feather talked back into his hair and a big fancy crevasse on under his vest, tall leather boots curled up next to him on the table.
Speaker 0 00:28:46 As he's pouring over this book in front of him is a short haired, sleek black cat that looks up at you and its eyes glow. It has heterochromatin eyes, one blue, one green, and you can sense the magic coming off this thing, you can tell that it is a familiar, this man takes one. Look at you, snaps his book shut and goes by the storm. Bringer. Sorry. If it's just, you were in diapers. The last time I saw here, feed stops in the doorway and kind of clears your throat and you guys lovely to meet you. He stands up, does a short clipped bow, a very Australian greeting. You note and goes, I suppose you wouldn't remember me. My name's adore I'm
Speaker 2 00:29:42 Well, I'm your uncle
Speaker 3 00:29:46 Feed does a nod and a bow back.
Speaker 1 00:29:47 It says I'm Ferrara. He nods reaches over and scratches his little black cat on top of the head.
Speaker 2 00:29:59 And as he reaches over, you can see that he has a wand tucked into kind of like the steam punk folder and style leather hole
Speaker 1 00:30:05 That strapped under his armpit. And
Speaker 2 00:30:08 He folds himself back down into his chair
Speaker 1 00:30:12 And steeples his fingers.
Speaker 2 00:30:14 The way he carries himself is like weirdly for me.
Speaker 1 00:30:21 And also
Speaker 2 00:30:21 You remember seeing this vision of him and your mother as much younger people, teenagers, essentially when honor showed you that recollection, spell back in the silent city. But this is infallibly. One of those people like it's definitely him. He leans back in his chair, fingers. Steepled in front of him.
Speaker 3 00:30:43 I suppose you have questions. I have I'm actually here because I was told you wanted to speak to me. I might
Speaker 2 00:30:56 Totally wrong in this. He says kind of puts his hands up defensively, but Sabina and I both have reason to believe that you may have been
Speaker 3 00:31:06 Lied to about many of the circumstances of your life. See winces yes, forgive me if it's insensitive. But I was told that my mother had issues with, uh, and then one hand reaches up to brush her hair back behind her horns,
Speaker 2 00:31:31 Adore reaches up and he taps at one of his own horns and
Speaker 3 00:31:34 Goes, so
Speaker 2 00:31:37 You seem like a smart girl. I'm sure you've probably already figured out that that was bullshit. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:31:41 Yes, yes. And it leaves me wondering exactly how much of what I was told was a lie. Well,
Speaker 2 00:31:51 Thankfully I'm very capable of answering that. He says he pushes his book to the side. The cat comes over fi and sniffs at your hand and then leans down and nuzzles at your wrist.
Speaker 3 00:32:06 I'm gonna scratch the cat behind the ear. It purrs very satisfied. This cat,
Speaker 2 00:32:14 This is like hovering around you. Like it notices that you are upset. It keeps like weaving back and forth between your arm and your waist. Just kind of like staying
Speaker 3 00:32:24 With you, adore,
Speaker 2 00:32:26 Reaches down and smiles at it and scratches it under the chin.
Speaker 3 00:32:30 He says,
Speaker 2 00:32:32 Sabine informs me that you have already encountered our people. I believe you spoke with honor. Yes.
Speaker 3 00:32:41 Yes. I had a conversation with her. I'm currently traveling with her daughter. Oh my God. She had a kid I'm so old. He says, and like rakes a hand back through his hair. If it's any comfort, you don't look. It that'll be the skincare routine. He says just a big crooked rakish grin. He laughs a little bit. And then sobers significantly nods to himself. Your mother and I are twins. I'm not sure how much honor. And her kid apparently have told you, but among our folks, it's sort of a tradition to go forth into the world. Once you turn 100. So many of us grow up in the silent city. We have no scope of the world beyond its walls. And many of our elders thought it unfair that we not have the chance to at least go out and experience what we were missing.
Speaker 3 00:33:54 Many people leave and immediately come back. Your mother was of a mind that we would go out and make something of ourselves. I won't sugar coat things for you. We were young. We were foolish. We had no idea what we were getting into because of her magical prowess. We ended up rotating in some high profile, social circles in Valentine. We didn't know what to expect. And I don't mean to speak ill of your mother. She is my best friend and the person I am closest to in the world. She was very naive and willing to believe that people who showed her kindness inherently had her best interests in heart. You can put together what happened from there. You came along, she was terrified. Didn't know what to do. And we stayed around the vellum tall area at your father's request for a few years after that. And then once your magic started manifesting, he got a lot more interested Ferrara. I need you to understand this. Wasn't your father made your mother an offer. She couldn't in good conscience. Refuse. Life was not easy for us in Veland tall. And to have someone come to her and say, I can make sure that your child has the highest quality of life, the best education,
Speaker 2 00:35:38 The best chance in the world for someone like her.
Speaker 3 00:35:43 It's not a deal. That's easy to turn down. All we had to do was go away. Yes. Uh, with an offer like that, there is certainly a right choice. She, he sighs and kind of puts one
Speaker 2 00:36:04 Hand up to his forehead, leans down on the table. She doesn't know that
Speaker 3 00:36:11 Sabine
Speaker 2 00:36:11 Advised that I not tell her
Speaker 3 00:36:15 If you would like to talk to her, we live a couple blocks away. Feel like, kind of wrapped her arms around herself. I'd like to roll an insight check. Yeah, go ahead and roll. Inside on him. 15, he's being a hundred percent honest
Speaker 2 00:36:35 Earnestness with which this man is talking to you is more honesty than anything you've ever gotten from your father. He is a hundred percent telling you the truth. As far as he understands it.
Speaker 3 00:36:47 I understand that there are some complex emotions involved in this and I would hate to push you. But as far as
Speaker 2 00:36:58 I've heard, it sounds like you have been touched by the storm bringer in a very prominent
Speaker 3 00:37:05 Way. And I just
Speaker 2 00:37:07 Wanted to put before you that there is a person who exists that could maybe give you some answers.
Speaker 3 00:37:13 Fi taken theory, deep breath, and then says, yes, I suppose I should meet her. Adore. Nods stands up,
Speaker 2 00:37:25 Kind of clicks his tongue and the cat hops up on his shoulder, drapes itself around both his shoulders. And you guys walk out of the library on your way out. I need you to roll a perception
Speaker 3 00:37:37 15. That was close,
Speaker 2 00:37:39 Buddy. It was a DC 20, but yeah, you don't notice anything.
Speaker 3 00:37:42 Fee is just looking at the floor on the way out. And she has her hands fisted and the fabric of her skirt
Speaker 2 00:37:49 Mean does that thing again, where she reaches down and presses a hand to the small of your back reassuringly. But then she steps back
Speaker 3 00:37:58 And goes, I'm going
Speaker 2 00:38:00 To go get Laura lie. I feel like this is an issue for you too. You know how to get in touch with me if you need me.
Speaker 3 00:38:07 Yes. Um, check on air van Verde as well, please. Absolutely. We'll see you back at the end. I'll see you there guys,
Speaker 2 00:38:21 Or leads you very confidently out of this library. He has quite a bit of pinash in the way that he carries himself. The whole world is this man's runway.
Speaker 3 00:38:32 You follow him down. Winding narrow
Speaker 2 00:38:36 Streets to a more residential. It looks like area of the city. He leads you up to a modest, but comfortable looking stone row house like a townhouse,
Speaker 3 00:38:49 Almost the residential
Speaker 2 00:38:51 Architecture and guitar. Him is very much like English row houses, where the houses are all touching, but they have like little private gardens and gated areas out front. And he leads you up
Speaker 3 00:39:01 Of these. He keys inside. Are you following? I think he pauses on the doorstep and then she goes inside this door swings open the decor in here,
Speaker 2 00:39:20 Here is simple but comfortable. There's a small living room with a couch and a couple chairs and a small fireplace, a little kitchen with a round table and several wooden chairs around it. There's a narrow set of stairs that go up into the second story of the house and a small hallway that goes back. He ushers you into this living room area and kind of motions for you to sit down on the couch. Uh, door wonders back out of the room. Once he has you sat down kind of cranes his neck up, the steps,
Speaker 3 00:39:56 Alert, alert face still has her hands just faced it in the fabric of her skirt. But I think she slowly releases it and like brushes her skirt flat with a crackle of static electricity. You hear,
Speaker 2 00:40:15 We are a skitter from the second story of the house and another cat, a little black cat comes running down the stairs. It is not an adult cat though. It is a kitten. It looks like the kitten of adores black cat that is like stretched around his shoulders. Still. It comes running down the stairs, hops up on the couch next to you in the living room.
Speaker 3 00:40:39 It goes up at you thesis. Oh, hi there. And then squishes the cat on its head it purrs
Speaker 2 00:40:49 And immediately climbs onto your lap and curls
Speaker 3 00:40:51 Up. And then
Speaker 2 00:40:53 We are a couple of more frantic footsteps from upstairs, like running
Speaker 3 00:40:56 Down the steps. You can see the bottom of the staircase from where you're sitting in the living room, a
Speaker 2 00:41:02 Young like Elvin equivalent of maybe like eight, nine years old infernal elf girl with kind of darker purple skin than you, but the same flat black eyes on the same facial structure and the same curly black hair skids to the bottom of the steps
Speaker 3 00:41:20 And goes, Oh my gosh, smokey.
Speaker 2 00:41:22 I'm so sorry. And comes over and scoops the cat up out of your lap. You see from the doorway, adore looks a little awkward and kind of nods to himself and goes, um,
Speaker 3 00:41:34 Fi bites down so hard on the inside of her cheek. Adore
Speaker 2 00:41:40 Looks highly awkward
Speaker 3 00:41:42 And has
Speaker 2 00:41:44 A very stilted smile on his face. Tilts his head to the side.
Speaker 3 00:41:49 Courage. Um, where's your mom and
Speaker 2 00:41:52 The little girl courage. You guys has her little cat in her hands and you see like little sparks of magic around her fingers. As she's petting down this little kittens for are on top of its head.
Speaker 3 00:42:03 She says, Oh, she went to the market. We're out of eggs. She'll be back in a minute, takes a really deep breath and says, if it's trouble, I can, I can just go.
Speaker 2 00:42:16 This little girl looks up at you. And she frowns. She holds her cat a little closer and goes,
Speaker 3 00:42:21 Are you allergic? I'm sorry. No, it's uh, it's fine. It's very fine. I like your dress. Thank you. Thank you so much. It was, uh, it was a present and feed, like kind of inclines her head and says, think hat's really no trouble. Uh, it seems very sweet. I think he likes you.
Speaker 2 00:42:46 She goes to hand the cab back over to you and it like tries to climb up the arm of your dress.
Speaker 3 00:42:53 I like him too. And then feed squishes the cat and then remove that from her dress and hands it back to courage
Speaker 2 00:43:01 On the doorway. Adore, still looking really stilted and awkward goes, um, courage, honey, why don't you go play on your room for a second? Uh, we need to wait for your mom to get back. Okay. She frowns at him, but doesn't seem to really put much together, but she nods and scoops the cat back up in her arms and she looks over at you and she goes,
Speaker 3 00:43:24 Okay. Um, it was nice to meet you. Hi, I'm courage. Hi, I'm Ferrara. That's a pretty name. Okay. I'm going to go
Speaker 2 00:43:33 Up to my room now. And she takes the cat and she leaves and runs back up
Speaker 3 00:43:39 The door,
Speaker 2 00:43:40 Puts his head in his hands. As soon as she leaves and goes. That was something that was probably going to be discussed later.
Speaker 3 00:43:51 I understand life goes on. I can't imagine what you've been through. No, you can't. Sometimes people make wrong choices and think that it's the right one, but that's not something
Speaker 2 00:44:07 You should have to live with.
Speaker 3 00:44:10 I
Speaker 2 00:44:12 She's a great kid. She's smart, sharp as a knife at math.
Speaker 3 00:44:17 I don't think for a second that either of us ever forgot you, right? Of course. And then feed just nod. She just looks at the floor. You sit
Speaker 1 00:44:32 There in silence for several more minutes, adores cat familiar climbs down off his shoulder and kind of situates itself between you and starts nuzzling your hand. And after several minutes you hear a key click the lock with a basket of food and eggs and a couple other things. In her hand, a tall lavender purple infernal elf woman, pretty young to have a kid. Your age comes in the door. She has a couple of streaks of gray in her hair. Same facial structure is you. It it's an uncanny resemblance, same curly, long, thick, black hair, same pattern of horns, everything.
Speaker 1 00:45:25 She goes to put this basket down on a side table in by the front door and says courage. You'll never guess what I found. They had that honey vendor there that you like when, and she looks up and sees you two in the living room. I'm going to roll insight for her to just see. Now she's confused. She doesn't understand. She looks in at YouTube. She looks back and forth from you to a door really quick and goes, Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know we were going to have company. I'll go put some tea on.
Speaker 1 00:46:04 He says that's not necessary. I don't plan to stay long. Adoral kind of fiddles with his goatee a little bit as he stands up and says alert. Um, I am so aware that you're going to kick my ass for not telling you about this. This is Ferrara, the grand Duchess of Australia. This woman looks back over at you in this weird, bizarre feeling of looking in a mirror and quietly just whispers. Oh yes I had, as I was telling her brother and courage, if it's travel, I don't need the stick. She looks like somebody has fully just slapped her across the face. You can tell she was in no way prepared for this. She slowly just hangs the shawl around her shoulders up on a hook on the wall and shakes her head and says, no, of course not. Why would it be any, I'm sorry, what are you doing here?
Speaker 1 00:47:33 I'm in town on a bit of a business matter. And I thought it would be good to stop it. We have a lot to talk about this woman, your mother, a few steps into this little living room area where you are. She reaches out her hand and almost touches your face. And at the last minute closes her hand into a fist, pulls it away. She says, I know that I should have kept you with us. If you're here looking for an apology, I'll give it to you, you with my whole heart. But if you're here for excuses, I don't have any other than that, I was young and scared and that I wanted you to be all right.
Speaker 1 00:48:31 Fetal apps, just humorously. All right, is that what I am? I couldn't have given you any kind of life. We were starving. We barely had a roof over our heads. He said that he said that what things would be better? This is better for me. I feel stands up off the couch and just very carefully skirts around this woman, like does not touch her and says I was lied to for my entire life. I, I was told that there was something about me that I couldn't change. That was unlovable and on Wantable I had no one that I could trust to be on my side and not leave. And that is because of you.
Speaker 1 00:49:33 I spent my entire life being told that who I am is not acceptable. And I cannot count the pieces of myself that I act off to make myself smaller in an effort to be at least as hard to be ashamed of as I could. I entire life. She listens to you, as you say this and processes exactly what the fallout of that decision has been forgets. The distance between you and almost reaches out like she's going to grab your hand. And there is a, and in the space where your two hands are not touching, there is a warm flickering, lightening glow. You look up at your mother and her hair is being blown by like a non-existent breeze. She closes her eyes and tilts her head to the side. Like she is listening to something and then purses her lips nods and takes a step back from you.
Speaker 1 00:50:50 There is nothing I can do to fix or make up for what happened to you. And I am so sorry. If there were any way for me to go back and make a different decision, I would, but there's not. I let you down and I'm sorry, but there's nothing that I could do to change it. Other than be here. If you want me to be, I appreciate the offer. I don't forgive you. And then she nods and takes a couple steps for the door. She follows behind you almost in step with you reaching into one of her pockets.
Speaker 1 00:51:42 And she doesn't say anything. She's really not even making eye contact with you, but she holds out her hand. Remind me, do you still have the Cape on? Yes. She holds out her hand and resting in the Palm of her hand. There is a small crystal orb that is filled with these swirling, smokey colors, these dark bruise, like blacks and dark blues and purples and dull greens. And as your mother holds out this orb, you feel across your shoulders and arcane reactivity in the gift of the storm bringer, the whole Cape just feels like it is made of static electricity. And as you look down at this other worldly, silk fabric swirling around your torso, you can see that the colors in this sphere and the colors in the Cape are swirling perfectly in sync. There is a little lightning strike down through the Cape, like cloud to cloud lightning. And you see it reflected in the orb.
Speaker 1 00:52:56 What is this? A family heirloom? I think you're supposed to have it. He reaches out and grabs the orange sheets. Very carefully, trying not to touch her. Mother's hand you pick it up. You don't have to try to attune to it, which is weird. It automatically attunes to you. You have a plus one arcane focus. Now it's a step back. She's giving you your space and you see your uncle just absently, petting the cat on his shoulder, in the background, just looking grief-stricken like he regrets everything. She just stops. And she says, what name would you have given me? Or did you give me, I suppose I'm given to understand that the one that I was raised with is not exactly common among your people.
Speaker 1 00:54:01 Her mother looks like someone has just knocked the wind out of her. She curls in on herself. Like she has just been struck in the chest and looks just absolutely grief stricken and heartbroken in a manner. That again is so unsettlingly familiar. She straightens her posture smooth down the front of her clothes and says fortune. I think I like mine better. You have a beautiful home and your daughter seems lovely. And then she leaves you walk away out the front door, shut the door behind you. You are turning around to shut the front gate of the little garden. And you look up, up in the big second floor Bay window of this house. Courage is standing with her little kitten perched on her shoulder and one hand pressed against the glass. She looks down and she sees you and smiles and waves.
Speaker 1 00:55:32 Yeah. She starts walking away. And I think she pulls out her beacon coin and sends a message to Sabine and says, I'll see you at the end Sabine messages. You back through the coin, you get a couple of cross streets, uh, roll a survival check with advantage because this is the beans helping you 16. You're able to find this in it's big and rowdy, uh, large dwarfish presence in here. It seems to be a lot of like dwarfish sailors from a little further down at the port, but it's a little bit less seedy. The place that you guys were in earlier today, it's warm. There's a big fire going. And as you walk in, you see all of your party, except for Arivale are seated in a big corner booth. He walks and slides into the booth,
Speaker 3 00:56:25 Takes a very deep breath. And then I'm gonna look at Colossae and I'm going to say Calissa. I'm about to say six words to you that you've been waiting to hear for our entire friendship. I want to get blackout drunk.
Speaker 2 00:56:43 Everybody else at this table is kind of talking to each other. Verity is trying to read Fens Palm, and he looks really shady about it. Sabine's talking to Laura lie about her book that she's reading Calissa, slams her hands flat down on the table and goes, everybody shut up. She closes her eyes and takes in a deep breath just through the biggest smile and lets out a Crow of victory that can probably be heard all the way down at the docks. She hops up vaults over this table with her robe, like a graze puts two fists up in the air and goes, let's go
Speaker 3 00:57:28 Fi smiles and nods and says, yes, let's go. Let's go. Now
Speaker 2 00:57:34 You all pull up too. Honestly. One of the strangest buildings you've ever seen in your life, there is this loud thumping long rumbling bass coming from inside of this building. You can see just a sea of people inside this building. All kinds of crazy magical and technological flashing lights. You've never been doing nightclub before, but Calissa obviously has Calissa knows the doormen at this place and gets you guys in. I love Calissa so much. So you walk in and it is just a phantasmagoria of delight in here. There are just so many drunk people. People are dancing. There's a bunch of pool tables down on one side, big long bar with a couple no-mess bartenders behind it doing like crazy bottle flips and shit. It's wild as hell and Calissa B lines up for the bar and comes back to the lot of you. Again. Arivale is still not here, but you get the feeling that if she needed you, she would have messaged you. Clarissa just comes back and starts passing out shots to everybody. There are these like weird candy colored, long fluted shot glasses that smell very sweet B grabs the glass like by the bottom and immediately downs it and then says, okay, another one Calissa has never been more delighted in her life.
Speaker 2 00:59:12 You need to roll a con save, but also you are undoubtedly hammered very quickly. What's an 11. You are like not
Speaker 0 00:59:22 Falling down drunk, but you are intoxicated. It can, Leslie get so drunk that at one point she just like leaves. She just is talking to you one second and then you turn around the next second and you just see her like wandering off into a crowd. She just leaves roll me a perception check, please. That's a 10. Oh good. You just met the DC for this Calissa leaves and just wanders off into the crowd. You turn back around the other way and you see Verity just in a corner with some elf adjacent looking dude with like these long looted deer like ears. They're just fully playing tonsil hockey in this corner. And you are just alone in the middle of this dance floor. When behind you, you hear some jingles coming up to you, these shoulders relax a little bit. She's just sitting there shot glass in hand like Bob and like a white mom on a TV show.
Speaker 0 01:00:29 You know what I mean? To the rocking side to side. And she turns to look at Sabine, just this easy smile on her face. Sabina's kind of going up on her toes and dropping her heels down to make her bells jingle in time with the beat of the song that's going on. It seems like it's a subconscious thing. She's just kind of grooving. And she looks back over at you raises an eyebrow nods over the rim of her dirty martini and says, I'm guessing you don't want to talk about it over the music. There is nothing. I would like less.
Speaker 0 01:01:06 She goes to say something else. And there's just this thumping beat in the background. The music is so loud and she yells over the deep drum beat. Well, if you're looking for a distraction, I could use a dance partner. Feel like tits her head back and just laughs and says, my mother has a daughter and she's younger than a Laura. Like I would love to dance with you. Let me see how else it'd be in handles that. Let me roll performance for her real quick. Hey, Sabina rolled a 28 to performance. Yeah, she is fully un-phased by that and sweeps you up. It is wonderful and terrible in its euphoric juxtaposition to the just utter dread that you have felt today, but she holds you super close and swings you through this dance. The sparks flying off her bracers around her wrists and her ankles, dancing lights floating up into the magically manufactured fog, hovering above this dance floor. And it is the first time that you have felt honest to God free maybe in your entire life, because you are now fully aware that you have nothing left to lose.
Speaker 3 01:02:28 So been you also are noticing now is pretty drunk. You have a thought of, Oh God, who's watching Laura lie. And then you look out the front window of this place and you see Fenn and Laura lie at a coffee shop across the street, just looking at her butterfly book together. So B stumbles up to the bar to get you guys some more drinks and you kind of get buffeted by the people around you. You look over and see Calissa at a pool table. She does not look like she is in good shape. Oh no. Over the music he's going to yell. Are you winning? She like leans on her pool cue to stay up right. And goes, I'm losing is so bad. I can see that unfortunately, but I'm making friends. You see her turn around. She is very clearly getting her ass hustled at pool by objectively the biggest, most beautiful man you've ever seen in your life.
Speaker 3 01:03:27 Big, tall heavyset half-court dude, long hair up in a pony tail. Like all kinds of crazy tattoos. Cool gold jewelry hanging off his tusks. He's handing Colossus, asked to her in pool and like scraping a bunch of her money across the pool table while she's not looking and like dumping it into his pocket. Watch, watch your Alba's look. Colossae Colossae turns around. And she points at this dude and she goes the beginner's luck. We're going to go for burgers later. Cause you seem cool. And this dude throws his head back and laughs and racks up another set of pool ball so they can go again and he can take more of coalesces money from her. I can't stop you.
Speaker 3 01:04:13 Yeah, Bob. Yeah. You continue to bop for awhile. Sabine comes over to where you are. She returns her jingle is still going. It's still putting sparks up into the air. She's a one woman party. She goes, okay, this sucks. It doesn't suck. Cause I love her so much. She's such a good kid. I gotta, I gotta go home and put Laura light a bed. She's been out waste you late. Yeah. This is like, that sounds like a good idea. Oh my God. Oh my God. Are you a good clean drug? That's so cute. He giggles again. Stop it. Stop it. I don't want to stop it. I think you're cute. I can say that to the grand Duchess, right? No, but you can definitely say it to fi okay for you. I think you're cute. I got to go put my little teenager to bed. So shoot. I, Oh my gosh. I should lay down. Okay. How about you just
Speaker 1 01:05:18 Put you just come with us. Come on. And she like gets an arm around your shoulder. She goes to I'll lead you out of this club over to where Fenn is still babysitting. Laura lie across the street at the 24 hour cafe. She goes to turn around to grab her cloak out of the coat room and in doing so she accidentally kind of shifts and whips you around and you bodily just smack into somebody whooped, sorry, sorry. Sorry. You have just bumped into much smaller than you. Let's out this drunken laugh and goes, Oh my God. I'm S I'm so sorry. Uh, hot man. You know and fee you are suddenly sober as a judge because you know that voice feel like stumbles back.
Speaker 1 01:06:33 This person that had backed into you turns around and you see a small lean Australian Elvin man, cool blue skin, bright blue eyes, long white hair dressed very provocatively. And on the arm of the guy that you saw hustling, Colossae at pool early two of you make a long silent moment of eye contact. Your brother takes a step back and in stereo you both say shit. And that is where we are going to wrap up for this week. Fucking hate it here. Anyway. See you guys next time. I'm compelled though. <inaudible> Hey everybody Barry here with the postscript, just wrapping up a couple of housekeeping things here at the end of the episode, as always, you can find us on social media. We are on Twitter, Tumblr and tick-tock at compelled duel. You can also find us Tik TOK at compelled
Speaker 2 01:08:16 Duel, adios, wherever we post audio snippets from the show. Additionally, we have lots of other cool things like an official Spotify account where we post episode playlist, character, playlist, stuff like that. Uh, we also have an official website. You can find both of those on all of our social media profiles.
Speaker 3 01:08:32 If you're enjoying
Speaker 2 01:08:33 The podcast, we ask that you consider pledging to our Patrion starting at just $2 a month. You can get early access to all of our episodes, priority submissions for our weekly Q and A's. And at our higher tiers, you can get stuff like access to exclusive playlist on the Spotify or even letters from your favorite character. Every month we host a live Q and a show every Monday at 3:00 PM, PST over on our YouTube channel, you should be able to find us by just searching compelled duel on YouTube. We would love it. If you all would come ask a couple of questions or even just hang out. If you're interested in supporting the podcast in other ways than pledging to our Patrion, we ask that if you're listening to us on Apple podcasts, that you drop us a rating and a review, that's going to help us get promoted to a wider audience,
Speaker 3 01:09:17 Little bit of a heads up
Speaker 2 01:09:18 Next week. Now that the Val signs are back together again, we will be going back to our original co DM-ing format. So like how we were running things in episode one. So the format next week is going to be a little bit different. It might take some getting used to, but that's going to be how we're doing things for pretty much. The remainder of the campaign episode 20 is going to be coming out on Friday, April 16th. Or if you're a member of our Patrion, you're going to get access to that on Thursday, April 15th,
Speaker 3 01:09:46 Strap in everybody.
Speaker 2 01:09:47 It's going to be a bumpy ride. See you next week. Thanks so much.
