Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Hey, Barry.
Speaker 1 00:00:01 Hey Al,
Speaker 0 00:00:02 What do you call a shock on deck?
Speaker 1 00:00:06 What
Speaker 0 00:00:08 A gas it's time for compelled duel.
Speaker 0 00:00:25 Hello everybody. And welcome back to compelled duel. I'm Al and I'm buried, and we are a single-player Cody, M D dungeon dragons with addition actual play podcasts
Speaker 1 00:00:37 Previously on compelled dual Leah reaches down slaps at the gym on his Bracer and SAPs Kimball's blade back into his hand. This is for soar and you son of a bitch,
Speaker 0 00:00:53 Your father casts, power word pain on you. And it immediately takes effect.
Speaker 1 00:01:00 What do you do?
Speaker 0 00:01:02 I'm going to try and like strength, check one of my arms free. And I'm going to cast the six level, which builds on my dad. I would suggest father that you carefully consider your next move.
Speaker 1 00:01:17 Alicia makes it over to him from across the foyer, gets one arm around him from behind and drops a teleport spell.
Speaker 0 00:01:28 I cannot believe the two of you tried to keep me out of that. I cannot believe you.
Speaker 1 00:01:36 This shit could kill me. It's probably going to,
Speaker 0 00:01:40 Yeah, that's a risk on a fucking perk, Leo. You don't need to help it along. And you've been looking for an excuse since Daredevil,
Speaker 1 00:01:51 Whatever we do next. I think we should cut Colossae and Fen out of it, because if we don't, it will result in them getting hurt or them hurting us.
Speaker 0 00:02:04 I am grand Duchess Ferrara, Val sign. I and my brother, Larry Hill are both alive and well, and I will not sit idly by, as my name is turned into a war cry. And if he's listening, I have a message for my father on behalf of both of your children, your mail,
Speaker 1 00:02:30 Leah reaches down and cribs super hard at said's hand.
Speaker 2 00:02:37 God
Speaker 1 00:02:37 Fucking dammit, Fe.
Speaker 1 00:02:55 So fi you've been to jail before that. I have not. Well you're there now after you and the captain staged a daring invasion of the headquarters of the vulgar and broadcasting network held a news crew at sword point and announced your presence and your opposition to the brewing conflict with Australia, you were escorted out of the building by the authorities, and you have spent the night in a tiny dingy cell with the captain who seems like he's done this before. He's taking it in stride. You were given the opportunity to have the people that threw you in this cell contact one person on your behalf. What person did you choose?
Speaker 0 00:03:53 I chose my aunt Nora. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 00:03:57 It has been many hours since then. You can see the sun starting to rise through this high narrow barred window up over your head. The captain is just lounging on this hard metal bunk that is bolted to the wall, kind of picking at his fingernails. He very nonchalantly looks up towards you and goes, ah, it'll be all right. Last I've ended up in much worse places just for public intoxication.
Speaker 0 00:04:27 The comforting I've never so much has been grounded in my life.
Speaker 1 00:04:31 I've come to this situation is when you locked me up. So, and look how well that turned out for ya. There's gotta be a silver lining in all this. And before you have time to come up with a rebuttal, you hear the sound of somebody down this long hallway of cells, absolutely raising hell the voice bouncing off the stone walls and floor of this hallway is so loud that every word is crystal clear. By the time it echoes down to you. And did any of you bozos consider that taking the grand Duchess of a straight area into custody might possibly exacerbate some already pretty bad international tensions. What the hell is going on here? I want to talk to your supervisor. There is a response, much quieter and sounding very frightened. Uh, look, ma'am I, I, I get it. I can see why you're upset, but, uh, they, they did break into a government owned facility. So we really didn't have a lot of options. The other voice cuts him off. She has diplomatic immunity you in the seal, which is why I am only posting bail for her little storm folk boyfriend. And you were going to let them both out of here before I make the situation way uglier than it needs to be. Trust me, Sergeant, you do not get paid nearly well enough to endure what is going to happen. If those two are not standing next to me in the next five minutes.
Speaker 0 00:06:11 Oh good. They did get in touch with my aunt. That's fantastic.
Speaker 1 00:06:16 The captain raises both eyebrows at you and then jumps up and dusts off the front of his pants just in time for the both of you to catch sight of a very frazzled folder in city guard, hustling down this hallway and unlocking yourself. All right. The, he has got lucky. Get out of here
Speaker 0 00:06:37 With all due respect. Sergeant, I try not to call other people's incompetence. Competence luck. You have a great day
Speaker 1 00:06:45 Behind you. The captain smirks, as he walks out of this cell, let's do two observation, less. Anybody else smelled bacon? The two of you are led out of this cell block into a sparsely furnished lobby where your aunt Nora is glaring daggers at every law enforcement professional in the room. She looks extremely tired like she has not tranced, but as soon as you and the captain get within five feet of her, she lunges forward and pulls you into a big, tight hug. I want you to know that you are in such big trouble
Speaker 0 00:07:25 Fee winces yeah, that's fair.
Speaker 1 00:07:30 She pulls back from the hug and claps a hand on either of your shoulders looking you up and down to make sure that you're okay, nods and satisfaction, and then says, you'll be pleased to know that layering has made a frankly astonishing recovery. It's almost like he's being buoyed by the force of his rage, But you can deal with that when we get home. Come on you too. I think we have concluded our business here. She glares around at everybody working in this lobby again, and then ushers you out the door.
Speaker 0 00:08:05 As they're leaving fi leans over to the captain and says the scale of one to 10, how do you rate our chances of, uh, making a break for it?
Speaker 1 00:08:15 You see him heavily consider it for a second, but then he just kind of closes his eyes and shakes his head. Well, as far as I can tell, we just get ourselves arrested again. But, uh, it seems worth mentioning that your aunt's confirmed that you're in trouble with Leo. She didn't say a damn thing about how much trouble the both of us are going to be in with Sabine
Speaker 0 00:08:38 Fee, grimaces nods and says death of thing. Indeed, Arlene,
Speaker 1 00:08:47 It's been an honor loss.
Speaker 1 00:08:52 The ride back to Nora's house passes in silence. She is shuffling this pile of papers in her lap. Most of the trip looking deeply concerned, but eventually you pull up to the front of the row house pile out of the carriage, walk in through the front door, to the site of Leo and Sabine, both standing in the foyer with their arms crossed over their chests. Sabine leads the charge she is upon both of you. Before you have the chance to orient yourselves to your surroundings, just fixing you with the most terrifying death glare. You know what? I can excuse a lot. I can own my own shortcomings, but when the two of you gang up on me to make stupid decisions behind my back, it just, it grates on the nerves a little bit. What were you thinking?
Speaker 0 00:09:56 I was thinking that an essential vehicle for distributing news throughout Volvo welder might be a, a good avenue by which to make it clear that Leo and I are alive and opposed to the war since that's one of the goals that we have right now.
Speaker 1 00:10:15 So you hold a news crew hostage.
Speaker 0 00:10:19 We didn't hold them hostage. We just commandeered the microphone
Speaker 1 00:10:25 From behind Sabine shoulder. The captain is making frantic cutting gestures across his neck. Like shut up, stop talking Sabine points at you. Like she is about to make a terrible indictment on your character and then clinches her hand into a fist and turns around and starts pacing behind her at the bottom of the stairs, Leo whispers, Sabina Teknion tag me in and sticks a handout. As she turns around from another round of pacing, the foyer, she reaches down and slaps at his hand and he lunges forward and grabs your elbow fi ah, oh, he hauls you off into the sitting room and slams the door shut behind you before her rounding on you with an absolutely it'll live it expression. All right. I have a lot of things to say to you, but let me just lead into this with, if you want to stop me from doing stupid shit, the way to do that is not by trying to get even fee. What the hell
Speaker 0 00:11:37 Fi winters, as I said to Sabine, it just seemed like the most efficient way to accomplish one of the goals we have in all of this, which is to make it clear that the war is predicated on information. The two of us are alive. We're opposed to it. And father knew that.
Speaker 1 00:11:58 Yeah, and that goal is one of the few things that we actually had the opportunity to fucking plan for here. You didn't have to make that decision in a split second, and you sure as hell, didn't have to make it without talking to the rest of us.
Speaker 0 00:12:12 I thought it would behoove us to get it handled while father's back on his heels. And I saw an opportunity,
Speaker 1 00:12:21 Leo scrubs, both hands down his face. Do you know how infuriating it is that I can't yell at you and be vindicated?
Speaker 0 00:12:35 That sounds very hard for you. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 00:12:39 Leo makes this motion that is very familiar to you from back when you were both small children, that makes you immediately fearful that he's about to jump up and get you in a headlock. But then outside the sitting room, you hear the front door of the house open and you hear your aunt Nora's voice supremely exhausted going camera's bones. Of course. Hello, Burris. Leo looks at you narrows his eyes and points one finger an inch away from your nose and says, we will handle this later. And then storms out of the sitting room
Speaker 0 00:13:19 Fee is going to walk out into the foyer.
Speaker 1 00:13:23 You emerge into a pretty tense scene. The captain has folded himself into one of the chairs in the foyer and is just staring at his boots. As Sabine is still pacing in front of him looking very, very angry.
Speaker 1 00:13:45 Your aunt Nora has one hand brought up to pinch at the bridge of her nose and standing in the open front door. Your uncle Burris has an arm full of various envelopes and papers, very nonchalantly. He steps over the threshold and starts tossing things down onto a little end table next to the door. All right. It seems like everybody here had a pretty eventful evening. Last night, I took the Liberty of getting the mail on the way in. So newspaper power, bill municipal artifice bill birthday card from Toronto. That is three months late. Oh, what's this a letter with the seal of the Archduke. Nora, I'm committing a felony in your home and opening your mail. He hooks a finger under this wax seal on the envelope, pops it open and pulls out a piece of parchment scans over it. Oh, what a surprise? Your title's been revoked. Congratulations.
Speaker 0 00:14:57 Uh, come
Speaker 1 00:14:58 Again. Your uncle Barry has looks over at you slides his glasses up on his nose and looks back down at the letter in his hand and thus by Royal decree, nor a Val sign for the crime of harboring enemies against the crown shall be stripped of the lands titles and Royal stipend afforded to her by birth and shall henceforth be considered an Australian civilian. He holds the letter out. Nora eyebrows raised. I mean, we all know Moreland. Doesn't do things by half measures, but this is remarkably quick. Even for him. What did you do? Nora grabs the letter scans through it and her lips press into a very thin line. Nothing I regret, but I'll need to go talk to Erin about this. If you'll excuse me. And she disappears up the stairs
Speaker 0 00:15:58 Fi kind of looks over at her uncle brace and goes. So what do we do now?
Speaker 1 00:16:08 He purses his lips shrugs and sets the remainder of this handful of envelopes down on the side table. I don't know you made a risky decision for aura, I guess. Now we all just wait to see if it pays off
Speaker 0 00:16:35 Leo, the next two, three days past tensely, as far as you know, your uncle was still trying to get you into the folder and social scene. Your aunt Nora has been spending a lot of time in her study with your uncle, Aaron, just doing budgets, given that they are now a one income household, no one in your party really knows what to do next, other than wait for your uncle's planning to pay off or wait to see if there are consequences for the stunt that peopled. So what are you doing?
Speaker 1 00:17:16 I think if a few days have passed and he's mostly back on his feet, he's probably just out in the yard, playing fetch with Dexter,
Speaker 0 00:17:25 Despite Adria's improvements of the security system being on and alive, nobody can get in without your honor's permission. Now, Zed is still low to let you out of his sight, given everything. So despite the fact that he indexed her are not fans of each other. He is sitting on the front steps as you play fetch with your bone dog and Romeo perception, check
Speaker 1 00:17:54 21.
Speaker 0 00:17:56 Okay. Um, meets it, beats it. Yeah. Out of the corner of your eye, leaning up against one of the houses next to your aunts, just outside of the radius of the security system. You see a figure standing mostly in the shadows, smoking a long plume of cigarette smoke, just drifts up from them. And a very familiar voice says, Hey, sugar, you got a minute.
Speaker 1 00:18:25 Hey Mia. I am a loath to admit that I have nothing but time. What do you want?
Speaker 0 00:18:34 Your I'm hesitant to say friends. So associates do many of us on this, not so much steps out of the shadows, but kind of oozes out of them with very familiar, very fluid CNUS movements. They have a cigarette between their fingers and they are smiling just a little bit too wide. They were not there before you made that perception check. You have no idea when they got there, they walk right up to the edge of the secure perimeter that ADA has set up. They nod and they say mutual friend of ours would like to have a word can't be here for raisins. So if you and your sister black to step out with me for a minute.
Speaker 1 00:19:26 Yeah, sure. Why not? Leo turns back around to look at said, can you, uh, hold down the Fort while I handle whatever the hell this is,
Speaker 0 00:19:39 Zed kind of looks from you to Mia and then back to you and says, yeah, you're not going by yourself.
Speaker 1 00:19:46 No, I'm not going by myself. I'm taking fie with me.
Speaker 0 00:19:50 Let me rephrase that. I get the feeling you're going to need some muscle. And Mia holds up a hand and just kind of waggles their fingers at him and says, darlin, I might not look like it, but I got all the muscle we need. And if I was willing to see him, dad you'd know by now.
Speaker 1 00:20:11 I said, just stay here. I think I know what interpersonal conflict is about to happen. And I don't want you there for it.
Speaker 0 00:20:23 Roll a quick persuasion check.
Speaker 1 00:20:27 24
Speaker 0 00:20:31 Zed backs off. He reaches up to pinch the bridge of his nose nods and says, all right, just be careful, please.
Speaker 1 00:20:45 I will. Leo leans down and gives him a little kiss and then runs inside to get fee.
Speaker 0 00:20:53 Are you explaining what's going on? Or you just rushing her around?
Speaker 1 00:20:57 No, I'll explain it all. Tell her that it seems that something is going on with Colossae and Fen.
Speaker 0 00:21:05 He has kind of a weird look on her face as you say that, but she nods says, all right, lead the way. And she's gonna follow you out. As you get outside. Mia is making kissy faces at Dexter over the secure perimeter.
Speaker 1 00:21:24 Fi this is Mia Mia fee, which you'd like to tell me where we're headed or is it just a fun surprise?
Speaker 0 00:21:33 Well, I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you their nose crinkles a little bit as they went gadget. It's a joke. It's a joke. Can we move or do you just want to sit here? Like a bump on a log?
Speaker 1 00:21:49 No, yeah, let's go. And Leo's gonna follow them up. The street.
Speaker 0 00:21:56 Mia leads you and fee through the streets of Boulder to the edge of the wheel and to what appears to be a little park set against the edge of the wheel. Um, it's kinda kite shaped. So it gets the most sunlight coming in. There's no grass, well, there is grass, but it's in kind of raised planter beds with flowers, a couple of bushes, nothing really tall, but the actual like ground of the park is the same flat stone as everywhere else in Boulder. And on a bench, you see Colossae Petrus and financials tour mayor. They seem to be engaged in a very serious discussion. They don't notice your approach until Mia puts two fingers in their mouth and just whistles super loud, all right, delivered whole and healthy as requested. And they kind of gesture at you and Faye Fen and Calissa both sit up very straight and turned to look at you. Fen kind of awkwardly raises a hand and waves. Hey, good to see ya.
Speaker 1 00:23:13 Hi Fen. Didn't get the chance to mention this before, but your hair is looking amazing. What is the routine that you're doing there? Is it like a hair mask or
Speaker 0 00:23:24 Fen blinks a couple times and then says, yeah, once a week I'm doing a hair mask. Uh, I've cut out sulfates and silicones. It's the whole thing.
Speaker 1 00:23:34 Fascinating. You've got to hook me up with your product list.
Speaker 0 00:23:38 Colossae from the bench next to the fence as anyway. And she pulls a couple of envelopes out of her jacket pocket and them. So I definitely heard fi on the news last week and apparently so did the people that run the gala for the museum of art and artifice because you two have invites now
Speaker 1 00:24:03 The museum of what and what
Speaker 0 00:24:05 Fend pipes up art and artifices. I think it's the only place on the continent. You can see a sculpture displayed next to a big gun on purpose.
Speaker 1 00:24:15 Leo kind of tilts his head to the side. Okay, interesting. Why are we invited
Speaker 0 00:24:22 Colossal wave the envelopes that she makes kind of a dismissive gesture? Honestly, couldn't tell you probably the emperor or one of the senators decided that what he did was interesting and U2 would make something fun to Ogle at. I don't know.
Speaker 1 00:24:37 Well, I am somewhat of a professional at being ogled ad. It's a talent I've refined over the past six years.
Speaker 0 00:24:46 Rolling insight, really quick,
Speaker 1 00:24:48 14
Speaker 0 00:24:50 Something and coalescence jaw tightens for a second. And then she says, yeah, I'm sure. Uh, anyway, and she gets up and to shove these envelopes at you. So we've got one for you. Uh, one for fi and one for whoever you had holding the news crew at sword point and feed pipes up. Oh, that's my boyfriend. It's a long story. I should catch you up at some point.
Speaker 1 00:25:21 Oh, camera's teeth. They invited the captain to the party. This should be good.
Speaker 0 00:25:26 Calissa kind of tilts her head and says, well, apparently she cuts her eyes sideways at fi he would have been going anyway since you all get plus ones,
Speaker 1 00:25:38 Leo chokes down a laugh. Oh, I think a plus one is far too simple for whatever he has going on.
Speaker 0 00:25:46 If he's going to try and stomp on your foot, let's just roll a Dex contest really quick. She's going to use one of her rurals. No,
Speaker 1 00:25:58 That's a dirty 20 Leo yanks his foot out of the way.
Speaker 0 00:26:02 Yeah. He got a seven. She tries to do this misses and just looks at you and hisses. That was so rude
Speaker 1 00:26:11 And so accurate.
Speaker 0 00:26:13 Calissa kind of looks at me and goes, yeah, whatever that is, you do have to catch me up. Like immediately. I want all of the gossip, probably not today though. Um, and then she kind of looks at fan and goes, how long do you think we actually have before they send somebody after us Fenn pulls out a pocket, watch squints at, it goes 20 minutes maybe. And he looks at the two of you and says, yeah, uh, things have been tense at the embassy in the last couple of days. I don't know what happened. I don't particularly want to know what happened, but, uh, this is the first time we've really been able to get out. And we think somebody was telling us, but we managed to lose them between, uh, there and here, Mia, from off to the side, cleaning their nails says, yeah, lost him. That's one word for it. Fence, head snaps, sideways to them. And he says, babe, we talked about this.
Speaker 1 00:27:19 Leo opens up this invitation and scans it really quick and then looks back up at fee. Okay. Well invitation to a big fancy folder and party. That's sort of along the vein of what we were hoping to accomplish.
Speaker 0 00:27:34 Fi looks unbearably smug. Yeah, it sure is. Calissa. You said we got these invites because of what I did on the news and Calissa kind of looks at her and then looks at you and then looks back at fie and goes, yeah, it seems so. She says, excellent. That's all I needed.
Speaker 1 00:27:57 I just want to know how is it that whenever I make dumb decisions that nothing good ever comes out of it,
Speaker 0 00:28:05 You see that same thing happened where something in Colossus jaw, just Titans for a second. She's more baring her teeth and smiling at you. As she says, just unlucky that way. I guess there is a moment of tense silence and then fences. Hey, fi how about, do you want to take a walk with me just around the park? I think we need to catch up for a minute. I wanted to show you the, this hydrangea Bush that they have way over there and the points and fees says, yes, I would love to do that fan. That sounds like a great idea.
Speaker 1 00:28:44 Leo gives FIA pleading look like, please don't leave me, but they're gone. It's fine.
Speaker 0 00:28:52 Colossae calls over her shoulder. Yeah, that was very subtle U2. Great. And Mia from off to the side says, you know, there is a lovely cafe just around the corner. I would kill for an espresso right now. I'm going to go get that. Y'all have fun.
Speaker 1 00:29:13 Leo will remember this abandonment in his time of need. He just stares at his shoes. He is not making eye contact with Calissa at all.
Speaker 0 00:29:23 Colossus size, super loud. Well, it could have been worse. They could have locked us in a broom closet.
Speaker 1 00:29:33 Yeah. They might as well have we need to talk don't mean
Speaker 0 00:29:40 Everybody else seems to think. So
Speaker 1 00:29:43 Leo wonders over to the nearest park bench and just sits down, staring straight out ahead of him.
Speaker 0 00:29:50 After a long moment, Colossus it's down next to you. She's also not looking at you. She's just picking out a loose thread in her tights.
Speaker 1 00:30:01 Leo closes his eyes and bunches of his hands in the fabric of his pants. Please just yell at me. Please. Just get mad. Just tell me what an asshole I am. It's going to be easier for both of us that way.
Speaker 0 00:30:25 Colossae let's out a humorless little laugh. Yeah. I would have loved to have yelled at you at any point. Over the last six years, Leo, I really would have loved to do that. Unfortunately, I didn't exactly know where you were or have any way to get in contact with you. Like perhaps an address to send letters to, or, you know, ascending spell
Speaker 1 00:31:00 Leo's jaw clenches. He is still not looking at her. He is still looking straight out ahead of him. Colossae I've already explained to a lot of people why I couldn't shoot off a Sunday anytime I wanted to. And let's be Frank with each other. You don't care about the explanation.
Speaker 2 00:31:22 Um, just,
Speaker 1 00:31:28 I'm going to shut up now. Just let me have it, please. Let's just get this over with.
Speaker 0 00:31:36 So what was that day on the mountain top? When we all thought you died the first time you had access to a sending spell or was there something stopping you from sending one to me for however long you had one before, Was there something stopping you from reaching out to me when I was living in Boulder and everybody knew where I was. And you could have just, Was there something stopping you from reaching out to me at any of the opportunities that you had? Or did you just not want to?
Speaker 1 00:32:15 I didn't know if I could trust you. I was running away from everything I had ever known falling out under my feet. My father, my sister, everyone was betraying me or at least that's what I thought was happening at the time. And I didn't, I didn't know if I could trust you. So I ran and I went to towards June and fucked everything up, which seems to be what I'm best at. And yeah, if I had the chance to do it over, I would have gone to you right out of the gate, but we don't get do-overs Calissa. You don't, I don't Kimbrell, no Soren. Didn't shit.
Speaker 0 00:33:12 Do not. You hear it, just a sniffle. And you watch out of the corner of your eye. One, his hands comes up to her face. Don't even talk to me about Soren right now. You were fucking gone, just ran and Soren wouldn't return my letters because he was getting into all this bullshit. And he didn't trust me to keep it a secret. And fi tried to fucking self isolate because she didn't trust me to stay safe in all of this. Like that's her job and Fen fucked off for a bit because he didn't trust me to take his side. And the argument that the two of them were having, and I am getting really sick of people telling me that they didn't trust me. Like that's supposed to make anything better. You just left. And I didn't hear anything. And my mom got sick and I found out my dad is not just a garden, variety, asshole. No, he's part of this huge conspiracy. That's killing people and soar and fucking died. And I needed my best friend.
Speaker 1 00:34:30 If I tell you, I'm sorry, is that going to fix anything?
Speaker 0 00:34:34 I guess we don't know because you haven't yet. All you've done is make excuses or acknowledge that you did something wrong and you have not once even implied that. You're sorry that you just ghosted me for six years. Not
Speaker 1 00:34:55 Once I am sorry. Colossae I am sorry. I am so sorry. I am keep you up at night. Eat you alive levels of sorry. And your mom is still sick and your dad is still an asshole and Soren is still dead. I am so sorry. And the world is still fucked up. Is that what you wanted to hear? Sorry, has a way of feeling real fucking hollow when the damage is already done, doesn't it. And I get it Calissa. That is what we have always been for each other. A free pass at forgiveness. We've heard always the people that would come to each other when we wanted, I'm sorry to be enough, but it's not. It's just not. Or at least it's not for me. Not anymore. So yeah. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. And if that makes you feel better, great, It doesn't make me feel better. It never will. Again,
Speaker 0 00:36:28 There's a long pause. And then Colossae says, what did I do to make it? So none of you trusted me Because I have been racking my brain. And I just can't think of, cause I spent our whole childhood just going with the flow and being fun to keep your spirits up. Colossae I forgave your bullshit. And I tried to get sore and out of his shell. And I smooth things over when Elena was too stubborn to apologize to anybody. And I did that. I was the one doing that Because that was all I had was just this one little group of friends, people that my fucking parents decided I should be friends with. And I wanted to keep it. I really want to do. And Elena is dead and Soren's dead and you don't trust me. I just don't know. But I did.
Speaker 1 00:37:38 Leo is still not looking at her, but he delays an open hand down on the bench in between them. I want to trust you. I want to be a good enough person that you don't feel like you have to forgive my bullshit. I want none of this to have ever happened, but since that's impossible, I, I want both of us to go out there and fix this fucked up world and maybe have a shot at Soren, actually being proud of either of us, Because that's what it always was. Colossae we forgave the worst in each other and he saw the best in both of us and he's gone. So we've got to step up. I want to see the best in you. Can you give me the benefit of the doubt and see the best in me?
Speaker 0 00:38:56 I don't know. I want to, but I, and Colossae stands up from the bench and he didn't think I need to shit. I need to get back to the embassy. I'm going to, if they catch us with you, then everything's blown and I need to go. And she walks further into the park calling for Fen.
Speaker 1 00:39:31 Fi you find yourself walking along this little path alongside a very clearly manmade lake in this park with fan at your side, he seems like he is trying to give you space to open up the conversation, but he is not making eye contact with you.
Speaker 0 00:39:55 He's not looking at him looking at the ground. She says, so Mia seems insufferable actually
Speaker 1 00:40:08 Fen stops in his tracks and the laughs. Yeah. They're uh, a bit of an acquired taste. I'll admit. And I mean, conversely, I don't know Sabine well enough to pass judgment on her, but the pirate king seems
Speaker 0 00:40:32 Right. It's like genuinely unfair and then fi stops and put the hand to her chest and goes camera's teeth. I could talk about boys with you now.
Speaker 1 00:40:42 Yeah, you can. I'd love you to, but I think that there are a couple things. The two of us need to parse out before we get to that point. He still don't looking at you. You see him reach down to a bag, slung over his shoulder and rifle around in it for a little bit. And then he pulls out a handful of dried fruit and throws it out to the ducks on the edge of this lake. First of all, I just I'm. Okay. I need you to know that I'm okay.
Speaker 0 00:41:24 That's good to hear. I am as well. Well, I died briefly, but I'm fine. Now you've
Speaker 1 00:41:34 Watched.
Speaker 0 00:41:36 It was a, it was a whole thing. Uh, and fee kind of reaches up and twirls the white streak in her hair around a finger. You said you're short on time. I'll explain in detail later, but suffice to say, I am no longer waiting for people to give me permission to be happy.
Speaker 1 00:41:59 Fen is still not holding eye contact with you, but he blinks a couple of times and looks down at his shoes. Yeah, that's good. I'm glad. Because at the end of the day, that's what we were. Weren't we just two really unhappy people trying to give each other an excuse to be happy.
Speaker 0 00:42:27 I never thought that deeply about it. Honestly. You're my best friend. He kind of raises her eyebrows at him. It's not like we didn't have fun, but you seem really happy. And I am very aware that you are a one person kind of man,
Speaker 1 00:43:00 Fen versus head back and laughs just kind of running a hand back through his hair. He turns over to you and makes eye contact with you for the first time since you've started talking. Yeah, well you're right. And Mia's indulgent on that front, but you still are. My one person fee that hasn't changed my understanding of what that means has evolved for sure. And whatever this was, whatever we were. I think we can both agree that it wasn't sustainable, but you're still my person. You're still my bottom line. There were a few months there where I thought you were dead. And Mia had to peel me, kicking and screaming off the ground. And I had to reevaluate my understanding of who I was and what I wanted and yeah, in the long run, that was good for me. But you were so gone.
Speaker 1 00:44:24 My life is better with you in it fee. And as far as the definition of you being in my life goes, I don't really care. As long as you're there. I love you. I always have. But it took being without you to make me realize who I am when there's not anybody around expecting anything as me and I like that guy. And I think that he could help you. So I'm glad we're both happy. And I just think that, and before Fen can finish that thought Colossae comes rushing across the park and gets him by the back of the shirt and starts dragging him off. Okay. Fen. We need to go back to the embassy. Where is Mia?
Speaker 0 00:45:28 Oh, oh, oh, okay. Uh, and also we need to arrange another meeting where we can parse some things out. There's some paranoia to resolve and it's, I'll see you too later.
Speaker 1 00:45:41 Colossae just hauls him off. And he raises with one hand in a goodbye wave to you. And briefly you are left standing alone by the height of this lake. After a minute, Leo comes over and stands next to you with these invitations clutched. In his hand, he looks out over the surface of the lake and just goes, all right, guests, we got to deal with this. Now
Speaker 0 00:46:10 I guess we do fees are going to reach out and clap them on the shoulder and say chin up. It's been a while since we got to go to a good party. So Leo, after you, I would assume brief your aunt Nora on what was going on with these invites. She got into contact with your uncle bias, which is how you find yourself standing in your aunt's sitting room. All the furniture has been pushed against the walls as your uncle Burris, hands behind his back in a sort of posture that you are very familiar with because it very much resembles kind of the way that fi conducts herself in courtly situations. And you've seen your father do this once or twice says, all right. So if we're going to this party then for both the sake of your political maneuvering and my reputation, because I'm related to you, I need to teach you how to not embarrass yourselves. I am also invited to this gala and I am going to invite Nora because we need some extra muscle who are the three of you taking? He says to you fee and the captain
Speaker 1 00:47:31 Well in the vein of needing extra muscle, I hope we won't end up in a situation where we need to punch our way out. But if we do, I can't think of anybody better to take them Zed.
Speaker 0 00:47:45 Your uncle Bray is tilts his head a little bit and says, that's the large gentlemen with the, and he gestures as if, to make a shape of like tusks in front of his mouth.
Speaker 1 00:47:55 My boyfriend. Yes.
Speaker 0 00:48:00 Right? That'll do. And then he turns to fee and the captain fee looking at him and not glancing at the captain says, I'd like to take Ms. Enmar. There is a certain secret society that we believe has a presence here. And if things get complicated, it would do to have multiple members of that society with us. The captain kind of gives her a weird look and then says, I, and in that vein, I'll be invited. My wife brass nods says right. If someone would go get all of those people.
Speaker 1 00:48:42 Yeah. All go,
Speaker 0 00:48:44 All right. You head over to the dining room where everybody else is sitting down to lunch. As your uncle prepares to grill you about party etiquette. It seems
Speaker 1 00:48:54 Leo crosses his arms over his chest and leans in the doorway. All right, everybody lunch looks delicious. Zed, Sabine. Arivale we need you in the sitting room. Presently
Speaker 0 00:49:07 Zev gets up without question. Arivale kind of raises the hand and goes, uh, Y
Speaker 1 00:49:14 Congratulations, Ms. Enmar. You have scored an invite to the Voltaren social event of the year. Courtesy of my sister. Any further questions or can we go?
Speaker 0 00:49:24 Sabine wins is, as you say that, but she and air they're both going to get up and Eleanora from further down the table puts down her cutlery, wipes her mouth with a napkin and says, ah, I should probably be involved in this too.
Speaker 1 00:49:39 I mean, Elanora, I'd love to have you there with us, but the invites are pretty strictly limited to a plus one. And we're kind of maxed out
Speaker 0 00:49:49 Elenora winces a little bit. And she says, yeah, I, I know at the plus one, your friend Colossae invited me.
Speaker 1 00:49:59 Leo tilts his head, the side, but then straightens up and nods. Okay. If you want to tag along, you're more than welcome. Everybody else enjoy the rest of your lunch. And he's going to shepherd them all out of the dining room
Speaker 0 00:50:15 From across the whole, in the sitting room, you hear your uncle Berea cl you to Nora and your aunt Nora sighs and pushes herself back from the table and goes, all right, fancy parties. Great. And you all head back over to the sitting room and now it is time for Boulder and finishing school with uncle Bray.
Speaker 1 00:50:40 Oh, sudden the captain are going to do so great with this.
Speaker 0 00:50:44 Yeah. They're just both such pictures of decorum and fancy sensibilities.
Speaker 1 00:50:52 Why did I make that choice?
Speaker 0 00:50:57 You all pile into the sitting room, your uncle brass claps. His hands says, all right. Anyone who knows how to do the evil during waltz, raise your hands.
Speaker 1 00:51:08 Leo puts a hand up
Speaker 0 00:51:10 FISA an and Arivale and Nora all also raise a hand and your uncle brace pinches, the bridge of his nose says, all right, this should be good. If you could all. And then he gestures pair up, pair up a princess, Ash thorn. And then he kind of looks between her and Nora and goes, all, teach you how to do it. The height discrepancy might be a problem. Otherwise
Speaker 1 00:51:38 Leo grabs Zed by the hand and runs his free hand back through his hair kind of nervously. Um, yeah, I know how to do this dance, but I learned it when I was a really little kids. So I don't know how to lead. I'll help you out as best I can.
Speaker 0 00:51:58 Zed gives you kind of a crooked smile and he goes, I'll do my best here bus. And he puts his other hand on your hip and says, just tell me what we're doing elsewhere. In the sitting room. You're aunt Nora kind of sits down on one of the couches. That's pushed up against the wall. You see fie and Arivale get each other by the hand, looking supremely awkward. And he says, I'll go ahead and lead. Meanwhile, Sabine is like, micro-managing where the captain is putting his hands. As they prepare to try and do a waltz, you catch him in the middle of an impressive eyebrow waggle. And Sabine says, don't say it. And the captain replies wouldn't dream of it. Last, your uncle Bray is very stiffly grabs. Elanora to try to teach her how to waltz. They've talked to like twice it's awkward. And then he says, Nora, if you could start the music and your aunt Nora obliges grabs the contraption that you were listening to the news on last week, turns it on and slow drifting. Classical music starts to play. I'm going to go ahead and ask you to roll a performance check, to try and teach them the Boulder and Woltz.
Speaker 1 00:53:16 Okay. I only have plus two to performance. So this should be good. Five.
Speaker 0 00:53:27 So I'm going to roll for Baret as teaching Eleanora, how to waltz natural 15. Okay. That'll do it. And then I went to roll for civilian teaching. The captain had a waltz at 27. So Baret is very functionally teaching Eleanora the steps. Um, I think he is while leading teaching her how to lead, you are trying to teach you that this dance, but it's been a while since you've had to waltz. And the last time you did it was with Soren. Zed is quite a bigger dude than Soren was. So you kind of misjudge what you're doing and he doesn't know how to do this dance at all. So you step on his foot and he like trips and laughs you both stumble. And he just like catches you just arm around her waist.
Speaker 0 00:54:30 We're going to bring the house down. You and I, he just it's. Yeah, we're going to be the talk of the fucking party. All right. And then you to reorient yourselves Sabine and the captain are doing very well. They are just whirling on the other side of the sitting room as fee and era, they re familiarize themselves with the steps of the stance. The caption is being whirl a little bit closer to them. And Sabine, a little breathlessly says, dip me, dear the captain obliges, and just sweeps her into a low dip. Her hair is loose around her shoulders instead of in the braid crown that it usually is. So it just like brushes the floor and you watch FI's shoulders get a little tense. And she nods your uncle Barry Reyes, as he is trying to teach Illinois this dance and doing pretty well says, all right.
Speaker 0 00:55:36 So as far as will Dern party etiquette, it is polite when you are introduced to someone to shake their hands. I know that's somewhat disorienting for the Austrians in the room, but one in Boulder we must do as the childrens do, when you are introduced to someone and then he yanks Eleanor I and do a spin. And he says, sorry about that. Mustache Lauren, uh, when you were introduced to someone, it is polite to not use their title. If you know their first name, the act of introduction assumes that your societal standing as close enough to theirs, that using their title is a bit over formal. Just get used to it. Everyone will be referring to you by your first names after introductions. Don't think about it too much. Uh, what else? And as the music shifts over to the next song, he says, if anyone toasts to the emperor and you do not join in, it may be and has been in the past enough grounds to suspect sedition. I am not kidding. Just raise the goddamn glass and for the love of cameras, since this is the one that most of us are going to come into contact with, do not take the last of anything on any order of tray, unless it is offered to you directly. In which case it's impolite to refuse. I do not care how little you want to eat. Anything else. If you must throw up, dude in seclusion, you will hardly be the only one.
Speaker 1 00:57:06 Can I roll again to see have said, and I are getting any better at this.
Speaker 0 00:57:10 Yeah. Real performance again,
Speaker 1 00:57:15 Not 2022, not 20.
Speaker 0 00:57:21 Your uncle's going over more of the minutia of Boulder and party etiquette, but you kind of stop paying attention because as the music picks up Zed who has had a lot of practice in controlling his body and his movements will say, and who is just as graceful as you, if not more so picks up on what the dance is supposed to be settles into. It starts whirling you around a little faster and he is grinning at you as he does. And he goes, so, uh, it's something like this, right?
Speaker 1 00:58:00 Leo grins back at him and decides to get fancy with it and does a little twirl. Yeah, I think you're on the right track.
Speaker 0 00:58:09 Zips grin gets a little more mischievous and he says, and if we want to be impressive, we just, and then he dips you
Speaker 1 00:58:18 Leo, but loved come up with a witty retort right now, but all of the breath has mysteriously left his body. He just looks up and said with this breathless open mouth smile,
Speaker 0 00:58:34 Zed is grinning down at you. And then the spell is broken as your uncle calls out. Good work, Mr. Sound bloom, moving on and then said, Yangtze backup. Right. And breathing heavily and goes, yeah, I think we can have some fun with this
Speaker 1 00:58:59 Fi a couple more days pass before this big gala that is being held at the vulgar and museum of art and artifice. Your uncle Boris is over at the house daily, trying to coach you on Voltaren party etiquette, making sure that you know, the relevant people that you're going to need to talk to during the party, all of those sorts of things. And the evening of the big event finds you in your shared room with the captain and Sabine, the three of you have adopted sort of an assembly line to help each other get ready. You are in the process of helping Sabine lace up her dress while she is in the process of trying to teach the captain, how to tie a crevasse. You are in that slinky black beaded, low backed dress that you bought at the Australian boutique with. And Adrian last week, Sabine is in this gorgeous gold, full skirted ball gown with sheer fabric across the bodice and long bell sleeves done up with beautiful red beading and embroidery.
Speaker 1 01:00:09 And the captain is in brand new knee-high boots with very nice breaches and a cleanly pressed shirt. And the crevasse that Sabine is currently helping him tie with this beautiful Juul tone blue velvet overcoat on with rich gold embroidery accents. He is complaining violently throughout this whole process. It is the first time you've seen him in a shirt that actually has buttons. And the more he complains, the more Sabine just kind of yanks him around, tying this crevasse almost by force. By the end of it, he looks at the two of you reaches into the pocket of this beautiful blue overcoat and pulls out a flask. Waggles it at you right then is that. And I have elected to a pre-game a bitch before tonight's festivities. It's the only way we're going to survive the evening, see you later. And he strides out of the room and lets the door swing shut behind him. You are left alone with Sabine who brushes down the front of her dress with very careful posture and then reaches down to check at the buckles of her bells around her wrists. Okay, well the policy of the party is obviously going to be no weapons. So you can't take your shield in, should we maybe figure out a way for you to sneak in your wand?
Speaker 0 01:01:39 That would probably be best. I've stuck it down my course at before, but there's a and fee kind of looks down at her chest, not a lot of room in this ensemble.
Speaker 1 01:01:52 So be it makes a very Valiant effort to not GOK at you kind of fixing her eyes on the wall behind your shoulder. Yes. And, um, it's not like you have a lot of space in that dress to hide something without it being visible. So how about I take it since my skirt's a little bigger and if things break bad, I just throw it to you. Sure.
Speaker 0 01:02:19 And then she's gonna get her wand and hand it to Sabine grip side. First.
Speaker 1 01:02:26 She takes it and tucks it into the voluminous folds of her skirt. Okay. It's jewelry. What are we thinking?
Speaker 0 01:02:37 I'm thinking I should bring my necklace that lets me throw a fireball at anybody. Just in case things get froggy. I've got a few charges left
Speaker 1 01:02:47 Sabine nods reaches over to the vanity where you have stored all of your accessories and stuff and motions for you to sit down.
Speaker 0 01:02:56 Okay. If he does that,
Speaker 1 01:02:58 You watch her in the mirror. As she drapes this necklace around your neck and works on fastening it and her face goes very grim and serious for a moment. You're still angry with me.
Speaker 0 01:03:18 What gave you that idea?
Speaker 1 01:03:21 She's fussing with the clasp of the necklace eyes fixed on that and her lips press into a thin line. Oh, no reason. It's definitely not that you and the captain made the decision to go off and do something incredibly risky without consulting me first. And it's definitely not the fact that you were the first person I want to come to with strategic planning, which we could really use tonight. But I feel like I cannot even be in the same room as you, without someone else there. This is the first time we've been alone together since the incident with your father. And I feel like something is about to blow up in my face. So yes, you are still angry with me. I would appreciate it. If you would just come out and say it
Speaker 0 01:04:12 Fine. Yes. I'm still angry and no, you're not sorry. So if you want to plan let's plan, but let's not talk about this in the interest of remaining civil,
Speaker 1 01:04:30 She is finished with the necklace and has started adjusting the fabric of the gift of the storm burner that you have draped across one shoulder and in the mirror, you see her eyebrows pinched together. I'm not interested in keeping things civil. I love you. So if you want to fight, let's fight. If you want to yell at me, yell at me, but I Don't want being with you to be just another thing. I have to dance around fee. You're right. I'm not sorry. I made the right decision in that moment. Even if it was something that none of you agreed with Leo thought he had a shot and I trusted him and I don't regret it, but I do regret the fallout. I regret whatever this is. So if we need to fight, let's just do it. Let's just have the knockdown drag out. Before we go into a situation where we need to stick together
Speaker 0 01:05:40 Fi size and then says, I love you too. That's why I'm angry. So let's just get through tonight and we can talk about it later. And then she's going to stand up and start pulling her hair into a braid, again, picking the white streak out with the finger and then say, can you just place me up so we can go,
Speaker 1 01:06:13 Sabine looks absolutely gutted, but then she moves around behind your back and starts fussing with the laces of your dress. Yeah. Yeah. Let's just get this over with.
Speaker 0 01:06:35 So Leo, you are in the room that you share with Zed, both of you getting dressed for the party that is regretfully doing it. The last button on his shirt, he's got a very long, like high stiff collared kind of outdoor style shirt on long sleeves, almost down to his knees. It's this like burnished kind of bronzy gold color with almost vine leg detailing in black. And it's embroidered in such a way that against the fabric, it almost looks like it's engraved. And as he's doing the last button up, he says, remind me again, why I had to cover up and you're wearing a, and he looks you up and down raises his eyebrows, smiles a little bit. That Leo, you are wearing a set of, uh, Cherian style robes in this glossy diaphanous black slit up to the thigh and a long flowing jacket with a clasp in metal. That's like pretty much the same color as that shirt like that. Burnished bronzy gold. The clasps are this skeletal hand splayed across your neck. And it clasps shut where the knuckles meet the bones in the Palm. And you also have in that same bronzey gold color, this rib cage chest piece fastened around your chest. It is gloriously slutty.
Speaker 1 01:08:23 Good, excellent. It's what he deserves. Leo is sitting at the vanity, putting the finishing touches on his makeup and looks up at Zen, the mirror smirks and goes because there's a lot riding on the fact that I'm the one on the menu for public consumption tonight. And you do clean up really nice.
Speaker 0 01:08:48 He stops fussing with his jacket to grab his hair and put it into a bun on top of his head. And he smirks at you as he says. Yeah. So I've been told, glad you like what you see. Bus
Speaker 1 01:09:03 Leo finishes touching up his eyeliner grins and then stands up and walks over to Zed and turns around you look amazing, honey, can you help me lace up this back part? I just can't reach it.
Speaker 0 01:09:21 He grabs the laces on your robes. You feel them tug as he wraps them around his fingers and pulls you a little closer sure thing. And you feel him start lacing up the back of your robes. And then as he finishes up, he leans forward and around. So his mouth is near your ear. And he says, I promised the captain, I had a pre-game with him. So neither of us have to deal with this party. Yeah. Completely sober. But, and then one more tug on the laces of your robes. Looking forward to showing off some moves with you on the dance floor. Leo.
Speaker 1 01:10:12 Yeah, me too. I just got to get my jewelry sorted and I'll meet you downstairs.
Speaker 0 01:10:21 Sure thing. And he lets go of your robes and walks out.
Speaker 1 01:10:29 Okay. So Leo needs a minute to recover from that. But eventually he sets about getting in his various earrings for the night, putting on a couple other accessories. And I'd like to invoke one of my new Phantom rogue features. If that's okay.
Speaker 0 01:10:48 He asked her, what are you doing?
Speaker 1 01:10:51 Um, so I have this thing with my Phantom rogue stuff called whispers of the dead within the rules. It says echoes of those who have died, cling to you. Whenever you finish a short or long rest, you could choose one skill or tool proficiency that you lack and gain it as a ghostly presence shares its knowledge with you. You lose this proficiency when you use this feature to choose a different proficiency that you lack. So I don't know what I need going into this. I'm going to let you as a DM pick, but I'd like to pick up an extra proficiency going into this party. Leo kind of sits there at the vanity grabs at where Kim rolls blade has been sitting on top of the table and just starts fiddling with it.
Speaker 0 01:11:43 As you do that, you've been feeling kind of twinges of muscle pains. Since your father CAS power word pain on you last week, you feel another one of those as you're sitting there, just this weird twinge going up your spine and you kind of bow forward. And when you look up into the mirror, so we're in Chicago, standing behind you.
Speaker 1 01:12:16 Leo sits back in his chair, shakes his head super hard and screws his eyes shut. What happens when he opens them again?
Speaker 0 01:12:28 This image of Soren is still there in the mirror. He's taken a couple steps closer. He doesn't look totally solid. You can kind of see through him a little bit and he doesn't look exactly how you remember him. His hair started going gray at the temples. He has a big crack going up one lens of his glasses. And he is in extremely disheveled and rumpled looking formal, where He meets your eyes in the mirror. He reaches out and you almost feel the memory of a touch at the small of your back. And then the memory of a kiss as he leans forward. And you watch this semi-solid image, presses lips to your cheek, and then he disappears and you are proficient in investigation until you choose to invoke this feature. Again,
Speaker 1 01:13:41 Leo reaches up to press a hand to his cheek where he just felt that kiss and then pivots it around to cover his mouth. As he lets out a few gut-wrenching sobs, But then he stands up. Make sure his makeup looks okay, smooth down the front of his robes and walks downstairs to meet everybody. And that's where we're going to end this week. Oh no. Oh no bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad wonder. What's going on with that? Huh? Guess we'll find out next time on compelled dual
Speaker 1 01:14:49 Hey everybody Barry here with the postscript, just clearing up a couple of housekeeping things here at the end of the episode, as always, I'm going to go ahead and plug our social media profiles. You can find us on Twitter, Tumblr and talk at compelled duel. We have lots of other cool stuff going on, like an official Spotify profile and official website. You can find all of that stuff linked on our social media pages. You can also find us on YouTube, where we post a weekly Q and a live stream where we answer questions about the latest episode. And generally just have a good time. We'd love to have you subscribe and see you come out for one of those. That'd be great if you're enjoying what you're hearing so far on the show we ask that you consider heading over to patrion.com/compelled dual and checking out some of our patron benefits starting at just $2 a month.
Speaker 1 01:15:38 You can get access to lots of cool stuff like early access to episodes, access to exclusive Playlist's on the Spotify account. And even at higher tiers, things like wax sealed handwritten letters from your favorite character every month. If you're interested in supporting the podcast in ways, other than pledging to the Patriots, we ask that if you're listening to us on apple podcasts that you consider leaving us a rating and a review, since that helps get the show promoted to a wider audience and is always word of mouth advertising is the best thing that we have going for us in terms of getting our name out there. So if you like what you're hearing on the show, just tell a friend about it. And if they like it, ask them to tell a friend as well, our next episode, we'll be going live on Friday, December 31st, 2021 new year's Eve. Or if you are a member of our Patrion, you will have early access to that on Thursday, December 30th next week should be exciting. We'll see you then.
