Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Hey Al Hey Barry,
Speaker 1 00:00:03 Why should you not take a broken spear into battle?
Speaker 0 00:00:06 Please tell me.
Speaker 1 00:00:08 Well, I mean, it's kind of pointless. It's time for compelled dual. Hello everybody. And welcome back to compelled dual I'm Barry
Speaker 0 00:00:29 And I'm Al
Speaker 1 00:00:31 And we are a single player, co DM, D and D five E actual play podcast
Speaker 0 00:00:36 Previously on compelled dual. I am having some what of a difficult few weeks. Yes. You know what? With the being framed for a murder and being arrested and finding out a lot of troubling information about my family history and being kidnapped, and I woke up in a dumpster and then I killed a person.
Speaker 1 00:01:00 Yeah, I've been there.
Speaker 0 00:01:03 You are the closest to home. You have been in seven years and as you draw closer, something weird happens. We're on the wrong side of the island captain.
Speaker 1 00:01:18 We're looking at those odds. And the best thing we can come up with is soap. Natural
Speaker 0 00:01:26 20
Speaker 1 00:01:28 Fee. You fully hang 10 on this wave. So that is 17 bludgeoning damage as Leo just absolutely eats shit on this beach co bun. Good
Speaker 0 00:01:43 Dudes, Dozens of Kimaya priests. Start to flood out of these buildings.
Speaker 1 00:01:52 Okay. Abort mission will come back later. Go, go, go, go, go, go.
Speaker 0 00:01:57 A dark shape comes out of a tree at you and tackles you flat to the ground.
Speaker 1 00:02:06 Last time I'm asking who are you?
Speaker 0 00:02:10 This figure, shakes their head again, looking troubled. And then one glove hand goes up to the mask over the lower half of their face and pulls it down. And Leo, you are looking at your mother Softly almost. Hopefully she says layer
Speaker 1 00:02:38 Mom.
Speaker 0 00:02:49 We find ourselves on the island of looks to go in a clearing in the woods where Ferara and layer of sine decided to stop for the night after being chased for quite a while, by a large force of the islands priests, We find Leo backed up against a fallen tree, trunk and fee holding her. SHEEO a few feet away, both staring at a figure, seated on the ground. That by all appearances is arch DUS, a Donna Val sign. What are you doing?
Speaker 1 00:03:36 Fucking dissociating a good minute. But as he fights his way back to lucidity, he tends us, his jaw tightens his grip on his knife and does not drop the prepared blight spell that he has as he takes a couple steps closer to this person on the ground. What's my favorite color.
Speaker 0 00:03:58 Still being extremely shell shocked by this turn of events. This figure on the ground has her eyebrows pinched together. Looks like she's thinking and just absent mindedly. Doesn't even think about it. Just replies yellow. What, what is going?
Speaker 1 00:04:14 What's my best friend's name. What was my least favorite thing to study in my lessons? What was the name of the stuffed owl bear that you got me when I was 25? And if you can't answer these, and this is some kind of trick, it is not gonna end well for you.
Speaker 0 00:04:29 This woman kneeling on the ground, shakes her head sharply. And again, absent mindedly as she starts moving her hands in. What appeared to be the somatic components for a spell. She, she says Elena ORSA, depending on the day, you hated magical theory. And the, the elbow was, was Her hands start to spread. And you see this glowing, like cat's cradle of magical threads between her hands. It doesn't look how you remember your mother's magic looking. It's warped and disconnected. There are some loose dangling threads. A few of them meet up where they're not supposed to. It's strange. She shakes her head again and goes, oh, what was the out's name? It was
Speaker 1 00:05:24 Count feathers. Be
Speaker 0 00:05:27 That's it that's yes, yes, yes. That's it.
Speaker 1 00:05:31 Leo drops his knife on the ground And then sprints over slides to his knees and pulls his mother into his arms. And he is bawling his eyes out out.
Speaker 0 00:05:44 She startles as you get up in her personal space and this blowing cat's cradle of magic flickers, and then disappears. And she hugs you back super tight.
Speaker 1 00:05:58 Leo is like inconsolable. He has gone from a grown ass man to a confused and scared little kid in less than a second.
Speaker 0 00:06:08 <laugh>
Speaker 3 00:06:10 I thought you were dead. They took you and I thought you were dead. And then it was my fault.
Speaker 0 00:06:15 She's hugging you back super hard. She rubs a circle between your shoulder blades and pets your hair down and over her shoulder. You see feet still standing there a couple feet away, both hands raised in confusion.
Speaker 1 00:06:34 Leo stops crying immediately like mid sob eyes going wide and horrified. Oh fuck. This is about to be awkward.
Speaker 0 00:06:45 A Donna starts to pull back with a confused noise. What, what what's going to be awkward and fee over her shoulder just starts taking frantic throat, slashing motions.
Speaker 1 00:06:59 Uh, mom, this is
Speaker 0 00:07:03 No one. I am No one at all.
Speaker 1 00:07:08 I don't know how down for this particular course of action Leo actually is, but he's not gonna argue it right now because there is way too much going on in his head. He just sort of stands up and swipes a hand under both of his eyes. Okay. We've um, we've gotta go find shelter somewhere. Those priests are still out here.
Speaker 0 00:07:31 Your mom shakes her head blanks a couple times also swipes a hand under both of her eyes and says, uh, right, right. Um, I have somewhere and then she just walks off.
Speaker 1 00:07:45 Leo follows her, but not before turning around to fee and mouthing. No one
Speaker 0 00:07:52 Fee just shakes her head and does another throat slashing motion.
Speaker 4 00:07:58 Okay. You know what? I think that sometimes being a good big brother means letting you make your own mistakes. So I'll play along with this as long as you want me to fee, but I wanna go on the record as saying that this particular deception is gonna bite you in the ass. Do you know how much I got away with as a child?
Speaker 5 00:08:17 I'm sure you'll tell me
Speaker 4 00:08:19 Nothing. I got away
Speaker 5 00:08:20 With nothing because my mother sees the future. She has knives and I am the BA child. The destroyed her marriage, Leo
Speaker 0 00:08:31 From a few feet away through the trees. Your mother says, sorry, what are you two talking about?
Speaker 1 00:08:37 Nothing,
Speaker 0 00:08:38 Mom. <laugh>
Speaker 1 00:08:40 He jogs up ahead of fee to fall into step with a Donna. But as he does that, he uses the Bracer to zap Kim's blade back from where he dropped it on the ground and sort of twirls it and casts a sending spell to Z. The message says, so a lot just happened. We're safe, but we couldn't get the islands defenses disabled. Trying again later, I'll explain when I can love you.
Speaker 0 00:09:11 As you're walking, your mom reaches out and just loops your fingers. Your sleeve and Zed sends a message back that says, I love you too. The hell. Do you mean a lot happened?
Speaker 1 00:09:28 Uh, Leo's got another third level spell slot available. He's going to do another sending. Will you see actually, no, I discuss this with you through ascending spell I'm okay. I need some time to process this. I'll tell you later,
Speaker 0 00:09:47 Almost immediately. Zed sends back cool, totally normal. And not at all. Ominous sending spell to receive as always love you. Boss.
Speaker 1 00:09:59 Leo Winston is zaps the knife back into his Bracer and then brings up his free hand to close around where his mom's fingers are wrapped up in his sleeve. Just clinging to her like a child being ushered across a busy street. And he keeps walking fee. You are through this dark forest, across Lux, Toga, a few yards behind your brother and his mom, apparently who is alive apparently. How are you feeling? And what are you doing?
Speaker 0 00:10:44 Oh, thank you for asking. I'm feeling absolutely cuckoo bananas
Speaker 6 00:10:49 <laugh>
Speaker 0 00:10:51 And I'm trying to be very quiet. So everyone forgets that I'm here.
Speaker 1 00:10:56 Fortunately for you. That is a pretty easy task to accomplish a Donna and Leo are just cling to each other. A few paces ahead of you sort of leaning in towards each other as they walk forward. After a few more minutes of walking, you see a Donna, pull that mask back up over her face and pull her hood back up. And she almost disappears into the night. You have to utilize every bit of your dark vision and really squint to even see are moving. Even from right next to Leo. As you notice this, you see her pull out this very rough hue, improvised, almost looking wand. And then there is a
Speaker 1 00:11:46 And a ripple of softly, glowing silver threads of magic that come out from her draping over the leaf covered ground at your feet in like a 15 foot radius, you guys are gonna have to roll a stealth check to get out of these woods unseen. But a Donna has just cast a pass without a trace spell on the three of you. And we'll be digging into this a little bit further later, but yeah, in her 75 odd years, apparently Ram around this island, a Donna is not just a wizard anymore. She has picked up a few levels in gloom, stalker ranger. So everybody's rolling stealth, but because of pass without a trace, we're all getting plus 10 on top of our original stealth modifiers fee gets 23. Okay. A Donna Getz, a 25 and Leo Getz. Well, I rolled a 14, but that's a 39. You guys are not found. The three of you are like ghosts in the night, weaving back and forth between these tall slender pine trees up. What seems to be a small mountain on one side of the island, a Donna very clearly knows where she's going. She's just sort of tugging Leo along behind her. And you're following in their footsteps and your journey ends in a all cave sticking out of an outcropping of black rock. You almost miss it. It's like your eyes want to glaze over it.
Speaker 7 00:13:29 Hmm. That's
Speaker 1 00:13:30 Weird. Okay. Before you can think about it too much, a Donna let's go of Leo and walks very confidently into this and fully fucking disappears. It is not a stealth thing. It is not a, her being well camouflaged thing. She walks into the mouth of this cave and she is there one second. And then she is gone. Okay. I don't like that at all. As you draw up, even with Leo, you see him looking panic into this cave. Yeah, me either mom and then a Donna's head pokes back out of the cave. Just her head. It's weird. There is this plane of now you are able to infer magical darkness across the mouth of this cave. And she has just barely stuck her head out beyond the boundary of, she looks back and forth between the two of you and gives you this slow, hesitant smile. Oh, it's okay. Um, it's a private Santo spell. Nobody will be able to find us in here. It's gonna be a little tight with three of us and not exactly the palace, but it'll do,
Speaker 0 00:14:44 Do I know what a private Santos spell is?
Speaker 1 00:14:49 You can roll an check
Speaker 0 00:14:51 21.
Speaker 1 00:14:53 Oh yeah. You absolutely know what it does. It's not a kind of magic that you can cast. It is a spell from the school of AB, but you have learned enough in your magic lessons with the Laha to know that a private Santo spell essentially secures an area from detection, both through physical means or through means of things like divination spells. There are protections. You can impose on an area with a spell where people can't teleport into it. People can't SCR inside of it. People can't see inside of it. You would guess that's why a Donna, his head is like floating out of the darkness at you right now, thinking about it as a magician yourself, it seems like a pretty smart idea for her to have done this here because it's a dark cave and nobody's gonna be able to see inside of it. So this place is probably pretty safe as far as you can tell.
Speaker 0 00:15:52 Uh, okay, if he's gonna grab Leo and go in the cave,
Speaker 1 00:16:02 You walk into this cave and you can feel yourself passing the barrier of this private Santo spell almost immediately behind you hear all of the noises of the forest, completely stop. They are replaced by the crackle of a fire and the slow drip of water in a D cave. And as you look around, you see that arch DUS Donna vals sign has apparently been making her home in this cave for a long time. It's very smoky in here. The whole place is lit up by a low burning fire in the center of the cave, casting everything into shadows on the wall, on the stone. You, you can see these tally marks innumerable tally marks etched in with some kind of sharp implement almost as if marking days, weeks, the passage of time. Somehow In one far corner, there is a bedroom that consists of foliage from the forest covered by animal hides and scraps of scavenged fabric. There are bundles of drying herbs hanging from the ceiling. And right next to the fire, you see this huge hunk of obsidian. It would take somebody, a two armed grip to lift that has been hollowed out into a shallow bowl, filled with water. After watching your brother cast crying several times, you can conjecture that this is a homemade crying focus.
Speaker 1 00:17:51 You watch a Donna pause right inside the barrier of this private Santo spell and start shedding all of the outer layers of her clothing. So her hooded cloak her mask, all of that stuff, Leaving her in mismatched leather armor, and a set of very simple worn clothes underneath it. She curls up on the floor of this cave next to the fire looks up at Leo and raises an eyebrow. All right, well, there are a lot of unanswered questions going on right now. I think the one we should focus on is what are you doing here? LA Leo still looks really shaken up, but he does hold himself down onto the floor next to her and stare into the fire for a couple seconds before taking a deep shaky breath and beginning to speak. He tells her everything. But during this whole story, this history of how the two of you got to where you are, you know that a couple different times, he makes eye contact with you fee and elects to leave you out of the story, because that is what you indicated to him that you wanted. So rather than explaining why he left AIA, he just says he had to leave rather than explaining how he ended up in <inaudible>. He just says that he did.
Speaker 1 00:19:23 And the longer he talks, the more confused you see a Donna getting, There are moments it's throughout this narrative where she'll close her eyes and shake her head. And you'll see that gleaming cat's cradle of magic pop up between her fingers again, but it flickers and jolts in an odd way and whatever answers she's looking for inside of it, don't seem to come to her. Leo finishes catching her up and she looks like she is on a Razor's edge mentally, But then she swallows really hard. Shakes her head again and hides it, Hides it well enough for Leo not to notice, but you do. Okay. And you said that you had friends waiting in the water beyond the island. That means we'll have to take down the magical defenses.
Speaker 2 00:20:23 That's
Speaker 1 00:20:24 Gonna be a big day. You should rest, sweetheart. I'll take first watch, go take your trance. We opens his mouth to argue and a Donna's eyebrows creep a little further up her forehead now. And he very meekly goes and curls up on this bedroom and lays down
Speaker 1 00:20:45 Fur as wound up as Leo is from all of the recent events. He is also fucking exhausted and falls into his trance before too awfully long. A Donna kind of sits down next to the bedroom that he's laying on and pets his hair until his breathing evens out. And he's clearly trancing. As soon as he's out, she Springs into action vaults across the cave starts hauling at this big flat stone that is perched against the wall and pulls it away to reveal a hollowed out little cavity in the stone that is stuffed full of scrap apps of paper. That look do have been collected over the years. She ruffles through this pile for a bit and then pulls out one little scrap of paper and a tiny nub of charcoal and just Huns over it next to the fire and starts scribbling. Frantically
Speaker 0 00:21:49 Fee has just been sitting. There are ringing her hands. She opens her mouth, closes it, and then awkward and halting says, uh, are you right?
Speaker 1 00:22:08 She startles a bit. And then just blinks her Lee shakes her head and goes back to scribbling on the paper. Oh, um, thank you for asking. It's just, I have to write things down. You see, he can change the things that you remember, but not the things that you write down. I had will have, have a hollowed up piece of my desk at the palace where I keep
Speaker 0 00:22:36 Kept
Speaker 1 00:22:38 Everything Hold on.
Speaker 0 00:22:43 Oh, um, that, that was a long time ago then.
Speaker 1 00:22:53 No, that's not right. I, I haven't been here for that long. Have I hold on. And she reaches behind her out more of that pile of papers and starts riling through it. I'm sorry. I'm
Speaker 0 00:23:10 <laugh>,
Speaker 1 00:23:11 I'm probably not making any sense. Sometimes I just get lost,
Speaker 0 00:23:19 Right? I, I I'm I'm I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 00:23:24 She looks up at you and the two of you lock eyes. And for a moment you can see her very clearly fighting for lucidity. You don't have to be sorry about any of this. It's not your fault. I know who you are by the way,
Speaker 0 00:23:45 Fie. Lyes
Speaker 1 00:23:48 A Donna looks at these mismatched papers in her hands with a tired, bitter little smile. You don't look anything like him. What's your name? I assume that it's different now than it was, is will be hold on on
Speaker 0 00:24:10 URA. It's I'm fur
Speaker 1 00:24:16 URA. Got it. She goes back to scribbling on her papers and you can see her writing your name in big block letters. She looks over at where Leo is still trancing and then back to you frowning, like she's trying to parse out some sort of really complicated math problem. So I'm guessing that you are what fills in all the blanks in his story
Speaker 0 00:24:44 Fee. Just Huns out on ourself, looking into the fire. Yeah, I, um, things weren't great between the two of us for a very long time.
Speaker 1 00:25:00 She pauses and tilts her head to the side in a way that is eerily reminiscent of Leo. When he is trying to parse things out in whatever grand plan he's working on, she scribbles down a few more things on this paper under where she's written your name, but that's not the case anymore.
Speaker 0 00:25:23 No, it's not good guess,
Speaker 1 00:25:28 Oh, it's not a guest, dear. He lied to his mother for you. That means he cares a lot.
Speaker 0 00:25:37 If possible fee hunt is in even further on herself. Yeah, I know. I sorry for lying to you and for making Leo lie to you, I just wasn't sure things would end well if we just came out and said who I was given everything,
Speaker 1 00:26:03 The little bit of charcoal that she has her hand pauses over the surface of the paper, and she watches you for a long time in this long stretch of silence, you can see her eyes cycling back and forth between cloudy, confusion and lucidity several times. But eventually they settle on that. Very sharp silver. She puts the stack of papers down and scoots a little closer to you next to the fire. You didn't ask to exist at all, much less to be brought into the world the way you were. You don't ever have to apologize for the fact that the people that were supposed to protect you chose to hurt you. Instead for R Especially not to me,
Speaker 0 00:27:04 The stays curled out on herself for a long moment, takes a shaky breath and says, thank you for saying that. I, um, I know that my father hurt you as well. So I feel like I should at least return the sentiment,
Speaker 1 00:27:27 A Donna stares into the fire. And you see that odd flicker between confusion and lucidity skate across her eyes. Again, He wasn't a always like this. That's probably more of a comfort to, than it is to you After fallen died. I had questions, questions that in retrospect, I probably shouldn't have asked and well, She spreads her hands apart in front of her. And you see that fragmented cat's cradle pop up again, Times like a string. Ferara Every crucial moment. Every decision we make, another string pops up. And I learned when I was very young, to be able to understand it, to be able to look in between the strings and see what could happen. But when people warp and twist the things that you know, and the things that you believe It breaks you, I'm a fly caught in a we. And frankly, most days, I don't know where or, or when or who I am anymore.
Speaker 0 00:28:50 He kind of looks down at her hands, starts ringing them again About Shit, uh, almost a year and a half ago. Now I had questions out my birth mother and he didn't want to answer them. And It, it wasn't for long, but he I've never been confident in my voice When I was young, I felt like I could never say the right thing. It's always been difficult for me to get my thoughts together like that. And then I got older and it was an entirely different sort of insecurity. And then I finally got to a place where it didn't bother me And he took it away. It's still hard since it's just, it's hard to sometimes to try and say what I'm thinking. She brings up one hand and just presses it against her throat.
Speaker 1 00:30:07 A Donna very slowly and carefully reaches out to grab your hand and then turns around over her shoulder to look at Leo who is still peacefully. Transing I know how it feels to be lost like that. I've been lost like that for a long time. But then I saw him and for the first time in
Speaker 2 00:30:31 Decades,
Speaker 1 00:30:33 I was present And I heard his story. And it didn't make sense because, Because how could it Do you know, when he was born, that Marlin was scared to hold him. He looked down at his child and said, I don't wanna hurt him.
Speaker 2 00:30:57 There
Speaker 1 00:30:57 Is no reconciling that person, person that actively tried to kill my son. So whatever monster is currently sitting on the throne of Australia, I will help you kill it Because it killed my husband. It destroyed me and it try to destroy everything that I care about. She looks for a moment like she's about to get lost again, that odd glaze coming across her eyes. But then she screws her eyes shut, tenses her jaw and shakes her head really hard, holding onto that clarity as hard as she can. We've got a big day tomorrow. You should take your trance. I can keep watch.
Speaker 2 00:31:53 Oh
Speaker 0 00:31:55 Yeah. Okay. And she's gonna go take her trance. Leo, you wake up in the morning to the smell of frying eggs and the sound of your mother humming under her breath.
Speaker 1 00:32:13 Oof. That's a mind. Fuck. Okay. Leo opens his eyes and sits up
Speaker 0 00:32:18 A Donna is fussing over a little campfire with a pan on it and fee is curled up. Trancing next to you with her back to the wall,
Speaker 1 00:32:30 Leo Eler
Speaker 8 00:32:32 <laugh>
Speaker 0 00:32:35 You elbow fee. And she in slaps at you,
Speaker 1 00:32:39 Leo Dodges out of the way, and then pokes her in the ribs, wakey, wakey, eggs, and bacony. Well, I don't know if there's any Bakey, but there are eggs
Speaker 0 00:32:49 Fee grumbles, but sits up. And a Donna looks up from this breakfast that she is making smiles a little bit and says, good morning. You too. Uh, we have a lot to plan
Speaker 1 00:33:01 Understatement of the century. Yeah. Um, Leo grabs, whatever vessel there is to eat his eggs off of, and kind of looks back and forth between his mom and fee. All right. So we need to shut down the spell. That's making the island unapproachable and also shut down those, the weird magic turret things. Mom, do you know how many of those there even are on the island?
Speaker 0 00:33:27 A Donna shoving her breakfast in her mouth at a speed that speaks to not having had the opportunity to slow down very much says, well, to my knowledge, there are only three, but they sort of all have to be down at the same time for anyone to be able to approach.
Speaker 1 00:33:47 Okay. So we go, we scout out the tower. We see if we can find wherever they're keeping, what's controlling that spell. We somehow manage to get in there and shut it down. And then we go after the turrets,
Speaker 0 00:34:01 A Donna says, let's go. And to be a little bit difficult, given that most of the high ranking members of the priesthood that are stationed here, live in that tower. It's out buildings for all the initiates, but everyone with real power is there.
Speaker 1 00:34:19 So not a fun environment to walk into, you're saying
Speaker 0 00:34:23 <laugh> and that is the real understatement of the century.
Speaker 1 00:34:28 Well, we can't deal with anything without knowing what we're dealing with. Obviously we're gonna have to wait until night to take any action, but I think that scouting is a prudent decision. Oh, speaking of which fee, can you get a message off to Sabine and tell her to tell everybody else to be ready to tonight?
Speaker 0 00:34:48 Uh, yeah, sure. And fee pulls after beacon coin and starts sending off a message to <inaudible>. Uh, roll me a perception check low DC
Speaker 1 00:34:58 16.
Speaker 0 00:35:00 Uh, Donna does not react with any kind of recognition to the site of fee beacon coin.
Speaker 1 00:35:06 Well, that's a relief leave pauses for a second and then digs his crystal ball out of his bag and hands it out to his mom. You can probably use this more effectively than I can. Is there anything you can do to get us eyes inside that tower?
Speaker 0 00:35:23 Uh, Donna smirks, like you just said something funny as she takes this crystal ball from you. Yes, I can you get some eyes in there?
Speaker 1 00:35:34 God, she's so cool. Okay. Leo's gonna huddle up next to his mom and wave fee over to watch whatever it is. That's about to go down.
Speaker 0 00:35:44 A Donna starts casting a spell called arcane eye. She holds this crystal ball in between her hands and you see the inside of it, light up with little threads of magic, almost like a plasma ball, but in the shape of one of those cats, Crats behind her eyelids, her eyes start to glow with an unearthly light, the same color as her magic. And then the crystal ball shifts and the magical threads are replaced with just the image of an eye that looks remarkably like a donnas, just staring wildly, taking up the entire surface of the crystal ball. It shrinks into a little pinprick of light and you see the inside of the cave projected on this crystal ball, whatever is projecting. This starts moving out of the cave through the woods. And a Donna opens her own eyes and says, right, that'll take a few minutes to get to the tower, but this is what we can do.
Speaker 1 00:36:52 That is either the weirdest or the coolest thing I've ever seen
Speaker 0 00:36:58 Next to you. Fee nods, eyes wide in agreement and a Donna smirks winks and says, well, I didn't get where I did just on the Meredith. My good looks. You all watch as this eye flies through the forest and over the island, up to the grand imposing lighthouse, it goes under a door and you see the entry hall where a land Val sign broke the deal that he made with Kim and became A's first divine soul. So
Speaker 1 00:37:41 Well, that's unsettling. I'm going to look around in this vision and see if I can see anything thing that looks like a big magical. What's it controlling the spell, keeping people from getting on the island,
Speaker 0 00:37:54 Make me an investigation check. I'll let you do it with advantage because a Donna and figure both helping.
Speaker 1 00:38:00 And I've still got proficiency. So Dirty 20,
Speaker 0 00:38:07 You start looking around the ghost of so and Chiron appears leaning over your shoulder. Close enough that if he were corpor, you could feel his breath on the back of your neck. And you see tucked into what was once probably like a space for a wall. All SCOs in this room, a little crystal softly pulsing with silver purple light.
Speaker 1 00:38:40 Okay. I think I see something over there on the wall. Mom, can you get us in closer
Speaker 0 00:38:45 This RRK and I zooms across this entry hall with its tall, almost cavernous ceiling. The light does not reach up to the top of this room. So it looks almost endless, but it zoomed across and up to this little crystal. It's probably about the size of your fist as that's happening. Can you roll perception for me please?
Speaker 1 00:39:17 29. Oh, oh,
Speaker 0 00:39:21 Okay. With the 29, you see a group of priests leading someone over toward what crystal is the one person not in priest. Scar is a young Asur and VIN man, no one you recognize fighting against the holds on his arms. The priests are not even paying attention. There are two on each side of the sky, just clamped on dragging him toward where the Ark and I is. And they stop at sort of a circle of stones on the floor. Just high enough that no one would like accidentally walk over them. These stones are almost in time with the crystal that you're looking at, being lit by something from within the, and as you are looking at this Soren's ghost disappears from behind you.
Speaker 1 00:40:30 Leo startles and whips around to look over his shoulder.
Speaker 0 00:40:34 What fee next to you still looking into the crystal ball says, wait, is that a, as you turn back, you see a much lighter figure than the priests holding onto this person that you don't know in a Gazi black veil, a priest knife raised in one hand, a Donna, still both hands on the crystal ball says, oh, that's the new hyphen. Isn't it poor boy. You all watch these priests continue to drag this person up to the edge of this ring of stones. You can see that this young man is saying something, but you can't hear through the spell. You watch the higher offend with the veil over his face, make a gesture with the knife and walk up to the circle of stones. You watch the priests force this young man down onto his knees next to the stone circle. And the higher effect makes another vague gesture with his priest's knife And then slashes it across this young man's throat. And the priests Chuck him over the side of this hole Fee goes, whoa, what? And the image flickers and dies away as a Donna takes both hands off the crystal ball.
Speaker 1 00:42:08 Leo's eyes go big as dinner plates. And he just claps both hands over his mouth
Speaker 0 00:42:15 Fee, kind of scoots back along the cave floor, shaking her head. There is a heavy, oppressive silence in this cave. As a Donna puts the crystal ball down like it is a bomb and leans away from it.
Speaker 1 00:42:35 He just stares at this empty crystal ball for a really long time slowly peels his hands away from his mouth and sits up, Oh my God. Oh my God. That's what they did to Sorin. And Leo can gets up, runs out of the cave and fucking throws up
Speaker 0 00:43:04 You're out there alone for a long moment in the kind of Erie silence of the forest and looks to go on the air is absent of the usual sounds of animals running around and the undergo. So all you can hear is your own ragged breathing.
Speaker 1 00:43:24 Yeah, I think Leo is fully on the ground in the fetal position. Having the worst meltdown he's ever had
Speaker 0 00:43:33 After a long moment fee appears out of the cave and comes over and just sits down the around next to you.
Speaker 1 00:43:42 Leo sobbing so hard that it hurts just crawls into her lap and curls up into her shoulder
Speaker 0 00:43:50 Fee. Hold on to you super tight. You can vaguely hear her sniffling right next to your ear. And you can just sit there for a long, long moment.
Speaker 1 00:44:03 Leo cries until he physically can't anymore. And once his body has gone back into that state of numbness, he sort of just looks over fee's shoulder into the forest. 10,000 years. It's been 10,000 years since Lander made that deal. And whatever that thing is, it's been getting hungrier the whole time. How many sourcers are there in Australia? 10, 15% of the population. What does it take to keep that power going? How many people has this happened to? He brings a hand up in front of his face and looks down at the engagement ring, still around his finger and his jaw sets and his eyes go very hard. This stops now
Speaker 0 00:44:58 Fee reaches up to wipe at her eyes nods and sets her jaw just as firm. Yeah, we're gonna stop it. We're stopping it. Now,
Speaker 1 00:45:13 Leo kind of extricate himself from the hug and flops over to sit with his back against a tree trunk zaps, Kim roll's blade out of its Bracer and looks at it contemplative. Yeah, we wait for nightfall and then we stop it
Speaker 0 00:45:33 And you do the three of you continue resting up as best. You can planning out the minutia of how you're going to get into the tower, destroy this crystal thing, and then get out to destroy the pylons that are protecting the island as night falls. We find the three of you approaching what used to be the lighthouse of looks to go on. What are you doing?
Speaker 1 00:46:01 Leo's taking point. He has the best passive perception out of here. He's crouched down in the undergrowth right before the forest is cleared away around this tower, just watching the front door. All right, I'm gonna make sure the coast is clear and he pulls out his crystal ball and casts clear Voyance on the other side of the front door. I just wanna sweep at the bottom floor of the lighthouse and make sure that there's nobody down there.
Speaker 0 00:46:31 There are lights in the windows at the tower. There are obviously people up and moving around, but the first floor is empty and dark, except for the pulsing light from the crystal, keeping anyone from finding the island and the cavernous hole in this ring of stones on the floor.
Speaker 1 00:46:53 Okay. People are still up moving around in the building, but the first floor is clear. Mom, you know how to cast invi visibility, right? I've seen you do it before
Speaker 0 00:47:04 A Donna nods and says, uh, I don't have a greater in visibility spell. So as soon as we cast anything, we'll be visible, but I can make us invisible enough to get in,
Speaker 1 00:47:15 Or you can make me invisible enough to get in. And then I destroy that crystal and run like hell
Speaker 0 00:47:22 Immediately. Fi Donna are talking over each other to tell you how much of a Damas you're being.
Speaker 1 00:47:28 I am the fastest person here and I'm the person here that's best at hiding. The risk factor is lower. If I go in by myself, can someone just trust me to not fuck things up for once
Speaker 0 00:47:41 Fee starts to say, it's not about not trusting you it's. And then a Donna holds up a hand, screws her eyes, shut shake Leo. I understand where you're coming from. But as someone who fought a war with the hope that my child wouldn't have to and watched a lot of people die without backup. I am not sending you in there alone.
Speaker 1 00:48:07 He stares DERs down at his shoes for a few seconds, and then finally just throws his hands up and starts walking towards the tower. Fine. We all go cast the spell.
Speaker 0 00:48:19 Okay. A Donna casts, invisibility on herself, on Leo and on fee.
Speaker 1 00:48:24 Cool. Once we're invisible, I'm gonna get out my thieves tools and go check out the front door.
Speaker 0 00:48:31 It is locked because it's the middle of the night. And the, this is the most secure location in the entire country of Asharia. So go ahead and roll me a lock picking check.
Speaker 1 00:48:41 Oh, I don't like this. I would love to cast fine traps, but that would break my invisibility. So it's okay. I have over a hundred hit points. How bad could this go? 27 on the lock picking check.
Speaker 0 00:48:57 Okay. That'll do it. Roll a wisdom. Saving throw. Fuck
Speaker 1 00:49:01 Shit. Damnit 17.
Speaker 0 00:49:06 That's not gonna do it. Let me roll for a Donna and fee. Neither of those is gonna do it either. Okay. You are all under the effect of the hold person's bell.
Speaker 8 00:49:20 Fuck.
Speaker 1 00:49:22 Oh no. And none of us can do anything cuz we can't cast. Cuz all of our stuff has somatic components. Oh we are fucked.
Speaker 0 00:49:31 Sure are. Uh, let me roll something real quick. That was not a good role. Huh? Okay. After second you're standing there invisible with this door open in front of you and you see just at the top of the spiral staircase in the middle of the century hall, someone glowing softly and you see a length of black Gazi fabric spilling over the railing and then whoever it is trips
Speaker 9 00:50:06 <laugh> because he rolled a fucking forward stealth
Speaker 0 00:50:11 And you hear very softly fact,
Speaker 1 00:50:16 Leo holds his breath.
Speaker 0 00:50:19 You watch this figure on the staircase, very small, glowing softly, even and through the dark fabric of a set of priests robes and a long gauzy veil over the face. The Hant stops looking at this open door and the fact that nobody is there tilts his head in the same way that he did. When you saw him through the ACAN eye right before he killed somebody and then turns around and walks back up the stairs and the whole person drops.
Speaker 1 00:50:58 Okay.
Speaker 4 00:50:59 We'll examine what the hell that was and why? That just happened later. Go, go, go, go.
Speaker 1 00:51:06 I'm running for the crystal.
Speaker 0 00:51:08 The three of you all crossed this entry hall to where this crystal is shoved up in what used to be a SCOs
Speaker 1 00:51:17 Leo lets his invisibility drop and casts to spell magic.
Speaker 0 00:51:21 Okay. Uh, roll for it. The DC is 19
Speaker 1 00:51:25 And that's just a role of the D 20 plus my ability modifier, right?
Speaker 0 00:51:29 Yep. Just D 20 a is.
Speaker 10 00:51:32 Okay, come on, come on, come on
Speaker 1 00:51:35 13. I cast it again. This is my last third level. Spell slot Eight.
Speaker 0 00:51:45 Okay. You cast the spell magic once and it hits this crystal and spreads, harmlessly like water hitting a sheet of glass. You cast again and it hits and goes to do the same thing and then a bright but jittery and fragmented te of magic appears around your spell. As a Donna gives you one of her poor 10 roles.
Speaker 1 00:52:12 Okay. What is that? Poor 10 role.
Speaker 0 00:52:14 14. Which with your plus five to is, is exactly 19.
Speaker 1 00:52:19 Oh, thank God. Okay.
Speaker 0 00:52:22 So you dispel the magic on this crystal and it goes dim and then completely dark.
Speaker 1 00:52:32 Okay. Fan Donna are still invisible, but Leo sure as hell is not. He looks around at where he thinks they are nods toward the door and goes, run,
Speaker 0 00:52:40 Run. Now that you are visible, roll me a wisdom. Save
Speaker 1 00:52:49 Again.
Speaker 0 00:52:50 Yeah. It's for something else.
Speaker 1 00:52:52 Fuck me dude. 22.
Speaker 0 00:52:57 Okay. You take no damage. But as you are walking back across this entry hall and as you pass this ring of stones on the floor, you hear as if from very far away,
Speaker 11 00:53:14 Leo,
Speaker 1 00:53:19 Leo stop and looks around trying to figure out where it came from.
Speaker 0 00:53:25 There is nobody in this hall except for you, your mother and your sister, just this big hole in the ground with this soft light pulsing out of it. And again, you hear
Speaker 11 00:53:41 Leo
Speaker 0 00:53:45 And this time you can tell that it's Soren's voice.
Speaker 1 00:53:49 I walk up to the hole on the floor,
Speaker 0 00:53:52 Roll me another wizard, Dave
Speaker 1 00:53:55 23.
Speaker 0 00:53:57 Okay. That'll do it. You walk up to this ring of stones and you look over them into this whole And you see what has become of the crack in the ground that opened up when Alen Val sign let go of his sister's hand, You look down and you see the chasm from your dreams, This immense gash in the surface of the world that has been tiled over, You see hands reaching over the edge of it and then falling away. You see what looks to be an immense crowd. You can't distinguish faces. Some of these figures don't seem to have them, But just this huge crowd, thousands of people, thousands of ghosts, clamoring against each other and trying to reach up and get out of this chasm. You hear one more time. So's voice yell,
Speaker 11 00:55:10 Leo
Speaker 0 00:55:14 And then thousands of other voices. Join in all yelling your name from down in this pit.
Speaker 1 00:55:23 Leo's gonna kneel down at the edge of this circle of stones and, and just very slowly, almost looking like he's moving, not of his own volition. Stick one hand in towards these hands that are reaching up for him.
Speaker 0 00:55:40 Okay. You're reaching into the hole. You take 14 <affirmative> necrotic damage and then roll me on athletics check or acrobatics
Speaker 1 00:55:55 Eight
Speaker 0 00:55:57 <laugh>. That's not gonna do it just barely, um, fee Springs back into visibility as she grapples you and UGS you back from this hole.
Speaker 1 00:56:07 Yeah. I don't think Leo's super functional after or what he just saw and heard. I think he's just numbly staring at this hole in the ground, clutching the arm to his chest where that necrotic energy probably entered.
Speaker 0 00:56:22 Oh yeah. As you pull your hand back, you see that the ends of your fingertips have started to blacken and dry out like frost bite fee pulls away from you and just hises what the hell are you thinking?
Speaker 1 00:56:38 I, I, I don't know. It, it called me, it knew my name.
Speaker 0 00:56:44 You hear a Donna's voice. She is still not visible. Say we can discuss this later. Let's go.
Speaker 1 00:56:50 Yeah. Yeah. Go and still looking very numb and shut down. Leo turns on his heel and runs out of the tower.
Speaker 0 00:57:00 Yeah. Fi and Donna are both going with you.
Speaker 1 00:57:04 Uh, two of us are visible now. So let's head back to the woods. I think
Speaker 0 00:57:09 As soon as you are out of sight of this tower, a Donna drops the invisibility and then says, okay, we're going to have to talk about that. But given that at least one person in that tower is awake and aware. We have a very small amount of time to take down the islands defenses and allow your allies to get here. She turns to, you kinda puts one hand up and cups your cheek and says, are you all right?
Speaker 1 00:57:38 Um, no, Leah's still got that wounded hand clenched up against his chest. No, I'm not, but we don't have time to worry about me right now. We just need to go take care of those turrets and get our people here.
Speaker 0 00:57:54 Right. We will discuss it. Uh, when we have a moment she's gonna get up on her tip toes to kind of kiss you on the forehead. Not again. And then she brings both hands down to make one of those magical cast cradles again. And she casts telepathic bond.
Speaker 1 00:58:15 Okay. What does that do?
Speaker 0 00:58:17 According to the spelled description, it forges a telepathic link among up to eight willing creatures, psychically linking each creature to all the others for the duration. And until the spell ends, the targets can communicate telepathically through the bond, whether or not they have a common language. The communication is possible over any distance though. It can't extend to other, into existence. So don't go into the Astro plane. But other than that, you can telepathically talk to fi and a Donna for the next hour.
Speaker 1 00:58:49 Leo telepathically yells. Hello.
Speaker 0 00:58:52 Inside your head fee says, oh, the echo is deafening.
Speaker 1 00:58:57 Oh ha ha. Very funny. Anyway, let's all split up fee. You go try to find that turret that we found yesterday. Mom, you probably know where all of them are. You go find one, I'll go find the other.
Speaker 0 00:59:10 They both not affirmatively fee heads off to the direction of the turret that you found yesterday. And a Donna points off in another direction. And in your head says, there's one over that way. I'll get the other one.
Speaker 1 00:59:25 Okay. Everybody sound off. When you find your target and will try for a coordinated attack. And then Leo's going off to try to find this turret,
Speaker 0 00:59:36 Okay, roll me investigation.
Speaker 1 00:59:41 Uh, I still have proficiency so 19.
Speaker 0 00:59:45 Okay. You walk off through these woods and as you're walking outta the corner of your eye, you see sore and fall to step with you.
Speaker 1 00:59:56 Leo stops in his tracks and whips around to look at him. I cannot do this right now. Once this is over, you can haunt me for the rest of my fucking life. Kim knows I deserve it. But right now I am trying to make sure that what happened to you never happens to anyone ever again. And I can't do that. If I lose my mind,
Speaker 0 01:00:21 Soren gives you kind of a wounded look and you watch a slow trickle of blood come out of his nose. And then he shakes his head, walks off, trailing those little flex. That look almost like snowflakes that you remember from the gala at the museum in V. And he's just walking through the woods.
Speaker 1 01:00:46 Leo swallows really hard to get rid of the lump in his throat and then follows him.
Speaker 0 01:00:52 You too. Walk through the wall in silence for a few more minutes. And you end up on the shores of ol black sand crunching under your feet. As Soren walks up to one of these big defensive pylons looks up at it, looks back at you and then disappears.
Speaker 1 01:01:16 All right, the telepathic bond is still active at this point. Leo's gonna check in with his mom and fee and let them know that he's at his location
Speaker 0 01:01:25 Very shortly after that a Donna responds I'm here and you wait on fee for a few more minutes. You know that the pylon, that the two of you found was pretty far from where you were at in the woods, but then she also responds.
Speaker 1 01:01:42 All right,
Speaker 0 01:01:43 Let's do this
Speaker 1 01:01:46 3, 2, 1 go.
Speaker 0 01:01:51 Okay. And what are you doing?
Speaker 1 01:01:55 Uh, we said these things are made of stone, right?
Speaker 0 01:01:58 Y yes.
Speaker 1 01:02:01 Okay. So I have a spell called into stone that lets me do pretty much what it says on the package. I would like to go inside the turret and try to just fuck it up from the inside to the point that it does not function.
Speaker 0 01:02:20 You, you, what? <laugh>
Speaker 1 01:02:24 I, I, I go inside of it. I become part of the stone and I'd like to go inside it and just try to mess with whatever arcane mechanism is inside it to the point that it doesn't work anymore.
Speaker 0 01:02:37 Um, okay. <laugh> roll me. Andana check with advantage, I guess.
Speaker 1 01:02:51 Yeah. I'm gonna have to use a fourth level spell slot cuz I'm out of third level ones, but Leo goes inside this stone tower and just starts fucking shit up to the best of his ability. The high role was a 13.
Speaker 0 01:03:10 Okay. It was DC 15. So you fail this Che to, I think there's like a crystal that you have to try and dislodge at the top of it from within. And you don't do that. You feel something shutter around you and then you are expelled from the stone as it changes shape. So you take 22 blood name damage as the stone spits you out onto the LA sand beach and you watch this tower jitter and shutter. And then the stone shifts as four spiky, spider like legs shoot out of it and it raises itself up shakily. And so the crystal at the top of it, like an eye is trained on you and I need you to roll me initiative.
Speaker 1 01:04:20 Leo, who's looking pretty bloody at this point. Looks up at this horrifying stone robot thing. I'm picturing like the guardians from breath of the wild. Is that right?
Speaker 0 01:04:31 Ex exactly
Speaker 1 01:04:33 Cool. He looks up at this thing, eyes going wide and kind of calls out into the darkness. Hey Soin I, I was kidding. Any backup would be great right now. 17 two initiative.
Speaker 0 01:04:51 Okay. This big stone turret rolls of 14.
Speaker 1 01:04:56 Cool. Okay. I'm going first. Life has small mercies that it gives to me. Leo zaps Kim's blade into his hands goes, you know what? I don't have fucking time for this and casts a fourth level inflict wounds on this thing. Let me roll to hit 13.
Speaker 0 01:05:17 That absolutely does not hit. Not even a little bit. So now it's the turrets turn. I need you to make me a deck safe.
Speaker 1 01:05:36 That's a natural one.
Speaker 0 01:05:39 That is extremely unfortunate. It, um, okay.
Speaker 1 01:05:43 <laugh>
Speaker 0 01:05:45 Your infliction wounds goes wide and this turret tilts a little bit and you see the crystal at the top of it, almost like an eye again, flare up and then the light almost spins then narrows down to a little pin prick at the center of this crystal.
Speaker 1 01:06:06 Leo looks up at it and goes uhoh
Speaker 0 01:06:11 And then you take 29 radiant damage. As a beam of light hits you right in the chest and you are blasted back 10 feet. You feel a rush of sand going past you. As you skid along the beach
Speaker 8 01:06:31 O
Speaker 0 01:06:33 You hear your mother's voice in your head go is everything all right? You
Speaker 8 01:06:37 Two.
Speaker 0 01:06:38 And then it is your turn
Speaker 1 01:06:40 Through the telepathic bond. Leo replies never better. And he's gonna try to inflict wounds this thing again. I'm using my last fourth level spell slot. Oh my God. There we go. 21
Speaker 0 01:06:56 That will indeed hit roll damage.
Speaker 1 01:06:59 I'm not rolling shit. I'm gonna use my one state ability from Kim roll's blade to do max damage on an Nero Mancy spell at fourth level, this thing's taking 60 necrotic damage.
Speaker 0 01:07:12 Sure thing, buddy. Okay. You go up and slash this thing with your knife and wear the organic kind of bone material of Kim's blade hits stone streaks of black. Go out across this rock, like veins and marble it shutters and the joint where one of its legs connects to the main body of the turret dislocates. And it falls to the side shutters again, falls to the other side and bits of this rock. Just fall of part along these veins.
Speaker 1 01:07:57 Cool. Is it dead?
Speaker 0 01:08:00 The light in this crystal goes dark and it is dead.
Speaker 1 01:08:04 Leo stands there over this thing's motionless form, clutching his knife and breathing. Raggedly a little unhinged, Not your proudest moment, Leo, not your best day. All right. And then he goes to find his mom in fee.
Speaker 0 01:08:27 As you're saying, it's not your best day. Soren appears on the other side of this rock. Tur looks at it, raises his eyebrows and kind of shrugs at you and go ahead and take a level up.
Speaker 1 01:08:42 Awesome. Yay. I'm gonna take this level in CLA does that reset my spell slots?
Speaker 0 01:08:48 You can have your spell slots back. You do not recover your hit points. Great.
Speaker 1 01:08:54 Al I'm hurt so bad fee. You draw up on this big stone pylon that you found with your brother yesterday. It's dark silhouette, standing out against the star filled sky. You hear Leo in your head do a countdown. What are you doing to try to take this pylon out?
Speaker 0 01:09:22 Well, I know the magic is coming out of the crystal thingy and I technically have a very small knife on me. <laugh> I, I, I'm gonna just try to jam the tip under the crystal and pop it out.
Speaker 1 01:09:37 <laugh> um, okay. That that's gonna be two checks. It's very tall.
Speaker 0 01:09:42 So am I
Speaker 1 01:09:44 It's taller than you? My friend, this thing is probably 10, 11 feet tall. It's big.
Speaker 0 01:09:52 I don't want this incredulous reaction from you, Mr. I go in the target.
Speaker 1 01:09:57 Oh, sorry. I wasn't aware that fee had a rock climbing spell. Make an athletics check.
Speaker 0 01:10:03 No, I'm gonna back up and I'm gonna thunder step onto the top of it.
Speaker 1 01:10:08 Okay. As acceptable, loud, but acceptable. Now make Anana check to try to pry this crystal out with your knife.
Speaker 0 01:10:19 Thank you. That is an 11. A triumphant. Victor is 11.
Speaker 1 01:10:28 Okay. So that means that you are on top of this turret at it, wakes up and sprouts legs and starts to move. Go ahead and roll me a deck. Save
Speaker 0 01:10:43 21.
Speaker 1 01:10:47 All right. So you are riding on top of this big magic robot. Please roll me initiative.
Speaker 0 01:10:55 Okay. That's also at 21,
Speaker 1 01:11:01 The turret gets A natural fucking one. I'm throwing these dice away. You get two turns because the turret has to skip its first turn due to our home brew rule.
Speaker 0 01:11:18 Okay. So with my first turn, I'm gonna step back off of it because this is precarious and it's gonna take 3d 10 damage. It takes 26 damage. So thunder STEPSS off of this thing hits the ground, uh, about 15 feet away from it, skids into a fighting stance and pulls her shield off of her back. And then she's gonna cash shatter, uh, at second level. So I need you to make me a conse with this advantage
Speaker 1 01:11:52 Because it is made of stone. You're right. Okay. Uh, low one was a 15, so that doesn't do it. Roll damage.
Speaker 0 01:12:04 That is 20 thunder damage.
Speaker 1 01:12:07 Okay. This thing looks extremely rough. Would you like to do anything with like bonus actions or movement before we go onto its turn?
Speaker 0 01:12:16 Uh, I'm 15 feet away. It looks pretty rough. I think fee is just cursing to herself and a little bit too stunned by the fact that this thing moves and comes to life to do anything else
Speaker 1 01:12:29 As this thing's top worlds around. And you see that gleaming crystal focus in on you. The telepathic bond goes off in your head. You a Donna's voice, say everything. All right. You two. And Leo's voice in your head sounding very strained goes never better
Speaker 0 01:12:50 Fee does not respond. She's busy.
Speaker 1 01:12:53 And this thing's gonna take a blast at you. Go ahead and roll me a deck safe, please.
Speaker 0 01:13:00 13.
Speaker 1 01:13:02 Nope. The center of this gem gleams brightly and narrows to a small point. And then you get smacked with a magic laser and go flying back 10 feet. You take 32 radiant damage. You take this bolt light right to the breastplate and it flares up in your eyes makes your entire face feel hot and you just go flying like a rag doll back through the air and smack into a tree trunk Wiley coyote style. You are still up though. You manage to land on your feet. What are you doing?
Speaker 0 01:13:44 I'm gonna hell trip the rock. Uh, so I need it to make me a deck safe.
Speaker 1 01:13:50 Okay. It gets nothing to that Four. So no, go ahead and roll me that 3d 10 lightning damage, please
Speaker 0 01:13:59 With pleasure. Uh, that is 12 lightning damage.
Speaker 1 01:14:06 This thing blasts you back and you instinctively reach up with your shield a moment too late, but then a spray of lightning fans out from the orb in your shield and just electrifies this thing. You hear something inside it break Like a power surge has gone through it or something and just staggers forward and face plants in the ground. It's totally dead
Speaker 0 01:14:37 Fee sits down on the ground, catches her breath. And then through the telepathic bond says we're good over here.
Speaker 1 01:14:46 Leo's voice responds very quickly. Okay. I know I wasn't quiet. I don't know about you too. Somebody probably heard that back to the cave fee. Tell Seine, go now
Speaker 0 01:14:58 Fee pulls out her beacon coin, shoots a message off to Seine that says you should be able to approach. Now hurry
Speaker 1 01:15:06 Very quickly. You get a message back on your coin that says on our way. S and are you heading back for a Donna's cave?
Speaker 0 01:15:15 E yep. Add a clip. Go and go and go.
Speaker 1 01:15:18 As you run away from this fallen turret. Go ahead and take another level up for me please.
Speaker 0 01:15:25 Okay, so sir, level 12, here we go.
Speaker 1 01:15:29 Excellent. You can go ahead and reset your spouse slots, but you are keeping that hit. You took to your HP.
Speaker 0 01:15:35 Well, good thing that I suddenly have to 15 extra hit points, cuz I upped my con. <laugh>
Speaker 1 01:15:41 Good for you. All right. Several minutes later, the three of you all meet up outside of a Donna's little cave. Leo looks bloody as shit. And like he has been through the ringer. You don't look fantastic. A Donna doesn't have a hair out of place. She's just calmly examining her fingernails, waiting at the mouth of this cave. As you two run up, she looks back and forth between you and Leo looking a little worried. Did, did you try to fight them? You know, you could have just popped the crystal out, right
Speaker 0 01:16:20 Fee, rakes her hands through her hair to push it off her face size and goes. So you knew they had legs. You were aware that they could like spring to life.
Speaker 1 01:16:33 I mean, mind didn't grow legs. I shut it down before I'd had the chance to,
Speaker 0 01:16:38 For future reference <laugh> I at least would like a warning before a rock that I I'm trying to take out of commission grows legs. Anyway, I tried to pop the crystal out and it didn't work.
Speaker 1 01:16:52 Leo stands next to you, sort of staring into the middle distance. I tried to go inside it.
Speaker 0 01:16:59 <laugh> why,
Speaker 1 01:17:03 Because it would've been a really great idea if it had worked okay. He like reaches out and shoves you just to be petty.
Speaker 0 01:17:11 He shoves him back. <laugh>
Speaker 1 01:17:14 You two get into a sibling slap fight. And as a Donna is trying to wiggle in between the two of you to break it up. Your beacon coin goes very hot against your skin.
Speaker 0 01:17:26 Okay? Okay. Pause. Pause. He pulls the coin out.
Speaker 1 01:17:30 There is a message on the back that says docked off the Eastern shore. Can you come to us?
Speaker 0 01:17:39 Fe sends back will do see you soon. Leo, you, your mother and your sister walk down. The black sand beach looks to go in toward a rowboat that has docked on the Eastern shore. Even from a distance, you can see ASED shoots out of the boat and starts heading up the beach at you with Sabine in the captain, not far behind and several more of your friends sitting in the rowboat. Still, What are you doing?
Speaker 1 01:18:13 Leo does not have the energy to run to Zed, but when the two of them finally come together, he is just going to sigh and face plant into his chest.
Speaker 0 01:18:25 Zed lets you do this obviously and pats your back, puts one hand on top of your head.
Speaker 13 01:18:31 Uh,
Speaker 0 01:18:32 Hey boss, you look pretty off.
Speaker 1 01:18:36 I've seen a lot of ghosts and I just got spat out by a rock. So I'll thank you. Not to mention it.
Speaker 0 01:18:44 All right. He leans down, kisses you on top of the head and then goes very still for a second. As Seine from behind him says, ah, who's your friend.
Speaker 1 01:19:02 Leo had closed his eyes and started to let out a sigh of relief, but he stops opens them again and clams up really fast.
Speaker 13 01:19:13 Um,
Speaker 1 01:19:14 Let's go back everyone else, because this is an introduction I only want to have to make once
Speaker 0 01:19:23 Seine says, okay and a Donna from behind you says, hello everyone.
Speaker 1 01:19:32 Okay. Who else in the row? Robot. Cuz it's gonna depend who's there. If I talk about this now hour or wait until we get back to the ship.
Speaker 0 01:19:40 Yeah. Uh, your entire party is in this rowboat. It's a pretty big, long rowboat. So all of you make your way down the beach. What are you gonna say about this? <laugh>
Speaker 1 01:19:52 Leo walks up to the side of the boat and just slowly brings a hand up to pinch at the bridge of his nose. Okay. Everybody. We have a lot of talking and planning to do, but there's an introduction that I need to get out of the way. First
Speaker 0 01:20:08 As you're saying that everybody is kind of piling out of the boat and getting themselves situated and Fen turns. And so, so loudly, just no filter just goes arch du VE sign.
Speaker 1 01:20:25 Leo is staring. He's just staring into the Abys. Thank you.
Speaker 0 01:20:35 FESes from where Eleanor is helping her outta the boat, stumbles and half falls into the boat and goes, wait, what?
Speaker 1 01:20:45 For anybody who wasn't previously acquainted? Um, yeah, this is arch du a Donna Val sign of Australia. My mother
Speaker 0 01:20:57 Eleanor has given up on helping Kassa outta the boat to just stop and stare at you. In fact, everyone on this boat is staring at you and a Donna just brings one hand up and does a little wave. Hi.
Speaker 1 01:21:15 Yeah. Leo gives up, he fully puts his head in his hands.
Speaker 0 01:21:19 I'm gonna roll to see how a Donna's social skills are coping with this. She hasn't had to talk to people in a long time. She has plus zero to charisma and she rolled a three <laugh>. She looks at Finn Andes who are the only two people here she recognizes and goes wow. For and ands. You've got big friend is just staring their slack. John <laugh>. Uh, thank you. Ma'am and a Donna goes, no really you, you got big and KSA just goes, okay. Someone explain
Speaker 1 01:22:00 Leah has not looked up from his hands. Just keeps talking into them. Um, well obviously she's not dead.
Speaker 0 01:22:09 Yeah. I got that. I got that part. How
Speaker 1 01:22:13 Well? And then Leo pauses looks up from his hands and kind of tilts his head at his mom. Actually, we never addressed that. How are you not?
Speaker 0 01:22:25 Oh that, um, you see, I hit a broach in my cloak and it had a very sharp pin on it. So when they were dragging me up to the tower, I stabbed one of the priests in the leg and I kicked the other one in the groin and then I ran
Speaker 1 01:22:39 And then for 75 years you've just been hanging out here.
Speaker 0 01:22:45 Well, I tried to get off the island obviously, but uh, between my mental state and the magic protecting the island from intrusion, it, it was, I got turned around a few times.
Speaker 1 01:23:02 Yeah. Okay. Anyway, there's your answer, Melissa? Um, so this is a thing somehow this is the least weird thing that's going on right now. So reverse introductions, mom, this is gonna be complicated. You might wanna take notes.
Speaker 0 01:23:23 A Donna pulled loose paper out of her pocket.
Speaker 1 01:23:27 Okay. So you know, Finn and KASA, obviously, um, the young lady over there next to KASA is Eleanor Ash thorn. She is my very good friend that I met when I was in Tor for a few years.
Speaker 0 01:23:43 Eleanor stares at the sand. Very, very, still,
Speaker 1 01:23:48 Also another good friend from my time in todo ravine, Sorell Nira, answerer extraordinaire. And one of the only mentally stable people. I know
Speaker 0 01:23:58 Ravine also waves and very calmly says feeling less. So by the minute,
Speaker 1 01:24:05 Leo kind of squints at the person standing next to ravine and trying to be very delicate about it goes, and that is one of Rav's adoptive mothers.
Speaker 0 01:24:22 She interrupts you and says, uh, Sica, Mor, nice to meet you.
Speaker 1 01:24:28 Thank you. Selica um, our resident archeologist, Laura pragmatist Ave and mark
Speaker 0 01:24:38 Ave, squint straightening her goggles and goes, thank you. <laugh> and then a Donna from behind you goes,
Speaker 5 01:24:47 Oh, are you, uh, Karen's daughter? Right?
Speaker 0 01:24:52 And then she looks around, shakes her head and goes, I, I go, I went to, uh, to school with your father. Ave goes extremely stiff. You want her jaw clench for a second? And she goes, right. That's nice. Um, he's dead. And a Donna flins as she says that, and then kind of takes a step back and just in on herself a little,
Speaker 1 01:25:21 Um, our friend over there by Finn is Dominio Sanus they're a
Speaker 0 01:25:28 Mia glares dagger at you <laugh> and they raise their eyebrows and they say, thank carefully,
Speaker 1 01:25:35 They have a lot going on. Anyway, this is Verity. She is, um, here for moral support, mostly
Speaker 0 01:25:49 Verity from the boat waves enthusiastically and says, hi, when's your birthday and fee from behind. You says don't
Speaker 1 01:25:58 Do not Verity. I am saying this so kindly with all the love in my heart, please
Speaker 0 01:26:05 Verity, shrugs and says, okay, a Donna looking a little confused, says, uh, it's in,
Speaker 1 01:26:14 What do I have to roll to try to get a hand over her mouth
Speaker 0 01:26:18 D we'll do a Dex contest.
Speaker 1 01:26:23 2122,
Speaker 0 01:26:27 A Donna says it's in a and then you get a hand over her mouth <laugh> and she looks at you confused as Verity nods, sagely, and goes, ah, Scorpio absent through his childhood. Leo makes sense now
Speaker 6 01:26:42 <laugh> oh, no.
Speaker 1 01:26:49 Anyway, this is Seine. GVAs our chief strategist leader of one of the premier dance troops in Australia, international super spy. Uh, Fe's girlfriend also
Speaker 0 01:27:02 Seine has by this point, put both hands over her face and is just sitting on the edge of the, and she just does a little two finger wave the bells on her wrist to jingling.
Speaker 1 01:27:13 And then there's the captain pirate king of the Zeph Isles. One of my best friends, also the source of much of my acid reflux, uh he's Sabine's husband and also F's boyfriend. It's an story.
Speaker 0 01:27:31 Most of your group is just staring into the middle distance, like processing what's going on. The captain is fully, mentally not engaging with anything. He just goes pleasure to meet you mom.
Speaker 1 01:27:43 And then finally Leo turns over to Z and just looks like he wants to sink into the sand and never come out. And, um, this is Zed stone bloom. My boyfriend,
Speaker 0 01:27:59 Zed waves, very awkwardly <laugh> and then a Donna squints at him brings both her hands up and does one of those cats cradles again, jittery and kind of broken, but very solid. She looks at, it looks up at Z and says, oh, you are the one that's going to give me grandchildren.
Speaker 6 01:28:19 Mom, no, <laugh>
Speaker 0 01:28:21 Z Z's face does some very interesting things in the span of a few seconds. And then he says, wow. Uh, and he puts both hands up and then puts 'em back down. We had not discussed that at all.
Speaker 1 01:28:43 Leo is shriveling up like a Shrinky di uh, I mean honey, to clarify, um, this is the woman that used to ground me for things I hadn't done yet. Uh, she's a diviner she sees the future. I don't know if that makes better or worse.
Speaker 0 01:29:01 A Donna waves her hand at you and says, I see possible futures. Nothing I see is definite, but, and Zed says Uhhuh
Speaker 1 01:29:12 Anyway, much more urgent matters at hand. Um, we don't have the time to explain how we know all of the details of this, but there is a giant ghost chasm under the floor of the tower that people have been getting pushed into for 10,000 years. And that's, what's fueling all of the divine soul sorcery in Australia. So, um, in the interest of stopping father and, you know, also stopping the mass sacrifice of sense, she had people, we should maybe do something about that.
Speaker 0 01:29:49 Literally everyone, except Fanna Donna is just staring at you. <laugh>
Speaker 1 01:29:54 I mean, not to be grim, but it explains a lot, all the disappearances from the dragons mall, everybody that was going missing from Australia,
Speaker 0 01:30:03 Kind of everybody tenses up. But the captain CLE is both hands into fists and Celica shakes herself and just stares down at the beach Seine kind of looking around at your whole group pipes up. Okay. Not that I doubt this, but how, how do you know this is what's happening? Give us the condensed version.
Speaker 1 01:30:28 Okay. I'm about to say a collection of words. When fi and I disappeared from the courtroom, we got pulled into a celestial plane where Kim and Kiva showed us basically the history of the universe. And more importantly, how the vals sign dynasty came to be. And we experienced all of that. And then if that weren't enough to confirm things after we got on the island and found my mom, we definitely watched the higher offense, slid a guy's throat and kick him into the ghost zone. Leo holds up his hand that still has that necrotic wound on it. Also, I tried to touch it and it did this to me,
Speaker 0 01:31:09 Z swears and grabs your hand to look at it. Rule insight for me,
Speaker 1 01:31:16 That's a 30 cuz I just rolled a at 20.
Speaker 0 01:31:20 Okay. With a 30, you watch this flash of a paint expression go across se be's face her shoulders kind of bow in for a second. And then she straightens up shakes her head. Okay. That's yeah. That's compelling evidence. Um, I, I, I need to take a walk. We should make sure we're not being watched anyway and find someplace for all of us to bunk down for the night. I assume that you don't have somewhere that can house the entire crew of the ship. So, um, and then she walks off and, and the captain both head off after her
Speaker 1 01:32:00 Leo frowns, Edward, the three of them just walked off and then kind of elbow Z on the side. Okay. So Sabine definitely knows something that she did not share with the rest of us. We should probably go see what that's about.
Speaker 0 01:32:15 Z has stopped looking at your wounded hand and is just staring into the middle distance boss. I don't know if I can do that right now.
Speaker 1 01:32:24 Would you rather go with me and solve this problem or stay here and talk with my mother about the likelihood of the two of us having children,
Speaker 0 01:32:34 A Donna pipes up it's about 83%. If you're curious and then Zed says, let's go <laugh>
Speaker 1 01:32:47 Fee. It's a little hard for you and the captain to keep up with Sabine. She just goes charging across this beach and into the line of trees beyond like she's on a mission to look for something, but also seemingly with no direction. You know her well enough to know that she is freaked because you have seen do this and react this way before where she will get deeply upset about something and just dip the situation where she found out about ALA's hand in her family's death back in VUL comes to mind Leo and said, actually catch up with you and the captain before the two of you catch up with her, just kind of jogging along at your sides. We, what are you doing?
Speaker 0 01:33:31 Uh, keeping pace as best I can. So my girlfriend doesn't wander away and get murdered because we're on a death island.
Speaker 1 01:33:38 You follow her into this clearing where she just stops, brings both hands up to fist in her hair and then turns around to see that she now has an entourage with her Seine. Just lets out this long suffering, grown and starts pacing,
Speaker 0 01:33:57 Sweetheart. I get the situation is less than ideal, but how about we talk about it?
Speaker 1 01:34:05 She looks like she would rather jump off a cliff than do what you just suggested. She keeps pacing. But as she turns around at the end of one lap across this clearing, the captain reaches out and gets her by the wrist and sort of just pulls her in and wraps his arms around her waist. No one here is gonna push you last, but maybe consider how much good trying to shut people out's ever done. You
Speaker 0 01:34:32 Fee reaches out and grabs the be's hand and says whatever it is, the two of us are here and we just, we just wanna help.
Speaker 1 01:34:42 That's the thing. I don't think that there is any help in this situation. I just,
Speaker 16 01:34:48 Ugh.
Speaker 1 01:34:51 She looks wrecked. She bristles like an alley cat backed into a corner and kind of just tugs the captain's hands off her waist and starts pacing again. I'm gonna need everybody to roll me an active perception check right now.
Speaker 0 01:35:09 That's a six for fee.
Speaker 1 01:35:13 Okay. The captain got a three. Leo got A 20 Z, got a 13, not his best perception role ever. And Sabine's gonna roll with disadvantage cuz she's busy freaking out right now. Everybody's rolling threes on the die today, man. So that's a teen for Seine and then I need to roll one more thing. Okay. You and the captain are both kind of busy trying to get Seine calmed down, but out of the corner of your eye, you see Leo squint off into the trees and kind of bring a hand down to rest on his bra. But before you can think too much about it, Sabine is just running off at the mouth, kind of talking in a stream of consciousness. I mean, that's the thing, isn't it, there's no help for this situation. There's never been any help for this situation. And yeah, I agree. I could have handled things better and there's a lot that should have just told you two from the beginning. But now we're at a point that any information I could give you would be useless because our end game is going to have to be the same, no matter what, right? We wanna stop your father. We want to keep people from getting hurt. We're gonna have to take over the whole island.
Speaker 1 01:36:37 That's the only thing we can do.
Speaker 0 01:36:41 I I'm inclined to agree with that. Yeah. We cut this all off at the root and then we go from there. What's the problem with that?
Speaker 1 01:36:55 Sabine lets out this guilty wounded little noise and kind of curls in on herself. I still haven't told you everything. The problem is. And then from off on the other side of this clearing, you hear Leo go, oh shit,
Speaker 0 01:37:16 I don't like that. I turn around
Speaker 1 01:37:19 Your brother had walked up to edge of this clearing to investigate something. And you see him jumping back and sapping the knife out of his Bracer as a small lean silhouette approaches from between the trees. This person emerges the soft bio illuminance of their skin, concealed behind a Gazi black veil that gets peeled back And Sid Illan. The higher Han of Australia takes two big confident steps into this clearing Nods in all of you before focusing his gaze on Sabine and says, the problem is that if you wanna take over the whole island, you're not gonna be able to do it without help from the inside. And then he reaches into the front of his robes, pulls out a small brown coin that gleams in the Moonlight, Keeping secrets Sabine. That's not like you. Truth dies in darkness after all. Hey SISs Long time, no sea. And that's where we're gonna end this week.
Speaker 17 01:38:45 <laugh>
Speaker 1 01:38:48 Well, this should be interesting. And we'll see what happens next time on compelled dual.
Speaker 1 01:39:12 Hey everybody Barry here with the post script, just clearing up a couple housekeeping things here at the end of the episode, as always, I'm gonna go ahead and plug our social media profiles. You can find us on, on Twitter, Tumblr and TikTok at compelled dual. We have lots of other cool stuff going on. However, an official website, an official Spotify profile, our official merch store, stuff like that. You can find all that stuff linked on any of our various social media profiles. If you're interested in supporting the show we ask that you could are heading over to patreon.com/compelled dual where starting at just $2 a month, you can get access to all kinds of cool patron perks, including early access to episodes, access to exclusive playlists and bonus content and even handwritten letters from your favorite character every month. If you're interested in supporting the show in ways, other than pledging to our Patreon, we ask that if you're listening to us on apple podcasts or Spotify, that you leave us a rating and a review, since that helps the show get promoted to a wider audience, we host a weekly Q and a show on our YouTube every week.
Speaker 1 01:40:22 And we would love to see you show up for that. Ask a couple questions. We always have a really fun time. And as always, if you like what you're hearing on the show we ask that you just tell a couple friends about it and if they like it, ask them to tell a couple friends as well. Word of mouth advertising is the most powerful tool we have at our disposal. Our next episode will be going live on Friday 22nd, 2022. Or if you are a member of our Patreon, you'll be getting early access on Thursday, April 21st. Thank you guys so much and we'll see you next week.
