Anthony 0:00
Greetings, adventures, and wel- adventures? Greeting adven- greeting? Greetings, adventurers, and welcome to the Adventure Incorporated Podcast. I am your Dungeon Master, Anthony Reed, and sometimes you got to take three bites at the apple. You know, sometimes the first 2 just don’t work. That’s just the way of the world, but I’m so delighted that you’re here on the first try. I’m going to just go ahead and assume it’s the first try for you to be here with us. Thank you so much. This is episode- this is Episode 15, and it is part of the Brass Palace story arc. I want to give a big thank you to our patrons. Patreon.com/adventureinc. You say, “Anthony, you always give a thank you to your patrons. We’ve heard all about the patrons.” Yeah, and you’re gonna continue to hear about the patrons because they are amazing people who make this show possible by giving their support, their love, their money, and their loyalty, their fellowship, their undying, unyielding, unceasing fealty. No, that’s not required to be a patron at patreon.com/adventureinc. It’s just a couple of bucks a month, and you get cool rewards for doing so, extra bonus material, bonus episodes with bonus content, and bonus Dungeon Master material made by me with bonus interactive chatting. There’s a lot of bonuses. There’s a bonus chat room in the discord for patrons only. Just all kinds of really great bonuses. It’s a bonus place. This is, this is, going to weird places today. Obviously it came off that I was on the wrong foot. I didn’t stop it. I’m just going. We’re just going through this, and that’s sort of how life is, you know? Isn’t that- wouldn’t you say that’s what life is like? All right, let’s get started with the show. How about before I just go into real weird territory? Thank you for being here. Let’s get started.
Nobles and farmers, knights and scoundrels gather round, gather round to hear a tale of excitement and mystery. Brave adventurers, facing grave dangers.
Belroth, the Ranger.
Belroth 2:24
She’s a grimalkin. That’s understood. No pets allowed, even though she’s not a pet. I will wait outside. Everyone, if anyone needs anything. I am outside.
Anthony 2:34
Skarpin, the Cleric.
Belroth 2:37
Should I just try and snipe them from over here?
Skarpin 2:39
Yeah, okay. I did say they were as good as dead. I would hate to break my word on our first contract with Adventure Incorporated.
Anthony 2:47
Ellori, the Bard.
Ellori 2:49
We would want you to leave this warehouse.
Anthony 2:54
He points behind you. Church!
Ellori 2:56
Oh, sorry. We want you to leave this church.
Anthony 3:00
Deeran, the wizard.
He say you no, worship Shattered Fang.
Deeran 3:06
Yeah, man, he’s like, super wrong. We love Broken Tooth- uh Shattered Fang, man.
Anthony 3:11
Prepare yourselves, for these are the tales of Adventure Incorporated!
Viscount Devon Hawthorne looks at the newcomer in the room. He says, Archimedes Silverblade. Well, I was not expecting you.
Archimedes bows deeply, and he says, Your Eminence, please allow me to offer the services that I may to this group of adventurers who clearly are in need of extra help in this matter of great importance to the Empire. As you look around in this moment, since Archimedes has made himself present, Carapath looks very angry. Like, this was outside his plan. This has disrupted his situation he was preparing, and now he’s not pleased. Similarly, Fennik looks furious.
Deeran 4:21
Deeran couldn’t be more excited. Like this is literally his- his dream is to work with the Silver Mask, and here is like, THE Silver Mask. Like, whoa. He doesn’t say a damn word.
Anthony 4:45
I would be willing to offer what resources I may to help understand the threat that we are facing, and to deal with it in whatever way we can. I’m sure my brother would be more than amicable to lend us some troops to this other matter once we have more concrete information.
Fennik’s hands tighten. You can see like a fist white knuckled as he says, of course, we would be willing to aid the empire in whatever way we best see fit, but right now resources are tight, brother. I’m sure you have more than enough that can deal with this situation.
Archimedes says, if I am correct on this issue, it is far bigger than any of us are prepared to deal with. Your Eminence, I hope you will allow me to offer my aid in good faith, and I will coordinate with Adventure Incorporated on this.
Devin Hawthorne says, I’ve seen enough. I’m confident this will be resolved this way, and we have nothing more we need to discuss. I have other things to attend to. I’ll be leaving. He stands and everyone else stands around you, and he sweeps from the room Immediately the member from the Guild of Contractual Arrangements leaves as well, followed very shortly after by a huffy Nialetha from the Artificers Guild. There is a tension still in the room between the remaining Adventure Incorporated Elders, and Fennec Silverglade, and his brother, Archimedes, but no one seems to be blinking.
Deeran 6:49
Can Deeran do like, an Insight Check to try to figure out how Elder Riggs feels about this?
Anthony 6:57
Yes.
Deeran 6:59
Great.
Skarpin 7:01
Is he sleeping?
Deeran 7:04
He nails it. What’s a 4 get me?
Anthony 7:12
You can’t quite remember who Elder Riggs is. No, you look at Elder Riggs and you can’t get a good read on what he’s thinking or feeling. Just a straight line emoji.
Deeran 7:33
Flat face. Ol’ flat face.
Ellori 7:36
Yeah, but I feel like the straight face emoji like, the straight line for the mouth says a lot more negatively than it does positively. Like, if you are straight mouthed-
Anthony 7:47
Make me an Insight Check, Ellori.
Ellori 7:55
18 plus 3. 21.
Anthony 8:02
This isn’t just a straight mouth emoji for you. You also notice the worried creases in the eyebrow and forehead that leads you to believe that Elder Riggs is very concerned about the situation. He was caught flat footed, and he’s not very pleased with this outcome.
Deeran 8:24
Caught flat footed. Presenting flat faced.
Anthony 8:28
Yes. You also have now realized Elder Riggs is 2 dimensional. He’s been flat the whole time.
Deeran 8:37
He turns to the right and disappears.
Anthony 8:39
He’s gone.
Belroth 8:41
Are we playing Paper Mario RPG suddenly?
Skarpin 8:50
Thank you, all. Mr. Silverblade- Archimedes. Well, I for one am grateful for your help. The last mission we went on we almost died. It was, it was crazy.
Anthony 9:04
I will need a few days to set up arrangements, but there is an event coming soon that I think will allow us to gain insight into this situation.
Belroth 9:18
What event?
Anthony 9:21
There’s not much I can say about it right now, but I will send instructions along shortly. Please do not leave the city for the next few days so that we may gather together and discuss soon.
Ellori 9:37
Deeran has made his obsession with the Silver Mask clear to the rest of us, right?
Oh, obnoxiously. Yeah, like every- every chance we get when we’re talking. Anytime we talk about the Black Scale Deeran says something along the lines of, not like the silver mask though, man. They’re actually out there doing stuff. Like, oh, my God, it would be so cool, man. And so like, right no-
Yeah.
Deeran 10:08
Like, Steph imagine if-
Ellori 10:11
No, no. I got it.
Anthony 10:14
So Ellori-
You don’t need to expose her secret desires to live on this podcast.
Deeran 10:21
That’s patron content. Patreon.com
Anthony 10:26
Slash adventureinc. Don’t just give them Patreon.com! That’s nothing!
Belroth 10:29
You’ll figure it out.
Skarpin 10:30
I’m on this site. Now what do I do?
Belroth 10:36
I’d like to pay somebody money, but I’m not quite sure whom.
Ellori 10:42
Excuse me, Mr. Silverblade?
Anthony 10:46
Yes.
Ellori 10:48
It’s Archimedes that answers me, right?
Anthony 10:50
Yeah, yeah. Fennik is happy to stare into nothing and fume in the corner as he is currently doing.
Ellori 11:00
Great. I was wondering- and she like, fishes like, a piece of paper out of her bag. -I was wondering if you could maybe a sign this piece of paper for my friend.
Anthony 11:16
Uh, it is uncommon that I receive such a request.
Ellori 11:22
It’s not for anything illegal or anything, just like, an autograph. He’s a big fan.
Anthony 11:29
He swishes his fingers, and a quill appears in the air next to him, and he just moves a finger, and the quill floats over and signs on the paper.
Ellori 11:42
You can say, “To Deeran.”
Deeran 11:44
Ugh.
Anthony 11:48
He nods, and the quill scratches into the paper a little bit and then it disappears again like, vanishes right into thin air.
Ellori 11:56
Thank you so much. That’s gonna make him really happy.
Anthony 12:01
I have to go now. There are arrangements that must be made, but you will be hearing from me shortly. I think that you may serve our needs quite well, and then he leaves the room like, through the door which is not the way he came in.
Skarpin 12:20
He just goes through the doors like, just passes through.
Anthony 12:23
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Belroth 12:26
He actually closes the door and then walks through.
Anthony 12:33
Ellori, you look down at the piece of paper and it says “To Deeran. Reach for the stars. -Archimedes Silverblade.”
Ellori 12:46
She goes over and she kind of like, slides it to Deeran.
Deeran 12:53
It’s not a super common name, man. We’re gonna work with him. He’s gonna know, man.
Skarpin 13:06
Deeran, just don’t tell him. Ever.
Ellori 13:11
I’m sorry, Deeran. I just thought because you’ve been talking about him for a long time now, and so I thought maybe you got too nervous to ask yourself.
Deeran 13:21
Well yeah, but like, also I didn’t want to look like a dummy.
Ellori 13:26
Oh no, you don’t.
Skarpin 13:28
Yeah he kind of does. Well, once he knows it’s you, but right now, no. You’re right. You don’t. You succeeded.
Anthony 13:36
Elder Riggs has stood up. He’s like, ushering you guys out. He says, we should go.
Belroth 13:43
Oh, yes, let’s everybody head out while Deeran looks at his autograph that he wanted from the Silver Mask.
Anthony 13:54
Let’s go quicker. Quicker!
Belroth 13:58
If they were selling merch. I would have gotten you some Deeran, but it felt very abrupt.
Anthony 14:03
Elder Carapath says, make sure you are still here in the city as I have important tasks for you to do.
Skarpin 14:14
Yes, absolutely. Anything for Adventure Incorporated?
Deeran 14:17
Yeah, man thank you so much for hearing from us, you know? We’re super excited to solve this problem with everybody.
Anthony 14:25
I cannot wait to see what you bring forth from this.
Ellori 14:33
We can’t wait to solve all the problems.
Anthony 14:37
I’m sure.
Ellori 14:38
All of them.
Anthony 14:40
He and Willowheart leave.
Deeran 14:42
Was that a threat, Steph?
Ellori 14:45
No! No, it was nerves because she’s terrified that they’re just gonna throw every tiny like, complaint at them, and so they’re going to be like-
Belroth 14:56
~There are demons in the pipes and you must unclog them!~
Ellori 15:01
Exactly.
Skarpin 15:04
Ellori, you gotta be careful. We don’t want them mad at us.
Anthony 15:09
Let’s go find Wesley.
Belroth 15:13
As we’re as we’re walking, right? It kind of sounded like a threat, Ellori when you told him, “All of them.” Like that, you know.
Ellori 15:24
I didn’t mean if like a threat.
Deeran 15:27
Was I the only one or like-
Skarpin 15:29
No, I just heard that. That’s why I was worried. I think they took it the wrong way.
Ellori 15:33
Do you think I should go apologize?
Belroth 15:35
Oh, no. No, that ship has sailed.
Skarpin 15:37
They’re very strong. We’re not- maybe in a few years we can confront them again, Ellori. I don’t think we could take them now.
Ellori 15:43
I don’t- I don’t want to take them. I was just sayin-
Skarpin 15:46
Oh, good. That’s smart strategic play.
Deeran 15:49
Yeah, man they’re like, way older than most of us so like-
Ellori 15:52
No, I know-
Deeran 15:53
It’s only a matter of time, Ellori. Don’t worry.
Ellori 15:55
No, I wasn’t-
Deeran 15:57
You’ll outlive most of them, right?
Ellori 15:59
Oh, I’m definitely gonna outlive all of them. I can’t help but outlive everyone in this room. There were no other elves, right?
Anthony 16:10
Elder Carapath is an elf, but he’s an older elf already.
Ellori 16:13
Okay. Yeah.
Anthony 16:14
He’s older than you. So, you’ll probably outlive him too.
Ellori 16:17
Yeah.
Deeran 16:18
Wait, are- are vampyr like, immortal?
Ellori 16:25
Oh, no, but elves live a pretty long time.
Deeran 16:29
Well, sure, but you just seem so confident. Who knows what might happen out there, man. It’s like, dangerous.
Skarpin 16:37
Sounds like another threat again, but to us this time…
Ellori 16:45
No, that’s not what I was- let’s just go find Wesley.
Anthony 16:50
You’re not gonna take him out too are you?
Skarpin 16:56
Elder Riggs walks quicker.
Anthony 16:59
He can’t. He’s trying, and just can’t. He’s too old.
Skarpin 17:03
Oh, no, he’s next.
Anthony 17:07
He’s come to terms with that.
Deeran 17:10
Ellori’s hungry.
Ellori 17:12
Oh, no. I just-
Anthony 17:16
If you’re gonna take someone, take me! Save yourself, boys!
Ellori 17:22
No I promise I’m not trying to eat anyone.
Skarpin 17:30
Skarpin only walking slightly faster. He’s terrified. My blood’s no good! It’s no good!
Deeran 17:40
Aw, Ellori we’re just kidding. We know. We knew what you meant the whole time. It was just really funny.
Ellori 17:47
Oh.
Deeran 17:47
We wouldn’t kid if we didn’t care, you know?
Skarpin 17:51
That’s, that’s true. Yeah.
Ellori 17:55
Oh.
Belroth 17:55
I didn’t kid because I wasn’t clear.
Skarpin 17:58
Because I don’t care?
Ellori 18:02
Because I. Don’t. Care.
Belroth 18:10
For the record that’s not what Belroth said.
Ellori 18:17
Great. Great job, us.
Belroth 18:21
This team likes each other. Maybe?
Anthony 18:23
Elder Riggs takes you back to his home where Wesley is- as you walk in Wesley is meditating in the center of a magical circle that he has etched into the floor of Elder Riggs’ his home. Elder Riggs comes in, sees him, sighs, and moves over to his chair and drops down into the chair. It does look like the mob from before has been dispersed and is not as not an issue in the town square anymore.
Ellori 19:04
Well, I’m glad that got taken care of.
Anthony 19:08
Yes, yes. I am concerned about how that meeting ended. At first, I thought we were in a lot of trouble. Now I don’t know what’s going to happen.
Skarpin 19:26
That Archimedes character seems very helpful.
Anthony 19:30
Archimedes is a complicated individual. I don’t have a lot of trust for him or the Silver Mask. I don’t know how this is going to turn out, but he has staked a lot of his own personal power in this particular endeavor, which undoubtedly means there is something in it for him and for his organization. What that is, I haven’t an idea, but the Silver Mask does not do anything if it does not benefit them.
Skarpin 20:07
Hmm, well as long as they’re helping us figure out this Demon Isles six figures thing happening, they can benefit too.
Anthony 20:20
Indeed it may be that our purposes are aligned which if that is so then, excellent. It may also be something as simple as finding a way to dig at Fennik. They do not have what I would call a great relationship between the two of them.
Belroth 20:46
What happened? Why don’t they have a great relationship?
Anthony 20:51
Well, Fennik and Archimedes are not brothers by blood. Fennik’s father was the head of the Silverblade clan, the whole family. Fennik’s father passed away when Fennec was a young man, and leadership- while he was being groomed to one day take over- leadership fell to his uncle, Archimedes’ father. His uncle, Silas, chose to do a thing that is not very common. He adopted his brother’s son. Now Fennik is older than Archimedes is and Fennik became now the heir to Silas’ holdings when Silas dies. That is why Fennik has been placed where he has within the guard close to the Emperor, but it is a slight against Archimedes. Archimedes in the time since has forged his own way with the Silver Mask, but it is a complex web.
Deeran 22:04
Yeah, but like, isn’t the Silver Mask just like- I mean, they’re only trying to like, make sure they understand magic and like, do stuff to like, make magic better and stronger and stuff, right? Like, they’re working on stuff for, you know, the Fading and everything man, like, they seem pretty good.
Anthony 22:26
They certainly have put themselves in a position where the things that they are doing are undeniably helpful to the Empire, but they keep a lot of things close to the chest, we’ll say. There are secrets that Archimedes will not let go of. If he knows things, he will hold them for his own gain before helping the Empire, but then when the Empire is in need, he swoops in to offer the assistance that he has at his disposal, at least what he’s willing to show or tell about.
Deeran 23:20
I mean, that just sounds smart to me, man, cuz like, think about it, right? Like, if you show your cards too soon, man, who knows what kind of evil is gonna use it against you? You know what I mean? Like, you know, if I don’t know, like, just, let’s say, like, you’re, you know, pretty good at reading people or whatever, right, and like, you know, when somebody is not telling the truth, or whatever, and you just, like, don’t say anything about it ever, and then all of a sudden, you need to, like have that- you know what I mean? Like, just as a total hypothetical, or whatever.
Anthony 23:55
You may be right. It is possible that he just understands the Empire and plays the game better than anyone. Well, maybe almost anyone, but it is difficult to trust one who hides from their allies, just as they hide from their enemies. What you speak of makes sense to me. You would want to keep things that you are capable of from those you do not trust, but trust is a two way street. It is difficult for us to trust them if they will not trust us.
Deeran 24:36
Yeah, man. Speaking of like, trust or whatever, the first time we met I lied to you.
Belroth 24:46
What? Deeran.
Anthony 24:49
About being hungry? Yes, I know.
Deeran 24:51
Yeah, I didn’t remember what it was until just now, but I just knew I felt like, really bad about it.
Anthony 24:59
You don’t need to be feeling bad about that. That’s fine. Many people say they are hungry or not hungry when they are or are not hungry to some degree. It’s a difficult thing to self discern. It happens all the time, honestly.
Ellori 25:15
Do you get like, little alarm bells in your brain when someone lies to you?
Anthony 25:21
Uh, that is I guess a way you could say that that occurs, but it’s more broad than that. I just get a feeling, a sense if someone is being truthful or not.
Ellori 25:34
What if someone really believes what they say, but it’s not the truth?
Anthony 25:39
That is being truthful. It is about your own understanding and belief.
Ellori 25:46
She looks at Deeran, and she gives him like, a thumbs up.
Deeran 25:51
Yeah, I feel like, a lot safer now, you know?
Anthony 26:01
The trance that Wesley is in ends, and the magic circle depowers, and he says-
Belroth 26:13
~Computer powering down noise~
Anthony 26:14
Why would he say that?
Belroth 26:15
Powering down. Wesley-bot is out of power. Sleep mode.
Anthony 26:21
So, then, largely successful then, no?
Belroth 26:25
In a manner of speaking we are- you are looking at the team who has been put in charge of all demon related incidents, whatever that means.
Anthony 26:38
It was going to be a very bad situation for us. I think that Carapath had determined that he could essentially send us to do just about anything, any waste of time that we needed to do under the guise of being associated with the demons, but thankfully, Silverblade showed up and pledged his assistance that has thrown this particular plan into chaos. There is nothing Carapath can do now under the watch of the Silver Mask in terms of sending us on errant wastes of time.
Belroth 27:17
But now we will be put on actual missions that will potentially kill us, as opposed to waste of time missions that actually kill us.
Anthony 27:26
Well, and more importantly, we are doing bidding of others. We cannot really truly discover what we must do if we are doing what Silverblade tells us to do. We must be cautious with things he suggests and determine if it is worthwhile of our time. We are still in charge here, and we cannot cede that power to him completely.
Ellori 27:52
Are we though?
Deeran 27:54
Well, like we’re not, you know. Are we even officially yet, man?
Anthony 28:01
Yeah, largely. Mostly. There would typically be some sort of ceremony that would occur-
Ellori 28:13
A party!
Anthony 28:14
-with the signing bonus, and then of course, you would have all the people-
Deeran 28:19
Stop talking, man. Hey, did you say signing bonus.
Belroth 28:23
We would like a signing bonus very much.
Anthony 28:26
There is a signing bonus, but signing bonus is- I mean, we can get for you, but it’s not like- I don’t have on me. The Elder will get. Right, Elder Riggs?
Yes, yes, we’ll make it happen. We’ll make it happen.
But typically, you would go through a training and probationary period that we will not have time to do.
Ellori 28:50
Can we still have the party though?
Skarpin 28:53
Maybe that’s what Archimeded is planning. Oh, and Carapath seems to know about it too!
Ellori 28:57
Maybe.
Anthony 29:00
I doubt but-
Ellori 29:01
That’s why he told us we had to stay in the town so that we could be found so that we could have the party!
Skarpin 29:08
Excellent.
Anthony 29:09
Well, okay. We shall see about that, I guess. Typically we would gather several groups of recruits and do like, a quarterly gathering.
Belroth 29:20
Oooo, I wouldn’t mind meeting some of the other adventuring teams-
Skarpin 29:24
Like a mixer!
Belroth 29:25
-I love networking.
Anthony 29:27
Okay, well, I- my point is that you probably do not have time for this now. Things have escalated to a point where now you are going to be responsible for things, but I guess if you happen to be here when party is scheduled, then you can be at party. There is nothing saying, no, don’t come to party. Unless we should keep you secret from other adventures.
Belroth 29:48
Oh, that sounds miserable.
Deeran 29:51
I don’t know, man. Might be pretty cool. Like a secret organization, man where like, only we know what’s really going on here, you know what I mean?
Anthony 30:01
We would have to burn all of your records.
Belroth 30:04
But then we wouldn’t be official Adventure Inc- would we then not get the signing bonus.
Deeran 30:09
Great question, Belroth.
Belroth 30:11
If we’re going to be secret and did not get the signing bonus, I’m out. It’s mostly the signing bonus thing for me.
Anthony 30:25
Well, I suppose we could- you know, we don’t have to, it’s fine. We’ll make work, yes?
Belroth 30:32
Yes. Also- and he takes out the Nexus Stones and he like, tosses them to Wesley. The teleporty stones.
Anthony 30:43
The one. The Teleport Stone.
Belroth 30:45
Yeah, I have it plural in my inventory for some reason. Nexus Stone. All right. Number one, whatever.
Anthony 30:54
Yes, um, this is probably best for you to hold on to.
Belroth 31:00
Are you sure because the Artificer Guild woman looked at me as if she wanted to murder me for it, and we have encountered a few Artificer Guild people who wanted to murder us for something we didn’t even know we had. I now know we have this, and I’m a terrible liar. I am not good at lying. Nialitha?
Deeran 31:27
Yeah.
Anthony 31:33
I am not surprised that she would try and take this. As I have said this is a powerful, powerful object. This would be well within what would be one of our desires, no? It will be valuable to you to be able to travel from place to place, and I think that-
Deeran 32:01
I got an idea. Hey, man, Belroth close your ears and your eyes. Okay, man?
Belroth 32:09
Why?
Deeran 32:10
Just do it. Okay. And he closes his eyes.
Deeran takes the stone from Wesley and walks over to Skarpin and hands it to him and like, puts a finger up to his lips.
Skarpin 32:32
Skarpin nods. He doesn’t say anything, and puts it in his spicy pouch.
Deeran 32:42
Great.
Anthony 32:45
I guess if that is your choice the I will keep it. That is fine. I will hold on to it indefinitely.
Skarpin 32:51
Oh, no, no, no, that’s okay. We’ll figure out something to do with it.
Anthony 33:04
Skarpin.
Skarpin 33:04
Close your eyes again.
Belroth 33:05
What? Do you have it now?
Deeran 33:08
Do you want to know, man?
Anthony 33:10
No, I have it now. I will keep. I will keep stone. I have stone now.
Belroth 33:15
Show me.
Anthony 33:16
He pulls it out. He pulls out a stone and waggles it at you.
Belroth 33:19
That’s not the same stone.
Anthony 33:20
I mean, it looks identical to you.
Belroth 33:23
Oh, no, that is- your right. Hold on, let me adjust my glasses. Okay, sure.
Anthony 33:29
He puts it away.
Belroth 33:30
What are you lying to me all about?
Skarpin 33:31
Skarpin checks his pocket like, quietly.
Anthony 33:34
It is still in your pocket.
Skarpin 33:35
Great.
Ellori 33:37
So can I just say I really thought that Deeran was gonna eat it.
Belroth 33:40
Me too.
Ellori 33:43
Like, when you were like, close your eyes and your ears and you held the stone, I was like, he’s gonna put this in his mouth like he’s going to try to swallow this thing. That’s the only thing I could think of that you were going to do.
Belroth 33:53
Like a child?
Deeran 34:02
Opens his mouth and waggles his tongue around. I picture it the size of a like, large potato.
Anthony 34:12
Yeah, that would be accurate. It would be like, very uncomfortable to try and consume this stone.
Deeran 34:20
Choking down a large potato without chewing.
Belroth 34:25
The arcane equivalent of Chubby Bunny, but with- That’s the word of power. That’s how we empower it to travel.
Ellori 34:36
Power Word Chubby Bunny.
Anthony 34:44
We will likely hear soon more about things that need to be done. So, in meantime, I guess this time is yours to do with as you please.
Ellori 34:57
I think we should throw ourselves a party because, you know, my grandma says, there’s always time for a party.
Anthony 35:06
Okay. Okay. We could go to Shining Night and get drinks.
Skarpin 35:12
Well, maybe we should avoid the Shining Night. Just try new local spots. I like to try a variety. See different places.
Anthony 35:20
I’ve been to many places, and I will say Shining Night is best, but you know, whatever you choose.
Skarpin 35:26
Well, that’s a shame.
Belroth 35:27
But what’s the second best?
Anthony 35:29
Well, we could go into the palace, and go to a place in palace for a second the best.
Belroth 35:35
Oh, that sounds fancy.
Anthony 35:38
Well, I mean, not in palace itself, but inside gates.
Belroth 35:44
That’s still fancy.
Deeran 35:44
Do you think the Emperor’s attendants will be there?
Anthony 35:49
The Emperor is attendants? Yes. Will the Emperor be in attendance? No.
Deeran 35:54
No, I know. That’s why I asked about their attendants, you know.
Anthony 35:59
Likely, yes. It is a tavern for servants and for staff of palace.
Ellori 36:08
I would love to make some new friends.
Belroth 36:10
Yeah.
Deeran 36:11
So to figure out what’s really going on in their.
Anthony 36:17
Perhaps, perhaps. I will be drinking so I will not be finding out- I don’t think there’s anything interesting going on in palace when Emperor not there, so, you can tell me what you lear.
Ellori 36:30
Wesley, I have a question for you.
Anthony 36:32
Okay.
Ellori 36:33
It’s about drinking, so I’m assuming you have the answer.
Anthony 36:37
Very well.
Ellori 36:40
Is there a way to- if your blood’s not entirely blood-
Anthony 36:51
Are you asking me if my blood’s not entirely blood?
Ellori 36:54
No, I’m asking for myself because I go to a tavern and I can make my own cocktails, but I was just wondering if there’s something that like, you would recommend for me so that I can also have a good time.
Anthony 37:12
Yeah, there are a number of employees at bar who are willing to do extra jobs for money including-
Ellori 37:21
Oh, no, I’ve got my own little- no, I mean, I’ve got-
Skarpin 37:29
Skarpin looks at her.
Anthony 37:30
If you have someone who is willing to just give you blood all the time, then you know, that is between you and them, and I don’t know why you would- that’s that is your own situation.
Ellori 37:41
No, it’s not what I was saying. I was saying like, if I’ve got like- no, never mind. It’s fine.
Belroth 37:47
If you’re looking for other mixed drinks, there’s always the Bloody Murkas.
Ellori 37:51
What’s that?
Belroth 37:52
It’s mostly, well, it’s mostly tomato juice. It has a lot of toppings. Sometimes it has bacon in it. That’s fun.
Ellori 38:01
Her face looks like my face right now. Like you just told me to drink potato water and olive juice.
Deeran 38:11
Who would ever tell someone that they cared about to do that.
Skarpin 38:16
Sounds silly.
Deeran 38:18
Yuck.
Belroth 38:18
But the twist is in the legend is that it has actual blood in it, but I think that’s just the way to push drinks.
Anthony 38:25
Yeah, it’s not.
Belroth 38:26
It’s not real, and we all know it’s not real.
Anthony 38:28
You could add blood to it, I suppose, but then you’re still drinking a Bloody Murkas.
Belroth 38:32
You could have a Caesar which has clam juice in it. How do you how do you get the juice from a clam?
Deeran 38:38
You gotta squeeze it, man.
Skarpin 38:40
Yeah, I imagine just real hard.
Anthony 38:46
All right, well, I’m getting drinks, so follow me.
Skarpin 38:52
We haven’t done this recently.
Anthony 38:54
What are you what are you hoping to achieve with this time? Just a good time?
Belroth 39:02
Well, I wanted to have a signing bonus so I could buy magic items, but I don’t have that. So yeah, good cuz that’s all there is.
Deeran 39:13
On the way to the bar Deeran just tells everyone: you know, there are some places where like, they do still bleed people for the Bloody Murkas. It’s like a whole thing. You know, the blood of Murkas, you know, kind of empowers people before the fight.
Anthony 39:30
My problem with that- Murkas isn’t even associated with blood. That’s not even a thing.
Belroth 39:36
I know. That’s why it made no sense but-
Ellori 39:41
Deeran like, points to his face where like, his black guy is like, full on- I don’t know, man, there’s a lot of blood in here. He like, pokes like, the big bruise under his face.
Anthony 39:54
I don’t know why you tell me. I’m not Ellori. I’m not excited by that. That’s-
Ellori 39:57
No, I’m not! Why would you-
Deeran 39:59
No, but I mean like, Murkas, is just like, you know the fighty gun? Like, when you fight there’s blood man, like it’s not a huge leap.
Anthony 40:07
He is god of judgment and justice and sometimes judgment comes with blood. Yes, I will agree with that, but in general, you know if you were looking for blood, I would maybe call it like, an Ioran Sunrise. I would imagine blood in something like that.
Belroth 40:24
Ioran Sunrise is a very good one because it’s filled with light and blood.
Anthony 40:29
Yes, exactly.
Ellori 40:31
I’m gonna try that, Wesley.
Anthony 40:33
I mean, yeah, it’s a lot of pineapple. I don’t know. Not for me. Okay, so you guys have a good time. We’ll say you have a good time.
Ellori 40:46
Roll for a good time.
Belroth 40:48
Belroth gets his drink and starts going through his notes. He’s definitely the guy who’d read at a bar. He would go to the bar and read at the bar. He’s actively trying to go through his notes to like, figure out- he’s like, he found out he’s the only person who can figure out what this pin that’s sticking out of his chest is, so he’s trying to review notes to discover if he’s seen things like this before, if he has seen things that can lead to things that he could then use as research to find it. Like, he’s trying to set some research strategy and you know, build that research plan so that he can move forward in actionable ways and hopefully get this out of his chest.
Anthony 41:32
What skill are you hoping to use for this?
Belroth 41:35
Oh, what skill? The best one. Nature, I guess.
Anthony 41:41
If you wanted a Knowledge skill you wanted to use I would be fine with that. If you want to use a Nature skil that’s fine.
Belroth 41:45
Nature is Intelligence, so I figured that’s probably fair. Well, is a 1 a bad number.
Anthony 42:01
Yeah, a bad number. You poor through all of your research, and it turns out you wrote all this, so you already know what it all said.
Belroth 42:11
Well, I was hoping something would jog my brain, but it’s just- it’s all the same! God, my notes are so dry!
Skarpin 42:19
The half corpsen tortal comes over to goes over to Belroth and says, hey, buddy, maybe you should stop playing with that thing in public here. You’re kind of turning people away, and we were trying to make friends here.
Anthony 42:36
And you’re starting to go blind, Belroth.
Belroth 42:38
What?!
Anthony 42:39
Playing with it in public.
The hair on your hands is disgusting
Belroth 42:47
When Mike says it it’s like, hahaha. When Anthony says it, I’m like, what did I do?
Deeran 42:51
Oh, no.
Belroth 42:54
What have I done? No.
Anthony 43:02
Okay, anyone else want to do anything productive during this timeframe, or are you just hanging until the next day?
Ellori 43:09
I rolled a 14 Good Time Check.
Anthony 43:13
Mediocre times. Like, good. They are good.
Ellori 43:15
Yeah.
Anthony 43:15
They’re not like, amazing. Not the best times you’ve had, but they’re good. They’re very good.
Ellori 43:20
Still can’t get drunk.
Anthony 43:21
Sure. Yep.
Belroth 43:23
Didn’t hit that DC 15. It’s just an okay time.
Anthony 43:27
Wesley gets very drunk.
Deeran 43:31
Deeran is trying to will himself to level 5. How’s it going for me?
Anthony 43:42
Not great. Hasn’t happened yet.
Deeran 43:45
All right. Thanks for the check in.
Anthony 43:47
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he’s just sitting there like, going over his previous experiences in his brain like, next time I’ll do this and next time I’ll do that?
Deeran 43:57
I learned a lot from the last time- He’s like, he’s trying to talk to people at the bar about the things that he’s learned so far on his trips.
Anthony 44:05
Wait a minute, since the last level you’ve been what, punched in the face twice. Like, end of list I think?
Deeran 44:11
Uh, please, we successfully negotiated a contract.
Anthony 44:17
All right. All right. Relax.
Deeran 44:18
With some heavy hitters as I recall.
Anthony 44:22
Yeah. Okay. So, the next day- you have a place that you can stay inside the Adventure Incorporated Tower. Wesley fumbles his way there he opens 3 doors that are not the place you can stay. Other people are already staying in them. He’s like, oh, sorry. I’m so sorry. Then he stumbles down the hall to find you empty ones.
Skarpin 44:47
Hey neighbor! Skarpin’s excited because he’s staying in Adventure Incorporated tower.
Deeran 44:53
So much for this secret, huh guys?
Anthony 44:58
You can stay for night and we will find more permanent accommodations in morning, now? This will do.
Skarpin 45:07
Perfect!
Anthony 45:08
Yeah, good place. Good place. And then he lays down on the floor.
Deeran 45:14
When he opens the door, tell us what the room looks like that we’re saying.
Anthony 45:20
They are small and cramped, and he’s opened up a few doors here. There are two beds in each. He has opened up three of them. They are small, cramped spaces that basically have enough space for a couple of dressers, a couple of beds- just twin size beds, and then like, 1 chair in the room.
Deeran 45:44
They’re extra-long twins though, right?
Anthony 45:48
Which it’s funny because you just bought twin sheets, and they fit. So whatever twin is, it seems like kind of a gimmick.
Ellori 45:56
What did the Info Activity Board in the hallway say as we passed it?
Anthony 46:03
Yeah, it just says like-
Belroth 46:05
Oh, God are there Adventure Inc. RAs? Resident Adventurer!
Skarpin 46:11
Skarpin would love that.
Deeran 46:14
Wesley is one of them.
Anthony 46:16
They rolled their eyes at Wesley as he came in. They’re used to him coming in late drunk.
Skarpin 46:21
Checks out, yeah.
Belroth 46:22
Do not be drinking in here cuz I am already drunk. Thank you. Goodbye.
Deeran 46:27
Everyone, I am on duty tonight, so if you’re going to cause trouble do it any other night.
Hey, that felt targeted.
Belroth 46:34
Don’t make me write an incident report.
Anthony 46:38
That was a direct quote.
Ellori 46:40
Here are the days I am on duty. Plan your shenanigans around those days.
Deeran 46:48
I’m feeling especially called out right now. If Wesley is the Resident Adventure that Steph is making him out to be, guaranteed his Welcome and Activity Board says nothing at all.
Anthony 46:59
It’s blank.
Ellori 47:00
Zombie attack!
Deeran 47:04
You can’t put that. You can’t put that in an adventuring tower. You cannot do that board.
Belroth 47:09
On Wesley’s walkie talkie. He gets a notification- his walkie stone, I don’t know. He gets a notification that some freshmen adventurers are having some fun in the shower and he needs to break it up.
Skarpin 47:24
Go.
Deeran 47:24
He doesn’t.
Anthony 47:28
If they’re still there in an hour and a half I’ll deal with it.
Belroth 47:33
Something went wrong, I think in that case.
Anthony 47:36
If they’re still there the second time I do my rounds from now, I’ll be good. All right. Who’s staying where? There’s three rooms available.
Belroth 47:51
Belroth just picks up room.
Anthony 47:54
Basically, who’s bunking up? Who’s bunking up?
Skarpin 47:59
Skarpin is good on the floor.
Anthony 48:01
Okay, so I guess Skarpin just sleeps on the floor next to Wesley and everyone else gets a bed?
Skarpin 48:06
Yeah, cuz like he’s a hardened adventure, and Skarpin’s like, I can do this too.
Belroth 48:09
I assumed Belroth took a bed, Freya took a bed, and then Skarpin took the floor instead.
Ellori 48:22
Okay, so let me get this straight. Wesley and Skarpin are on the floor in room 1. Also in room 1, Belroth and Freya are each on a bed.
Belroth 48:29
Yes. Independently.
Deeran 48:32
Yeah, then Deeran and Ellori both get singles.
Ellori 48:35
No, so, well, yeah so, what’ll happen is Ellori will kind of go into her room, and like, since she doesn’t really sleep, in the middle of the night, she’s gonna knock on Deeran’s door because she’s like- it feels weird after months of seeing all five of them together- all four of them together, whether you count Freya or not. She’s just gonna like, knock like, really lightly and then just go in and sit on the bed. Like, watch Deeran sleep like a fucking creep. I don’t know.
Anthony 49:09
Deeran wakes up with a vampyr on the end of his bed.
Deeran 49:12
Oh, no. It’s my time.
It was less creepy when I thought about it.
Skarpin 49:18
Similar to the blowing on the face earlier.
Anthony 49:24
So, Ellori as morning comes, you are hungry.
Belroth 49:31
Freya is also awake and like, way too active. It’s like, she’s just kind of going ham on something, and it’s super loud.
Anthony 49:41
Yeah, by the time either Skarpin or Belroth are awake enough to realize, Wesley is gone, but yes, Freya is going nuts.
Deeran 49:49
Skarpin’s shield is what Freya is going nuts on. She’s like, jumping on it, and it’s like, rocking back and forth, and she’s like, curling up inside it. It’s smashing into everything.
Belroth 50:02
Weird howls here and there.
Ellori 50:05
Deeran. Deeran.
Deeran 50:06
Yeah, Ellori. Hey. Good morning.
Ellori 50:09
I’m gonna go get something to eat. Do you want breakfast, or are you going to wait for the normal food?
Deeran 50:15
Well, I really appreciate the offer, but like, I don’t eat what you and Skarpin eat. I’m probably gonna wait for like, normal food.
Ellori 50:27
Okay.
Deeran 50:28
Thanks. And he just goes back to bed.
Ellori 50:30
Yeah, and she’s gonna leave. She’s gonna go kind of like, wander the grounds to try and find-
Deeran 50:36
A lost student?
Belroth 50:37
Freya follows.
Ellori 50:38
A bunny.
Deeran 50:38
Sorry, sorry. A lost adventurer.
Ellori 50:42
A bunny or like a deer or some shit.
Anthony 50:45
Okay, so you’re in basically a city. So, give me a Survival Check.
Ellori 50:53
Oh, oh, oh, that’s a natural 1. It’s a 4.
Anthony 51:05
You find nothing. Um, I would say that, you know, you- you’re basically at the tail end of the last time you used the flask. The flask has not been recharged. You are hungry, but you are just hungry. Right, you’re not starving.
Ellori 51:25
Right.
Anthony 51:25
So, you know, you can go by another day without it before you determine whether or not you want to charge the flask, or if you want to try to do something, make another choice. There are plenty of people around, but as daylight breaks, and you know, you guys start to wake up a letter gets slid under both doors.
Deeran 51:58
Deeran- now that Ellori is gone, and he’s all by himself in his room, he’s going to like, pull out his dagger and just like, make a little tiny cut to like, try and fill up an empty flask as like, a just-in-case for Ellori cuz Deeran’s been to cities before. He knows what luck she’s going to have out there, and so he’s like, he’s concerned because he’s never seen a vampyr go hungry, and doesn’t know what will happen.
Anthony 52:41
That’s why keep for very long.
Deeran 52:44
What?!
Anthony 52:46
I mean, it’s blood. It’ll coagulate.
Deeran 52:48
And so you give it a shake, right?
Skarpin 52:51
No.
Deeran 52:52
What?!
Ellori 52:55
Hey, Siri, how long does blood last before you can’t drink it anymore? ~Okay, I found this on the web for how long does blood last before you can drink it anymore. Check it out.~
Anthony 53:11
Check it out, Steph.
Belroth 53:12
Check it out, Steph.
Skarpin 53:13
What’s the top link? What is the top link?
Ellori 53:18
I clicked out of it somehow.
Belroth 53:20
Oh, a nice excuse.
Ellori 53:22
No.
Anthony 53:24
All right, I’m just gonna have to click “I’m feeling lucky.” Top link: it says, “How long does alcohol stay in your blood?”
Ellori 53:42
“Do you really have to fast for 12 hours before a blood test?”
Skarpin 53:45
Different question. Also a different answer.
Belroth 53:51
Belroth grabs- well, if he’s awake, I assume. If he’s not awake, Freya has grabbed the note. If he is awake, Belroth grabs the note.
Anthony 54:01
Yeah, so you grab the letter, and you open it up and it says that your presence is requested at Elder Carapath’s.
Belroth 54:13
Ooo, fun. Okay. Skarpin. Good morning.
Skarpin 54:22
Yes? Yeah, what did the letter day?
Belroth 54:25
Oh, I thought you were asleep. You were so still. I just assumed.
Skarpin 54:29
Oh, no. I was watching Freya. It’s hilarious.
Belroth 54:35
She’s quite the scamp. We are requested at Elder Carapath’s office. I guess now. It doesn’t have a time on it.
Skarpin 54:45
Maybe, maybe there’s a job for us.
Belroth 54:47
I assume.
Skarpin 54:49
Excellent. Let’s go. Where are Deeran and Ellori?
Belroth 54:54
Um, I don’t know.
Ellori 54:55
So, Deeran caps his bottle and puts it in his coat. Then he opens the letter that got slid under the door. What is it?
Anthony 55:06
The same thing.
Deeran 55:08
Read it to me.
Anthony 55:09
It says “Your presence is requested at Elder Carapath’s office”.
Deeran 55:15
Thank you. Jeez. Was that so hard?
Anthony 55:17
Yes.
Ellori 55:19
Deeran immediately gets nervous, puts the note back in the envelope, closes it, and leaves it on the floor.
Anthony 55:24
I think I’m done for the night because I’m just so taxed from having to read that letter out, and now I can’t come up with anything else.
Belroth 55:29
Oh, thank God. I really didn’t want to record today. So, that’s a real relief off my-
Deeran 55:36
You’re welcome, y’all. I did everything I could.
Belroth 55:40
Break time!
Anthony 55:41
Yeah, so there are- so you both have received the same letter, and in fact, the third door that’s- Ellori back in your room, there is also a similar letter.
Ellori 55:54
Okay. Um, she doesn’t go back to that room. So, that’s just gonna stay there. She goes back to Deeran.
Anthony 56:01
The next person who goes to that room’s gonna be like, “oh, no”.
Ellori 56:04
Oh, God. What did I do?
Deeran 56:07
That’s perfect. Yeah, when she comes in, he’s like, so like, how to go out there?
Ellori 56:14
Not very good. You know, there are a lot of people here but not a lot of animals. I don’t know if I’ve ever been in a city this big.
Deeran 56:22
Oh, yeah. Like, it’s pretty big.
Ellori 56:25
People don’t just let their animals wander around?
Deeran 56:29
Well, I mean, when they do like, their animals tend to go missing. You know what I mean?
Belroth 56:38
Belroth knocks on the door.
Deeran 56:42
Come in.
Belroth 56:43
He’s waving the note. Our presence was requested.
Ellori 56:48
Oh.
Deeran 56:48
Oh?
Belroth 56:48
Elder Carapath wants to see us. Oh, did you get the same note?
Deeran 56:55
Oh, there it is, yeah. It looks like there’s one on the floor. Maybe that’s the same thing.
Ellori 57:01
Ellori picks it up and opens it and would like to hear what it says.
Anthony 57:07
It says, “Your presence is requested at Elder Carapath’s office”.
Belroth 57:10
And that’s the last episode of the podcast. Anthony is tapped.
Ellori 57:15
Oh, it looks like our presence is- is- sorry. Our presence is- she squints to read the words a little closer.
Anthony 57:22
Yeah, uh, “requested at Elder Carapath’s office.”
Ellori 57:22
Requested at Elder Carapath’s office.
Anthony 57:26
Yup.
Belroth 57:26
Here, Skarpin, you read it.
Skarpin 57:30
Oh, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. What does it say? What does it- what does it say?
Anthony 57:39
It says please try again.
Deeran 57:47
Here it is, man. The autograph.
Skarpin 57:55
Quite the, quite the swirls here.
Anthony 57:57
To Deeran. Reach for the stars.
Deeran 58:03
Oh, God not that one, man! Oh no! He puts his hands on his face and then he grabs autograph and he like, folds it up very gingerly.
Belroth 58:14
And it gets greasy cuz he put it his hands on his face.
Deeran 58:20
No, no. He’s very careful not to touch anywhere the writing is. You can tell he’s unfolded and refolded this like, autograph probably 45 times in the like, 12 hours he’s had it.
Ellori 58:43
That’s sweet.
Skarpin 58:50
We should get going. This is this could be a job for Adventure Incorporated. We got to make a good impression.
Ellori 58:55
Yeah, I agree. Let’s go. While we walk she’s gonna turn to Skarpin and say, hey, um, just out of curiosity-
Skarpin 59:03
Before leaving the room- nevermind. Sorry, sorry, sorry.
Ellori 59:09
Are you sure?
Skarpin 59:10
Yeah, that’s fine.
Deeran 59:12
Did you have a thing?
Skarpin 59:13
I didn’t. It was a bit. I didn’t want to do it. I don’t force it.
Ellori 59:19
Okay, on the way she’s gonna turn to Skarpin. Um, did you find anything to eat this morning?
Skarpin 59:25
No, I’m very, very hungry. I turned over and- there was in my dream a body lying right next to me, and I reached out for it, but there was nothing there, and I woke up and yeah, nothing.
Ellori 59:37
Yeah, I couldn’t find anything either.
Anthony 59:39
Are you implying you ate Wesley in your sleep?
Skarpin 59:45
Either that or tried to and Wesley had already left, so.
Ellori 59:50
Or that’s why Wesley left. You like, reached out in your sleep.
Skarpin 59:58
Maybe. Skarpin wouldn’t be a great bunkmate, you now?
Anthony 1:00:02
Great. Nope, I just wanted to make sure that’s where we were going.
Deeran 1:00:09
Deeran taps Ellori on the shoulder and like, holds out the bottle. He’s like, just in case- I don’t know, I don’t know like, what happens if you don’t get anything…
Ellori 1:00:23
Oh, if I don’t get anything I get really tired, and I can’t do stuff very well. What is- where did you get this?
Deeran 1:00:31
And like, as he holds the bottle out further you see the like, the bandage around his arm
Ellori 1:00:36
Deeran!
Deeran 1:00:37
Well, like I don’t know, I just, you know, wanted to make sure you were okay.
Anthony 1:00:45
Plus he got a free cookie.
Ellori 1:00:49
Got some apple juice and a granola bar.
Belroth 1:00:51
The tiny bag of Cheez-Its.
Anthony 1:00:53
Just the smallest, free piece of pizza you’ve ever had.
Belroth 1:00:57
But it is free. Kind of.
Ellori 1:01:00
Freetzza.
Belroth 1:01:03
You didn’t pay for it in blood.
Skarpin 1:01:07
Literally paid the blood price.
Belroth 1:01:08
Nothing has the blood bank is free. You literally pay for it in blood.
Ellori 1:01:14
Deeran I don’t know what to say. This is- I- so-
Deeran 1:01:19
Does it work?
Ellori 1:01:20
Oh, it’ll definitely work. Are you sure that it’s-
Deeran 1:01:24
I mean, I don’t need it anymore.
Ellori 1:01:26
Yeah, I guess it’s out of you now. It would be a real waste to not drink it. For future though, I can go, you know, a couple days and to be fine.
Deeran 1:01:36
Oh.
Ellori 1:01:37
But I know we haven’t really talked about it, and we haven’t really been in a situation where it’s been an issue yet. So, I really appreciate your forethought on it. It feels a little weird to drink it in front of you.
Deeran 1:01:52
Okay, and Deeran like, runs up to join like, Belroth and Freya. He scratches Freya like, as he runs up to her.
Anthony 1:02:06
This bottle is 80 degrees instead of like, you know the 98.6 you’d be really shooting for. So, it’s drinkable, and it will sustain you for a couple of days instead of the full week that you would normally get.
Ellori 1:02:24
Can we heat it up. Can we put it in the microwave?
Anthony 1:02:26
Yeah, no, that’s not a thing.
Deeran 1:02:28
Put it under my armpit for a while?
Ellori 1:02:30
Yeah, what if Deeran Fireballs it.
Deeran 1:02:33
I can’t.
Ellori 1:02:34
Or fire fingers it. Whatever you got.
Belroth 1:02:36
Whoa! Firefingers Lincoln.
Deeran 1:02:36
Can’t tell everybody what we did last night!
Skarpin 1:02:46
Scarpin looks over at the vile, remembers the room only having one bed and he just rolls his eyes.
Anthony 1:02:56
So, all I’m saying is you can drink it, but because it’s not coming from a person. it is reduced efficacy.
Ellori 1:03:07
But it’s a couple days.
Deeran 1:03:08
Deeran is a person, Anthony!
Anthony 1:03:10
It’s already come out of- there is a reason for this, Mike.
Deeran 1:03:13
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I figure. Um, yeah, so she’s gonna drink it.
Anthony 1:03:20
Okay, yep. So you get two days worth of-
Ellori 1:03:23
15 good.
Anthony 1:03:24
Yeah, I’d say that’s probably true.
Skarpin 1:03:29
Imagine if Ellori just spits it out. How insulting would that be?
Belroth 1:03:34
On Belroth’s back, like the back of his head.
Anthony 1:03:38
~Ellori voice: You know, you know what, Deeran I’m not hungry.~ Yeah, so you get about two days of Satiated out of this bottle.
Ellori 1:03:50
Okay.
Anthony 1:03:52
You don’t think that that is a quality of Deeran. That is just the quality of not drinking out of the person’s blood.
Skarpin 1:03:59
But you don’t know. You don’t know that.
Ellori 1:04:02
Sure.
Anthony 1:04:04
Okay. You arrive at Elder Carapath’s office. It takes a little bit of looking around to figure out where you’re going. Someone points in the right direction, and you get down to Elder Carapath’s office. You knock on the door, and he’s like, come in.
Belroth 1:04:23
Hello, it is the Expedition Society. You summoned us.
Anthony 1:04:30
Yes, I did. We have heard from Silverblade, and I felt it prudent to pass that information on to you. Additionally, I am to give you these requisition forms to get your signing bonus at the Treasury.
Belroth 1:04:48
Belroth snatches that out of his hand immediately and distributes to the gang.
Deeran 1:04:55
A paper?
Belroth 1:04:57
I assumed. I thought it was 4 of them.
Anthony 1:04:59
4 pieces of paper.
Belroth 1:05:01
He rips it into 4 pieces and is like, here’s our signing bonus.
Anthony 1:05:07
The message that I got from Archimedes Silverblade is that there is some sort of important meeting he wants you to attend to gather information, someone who he believes will have answers for you, but the meeting is not to take place for another 2 days and then he will-
Belroth 1:05:29
Is it here or is it in another-
Anthony 1:05:32
He did not say. He said he will come for you and lead you to the meeting himself in person. You have 2 days to prepare yourselves for whatever may come. I would expect there to be great difficulty and strife anywhere the Silver Mask takes you.
Ellori 1:05:51
Well, is there some sort of Adventure Incorporated training session we could go to in the next 2 days to get us a little strong?
Belroth 1:05:57
An orientation? An onboarding?
Anthony 1:06:01
If you can find someone willing to put you through the training course then fine. You may use our facilities, but there are other people who need this training as well. There are other things happening in the world besides this goose chase.
Deeran 1:06:20
Totally, man, we’re just so excited to be part of Adventure Incorporated and like, you know, help out around here. Thanks so much for having us.
Anthony 1:06:30
Of course. Take your requisition forms, do what you need to do for the next two days, and be prepared for when Silverblade comes.
Deeran 1:06:40
Hey, Elder Hawthorne?
Anthony 1:06:46
Carapath.
Deeran 1:06:47
Right. That’s what I meant. Sorry, man. Like, we’re just super new, you know, and like, trying to learn everybody and trying to figure everything out. It’s really cool playing for the same team as everybody and like, having the same goal. You know what I mean?
Anthony 1:07:05
Sure. Is there anything else I can do for you?
Belroth 1:07:08
Was there any other information about the meeting that we can use to help better prepare ourselves?
Anthony 1:07:16
I got what I got from Archimedes Silverblade. Of course he did not volunteer more information than that, but as I said, I would prepare yourselves to be in a great deal of danger.
Ellori 1:07:30
Well, it sounds like we should go do that then. Thank you so much. And she curtsies
Anthony 1:07:36
He says, yes, yes. And he flicks hand to wave you on.
Ellori 1:07:42
Can you point us in the direction of the training center?
Anthony 1:07:47
And he says, yeah, it is out in the courtyard outside near the tower on the backside away from the city.
Ellori 1:07:55
I hope you have a really nice day.
Anthony 1:07:58
Thanks.
Belroth 1:07:59
Thank you for your time. We really appreciate it.
Anthony 1:08:04
Now you’re wasting my time so go. All of you must go.
Skarpin 1:08:07
Oh, yes, we’ll leave right away.
Deeran 1:08:09
Yeah, we’re gonna get right out of your hair, man. Sorry.
Belroth 1:08:12
Again, thank you so much for your time.
Deeran 1:08:15
Yeah, it really means a lot.
Anthony 1:08:18
He’s just fuming.
Ellori 1:08:21
Ellori’s like, curtsying on the way out.
Deeran 1:08:24
One team, man. One team. This is the best.
Ellori 1:08:28
Go, Adventure Incorporated!
Anthony 1:08:30
Yes, go. Go, Adventure Incorporated. Yes, thank you. Go.
Skarpin 1:08:38
Skarpin goes to the closet cuz he forgot which way they came in.
Anthony 1:08:42
That way! That way!
Ellori 1:08:46
When they’re in the hall, Ellori is gonna say, I can’t wait till he loves us.
Skarpin 1:08:52
He already does. He gave us a job. He’s gonna let us train. It’s great!
Belroth 1:08:56
He definitely gives off the tough love kind of manager situation where he’s like, “oh, you dumb kids.” But he seems like a softy inside, I hope. Maybe, I don’t know. I’m not very good at reading people.
Skarpin 1:09:13
I agree. I think he likes us. All right. Let’s go get- let’s cash these and then we’ll come train. How about that?
Belroth 1:09:25
Cash then train?
Skarpin 1:09:27
Yeah, I think so.
Ellori 1:09:30
All right.
Deeran 1:09:31
All right, man.
Belroth 1:09:32
Unless training is along the way. Then train, then cash.
Skarpin 1:09:35
Oh, I don’t know.
Deeran 1:09:36
Uh.
Belroth 1:09:36
Cash then train.
Deeran 1:09:38
Yeah, perfect, man. What a great idea.
Skarpin 1:09:41
Awesome idea.
Belroth 1:09:41
Thank you.
Anthony 1:09:43
So, you all head to the Treasury, and you hand in your signing bonus forms. The Treasury hands back to you 500 gold and 10 Spellstone each.
Belroth 1:09:57
I have 11 Spellstone!
Deeran 1:10:02
We gotta find more of these.
Skarpin 1:10:04
That was 9 Spellstone each?
Belroth 1:10:06
10.
Anthony 1:10:06
- Deeran 1:10:07
10.
Ellori 1:10:07
- Belroth 1:10:08
You got 9. We divided yours-
Anthony 1:10:13
- We divided your 1 additional 1.
Skarpin 1:10:16
Rude.
Belroth 1:10:21
Yeah, we got 43 Spellstone. Oh wait, we all got 11 then.
Deeran 1:10:28
Oh, boy. Math.
Anthony 1:10:30
Hard, hard times.
Belroth 1:10:33
Anyways, I have 11 Spellstone. That’s all that matters.
Skarpin 1:10:37
Skarpin’s looking at all of his gold now, and he just looks at the group and says, adventure shop? Adventure shop?
Ellori 1:10:47
No, we wanted to do the training first.
Skarpin 1:10:49
With new equipment? We could, you know, probably perform better with… Yeah, yeah, no, you’re probably right.
Ellori 1:10:58
So, he made it seem really dangerous. So, maybe we find out how we can best accentuate our strengths in the training grounds, and then we can go into the adventure shop and get to the things that we need to do that even more.
Skarpin 1:11:12
Yeah, okay.
Deeran 1:11:13
That’s actually really smart.
Belroth 1:11:15
It’s better to train with more difficulty and then we get the items and then we have this advantage because we’ve trained under harder conditions.
Skarpin 1:11:25
No, yeah, whatever. Let’s go train.
Anthony 1:11:30
You leave the Treasury and head toward the training grounds, and as you round the tower toward the back side of the building away from the city, standing in what appears to be a large open field that has like, various pieces of like, artificial terrain built up here like, there’s a large boulder that was rolled in and some pits that are dug, some places that are leveled out, made of sand. Standing in the center of this is Wesley. I figured you would be coming here to train, and I wanted to provide my services as perhaps as something to harden your skills against.
Skarpin 1:12:14
Wesley, I’m so glad I didn’t eat you!
Anthony 1:12:19
Me, me too, I suppose. Are you ready?
Skarpin 1:12:25
Yeah, hold on, let me put down all this gold. He just shifts his pouches and doesn’t put it down because he’s not a dummy.
Anthony 1:12:37
As I understand it you have place to be in a couple of days, eh?
Belroth 1:12:45
How did you hear that so soon?
Deeran 1:12:47
Yeah, man.
Anthony 1:12:49
It is my job to know what is happening here, especially with people that I have taken an interest in.
Deeran 1:12:54
Yeah, they didn’t really like, tell us anything about like, what’s actually going to go on or anything. It was really not helpful, but we know like, Archimedes Silverblade is coming, right? So, like, we had to meet with him, and it’s gonna be dangerous. That’s like, everything we know.
Anthony 1:13:12
As I understand it that is the way that Silverblade works. He tells you only the smallest amount you need to know and then he will tell you the rest when you need to.
Deeran 1:13:22
That’s so cool.
Skarpin 1:13:23
So efficient.
Anthony 1:13:24
If you have places to be in 2 days, I suppose I will not bring my full strength against you. We will just do what we must to ensure you are prepared. He reaches into his robe and draws out a long blade.
Deeran 1:13:40
As soon as he pulls the sword Deeran casts Mage Armor on himself. Oh, no.
Anthony 1:13:48
Magic swirls around him and the blade begins to glow. And he says, begin.
Deeran 1:13:54
Yeah, magic swirls around me, uh, and my robe begins to glow, less cool.
Anthony 1:14:25
Hey, everyone. DM Anthony here, just reminding you that if you’re enjoying the show, tell your friends, tell your family. Let people know word of mouth. And you can support the show at patreon.com/adventureinc, or you can check out the shop at adventureincpod.com/shop. Make sure you check the show notes and the website for all our social media, including our Discord where you can come and hang out with some great people. We’ll see you there, and until next week, I wish you nothing but critical success.
Adventure Incorporated 1:14:56
Serious Business.
We’re super serious!
Transcribed by https://otter.ai