Untapped Rage

0:00:19 Fantasy High: Junior Year Emily Axford as Fig Faeth; Zac Oyama as Gorgug Thistlespring; Siobhan Thompson as Adaine Abernant; Lou Wilson as Fabian Seacaster; Ally Beardsley as Kristen Applebees; and Brian “Murph” Murphy as Riz Gukgak Episode 16: Untapped Rage < [Previous Episode] | [Next Episode] >

0:00:25 Content Warnings: mutilation of a corpse, adult pressuring minors to use drugs and alcohol [Intro Theme]

0:00:49 Brennan: Hello, one and all! Welcome back to another thrilling episode of "Dimension 20: Fantasy High Junior Year". I'm your humble dungeon master, Brennan Lee Mulligan. With me, as always, are our Intrepid Heroes. Say hi, Intrepid Heroes.

0:00:56 Players: Hi, Intrepid Heroes.

0:01:00 Brennan: Wow. Last we left off, the Bad Kids emerged victorious from the Last Standard Exam, AKA the Last Stand. Flawless victory, as a prerecorded Arthur Aguefort, with some premonitions of what the Bad Kids might say in response to his prerecorded hologram, congratulated you on being the first students of his adventuring academy to actually freaking get it.

0:01:24 Siobhan: Yes.

0:01:24 Emily: Yeah!

0:01:26 Brennan: Actually freaking get it for once, and know that when someone tells you you have to die, you tell them to go fuck themselves, all right?

0:01:33 Siobhan: Yeah.

0:01:33 Brennan: You slew all the monsters, flawlessly answered all the questions, kept Gavin Pundle alive through round after round of deadly combat, and eventually saved your academic adventuring party. Kristen Applebees is immune from expulsion, as is Figueroth Faeth. All of you received an A+, which means that your downtime for the rest of the year, you don't have to roll academic tracks. Given your earlier grades in the year plus the extra credit earned from the Last Stand, it is impossible for you guys to fail out this year, even if you do not attend a single other class.

0:02:11 Zac: [sighs] That's good to hear.

0:02:11 Siobhan: I still do wanna find the rogue teacher for you, though.

0:02:13 Murph: Yeah, that's true.

0:02:13 Siobhan: Just on principle.

0:02:15 Brennan: Well, you can do that on your downtime. On principle, yeah, absolutely. With that being said, you also witnessed in mid-combat, due to an incredibly brilliant, intuitive decision to eat one of the Eyes of the Vulture King— imagine if you had never bothered that vulture? Eating one of the Eyes of the Vulture King allowed you to see, hidden under some Greater Invisibility, Kipperlilly Copperkettle and at least the hand of Oisín Hakinvar, two of the adventuring party members of Buddy Dawn, your student Revivification cleric, who was overseeing the exam. Kipperlilly saw that she was made, and slit Buddy Dawn's throat. You discovered then that both you and Buddy had been pickpocketed during the combat.

0:02:59 Siobhan: I hate her so much.

0:03:01 Brennan: With a teleportation, Oisín and Kipperlilly vanished as you watched Buddy Dawn fall to the ground. Gavin didn't even have a way for you to get out other than the fact that you had Plane Shift prepared, and took you to the Council of Chosen. As all of you arrive at the train station in Elmville, it's about, I'd say, probably in Elmville as the train pulls in to the station. This is the night before your spring break begins, so you'll have a week off.

0:03:29 Emily: Do we have an assignment?

0:03:32 Brennan: No, you guys having your spring break—

0:03:32 Zac: Oh, thank god.

0:03:36 Emily: So we can tag along with someone else's.

0:03:40 Brennan: Actually, you would have a spring break assignment if you were having a normal year, but having taken the Last Stand basically is like, well, you're done. You did all the stuff you need to do.

0:03:49 Fig: Okay, I think we all need to make shirts that say, "I survived the Last Stand."

0:03:54 Kristen: Great.

0:03:55 Fig: We should go big and be really braggadocious about it.

0:03:57 Fabian: Is there any way we can tie it into the Kristen Applebees campaign?

0:04:01 Fig: Yeah!

0:04:03 Fabian: See what you can get in there.

0:04:04 Kristen: That's great.

0:04:04 Fig: Ooh!

0:04:05 Fabian: You know, it feels rich.

0:04:05 Siobhan: Right.

0:04:09 Emily: Did you get any highlights of Kristen on your necktie?

0:04:12 Murph: Just the crime scene, mostly.

0:04:15 Emily: You didn't get Kristen eating—

0:04:16 Kristen: We can use that as a green screen, and I'll be in front of it.

0:04:18 Riz: I think we might've got Kristen jumping down with the bar, but it looked… Good? But I think some of it—

0:04:25 Kristen: It looked good, right?

0:04:25 Riz: Yeah.

0:04:26 Fabian: We can get the AV club to cut it together.

0:04:28 Murph: These streaming things, though, it's always weird.

0:04:29 Kristen: We can get the AV club to make it look like I wasn't kinda jolty.

0:04:32 Riz: And then sort of talking to the butter gummies and saying it's all love now, and then the butter gummies also saying it's all love now? But I think that footage isn't—

0:04:41 Fabian: Something like that.

0:04:41 Kristen: We'll use subtitles.

0:04:43 Riz: Yeah, I think that footage isn't salvageable.

0:04:46 Kristen: I think with the right song, it would still look cool, though.

0:04:49 Adaine: Right.

0:04:49 Gorgug: Yeah, I agree.

0:04:50 Riz: Speaking of videos, Gorgug.

0:04:50 Adaine: Oh, yes!

0:04:54 Fig: I should check on my phone. I know, it's been on my mind. I just really wanted to milk our victory.

0:05:00 Brennan: Which video is this?

0:05:01 Murph: The crime scene.

0:05:01 Brennan: The livestream.

0:05:03 Ally: What has happened to Buddy's body?

0:05:04 Brennan: You go back. No Investigation roll necessary. That was an extremely smart trap to set up. Scanning back through the footage of the livestream, I think Gorgug, you just punch in an artificer pixel change motion scan for it, right, and about 10 minutes after you had left from the coliseum and the Last Stand, where you are set up, you see that the screen suddenly goes black, and as it goes black, looking at the body, approaching from behind the camera, an enormous figure in a massive cloak walks up with its back to... And when I say enormous, I mean 14 or 15 feet tall.

0:05:46 Fig: Sorcerer ain't who he says he is.

0:05:49 Gorgug: Wait, what?

0:05:49 Adaine: You think it's Jace?

0:05:51 Fig: What if Jace has been disguising himself all along?

0:05:56 Zac: Do I hear footsteps as it walks up?

0:05:58 Brennan: Through the recording, give me a Perception check.

0:06:00 Ally: I'll give you the Help action.

0:06:02 Brennan: Anyone listening can give a Perception check here as well. [dice rolling]

0:06:07 Zac: Not good for me.

0:06:07 Siobhan: I got a 24.

0:06:10 Ally: I can do a Perception. I realized I have plus 10.

0:06:14 Brennan: 24 from Adaine.

0:06:14 Ally: 28.

0:06:15 Brennan: 28 from Kristen.

0:06:15 Siobhan: Nice.

0:06:17 Brennan: The nice mortar stones of the coliseum give you a good perspective, as you just fought in there for this huge battle. So you're looking at it, you know where the phone is, and at first you're like, ooh, there's someone walking right in front of the camera. And then you see that it takes multiple footfalls. I think you would rule out an illusion, because you hear heavy foot... Or it's just a good illusion, right? You hear heavy footfalls. On that 28, you see the light changes on the stones ahead of the figure. It totally eclipses Buddy's prone body, and you see that the stones behind Buddy, past the figure walking away from the camera, the stones behind him begin to glow red as though there is a red source of light. Either the eyes are powerfully glowing red or there's some kind of red light coming out of the front area, like an amulet or something —

0:07:11 Siobhan: The insignia.

0:07:11 Brennan: Insignia.

0:07:13 Zac: What's going on with the guy in the gem?

0:07:15 Ally: I was just gonna say, do we still have the gem? You're holding it, right?

0:07:20 Lou: I produce Bakur.

0:07:20 Brennan: You produce Bakur. You guys pause the video for a second. You look at Bakur. The gem glows with an incredibly similar light.

0:07:28 Zac: Is Bakur in there?

0:07:30 Brennan: [points at Murph] I'm honoring a nat 20 from earlier this season. You're looking at this stream through the Gregorian Necktie, right?

0:07:34 Murph: Uh-huh.

0:07:36 Brennan: That allows you to see mitochondrial power or potency. This is not Bakur. Bakur is trapped in the gem. But this is the red light of Ankarna. And I think on that 20, as well, there is another magical strain here, like Bakur. So in the same way that it's like a god has their pure force of magic, but then a high lieutenant would have an elaboration on that.

0:08:04 Murph: Yeah.

0:08:06 Brennan: This has a separate elaboration on that that you do not recognize from that original foray in those books from Lydia's old adventuring party.

0:08:17 Emily: Okay, so not Kalina, Porter, or Jace Stardiamond.

0:08:21 Murph: Yeah.

0:08:23 Ally: Probably—

0:08:23 Brennan: I will say this. If you're ruling out Kalina, Porter, Jace Stardiamond, whomever, I don't know that you've seen Jace cast magic, right?

0:08:34 Emily: Okay. Okay.

0:08:34 Brennan: Does that make sense? You don't have the fingerprints. You can lift fingerprints off a crime scene, but if you don't have them in the database, it's sort of like—

0:08:42 Emily: Okay. So we can't rule out—

0:08:45 Siobhan: And we are talking about 24-pointed stars. Gem stars.

0:08:52 Brennan: Speaking of gem stars, the figure in the video kneels down over the body, red light everywhere. As it kneels down, Kristen, I think you become like, well, that rune is about to go back on the thing. However, what you see is Buddy's body start [grunting and seizing] as the red light glows even brighter, and you see splatters of blood, as though Buddy's chest or stomach is being shredded and mutilated. And you suddenly see Buddy go...

0:09:12 Buddy: [gasps] [screams furiously]

0:09:32 Brennan: You watch as Buddy is brought back to life, looks up, and goes,

0:09:43 Buddy: [breathing heavily] Dang, y'all. I worship a nameless god of rage.

0:09:48 Brennan: And you see that the figure kneels over Buddy, and both vanish.

0:09:53 Fig: So did all of the Rat Grinders die and get brought back to life?

0:09:58 Fabian: Maybe in the Chaos Mountains.

0:09:59 Fig: Yeah.

0:09:59 Fabian: They died. I don’t know, something like that.

0:10:02 Fig: But don't you feel, though, that… What is her name? Kipperlilly? Kipperlilly's real estate dad and government mom feel too perfectly placed to be manipulated—

0:10:17 Kristen: Maybe that's why they picked their adventuring party. Fig/Adaine: Yeah.

0:10:20 Kristen: Wait, Kipperlilly's been angry since freshman year, though.

0:10:23 Fig: Let's look at those—

0:10:25 Adaine: Yeah, I wonder if she was always a worshiper of this god, or they saw her and went, that is a person with so much untapped rage—

0:10:33 Kristen: Primed.

0:10:34 Riz: Yeah, let's look at Kipperlilly's file here.

0:10:37 Adaine: Yeah.

0:10:37 Fig: Find out why she hates Riz.

0:10:39 Brennan: Give me an Investigation check for Kipperlilly's file. [die rolling]

0:10:44 Siobhan: Help.

0:10:45 Murph: Cool. [die rolling] Well.

0:10:48 Emily: Cutting Words. [players laughing]

0:10:51 Murph: 26.

0:10:51 Brennan: 26.

0:10:52 Zac: Flash of Stupidity.

0:10:52 Emily: Flash of Stupidity? [laughs]

0:10:56 Brennan: In Kipperlilly's file—

0:10:56 Ally: Can I actually Guidance?

0:10:59 Brennan: Yeah, add it.

0:10:59 Emily: I can Bardic.

0:11:01 Brennan: Oh, what if we get a 30? Let's find out if we do. [die rolling]

0:11:06 Emily: The Bardic is a d10.

0:11:06 Siobhan: Flash of Genius is three.

0:11:09 Murph: 29.

0:11:09 Lou: Another Bardic? Emily/Siobhan: Flash of Genius!

0:11:12 Zac: Flash of Genius.

0:11:13 Murph: Okay.

0:11:13 Brennan: Flash of Genius.

0:11:14 Murph: 32.

0:11:14 Brennan: Okay! Okay, everybody.

0:11:18 Ally: It takes a village.

0:11:18 Emily: We all wanted—

0:11:18 Siobhan: It takes a village.

0:11:19 Emily: We’re all helping.

0:11:20 Ally: Takes a village to get a clue.

0:11:21 Siobhan: We're all reading different pages of this thing.

0:11:22 Brennan: It takes a village.

0:11:23 Siobhan: It's like one of those murder mystery boxes.

0:11:24 Brennan: Yeah, so guys are all at the Elmville train station at like two o'clock in the morning, just going over the file.

0:11:29 Ally: I'm drinking a Celsius.

0:11:32 Emily: Me fucking too!

0:11:33 Brennan: Everyone's drinking a Celsius.

0:11:35 Zac: Pacing in a circle.

0:11:35 Ally: That's right.

0:11:36 Brennan: What you see, looking at Jawbone's file, Kipperlilly's grades are incredible all the way through. But what you notice is that her accomplishments in freshman and sophomore year are pretty lackluster. They chose adventures that were not that impressive.

0:11:54 Murph: They just wanted to succeed, so they picked easy adventures.

0:11:57 Brennan: Yes.

0:11:57 Murph: Got it.

0:11:58 Brennan: You see that Jawbone, you look at some transcripts of his notes, and it's very clear that he is a little bit uncomfortable with the amount of bitterness and hatred towards you and the Bad Kids within this, 'cause Jawbone's obviously got a personal connection to you guys.

0:12:12 Murph: Right.

0:12:12 Brennan: So you see, in a weird way, you know when you don't wanna show favoritism, you don't wanna show nepotism, you don't wanna show an attachment to somebody, so you actually advocate for them a little bit less than a neutral person would? A totally neutral person would've been like, “hey, fucking relax, the Bad Kids—”

0:12:27 Murph: Red flag, yeah.

0:12:27 Brennan: Yeah, red flag.

0:12:29 Siobhan: That's nothing to do with you.

0:12:30 Brennan: Yes, nothing to fucking do with you. But someone who loves you guys would be like, "Okay, what would a neutral person do?" and kind of get it wrong, overcorrect, right? Kipperlilly's rage, there is a part that I think is probably very challenging, as we sort of leave this rage thing, very challenging for Riz. There is a moment where Kipperlilly talks about being jealous. It's one of the first meetings in her sophomore year, where she talks about how jealous she is that Kalvaxus killed your dad.

0:13:01 Fig: Oh my god! She wants your tragedy porn! She wants your story.

0:13:06 Adaine: Yeah.

0:13:09 Gorgug: She's uninteresting, and that's why she's mad.

0:13:11 Adaine: Right.

0:13:11 Brennan: That is effectively, what Fig and Gorgug say, is what you see borne out by this, in that her biggest complaint in her sophomore year meetings with Jawbone is effectively that her parents are boring. Apparently, she got in trouble because she broke into her parents' private emails looking for a connection to a conspiracy, looking for a connection to something sinister or meaningful, and no such thing existed. Her parents went to Mumple. And she basically, over the course of sophomore year, is losing it, having rage outbursts. At one point, she literally is basically saying, it should be adjusted for academically if a person's family has suffered intense magical hardship, because that's an unfair advantage in adventuring.

0:14:01 Adaine: And her response to that was to be mad at us, and not to kill her parents?

0:14:05 Gorgug: Whoa, Adaine!

0:14:06 Kristen: Whoa, Adaine! That's the sociopath test!

0:14:11 Gorgug: She's definitely the only weird one here.

0:14:16 Brennan: In the files, on that 30, she does talk about how much she loves her adventuring party. She is definitely the leader. She refers to the other members of her adventuring party as though—

0:14:27 Siobhan: Anti-Fabian.

0:14:27 Brennan: Yeah.

0:14:29 Riz: It's like a mirror of myself.

0:14:32 Brennan: You see that she has a tremendous fondness for Lucy and talks about how Lucy is one of the only people that sort of gets it. Lucy and her were on the same side of an argument about not wanting to change the adventuring party name. In the therapy notes, it's like, Kipperlilly came up with the name, the High 5 Heroes. Lucy was very supportive of it, 'cause it mattered a lot to Kipperlilly. But the name "the Rat Grinders" was pitched by Ivy and Oisín, who she talks about as being best friends within the group, and that basically, Ruben voted for it because he saw how much it was upsetting Kipperlilly, and then Mary Ann voted for it and refused to explain her reasoning, which seemed to be an ongoing problem with Mary Ann.

0:15:16 Murph: Yeah.

0:15:17 Brennan: Mary Ann would jump on decisions and never join into discourse or debate, just make a call and silently be like, "I vote this side."

0:15:25 Kristen: What an absolute nightmare.

0:15:27 Adaine: I love her. We could use that energy.

0:15:28 Zac: Gorgug breaks a bench. [ax thudding]

0:15:31 Adaine: I like her.

0:15:32 Fig: I'm desperate to be hanging out with her.

0:15:33 Adaine: I just want her approval so much, because I know that she doesn't give it.

0:15:37 Fig: I don't even want her approval.

0:15:38 Gorgug: Is this my origin story? This is my origin story.

0:15:41 Brennan: All of the more recent stuff you see is, Kipperlilly's hatred gets even more out of whack in this junior year, the more recent notes. She wants to murder Kristen Applebees. Jawbone's been talking to her about concealing her rage. She basically thinks that all of you are going to elect Kristen Applebees as a joke and then not even take the office after you win it.

0:16:02 Emily: Can I do an Insight if that's actually the case? I got a nat 20.

0:16:11 Ally: I got a seven.

0:16:11 Kristen: I'm gonna do it. [Emily cracks up]

0:16:15 Brennan: I'm gonna do it.

0:16:15 Kristen: I'm gonna do the job.

0:16:17 Brennan: I'm gonna do the job! You see that she's pretty clearly furious. She hates Fabian because he's the most popular kid in school and he's helping this campaign. She hates how omnipresent Fig is in terms of denying her access to get to Kristen.

0:16:34 Fig: [gasps] She hates me because I'm a German Shepherd!

0:16:38 Adaine: Wow.

0:16:38 Fig: Woof woof! [Siobhan laughs]

0:16:41 Brennan: You see there are some notes from Jawbone here as well. There are notes that the Rat Grinders do have a spring break assignment here, and you see that it is their second time going to the Mountains of Chaos.

0:16:53 Siobhan: Huh.

0:16:54 Brennan: The last time they went to the Mountains of Chaos was probably about a week or two after spring break last year.

0:17:04 Ally: Right before Lucy died.

0:17:04 Emily: Yeah.

0:17:06 Brennan: In which they actually had a school chaperone, because the assignment was seen as being outside of the sphere of their current ability.

0:17:19 Emily: And who was that?

0:17:20 Ally: Stardiamond?

0:17:20 Siobhan: Was it Jace?

0:17:22 Brennan: It was Jace Stardiamond.

0:17:23 Zac: Porter.

0:17:26 Ally: Porter and a raven.

0:17:28 Emily: I still don't know about him.

0:17:29 Brennan: The other thing is, Jawbone makes a note in this file about moments where her antagonism is justified, where he notes what happened on the first day of school this year with the signup for class president, and Riz tried a little pickpocket on Jawbone. But you notice that there's a file there where the meeting immediately after that is really focused on Kipperlilly being interested in Jawbone because he was present at the Prompocalypse, because he was present at the fight against Kalvaxus, and has a lot of questions specifically about Yes! and about Kristen and about how those events went down and how the tide turned in that battle.

0:18:11 Emily: Was this post the first trip to the Mountains of Chaos?

0:18:15 Ally: Yes, 'cause that was sophomore year.

0:18:17 Emily: Okay, so it could be that she just had an authentic childish rage which then, when they went to the Mountains of Chaos, was capitalized upon.

0:18:26 Ally: Could be.

0:18:28 Brennan: [to Emily] Give me an Insight check with advantage. [die rolling] [die rolling]

0:18:34 Emily: Dirty 20.

0:18:36 Brennan: You notice a change in Kipperlilly's language starting at the end of sophomore year. Prior to that, she really does focus a lot on, "I just don't think it's fair." In a lot of the places where she's the most angry, the anger subsides in a moment where Jawbone is like, "What's something you could do to become a better adventurer?" and Kipperlilly tends to get quiet. In other words, you see the idea of her rage prior being kind of childish and genuine, though her feelings are—

0:19:08 Emily: Not the most sympathetic.

0:19:10 Brennan: ...not the most sympathetic, the language changes in the back half of her sophomore year from, "It's so unfair," "I think Arthur Aguefort likes them more," "I think the school takes it easy on them," "Half of them don't even go to classes," and then starting at the end of last sophomore year, it's flat out, "I hate them."

0:19:31 Fig: Okay, I think she was just arable land to plant a seed.

0:19:33 Kristen: I think so, too, and I'm wondering if we can ask Jawbone if Jace ever asked him which students were suffering from rage disorders, or if he went through all the stuff.

0:19:46 Fig: I kind of think that we know the answer to that, which is that Jace accompanied them. So I feel like we can assume that.

0:19:54 Adaine: Yeah, but it might be that Jace also got taken over by whatever this thing is.

0:19:56 Fig: True. aD: I feel like Jace before was super chill.

0:20:02 Fabian: But is there something to the thing you guys were talking about with the students who've kinda— like Molman, and the person who kinda just got crazy in my bard class that one time for no reason.

0:20:14 Fig: For no reason, after you did a really cool trick?

0:20:16 Fabian: I just did a really insane—

0:20:16 Kristen: You did a pirouette, right? Like a wet pirouette?

0:20:21 Fig: A piro-wet?

0:20:21 Adaine: Piro-wet?

0:20:23 Fabian: A piro-wet.

0:20:23 Kristen: A piro-wet?

0:20:24 Fabian: Yeah, that's how some people described it.

0:20:27 Adaine: It's natural.

0:20:28 Fig: The teacher was really moved by it.

0:20:30 Gorgug: It was like a fluid movement.

0:20:31 Fig: Was moved by your movement.

0:20:34 Fabian: Do you all know? Did somebody tell you? [Emily laughs]

0:20:37 Adaine: No, I don't know what you're talking about. What are you talking about?

0:20:40 Riz: The fact that she's interested in Kalvaxus? Kalvaxus was a dragonborn that then revealed himself to be a dragon. Mary Ann's a kobold.

0:20:49 Adaine: Well, Oisín is also dragonborn.

0:20:52 Murph: Oh, can we check the video, and specifically look and see if the really big giant in a cloak, if we see any scales or anything like that?

0:21:02 Brennan: Yeah, give me Investigation here.

0:21:04 Murph: Cool.

0:21:04 Siobhan: Help.

0:21:06 Murph: Thanks.

0:21:07 Siobhan: I zoom in. [mimics zooming in a screen]

0:21:08 Murph: Ooh baby, that's really good. Ooh, that's cocked. It almost was a nat 20. But you gotta honor the cock. [trails off realizing what he said] [everyone cackling] [chaos ensues]

0:21:18 Murph: You gotta honor the cock. You simply must honor the cock.

0:21:20 Emily: That's my husband, baby!

0:21:20 Murph: You must honor the cock.

0:21:23 Emily: That's my husband!

0:21:25 Murph: When you start to say the thing—

0:21:27 Emily: Brian Murphy, you gotta honor the cock. Brian Murphy!

0:21:28 Zac: There's a camera here, a camera here!

0:21:30 Brennan: So is following through and saying—

0:21:32 Murph: Fuck! Shut up! I didn't say anything weird!

0:21:38 Ally: Put three minutes on the clock.

0:21:39 Murph: Edit it out!

0:21:39 Ally: We need at least three minutes to stay with this.

0:21:42 Brennan: We need to stay—

0:21:42 Murph: Edit it out!

0:21:43 Brennan: Yeah, sorry guys, we are gonna have to… When you said it, I literally saw the TikTok comments… [mimics TikTok comments beeping rapidly] [Murph screams]

0:21:51 Lou: [shakes his head] You gotta honor the cock.

0:21:54 Emily: I'm getting it in cursive on my forearm.

0:21:56 Murph: I got a 20, but it was cocked, and you have to honor the cock, so we leave it. I did get a 19, though, so don't laugh at me. 19 plus 13 is 32! [crosses his arms] Not so funny now! Is it? Huh?

0:22:12 Siobhan: No, nothing funny.

0:22:15 Brennan: With that Investigation check, you know for sure—

0:22:17 Ally: I have to bio break to barf. This is so funny.

0:22:22 Lou: Honestly, the high roll proves you need to honor the cock.

0:22:25 Brennan: On that 32— [in a serious tone] guys, guys, honor the cock.

0:22:28 Murph: Everyone!

0:22:29 Emily: [laughs] Never been more proud of him.

0:22:30 Murph: Let's honor the cock.

0:22:31 Brennan: On that 32 Investigation, the figure never turns around to reveal itself, but just from studying it, it does not move with the movement of a creature with digitigrade ankles. So you can rule out dragonborn; you can rule out kobold.

0:22:46 Ally: Humanoid?

0:22:46 Emily: Giant?

0:22:47 Brennan: Humanoid.

0:22:47 Emily: Giant.

0:22:49 Brennan: Much more like a giant that you would have seen that traditionally has typical humanoid, non-reptilian— but you can also rule out anything with digitigrade ankles like a tabaxi or something like that.

0:22:58 Siobhan: Oh, okay, great.

0:22:59 Emily: And we have one day until spring break starts?

0:23:03 Brennan: Your spring break starts tomorrow, yeah.

0:23:04 Siobhan: How tall is Porter?

0:23:06 Brennan: Porter is six foot six.

0:23:06 Siobhan: Oh, okay.

0:23:09 Brennan: Yeah, he's humanoid.

0:23:09 Siobhan: Okay.

0:23:11 Ally: I don't know if you'll let me roll for this or not, but does it seem like potentially the difference between someone who gets a crystal put in them and is resurrected now with rage or people who are left with this crazy mark on their chest, did they maybe deny getting to keep living with rage, and Yolanda and Lucy both denied it?

0:23:34 Siobhan: That sounds smart to me.

0:23:34 Murph: Kristen Applebees.

0:23:38 Brennan: No rolls necessary. No rolls necessary.

0:23:41 Ally: Wow. Yolanda's so cool and principled.

0:23:46 Murph: And that's why they also, Ruben said, Lucy stuck to her guns.

0:23:51 Siobhan: Yeah.

0:23:51 Ally: [gasps] Yes!

0:23:53 Murph: Wouldn't come back.

0:23:53 Emily: Yeah.

0:23:55 Brennan: What I would say is, on that very good Investigation roll, it's about a 10 minute gap from when you guys left to when this figure comes back. So you watched Kipperlilly leave the scene of the crime, come back. So I leave it up to you to interpret, did Kipperlilly leave, come back in a more battle:ready form with the ability to bring Buddy back somehow? Did she do it anticipating that you would leave? Or, if this is not Kipperlilly, who could Kipperlilly and Oisín have informed in time? I will also say, looking at social media, Ruben Hopclap's social media is deleted prior to a little bit before social media of last year, except for tagged photos from family and friends where you can see that the whole emo thing didn't start until after spring break of last year.

0:24:54 Zac: He became rageful and switched up his vibe, his musical taste?

0:24:58 Emily: What kinda music was he writing before?

0:25:00 Brennan: Straight Jack Johnson. "Bubbly Toes".

0:25:03 Siobhan: Wow, "Feet in the Sand".

0:25:07 Ally: Wow!

0:25:08 Brennan: A grim whisper of, "Fuckin' 'Banana Pancakes'."

0:25:12 Emily: So their upcoming spring break is in the Mountains of Chaos again.

0:25:16 Brennan: That's correct.

0:25:16 Emily: I think that we follow them. However, I almost think that we do it stealthily. Also, do you guys think that Ruben could be turned against them?

0:25:25 Siobhan: I don't know, 'cause he's worshiping this fucking god.

0:25:27 Murph: Yeah, I think they all probably made the exact same deal that Buddy did.

0:25:29 Siobhan: I think at this point—

0:25:31 Lou: He could worship Wanda Childa.

0:25:32 Murph: Let's try to talk to the rogue teacher.

0:25:33 Emily: That's what I'm saying is—

0:25:35 Siobhan: I mean, it could be that if we can un-corrupt this god, they'll be fine. Except for Kipperlilly, who obviously needs to be in the ground forever.

0:25:43 Zac: Talk to who?

0:25:43 Murph: The rogue teacher.

0:25:45 Zac: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

0:25:45 Siobhan: Yeah.

0:25:46 Brennan: So I think we're actually going to move a little bit into another stretch of downtime, and a way more fluid one now that you guys are sort of released from your academic tracks.

0:25:56 Siobhan: Great.

0:25:56 Ally: So nice.

0:25:57 Brennan: That being said, the rogue teacher's actually a couple towns over in Ashgrove.

0:26:01 Murph: Okay.

0:26:01 Brennan: So you guys might have some travel you need to do, especially if you're considering going to the Mountains of Chaos. There's other stuff you wanna do. What I will say is, the next morning, so before we launch into downtime: first of all, your parents are very glad to see you. I assume you explain to everyone what's going on. Sklonda looks at you, Riz, and is like,

0:26:20 Sklonda: Hey, this is nuts. You saw other students kill a student at the school?

0:26:27 Riz: Yeah. Yeah.

0:26:29 Sklonda: Okay, let me know if there's anything... I know that we didn't get a chance to get around to that Frosty Fair stuff earlier, but if there's anything you need my help with:

0:26:38 Riz: Could you look into Bobby Dawn? There seems to be something going on with a god of fire, and Sol, maybe.

0:26:47 Sklonda: Okay.

0:26:50 Riz: Maybe it even has to do with the Frosty Fair stuff.

0:26:52 Sklonda: You know Bobby Dawn went, as a young man, to the Aguefort Adventuring Academy, right? You guys had heard that before.

0:27:02 Riz: Of course. [Ally laughs]

0:27:04 Brennan: You see that she looks at you and says,

0:27:04 Sklonda: Hm, okay. Does Fig know that Bobby Dawn is teaching at the school?

0:27:14 Riz: Yeah.

0:27:14 Emily: Oh my fucking god.

0:27:17 Ally: What?

0:27:18 Emily: Do remember my mom was in an adventuring party, and she got into a relationship with someone who was already in a relationship?

0:27:24 Murph: Oh yeah!

0:27:26 Emily: And then they slandered her name.

0:27:26 Murph: Yeah, yeah, yeah Uh-huh. [Siobhan gasps]

0:27:29 Emily: And got her kicked out. Was it fucking Bobby Dawn? Who is Bobby Dawn married to?

0:27:33 Brennan: The chief paladin of the Church of Sol, Pamela Dawn. And you see Sklonda looks at you and sort of slowly nods her head and goes—

0:27:44 Siobhan: [whispering] Sandra Lynn, messy! I love her so much.

0:27:48 Emily: [quietly] Fucking Bobby Dawn.

0:27:50 Brennan: She goes,

0:27:50 Sklonda: You've been very busy. Sandra Lynn is very nice to kind of, you know... We go get drinks and talk every once in a while, just about having, you know, wonderful, great kids who are doing great adventuring. I've talked to her a little bit, so I know some of what went down. But yeah, after Sandra Lynn graduated, she joined an established adventuring party that had lost a member, and this was before Bobby Dawn was a very famous televangelist. This was back when he was actually an active adventurer. But yeah, not a great guy.

0:28:32 Riz: Yeah, no, we could tell. Yeah, we know. I don't know that we realized it was this bad. But I'm gonna talk to Fig, and maybe she'll talk to Sandra Lynn, and we can find out a little bit more. But yeah, he's definitely, definitely not good.

0:28:49 Brennan: She nods. You guys additionally get some messages that day from Gavin Pundle that says,

0:28:54 Gavin Pundle: Hey, the Council of Chosen is going to follow up with you guys, but the body has gone missing from the crime scene, and we're looking for evidence about what might have happened to it.

0:29:03 Emily: Can we share our video?

0:29:03 Brennan: You share it. Gavin Pundle gets back right away and says,

0:29:08 Gavin Pundle: Thank you very much for this. This is great that you guys—

0:29:10 Emily: Can you—

0:29:10 Ally: Wait! Yeah, sorry.

0:29:11 Emily: I was gonna say, I'm wondering if there's a way that we can clear Hilda Hilda's name with this aarakocra.

0:29:18 Murph: What? By putting her at the crime scene somehow?

0:29:21 Emily: Yeah, you're right, we can't do that.

0:29:22 Ally: No, I was gonna say, we should make sure that this is actually Pundle.

0:29:26 Emily: Yeah, let's do an Insight check.

0:29:27 Ally: Can we do Insight checks?

0:29:28 Zac: Pundle, when are we getting that beer?

0:29:30 Emily: I do it with disadvantage, actually.

0:29:32 Ally: 25 Insight. Is this Pundle?

0:29:34 Brennan: Yeah, it's coming from his email address. It's a safe...

0:29:38 Ally: We send it to him.

0:29:38 Brennan: You send him the stuff. He also gets back to you and lets you guys know, he says,

0:29:42 Gavin Pundle: You're completely free from academic requirements for the rest of the year. No need for studying. We've already informed your teachers that there's no need for further examinations. The only requirements for you to be able to begin your senior year would be to kindly fill out a teacher evaluation for this current year, and attend graduation.

0:30:01 Ally: Okay.

0:30:02 Emily: Attend graduation?

0:30:04 Murph: Attend graduation. Oh, can I… While I have my mom, can I bring up the rogue teacher?

0:30:11 Brennan: Yeah.

0:30:11 Riz: Mom, by the way, I have not gone to go out and meet them yet, but I think I figured out who the rogue teacher is.

0:30:18 Sklonda: Oh!

0:30:18 Riz: Have you heard of Eugenia Shadow?

0:30:23 Sklonda: Eugenia Shadow?

0:30:23 Riz: Yeah.

0:30:25 Sklonda: There's a not-so-secret secret organization called the Society of Shadows.

0:30:29 Riz: Okay.

0:30:32 Sklonda: People think that it's like a poetic metaphor, but it's really based on the fact that the founding family were the Shadows.

0:30:38 Riz: Got it.

0:30:39 Sklonda: Eugenia Shadow was, I think, the granddaughter of one of the co-founders of the Society of Shadows. But yeah, I never found her, you know? But if you wanna go out, Ashgrove's like a 90 minute drive out of town.

0:30:53 Riz: Okay, great. Okay.

0:30:53 Sklonda: Yeah.

0:30:55 Brennan: By this point, Wilma and Digby come to you and say,

0:30:56 Thistlesprings: Gorgug, congratulations, bud! We're so proud of you!

0:31:01 Gorgug: Thanks, Mom. Thanks, Dad. I feel like I'm on the other side of a lot of schoolwork, and I'm feeling pretty good about that.

0:31:10 Thistlesprings: Yeah, sure! So, we got the Hangvan all fixed up, if you wanna—

0:31:14 Gorgug: Oh my god!

0:31:15 Thistlesprings: Of course, of course!

0:31:17 Brennan: You see they toss you a new set of keys. They say,

0:31:20 Thistlesprings: It's our big guy! You're growing up so fast!

0:31:24 Gorgug: Hey, thanks so much for doing this. Can I ask you a question—

0:31:26 Thistlesprings: Sure!

0:31:29 Gorgug: ...before I go on to do more school stuff? How did we end up doing the Frosty Fair here? 'Cause I heard that there were some... I just heard some rumors at school about, like, some strange circumstances on it ending up here.

0:31:48 Thistlesprings: Oh, well, they reached out. They said they'd lost their location, and that they needed a location that was within Elmville, and they didn't have too many questions, 'cause apparently, one of the big pieces of talent actually was really the one that put our name out there. But, I mean, we've been going to Frosty Fair for years and years and years, so I think we might've just been on their radar. They had some funny questions about the tree.

0:32:14 Gorgug: Our tree? Our house?

0:32:14 Thistlesprings: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

0:32:16 Gorgug: Oh, what were they asking about that?

0:32:18 Digby: Just structural safety. Any termite questions.

0:32:22 Brennan: You see he opens up an email chain with some of the organizers of Frosty Fair. It's a couple people CC'd, different venue organizers who you believe are, you can see that the requests they're communicating seem to be on behalf of talent. You see that the questions they ask about the tree are its age, and then any, because there's gonna be arcano-tech present, if there are any magical instances in the tree that they would have to be worried about or that would interact with stuff weirdly.

0:32:52 Digby: So, you know, we told them, the tree is a magical workshop. We've enchanted the tree to be able to stay alive while it has the house in it. Very simple gnomish wood magic, folk magic.

0:33:06 Gorgug: Did they have any questions about the roots of the tree?

0:33:10 Digby: They did.

0:33:10 Brennan: You see he opens an email. He says,

0:33:11 Digby: That's a good point. Yeah, they asked specifically if the tree was a Root Warden, which we said it was, and after that, everything just sort of got smoothed out.

0:33:21 Siobhan: What's a Root Warden?

0:33:21 Brennan: This is a funny thing, where we don't have a druid or ranger in the party. I'm gonna need a Nature check.

0:33:26 Ally: I think I get advantage on Nature.

0:33:26 Emily: I'll just crit.

0:33:29 Brennan: I'll just crit!

0:33:31 Siobhan: I get a plus five to Nature.

0:33:33 Zac: [to Emily] Can you show your mom?

0:33:33 Siobhan: I got a 15. I'll have Boggy give me the Help action, 'cause he loves nature. Okay, I got a 21.

0:33:40 Lou: Boggy does love nature.

0:33:43 Ally: Nat 20!

0:33:43 Emily: Yeah!

0:33:43 Brennan: You are fucking kidding me. So, you worship a goddess who is a goddess of Sylvan places. A Root Warden tree is a tree that is so magical that it basically goes from being an object to kind of being a creature. It's not like a full treant, but instead of having an Intelligence of zero, it actually has an Intelligence of, like, one or two.

0:34:07 Ally: So it's like a pet.

0:34:08 Brennan: It's almost like a pet, right? Even in the real world, trees are able to communicate across forests through their root network and through mycelium networks about frost coming early or some big change happening in the forest, or start shedding your leaves, or start growing buds again. The Root Warden is basically a tree that has a degree of magic to be able to be a sentinel for the trees of an area. The Thistlespring tree, due to the amount of magic within it, is one of the oldest tree homes within Elmville. The Thistlespring tree is the Root Warden for the greater county of Elmville.

0:34:51 Emily: We should make sure it hasn't been corrupted.

0:34:53 Ally: I bet it has. I bet that's what they were trying to do.

0:34:56 Zac: Okay, I'm just gonna go to the tree and see if I notice anything.

0:34:59 Brennan: Cool.

0:35:01 Zac: I'll go into the basement and see if I see anything.

0:35:05 Adaine: They did ask to clean out the basement. That's why all of the dildo machines were out on the lawn.

0:35:11 Gorgug: That's right. Thank you.

0:35:13 Adaine: And the washing machine.

0:35:13 Gorgug: Yeah, I remember.

0:35:16 Murph: I do the exclamation point on it.

0:35:19 Ally: Yeah.

0:35:19 Zac: Huh?

0:35:20 Murph: I do the exclamation point thing on the text thread.

0:35:22 Ally: I reply to the dildo machine one and write, again,

0:35:24 Kristen: Dildo machine.

0:35:25 Murph: And I reply to that,

0:35:25 Riz: Look into this.

0:35:27 Zac: You see, somehow, the do not disturb on the thread.

0:35:30 Emily: I notify anyway.

0:35:30 Siobhan: Notify anyway!

0:35:32 Ally: Notify anyway.

0:35:36 Brennan: You toss it. Go ahead and give me a Nature check.

0:35:38 Zac: All right.

0:35:40 Emily: Now I'm wondering if this cloud thing is being used to disperse some kind of thing.

0:35:47 Siobhan: Gertie's a ranger.

0:35:49 Zac: Nature, I'm gonna use Flash of Genius to get a 13.

0:35:54 Brennan: Okay. The tree doesn't appear to be tampered with. A 13's not the most high roll, but as you're looking around for signs of corruption, you do not see anything. Wilma and Digby come down with you as you're looking around and they say,

0:36:08 Thistlesprings: Is everything all right, bud? You seem stressed out.

0:36:11 Gorgug: Well, there's some stuff going on with an unnamed rage god, of course.

0:36:15 Thistlesprings: Ooh!

0:36:15 Gorgug: And I feel like there's something going on with the soil. I think all of Elmville's possibly in danger, in sort of a grander sense.

0:36:26 Thistlesprings: Well, you know when they came out here for the festival, they did do a... [thumps table]

0:36:35 Thistlesprings: They were doing a safety test. You know, where are the Porta-Potties gonna go? Fire exits, that kinda thing. When they asked us to clean out the basement, they did come down here and do a little test on the tree, just to test for the health of the tree and make sure that it was... They did a little thing. They did some eyedroppers out on the roots outside, just to see if the tree could pick up on them, and it passed whatever test they did. The tree was able to—

0:37:00 Zac: So it absorbed something in the ground.

0:37:03 Ally: Fuck.

0:37:05 Siobhan: Fuck.

0:37:06 Emily: And it's about to be spring.

0:37:06 Murph: Can we get a sample of that?

0:37:09 Siobhan: Yeah. Oh shit.

0:37:10 Zac: So when shit blooms, is that gonna be bad?

0:37:14 Emily: Is there gonna be a hate pollen? Rage pollen!

0:37:17 Lou: Rage pollen.

0:37:18 Murph: Yeah, we saw some stuff on that farm that was—

0:37:21 Zac: Yeah, 'cause didn't we try to get the soil—

0:37:24 Brennan: As you mention the farm, give me an Investigation check.

0:37:28 Siobhan: Yeah, we gave it to Molman.

0:37:29 Zac: Yeah, we gave the mole man the soil from—

0:37:31 Lou: And then he got insanely mad.

0:37:32 Murph: And he got super mad. 29.

0:37:32 Zac: 'Cause he snorted it.

0:37:35 Brennan: Molman snorted the soil.

0:37:35 Emily: It was in your shit!

0:37:38 Lou: What?

0:37:38 Ally: What was in your shit?

0:37:39 Emily: It was in your shit as it sprayed everywhere.

0:37:41 Siobhan: Oh my god, what have you been eating?

0:37:43 Fabian: Who told you, okay?

0:37:43 Siobhan: What was in that fried rice?

0:37:45 Fabian: Who told you? I mean, I don't know what was in the fried rice. I don't know.

0:37:49 Murph: There is something—

0:37:51 Gorgug: Was it just kinda old?

0:37:53 Fabian: I mean, it was definitely old.

0:37:55 Riz: Yeah, there is something, we should clock that—

0:37:58 Fabian: My shit?

0:37:58 Riz: Not your shit. Just that something was taken from your house that was like an air thing, and we always had the lo-fi study things there.

0:38:11 Emily: Something is being distributed.

0:38:13 Brennan: What'd you roll for your Investigation?

0:38:14 Murph: 29.

0:38:15 Brennan: As you are talking it over with your folks, they give you a little map of the area that the Thistlespring tree serves as a Root Warden for. You see, Riz, this is something that you would have assumed naturally, but you are looking at it on a map, that Loam Farm falls a good distance outside of the root network of the Thistlespring tree. So I think you're looking at it and going like, if Loam Farm was the venue for Frosty Fair, fair and square, they have been picked the previous year as the next location, that they would not: it's almost like the Thistlespring tree, by acting as a protector of this area, kind of creates a boundary. It creates a pocket.

0:39:06 Emily: Yet another righteous protector being corrupted.

0:39:09 Brennan: Everyone else's parents, again, very, very proud. I will say, just going around real quick, you get a response on your inter-Hell communications device once again from Bill.

0:39:16 Lou: Oh, okay.

0:39:18 Brennan: Hallariel is off somewhere. She's on the cruise.

0:39:21 Lou: Come back to my empty… All right, yes.

0:39:24 Emily: Well, she has doctor's appointments to go to.

0:39:25 Lou: Yes.

0:39:26 Siobhan: Her face is getting tight.

0:39:26 Ally: Oh my god!

0:39:27 Lou: No, stop, stop! [points at Emily] [Emily laughs]

0:39:27 Lou: It took me a second. I was like, for what? And then I realized.

0:39:33 Brennan: Fabian, you get a text from Gilear, saying—

0:39:34 Lou: No, I don't.

0:39:35 Gilear: Your mother would love you to check in the attic. There should be a box marked baby clothes. [Emily laughs]

0:39:44 Fabian: Ha, ha, ha.

0:39:45 Siobhan: A beautiful pirate ship-shaped crib.

0:39:48 Fabian: Great joke, Gilear. For what?

0:39:53 Brennan: You get a little heart tap back. [Murph, Siobhan, and Emily laugh]

0:39:59 Fabian: That's the most stone cold response Gilear has ever had.

0:40:03 Brennan: Again, Gilear is back to being unlucky, but his curse is broken. He has self-esteem now. He does love his life.

0:40:13 Emily: He deserves this.

0:40:13 Brennan: He deserves this.

0:40:16 Lou: [arms crossed] Cut to Fabian on the lawn, all of that on fire. [Ally and Emily laugh]

0:40:22 Brennan: You're burning all your—

0:40:22 Ally: On the lawn! On the lawn!

0:40:25 Brennan: You're just burning all your own baby clothes?

0:40:27 Fabian: We won't need these. I don't know why he even asked.

0:40:32 Siobhan: Fabian is the bad seed.

0:40:32 Ally: Wow!

0:40:35 Zac: Your dad's, like—

0:40:35 Lou: I'm wearing my dad's coat.

0:40:38 Brennan: Incredible.

0:40:39 Ally: This crackle, kinda beautiful sound.

0:40:42 Siobhan: Crying into your eyepatch.

0:40:42 Zac: Lighter fluid.

0:40:43 Siobhan: Move your eyepatch over so it soaks up the tears.

0:40:45 Lou: Exactly, switching eyes.

0:40:46 Brennan: Oh, by the way, you also get 20,000 gold pieces, 'cause we haven't kept up with all that.

0:40:50 Lou: Great.

0:40:50 Ally: Sick.

0:40:51 Emily: Oh, we do definitely shake him down some more. [makes loops with her finger]

0:40:56 Lou: Oh yes, we're doing runs.

0:40:56 Brennan: Okay.

0:41:00 Lou: We're getting teleported to Bastion City.

0:41:03 Brennan: Mac and Donna reach out to you, saying,

0:41:06 Applebees: Got the letter at home that you passed cleric classes. Glad that Mr. Dawn sees that you're doing well.

0:41:17 Brennan: They don't know what's going on.

0:41:18 Ally: Yeah.

0:41:19 Brennan: There's something in this message that they send where they just go,

0:41:21 Applebees: If you could check in to make sure Bucky is attending his classes.

0:41:31 Siobhan: Bucky's skipping school?

0:41:33 Brennan: That's all they say, yeah.

0:41:33 Ally: Sure, I'll check on Bucky.

0:41:35 Brennan: Adaine, Aelwyn starts to come back by Mordred again 'cause she has accepted the job in Leviathan, and the easiest commute is to just come to Mordred Manor. It has the door into the Compass Points Library.

0:41:46 Adaine: You can just move back in, if you want.

0:41:49 Brennan: You see that Sandra Lynn looks at her at this kitchen table and is like,

0:41:53 Sandra Lynn: We'd love to have you, Aelwyn.

0:41:54 Adaine: She'd love to have you, Aelwyn.

0:41:56 Brennan: Aelwyn looks and says,

0:41:56 Aelwyn: Does this invitation extend solely to me, or to my 15 cats?

0:42:03 Fig: I can make room for them. [Brennan snorts]

0:42:06 Ally: I start setting up a chicken hutch for them.

0:42:09 Siobhan: Yeah, we have a catio into the graveyard.

0:42:11 Ally: We have a catio!

0:42:13 Siobhan: We turned the graveyard into a catio.

0:42:16 Brennan: I just don't know what Emily meant by make room! We can make room?

0:42:21 Ally: You guys kick Kristen out.

0:42:23 Brennan: It sounded so sinister. It sounded like there were 15 worse animals that you were going to get rid of. [Emily and Siobhan laugh]

0:42:31 Ally: We can trim the fat around here.

0:42:32 Brennan: We can trim the fat. I think I know exactly—

0:42:35 Siobhan: Kristen, you're out. The cats, in.

0:42:37 Ally: All right. They live in my, like, cathedral room.

0:42:40 Zac: They can move in with Fabian.

0:42:43 Fabian: What the hell are you doing here?

0:42:45 Kristen: I'm bringing the cats.

0:42:49 Brennan: Aelwyn does actually move back in.

0:42:51 Siobhan: Hell yes.

0:42:52 Brennan: Moves back into the bunk bed.

0:42:54 Ally: I make a point of being kind of rude to her, but in the way that she likes, so it's not all super sweet.

0:43:00 Brennan: Yeah.

0:43:00 Ally: I'm like,

0:43:00 Kristen: Nice outfit. [eyes wide, making a faux disgusted face] Clown! [Brennan and Siobhan laugh]

0:43:06 Ally: Keep walking to breakfast. I look back, is she smiling?

0:43:10 Adaine: Don't talk to her like that.

0:43:12 Brennan: The first time she does that, let me see how she does measuring how hard to come back. [rolls a die] That's a five, so you're like, "Nice outfit, clown," and she's like,

0:43:20 Aelwyn: Oh, you don't like this?

0:43:28 Kristen: [stammering nervously] Oh, uh. [pause] Looks like shit.

0:43:31 Aelwyn: Ah, I understand. Well, I'm trying to dress for the job I have which is librarian, but dressing like someone who wants the whole world to know that they're desperately alone is another option. Kristen drops eye contact and her eyes go wide.

0:43:44 Ally: Kristen hugs her staff.

0:43:45 Adaine: Actually, don't talk to her like that.

0:43:47 Brennan: She goes,

0:43:47 Aelwyn: No, we're playing! You wear the same tracksuit every day. You know that's not right.

0:43:51 Kristen: Yeah. Yeah! I forgot something in my room!

0:43:56 Adaine: Sometimes she dresses as a cowboy.

0:43:59 Emily: I get behind Aelwyn for a tabletop.

0:44:02 Ally: What are you doing?

0:44:03 Brennan: You get behind Aelwyn for a tabletop?

0:44:06 Fig: Kristen, if you don't get—

0:44:06 Ally: I'm running, I'm running.

0:44:09 Kristen: No, I just forgot something!

0:44:10 Brennan: Aelwyn turns down to look at you and says,

0:44:12 Aelwyn: Drop something?

0:44:13 Ally: I forgot something!

0:44:14 Fig: I was acting like a fucking cat, 'cause you love 'em so much!

0:44:18 Emily: And I give her a wet willy and run.

0:44:21 Brennan: The wet willy gets her way more.

0:44:25 Aelwyn: [screams in disgust] No!

0:44:29 Brennan: Mordred is lively. There's very fun study sessions. Now that you have free time, Adaine, Jawbone comes up in the morning with breakfast for everybody. Fig, you know that Gorthalax is very, very proud, asks if you need any help with any of the infernal stuff going on. He's like,

0:44:46 Gorthalax: I'm always here as a resource for that.

0:44:48 Brennan: I think you can tell is a little bit stressed about the Owlbears' chances at the end of the year.

0:44:54 Siobhan: Damn, I want to, in this downtime, I took Simulacrum, and I wanna make a simulacrum of Kristen.

0:45:03 Kristen: Do I have to take my clothes off? [already taking her clothes off]

0:45:04 Adaine: Yes, unfortunately.

0:45:05 Brennan: Aelwyn goes,

0:45:05 Aelwyn: You should, absolutely.

0:45:07 Emily: I also disrobe.

0:45:08 Ally: I take off all of my clothes.

0:45:09 Adaine: Otherwise, the simulacrum will just grow its own clothes.

0:45:13 Kristen: Okay.

0:45:14 Adaine: And that'll be a part of its skin, so yeah.

0:45:17 Ally: I'm in a heart rate monitor and a G-string.

0:45:19 Adaine: [holding a hand in front of her face blocking Kristen’s nudity] So I'm just gonna sprinkle this ruby over you.

0:45:24 Kristen: You're not looking, though. You missed.

0:45:26 Adaine: I think I'm good.

0:45:28 Gorgug: You guys don't have to livestream this to me.

0:45:32 Kristen: Come on! We're on a group FaceTime!

0:45:34 Gorgug: I'm okay. I think I'm okay.

0:45:35 Fig: I just feel like we all need to be here for this.

0:45:36 Ally: I'll hold the phone with my feet. [players laugh] Gorgug scrunches his face up and shakes his head no. He looks at his crystal briefly and then rotates it away from his face.

0:45:41 Siobhan: The absolute worst view you could get of a naked person.

0:45:44 Kristen: I'm wearing a heart rate monitor!

0:45:47 Siobhan: Over your nipples.

0:45:47 Ally: Pulled up.

0:45:50 Brennan: Incredible. You create a simulacrum.

0:45:52 Siobhan: Yes, so that simulacrum can cast spells, looks exactly like Kristen, except it's kind of Adaine's idea of—

0:46:00 Ally: It's British.

0:46:00 Siobhan: It's slightly British, because it's an Adaine impression of Kristen. Kristen 2: [vaguely British accent] I'm Kristen. [players laughing]

0:46:08 Siobhan: And it can cast spells. The only thing that is different, it has half the hit points that you have.

0:46:13 Ally: Oh, okay.

0:46:14 Emily: I say,

0:46:14 Fig: [to Kristen] My president. [to the simulacram] My president?

0:46:18 Kristen: I'm your president.

0:46:18 Siobhan: They're both naked. Kristen 2: [vaguely British] And I'll be in the garage.

0:46:25 Ally: Completely naked.

0:46:25 Adaine: New Kristen! Put your clothes on!

0:46:26 Brennan: [laughing] I'll be in the garage!

0:46:29 Fig: Wait, this is amazing for campaigning! You can literally be in two places at once!

0:46:33 Kristen: Yes! Are you good at public speaking? Kristen 2: [vaguely British] Yes.

0:46:38 Ally: I feel psychotic.

0:46:41 Brennan: This is my favorite thing.

0:46:44 Zac: Very pointedly talking to yourself.

0:46:46 Ally: I dress the British me in some Wranglers.

0:46:49 Brennan: So now there's a little added layer of safety.

0:46:52 Siobhan: Yes.

0:46:52 Brennan: As your spring break begins, is there anything that needs to happen before you guys move into all the mystery, downtime, investigations, yadda yadda? Which, I think, Mountains of Chaos is there.

0:47:05 Siobhan: I wanna do two things about Kipperlilly.

0:47:08 Brennan: Okay.

0:47:09 Siobhan: I wanna cast Legend Lore on her.

0:47:10 Brennan: Okay.

0:47:10 Siobhan: Using the file that we have, just to see if there's anything that we're missing.

0:47:18 Brennan: Mm-hmm.

0:47:18 Siobhan: And I want to Scry on her.

0:47:22 Brennan: You cast Legend Lore on Kipperlilly. You gain no information, which tells you that she is not of legendary importance.

0:47:30 Siobhan: She would hate that. God, I wanna tell her that so bad. Hey, what up, bitch? I cast Legend Lore on you and nothing came up. Can I cast Legend Lore on Riz?

0:47:40 Brennan: You cast Legend Lore on Riz, and Riz is of legendary importance.

0:47:45 Emily: It says, "Honor the cock."

0:47:50 Siobhan: Fucking legend!

0:47:53 Brennan: Honestly, as Legend Lore happens, you hear, [imitates drumbeat]

0:47:59 Legend Lore Spell: [deep voice] This is another use of the Legend Lore spell.

0:48:02 Adaine: Oh, I think I know your brother.

0:48:04 Legend Lore Spell: Hm?

0:48:04 Adaine: What?

0:48:05 Legend Lore Spell: My brother?

0:48:05 Adaine: I think so.

0:48:07 Legend Lore Spell: Ah, the Identify spell?

0:48:07 Adaine: Yes.

0:48:09 Legend Lore Spell: Yes, how quaint. Identify's quite good at all of the sort of miscellany and various minor arcana. I trouble myself exclusively with matters of... Legendary importance.

0:48:27 Adaine: All right, okay. Riz Gukgak, what do you know?

0:48:30 Legend Lore Spell: Ah, Riz Gukgak, fifth of the world of Spyre to summon the Night Yorb into this plane of existence.

0:48:37 Brennan: Which makes you realize that you are like a heading in a larger Wikipedia article about the Night Yorb. [cast laughs]

0:48:44 Adaine: Okay, look, that's something to build off of.

0:48:45 Riz: My link is red. We gotta get that blue.

0:48:49 Adaine: Citation needed.

0:48:53 Brennan: Okay.

0:48:53 Siobhan: Scrying on Copper—

0:48:56 Brennan: On Kipperlilly.

0:48:56 Siobhan: Copperhead.

0:48:57 Brennan: I'm gonna say that she has a minus four on this saving throw.

0:49:01 Zac: Whoa.

0:49:01 Emily: Yeah!

0:49:02 Brennan: Because you have her file with you.

0:49:04 Siobhan: Yeah.

0:49:04 Emily: Ooh!

0:49:04 Ally: Oh, great.

0:49:04 Lou: Hot dog.

0:49:07 Brennan: Okay. Give me an Arcana check with advantage. [dice rolling]

0:49:16 Siobhan: 26.

0:49:17 Brennan: You do not get a confirmation or visual of Kipperlilly.

0:49:20 Siobhan: Is it because she passed her Wisdom save?

0:49:22 Brennan: She failed her Wisdom save, which is what the Arcana check is for, because you clock a Nondetection spell. You are able to see the spell that is protecting her from divination or scrying right now.

0:49:32 Siobhan: Okay.

0:49:32 Brennan: Which means that you know—

0:49:34 Siobhan: So they, I mean—

0:49:34 Brennan: They know.

0:49:36 Siobhan: They know that I am who I am.

0:49:38 Brennan: They know that you are who you are, and I think more to the point, you know that Kipperlilly saw Kristen see her.

0:49:42 Siobhan: Right.

0:49:44 Brennan: So I think the Nondetection confirms, I think, for you, that this spring break adventure is a full "go to the mattresses." I think the fact that there is a—

0:49:56 Siobhan: This is their last stand.

0:49:57 Brennan: Without even having to spend spell slots, I'll allow you to follow up on some of the other Rat Grinders, and you get the same confirmation. So whatever they're doing, they're burning through... You know Nondetection lasts eight hours. Three times six is 18 castings of a 3rd level spell a day to get them fully covered by Nondetection. So you would imagine that this is a full court retreat. Her getting made in the Last Stand means that they have had to go completely off the grid.

0:50:29 Siobhan: Yeah, and there's nothing I can do about that at all. The spell has no saves or anything. It's just, you are safe. So they're scared of us.

0:50:37 Emily: So does that mean that they're elsewhere? Can we ask around?

0:50:41 Brennan: They could be the next house over. Traditional investigation means could track them down.

0:50:46 Siobhan: It does mean that they are on the same plane of existence as us, which I do think, that is—

0:50:49 Brennan: Oh, that's a great point. Yes.

0:50:51 Murph: I think we know they're just getting ready for their trip.

0:50:53 Siobhan: I think so, too. Let's go to the freaking graveyard.

0:50:57 Brennan: Hell yeah. You guys head off that Saturday to Ashgrove.

0:51:00 Siobhan: I'm gonna turn on my see Ethereal Plane vision.

0:51:04 Brennan: You head over to Ashgrove and arrive there later that night over in the cemetery. It's another little suburban town, way sleepier and more quiet. You realize how strange Elmville is, and how dominated by the adventuring academy it is. Adaine, looking into the Ethereal Realm, you approach a very old, lichen-covered headstone up in a family plot. And as you sort of wipe away—

0:51:33 Siobhan: Adaine Abernant? I'm kidding.

0:51:36 Brennan: You see the name—

0:51:36 Siobhan: I'm kidding!

0:51:38 Brennan: You see the name Eugenia Shadow, who died at 111 years old. : Special number. : Eleventy-one.

0:51:47 Brennan: Eleventy-one. Looking at the headstone here, as you all stand here, you become aware, with your ethereal sight, that there's an ethereal presence, but you can't see it. You can sense it, but wherever you look, you're not able to see it.

0:52:04 Adaine: She's hiding. She's so good at hiding.

0:52:06 Murph: I have Blindsense now. If you're able to hear, you are aware of the location of any hidden or invisible creatures within 10 feet of you. So I would like to look around.

0:52:17 Brennan: As Adaine is sort of looking, you get a reflection of your wristwatch, and you can see a floating, translucent, ancient halfling woman, frizzy hair that goes all the way down to her ankles, that kinda becomes smoky. She is flying, she looks panicked, and you see that she is hiding directly behind Adaine's head. So as Adaine's looking around, she's like,

0:52:30 Eugenia: [panting squeakily] Siobhan whirls her head around. Brennan mimes Eugenia moving about to stay out of Adaine’s sight.

0:52:44 Brennan: and she's in the Ethereal Plane.

0:52:46 Murph: I do,

0:52:46 Riz: Gotcha!

0:52:46 Murph: I just tag her.

0:52:49 Brennan: All of you see a ghost scream into existence going,

0:52:53 Eugenia: No!

0:52:55 Adaine: Two in one year. That's embarrassing for you, huh?

0:52:57 Eugenia: Deeply.

0:52:57 Kristen: Okay, Adaine! Jesus! Respect your elders! [Emily laughs]

0:53:03 Brennan: You see she says,

0:53:03 Eugenia: This is the same person that when she found out the prior Oracle had died, dunked on her ass!

0:53:10 Adaine: Okay, well, so you know about me, too. That's good, that's cool.

0:53:13 Eugenia: I know everything. I know absolutely everything.

0:53:19 Adaine: How? Can I?

0:53:20 Gorgug: What number am I thinking of?

0:53:22 Eugenia: You're not thinking of a number at all.

0:53:24 Gorgug: Right! [Zac and Siobhan laugh]

0:53:27 Brennan: You see she looks over and says,

0:53:27 Eugenia: Scamps and scallywags. You've all come here after long searching for the rogue professor of the Aguefort Adventuring Academy. You've been looking for me in the Ethereal Realm, all around you, with your sense of the invisible. [leaning towards Fig] You've been breaking into the teacher's lounge and eating my steaks.

0:53:48 Fig: Oh! Can I smoke here, by the way?

0:53:50 Eugenia: Yes, it's outside.

0:53:55 Fabian: It is a graveyard.

0:53:55 Riz: It's outside.

0:53:56 Eugenia: It's outside.

0:53:57 Kristen: You're gonna ash on someone's grave.

0:53:59 Eugenia: Can I have one?

0:53:59 Fig: Yeah, absolutely. [hands her a clove]

0:54:02 Eugenia: [takes a drag] Ugh, cloves. You are a teenager. [Emily laughs]

0:54:06 Riz: So you've been watching us. You're not just hiding.

0:54:09 Eugenia: [holding a clove in one hand] Watching and waiting. I've been instructing the rogues in my own fashion [touches her lips to the clove] for many years.

0:54:18 Riz: Do you—

0:54:18 Fig: She took the tiniest drag! Eugenia takes another tiny drag. She takes something from her pocket and lights it.

0:54:21 Riz: So tiny. You have another one?

0:54:25 Eugenia: This is a joint.

0:54:25 Riz: Oh, shit. Okay.

0:54:28 Gorgug: Joint and a clove cigarette.

0:54:28 Kristen: Rock and roll!

0:54:31 Eugenia: Yes.

0:54:31 Fabian: Can I hit that?

0:54:33 Eugenia: Yeah. Puff puff pass, as they say. Fabian daintly takes the joint.

0:54:37 Fig: Everyone's been trying to push drugs on us lately, so they haven't felt cool.

0:54:39 Fabian: Yes, and now the teacher—

0:54:43 Fig: Yeah.

0:54:43 Adaine: Smoking with a teacher—

0:54:44 Eugenia: And you've already passed your academic year. Congratulations on your Last Standard Examination. [applauds] Riz/Adaine: Thank you. Fig passes a clove to Gorgug.

0:54:48 Kristen: Were you there?

0:54:51 Eugenia: I was there at the founding of the Aguefort Adventuring Academy.

0:54:55 Kristen: Were you at our Last Stand where someone got iced?

0:54:58 Eugenia: No. That was another plane of existence, so I did not attend.

0:55:00 Gorgug: [quietly to Adaine] That’s okay [unintelligible] Adaine passes the joint to Gorgug who doesn’t take a hit and passes it back to Eugenia.

0:55:02 Ally: Oh, I see.

0:55:03 Riz: I found out when— [Eugenia puffing]

0:55:07 Fig: Riz?

0:55:07 Riz: Skip me. No.

0:55:09 Adaine: I did some.

0:55:09 Fabian: We're celebrating! : I think I did it wrong, but I did do it.

0:55:11 Eugenia: You have to smoke this, or I'll lie.

0:55:16 Riz: You're not a real teacher! [takes a puff]

0:55:16 Eugenia: I am a real teacher. I teach rogue class! We break laws! We do crimes!

0:55:24 Kristen: I think this is an indica. I don't wanna get too sleepy. [passes joint to Fabian] Fabian passes the joint to Adaine.

0:55:31 Riz: When Kipperlilly handed in her assignment for the year, we found out that she did not find you, you found her. Eugenia cracks open a can. [Adaine goes into a coughing fit]

0:55:45 Riz: Are you drinking a beer?

0:55:46 Lou: Do you have any more of those?

0:55:47 Ally: PBR?

0:55:49 Eugenia: PBR. Are you all right, young lady? Adaine passes the joint to Gorgug who passes the joint to Fig.

0:55:51 Adaine: [coughs] Yeah.

0:55:53 Eugenia: Is this the first time you've ever smoked?

0:55:55 Adaine: No, I've done it a lot of times.

0:55:56 Eugenia: [flashing an L on her forehead] Loser! [Emily cackling]

0:56:00 Fabian: Honestly, should I multiclass?

0:56:02 Fig: I'm thinking so, too!

0:56:02 Gorgug: To what?

0:56:04 Fabian: To rogue!

0:56:04 Eugenia: [takes a puff] Rogue class is a ball. I never teach. You never have to listen.

0:56:08 Gorgug: We all got an A in rogue class, right?

0:56:11 Riz: No, no, just me!

0:56:11 Eugenia: Just Riz. Young Riz.

0:56:15 Riz: Yes. I had to look for you really hard, but you just… You found Kipperlilly. What's the meaning of that?

0:56:23 Eugenia: I found Kipperlilly because she was standing right where you're standing, with a rented backhoe. [Adaine gasps]

0:56:34 Kristen: Who did she dig up?

0:56:36 Eugenia: She didn't have to dig up anybody, 'cause I got here in time to defend my resting place.

0:56:41 Adaine: She was gonna dig you up?

0:56:43 Eugenia: That's right.

0:56:44 Adaine: Why? to prove that she found you?

0:56:45 Kristen: Psychopath! She found your body?

0:56:48 Eugenia: Yep.

0:56:48 Fig: It was gonna be, if the bylaws changed, then maybe finding the rogue teacher could just be finding her body.

0:56:58 Eugenia: Kipperlilly, as a student, has always been most fascinated by the marginalia. Technicalities, loopholes, et cetera.

0:57:06 Adaine: What kind of rogue is she?

0:57:06 Kristen: Generally being annoying.

0:57:09 Eugenia: I assume you have noticed her lack of reliance on weapons. She doesn't really parade them around. She is a mastermind. Kipperlilly and you, Riz… What is that short for? Rizbert?

0:57:23 Riz: Just Riz.

0:57:23 Eugenia: Erizabeth?

0:57:24 Riz: Just Riz.

0:57:24 Eugenia: All right.

0:57:26 Fig: I thought it was Rizbert. I think he's being shy. It is Rizbert.

0:57:30 Eugenia: He's a little shy. Rogues, it's hard to change gears. Those of us who lives our lives in the shadows sometimes tremble at the thought of stepping into the limelight. Riz hides his face.

0:57:40 Fig: I was a Whispers bard, so I get it.

0:57:43 Eugenia: Mm, absolutely.

0:57:44 Ally: I reach into the ice chest—

0:57:45 Riz: I'm glad you're all getting along with my teacher.

0:57:46 Ally: ...and get a hard cream soda.

0:57:48 Brennan: You see that she goes,

0:57:48 Eugenia: Absolutely. Well, the important thing is this, Riz. There are similarities between you and Kipperlilly. I'm afraid that if Kipperlilly had walked a brighter path, she might have ended up more like you. You're the only two students who, I think, had the resources to look deeper into the challenge set forward to the rogues there. All of the rogues assume finding the rogue teacher is a simple matter of perception, that I would be hiding somewhere on campus. Whereas Kipperlilly took the mastermind's approach, thinking, well, I will force the rogue teacher's hand by finding something of value— [can crunching] Fabian crushes a can on his head. Gorgug chugs a can.

0:58:29 Brennan: You see she takes out a small stereo speaker and puts on some music.

0:58:31 Kristen: Is this Fetty Whap?

0:58:34 Eugenia: Yes! [Emily laughs]

0:58:37 Eugenia: By finding something of value to me and attempting to destroy it, the mastermind's approach. Adaine hands Gorgug another can.

0:58:42 Eugenia: Why find me, when you can force me to find you?

0:58:45 Riz: Right.

0:58:45 Eugenia: You took the investigator's approach. Long months of work, and eventually tracking down the means that your opponent had used to discover me. Very resourceful, Mr. Gukgak. If you have any other questions about Kipperlilly, I'll be happy to answer them, but I would say, something very foul is afoot. I believe it was within her power to discover my grave much earlier, but she waited until the last possible moment in order for it to apply to her junior year academic calender. For all of her vast resources, I don't believe that the location of my grave exists anywhere in record, other than in Arthur Aguefort's office.

0:59:29 Gorgug: So she got into Aguefort's office somehow?

0:59:31 Eugenia: Potentially. I don't know how she would have been able to do that without—

0:59:35 Fig: She was working with Stardiamond.

0:59:37 Kristen: Stardiamond's either been corrupted or has been—

0:59:39 Eugenia: Who's the current, are you aware—

0:59:42 Adaine: Mazey, technically.

0:59:42 Eugenia: Mazey Phaedra.

0:59:44 Brennan: You see she leans in and says,

0:59:44 Eugenia: What you have to understand is that whatever order you perceive at the Aguefort Adventuring Academy is far more fragile than it appears. Even with Mr. Stardiamond acting as vice principal, you must remember that the position of vice principal was created with a single being in mind, that being the dragon Kalvaxus. The position, powers, principles and authorities of the office of the vice principal are thus extremely limited. By becoming vice principal, Mr. Stardiamond may be immensely restricted in what he can and cannot do.

1:00:23 Fig: Who writes the bylaws?

1:00:23 Eugenia: The principal.

1:00:26 Gorgug: So he has to listen to the principal no matter what.

1:00:29 Eugenia: Exactly.

1:00:29 Gorgug: And the principal is Mazey?

1:00:30 Eugenia: Exactly. In a normal high school, the vice principal would assume some power and responsibility should anything happen to the principal. But of course, Arthur would've never written that knowing that his vice principal was his worst enemy. In that way, I would just say two things. I would keep young Mazey close to the chest.

1:00:50 Kristen: Can you text Mazey?

1:00:51 Adaine: Yeah, will you please text Mazey?

1:00:55 Fabian: Hey, Mazey. Just checking in. Maybe you wanted to hang out over spring break.

1:01:01 Fig: Do you wanna take a picture?

1:01:04 Fabian: Okay, yeah. Everyone get close so you can't see the graveyard. Fig/Adaine: No no no, just you.

1:01:06 Fabian: Oh, just me?

1:01:08 Gorgug: Send her a solo photo.

1:01:08 Fig: But not a selfie.

1:01:11 Fabian: Can I borrow your glasses?

1:01:14 Fig: Can we get as many beer cans in there as possible?

1:01:17 Kristen: Hold my hard cream soda.

1:01:18 Riz: This doesn't look as cool as you think it does.

1:01:20 Fabian: All right, The Ball. I think I know a thing or two about being cool. Giant tattoo? : Flattering angle! [camera snapping]

1:01:30 Fabian: Great.

1:01:31 Brennan: You see that Eugenia says,

1:01:31 Eugenia: Very cute. Mazey is an accomplished bard in her own right, so I wouldn't worry too terribly. But—

1:01:38 Brennan: you see that she takes out a little thing and goes,

1:01:40 Eugenia: Now, [swallows] I want all of you to remember—

1:01:46 Kristen: Upper or downer?

1:01:47 Fig: Was that acid?

1:01:48 Fabian: Yeah, upper or downer?

1:01:48 Eugenia: It's a bird tranquilizer.

1:01:50 Fig: Oh.

1:01:50 Kristen: Bird tranquilizer.

1:01:52 Fig: I'll do that.

1:01:52 Fabian: That's light.

1:01:55 Eugenia: It's incredibly light. It'll put a bird right to sleep, but for a person—

1:01:58 Fabian: The Ball, you can—

1:01:58 Gorgug: You were driving.

1:02:00 Fig: It's so fun. Oh, whoops.

1:02:00 Riz: I'm driving. I'm driving!

1:02:03 Fabian: Yes, The Ball has got his whole setup, you know, where he's underneath the wheel.

1:02:07 Eugenia: Secondarily—

1:02:08 Gorgug: [covering his face] I've just been so stressed out.

1:02:09 Fig: Yeah.

1:02:11 Eugenia: Secondarily—

1:02:12 Kristen: [to Fig] Can you throw me one of those little seeds? It's a dosed seed, right? [takes bird tranquilizer]

1:02:17 Eugenia: I'd like to remind everyone here, as well, that the Aguefort Adventuring Academy means vastly more than just its status as a school. The Aguefort Adventuring Academy is at the nexus of several incredibly important, significant magical workings that Arthur left upon the world of Spyre. You've seen it before, the fact that the prom king and queen were going to constitute the return of a prophecy in your freshman year. The fact that Arthur holds onto a number of the world's great powerful evil artifacts. The Crown of the Nightmare King. So, Mazey seems to be a responsible and kind young woman. If she were to... I feel that the only reason she is alive right now, given everything working against the school, is that if she were to pass away, there actually would no longer be a structure to Aguefort. No one else could assume power. The vice principal would not arrive to power in her absence, and there would just be a form of chaos and leaderlessness until such time as an election could be held. If there was a way of getting that power by just removing the current acting principal, the student body president, I think Mazey would've been dead a long time ago.

1:03:36 Adaine: So if Copperkettle gets—

1:03:36 Kristen: So she's probably safe.

1:03:40 Fig: Did you hear back?

1:03:42 Gorgug: We were talking to the other Kristen.

1:03:43 Fabian: Yeah, we're talking to the other Kristen, but thank you.

1:03:45 Kristen: My bad. [Emily laughs]

1:03:48 Eugenia: There's one very important thing I must give you before we continue to blaze and drink.

1:03:55 Fig: Please be more drugs.

1:03:57 Fabian: Yes, I'm also hoping it's more drugs.

1:03:59 Eugenia: Rizwalda.

1:03:59 Riz: Yes?

1:04:02 Eugenia: Would you please fill out this teacher evaluation? [hands Riz a paper]

1:04:05 Brennan: She looks out at all of you and says,

1:04:08 Eugenia: Whatever you do, keep on your guard. Starting in senior year, I expect to see all of you in rogue classes.

1:04:17 Fig: You got it.

1:04:17 Fabian: Without a doubt.

1:04:19 Fig: Honestly, I'm doing one of everything, I think.

1:04:22 Eugenia: Absolutely. That's wonderful.

1:04:23 Fig: I have a question, though. You said that she contacted a landscaping company that was near here?

1:04:29 Eugenia: Yes, correct.

1:04:30 Fig: What was the name of the landscaping company?

1:04:33 Eugenia: Loam Landscaping.

1:04:33 Fabian: Oh.

1:04:36 Fig: Oh!

1:04:36 Fabian: Mm.

1:04:38 Eugenia: The Loams have lain dead for some time. Lucy Frostblade, as well. We are coming up on the one year anniversary of Lucy's death, after which point, the power to bring her back will be beyond almost all living mortals.

1:04:59 Adaine: I'm wondering if we figure out what plane she's on, if she's on the Astral Plane or something, and then we can Plane Shift to there.

1:05:05 Kristen: I had an idea.

1:05:05 Riz: I think she's trapped.

1:05:07 Brennan: You remember, you think that Yolanda and Lucy are with Cassandra, wherever she is.

1:05:13 Fig: Maybe they're not dead. Hollow Body? Okay, you're a ghost, but your body is interred. Do you have any connection with the soil?

1:05:21 Eugenia: Somewhat, yes. The hallowed soil of the graveyard, yes.

1:05:25 Fig: Have you noticed any seedlings? Any strange flora beginning, as the spring beckons?

1:05:32 Eugenia: No, I can't say that I have.

1:05:32 Fig: Okay.

1:05:34 Eugenia: I was purposefully interred in Ashgrove rather than Elmville, so I wanted my body to be as far away from students as it could be.

1:05:41 Riz: Yeah, we're pretty far out.

1:05:41 Fig: Okay.

1:05:43 Brennan: She looks at all of you and says,

1:05:45 Eugenia: Incredible. I hope I have been of some help.

1:05:48 Fig: You have.

1:05:49 Eugenia: Someone put on a playlist, and let's get down to it.

1:05:51 Fig: Yes, absolutely.

1:05:52 Lou: ♪ I said hey, what's up, hello ♪ [Emily, Brennan, and Zac crack up]

1:05:58 Brennan: Incredible. Okay, before you leave, she asks to get the teacher evaluation back from you so that she can submit it.

1:06:05 Lou: Partying in a graveyard. That's some good shit.

1:06:08 Murph: “The instructor's prepared for each class. The instructor demonstrates knowledge of the subject. The instructor provides material apart from the textbook.”

1:06:15 Emily: Yes.

1:06:15 Murph: For sure, yeah. “Shows respect towards students and encourages class participation.”

1:06:18 Emily: Yes.

1:06:19 Murph: Encouraged all of you, I suppose.

1:06:22 Fabian: In a huge way.

1:06:22 Murph: “The instructor maintains an environment that is conducive to learning.”

1:06:26 Emily: Yes, yes, yes!

1:06:26 Murph: I'm gonna downgrade from a five to a four.

1:06:28 Lou: Whoa!

1:06:28 Emily: Intimidation! Intimidation! Intimidation!

1:06:31 Brennan: Actually, Murph—

1:06:33 Emily: 17 plus 15, 32!

1:06:35 Brennan: You actually go ahead and fill that out while we're doing downtime for everybody else. Let's jump into downtime.

1:06:39 Siobhan: Great.

1:06:40 Brennan: Who wants to kick us off for downtime here?

1:06:43 Fabian: So are we leaving for the Mountains of Chaos soon?

1:06:47 Fig: I think so. Can you maybe shoot out a text and see who—

1:06:52 Brennan: [to Murph] [handing over more papers] Will you please fill out these?

1:06:53 Fig: See if the Rat Grinders are still around, or if they've already left.

1:06:56 Fabian: Yeah, I'm gonna text some… Yeah, maybe some freshmen, some other people. People who may be some of the bigger, other… Maybe text the Ruben fan group that I'm a part of, see if anyone knows if they're still in town at all.

1:07:12 Brennan: Do you wanna roll popularity first, or do you wanna roll Persuasion as an investigation first? Is this mystery track or popularity track?

1:07:22 Lou: I mean, I'd prefer it to be popularity track.

1:07:25 Brennan: Cool, so Fabian, we'll roll popularity first for you.

1:07:28 Lou: Mm, mm, mm. [die rolling] That's gonna be 27.

1:07:35 Brennan: Fabian, you max out the popularity track. Everyone is charmed for a minute on meeting you, and you have advantage on any track check that you want.

1:07:44 Adaine: Maybe go figure things out with Gertie.

1:07:46 Fig: Oh, no, not Gertie. Mazey.

1:07:46 Adaine: No, I said what I said.

1:07:50 Fabian: Both. That's why I need to know how much time we have before the mountain. I'm gonna go figure… That's on the list, Adaine. On the list. [Siobhan laughs] Kristen 2: I think you should, bro.

1:08:01 Fabian: Thank you. What are we calling you, second Kristen? Kristen 2: Kristen.

1:08:04 Fabian: Yes, but that's going to be confusing.

1:08:06 Ally: I kiss you. Fabian is incredibly taken aback.

1:08:08 Adaine: Second Kristen is straight?

1:08:08 Fig: Second Kristen is straight!

1:08:09 Riz: Oh no, Fabian's obsessed with second Kristen.

1:08:12 Brennan: Wow, real Kristen thinks British people are straight.

1:08:17 Ally: You heard it here first.

1:08:18 Siobhan: Sorry to disappoint you. Not a single one.

1:08:23 Brennan: Incredible.

1:08:24 Ally: I tackle that Kristen to the ground.

1:08:26 Kristen: You need to respect my life!

1:08:33 Brennan: Okay, as you begin to reach out and become more popular, people begin to come and talk to you. Not only are they like,

1:08:37 Students: What's gonna happen to lo-fi study nights over the summer?

1:08:40 Brennan: Max Durden is like,

1:08:41 Max Durden: Cap, are you gonna throw a fuckin' homecoming?

1:08:45 Fabian: Yes, I think I'm gonna throw homecoming. I mean, hey, if Kristen's president, anything's possible.

1:08:51 Brennan: Woo! People are psyched. And then word gets out that your birthday is the 31st, which is election day. It's the Friday that the student elections are happening, and everybody immediately is like, “Is there a campaign thing going on?”

1:09:06 Adaine: Fabian, you've got to throw a party for your birthday.

1:09:08 Fig: Yeah, maybe that Thursday?

1:09:08 Adaine: I keep on having visions of it, and it's important.

1:09:10 Fabian: On Thursday?

1:09:10 Fig: Thursday night?

1:09:12 Fabian: Which one is it in the vision? Thursday, Friday? How drunk are we?

1:09:16 Adaine: The night of the election.

1:09:17 Fabian: Okay, so Friday. So it'll be on the day.

1:09:19 Fig: Okay.

1:09:20 Adaine: Can you have a joint election victory/birthday party?

1:09:22 Fabian: Of course, easily.

1:09:23 Ally: Is Kipperlilly still running for president?

1:09:26 Brennan: Yeah, but you notice that her campaign has dried up.

1:09:29 Emily: I wonder if they have other means that they're pursuing of getting elected.

1:09:32 Siobhan: Yeah, the honey or some other— some kind of vote...

1:09:37 Zac: We've got to be on security detail.

1:09:40 Ally: Yeah, god.

1:09:40 Brennan: On a 27, I'll say this, too. You're hanging out with Mazey, who, by the way, she gets your text and is like, "Let's hang out!"

1:09:47 Lou: I think that's my next track. I think I'm gonna ask Mazey on an official date.

1:09:50 Brennan: Okay, awesome. Awesome, awesome. So everyone's talking about if there's gonna be a party, if it's gonna be a campaign event, da da da da da. By the way, you also do have those bylaw PDFs.

1:10:01 Ally: Oh, we wanna see what's been changed.

1:10:03 Brennan: What's been changed and stuff like that. Actually, let's roll the dating thing first. You did popularity. Let's roll the relationships thing.

1:10:10 Lou: I'm gonna do this flat. I'm gonna use my popularity advantage for something else.

1:10:17 Brennan: Okay, go ahead and roll. Insight or Persuasion. Actually, we'll say Insight. It's gonna be Insight.

1:10:22 Lou: Okay, fine. We're gonna use it, then.

1:10:22 Brennan: Only a DC 10.

1:10:27 Lou: But I'm bad at Insight. That is a 20.

1:10:34 Brennan: Wow, okay, 20. Can you roll a d6 for me?

1:10:37 Lou: Yeah. [die rolling] That's a three.

1:10:41 Brennan: Okay, great.

1:10:43 Siobhan: Wait, what does that mean? What do you mean, okay great?

1:10:46 Brennan: Okay, great.

1:10:46 Siobhan: Tippity type type type.

1:10:48 Brennan: So if you guys remember, when I gave the downtime rules, I'll reveal my hand now, the secret thing that downtime does is when you roll those d6s, rolling a five on the die removes a stress token, and rolling a six reduces two. Rolling a one adds a stress token, which shows the difference between your relationship track and the relaxation track, where actually, you can get rid of a bunch of stress tokens with your relationship track. But, you know, not always. Sometimes it's stressful. So, you and Mazey are hanging out. Where do you go on your first date?

1:11:23 Lou: I'm gonna buy out Krom's Diner, and then pay a bunch of Hudol kids to show up and talk relatively quietly, but also occasionally interact with her and myself in a way that suggests I'm maximum legend, but I'm gonna wear a scarf that night and kinda cover up the tattoo because I know I don't need to be a maximum legend for her. Murph covers his face.

1:11:46 Ally: The white knuckle control grip you have on this date is insane.

1:11:49 Brennan: Unbelievable.

1:11:51 Lou: I have $20,000. It's going to be perfect.

1:11:59 Emily: Because Fig and Fabian, our family is growing, I am gonna give him a Bardic going into this night.

1:12:06 Brennan: Unbelievable. You and Mazey have a great time at the diner. You have a shared passion. Mazey's a very talented dancer. There's lots to talk about. I think also, with Mazey, she is a genuinely calm, kind person. I think you begin to realize how interesting her life is, even though she's a very soothing presence. She talks about,

1:12:29 Mazey: My family, I go back and visit them sometimes. They're deep under the Red Waste in an ancient labyrinth.

1:12:38 Fabian: Oh.

1:12:39 Mazey: That's actually where Mazey comes from.

1:12:43 Fabian: I can't believe I never asked about that before.

1:12:45 Mazey: It's all right. But it's great. I think there's a lot of the idea of navigating complex patterns intuitively with your body. I think maybe I dream of being a choreographer. I feel like that's where I'm gonna end up, is choreography.

1:12:56 Fabian: You'd be great at it.

1:12:59 Mazey: Thanks, Fabian.

1:13:02 Brennan: She smiles and says,

1:13:02 Mazey: Hey, I wanted to bring something up. I've been really neutral, but between you and me, please don't tell anyone I said this, I kinda think Kristen's got it in the bag.

1:13:13 Fabian: Her and The Ball have run an unreal campaign.

1:13:16 Mazey: Fabian.

1:13:16 Fabian: What?

1:13:17 Mazey: Come on.

1:13:17 Fabian: What?

1:13:18 Mazey: Those lo-fi study nights. You're a huge part of the campaign's success.

1:13:22 Fabian: Hey.

1:13:22 Mazey: You and all the Bad— I feel like you and Fig and Riz and Kristen, everyone's been working really hard. At the beginning of the year, I wasn't sure if you guys were gonna take it seriously. I know Kristen ran into a buzzsaw, and I was like, is this—

1:13:35 Fabian: Yeah, we've come a long way from the Steelworkers Union.

1:13:39 Ally: I'm going back the first thing in my downtime.

1:13:42 Fabian: Honestly, Kristen just has so many ideas.

1:13:45 Emily: You're doubling down with them.

1:13:47 Fabian: She's constantly thinking of new things we could be doing in a really cool way, and I just think sometimes, the execution of those ideas can, I think, feel silly, but the place is so grounded and real.

1:13:59 Mazey: I'm just gonna bring this up, because I would bring it up to anybody who asked, and it's not a secret. But as long as there's faculty present or someone from the school administration present, you don't have to have polling places be exclusively at the school as long as you have them on a Friday, on that Friday.

1:14:20 Emily: Oh no.

1:14:22 Fabian: So, let me get this straight. You're saying that, like, if I threw… 'Cause you know that's my birthday.

1:14:30 Mazey: Happy birthday.

1:14:31 Fabian: I mean, you're early. It's on that election—

1:14:34 Mazey: No, I know. I know.

1:14:35 Fabian: Yeah.

1:14:35 Mazey: Yeah.

1:14:36 Fabian: You're saying that if I had a party that night, and if there was a faculty member there… Are you a faculty member?

1:14:42 Mazey: No. Well, wait a minute. I'm acting principal. You'd have to check the bylaws. Maybe, yeah.

1:14:49 Fabian: If you're there and we have just a box that people put votes in, we could—

1:14:55 Mazey: You have to do it legit. There has to be a little privacy booth. People have to be able to go in and vote and everything like that. But I'm just saying, the Venn diagram of people who wanna go to your birthday party and the people who wanna vote in the student body is not always a perfect circle, but you can make it pretty damn near a perfect circle if:

1:15:15 Fabian: Could we put a bar? If I got a Mage Hand situation bar in the voting booth, is that allowed? So if you go in there to get a drink, you have to vote?

1:15:26 Mazey: We should really consult the bylaws.

1:15:27 Fabian: Okay, we're talking a lot of business but, you know.

1:15:32 Brennan: You guys have a very cute date. Do you drop her off at home on the Hangman?

1:15:35 Lou: Yeah.

1:15:35 Brennan: Hell yeah.

1:15:38 Siobhan: Revving for like 10 minutes. [Lou and Brennan mimic the Hangman revving]

1:15:43 Brennan: She gives you a kiss goodnight at the front door, and it's a very sweet, uncomplicated date.

1:15:51 Lou: Look at that.

1:15:51 Brennan: Look at that.

1:15:53 Fabian: What are you doing here, Adaine?

1:15:55 Zac: Gorgug is wrapping out all the backgrounds.

1:15:58 Brennan: Awesome, that's your relationship. Further downtime.

1:16:01 Lou: I would like to go talk to Gertie.

1:16:03 Brennan: Okay, hell yeah.

1:16:03 Ally: Ooh!

1:16:05 Brennan: You go talk to—

1:16:06 Lou: I don't know which check that is.

1:16:09 Brennan: Yeah, is this mystery? Or is this relationships?

1:16:13 Lou: Yeah, let's do relationships. I wanna clear the air with them.

1:16:16 Brennan: Okay, give me Persuasion. The DC is—

1:16:18 Emily: You're just trying to get in on that hive.

1:16:20 Brennan: The DC is 15.

1:16:25 Lou: That's not gonna do it. I'll take a stress token.

1:16:27 Siobhan: No, you get a 19.

1:16:30 Lou: Okay.

1:16:30 Brennan: Okay!

1:16:30 Siobhan: You're at four. It would be a rage token.

1:16:32 Emily: Yeah, it would become a rage token.

1:16:33 Lou: God, it was 14.

1:16:36 Siobhan: Oh wait, in which case, I'll just give you a seven.

1:16:37 Lou: I'll take the seven.

1:16:37 Brennan: Seven. Okay, you take seven. You come up to address Gertie.

1:16:41 Lou: I think I just wave a little white flag as I come up toward ‘em.

1:16:48 Brennan: Gertie goes,

1:16:48 Gertie: Ah! My nemesis approaches!

1:16:50 Fabian: Yes, it's me. I thought we should talk.

1:16:57 Gertie: Go for it.

1:16:57 Fabian: Okay. I know that Kristen has... Is perhaps interested in you. They've been texting the group thread a lot of pickup lines and things that they wish they could say to you, but I guess there's been some friction there because we're nemeses, and I was wondering if there's just a way we could have it out and be done with this. I don't know if you wanna fight me in a field somewhere, or you just want me to apologize. Whatever the gambit is to put this behind us so that you and Kristen can, I don't know, do whatever it is you might do together, let's get into it.

1:17:47 Gertie: Right here, right now.

1:17:49 Lou: Great.

1:17:50 Brennan: We're just gonna roll a d20. Add your attack bonus, and she'll add hers.

1:17:54 Lou: Great.

1:17:57 Brennan: Oh, 3 plus 13 is 16.

1:18:01 Lou: 18 plus 12 is 30.

1:18:04 Brennan: Shield, sword. Swarming bees around. You disarm her.

1:18:09 Lou: I reach my hand out.

1:18:11 Brennan: She takes your hand.

1:18:12 Fabian: All right, we're done? We're fucking done? I'll know if you still have feelings, all right? My bank tells me! A well-dressed man in Bastion City will tell me if you're lying!

1:18:29 Gertie: [seriously] I rescind my vow of vengeance. I consider my honor settled, and this matter resolved. [amicably] Fare thee well, Fabian Aramais Seacaster, and please tell Kristen to come by anytime.

1:18:44 Fabian: All right. She likes tea. Big fan of tea, and tie-dye.

1:18:47 Gertie: Hm!

1:18:50 Fabian: If you're looking for any sorta in.

1:18:52 Gertie: Well, the interesting thing about tie-dye, actually, is that as a practice:

1:18:54 Fabian: All right, okay. All right.

1:18:58 Brennan: You head on out. As you are at Aguefort, you see that Corsica Jones and Terpsichore Skullcleaver walk up.

1:19:07 Terpsichore: Fabian, uh-oh! Uh-oh, congratulations!

1:19:09 Fabian: Uh-oh! All right!

1:19:09 Terpsichore: Congratulations!

1:19:12 Brennan: You see that each of them hands you a teacher evaluation form.

1:19:14 Fabian: Thrilling.

1:19:16 Ally: Oh wow. Power's in your hands.

1:19:19 Brennan: Back at the graveyard, Eugenia's gonna grab this one, [takes paper from Murph] looking at it.

1:19:23 Emily: I did Intimidate him to give all fives.

1:19:26 Brennan: You intimidated him to give all fives?

1:19:28 Emily: I rolled high.

1:19:29 Brennan: [to Murph] Give me Stealth, [to Emily] give me Perception.

1:19:32 Emily: Nat 20. [Brennan laughs]

1:19:35 Murph: Two becomes a 24. Brennan looks at the form and hands it to Emily.

1:19:40 Emily: Okay, I'm gonna change it all. [gasps][looks aghast at Murph] [Siobhan laughs]

1:19:44 Murph: [defensively] There were two fours out of five! That's not bad. Mostly fives. [laughing]

1:19:51 Ally: This teacher gave us drugs and alcohol.

1:19:54 Brennan: You can fill those out in your own time.

1:19:55 Lou: Can I make two more rolls? Would that be possible?

1:19:58 Brennan: Yeah, make two more rolls.

1:20:00 Lou: This one, I don't know if you'll let me do, but I'm gonna— [Zac laughs at what Emily’s up to]

1:20:03 Murph: She's crossing out my additional comments. Ally playfully shoves at Murph.

1:20:05 Brennan: Wait, what do your additional comments say?

1:20:07 Emily: [laughing] It said, "Good at rogue stuff, but the double fisting cigarettes was a bit much," and I'm making it, "Good at rogue stuff and double fisting cigarettes." [hands paper to Brennan]

1:20:22 Brennan: Incredible. Okay, what's the roll you wanna make on your downtime?

1:20:25 Lou: Owlbears.

1:20:26 Brennan: Let's do it. Here we go, Athletics. This is a DC 20. Athletics or Acrobatics.

1:20:30 Lou: I'll do Acrobatics. [sighs] [die rolling] Oh, you're kidding me! It's an 18.

1:20:43 Brennan: 18.

1:20:44 Emily: You do have a Bardic that you didn't use on your date.

1:20:46 Lou: Okay, great.

1:20:47 Ally: 'Cause of your pregnant mother.

1:20:48 Lou: Stop! Stop!

1:20:48 Emily: It's a family Bardic.

1:20:54 Lou: That's a five. That gets me over.

1:20:55 Brennan: All right. 20-what?

1:20:58 Lou: 18 plus 5.

1:20:59 Brennan: 23, okay. 23 on Owlbears. Who wants to jump into downtime next?

1:21:07 Siobhan: I'll go.

1:21:07 Brennan: Adaine, go for it.

1:21:11 Siobhan: I would love to start off with a mystery roll, and what I wanna do is research the Astral Plane.

1:21:18 Brennan: Cool, this is gonna be Arcana. [die rolling]

1:21:24 Siobhan: I'm gonna give myself a 19 on that.

1:21:26 Brennan: Hell yeah.

1:21:26 Siobhan: So that's a 29.

1:21:28 Brennan: 29!

1:21:28 Siobhan: Tough start. Tough start.

1:21:30 Brennan: Hell yeah.

1:21:30 Siobhan: [setting the offending d20 aside] Retiring.

1:21:32 Brennan: That's a hugely successful roll, however. Okay, you're looking into the Astral Realm. What kind of Astral Realm stuff are you looking into?

1:21:39 Siobhan: Specifically with Arcana, how magic works there, how Plane Shifting to there would work, and all of the sort of dead god floating around stuff.

1:21:52 Brennan: Yeah. I think on that roll, you look at dead gods. I think you would, on a 29, know that there's an exception for gods that remanifest in some kind of fey, fiendish, monstrous form. You know, the Nightmare King was: Cassandra was dead but not really, so there is kind of a fullness of death to when you go to the Astral Realm.

1:22:12 Siobhan: Uh-huh.

1:22:13 Brennan: But there's something interesting to you, 'cause you guys remember after the food court fight hearing something speak to you from the death of the Astral. There was some voice. Because when it pushed dead Yes! out, that had come from the Astral, and then Kristen Banished it back to the Astral.

1:22:35 Siobhan: Sure.

1:22:36 Brennan: So there was something there. The gods that are there maybe still are possessed of some intelligence, in the same way that you guys can die, but then still have someone cast Speak with Dead on you, and suddenly your intelligence comes back. That magic kind of animates it. It's stored somewhere. The cosmos does not forget these things, right? And I think also, you find an interesting little bit of semantic arcane grammar, which is about where gods die, where they go, and where they are borne. And I think you see something interesting, which is, "where they are borne" is spelled with an E at the end.

1:23:15 Siobhan: So, like, carried.

1:23:16 Brennan: Carried. Where they are brought to, yeah.

1:23:18 Siobhan: So I know that Bakur, when he was trying to bring back Ankarna, tried to bring her back at the place of her death. But maybe it was the place where she was borne.

1:23:32 Ally: Maybe the Mountains of Chaos?

1:23:34 Siobhan: Maybe the Mountains of Chaos.

1:23:36 Brennan: There's also a lot of interesting things, I think, about the Mountains of Chaos and the history and everything else associated with that as well. When Ankarna was said to have died in the Red Waste, what does that mean?

1:23:46 Siobhan: Maybe I'll do some research into spells that would help us survive in the Astral Plane.

1:23:51 Brennan: Hell yeah, go ahead and give me an academics roll, and I'll say as you're studying in a wizard class you no longer need to be at, Tiberia Runestaff looks at you and says,

1:23:59 Tiberia: Ahem. Miss Abernant.

1:24:02 Adaine: Yes?

1:24:03 Tiberia: Congratulations.

1:24:04 Adaine: Thank you.

1:24:06 Tiberia: Incredibly prodigious spellcasting, from what I heard, in the Last Stand.

1:24:11 Brennan: You see she hands the teacher evaluation to you.

1:24:13 Adaine: Mm, yes. Mm, mm. Mm-hmm!

1:24:20 Tiberia: I also wished to say that I've been communicating with Arthur Aguefort, who takes a particular interest—

1:24:28 Adaine: How? How have you been communicating with him?

1:24:32 Brennan: In the back, you hear,

1:24:32 Aguefort: Chronomancy!

1:24:35 Brennan: And you see she goes—

1:24:35 Adaine: Arthur, come back!

1:24:38 Brennan: You see she says,

1:24:38 Tiberia: I informed him of your difficulties procuring even the most base requirements for wizarding.

1:24:48 Adaine: No, the base… I mean, ink and feathers and stuff, I can do.

1:24:51 Tiberia: I'm talking about sphinx eggs.

1:24:53 Adaine: Yeah, no, I am also talking about sphinx eggs.

1:24:56 Tiberia: Regardless, his daughter asked him to pass on a geocache location.

1:25:04 Brennan: And she hands you a little set of coordinates.

1:25:06 Siobhan: Oh! I will text this to Fig so we can maybe go together, 'cause I bet there's some stuff for her in there as well.

1:25:16 Brennan: Some stuff for her in there as well. Hell yeah. Emily smiles.

1:25:18 Brennan: You get a little location from her. Go ahead and make the academics roll, if you'd be so kind. Okay, what was that academics roll for researching spells?

1:25:26 Siobhan: It was very bad, so I'm gonna use my Boggy Help action to get a much better roll. That's a 29.

1:25:33 Brennan: 29! That's a crushing success. Go ahead and get a new spell in your spellbook of every spell level you can cast.

1:25:40 Siobhan: Great.

1:25:41 Emily: I've got to play a wizard for you someday. Please, let me.

1:25:45 Brennan: “Please, let me! I wanna add things to my spellbook!”

1:25:48 Siobhan: And then I wanna do a relationship roll. I kinda wanna have a little ice cream party at Mordred Manor.

1:25:54 Brennan: Yeah.

1:25:57 Siobhan: I feel like we've all been so busy, that it would be really nice for everybody to sort of have a nice time.

1:26:07 Brennan: Give me a relationship check.

1:26:09 Siobhan: Watch "The Princess Bride".

1:26:10 Brennan: DC is 15. It's an Insight check. [die rolling]

1:26:16 Siobhan: 18.

1:26:17 Brennan: 18! There's a fucking ice cream party at Adaine's while you guys are in the middle of hunting down this big old conspiracy. With all this extra time, I think you can tell how—

1:26:26 Ally: Safe?

1:26:27 Siobhan: Wicked, man.

1:26:29 Brennan: There's a moment in the night where you get a big hug from Sandra Lynn, who's got a little party hat on. She just talks about how nice this is.

1:26:36 Adaine: How are you doing?

1:26:36 Brennan: She says,

1:26:36 Sandra Lynn: How am I doing?

1:26:38 Adaine: Yeah.

1:26:38 Sandra Lynn: Doing okay. Work is nuts. Mountains of Chaos have been trouble recently.

1:26:44 Adaine: Wait, really? What, why, how, what?

1:26:47 Kristen: You're a ranger up there?

1:26:47 Sandra Lynn: Yeah, I'm a ranger up there. We find abnormal or unnatural creatures that shouldn't be involved in Spyre-centric ecosystems and we move them into more—

1:26:58 Adaine: Like invasive species?

1:27:02 Sandra Lynn: Yeah, invasive species. So we find, you know, there's aberrations and other things like that. We just move them deeper into the mountains where they're not poisoning ecosystems that are as plant-based.

1:27:11 Adaine: So you're talking about, like, rage stuff?

1:27:15 Sandra Lynn: It's a weird thing, that you say that. We're finding a lot of social animals destroying themselves.

1:27:22 Adaine: Wild.

1:27:24 Sandra Lynn: Wolf packs killing members of their own pack, lots of—

1:27:27 Adaine: How long has that been happening? Is that recent recent?

1:27:31 Sandra Lynn: That's recent. This is, well, yeah—

1:27:33 Adaine: Since spring break recent?

1:27:35 Sandra Lynn: Yeah, just about. Last couple weeks, yeah.

1:27:37 Adaine: Fuck, we gotta go to the Mountains of Chaos.

1:27:38 Ally: Can we tell her everything that we know?

1:27:41 Brennan: Yeah, you tell her everything you know?

1:27:43 Siobhan: Yeah.

1:27:43 Ally: Yeah.

1:27:44 Siobhan: I mean, I think so, maybe leaving out the Bobby Dawn stuff for Fig to tell her.

1:27:48 Murph: Yeah.

1:27:48 Brennan: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

1:27:48 Ally: Oh yeah, definitely.

1:27:50 Brennan: So you have that ice cream party. Roll me a d6, if you'd be so kind. [die rolling]

1:27:57 Siobhan: That's a two.

1:27:57 Brennan: Okay. Sandra Lynn says,

1:28:00 Sandra Lynn: Yeah, I'd be happy to direct you guys. Do you wanna go to the Mountains of Chaos?

1:28:06 Adaine: Honestly, if it's cool with you and everybody else, since you know the Mountains of Chaos so well, would you mind taking us? Would that be okay?

1:28:15 Sandra Lynn: Yeah, absolutely. I'm happy to do that. I can get some other griffins and we can all take a flight there if you want.

1:28:21 Adaine: Everybody gets a griffin?

1:28:23 Sandra Lynn: Yeah, if you so choose. Yeah, absolutely.

1:28:25 Kristen: I'll wear my new boots.

1:28:27 Sandra Lynn: Let me talk to the Ranger's Guild and make sure that everything's copacetic, but yeah, it's just a liability thing. We gotta make sure you kids are– I know that you're seasoned adventurers.

1:28:34 Adaine: We'll sign whatever waiver you need.

1:28:36 Sandra Lynn: Great. Great, great, great.

1:28:36 Brennan: She looks at you and just says,

1:28:36 Sandra Lynn: Hey.

1:28:39 Adaine: Yeah?

1:28:39 Sandra Lynn: This was such a sweet idea. I can't tell you how happy this made, not only me and Jawbone, so happy—

1:28:51 Adaine: I feel like you guys were just so nice, taking me in, and we've all been just so busy, and I just didn't wanna feel like I was being ungrateful, 'cause I was just being so busy all the time, when I am really grateful. I'm not very good at being a kid, I feel like. Like, I don't know how to, I don't know really know how to do that, but…

1:29:14 Sandra Lynn: I'm really sorry.

1:29:14 Adaine: Want some more sprinkles?

1:29:16 Sandra Lynn: Yeah, I'll get some more sprinkles. I hope you know that the kindest thing you can do, I think, for somebody, is be the person that their kid needed. And there were a lot of things I couldn’t do for Fig, I feel like, and I feel like the fact that she found you and all you guys—

1:29:43 Adaine: But Fig is so great.

1:29:43 Sandra Lynn: I know she is.

1:29:46 Adaine: She’s got like, five jobs.

1:29:46 Sandra Lynn: What?

1:29:48 Adaine: She’s so busy.

1:29:49 Sandra Lynn: What do you mean she has five jobs?

1:29:52 Adaine: Well, you know.

1:29:52 Sandra Lynn: Where is she working?

1:29:54 Adaine: Well, you know, I mean, Hell, and then Kristen’s—

1:29:56 Sandra Lynn: Okay, good, I didn’t know if you meant something other than hell.

1:29:59 Adaine: No, no, no.

1:29:59 Sandra Lynn: Hell is fine.

1:30:01 Adaine: And then she's a rock star.

1:30:01 Sandra Lynn: Knew that, knew that.

1:30:03 Adaine: Security detail.

1:30:03 Sandra Lynn: Great. Security detail?

1:30:07 Adaine: For the president.

1:30:11 Ally: For Joe Biden. [Siobhan and Emily burst out laughing]

1:30:14 Brennan: She says,

1:30:14 Sandra Lynn: I know that Jawbone, the most important thing for him is looking after you, and it's gonna be hard to look after someone who's so competent, who needs, sometimes, very little looking after.

1:30:27 Adaine: But I feel like also, sometimes, I just know that I can be competent 'cause you guys are there if I need you to be.

1:30:38 Sandra Lynn: I know that you moved in when you were already a teenager and a high schooler, but I just want you to know if there's ever a conversation that you would have wanted to have with a mom, I want you to know that I would love for you to have that with me.

1:30:53 Adaine: Actually, I already know how periods work. So, thank you.

1:30:55 Siobhan: I run away.

1:30:55 Sandra Lynn: I know that you know! It would be insane if you didn't know that!

1:31:03 Brennan: As you run away.

1:31:05 Emily: I notice the disparity between the way she addressed you [pointing to Siobhan/Adaine] and when I talked to her about my feelings—

1:31:11 Siobhan: It's much easier—

1:31:12 Emily: ...she took a huge chug of alcohol.

1:31:15 Siobhan: Oh, look—

1:31:15 Emily: Interesting.

1:31:16 Siobhan: Listen, it's much easier to parent somebody else's child.

1:31:18 Ally: It's like looking in a little mirror, probably.

1:31:20 Emily: Sandra Lynn!

1:31:21 Siobhan: Somebody that you don't see yourself in so clearly.

1:31:26 Brennan: Any other downtime things you're doing?

1:31:27 Siobhan: I feel like that's everything, unless anybody else has any ideas.

1:31:32 Brennan: I grabbed these during a little bio break, but you hand in your Tiberia Runestaff evaluation. I just wanted to read the additional comments on it. The additional comments. Adaine’s Additional Comments for Tiberia Runestaff: The material expenditure for wizard classes is, IMO, unrealistic for students to self-provide.

1:31:49 Brennan: Tiberia says,

1:31:49 Tiberia: I'll be taking this and, of course, not reading it. It will go to the principal's office, where your co-student Mazey Phaedra will, I suppose, read it.

1:32:00 Brennan: And she heads off with it.

1:32:00 Siobhan: Wow.

1:32:03 Brennan: But you have that little geocache.

1:32:04 Siobhan: Oh, I guess I'll check in with Fig and say,

1:32:07 Adaine: Hey, you wanna get this from Ayda?

1:32:09 Fig: Sure.

1:32:09 Adaine: Yeah, great.

1:32:11 Brennan: You check in with Fig about running to go get that, and as you do, Fig, you see out in the quad on one of the exterior cafeteria tables, you see Porter walking up with an arm around a shaking, frazzled and weeping Lucilla Lullaby.

1:32:28 Emily: Oh fuck.

1:32:28 Brennan: Who walks up and is like,

1:32:30 Porter: [soothingly] Listen, it's all right, you know? She's not gonna—

1:32:33 Fig: I gave you all fives!

1:32:36 Brennan: Lucilla goes,

1:32:36 Lucilla: [through tears] That's so nice. I guess the one class I taught must've really made an impression.

1:32:42 Fig: I specifically said that. I said the one class I went to was actually pretty chill.

1:32:47 Adaine: This woman has a weirdly parasocial relationship with you. [indistinct]

1:32:53 Brennan: She fully breaks the rules and looks at this. She grabs the sheet from Porter and he goes,

1:32:55 Porter: Hey!

1:32:57 Brennan: And you see she goes,

1:32:57 Lucilla: [reading Fig’s comments] "Name of instructor. Attractive bard teacher, I can't remember her name.” It's alliterative! It's Lucilla Lullaby! The last name's a type of song! I'm the bard teacher!"

1:33:11 Fig: But there's an apology in it, too. I literally apologized to you in the notes. And I gave you all fives! All fives!

1:33:20 Brennan: You see that she goes,

1:33:20 Lucilla: Thank you so much.

1:33:22 Brennan: And you see Porter looks over and says,

1:33:22 Porter: I notice… I didn't read any of the comments. I notice that I have a split one with Zara.

1:33:32 Fig: Yeah.

1:33:33 Porter: So the teacher whose only one class you attended—

1:33:36 Fig: I get the impression that you guys like to share.

1:33:40 Porter: I hope that's not in the additional comments.

1:33:42 Siobhan: I cast Detect Thoughts on Porter.

1:33:44 Brennan: He sees you casting that and does his Mindless Rage feature to repel it. He's like,

1:33:48 Porter: No! Not those thoughts!

1:33:53 Brennan: You see he looks and says,

1:33:54 Porter: By the way, Zara wanted to meet with you tonight.

1:33:59 Fig: Oh, I think I already passed class.

1:34:02 Porter: I understand, but she wanted to say thank you for the letter you wrote her.

1:34:06 Fig: Oh, okay. The letter I wrote her was just asking for an extension. She doesn't have to—

1:34:12 Porter: She told me that you had attached, in the envelope, a flayed flap of human skin with golden writing on it.

1:34:19 Fig: Yeah.

1:34:20 Porter: I think she wanted to just touch base.

1:34:21 Fig: Oh, okay. Yeah.

1:34:21 Porter: Touch base, that's all.

1:34:24 Fig: Yeah, I can do that.

1:34:25 Brennan: By the way, just for posterity, additional comments. Fig’s Additional Comments for Zara and Porter: Zara kept me engaged, and not just because she's a hot goth. After all these years, still not sure if Porter is secretly evil, but smiting is so sick. [Ally and Siobhan laugh]

1:34:41 Brennan: Incredible.

1:34:41 Emily: All fives as well.

1:34:43 Brennan: It does look like Porter, for how chill he has been this year, you see some rage bubbling up as he's like,

1:34:49 Porter: I mean, if you had two sheets of paper, wouldn't you do the two teachers… I mean, I just, you took classes!

1:34:55 Fig: I know, but I really owed the attractive bard teacher.

1:35:01 Porter: Actually, you know what? That's fair.

1:35:03 Fig: Yeah.

1:35:03 Porter: That's really fair. I understand that.

1:35:05 Fig: I really did.

1:35:07 Brennan: You head out from there. We grab the rest of these, I think, evaluations as well. Fabian's for Corsica Jones is, Fabian’s Additional Comments for Corisca Jones: Yeah yeah, stabby stabby.

1:35:17 Lou: That's all we do.

1:35:17 Brennan: All we do. Additional comments for Terpsichore, Fabian’s Additional Comments for Terpsichore: Strongly disagree that teacher prepared for class, but this is the way of dance. Dance is present. Dance is now. One cannot prepare, and by preparing, you've already failed. Also, again, I'm so sorry. Please let me buy you a new shirt.

1:35:40 Fabian: I really hope—

1:35:40 Kristen: What?

1:35:41 Fabian: You know! You know I shit on her!

1:35:44 Gorgug: Wait, what happened?

1:35:45 Fabian: Stop! Everyone stop pretending like they didn't know. You guys were asking me all that fluid stuff. You said fluid. You all said fluid.

1:35:52 Gorgug: This is the first I've heard of it.

1:35:53 Fig: I said movement!

1:35:53 Fabian: Yes, that also counts!

1:35:58 Gorgug: I really didn't mean anything when I said the shart of dance.

1:36:02 Fabian: I am the Ora-Cool, all right?

1:36:06 Fig: I mean, there definitely seems to have been an aura.

1:36:09 Fabian: All right, we're moving on. Next topic.

1:36:11 Gorgug: It was definitely not cool. It was really warm.

1:36:15 Brennan: Gorgug, comments for Professor Hopclap were, Gorgug’s Additional Comments for Henry Hopclap: Mr. Hopclap helped me go from a self-trained hobbyist to a proficient adept artificer.

1:36:20 Brennan: And then for Porter—

1:36:24 Zac: Real all business.

1:36:24 Brennan: All business. Gorgug’s Additional Comments for Porter: At first, I didn't wanna give Porter all fives, but I ultimately believe his nontraditional approach pushed me to become the best barbarian I could be.

1:36:34 Ally: Nice.

1:36:34 Zac: Let me get out of the Uber.

1:36:37 Brennan: Let me get out of the Uber here.

1:36:39 Ally: Thank you so much. Five stars.

1:36:41 Brennan: Bobby Dawn, comments from Kristen Applebees. Kristen’s Additional Comments for Bobby Dawn: Extremely biased. Inappropriate use of class time for preaching. Liar, frumpy, wrong.

1:36:51 Zac: “Liar, frumpy, wrong.”

1:36:51 Brennan: “Liar, frumpy, wrong.” From the law firm of Liar, Frumpy and Wrong. Incredible. So, we're still doing this final downtime track. Anyone else wanna go to downtime? Adaine, do you wanna wrap yours up? Do any other people wanna jump on downtime?

1:37:08 Siobhan: Jace. I would love to… Actually, maybe I'll Scry on Jace.

1:37:15 Brennan: Yeah.

1:37:15 Siobhan: Yeah.

1:37:16 Brennan: Hell yeah. Go for it.

1:37:18 Siobhan: It's actually him rolling.

1:37:20 Brennan: Oh yes, it is. Hold on.

1:37:21 Siobhan: Wisdom.

1:37:23 Brennan: You feel him succeed on the Wisdom.

1:37:24 Siobhan: He fails. He gets a one.

1:37:24 Brennan: Whoop! Jace, you can see, is in his office here at school.

1:37:32 Siobhan: Just quietly sitting?

1:37:34 Brennan: It looks like he's working on something.

1:37:36 Siobhan: Can I zoom in, see what he's working on?

1:37:37 Zac: Enhance.

1:37:37 Brennan: Yes, you can.

1:37:38 Siobhan: Enhance, enhance! There's always a back door! I'm just ethereally "Mission Impossible"-ing into his office.

1:37:48 Brennan: You see him writing, and he's looking up podcasts. You see him Googling… First of all, you see that he's subscribed to "Complicated Women."

1:38:00 Emily: [laughs] Which, canonically, I've been doing it on the side under Disguise Self.

1:38:03 Brennan: I will also say—

1:38:06 Siobhan: Another one of Fig's jobs.

1:38:07 Brennan: I will also say, give me a Luck check to see—you wanna roll high—to see what he's got open as he's doing stuff. [die rolling]

1:38:16 Siobhan: I did not roll high. I got a five.

1:38:17 Brennan: Okay, so you don't see what he's working on on his computer.

1:38:18 Siobhan: Is he buttoned up to here? [gestures to her neck]

1:38:23 Brennan: Give me a Perception check. [die rolling]

1:38:28 Siobhan: 17.

1:38:30 Brennan: As he's in this small office, you see that he's sweating a little bit. It's very toasty in this office. Hot, getting into later spring. He gets up, takes his scarf off, hangs it by the door, and just for a moment, as he turns in the mirror, you see a deep, ragged scar on his chest. You see he looks at the scar, looks in the mirror. His eyes flash red for a second. And that's all for this episode of "Dimension 20". [Siobhan gasps]

1:39:04 Emily: Ooh!

1:39:04 Ally: Wow. He buried that in that tone. NEXT EPISODE - Episode 17: The Name [NEXT TIME ON DIMENSION 20]

1:39:08 Sprak: Cloud Rider!

1:39:08 Gorgug: You know much about those?

1:39:10 Sprak: Ah, do I ever! Certain arcano-tech engines are constructed in order that they might be able to join us in a real man's ocean, the sky!

1:39:22 Gorgug: I wouldn't say that around Fabian.

1:39:24 Fabian: I've got a three-day fried rice, and then I found some that had been out in the sun. Sprak?: Thank you. [munching enthusiastically]

1:39:31 Bobby Dawn: Now, I don't care how long we have to look. We're gonna find this boy, and I need everyone here working double overtime until we do! [exasperated] Hello, Ms. Applebees.

1:39:40 Kristen: You can't find him?

1:39:42 Bobby Dawn: We know that he died. But now we can't locate his soul in the blessed afterlife.

1:39:49 Kristen: That's because he chose a new deity.

1:39:52 Brennan: The room goes silent. ?: [an echoey, ethereal voice] Why can you not burn?

1:40:00 Fig: [whispering] Because my girlfriend is a phoenix, and sexually, it would be a complication. ?: I am, for the first time in ages, thrown for a loop.

1:40:16 Murph: Are they really out there just killing rats for fun? Or are the rats part of, like, they're drinking the water, they're eating the fucked up ground. Are they literally grinding up rats?

1:40:29 Fabian: One second. [begins playing pipes] [soothing panpipe music]

1:40:33 Brennan: A bunch of little rats run in.

1:40:33 Rat: Hi!

1:40:35 Fabian: Can I ask you a question about the rat city?

1:40:36 Rat: Mm-hmm. Rat World?

1:40:36 Fabian: Yes, Rat World.

1:40:39 Adaine: With the mall?

1:40:39 Rat: Yeah.

1:40:41 Adaine: What do you use for rat money?

1:40:42 Rat: Rat dollars. Bye bye! [players shouting]

1:40:46 Fabian: Rat dollars? Are you kidding me?

1:40:46 Edited by: gluegunshots