Blood, steel, and fire. Who needs a captain anyway? We do not have to be in community here. Another door opens. Blood, rain, and glass. Are we there yet?
Blood, steel, and fire. Who needs a captain anyway? We do not have to be in community here. Another door opens. Blood, rain, and glass. Are we there yet?
Worlds Beyond Number is:
and is produced, designed, and scored by Taylor Moore at Fortunate Horse.
Transcript of this episode available here.
We have so much more to show you. An entire campaign about Suvi, Ame, and Eursulon meeting for the first time as children, for instance. And would you believe, even more? Please, join us at Patreon.com/worldsbeyondnumber
Our album art is by the great Corey Brickley
Some additional ambient sound design comes from Michael Ghelfi Studios. You can get their sounds and music for your home games and VTT as well, which we enthusiastically recommend. .
Final Version
Captain Emliss [Brennan]
I've known [chuckles] I've known plenty of witches who... Would not be so kind as you.
Ame [Erika]
You've known plenty of witches?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The moon comes back into the sky sailing, and it casts the light on one side of her face, and the shadow that it casts from the other side stretches endlessly into the night, all the way to the shore. She says, yeah, you seem like a small and sweet little witch. The captain opens her mouth, and darkness slithers out.
[A horrifying cacophony of noise breaks out]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Time slows to a standstill. The rising and falling of the prow of the Roan making its way through choppy water near the shore, headed towards Port Talon. That crescent moon peeks underneath heavy cloud cover, coming sideways in-between sky and sea to illuminate the now hollow expression of Captain Emliss.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Her mouth opens and pure shadow emerges. How it can communicate mass and form, when it seems to absorb all light, you do not know, but you can see in the ripples of its lightning fast approach, that indeed it is given substance, here in space between you. The shadow moves, and I will need everybody here to roll Initiative.
[Everybody cheers]
Aabria Iyengar
We're doing it!
Lou Wilson
Eursulon rolled a 14.
Aabria Iyengar
Suvi got a 12!
Erika Ishii
Ame got a 15, and just in case you needed it, the Fox got a 1!
Aabria Iyengar
Aw, buddy.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Very well.
Lou Wilson
[Chuckling] Okay.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Very Well.
Erika Ishii
He's asleep!
Lou Wilson
Brennan contemplating how he's about to kill all of us.
Aabria Iyengar
[Laughs brightly]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Ame, thankfully, you beat the initiative, which means that you come out of the surprised condition. So! You have dodged the worst case scenario, of this thing being able to act twice on you. But we do move through everybody's initiative. You guys are still fighting on the back deck. We come to Emliss's turn.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Ame, you spend your turn in initiative coming out of the surprised condition. As you do so, you realize with horror that something very terrible is happening, and you are suddenly faced with the prospect of danger in your life post Grandmother Wren, and now, far away from hearth and home. Going to roll the first attack roll of the campaign.
[Aabria and Erika gasp excitedly]
Erika Ishii
[Whispering excitedly] It's happening!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
[Sudden rush of air] Time is suddenly quick again, and as the prow hits the ocean and the spray comes up, you roll, flatten, as a lance of shadow scours the deck behind you, and mist rises up from wood, that you can see, rots a little on contact with the thing emerging from Emliss's mouth. She steps back and crouches as well. Ame, you are first to act, you are isolated in that little cute cubby area right near the prow of the ship, with Emliss blocking your exit towards the rest of the ship.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
She has struck at you, or whatever she truly is has struck at you. You hear hissing in silence and feel cold—not the welcoming cold of the sea wind, but some deeper cold here. What do you do?
Ame [Erika]
Captain, what are you doing? You offered us your hospitality, what are you?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You make that request and see—her pupils have expanded past the whites of her eyes, and they are pure black. There is nothing—there is no look of recognition, or even of consciousness, upon asking that question. That's a free action to speak. You have your action, your movement, bonus action, whatever you would like to do in this moment.
Erika Ishii
In shock, I scramble up to my feet and the handful of finely ground, little red pepper that I had been sorting into piles, in my herbal kit, I [blowing air] dash into her face, just in shock.
Aabria Iyengar
[Giggles]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Incredible. And what ability is this that you are using?
Erika Ishii
Essentially I have maced her.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You blow these sort of [whoosh of wind] collection of spices and flower petals. They hit the dripping, almost undulating, cascade of—whether it be liquid smoke or fabric—this living shadow, emerging from her mouth. As they hit it, you expect them to fall away, pass through, and instead they are simply gone.
Erika Ishii
I try to tumble past her, tucking and rolling, grabbing the Fox as I go.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
I am going to need an athletics or acrobatics check for you to push past.
Erika Ishii
That's going to be an acrobatics check. 14.
Lou Wilson
Oh, big Willie.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You are able to quickly push past Captain Emliss. As you do so, she is going to get an attack of opportunity on you, as you leave the area of her threat to you. That's going to be a hit.
Aabria Iyengar
Oof.
Erika Ishii
Ah!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Ame. As you rush past her, you've just come too close. She turns around, and suddenly you experience the feeling of—you never knew that you could feel moonlight on your body—it's always just something you thought you could see—but when something is taken away from you, that you've had your whole life, that's when you tend to appreciate it most.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And as the shadow touches you and it robs the light—not only from this moment, but from you yourself—you take 10 points of necrotic damage, and lose 4 points of strength. Are you still up?
Erika Ishii
No.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Not only do you feel the light being robbed from you, as you take 10 points of necrotic damage, and 4 points of strength damage, you feel life itself being taken, from the parts of you that are touched by this magic. Your blood stops flowing in your body, your organs shrivel, your muscles contract and deteriorate.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The process of entropy, pure and unmitigated by the presence of life itself, acts on your body, in the fluid form of where the shadow touches you. This shadow, thankfully, Ame, does not touch your heart. It merely touches across your torso, your arms, midsection, across your upper shoulders.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
However, that is enough to badly injure you in that moment where those parts of you that need life, are suddenly rendered deadly cold and still, for you to drop, having lost much of your strength, and much of the blood in your body—as you drop out of the shadow to the deck—suddenly bursts in capillaries all throughout you. And to a viewer, they would immediately see, like dark roses, blooms of bruising all across your body where the shadow touched you.
Erika Ishii
I collapsed onto the deck with a cry.
Ame [Erika]
[Agonizing cry]
Aabria Iyengar
[Whispering] Brennan, excuse me. Hi, we're level 1, what are you doing?
Lou Wilson
Hey, Brennan, yeah. Can we check in? Can we sidebar real quick?
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah. Sidebar, sidebar.
Lou Wilson
[Coughs] Sorry, I just can't believe what you're doing, and my body is reacting to it.
[Aabria and Erika start cackling]
Lou Wilson
You know Ame had 8 hit points, right? I just want to check in.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You had 8 hit points?
Aabria Iyengar
Don't sound surprised!
Lou Wilson
Don't sound surprised.
Aabria Iyengar
You can't sound surprised, you can count the health.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Well, I guess you know, I guess this horrifying being didn't check in with your character sheet before it decided to kill you.
Aabria Iyengar
[Laughing]
Lou Wilson
Well hey Brennan, whose job is that?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
[Coolly] Hey—
Erika Ishii
They should have a little discussion, beforehand—
Lou Wilson
I guess it's time for our—
Erika Ishii
—about wanting to live or die!
Lou Wilson
I feel like we should start—any NPC we meet. Hi, my name is Eursulon, I'm a level one Paladin, okay? I just want to be clear.
Aabria Iyengar
[Laughing] Every NPC's nose just starts bleeding.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Suvi, you immediately clock—you hear that, essentially.
Suvi [Aabria]
No! What?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And Eursulon, you see Suvi reacting in that moment.
Lou Wilson
Okay.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Eursulon, it is your turn.
Eursulon [Lou]
[Frantically] I will tend to Ame.
Suvi [Aabria]
[Aghast] Hit the—her!
Aabria Iyengar
And I just point at the Captain.
Eursulon [Lou]
Uh. Uh?
Lou Wilson
I look at the broomstick in my hand and say
Eursulon [Lou]
[Dubiously] Okay!
[Aabria and Erika chuckle]
Lou Wilson
I'm going to take off. Will my movement let me close with the—
Brennan Lee Mulligan
This is a small vessel, but you were all the way at the back, and the captain was all the way at the front. This is why this moment was chosen—
Aabria Iyengar
Shit!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
—was your distance from this person, so you—
Lou Wilson
Then I'll run—I'll move a full 30ft and chuck it like a javelin.
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah. Let's go-uh!!
Lou Wilson
I'm going to flip it, the jagged end aiming forward. And I say
Eursulon [Lou]
[Yelling righteously] Captain!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Hell yeah.
Aabria Iyengar
[Laughing] Yeah!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You close 30ft, you're another 30ft away from the Captain. So you sprint down, you leap down the steps of the deck, run halfway across the ship, and, seeing that you need to act now and decisively, even though she's still half the ship's distance away from you, you take the broomstick. I'm going to say no disadvantage, but I'm going to say you do not have proficiency because this is not a weapon.
Aabria Iyengar
Brennan now, he's fought with handles of cleaning implements his whole life.
Lou Wilson
I will say I am proficient with all simple weapons and what—
Erika Ishii
What more is the broom handle!
Lou Wilson
Is there any more simple weapon than a broken piece of wood?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Can't knock the hustle, pro-bono rules lawyer, let's go for it. All right, here it is. Go for it.
Erika Ishii
Is your DM not recognizing your proficiencies? Call Iyengar and Mulligan.
Aabria Iyengar
We have a full ad roll, I bought ad time on our podcast.
Lou Wilson
Yeah, we advertise on our own podcast. That's going to be a 21.
Aabria Iyengar
Let's go-uh!!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Wow!!
Erika Ishii
Have you seen our billboards in North Hollywood?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
A 21 to hit! Okay!
Lou Wilson
What would you like the damage to be on a mop handle?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
I think we're gonna call this a club, and we're just going to call it 1d6.
Lou Wilson
So 8 damage.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Eight damage!?
Aabria Iyengar
Lets go-ah!!
Lou Wilson
As I just huck a mop handle.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Emliss, standing over Ame's supine body, rises up, sees you charging. I assume you're still wearing your human glamour—
Lou Wilson
Yes, I'm not changing.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
So there's a moment of [WHOOSH] this broom handle, FLYING from your hand. It streaks forward and, Emliss—with these tendrils of shadow bearing down on Ame's form to finish what it had started—instead have to fly up, and your broom handle thuds into the center of a mass of living shadow. And you hear a footstep back with the impact. That, easily, could have dropped like, a forest animal. Emliss is still standing, but you hear a grunt of effort, as the broom handle thuds into the center of your enemy.
Lou Wilson
Mm.
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah, so Suvi's going to sort of run over to her staff, and as she's flipping it up with her foot into her hand, she's going to toss you the blunted foil.
Lou Wilson
Great.
Aabria Iyengar
And then replaces that with the glass staff. And with her free hand, that little emerald ring, her arcane focus, like flares up as she sends out magic missile. 10 points.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
10 points?!
Aabria Iyengar
10 points of force.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You've described before your magic missiles as having that sort of trail of like white sand behind them right? Or no?
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah, it's different. I think these look and sound like something physical moving through space, like little, just, darts of glass, that shatter and make a shatter sound on impact.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The effect is very small, spatially, these like glass darts don't take up much space, but they are brilliant with light [gentle whistle noises] and rip through space, unerringly. I think there are some spells that you have to aim and this is one of the ones that you don't. And you watch them all curve through space, striking their target without failure.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You also see Eursulon in front of you as you close the distance to this figure, that as the darts approach, the shadow parts in front of them [Gasping sound of motion] and strike Emliss in her body—pah pah pah! Bypasses whatever strange arcane protection is happening here. It's good to have the Citadel at your back, baby.
Aabria Iyengar
Yuh!!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Emliss is still up, but with all of the effort of resisting that first blow, and then the next one behind it, dealing some very serious damage, Captain Emliss looks down at the witch in front of her, and then looks up at you approaching. She has to wonder if she can win this fight and live to see another day, or if her number is already up, and she should just finish the job she started.
Erika Ishii
It is now the Fox's turn.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
[Laughs]
Erika Ishii
And I want that smart mouth son of a bitch—
Aabria Iyengar
[Giggles]
Erika Ishii
—to persuade her, to get out.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
I am going to roll to see something. All of the Fox's cunning, and persuasion, has left him in this moment, as you drop to the ground. And he instead turns to you and goes
The Fox [Brennan]
[Frightened] Boss?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And is going to give you advantage, he's going to give you the help action, as he puts his little small paws up on your body. Seeing the Fox go over you, Emliss seems to like her chances, and is going to charge at Eursulon. Emliss drops. The shadow follows her into a pool on the deck, and as you step, you see the shadow... Strikes out sideways, flat along the deck, and hits the edge of your shadow, cast by the moonlight.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And as it touches your shadow, you feel a sudden chill. And your shadow darkens, as she rushes along your own outline on the deck, and rises up in your space—BWAH—a tower around you. You feel a sudden chill, you take ten points of necrotic damage—
Aabria Iyengar
Yo?!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
—and lose a point of strength. This force rises up, seeking to strike at your very heart. Eursulon, are you standing.
Lou Wilson
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Aabria Iyengar
Woo!!
Erika Ishii
[Nervous laughter]
Aabria Iyengar
My goodness-uh!
Lou Wilson
The inkiness rises up around Eursulon. As he feels it move to the place that is, I guess, where a human's heart would be.
Aabria Iyengar
Ooh.
Lou Wilson
And I'd say in this moment, I think being hit, drops the glamour. And now, standing a full foot taller, Eursulon's eyes look down at the shade that has surrounded him. And I think there's just a [Snarling] snarl of rage and anger.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You see that this force sees a human man approaching, strikes at your heart, and instead finds something much more powerful and inconquerable than it was anticipating. This should have dropped you, and did not.
Lou Wilson
Mm.
Erika Ishii
Yeah!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The shadow steps back as your form transforms, and you see Emliss once again standing, surrounded by this living tendrils of night, looking badly injured and standing in front of you still. Ame. I'm going to need a death saving throw from you.
Lou Wilson
With advantage, with advantage
Brennan Lee Mulligan
With advantage.
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah!
Erika Ishii
That's a 16 on the die.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And that's—the death saving throw, we add nothing. So 16 on the die is a success.
Aabria Iyengar
Woo! Love to see it.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
For those listening at home—
Lou Wilson
Ya love to see it.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
—when a character loses all of their hit points, and goes to zero, they begin to make death saving throws. Three successes mean you stabilize, and you are okay. Three failures... Means that the time has come, and the character has died. We move back to Eursulon's turn.
Aabria Iyengar
[Whispering] Let's go!
Lou Wilson
Can I make a perception check on how bad Emliss is doing? Because I think Eursulon is having—I think there's a rage that is coming over him that is making him want to engage this thing and finish it, but can't shake that Ame's on the deck, and he desperately wants to do something to help her. That's a 19. Just—
Aabria Iyengar
[Quietly] Let's go!
Lou Wilson
—how is this thing looking?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Emliss looks really really bad. What's the perception you rolled?
Lou Wilson
19.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
19? Yeah. I think that you also have enough combat sense to know, that if you try to run past her, she'll get a swing on you.
Lou Wilson
Yes. I think Eursulon is going to look back at Suvi, snarling
Eursulon [Lou]
This ends NOW!
Aabria Iyengar
Yes!
Lou Wilson
And is going to, in a more brutalist way than should be with a foil, kind of flip it so that the handguard is beneath him and kind of stab into this being.
Aabria Iyengar
Yes! Hah!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Go ahead and make an attack roll.
Lou Wilson
Ya gotta hit, Eursulon! Please!
Aabria Iyengar
You got this!
Lou Wilson
Hey, thanks, guys. [Exaggerated] Does an 8 hit?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
I'm afraid an 8 does not hit.
Lou Wilson
[Pleading] Are you sure?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You have a powerful rage within you, and a heart that could not be destroyed by whatever shade you now face. And you go to strike, hoping that that rage will carry you forward, and this shade completely anticipates that rage.
Lou Wilson
Mm.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Your strength betrays you in this moment. As you lunge forward, the shadow grasps the sword, and begins to move up the hilt, towards where you are grasping it, and you are holding a piece of stage combat weaponry, facing something you cannot understand.
Aabria Iyengar
There's something in Suvi—she hasn't moven, but she's like, just tracking Emliss as she, it, has moved down across the ship. And something in Suvi is beginning to spin up. So let's do it again, another round of magic missile.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Eursulon, as the tendrils of shadow make their way towards your forearm, they retract suddenly, and vanish in an instant, scattering like tatters of fabric that disappear as they touch the ground as, once again, three motes of glassy light shatter against Emliss's body that skids back across the deck, and she drops.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The look on her face goes from that neutrally impassive expression, to a pained one, as blood begins to gush out of her midsection. She also falls into unconsciousness, the look on her face, one of pain and confusion. Ame, that is your turn again. You are once again getting the help action from the Fox.
Erika Ishii
Okay, come on. Ooh. That's a 9.
Lou Wilson
Gyuh!
Aabria Iyengar
Oop!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
That is a failure. One success, one failure.
Lou Wilson
Brennan, it's episode four!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Yeah. Yeah it's a fight.
Aabria Iyengar
Stop! Don't look at me! Don't look at me!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Whatcha think? You think these character sheets were for fun? No.
Aabria Iyengar
Yes! I did!
Lou Wilson
I thought it would be a fight, but it would be like a cool one where we're, like, kickin' ass, and takin' names!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Oh, I'm having a great time, I think this is very cool.
Aabria Iyengar
[Raucous laughter]
Erika Ishii
None of us are used to starting at level 1, Brennan! We always have to jump in there, it's like "You're on level 6," alright?
Lou Wilson
You're looking at me being like, do you have bonus actions? And I'm like, motherfucker. Where?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Hey, you could go invisible if you felt like you wanted to.
Lou Wilson
That'd be great. Wouldn't that be—agh!
Aabria Iyengar
I have been scouring the sheet like, "Is there more? Maybe I didn't write it all. No, I wrote it all. Okay."
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Eursulon, that is your turn.
Lou Wilson
Perception check for the shade, in the space.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Give me a perception check.
Lou Wilson
18.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You do not see the shade in the space. On that roll, Emliss is unconscious, but you do—you don't know what you were fighting. You don't know—on an 18, you do not know what you were fighting.
Lou Wilson
Right, well, Ame has been down for too long. So I'll close the distance to Ame.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Mhm.
Lou Wilson
And drop three points of my lay on hands into Ame. It's not even just like a hand. I think I pick up Ame—
[Aabria and Erika both go aww, touched]
Lou Wilson
—into my arms.
Erika Ishii
I slowly breathe again, an inhalation. [Breathe in] You can barely hear it, but you can feel it, and you can feel my heart start to beat again. I blink open my eyes, and I can see out, past your shoulder, into the night sky. But I can smell it, the pine and the rosemary, and that fur, that fur from the nights that we all used to cuddle up together.
Ame [Erika]
[Gasping] Thank you for saving me.
Eursulon [Lou]
Always.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The Fox looks up and says
The Fox [Brennan]
[Indignantly] Hey. I didn't like that.
Aabria Iyengar
[Crying] Ohh!
Ame [Erika]
Thanks for the help.
The Fox [Brennan]
So no more of THAT, okay?
Ame [Erika]
[Breathlessly] You're gonna get so many chickens.
The Fox [Brennan]
Okay! So far I don't like the boat!
Erika Ishii
[Cackling]
The Fox [Brennan]
Let's not do this again, okay?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And you see that a genuine—as sort of funny as the Fox is, you see a very genuine thing that he can't quite put together, the connection between this monster—he doesn't know if this happens on every boat, or what this situation is. It's a very genuine kind of—as worldly as a fox might be, there's sort of a naivete that he just doesn't like—he just really, genuinely didn't like it.
[Aabria and Erika aww]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And he looks up. The Fox looks up at you, Eursulon, and makes an expression with you, of genuine respect and adoration, that you were able to fix whatever this was.
Lou Wilson
Eursulon looks down, and I think kneels so that the Fox can climb into his arms along with Ame.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Fox kneels down and makes that kind of like, little animal eyes closed smile, you know, sort of like—
Erika Ishii
Oh!!
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And you see, he just sort of—he just sort of takes a little breath and goes
The Fox [Brennan]
Heh. Big Guy.
Aabria Iyengar
Aww!
Erika Ishii
[Squeals with delight]
Lou Wilson
Yes, Small Guy.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
He smiles. Suvi, that's your turn. Yeah.
Aabria Iyengar
I have a question.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Yeah.
Aabria Iyengar
Suvi is still—she's still spinning up, so I want to go back and investigate that moment where—I just want some insight around when Emliss, sort of got dropped, did she look surprised that any of the fight was happening, or surprised that she was taken out? I'm trying to figure out if this shade was a part of her or something possessing her.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
On the—so as you approach—you're spinning up and first of all, I think this is the first—is this the first non staged combat that Suvi's been a part of?
Aabria Iyengar
Yes.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
It all went exactly according to plan.
Aabria Iyengar
Yes.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And you step forward, you close the distance, sort of moving carefully, but at top speed across the deck. Your instincts, I'm going to say that your instincts are absolutely correct. Your passive investigation is 21. No roll there, but go ahead and give me an arcana roll to see if any extra information comes along with that.
Aabria Iyengar
No. 11.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You move forward. Your instincts are correct in that, you think you clocked that Emliss... Her look when the shadow left, to your instincts with magic, the impassivity, that immediately broke into pain and confusion, as she dropped. Impassivity is a pretty good marker of unwillingness. Of something riding her, right? Of something moving on her.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
As you move forward, you can't speak to the arcana itself, but I think possession is the first thing you jump to. And as you get to her body, she's sort of fallen on her side. I'm going to make a death saving throw for her now.
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
That's a failure for her, she's bleeding out, your magic missiles did what they were supposed to do, and it's clear that whatever that shadow was, didn't want to be touched by Imperial magic.
Lou Wilson
Mm!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
In other words, it got out of the way to let the thing—
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
—that was controlling take the hit. As you go to her, I will say, passive investigation of 21. The back of her neck, she has her hair tied up, but the way she hit the deck, the high collar of her captain's coat kind of went down, and you see the top of a sigil on the back of her neck and you don't know what it means in arcane, you see markings on it that seem to indicate that there is something about it that is arcane. But you do speak Rhuv—
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
—and the word means "chalice."
Erika Ishii
Oh.
Aabria Iyengar
Ugh.
Ame [Erika]
Put me down.
Aabria Iyengar
Well, before this happens, Suvi is like walking over and she pulls out a knife, because she knows her training and this is going exactly to plan. And we have been taught to not give quarter. So despite that, I think she clocks the possession angle, and is going to back off and then sees that marking. And is going to slit her throat.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Your first instinct is one to understand that this person was possessed. And then you see the rune. And you remember being told as a child, that possession is something that, in other places, like the enemies of the Empire, possession is something that a person can ELECT to undergo. And you see that word that means chalice. Chalice is a very special kind of vessel, one that would give a lot of status to someone who wanted to BECOME a chalice for something powerful. And the training kicks in. Ame as you ask to be put down, you look and see what has been done.
Erika Ishii
As it was happening, I was still staring out past Eursulon's shoulder, still cuddled up into him. And by the time that he lowers me down to her, so that I can see what can be done, I see that she's dead. And I don't know—I don't know when it happened. I didn't see. All I know is that my friend saved my life.
Ame [Erika]
Thank you. I'm so sorry. I wasn't ready. I don't think I'm ready for any of this.
Suvi [Aabria]
It's fine.
Ame [Erika]
Are you okay?
Suvi [Aabria]
[Coldly] I'm fine.
Aabria Iyengar
And she just backs—she sees your outstretched hand, she just takes a half step back.
Suvi [Aabria]
I'm fine.
Erika Ishii
I mean, I have a passive insight of 21.
Ame [Erika]
You're not all right.
Suvi [Aabria]
Don't tell me how I am. I sustained no damage and I took care of the threat. I'm fine. Are you okay?
Ame [Erika]
Yes, I sustained damage and there is no more threat now, but I am not okay in here.
Erika Ishii
And I gesture at my heart and my head.
Ame [Erika]
And those are just as important. And if you need help with those, that's what I'm good at taking care of.
Aabria Iyengar
Suvi smiles, but it is a little condescending.
Eursulon [Lou]
I do have internal damage, I believe.
[Everyone laughs]
Lou Wilson
And I point to the place where the shade thought my heart was, and I say
Eursulon [Lou]
If we are talking about injuries inside, I have one here.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Yes, you have strength damage.
Erika Ishii
[Laughing] Oh I also have a terrible strength right now!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Terrible strength right now. You both feel very weak, and hear a sudden gasp as one of the crew members comes up to see you all standing over the dead body of the captain. And we'll take a little break right there.
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah!!
Erika Ishii
Yeah!! Holy cow.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Woo!
[Everyone fades out]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Ame and Eursulon, you stand, probably again about 30ft away from Suvi, over the body of the Captain, looking down at Suvi holding a bright Imperial knife, stained with blood. You stare down at the body of this captain. You see Suvi standing over the body of this woman that you were about to go heal. And I think you see that rune on the back of her neck as well. And I know that you don't know what it means—Suvi was able to translate it.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You become aware that that shadow left, and it left this captain here to die. And I think you become aware in that moment that, your instinct to heal this captain was not wrong, but that if this captain had been healed, that that shadow would have come roaring back.
Ame [Erika]
[Sighs] She did what she had to do.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And all of you hear a sudden clatter, of a tool being dropped to the ground as emerging from below decks. A member of the crew gasps, looking at the strange passengers of the ship, standing over the dead body of the captain. The crewmate—
Erika Ishii
Please don't be alarm—
Crewmate [Brennan]
[Calling out] HELP!
Ame [Erika]
No—
Crewmate [Brennan]
Help!!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
What do you all do?
Lou Wilson
I'll step up.
Aabria Iyengar
[Laughs]
Lou Wilson
I think Eursulon is going to close, drop on all fours, moving quickly, and then standing in front of him at full height and go.
Eursulon [Lou]
Indeed, summon the crew.
Aabria Iyengar
[Cackles]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You see that quickly the skeleton crew, only about six sailors, comes with weapons drawn, but seeing a wizard and you in your true form, the crew faces you on the deck. Some of them weep, others look and say,
Crewmate [Brennan]
Please, please, please. Please. Just keep us—keep us alive. Don't kill us.
Aabria Iyengar
I want to ask In Rhuvian,
Suvi [Aabria]
How many of you are from Rhuv?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Give me—anyone who wants to, give me an insight check?
Aabria Iyengar
Hell yeah.
Lou Wilson
Hell yeah.
Aabria Iyengar
And she's still standing over the body, hasn't wiped off the knife yet. Just as like the little look to the side.
Lou Wilson
Big 17.
Erika Ishii
11.
Aabria Iyengar
11.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
As you ask in Rhuv, your question, you see four of them look at you kind of confused, and another two look—one of the two that sort of squints their eyes and looks at you. You see one goes in Rhuvian
Brennan Lee Mulligan
[Haltingly] From Rhuv? Citadel?
Suvi [Aabria]
[Grimly amused grunt]
Aabria Iyengar
Suvi just takes a knee, and just wipes the knife off.
Erika Ishii
Ame limps up to face the crew.
Ame [Erika]
I'm sorry, we mean you no harm. The Captain attacked me, and my friends had to save me. She was possessed by something evil.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
What is your current strength, by the way?
Erika Ishii
Eight.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You went from twelve to eight.
Lou Wilson
Oof!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The limping is very—you have lost a lot of your body's strength. It also looks like—you got a 17 on your insight?
Lou Wilson
I got a 17.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
I think you look at the fact that Ame was the one that was cornered, and you also can feel that, whatever this thing was literally attacked like, the musculature. It would kill frail people faster than it would kill someone strong and large. And I think the fact that this came after a Witch, you put a connection there, you're like, this is a pretty good tool for killing a witch. You wouldn't want to attack a witch's spirit. But attacking a witch's body is something that would make sense to try to do.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Looking at the crew members here, you see they look and see you covered in bruises, stumbling, and there's still a chill on the air, right? There's still this feeling—and even you are like, standing—you're badly injured as well. I think probably at this point, with all the bruising in your body, each of you are probably having to cough up some blood that has just sort of like emerged up out of your body, based on that horrifying, necrotic energy.
Erika Ishii
Ame raises a hand and says
Ame [Erika]
I apologize. She was not herself when she died.
Suvi [Aabria]
[Coldy] She made her choice.
Aabria Iyengar
And I'm going to kick her body over—
Ame [Erika]
[Aghast] Suvi!
Aabria Iyengar
—so that the rune is visible.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The sailors look and see a tattoo there. I will ask, in this moment, for some kind of check, probably from one of you, and not all three of you. After you kick that body over, you can give me an intimidation check, you can give me a persuasion check, but something addressing the crew in this moment.
Erika Ishii
Use persuasion.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Okay.
Erika Ishii
21.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
They turn, see that rune on the back of the captain's neck. Akham, nominally, is under the influence of the Empire, and there's a Citadel Wizard who's standing here, and injured companions. What does Ame say to the crew in this moment?
Erika Ishii
[Gasping with pain] I'm sorry. Your captain was not herself. She was possessed by greater powers [pained grunt] that would have destroyed us all, if given the chance. But I wish you to remember her, as she was with all of you, a capable leader, perhaps a little harried and overworked, but kind. I shall perform the funeral rites. We will continue on our way.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
As Ame is talking, Ame is speaking very persuasively, and just her tone is very soothing to the crew. You see, as Ame is talking about like, a capable and kind leader, the crew are all looking at each other. They're horrified that you guys are murderers, but nobody had a relationship to this captain as a kind—
[Everyone laughs]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You know, Ame is just kind of off on a limb, being like, "your kind and capable leader." And all of them are like, literally all of them are like—I don't know if you remember meeting them on the dock, where they were completely understaffed—dangerously so—in probably an attempt to save money. And all of them—[Laughs] These people are living a hard life, and the things they're hearing don't map to their reality, but they're also looking at magical people who just killed somebody. So they just sort of get persuaded by Ame, in the gestalt space of like, "Sure, you seem nice!"
Erika Ishii
Yeah. And to be honest with you, I don't REALLY think that, but it's like when you talk to a horse, you say nice, soothing things, and maybe they don't quite understand it, but they're like, okay, well, there's a big stick in your hand so, you know.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Everybody was beloved at the funeral, right?
Erika Ishii
Yes. Yes, yes. We must not speak ill of the dead.
Aabria Iyengar
If you cross over to go interact with the captain, Suvi will block you.
Suvi [Aabria]
[Conspiratorially] What are you doing?
Ame [Erika]
I am laying the body to rest.
Suvi [Aabria]
There's no honor for a Chalice.
Ame [Erika]
It's not even about honor, Suvi. It's about making sure that the body doesn't come back as something else.
Suvi [Aabria]
[Grimly] I can solve for that.
Aabria Iyengar
And I want to start to pick it up, with the intention to throw it overboard.
Ame [Erika]
[Grunts in frustration]
Erika Ishii
I am at 8—at 8 strength points. I have zero power to stop this. I kind of tug at the hem of your cloak, from where I'm somewhat stooped.
Ame [Erika]
Suvi just—she was a human. She was a human being. Come on.
Suvi [Aabria]
She made a choice. We all make choices. And she almost killed you. Why are you doing this? Is it for them?
Aabria Iyengar
And I gesture with the cleaned knife, towards the crew.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You see that the person in the direct line of the knife hits the deck.
[Aabria and Erika burst out laughing]
Lou Wilson
I walk, and I kind of use my body to block their moment, just
Eursulon [Lou]
Which one of you is next in the chain of command?
Lou Wilson
And I'm just going to have—
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah.
Erika Ishii
[Laughs]
Lou Wilson
—that conversation to hopefully—so that they have a focus that's not us doing our thing.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
There's an older woman on the crew who looks and says
Older Woman [Brennan]
Right, well I was delegated to—but the Captain said, on a crew this small, there was no need for a first mate, so, but—
Eursulon [Lou]
Well, then it will be you. You will make sure that we arrive in Port Talon, and then amongst yourselves, you might decide where you will go next and who will be in charge.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
They all look at each other. You see that the older woman looks at you, and says
Older Woman [Brennan]
Well, sir, I—you can call me Madge.
Lou Wilson
Madge? Captain Madge.
Captain Madge [Brennan]
Ope!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
She looks around at everybody, and goes
Captain Madge [Brennan]
I don't want to bother Her Excellency, the mighty wizard, but if you saw a fit to—given that there is no paperwork, and that upon your absence from the ship, by any casual observer we will all be essentially pirates—
[Aabria and Erika laugh]
Captain Madge [Brennan]
—if we could get a seal, or a wax thing, or a signature from a Wizard of the Citadel.
Lou Wilson
Captain Madge, if you are able to get us into Port Talon, I will have words with my friend.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And you see that she rushes, and looks at everybody and says
Captain Madge [Brennan]
[Whispering excitedly] We don't have to—we can pull a kid—we can hire extra help! We don't have to—
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And you see that they all go down and sort of rush below decks, like
Captain Madge [Brennan]
Alright, keep her aiming for Port Talon!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And Madge sort of salutes you and says,
Captain Madge [Brennan]
You're a good man. Thank you. Man—or uh [uncertain mumbling]
[Aabria and Erika roar with laughter]
Eursulon [Lou]
The sentiment is understood.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And she walks off.
Lou Wilson
And I'll come join wherever this is at.
Suvi [Aabria]
Was it for them?
Erika Ishii
As the conversation continues.
Ame [Erika]
[Grunting with pain throughout] No Suvi. It's not for them, and it is not for the Captain, because the dead truly, most of the time, do not care. It's for me, okay? I've never been party to someone's death like this before, and you seem to be outwardly fine, but, you know, a lot of times, people want some sort of finality to a traumatic event like this. Funerals are never for the dead. They're for those who are left behind.
Suvi [Aabria]
If this is what you need to do, then fine. But please, I ask you as a friend, do not presume to know how I feel, and NEVER contradict me in front of strangers.
Aabria Iyengar
And I'll move out of her way.
Ame [Erika]
[Crying quietly] Suvi...
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You are left with the body of the captain. What does Ame say? In this moment?
Erika Ishii
I clap my hands twice, and I lay them on the captain's body, which I painstakingly [grunts] roll back over, and move the hands into a gentle pose.
Ame [Erika]
[Struggling to speak] May your spirit be at rest wherever it lies. And as I commit your body back to the earth, may you find rest.
Erika Ishii
And [Fwoosh] it lights up and combusts, leaving behind a small pile of ashes on the deck.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
For a moment, with bright witchfire, that departs into the air with sparks and smoke, carrying whatever soul was here, to the beyond, and leaves the deck of the ship unharmed. Ash remains. In the final moments that her body is here, it can be said, at least, that Captain Emliss knew no shadow on her form.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The Fox looks at the ash, looks up at you, and you see your familiar, for the first time, be left without words. As he just gazes wide eyed, understanding that something bigger than he can comprehend is happening here.
Erika Ishii
[Crying] I open up my arms to him, and ask with my eyes. Hug?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
He jumps up into your arms.
Aabria Iyengar
[Crying] Ohh!
Erika Ishii
I hold him.
Ame [Erika]
Sorry I was kind of a butthole to you.
The Fox [Brennan]
No, you weren't a butthole. There's—you were—you were a good, better hole. I don't know.
[Aabria and Erika are stifling laughter]
The Fox [Brennan]
Mouth? Mouth probably?
Lou Wilson
I think this is when Eursulon walks over, just—
[Aabria and Erika burst out laughing]
Lou Wilson
—hard left to Suvi.
[Everyone laughs]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You see, you take a hard left over to Suvi.
Lou Wilson
I'm going to skip the hole talk.
[Everyone laughing]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Fox just like snuggles into your shoulder, and goes to sleep.
Erika Ishii
Kind of laugh/cry.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Eursulon you join Suvi.
Eursulon [Lou]
I'm not sure why we were training with swords at all. You seem to have become quite capable, magically.
Suvi [Aabria]
Sometimes you run out of magic.
Eursulon [Lou]
Mm.
Suvi [Aabria]
Are you okay? That was—you were incredible.
Lou Wilson
Eursulon—how is Eursulon feeling at this point? Does it feel like what's going on—does there feel like a permanence to the strength damage or what has occurred? Or does it feel like it's even in the, you know, X amount of minutes since—
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Give me perception or insight.
Aabria Iyengar
Can I give him advantage somehow, by also kind of give him a help?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Yeah, give him the help action! Yeah, for sure.
Lou Wilson
That's a nasty 19.
Aabria Iyengar
[Laughs]
Erika Ishii
Ooh!
Lou Wilson
We'll take a 21. I'll do insight.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You think that the weakness filling your body, the feeling of cold, and of muscles that wish to prematurely decay, that there was some part of you that was like, decomposing—not in the way of the sort of wonderful rot of the forest, that replenishes as it decays—but decomposing, almost like you compose a musical score, that you were being broken apart into different—you were decomposing, as in being made less than the sum of your parts.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Being taken—being disassembled by something that wants to see that happen to the world. And you feel though, that that was a process that was begun, but wouldn't be permanent until it was completed. That perhaps time and rest and healing will take its natural course.
Lou Wilson
I look over to Suvi, who I think is also like looking over the wounds.
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah.
Lou Wilson
I think I will communicate to Suvi, as much of what you told me with regard to the nature of the decomposition, but not in a—but in a reverse composition sort of way.
Aabria Iyengar
Mm.
Lou Wilson
Ending on something of like
Eursulon [Lou]
But I believe I will be alright, with time. But does the nature of that magic... Is that something you are familiar with?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You rolled low on your arcana check so, no.
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
I think that it fits—all of it fits your assumptions about the magic of the Dominion. But none of it you can name.
Suvi [Aabria]
There's—no, I'm sorry. I don't know enough about this to help. But if you feel okay, then. God—and she gave a funeral to someone that tried to kill you. No!
Lou Wilson
Eursulon is not a negotiator or someone who can—who like, feels in this moment like he can explain away either side.
Aabria Iyengar
Mhm.
Lou Wilson
But I think just puts a hand on your shoulder, and stands with you.
Suvi [Aabria]
I... I'm sorry she hurt you.
Eursulon [Lou]
I will be fine. I'm glad you were there to protect me. I hope I can return the favor someday.
Suvi [Aabria]
Have you ever killed someone?
[Long pause]
Eursulon [Lou]
I have been attacked, and responded ferociously. But... I have hurt people, THAT I know. And it is never easy.
Aabria Iyengar
I think, when you say THAT, Suvi gets quiet and withdrawn.
Suvi [Aabria]
Hm. Okay.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The crew goes to work. And with the coming of the next morning—and it's truly pre-dawn—as you begin to pull into Port Talon. Early gray light, the cloud cover has remained, through this passage through the northern parts of Akham, up here on the northernmost coast.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
It is gray and rocky, the sea is always capped with some white foam, as it gets close to the shore, with a slate, blue/gray color to the ocean here. Port Talon has none of the sort of southern fanfare of Joras. Port Talon began fundamentally as a military outpost of the Empire, as an industrial place, as a place for things that were bound from Gaothmai to Khemsaraza, or in the return, or from the Dominion elsewhere.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The curve of the point, upon which the port is built, there is an outcropping of rock that comes from the shoreline, and goes down to meet the sea, that curves to a massive point that gives the port its name, like a massive, curving talon going into the sea.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
As you approach, the pre-dawn light, just a little sliver of lighter gray along the east, still sort of seeing the city in night, although now some lanterns have been lit, for those that must begin their morning work, before the sun can rise. You see a large and imposing city. Perhaps larger in terms of population than even Joras was, but dominated by buildings of trade, and war, and you see sea walls, and watchtowers. You see large civic buildings.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
At the very end of the point, that comes out to this single jagged promontory, that the sea smashes into ceaselessly, large waves go up. You see an ancient, large, white painted, stone lighthouse. And the huge beacon casts its light in circles across the sea.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And as you head into the bay, you see that the inner curve of the talon supports this deep, deep, navy blue, calmer bay, where the large ships can come and harbor. There's some—one or two lone gull calls, but it's not a busy time of day yet. You also hear the sort of little crying shriek, of maybe an osprey, or some kind of sea eagle up here a little bit colder than it was in Joras.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The lighthouse moves, and as it moves, all you sailing through see, much farther out, the light reflect off a structure farther out to sea. Not all the way at the horizon, but maybe something like halfway, you see it. Many rolling sets of waves, kind of—many rolling sets of waves, obscuring a point of light, some thing out on the sea, maybe a tall Imperial ship.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
But you see actually it has to be much larger. Gleaming green and purple light, fixed in a moment of reflection every time the lighthouse passes across it. Something that maybe you wouldn't have ever seen before, or even know the word for, but something like a derrick, a structure, some rig out on the sea, that stands there, with a little shimmer of alchemical light.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And in the harbor, you see Imperial ships. You see several things on your approach to Port Talon. Imperial ships. You see the flags of the Azure Battalion, which are soldiers of the Imperium itself. The Azure Battalion, you know, fight with the weapons given to them by artificers, and are not considered wizards, but know JUST enough spellcraft to have made it into the Azure Battalion.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
They basically have no spells of their own, but can wield the engines of spellcraft produced by wizards. For anyone that wants to know the mechanics at home, they are fighters that have taken the magic initiate feat.
Aabria Iyengar
YEAH! Cool! Sorry, that's cool.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
So they can rock wands, and other things that can sort of create spell effects, but are really the very front line of magical defense of the Empire. Ships of the Azure Battalion are here. You see their flag flying over what is clearly like, a governor's manor. This is the reason that when people say, "Oh, Akham is in the Empire," or nominally in the Empire, this is what they mean.
Aabria Iyengar
Mm.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
They're referring to this here, right? So there's a governor of the Port. You also see a Wizard's Spire here, but I think you would immediately clock that flying over that is a symbol of the Imperium, rather than the Citadel. These are like, Wizards of the Crown.
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah. Okay, copy.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And then you see the city rise in height, away from the sea, away from the point that goes back up. And so the base of the talon of Port Talon, rises up into large buildings, in big residential neighborhoods.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You see this is where the city goes from being large, square, Brutalist civic buildings, and warehouses, and sort of the engines of trade and war, up into the older city, almost like before the Empire got here, of zigzag cobblestones, and six and seven and nine point intersections, and stacked buildings all up on top of each other, and a big wall, to wall off the part facing inland.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And you see lots of smoke, up from the other side of the wall, as though many fires are being burned here. And as you look and see, you can see a little bit of glow of fire, because towards the west it is still the dark of night. But you don't hear the noises of chaos.
Lou Wilson
Can we smell the smoke?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Give me a perception check and actually, you do so with advantage.
Lou Wilson
Aw, thanks, Brennan. That'll be 17.
Erika Ishii
And I got a 21 passive, I think I definitely smell it.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Eursulon you get a—you smell it as well. You know exactly what it is, this is a piece of witchcraft.
Erika Ishii
What!?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
It's salt fire. It's fire that has been laced with salt, to abjuratively burn, to burn with the context of dispelling, or eroding something of—it's not protective abjurative magic, it's dispelling abjurative magic.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Eursulon. This smells bad. Smells REALLY bad. There's a noxious—I think Port Talon—you immediately get a queasy feeling in your stomach about Port Talon. This was not happening the last time you were here.
Ame [Erika]
[Sniffs] Oh! Why are there witchfires burning?
Suvi [Aabria]
There's—sorry, what?
Aabria Iyengar
Suvi was staring out at the Imperial ship.
Ame [Erika]
There's—the smoke over there, you see?
Erika Ishii
I point out.
Suvi [Aabria]
Oh!
Ame [Erika]
It's salt fires.
Suvi [Aabria]
Wha—?
Ame [Erika]
Is there some need to dispel magic here, Eursulon?
Eursulon [Lou]
Not that I would know of. In my time here, this smell was not upon the wind.
Ame [Erika]
Oh, it's awful. I've never smelled so much of that before.
Eursulon [Lou]
Yes, it is quite noxious.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
I think Suvi, you just smell smoke.
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah, Suvi is definitely doing the like. "Yeah, we all smell how bad it smells!"
Eursulon [Lou]
For what reasons do your people use this sort of salt?
Suvi [Aabria]
My people don't use this.
Eursulon [Lou]
Mmm.
Ame [Erika]
Would I know why there would be such a burning en masse?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Give me a history check.
Erika Ishii
Eugh.
Aabria Iyengar
[Cackles]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Or if you want different information, you can use survival.
Erika Ishii
Yeah, yeah!
Aabria Iyengar
That's fucked up, use history. Come be a fucking nerd with me!
Erika Ishii
That's 11.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
There has never been an occasion to burn this much salt fire. This would be like—I'm trying to think of what it is. You know what the recipe is, because you know how to use salt fire. You would use salt fire in a situation, to burn like a curse out of a garden. It's like, oh look, a little cursed plant got into the garden, let's—yeah, we're going to start a salt fire, it'll burn it out, and then we won't be able to plant here for a couple of summers, and then it will be fine, right?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
But there is a—so this is like, yeah, you might know how to make baked ziti, you're looking at like a FIELD of ziti. You know. It's like—
Erika Ishii
[Cackling] There's a field of ziti!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Ziti!
Lou Wilson
Why on earth would—ziti belongs in a casserole dish! Yet, here you have it scattered upon the field, willy nilly!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Willy nilly! It's too much. It's too much.
Suvi [Aabria]
We need to find out what's going on.
Erika Ishii
Are we in the harbor yet?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The crew pulls into the harbor.
Erika Ishii
Are we there yet? Are we there yet?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Crew pulls into the harbor. Captain Madge comes up and says
Captain Madge [Brennan]
Sorry to intrude.
Eursulon [Lou]
Yes. Suvi.
Suvi [Aabria]
Mm.
Eursulon [Lou]
Is there any chance you might be able to—what is it you need? A writ?
Captain Madge [Brennan]
Right. Well there's just—if I am to be the captain of the ship, then there might be a need for—if we just take the ship, and then later someone says, where's Captain Emliss? And I say, "Well, you're never going to believe what happened."
Suvi [Aabria]
Understood.
Aabria Iyengar
And Suvi will go and pull like, a sheaf of very official paper and write—
Erika Ishii
Got a Citadel letterhead on it.
Aabria Iyengar
100% a Citadel letterhead, it's got a big tower in the corner.
Eursulon [Lou]
How do you spell "Madge?"
Captain Madge [Brennan]
Oh, sorry. It'd be Margaret. Margaret.
Suvi [Aabria]
Margaret, do you have a last name, Margaret?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Oh, y—Cullen.
Suvi [Aabria]
Cullen.
Aabria Iyengar
And I go ahead and write out, like a big flourishy writ, and seal it with like a little personal seal that I have, of the leadership of the Citadel, in as much authority as I can confer.
Lou Wilson
[Laughs]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Yeah, you know, it's a stretch, but it's—
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah! Sure, why not?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
It's the best shot she's got, and also with the kind of missions they're probably gonna be running, it WILL be enough.
Aabria Iyengar
Exactly!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
A wizard did it.
Erika Ishii
[Laughs] A wizard did it!
Aabria Iyengar
Wizard did it! And I will say as she hands it off, Suvi kind of remembers something, and goes and unpins like, a little silver brooch, that's like clasping her coat shut, and flips it upside down, and it looked ALMOST symmetrical. But now that she knows she's going to be around other Imperial people, she is outwardly signifying that she has spilt blood, in defense of the Empire.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Mm.
Erika Ishii
Do you have any sort of outward reaction to this adjustment?
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah, I think she's got a very smug smile going. And she hands off the writ, and turns it around, and just got a little bit of like a kind of shit-eating grin, like big man on campus, like athlete energy.
Erika Ishii
I don't know exactly what the brooch signifies, but this doesn't feel right.
Lou Wilson
Eursulon likes it.
[Aabria and Erika laugh]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Ame you look—yeah, you look at your friend, and that troubled feeling comes over you.
Lou Wilson
Just checking. Are we feeling better?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The strength has returned, you've had a long rest, your hit points have returned. You are healed. I think you still bear some of the bruising, that's going to be there for a little while, from the attack. But most of it happened in your midsection. You didn't get any on your face or neck. It would have been way more damaging if it happened. Imagine that hitting your head.
Eursulon [Lou]
Mhm.
Erika Ishii
I still look a little like a peach, but fortunately—
[Aabria and Brennan laugh]
Erika Ishii
—it's mostly just on the legs, because my arms and torso are all covered.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Yes. So you are at full hit points, with your spells back, yes. You walk off the gangplank into Port Talon. The early morning comes, and as it does so, the lights on that structure out at sea, visible from the port—the sun comes up and those lights go out. And now it becomes impossible to see the structure anymore, because it's just of how—within the port and lower than being on the high ship—sort of just the waves kind of obfuscate that structure out there.
Aabria Iyengar
Have I studied or, like, heard anything about what's going on out there? Is this new or like some recognizable—
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Give me an arcana check!
Aabria Iyengar
Please dice. No, no, 14, no.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The lights look like, you know, wizard lights, they look like alchemical—
Aabria Iyengar
[Laughing]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
—it's like purple! Green! Good colors!
Erika Ishii
[Cackling]
Aabria Iyengar
[Laughing] I'm a good wizard.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
I think you would clock that as—the brightness of those sea lights, sort of keeping people abreast of that structure, so they don't fuckin' sail into it or whatever. You would just be like, okay, that's Imperial in nature, because it's here, in sight, and the Empire is here. But I think you're just like—you're like, not a lot of these folksy people in Akham making, big ol' purple and green lights out in the ocean, and that's about the extent. So that's the puzzle you're able to put together
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah! Mm yeah, wizard lights. Good.
Eursulon [Lou]
I can take us to the place where I last interacted with Finley.
Suvi [Aabria]
Okay. Are you worried about the fires?
Eursulon [Lou]
We came here with a quest.
Suvi [Aabria]
Mhm. Heh.
Eursulon [Lou]
I'm not sure what the fires have to do with us.
Ame [Erika]
What were the circumstances of you having to forfeit such a beautiful, clearly magical item to some hedge wizard?
Suvi [Aabria]
Oh, no no no. Ha ha. Mage. Mage. Mage.
Ame [Erika]
Excuse me. Hedge mage.
Suvi [Aabria]
Thanks.
Lou Wilson
I think Eursulon is going to turn so he doesn't have to look at you, and begin walking, but at a pace that's not like "I wanna run away!" It's like, I just don't want to sit and watch the expression on your face as I tell you the story.
Erika Ishii
And of course, I have told you on our journey so far that you are free to never answer any question that I ask you.
Lou Wilson
I don't think there's anything—there's nothing dismissive about the moment in which—it's just that there's too much shame for him to he's going to answer you, and I don't think you get the sense that he is wanting to not answer, but he just doesn't want to sit and be like, "well, here are some bad decisions I made!"
Erika Ishii
This is more about context of who you're going to meet rather than an explanation for your actions.
Lou Wilson
Of course.
Eursulon [Lou]
Finley was someone who happened upon me, after I had been living—Finley is someone who came upon me, I believe having figured out my taboo, and my inability to sleep in a bed, and accosted me. Suggesting that he would reveal my true nature to those, and having had experiences as I described to you before with the other hedge—the other OTHER hedge mage from before, who attempted to attack or capture me, I offered him the sword in exchange for his silence.
Ame [Erika]
Oh, this wasn't a bad decision that you made, this was someone blackmailing you.
Eursulon [Lou]
Yes.
Suvi [Aabria]
That's a bad decision HE made.
Eursulon [Lou]
Yes. Well, now that my true friends stand with me, it would seem so.
Suvi [Aabria]
[Chuckles] Okay.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You walk through the streets of Port Talon, away from the lighthouse and the various civic buildings down here, up towards that old neighborhood, where the buildings seem crowded, and top heavy, with chimneys and slate gray roofs. Their sort of upper levels sometimes jutting out over their lower levels. And walking through the alleyways, and little side streets, you arrive at a large, thick, wooden door, square panels in it.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The door has glossy black paint all over it, that is partially chipped to reveal kind of the rotting gray brown underneath. A slight drizzle has started, sort of [hiss of raindrops] little bit of rain, and EARLY early in the morning, as you arrive here with the drizzle, it's... There's a chill in the air around here. You see a couple people out on the streets, but their hoods are up against the rain.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And thankfully, as the rain starts, it begins to knock some of those noxious fumes out of the air. But now, up in Greyhill—this neighborhood up near the wall—you see the imposingness of the wall. Give me—anyone that wants to, give me an arcana check.
Aabria Iyengar
[Whispered] Yes! Please dice, please!
Erika Ishii
Eugh.
Aabria Iyengar
Okay. Dirty 20!
Erika Ishii
9.
Aabria Iyengar
We're back, baby!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The wall is conjured. It's a conjured wall. Probably would have taken a couple of weeks of consistent casting, but whatever the wall was, you don't recognize from the last time you were here. Maybe it's built on an older wall, back when this was like, some Lord's castle hundreds of years ago.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
But this new, fresh, powerful stone wall got built here, the towers—this was wizards shaping stone, probably over, like a two or three week period to create something that, kind of dwarfs the buildings around it. It's a little bit imposing, and with the smoke coming up from the other side of it, it has kind of—creates a stone curtain enclosing this neighborhood that you're in. The tallest building here is probably like, three stories to maybe four stories? And the wall is about, like, eight stories tall.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
So it's quite a bit taller than the buildings and seems almost like—it doesn't seem artificial. The wizards had the skill and craft, to create buttresses, and towers, and stairs, and things within it, but you just look at it and you're, like, a little bit too crisp, a little bit too clean. That's spellwork.
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah.
Erika Ishii
As we were passing through the streets, I imagine, as there's the light drizzle, and the sporadic townsfolk, I wouldn't have seen anybody that I felt would have knowledge, or authority enough, to explain the salt fires, or the weird, cool lights out in the bay, at all?
Aabria Iyengar
I can explain the lights. Those are beautiful wizard lights.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
[Laughs]
Erika Ishii
Ohh!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
I think Ame, passing through the streets, looking for someone. Give me an insight check.
Erika Ishii
24.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
I think, you are—you have a deep and open heart, and are looking for someone you can trust. And walking through this city, you are struck with the feeling, of being near animals that are ready to bite you.
Erika Ishii
Oh!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You've rescued animals from traps before, and you are a very sweet witch, even as a very sweet witch, there are animals that you can't just go up and touch. And that's the vibe you get from people, that aren't acting aggressively or hostile, you just get the sense from them as their hoods are up against the rain, that you don't see a lot of warm faces in Port Talon
Erika Ishii
I am unfamiliar with this kind of vibe. I grew up in a small town, where everyone knew one another, and was in each other's business, and that always had a kind smile for a stranger, if nothing else. And even traveling through the rest of Akham on our way here, the towns were small enough where you can't be too much of a jerk, or you'll get cast out. So this feels bad.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You realize these people don't need to be in community with each other to survive here. And I think as completely unfamiliar as you feel in this place, some part of you must also recognize that, what did that mean for Eursulon when he was here by himself?
Aabria Iyengar
[Quietly] Aww!
Erika Ishii
[Deep sigh]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You arrive at the black door, the paint chipped, huge stone archway—or sorry—huge, flat granite slab of keystone, over the door, a sturdy building built of many different stones, mortared together. There is no sign here.
Lou Wilson
Eursulon is feeling just a little hot. And I think the walk, the whole time, the support from Ame, with regard to the mistakes he made. I think is just kind of like, "Yeah! I want this motherfucker to see me now! With my fucking friends!"
[Aabria and Erika cackle]
Eursulon [Lou]
[Powerfully] This is the door.
Lou Wilson
Bang, bang, bang.
Aabria Iyengar
I'm going to cast Mage armor on myself real quick.
Lou Wilson
There is, like a weird aggressiveness—
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah! I love it!
Lou Wilson
No weapons out, but there's a weird—it's just peacocking. It's just—
Aabria Iyengar
We love it.
Lou Wilson
—feeling great.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Banging on the door. You hear a clatter of metal. And then silence.
Eursulon [Lou]
[Yelling] Finley. Hedge mage Finley.
[A long pause, broken by Aabria laughing]
Eursulon [Lou]
F-Finley!
Lou Wilson
Bang.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You hear a shattering of glass, small.
Lou Wilson
And I think it's honestly a weird, like, switch of, going from a fist at a right angle pounding on the door, to a fist punching the door.
Erika Ishii
[Cackling]
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah!
Eursulon [Lou]
FINLEY!
Lou Wilson
[Pounding noises] GUH! GUH! GUH!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Go ahead and give me an athletics check.
Lou Wilson
Okay. It's a 9.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You punch the door. And punching it—very, very thick door, your fist hits into it, makes a big noise. Then there's just more silence, this is not going the way you thought it would go!
Ame [Erika]
Do—do you want some—ahem. [Sternly] Open.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
We get our campaign's version of the Gandalf at Moria scene.
Aabria Iyengar
[Laughing]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You say open. You can feel the rain kind of soaking into your cloaks a little bit.
Lou Wilson
I think Eursulon, even though it's not working, Eursulon has that kind of group fun energy of like, a bunch of kids trying to hit like, a window with a rock. We haven't hit it yet, but one of us has to!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
As you begin to sort of magically command the door to open, Suvi. Give me an investigation check?
Aabria Iyengar
[Laughing] Yeah! Ooh! There we go. That's your girl back, 23.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You see there's a doorknob on the door.
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah, I'm going to let this happen for a little while longer and then when I can feel magic coming off of the witch, like
Suvi [Aabria]
We're going to do—I'm just gonna—I'm just gonna—
Aabria Iyengar
And I try to, very subtly, just go touch the doorknob.
Ame [Erika]
[Protesting] You shouldn't—we can't—oh wait, no, we don't like this guy. Yeah, go on in.
Aabria Iyengar
[Laughs]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
[Laughing] So you see the issue, which is that the door opens outward.
Aabria Iyengar
Oh, yep! Oh, god.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And it's set in a stone doorway, so it can't get knocked off its hinges this way. You reach in, open the door outward. As you do so, the door swings. There are four short stone steps down, little archway, almost like the kind of little downward things into like a cathedral, like this got built lower into place.
Aabria Iyengar
Mm!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And you realize looking at this big stone building, that maybe this did used to be some kind of castle, or sacred space, or something like that a long time ago, and now, who knows. Maybe many dynasties have come and gone since whatever this building was originally built as, and now, the smell of partially molded fabric and moths, old metal things, damp stone, and all kinds of bric-a-brac, waft out of these four short stone steps, into a chamber.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Filled, like some strange combination of someone taking a midden heap, a refuse pile, of odds and ends. Something like a rotting museum, that was set upon by scavengers and turned into a pawn shop. You see that there is no light within this place to illuminate it, other than high set windows on the lowered floor of this chamber, that just the gray rainy drizzle light is coming through.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
So all you see is SOME tops of shapes, like oh, a number of rusty halberds sitting in an old umbrella stand, surrounded by some half stripped suits of armor. You see that, as much as this appears to be a place that people can come and observe wares, there's also an obvious workbench, where it looks like, You see a piece of Imperial wizard craft.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
There is some sort of spell engine, for something that is sort of supposed to be like, a faithful abjurative engine, has clearly been picked apart and they're looking for the parts of it that are valuable to strip. And up against the walls, you see tapestries, that have had the spellthreads, the things that actually make them magical, partially ripped out. So now they're just disenchanted tapestries that have kind of been stripped and chopped for the magical components within them.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You see a skull up on the wall of some kind of sea beast, that has many fangs, some old, almost like pre-Cambrian thing, that just rests there and looks old and rotten, and—from some animal you cannot fathom but is so large that would almost have to be aquatic.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
In the center of the floor, wearing a patchwork robe like some sort of quilt of stories, with little emblems, and embroidered birds, and bits of leaves, and then a solid gold, or bright ruby patch of fabric, and a wizard's hat, but made of quilt material, so it looks soft, and almost squishy to the touch, is a bearded figure, his mouth open in a rictus of horror.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
His throat messily slashed, exposing the blood and gore, of a ruined throat. His beard, salt and pepper in life, now soaked red with gobs of blood. His yellow jaundiced eyes, in some expression of last pain and anguish, looking up... Is the man that Eursulon recognizes as Finley.
Lou Wilson
[Yelling, aggressively] Finley!
[Everyone laughs]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
An old bearded man—
Eursulon [Lou]
[Angrily] Get up!
[Aabria and Erika are dying of laughter]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
In the corner of the room, twisting on a last piece of wood, the shattered glass of a broken window. The glass falls, indicating perhaps some route of escape.
Eursulon [Lou]
Finley!
[A waltz of strings, bowed and pluck underscore the credits]
Taylor Moore
That was Lou Wilson as Eursulon, Erika Ishii as Ame, Aabria Iyengar as Suvi, and Brennan Lee Mulligan as Everyone and Everything Else. Worlds Beyond Number is edited, designed, and scored by Taylor Moore at Fortunate Horse, with additional sound design by Michael Ghelfi Studios. For even more like this, join us on our Patreon. We'll see you there.
[Waltz fades out]