The world of Spirit shows its teeth. Not all the chickens make it. Pack your bags and travel light. There's ogres on the road.
The world of Spirit shows its teeth. Not all the chickens make it. Pack your bags and travel light. There's ogres on the road.
Worlds Beyond Number is:
and is produced, designed, and scored by Taylor Moore at Fortunate Horse.
Transcript of this episode available here.
If you're into explosive pedal-to-the-medal narrative play that treats rules like nameless thugs in a John Wick movie, and WILL get you in trouble: you gotta check out our sister show Rude Tales of Magic!
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 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. .
[World’s Beyond Number intro music rises urgently with strings and flute]
Aabria Iyengar:
This is the sound of Worlds Beyond Number.
[The other instruments fade into a lone flute and violin pluck]
[Choral tones offer a backdrop for the opening narration]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Well, last we left off we met our wonderful three heroes, our protagonists of this story. We met Eursulon, working five years prior in a tavern, having almost been nabbed by a hedge mage and his goon squad, I suppose, in a stable, with a special sword, with a pattern of waves along the crossguard, and a fist of many fingers curled into a ball, sprinting into the woods after being injured by strange magic.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
We met Suverin Kedberiket, or Suvi, as she is called, the apprentice to the Archmage Silence, and friend and ward of Steel, First Sword of the Citadel in the heart of the Empire, who was sent to visit an ailing Grandmother Wren. And we met Ame, the apprentice of Grandmother Wren, in a Witch's cottage outside the village of Toma.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The passing of Grandmother Wren was something that had been anticipated for some time. What was not anticipated was a strange curse, that had fallen over Grandmother Wren. Many secrets she had kept for a long time, from Ame and from the children that she had looked after in a golden summer many years before. But, those secrets she remembered having told, though Ame bore no memory of it.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Smoke curled from her mouth and some strange curse had been placed upon her. In her last moments, she bid Suvi and Ame farewell. And her familiar, the Rooster Taro, said that the sword Wavebreaker was the key, to finding a way to unleash those secrets from where the curse had bound them, wheresoever that was.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The sword, of course, had been given in childhood to their friend Eursulon, long lost these many, many years, no one had seen him. And so find Eursulon they must. And Taro's last piece of advice, was that Ame would need a Taro of her own.
Erika Ishii
Ah...
Brennan Lee Mulligan
We ended last episode with the sun having set in record speed, as time itself was slowed by the presence of great workings of the World of Spirits. And a figure approaching on the road, and to that moment, and that exact moment we will return.
[A rush of sound rises quickly and inverts, then fades]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Crescent moon, like a wide smile, and glittering stars. Though a long and lonely cloud begins to stretch, like a pointed hand, and crosses at the midsection of the crescent moon. [A high pitched, eerie tone underscores] A figure walks down the country road dressed in black. The manner of their clothes, like a merchant or a lord in the cut, but in style, somehow, strange and undressed.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
No shine of silver, no gold brocade. Simple, clean. Tall boots and long breeches. And a wide brim, with a long trail of a cap behind, and a thick black cloak. The figure, stepping out of the shadow of a lean tree, stepping along the road. And passes, beyond the edge of the window through which Suvi is looking.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You... Come to your senses, still here in this moment, where Grandmother Wren has just passed, and it is now magically, and surreally, and with a sense of almost something like nausea, it has become night. The cottage that you stand in, and specifically, the bed chamber of Grandmother Wren, whose body still rests in the bed next to you, though she is now gone.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You become aware that the shifting of the house has stopped, you don't hear the creaking of wood anymore. And you look out, and see the moon and starlight on the cottage, but you don't hear the buzzing of bees. It's very still. The only thing you hear is the lone babbling of the stream, and even that babbling, feels somehow distant, echoing.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The cottage is very silent. These are the first moments that EITHER of you, Suvi and Ame, have stood in this place, knowing that, in a very real sense, this is no longer Grandmother Wren's cottage.
[An echoing knock]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Three loud knocks, upon the workshop door closest to the road.
Suvi [Aabria]
What do you want to do?
Ame [Erika]
[Coughs, Recovers from crying] I have to go answer the door. Give me one moment.
Erika Ishii
And, very quickly, I cast the ritual that I have prepared, of the ceremony. A brief funeral rite. Even though I don't have time to mourn, I have to make sure that she's properly prepared. I place my hand on Grandmother Wren's eyelids. I hold them. I whisper quiet words.
Ame [Erika]
Be at peace.
[The eerie backdrop dissipates, and a violin plays a sweet but melancholy song]
Erika Ishii
The bed clothes, the sleeves that you can see, peeping over the covers, all turn white, as if the spreading of an ink or a dye. Only it's an absence of color.
Ame [Erika]
She should be safe here now—for now.
Erika Ishii
I hurry downstairs.
[The score turns eerie again]
Suvi [Aabria]
What do you want me to do?
Ame [Erika]
Stay hidden.
Suvi [Aabria]
Sure.
Erika Ishii
I compose myself and walk to the front door.
Ame [Erika]
Who is it?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Normally there is a small candle, underneath a tin hood on the outside of the workshop door, that as long as someone is downstairs, a sputtering little blue candle will hop to life. Careful attention of anyone being outside of their bed chamber. The candle doesn't light when you reach the bottom of the stairs. It is pitch black, looking through the workshop window.
Ame [Erika]
[Sternly] Who is at the door of Grandmother Wren's cottage?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You hear the scratch of gravel and dust, as a pair of boots takes three steps back from the door, as though giving space for the door to be opened and the person outside to be regarded.
Ame [Erika]
[Sternly] This is the final time that I will ask. Who is at our door?
[The crunch of footsteps can be heard]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The voice that comes from outside, from a face you cannot see, is cold beyond imagining. It seems to hit your skin almost more than it hits your ears. Suvi. You can FEEL someone talking, even though you're all the way upstairs. Outside the door you hear
Grim Stranger [Brennan]
[Loud but low and echoing out, like boulders rubbed together] I am an old friend of Grandmother Wren's, come to pay my respects. May I come in?
Ame [Erika]
You may not enter. What is your name, stranger?
Grim Stranger [Brennan]
[Deep ghastly sigh] You ask a traveler their name, through a shut door. [Tsk tsk tsk] My name I won't give you, young one. I can tell you this. I am a wanderer. They have called me the Pilgrim Under the Stars. The Man in Black. The King of Night. I wait at the crossroads, and I bide my time. I am ever ready, and always near, and I have held my breath since the dawning of the world. [Menacing] Won't you let me pay my respects?
Ame [Erika]
[Shaking Breaths] Forgive the inhospitable nature of my demands, but as you seem to have intuited... Grandma Wren is unable to be here herself to greet you. May I—may I ask you to come back again?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You hear a scratch of a boot in the dust.
Grim Stranger [Brennan]
Name the day.
Ame [Erika]
Give me one year from now.
Grim Stranger [Brennan]
You've got one year.
[With jarring immediacy, the sound cuts to the idyllic sound of the farm]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
It is day.
Aabria Iyengar
I come down the stairs, and immediately just grab you and hold you.
[Ame pants from emotional exertion]
Suvi [Aabria]
You did very well. She would be very proud.
Ame [Erika]
i—I don't—who was that?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Give me a Religion Check.
Erika Ishii
Eugh.
Aabria Iyengar
Ooh!
Aabria Iyengar
Can I make a History Check to see if I've ever read anything?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Yeah, yeah! Give me History, or Arcana.
Aabria Iyengar
15 for Arcana.
Erika Ishii
7.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
I think that, of those many titles, you have never heard any of them. But I think you know all of the connotations of them.
Aabria Iyengar
Mm.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
That being didn't give a single name.
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
As it becomes day, you see all of that time in which you lost Grandmother Wren comes back.
Aabria Iyengar
Oh!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
In other words, like that time slowing down was him, approaching.
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Almost like he brought the night with him as he got closer.
Aabria Iyengar
And then took it when he left.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And then took it when he left.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You do know—you remember an old lecture in an early class, warning about spirits. That most spirits would not give you a name—if they did give you a name it meant you had power over them.
Aabria Iyengar
Mhm.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Often they would go by a title. You know, there's the Great Bear, for example, that has a great title that doesn't give its name out. You were told about some spirits that had multiple titles. Multiple titles indicated immensity of power, and the ability for that creature to hide its names amongst multiple appellations.
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah, ok.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
That its true form would be sort of hidden, or obscured. And the scariest spirit you studied had three.
Aabria Iyengar
Oh. Oh no. Okay.
Suvi [Aabria]
I know the only things I've studied—we can't hold a candle to what you must know, Ame. But whatever that was, was strong.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
As you're both standing there, you smell a stink. All of the milk in the kitchen, like in the ice box, has gone bad, and stinks like crazy. You look out and there's a couple of fruit trees that border the road. All of the fruit hanging over the road has withered.
Erika Ishii
No!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And you hear the bees start buzzing again, there's other stuff going on, but you see that there is a lovely little bead—kind of—it's almost like a patch that is framed up above the doorway from the workshop into the rest of the house. And it's framed up to face and line up with the outer door. And it's just a little beadwork in red, and lapis, and black, and white, of an eye. It's smoking.
Aabria Iyengar
Oh.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And Suvi, you feel jangling in one of your pockets of your robe.
Aabria Iyengar
I immediately go and reach in.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You cut your finger on the shattered speaking mirror.
Suvi [Aabria]
No!
Ame [Erika]
[Gasp] Are you okay? You're bleeding.
Suvi [Aabria]
I'm fine.
Aabria Iyengar
She pulls away from you.
Suvi [Aabria]
I'm fine. [Quietly, to self] Fuck.
Erika Ishii
I run over to the ice box, and I take a look at the milk. Can I divine whether this is part of the curse from the stranger, or just time.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Give me a Nature Check—give me like, a Survival Check.
Erika Ishii
16.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You believe this was the appearance of this being at the door. That even though it could not gain entry to the house, that just its presence here was shaking the foundations of this cottage.
Suvi [Aabria]
Ame, time was slipping before Grandmother Wren died.
Ame [Erika]
I panicked. I didn't—I didn't know what to do. I've never, had to—this can't be my cottage. I'm not ready for it yet. But I'm going to do the best that I can. You—I mean I don't even know where to start, I haven't seen you in so long, and I know that you must surely have places to be.
Erika Ishii
And I look up and down at your finely tailored wardrobe, and your hair.
Ame [Erika]
But—I would—she asked us both to find Eursulon, and I would greatly appreciate your help in that.
Suvi [Aabria]
Of course. I thought—I think everyone at home thought... That there would be more time, so there's time enough for this.
Ame [Erika]
Thank you.
Suvi [Aabria]
Of course, I did bring—Steel, the woman that came for me at the end of the summer, asked me to bring some things for Grandmother Wren.
Ame [Erika]
Oh, what were they?
Suvi [Aabria]
They're yours now.
Aabria Iyengar
And I pull out the book, and a sealed group of scrolls.
Suvi [Aabria]
I don't know what the scrolls are, but this is a book about stars of the southern sky.
Ame [Erika]
Thank you. I suppose I can take a look.
Erika Ishii
And I thumb through the book.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Okay! Yeah, you go ahead and you thumb through the book. Let me know what kind of Check you think you're making there. I think Investigation probably makes the most sense, if you're—Yeah, so go ahead and give me an Investigation Check.
Erika Ishii
15.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
On a 15, you know that this references a lot of constellations that would be of interest to Grandmother Wren. The book is a book of Wizardry, so there's a lot of it talking about the movements of celestial bodies, and the nature of the stars. Grandmother Wren often talked about the stars, but probably in ways that were not as... Systemic as this?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
She used to talk about some stars as being nosy, and other stars as being bad or good luck, and some stars as being playful, and seemed to have a relationship to them, mostly due to her ability to fly. So she sort of had a relationship with them, like someone who spent time in their company.
Erika Ishii
I'm going to poke a little further into the book to see if perhaps it's not the words of the book, but something hidden in the book itself?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Uh, sure! Do you want to give another Investigation Check?
Erika Ishii
Yes.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Go for it.
Erika Ishii
I only got a 7.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You begin to look deeper into the book for something hidden, and I think hit a wall of—because I think, you're looking for something hidden in the way of like, "what's something that would almost be like, intuitive or second nature." Like, you hide things in places where you can still get them, and you're looking at all this stuff and being like, "this is so complicated that a Wizard could hide something in here without even having to hide it. It could just be here, and I'm looking at it, and I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking for."
Ame [Erika]
God, I hate books. All right.
Suvi [Aabria]
[Angrily] What?
Ame [Erika]
I said uh, thanks for the books.
Suvi [Aabria]
Mmm.
Aabria Iyengar
While she's doing this, I just wanted to kind of give her a task so I could circle the cottage and try to—kind of assess the situation, and see if I noticed anything else weird, on account of the stranger's visit.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Yeah, absolutely. Go ahead, and you give me an Investigation Check.
Aabria Iyengar
12. But my Passive Investigation is a 21.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Incredible.
Aabria Iyengar
Buh.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Buh. On a Passive 21 Investigation, I think that much has changed in the house since you were here.
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Grandmother Wren became more tired with time, and Ame became more capable with time. So a lot of the little tiny details you notice are, ways of organizing dishes and cutlery that Grandmother Wren preferred, have given way to them being organized in the way that Ame preferred. And little—I think Ame's room is probably much changed. How does Ame's room look different?
[a sweet tune gets plucked out on a banjo]
Erika Ishii
Do you go into the room?
Aabria Iyengar
Oh, you know I do.
Erika Ishii
So as you step into the room, whereas before, you remember a nest of pillows, and blankets, and soft bits, next to—curled up in the corner, with your bunk, all nice and tidy and orderly. And the windowsill large enough for perhaps a visiting Spirit Friend.
Erika Ishii
Now, you see that the bunk has been disassembled. It is just one bed, now, but there is a bedroll on the ground in place of the nest, a soft, round, cushiony mat. So, it's not quite as chaotic, but is still a floor sleeping situation. And you see the old familiar scrawl on the wall, above a fist sized—tiny fist sized hole that says, "Be Kind."
Erika Ishii
But your bunk, which has clearly been moved down to be this single bed, is just the way you left it. Disordered—it is just the way that you left it, with the slats of wood where you pulled them up, out of boredom, or restlessness. And the window sill is not covered in dust, but there's still sheaves of flowers, and herbs tied up, and crystals, hanging, catching the sunlight.
Erika Ishii
It seems a lot more purposeful now, though. And you see on the desk, instead of the untidy clutter of beakers, and plants, and powders—it's a somewhat more orderly alchemy set.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Does Suvi see any hint of a blue cloak anywhere in the room?
Erika Ishii
Roll a Perception Check.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
[Gremlin Laughing]
Aabria Iyengar
Okay, well, I feel like I have to remind you my Passive Perception is 18, do I really have to roll?
Erika Ishii
... I'll do it.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Actually, you give me a Slight of Hand to see if—
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah dog.
Erika Ishii
Yeah, that's true.
Aabria Iyengar
Cuz I rolled a Natural One.
Erika Ishii
Sleight of Hand is 13.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
On a Passive Perception you—
Erika Ishii
So Passive Perception, I will say. You see on the little sleeping mat, although there's a big fluffy comforter over it, you see a tiny corner of blue, peeking out from under the tucked cover.
Aabria Iyengar
I think that's the thing, trying to put together the ways in which your True Friend has stayed the same, and grown up away from you. And in seeing that little corner of the cloak, that I gave you years ago, I'll walk over, and just kind of touch the edge, and for whatever it's worth, push a little bit of Mending into it, just seal the fibers and let it last a little longer.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
With that incredible Passive Investigation, by the way, you look out the window, at the mid-afternoon sunlight that is suddenly back on the cottage, and see—very eventful time here, at Grandmother Wren's cottage, you see a sight that at once your wizard brain goes [Frantically] "I have to put this together with all—wh—Grandmother Wren, I just watched Grandmother Wren pass away, and the foundations of the earth shook as she passed, and I've seen a magic here more powerful than anything!"
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And then a sight comes into your eyes that, the moment you see it, know has to be totally unrelated to everything else you have seen here, which is that a very confused looking fox comes out of the henhouse, with a dead chicken in its mouth, because when it went into the henhouse, it was night and it's day now.
[Aabria and Erika laugh]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And it's got a dead chicken. And there's a couple of little feathers that fall around and you see a confused fox, who's got—red, the little brown socks, and the little white tuft, and the white under the chin, with like just a little bit of the hair getting darker, and almost black on the little ridge in between the shoulders. Looking around, dead chicken, blood soaked fangs, and just a state of utter perplexity.
Aabria Iyengar
You hear a mad woman cackle from upstairs in your room.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The cackle goes off, and the fox sprints, hits a fence, changes direction, and sprints off into the woods with the chicken and is gone.
Ame [Erika]
You uh—
Suvi [Aabria]
[Manic laughing]Oh my god. The last hour has been the craziest thing I've ever experienced. [Laughing turns to crying]
Ame [Erika]
Oh, that's not a completely happy laugh, okay. All right.
Erika Ishii
Scrolls under my arm, I trot upstairs. I put an arm on.
Suvi [Aabria]
[Crying] I'm good, I'm fi—
Ame [Erika]
You okay?
Suvi [Aabria]
Yeah. Have you ever just felt like a fox a little bit?
[Brennan laughs]
Ame [Erika]
You know, that's a crazy thing to say, but yes, I have.
Suvi [Aabria]
This is wild. Is this every day for you?
Ame [Erika]
[Affably] Uh, no.
Suvi [Aabria]
Jeez.
Ame [Erika]
No, most days it's just villagers in need of help, and just me and Grandma Wren.
Suvi [Aabria]
I... I—
Ame [Erika]
I know that there is quite a lot that's just gotten dropped on your plate, but I think it would be good for us to move expeditiously.
Suvi [Aabria]
[Impressed] That's a big word.
Ame [Erika]
[Uncertainly] Uh, yes. I—I read.
[Brennan laughs wheezily off mic]
Suvi [Aabria]
Yeah. For someone who hates books, that's a big word.
Ame [Erika]
I don't know what you're talking about.
Suvi [Aabria]
I heard. What I heard.
Ame [Erika]
[Under her breath] Okay, alright well.
Suvi [Aabria]
Mm? That's how I know you're a Witch and prepared. You've got the mumbling under your breath down to a science.
Erika Ishii
[Gasps] That's true!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
So! You stand there, you have—having undone the scrollcase, you've taken some scrolls out that to you, looked like occult anatomical drawings, of different strange beasts. And, I mean, you've only known the wildlife of a calm, and—perhaps a little bit of a different place before, then.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
But for the most part, you only know the wildlife around here, which—there are some larger animals around. Like, there's still, you know, there are some bears in the woods, or a deer, or a panther maybe, up where it gets a little bit more mountainous up north. But, these are some STRANGE beasts in these sort of, anatomical drawings that you see.
Ame [Erika]
I don't think I've seen any like this around here.
Suvi [Aabria]
I'm not going to pry.
Ame [Erika]
Well, it seems that we're working on this together, so—
Suvi [Aabria]
[Excitedly] Yeah! Let me see 'em!
Ame [Erika]
Okay!
Suvi [Aabria]
Thank you! What the—
Brennan Lee Mulligan
With that high Passive Investigation score, you thumb through them, and you find one, with a beast on it you recognize. The last time you saw this beast was in the town of Silbry, when you were a child, and the town was in fire. And you realize that these are not beasts. These are the forms that certain magicians can wear if they so choose.
Suvi [Aabria]
Oh... Please keep these safe. Keep them secret.
Ame [Erika]
Of course. That was the plan. Is it of some significance, specifically?
Aabria Iyengar
I didn't tell you much, about the night I came.
Erika Ishii
No, you—we were kids, and you were really scared, and I never wanted to pry.
Suvi [Aabria]
You're very kind. One of my parents friends—
Aabria Iyengar
And I pull forward, specifically, the scroll.
[a low but urgent song starts up, drumbeat under bassy brass instruments]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Ame. You see a tusked, canine yet simian form, powerful shoulders and haunches, and a ridged back. The physical—the sort of musculature, and skeletal structure of almost like a hyena, right? Those powerful, longer front legs, sloping down to rear legs and a tufted tail. With this massive lower tusked jaw.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The form is frightening, with a wide snout, and these glaring sort of eyes, and some ridges up along the brows. Two long, tapered, pointed ears. And you can even see in the rendering of the wizards diagram, that the front paws still end in these long, saber-like claws, almost like a bear. These long hooks that come out with digits on either side, that kind of hint, that they might still be opposable.
Suvi [Aabria]
My father's friend Eioghorain, looked like this that night. And he smelled of blood.
Suvi [Aabria]
Wha—can you—can a lot of you do this?
Suvi [Aabria]
No.
[The drumbeat fades]
Erika Ishii
This doesn't feel like any sort of spirit that I've encountered or studied, does it?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
No. I think you look at this, I think—both of you would share a moment, probably, of connecting over the fact that this is well outside of either of your traditions.
Ame [Erika]
It feels like even though we have seen spirits and things that are natural, that are mixed, different parts, a different piece, this doesn't feel right to me.
Aabria Iyengar
The mages of Galthmei are different.
Ame [Erika]
I don't quite know what that means. Galthmei is somebody that we're supposedly at war with, correct?
Suvi [Aabria]
I mean, there's always exceptions. You know, witches and wizards aren't supposed to really... Get along. And we're both here, tracking down our brother, who's a big bear. Speaking of which, we gotta go find him!
Ame [Erika]
Oh, yes, and I have to... I have to visit the shrine.
Suvi [Aabria]
Oh!
Ame [Erika]
There's just so many things to do. Again, I'm sorry to drop this all on your lap—
Suvi [Aabria]
NOPE! We're making a list!
Ame [Erika]
Okay!
Suvi [Aabria]
This is where I shine!
[A sound of rustling]
Ame [Erika]
Oh! All right, well, let me kind of just—
Suvi [Aabria]
Where is paper that isn't wrinkly? Nah I got it, I got it.
Ame [Erika]
Okay. I'm going to go up to the shrine, and would you care to accompany me?
Suvi [Aabria]
Oh, my god, yes! Ah, cool. I wasn't sure if I was going to be allowed to go.
Ame [Erika]
Yeah, I actually don't know if there's any rules about that or not, but. You know, I mean, it's my cottage now!
Suvi [Aabria]
Yeah, do you feel different?
Ame [Erika]
No? I mean, except—a sense of existential dread about being, maybe cursed? And having a year before what might be a powerful Spirit returns to the cottage, um. Other than that, no, not really.
[A soothing song of strings interspersed with bird calls rises]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Ame marches up the hill, and you see a climb that used to tire you out, is now done in about 20 steps. And just up the hill, where we see a beautiful small stone shrine. The shrine has a beautiful, eight sided, bell shaped roof with scales, and ridges of the stone that come down to the eight corners. There are thin stone columns that come down, but leave the shrine open while still being under a roof, and a flat, ALWAYS cool, marble base.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
At the back of the shrine is an old, weathered, kind of—it's the type of stone that as it weathers, weathers with pockmarks. And the marble has been a lot more durable than the stone that the statue was made out of. And in the little pockmarks, you know, water and rain has stayed.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
So there's kind of a sheen of lichen, or moss, that grows within the little pockmarks on the otherwise creamy, gray stone of the statue. Which is of a welcomingly misshapen Nature Spirit, with a big old potato lookin' head, a wide, grinning mouth, with porcine tusks, and a cute little button nose, and eyes that are set far wider on the head, and ears that are both pointed, and have like long, dangling lobes.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You see that the spirit is sitting cross legged, and holding a stone bowl, that it is part of the same piece of stone that it, itself is carved out of, but is holding the bowl with both its legs and arms at the same time, seated with its arms kind of wrapped around, and its elbows resting on its knees.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And this statue has been here for as long as you can remember. And it is very clear that the statue of the spirit of this shrine, kind of has the most—this is the place from which the natural beauty of Grandmother Wren's cottage, and the surrounding forest, is at its best.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You see the sloping hill to the cottage, all of the garden laid out perfectly, the stream that wraps away. You can see every single wild flower bush, and grove, at the edge of the forest from right here. And it's high enough up on the hill, that you get to see all the tops of the trees that stretch away over the woods up towards the far ridge.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
So you just see a beautiful blanket of treetops throughout this little valley, where Grandmother Wren has lived for so long. Coming up to the shrine, late afternoon, what do you do upon arriving at the shrine?
Erika Ishii
When I reach the shrine, I stop at the little stone basin, just before, and I wash my hands, and I splash some water on my face. I smooth my skirt, and I walk up to the shrine, and the statue. I clap my hands twice. And I bow to it, and I say
Ame [Erika]
Dear Spirit and Honored Friend, we are in need of your assistance. [Falteringly] Grandma Wren... And Taro have— Are no longer with us here in our realm. I was told to come to pay my respects to you, and to ask your guidance, because it might be time for me to have... A Taro of my own [under her breath] but hopefully a nicer one.
Aabria Iyengar
Suvi's at the very edge of the marble platform, and in just a little moment of remembering herself as a small child, she goes to push up the glasses that aren't there, and kind of snorts a little bit to herself, crosses one ankle behind the other to give a small curtsy, that Imperial children are taught to do. And just gives a little bow and says
Suvi [Aabria]
Mr. Soup.
Aabria Iyengar
And just waits quietly.
Erika Ishii
[Giggles]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
[Laughing] Mr. Soup is referring to—
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah! Because it looks like he's eatin' a big bowl of soup!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The moment you say "Mr. Soup," you hear a voice down by your knee say
Mr. Soup [Brennan]
[Brusque but Kind Old Cowboy Voice] Afternoon.
Suvi [Aabria]
[Startled] Ah!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And you look down, and see the spirit looking at its own statue! You see that he is a vibrant vine green, with a little loincloth of leaves. He's only about 2ft tall. And you see that he looks down, and his feet always are muddy because water sort of just produces out of the bottom of his feet.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
So whenever he stands in a piece of dirt, it looks like just water begins to trickle down, but stands there and has his arms crossed and is looking at the statue of themself and just shakes his little lumpen head and goes
Mr. Soup [Brennan]
Look at me. They got it exactly right.
Suvi [Aabria]
[Awed whisper] A remarkable likeness.
Ame [Erika]
Hello, Mr. Soup.
Suvi [Aabria]
Wait, you call him that too?
Ame [Erika]
Mhm!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
I think Mr. Soup WAS the—
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah! Yeah yeah yeah!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You see, he looks at you, Suvi, and looks at Ame, and smiles, a big, tusky smile, and says
Mr. Soup [Brennan]
I've always wanted to say this. [With an echo and dramatic flourish] I am known by many names.
Ame [Erika]
Woooow!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And one of them is Mr. Soup!
[Aabria and Erika giggle]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
He goes and sort of, happily waddles up into the shrine, and leans his head into the stone bowl and [sniffing noises] sniffs, and sort of pushes his nose up, and frowns a little bit, and is like
Mr. Soup [Brennan]
Soup looking pretty thin, all things considered. Not a very— [Old man grumbling]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Moves his finger around in the empty bowl.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Not a great— Huh hmmm— It's going to be slim pickings for everyone that wants some soup.
Ame [Erika]
I'm so sorry. It was—
Mr. Soup [Brennan]
[Congenially] Oh! You don't have to apologize, it's a fair offering freely given of course, you don't have to... But—
Ame [Erika]
Oh, no I—
Mr. Soup [Brennan]
[Expectantly] Did anyone..?
Erika Ishii
I reach into my—some of my pouches in my belt, and I produced two handfuls of rice crackers, that I toss into the bowl.
Mr. Soup [Brennan]
[Belches] Mmm!
Suvi [Aabria]
Oh!
Mr. Soup [Brennan]
That's good.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The moment it hits the bowl, burps, not even having to consume it, just— it hits the bowl, and they feel—Mr. Soup feels fully full, and he goes
Mr. Soup [Brennan]
Ahh, that's wonderful. That's very, very good. Well, um... [Realizing, sadly] Oh, no..!
Ame [Erika]
Yes...
Mr. Soup [Brennan]
Oh no, I... I'm so sorry, little ones.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
This little two foot guy, calling you both little ones.
Ame [Erika]
[Sadly] Me too...
Aabria Iyengar
I'm taking that personally.
Suvi [Aabria]
[Quietly, restrained] That's fine. It's all big now.
Erika Ishii
[Laughing]
Mr. Soup [Brennan]
Wren knew me as Daomai, and I've been guarding this stream... Since before she built this cottage here!
Ame [Erika]
[Sad laugh]
Daomai [Brennan]
And it was such an honor to have a Witch like her come and make a little garden that my stream could water. I always felt so grateful. And she built the shrine, too! Can you believe it?
Suvi [Aabria]
Aw
Ame [Erika]
Of course!
Daomai [Brennan]
Can you believe it?
Aabria Iyengar
Suvi raises her hand.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You see, he raises a hand up too, and says
Mr. Soup [Brennan]
Ah, no rain.
Suvi [Aabria]
Oh.
Mr. Soup [Brennan]
Doesn't feel like it.
Erika Ishii
Ame also raises up a hand—
Suvi [Aabria]
[Whispering] What is that...
Erika Ishii
Sort of wiggles her fingers.
Suvi [Aabria]
Okay, I could just—I get it.
Erika Ishii
I, of course, have promised Grandma Wren that I will continue to keep the invitation of her cottage... My cottage, open.
Daomai [Brennan]
Do you need help looking after the cottage?
Erika Ishii
Oh, well uh— Yes, please, definitely, but—
Mr. Soup [Brennan]
Of course. I've done that for so long, and I'd be happy to do it for you. These rice crackers probably could use a little... Is this going to add this..?
Suvi [Aabria]
Oh I got you.
Aabria Iyengar
And Suvi steps forward and produces, like, a very fine silvery flask, and just pours out a bunch of brown alcohol.
Daomai [Brennan]
[Hiccup, Slurring words] That's some good soup!
[Laughing]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Alright, well what do you fine friends need?
Erika Ishii
I endeavor to quickly explain the situation.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Explain—You see, that Mr. Soup—aka Daomai—is wobbling on very short legs. His head is about four times as big as one of his legs. So he's just wobbling on little stumpy legs, and he goes
Daomai [Brennan]
[Drunk old man noises] Uh huh. Uh huh. Well.
Suvi [Aabria]
[Whispering] I'm sorry, I think I did—
Ame [Erika]
Something about a Heart of the world, and I uh. Mm—I have to go find the—
Suvi [Aabria]
Man in Black. And the Man in Black.
Ame [Erika]
—yeah the, Sword, the Man in Black—
Suvi [Aabria]
Sorry! I'm panicking. I'm gonna be quiet again.
Ame [Erika]
Also— [quickly spilling out words] I think it's time for me to have a familiar??
Mr. Soup [Brennan]
Okay. Okay, I don't know about any of the other stuff.
Ame [Erika]
Oh.
Daomai [Brennan]
But I'll tell ya, if you need an animal, there's a lot of animals around here. [Strained, Working himself up] And I wouldn't be much of a Stream Spirit if I couldn't—hokay, hold on. Time to get to work. [Grunt]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And you see that he sort of—uh, waddles on over to his statue, says
Daomai [Brennan]
Been a minute. Let's see if I still got it. HYUP!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And he jumps into his statue, and all of the alcohol and rice crackers in the bowl [Magic Wind Noise] swirl up. And you just hear, kind of, an eruption of bird song, and crickets start going, it's getting later. And you just feel a little warm hum emanating from the statue.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
It is very clear that something is happening and being done. Nothing happens in the immediate aftermath of that, but you can feel SOME kind of thing at work. And you do smell, very faintly, a little bit of rosemary and pine.
[Ame and Suvi gasp and sigh]
Suvi [Aabria]
I miss Eursulon so much.
Ame [Erika]
Me too.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Ame, do you do anything in preparation of the spirits' work? Or if not, what do you think of when you think of a familiar?
[A discordant backdrop of tones that evoke awe and wonder rises up against the chirp of birds]
Erika Ishii
I close my eyes. I take a deep breath. The pine, and the rosemary. I listen to that thrumming, of something deep, deep in the earth, and I think about how I can help this place, this village, my community, the people I care about, which is kind of [laughs] Admittedly, a very short list. I uh—this is huge! I mean a witch's familiar is her lifelong companion, which—I've never had one of those except for Grandma Wren. And all I can manage is a whisper of
Ame [Erika]
[Thinking, Desperately] PLEASE don't let them be a butthole like Taro, please don't let them be a butthole like Taro, please don't let them be a butthole like Taro.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
As you think of how much of a butthole Taro the Rooster was—
[the sound cuts out]
Lou Wilson
Brennan don't do it. Don't make the familiar a butthole.
Aabria Iyengar
[Laughing]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
As you think of how much of a butthole Taro was. Suvi, you smell blood [Sniff] and Ame's eyes are completely closed and—Ame, are you seated in the shrine? Are you on your knees? What sort of position are you in as your eyes are closed?
Erika Ishii
I am standing, but in a—bent, almost halfway, in a bow towards the shrine.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Out of one of Ame's pockets, a little bit of those rice crackers are still hanging, and as Ame has her eyes closed and is hoping, hoping, hoping so hard, and thinking those thoughts we know she's thinking, you see a familiar face. A fox begins to creep out of the wood line, looking at those crackers now a little bit closer to the ground. And the fact that Ame's eyes are closed, means he's got a shot. Fox creeps a little bit closer, a little bit closer.
Ame [Erika]
[Thinking] I want a good friend. I want somebody who, you know, they don't even have to be that powerful. Just somebody who'll help me with the chores!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Suvi, do you do anything in this moment as the fox is approaching, or Ame—and I'll actually roll a little Stealth Check for our fox here.
Aabria Iyengar
What I WANT to do is give the fox advantage, I want to help.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
[Laughing]
Aabria Iyengar
I LOVE this fox.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The fox makes eye contact with you, sees that you are NOT going to blow up his spot?
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And goes
The Fox [Brennan]
[Appreciative chirping]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And gets very close.
Aabria Iyengar
I just step on a little twig, in the opposite direction to pull a little focus.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Comes up [Chomp] Gets the rice crackers—
Erika Ishii
As he—I'm sorry, what did you roll Brennan?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
I got a 15, and then a 10. So 15.
Erika Ishii
As he—or as the fox scampers up, and snatches up the rice cakes, without opening my eyes, I dip down, and I grab whatever I hear in front of me.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
[Whoo] Reach down, grab the fox, and you see the fox goes
The Fox [Brennan]
[Terrified scream]
Ame [Erika]
[Also screaming]
The Fox [Brennan]
Let me go! [Confused] Let me go, let me go?
The Fox [Brennan]
No! No! You're mine now!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
[Confused] Luh— Leh— What am I doing? What am I doing? What am I doing?
Ame [Erika]
Oh, you're talking.
The Fox [Brennan]
[Trying out his new skill, Gibberish] Hah tah tah tah tap. Why. Weh. Bledoredeh.
Ame [Erika]
Hi. I'm Ame, uhhhh, your new best friend!
Suvi [Aabria]
Ooh! Coming on kinda strong
Brennan Lee Mulligan
[Laughing]
Ame [Erika]
Okay, you know, I've never really had a friend before, besides the two of you guys. Hi.
Suvi [Aabria]
Oof.
The Fox [Brennan]
Look, I didn't—I don't even—I didn't even—I wasn't even around when those chickens got eaten.
Ame [Erika]
Oh, ho ho ho! So! The truth comes out!
Aabria Iyengar
[Laughing]
The Fox [Brennan]
Look—
Erika Ishii
I pluck a feather from the tip of his nose, but otherwise—
The Fox [Brennan]
YOU put that there. YOU put that there.
Ame [Erika]
Oh I did?
The Fox [Brennan]
Yeah. Ya did. Okay?
Ame [Erika]
Hey, hey—
The Fox [Brennan]
Hey.
Ame [Erika]
Ya can't con a con all right, buddy?
The Fox [Brennan]
[Dejected] Okay.
Erika Ishii
Holding him by the scruff of his neck.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Paws—his paws are there. He's just hanging from the scruff, and he says
The Fox [Brennan]
[Coolly] Everybody calm down. Everybody calm down.
Suvi [Aabria]
Be cool, little fox, be cool.
The Fox [Brennan]
[Slyly] Now. I know we all got questions. You're wondering what happened to those chickens? I can help you find the guy who did that. I'm wondering what I'm doing with my mouth, and why it feels like, it's something that I can do, that lets you, know, the things that I know, but I'm just screaming quietly, specifically with sounds, I didn't used to make.
Erika Ishii
That's called the human condition, my friend, and now that you're a familiar, get used to it.
The Fox [Brennan]
[Sounding it out] Familiar. FA-miliar. Familiar.
Suvi [Aabria]
[Laughing]
The Fox [Brennan]
Okay. So. If you can tell me.
Ame [Erika]
Mhm.
The Fox [Brennan]
What—okay.
Erika Ishii
Okay, you know? I'm sorry. You're right. We started off on the wrong foot. Alright? Now I'm just going to put you down, and we're all gonna be cool.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You put him down.
Erika Ishii
Slowly lower him down.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And he doesn't spring away.
Aabria Iyengar
Oop!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
He remains, looking at the trust that he's being given. He looks up and goes
The Fox [Brennan]
Were those your chickens, or...?
Erika Ishii
They were the chickens that lived in Grandma Wren's farm, okay? Just forget the chickens for just a moment.
The Fox [Brennan]
Look, I've been skulking around here for a long time, okay? And the second I saw that DAMN rooster, turn into—whatever he turned into, I said, "now's your shot, okay? You put in the work, you put in the time. You're gonna get these chickens."
Ame [Erika]
I respect that.
The Fox [Brennan]
[Touched] Well thank you!
Ame [Erika]
I'm Ame
The Fox [Brennan]
I'm a fox.
The Fox [Brennan]
Alright. Do you have a name, or something you would want me to call you or..?
The Fox [Brennan]
Call me, call me... Uh. Hey, you would know more about that than me.
Ame [Erika]
Okay, well, we'll circle back to that later, I guess.
Suvi [Aabria]
Ha!
The Fox [Brennan]
Sure, that works for me.
Ame [Erika]
Sooo... You've become a Witches familiar, which means that we are... In a—[Grumbles] I don't want to get too technical here, but basically we do magic together now. If that's something you're interested in, there could be chickens in it for you.
The Fox [Brennan]
Hey, now! Do magic together.
Ame [Erika]
Yes.
The Fox [Brennan]
Magic, meaning...?
Aabria Iyengar
I stamp my staff on the ground, and the illusion of it being just sort of a wooden staff shatters and falls away to reveal, like a glass staff, like
Suvi [Aabria]
Mm.
The Fox [Brennan]
Doing stuff that doesn't make any sense.
Ame [Erika]
Yuh.
Suvi [Aabria]
Ooh, too accurate.
The Fox [Brennan]
[Coolly] Ya got a deal, Ame.
Ame [Erika]
All right.
The Fox [Brennan]
Sounds fine by me. I can see myself working my way into a lot of chickens on this.
Ame [Erika]
Yeah, you'll get your chickens.
The Fox [Brennan]
Alright.
Ame [Erika]
Oh my god, my heart, it's going so fast, oh my god!
Suvi [Aabria]
This is the weirdest hour of my life.
The Fox [Brennan]
Alright.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You see, the fox looks up, and you see the last little crumbs of rice cracker blow on the wind, out of Mr. Soup's stone bowl, as the fox sort of, walks around and says
The Fox [Brennan]
Okay. Yeah, I'll admit I've been playing it solo for a while, and the pickin's get pretty slim around here. There's not a lot of space in between house cats, and big old bears and panthers. These woods seem to get smaller every day. So I'm happy to serve. You can keep me fed?
Ame [Erika]
Yeah, absolutely.
The Fox [Brennan]
Alright, that works for me.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You see, he sort of does a little circle, jumps up on the statue—he jumps up on Mr. Soup's statue's head, jumps back down on the shrine.
The Fox [Brennan]
[Sniffs] Weird scent. What is that? It's like... Rosemary and pine. Why do I know to make those noises for those smells?
Suvi [Aabria]
[Shaky gasp] Oh, I love him.
Ame [Erika]
Yeah, well—there's an awful lot I got to fill you in on, but now that we're partners—I got a job for you. We have to go track down a brother, a friend of ours. He's a Spirit.
The Fox [Brennan]
Spirit? Ay ay ay, alright, well—
Suvi [Aabria]
Wait are you not a Spirit—I gotta stop.
The Fox [Brennan]
I was pretty clear I'm a fox.
Suvi [Aabria]
Right, but you're—Mhm. [Stilted] Talk. Ing.
The Fox [Brennan]
[Laughs] Hey, your guess is as good as mine, I could not do this a SECOND ago.
Suvi [Aabria]
[Sigh, under her breath] Witch magic is Crazy.
Ame [Erika]
I mean, let's not get into the particulars of how a thing works, it just does.
Suvi [Aabria]
I live or die in the particulars. And I know you know that.
The Fox [Brennan]
I truly did what I have always done. I got grabbed by a person, and I started screaming, and every other time I screamed before, I just screamed. And this time, feelings that I used to have that were just feelings started to turn into sounds. So that's—so that just happened. You have all watched my entire personal history of being able to do this.
Ame [Erika]
Yeah, it's pretty exciting, huh?
The Fox [Brennan]
Yeah, I guess it is kind of a trick, right?
Ame [Erika]
[Excited gasp]Yes. I guess in some ways, it kind of is a trick. That's kind of the things we do.
The Fox [Brennan]
Hmm. I like that.
The Fox [Brennan]
Give me an arcana check, Suvi.
Aabria Iyengar
[Excitedly] Yeeaah! 23!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
[Impressed] That's a high roll!
Erika Ishii
[Laughing]
Aabria Iyengar
Ey!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
I think you've studied—everything that the Citadel knows about witches, I think you know about witches because honestly, probably some of their best stuff came from you, just from your proximity to having lived with Grandmother Wren right? Not that you would have shared anything big, but I think you know about witch's familiars, which are very different. When a wizard summons a familiar, it is a spell effect.
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Witches bond to real animals, and strike bargains with them, or offer them a home, and give them long life, and speech, and all these other things. So they're very different than a wizard's familiar. But I think you know a little bit—you put together something of, like, what familiars represented of their witches, because it's a very powerful soul connection. Like, Grandmother Wren was endlessly kind, and Taro was, at times, a little bit of a butthole.
Erika Ishii
[Cackles]
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah! Yeah yeah yeah!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And Ame, who was praying with all her might to do right by her community and friends, has attracted a fox who seems kind of like a little schemer.
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And I think you put some stuff together—
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah. I just want to make eye contact. Like
Suvi [Aabria]
Hey, I don't know how long we're going to be able to talk.
The Fox [Brennan]
Mhm.
Suvi [Aabria]
If you ever, EVER. Ever mess with me or my stuff, where I come, we eat foxes.
The Fox [Brennan]
Bad for your health, but point taken.
Ame [Erika]
Okay, well, we have to go find our friend, our—our brother. He's a spirit, and he has a powerful item that we need to break a curse on me.
The Fox [Brennan]
Okay. Well I don't—
Suvi [Aabria]
No, you smelt the smell already.
Ame [Erika]
Yeah. Rosemary—
Erika Ishii
That's him?
Suvi [Aabria]
Yup.
Ame [Erika]
—and pine.
The Fox [Brennan]
Oh. Oh! Oh! Oh, oh! Alright, when do you wanna go, you wanna go now?
Suvi [Aabria]
[Shocked laugh]
Ame [Erika]
Uhhh I— I need to grab a couple of things from the cottage, and set it up, so—
The Fox [Brennan]
Okay. Can I go indoors?
Suvi [Aabria]
You get one more chicken.
The Fox [Brennan]
I get one more chick—
Brennan Lee Mulligan
He's gone.
Ame [Erika]
Wait, no!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Fuckin' gone. Boom. Gone.
Ame [Erika]
I didn't—
Suvi [Aabria]
What? You're not going to be around to feed the chickens.
Ame [Erika]
But— Agh but— Agh.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
As you say you're not going to be around to feed the chickens, you actually see that the hum of the Crickets and the birds and everything— The stream babbles a little bit and a couple of little seedlings bloom in the chicken yard. I think your offering to Daomai has kind of created a little bit of a bloom, at least for the time being, for the cottage to take care of itself.
Erika Ishii
Yes! I reach into my pocket, and I have a slightly melty, unwrapped chocolate in there, and I toss it into the bowl. I clap my hands, and I bow, and I head back down towards the cottage.
Ame [Erika]
Don't you dare— Look, not Henrietta, though!
The Fox [Brennan]
[From afar] I don't know which one Henrietta is. Is it the big, good looking one on top?
Ame [Erika]
Oh, god!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And you see just—as you're going to come and get ready, comes up and approaches the door, and looks at the open door and is like
The Fox [Brennan]
Can I go inside? Can I go inside?
Ame [Erika]
You are welcome in the cottage, yes.
The Fox [Brennan]
[Chuckles, Boastfully] If the other foxes could see me now!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
[Laughing] Takes the chicken, and comes inside, is like,
The Fox [Brennan]
Ooh, warm and soft!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And goes right near the fireplace on a rug, and is like,
The Fox [Brennan]
[Chuckles] Don't hate it! This is a life I could get used to.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And just starts making a huge bloody mess of this chicken in front of the fireplace on the rug.
Lou Wilson
This fox rips, dude. This fox absolutely rips. Turns out Eursulon needs a familiar.
[Everyone laughs]
Aabria Iyengar
We all gettin' foxes, bro!
Lou Wilson
We all gettin' foxes!
Erika Ishii
I tidy up the cottage, wrap up as many loose ends as I can. I take a satchel and I stuff in there anything that I think I might need. My herbs, and herb kit, my alchemy set, and some provisions, a couple of knives, rope. Just anything that I think might be useful, goes, somewhat haphazardly, into the bag.
Erika Ishii
And as I gather it, I know—tidying everything and—I know I'm putting off having to lay Grandma Wren to rest, but eventually I... Do realize—Suvi sees me go upstairs, go into her room, and when I exit, I'm holding a small urn. Copper, and it has a little rooster engraved on it.
Erika Ishii
I go up once again to the shrine and I place the urn next to the statue. I've brought up a little incense, some more rice cakes, a whole bottle of nice whiskey, that I place into the bowl. And I leave the little offerings in front of the urn.
Erika Ishii
I only give myself a couple of minutes. But then, you see me come back down, dusting my hands, and I go back to busying myself. Grabbing trinkets, and pieces of paper, and things that, really seem like garbage, that all go into the bag.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Watching someone who has based their entire life out of being in, and around, a house, preparing to go on a trip, is earnestly stressful.
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah!
Erika Ishii
[Laughing]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
"Ok, well, I'm going to need literally everything in this house, because I've always had access to the entire house."
Aabria Iyengar
[Groans] Suvi will do her best to pitch in when there's something obvious—that makes sense that she can help with. So much of what Ame does is just esoteric things that—
Ame [Erika]
You think I need a fire poker?
Suvi [Aabria]
[Incredulously] For what?
Ame [Erika]
[Uncompromisingly] Poking fires.
Suvi [Aabria]
Where a fire is on purpose, there will be one. Please don't.
Ame [Erika]
[Conceding] Okay...
The Fox [Brennan]
Trust your friend, boss. Last thing you want to do is poke a fire.
Ame [Erika]
Alright...
Suvi [Aabria]
But Suvi will take the amount of time you spent up at the shrine to creep up. And there was one sort of like, shawl that Grandmother Wren would always keep over the chair, that Suvi would sit in in the library, when she had to stay hidden, that she'll go and grab. And that's the one—it makes her feel just so disconnected, because it's... threadbare, and kind of lumpy, and doesn't fit the aesthetic of the person she is now.
Aabria Iyengar
And she doesn't know where to put it, there isn't a place for it. But there's no way she could leave without it. So she's kind of just holding it weirdly, while she follows you around, and tells you that you don't need to grab ANYTHING that you're grabbing.
Ame [Erika]
Okay, but, like, what KIND of teas should I bring? You have a preference?
Suvi [Aabria]
There's tea EVERYWHERE! You live on a little island where there's nothing. Everywhere else has things. Please.
Ame [Erika]
[Sarcastically] Well, Miss Big City. Alright. I guess—
Suvi [Aabria]
Yes.
Ame [Erika]
—you know best.
Suvi [Aabria]
Wait, hold on.
Aabria Iyengar
And I go back and I grab my face.
Suvi [Aabria]
Say that again.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
[Laughing]
Ame [Erika]
[Confused] Okay, Miss Big City, I guess you know best?
Suvi [Aabria]
Mm! I've missed that. Okay, we can go.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You both follow the fox, who begins to follow the scent of pine and rosemary. You journey for quite some time, far from the village of Toma. Making your way through the woods, along roads, and in inns, we pass some many days of travel. Moving through this place—a couple of times in your travels, through the woods and roads, pastoral scenery.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You pass windmills and orchards, wide rice fields and raised roads in the lowlands, up in high ridges, moss covered crags, with trees growing, impossibly out in the middle of dizzying heights. You go through rich pine forests, and deep into deciduous woods, with ancient piles of acorns and moss, and pass many roadside shrines, of Spirits, and beasts, and all manner of things, honoring them in their way, as you pass by.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You walk through some villages, where there are many who are pleased to see a Witch. You walk through some towns, where a quick flash of a Citadel staff buys you a swifter journey. And many times on your passage, a sudden shift in direction will take place, sometimes in towns, sometimes in the midst of forests, that the fox will take you on, as he will suddenly look around, confused and go
The Fox [Brennan]
Fresher trail, this way.
Erika Ishii
[Awestruck] I am delighted.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And after a couple of times, he will sometimes go
The Fox [Brennan]
Whoever this guy was, he's passed through here four or five times.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And always choosing the fresher trail. After many days, you can smell, salt on the wind, and see far reaching sea, and white waves breaking, on the shore of a large port city known as Joras. The city reaches down to the coast, the shore is rocky, and slate gray, and tall mossy towers rise up out of the sea.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
So there are like, many sort of standing stones rising out of the water around the port, that have wind swept—are almost like, narrower at their base than they are on top, with little patches of grass. And some of them have just sheep, and how did they get up on that giant rock out on the harbor? We don't know.
Erika Ishii
[Amazed whisper] What!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You see tall ships in the harbor. And the city is sort of split in two, where there's the lower city down by the dock, closer to the shoreline, and then there is a small cliffside, and there are a couple of neighborhoods that switchback up the cliff, which is not a staggering cliff, it's mainly—probably only about, you know, 80ft tall or something like that. That little shelf that shunts up.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
With some roads that cut up, or big broad staircases. There's one staircase that cuts deep into the cliff and is a large marketplace, that just follows the stairs, up into the higher city. And up at the top of the city, where you can still smell the salt on the air, but there is still the sort of rich smell of hay from nearby farms, and a little bit of that distant forest, although, the trees around here—there is no True Forest within sight.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
There's little groves, and copses, and orchards, but a town this big is surrounded mainly by farms, and—you're around a lot of people, I think—Ame, it's been a long time since you've been near a population center this big.
Erika Ishii
I don't think I've EVER been near a population center this big. Toma is small, and, I mean, it's forests, and the cottage for most of my life, but also this is the coolest thing ever!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Joras is about five times as big as Silbry. It's definitely a city.
Aabria Iyengar
Oh!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You would not call this a town.
Aabria Iyengar
Amazing.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
From the heart of the Empire, you've certainly—but you can recognize there are a lot of people here.
Aabria Iyengar
Yeah.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And the fox begins to lead you, towards a large farm field with huge hay bales, there are scarecrows. There are also—this part of the island, there are tall cypress trees and lots of yellow grass, so the grass has become yellow while the trees are still green—as you begin to approach, a fair! There are vendors, and acrobats, and performers, and the fox turns around to look at you and says
The Fox [Brennan]
We're gettin' close.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Early evening still—and Joras faces the east, it's on the very southern tip of the island of Akham, and faces off to the east.
[Crowds of people murmuring]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
So you know, the city towards the east it is, you know— deep dark of night into the west. Beyond these, like grain fields and cypress trees, you see a sort of pink and rosy sunset.
[A bass drum begins to roll]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Torches get lit and a big banner unfurls on one of the wagons.
[A cymbal is struck, calliope music begins to play]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And there, wearing a top hat, with sort of a black and silver wand, you see, there is a Professor J.B. Adelaide! And you see that a ringmaster comes out onto the stage saying
Professor J.B. Adelaide [Brennan]
[Echoing over the crowd] Ladies and gentlemen, thank you one and all for coming out to this evening's festivities, here in Joras! I think you fine people have worked hard enough over the summer, for a show!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And you see—
[The cymbal and the bass drum join the calliope. Wings flutter.]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
—a dove comes out of his sleeves.
Ame [Erika]
[Amazed, Childlike] Waaa! Oh my gosh, yay!
Aabria Iyengar
The utter contempt on Suvi's face right now.
Ame [Erika]
[Giggling] Wow!
Professor J.B. Adelaide [Brennan]
Many fine shows we have here, but you've come here to see the show of shows! That beloved tale, of love lost and love won! The story of Sir Gallant and the Princess of Bryony! Without further ado, we whisk you away to a world of wonder!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And you see the curtains part. You see a cardboard backdrop, painted two-dimensional trees, and a tower that's literally about like four steps tall, so it's like, an eight foot tall sort of flat structure. And leaning over the edge, you see that there is a woman in a pink gown, an actress— Very fair, lovely looking woman. But you see she's wearing a blonde wig, but some of her own real blonde hair is coming out from under it? Confusing.
Erika Ishii
[Barely stifled laughter]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
[Laughing] And she calls out, and she says
[Music lowers to a gentle hum under the speech]
Princess Bryony [Brennan]
[In a light, lilting but awkward cadence] Long has the ogre, kept me, hidden away, high here, in the tower. And long years have I wondered, wherever art, for there, could be, brave knight, for which to find, that he might traveleth to this yon tower, wherein might rescue make, of me, his lady love.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And you see an armored—a tall, armored figure walks out on stage. [Heavy footsteps] The armor is gleaming and shiny, more reflective—sort of like, almost FALSELY reflective—with one hand holding a prop sword, and the other holding a cardboard cut out of a horse with barding, that kind of wraps around the waist.
Aabria Iyengar
[Laughing]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And this figure of Sir Gallant, appears on stage. Lou.
[Aabria and Erika gasp]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
What happens next?
Lou Wilson
From around the other corner comes—
[Menacing calliope music]
Lou Wilson
—in his unglamoured form, bear-like body, large hind legs, or hind feet, into clawed hands with opposable thumbs. The only thing—is Eursulon. The only thing different is that covering his kind of plumage, is a kind of cloth, a cloth hood, that has little cloth warts and things hanging off of it, though his kind of feline face and tusks are still visible.
Ame [Erika]
[Quietly] Oh no!
Lou Wilson
Arms up, outstretched, walking out.
[Crowd screaming]
Eursulon [Lou]
[Exaggerated] Aaurgh, aaauuurgh. I am... The Ogre! I am.. a monster [laughs], auuuuurghhh, hisssss. [more laughing] Aaauuurghh HISS!
[Erika and Aabria cackle]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You see that, you see Eursulon. Eursulon's wearing his true form. You remember Eursulon is large. He is impossibly large. He's seven foot?
Lou Wilson
Seven and a half feet tall.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Seven and a half feet tall, towering. A lot of people sort of like, it's lit by torch light. And the torch light and the light sort of reflecting out from the sort of scallop sconces of the stage lights, it adds this sort of otherworldliness so that you can tell, both of you a wizard and a witch, look and see that people simultaneously do and don't understand the sacred thing they're seeing. They don't understand that they're seeing a real spirit because they're seeing something on stage in this lighting that's made them accept that a cardboard cutout is a tower and that sort of like pressed wood painted could be trees.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
But you hear, especially a lot of children, just scream. A lot of children scream and you hear an eruption from a couple of, like, plants working for the fair. As people like, you see that some people try to grab their kids and run. They don't quite know what to do. But you see a couple of plants go "boooo" in a way to get a boo going to remind people that this is, like, part of the show. And you hear "boo, boo!" [The crowd erupts in boos]
Ame [Erika]
Boo yourself!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Do you yell that?
Erika Ishii
Yes!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Eursulon, give me a perception check with advantage
Brennan Lee Mulligan
17.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You look out and see—did you guys take a seat or are you just, like, standing near the entrance?
Aabria Iyengar
Suvi's standing in the back.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Standing back.
Erika Ishii
We're standing near the entrance because we had just walked in following...
Brennan Lee Mulligan
So standing. Standing in the back. Thankfully, people are seated. Otherwise you probably couldn't see Ame over other people. Eursulom, you look out and see two adult women that you instantly recognize far off, though they are past seven or eight rows of seated spectators, standing and looking at you. [A quick heartbeat pulses under the words] What is the expression that Eursulon sees on your faces?
Aabria Iyengar
Suvi is a rictus of, like, contempt for the form, and confusion at what you're doing.
Erika Ishii
[Emotionally, struggling to find words] Ame, who had, prior to this been enjoying herself quite a lot, is... feels... looks as though her stomach has dropped out. I'm just aghast at the indignity of it all. And livid it at these... yokels! Booing her friend!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Eursulon. What do you do? You recognize them? You see the looks on their faces, and you see that Sir Gallant is waiting there, looking because he heard there was a shout. But Sir Gallant is looking at you as well, expectantly. It's his line next. But there was, like, a disruption and he's just waiting for a moment. Do you do anything in this moment?
Lou Wilson
I think Eursulon's entire body goes slack in, first confusion, and then deep shame and pain and forgets where he is entirely.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Sir Gallant looks at you and goes,
Sir Gallant [Brennan]
[Muffled, from within a costume. Also stilted in cadence] Huh, stamp your mighty feet, ogre though you may. Long days have I traveled to rescue the Princess Bryony that you have captured, and put in your mighty tower. Draw steel if ye dare, beast of beasts!
[The claustrophobic tone and heartbeat drop out and the sound of the jeering audience rushes back in loudly]
Lou Wilson
I think Eursulon, just going through the motions, reaches down and pulls his sword out. But then it falls slack at his side.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Sort of goes slack. The guy playing Sir Gallant covers his face with the front of the horse and goes,
Sir Gallant [Brennan]
This is fight two. Fight—you start fight two.
Lou Wilson
Eursulon's going to drop his sword [The wood clatters] and walk away. Walk around.
Ame [Erika]
[Loudly and dramaticall] That's no true knight!
Erika Ishii
Ame says, as I point my finger towards the cardboard wearing actor.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You say "that's no true knight". You see Eursulon, walk off. Someone from the crowd is heckling. The guy playing Sir Gallant looks up and says,
Sir Gallant [Brennan]
That's right. [Slowly, without confidence] I am no true knight, because a true knight never flees from a battle. So, though the ogre has uhh run away, I shall pursue him, and princess Bryony shall sing a song to lull... uh, I'm going to get the ogre. She's going to sing a song for birds. Birds!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And he rushes back, and the princess Bryony, looks out and you see, hisses at someone in the wings you can't see and says,
Princess of Bryony [Brennan]
I don't sing. I don't sing!
[The cast laughs]
Aabria Iyengar
I have the observant feat. Could I read her lips?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Yes, you absolutely can read her lips.
Aabria Iyengar
As I turn to leave, I just yell,
Suvi [Aabria]
You can't act either.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You see that there is a jerkin wearing, like, pitchfork holding guy over here for this, like, farmer's festival who leans into both of you and says,
Refined Farmer [Brennan]
I'm sorry, ladies, this is sort of a show for kids. I know that might not be to your liking, but the families don't get many shows.
Suvi [Aabria]
You're right.
Refined Farmer [Brennan]
They come in from a long way around.
Suvi [Aabria]
We'll go. Okay.
Aabria Iyengar
And we turn and leave.
Refined Farmer [Brennan]
It's fine if you don't like it. I don't like it either, but, you know.
Lou Wilson
I like this educated yokel. This yokel of fine taste!
Ame [Erika]
You know what? A city this big deserves a better caliber of performance. Alright?
Erika Ishii
And then I also turn around and go.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The two of you march off. Eursulon, you walk backstage. Professor Adelaide goes,
J. B. Adelaide [Brennan]
[Angrily] What the hell are you doing back here?
Eursulon [Lou]
[Morosely] I am sorry. There are people, I do not want them to see me here.
Lou Wilson
Hood comes off walking walking toward my stuff, realizing I don't really have anything. Just really, Eursulon's thinking about leaving, just walking away.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You got to finish the show. You got to finish.
Eursulon [Lou]
I can't... they are.. I am...
Brennan Lee Mulligan
I'm going to say go ahead, actually, and roll initiative. [To Aabria and Erika] We'll go with the higher of the two you roll, [To Lou] and then you're rolling for yourself.
Aabria Iyengar
13
Lou Wilson
23, uh natural 20 on the die for 23.
Aabria Iyengar
Oh, my god!
Erika Ishii
Okay, well, that beats my dirty 21.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Brutal.
Lou Wilson
Brutal. Hate to see it.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Hate to see it. So backstage. So Adelaide is following you off towards—there are kind of like, there's a small canvas tent that has some easy to set up sort of tables, and there are, sort of, canvas sacks of costumes. Your stuff is in here. There's also a little private, almost like one of those armor stands at a joust, those, like, little skinny striped tents. And that's sort of where you go in, honestly, to kind of like Superman-style like, change your glamour if you need to. But Adelaide is following behind you and goes,
J. B. Adelaide [Brennan]
Bear, we need you back on stage! We make our money from selling the tomatoes that the kids throw at you at the end of the show!
Eursulon [Lou]
[Stumbling over his words] I cannot. I cannot. Not tonight. The music box. Can I have the music box back for now?
J. B. Adelaide [Brennan]
You want to walk out of the middle of the show, one of our biggest shows of the year. And get this, this is exactly why I kept the music box, because you don't understand the meaning of work. You don't understand the meaning of putting in an honest day's labor. You don't care about Oscar or Agnes or any of the performers in Adelaide's troupe. All right.
Eursulon [Lou]
I'm sorry. I did not know that they would come.
J. B. Adelaide [Brennan]
All right, look, kid, are you in danger?
Eursulon [Lou]
No.
J. B. Adelaide [Brennan]
Then what the hell's the problem?
Eursulon [Lou]
These are people who know me from a part of my life where I could have been something else. And I am not that thing. I do not want them to see me.
Lou Wilson
Now, I'm going to glamour.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Do you do that just right in front of Adelaide?
Lou Wilson
No, I wouldn't. No, I know better. I am going to turn to Adelaide and say,
Eursulon [Lou]
[Raising voice] There will be NO show tonight.
Lou Wilson
And I'd like to intimidate him.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Give me an intimidation roll.
Lou Wilson
That's going to be a 17.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
I think on a 17, that's loud enough for the two of you to hear. And I think even some other people, like, up on stage, Bryony, she's going,
Princess of Bryony [Brennan]
[Truly terrible "singing"] The birds. The birds are ever... uh... friends.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And you see—
Erika Ishii
Keep going. We want to hear the song.
Aabria Iyengar
Three! Verses!
Princess of Bryony [Brennan]
Ever our friends. The birds. Every bird, the... sparrow, the... [deep sigh] Oh god. Sparrow, The, um, penguin. The sparrow.
Lou Wilson
Name other birds!
Erika Ishii
Keep naming birds.
Lou Wilson
I'd like to think that the yokel in the back is just rattling them off. "Woodpecker. Jay bird. Come on."
Erika Ishii
Bower bird
Lou Wilson
"This is not hard."
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Chickadee, titmouse, uh nut hatch
Erika Ishii
Egret!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Egret, heron, crane.
Erika Ishii
Stellar's Jay!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You see, uh—you yell that, Oscar runs back, the actor who plays Sir Gallant, and sees Adelaide, who has taken a step back or two, and Oscar just goes once again like,
Oscar [Brennan]
Hey, I think Bryony's holding 'em out there. Is everything going to be all right? Did you forget the fight? It's the one that you start.
Eursulon [Lou]
I know it is fight number two. I know fight number two. I'm well aware that it is fight number two. My fri—There are people here I do not want to see me.
Oscar [Brennan]
Do you need help stalling them out?
Eursulon [Lou]
Please.
Oscar [Brennan]
All right.
Erika Ishii
Alright, so we head back toward the backstage.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You come around. There's a little lit area outside of the larger canvas tent with all of the props and gear and stuff like that. As you're approaching, by the way, the fox just goes, like [sniffing noises],
The Fox [Brennan]
Everywhere. I mean, it's just the smell's everywhere. He's been working here.
Erika Ishii
Okay. Great job[?] So far.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And you see the actor who plays the knight turn around and say,
Oscar [Brennan]
Oh, sorry, this is a performers only area, my apologies.
Ame [Erika]
Hi. Yes, we know the actor who plays the ogre. We need to see him immediately.
Aabria Iyengar
I slam my staff on the ground, revealing it to be that tall, jagged glass spire of the citadel. [A sound of crashing glass] She's at her full 6ft tall, and pulled back a sleeve enough to see that, like, ring. This is a big enough city that they should know how to respond to this energy.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Amazing. Go ahead and give me intimidate with advantage
Aabria Iyengar
Thirteen!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
What do you say to Oscar as he's standing in front of you?
Suvi [Aabria]
Move.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
He goes, "Yep" and moves to the side and—moves to the side. And you see Professor Adelaide off at one of the wagons that's not creating the encirclement around the stage, but you see him look. Oscar looks at you. You can tell that Oscar doesn't clock the Sigil but just clocks "Wizard," and that's enough for him. You can see Adelaide clock the sigil and sort of stumble up the steps into his wagon and close the door.
Erika Ishii
Do we see Eursulon?
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You don't see Eursulon, but you see that Oscar just steps out of your way essentially.
Aabria Iyengar
I stride forward and I'm just looking around, kind of using my staff to open little flaps of tents, not saying anything else.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Okay, Eursulon, you've changed into your glamour at this point.
Lou Wilson
Yes.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
I am going to say—are you going to stay in the tent after you change the glamour? You can hear Suvi and Ame searching for you out amongst the performers tents here at the fair.
Lou Wilson
I think Eursulon looks out into open field, and considers for a moment just running. And then just waits.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Go ahead and give me a stealth check. And I'm going to ask actually for you to do it, because you're staying put. I'll ask for it with disadvantage and you're trying to beat passive investigation.
Lou Wilson
Only a six.
Aabria Iyengar
Oof.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
So you're standing in the tent. Your glamour up. The flap of the tent is moved with the head of a crystal staff that is partially illuminated, and soft blue light fills the tent as you are face to face with Suvi.
Lou Wilson
You would look upon the face of someone who looks as much like a brother you never had as they could. Of around your same age, if not maybe a few years older. But I do think I'm not looking at you. I think my face is down. I don't meet your gaze, but I know you're there.
Aabria Iyengar
Suvi will snap in Ame's direction to get her attention, to pull her focus, to follow her into the tent.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The tent you now stand in is very small. It's only about like 5ft wide. So you'll be elbow to elbow, but you step inside. Ame, you see the fox follows you in. You see, strange fox.
The Fox [Brennan]
Wow. I hate to break it to you boss. We've been following the wrong scent since the start. This is just a guy.
Ame [Erika]
Could you give us a moment, please?
The Fox [Brennan]
Yeah.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
He just stays in the tent.
Ame [Erika]
Alone?
The Fox [Brennan]
Give you a moment alone? How would I do that?
Ame [Erika]
You would go outside of the tent.
The Fox [Brennan]
Oh, you're asking me to leave? Oh yeah leave. Yeah, yeah yeah.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You see the fox turns and whips out through the tent flap.
Erika Ishii
And I flip around and I launch myself at Eursulon's middle.
Lou Wilson
I take it a step back and away from you.
Erika Ishii
I, in turn, pull back my arms. Alarmed.
Suvi [Aabria]
I'm sorry if we disrupted. You're my best friend and it's very good to see you.
Ame [Erika]
You're more of a knight than that guy's wooden performance.
Eursulon [Lou]
I am not... I am not.
Suvi [Aabria]
How did you end up here? Like this?
Lou Wilson
I think at this point, Eursulon turns to take you both in and sees you, and your incredible clothing and your gorgeous staff. And you, and your put-together witch's outfit with your perfect hat and your full pouches, which he can smell are filled with delicious treats and natural things.
Eursulon [Lou]
The years have not been as kind to me as they seem to have been to you both.
Ame [Erika]
I'm so sorry. I wish you'd come back.
Eursulon [Lou]
I could not bear to face you.
Suvi [Aabria]
You are magnificent.
Ame [Erika]
You don't ever have to feel ashamed of anything. I know that you went off searching for honor and I can't imagine that you didn't find some along the way. Doesn't matter what you're doing now or what you look like, but I'm certain that you have acted honorably.
Eursulon [Lou]
I have tried. But this world is not the one I first encountered. It is not the one that I came to this, to your world seeking. And I have given up much to remain. Your music box... gone.
Ame [Erika]
What do you mean, it's gone?
Eursulon [Lou]
To remain here with these people, who are some of the kindest I have met.
Suvi [Aabria]
These people took your music box?
Eursulon [Lou]
I gave it to them. At the beginning, I was not consistent. I missed shows.
Suvi [Aabria]
No.
Aabria Iyengar
And Suvi puts her hand up and turns and marches in the direction of the man that shut himself into his wagon.
[Tense horn music comes in]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You walk towards the wagon. You approach the door. There are four short steps up and then the door in front of you.
Aabria Iyengar
She reaches out with her staff and uses prestidigitation to knock faster than a hand could. That rap that almost feels like one sustained long knock.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You hear a,
J. B. Adelaide [Brennan]
[Harried yelp] Occupied, sorry!
Suvi [Aabria]
This will be quick.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
The door opens. Professor Adelaide off stage is a little bit of a sadder sight. A shorter fellow who, you see the thick makeup that looks better on the stage than it does in person, that sort of disguises a kind of watery, sad eyed grimace as he holds his hat in his hands, opening the door.
J. B. Adelaide [Brennan]
Hu—Hello. Hello?
Suvi [Aabria]
I need the music box.
Aabria Iyengar
She begins to walk up and into the wagon.
J. B. Adelaide [Brennan]
Well, as a hedge mage to—the enter to my sanctum—
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And a bunch of cards fall out of his sleeves
Suvi [Aabria]
disrespectful.
J. B. Adelaide [Brennan]
I'm not a wizard. I'm not!
Brennan Lee Mulligan
And he steps off. He leaves the wagon and says,
J. B. Adelaide [Brennan]
Help yourself. Anything you want.
Aabria Iyengar
[Laughing] Well, I'm going to do that. I don't know how to solve an emotional problem.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Give me an arcana check.
Aabria Iyengar
9
[Everyone laughs]
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Everything in here is absolute bric-a-brac garbage. Fuckin', two-bit, quickly scrawled things that thieves and cutthroats wrote on scraps of parchment, seeing a wizard open a book, peeking over their shoulder, compiled into penny dreadful things sold in harbor towns across the edge of the Empire.
J. B. Adelaide [Brennan]
[Attempting a mysterious air] My scrolls contain several uh, incantatums—
Suvi [Aabria]
[Severely] Stop speaking—
J. B. Adelaide [Brennan]
[Chastened] Sorry.
Suvi [Aabria]
—Now
J. B. Adelaide [Brennan]
Yep.
Suvi [Aabria]
Where is it? If I search, I will destroy what little garbage you hold dear.
J. B. Adelaide [Brennan]
Um. There's a magical chest in the back. [Stumbling] That... the Ancient Word of the Lingua Arcana "Cassar" should open. And if that doesn't work—
Suvi [Aabria]
You would—
J. B. Adelaide [Brennan]
—what's that?
Suvi [Aabria]
[Incandescent with rage] You would DARE reference the Lingua Arcana in front of me?
J. B. Adelaide [Brennan]
[Sputtering] I—I didn't...
Suvi [Aabria]
[Roaring] RUN.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
He sprints, [raucous calliope circus music kicks in] you see he throws his top hat off into a field, takes his white gloves off, just sprints. Pell mell. He kind of goes, I think, halfway into the field, he decides to start going serpentine, and he doesn't know. [Mimicking sounds of exertion] Dodging off into the night. And that's the last we'll ever see of Professor Adelaide.
Erika Ishii
J.P. Adelaide. In the wind.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
In the wind! You find that there is a completely non magical chest in the back. It has a lock that is designed to look magical but is just glued shut and you can see that the bottom slides out.
Aabria Iyengar
Oh, okay. Takes her time, considers breaking it to make a point, and then in a moment of weird mercy, just slides it out.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
You see, there's a couple of little sort of like, private ledgers that look like maybe like, bookkeeping of the caravan. Looks like this guy's also like the business person at the head of this little troupe of performers. And there is Ame's beautiful little music box.
[Harp strum]
Ame [Erika]
I'm sorry that you didn't feel that you could come back to the cottage. It was always your home.
Eursulon [Lou]
I know. And it was clear, even when you were very young, that your kindness and loveliness would extend forever to me. But I had already given up so much that was important to me from that time when we were young. And I feared that you would look upon me the same way you did tonight. With pain and confusion. I could not bear to see that from—to have my true friends see me so low.
Ame [Erika]
If you'd wanted to be an actor, I would even have supported that.
Eursulon [Lou]
I didn't want to, I don't want to be an actor, it was—
Ame [Erika]
Oh, thank goodness.
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Suvi, you reappear. And you see that Suvi has come back with the music box.
Lou Wilson
I think. Eursulon melts. Eursulon melts just a little bit.
Suvi [Aabria]
They call you Bear?
Eursulon [Lou]
No one says Eursulon right.
Erika Ishii
It's not that hard. They can put in a little effort.
Eursulon [Lou]
I mean, there are some yokels here who are more cultured, and have more elocutious tongue, but they are few and far between. There's one particular one [The cast laughs] who's been coming to the show kind of every night, stands in the back and comes up to me afterwards and has notes on my performance.
Ame [Erika]
Everyone's a critic!
Eursulon [Lou]
Everyone is a critic. But that is truly kind of you, Suvi.
Ame [Erika]
We need your help. You and the sword that Suvi bestowed upon you, that we have found out is called Wave Breaker.
Lou Wilson
I think in this moment, as you say that, I think there is such another wave of shame that crashes over Eursulon. His glamour form is a full foot shorter than he is in his true form. And I think you see that even that person kind of their shoulders slouch, or my shoulder slouch. My head goes down, and I would say I partially begin to disappear. And again, I turn my head away from you, unable to look at either one of you.
Suvi [Aabria]
Please don't go.
Eursulon [Lou]
The sword is gone. During one terrible winter, when I needed a place to take shelter, I gave it away.
Ame [Erika]
That shelter should have been offered to you freely. That's not your fault. Whether they knew you were an Honored Friend or not, hospitality to strangers is required! It's sacred.
Aabria Iyengar
I just want to go over and try to hug you.
Lou Wilson
I think now Eursulon takes it.
Suvi [Aabria]
It's okay.
Ame [Erika]
It's not your fault.
Suvi [Aabria]
It's okay.
Ame [Erika]
Well, at least now the sword is gone. Now we know. We have a quest for you.
Eursulon [Lou]
Ooh ho ho [Incredulous, satisfied laugh]
[Gentle, sweet organ tones fade out]