[00:00:05] Speaker A: You are listening to an atomic broadcasting production. So sit back, relax and enjoy the feature presentation. And remember, do your part. Such as, like, comment rate and don't forget to tell a friend to tune in for an atomic time.
[00:00:30] Speaker B: Now, where did we leave off?
[00:00:35] Speaker C: Ah, yes.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: Val killed Bringr with sudden necromancy, then stormed angrily away.
Alward and Zafir attempted to stop her, but she lashed out at Zafir, nearly killing him as well, and then disappeared into the woods.
[00:00:59] Speaker D: So you guys remember a while back, I think I mentioned it to Geordie and Abby. I was looking up pictures of wisp fetchling so that I could see what they look like.
[00:01:09] Speaker E: Oh, yes.
[00:01:09] Speaker D: And this was a few months after we had started and a few months after I had created the character and everything. And I came up to a website where somebody was putting their, I guess, idea for a online game. Like an online campaign.
[00:01:24] Speaker F: Yeah.
[00:01:24] Speaker D: And I found somebody who had created a character who was a wisp fetchling and is also a magus who also has red glowing eyes.
And let me scroll down to their story. I don't know where it was. I think it had something to do with their family dying and, you know, bad stuff.
[00:01:46] Speaker G: Same story.
[00:01:47] Speaker D: Okay, so I should say his name is. And I will also quote the creator. His name is Sourcel. Truth Hunter.
[00:01:53] Speaker E: Sorcel.
[00:01:54] Speaker D: Sorcel. It's pretty good.
[00:01:55] Speaker G: I like that.
[00:01:55] Speaker D: I also like Truth Hunter a lot because it's like you're on a journey of hunting truth. This is by somebody named Z. Zaya. Deus. Zia Dais.
[00:02:05] Speaker G: I don't know how to pronounce it. They could also be Shia. Dia.
[00:02:08] Speaker D: Dias. Well, anyway, yeah, I thought it was just really interesting and I pulled it up. And the picture, he's like the first. No, the fifth picture that you look up if you Google Wisp fetchling. I don't know if they made this image or this artwork or not, but it's really cool.
And it says he grew up under the watch of his father and his uncle. He owned a printing press. He's a printer. He. Eventually.
I'm just trying to get to the good part. I'm trying to get to the good part.
[00:02:36] Speaker F: Trying to throw away all the hips.
[00:02:39] Speaker G: Doesn'T pertain to Zafir.
[00:02:41] Speaker B: Hmm.
[00:02:42] Speaker G: Cherry picking that data.
[00:02:44] Speaker D: Okay, well, some. Somewhere it talks about his father had been killed at some point.
Symington was murdered. I don't know who that is, but if you find this page, it's on myth weavers.
It's a really, really detailed. This person really Went into a lot of detail. It's really awesome. But like, I see him, he's also holding a flame. Like, you know, why can't I remember? Ignite. Yeah. And a bow, which is like exactly what Zafir is like. And I think it's crazy. And then. So this was several months ago that this happened.
[00:03:18] Speaker G: Yeah.
[00:03:19] Speaker D: And then like two or three weeks ago, Jenkins sent me a link to a song.
[00:03:24] Speaker G: Like a month ago.
[00:03:25] Speaker D: Okay, like a month ago. That's two or three weeks ago.
[00:03:28] Speaker F: Right?
[00:03:28] Speaker G: It's four or five.
[00:03:29] Speaker D: Okay, well, whatever.
[00:03:32] Speaker E: Semantics.
[00:03:33] Speaker D: So the song is called Indifferent by Legrand.
[00:03:36] Speaker E: Are you indifferent?
[00:03:39] Speaker D: Just gotta think about this. So I'm gonna read you a couple of the lyrics and I'm gonna. I'm not gonna replace any of the words just because it's the lyrics. It says, steven is a silhouette of what he used to be.
[00:03:51] Speaker A: No, I'm not.
[00:03:54] Speaker F: Well, I mean.
[00:03:57] Speaker D: He was like.
He was like the heroes on the movie screen. Something happened when he lost his family. Oh, a little bit of him died.
Now he's just one man in a king size bed. Sold a minivan for a new Corvette. He keeps seeing people in the corner of his eye.
I mean, you could take the Corvette and maybe trade that for like Tacoma.
2015 Jeep Wrangler. I was thinking more along the lines of morality, but now just listen to this very specifically. And if you haven't listened to Zafir's story, just think hard.
[00:04:36] Speaker G: If you haven't listened to Zafir's story, how have you gotten.
[00:04:40] Speaker D: This is the chorus. Okay. What do you want from me? Why are you taunting me? Is it God or the devil that is haunting me? Why is it so hard to tell if you wish me well or are you harvesting my soul to drag me.
[00:04:54] Speaker G: Down to hell and then amazing sex?
[00:04:56] Speaker D: I'm indifferent. I like me better when I don't listen than the amazing saxophone solo. It is top notch. But just think about it.
[00:05:05] Speaker E: That chorus, I can. Yeah, I can draw the parallels.
[00:05:08] Speaker G: Sam, stop shaking your head like that.
[00:05:10] Speaker E: Sam, are you okay?
[00:05:11] Speaker F: Fine.
[00:05:12] Speaker G: We're cringing. Sam.
[00:05:13] Speaker D: Great stuff. Great stuff. I love saxophone solos. I love music that actually introduces real instruments.
[00:05:19] Speaker G: I don't think it was a real saxophone, petite.
[00:05:21] Speaker C: I think it was.
[00:05:22] Speaker G: I'm going to crush your dream. I don't think it was.
[00:05:24] Speaker D: No, I really think it was. Because in a lot of his songs he has saxophones.
[00:05:27] Speaker F: What do you mean?
[00:05:28] Speaker C: Real instrument?
[00:05:29] Speaker D: Like vs vs midi file or like not? Jordy, help me out. What's the type of synthetic? Synthetic? Yeah. Sure, that's the word. I mean, that's used in a lot. Anyway, the point that I'm trying to bring up.
[00:05:45] Speaker C: Sorry.
[00:05:46] Speaker A: Continue talk of amusement.
[00:05:49] Speaker D: Okay. After going through all this, it feels very underwhelming.
[00:05:53] Speaker G: No, no, you got this.
[00:05:55] Speaker D: I feel weird about the idea that all of this has happened in the past. Actually, I don't know when that song was released.
[00:06:02] Speaker G: Oh, forever ago.
[00:06:02] Speaker D: Probably 20, 23.
[00:06:05] Speaker G: Never mind.
[00:06:06] Speaker D: So maybe about the time that I actually came up with this character, not heard it at all. And I think it's so weird to hear the parallels of a fictional character that has nothing to do with my brain.
Like, I didn't come up with the fear based on these things.
[00:06:23] Speaker F: I have a whole playlist of songs like that.
[00:06:26] Speaker D: But it's so cool to go randomly look for something that you've created, and all of a sudden you see your creation out there made by someone else, and you're like, whoa, this guy's on the same page. Or girl.
[00:06:41] Speaker A: I think there's a defining factor here, and I think this actually plays a big part into it.
[00:06:46] Speaker C: You.
[00:06:47] Speaker A: You put a lot of time and thought into your character, and it is unique because it's only something you've come up with and has you play, as we've seen in this podcast.
But you can look at how other people took the base ideas that you also thought of and then turn it into something unique in their sense. So it has the same foundations, which is kind of cool. Really cool. And you can see that and go, oh, yeah, somebody else had the same idea, but look how they did it.
[00:07:16] Speaker D: And I would love to, like. I would love to listen to other people's ideas, like, how they would. Yeah, I kind of want to hear a parody of Zafir, to be honest.
[00:07:24] Speaker G: I want a group of characters now that's just like, they're all based off the same base.
[00:07:32] Speaker E: Oh, gosh.
[00:07:34] Speaker D: And then just see where people take.
[00:07:36] Speaker G: And then just see. And then they all have to play together.
[00:07:38] Speaker E: All right, our next one shot, guys.
[00:07:40] Speaker A: I like this.
[00:07:41] Speaker D: Like, we're all just, like.
[00:07:42] Speaker A: We all have the same background.
[00:07:44] Speaker D: So I don't know if I'm allowed to talk about this, but there was an episode of Arthur, like, 20 years ago where they all went to, I think, like, an archery or a soccer contest, and they were against a school that had, like, creepily similar characters, characters. Arthur, to their. Yeah, Arthur the aardvark.
[00:08:03] Speaker A: What did. Arthur the aardvark.
[00:08:06] Speaker D: I know the name, thank you. Thank you. It's called Arthur.
[00:08:09] Speaker G: I thought he Said Archer.
[00:08:11] Speaker A: I did, too.
[00:08:12] Speaker E: I immediately followed Petite.
[00:08:14] Speaker D: No, but it's. I've always seen that trope of, like. It's so weird whenever you see somebody that just looks so familiar.
[00:08:21] Speaker A: So, next person.
We're a family of quintuplets.
[00:08:33] Speaker E: All right, let's put a pin in that.
Come back to that way later.
[00:08:37] Speaker D: Do we go with opposites of each other or slightly. Slight changes, slight deviance. Same thing.
[00:08:43] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:08:46] Speaker G: These smell good.
[00:08:48] Speaker C: Speaking.
[00:08:51] Speaker D: Jenkins, we're almost there.
[00:08:55] Speaker E: The fact that was on Mike made me very happy.
[00:09:00] Speaker C: No.
[00:09:00] Speaker D: What did you do?
[00:09:01] Speaker E: He opened his gummy worms and said, these smell good.
[00:09:05] Speaker G: Sometimes my inner thoughts become outer thoughts when I don't want them to, and.
[00:09:09] Speaker E: I think I was the only one that heard it.
[00:09:12] Speaker D: Well, now all the listeners at home.
[00:09:15] Speaker E: And Sam heard it, but he's being. He's mute over there today.
[00:09:18] Speaker D: We love you, Sam.
[00:09:21] Speaker H: That mustache, though.
[00:09:23] Speaker I: I wasn't going that far.
[00:09:24] Speaker C: That was uncomfortable.
[00:09:27] Speaker B: Speaking of uncomfortable, let's go ahead and jump back into things.
We'll pick things back up right where we left off. Just outside of the Wolfskin warrior camp. The sun has just finished going down, and the long shadows have given way to the dark of night. The clouds overhead are beginning to gather closer together and blot out a little bit more of the starlight and the moonlight. And Einar and Neros, you are both sitting by the fire of your camp, quietly, introspectively drinking out of your respective steins.
[00:10:03] Speaker G: Albert's going to be approaching from the east with Zafir thrown over his shoulder, sort of slowly making his way, because Zafir's a little bit too heavy for him, and I am a weak man.
[00:10:17] Speaker C: I mean, honestly, I was kind of.
[00:10:19] Speaker G: My strength is at, like, 10.
[00:10:21] Speaker A: I retract my gaze.
[00:10:23] Speaker G: Thank you.
[00:10:24] Speaker F: That means you're average.
[00:10:25] Speaker G: Yeah, I am average. And he's a hundred and something pounds.
And when he sees the camp, he's just gonna shout, einar, can you come help me?
[00:10:39] Speaker A: Einar just kind of sees you walking in.
[00:10:43] Speaker H: What happened?
[00:10:46] Speaker A: As he gets up and quickly walks over and just easily picks up Zafir.
[00:10:51] Speaker G: Off your shoulder, strong man.
Val attacked Zafia.
[00:11:01] Speaker H: Val did this?
[00:11:03] Speaker G: I mean, yeah, we were trying to, you know, see what was wrong and help her to the town. And she didn't want us following her for some reason. And I guess she thought the best course of action would be to try and kill Zafia.
[00:11:21] Speaker H: That.
That doesn't make sense.
[00:11:25] Speaker G: Yeah, he's fine now.
I tried to stop her after she did that, but was. I didn't Want to hurt her?
[00:11:40] Speaker I: Yes, I am fine. I just. I wanted someone to carry me.
[00:11:45] Speaker G: How long have you been awake?
[00:11:47] Speaker I: Probably about a minute or so.
I heard you singing to yourself. At least I think that was you.
[00:11:55] Speaker G: No, I've been pretty quiet. I think that was just.
[00:12:00] Speaker H: What happened. Zavia.
[00:12:03] Speaker I: Well, as Alward was saying, we were kind of trying to keep her from going away. And, well, she kind of just lashed out.
I think she was just trying to do whatever she could to stop us.
I saw Alwood was trying to do the same by, I guess, doing something where she had to.
She was in pain and having to move and he was trying to block her, try to, I guess, knock her out or something. But she was able to get away. And I said things that I shouldn't have said and she put her hand on my shoulder and things kind of get dark from that. But she.
I was unable to follow at that time.
[00:12:54] Speaker H: That doesn't make sense.
None of this makes sense, actually.
[00:13:00] Speaker I: I know, right?
I think it makes great sense.
Something is wrong with her and it's only been getting worse.
You may not have noticed, but when she met us, at first she was not.
She wasn't in the same way she is now.
She's in a lot more pain. And it seems that her aura, if you believe in that sort of thing, is getting darker and darker.
I think it's something we need to take care of as soon as possible.
[00:13:35] Speaker H: We first have to take care of you.
[00:13:37] Speaker I: I'm alright. I.
[00:13:38] Speaker H: You're not alright.
[00:13:39] Speaker I: I've got a couple of bottles of healing.
[00:13:44] Speaker A: He just carries you back to the camp.
[00:13:48] Speaker I: I'm alright with this.
I did leave them in my pack. I probably should have brought them with me.
[00:13:55] Speaker A: He brings you back to the fire and carefully sets you down next to Nero. She moves the Glaive out of the way.
[00:14:04] Speaker H: Where are the bottles?
[00:14:08] Speaker I: They're just in my pack here.
There's also a gnat flying around me. I'm not dead yet.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: As everybody's just either taking care of Zfir or continuing drinking, Einar just stands apart like deep in thought.
[00:14:28] Speaker H: I need to go take a walk.
[00:14:31] Speaker A: As he just walks away from the fire.
[00:14:34] Speaker I: Einar, please come back when you're done.
[00:14:40] Speaker A: I'm not leaving you all.
[00:14:42] Speaker G: Don't. Don't go into the Magic Forest.
[00:14:47] Speaker H: Somebody ought to go check on the prisoners.
[00:14:51] Speaker I: There were prisoners?
[00:14:54] Speaker A: He doesn't answer as he walks away.
Then you hear the sound of a horse just riding away.
[00:15:02] Speaker G: We didn't take prisoners.
[00:15:05] Speaker E: No. No, we didn't.
[00:15:07] Speaker G: Are there prisoners in the camp?
[00:15:09] Speaker E: Yes.
[00:15:11] Speaker G: Okay. I was gonna go free the prisoners in the camp.
[00:15:15] Speaker B: And alward, as you head back to the camp, our camera angle is going to change.
[00:15:21] Speaker A: May I do that one?
[00:15:23] Speaker B: Actually, I think so, yeah.
[00:15:26] Speaker A: The camera actually zooms in back to the fire, back to an empty spot next to Nero's where the Glaive used to be.
[00:15:38] Speaker B: With a classic wipe transition across the screen, our viewpoint changes, and we see Val again, walking through the woods. She's a little less steady on her feet now, but she's still continuing on into the east, heading back towards town, when we hear the sound of a horse approaching.
[00:16:01] Speaker A: The horse was at a bit of a gallop, but as soon as it gets close, it just moves down to a trot and comes up beside you. Not close, actually, like a good six feet away from you, keeping pace with you.
[00:16:22] Speaker F: Well, Val is just sort of staggering along, muttering to herself.
[00:16:28] Speaker H: Where are you going, Val?
[00:16:30] Speaker F: She doesn't even seem to register that you've said anything.
[00:16:34] Speaker H: You know, I. When Zafia and Alwad came back to camp, they told me the funniest thing. That you tried to kill Zafir.
And in my head, I said, that's. That. That's not Val.
That doesn't make sense.
Tell me it wasn't you.
[00:16:57] Speaker F: She's still just going and muttering and, like, just looking at things. And as she stumbles, she, like, braces herself on a tree for a bit. And as she keeps going, the tree starts to, like, wither, and she just sort of picks up some of the remains of it as she's walking and just starts eating it and muttering to herself. She doesn't ever look your direction or even seem to acknowledge your existence.
[00:17:25] Speaker H: You're not Val, are you?
Of course not.
Whatever you are, you inhabit my friend's body.
I'm not gonna stop you.
I can't even hurt you.
But I'm not gonna let you have your way.
One way or another, we're gonna get Val back.
Val, if you can hear me, come back to us safely.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: And you just hear the horse right away.
[00:18:08] Speaker B: As Einar rides back the way he came back towards the rest of the group, our camera stays behind and we watch Val as she continues to stagger on, increasingly unsteady on her feet. She walks past the camera, and we notice that her eyes, with as dark as it is, would normally have that golden glow around them.
They seem to be more cloudy, and there's just like a hint of just, like, darkness that's fading out from the pupils across her eyes. And as she walks Past us, the camera turns to look where she's going, and we see that she's leaving behind footsteps of dead grass as she walks.
We return back to the Wolf Skin camp as alward. You walk back into the main body of the camp. It's now completely deserted as all of the warriors have fled with the defeat of their captain. And. And you see, as you had noticed when you'd first entered the camp, there is a pole just to the east of Brenger's tent that has two figures, their hands bound behind their backs and tied to this pole. There's one that's a half orc woman and one that's like this half shark hulk of a man. Like, in terms of, like, physical form. Just think Dwayne the Rock Johnson, except make him half shark.
[00:19:42] Speaker G: So Maui.
[00:19:43] Speaker F: Yeah, Maui with sandpaper skin.
[00:19:47] Speaker G: Okay.
Howard's going to walk up to them and be like, did nobody free you?
[00:19:59] Speaker B: And the shark guy is like, who are you expecting to free us?
[00:20:04] Speaker G: One of my compatriots or one of the people who were in this camp previously?
[00:20:10] Speaker B: No, the previous occupants of the camp fled in quite the hurry after you defeated their captain.
[00:20:17] Speaker G: Oh, this is an awkward question. Why are you captured?
[00:20:25] Speaker B: You know, I can't really say.
We were floating down the river on a barge. We were boarded by some of these ruffians and they took a liking to our cargo, stashed it away in one of their tents. And, well, there was a bit of a disagreement between them of whether or not to keep us prisoner, to have us executed, or to let us go. And I think sort of the, shall we say, the inertia of the situation won out and we are just in limbo.
[00:20:54] Speaker G: Oh, and who are both of you?
[00:20:59] Speaker B: I am Captain Roerich of the Abyssal Pearl, and this is my first mate. And the half orc just nods.
[00:21:09] Speaker G: Do either of you have a knife on you?
[00:21:12] Speaker B: If we had a knife, do you think we'd still be sitting here tied? Of course we would. And he pulls a knife out of his boot and starts working on the ropes.
[00:21:21] Speaker G: Um, I'm just gonna take it from him and cut the ropes.
[00:21:26] Speaker B: Ah, thank you. That's much easier than trying to do that on your knees with your hands behind your back. You should try it sometime. It is quite invigorating.
[00:21:35] Speaker G: You've been here multiple hours now, and you, I guess they.
If you want weed camped close by, you don't have to, but I guess you can join our camp for now.
[00:21:50] Speaker B: Well, I should be glad to.
[00:21:54] Speaker G: Okay, you can.
So what was Your ship's name?
[00:21:59] Speaker B: The Abyssal Pearl.
[00:22:01] Speaker G: And then conversation starts and we walk to the camp.
[00:22:08] Speaker B: Alward, you brought back the ex prisoners to your camp and after a moment you've realized that the half orc has gone missing. She didn't follow you back. And just the same moment that you realize that she comes around the corner with a few small crates and starts opening them up and is pulling out what is obviously provisions from a ship and starts passing them out.
[00:22:32] Speaker G: Thank you.
Did not expect that. Appreciated.
[00:22:37] Speaker B: She just kind of nods. Is like.
It's not much, but it's good food.
You'll have to excuse Bracca. She's a touch laconic if you don't look at me like that.
[00:22:54] Speaker G: Oh, Nero Zafir, this is. I already forgot their names. And already forgot her name.
[00:23:01] Speaker B: I am Captain Roerick of the Abyssal Pearl and this is my first mate, Bracca Stonefall. Say hello, Bracca. Bracca just nods.
[00:23:09] Speaker G: I should mention Alward did not forget their names. Jenkins forgot their names.
[00:23:15] Speaker D: Can you say them one more time for me to rise up?
[00:23:17] Speaker B: Of course. For the sake of posterity. I am Captain Rorik and this is my first mate, Bracca Stonefang.
And as these introductions are being given, you hear the sound of a horse approaching from the east.
[00:23:33] Speaker A: Einar rides up to where all the other horses are tied and you just hear a heavy. Well, he gets off the horse and he lands heavily because he's big boy.
[00:23:48] Speaker D: I couldn't relate.
Fear gets off the horse with a plaque.
[00:23:54] Speaker A: I mean, Ainon knows how big you are. He just picked you up.
[00:24:00] Speaker H: I see you free the prisoners, I mean.
[00:24:03] Speaker G: Yeah, why. Why wouldn't we?
[00:24:06] Speaker H: No, no reason. I just Glad to see it, I suppose.
[00:24:10] Speaker G: I'm shocked none of you did this.
[00:24:14] Speaker I: I mean, truthfully, I didn't even know that they existed.
[00:24:18] Speaker H: I was going to. I had a few other things to take care of.
[00:24:21] Speaker A: My apologies as he indicates towards the prisoners.
[00:24:25] Speaker B: Oh, of course, you're quite forgiven. You are of course one of the fine heroes responsible for our rescue. Speaking of which, weren't there five of you before?
[00:24:37] Speaker H: There were.
[00:24:41] Speaker I: She's having a lone time right now.
[00:24:44] Speaker B: Oh, I'm sure Bracker can understand that. Bracker, just.
[00:24:52] Speaker H: Your name's Braca?
[00:24:53] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:24:56] Speaker C: Oh my gosh.
[00:24:58] Speaker B: I am Captain Roerich and this is my first mate, Bracca Stonefang.
[00:25:04] Speaker A: I had to do that.
[00:25:07] Speaker H: Bracca Roerich, A pleasure to meet you.
[00:25:11] Speaker A: And he looks at the food stores that Bracca's been handing out.
[00:25:16] Speaker H: And I think you'll feel generosity.
[00:25:19] Speaker B: But of course I do sense there is a wee bit of tension. So I think if I will just take a cup of tea and Bracca and I will go and just make sure the rest of our supplies are in order. We'll be back in 15 minutes. 20 minutes. If you need more time, just let us know. And the two soldiers back away from the fire.
[00:25:41] Speaker H: The soldiers of Chaliax, who should not bother you anymore.
[00:25:45] Speaker B: Much appreciated. We will be back in 30 minutes. 35.
[00:25:55] Speaker I: Are they coming back, do you think?
[00:25:58] Speaker G: I think they might make camp a little bit away from our camp.
[00:26:01] Speaker I: Why not in the camp, but like in the. In there, I mean.
[00:26:05] Speaker H: Well, are you all right, Sophia?
[00:26:10] Speaker I: I guess I'm. I'm all right. I'm not in the greatest of headspaces right now.
I feel like we should be doing something, but I don't know if we're.
[00:26:20] Speaker H: Prepared to do so in the morning.
Now's not the time.
[00:26:28] Speaker I: Do you think she's gonna be okay?
[00:26:35] Speaker H: I hope so.
She's strong.
[00:26:40] Speaker I: A little too strong, if you may ask me.
[00:26:44] Speaker H: We'll get her back.
[00:26:47] Speaker I: Neros, you've. You've said very little as the other female of the group.
[00:26:57] Speaker E: What does that have to do with anything?
[00:27:01] Speaker I: You're also very close to her.
I know you've had many a conversation.
You've done very little in this instance, and I'm wondering if you know best.
[00:27:16] Speaker E: You should have just let her go and give her her space. That's what you should have done. That's why I didn't go after her.
[00:27:23] Speaker I: I feel like I'm being lectured now. I'm sorry for asking.
[00:27:28] Speaker H: I don't think you did anything wrong, either of you. Or you. Neros.
[00:27:34] Speaker E: She tried to kill Zafir.
[00:27:37] Speaker H: Yes.
[00:27:37] Speaker E: Knowing. Knowing Val, which, to be honest, Aina, you haven't been with us long enough to actually know her. And I'm still confused as to why you're talking like you do actually know Val. So if you don't want to tell us why you're acting like you know Val better than we do, that that's your prerogative. But you're being secretive about that, and it's. I'm finding it hard to trust you because I feel like you're keeping a lot of secrets.
[00:28:11] Speaker I: Does he know more than he's letting on?
[00:28:12] Speaker E: I think he does because he's. He acts like he knows what's going on with her anyway.
[00:28:23] Speaker H: I don't know anything about what's going on with her right now. I can say from what I've seen, the vow that you all know and that I've seen is currently not the same vow as if something has taken over her.
[00:28:39] Speaker E: Yeah, we've been trying to figure out what that is.
We don't know.
[00:28:45] Speaker H: I saw her when I took my walk.
[00:28:48] Speaker E: Mm.
[00:28:49] Speaker H: Spoke with her. Even if you can call it that.
If you want honesty, better conversation out of a ghoul.
In the sense that she said nothing but left destruction in her wake.
She is not valuable. And I left her unharmed.
So when I say I don't think you did anything wrong, it's because you went after. Because you loved Val, and what attacked you wasn't Val.
And when I say Neros didn't do anything wrong, she did that out of love for Val as well. Out of her past experiences.
[00:29:33] Speaker I: Neros. In any other situation, I definitely would have left her alone.
But hearing him say that, I do believe that.
I don't think it's smart to let her go out on her own.
[00:29:48] Speaker E: We obviously can't stop her.
[00:29:50] Speaker C: No.
[00:29:50] Speaker H: Without harming her.
[00:29:52] Speaker I: At least continue after her.
[00:29:55] Speaker H: And I don't think we should.
[00:29:57] Speaker E: She. She could have killed you, Zafir. And you still want to go and try and stop her?
[00:30:03] Speaker I: Yes.
[00:30:04] Speaker H: Stop her is not the right word.
[00:30:07] Speaker I: No, you're right. It is not the right word. But I do want to continue following her to make sure she's okay.
[00:30:14] Speaker E: She's heading back to Cornelius.
[00:30:18] Speaker H: Who is Cornelius?
[00:30:19] Speaker E: Who's to say?
[00:30:22] Speaker H: As I said, I don't know what's going on with Val.
Her condition is as much a mystery to me as it is to you.
But by the gods, I don't want to leave her like it.
I don't want whatever that thing is to continue to.
[00:30:39] Speaker E: Is it something we can even reverse?
[00:30:42] Speaker I: I know I'm not the leader here. I don't know if we even have one at this point.
Again.
But I really think that.
I really think we need to postpone our venture and deal with this. Otherwise, we may not be able to continue taking down the others who want to take down the world.
[00:31:04] Speaker G: I mean.
[00:31:04] Speaker E: No, I agree.
[00:31:05] Speaker G: That sounds fair.
[00:31:08] Speaker E: This entire time, Neros has just been constantly drinking from her bottomless stein. And you don't. Since it keeps refilling itself, who's to say how much she's actually had to drink?
[00:31:18] Speaker I: I can imagine you've mastered circular breathing.
[00:31:21] Speaker D: But with a drink, I don't know what that is.
[00:31:27] Speaker I: It's getting late.
It's already been late.
[00:31:32] Speaker H: It is getting late.
[00:31:34] Speaker A: And as he says that, Einar walks closer to the fire, and really quickly, he pulls Something from his back. And the log next to Nero's just slams the glaive down tip point.
Not in a threatening manner. Just to.
[00:31:54] Speaker E: I was going to say in a.
[00:31:56] Speaker A: Sense that kind of like a spear putting in the ground just to hold it there.
[00:32:01] Speaker H: I didn't want her to go without a weapon to protect herself.
[00:32:06] Speaker A: In the end she wouldn't have taken.
[00:32:09] Speaker H: It even if I offered it to her.
[00:32:11] Speaker A: And he just walks away.
[00:32:14] Speaker I: So I would assume that Einar has the first watch. I'm going to.
I'm gonna go to bed, he says.
[00:32:23] Speaker D: As he already has half of his tent.
[00:32:26] Speaker A: He's slower right now.
It's about half of his tent.
[00:32:31] Speaker D: 75% speed.
[00:32:34] Speaker E: I would not count on Nero's to take a watch tonight.
[00:32:37] Speaker I: That's fair.
[00:32:38] Speaker E: I would not depend on that.
[00:32:39] Speaker D: I would still count on it. But I don't expect anything.
[00:32:42] Speaker C: Good.
[00:32:44] Speaker I: Good night everyone. I hope tomorrow brings fruitful endeavors.
[00:32:52] Speaker B: So, after the group has bed down for the night and Captain Rorik and his first mate have set up their own tent. Presumably pilfered from the tents left behind by the wolf skin warriors.
Neros.
[00:33:08] Speaker E: Neros eventually gets up from sitting by the fire.
A little unbalanced because she's been drinking pretty heavily.
She wanders away from the fire, off into some clearing.
She still has that bottomless stein though.
And she looks up into the heavens.
Corvus?
Are you there?
You always said you were watching.
[00:33:46] Speaker C: So.
[00:33:47] Speaker E: Unless you're a liar.
Corvus.
[00:33:53] Speaker B: I'm here.
And the voice comes from behind you.
Turn around and you see what you were expecting to see of this large raven like shape with the leather tooled mask and the weird bat fingers on the curve of the wings.
[00:34:16] Speaker E: What's going on?
[00:34:19] Speaker B: I don't know.
I. I can tell you that.
Well.
So Psychopomps role is to guide a soul once it has passed on and. And take it to Pharasma to be judged into the afterlife. And I.
I'm struggling to see her soul at all. It's. It's obscured. It's. It's like there's something in the way. Something.
I don't know. Staking a claim.
[00:34:53] Speaker E: What sort of something.
[00:34:56] Speaker B: Something dark.
[00:35:00] Speaker E: That's it.
[00:35:01] Speaker B: I don't know. It's. It's not my realm of expertise. It's once.
Once something has died. It's. It's just a sign to us. We take the soul and we ferry it onto Pharasma if there's a fight to be made. It's. It's not something that my type of psychopomp would fight in. We don't get involved in a fight. But, Neros, I do think that a fight might be necessary.
Not against Val, but against whatever it is that's trying to claim her.
[00:35:40] Speaker E: How do we do that?
What? I don't know what to do.
[00:35:45] Speaker B: Did Val leave her pack?
[00:35:47] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:35:48] Speaker B: She has a book.
[00:35:49] Speaker E: Okay.
[00:35:50] Speaker B: The Bones Land in a Spiral.
It's. It has all of Pharasma's rights and details and.
I can't help you.
[00:36:01] Speaker C: You.
[00:36:04] Speaker B: You know, I'm not in her best graces. But if you look through that book, and I'm sure there's something in there that could help you. Just follow the instructions. Follow the ritual.
[00:36:18] Speaker E: Okay?
Okay.
[00:36:23] Speaker B: I'm sorry. I wish. I wish I could help more directly, but I don't have the power to fix it myself, and I can't get involved. I'm sure Pharasma is paying very close attention to something. Staking a claim to one of her servants.
[00:36:38] Speaker E: Right.
I'm scared.
[00:36:44] Speaker B: I think that's wise.
But I know, Neros. I know that between you and your friends, you. You. You can pull her back.
You won't lose her.
[00:37:02] Speaker E: I hope you're right.
[00:37:04] Speaker B: Just remember, you're not.
You're not fighting Val. You're fighting for Val.
[00:37:11] Speaker E: Right.
Okay.
And she doesn't dismiss him. She doesn't. She just wanders back into the camp, just sort of leaving him behind.
Eyes kind of hazy.
[00:37:26] Speaker H: Like.
[00:37:26] Speaker E: She doesn't say bye or anything. She just leaves.
[00:37:30] Speaker B: And as Nero sleeves and is getting out of earshot so that she doesn't quite hear, but we. And the audience, we all hear, as he says, don't make the same mistake I made.
[00:37:50] Speaker I: What?
[00:37:53] Speaker G: I have so many.
[00:37:55] Speaker C: What?
Mm.
[00:37:58] Speaker F: He's clearly your dad.
[00:37:59] Speaker C: Right.
[00:38:00] Speaker G: Okay. Thank you. Not gonna lie.
[00:38:02] Speaker A: That was totally my thought, too.
[00:38:04] Speaker G: Like, after listening to the episode, I was like, it's clearly what's going on.
[00:38:09] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:38:10] Speaker E: I never got that.
[00:38:11] Speaker C: You never got that?
[00:38:12] Speaker A: How did you not?
[00:38:13] Speaker D: I didn't listen to that episode. So I thought he was Cornelius.
[00:38:17] Speaker B: Corvus.
[00:38:17] Speaker D: Cornelius.
[00:38:18] Speaker G: Everyone is Cornelius, and Cornelius is everyone.
[00:38:21] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:38:22] Speaker B: That's the subtitle. The written and the Lost. Everyone is Cornelius.
[00:38:25] Speaker F: Everyone's Cornelius.
[00:38:26] Speaker G: I didn't want to say anything.
[00:38:28] Speaker D: Cornelius.
[00:38:29] Speaker A: I didn't either, but I'm glad somebody else thought it.
[00:38:31] Speaker G: Yeah.
[00:38:32] Speaker F: Anyway.
[00:38:35] Speaker B: I think you have a more concrete idea of this scene, Sam, So.
[00:38:38] Speaker F: Gotcha.
We see grass, and then a foot steps down on it, steps off, and it starts to wither. But there's also blood on the footprint.
And we see Val stumbling through her feet bleeding now as she comes over a ridge, looking fully exhausted, her eyes almost looking animalistic.
She sees the town.
She pauses like its destination has been reached.
And sitting a while, she grabs her head like it's. Like she's in pain.
And then her right eye, the one that's not red, starts to glow a little bit. And she starts kind of looking around in a haze.
And just like, I need to find Cornelius.
And she starts walking to where we had set up camp in the town.
[00:39:47] Speaker B: Val. When you reach the place where camp had been set, you are confident that it's the right location. You recognize the tree stump that had been used for a seat, and you can even find the charred cinders left behind of where the fire was built. But you find no tent, no baggage.
The clearing is otherwise deserted.
[00:40:15] Speaker F: She's just looking around, almost in a panic.
Cornelius.
Cornelius.
She's just walking around and isn't finding him here.
And she goes to where her tent had been set up and just sort of sits down.
And then she's still holding her head like it's still in pain, and she's muttering to herself still. I was like, it's just. I.
It's not going away.
It's not going away.
And she pulls out one of her little mirrors and looks. Her left face still very blue and sort of sunk in, the skull still reaching out over the halfway point.
Her hair on her left side looks like it's thinning, as if someone's coming out, and she's just staring at herself.
I can't do this on my own anymore.
I can't fix this by myself.
I hope they'll still trust me.
And then she pulls out her hatchet and in the clearing, starts on some dirt and a drawing in it with the hatchet drawing like runes and sigils. And she's looking over them, struggling in a haze like she's gonna constantly fall over, but like she's trying to figure something.
[00:41:57] Speaker B: We now see the sky with the stars and the moon and we cross fade until now.
The sun is blazing overhead as we're now starting to bridge into the earlier portions of summer, making it actually unusually warm for the lands of the Linwrim Kings.
Our party has already struck camp and made their way back to Stagwatch in search of Val, knowing she was heading back to where they had last made camp. Our party has made their way there, hoping to find her as they approach the camp. Sam, what do you think they would find.
[00:42:45] Speaker F: Walking into the campgrounds? You would see runes all set up in the dirt, like a ritual site in one of these, like, circles is you might recognize as Val's amulet of Pharasma.
And there's these three large circles in a triangle. And the one on the bottom left, it has Phrasma's amulet in it.
In the bottom right has Val's art supplies and a quill that she has that's all rainbow colored that she uses from that she got from a temple of Shaolin.
And at the top of this triangle in the circle is an amulet to Urgathoa.
[00:43:37] Speaker A: Remind me what Urgothoa again is.
[00:43:39] Speaker F: The goddess. The pallid princess. The goddess of the undead.
[00:43:42] Speaker E: It's not good.
[00:43:43] Speaker A: Oh, the bad one.
[00:43:44] Speaker F: Yeah.
[00:43:45] Speaker A: Gotcha.
[00:43:46] Speaker F: Cornelius stuff is gone. Ylva's stuff is gone. And Val is not here.
[00:43:52] Speaker E: So on the ride back to town, Neros has been looking over the book.
Does this look like a ritual from that?
[00:44:03] Speaker F: It looks very similar to the one we did before, but like, it has different focuses.
[00:44:10] Speaker E: Oh, okay.
[00:44:12] Speaker F: If that makes sense.
[00:44:13] Speaker E: Yeah.
Could I understand what's happening here?
[00:44:16] Speaker F: You could probably roll a religion check. Ooh, yes.
[00:44:20] Speaker G: DC on that.
[00:44:21] Speaker F: I'd argue that she'd probably get a bonus on the roll because she's experienced these rituals and has the book with her.
[00:44:27] Speaker B: Yes. So go ahead and make a religion check with a plus two item bonus.
[00:44:34] Speaker E: 22.
[00:44:36] Speaker B: With a 22 neros, you are able to identify it. I imagine you spent a good deal of the night looking through the book and rituals, just kind of doing some homework in advance. And you do recognize that this is an incomplete but a begun ritual. That would be called the binding, which is intended to get a spirit that doesn't belong where it is and remove it from that. So it can also be used to exorcise spirits. So, like, if there's a haunting in a room, you could reuse that same ritual to remove that haunting.
[00:45:17] Speaker E: Cool.
Is this the sort of ritual we would need to use for valuable.
[00:45:23] Speaker B: It seems topical.
[00:45:25] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:45:26] Speaker A: If you told anybody, Einar would silently think yes, because he already thinks that Val is possessed by something.
[00:45:35] Speaker F: And as you're looking about, there's rustling in some bushes nearby.
[00:45:41] Speaker E: Val?
[00:45:42] Speaker F: Um, yeah. Coming out of the brush, Val kinda steps forward a little hesitantly. She's still looks the same as she did before, a bit with the blue and the skull crossing over more. And some of her hair on the left side seems to be falling out. And her left eye is red.
[00:46:02] Speaker H: Are we talking to Val?
[00:46:05] Speaker F: Yeah, I'm here. I'm struggling a lot to hold on here.
She kind of rubs her Head of it.
I need your help.
I can't keep doing this by myself. Trying to solve this. And I think I figured out how to do it. But I need all of your help.
[00:46:31] Speaker I: Of course, Val. Anything.
[00:46:33] Speaker H: What do we need to do?
[00:46:35] Speaker F: Thanks.
I think we can do this ritual thing and take this corruption off of me and put it into that amulet there.
But I need some focuses. And I have some ideas.
She kind of stumbles a bit as she's walking, like she's very much trying to stay cognizant.
Sheldon always preaches love. And I've had a lot of trouble understand that.
But I think she looks at Zafir hours and near us.
The three of you are like family to me right now. And there's a great love there.
And I think with you three help. And you could help focus Shallon's divinity here.
I don't know what's happened lately. And I got images of things that happened. And I'm sorry for those things.
I still care about the three of you very much.
[00:47:45] Speaker I: We can talk about that afterward.
[00:47:46] Speaker G: Val.
[00:47:48] Speaker F: Okay.
I'm not sure.
I need something.
A focus for phrasma. And I'm having.
It's hard to think.
[00:48:04] Speaker G: Does it need to be a holy symbol of hers? Or can it be anything?
[00:48:09] Speaker F: Something more than just a symbol. It needs something.
A tie for asthma. Connection.
[00:48:17] Speaker H: How about this?
[00:48:18] Speaker F: Struggling.
[00:48:19] Speaker H: And he just pulls from his back.
[00:48:21] Speaker F: Again and hands out your glaive that can. And she holds out her hand.
[00:48:30] Speaker H: He pulls her back. Do you need to do anything physical for this ritual?
[00:48:40] Speaker F: Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[00:48:43] Speaker H: Tie your feet.
[00:48:44] Speaker C: What?
[00:48:47] Speaker H: Right now.
[00:48:47] Speaker C: You'll. Val.
[00:48:49] Speaker H: But what of doing this ritual you want?
[00:48:52] Speaker F: Fair. Fair, fair, fair, fair, fair, fair, fair, fair. She's motioning her hand like, you can give it to me.
[00:49:00] Speaker A: And he slowly just hands it back to you.
[00:49:04] Speaker F: And then she stabs it into the circle that has the Phrasmus amulet in it.
[00:49:11] Speaker B: It feels right, but it feels incomplete.
[00:49:17] Speaker I: Should we be doing anything?
[00:49:19] Speaker F: You should be standing there.
[00:49:21] Speaker D: Do we pray?
[00:49:22] Speaker I: Do we wave our hands? Sing? I don't.
[00:49:26] Speaker F: I think there's something missing.
[00:49:34] Speaker B: And in that moment of silence, as you're all trying to think and figure out what could be missing, you hear the sound of wings flapping.
And Sigurn flies down through the branches and perches on the end of the glaive as it's sticking out of the ground.
And all of you. Val. But everyone else as well. Somehow that just, like, feels right. Like when you're an artist and you're, like, painting something and you're like, yes. Right there. Hold it just right there. It just. It feels right.
[00:50:08] Speaker F: Okay, Einar, make sure nothing goes wrong.
I need you to be ready and watching.
[00:50:16] Speaker H: You have my word, Val.
[00:50:19] Speaker F: Thank you.
[00:50:20] Speaker A: As he says that, he draws a sword, but he just stands as if he's a sentinel with the tip in the soil.
[00:50:31] Speaker H: Begin when you're ready.
[00:50:34] Speaker F: Val starts just speaking in Empyrean, and she's calling on Pharasma and Shelyn to help take this out.
And as she continues on, we hear this music kind of start playing like a violin on the wind.
And over on the left side of the ritual, over by Farasmus stuff, these little lights kind of start coming about, and they're swirling and moving about, and they look all like little souls.
And the music's kind of picking up with a wind that's coming about and near us. A and Z can all feel, like, that music going through them and reaching out as it looks like visible music notes and like, lines of music are kind of flowing to Val as these little circles and soul things are also kind of flowing towards Val.
And this darkness kind of starts falling onto the ground.
And, like, it's being pulled into the Amulet of Urgathoa. But it's like reaching out, trying not to be pulled.
But all of this, like, this wind keeps pushing it back. And in front of how this rose starts to grow.
The rose is kind of cut and starts floating with the souls, the lights in a spiral, sucking all this darkness into it and flows onto the amulet. And this rose starts to become a spiral around the Amulet of Urgathoa. And it begins to harden and turn into, like, the same kind of material, this metal.
And then everything begins kind of simmering down.
[00:52:41] Speaker B: And with startlingly little fanfare or drama, the ritual seems complete.
[00:52:51] Speaker F: Val kinda slumps down to her knees.
She looks down into the grass for a second and looks up at all of you.
And the face paint that looked like the skull that was growing is all gone.
And she sort of just smiles.
And you see she's very clearly missing her right front tooth.
[00:53:20] Speaker D: What?
[00:53:21] Speaker B: And that's where we'll end this episode.
[00:53:23] Speaker G: Her tooth.
[00:53:24] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:53:25] Speaker F: Got knocked out in the fight. The boss fight.
[00:53:32] Speaker B: All right, this one was a very tough decision. But since we literally just gave a hero point card to everyone at the level up, we can only pass out one today. So this one goes to Sam for this very interesting moment, bringing the party together and driving them apart and bringing them together. It's like kneading dough to make gluten.
[00:53:55] Speaker C: Emotional roller coaster.
[00:53:56] Speaker F: It's like poetry. It rhymes.
[00:53:58] Speaker G: Make gluten.
[00:54:01] Speaker F: Well, thanks guys. This was really fun and I'm glad that we were able to work together and not make her like Hamir. That was great. Thanks guys.
I'm gonna go to sleep and we'll.
[00:54:15] Speaker B: See you all in the next episode.
This has been an atomic broadcasting production. Pathfinder, Golarion and the Lost Omens world setting are copyright of Paizo. More
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[00:54:47] Speaker G: I have a gluten intolerance I don't actually.
