Episode Transcript
[00:00:30] Speaker A: Welcome to carrots and suffering. A-D-D Odyssey. I am Nate, your dungeon master and narrator of terrible things. Don't forget to leave us a rating and review. Last time on carrots and suffering, Xeris was ambushed by a group of shadows while alone and murdered in the streets. How's your strength score do in there, siris? I am at 518. Necrotic damage and seven strength drain.
[00:00:57] Speaker B: Oh my God.
[00:00:59] Speaker C: No, that'll kill me. I'll put my strength to zero.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: It's like in the mummy.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: If your target strength reduces to zero, they die.
[00:01:07] Speaker C: Yes, indeed.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: Oh my God.
[00:01:09] Speaker A: Rather than rush to do battle in the entrance of the catacombs with a badly weakened Xeris, the heroes opt to seek out healing in the protection of the light. The delay may have cost them their chance to prevent a full scale invasion. Xeris, you get back one point of.
[00:01:25] Speaker C: Actually.
[00:01:26] Speaker D: Oh my God.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: I mean, I think that we just need to get him like inside to wherever we're staying, if it's in an inn or something.
[00:01:32] Speaker D: Boule, get one of Xeris's arms over her shoulders. As Lucius comes closer, Boulain says we have to get him into shelter. There is something happening at the crypt.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: There is a single torchlight that is almost invisible from the sheer quantity of humanoid shaped shadows that have filled the basement. With Ziris healed, the party attempts to evacuate the town, gathering the civilians and fleeing the shadows out to the reflective surface of the waters in the moonlight. And shockingly, the monsters don't seem interested in increasing casualties.
[00:02:10] Speaker D: Oh, I could amplify my voice in the village square.
[00:02:13] Speaker C: Good.
[00:02:13] Speaker D: Yeah. Okay, that's what I'm going to go in the village square and take the broom. Make my voice like a fucking bullhorn.
[00:02:20] Speaker B: Oh no, I rolled in that.
[00:02:22] Speaker D: What? Oh no.
[00:02:27] Speaker C: I will use athletics to get to as many houses as quickly as possible, alerting people, getting them to the square.
[00:02:36] Speaker D: It says, the undead have overrun Mandra. Do not send paladins. Trap.
[00:02:42] Speaker A: Finally, our heroes retreat with the five surviving bishops to begin exploring the temple below the translator's summer estate. One of the doors you swing open and it leads down a stone set of stairs, takes you down a winding path into the sort of. You're on this plateau, landmass, and it's just sort of taking you down into solid stone as you walk. It's really well lit down here. You don't understand where the light is coming from. And as you reach the bottom, there's an archway. And above the archway it says divine temple of the waning. Mind. Let's get into it.
On the other side of the archway. Five row length braziers sit like pews before a pulpit. On the end of each row is a line of poetry. In a shifting language. That becomes the common tongue under your sustained gaze.
On the pulpit is a simple phrase. Personify the light to banish the darkness.
At the back of the room is a second door. Cloaked in magical darkness.
Sunlight beams through stained glass. Images each depict the radiant one. As a sunburst. Before a crowd of creatures. Bowing in supplication.
[00:04:03] Speaker D: All along the walls personify the light to banish the darkness.
[00:04:10] Speaker B: Creighton will walk into the room. Because she is a chosen of the radiant one.
[00:04:15] Speaker D: I don't know.
[00:04:15] Speaker B: Maybe she counts.
[00:04:17] Speaker C: I'll follow her.
[00:04:19] Speaker A: The first pew written on the edge of it is the beginning of maybe a poem.
It says, a beacon of strength in the darkest night. Guiding souls through the tempest's might.
[00:04:32] Speaker C: Okay, that's a lighthouse.
[00:04:34] Speaker A: Creedon, you recognize that poem immediately when you were back in town. And you went to the library and you researched 500 year old religion.
[00:04:43] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Is this my freebie?
[00:04:46] Speaker A: This is the poem. And you know the whole poem. And when you look at the next one, there's another stanza and another stanza. Another stanza. So this first one is the stanza of strength. A trait of leadership.
[00:04:56] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:04:56] Speaker A: The second one is a stanza of wisdom. The third one is courage. The fourth one is grace. And the fifth one is resilience. But that's only half the poem. The other half isn't here.
[00:05:07] Speaker C: Is it every other stance is missing? Or is it the last half?
[00:05:10] Speaker A: The last half is.
[00:05:11] Speaker B: What is the last half of the poem?
Is it additional leadership traits in the poem?
[00:05:16] Speaker A: You know it. So I'll read you the whole poem here real quick. Just so you can have it in your mind. Don't write it down, please.
[00:05:21] Speaker D: It's too long.
[00:05:22] Speaker A: A beacon of strength in the darkest night. Guiding souls through tempest. Smite with wisdom. Torch they pierce the gloom. Banishing fear and impending doom. Their voice accompass in the depths of despair. Inspiring courage in hearts laid bare in the darkness. They rise. A steadfast guide. With honor and grace. They never hide their leadership. A radiant sunbeam spark illuminates the path.
[00:05:48] Speaker E: Through the ominous dark.
[00:05:49] Speaker A: And then the end goes. They rally the weary and kindle the fire. Igniting the spirit. Inspiring desire. Through trials and tribulations, they stand tall. For leaders bring hope. Uniting one and all with compassion as their unfailing creed. They heal the wounds that the shadows feed.
[00:06:08] Speaker E: My question to you is. Do you recite the poem?
[00:06:11] Speaker B: Oh, yes.
[00:06:15] Speaker A: You imagine this was a trial and you were supposed to do something. The poem seems to be the cheat. As you recite the end of the poem, all five pew braziers light up in fire, and the darkness fades from the far door, revealing stares down.
[00:06:32] Speaker B: All right, only nine to go.
[00:06:35] Speaker D: I had no idea you were so into poetry, Creedon.
[00:06:39] Speaker B: Well, I spent the last week trying to educate myself about possible ancient puzzles, and I read this poem.
[00:06:48] Speaker D: Well done, you.
[00:06:49] Speaker C: It's a good start.
[00:06:50] Speaker A: So, heading down the step.
[00:06:51] Speaker D: Heading down the steps.
[00:06:52] Speaker B: It'll only get harder from here.
[00:06:54] Speaker A: Room two. The walls of this room are likely stone, but there's an illusion that has rendered them to appear as a foggy forest so thick you can't see. Beyond this clearing, a central beam of moonlight strikes a fountain covered in rotating mirrors that scatter pinpoints of light onto the dark ceiling like a chaotic field of stars. The mirrors seem to be rotatable, giving a wouldbe astronomer a chance to create whatever constellation they can imagine. On the fountain is a riddle. I am a whisper in the shadows, a secret revealer. When veils of deception I gently unseal, illusions and tricks I effortlessly dispel with my silvery touch.
[00:07:36] Speaker E: Their falsehoods I quell.
[00:07:39] Speaker A: What am I in the dark? A truth so bright that banishes falsehoods with my soft guiding light, my silvery.
[00:07:47] Speaker B: Touch, their falsehoods I quell. Okay, so this is clearly something about dispelling lies. What do we know about constellations?
[00:07:56] Speaker A: Constellations are the language of magic written in the sky, so all of the stars can be drawn into essentially magic runes. Okay, so any spell has a series of runes, and so if you knew.
[00:08:10] Speaker C: The zone of truth.
[00:08:13] Speaker A: If you knew zone of truth, there would be a rune for truth and a rune for zone, probably.
[00:08:18] Speaker B: I think that this might be like. Could this be like true seeing?
[00:08:22] Speaker C: True seeing? True sight? Yeah.
[00:08:24] Speaker D: Or.
[00:08:24] Speaker B: Yeah, zone of truth is an option. It wouldn't be to spell magic.
[00:08:29] Speaker C: Illusions and tricks. I think you're right. I don't think it's zone of truth.
[00:08:33] Speaker B: Flipping through my spells.
[00:08:35] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:08:36] Speaker B: Create another spell book out. She's looking at it.
[00:08:39] Speaker C: Silvery touch. I wonder if there's a. It's not guiding light, is it?
[00:08:44] Speaker B: I mean, does anything bad happen if we just try one? We can try the rune for true seeing if we know it.
[00:08:53] Speaker A: I will offer you one more hint. You're, like, 100% sure this is the luminous one?
[00:08:57] Speaker E: Puzzle.
[00:08:58] Speaker A: Goddess of magic. The moon and the fang, right?
[00:09:00] Speaker B: Okay, it wouldn't be fairy fire, though.
[00:09:06] Speaker D: Could we do Arcana rolls to see.
[00:09:08] Speaker A: If we know you can attempt an Arcana roll? I'm going to set the DC pretty high.
[00:09:12] Speaker D: My Arcana sucks, by the way. If anybody else wants to do an.
[00:09:15] Speaker B: Arcana roll, I can commune with my God, right? Can't I just kind of do that?
[00:09:20] Speaker A: Pull out your coin and try?
[00:09:21] Speaker B: Yeah, I could probably just ask.
[00:09:23] Speaker A: Your mind fades into a space under a brilliant moon in the sky and there really is nothing else around you.
[00:09:31] Speaker E: What do you say?
[00:09:33] Speaker B: Oh, goddess of the moon, I seek your guidance. I believe that this puzzle was made with your influence and I'm struggling to find the answer alone.
[00:09:44] Speaker A: The moon says, I will not be.
[00:09:46] Speaker E: Able to answer this for you because that is the challenge.
[00:09:52] Speaker A: But I would issue you a warning. The ten riddles protect something that could.
[00:09:57] Speaker E: Change the world if exposed.
[00:10:00] Speaker A: Proceed if you wish.
[00:10:02] Speaker E: I won't stop you. But you are treading a dangerous path.
[00:10:06] Speaker B: Bringing about change is exactly what you asked me to do.
[00:10:09] Speaker A: Consider then the nature of me when.
[00:10:13] Speaker E: You think of the answers.
[00:10:15] Speaker D: Moonlight. Moonbeam. Do we know that one enough to do a constellation of it?
[00:10:22] Speaker B: I don't know what moonbeam does.
[00:10:24] Speaker D: I don't know. Looking it up.
[00:10:26] Speaker A: You can roll Arcana to do a constellation.
[00:10:29] Speaker D: Who gets the highest Arcana bonus? I will give you guidance.
[00:10:32] Speaker B: Mine is three.
[00:10:33] Speaker C: Mine is two.
[00:10:35] Speaker B: Oh, my God. My rolls.
This is insane. How are you changing dice? I'm not. I'm using my crate and dice and it's really letting me down. I used one other dice and I rolled a nat one.
[00:10:46] Speaker C: What if I were to help you?
[00:10:47] Speaker A: If Xeros is helping trying to remember things, you do have advantage.
[00:10:51] Speaker B: Another dice to roll that. I also got a one on my guidance. Okay.
[00:10:55] Speaker A: Xeris is like.
[00:10:56] Speaker B: I've seen stars.
[00:10:57] Speaker A: 16 total. You step up and start manipulating these mirrors and pulling together the constellation and.
[00:11:04] Speaker E: It is just way off.
[00:11:06] Speaker A: And Xeris, you point out that it's way off. You aren't an expert by any means, but you know that's not right. And the two of you manage to puzzle out how to make the rune. The constellation of the moonbeam spell or the moonlight spell. They're actually the same rune. And once you do that, the illusion of trees on the wall seem to part. And there is another room just like this one with another fountain.
[00:11:32] Speaker D: Cool.
[00:11:33] Speaker B: We're never going to make it.
[00:11:35] Speaker A: As daylight wanes, I take my place a vision born of twilight's embrace though I seem tangible, I'm a fragile creation vanishing like dreams in fading illumination what am I as the daylight slips from sight a fleeting figment in the fading light.
[00:11:57] Speaker D: Sounds like it's referring to dusk.
[00:12:00] Speaker B: I was thinking it could be maybe like darkness. Darkness maybe?
[00:12:03] Speaker D: Makes sense.
[00:12:04] Speaker B: I think it's darkness. That's my best guess.
[00:12:07] Speaker D: I think that's as good of a guess as any. Yeah. Boulain, because she knows how to cast the darkness spell, will say, I know this rune and will help creden with arranging the mirrors and cast guidance.
[00:12:18] Speaker A: Because you know the rune for this one, unlike the last one, the DC is much lower. Give me an arcana roll.
[00:12:24] Speaker D: Oh, my God.
[00:12:25] Speaker B: My rolls are still not great, but 13, 1415 plenty.
[00:12:31] Speaker A: You put the rune for darkness up there and two things happen. The moonbeam pulses in an incredibly radiant light and you are sunburnt by moonlight.
[00:12:44] Speaker B: It wasn't right.
[00:12:45] Speaker D: Wow.
[00:12:46] Speaker A: But the trees part again and you are allowed to pass into the second room. Everybody take eleven damage from radiant.
[00:12:55] Speaker B: Sorry, everyone.
[00:12:56] Speaker D: Well, we agreed it was the best.
[00:12:59] Speaker A: Guess we had and you walk into a third room.
[00:13:02] Speaker B: Nate, do you think there were buffoons?
[00:13:05] Speaker A: No. These are hard riddles.
[00:13:07] Speaker B: These AI produced riddles.
[00:13:10] Speaker A: They're tricks in realms of whimsy where fairies play a mist enchanted woods both night and day. With wands and wings we weave and twirl, creating wonder. An enchanting swirl. What am I in the realm so wide? A mystical force where dreams abide.
[00:13:31] Speaker B: Okay, I don't think it's hallucinatory terrain.
[00:13:34] Speaker D: Will, of the wisp.
[00:13:36] Speaker B: I don't know that one.
[00:13:38] Speaker D: I don't know if that's a spell. That's just what that makes me think of.
[00:13:41] Speaker A: It's not. That's a monster.
[00:13:43] Speaker D: But there's dancing lights and there's fairy fire.
[00:13:46] Speaker B: I don't think it would be color spray.
[00:13:48] Speaker D: Okay. With wands and wings we weave and twirl. That could be dancing.
[00:13:53] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm thinking some type of dancing. Dancing lights, though, doesn't actually. Isn't dancing lights just like a bunch of lights, though?
[00:14:03] Speaker D: Do they actually dance?
[00:14:04] Speaker A: It is.
I mean, they bounce, they bounce around.
[00:14:07] Speaker D: Do they twirl? Do they twirl and swirl?
[00:14:12] Speaker C: Not literally.
[00:14:12] Speaker D: I mean, we can get into a very big semantic argument with the magical realm on this.
[00:14:19] Speaker A: Go ahead and give me a religion role. As you have seen. Have you seen two of these now?
[00:14:25] Speaker D: 20 519.
[00:14:26] Speaker A: Xeris, you have a moment of realization here.
[00:14:29] Speaker C: I'm thinking fairy fire, but we'll see.
[00:14:31] Speaker A: The main three things this goddess is known for is the moon and moonlight, illusions and mirages, magic and the fay. You just had a poem about the moon and moonlight. You had a poem about illusions or mirages. The answer here is probably magic or the fay.
[00:14:49] Speaker C: I'm thinking fairy fire.
[00:14:50] Speaker D: I know the rune for that one, too.
[00:14:52] Speaker C: I don't know if that's the right answer, but that's. And helped and helped.
[00:14:56] Speaker D: So you get advantage thing.
[00:14:57] Speaker B: This is hard without a spell list in front of us.
Okay, that is 16 1718.
[00:15:04] Speaker A: You get it lined up to fairy fire.
[00:15:07] Speaker D: I don't think this is right.
[00:15:08] Speaker A: There's a weird reaction. You don't think it was right, but you don't think it was so wrong that it's going to burn you with light.
[00:15:18] Speaker D: The celestials are not going to slap our wrist over that one.
[00:15:22] Speaker A: And the illusion fades, revealing stares downward.
[00:15:26] Speaker D: Boulain's like, was it dancing lights? It was dancing lights, wasn't it?
[00:15:30] Speaker A: You walk into the next room. A room of historic battle paraphernalia and statues of warriors and kings has a cluttered aesthetic. A stone door is closed on one side of the room, but it has no visible mechanism to open. In the center of the room is a single board of dragon chess and a simple nose nonsense set of directions play to win.
[00:15:52] Speaker D: Boule looks right at zero and says, your moment has arrived.
[00:15:56] Speaker C: My friend Taylor made.
[00:16:00] Speaker D: I will cast guidance on him.
[00:16:02] Speaker C: I think we should make sure that our tactics are sound and that we do this together.
Aka help me.
[00:16:11] Speaker D: I mean, is our help worth anything? To use earth in dragon chest, of all things.
[00:16:18] Speaker C: It is the slightest edge.
[00:16:20] Speaker D: All right. She will also cast guidance on you.
[00:16:23] Speaker C: Yeah. I'll begin an opening move on white.
[00:16:27] Speaker A: Black moves to counter you. Go ahead and roll me your skill with dragon chess.
[00:16:35] Speaker C: All right. Six, seven, 8910, 1112, 13.
[00:16:42] Speaker A: So it seems to mostly be mirroring you. But you realize just a little too late, it beats you very slightly. You gain one level of exhaustion and the stone door opens.
[00:16:54] Speaker B: These puzzles just kind of let us through whenever we mess up.
[00:16:59] Speaker D: Well, but it's punishing us, which means. I think this is the waning mind aspect.
[00:17:06] Speaker C: I don't think this is the waning mind aspect, but I do think my mind is waning. That's not good.
[00:17:14] Speaker B: Okay, you're going to have to tell us what all the actual answers to these were.
[00:17:19] Speaker A: You enter into a vast and lush garden, despite a lack of sunlight or visible source of water. A kaleidoscope of flowers, berries and vegetables greets you of all colors you could imagine. On the far wall, an archway covered in ivy has two iron bowls. The bowls each bear an inscription on the inside.
[00:17:39] Speaker C: Then take a look at the first inscription.
[00:17:41] Speaker A: The first inscription is going into chat. It's a riddle.
[00:17:46] Speaker E: Go figure.
[00:17:47] Speaker B: I do love riddles. I like this. This is fun. As bad as we are at it.
[00:17:53] Speaker D: We'Re terrible at it.
[00:17:55] Speaker A: And fields I often grace with petals vibrant in a fiery embrace among the flowers. It turns heads instead. A hue of passion. What color am I widespread?
[00:18:09] Speaker C: It's red, right?
[00:18:11] Speaker B: I would assume red. All of that points to red to me.
[00:18:15] Speaker C: Wait, what colors are available in the spread before us?
[00:18:19] Speaker A: Is it, like, literally anything you can think of? There's a shitload of red.
[00:18:23] Speaker C: All colors of the rainbow.
[00:18:25] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:18:25] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:18:26] Speaker A: They're literally vegetables, by the way. I want to be clear. This is not an illusion. These are live plants.
[00:18:32] Speaker C: So, like tomatoes.
[00:18:33] Speaker B: Smash a tomato in there.
[00:18:34] Speaker A: Yes.
Tomatoes, roses.
[00:18:37] Speaker D: What is the other one?
[00:18:38] Speaker C: That's just it. If there are roses, we should use the roses red, not the.
[00:18:43] Speaker D: Yeah. Rose is a color as well as a flower.
[00:18:47] Speaker B: And the wine, I feel like we might be overthinking. I think it's just red, but I have not been having a great track record here, so I will concede.
What does the other one say?
[00:18:58] Speaker A: Amidst meadows and skies so wide, in blossoms and lakes, I take my stride, cool and calm. Where tranquillities hue in nature's palette. What color am I?
[00:19:09] Speaker E: So true.
[00:19:10] Speaker C: So the other interesting thing is that blue and red both rhyme in the scheme.
[00:19:15] Speaker B: Yeah, that's actually what I was thinking as well. So I think it's red and blue.
[00:19:21] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:19:21] Speaker C: And also red versus blue.
[00:19:26] Speaker B: Are we agreed then?
[00:19:27] Speaker C: Take a rose. Well, let's start with red and blue.
[00:19:31] Speaker D: Because they do rhyme with the schemes here.
[00:19:36] Speaker A: So you grab a red rose and throw it in a bowl. The bowl seems to get warm, but not hot. Not hot? No.
[00:19:45] Speaker D: Okay, so then we find. Is there a blue flower?
[00:19:48] Speaker A: I mean, there is so many choices. You find a blue something.
[00:19:52] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:19:52] Speaker C: Blue bell.
[00:19:53] Speaker A: You find a blueberry, and you toss it in. That one seems to get kind of cold, but it reacts. And then across the archway appears a riddle.
Three fires burn where secrets abide at the meeting of two seas awash in the tide.
[00:20:13] Speaker B: Is there another bowl in this room?
[00:20:15] Speaker A: No. Can roll me insight that sounds smart. Want to try to anticipate something that this is getting at 26, the bowls are active in acknowledging what you have put in them, but they are not.
[00:20:28] Speaker E: All the way active.
[00:20:30] Speaker A: You think it needs more or maybe different in a specific way?
[00:20:35] Speaker D: Okay. She will find fruit and flowers, any kind of object, variety. Here, she will find a red one of everything, and she will find a blue one of everything and put them in their respective bowls. So, like they said, there's a blue flower plus the blueberry, and then the red rose.
[00:20:53] Speaker A: Let me ask a different question.
How many things are you putting in the bowls? In which bowls?
[00:20:59] Speaker B: Five.
[00:21:03] Speaker C: Fill the bowl?
[00:21:04] Speaker D: Yeah. We will fill the bowl with a variety of different kinds of objects that are the right colors in the right bowls.
[00:21:11] Speaker A: So you put the right colors in the right bowls and you basically put them in until the heat reaction gets bigger and the cold reaction gets bigger. And at that point, you seem to have used three red things and two blue things. When a portal, maybe like a shimmering light, opens to allow you passage into the next room.
[00:21:29] Speaker D: We don't get punished?
[00:21:31] Speaker A: No.
[00:21:33] Speaker D: All right.
[00:21:33] Speaker A: Not all the gods are dicks if it works.
[00:21:37] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:21:38] Speaker A: This was the whispering shepherd power. The God of life.
[00:21:41] Speaker B: I thought about putting blood in there.
[00:21:44] Speaker E: Isn'T going to hurt you might have worked.
[00:21:47] Speaker A: You enter a circular room of headstones decorated with various objects left behind by mourners. A museum door sits barred, as certainly as time itself, and one niche is carved in the door for each person who has entered the room. An epitaph reads, rituals for the dead are as much for the living.
Remember to proceed.
[00:22:06] Speaker D: Religion, insight. What would be better?
[00:22:10] Speaker C: Clearly, this is your.
[00:22:14] Speaker D: This is my domain, but I'm wondering if religion or insight would be.
[00:22:19] Speaker A: The headstones are covered in different personal Memorabilia. Roll me an investigation role.
[00:22:27] Speaker D: Not great at investigation.
[00:22:28] Speaker B: I want to help you with that. I've been trying to get good at it.
[00:22:32] Speaker D: I will also cast guidance on myself.
Well, okay. 14.
[00:22:40] Speaker A: Boulain, you find something of deep personal importance to me that reminds you. To you. That reminds you of someone who has died amongst this array of stuff.
[00:22:54] Speaker D: I know exactly what it is. I know exactly what it is.
[00:22:58] Speaker C: I'm going to take a black scale, a black dragon scale, place it near one of the collections and say, bison, you are an honorable foe.
I am happy to have fought you and have that memory.
[00:23:14] Speaker A: Okay. There are these little niches. Niches? How do you pronounce that?
[00:23:19] Speaker D: Niche?
[00:23:19] Speaker C: Niche.
[00:23:20] Speaker A: Niches. Hole in a wall. Little hole in a wall.
[00:23:23] Speaker D: Little owl.
[00:23:24] Speaker A: So, Zerus, you put the scale in and you feel a sense of accomplishment. There's no outward visible sign that you've succeeded at anything, but it seems to work. Elaine, what did you find?
[00:23:36] Speaker D: She found a linen death shroud that is scented with lavender. And it is the shroud that she wrapped her wife in when she died before we buried her at sea.
[00:23:50] Speaker A: You find the shroud and you place it in a niche and you feel like you have done something meaningful.
[00:23:57] Speaker D: All right, Creedon. There is probably something here that means a lot to you.
[00:24:01] Speaker B: No.
[00:24:02] Speaker D: What?
[00:24:02] Speaker B: I have to do one too.
[00:24:06] Speaker A: Left.
[00:24:07] Speaker D: I'll cast guidance and help you investigate.
[00:24:12] Speaker B: Okay, so I am getting the help, action and guidance.
[00:24:15] Speaker A: Yes, you can roll investigate.
[00:24:19] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:24:20] Speaker C: I have something for you.
[00:24:21] Speaker B: Aidan adds 20.
[00:24:24] Speaker A: Nice. You definitely find an item of deep personal importance about upon someone who has died. I have written down what I think it might be, but if you come up with something, I would prefer that.
[00:24:33] Speaker D: Oh, gosh.
[00:24:34] Speaker B: In the moment I am.
[00:24:34] Speaker A: In fairness, I wrote down something for every.
[00:24:37] Speaker D: I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stomp on your parade. I just like.
[00:24:40] Speaker A: No, I wanted you to come up with something. I have a backup.
[00:24:44] Speaker D: I see. I'm curious what you came up with.
[00:24:45] Speaker B: Oh, God. I am like, completely drawing a cameo.
[00:24:49] Speaker A: Featuring a ship in the waves. That seems oddly.
[00:24:52] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:24:53] Speaker B: Help me out, Nate.
[00:24:54] Speaker A: For Xeris, I had the pelt of a lonely wolf branded with the symbol of the green man from the werewolf you murdered.
[00:25:01] Speaker C: Insignificant Creedon.
[00:25:04] Speaker A: I have a toy silver bow decorated with the visage of masks.
[00:25:08] Speaker C: I was thinking like spikers, too.
[00:25:10] Speaker B: Yeah, I always felt bad about that. Okay, well, I will pick up that toy bow and I will put it in the alcohol.
[00:25:16] Speaker A: The door opens, you step in to a single mirror in a plain circular room of stone. Above the mirror is the phrase reflect on your emotions.
Lying on the ground in front of the mirror is a dead person.
[00:25:34] Speaker B: Anybody have emotions?
[00:25:37] Speaker D: Is it anybody we know?
[00:25:40] Speaker A: No.
[00:25:40] Speaker B: Okay, do we find anything on their person that belies who they are?
[00:25:46] Speaker C: All right, so we've seen the luminous one, the whispering shepherd, the silent judge.
[00:25:55] Speaker D: This is going to be divine mercy.
[00:25:57] Speaker C: I'm assuming ambition was dragon chess.
All right, so divine mercy.
I think that's a good guess.
[00:26:09] Speaker D: It said, reflect on your emotions.
[00:26:12] Speaker C: Yeah, that's what it says. Definitely.
[00:26:14] Speaker B: Okay, I don't want to do this one.
[00:26:17] Speaker D: Can I investigate the body or do a medicine check?
[00:26:22] Speaker A: Medicine would be delightful.
[00:26:24] Speaker D: See how they died.
That's a 22.
[00:26:31] Speaker A: They have several different kinds of wounds. They appear to have been burnt by some sort of moonlight, injured by some sort of darkness. Necromancy power.
The psychic damage that is causing them to bleed from their eyes and ears seems to have been what finally did them in.
[00:26:46] Speaker D: All right, this person got this far.
[00:26:49] Speaker A: They look like they died about 3 hours ago.
[00:26:51] Speaker D: 3 hours ago? Is this person old?
[00:26:53] Speaker A: A little, yeah.
[00:26:54] Speaker D: Like maybe the translator.
[00:26:56] Speaker A: No, not that old.
[00:26:57] Speaker D: Okay, can I also investigate the body?
[00:27:00] Speaker B: Do we see a holy symbol on.
[00:27:01] Speaker A: Them, find a symbol of mask without having to roll anything.
[00:27:07] Speaker D: Okay. This is one of the missing bishops.
[00:27:10] Speaker A: Yeah, one of the missing bishops was the bishop of mask.
[00:27:13] Speaker E: Yes.
[00:27:13] Speaker D: Boulain will do her field dressing death rights on this body and pray over them and say, mask. This one died in your service.
[00:27:24] Speaker C: All right, so the body is probably not part of the puzzle.
[00:27:27] Speaker D: No, they're not. She's just doing her duty.
[00:27:30] Speaker C: So we should take him back to the previous room.
[00:27:33] Speaker D: I'll tell you what. We will put him by the door, and on our way out, we can put him in the previous room.
I am not sure if we are allowed back and forth, so we should probably not test that.
[00:27:47] Speaker A: Agreed.
[00:27:48] Speaker B: So who wants to look in the mirror?
[00:27:50] Speaker C: I will look in the mirror. I will reflect on my honed ability to channel my rage and see if there's something that changes.
[00:27:59] Speaker A: Xeris, when you look in the mirror, you are flooded with emotional events of your life. Give me one punching like.
Okay, go ahead and roll me a charisma saving throw.
[00:28:12] Speaker C: That is a 15.
[00:28:13] Speaker A: You really struggle with this because the emotion of anger seems to be intensely overwhelming, and it occurs to you that your ability to rage is probably working against you. But a DC 15 is enough. The mere shimmers and you are pulled through it and are gone.
[00:28:34] Speaker D: I suppose he passed.
[00:28:36] Speaker C: Well, I didn't end up like a priest of the.
[00:28:39] Speaker D: Yeah, passed the test. Not passed away.
[00:28:42] Speaker C: No, I meant we've seen what happens if you.
[00:28:46] Speaker B: Yeah, I definitely don't want to go last. Can I go next?
[00:28:50] Speaker D: By all means.
[00:28:51] Speaker A: All right, Creedon. You look into the mirror. A cascade of emotional memories flood visibly in the mirror. Tell me about what shows up for you.
[00:29:01] Speaker B: Creedon sees the first time that dread made her pancakes.
[00:29:06] Speaker A: All right, roll me a charisma saving throw.
[00:29:09] Speaker B: All right, I have rolled, like, 30 times this session, and I think only three times that it's been above a ten. No, 17.
[00:29:16] Speaker A: So you chose a particularly benevolent memory, and it seems to sit well in your mind, and you're able to come to terms with it, at which point the mirror sort of shifts and you are gone.
[00:29:29] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:29:33] Speaker B: Don't mess it up.
[00:29:35] Speaker D: Don't fuck it up. Boulain.
Boulain looks into the mirror.
[00:29:40] Speaker A: Okay, same thing. What does Boulain see?
[00:29:44] Speaker D: Is it possible to do a combined emotion or does it have to be like one?
[00:29:48] Speaker A: I mean, you're looking into the mirror, dedicated to the God of emotion.
[00:29:52] Speaker E: I suspect you can do a lot of things.
[00:29:54] Speaker D: Okay. I think prompted by finding the death shroud in the last room. She is experiencing the combination of love and grief that came when we stood on the deck of seven ship and buried her at sea, and we lit it on fire, and we were singing her favorite sea shanties to her as she burned. And it's that whole swirling mix.
[00:30:19] Speaker A: Give me a charisma saving throw.
[00:30:21] Speaker D: Hey, do get a pretty good bonus on charisma 15.
[00:30:27] Speaker A: Okay. You feel better? Having felt these emotions, you acknowledge them, and it lets you through.
[00:30:35] Speaker D: Yay.
[00:30:36] Speaker A: No emotionally stunted people.
[00:30:40] Speaker D: We are very honest about our emotions in this group.
[00:30:42] Speaker A: I can tell you who would have auto failed on this one. Dread.
[00:30:47] Speaker D: Oh.
[00:31:01] Speaker A: The chomphiles. I guess this sounds kind of stupid.
Nepel's a shit show. Nightfall after we thought dread had it all figured out, the undead start popping up all over town. They're doing these individual ambushes, hidden people who are alone in groups of two or three, kill them and run to hide. It's been a long ass night trying to guard the town and gates of the catacombs. Plus, it feels like we're being watched anytime we stand by the dead gate, like they're just watching us, waiting for us to fuck up. Leave it unguarded for a minute, and they'll be here by the time I show up to the screams in town. I'm fighting a fresh, dead lumberjack and its shadow. The original problem's nowhere to be seen. This morning, I laid down the law. We send everyone out of town. We make the dad come to us or leave.
The bishops didn't like the idea, but Jerry Killington, Max's dad, talked him into it. They couldn't decide if it was safer to head to Astragar or to flee into the forest. Astragar could be the. You know, we'd be sending these kitties from one battle to the front line.
[00:32:05] Speaker E: Of the next war.
[00:32:07] Speaker A: The green man, bishop, wants them to head to the forest, surrender any strategic ground, just survive in tents and old locking camps. And I guess if she's there with them, that might be fine, but then you got to worry about dire bears and shit. Well, it's her problem now, I guess.
Anyway, anyone who can't hold an axe split into two groups. Half went to Astragar, half went to the forest. Somebody's surviving this, even if we don't make it. And that feels good. Chom the know. That's why I stopped working for that rich guy in Turtle Bay, getting people in Nepal to stay in groups and camp out by the dead gates. A real struggle, though. But I'm guessing after a few nights of being hunted in your own home, they'll give up the ego and the tough guy act. Park it and camp with the rest of us or they'll be dead. I guess you can bet some are going to choose becoming the problem and dying before they admit they can't defend themselves. Don't get me wrong. I'm a tough guy too. But I got giant blood in my veins in a lifetime of killer be killed, I can take three of these guys. These fools can't. But they won't admit it anyway. Camp at the dead gates. Getting fuller. We can sleep during the day, so that ain't so bad. I'm splitting the camp into three groups. One never leaves the gate. One hunts the dead in the daylight when they're weak. And the one strike force saves those stubborn fools through the night shift. That's the real dangerous work. Me, little Maxo. We're helping them as much as we can. I keep trying to make tiny dread stay with the gate team, but he won't leave Max. Kind of a shame, because I could use some time alone with just the two of us. But those two are inseparable. They're like brothers. I never had a brother, so I don't get it. But I guess when you fall for a man, you get his whole family, too. Mom was right about that, I guess.
Anyway, I'm supposed to sign these reports off with something cool, so I guess I'm going with. If you're going to be dumb, you better be tough doing this job instead of that safe one in Turtle Bay.
I guess I'm both.
This room is filled with tools, gears, and various engineering widgets. The far door is a massive structure of gears, dials, switches, levers split into three panels. One panel is a lever labeled creativity, the other labeled iteration, the other labeled problem solving.
[00:34:36] Speaker D: I think Xeris is the smartest one in the group, right?
[00:34:41] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:34:42] Speaker A: It occurs to you that this is obviously dedicated to divine Hammer, the God of Crafting.
[00:34:47] Speaker D: Can I do an insight?
[00:34:49] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:34:50] Speaker C: Well, I think there's something we haven't seen yet, so I'm going to start.
[00:34:54] Speaker D: Looking around 15 on insight.
[00:34:57] Speaker A: You think there are probably 20 or.
[00:34:59] Speaker E: 30 ways to get this door open.
[00:35:01] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:35:02] Speaker A: And how you choose to open it matters.
[00:35:05] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:35:05] Speaker A: Zirus. As you search around, it occurs to you that there are actually multiple ways to get this door open. You can see the gears fitting together. Actually, the door might not even be locked. Like, you might just be able to pull it open, but there is literally nothing else in this room, it is just presenting you a door. No riddle, no nothing.
[00:35:25] Speaker C: All right. Yeah. I think the simplest answer is the right one.
And I will start by just trying to open the door.
[00:35:35] Speaker A: You swing the door open, there are stairs going down zeros. The room is flooded with psychic noise, as, apparently, the way you open the door wasn't very innovative.
Everybody in the room, take 13. Psychic damage.
But the door is open, you can just walk on down.
[00:35:55] Speaker C: I don't understand.
I don't need to be creative. If the door is open, they want.
[00:36:01] Speaker B: You to over engineer it.
[00:36:04] Speaker C: Usually something I'm very good at.
[00:36:06] Speaker D: Then they bloody well should have locked it.
[00:36:10] Speaker A: In this room is a massive scale of bronze and two stone chests and a single closed door. The first chest is labeled for justice, the second for truth. Inside each chest are six weights, each one labeled differently, but they seem to be of unpredictable size and mass. The labels are so in the justice chest, there is compassion, empathy, impartiality, integrity, patience and intellect. And in the truth one, there is communication, empathy, insight, intelligence, perception, and persistence.
[00:36:59] Speaker D: There's two empathies.
[00:37:00] Speaker B: I'm curious if we take out both empathies, if they will stay at the same balance level.
[00:37:06] Speaker D: Yeah, well, it seems like. You know what? I'm going to roll insight on this. Sure. Okay. All right.
17.
[00:37:15] Speaker A: You believe that because the weights are of different sizes and mass, like, the size isn't correlating to the mass, you were not supposed to use your knowledge of weights and measures to actually complete this activity. Your guess is you're supposed to choose from these. The most important things for justice and the most important things for truth.
[00:37:36] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:37:37] Speaker D: Impartiality. For truth.
[00:37:39] Speaker B: Well, impartiality was under the justice one, right?
[00:37:42] Speaker A: Correct. Ziris, because you are of sister truth, I will tell you that for justice is probably referring to a judge, and for truth is probably referring to an.
[00:37:53] Speaker E: Investigator or a prosecutor.
[00:37:54] Speaker C: Got you. I will relay that to my compatriots. I do not think I'm the person to solve this.
[00:38:01] Speaker A: You can roll me to religion to.
[00:38:02] Speaker E: Know what your church would teach you about this.
[00:38:04] Speaker C: No, that's not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for the right words. I'm looking for two certain words, and I'm sorry. Now, my brain is on that, so we're going to thesaurus.com.
[00:38:15] Speaker D: I feel like impartiality has got to be the truth.
[00:38:18] Speaker B: I was thinking impartiality must be justice. And I feel like communication for truth, maybe, or insight. Integrity is also important to justice.
[00:38:29] Speaker D: Like, for a judge, I'm going to.
[00:38:31] Speaker C: Find two rocks of about equal size.
[00:38:33] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:38:34] Speaker C: And while they are working on whatever solution they want, I will be carving uncompromising into one and unforgiving into the other.
[00:38:43] Speaker D: Oh, my God.
[00:38:46] Speaker A: You set two rocks of fairly equal weight on the scale. They balance. The door opens.
[00:38:53] Speaker C: Yeah. Great. One says, I put uncompromising into the justice.
[00:38:59] Speaker B: Unforgiving.
[00:39:00] Speaker C: Unforgiving into truth.
[00:39:03] Speaker A: You're pretty sure that's not what the creator had in mind. But a scale works like a scale. It balances and the door opens.
[00:39:12] Speaker D: And no punishment.
[00:39:14] Speaker A: No.
[00:39:15] Speaker C: This is proof that I'm right.
[00:39:19] Speaker D: Azurus only gets more insufferable.
[00:39:23] Speaker B: Oh, my God.
[00:39:25] Speaker A: In this circular room of natural stone walls, a single open door draped in ivy and wreathed in the image of a raging dragon. Printed on the dragon is the statement, only prey may enter.
The door is wide open.
[00:39:39] Speaker D: Only prey may.
[00:39:41] Speaker C: Green man.
[00:39:41] Speaker B: Well, we're all prey to something.
[00:39:43] Speaker D: Is this the time to use our green man miracle?
[00:39:46] Speaker B: I hope not. I think we just go in, right?
I mean, I feel like this could just be making us acknowledge our own mortality kind of, and. Yeah. Our smallness in the face of greater forces.
[00:40:03] Speaker D: I think Boulain says, the green man does not watch over you.
[00:40:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:40:09] Speaker D: And then she walks through.
[00:40:11] Speaker B: I follow.
[00:40:12] Speaker A: You go down the steps.
[00:40:16] Speaker B: Green man doesn't care.
Green man's not doing puzzles.
Designed a puzzle. Green man and Greenman was like, it's.
[00:40:23] Speaker D: Like this, I'll just eat them. How about that?
[00:40:29] Speaker C: I walk through as well.
[00:40:31] Speaker A: Yeah, that's it. That's it. You just had to be humble enough to walk through a door that called you was.
[00:40:38] Speaker C: It was very difficult, actually.
[00:40:39] Speaker B: That's why I was saying William and Creedon are like, yeah, we're pretty mortal.
[00:40:48] Speaker D: Who died earlier today is like our strength of eight. We have no confidence in our survivability.
[00:40:56] Speaker A: As you each enter the room, a shadow of immense size appears on the opposite side of the room. The shadows each dance a chaotic array of dance moves before striking a pose that mimics each one of you across the room. A door stands on the opposite side of the room, but the path is blocked by these massive shadows.
[00:41:17] Speaker C: Walk my shadow out of the room.
[00:41:20] Speaker A: As you walk towards your shadow, it mirrors you.
[00:41:23] Speaker C: I do not walk towards my shadow. Oh, I walk away from my shadow to walk it out the door.
[00:41:30] Speaker A: Oh, it walks out the door and disappears.
[00:41:34] Speaker D: Wayne will do the same thing.
[00:41:36] Speaker B: Wasn't that also us walking out the door, though?
[00:41:39] Speaker A: It is, yes.
[00:41:40] Speaker C: And if I come back in the.
[00:41:41] Speaker A: Room, the shadow comes back in the.
[00:41:43] Speaker E: Room, it seems to be mirroring you.
[00:41:44] Speaker A: It doesn't dance.
[00:41:45] Speaker B: Can I cast light at my shadow?
[00:41:48] Speaker A: Sure. You cast light at your shadow. It makes the motions of casting light back at you, but no light appears.
[00:41:55] Speaker D: This is cute.
[00:41:56] Speaker A: Now there is a light in your shadow.
[00:41:58] Speaker B: I love it. Which God do we think this is?
[00:42:01] Speaker D: Mask.
[00:42:01] Speaker C: This is okay, but I have no shadow.
[00:42:04] Speaker B: Don't get too close.
[00:42:05] Speaker D: You do now. Can I roll insight?
[00:42:08] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:42:09] Speaker D: Natural 20.
[00:42:10] Speaker A: Mask is a God about taking ownership and being your own person.
[00:42:13] Speaker B: I'm going to go up and smooch my shadow.
[00:42:16] Speaker A: Roll me. Perform Claire.
[00:42:20] Speaker B: Oh, my God. My roles. My roles.
Fortunately, Chris was good for me. There's 13 total.
[00:42:29] Speaker A: You walk up and smooch a shadow. It fades into you. You imagine. That was probably not an anticipated thing.
[00:42:38] Speaker E: You do receive a punishment.
[00:42:40] Speaker B: Oh, man.
[00:42:42] Speaker A: You take one strength damage, but your shadow is gone and your way forward isn't blocked.
[00:42:48] Speaker C: I want to strike at Boulain's shadow via my shadow.
[00:42:54] Speaker D: So you're going to punch, like.
[00:42:56] Speaker B: Well, no. Like shadow puppet.
[00:42:58] Speaker A: You can punch behind Boulain and still have a similar.
[00:43:01] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. Except we're not using. We're using our weapon.
[00:43:06] Speaker A: Okay. Go ahead and roll me a perform roll zirus.
[00:43:09] Speaker C: That's a 17, which would make that a 21, I believe. Yes.
[00:43:14] Speaker A: Your shadow can't really keep up with you. Like, it doesn't seem to have your skills. It's just kind of a little incompetent. And it gets sort of angry and then fades away. And nothing is blocking your path out of the room.
[00:43:27] Speaker C: Now my shadow is gone, but Boulain's is.
[00:43:30] Speaker A: Boulain's shadow is still there.
[00:43:32] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:43:33] Speaker B: Yours works better than mine do you.
[00:43:36] Speaker D: All go through the door.
[00:43:38] Speaker B: I'm waiting for you.
[00:43:39] Speaker C: I'm waiting for you.
[00:43:40] Speaker D: Okay, so just be clear. It's all about owning your shit.
[00:43:43] Speaker C: It's about being better than your shadow.
[00:43:46] Speaker D: About being better than your shadow.
[00:43:48] Speaker B: My shadow was a better kisser than me.
[00:43:53] Speaker A: Your shadows had more practice.
[00:43:57] Speaker B: It's true.
[00:43:59] Speaker C: Kissing everything it walks past.
[00:44:03] Speaker D: Boulain says to Creedon and Zuris, I need you to bear with me a moment. And she steps forward towards her shadow, but she doesn't touch it. She's got her back now to Creedon and Zuris in their line of sight. She is going to take off the top half of her tunic and let it drop. And she's going to show them the tattoo on her back.
[00:44:27] Speaker A: Roll me a perform check.
[00:44:29] Speaker D: Oh, God.
I rolled 18 with two guidance plus two. So I got a 22 okay.
[00:44:37] Speaker A: The shadow just fades away, like it doesn't seem to be able to do anything like what you just did.
[00:44:43] Speaker D: She gets dressed again and doesn't say anything. She just walks through the door.
[00:44:48] Speaker C: I follow.
[00:44:49] Speaker A: The center of the temple lies a book on a pedestal next to an orb glowing with a blinding light of pure divine power.
[00:44:56] Speaker B: That sounds handy.
[00:44:57] Speaker A: A single feather quill of unlimited ink lies next to the book, waiting for someone to write. In the Book are hundreds of pages, each featuring hundreds of names, an exhaustive list, and titles of all the dead and forgotten gods that no longer exist. Standing next to the book is a teenager, and a small circle on the floor sparks into life. And stepping out is a very old man.
Last we left off, you had defeated ten puzzles, arriving in a central room where you discovered that someone has beaten you here. That person is a young acolyte. They appear to be maybe 16 or 17 years old. This room, I'll describe very quickly, is a cylinder with a small circle embedded in the floor. In the middle of the room, there's sort of a pedestal that has a book on it with a sort of floating pen and a glowing orb that's sparkling with divine power. The girl is looking at the book. You can tell from where you are. It is flipped open and full of names of dead gods. And in that moment, there's a flash at the circle that was over in.
[00:46:23] Speaker E: The floor, and an old man steps out.
[00:46:26] Speaker A: You don't have to roll to recognize the translator. This guy is basically the equivalent of the pope of your religion. These people are appointed specifically when they're very, very old. The translator rotates around which God that person was patroned by, and they tend to only serve for two or three years before dying. So this guy appears to be probably 92. He's hunched, his skin is really in.
[00:46:53] Speaker E: Bad shape, like, he looks like he's.
[00:46:55] Speaker A: Kind of clinging to life. But interestingly enough, he stands up pretty.
[00:47:00] Speaker E: Straight as he enters in a very.
[00:47:02] Speaker A: Sort of formal way, just wearing sort.
[00:47:05] Speaker E: Of a clerics robe.
[00:47:06] Speaker A: And he says, what are you doing? The alarm's been going off for like, an hour.
[00:47:11] Speaker D: Can I ask a question, Nate? Which is back talking a little bit, what was the actual goal in our coming to find this book? It's not necessarily to remove it. Right.
[00:47:22] Speaker A: You were told that this book is of strategic importance to Vecna, and then when you got here, you found the town under wild assault by Vecna. So I presume you were here to.
[00:47:37] Speaker E: Make sure nothing bad happens to the book.
[00:47:39] Speaker D: Okay. But it wasn't necessarily retrieve it and get it back to Astragar.
[00:47:43] Speaker A: You asked what to do if it was actually in danger, and getting it back to Astragar was one of the options. Okay, other things you know about the translator. So the translator's job is to go into situations where gods disagree and decide which God actually has domain over this situation. That is why it rotates really aggressively between which God is patroning each translator. You know that the translators actually cast aside their name when they take this role. So this guy is called just the translator, although you do know that he was a priest and probably still is.
[00:48:22] Speaker E: Of the radiant one.
[00:48:23] Speaker D: Boulain will do whatever the appropriate genuflection is.
[00:48:29] Speaker A: You make something up, and it works great.
[00:48:32] Speaker D: And says, translator, she looks at zeros because she is not sure what to say.
[00:48:38] Speaker C: I'm actually much more interested in this acolyte, and I am focused straight on that person.
[00:48:45] Speaker A: The acolyte turns around and says, translator, I'm sorry. My name is Aliana Everchild.
I am here on a divine mandate. Mask has spoken to me and made a proclamation, a divine edict, and I am here to carry it out. I had the bishop with me, but.
[00:49:05] Speaker E: One of the puzzles killed them. Well, actually, several of the puzzles killed them. And the translator nods and says, what are the rest of you here for?
[00:49:16] Speaker C: Insight.
[00:49:18] Speaker D: Yeah, I'm going to insight this one same.
[00:49:23] Speaker C: I'm going to help Boulain.
[00:49:25] Speaker D: Are you going to help me? Okay, I got a not natural 20 on that first roll. I got a 22 on the second roll.
[00:49:32] Speaker A: You all sort of stare daggers at Aliana Everchild.
[00:49:37] Speaker E: And you think that this person is being 100% honest.
[00:49:42] Speaker A: You also think that they are kind of young and are really going full bore on whatever this God said in.
[00:49:51] Speaker E: A way that you'd be very hard pressed to stop them.
[00:49:54] Speaker A: The translator looks to you three for.
[00:49:57] Speaker E: Some kind of answer, to explain why you're here.
[00:50:00] Speaker C: We're here because we are concerned that this knowledge is in danger.
I personally don't know that this knowledge should exist in the mortal realm, but.
[00:50:11] Speaker D: That'S not our call.
[00:50:14] Speaker C: My own beliefs that I am leaving at the door for the moment.
And so we are here to bury, get rid of, or protect this artifact.
[00:50:29] Speaker E: And you represent. He sort of gazes over the group, and he says, sister truth. The silent judge.
[00:50:38] Speaker A: He looks at creed and tips his.
[00:50:39] Speaker E: Head to the side and says, the luminous one?
[00:50:42] Speaker B: Yes.
She nods, kind of like does a reverential bow, and says, yes, something is.
[00:50:51] Speaker E: Od with your connection to the divine child.
[00:50:55] Speaker B: Oh, I don't know. What you could be talking about.
[00:51:01] Speaker E: So, it seems you're all here to do something.
Aliana, what is it you have supposedly been told to do? And Aliana says, not supposedly, sir. The mask comes to me. They speak to me, and through me. They said I am to destroy this book. To take it and cast it into the plane of death and end it.
[00:51:25] Speaker C: No.
[00:51:28] Speaker E: The translator gives a slight nod and says, okay. You are all in a room that really, for hundreds of years, has only had a translator in it. Do any of you know what this book is?
[00:51:44] Speaker D: We understand that it contains the names.
[00:51:47] Speaker A: Of scores of heretical knowledge.
[00:51:50] Speaker D: Dead gods.
[00:51:52] Speaker E: Okay, well, the gods have seen fit to have this be our council. So I will inform you of just a little bit of information that you are missing.
This is known as the temple of the waning mind. It contains the power of a God. And any name written in the book shall be slowly degraded and forgotten. What is written in the book is the name of all the false gods who came before. Astragarian, contessa and any new ones who pop up and make a claim.
My duty is to visit here once a year and update it.
I haven't had to update it in my tenure. In fact, I don't think anyone's had to update it in many decades, if not centuries.
This is the book of the waning mind.
[00:52:46] Speaker D: We made it into the room. Are we allowed to look at it?
[00:52:51] Speaker E: You may look at it all you wish. I would ask that you not write in it. That's my job.
It's a divine object. It's indestructible.
[00:53:00] Speaker D: Villain will step up and look over Aliana's shoulder.
[00:53:05] Speaker C: What is the purpose of looking at names to be forgotten by the world.
[00:53:10] Speaker A: One thing you can quickly determine, boulain.
[00:53:12] Speaker E: Is that every page.
Every page is covered. There is no white space left in different names and titles.
[00:53:22] Speaker A: And you do think, like whole pages.
[00:53:24] Speaker E: Are the names and titles of single supposed gods from past ages. It's getting every name and every title. But this book is extensive. You're guessing. There's a thousand filled pages I have glave in.
[00:53:38] Speaker D: Hmm. Billay looks up and Xeris says, not yet.
[00:53:42] Speaker C: Soon.
[00:53:43] Speaker E: The translator says, I think we have a job here to do. I am a translator, and I am called to make petty decisions.
Often, this one might be more consequential. So it's important that I rise to the challenge. Don't you all think?
[00:54:05] Speaker C: I don't think this is a matter for a translator. For one of these messages does not come from a true God.
[00:54:13] Speaker E: Oh, which God do you think is the message?
[00:54:18] Speaker C: To, quote unquote, destroy this book by throwing it into the domain of death is a lie. It's a trick, because we are actively fighting against a very powerful undead aligned.
[00:54:37] Speaker A: Foe who I see would have access.
[00:54:41] Speaker C: To it, to that plane.
[00:54:43] Speaker E: So you feel that this scribe has been misled by a false power?
[00:54:50] Speaker D: Yes.
Well, are you aware of what is going on in Mandra tonight?
[00:54:57] Speaker E: Tonight? No. I get a report every two weeks or so.
[00:55:01] Speaker D: The town is overrun with the undead. We have actively evacuated as many of the citizens as we can. But we and the bishops who are left are in the temple now, and we are all who are left.
[00:55:18] Speaker E: I see.
[00:55:20] Speaker D: And the power behind the undead uprising is a vestigial death God.
[00:55:29] Speaker E: What is the name of this entity, this false God?
[00:55:34] Speaker A: And he sort of strides over to the book and by stride, I mean.
[00:55:38] Speaker E: He'S making a good show of striding. It's actually more like a shuffle.
[00:55:43] Speaker D: I would like to roll insight on him.
I want to know why he wants to know.
[00:55:48] Speaker B: I mean, it does make sense that he would want to know.
Oh, my gosh. My roles today are not good.
[00:55:55] Speaker A: He seems curious, if a little confused.
[00:55:59] Speaker C: I don't know that it matters.
[00:56:00] Speaker A: Translator Vecna, may this creature, if I.
[00:56:07] Speaker E: Write a name in the book, the world's supposed to forget about them.
And he picks the book up and starts flipping through it.
[00:56:14] Speaker D: I would be astounded if his name is not already in there.
[00:56:18] Speaker E: He says, here it is.
Vekna, God of secrets, taken to the grave. It's in here.
No one should be able to send prayers to a creature like this.
[00:56:32] Speaker B: Well, it's certainly been a pain in our side.
[00:56:35] Speaker D: We have at least two other encounters.
[00:56:39] Speaker C: With his followers that doesn't happen to be. No one living should be able to send prayers, right?
[00:56:48] Speaker D: Well, no. Emston was still alive.
[00:56:50] Speaker B: Nate, what is Harold doing? I assume that he came with us through the puzzles. I'm just curious if there's a reaction to either the book or the translator.
[00:57:01] Speaker E: So Harold's tail is twitching in agitation.
[00:57:06] Speaker A: As it stares very intensely at the translator.
[00:57:10] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:57:11] Speaker A: And the translator says, all right, let's.
[00:57:14] Speaker E: Get to the bottom of this, and then we'll deal with Mandra.
[00:57:17] Speaker A: He sort of walks back over and.
[00:57:21] Speaker E: Says, I need help sitting down. Could one of you help me sit?
[00:57:25] Speaker B: Creedon will.
[00:57:29] Speaker D: Pounce on him and just knock him over.
[00:57:31] Speaker B: Touch divine man.
[00:57:35] Speaker A: So you touch a very frailly on.
[00:57:41] Speaker E: The floor and he says, excellent, x. Thank you. Thank you. He takes a deep breath in and says, I am the translator as bequeathed by astragarian Contessa. It is my duty to judge between the purposes of the gods, to choose the correct domain and guide humanity to the right decisions. I call to you from a place of power and demand your attention. And then the room feels very full all of a sudden.
[00:58:22] Speaker A: That is our show for today. Special thanks Todd Ferguson and my pet machine for our tunes. And Julie at elaborate flight of fancy for our logo. Don't forget to leave us a rating and review. What will the gods have to say on our story so far? Find out next time on carrots and suffering.
[00:58:38] Speaker E: A-D-D odyssey.
