Timothy (DM)
Welcome to Shadows of Prophecy, a D&D real play podcast following the ill-omened web of lives whispered by the Void, their names repeated in the darkness. Shadows of Prophecy is a Dungeons and Dragons podcast with violent themes and adult language. Listener discretion is advised. With us today to traverse through adventures of mystery and intrigue, we have myself, Timothy, as our ambivalent DM.
Ellie (Markie)
Ellie, I use she/her pronouns, playing a kobold bard "Little lady in the big city" Markie, who also uses she/her pronouns.
Chris (Sal S)
Hi there, I'm Chris, he/him, and I'll be playing tiefling cleric "A hardened scarred warrior turned ardent gardener" Salvador Saltrose, he/him.
Dan (Wren)
And I'm Dan, pronouns he/him, I'm playing the human scholar "Serious sawbones" Wren, pronouns also he/him.
Timothy (DM)
Last season on Shadows of Prophecy. We peered into the complex web of lives touched by the insidious whispers of the Void. In the small town of Null, Tristen and Babbs encountered the enthralling powers of an oily black corruption trapped for generations below the town, turning the people into mindless, shambling husks of destruction. Hunkering down in her basement, Babs let Tristen run off to play the role of a hero, which quickly led to his death. [pause] Didn't it?
Chris (Sal S)
It did. [Dan and Tim laugh]
Timothy (DM)
Hunted by some mysterious and powerful cultists, Salvador, Paavu, and Edgar sought refuge in an abandoned wizard's tower, hinting of events long past. A group of researchers, Alice, Panret, and Upri, uncovered ancient ruins of the demigoddess Freya, but what exactly was in that book that Alice seems so defensive of?
Ellie (Markie)
I guess we don't know. [Tim laughs]
Timothy (DM)
Tristen, acting under the codename "Wren", was recruited into the War of Galadia as a member of the Wings of Mercy, a neutral party of healers protecting the civilians caught in the crossfire. He was joined by Goldfinch and Robyn to escort the citizens of Vael to safety, only to walk right into the haunted grounds of an abandoned temple. We returned to Salvador to find him captured by the Galadian army, having joined the war as a cleric of Tao. He miraculously escaped the prison through a bizarre and unreasonably mysterious dungeon with the help of Desmond Calderos. But where did Desmond disappear to?
Chris (Sal S)
I really... [laughs] He's hopefully gonna find that out, uhhh, and it feels reeeeal bad about it.
Ellie (Markie)
If he's dead, I'm gonna be so sad. I loved Desmond. [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
I imagine... I-I-I'm fearful that he's turned into some sort of super soldier.
Timothy (DM)
Ohhhh.
Dan (Wren)
Roll Perception or Insight. [Ellie and Chris laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
Exactly, yeah, yeah.
Timothy (DM)
Panret extended an invitation to Upri to attend the annual Ilrune Festival of the Goddess, and Yonce tagged along. While normally a harmless celebration of the cycle of life, we quickly learned that the Steward had abused their position of power for more insidious purposes. But what is her end goal? And where did she take Upri?
Dan (Wren)
[sings] Dun-dun-DUNN! [Ellie laughs]
Timothy (DM)
After the war, Salvador attempted to settle back into the din of their life in Terra Vas, but a squabble between two noble families led them into yet ANOTHER strange and nonsensical dungeon, uncovering a dark history of betrayal and a search for immortality,
Ellie (Markie)
As one does. [all laugh]
Dan (Wren)
Naturally.
Chris (Sal S)
[casually] Sometimes, you just turn yourself into a boat. [Tim laughs]
Timothy (DM)
Also attempting to find peace after the horrors of the war, Wren set up shop in Entropolis to offer respite to their companions. However, their bartender Justice got caught up with the wrong sorts (officials of the order of Praea and Pudicium) and a night of terror befell them. Midnight and Mara helped to perform the banishing ritual to rid the city of the horrid abomination, but ultimately, Wren had to call in a massive favor to revive Justice. And finally, deep in the Enchanted Forest, a group of mages attempting to garner acceptance into a prestigious college ran across something eating at the Ethereal Plane. How do all these stories tie together, and what is truly happening in the land of Everfear? Find out as we delve into Season Two of Shadows of Prophecy. Act One: In the Shadows. Chapter 11 - The Forgotten.
Ellie (Markie)
*EEEE*. I'm so excited.
Chris (Sal S)
Oh boy.
Dan (Wren)
[writing in his notes] The Forgotten.
Timothy (DM)
Five years of war ripped apart the Everfear countryside along the border of Galadia, where seemingly battle after battle was lost to the advancing Galadian troops, and the horrors of fire and aberrations rained down, their source weavers unhinged and unadulterated by any ethical qualms. The people of Everfear could sense the crumbling power of King Hyberger cowering in his tower in the heart of Siag, while the divine order of Praea and Pudicium led the charge in defense of the people. That was until unexpectedly and without clear reason, the Galadian army withdrew, and a white flag of surrender was left in their stead. The contended territory returned to the crown of Everfear. With that, a new power began to rise in Everfear, brought by the deaths of countless soldiers and instituting a new regime of law and order under the divine right of the church. On its face, the people saw strength, but behind closed doors, control. The war had shown the people the atrocities that magic was capable of, and the new divine order clamped down tight on regulation and enforcement, all but closing the borders and restricting access to the arcane in any capacity it could. Libraries were burned, artifacts confiscated, and colleges deployed with sentinels of Praea and Pudicium. A figurehead of the old world still remained, but the question was: for how long?
Timothy (Narrator)
[in an unplaceable accent] Well, well, well, it has been a while, hasn't it? I didn't expect you all to return after what happened. But it appears you have quite an appetite for... a "distinct" genre of story. Now, you might be wondering what all the roundabout has been for? Where is it going? Ahhhh, but I should remind you, the future has yet to unfold. All we can do is follow along as our players pull at the string of Fate and observe what comes of the unravel.
Timothy (DM)
[to Ellie] You find yourself walking towards a cottage. On a wooden sign reads the word 'Calderos'. To your left, a tall pink tiefling. To your right, a human wearing a travel-worn cloak. How did you get here?
Ellie (Markie)
I have no clue. I must have had a ROUGH night. "Excuse me?"
Dan (Wren)
Hello?
Chris (Sal S)
[startled] Oh, what are you doing over there?
Dan (Wren)
What are-- you? What are you doing over there? Over here?
Chris (Sal S)
Uh, I'm just standing here, uh...
Ellie (Markie)
[tugging Wren's cape] Does anybody have a glass of water? I could have?
Dan (Wren)
[looking down] Oh, you're down there. Hi. Um...
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah. And you're up there. And here we all are. [scratchily] Does anybody know what's going on?
Chris (Sal S)
"I was hoping that you would be able to tell me that. Do you live here?" I point to the cottage.
Ellie (Markie)
I could not tell you. I hope I do. Because it seems like a nice house.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, you DON'T know that you live... don't live here? Oh, uh, how did y--
Ellie (Markie)
I can't confirm or deny that I live in this cottage.
Dan (Wren)
We're... We look like we're walking together? We were walking together? I'm very confused.
Ellie (Markie)
[confused] Do I know you?
Dan (Wren)
[uncertain] I don't think so.
Chris (Sal S)
"Here's some..." I pull, I pull my waterskin out and I give it to the kobold.
Ellie (Markie)
*GLUG GLUG GLUG*
Chris (Sal S)
Well... well, u-use that sparingly.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh.
Chris (Sal S)
I shoulda said that before.
Ellie (Markie)
[laughing] I hand back the empty water skin. [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
Well, then...
Ellie (Markie)
I just had an awful thirst. I'm so sorry. How long have we been out here?
Dan (Wren)
That's a.... That's an excellent question.
Chris (Sal S)
I look at the sky
Dan (Wren)
I was gonna say what time of day is it? Does it look like....
Timothy (DM)
Uh, probably mid-afternoon. You look around, you notice that the cottage is surrounded in unmanageably. overgrown rose hedges [Dan: "Oooh"] that line a pathway, shingles have fallen from the roof and they shattered on the ground, and something catches your eyes, Salvador. Carved into the threshold is the symbol of an eye with three parallel lines running from top to bottom.
Chris (Sal S)
"Well, this is slightly less picturesque then-then Desmond had described it." I look for an apple pie on the windowsill.
Timothy (DM)
There is none to be found.
Chris (Sal S)
[whsipers] Well, then... [loudly] do you guys also... Why... are you looking for this cottage or...?
Ellie (Markie)
[to Sal] Do you remember Desmond?
Chris (Sal S)
I remember... I just don't know how I got here.
Ellie (Markie)
[softly] Oh, okay, got.
Chris (Sal S)
[uncertain] I think.
Dan (Wren)
[also uncertain] Yeah, yeah, I AM looking for this cottage. Oh... you're looking for this college?
Chris (Sal S)
I look askance to the... to the fellow on the cloak. I say "I am. Yes. [awkward pause] Well, uh, I--"
Ellie (Markie)
[like a hungry child] I'm looking for a snack. Does anybody have a little somethin' for a little lady?
Chris (Sal S)
I look over to the other guy. I give, like... I raise my eyebrows, like "I gave her a water."
Dan (Wren)
[grumbling to himself] "Oh god" [Tim laughs] I'll reach into my... I guess I'll take off my pack and... oh, I guess Twilight would jump off of my pack (my cat). Yeah, there's a cat sitting on my pack. [Ellie: "Oh!"] "This is Twilight."
Ellie (Markie)
Is Twilight looking for the cottage as well?
Dan (Wren)
[tongue-tied] Sure. I'm mean Twilight's with m--. Yes." [laughs] I'm gonna sift through my pack, and I'll pull out some, I don't know, jerky? I've got some jerky on me.
Ellie (Markie)
[humbly] Thank you.
Dan (Wren)
Some dried meats, so I'll pass it over. You're welcome. [Markie nimbles] Twilight, as, like, as if it was second nature, just jumps back up on my pack once I close it, and I toss it back on my back.
Chris (Sal S)
So, Tim, as a... as an out-of-character. The eye with the three lines: was that on the amulet that Desmond...?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah [Chris: "Okay"], it matches the amulet. It also... now that you're kind of inspecting it a bit, Wren, your attention is drawn to the threshold as well, and you recognize the symbol. [Dan: "Mmhmm"]
Chris (Sal S)
I'm gonna walk up to the cottage, and I'm going to take out the amulet, and I'm going to look down, and I'm just going to place it onto the front stoop of the cottage.
Timothy (DM)
And that brings us to five hours previous. We are in the Yik Yak Inn and Tavern of Valerian. The tavern is cramped, and it is a narrow longhouse pinned between two larger buildings. The street outside is filled with a scent of roasting meat and fresh bread, and inside the aroma mixes with that of an overly hopped ale and the sweat of workers taking respite after work. In the corner, a small stage has been set up where a kobold can be overheard telling a very animated tale. Ellie, introduce your character.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, sure thing. So, Markie is a small kobold with mottled scales. She has a pointy little snout full of tiny sharp teeth, vertically slitted eyes that are constantly darting back and forth, and spindly little graspy claws. She wears a utility jumpsuit that has been lovingly mended for years to the point where it's more patches than original material, and the pockets are just filled with all of her miscellaneous garbage, and she has a penchant for standing on top of things and a surprisingly firm (though clammy) handshake. [Dan laughs] And right now she is standing on top of the stage, regaling the audience with a story that it seems like a lot of them have probably heard before; there's a little bit of, like, call-and-response element people are pretty HYPED up into it. And her story goes like this:
[theatrically] WAIT! And hear tell a tale of horror and hope. Your hero (humble performer) pursuing a ham hock, a gift to give to she who gave life, love, lessons: mother mine! on the momentous occasion of her BIRTH. This lizard-legged little lady left at first light, yet! only finding failure, stockless stores, missing meats! Such sadness; her heart fell fast. But wait! Spied strolling down the street, a ferocious foe cradling the last of the cured leg, back turned, the bastard unwary: a fatal flaw! As these teeth tore trousers, those hands released ham and unto your speaker this savory snack was bestowed. Bold with a victory, I bolted home for the festive feast, greeted gladly by my precious parent whose scales shine like stars, who upon my head heaped praise for being the celebration savior. [crowd applauds, Markie bows] Thank you, thank you!" She passes around a little hat.
Timothy (DM)
A young woman listens to your story, sitting backwards in a chair with her head resting in her hands, her eye is widened in gleam as you reach the climax of your tale, and she loudly gasps, quickly clutching at an amulet hanging around her neck. She has wavy gingery auburn hair and green eyes. Her bright pink lips stretch across her face in a wide smile. From over at the bar, the keep walks over and grabs her by the shoulder.
Timothy (Gambrinus)
[in Scottish accent] Dayveh! There's the jab to do, isn't thare? Quit oglin' over Markie, and git to takin' orders. I've got a bar to run.
Timothy (DM)
This woman is plain and relatively young, adorned in silk clothing, dyed in bright tan and black. She wears rings and necklaces with large colorful gems. She has wild silver hair and wears large, thick round spectacles. As she signals Davey off, she returns back to the bar, placing her hand on a tiefling man staring off into space. Chris, would you like to introduce your character?
Chris (Sal S)
So Salvador is a pink tiefling cleric. He's sort of got his military issue green overcoat on. He's sort of in business casual attire, and he's wearing gloves as he's pondering, staring off into space.
Timothy (DM)
The rays of a new dawn creep through the tall seaside windows of the Whittleden estate, dancing across the parquet floor. A dull crashing of the ocean spray echoes into the main chamber.
Chris (Sal S)
With a duffel slung over his shoulder, Salvador Saltrose descends the central staircase and saunters to the pile of parcels that he's been organizing by the door. He does one last once over, double-checking that all of his supplies are accounted for: maps, navigation tools, spare clothes, rations, and so on.
Timothy (Vio)
As he finishes his assessment, he hears the all-too-familiar gait of his father, Vio, as he enters the vestibule. The elder Saltrose ambles over to him. [in an Italian-Alabaman accent] "Are you sure this is all necessary, son?"
Chris (Sal S)
Well, it's as Captain Boulderdown would say "Better to be prepared than--"
Timothy (Vio)
"You KNOW that's not what I'm referring to." He shuffles side to side, glancing at the doorway. "I mean this trip. No traveler's even heard of that damn town. So how do you know that you're there even if you do find it?"
Chris (Sal S)
Sal takes a deep breath. He was hoping that this goodbye would be a little bit easier, but Vio (if anything) has gotten more protective of him since his return from the Galadian War. He notices that his father is not sporting the usual outfit that befits a retiree, but instead the uniform that he wore in his tenure as the previous steward of Whittleden before he had passed that position on to Salvador. "Well, perhaps Valerian has realized the state of their abysmal tourism outreach, and they'll be putting up signposts as we speak. And, uh... maybe calling up a few cartographers too" Sal jokes, trying to crack his father stoic varnish, but if any emotion is staring in Vio, Salvador can't glimpse it in his face, except for a slight glisten in Vio's dark eyes.
Timothy (Vio)
And why can't you just have somebody "magic" it there? I've heard of these courts mages that can do that sort of thing all the time. No travel necessary, just *fwooop*.
Chris (Sal S)
[shaking his head] "Well, unfortunately, it can't be done that way" Salvador states as he pats his breast pocket where Desmond's medallion rests. "This sort of package needs to be delivered personally. It's, um... something that I need to do as a promise to an old friend who saved my life."
Timothy (Vio)
"Son... [sighs] why can't you j-- [sighs]" He grasps for an argument as he tries to subtly dab away a tear. A bit deflated, he says "I know that you've made up your mind about this, but that doesn't mean that I have to revel in it! I expect a reliable stream of correspondence to keep us alerted on WHERE you are and WHAT you're doing and WHEN you'll return! And I am warning you, I cannot keep this role forever. I have other engagements."
Chris (Sal S)
"I know, dad", Sal says, going in for the hug. "And I'm thankful that you're doing this for me. I love you, and I will let you know every step of the way."
Timothy (Vio)
Vio hugs you back, the tears now effortlessly flowing onto Sal's shoulder. "I love you too, son." And after what seems an eternity, Vio releases Sal, places his hands on their shoulders, and says [gradually fading from Vio to Barkeep] "And Son, son, son, son, son, SON! HELLLLLLO!"
Timothy (Gambrinus)
Salvador is roused from his reverie as his eyes focus in on the worn face of a kind bartender, who is currently jostling his shoulders. "Son, I can't have you sleeping at my bar. If you want to keep sitting here, you better start buying some more drinks or doing something useful."
Timothy (DM)
As we watch Davey skip across the tavern, she reaches a table where a human wearing a travel-worn cloak sits. Dan, please introduce your character.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, Wren stands about six feet tall and has a slender lithe build. His hair is about shoulder length. It's brown and has gray streaks and it's pulled up into a messy bun. Peeking through his hair: his ever-so-slightly pointed ears. His clothes, again, are well made, but poorly cared for over the weeks of travel. He sits in a booth writing a letter, occasionally looking up to pet the long-haired black cat that sits at the table, pawing at him for attention. "Dear Mara, thank you for taking care of Lark's Perch in my absence. I hope you find the apartment comfortable. As a reminder, please make sure Midnight's pay has been increased with her new employee management duties. Also, please make sure that Justice and their mother are properly cared for. Protect our family while I'm away. I promise to return as soon as possible. I have yet to find out much about Lark's life before the war, but I think I'm getting closer. Sometimes I forget how long it's been since the three of us were together, like a distant memory. And yet there are times that I swear I can hear his laughter, and those stupid shanties he would sing around the campfire. Anyways, I hope all as well Love, Tristen. PS. I never properly thanked you for the portrait of Lark you drew. If it wasn't for that, I'm not sure I'd remember what he looked like. PSS. Twilight misses you. Sorry for snatching him up so suddenly; he'd been itching to travel again, and you know I can't say 'no' to him."
Timothy (Davey)
Davey taps you on the shoulder. [in a Irish accent] "Uh, hello, I'm Davey. I'll be your server today. Can I get you anything to drink to get started?"
Dan (Wren)
Oh, sure. Um, a local ale is fine.
Timothy (Davey)
All right. And would you like to have a look at the menu?
Dan (Wren)
Uh, sure. Absolutely
Timothy (Davey)
Something to eat. Here you go. Here's the menu and look over it, and let me know if anything catches your eye. I'll be right back with your ale.
Dan (Wren)
[nodding] Thank you.
Timothy (DM)
Davey goes over to the bar to start prepping your ale. And as your attention is drawn away from your letter, you look up, and you see something quite intriguing happening across the tavern: the kobold (their hat being passed around the group)... something glints and catches your eye as it's dropped in: a coin. But not like the common gold that you're familiar with. One with a particular symbol: an eye with three parallel lines drawn from top to bottom.
Dan (Wren)
And that's across the bar. [Tim: "Mhmm"] Who dropped it?
Timothy (DM)
You didn't quite see; you saw it kind of flick up into the air and land in the hat.
Dan (Wren)
[hmm] So, it's a skillful coin flip. [Ellie laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
A little pizzazz. A little snazz. [Dan laughs]
Dan (Wren)
*fwop-wah!* Well, Wren is gonna try not to react, but keep an eye on where the hat passes around to.
Timothy (DM)
The hat makes its way around the crowd and lands back at the feet of Markie.
Ellie (Markie)
I pick it up, stir around through it, take out what I assume... I assume everything else was, like, regular money that I'm familiar with [Tim: "Mmhm"] but then there's this weird little, like, amulet. I look at it, appraisingly,
Timothy (DM)
In that moment, your entire life flashes before your eyes [Ellie: *oof*] from birth until this very present moment. You're just drawn to every detail of your life. Wren and now Salvador, you see this kobold holding the coin with an eye and three parallel lines running from top to bottom. They're frozen in place for just a few moments, [totally normaly] and they snap out of it.
Chris (Sal S)
[concerned] Are you feeling okay?
Ellie (Markie)
[awed] "Oh my god... [processing] I need another drink!" [Chris laughs] She drops the coin back in her hat and shoves the entire hat into one of her pockets. Wait, are you guys still, like, across the bar? Or are you interacting with me?
Chris (Sal S)
We're at the bar.
Dan (Wren)
[boothily] I'm at a booth.
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, you're at a booth?
Dan (Wren)
I am across the bar.
Chris (Sal S)
I am at the bar, and I glanced over to see that you are, like, holding up a coin... very, very, like, in profile. Yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
I hop off the stage, I guess, and, like, schmooze with my admirers. [nudging Petey] "Better than last week, Petey? What'd'ya think? I added that little extra sentence just for you based on your feedback! [Tim laughs] Did'ya like it?"
Chris (Petey)
[gangster voice] Oy! Yeah, I love... I love all how you string all those letters together. And they all start with the same one!
Ellie (Markie)
Ah, thank you. It's a little technique I picked up called "alliteration".
Chris (Petey)
[deciphering the word] Litter-ate. 'Litteration.
Ellie (Markie)
'Literation!
Timothy (DM)
'Literation...um.. [Ellie and Tim laugh] Glad that I no longer know that I'm DM either, um... [all laugh]
Dan (Wren)
[laughing] You took over for him.
Chris (Sal S)
[abashed] Oh, I'm sorry. Aw, sorry, it was like an improv thing.
Ellie (Markie)
[defending Chris] I think he was just riffing! He was riffing. [Dan laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah!
Timothy (DM)
[laughing] You're fine. You're fine You're fine! Uh... [laughs]
Dan (Wren)
I loved it. I was like "Who's Petey? Who's this strange--" [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
I dunno, good question--
Chris (Sal S)
Sorry, I-I pull out my second character sheet that says 'Petey Pirahna'.
Ellie (Markie)
[to Tim] Oh, sorry. Petey? Yeah, uh... [all laugh]
Dan (Wren)
You didn't know?--
Chris (Sal S)
--this is in the Goggle Doc.
Dan (Wren)
Sal's dead. [Chris agrees] He's now Petey.
Timothy (DM)
Uh, what is Sal doing right now?
Chris (Sal S)
Sal... like, he, I guess he saw that, that the coin was there, and he has not been able to find any other information regarding this weird symbol. So, I think he's slowly sidling over to Markie as they are trying to, like, address their adoring fans. And...
Timothy (DM)
So this very tall, very pink tiefling stands up in this tavern of mostly dwarves, a kobold, some halflings... and very coyly start shimmering over? [Ellie and Dan laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
Very nonchalant.
Timothy (DM)
--til he reaches the crowd surrounding Markie.
Ellie (Markie)
"Speaking 'literation, I gotta go talk to my peculiar pink pal over there." and Markie scoots right up. "So, what's your deal, dude?" [all burst out laughing]
Chris (Sal S)
[caught offguard] My deal? Uh, I guess I have a assortment of deals. Uh...
Ellie (Markie)
You're not from around here, are you? You got a spirit about you...
Chris (Sal S)
"Yes, a very tall spirit. I-I guess..." I look around to my... to the general populace. "But yeah, I, uh, couldn't help notice that you got an interesting token in your.. in your hand."
Ellie (Markie)
Uh-huh.
Chris (Sal S)
"It kind of looks like this" and I pull out the amulet from my breast pocket to show him.
Ellie (Markie)
[rubbing chin, intrigued] Huh.
Timothy (DM)
Oh, Wren,you see all of this happening.
Dan (Wren)
[nodding] Mmhm, mhmm, mhmm. Wren will again just continue to peer on, trying to not look like I'm staring. [Tim and Dan laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
From what I understand, this is a... it was given to me by a friend. Do you know... do you live here?
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah.
Chris (Sal S)
Uh, do you know the name--
Ellie (Markie)
--A bit of a local celebrity? [Ellie and group laugh] [Editor's Note: this was the phrase that Ellie used before the recording to get into her accent.] Markie's the name. [puffs out chest]
Chris (Sal S)
Markie, yeah, you did say that in your opening monologue, uh.
Ellie (Markie)
It was a good one, wasn't it?
Chris (Sal S)
It was! Right?
Ellie (Markie)
I bet you haven't heard that one before, have you?
Chris (Sal S)
Definitely not. I'm new. So, it was new to me. Yes.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah. Well, I rotate a little bit but stick around a couple of weeks; you'll hear it again.
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, well, okay. Well, if you live here, do you know any-- anybody by the name of Calderos? Live in a cottage?
Ellie (Markie)
No.
Chris (Sal S)
A fan of pies?
Ellie (Markie)
*mmmm* I know a lot of people who are a fan of pies but none of them live in a cottage, and none of them are named Calderos. Do you... why? Do you have pies?
Chris (Sal S)
[patting jacket] I... Not on my person right now.
Ellie (Markie)
You want to...? Is there a pie on the menu? [both look at the menu] Not really. They don't serve pies here. [Ellie and Chris laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, yeah, we go to the bar next door. I... can I get you a drink? What are you feeling today?
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, I'll have... let me peruse the menu. [rattles the handout Tim gave her, Tim and Dan laugh] If you're paying, I'll have, uh, the most expensive one... which is... *buh-duh-duyeye*
Chris (Sal S)
Probably one of the wines.
Ellie (Markie)
Okay. Elven wine, some of that Quilly-- Quillen elven wine, please.
Chris (Sal S)
Okay, so I-I motion over to the bartender, and I say, "Oh, I'll have a... I'll have the light lager and-and the-the Quillen wine for my new friend here."
Timothy (Davey)
So, Davey, as she passes Wren's table, drops off the ale, she comes on over and writes that down in a little pamphlet before scurrying back to the bar. She grabs some more menus and starts passing them around and returns to Wren's table. "Uh, did you figure out what you-you wanted it?"
Dan (Wren)
[snapping out of his snooping] Oh oh! Yeah, um, the, uh, the duck. The r--, yeah, the roast duck with apples. That one. Sure.
Timothy (Davey)
All right. I'll have that right in for ya. Anything else I can get you while I'm present?
Dan (Wren)
Wren is clearly trying to, like, keep an eye out around her. Like, "No, no. No." and he just waves her away.
Ellie (Markie)
She's just, like, standing there like [imitates basketball player, laughs]
Dan (Wren)
[dismissively] No, no, that's, that's all right. Thank you.
Timothy (Davey)
"All right, I'll have that right up." She scurries on over, grabs the wine off the bar poured by the barkeep, and couriers on over to Markie and Salvador. "Here you are!"
Ellie (Markie)
Thanks, dear Davey.
Timothy (Davey)
Yes, Markie. It's so nice to see you again.
Ellie (Markie)
Did you like that one?
Timothy (Davey)
I always love your stories, Markie.
Ellie (Markie)
[slipping in to Babs] "You are such a sweetheart." I don't remember what Markie's voice sounds like! [Tim and laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
[theatrically] "Hams falling out of hands!"
Ellie (Markie)
[to herself in British accent] Bit of a local celebrity. Bit of a local celebrity.
Timothy (Davey)
Are ya alright there, Markie? [Tim and Dan laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
"Yeah!!! I'm, just, you know... 'me'. [quickly seguing, Dan laughs] Hey, have you ever seen a little--" She pulls out her hat and carefully (using her sleeve so she doesn't touch it directly) pulls out the little amulet thing. [losing the accent] "Davey, dear, have you?--" *fuck* What does her voice sound like?!? [pounds table, Tim and Dan laugh, Ellie sighs] Ok, we're pulling it together, Ellie, come on.
Timothy (DM)
Pulling it together. [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Bit of a local celebrity, come on. [long pause] "Day-vee" NO! [Dan laughs] That's worse!
Dan (Wren)
[Cockney] Day-vee. Day-vee. Day-vee. [Tim laughs and sighs]
Ellie (Markie)
[quasi Bab voice] "Davey, dear, have you ever seen anything like this before in your life?" [exhausted] We're just gonna have to roll with that. [Chris and Dan laugh]
Timothy (Davey)
No, I haven't. Gosh, are you... are you sure you're alright? You-you look like... you're white as ghost, and you're not even... [at a loss for scientific explanation] How is that even possible?
Ellie (Markie)
'Cause of the scales? Yeah, I know.
Timothy (Davey)
It looks like your entire life just, like, passed before your eyes.
Ellie (Markie)
"It's so weird that you--" [to herself] that's Babs' voice. [Dan and Chris laugh] [sighs, whispers] Bit of a local celebrity... "It's so weird that you would say that 'cause actually, that's pretty close to what just happened. Actually, would you mind, be a dear, and just grab that for me?"
Timothy (Davey)
[a bit unsure] "All right." and she very gingerly reaches out her hand and grabs the coin, and as she does, you see her freeze. She stays put for, like, a good three seconds. "*OOF*[SCARED] Oh, ah. Take that back! I don't, I don't, I don't know what that is. What, what?"
Ellie (Markie)
Weird, right?
Timothy (Davey)
[spooked] Uhh, yeah!
Ellie (Markie)
You've never had anything like that happened to you before?
Timothy (Davey)
No? [Ellie: "Oh"] W-where did you get that?
Ellie (Markie)
Some rando dropped in my hat.
Timothy (Davey)
Hmm... I don't know. I don't know what you do with that, uh, I wouldn't touch it again.
Ellie (Markie)
Don't worry about it, sweetheart. Yeah, I plan not to touch it again.
Chris (Sal S)
[to Tim] Can I... so you said this bar is mostly halflings and dwarves? [Tim nods] Is that... is that the general constituency of the town?
Timothy (DM)
Oh, yeah. Mhmm.
Chris (Sal S)
And Davey is also a dwarf?
Timothy (DM)
She is actually a human, but she is quite short.
Chris (Sal S)
[to self] Okay. Definitely seems odd.
Timothy (DM)
She's like 5'2"?
Ellie (Markie)
[nudging Sal] Well, my pink pal.
Chris (Sal S)
Yes, my scaly... [searches for an "S" word] scallywag.
Ellie (Markie)
Markie looks at you so expectantly. [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
"Scaly, uh, somelier." And I passed the wine over to him. [Dan laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
[delighted] "Ohhh!" She, like, raises it to you, and take some big swig. "So have you ever seen anything like this before?"
Chris (Sal S)
Not the... not the exact freezing in time and blanching and remembering terrible things, I imagine...
Ellie (Markie)
Not so terrible. I haven't lived a bad life. Have you? [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
Sal looks up to the corner of the room, and he's like *thinking noises* and his eyes go back, and he's just like, *more thinking noise* "No, it's not too bad. I mean, some bad things, but I've definitely not seen the effects with this coin.' and I point back to my breast poi-- pocket.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, you've got one too?
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, I just showed it to you, like, five seconds ago.
Ellie (Markie)
"Sorry, I was a little focused on the wine [Chris: "I can--"] and my darling Davey over there. [Chris: "Oh!"] She's such a delight." [chiding herself] That's Babs voice. [all laugh] I need like a rubber band or something to snap around my wrist. [Tim laughs] "My dahling [correcting herself] my darling Davey over there. She's such a delight." [whispers] I'm a bit of a local celebrity.
Chris (Sal S)
Do you often do that? You seem like you're still in character.
Ellie (Markie)
You know, it's important to maintain a public persona.
Chris (Sal S)
I guess. [looking around the bar] Yeah, it definitely draws the adoring crowd, I see.
Ellie (Markie)
Nobody liked me before I had an accent. [Chris: "Well, oh!"] But it's a FLIGHTY one, I'll tell you that. It's a flighty one." [Dan laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, this is an accent? I thought... okay. Hmm.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah.
Chris (Sal S)
Well, if you're not really sure what this, uh...
Ellie (Markie)
I've never seen it before in my life, and frankly, my main concern is that I can't spend it on anything. What's yours good for? Have you figured out (besides giving you trauma)?
Chris (Sal S)
No, that's-that's primarily what it's good at. [Tim laughs, Ellie: "Yeah!"] Other than that, it has no other mystical properties... [narrows eyes] that I'm aware of.
Timothy (DM)
Wren, can you give me a Stealth check?
Dan (Wren)
19.
Timothy (DM)
19, okay. So, yeah, you are listening in on this conversation.
Ellie (Markie)
[self-depreceatingly] For what it's worth.
Chris (Sal S)
[laughs] Yeah, it's like "I dunno"
Dan (Wren)
Can I hear? Can I hear what they're--
Timothy (DM)
Oh yeah! You can hear pieces, bits and pieces of it? There's... they're... I mean, it's not a quiet tavern, but it's also enough for you to kind of direct your attention.
Dan (Wren)
Cool, cool, cool.
Ellie (Markie)
[astutely] So, you're not from around here, are you?
Chris (Sal S)
No, I, uh, I recently got into town a couple days ago after a long journey. I don't know how anybody finds this place. It's not on any maps, no signposts, nobody knows about it. No traders. So...
Ellie (Markie)
Well, if you live here, you don't have to worry about that. So...
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, I guess it's a big towny situation, yeah. [Tim laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
--your problem's pretty much solved now, right? Yeah... did you encounter any sort of ravaging beasts on the road or...?
Chris (Sal S)
A lot of angry birds and, uh, some-some mountain goats and all that sort of jazz.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, yeah? [Chris: "Yeah"] Big mountain goats? Bigger than usual?
Chris (Sal S)
Bigger than I've encountered. Normally, they just have... they're the garden variety, regular goat size, but these are a little bit bigger, a little bit redder... in terms that they have red fur instead of gray fur--
Ellie (Markie)
[eyes sparkle with inspiration] GIGANTIC GOATS.
Chris (Sal S)
I don't know if that was blood or that was natural coloring, but I did not spend a lot of time looking at them.
Ellie (Markie)
'Ruby red gigantic goats.' Yeah, I can do something with that.
Dan (Wren)
Wren's gonna poke his head in, like, get up and kind of shimmy his way over. I imagine because he's tall and everybody else is short, he, like, does that thing when you're, like, shifting, sifting through children, where you're just, like, your arms up and you're like "Oh, I don't want to bump into... okay." "Did they have braided hair?"
Chris (Sal S)
The goats or the birds?
Dan (Wren)
The-the goats.
Chris (Sal S)
Uh...
Ellie (Markie)
Birds don't have hair.
Dan (Wren)
Sorry, that was a bad entrance. Uh, hi! [Chris laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
That's alright; you look like a weird guy, so it's not a surprise that you'd say weird things.
Dan (Wren)
O-kay.
Ellie (Markie)
--What's your deal... dude? [Chris and Ellie laugh]
Dan (Wren)
I'm gonna take out the portrait of Lark that I have and he is wearing an amulet with the same symbol on it.
Ellie (Markie)
[in Babs voice] "Oh my God, look at us. It's like we're members of a club or something." [sing-songy] That's Babs' voice.
Chris (Sal S)
One of those clubs you get automatically enrolled in and you can unsubscribe from, I guess.
Dan (Wren)
So, I (clearly not local) and was also looking for the origins of this symbol, but it seems like we're at a standstill there?
Chris (Sal S)
I look at the-the illustration. What does this person look like?
Dan (Wren)
They have... It's like a pencil drawn sketch of a person, but they have longer dark hair. They have, like, a kind of a shallow beard situation, and they have, like, dark tanned skin. They're *incredibly* handsome.
Timothy (DM)
And the most important feature of this picture is...
Dan (Wren)
Is the necklace, right?
Timothy (DM)
Is the necklace around the neck.
Dan (Wren)
Well, yeah, yeah, I already said that. [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
It's not that they're incredibly handsome, I feel like. [all laugh]
Timothy (DM)
Nooo.
Chris (Sal S)
*car horn noise A-oooga* "Well, since you don't seem to know the name 'Calderos' and that's the only person I know associated with this symbol..." I look over at the bartender. "Do you know anybody by the name of Calderos?"
Timothy (Gambrinus)
What's that, love?
Chris (Sal S)
Uh, I'm looking for family or, uh, maybe an older couple named Calderos, last name.
Timothy (Gambrinus)
Ahhhh, you want deets on some people from Valerian, don'tcha? Don't worry, I keep a ledger in back if, uh... I can, I can check to see if anybody has, uhh, come in with that name. Do you want to step back here and take a look with me?
Chris (Sal S)
[leery] You keep a log of people in town?
Timothy (Gambrinus)
Of course, any of my customers that come in, I try to keep their orders in check. Some of them are pretty regular, and I want to know exactly what they're gonna get and have it ready for them.
Ellie (Markie)
That's why the Yik Yak is the best bar in town.
Timothy (Gambrinus)
Yeah! Customer service.
Dan (Wren)
[looking around] It does seem popular.
Ellie (Markie)
I flash the barkeep a thumbs-up. [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
Somewhere, Markie gets, like, a 5% commission for... [all laugh] Well, Salvador's thinking, "I guess this is really the only league that I have." so he-he agrees, and I look to Markie and Wren, and I say, "Well, if there's anything to understanding this symbol, you might as well come along for the ride."
Ellie (Markie)
Are we going on an adventure? The three of us?? Are we a team?!?
Chris (Sal S)
[looking at Wren] I mean, we just met each other, but s-suppose.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, surrre.
Ellie (Markie)
[hitting the table for emphasis] "I would say that we have been drawn together by serendipitous circumstances in order to start our story..." and I will follow you into the back. [all laugh]
Timothy (Gambrinus)
Yeah, I don't know about that, love, but I can check the ledger.
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, we're not allowed to go back. Okay.
Timothy (Gambrinus)
Oh, no, come on back. There's nothing back here that you can't see. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Chris (Sal S)
[realizing] Oh, they just weren't conf-- they weren't... they'd didn't know about the whole prophecy and being drawn together.
Timothy (Gambrinus)
Serendipidity, I don't know if I believe in that. Uh, codswallop--
Chris (Sal S)
I think serendipity is--
Timothy (Gambrinus)
"Anyways, I do keep a ledger. I am very organized. Let me take a look at this one. This is the most recent, so anybody who's been here in, like, the last three years, I'll have them on record." They start flipping through pages. *ch-ch-ch*
Dan (Wren)
Three years of records. [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Great: a filing cabinet. [laughs]
Dan (Wren)
--peoples' names and their orders. [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
Well, since it's mostly townies, I imagine there's not, like, a lot of NEW people coming every time.
Dan (Wren)
I guess that's true.
Timothy (Gambrinus)
That's fair. Actually. I don't remember the last time I had a new person the bar. [Dan: "Hmm"]
Ellie (Markie)
Much less two!
Timothy (Gambrinus)
Yeah. Where are you from? Anyways?
Chris (Sal S)
[vaguely] South.
Timothy (Gambrinus)
South, what's south of here? Markie, do you know what's south of here?
Ellie (Markie)
Uh, the Tippen Tavern? Two blocks south.
Timothy (Gambrinus)
Weird, I don't actually know what's south of here. Huh.
Ellie (Markie)
Why would you?
Timothy (Gambrinus)
Anyways, they don't seem to be in this book. I guess I'll check the next one.
Dan (Wren)
What about Haj? H-A-J.
Timothy (Gambrinus)
"H-A-J. I'll keep a lookout for that one as well." [Dan: "Ok, thank you."] Flips through, like, more journals, finishes that journal, goes back another, and they start methodically just, like, going back journal and journal and journal until eventually they get one, like, DUSTY-ASS tome at, like, the beginning of this bookshelf. "Ahhhhh, I do have one record of a Calderos visiting the tavern, but it was a long time ago - nearly 60 years. I don't know where they would live, but you might be able to check in the city housing records. Worth a shot."
Chris (Sal S)
Thank you. I appreciate that.
Timothy (Gambrinus)
Interesting. Wow! It's been quite a little walk through... how do you say...
Ellie (Markie)
'Memory lane'?
Timothy (Gambrinus)
Memory Lane! Thank you, Markie.
Ellie (Markie)
I have a way with words. [looks to camera] Everybody knows that.
Chris (Sal S)
Somewhere, a rose, like, flyies through the air and you catch it. [all laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
[smelling the rose, whispers] The people love me...and I love them.
Timothy (Gambrinus)
Well, let me know if there's anything else I can do for ya. Uh, and no, I didn't... I didn't find a 'Haj'.
Dan (Wren)
All right. Well, thank you.
Ellie (Markie)
So, where are you guys goin' next?
Chris (Sal S)
I'll probably go to the city hall of records.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, seems like the best place for me to look, too.
Ellie (Markie)
Sounds like you could both use a local escort.
Dan (Wren)
Y-y-y... honestly?
Ellie (Markie)
--To help navigate through the mean streets?
Dan (Wren)
That's fair. I would... I don't know where the housing records are anyways, so I would appreciate the help.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, for sure. For sure.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah. And hopefully you'll be able to give us tidbits of-of historical information about the town as well.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, yeah, for sure, like, [points out window] that street is where I once found two silver and a m-mean toad looked at me. [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
That's quite a story, Markie.
Dan (Wren)
Brilliant.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, it's a work-i-- Okay. It's a rough draft. I'm workshopping some material, so I'm going to need you to be patient with me. [laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, yeah. No worries. But, uh--
Ellie (Markie)
Do you think it would be more interesting if instead of a big toad, it was, like, a dragon?
Dan (Wren)
Probably, I would say a dragon would be--
Chris (Sal S)
Maybe a medium-size because I imagine it--
Ellie (Markie)
A medium-sized toad?
Chris (Sal S)
[caught off guard] Yes.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, it was a big--
Ellie (Markie)
Medium-sized toad. [working out the meter] 'I found two silver and a medium size toad...' Yeah! The people are gonna love this one, folks. Let's go! [Chris and Dan laugh] Davey, darling, I'll be back in a dash.
Timothy (Davey)
"Sounds lovely. See you then."
Timothy (DM)
And Markie leads you out of the tavern down some winding streets.
Dan (Wren)
I'll grab my cat first. [laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
And I'll... and I'll pour the remainder of our drinks into a w--
Ellie (Markie)
A to-go container? [laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, a to-go cup.
Timothy (DM)
Your hipflask.
Ellie (Markie)
I already finished my wine, so don't even worry about it. [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
It's like I-I look and it is... is there one minute, and it's gone the next.
Ellie (Markie)
Markie was GUZZLING IT while the bartender flipped through his books. [Chris: "Gotcha", Tim laughs] Just like shotgunning it. [Dan laughs]
Timothy (DM)
So, Markie, yeah, leads you down several winding streets. They actually go up, so not 'down the-the winding streets' but they start climbing up the side of the mountain. Valerian is set alongside one of the tallest peaks in the region. And as you kind of ascend, you can see Castle Valerian on the horizon, but before you get there, about midway through the city, you reach a set of very stately-looking marble buildings.
Dan (Wren)
Our glutes are burning. [Chris and Ellie laugh]
Timothy (DM)
Yes, it's a LOT of stairs. Deep breath!
Dan (Wren)
PHEW, I come from flatlands, and this is a MONSTER of a WALK.
Ellie (Markie)
I NEVER come up here. [Chris and Dan laugh]
Timothy (DM)
On a placard in front of one of the buildings, you see the words 'City Hall'.
Ellie (Markie)
[dryly] So.. *wheezes* There you go. That's the city hall. That's where all the housing records are, I guess.
Chris (Sal S)
Well, it's good that they put it at the top of the hill, so it would never get a chance of flooding or anything like that.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, you think that's why they did it and not just to be mean? [Dan laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
You know what, I wouldn't put it past the government.
Ellie (Markie)
Just to make it difficult for the little folks like us, huh? To find out who lives places?
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, I guess it's secretive knowledge. The more... knowledge is power, and power is money. So... [shrugs shoulders]
Ellie (Markie)
[tilts head] Is that true?
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah... at least in my experience,
Ellie (Markie)
I am so excited to learn about your experiences, my... pink pal.
Chris (Sal S)
[to Wren] So, is your friend... your friend is from here, or he traveled here?
Dan (Wren)
I literally have no idea. I just found this symbol with a reference to this city, and that's why I'm here.
Chris (Sal S)
Gotcha. Okay. So, maybe he got on a trip, like, a souvenir.
Dan (Wren)
[eyes closed] God, I hope not because then I'm just here-- [Ellie and Chris laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
You're gonna feel like a right idiot.
Chris (Sal S)
[reading a novelty T-shirt] 'I went to Valerian, and all I got was this piece of jewelry.'
Ellie (Markie)
[reading the back of the T-shirt] 'That gives me flashbacks to my entire life. [all laugh] What a weird souvenir. It's a novelty shot glass. And...'
Chris (Sal S)
So, is it now, like, the end of business day? Because it was afternoon?
Timothy (DM)
No.
Ellie (Markie)
That's true. Is it open?
Timothy (DM)
It's like early afternoon now.
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, sorry. We--
Dan (Wren)
We were DAY drinking. [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
Oops!
Timothy (DM)
It's brunch. [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
I don't know if you know this, but here in Valerian, we are CRAZY for brunch. [Tim and Dan laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
We don't see any eggs benedict on the menu. This is an oversight.
Timothy (DM)
So yeah, it's early afternoon, probably closer to midday. [Chris: "Okay."] So, there are people coming in and out of city hall that look like they are "doing business". They are working there, they are "getting shit done". It is regular business hours.
Chris (Sal S)
Well, Salvador will walk up the steps and hopefully the-the others will join him.
Ellie (Markie)
"Time to collect the next clue on this mad mystery. Let's go!" Markie scampers up the steps behind you.
Timothy (DM)
As you push open the double doors, you are greeted by a lobby filled with low red satin chairs and a stately wooden desk. Behind the desk, a modestly built regal tabaxi with white fur and a purple robe sits. They fold their hands and look at you.
Chris (Sal S)
[little wave] Hello.
Ellie (Markie)
I get so anxious talking to authority; one of you guys is gonna have to handle this. [Dan laughs] Man, I'm sweating already. [Chris laughs]
Dan (Wren)
They are VERY intimidating.
Ellie (Markie)
Right? The purple robes are making me freak out.
Dan (Wren)
The folded-up hands!
Chris (Sal S)
And they're the receptionist?
Dan (Wren)
I don't think they blinked since we walked in!
Ellie (Markie)
Oh my god. We gotta leave! [Dan laughs]
Dan (Wren)
[to the receptionist] Alright, we give up. [Ellie and Dan laugh]
Timothy (Serpent Fang)
And with that, they blink their eyes VERY dramatically three times. [with a lithp] "Therpent Fang is here to help you. How may I be of thervice?"
Chris (Sal S)
We are hoping to look up and inquire about a resident in the... in the records for a house.
Timothy (Serpent Fang)
Ohhhh, you are speaking of the houthing record. Therpent Fang can atthitht.
Chris (Sal S)
Wonderful, thank you.
Timothy (Serpent Fang)
You'll take thith hallway to the left, take a right, another right, and on the fourth door to the left, you will thee a placard that thays 'Houthing Recordsth'.
Chris (Sal S)
Sounds like good directions. Thank you. I appreciate it.
Timothy (Serpent Fang)
Tell Mith Bentley, I sent you.
Chris (Sal S)
Gotcha. Thank you, Therpent Thing.
Timothy (DM)
They give you a little bit of a glare.
Ellie (Markie)
Does... do they have a nameplate on their desk, by any chance? [Ellie and Dan laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, is it "Serpent Sing"?
Timothy (DM)
They do. It is "Serpent Fang"
Chris (Sal S)
Serpent Fang, okay.
Timothy (DM)
Mmhm. They give you a little glare, look down at their nameplate... [ Dan and Ellie laugh] ... blink twice. [Ellie laughs]
Dan (Wren)
"Thank you so much, uh, for all of your help. We'll be going [whisper behind hand] I'm so sorry about him. I JUST met him. I don't really know him very much." So, I'm gonna, like, sneak away. [Ellie and Tim laugh]
Timothy (DM)
And you follow their instructions. Down the hallway to the left, you take a right, another right, four doors. On the left, you see a placard that says "Housing Records".
Ellie (Markie)
Guys, this isn't the right door. It's supposed to say "Houthing Recordth". [all laugh]
Dan (Wren)
I-I think it's a good first start.
Chris (Sal S)
Is the door closed? [Tim: "Yes."] Okay, I'm gonna turn the knob.
Timothy (DM)
The knob turns. [laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
And I open the door!
Timothy (DM)
And you open the door.
Dan (Wren)
I check the door for traps. [all laugh]
Timothy (DM)
There are no traps. Nothing happens.
Chris (Sal S)
Thank goodness.
Ellie (Markie)
In this municipal government building [Dan laughs]. It is just LOUSY with spike pits. Every time I have to renew my driver's license, oh my god. [Ellie laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
[imitating the receptionist] 'Oh, you fi-- you'll see the fern, go make a left of the fern' and we're like "There's seven ferns here."
Timothy (DM)
And as you push open the door, you see several desks in a open concept room. There are makeshift walls that separate some of the desks but not all, and lots of papers pinned to these kind of makeshift walls. Along the perimeter of the room, you see several other doors with glass windows and through those windows, you can see rows and rows and rows of shelves covered in boxes and paper. At one of the desks, you see a petite woman with red hair holding a bar of chocolate.
Timothy (Miss Bentley)
[dignified lady voice] Why, yes. Can I help you?
Chris (Sal S)
Yes, we're looking to look up some records regarding a certain person.
Timothy (Miss Bentley)
Well, you're in the right place. [looks at bar] Would you like some chocolate?
Ellie (Markie)
Yes.
Dan (Wren)
Yes. Yes, absolutely. [laughs]
Timothy (DM)
She pulls open a drawer in her desk, and you hear the rattling of, like, tons of chocolate bars that crash into the front end of the desk drawer. She reaches in, pulls out several bars of chocolate and holds them out to you.
Dan (Wren)
"You are so kind, thank you so much." Wren will grab a couple.
Ellie (Markie)
"Also, thank you. I really appreciate this." I also t-- [with some restraint] I take one.
Chris (Sal S)
"You seem to be quite a collector of chocolate-y confections" and I look to Markie--
Ellie (Markie)
Ha-HA! [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
Did I do good?
Timothy (Miss Bentley)
Well, one must, uh, keep themselves occupied when in this *dingy-ass* place. Uh, what were you looking for again? Who... do you... do you have a name?
Chris (Sal S)
So, there's a Calderos. I don't know if there's... under Desmond or...
Timothy (Miss Bentley)
*Ooof* I don't know that name. So... you know what? Just come with me. I will show you where 'C' is in our, uhhh, records, and you can take a look.
Chris (Sal S)
Perfect. Thank you very much.
Timothy (Miss Bentley)
All right, she stands up from her desk, takes a bite of chocolate, and walks over to one of the doors, opens it and leads you inside [dramtically] "The Archives" [Dan: "Dun-dun-DUN"] as you can read from the placard next to the door. She walks down several rows, takes a left, continues on. "You'll find 'C' here and... yeah, let me know when you're done. And I can lock up after you."
Dan (Wren)
Are H's nearby?
Timothy (Miss Bentley)
*mmm*
Ellie (Markie)
[to Wren] Do you know the alphabet?
Dan (Wren)
I guess that's fair. [all laugh]
Timothy (Miss Bentley)
Yeah, it is in alphabetical order, so like...
Dan (Wren)
On, like, the other side of the... hop through the cabinets.
Timothy (DM)
I just, I just need to write it down in my records-
Dan (Wren)
Haj.
Timothy (DM)
--that there were visitors that were looking for... Okay, Haj. How do you spell that?
Dan (Wren)
H-A-J.
Timothy (Miss Bentley)
Okay. All right. Well, uh, yeah, let me know when you're done. Oh, and you said the other name was what, Calderos? [Chris: "Yes."] C-A-L-D-E-R-O-S? [Chris: "Yes"]. Okay, perfect. I'll write that down in our, our visitor log, and yeah, let me know when you're done. Have fun!
Dan (Wren)
Thank you.
Ellie (Markie)
How... much... material are we looking at here? [Dan laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
Tim pulls out several mailer-- banker's boxes. [all laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
In real time, look through these. [laughs]
Timothy (DM)
[laughing] There are banker's boxes on the shelves, and you do see the, like, all the C's, like, the first three letters through the next three letters, kind of how they've done their indexing. So, it's pretty easy to find CAL is between CAD and COP. [laughs]
Dan (Wren)
[plucks out box] This box right here! [Chris and Ellie: "Yeah"]
Timothy (DM)
So, you find a box, and you start sifting through it. Give me a Investigation check.
Dan (Wren)
All of us?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, everybody start... start parsing through.
Dan (Wren)
*sigh* I rolled in an 8.
Ellie (Markie)
I got a dirty 20.
Chris (Sal S)
I also got a dirty 20!
Ellie (Markie)
Whoo!
Timothy (DM)
Alright...
Dan (Wren)
[frowning] I have high Intelligence. [Dan and Ellie laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
Aren't you supposed to be some kind of scholar or something? Are you dumb as hell? [all laugh]
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, I don't know why I just... the alphabet seems backwards in my brain right now, and I just...
Ellie (Markie)
You know what? That's okay. Not everybody is good at everything.
Timothy (DM)
So, you start pulling out records under the name Calderos, which there are several.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, I've got one here: [reading] 101 years ago (so whenever year that was) an estate in the castle district was sold by Veritable Calderos, not the person you're looking for right now? [Chris: "No"] Not 101 years old? Ok.
Ellie (Markie)
I have 356 years ago: an estate in the Castle District was purchased by Veritable Calderos.
Dan (Wren)
Maybe it's the same. Okay, okay, timelining.
Ellie (Markie)
So, let's order them up. All right?
Chris (Sal S)
I have... there's a bungalow 154 years ago in the Market District, Aldwin Calderos to Vivian... what was the? Veritable, so we're looking for something from Veritable to...
Ellie (Markie)
164 years ago, a bungalow in the Market District was purchased by Aldwin Calderos.
Chris (Sal S)
Yes.
Dan (Wren)
Okay. So, Aldwin then sold it to Vivian.
Ellie (Markie)
Okay. Is that that order? From Aldwin to Vivian. Okay, great. And then, uh, here's one: a cottage was sold to a Veritable and Gladys Calderos in the Valley Overlook District at the edge of the city. 122 years ago.
Dan (Wren)
Cottage? You said you were looking for a cottage, right?
Chris (Sal S)
Yes, a cottage.
Ellie (Markie)
You're looking for a cottage? He doesn't say anything about pie. He had
Chris (Sal S)
It... he... had described it as something... I don't believe it was in town. Although, I can't be certain.
Ellie (Markie)
"Well, Valley Overlook is..." [to Tim] What would I know about the Valley Overlook District?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, you've heard of it. You've never actually been, but it's just outside the city walls. To the south.
Dan (Wren)
[comprehending] That's in the south.
Ellie (Markie)
[to Wren] Oh, like where you're from? [Dan laughs]
Dan (Wren)
[plainly] Yes.
Ellie (Markie)
To the south!
Dan (Wren)
Goes out a bit FARTHER than that, but...
Ellie (Markie)
"I don't underst-- that's incomprehensible to me, so I'm just gonna gloss over it. [Dan: "Ok"] Yeah, the Valley Overlook District is, like, real nice... I think; I've never been." So, that's 122 years ago, so that lives, like, right in between here and here [points at handouts on table]. "Well, you're looking for a cottage, so that seems like our best bet. [looks at Sal] You're not looking for a bungalow, are you?
Chris (Sal S)
No, unless...?
Ellie (Markie)
[looks at Wren] You're not looking for a bungalow?
Dan (Wren)
I'm just looking for a name.
Ellie (Markie)
Okay, bungalows off the list then.
Chris (Sal S)
Does it have two bedrooms and a bath, a backyard?
Ellie (Markie)
Mm, yeah, what's the school district like?
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, oh, well, property taxes. That's gonna...
Ellie (Markie)
All right, well, it sounds like we should go to the Valley Overlook District.
Chris (Sal S)
Sounds good to me.
Ellie (Markie)
--If you're looking for this cottage.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, that's all we can find on the cottage; it doesn't seem like they sold it.
Ellie (Markie)
Did you want to look up your...?
Dan (Wren)
Oh, yeah. Right. I'll head down to H's and sift through HAJ.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah. So, you find the banker's box that HAJ would be in, and you start sifting through it. Give me an Investigation check.
Dan (Wren)
Rolling like shit again! That's a 15.
Timothy (DM)
A 15. So, you start parsing through it. You pass where HAJ would be, and you're like "*OOP* Went too far." Backtrack a little bit. "*OOP* Too far again." Oh, no, there's no HAJ. [Dan: "Damn."] No record of a Haj purchasing or selling property.
Chris (Sal S)
Maybe they spelled it slightly differently?
Dan (Wren)
Maybe, but I wouldn't know where to start that.
Ellie (Markie)
Was Haj their first name?
Dan (Wren)
No, last name was Haj; Wesley Haj was his full name... That's all right.
Ellie (Markie)
How'd you guys know each other?
Dan (Wren)
[looking how to avoid sensitive topics] Uhhhh.... we fought together in the war.
Chris (Sal S)
[eyes narrow] Which side?
Ellie (Markie)
A war?
Dan (Wren)
Neither; we-we were the Wings of Mercy. So...
Chris (Sal S)
Oh yeah. Okay.
Ellie (Markie)
[pause] Do I know anything about any of--
Timothy (DM)
You nothing about the war, Markie. [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Sounds like a nasty time.
Dan (Wren)
[laughing] Yeah, it wasn't. It wasn't the... it wasn't the best of times, it wasn't the worst of times.
Chris (Sal S)
It's putting it lightly. Yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
Did you, uh... do any big adventures?
Dan (Wren)
You could say that. I mean, wartime is--
Ellie (Markie)
What's the biggest animal you've ever seen?
Dan (Wren)
[thinking] The biggest animal I've ever seen...
Chris (Sal S)
[folds his arm] I think I have you beat. [Ellie and Tim laugh]
Dan (Wren)
I came across a bear once in the forest near my hometown.
Ellie (Markie)
Ohh, brilliant bear.
Dan (Wren)
It was like... it was, like, when it stood up, it was like twice my size.
Chris (Sal S)
That's pretty tall, yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
Big bear. Big bear, I can do something with that. All right. Well...
Dan (Wren)
Wait, you said you had me beat?
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, whenever I was first shipping out, we were going to a new, uh, a new port for-for initial bootcamp, and, uh, the ship got destroyed by [dramatically] a giant Kraken.
Ellie (Markie)
*big inhale* Wow. You guys have some great stories. I'm gonna stick with you!
Dan (Wren)
All right. I wouldn't mind a guide to the city.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, for sure. Well, I've never been to the Valley Overlook District, but I have a pretty good idea of where it is, so, uh...
Dan (Wren)
Great, wonderful.
Ellie (Markie)
Let's go!
Dan (Wren)
*doo-do-doo* We put the boxes back. [all laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
Make it all nice and tidy, wrap the chocolate back up.
Timothy (Miss Bentley)
So, as you put away the boxes, put the papers back where you found them, and set off towards the Valley Overlook District, you pass by the city clerk, and she looks at y'all. "All right. Are you done?"
Chris (Sal S)
[hooks his thumb] All set in there.
Timothy (Miss Bentley)
Wonderful. Find what you were looking for?
Dan (Wren)
No, but guess yes?
Chris (Sal S)
Yes. It's a mixed result.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah. It's a mixed bag.
Timothy (Miss Bentley)
Interesting. [looks at clock] Oh, darn. I must have lost track of time. I was supposed to head out hours ago. Wow. Hmm.
Ellie (Markie)
Hours ago? You must be very dedicated to your job.
Timothy (Miss Bentley)
Well, I was supposed to leave early. I was meaning to head out of town. Guess I'll have to wait for tomorrow.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, you going on vacation or something?
Timothy (Miss Bentley)
Oh, yeah. Just to visit a sister.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, that's nice. That's nice. What's she do?
Timothy (Miss Bentley)
Well, she's a farmer. There's a little community just south of here and--
Ellie (Markie)
[points to Wren] Oh, like where you're from! [Chris laughs]
Dan (Wren)
Maybe! Honestly, maybe. [Ellie laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Well, lovely to meet you. Thanks so much for the chocolate.
Timothy (Miss Bentley)
Yeah, I'll-I'll set out in the morning when there's daylight... can't-can't manage to set out now. It's way too late.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, yeah, traveling in the dark is not a good time. [Tim: "Yeah"]
Chris (Sal S)
Did we... did we realize how long we were in there? Or this is, like, unusual to be... like, we did not realize...
Timothy (DM)
Well, there are no windows right now. [Chris: "True, yeah."] She hasn't referenced any specific time, but as you say your goodbyes, continue out past reception, and push open the big double doors, you look outside, and the sun has set. That's weird; you were only there for maybe an hour tops. [Dan: "*hmm*"] It was midday when you got here.
Dan (Wren)
Oh... [Markie: "Yeah.'] Oh, we must spend more time in there than I thought.
Ellie (Markie)
Wow, I really lost track of time. Gosh.
Chris (Sal S)
What the lack of windows will do to you.
Ellie (Markie)
I just got so absorbed in going through those boxes.
Dan (Wren)
Yesss... trying to remember how the alphabet works. It was really rough. [laughs]
Timothy (DM)
Oh gosh, like, we just... we're sitting there, being like "A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K" Just like over and over.
Dan (Wren)
If I start at the beginning, I can't... I have no idea where I am.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, you can't start in the middle.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, and I imagine Markie's going through, like... they have a specific phrase they say for each letter like "Alphabets. Apples, always ate on Apples' Day." [Editor's Note: Chris's brain was really empty of all the A words]
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, Markie... Markie has a sentence that's in alphabetical order, and she has to say the whole thing, and it covers every letter of the alphabet. I'm not going to come up with it off the top of my head, [Chris laughs] but maybe at some point I will. "It's how my mom taught me"
Chris (Sal S)
In real life. IRL. [Dan laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, Ellie's mom taught her the alphabet by teaching her an extremely complicated long sentence. [Dan laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
She pulls out "ABCs for Rap" [Editor's Note: Chris meant to refer to Blackalicious's "Alphabet Aerobics"]
Ellie (Markie)
Well, it's... I don't know. Is it, like, not safe to travel around the city at night? Or can we go the...?
Timothy (DM)
It's fine, yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
Well, not to worry. You're with a local. I know these streets like the back of my claw, and we'll have you to the Valley Overlook District in no time. Follow me!
Dan (Wren)
'A local celebrity, at that!' So I've heard.
Ellie (Markie)
[doing the accent] A bit of a local celebrity. [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
You don't... [to Markiet] do you have darkvision?
Ellie (Markie)
I do.
Chris (Sal S)
And you have somewhat some darkvision?
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, I can see about 10 feet. [laughs]
Timothy (DM)
I mean it's light; it's not like midnight. [Chris: "Okay"] The sun has just set. [Chris: "Gotcha"] It is evening now, but there are lights throughout the city 'cause it's a city! Like, people are up at all hours doing work by torchlight. [laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
Okay.
Dan (Wren)
I imagine it's like old London times where somebody's walking through and lighting each individual lamp.
Ellie (Markie)
The gas lamps. [Chris gasps]
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, that's exactly what's happening. [Chris: "Wow"] So, there are gas lamps that line the streets, and they're being lit, so the sun must have recently set [Chris: "Ok"] and Markie is able to lead you to the edge of town, and you get there, and you see the doors exiting the city wall. On the other side, you know that the Overlook District should be there. The guards open the doors, Salvador and Wren start walking through, and Markie, I'm going to need you to do a Wisdom saving throw.
Ellie (Markie)
Okay, sure. Let's find out... a dirty 20!
Timothy (DM)
You feel this, like, wave of thoughts hit you: 'Did I leave the stove on? Oh, it's kind of bedtime; I should probably head home. I gotta get up early.' And then you step over the threshold, bringing us to present time.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, so we just...? That's...?
Timothy (DM)
The three of you had just had this debacle. Your memory's gone. Who touched the coin?
Chris (Sal S)
Which one? [points to Markie] Your coin?
Timothy (DM)
The first time at the very beginning.
Chris (Sal S)
That was probably me.
Timothy (DM)
Yes, Salvador, your memories returned to you. [Chris: "Okay."] You remember that you recently met Markie and Wren in a tavern in Valerian. You went on a little excursion to City Hall, looked up the records, located some records for a cottage under the name of Calderos, and Markie has led you out here.
Chris (Sal S)
That's weird. I feel like suddenly a gap in my databanks has been filled, but I guess... this is the cottage! We-we found it. So: good job team, and high fives around.
Ellie (Markie)
Care to fill the rest of us in?
Chris (Sal S)
"Oh, sorry. You don't... Okay. Well, we met in a tavern. You got a strange coin that looks like" and I point to the stoop. "It looks like that."
Ellie (Markie)
What??
Chris (Sal S)
[points to Wren] And you came over you had a friend that had a coin that looked like that [points to the coin again]. They were wearing an amulet, and we went to the city hall, we found the location of this cottage... do you not...? I guess y-y-- maybe it's a time thing.
Dan (Wren)
I mean, I do have a friend who has... who had that amulet, but... [to self] wait, I was at the... I was at the tavern. And then what?
Chris (Sal S)
You followed me, we went to the city hall, we were looking at the records, we found the cottage...
Ellie (Markie)
Oh no. Say it one more time, and maybe then it'll come back to me! [laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
Do you remember chocolates? You too were very keen on the chocolates from the--
Dan (Wren)
Chocolates?
Ellie (Markie)
Chocolates.
Dan (Wren)
I do like chocolate.
Chris (Sal S)
Check your pockets. Do you have chocolate?
Ellie (Markie)
Is there chocolate?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, you both have chocolate in your pockets.
Dan (Wren)
Ahhh, okay.
Ellie (Markie)
Markie snaps off a little piece. [Dan/Chris laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
But yeah, is this... may-- this is weird. I-I imagine... 'cause there was a strange thing in the bar whenever Davey [looks at Markie] You know Davey?
Ellie (Markie)
[to Tim] Do I know Davey? [to Sal] "Who's Davey?"
Chris (Sal S)
There's a friend... oh, no! She (I imagine she's your friend in the bar; she's a bartender?) She touched the coin. You touch this coin. You remembered all your memories. It was not a bad thing for you, but it was for her.
Ellie (Markie)
Well, maybe if I touch it again, I'll remember all my memories again. Where's the coin?
Chris (Sal S)
Well, YOU have a coin.
Ellie (Markie)
Where's my coin? I start tapping my pockets.
Chris (Sal S)
Last I saw, it was in your... in your hat in your pocket.
Ellie (Markie)
I pull out a set of cards, I pull up a little metronome from my pocket. [Chris and Dan laugh] And I fi-- eventually find the hat with the coin in it?
Timothy (DM)
Does Markie carry a bag that she would put the hat in or something or...?
Ellie (Markie)
No, she's just got a LOT of pockets, yeah, [laughs] a cargo jumpsuit.
Timothy (DM)
So, you start going through these pockets, and each-each one you're like, "Oh, I own this." and "Oh, I own this? and "Oh, okay, I guess I have pockets. I have things on me." You pull out a hat; you don't recognize the hat, but it has a hat like Salvador told you about a hat, and you pull it open, and there's-there's definitely coins in there.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, I've got money! Folks, I'm loaded with cash. [Dan laughs] Well, we're gonna have a great time tonight. Let me tell you, we won't remember what happened in the morning, and it won't be because of some magical bullshit. [Dan laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
I look around, like, is there a city in the distance that we can see? Like, are we in, like...
Timothy (DM)
You can see the wall of the city.
Chris (Sal S)
Okay, so we're not--
Timothy (DM)
For you, Salvador, in this moment, there has been no real break in events, but you have this weird memory of not remembering things, and you had that debacle, but everything now has been pieced together in your head, but this, like... events all flow coherently. [Chris: "Okay]
Ellie (Markie)
And if I grab the weird amulet coin from my hat.
Timothy (DM)
As Markie grabs the weird amulet coin from their hat, their entire life is returned to them.
Ellie (Markie)
*getting punched in the stomach sound* [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
[imitating Markied] I thought I repressed that memory!
Ellie (Markie)
"Ohhh, I... you know, I really don't like that experience. [all laugh] And this is the second time it's happened, and it doesn't get any better. *OOF*, well, here you go!" I slap it in Wren's hand [Chris laughs, Dan: "Oh nooo"]. "Ding dong!"
Timothy (DM)
You slap the coin into Wren's hand... and nothing happens.
Dan (Wren)
[awed/angry] Ooooh.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh.
Chris (Sal S)
I guess it's one per... one per person. [Dan: Yeah"]
Ellie (Markie)
I look at your expectantly.
Dan (Wren)
I mean, it's... I mean, it's a reg-- I recognize the coin but I don't... I still don't know who either of you are. [Ellie: "Oh"]
Chris (Sal S)
So, what's your last memory?
Dan (Wren)
"I was sitting at the tavern with Twilight. Twilight?!" I'm going to check my pack for Twilight.
Timothy (DM)
Twilight is there in your pack.
Ellie (Markie)
Does Twilight remember anything? Check with her! [Dan laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
What do you knowww!?
Ellie (Markie)
Twilight!
Timothy (DM)
Does anybody know Speak with Animals?
Ellie (Markie)
[in unison with Sal and Wren] No.
Timothy (DM)
All right, can't check in with Twilight. [Ellie laughs]
Dan (Wren)
I ordered a drink, and I think...and I don't remember-remember much beyond that.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, I'll take the coin back from you.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, okay.
Ellie (Markie)
Wait, shit. When I grab it back from his hand, do I get the fucking flashbacks again?
Timothy (DM)
No, no more flashbacks. [Ellie: "Oh Jesus"] You now have your complete memory [Ellie: "Great"] from birth until present time. You remember this weird period of time where you couldn't remember things, but you now remember all of the events that took place before up to now, and it's a weirdly cohesive, but jarring string of events. [Editor's Note: much like how this episode ;)]
Dan (Wren)
You have a detailed memory of your birth. [all laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
Actually, better than before? [all laugh] Yeah.
Dan (Wren)
I was a little worried if Wren were to see his entire life pass before his eyes, he would just be uber traumatized in a second.
Ellie (Markie)
Are you super repressing some stuff?
Dan (Wren)
Maybe...
Chris (Sal S)
I'm thinking maybe we'd have to find the coin in your photo there to return your memories.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, I have no leads on that. THIS is my only lead on that being here. [Chris: "Okay"]
Ellie (Markie)
Well, shall we go inside? [Chris: "Yeah"] See if there's pie as promised, I believe!
Chris (Sal S)
I am... I look at the abandoned house [Tim laughs] with its... with its decrepit roof and overgrown hedges, and I am optimistic [Ellie laughs], and is the door overgrown or is it, like, openable?"
Timothy (DM)
The door is actually slightly ajar. There's some detritus that's kind of blown in and collected in the entrance.
Ellie (Markie)
Are the other houses in this neighborhood... Like, are there a lot of other houses in this neighborhood? Do they also look abandoned? Are there people there? Like, are there other people walking around right now?
Timothy (DM)
There are other houses. They have quite a bit of distance between them. They're not like in the city within the walls, where everything's right up against each other. You have, like, decent yards, maybe like an acre, but you don't see anybody else. Everything seems to be *abandoned*.
Ellie (Markie)
No lights lit in the windows or anything?
Timothy (DM)
Also, it'ssssss late afternoon again.
Chris (Sal S)
Hmm.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh! [Dan and Tim laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
So, were we just standing here all night? And day?!? Because it's like a mile walk from here to the, to the wall.
Ellie (Markie)
I'm supposed to be working right now!
Timothy (DM)
But your memory doesn't have any gaps in it...
Chris (Sal S)
How can that be? We left at night, and I woke up in the day unless somebody, like, fast -forwarded. I dunno.
Dan (Wren)
I mean, surprisingly, this is the one thing that makes sense to me right now.
Ellie (Markie)
Really?
Dan (Wren)
'Cause it was aft-- early afternoon when I was at the tavern, and now it's mid-afternoon, so that's a normal stream of--
Ellie (Markie)
Oh yeah, that's right, you're having a good time right now.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, sure. We'll go with that.
Ellie (Markie)
What's the barkeep's name?
Timothy (DM)
[tentative because Chris came up with this stupid but relevant name] Gambrinus? [Dan laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Gambrinus is going to kill me. I'm supposed to be performing that tonight. It's part of my deal.
Chris (Sal S)
Well, there's still three hours left before night so...
Ellie (Markie)
Well, but with the time like it is, who knows?! It could be night in a few minutes, could be night in two days. How am I supposed to keep my commitments under these circumstances?
Chris (Sal S)
"I don't know. [Tim laughs] Well, a few more minutes won't hurt" as I... as I reached for the door.
Timothy (DM)
All right, you push open the door. You push past the dirt and leaves that have collected in the front entrance, and it leads into a kind of open area with a table in the center of the room. It's covered in scrolls, parchment, a small journal, and several candles that have melted down to a nub. You also notice several pages of parchment have fallen to the ground, and a small upholstered chair collecting dust in the corner. There are bottles of wine and candles stacked on cupboards along the northern wall.
Chris (Sal S)
[echoing Hellooo there.
Timothy (DM)
You call out into the cottage and listen for a response, but get none.
Chris (Sal S)
Just as I suspected, nobody's here. Well, uh, should we do some investigating?
Ellie (Markie)
"Yeah." I'll follow you in and start pawing through various, like... lifting things up, checking under them, moving, opening drawers, just take a little gander.
Dan (Wren)
Sifting through things. [Ellie: "Yeah."]
Chris (Sal S)
Reading the diaries, [Dan: "Mmhm Mmhm"]
Ellie (Markie)
Anything in particular we're looking for here?
Chris (Sal S)
Maybe... I imagine, maybe there are notes, like, of their last actions or, like, if they are...
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, I always write down--
Chris (Sal S)
Like 'Goin' to the market today.'
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, got it.
Chris (Sal S)
Or... Yeah.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah. So, you step into the cottage, you get a quick little lay of the land: you see a kitchen off of that main entrance area, pots and pans are just scattered about; you see a hallway that leads down to a bedroom; and you start kind of pawing through the papers on the table. Interesting: you see a couple star charts, planetary positioning catalogs, and a bunch of just notes about... something they keep referring to as a 'localized temporal anomaly'.
Chris (Sal S)
Well, that would seem to align with the lack of memory for some of my friends here.
Ellie (Markie)
Temporal's about time, right? [Chris: "Yeah."] Well, time certainly has been a little screwy lately, but it's never been screwy... I've lived here my whole life, and time has never been screwy before. So...
Chris (Sal S)
[raising eyebrows] What if you just don't remember?
Ellie (Markie)
What if it's YOU who did it?
Chris (Sal S)
Why would I do that?
Ellie (Markie)
Because time was never screwy before you two showed up!
Dan (Wren)
To be fair, you are a stranger. I-I don't know you.
Ellie (Markie)
You're a stranger, too! [Chris laughs]
Dan (Wren)
Yes, but you [Markie] seem more related. You seem more relatable. You don't seem as--
Chris (Sal S)
[taken aback at being seen as unrelatable] What?
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, well, everybody likes me. [Chris and Dan laugh] I'm Markie! Everybody likes me.
Dan (Wren)
Honestly, that's fair! [points to Sal] You, I don't know.
Ellie (Markie)
I could tell you what I know about you.
Dan (Wren)
That's weird for me, so please don't.
Ellie (Markie)
Okay.
Chris (Sal S)
"Well, regardless of our of our feelings towards each other, I feel like this is a clue to understanding why this is happening 'cause this happened to the city clerk! She also had this strange time loss, where we had gone in at noon, and it was nighttime by the time we exited. So, I don't think it's localized just us... or you two, in that case." [to Tim] So, you said there are cabinets to the north wall?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, there are cabinets, um, you see a lot of candles and wine bottles sitting on top of them. [Chris: "Okay."] And then there's the kitchen off to one direction, a hallway that leads down to the bedrooms.
Ellie (Markie)
Well, if this is your friend's house, are you okay with us looking around? I mean, perhaps that ship has sailed on that front, but...
Chris (Sal S)
[looking at a paper, dismayed] Oh, no... [to Markie] I'm sorry; yes. I-I turned over one of the handouts that I had found on this table here, and there's one that says 'I hope the cute tall one survives' and then some crossed out information that I can't... I can't quite read what the last part... but there's a smiley face that's X'ed out. [Chris and Tim laugh]
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, there's lots of random things written on some of these pages. There's, like, lots of notes. [Chris: "Yeah"] about various just, like, events, activities, but, like, very little cohesive stuff without context. Some of it's just like stuff scrawled in margins and, like, seemingly notes written to themselves. You even find a shopping list.
Chris (Sal S)
[to Tim] Oh, well, what was on that shopping list?!
Timothy (DM)
[laughs] Bread--
Chris (Sal S)
Candles.
Timothy (DM)
Milk, eggs--
Dan (Wren)
Cheese.
Timothy (DM)
--candles, tea.
Chris (Sal S)
Well, gang, this is not the first time I've run into a creepy dwelling with mysterious planetary stuff.
Dan (Wren)
Again: a reason why I feel like I shouldn't trust you!
Chris (Sal S)
[flabbergasted] W-wh-- well, I'm... I-I am probably the most knowledgeable about this in the area, so... I don't know. What can I do to earn your trust?
Dan (Wren)
[quickly] "I don't know; we'll see." [laughs] Wren... Wren will--
Ellie (Markie)
We do a trust building exercise... [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
Do go on...
Ellie (Markie)
Well, okay. So, it's like... you know how sometimes when you fall and you hit the ground, and that's terrible? But what if someone was there to catch you? [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
That is... that is--
Ellie (Markie)
It's a little thing I've come up with. [reading the room] Don't worry! We'll do it later. We're in the middle of something important right now, don't worry about it.
Dan (Wren)
Do you have a name for it?
Ellie (Markie)
I'm going... I'm workshopping it. I'm thinking maybe... "Friendship Falls"?
Chris (Sal S)
Groundy Guardians.
Ellie (Markie)
[humoring Sal] "Oh, yeah. [moving on] I'll keep working on it-. [Dan: "Yeah, yeah"] Don't worry about it. Let's, uh... I'll go in the kitchen, start sifting through kitchen stuff." [to Tim] Is there anything interesting in the kitchen?
Timothy (DM)
Pots and pans scattered all everywhere. The cast iron stove is, like, coated in, like, a heavy layer of oil and rust. Ashes are, like, pouring out of the lower chamber, and you notice that there are sacks of molded grain and crates piled in a corner. You also see the stairs leading up to the second floor.
Ellie (Markie)
Seems like whoever left here was not planning to be gone for a long time. They left all their stuff behind. Like all this grain? So... [to Sal] do you know who lived here?
Chris (Sal S)
Well, he had said that his family lived here, so I imagine his parents. I don't know if he had any siblings or not.
Ellie (Markie)
[trepidatious] Ssssshall we go up-stairs?
Chris (Sal S)
Yes.
Dan (Wren)
I'll go check the downstairs bedrooms first, but I'll meet you guys up there.
Timothy (DM)
All right, so let's start with Wren. So, Wren makes his way down the hallway towards the bedroom. The door's ajar, and inside they can see two twin sized beds sitting on a dusty blue rug and moth-ridden sheets. There are papers and journals scattered about them. There's also a pile of musty clothing sitting in the corner and a cupboard left ajar, where you can also see moth-eaten clothing and candles. At the foot of each of the beds is a locked chest.
Dan (Wren)
I'll start at the papers and the journal. See what I find.
Timothy (DM)
You start piling through the letters and papers and journals, and you start to realize that a lot of these are like a personal journal and personal letters to people, pretty mundane things. Give me an Investigation check.
Dan (Wren)
I was gonna say, do any names stick out to me? That is... a dice that I can't read. That's an 8.
Ellie (Markie)
It's too exquisitely beautiful. [Editor's note: Dan really does have some lovely dice]
Dan (Wren)
[laughing] It's a 2 actually!
Timothy (DM)
You see the name 'Calderos' signed on some of these letters. None of them say 'Desmond Calderos'. You might assume that these are other family members related to 'Desmond'.
Ellie (Markie)
Do you even r-- do you remember Desmond's--?
Dan (Wren)
I don't, yeah, I don't think I know that name.
Timothy (DM)
Ohhhhh, yeah--
Dan (Wren)
So, I'll just, like, compile the names that I find.
Timothy (DM)
You just, yeah, you start compiling a bunch of names 'til finally you come across an envelope with something hard and heavy inside it.
Dan (Wren)
[seductively] I'll rip it open.
Ellie (Markie)
Don't mind if I do.
Timothy (DM)
You rip open the envelope, and you find a key. A brass key with the symbol of an eye and three parallel lines running from top to bottom.
Dan (Wren)
Do I traumatically relive my entire life? [Ellie laughs]
Timothy (DM)
No.
Dan (Wren)
[relieved] Okay, good.
Ellie (Markie)
[sadly] *WOMP womp*. [all laugh] [curiously] Or *womp WOMP*?
Dan (Wren)
Or both?
Chris (Sal S)
WOMP WOMP!
Dan (Wren)
*WOMP womp* or *womp WOMP*?
Timothy (DM)
Just a key with the symbol on the head of the the handle.
Dan (Wren)
I will pocket the journal because maybe there are names that someone else will recognize, and I will try the key on the chests? The locked chests?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, you go to check the key on the locked chests, and they don't even fit in the keyholes.
Dan (Wren)
I would then like to try and break open the chests. [Ellie and Dan laugh]
Timothy (DM)
All right, give me a Strength check.
Dan (Wren)
That's not my favorite. 9.
Timothy (DM)
How are you trying to break open these chests?
Dan (Wren)
I'll probably take out my dagger and try to, like, wedge it into the... um, is it like... what are those kinds of locks called? Clicky ones?
Timothy (DM)
So, it's one of those key holes that's, like, embedded in the chest.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, then, I dunno, I shove a dagger into it, jiggle it around.
Timothy (DM)
And you try to jimmy it? Give me a Sleight of Hand.
Dan (Wren)
I was gonna say, I'm better at that. 20! Dirty. [Ellie: "Woo!"]
Timothy (DM)
All right. So, you start by trying to pry it open a little bit, and then you s-- you get a little bit more subtle and start kind of jimmying, and you hear a crack as the rusted metal breaks, you open the chest, and inside you find folded clothes. [smiling]
Chris (Sal S)
A steal!
Dan (Wren)
Boringggg. I'll, like, throw the clothes around [Chris laughs] just to see if there's anything underneath them.
Timothy (DM)
You rip out all the clothes; give me Investigation check.
Dan (Wren)
18. Now I'm rolling higher.
Timothy (DM)
18, you get to the bottom of the chest, and you feel for a false bottom... [Dan: "Oh!"] None to be found.
Dan (Wren)
Damn. [all laugh]
Timothy (DM)
The chest is now empty.
Dan (Wren)
I'd like to do the same thing for chest number two.
Timothy (DM)
All right. So you do the same thing: crack open chest number two, pull out all the clothes. Notttttthing to be found.
Dan (Wren)
Damn. *quick sigh* Ok, I'll go... I'll head upstairs then with the journal.
Timothy (DM)
All right, so let's go to the other two who've been upstairs this whole time. You reach the top landing of the stairs, you see a little study with two upholstered chairs sagging with the weight of a moldy cushion as you notice the roof has been leaking. A small tome sits on the low table near several candle stubs.
Ellie (Markie)
Can I take a gander at the tome?
Timothy (DM)
You start parsing through the tone, and it seems, like, a journal of sorts, but with lots of weirdly cryptic things written on each page, almost like somebody was trying to understand something giving themselves little mantras or reminder of sorts. Hard to tell what they're referencing, though.
Ellie (Markie)
[to Sal] I hate to tell you this, but your friend might have been a little bit banana crackers.
Chris (Sal S)
Mmm [reading the mantras] 'Free the mind of certainty', 'We are the curators, our energy is abundant'...
Ellie (Markie)
--or at least the parents were, I guess, if the parents lived here--
Chris (Sal S)
An evil octopus...
Ellie (Markie)
I'd be worried if my mom was writing this kind of stuff.
Chris (Sal S)
[reading more mantras] "'It doesn't make sense...', 'Contradict the will of the unified conscious?' 'Travel to a realm of our own making.' Well, this is in alignment with all the time shenanigans that seem to be going around here", and as Wren ascends the staircase, I hand him the--
Dan (Wren)
"Oh, a book. Okay. Oh, here." I passed the journal to you. "I also found this" and I hold up the key.
Ellie (Markie)
Book trade! Oh, that seems like the most useful thing yet (to be honest).
Chris (Sal S)
We'll have to find a--
Ellie (Markie)
Did you get... traumatically get your memories back when you touched it?
Dan (Wren)
Unfortunately no.
Ellie (Markie)
[sadly] Oh, womp womp.
Dan (Wren)
[optimistic] Womp WOMP?
Chris (Sal S)
We'll just have to keep finding more strange artifacts.
Ellie (Markie)
How... what? *irritated grunt* What is this k-- eye with the lines mean?
Chris (Sal S)
I don't know, can I do, like, a Religion check? Is this something religious, or this is just purely culty unknown stuff?
Timothy (DM)
Give me Religion or History.
Chris (Sal S)
Okay. That's a 16.
Timothy (DM)
16, so you wrack your brain for references to eyes, the number 'three'... nothing in conjunction with each other. I mean, you know that the number three has typical meanings related to it. So, in the religion of Praea, the number three comes up a lot in reference to a trinity of mythological beings that follow Praea. The eye's usually some sort of reference to observations, seeing... kind of having sight and clarity sometimes.
Chris (Sal S)
Gotcha. Well, sorry, guys. I was hoping that there was some sort of religious bent to this, but just just as lost as you all are.
Ellie (Markie)
That's all right. Probably better if there isn't a religious bent, to be honest.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah. Nobody coming after you or trying to convert you or...
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah. Well... so, if your friend's not here, and his parents aren't here, and we've got one guy down some memories. Why... what are you looking for?
Chris (Sal S)
I, I wish I could tell you that, but, uh... I was just hoping for SOMEBODY to say, 'I'm sorry' to, let them know about Desmond.
Ellie (Markie)
[tilts head] He dead?
Chris (Sal S)
[ruefully] I am not sure. I, uh, let him under 'less than auspicious' circumstances.
Ellie (Markie)
[earnestly] Seems like a jerk move.
Chris (Sal S)
"I assure you." and Sal is, Salvador looks... [all laugh] he's looking off into the distance, trying to, like...
Ellie (Markie)
Markie has never experienced hardship in her LIFE! [Dan and Ellie laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
He-he tries to bite back some tears. "I, uh..."
Ellie (Markie)
Sorry, hit a nerve there; didn't mean to.
Dan (Wren)
Wren is gonna put a hand on Markie's shoulder and be like, "Just like *shh*" [Dan and Tim laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
Right. Yeah. No, I'm sure y--
Chris (Sal S)
There's some things I'm not proud of, but, uh, I was hoping in some... some case that this would help alleviate that feeling. [pause] Anyway, uh!
Ellie (Markie)
Well, let's keep looking! [Chris: "Yeah!"] Maybe we'll find something yet!
Chris (Sal S)
Into the next room! [optimistic] Maybe they're just asleep, and they're just really messy.
Ellie (Markie)
[askance look to Wren] Yeah.
Dan (Wren)
[askance look to Markie] Yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
My house looks like this sometimes.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah. It's like if you don't expect company, you kind of leave the dishes. [Markie: "Yeah, yeah."]
Dan (Wren)
It's the molded grain that really tells me that they're...
Chris (Sal S)
Maybe they... they're trying to do... they are now gluten-free, and they can't eat grain so. So they're like "Oh, I was gonna throw it out, but I just forgot."
Dan (Wren)
[rolls eyes] Yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, you keep that relentless optimism.
Chris (Sal S)
You know what? It's worked for me so far.
Ellie (Markie)
I love that for you. All right, well, shall we look, uh, in what looks to be another bedroom???
Timothy (DM)
Yeah. So, across the hall from the study, you see another bedroom, and it... the hallway continues down, where you can see another door, leading into probably another bedroom. Pretty mundane.
Chris (Sal S)
This place is lousy with bedrooms.
Timothy (DM)
Would you like to go into the first or second bedroom?
Dan (Wren)
First.
Timothy (DM)
All right, into the first bedroom.
Dan (Wren)
[game show announcer voice] Bedroom number one!
Ellie (Markie)
[game show announcer voice] Behind, it's a lion! [all laugh] It's a new Ferrari.
Dan (Wren)
*rawr*
Timothy (DM)
Unlike the downstairs bedroom, this one is furnished with a queen sized bed (singular), a small sofa, a sturdy writing desks, and a bookshelf. The bookshelf is full of a whole variety of books. As you start to gloss over the titles on the spine, you see references to cosmology, astrology, planetary motion, physics, various sciences, history, and even folklore, including a collection of nursery rhymes.
Dan (Wren)
It's officially a horror house. HOR-ROR house, not a whore house. [all laugh] Horror house.
Ellie (Markie)
Whatdid y-- what did you find downstairs? [all laugh]
Timothy (DM)
What strikes you as PARTICULARLY odd about this room is that there is a ring of books and notes scattered on the floor with PARTIALLY used candlesticks melted into the floorboards.
Ellie (Markie)
Like a really deliberate, like, circle?
Timothy (DM)
Mmmm, more like somebody was sitting in a spot and had surrounded themselves with candles and things that they were reading through.
Dan (Wren)
So, not like chalk and blood at one corner.
Timothy (DM)
No, no sigils or anything like that.
Ellie (Markie)
Well, shall we look through those? [Chris: "Yeah"]. If that's what they were reading, seems like they'd be of the most interest.
Timothy (DM)
All right. You parse through some of these papers, and you find similar things to what you found in that weird cryptic journal, but you also see several nursery rhymes folded into the papers.
Ellie (Markie)
[holding up the litany of handouts] Should we read these out loud or...?
Timothy (DM)
Please don't. [laughs]
Dan (Wren)
I have, like, 10 pages.
Chris (Sal S)
Oh my goodness! Woww.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, so saddle up, everybody.
Timothy (DM)
One of them is titled 'The Mudshaper and Their Eight Shadows'. There's one titled 'The Philosopher's Stone', and a third called 'The Tallow Candle'. As you start to parse through these stories, you start to realize these are particularly dark and, uh, sad [laughs] tales, very grim sort of versions of (in two cases) familiar tales that you may have heard as children. None of you are familiar with 'The Mudshaper and Their Eight Shadows'.
Chris (Sal S)
Markie, do you know what... what's that one about? Like Cliff's Notes? What stands out to you?
Ellie (Markie)
It's some sort of creation myth about building one's own existence and the things behind the scenes that pull the strings--
Chris (Sal S)
Hmm, like a puppet master.
Ellie (Markie)
--would be my reading into it from a literary perspective.
Chris (Sal S)
Gotcha. I've got something about a candle, it's talking about how you start off with a white candle, but it seems to get, like, desolated over time by blackness.
Ellie (Markie)
More literally, mine is about a little man in a field of mud who makes more mud people.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, mine's called 'The Philosopher's Stone' and it's like 20 pages. [Chris laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Oh my god, nobody's reading that! That's a nursery rhyme; that's for children!?!
Dan (Wren)
Apparently.
Timothy (DM)
Cliff's Notes for 'Philosopher's Stone' is the search for immortality. It does not end well.
Chris (Sal S)
Just be on the lookout for any mirrors. [Editor's Note: this is a Harry Potter reference, the Mirror of Erised]
Timothy (DM)
There is also another locked chest in this room.
Dan (Wren)
[exuberant] Key!
Timothy (DM)
You try the key? [Dan: "Yeah"] It does not fit a keyhole.
Chris (Sal S)
More clothes I imagine.
Dan (Wren)
Damn. Is it the same make and model as the rest downstairs?
Timothy (DM)
No, this one is smaller, but also much newer. There's no rust or rot. A lot of the papers in this room also are newer.
Chris (Sal S)
Like, how... can we estimate how old they are? Like, they're not yellow? But they're, like, obviously...
Timothy (DM)
They're not yellow, they're not aged. [Chris: "Yeah, ok] It's like you pulled this out of your own pack. [Chris: "Hmm"]
Dan (Wren)
We released time onto this room [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, oopso!
Dan (Wren)
I'll try and crack open the chest in a similar fashion that I did the other one.
Timothy (DM)
Give me another Sleight of Hand.
Dan (Wren)
Oo! Nat 20.
Timothy (DM)
All right--
Ellie (Markie)
Whoaaaa!
Dan (Wren)
[sing-songy] Proficient in dagggger(?)
Timothy (DM)
--you slip that dagger in, you hear that 'click' almost instantly, and the latch springs open and inside you find all sorts of lightly used supplies, new and in good condition. There are candles, chalk, a climber's kit, a lantern, ink, parchment, quill, rope, spyglass, tinderbox, torches, three healing potions. [Dan: "Oh!"], a vial of what looks to be poison, and a signet ring.
Chris (Sal S)
What's on the ring?
Timothy (DM)
The ring is the symbol of an ivy in the shape of a 'P'.
Dan (Wren)
Like the letter 'P'? [whispers with laughter] I was thinking... Dan and Chris laugh]
Timothy (DM)
The letter 'P'
Dan (Wren)
--I was thinking the vegetable, and I was like "So, a circle?"
Ellie (Markie)
A circle? This is a pea. [all laugh] [Chris: "Well, it's--"] "Does that ring mean anything to you about your friend?"
Chris (Sal S)
No, not particularly.
Ellie (Markie)
What were their names?
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, 'Vivian', 'Veritable', Aldwin'...
Ellie (Markie)
'Gladys'. None of those are 'P' names.
Chris (Sal S)
No, maybe... I feel like there's somebody that's either squatting in this house, or they're not necessarily a member of the household. Or maybe they--
Ellie (Markie)
Hmm, so if they're gonna come back?
Chris (Sal S)
Unclear. I mean... the doors have been ajar. And well, they're obviously not eating something here, so I don't know.
Ellie (Markie)
Shall we take a look at the rest of the house?
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, one second. I'm gonna pocket all those healing potions and the poison.
Chris (Sal S)
The spyglass, yeah.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, yeah, spyglass. Well, might as well.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, it's nice stuff.
Dan (Wren)
Climbing kit, anyone?
Ellie (Markie)
Climbing kit? I'll take a climbing kit, sure. [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
As we pilfer this chest...
Ellie (Markie)
Although, she... she doesn't have a bag, so she just kinda like clips it [to her jumpsuit], yeah.
Chris (Sal S)
Maybe we should check out that rest of the hallway up here.
Ellie (Markie)
A lot of paperwork in this household.
Chris (Sal S)
Surprisingly, they're very bookish. [Ellie: "Yeah."] The Desmond that I know, he said he was a sailor. So...
Ellie (Markie)
Maybe his parents are more the intellectual type.
Chris (Sal S)
Perhaps. Yeah.
Timothy (DM)
So, you make your way down the hallway into the second bedroom.
Dan (Wren)
[sing-songy] What's behind door number two? [Ellie and Tim laugh]
Timothy (DM)
[affected] Behind door number two--
Dan (Wren)
Your dead lover! [Ellie and Chris laugh]
Timothy (DM)
--is a small--
Dan (Wren)
That's gonna happen one of these times.
Ellie (Markie)
Whooooa! Trauma! [all laugh, Chris: "Oh dear"] Alright, let's just close the door; can we make that thing that makes us forget happen again? [Dan laughs, Tim sighs]
Chris (Sal S)
Touch the coin. TOUCH THE COIN!
Timothy (DM)
In this room, there is a small bed with a small unlocked and empty chest sitting to one end of the room. You see an empty dresser leaned up against the wall next to the door, and a desk next to the window. On the desk is a book and an envelope.
Chris (Sal S)
Open that envelope.
Timothy (DM)
Salvador walks over to the desk and looks at the envelope, which is set on top of the book, and they realize their name is on the envelope: 'Salvador Saltrose'
Dan (Wren)
*GASP*
Ellie (Markie)
Oh my god, what a reveal.
Chris (Sal S)
Mmm.
Dan (Wren)
*suspense noises*
Timothy (DM)
The book is 'Rumpelstiltskin'.
Chris (Sal S)
Ooo. [receiving a handout]
Timothy (DM)
As you open the envelope, there is a very short letter.
Chris (Sal S)
'What will you do next?' it says on a little piece of paper... Getting a little freaked out here, guys.
Ellie (Markie)
That's for you?
Chris (Sal S)
It had my name on it!
Dan (Wren)
That's... Oh, so that's your name. Okay, got it. [all laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
[realizing Wren had his mind wiped] Oh, shit sorry.
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, sorry! I-I thought you had... I forgot that you don't know anything about me. My name is Salvador. I used to be a steward, but now I'm, like, a freelancer, I guess. Explorer? I guess, I'm an explorer now.
Dan (Wren)
Okay.
Ellie (Markie)
My name's Markie. I'm a bit of a local celebrity. [all laugh]
Dan (Wren)
Physician and proprietor of a business.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, an entrepreneur.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, yeah.
Chris (Sal S)
Business Owner!
Ellie (Markie)
Business. Business Boy. Well, what WILL you do next?
Chris (Sal S)
I-I'm going to briefly... Well, this this is 'Rumplestiltskin'. Not good. Not good outcomes from 'Rumplestiltskin' from what I can remember.
Ellie (Markie)
Eh, depends whose side you're on.
Chris (Sal S)
"I guess so, yeah. If you... if you like capitalists or maidens that want children." [pause] So, there's this book, and the only thing in a letter was a slip saying, 'What will you do?'?
Timothy (DM)
Correct.
Chris (Sal S)
*sigh* I'm gonna take the letter and the book, and I'm going to add it to our traveling collection.
Timothy (DM)
Which is getting quite large at this point.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, we got a lot of material. [laughs]
Timothy (DM)
We're gonna have to have, like, a little cart that follows us.
Ellie (Markie)
A Bag of Holding, anybody?
Chris (Sal S)
So, that other rooms seem to be like the parents' bedroom?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, it seemed like that was the master bedroom. This might be one of the children's bedrooms, downstairs was another. They were smaller beds, twin size beds.
Chris (Sal S)
Okay.
Ellie (Markie)
Did your friend have siblings?
Chris (Sal S)
I couldn't tell you. I don't remember. I only knew him for, like, three days. Four days.
Dan (Wren)
So, you traveled across the continent... for a guy you knew for three days?
Chris (Sal S)
[thinks] More like four days. [Ellie laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, FOUR days! Well, in that case!
Dan (Wren)
Oh, FOUR days, okay.
Chris (Sal S)
You move from, like, 'barely strangers' to 'sort of acquaintances', but we were trying to escape this prison and it was really dicey. There were sacrifices. It seemed like they are working on some sort of medical abomination where they're jamming gems into people's brains, and *inhale* we, uh, got separated, and I really... I made a... I made a-a-a knee reaction. What is it, a split-- whatisit--?
Ellie (Markie)
Knee jerk reaction?
Chris (Sal S)
It's like a split decis-
Ellie (Markie)
Split-second decision?
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, split-second decision, and I had to flee without him.
Dan (Wren)
Oh... [pause] [whispers to self] Four days, okay. [all laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
There's a lot that can happen in four days.
Dan (Wren)
Yes, I guess that's fair. It is a lot time, four days.
Chris (Sal S)
But!
Ellie (Markie)
[to Sal] You don't think we're gonna get gems stuffed in our heads, are we?
Chris (Sal S)
I think we're-we're safe.
Ellie (Markie)
Okay, that's not what we're gonna do next.
Chris (Sal S)
"No, uh, no, we're definitely not gonna... thatt's not on my agenda of things to do. [Ellie: "Okay"] But, uh..." Is there anything else in this room on the desk in the desk?
Dan (Wren)
In the drawers?
Timothy (DM)
You look for the drawers: most of them are empty. Actually, like, every cabinet, chest, desk drawer in this room is empty.
Dan (Wren)
No false bottoms.
Timothy (DM)
No false bottoms.
Dan (Wren)
My favorite kind of bottom. [Tim chuckles]
Chris (Sal S)
Okay, well, I think we've gotten quite a bit of information. Is there anything? We passed by a closet in the hallway?
Ellie (Markie)
[points to map] This one?
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah.
Dan (Wren)
Looks like there's a bathroom downstairs too.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, you pass a bathroom, a little lavatory. There's some storage rooms. Would you all like to just give me an Investigation check as you start to pan over this cottage for a second time.
Ellie (Markie)
Is there a basement?
Timothy (DM)
No basement.
Chris (Sal S)
Okay. That's just a patio?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, there's a little patio out to the north and the east that overlooks the valley.
Ellie (Markie)
That was a 19-- Oh, like the name! [Chris: "Yeah"]
Timothy (DM)
Yep. Valley Overlook. [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
It's all comin' together for Markie.
Dan (Wren)
Y'know?
Timothy (DM)
Y'now? Yeah.
Dan (Wren)
That was a 9 for me.
Timothy (DM)
A 9 from Wren.
Chris (Sal S)
I got Nat 1, I'm too--
Timothy (DM)
A Nat 1, there's a LOT going through your head right now, sure.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, I'm like "Oh my God. Is there somebody WATCHING me? Because they... it seems like somebody's watching me from this note saying 'I hope that cute tall one lives' and I can't--"
Ellie (Markie)
What makes you think 'the cute tall one' is talking about you?
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, it's definitely me.
Ellie (Markie)
IT COULD BE ME! [all bust out laughing] [hooks their claw at Wren] We got a bit of an ego on this one. [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
Well, I think you're technically taller than I am 'cause I'm 5'10".
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, taller, yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
But who's cuter?
Chris (Sal S)
Hmmm.
Dan (Wren)
It's me.
Chris (Sal S)
We both look to Markie.
Ellie (Markie)
*bllllleeeeh* Markie walks up upstairs.
Chris (Sal S)
[changing the subject] Anyway, oh! Look at this beautiful overlook. [all laugh]
Timothy (DM)
What was Markie's Investigation?
Ellie (Markie)
A 19.
Timothy (DM)
All right. Cool. Cool. Cool. So, the two "gentleman"...
Chris (Sal S)
We're-we're bickering.
Timothy (DM)
--are bickering, their head--.
Dan (Wren)
I'm the cute one!
Ellie (Markie)
I say, it's about facial symmetry! [Dan laughs]
Timothy (DM)
--and Markie, not wanting to be part of this conversation anymore [Dan laughs], makes her way downstairs and starts kind of scanning each of the rooms downstairs when they notice in the bedroom, the rug is lifted in one corner--
Ellie (Markie)
Wait, when she's in the downstairs bedroom?
Timothy (DM)
--and the dust has been disturbed.
Ellie (Markie)
[arms akimbo, shaking head] Wren left this place a mess!
Dan (Wren)
I did.
Chris (Sal S)
There's clothes everywhere.
Dan (Wren)
I did!
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, there's clothes everywhere. The chests are open. I lift up the carpet a little bit, I guess.
Timothy (DM)
You lift up the carpet, and you see a trapdoor.
Ellie (Markie)
Ah!
Timothy (DM)
--and a keyhole.
Ellie (Markie)
[higher pitched] Ah! I try the trapdoor; is it locked?
Timothy (DM)
It is locked.
Ellie (Markie)
[clenches claw] Foiled. Well, I guess I had better just give up forever. [realistically] No. [all laugh] This is a problem I am incapable of solving. "Hey, uh, lads?"
Chris (Sal S)
Yes.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
Can my, my luscious lads stop arguing over who's got the prettiest face, and come down here and take a gander of what I found?
Dan (Wren)
"Oh, okay, [whispers to self] it's me though." [all laugh in surprise] as I... as I run down the stairs before Sal.
Ellie (Markie)
You mumble under your breath, like, last word, like "It's me.' [laughs]
Dan (Wren)
'Definitely me.'
Chris (Sal S)
Not quite sure about that.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh my god. It comes to blows... this is PvP zone. [Editor's Note: PvP mean "player vs. player"]
Chris (Sal S)
First of all, no hitting of the hair or face. [Ellie and Dan laugh] [Editor's note: This is an "Anchorman" reference]
Dan (Wren)
I don't know, I think scars are attractive. [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Everfear's Next Top...
Chris (Sal S)
Male Model. [all laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
Look at this!
Chris (Sal S)
The floor!
Dan (Wren)
Oh, I *seem* to have missed this.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, while you were busy, uh, you chucking clothes about [Tim and Dan laugh] looking for your next outfit,...
Dan (Wren)
You know... fair.
Ellie (Markie)
It's al-- I'm low to the ground. I see these things.
Dan (Wren)
Wren will try the key.
Timothy (DM)
All right. You pull out the key--
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, you got a key?
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, he showed us.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh.
Timothy (DM)
--with the eye and the three parallel lines running from top to bottom. You stick it in the keyhole in the trapdoor. You turn it; it clicks.
Ellie (Markie)
*gasp* Ohhhhh.
Dan (Wren)
*triumphant do-do-do-dooo*,
Timothy (DM)
And that's where we'll end this episode! [triumphant yells from players, Tim laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
NOW WE'RE GETTIN' SOMEWHERE.
Dan (Wren)
Is there any, like, Attack on Titan, like [gritty voice] "WHAT's in the cellar??"
Chris (Sal S)
WILL they ever find out who's the cute one?"
Timothy (DM)
And that is where we will put a pause on today's story! Thank you all for joining us for this cryptic chiller as we plunge into the abyss. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Shadows of Prophecy. Join us next time to find out what becomes of Wren, Salvador, and Markie, in these sinister cellars.
I want to give a special thanks to JayCeeAitch (JCH), our fabulous patron keeping the candles lit here at Goblin Forge. Your support has meant the world to us, and we are so grateful for your absolute generosity.
I would like to thank Scrubcast for some absolutely fantastic sound mastering, music and effects. They have been utterly amazing to work with and I highly recommend checking them out if you’re ever in need of audio editing, especially for their fantastic music and effects design.
I would like to thank Syrinscape for some outstanding atmosphere and music. Make sure you check them out at syrinscape.com. I use Syrinscape all the time at my game table and for our Twitch streams, and it adds that little something special to bring your players and audience into the story.
I would like to thank our players this evening. Dan, Ellie, and Chris. I'm so happy to have you in our cast and can't wait to hear what ghoulish adventures we'll find ourselves in next time.
Our Theme song was written by my brother, the chill electronic vapor soul artist Lusq. You should check out their most recent single, Gus.
This has been a Goblin Forge production. Please follow us on Instagram @goblin_forge_ttrpg and HEY! Show us some support by becoming one of our fabulous patrons at Patreon.com/Goblin_Forge, where you can get access to bonus content like handouts, encounter maps, and even adventure guides to run your own horrific campaigns or one-shots. And at the very least, give us a 5 star review on your podcast platform of choice. This is how we get the word out about our podcast, and we love sharing it with you all.
Thank you, and tune in next time to find out what lurks at the bottom of the stairs beneath the Calderos Cottage.