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 beguilement and bewilderment, we have myself, Timothy, as our ambivalent DM.
Dan (Wren)
And I'm Dan. I'm playing the human scholar and patron of poetry, um... Wren, I almost forgot the name. [all laugh]
Timothy (DM)
Hi, I'm Chris. I'm playing with the tiefling cleric "Brain batterer and gray matter splatter-er" Salvador Saltrose. [Dan: "Nice."]
Ellie (Markie)
And I'm Ellie. I'm playing "Going, going, gone" kobald bard, Markie.
Timothy (DM)
Previously on Shadows of Prophecy, following some rather harrowing dreams, Markie, Wren and Salvador decided to follow the instructions of their newfound friend (even if their voice was a little... grating). They headed down to the basement to uncover a series of strange ceremony circles and some rather unpleasant lists of ingredients. Most unpleasant of all, though, was the monstrance amalgamation "brain" of several members of the Veil-- I mean, Final Judgment? Or was it the Silence?... lie in wait.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, they were having a big identity crisis.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, come on, guys. Get your branding together.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, these people really need to get their shit together. Someone might think they are overly impressionable or something.
Ellie (Markie)
What?!? No.
Timothy (DM)
After ending off some smaller flying brains, Markie began to realize that very little of Remy's instructions make much sense, and they were forced to perform the ritual themselves, this time refolding the crease in reality with an intention of their own, and with the blink of an eye, Markie was gone. Join us as we enter the Shadows of Prophecy. Act One: In the Shadows. Chapter 11 - The Forgotten.
So, Salvador and Wren, you are standing in this cavern chamber by this ritual circle that you just enacted. The giant brain is gone; just like a husk of goo remains, and Markie is nowhere to be seen as the, like, arcane energy just kind of fizzles and dissipates all around you.
Dan (Wren)
We saw her, like, poof, right? She just... not, like, we looked away and saw...
Timothy (DM)
She just kinda, like, faded away.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, no! [*winces*]
Chris (Sal S)
Well, does that mean...? [to Wren] Do you think that worked?
Dan (Wren)
I mean, I hope so. [Chris: "Yeah."] It feels like a... felt like a big price to pay for that. Um, but oh, oh. Her... She left her journal.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, that's right there.
Dan (Wren)
Okay. I'll pick it up. What should I do with it?
Chris (Sal S)
Open it!
Dan (Wren)
What do you mean o--? I mean, like we... What do you mean o--? [stammering] Whatever the... What am I... what am I looking for?
Chris (Sal S)
Does it still have writing in it?
Dan (Wren)
Oh, I guess that's fair. Does it still have writing in it?
Timothy (DM)
Markie's journal. [Dan: "Yeah."] Markie. [Ellie: "Mmhm."] How long have you been keeping this journal for?
Ellie (Markie)
It's, like, my little note journal. So probably like...
Timothy (DM)
It's a more recent thing?
Ellie (Markie)
No, it's... it happened before, like, this adventure or anything. It's where I write down ideas for, like, poetry and stuff, so probably ever since I've been, like, a little poet bard critter. [Tim: "Okay."] For a while. I mean, there's more recent notes in it from, like, in... being in the castle, but there's definitely stuff from before--
Dan (Wren)
Are the notes of the castle still in there?
Timothy (DM)
So, you start flipping through--
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, I go to the end.
Timothy (DM)
--and you go to the end, and the last entry is for several years ago.
Dan (Wren)
Oh.
Chris (Sal S)
What are the deets?
Timothy (DM)
They're lines of poems, a story that she's written about ham hocks... [Chris: "So we've..."] Sections of it crossed-off, scribbled, words replaced...
Chris (Sal S)
This does not bode well.
Dan (Wren)
"No, it doesn't!" I'll, like, stow the journal. "I don't know what else to do here, though. There's, like, I guess we just leave. We've got doors to collect."
Chris (Sal S)
Yes, we do. Oh! Hopefully they're still there, and people th-- the collection agency hasn't picked them up.
Dan (Wren)
I mean, that also'd be fine if they did because they just need a home, [Chris: "Yeah."] I'm pretty sure where they could talk to people. Okay, we... leave.
Chris (Sal S)
Yes. Up the stairwell.
Dan (Wren)
I jingle along the way because I'm still packing so much gold. [all laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
[laughs] Ohmygod, you have so much stuff.
Timothy (DM)
So, yeah, you make your way through the caverns. past all the rotted beds, the decaying wood of the meal chamber, the pile of junk, past the original ceremony circle.
Chris (Sal S)
Should we go back and take one of these things with us?
Dan (Wren)
Take one of the what's with us?
Chris (Sal S)
Like the tentacle brains.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, are they-- I guess we did kill them.
Ellie (Markie)
I think they're all gone!
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, are the tentacle brains--?
Chris (Sal S)
Did they fade?
Timothy (DM)
There's, like, the little brains that were flying that you fought before, and they're just kind of lumps of gray pink flesh lying on the ground.
Dan (Wren)
I mean, if you want to take some...
Timothy (DM)
But the big great brain is just, like... [Dan: "Shriveled."]. It's shriveled like a husk, and there's just, like, this black pinky goo just, like, pooling out around it.
Chris (Sal S)
Oh okay.
Dan (Wren)
No thank you. [laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, I was thinking possibly we could take this as, like, a warning or, like, something...
Dan (Wren)
Pin it to the door. [all laugh] Um, I don't... I don't know if people... I don't, like... does it feel lighter 'cause I know before it was, like, just haunted. Like, we knew it was haunted. We could tell that it was haunted. Do things feel like they've settled?
Timothy (DM)
You listen to the noises of the castle, and that the rattling of the chains, the wails, the cries, all the weird creaks seem to have dissipated, and it's almost eerily silent. You had almost come accustomed to the noises of the haunted castle.
Dan (Wren)
See, it's fine. [Chris: "Yeah."] Yeah.
Chris (Sal S)
What's the worst that could...?
Dan (Wren)
It's, like, mostly safe, I'm sure... Also: not our job.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, we... I feel like we've done our duty here. So...
Dan (Wren)
Alright, so we'll head out, probably try and get out the front gate, so we can get to the doors. [Chris: "Exactly."'
Timothy (DM)
All right. So, you head up through the caverns, past the original ceremony circle, down the long hallway, up the stairs onto the main floor, and you this time turn right towards the front entrance of the castle. The grand hall of pillars... is... dark. The torches do not light this time. Everything is quiet, covered in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs.
Dan (Wren)
Um, I guess I'll light up a torch so we can see (and you can probably see already) [Chris: "Yeah."]. So *I* can see, um, and go to the front doors! Shove them open! Maybe...
Timothy (DM)
You light the torch and it illuminates the hall as you notice the guard figures slumped on the sides of the hall, their armor rusted.
Chris (Sal S)
Well, that's good. [Dan: "Yeah."] They haven't moved, so...
Timothy (DM)
And you head down the hall to the doors and notice the metal has rusted there as well, and you go to push them open, and give me a Strength roll.
Dan (Wren)
Okay. Combined Strength. That's 13. [Tim: "All right."]
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, I think I got... that's a 5.
Timothy (DM)
All right. So, you heave into this door, and at first, it does not budge and you heave again, shoving all your weight into it, and then it begins to very loudly creak and rattle as you push it open. The rust has done a number on the hinges and as you push open the doors, the light from outside breaks in. It is early morning.
Dan (Wren)
I didn't expect that. I thought it would be nighttime.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, seems like we've been perpetually in the dark. Uh, but yeah, well...
Timothy (DM)
You look out over Valerian. The castle sits at the top of the hill, and you see the city below you. You can hear the bustle of people in the city below.
Dan (Wren)
That's a pleasant sound. That's nice to hear.
Chris (Sal S)
Yes, as opposed to shriekings and wails and vomiting corpses, yeah. [Tim laughs]
Dan (Wren)
Wet ghosts... [all laugh] Um, I go check on the doors. Are they there?
Timothy (DM)
So, the doors would not be through the front entrance.
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, they're at the back.
Timothy (DM)
They would be in the back courtyard.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, I thought we had... [Ellie: "Should go around."] Yeah, we'll go-go around. I ain't goin' back through that castle. We'll walk around. [all laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
Peruse the gardens. [Dan: "Right!"]
Timothy (DM)
So, you make your way around through the outer wall of the castle, barracks, barricades? to a big wrought iron gate. Through it, you can see the overgrown gardens, but the gate does not budge.
Dan (Wren)
Do we see the doors? Like, where we would have lowered them down?
Timothy (DM)
As you peer on through, give me a Perception check.
Dan (Wren)
Oh 21!
Chris (Sal S)
Woo, that's pretty good!
Timothy (DM)
You peer through these double sets of wrought iron gates, and all you can see is just the tangle of vines and overgrown bushes, just COVERING the entire courtyard. You remember when you saw this last, it was a little unkempt, but what you see now is just years and years of growth beyond the last time you saw it.
Ellie (Markie)
If the doors are in there, they're probably all over-covered up.
Chris (Sal S)
[shouting] Knock knock!
Timothy (DM)
You call out... and you don't hear anything.
Dan (Wren)
What about the window that we broke to lower them down? Is that still broken?
Timothy (DM)
You can't really see that from this angle.
Chris (Sal S)
If only I brought my telescope... wait, isn't--? No, they didn't have a telescope in Alice's backpack?
Dan (Wren)
*sigggh* I mean, maybe we just tell people. We tell some-- we'll tell the people at the Yik Yak.
Chris (Sal S)
What's the deal? Yeah,
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, we'll just be, like, "There are some cool talking doors up at the abandoned castle (by the way, it's abandoned.)"
Chris (Sal S)
In case you didn't know.
Dan (Wren)
Your monarchs are dead. That, they're, like, in the courtyard... we can just tell them and they'll come get them. [Chris: "Yeah"] I'm sure there'll be fine for a few days; they have each other to talk to you now, so...
Ellie (Markie)
What if they, like, rotted away because they're made of wood?
Chris (Sal S)
They're magical, though!
Dan (Wren)
Then they've moved on to a better place, maybe. [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
That's true; their souls were super trapped in those doors.
Chris (Sal S)
They're just in the doorknobs now.
Dan (Wren)
So, let's... Yeah, let's head back to the Yik Yak. Yeah, let's head back to the Yik Yak. I could... I know it's the middle of the morning, but I could go to bed. [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
I could go for a nice...
Dan (Wren)
A drink and a sleep.
Chris (Sal S)
...and a sandwich.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, a sandwich! That sounds great too. All right.
Timothy (DM)
All right, so you make your way down the winding path to the bottom of the hill as you enter the city. It takes you a while to gain your bearings, um, the last time you came to the castle was from a *very* different approach. But eventually, you find your way to the Yik Yak Inn. You remember the aroma of spices and hopped ale, and you hear the bustle of people inside although somewhat less energetic as your previous encounter.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, it's because it's the morning.
Timothy (DM)
Yes, it is the morning. [all laugh]
Dan (Wren)
Which I mean like... day-drinking: great, but also...
Ellie (Markie)
Uh, they're doing a boozy brunch special, actually.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, I love a boozy brunch special. I could *use* a boozy brunch. And a bath. A bath sounds good, too.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah. Do they have baths here? I did not inquire.
Timothy (DM)
So, you enter the Yik Yak Inn and Tavern, and you see the barkeep, bussing tables, cleaning them down, and doing some prep work for the day. There's a couple patrons sitting about. Everyone here is a regular, but they're just having a quiet morning meal before they start their days.
Dan (Wren)
All right. Find a booth, I guess. .
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, well...Yeah.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah. So, we find a booth, and sit down.
Timothy (Davey)
So, you sit down, and that's when you see Davey coming out from behind the bar. She comes up to your table. "Hello there; I am Davey, I'll be your server today. Is there anything that I can get'cha?.
Dan (Wren)
Yes, I'll have an ale and whatever the special is, and if I could get just, like, a small bowl of milk for my cat, that'd be great.
Timothy (Davey)
Ah, and what's their name?
Dan (Wren)
"Oh, this is Twilight" and I give her a little pet.
Timothy (Davey)
[lovingly] Aw, Twilight. Oh, so pretty.
Dan (Wren)
He's very friendly. So, feel free.
Timothy (Davey)
All right. I'll have that right on up. And, um, first ale of the day, so I guess you're having a good time.
Dan (Wren)
It's been a long night.
Timothy (Davey)
[to Sal] And for you, sir?
Chris (Sal S)
Uh, what? What, uh, what do you recommend? Any-any trout or something like that?
Timothy (Davey)
We do have some dried fish, some dried salted fish. It's great over some toast for breakfast.
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, great. I'll have that.
Timothy (Davey)
Yeah. And then we do have a gravy. Would you like a gravy on that?
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, perfect. Yes.
Timothy (Davey)
"All right. I'll be right back with that." And she whisks off into the kitchen area.
Chris (Sal S)
How old does Davey look? Does she look as we remembered her looking? Or she like mid-aged versus...?
Dan (Wren)
Good question.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, so when you met Davey, she was probably like late teens, early 20s. She's probably rounding 30 now.
Dan (Wren)
She doesn't seem to remember us either. [Chris: "No."] And we're pretty particular as people. [Chris: "Yeah."]
Ellie (Markie)
[correcting him] Peculiar.
Dan (Wren)
Peculiar! Thank you - we're peculiar compared to probably what she normally sees. So...
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, we come to the bar at nine o'clock in the morning. [Dan: "Yeah... oh well."]
Timothy (DM)
You are very obviously outsiders. As you may recall, Valerian is mostly composed of halflings and dwarves.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, wait, but *I* don't remember Davey.
Chris (Sal S)
You don't.
Timothy (DM)
You don't remember Davey, no.
Dan (Wren)
Just kidding, all... retcon all of what I just said [Chris: "Well, I well, yeah..."] [chipper] "She seems nice!"
Ellie (Markie)
Well, this is a fun new experience for everyone! I've *also* never been here before.
Chris (Sal S)
Markie and Sal would've, like, given you the download of like, 'Oh, we met Serpent Fang; I made... I accidentally made fun of her accent, and...' yeah. But, yeah, okay. Um...
Dan (Wren)
[laughing] 'Cuz I'm just *missing* my memory.
Ellie (Markie)
[whispers to Tim] Is this where Markie would be?
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah. Is...?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, so--
Ellie (Markie)
I don't know if you have a specific in mind for her, like, intro or if I should just jump in.
Timothy (DM)
Markie, you tend to show up earlier in the day to practice some of your performances.
Ellie (Markie)
My new material.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, the barkeep does not seem to mind (Gambrinus is their name). They don't seem to mind you coming in and there... I mean, there aren't a lot of customers at this point in the day.
Ellie (Markie)
So from behind you guys from a corner of the inn that you can't see, you hear a familiar voice.
Dan (Wren)
*ooOooOogh* So happy.
Ellie (Markie)
"Wait! and hear tell a tale of love and of loss. You know how it begins, as it always does: two fair young things, starry-eyed, hearts joined in dance, voices raised in song. The cut of cruel fate with her callous knife. One fair young thing, brokenhearted, heart still without dance, voice silent without song. Close your eyes! Listen. Ah!" and at this point, she looks around fixture everybody has their eyes closed and she uses Prestidigitation for this next part. "Can you hear the wind whisper their names calling them home to each other? Can you feel the rolling field of green grass, soft as a remembered lover's touch? Can you see our two lovers (less young - still fair), the grass and wind conspiring against fate to guide them back into the others arms."
Dan (Wren)
Wren has taken out his little journal and is FURIOUSLY writing. [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
That was spellbinding.
Dan (Wren)
*aaaaaaaaaaaahhhh*
Ellie (Markie)
[laughing] And maybe there's, like, weak applause from, like, one random person. [all laugh]
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, there's, like, a couple of people who are... they-they-they know that you come in here. They give you, like, their little, like, 'Yay. That's great.'
Ellie (Markie)
Any notes, Davey? [Tim laughs]
Timothy (Davey)
So, at this point Davie has returned to your table, Salvador and Wren. She is carrying the ale. She has a plate of the dried fish over toast with gravy, and she sets that down on the table. She goes "If you don't mind me asking, you're not from around here. Where are you from?"
Dan (Wren)
Wren is dumbstruck, like... like, if you just look at him, he just, like, looks spaced out and, like, like, not... not here listening to anything that anybody else is saying... and just, like, staring at his journal.
Chris (Sal S)
My friend is from south, and I'm probably from further south. And... but, yeah, we're from, um.. I'm from Terra Vas. I don't know if you've heard of it.
Timothy (Davey)
Ah, yes, Terra Vas; haven't been there myself, but, uh, I hear it's beautiful this time of year. [Dan: "Exc--"] Great job, Markie. I can't wait to hear the performance this evening.
Ellie (Markie)
Thanks, Davy. What did you think of that part in the middle that I added? Better than last time?
Dan (Wren)
[whispers agog] Last time.
Timothy (Davey)
Oh, yeah. It's just so... just... it flows so nicely.
Ellie (Markie)
"Thanks. Yeah, I've been working on it for a little while. You know..." You hear a tip tap of little claws on a wooden floor [*jug-a-jug-a jug-a-jug-a-jug*] and a little scaly elbow props itself up on the table next you. "Care to buy a girl a drink?"
Dan (Wren)
Yes! However many she wants. [Chris: "Yes."]
Ellie (Markie)
I'll have a glass of your finest, Davey. Thank you.
Timothy (Davey)
Absolutely.
Ellie (Markie)
Where are you folks from? You look like you got a lot of stories to tell.
Dan (Wren)
We haven't met before, have we?
Ellie (Markie)
I think I would remember meeting two gentlemen the likes of you, so tall and handsome.
Chris (Sal S)
Which one taller?
Ellie (Markie)
Hm, while you're both sitting down, so I can't tell. [Chris laughs]
Dan (Wren)
Which one more handsome?
Ellie (Markie)
I... don't pick sides. [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
Very diplomatic.
Dan (Wren)
Wren's gonna reach into his pack and pull out Markie's journal [Ellie: "Huh?!"] and, like, push it over to you.
Ellie (Markie)
Now would I *also* have, like, a second... my own c-- version of this journal that I have with me? [Dan: "Oh, yeah."]
Timothy (DM)
[long uncertain pause] Yes. [Chris: "Oooo."]
Ellie (Markie)
"Oh! You're a... [recognizing the journal] W-Where did you *find* this?" I... I grab it, but then I simultaneously also reach in my pocket and pull out my version. "Oh... Oh, I thought maybe that I must have dropped it, but we appear to have a situation on our hands." [furrows brow]
Dan (Wren)
[sweating] "Um, yeah. So..." I don't know how to... I don't know how to say this.
Ellie (Markie)
I start flipping through it. "SOMEBODY is stealing my MATERIAL!"
Chris (Sal S)
Espionage of the entertainment variety.
Ellie (Markie)
[accusatory] Where did you get this?!?
Dan (Wren)
No, you--
Ellie (Markie)
Who did you take this off of? Are you stealing my material?!? [Dan: "No, we got--"] This a Markie original! Of the ham hock story?!? Did you hear me doing this ham hock story and you wrote it down for yourself to try and get fame and intrigue that should be rightfully mine?!?"
Dan (Wren)
[stammering] They're-th-- They're both yours.
Chris (Sal S)
They're identical.
Dan (Wren)
They're identical. You... I don't know--
Ellie (Markie)
Ohhh, they are identical now that I look at them.
Dan (Wren)
--I don't know the best way to say this but *you* were with *us* and we broke a *spell*, which you don't remember for whatever reason, and you were stuck in a time loop, and [*breathes*, calmly] now you're here, and we thought you were dead.
Chris (Sal S)
But you're alive!
Dan (Wren)
"But you're alive, so that's great! And you wrote my *poem*!" and I take out the slips of paper that I had, like, shown you before, and I, like, slide them over. They're, like, old and clearly not just written.
Ellie (Markie)
[defensive] Are you accusing me of plagiarism?
Dan (Wren)
No, no, I showed you these. I asked you to finish my poem for me. It's... [tongue-tied]
Ellie (Markie)
She starts flipping through the little pieces of paper. "Well, well, I... you know, I can see some similarities, although I personally am not so into the rhyming thing."
Dan (Wren)
That's fine. That's fine. It was beautiful. It was beautiful. [Ellie: "Oh, ok."] I was... I wrote it down. It's... I'm just, like, dumbstruck!
Ellie (Markie)
W-- now this is... so you're telling me that I went and did a spell with you guys and died and now I'm here? That sounds kind of uncharacteristic of me to be honest.
Chris (Sal S)
It was a heroic tale.
Ellie (Markie)
[*gasp*] It was?!? [Dan: "Yeah."]
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah. You being a person stuck in time, reliving the same day with everybody in your town, you ventured out. [Ellie: *gasp*] You ventured under castle. [Ellie: *gasp*] You found a mysterious cult [Ellie: *GASP*] that trapped your town--
Ellie (Markie)
"Hold on! I'm writing this down." Marike's furiously writing.
Dan (Wren)
So, I guess we'll.... well, I guess we spend the next, like, hour or so just retelling what we did, like, step by step, just, like, going through it and, like, explaining what Markie did, lighting the torches, killing the shadows, finding the soggy ghost in the correct order.
Chris (Sal S)
[remembering the important details] There was chocolate.
Dan (Wren)
There was chocolate
Ellie (Markie)
There was chocolate? Wait...
Dan (Wren)
"Oh, yeah, I have chocolate. Here." I give you some more chocolate. [all laugh]
Timothy (DM)
And at some point, Davey stops working and pulls up a chair. She sits on it backwards, she puts her head on her hand, and is just, like, fascinated by this tale that you are telling.
Ellie (Markie)
I can't... I... you know, I love this, but I have to admit, I find it hard to believe that *I* did all of these things that you're saying.
Dan (Wren)
I-I don't know how to impart on you that you are AMAZING and you did all these things and, oh--
Ellie (Markie)
I'm just a regular girl.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, you're way more than that. [Chris: "Yeah."]
Ellie (Markie)
Aww.
Dan (Wren)
You're incredible.
Chris (Sal S)
You know... [Dan: "Oh, yeah. Go on."] You know puzzles, you know jokes. You defeated a duopoly of doors.
Ellie (Markie)
What? Really?
Chris (Sal S)
And a buggy box [Dan and Ellie: "Wowww!"] with buggy locks!
Ellie (Markie)
[reciting in meter] 'A duopoly of doors. Buggy box. Buggy locks.'
Dan (Wren)
Oh, speaking of those doors, we left them.... we think we left them in the back garden. You know, where we said... we, you know, we said we'd lower them down? They should still be there--
Ellie (Markie)
Right. Yeah, after we did the riddles.
Dan (Wren)
That's the... good. Yeah, they should still be there, and if you can find them, it's a confirmation that, like, you know, we did the things. Um, they should be in the back garden. We thought that maybe it'd be great for the Yik Yak to have, like, these, like, novelty talking doors, like maybe for the bathrooms, or maybe for the bar itself and they can, like, tell jokes or ask riddles. Just an idea. Just a thought.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, okay. Well, yeah, that's sort of... I mean, Davey, maybe you can pitch that to Gambrinus. Do you think...? What do you think: talking riddle doors? Davey?
Timothy (Davey)
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Um... gosh, that castle has been abandoned for years.
Ellie (Markie)
And apparently there are talking doors in the back garden.
Timothy (Davey)
Oh, wow.
Chris (Sal S)
How many years would you say?
Timothy (Davey)
Gosh, it was like almost a decade ago. Uh, no one knows exactly what happened, but when they went to go investigate, everybody was dead.
Ellie (Markie)
That was terrible.
Dan (Wren)
[to Tim] Oh, when we were last here, we were under the understanding that, like, the castle was still running, people were still there. So, like, is this, like, time loop thing or we cut it? [Editor's Note: Dan is confused if we had established out of character whether the castle was still active in the begining of this arc.]
Timothy (Davey)
No, no, no, no--
Dan (Wren)
Oh, now we're just going crazy.
Timothy (Davey)
The Lord of Valerian died... gosh, I mean, a decade ago. No one kn-- the body was never found, though.
Ellie (Markie)
All very mysterious. I'm working on a little something about it. [Chris: "Oh!"] Yeah, I'm thinking he walks around town but his head is a pumpkin. [Tim laughs] [Editor's Note: this is a reference to the Headless Horseman from the Legend of Sleepy Hollow]
Dan (Wren)
That's... yeah, that could work.
Ellie (Markie)
That's what I'm working on, but I think... you know what, the story that you've told me is going to take higher priority. Yeah.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, sure. [Chris: "Cool. Cool."] You know, maybe a little, like, folk story for the children, be like, "Don't be out late - this spooky pumpkin king will get you."
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, because he's missing his head.
Chris (Sal S)
And he'll take yours...
Ellie (Markie)
And he'll take yours to replace it.
Dan (Wren)
Mmm mmm. Very original.
Ellie (Markie)
The kids love that. Gosh, well! I am a special girl! I'm not a regular girl; I'm a special girl! [Chris: "Yeah."] I can do anything!
Timothy (Davey)
I have been telling her that for ages.
Chris (Sal S)
Everybody loves you.
Dan (Wren)
[to Davey] Keep telling her that.
Ellie (Markie)
"Well, everybody loves me: I'm Markie! Hmm." How many drinks have we had at this point? [all laugh]
Timothy (DM)
Oh, yeah, I feel like this is one of those stories that, like, Davey just keeps going back into the kitchen and, like, bringing back fresh drinks 'cause. like, this is a special day. There's some interesting visitors that are definitely very out of place telling this ABSURD tale; work isn't really heavy yet, so Davey's just kinda, like, in for the ride, and yeah, you are all pretty *toasty* at this point.
Ellie (Markie)
Wow. Well, so I was the hero who saved everybody in the town? [Dan: "Yes."] Do you think... can I quote you on that? I was the hero saved everybody.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, 100% We were... we were just, um, background. Sidekicks, maybe.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, we were accessories.
Ellie (Markie)
Okay, and you did say that I specifically went first through most of the doors, right?
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah. You-you ran ahead. [Dan: "Yes."]
Ellie (Markie)
Okay. Yeah, I've ran bravely ahead.
Dan (Wren)
You had bravely kicked open doors where we were, uh, afraid to.
Ellie (Markie)
"Okay perfect." She underlines 'hero' like three or four times [all laugh] "Well, this is kind of be *incredible* material, but how do you think I can prove that it was me? [Dan: "Ooo..."] Y'know?
Chris (Sal S)
Look in your bag.
Ellie (Markie)
"Oh, okay." I look at my bag.
Chris (Sal S)
Do you have a piece of black cloth?
Ellie (Markie)
"Yeah! You know, I was wondering what this thing was." I pull it out.
Timothy (DM)
You pull out the Portable Hole; it opens up [Ellie: "Ack!"] and it unfurls.
Ellie (Markie)
"Oh, yeah, it does that sometimes. Hold on." Like, I stick my head in it.
Timothy (DM)
Your head just disappears into the hole.
Ellie (Markie)
I pull it back out. "Yeah, I've been putting stuff in here." [Tim laughs]
Dan (Wren)
You got that from... from Remy that we mentioned.
Ellie (Markie)
"Oh, yes, the extra dimensional being that's using my body in other dimensions." [Dan: "Yes.", Tim laughs] I close my eyes for a second and I think "Remy, you there?"
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, would you... would you still have the eye amulet that you'd gotten in your hat?
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, do I?
Timothy (DM)
You do.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, my gosh. You know, I need to pay more attention to what I've got in my pockets. Honestly... I just sort of zone out about that kind of stuff. I assume that... you know, I got it one way or another. [Chris: "Yeah."] [to Tim] Is Remy there?
Timothy (DM)
You don't hear any response.
Ellie (Markie)
Aw... well, good/bad news, guys: I think Remy has evacuated my body for the time being.
Dan (Wren)
That's probably for the best, honestly. [Chris: "Yeah."]
Ellie (Markie)
I don't know. It sounds like they were a decent sort. [long pause]
Chris (Sal S)
[narrows eyes] ...unclear.
Dan (Wren)
I had a... I had a... personally, a very different experience with my, uh, inner voice, um... it wasn't great.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, yeah. You told--
Dan (Wren)
He gave me this ring. It hurts. It hurts.
Ellie (Markie)
"--that never comes off. [Dan: "Yes."] Yeah, you mentioned." She underlines, like...
Chris (Sal S)
Don't put a ring on it. [Editor's Note: this is a reference to a lyric from the seminal Beyonce hit "Single Ladies"]
Dan (Wren)
Demon Ring!
Ellie (Markie)
"DEMON RING. Yeah." and draws a small stick figure of you, like, holding up your hand like 'AH!' [all laugh] "Yeah, I'll include that somewhere, maybe as like a one-off line."
Dan (Wren)
But I would say it's-it's not a coincidence that you happen to have all these things on your person that we can name.
Ellie (Markie)
Uh, yeah. I mean, that's true. You guys either went through my stuff when I was asleep, or... the story you tell is true. I guess those are the only two options. [Chris: "Yeah."] Well, and so did you get what you were looking for?
Dan (Wren)
Not quite. But!
Chris (Sal S)
We. We got a lead.
Dan (Wren)
We've got a lead. [Ellie: "Okay."] So we will be heading out probably... soon.
Ellie (Markie)
[heartbroken] You're going so soon? But we just met!
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, I know, um... But you're here! And we could come back someday.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, we know where the town is now. So...
Ellie (Markie)
[tearfully] But, but don't you want to hear my first performance of "The Heroic Tale of Markie (working title)"?
Chris (Sal S)
I mean, we could probably stay the night.
Dan (Wren)
We could, yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
Well, it's gonna take me a while to write, you know, like, but... so maybe like a week? Stay a week?
Dan (Wren)
[whispers to Sal] I don't know if we can--
Ellie (Markie)
You can come meet my mom. OH, she's gonna go crazy when you tell her this story about me. She always knew I was destined for great things although I think she was probably thinking of something, like, you know, inventing a new way of curing meat and not venturing through a dark castle and doing a spell to undo a time lock.
Timothy (Davey)
Markie's mother is very nice, and she makes a great ham hock. [Chris: "Ohhh"]
Ellie (Markie)
True true; for her birthday every year, I get her the biggest ham hock I can find in the city. [Chris: "Aww."]
Dan (Wren)
I'm torn.
Ellie (Markie)
Mama Markie!
Chris (Sal S)
We... I do pull out... remember when we went to the orrery and the next alignment is in a year?
Dan (Wren)
Oh, that's true. But...
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, so you're not in a rush!
Dan (Wren)
I *wrffrff* aren't we?
Chris (Sal S)
Ehhh, not partic-- I mean, we still have to figure out how we're going to get to Harrow and where Harrow is and...
Dan (Wren)
Do we just know where Harrow is? Have we heard of it before? [Tim: "Yeah."] Okay. We could like--
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, it's just on the western part of the country.
Chris (Sal S)
I think after the events of that, we could probably take a day or two just to sleep.
Dan (Wren)
That's true. We definitely need a day to sleep.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, you can't be heading out so quick. Who knows? You guys might be haunted.
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, no: residual ghost.
Dan (Wren)
I hope not. I still have a cursed ring, so...
Ellie (Markie)
I hope not too, but you know never know with stuff like that. [all laugh] All right. Well, why don't you come meet... Davey, you want to come hang out with Mama Markie, or when's your shift end?
Timothy (Davey)
I would love to, but uh... I think I have some work to do here. [Ellie: "Aw, that's fair."] I should *probably* sober up a bit. [all laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
[laughing] Oh, Davey, you cad. All right. Well, I'll give her your best.
Timothy (Davey)
All right. Nice to meet you too, fellas. Ah, have a grand time at the Markie household.
Chris (Sal S)
Thanks for the gravy, Davey.
Ellie (Markie)
Heyyyyy. *ba-dum-tsch* Okay, so you're gonna have to tell her the story again. It's gonna be pretty similar, but I think you should probably leave out the parts where bad things happened to me because she gets a little bit upset about that.
Dan (Wren)
Sure, you were safe the whole time.
Ellie (Markie)
"I was safe the whole time. I was extremely, extremely brave but also very, very safe. "Markie is, like, walking right in between you; she's holding on to both of your hands like a toddler. [all laugh] *tippy-tap tippy-tap tippy-tap* through the streets, pointing out various things. "That's an alleyway. Do you see that alleyway?"
Chris (Sal S)
Yes, yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
Okay, once in that alleyway, I had to fight off a raccoon.
Chris (Sal S)
With what?
Ellie (Markie)
My bare hands.
Dan (Wren)
Oh! Wowww.
Ellie (Markie)
My bear claws rather. *shink* Yeah, it gave me a stinky eye look, and it was blocking the way out and I needed to get through because I was heading home and it was late at night and it was dark and I didn't want to take the main street, so I had to go through this alleyway, but this raccoon was standing the middle of it like 'This town isn't big enough for the both of us' and he was right: it wasn't big enough for the both of us. It was because I... beat him [cackles] *tippy-tap tippy-tap tippy-tap* She carries on through the town, telling you all the various stories of all the places that she has been and seen and done. And we arrive at the Markie household!
Timothy (Marley)
So, you arrive at your mother's home and you push open the door. She is in the kitchen with her back turn to you, but as she hears the door creak open, she turns around and as she sees you, you see her big toothy grin, and she runs on over "MARKIE! So great to see you! It's been forever!"
Ellie (Markie)
"MOM!" I give her a BIG hug.
Timothy (Marley)
She embraces you. "Ah, I see you've brought company!"
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, check 'em out. These are my new friends. We went on a time adventure together.
Timothy (Marley)
Ohhh, interesting. Oh, and so handsome. :) [Dan: "Thank you."]
Ellie (Markie)
Right? Which one do you think is taller? Whisper to me in my ear. Don't let them hear. [laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, I puff out my chest.
Timothy (DM)
So, in your ear, you hear your mom whispering *wshwshwsh*
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, that's what I thought too!
Timothy (DM)
And Salvador and Wren cannot hear what she says. [all laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
I agree. Yeah, I thought the same thing. [laughs]
Timothy (Marley)
Well, come on in; our home is always here for people and yeah, make yourselves at home I guess.
Ellie (Markie)
Thank you so much, mom. I brought them here because I thought for sure you would want to be the first one to hear the story about how I *very safely* went into the castle and in a really calm and controlled way undid a big magic spell that saved everybody in the town for being stuck in a time loop forever.
Timothy (Marley)
Oh, wow. You know, Markie's always been such an imaginative soul.
Dan (Wren)
"Yes, I can see that. Um, all right!" So I guess we sit down and, like, tell the, like, the PG version of the story.
Ellie (Markie)
Well, can we have a little ham while we talk, mom, please?
Dan (Wren)
Oh, yes, I've been told that-that your-your famous ham hocks are the best in town.
Timothy (Marley)
Oh, absolutely. I'll get it on... out. And oh! Markie, maybe after you're done telling your wonderful, fantastic tale, you could help your mother out with, uh, something.
Ellie (Markie)
Of course, mom, you know I am... you raised me from when I was just a little pippet, so of course, I am here to return the favor for you as an adult.
Timothy (Marley)
Thank you. Um, the bats are back.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh my god, the bats?!
Timothy (Marley)
Yeah. You know, I don't know why they keep coming up back. There must be something in the attic that they're interested in.
Ellie (Markie)
Man, I can't believe it didn't really do the trick last time. I thought that sort of loud screeching noise that would outcompete them for their screeching would really get rid of them, but they've only left for a little while, huh?
Timothy (Marley)
Yeah, so [sighs] you know, my old legs, they don't... they don't get up in the attic anymore. That ladder is just too steep.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, yeah. No, Mom, don't go up in the attic. You're gonna fall and kill yourself.
Dan (Wren)
And we're more than happy to help too. [Chris: "Yeah."]
Ellie (Markie)
These guys are great.
Timothy (Marley)
Yeah, they look very, uh, capable.
Ellie (Markie)
[to Sal and Wen] Yeah. So they're, like, these bats up in the attic, right? And they, like, have probably been living here longer than we have, and they just keep coming back, and I've tried everything to get rid of them: I've tried going up and making a really loud noise; I've tried explaining to them that we don't want them there; I've tried putting food outside for them so that they would go outside and eat the food outside; I have tried closing the door and ignoring them for several days so that they would feel uncomfortable socially. Nothing's working!
Dan (Wren)
Have you looked for how they're getting in?
Ellie (Markie)
No. [pause] Maybe like the window that's open up there?
Dan (Wren)
Well, yeah, maybe if you close... like, scared them all out and then closed the window, they wouldn't come in anymore. [Ellie: "Hmm!"] We can always check for holes too in the--
Ellie (Markie)
You are a puzzle-solving sort, aren't you?
Dan (Wren)
[pointing to him, Sal, and Markie] We are a puzzle solving sort.
Chris (Sal S)
Us, yes.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh! Me too? *I'M* a puzzle solving sort 'cause of the bug box.
Dan (Wren)
With the bug box, which we will explain Miss Marley.
Timothy (Marley)
Oh, absolutely, so I'll go get the ham and I'll be right back.
Ellie (Markie)
Okay, perfect. This is going to be so great, team.
Dan (Wren)
It's gonna be great.
Ellie (Markie)
It's gonna be great. The attic is pretty small, and it's low. It's, like... I mean, I can stand up in it, but you guys might have to hunch over a little bit.
Chris (Sal S)
Okay, that'll probably make it easier to clean.
Dan (Wren)
If we just like... if we just like... pots-and-pans scared them outside and then close the window and I think that'll do the work. We could check for holes too in the roof if there any.
Ellie (Markie)
Okay, I mean, it's an old house.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah. But I would also suggest to...
Dan (Wren)
Patched roof.
Chris (Sal S)
This is a wild idea, but I was thinking of buttering the [Ellie: "The bats? Oh."] rafters. So that... normally, bats hanging from the rafters but if they are... if it's buttery, they can't; they just fall on the ground.
Ellie (Markie)
That's such a good idea. Oh my gosh.
Chris (Sal S)
If you put sticky paper on the ground, and the buttery bats fall onto the paper...
Ellie (Markie)
Then we've got... bats!
Dan (Wren)
Stuck to paper.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah. You can more easily, uh, discard them, I suppose.
Ellie (Markie)
Discard them?!?
Chris (Sal S)
Or relocate them, I don't, uh, don't deal with bats a lot.
Ellie (Markie)
That's fair.
Timothy (DM)
So, you all sit down in Marley's living room, and after a little while, she comes back with a plate of cured ham hock. She sets it down and seats herself in one of the sofas.
Ellie (Markie)
I like to imagine that all the furniture is also like kobald-sized, so you guys are, like, kinda curled up a little bit.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, it's like a little stool.
Dan (Wren)
Knees out, yeah.
Timothy (DM)
It's a tight quarters. Yeah, for sure.
Ellie (Markie)
We usually don't have guests as large as yourself, I'm afraid. [Dan: "That's alright."] As tall as both of you are.
Dan (Wren)
It's still very comfortable. [Chris: "Yeah."]
Ellie (Markie)
Good! Yeah, I fluffed those cushions just last week. [Tim laughs] I'm mommy's little cushion fluffer. [Chris laughs]
Timothy (Marley)
[awkward] That you are, honey! [Ellie: *he-he-he*] So yeah, let's... Let's hear the story.
Dan (Wren)
So, it starts in the Yik Yak tavern.
Timothy (Marley)
Oh, love a good Yik Yak story.
Ellie (Markie)
Right? Yeah. I was telling the ham hock story, they said. [Dan: *mmhm mmhm*] You know, the ham hock story? Everyone loves it.
Timothy (Marley)
You know, that's my favorite story of hers?
Ellie (Markie)
Mmhm, 'cause it stars her.
Dan (Wren)
Maybe you're the inspiration. Yeah?
Timothy (Marley)
I never thought of that. Oh, Markie, did you put your mom in the story?
Ellie (Markie)
I did! Of course I did, mom, you're my muse!
Timothy (Marley)
That's so sweet.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, I love you, mom.
Timothy (Marley)
I love you too, Markie.
Chris (Sal S)
Ohhhh, they go in for the hug.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, she, like, gets back up and she, like, goes and gives you another big hug.
Ellie (Markie)
And I give her a big hug too back; we're never gonna get through this story.
Timothy (DM)
--and she gives you a kiss on the forehead, and then she sits back down, and she sits and she waits for the story to continue.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, so I guess we--
Ellie (Markie)
It starts in the Yik Yak.
Dan (Wren)
It starts in the Yik Yak, and then we just, like, go in... do we fade into... you know, fade into black as we tell the story of your adventure!
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, as you tell the story again. Yeah.
Dan (Wren)
Again: as, like, dramatic, but, like, safe, PG version.
Ellie (Markie)
And now hearing it for the second time, Markie occasionally, like, interjects with, like, a special flourish, and she's, like, "And then, like, I ran up the stairs, you know, with my tail going the way that it always does, Mom?"
Timothy (Marley)
Oh, yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
You know, in that dramatic way that I've been practicing?
Timothy (Marley)
Yeah, it's very dramatic.
Ellie (Markie)
Thank you. Yeah.
Timothy (Marley)
It's like her signature move.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah. I've got a couple of those. So, I'm going to add them into the story if you don't mind.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, of course. I'm sure you did them. Yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
I think I was probably... I mean, whatever version of Markie this was, I'm sure she also had signature moves. [Dan: *mmhm mmhm mmhm*] I can't imagine any version of Markie without signature.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, absolutely not.
Timothy (Marley)
Me either.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah. Signature moves from day one.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, sticking out a little leggy.
Ellie (Markie)
Sticking out the leggy. Snout in the air. All right. Shall we deal with the bats?
Timothy (Marley)
Oh, yeah. Wow, that was quite a tale.
Ellie (Markie)
Right? Did you know that you... we had been stuck in a time loop? I didn't.
Timothy (Marley)
Oh, like, this was real? You didn't just make this up, Markie?
Ellie (Markie)
"Well, I-I didn't make it up. Maybe they made it up, but I think it's real. 'Cause look at what I've got." and I pull my hole out of my bag.
Timothy (Marley)
[shocked] Oh, my. That's, that's quite something!
Ellie (Markie)
"See!" I stick my arm in and out of it. [all laugh]
Timothy (Marley)
Ohhh.
Ellie (Markie)
Right? You don't remember how last week I was like, 'Oh, Mom, is this your Void in my bag? [all laugh] You were, like, 'No, that's not my little tiny snippet of Void.' and I was like, 'Well, it's not my tiny snippet of Void... like where did I get it?' and you were like, 'Maybe your cousin left it here the last time that they were visiting.' and I was like, 'Okay, but we're not going to see them again for a couple of weeks. So the next time we see them, I'll ask them if they're... if it's their little snippet of Void.' and then I forgot to ask them the next time that we saw them and so I've just, like, had it 'cause I don't want to throw it out if it is theirs, but I also don't want to, like, you know, keep it if it's not mine, and it turns out that I got it by reversing a magical time spell and talking to some sort of being that lives in my brain!
Timothy (Marley)
Oh, wow, yeah, I think I do remember that conversation. Um... Well... that's "interesting".
Ellie (Markie)
[lightbulb moment] We put the bats in the hole.
Dan (Wren)
We put the bats in the hole
Ellie (Markie)
We put the bats in the hole.
Chris (Sal S)
You put it on the window, yeah.
Timothy (Marley)
Are you sure that's safe, Markie?
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, I-I've been in the hole, and it's... and if I can go in the hole, a bat can go in the hole.
Timothy (Marley)
[unconvinced] Alright... I will trust your judgment.
Ellie (Markie)
Thanks, Mom.
Dan (Wren)
Put them in the hole and then release them outside. [Ellie: "Yeah."] Into the castle! We'll bring them to the castle and release them.
Ellie (Markie)
And we can get the doors!
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, the doors, yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, okay. Yeah, cuz I do... oh, did... Yeah, Mom, did you like the part about the doors?
Timothy (Marley)
Oh, yeah. I really liked that one door; the other one was kind of boring.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, that's true.
Timothy (Marley)
Kind of drab.
Ellie (Markie)
"Oh, yeah..." Well, Markie pops the last little bit of ham hock in her mouth, dusts off her hands "Up to the attic we go."
Dan (Wren)
"Yes! To the bats."
Ellie (Markie)
All right. Thanks, Mom.
Timothy (Marley)
Anytime, Markie, uh, yeah, let me know when you're done with the bats, and then, uh, maybe we can go to the park this afternoon. I could pack a picnic basket.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, that sounds really nice. But well... I'm going to the castle with my new friends, Mom.
Timothy (Marley)
Oh, that's right. Alright.
Ellie (Markie)
But maybe tomorrow. Picnic tomorrow?
Timothy (Marley)
Yeah, that sounds great.
Ellie (Markie)
Okay, great.
Timothy (Marley)
I'll just work on some wood carving this afternoon then.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, perfect. I can't wait to see your latest sculpture of a fern.
Timothy (Marley)
Yeah, you know, I've been doing these... this series of woodcarvings--
Ellie (Markie)
She's really good!
Timothy (Marley)
Oh, yeah. So I've been doing ferns, I've been doing trees, flowers, all sorts of plant.
Ellie (Markie)
It's kind of a renaissance. She... you know, she was like an empty nester now? She's really revived and found her own passions. It's amazing. [Tim: "Yeahhh."]
Dan (Wren)
That's really great.
Ellie (Markie)
You did a great job raising me, and now she gets to explore her own interests again.
Chris (Sal S)
Are these for sale, or they're just a personal project?
Timothy (Marley)
Uh, I just... I never thought to sell them. I've just been making them, and it was really just for myself.
Dan (Wren)
I would buy a flower!
Timothy (Marley)
Oh, I never make you pay for one! [Dan: "No, no, absolutely."] I have plenty. I have plenty.
Chris (Sal S)
You're an artist.
Ellie (Markie)
Mom, let them. Let them buy it.
Timothy (Marley)
"Here, take this one. This one. This one really brings out your eyes." She, like, picks up this, like, sunflower. [Chris: "Aww", Ellie laughs] It's very large; like a big dinner plate.
Dan (Wren)
Would there be something more that I... like something smaller that I could just, like, tuck in my bag- pack a little easier. Just because we're travelers and so something big like that would be a bit cumbersome. I LOVE it; don't get me wrong.
Ellie (Markie)
It's one of your best pieces, Mom. You can't give... you can't give that one away, Mom. That's one of your best pieces!
Dan (Wren)
It is, it is. And I wouldn't... right, do you have, like, a smaller version? Like a small little mini sunflower?
Chris (Sal S)
Like a saucer?
Timothy (Marley)
Let me think for just a moment. Um, you know, I was doing the series of leaves a while back. I think we might have a couple sitting around still that haven't gotten buried.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, yeah. The leaves are so great, mom.
Timothy (Marley)
Yeah. Are you more of a maple or an oak?
Dan (Wren)
Maple for me.
Timothy (Marley)
All right. And for you?
Chris (Sal S)
Oak, yeah.
Timothy (Marley)
Also, did I ever catch your names?
Dan (Wren)
Oh, yeah. I'm Wren.
Chris (Sal S)
And I'm Sal... Salvador.
Timothy (Marley)
Very nice to meet you, gentlemen. Um, let me... I'll be right on back and I'll... actually you go on up into the attic, and I'll have these waiting for you when you get down. They might take me a little while.
Ellie (Markie)
Perfect. You'll earn your... you'll earn your leaves by getting rid of the bats.
Chris (Sal S)
Seems like a fair...
Timothy (Marley)
There you go. No currency needed. [Markie: "Isn't she so great?"] No exchange, just buttering services.
Dan (Wren)
Wonderful
Ellie (Markie)
Bartering services, buttering rafters. [all laugh] All righty. Up the crickety little ladder.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, and so you pull down the ladder from the attic. You kind of get... get up it. I don't know, you climb a ladder! Oh my gosh, I don't know why that was so hard to say. You climb the ladder up into the attic, and it's rather dusty up there, but you can tell that somebody has been periodically coming up to tend to the bat problem and so there's, like, footprints in the dust all around, rather chaotically. Like, kind of kicked up in some sort of, like, almost dance-esque is how it's been kicked up throughout the attic, and it's... there's, like, a little light coming in through the open window [all laugh] but it's rather warm. The air is very stagnant and quite dusty. [Ellie sneeze]
Dan (Wren)
So how are we doing this?
Ellie (Markie)
Well, I thought... well, we could put them in the hole or we could make a lot of noise and chase them out the window or we could butter the rafters and put sticky paper on the floor. I think those are our three options: which one do we want to go with?
Chris (Sal S)
Close the window first.
Dan (Wren)
Definitely close the window unless we want to... he--
Ellie (Markie)
Well, we can't close the window while the bats are still in here.
Dan (Wren)
That's true unless we're putting them in the hole. Let's just make a lot of noise and see if they naturally go out the window maybe?
Ellie (Markie)
Okay, I mean it's worked before. Sometimes I recite to them, and they do not care for it. It's a little disheartening actually. [Chris: "Aww."]
Dan (Wren)
Wren takes out his, like, cooking, like, his, like, camping cooking utensils and I start banging them together.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, and Markie start stopping on the floor and hootin' and hollerin'.
Chris (Sal S)
[dullly] Begone. Begone.
Ellie (Markie)
Begone, bats.
Dan (Wren)
Sal's just yelling. [all laugh]
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, you all start making a commotion, and you start to see movement in the rafters. As you look up, you see several bats hanging from the rafters and their wings are starting to open, and as you move towards them, they begin to fly around and they start flapping all around. They're, like, freaking out.
Dan (Wren)
This is fine. [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Duck your head, duck your head!
Timothy (DM)
So they're fwooping all around you, circling; they keep ramming themselves into, like, objects [Ellie: "Oh no."] and, like, they're all, like... everything is freaking out.
Dan (Wren)
Twilight's probably jumping around trying to catch some. [all laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
Oh my God.
Timothy (DM)
And the scene just turns into utter chaos. What are you doing?
Dan (Wren)
Are they... are they leaving? Are any of them, like, going out the window?
Timothy (DM)
They seem to be struggling to find the window.
Ellie (Markie)
I guess it's day time and bats don't usually, like, fly around in the daytime, do they?.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, they seem very disoriented all of a sudden. They're just kind of chaotically flying around.
Chris (Sal S)
I guess I could try Gust of Wind.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, Gust of Wind!
Dan (Wren)
Could you take... could you take the hole and just like *fwoop*?
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, like a bag!
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, but then I've got bats in my hole. [all laugh]
Timothy (DM)
Oh, no! Not bats in your hole!
Ellie (Markie)
And I keep stuff in there! I have stuff in there. You know, I keep a bunch of furniture that I'm gonna fix up later in there.
Dan (Wren)
Could you use your Gust of Wind to blow them, like, into the window? [Ellie echoes]
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, I could direct it.
Ellie (Markie)
Okay, do it. Yeah.
Chris (Sal S)
Is anything loose? Like, is there anything you don't want to be blown around?
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, it's just so dusty up here, so I would... everybody, like, cover up.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, like pinch your nose. So, yeah.
Dan (Wren)
Pull your shirts over your face. [Ellie: "Yeah."] Go for it!
Ellie (Markie)
Go, Sal!
Chris (Sal S)
Sal gets to the corner and he sort of like gets ready to--
Dan (Wren)
I bring Twilight downstairs.
Chris (Sal S)
-- and he casts Gust of Wind to push these bats out the window.
Timothy (DM)
All right, so your Gust of Wind starts flurrying around the attic, the dust kicks up, and this, like... [Dan and Ellie cough] and a couple of loose papers, some loose fabrics, they fly up with it, and everything is just, like, channeled out of the window.
Ellie (Markie)
And Markie slams the window shut as the bats go out. *huh! chunk*]
Dan (Wren)
This might be the cleanest it's ever been, probably for like a long time.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh wow. This is actually great. [*hacks up a lung*]
Timothy (DM)
Cobwebs: completely gone. No dust.
Dan (Wren)
WE'RE covered in dust.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, our hair is, like, stand-- well, Markie doesn't have hair but... sort disheveled.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, all your hair and, like, every piece of clothing is, like, very just disheveled, just kind of flown about.
Dan (Wren)
I could really used that bath now.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, you guys want a bath?
Dan (Wren)
I wouldn't complain. [Chris: "Sure."]
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, well, we can heat up some water for you. It's a small bathtub, though.
Dan (Wren)
Does the Yik Yak have any baths?
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, they do, yeah. In their presidential suite.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, we've got the money.
Ellie (Markie)
Not that that means anything. There's no such thing as a president.
Dan (Wren)
Have you ever stayed in the presidential suite?
Ellie (Markie)
It's named after this guy called President... Herald.
Dan (Wren)
First Name: President, Last Name: Herald?
Timothy (DM)
There's no president in Valerian. There's also no Lord of Valerian anymore. It has turned into democratic council.
Chris (Sal S)
Whooooa.
Ellie (Markie)
It's the Lord's suite. Sorry.
Dan (Wren)
Have you ever stayed in the Lord's suite?
Ellie (Markie)
No, no. I sleep in a small room with the two busboys.
Dan (Wren)
Do you want to stay in the Lord's suite?
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, I want a bath!
Dan (Wren)
I mean, like, we might as well get it. Yeah,
Ellie (Markie)
You guys are gonna get the Lord's suite?!?
Dan (Wren)
Yeah. [Ellie: "Wow."] It can't be that bad, right? [Chris: "Yeah."]
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah. I don't know. I've never even asked.
Dan (Wren)
"Oh, well, ok... oh! By the way..." and I pull out a bag that jingles as I move it around, and I set it down in front of Markie.
Ellie (Markie)
What's this?
Dan (Wren)
"So I was thinking I could trade (again, you know, commerce) for your mother's figurine" and I open it up and there's, like, jewels and gold [Ellie: "OH!"] "And a lot of these..." (so I pull out some necklaces) "... a lot of these are probably a bit gaudy for your mother. She didn't seem like the jewels on jewels..."
Ellie (Markie)
She deserves it.
Dan (Wren)
Well, she does, but what is her style?
Timothy (DM)
Oh, she's rather gaudy. [Chris: "OhhHHh."]
Ellie (Markie)
Markie takes after her mother.
Dan (Wren)
What's-what's her...
Timothy (DM)
She's wearing, like, rings; she has, like, several chunky necklaces on.
Dan (Wren)
What's her, like, favorite color? Like, what works best with what she wears?
Ellie (Markie)
She really likes, um, like, banded agate.
Dan (Wren)
"Oh, I think I have some of that" and I, like, search through and, like, pull out, like, this, like, really gaudy big agate necklace.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh my god; she's gonna love that. Oh! Are those matching earrings I spy?
Dan (Wren)
Oh yeah, absolutely. Here. Do you want anything?
Ellie (Markie)
"Oh, perfect, she's gonna go cr-- Oh, I doooo!" [all laugh] Markie picks out two sparkly bracelets and puts them on and strikes a pose that's almost exactly the same as the pose she struck when she put on those sparkly bangles.
Dan (Wren)
Wren tears up a little bit. It's fine.
Ellie (Markie)
What do you think?
Chris (Sal S)
Perfect.
Dan (Wren)
Amazing. It's amazing. They're yours.
Ellie (Markie)
Ha-HA! Great. And yeah, these necklaces and earrings will be great for my mom. She loves this kind of stuff. She deserves it. She deserves the world.
Dan (Wren)
"Yeah." I, like, put my pack away and...
Ellie (Markie)
"Perfect. Mom!" I go down, hurdle down the ladder precariously.
Timothy (Marley)
Oh, are you done up there? Wow, what a racket.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, well, the bats are gone, and it's cleaner than it's ever been.
Timothy (Marley)
Ohhhhh.
Dan (Wren)
You just want to keep the windows shut.
Ellie (Markie)
That seems to be the trick of it.
Timothy (Marley)
Duly noted.
Ellie (Markie)
"And look what we got for you." and Markie holds out the necklace and earrings.
Timothy (Marley)
*GASP* Oh my gosh. Those are so beautiful!
Ellie (Markie)
Aren't they? I think they're gonna make your eyes really stand out.
Timothy (Marley)
Wait! These are for me?!?
Ellie (Markie)
Yes! From our adventures in the castle. [Chris: "Yeah."]
Timothy (Marley)
Oh, no. You shouldn't have!
Dan (Wren)
It's an... it's a fair trade for the lovely leaves... that you carve.
Timothy (DM)
Well, that was already a trade for the bats out of the attic!
Dan (Wren)
Oh, no, the bats... the bats were a trade for the ham hock? [Chris: "Yeah."] Because it was delicious.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, and then the necklace was a trade for the leaves.
Dan (Wren)
It's the least we could do.
Timothy (Marley)
[uncertain] All right.
Dan (Wren)
Just just commerce.
Ellie (Markie)
Just take it, mom. Your leaves are *so* good.
Timothy (Marley)
Thank you very much. This is--
Ellie (Markie)
"Look at mine!" I hold up my arms and shake them around. "Ha-ha-ha!"
Timothy (Marley)
OH MY GOODNESS!
Chris (Sal S)
*jingle jangle jingle jangle*
Timothy (Marley)
Those are so pretty, Markie.
Ellie (Markie)
Thanks, yeah, I really... you can borrow them if you want.
Timothy (Marley)
[with a wry smile] Oh... don't mind if I do. [all laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
All right. Well, we got to go to the castle, mom.
Timothy (Marley)
Alllllready?
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah. Well, you know, we took care of the bats and everything. And... I do want to see those talking doors.
Timothy (Marley)
All right. Give your mother a hug.
Ellie (Markie)
"Of course, Ma." and they have a big hug again. Aww, so much love in the Markie household.
Timothy (DM)
She gives you a nice big squeeze, and lets go and then goes over and, like, wraps her arms around Salvador, gives him a nice squeeze around the waist.
Chris (Sal S)
I lift her up.
Timothy (Marley)
"Oh!" As you set her back down she runs over run, wraps around Wren.
Dan (Wren)
Wren will kneel down for the hug. [Ellie: "Awww."]
Timothy (DM)
Awww, so cute. She gives you, like, both very, like, firm, like, squeezes and, like, holds on for a few seconds.
Ellie (Markie)
A really good hug? Like, she's great hugger.
Timothy (Marley)
A really good hug. "All right. Well, you be safe in the castle. Let me know if you get into any trouble."
Ellie (Markie)
Of course, Mom. You know I never got into any trouble.
Timothy (Marley)
*guffaws* Oh, if that were true... [all laugh] I'll just be here whittling some more, uh, ferns and... Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow, Markie.
Ellie (Markie)
Sounds good. Thanks so much, mom. Good to see you as always.
Dan (Wren)
Did we get the leaves?
Timothy (Marley)
"Love you all." And yeah, and she hands you the two leaves.
Dan (Wren)
I, like, hang it on my pack. So, like...
Ellie (Markie)
It looks really nice.
Timothy (Marley)
Aww, so cute.
Ellie (Markie)
So cute. [to Wren and Sal] Well, you know, you're what I would tell you is that anything that happened in that castle was all worth it to... if that means that my mom doesn't have to live in a time loop forever. [Tim laughs] That's the worst thing to think about: all of my friends and everybody that I all know and, like, Davey and everybody at the Yik Yak and my mom just reliving the same day over and over again? And what if she never even... I bet she didn't get to whittle that day.
Dan (Wren)
No, no, I don't know. Probably not.
Ellie (Markie)
I wonder if it was a bats day or a no bats day that we got stuck in. [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
Well, we do have the day that it occurred, so if she has a journal, maybe she could go back into it and figure out but... [to Marley] have you--
Timothy (Marley)
[trying to usher the team along] Best not to dwell on it, hon. [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah: bats, carvings...
Timothy (Marley)
It's in the past! [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
We're looking forward!
Ellie (Markie)
We're looking forward. It's just, I'm so proud of myself. Little Markie took care of everybody that she loves.
Chris (Sal S)
So, have you ever left town?
Ellie (Markie)
No.
Chris (Sal S)
Okay.
Dan (Wren)
You have, though.
Ellie (Markie)
Well, oh, I did, I guess.
Dan (Wren)
I mean it was just outside the gate, but yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah. Well, I mean, I've gone outside the gate, like, before.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah. Okay.
Ellie (Markie)
Wait, have I? How did the fast-forwarding time work?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah. So, after the time lock was reset, that, like, barrier that you experienced was no longer there. That was like a protection of a paradox; it was to prevent paradox. And so, without that time lock in place, there was no need for that paradox barrier. [Ellie: "Ok, got it."] So people have left.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah. I mean, I've gone, like, out and in; I've just never gone far away. Why would I? Everything that's important to me is here.
Chris (Sal S)
That's true. Yeah.
Dan (Wren)
To the castle?
Ellie (Markie)
To the castle!
Chris (Sal S)
Away!
Ellie (Markie)
Based on how the time lock and the paradox everything worked; the Calderos home was outside of the time lock, so there wouldn't be any point to going there. It wouldn't be any different than it was the first time we went, right? [Dan: "Yeah, right?"]
Timothy (DM)
If you want to check it out, go for it.
Dan (Wren)
I mean, what's there to look for though?
Ellie (Markie)
I don't know: it feels like you guys didn't really find any answers.
Dan (Wren)
But then we'd have to go-- I mean, we did find some answers, but it's just sending us in a new direction.
Chris (Sal S)
I guess the only thing we'd learn is, like, if Alice still went there, or, like, if anybody else took up... I guess yeah, there would be no change. Unless somebody, like, re-- flipped the house. And they bought it from the town.
Ellie (Markie)
One house: agonizing dungeon
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, and I don't want to go through that those trap rooms again. They were just... no.
Chris (Sal S)
Understood, yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
No? It sounded kind of cool when you described it, and now I kind of want to try it again. [Dan: *exasperated gasp*] No, no, it's okay. Seems cool, though. It sounds like I was really good at it.
Dan (Wren)
You were, you were; it was... "unsafe".
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, yeah.
Timothy (DM)
[laughing] Unsafe.
Dan (Wren)
The way I'd put it.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, so you make your way back up the hill to the castle. The door is still left ajar. With how difficult it was to open, it just didn't seem like it was necessary to close it back up afterwards. What would you like to do? [Ellie: "Well, I haven't..."] You remember the side gate was, like, *rusted* shut. So...
Chris (Sal S)
I've got a spell for that.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, you do?
Chris (Sal S)
I cast Shatter on this gate.
Dan (Wren)
*hehehe* [to Markie] Stand back. [Ellie laughs]
Timothy (DM)
So, you go on over to this side gate and as Wren and Markie are chatting, you... what do you...? Clap your hands?
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, I... [Ellie: "Oh gosh."] I say "BEGONE GATE!" and I clap my hands.
Timothy (DM)
So dramatic. And as you do, the metal starts to crumble under the sound, enough for you to just kind of pull random bits of it apart and clamber on through.
Ellie (Markie)
[cupping ears] Sal, that is shrill.
Chris (Sal S)
Sorry. I should have warned you. I'm sorry.
Timothy (DM)
And you make your way into the side yard. It is SOOOO freaking overgrown. You have brambles and vines and things, and you pull out... [looks to Dan]
Dan (Wren)
My short sword! Hackin' away!
Timothy (DM)
...your short sword and you're hacking through, and it is a process. Like, you are hacking and hacking and hacking. It is hot, and you are sweaty, and it is a lot of physical labor.
Ellie (Markie)
Can we see the window now that we're in the garden?
Timothy (DM)
So now that you are in the garden, you do see the window.
Dan (Wren)
Is it broken?
Timothy (DM)
It is not.
Chris (Sal S)
Hmmm.
Dan (Wren)
That's not good, y'all.
Ellie (Markie)
So, the doors... So, now I'm thinking that you're telling stories.
Chris (Sal S)
But if... they would still be in the castle.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, might have time-reversed itself back to how it was.
Ellie (Markie)
Ohhh. Huh...
Chris (Sal S)
Should we go check?
Dan (Wren)
So I guess we go check. [Chris: "Yeah."]
Ellie (Markie)
I feel like I need a diagram.
Chris (Sal S)
"I do have a map." I pull it...
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, great! Well, sh-- I don't know, I haven't been in the castle since everybody disappeared. It feels sort of just respectful, doesn't it?
Dan (Wren)
I mean, [mumbling] you were in the castle...
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, I mean... I'm talking about current Markie, y'know?
Dan (Wren)
Yes, yes, yes. That's true, buttttt...
Ellie (Markie)
Would... is the castle... So it's all overgrown, I assume, like... do people just, like, avoid it now? I assume it's probably been, like, looted.
Timothy (DM)
Oh, yeah, it's been looted. Kids go there all the time.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, this is where kids go to smoke weed. [all laugh] Oh yeah, actually, I used to come up here with my friends and get drunk.
Timothy (DM)
They go to smoke. There's, like, little camps set out in various sections of it with, like, cushions that, like, people have pulled and put there. Little campfires that have been burned onto the floor.
Chris (Sal S)
'Jeremy rulez, 1458.' [Tim: "Yeah, exactly."]
Ellie (Markie)
You got to watch your back when you're going through the castle. There are all kinds of hooligans and stuff in here. Who knows?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, I mean, it is daytime, so, like, generally cleared out during the day.
Dan (Wren)
Well, if people are here sometimes then maybe the doors have people to talk to?
Chris (Sal S)
I don't know.
Ellie (Markie)
Shall we go check?
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, we can go check that. We had up to the bedrooms, where they were in the chamber.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, so you head up to the second floor into the king's quarters, and you make your way over to where the doors were, and as you approach, you do notice that there are things written all over the walls about the doors. And as you start to read them, you start to realize that yes, people have been talking with the doors, and there's this, like... there's just, like, these little stories that people have written, little tributes to the doors. People... like, you could tell that this has become a space where-where "the Youth" of the city of Valerian have come and hung out with the doors.
Ellie (Markie)
Awww, well, no, that's really nice. We can't take them away from here.
Chris (Sal S)
This is their home.
Dan (Wren)
No, yeah, they're home now. Can I find the bug box?
Chris (Sal S)
I thought we took that with us.
Dan (Wren)
Did we?
Chris (Sal S)
'Cause that has the prophecy inside of it.
Ellie (Markie)
But did it get reversed?
Dan (Wren)
Oh, we did take... we did take th-- do we have the bug box?
Timothy (DM)
You have the bug box. [Ellie: "Ok."]
Chris (Sal S)
Is there a second one here? Because we'd have a paradox where... [all laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
We've got the paradox bug box. [all laugh]
Timothy (DM)
Don't seem to find another bug box. [Chris: "Good, okay."]
Ellie (Markie)
Gosh, well, as we as we're walking through the castle, also Markie is, like, pointing out things. She's like, "Okay, and that's where we posed, right? [Chris: "Mmhm."] Okay. And that's where the zombie threw up? [Dan: "Mmhm, yep."] Okay, yeah. And right here, would you say, like, kind of this is approximately where I did the cool thing with the torch? [Chris: "Yeah."]
Dan (Wren)
Oh, yeah. Mmhm. And then we're like, Yeah, we did the sliding.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh yeah! Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She's, like, getting really into it.
Dan (Wren)
You know, what would be cool? [Ellie: "What?"] If you did, like, an interactive tour with people.
Ellie (Markie)
*gasp* Whoa!
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah!
Dan (Wren)
This place is abandoned. I don't know, maybe you could get the city to, like, revamp it as, like, a tourist attraction, and you could do, like, Epic Adventure Tours?
Ellie (Markie)
Like an escape room. [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, you could repurpose the dungeon. Yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
Do you think there... now, is... are there still cursed spells in the basement?
Chris (Sal S)
No, I don't think so.
Dan (Wren)
I don't think so. Everything was... everything... Nothing glowed anymore when we were leaving. Everything was, like, really still. [Ellie: "Oh, okay. Okay."] I think that's all gone. [Chris: "Yeah."] It'll need a good cleaning though.
Ellie (Markie)
'Cause it would be so stupid if we accidentally time locked ourselves again. [laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
You can't leave a castle, yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
Wait! Do I... I don't have the books I took from the library, do I? My big epic books from the library? Or do I--
Timothy (DM)
You do not.
Ellie (Markie)
Can we go to the library?
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, but I mean, throughout the years of it being abandoned, [Ellie: "Oh, that's true, everything's like trashed."] might have gone back and gotten them at some point, not realizing that you had already done that.
Ellie (Markie)
Ha ha... fuck yeah, this is so confusing. [all laugh]
Timothy (DM)
TIME TRAVEL.
Chris (Sal S)
But the.. did the library look like anybody had gone there? Because I feel like that would be, like, the biggest thing that the cult would not want: them to learn like, 'oh, there's this cult of scholars that was dealing with time'.
Timothy (DM)
So, the way that the library... like, the information that you found in the library was weird, because most of it was very cryptic, and if you didn't have the pieces of information that you already had, none of it made any sense. They seemed like research organizations that had some disputes. No details were really revealed in the library.
Chris (Sal S)
Very vague. Okay.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah. The reason you were able to piece it together is because you knew who some of the people were, or you also had Alice's journals, and letters from Vladlan and things that kind of pieced it all together. Otherwise, the library would just really makes them seem like they were just a research group interested in uncovering the 'mysteries of the universe'.
Dan (Wren)
Well, that was fun reminiscing. [Chris: "Yeah."]
Ellie (Markie)
This is so great, guys. I can't believe I am a hero.
Dan (Wren)
A little traumatic being back here, but that's ok.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, I'm sorry. [all laugh] I'm having a *great* time. I don't remember anything bad happening to me.
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, how enviable. But I mean... it's how you grow as a person. [Dan: "Yeah."] You deal with your trauma, and you're able to... to master it.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah. Anyways... back to the Yik Yak? Let's go get that Lord's suite!
Ellie (Markie)
Back to the Yik Yak for... the Lord's suite, and the first ever performance of what I am tentatively calling "Markie the Hero." [Chris: "Yeah."]
Dan (Wren)
I like it. I like it.
Ellie (Markie)
If you guys have any suggestions, it's a working title though. "Markie the Hero." "Markie the Time Hero"? "Tipsy-Topsy Twisty Timy"?
Chris (Sal S)
I think that's pretty good.
Ellie (Markie)
Pretty catchy, right? Yeah.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah. Back to the Yik Yak.
Ellie (Markie)
Back to the Yik Yak. [*dut dut-dut-dut dut dut da.*]
Timothy (DM)
Alright, so you arrive at the Yik Yak Inn once again and are greeted with a familiar smell of roasting meats and *quite* an energetic crowd this evening.
Dan (Wren)
"DAVEY!" I wave her over.
Timothy (DM)
She waves back. She's at a counter right now... or another booth right now.
Dan (Wren)
Well, I guess I can go up to the bar then. [to Tim] What's his name?
Timothy (DM)
Gambrinus.
Dan (Wren)
Gambrinus. "Uh, Gambrinus, sir?"
Timothy (DM)
...ma'am. [all laugh]
Dan (Wren)
Gambrinus, ma'am!
Timothy (Gambrinus)
So, Gambrinus (as you might remember, which you obviously don't)... Gambrinus was wearing, like, all sorts of different colored fabrics and bangles, and they were a very energetic person. So, they-they are the barkeep, they are at the bar, you go up to them: "Aye, your back."
Dan (Wren)
Yes, we would like to rent out the Lord's suite for tonight.
Timothy (Gambrinus)
The Lord's suite?
Dan (Wren)
Yes.
Ellie (Markie)
Markie's, like, behind them, giving a thumbs up like "Yeah."
Timothy (Gambrinus)
And you're with Markie?
Dan (Wren)
Yes! [Chris: "Indeed."]
Ellie (Markie)
These are my pals. We ventured through the castle together in an alternate timeline. [obvious confusion from Gambrinus] Sit tight; I'm telling the story tonight.
Timothy (Gambrinus)
All right, I look out for it. Well, it's your lucky day, little lady.
Ellie (Markie)
"Ha-HA!" She does a jig.
Timothy (Gambrinus)
I know you've been trying to get into the Lord's suite for ages. [Ellie: "You know..."] Where'd you find these two fellows?
Ellie (Markie)
They found me!
Timothy (Gambrinus)
Ohhhh, and where are you from?
Dan (Wren)
Um... [whispers to Sal] What direction are we from?
Chris (Sal S)
We're south.
Dan (Wren)
We're south, we're south.
Timothy (Gambrinus)
You're from the south. Okay.
Ellie (Markie)
My renown has spread even there.
Timothy (Gambrinus)
You mean, like Siag? Pythia?
Chris (Sal S)
South and west for me.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, um... I don't remember. [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Lore quiz! Lore quiz!
Chris (Sal S)
You're from... I think you're from... north, you're from north of Siag.
Dan (Wren)
North of Siag? "Just north of Siag."
Timothy (Gambrinus)
Ah, all right. What brings you here?
Ellie (Markie)
They were looking for me; my fame has spread even to where they're from! [Tim: "Oh wow."]
Dan (Wren)
We hear that... we hear about the tales of Markie leagues away. [Chris: "Yeah."]
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, I'm gonna start upping my rates, Gambo.
Timothy (Gambrinus)
Oh nah!
Ellie (Markie)
Ha-ha, I'm just joshin' ya.
Timothy (Gambrinus)
How are ya' doin' this t'my little lady? She's been drawin' the customers in for years.
Ellie (Markie)
They love me. Everybody loves Markie.
Timothy (Gambrinus)
Well, yeah, I'll get you set up. It's 20 gold for the evening.
Dan (Wren)
Done, 20 gold.
Timothy (DM)
Shit, you have a fuck ton of gold.
Chris (Sal S)
You pull out a jeweled tiara and you put it on the table.
Dan (Wren)
I toss in an extra five as a tip for the staff. [Ellie: "Woooow."]
Timothy (Gambrinus)
[whispers] Markie, we haven't made this much money in an evening in ... forever! Ever ever!
Ellie (Markie)
'Markie brings in the money', Gambo. That's what I always say.
Timothy (Gambrinus)
Well, keep it up!
Ellie (Markie)
I will!
Timothy (DM)
She, like, goes back underneath the bar, and she pulls out this lockbox, and she sets the lockbox on the bar, and then she pulls a key from her hip, and she unlocks the lockbox. She opens it up and inside in like this little satin cushion is another key.
Ellie (Markie)
I've never seen this key before!
Timothy (DM)
It's, like, this fancy brass key, and she pulls it out and she offers it up to you.
Dan (Wren)
Oh! This is an experience that I wasn't expecting.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, premium!
Timothy (DM)
That will get you to the Lord's suite. It's at the end of the hall on the third floor.
Dan (Wren)
Markie... I step out of the way for Markie.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh my gosh. Markie grabs the key and *bravely* charges down the hallway. [laughs]
Dan (Wren)
We follow.
Timothy (DM)
You charge up the stairs, up to the third floor and down the hallway. Sure enough, at the end of the hall is a *very* nice fancy door with a brass lock on it. You plop the key in, you turn it, it clicks, you push open, and it is just *gorgeous*. [Ellie gasps] Everything is satin and it's, like... there's tapestries, brass candelabras... just, like, the most *gorgeous* room, and it is utterly untouched. They NEVER rent out this room.
Ellie (Markie)
We've never had anybody stay in the Lord's suite before [Chris: "Wowww."] It's really crazy that it's here, and it takes up so much space and it was so expensive to furnish. [all laugh]
Chris (Sal S)
But whenever you get somebody to take it, man, that's a bonanza.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, it's, like, worth it. We... like, if somebody gets it even, like, once a year.
Chris (Sal S)
It covers it.
Dan (Wren)
It pays for itself... pays for the whole place. [all laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
"Well, I think..." Markie is, like, scuttling all around "Bathroom's in here!"
Dan (Wren)
Alright. When do you... when is the performance tonight?
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, I usually start right about the time that people are drunk enough to start fights. That's my cue.
Dan (Wren)
Gotcha. So how far do you feel like we are from that? Like, do I have time for a bath?
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, okay, we're still a couple of hours away. People seemed relatively sedate when we were walking through down there. I didn't hear nary a raised voice.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, cool.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah. So there is, like, a separate room that has these, like... those dividers with, like, that *gorgeous*, like, paper in the frames with, like, little scenes of, like, the mountains all over it, and a *big* copper basin. So, you all take turns having baths; there's, like, different bar soaps of different scents that you can select from and, like, different oils for your hair and, like, different bath products that you can try out and have this, like, *luxurious* evening as you hear all of the patrons downstairs.
Dan (Wren)
Wren will (after his bath) Wren will put on his, like, fancy attire. He brings, like, one fancy outfit with him in case he needs to, like, woo somebody.
Ellie (Markie)
[laughs] Just in case.
Chris (Sal S)
When you're on the road, yeah.
Dan (Wren)
It's like... it's... so it's, like, almost, like, a mildly frilly shirt with, like, a really...
Ellie (Markie)
A really deeeeeep V.
Dan (Wren)
... a really deep V but, like, with a vest on [Chris: "Wowww."] and, like, pants and it's got, like, gold stitching along the edges. It's very nice-looking.
Ellie (Markie)
Wow, that is nice.
Chris (Sal S)
Geez, I never...
Dan (Wren)
And he's putting his hair up in, like, a nice sort of, like, updo thing.
Ellie (Markie)
Markie has her little gemmy bangles on. [Tim laughs]
Chris (Sal S)
Sal's never seen this side of Wren. Cleans up pretty nicely. [Ellie gasps]
Dan (Wren)
"Oh, yeah, this is mostly just for work." Wren, like, pulls at his, like, vest uncomfortably [all laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
Sal, what-what special outfit are you wearing?
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, so also has, like, a costume that is sort of more fancy than has business casual attire. But yeah, it's just, like, a dress shirt and sort of, like, a necktie. Like a... like a ribbony necktie.
Timothy (DM)
Love it.
Ellie (Markie)
You guys look so great. Gosh, how can I even decide which one of you is more handsome? [out of the side of her mouth] But I can decide which one of you is taller, but I'm keeping that to myself. [all laugh]
Timothy (DM)
Are we including the horns? [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
That's what I've been debating in my head. You know, but I don't feel like it's fair to include the horns.
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, my horns? [Ellie: "Yeah."]
Timothy (DM)
[laughs] Yes, you have horns!
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, I sometimes forget about that.
Ellie (Markie)
And then I hit them on the ceiling, like "Aaagh!"
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, well it's like I'm always wearing a hard hat, so [Ellie: "Oh, yeah yeah yeah."] I never get a bump on my... on my noggin.
Ellie (Markie)
That's true. All right, well, shall we? I hear hooting and hollering and the sound of glass breaking from downstairs, and that's my cue. [laughs]
Timothy (DM)
So you descend the stairs into the bar, and as you do, you catch SOOO many eyes. The three of you are just DECKED the fuck out, kind of Markie? The bangles are a nice touch.
Ellie (Markie)
I'm, like... it's just that I'm wearing my regular outfit, but then the bangles. [laughs]
Timothy (DM)
But the two *tall* gentleman in their finest wares smelling of...
Dan (Wren)
Rose.
Timothy (DM)
[looks at Chris] Rose and...
Chris (Sal S)
I was gonna say rose; that was my...
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, you both smell like roses.
Timothy (DM)
You two smelling of roses...
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, I smell, like, uh, lavender, yeah.
Timothy (DM)
...and lavender enter the space, and a large portion of the patrons are just staring, and it kind of quiets a little bit as people's conversations are kind of drawn away, towards you.
Dan (Wren)
I give Markie like the 'Hold on a second' one finger and I'm going to walk over to the bar and just reach behind the bar for a bottle of liquor. [Chris: [whispers] "What?", Ellie: "Uh-huh."] and just, like, take a pull, [Ellie: "Oh my god."] take this, like, really big pull, like... [inhales] Wren, like, takes a deep breath and then, like, jumps up on the bar.
Ellie (Markie)
Whoa! [Chris echoes]
Dan (Wren)
"Lend me your ears for I bring you the word weaver, the tale twister, the story siren, the marvelous Markie!" and I point over to Markie. [Ellie squeals] "She brings to you a tale of horror and harrowed-ness. Let her regale you with the ep-- the chilling epic of the haunted halls of the Valerian keep. Listen well as our humble hero fights off tentacle tyrants, befriends the soggy spirits, incinerates the dastardly darkness, and beguiles the bloated brains. Come hear the tale of this terrible temporal terrors. Behold, the greatest hero among us." and I hop down from the bar and walk over to Markie and kneel down "...and by far the brightest star in the city." [Ellie squeals, Chris *astonished*]
Timothy (DM)
So, as you were giving your little speech, the ENTIRE tavern had fallen silent, and as you finish on your knees pointing to Markie, it erupts in laughter and clapping and cheering and Markie, the stage is set.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh my gosh! and yeah, Markie, like, picks up right where you left off and, like, jumps right in to her story, telling the tale of... what you just said. [all laugh] I don't specifically have anything prepared, but yeah...
Timothy (DM)
And this is one of your most... like, it is completely off the cuff. You haven't really prepared it, but it is one of your most riveting tales of *all* time. The... it goes on and on and on, and people just start ordering drinks and just, like, it becomes this raucous crowd just like completely--
Ellie (Markie)
She's like striding around the tavern, like *bleh, BLEH*
Timothy (DM)
Like, yeah. Everybody's, like, moved to the-the nearest possible seat to where you are telling the tale and is just, like, SO engaged.
Dan (Wren)
I imagine it's like... almost like Rocky Horror Picture Show where, like, the two of us are, like, over there, like, yelling things out as, like, you reach certain points.
Chris (Sal S)
There's Prestidigitation of wet ghosts and, like, flying vases and...
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, I'm, like, jumping up on stuff and jumping down and, like, pointing at people and, like, you know, it's *so* dramatic. So good! Markie finally gets what she WANNTTTS!
Timothy (DM)
And as you close out the tale, the entire crowd ERUPTS in cheers and clapping. There's like 10 people who order a round of drinks for the crowd, and they're just, like... everything is flowing. You see Davey and Gambrinus, like, scurrying about, trying to, like, pass out drinks as quickly as possible, collecting TONS and TONS of silver and just, like... they keep running out of, like... and having to recap kegs and, like, it is just the most *wild* night--
Ellie (Markie)
And my mom's there, right?
Timothy (DM)
And your mom shows up [Ellie: "Good."] and she's having the most *fantastic* time [Ellie: [as her mom] "So proud of my daughter.'"] Your nights all fade into blackness because you. are. SLOSHED.
Ellie (Markie)
As we also fade. [all laugh]
Dan (Wren)
Are there any hotties there? [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Haha, yeah, Wren's on the prowl.
Timothy (DM)
At this point in the night, *everyone* is attractive.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, ok. Wren definitely probably hits up a couple of people and be like "Hi, I'm-I'm the Wren she's talking about."
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, in that story.
Timothy (DM)
Wren, do you wake up in someone else's bed?
Dan (Wren)
Probably not. [Tim: "Okay."]
Ellie (Markie)
You're in the Lord's suite, my dude. You can't go home with somebody else!
Dan (Wren)
But I might end up with, like, bruises on my neck. [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
God, yes, Wren's *covered* in hickies.
Timothy (DM)
Does anybody... okay, you have some bruises on your neck... does anybody... are there any "plus ones" in the Lord's suite next morning? [all the players look at each other]
Ellie (Markie)
No.
Chris (Sal S)
Why are you looking at me?
Dan (Wren)
It was just a "me" decision?
Timothy (DM)
Any... any one of you. They're all... all the players are currently LOOKING at each other, being like *shrugs shoulders*
Dan (Wren)
Was it you? Was it you?
Ellie (Markie)
I don't know, did YOU fuck those women? [laughs] No, I think Markie... but she does like to sleep in, like, a pack so she definitely, like, in the Lord's suite is, like, trying to squeeze as close to.... I don't know. Is it like a one bed situation?
It's a one bed situation.
Chris (Sal S)
It's like a California king.
Timothy (DM)
It is a GIANT bed. It is like a California king, but it is a singular bad.
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, Markie is squeezed, like, right between the two of you. She's got, like, one leggy on one person and, like, her head's on another and she's, like, "I'm so happy."
Dan (Wren)
I didn't bring a plus one.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, I did not.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, too drunk. Way too drive.
Ellie (Markie)
That's fair. That's fair.
Chris (Sal S)
Sal was living in the moment too much... like, just trying to capture everything that Markie and-and Wren were saying as they we're interjecting each other's stories.
Timothy (DM)
All right.
Ellie (Markie)
No, plus ones, just the OG three.
Timothy (DM)
The OG three wakes up a *little* later than they probably intended the next morning. A bit of a headache. The sun is a little piercing.
Dan (Wren)
[through closed eyes] Who opened the blinds? Why? [all laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
We never closed them!
Timothy (DM)
Probably was never closed. The room is still slightly warbling.
Ellie (Markie)
[*groans*] I need another bath.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, I'll go get us some breakfast.
Ellie (Markie)
Why am I sticky?
Dan (Wren)
Wren'll head down and, like, get some food from the bar.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, that's really nice. [Tim: "Yeah."] Markie stays in bed.
Timothy (DM)
They serve lots of dried fish, gravy, toast all sorts of things like that.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh god. *heaving sounds* [Chris: "Oh geez."]
Dan (Wren)
Gravy, everything with gravy. Wren's, like, the type to, like, to, like, eat down a hangover versus like...
Timothy (DM)
They do have hash, which is really good. They do a great hash.
Chris (Sal S)
Oooh, that'd be great.
Dan (Wren)
I'll get, like, four plates of that to bring up just for us. [Ellie: "Perfect."] Anything fried.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah. Salted, heavily.
Dan (Wren)
Salted or fried, yeah.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah. And you have a smorgasbord in the Lord's suite.
Ellie (Markie)
Breakfast in bed!
Dan (Wren)
And I, like, tip like 200%. I drop a bunch of coins on the bar and go back upstairs.
Chris (Sal S)
Generous Wren!
Timothy (DM)
Maybe an emerald.
Dan (Wren)
Like "Is this fine? I don't... it's all I had in my pocket?"
Ellie (Markie)
How much is this worth?
Chris (Sal S)
You could make a ring out of it, sure.
Dan (Wren)
I'm pretty sure I, like, gave away half of what I, like, took from the castle last night to whoever I was making out with.
Ellie (Markie)
"Uh, can you make change?" Pulls out like a diamond tiara [all laugh]
Dan (Wren)
It's just... it's yours. It's it's fine.
Timothy (DM)
So yeah, you have this lovely morning. You all have time for baths, like... it is a... is a wonderful... I mean, besides the, like, pulsing of your-your head every once in a while, it's very lovely morning. You hear the birds chirping.
Ellie (Markie)
So nice. I'm so happy. You know, if I were gonna get into time loop, I think I would want it to be that day... but I don't want to be in a time loop.
Chris (Sal S)
No. [Dan echoes]
Ellie (Markie)
No. But if I was, that would be the day I'd pick.
Dan (Wren)
Because I imagine you wake up without the hangover the next day, right?
Chris (Sal S)
Yes. That would be, like, the most perfect... yeah.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, this is so wonderful. I'm so glad that you guys came to this town, and then went on an adventure with me and then came and found me when I forgot about you.
Dan (Wren)
That happened by happenstance. We thought you were gone to be quite honest. We thought you were dead - I thought you were dead.
Chris (Sal S)
I... Yeah, I thought you had been taken by-by Remy.
Dan (Wren)
Oh, yeah, that's fair.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, were you... were you sad?
Chris (Sal S)
Truly. [Dan: "Yeah."]
Ellie (Markie)
A-ha-ha. Sorry. No, that's-that's bad. But I'm glad you missed me. And I'm glad we're together again.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, yeah, we... [low voice] should get going, though. [Ellie whimpers] I know.
Chris (Sal S)
But we can return.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah. We'll, like... you're on the map now. Like, where you probably weren't before because, y'know, the time loop.
Ellie (Markie)
That's true. I put us... I put it on the map!
Dan (Wren)
Oh, yeah, and we'll be telling everyone. [Ellie: "Yeah."]
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, you might get some letters for some engagements outside of town. [Ellie gasps]
Dan (Wren)
You never know.
Chris (Sal S)
Depending on your stance on that sort of thing.
Ellie (Markie)
I don't know. It would be hard to leave everything I've ever known, but I am a brave hero. So...
Dan (Wren)
And I do own a somewhat raucous establishment in Entropolis so if you ever decide to find yourself in the area, I don't know... a storyteller could make a lot of money.
Ellie (Markie)
I'll come render a performance.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, and I'm... they will love it if I'm in it. So... [Chris laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, you're a popular guy there?
Dan (Wren)
I mean, I'm the owner. So, I have to be.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, yeah, yeah. They have to like you.
Chris (Sal S)
You'll have to do that intro again.
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, yeah. That was great!
Dan (Wren)
Oh, the intro?
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, the intro was A-MAZ-ING, Wren. I couldn't even *believe*... I could barely pick up my story; my jaw was on the floor.
Dan (Wren)
[bashful] Thanks. [laughs]
Ellie (Markie)
It was really good!
Dan (Wren)
I needed that... the liquor beforehand. I was nervous going up there.
Ellie (Markie)
I know! I never knew you had that in you; you're usually such kind of a...
Dan (Wren)
I didn't either.
Ellie (Markie)
WOW! We're finding out new things about ourselves; amazing. [tearful] Do you really have to go?
Dan (Wren)
We do, unfortunately.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, there's something devilish happening that we need to look into.
Ellie (Markie)
"Yeah, you guys have to go be heroes too... [Dan: "Yeah"] Well..." she gives you both a BIG hug.
Chris (Sal S)
A big trio of hug.
Ellie (Markie)
I am, like, sandwiched right in the middle. "A-ha-ha, perfect! Well, I'm gonna miss you guys so much."
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, we'll miss you too. But we'll be back! [Chris: "Yeah!", Ellie: "Okay."] I can't imagine we won't be.
Chris (Sal S)
Now that Valerian is known establishment, and people can get here.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, tourist city. You're gonna have a haunted tours coming up soon? *wink wink*
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah. Yeah. I'll have to go talk to the Therpent Thang about that [all laugh] about getting the land ownership rights, you know, the real estate, etc. [Dan: "Yeah."] Okay...
Dan (Wren)
All right... Good- goodbye. [Chris echoes]
Ellie (Markie)
[weeping] Goodbyeeeee... [serious] No, I'll take it out to the front gate.
Chris (Sal S)
Oh, yeah, we walk hand-in-hand.
Dan (Wren)
Unbeknownst to either of you, when Wren was getting breakfast, he may or may not have tossed a bunch of, like, very selected, like, pre-selected jewels into a bag and, like, hid it under Markie's pillow. [Chris gasps, Ellie: "Aww."] Like, I found... I asked which, like, room was yours? Like, your normal room and I, like, snuck in and [Ellie: "Awww"] put some under her pillow 'cuz you know: artist needs money.
Ellie (Markie)
That's true.
Dan (Wren)
Also: maybe just wear them.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, they're uh...
Ellie (Markie)
Yeah, I'll probably wear them... and we walk claw-in-hand to the front gate of Valerian.
Dan (Wren)
And the sun sets in front of us so you get this nice...
Ellie (Markie)
Well, it doesn't set... it probably afternoon rises...
Dan (Wren)
The sun rises in front of us and you get this, like, nice...
Timothy (DM)
Oh, you missed the sunrise. [all laugh]
Ellie (Markie)
Oh, we missed the sunrise.
Dan (Wren)
The sun is high in the sky.
Chris (Sal S)
Yeah, it's directly overhead.
Ellie (Markie)
Casting our shadows, and we're, like, sweating a little bit. [all laugh] We're still a little nauseous but it still looks dramatic.
Timothy (DM)
It is a very dramatic scene at the front gates of Valerian. The guards open the gates and Salvador and Wren set off. Probably by horse.
Ellie (Markie)
We buy horses on the way.
Dan (Wren)
Yeah, we buy horses on the way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. At the gate, they have, like, y'know...
Chris (Petey)
[tossing the reins] Here ya go.
Timothy (DM)
Yeah, details in travel...
Dan (Wren)
We hop on our horses waving backwards as we... as the gates close behind us.
Ellie (Markie)
Goodbye! Goodbye. Stay safe.
Timothy (DM)
And you ride off into the hills, tucked between the Corrupted Woods and the Bastion of the Mountains, off towards Harrow...
Dan (Wren)
*duh-nuh-nuh!*
Ellie (Markie)
*duh-nuh-nuh!*
Chris (Sal S)
*buh-buh-buh!*
Timothy (DM)
And that's where we'll end this episode! [all rejoice]
Ellie (Markie)
Yay, a happy ending.
Timothy (DM)
And that is where we will put a pause on today's story! Thank you all for joining us for this bittersweet end as we plunge into the abyss. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Shadows of Prophecy. Join us next time to find out who else plays a role in this disturbing drama in the next chapter of our tale.
I want to give a special thanks to JayCeeAitch (JCH) and Chris B, our fabulous patrons keeping the candles lit here at Goblin Forge. Your support has meant the world to us, and we are so greateful for your absolute generosity.
I would like to thank Scrubcast for some incredible sound mastering, music and effects. They have been so easy to work with and I highly recommend checking them out if you’re ever in need of audio editing, especially for their epic 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 barbarous adventures we'll find ourselves in next time.
Our Theme song was written by my brother, the chill electronic vapour soul artist Lusq. You should check out their most recent single, Gus.
This has been a Goblin Forge production. Please follow us on Instagram , join our Discord, and if you really love us, show us some support by becoming one of our fabulous patrons at Patreon.com/Goblin_Forge, where you can find FREE bonus content like handouts, encounter maps, and even adventure guides to run your own horrific campaigns or one-shots. Shadows of Prophecy is a fully personally financed project and our first foray into the TTRPG arena. Any and all support is greatly appreciated! 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 meet the next players in our woven tale.