The Mechanics Guild Ep. 7: "We're a Squad Now"

Secrets are shared, spells are cast, and Argo, Darius, and Liv find they have more in common with each other than they first thought. 

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This chapter of The Mechanics Guild is run using Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition (2014) rules. 

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The Mechanics Guild is written and played by Sarah Davis Reynolds, Carlina Parker, Attilio Rigotti, and Clay Westman. 

Additional writing and Lorekeeping is by Taylor Fagins. 

Music is by Clay Westman. 

"Liv's Lullaby" is written and performed by Carlina Parker.

Theme song is by Arcane Anthems. 

Editing is by Taylor Fagins, Carlina Parker, Attilio Rigotti, and Clay Westman. 

Album art and logo is by Dan Pindell. 

Character Illustrations are by LaserLazuli.

Produced by Ian Prince. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Oh hi everyone. Welcome back to the Mechanics Guild. I feel like at this point we don't need to introduce ourselves. That feels like enough.

SPEAKER_04 0:49

If you're at this point with us, you should damn know who should you be damn sure you know who we are. Exactly.

SPEAKER_07 0:53

You want to take that one more time? No. No, we got it. That's clean. That's it.

SPEAKER_04 0:57

I can cut it. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

End of episode. The air whistles through the cracks in the mountain's caverns. A rumble turns into a roar, distinct evidence of a scarlet tunneler burrowing its way underground. It feels eerily still, heavy, warm, as you press deep, deep down past the elemental chamber and into the tunnels and cisterns where no one but maintenance seeks to go. As you head to the village, known by many other names not officially recognized by the guild, Darius. I need you to make me a wisdom saving throw.

SPEAKER_04 1:33

Oh boy! Crazy. Crazy wrong. What a start, what a start. So I'm gonna roll. No, not wisdom.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

Yeah, baby.

SPEAKER_04 1:41

Just general wisdom? Like Wisdom Saving Throw?

SPEAKER_00 1:44

No, wisdom saving throw.

SPEAKER_04 1:46

General, general wisdom.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

General wisdom.

SPEAKER_04 1:49

It's a two plus one, baby.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

The color drains from your eyes. Oh no. Shrieks. A flash. Chaos. Guards bursting into the traversium. A small trickle of blood, black as night in your colorless vision, snakes its way underneath the door. You rush towards the door, but no matter how fast you run, it seems to just get further and further away. Another flash. A face, hooded, long white hair fighting its way to freedom, framing a deep, disfigured scar running from eyebrow to jawbone. This is new. This you haven't seen before. Shriek, a chant, whispers in a language you don't understand. Something is calling to you. You've seen, you know, you've seen. You know. The cacophony grows louder, and you feel a small drip of liquid fall down your jaw as your ear begins to bleed. A guttural voice joins the fray, lashing out, split, split, split, and die, die. Intense heat and ruthless cold battle for dominance, and a searing pain courses through your nerves, forcing you to drop to your knees. Livinargo, you see this. Something sunders through you, ripping pieces from you. Though something tells you this is not your pain, not originally, but someone, something else's that you're now feeling. The phantom shrieks are joined by the very real wails of the insane minds roaming these caverns. The peril of your mind mingles with the tangible danger here, and you fight to keep separate what is real and what is only in your dreams.

SPEAKER_02 3:47

Okay, I'm lost. What's going on?

SPEAKER_04 3:51

I grab my hands to my face, and on my knees, I use a hand to support myself on the ground.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

Argo's eyes dart between Darius and Liv.

SPEAKER_07 4:07

Um, I think Liv is first trying to determine if intervention will be met with violence. I think it's not unknown that soldiers who have something like this might react with violence. I think she wants to make sure that it's. Can I just do like an I don't know, if it's an insight or something, just to see if like presence will help or if it's something that we should just let them write out?

SPEAKER_00 4:30

Yeah, insight.

SPEAKER_07 4:32

Uh bad. That's gonna be a 13.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Atelia with a 13. What would Liv see in Darius?

SPEAKER_04 4:42

His jaw is clenched, his hands are forming fists, it there's a lot of tension throughout his body. He seems like a touch might set him off into a fight or flight response. Um he it feels closer to a heaving sort of surrounded boar than he does like a man right now.

SPEAKER_07 5:04

Okay, then I think she's gonna use her voice to try and ground him. So she's gonna say, Darius, Darius, we're here. You're you're safe, you're fine. We're here with you. Open your eyes. Open your eyes.

SPEAKER_04 5:22

I get up quickly, the voice, the fact that I can localize the voice, and this we're here sets me into confusion. I pull the sword out and point at it the direction of where it's coming. My eyes are like blood shut. Um's like, who is there? Who are you? And I am like, I flex my legs, I'm in full battle defense mode, but I don't lunge at them, I'm just pointing at them in full like a single move, and I'll go into something.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

Argo, not exactly knowing whether to help or or intervene, takes a step forward to just a step in case he needs to throw throw himself in front of Liv.

SPEAKER_07 6:00

Liv is just gonna stand her ground. And seeing that there is so much tension, I think music is such a universal language. I think I'm gonna start singing a soft lullaby from my continent in an effort to calm him. And it's just a sweet little like melody of just like being safe, being at home, your mother's right here, we're gonna get through this. You're okay to relax and go to sleep.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Okay, yeah. Um, you wanna roll me a performance?

SPEAKER_07 6:32

No, but I will. Uh is a dirty 20.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Okay. Uh Philippe, you may remake your wisdom saving throw with advantage.

SPEAKER_03 6:48

Twelve uh thirteen.

unknown 6:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

You hear this lullaby enter. It is a voice you don't necessarily know, but it is one of comfort. You still are seeing flashes and hearing screams, but they are now intermixed with this lower, you know, melody of warmth. And you think you can get a hold of yourself. The nightmare is not over, but it is controllable.

SPEAKER_04 7:32

I feel like the edges of my what was a very blurry, confusing vision begins to soften. So the things are still happening, I still hear them, but I can see the people in front of me. I see where my sword is pointing. I immediately sort of drop my weapon down and take two steps back. And I don't, you know, as a soldier, I don't know if I'm used to being this vulnerable in this position and so much reveal. So I'm sort of just taking breaths.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

So you shake it off, you gesture to your companions to continue forward. Live in Argo, do you?

SPEAKER_07 8:12

Um, yeah, I think I bend down and pick up his sword, and I'll hand it to Argo just to like hold on to for now.

SPEAKER_02 8:20

Yeah, after exchanging a pretty concerned and confused look, Argo's just gonna try his best to improvise. Take the sword and follow a few steps behind the big, scary giant in front of him.

SPEAKER_04 8:35

I look at them. I go, it happens sometimes. I reach out my hand towards Argo.

SPEAKER_07 8:46

Uh I'm I think I'm gonna take his hand and just put my hand in it and say that was worrisome. What do you mean it happens? And I think I'm gonna try and lead him in the direction that we're walking without giving him his word back as we walk.

SPEAKER_04 9:11

The sounds of the faraway whales. I say that the sounds of the distance somewhere far away. If you focus just enough, you'll hear the voices of old men slowly going mad the curse of all world art. A lifetime spent in the infinite hallway. I call it the sickness. Sickness that comes for all world guards eventually, no matter how hard we try to fight it. It starts with a little shake. A little bit of your hands not quite stilling themselves when you go to sleep. And come the nightmares. And then when you're not useful enough, you come here. The last ounce of respect we get is that they don't watch us as we shout into the night about monsters coming out of doors. That's why I brought you here. This is the safest place I know. Or at least the one where you're least watched.

SPEAKER_07 11:00

What do you mean? This is something known too hard.

SPEAKER_04 11:08

Think of it as there are things that we privately know, even if we publicly pretend not to.

SPEAKER_02 11:16

But you know going in what you're signing up for. You know that it's it's this.

SPEAKER_04 11:22

There's no greater honor than being a world guard. Wouldn't you?

SPEAKER_02 11:28

I wouldn't if I lost my head, that's all I have.

SPEAKER_07 11:32

You did join to be a mechanic. It's a wonder what people will do for honor, even if their life is on the line.

SPEAKER_04 11:42

Well, I hope it's the last thing to die. And if I am going to lose it, may it be in battle rather than a shark in the husk. And I just hopefully I reach out my hand again, and maybe this time I'll get my sword back. Because I really want my sword back.

SPEAKER_02 12:06

Uh Argo's gonna say, as long as you still keep your head screwed on when it matters most. And he um he's gonna hand the sword back, but while we were following behind him, I'd like to be investigating it a bit. It is something of an artifact that he's never gotten to see before, and you know, he'd like to check it out.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

Sure, yeah, roll me an investigation.

SPEAKER_02 12:32

Uh 16 on the die, that's a 21.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

Celia, tell us about your sword.

SPEAKER_04 12:35

Yeah, of what you can see on it. It is uh a great sword. It is very big. Um it is um black metal, and engraved on its blade are runes. Um that you would know this, I guess, because you you are into that sort of world, are uh well, they are there's there are fire runes. Uh the town of Alpharon City, you know, is both a warrior city, but also famous for its uh runesmiths, which are usually um uh female runesmiths, and his mom is one of those. And so the runesmiths, um, so he has a fire rune on the blade. Uh similar runes, if you're paying attention to Daria's, exist on his armor as well, but they're clearly not the same runes, right? Um I pick up the sword, I don't say anything about I don't answer Argo's statement. I just pack it up and keep going forward.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Cool. And eventually you emerge from this winding tunnel into a small cavern. What Darius called the husk. Small hovels with wooden doors are carved directly into the cave walls, um, very like honeycomb-like structure. There are stone paths and stairways crisscrossed on top of the huts to access all the well-spaced placements. It is the they are not close, like clumped together. They are very well spaced apart. You see um dim torches are flickering and they're catching looming shadows on the wall. A rhythmic dripping, a metronome of mortality is echoing across the chamber. Darius, you know the most about these. You know that in insanity can often come danger. And so you know that the nooks down near the water are likely the safest place to dally.

SPEAKER_04 14:39

Follow me. Stick to the waters and we make our way down.

SPEAKER_07 14:45

I follow, I follow at a socially distant six six feet away.

SPEAKER_02 14:52

Yeah, sure. Follow the giant guy with the sword who just had a meltdown, walk over by the water with him. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

You handed him the sword back very quietly to himself. Very like exclusively to himself.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

Uh so yeah, you find a little nook near this this water, and again, you are you are deep, deep underground. This is further deep than anywhere else in the guild that you have gone. Um, so the air is is thick and the water is black. Um and it is as far as you can tell. Quiet. A quick glance shows there are no sprying words in this area. You are safe to talk here. As safe as you are anyway.

SPEAKER_07 15:45

I think Liv um takes a moment to size up the men before her um for the first time, probably. She goes, Okay, first things first. I need you both to tell me exactly who you are. Argo! Argo Hull. I'm at a little deeper than in name alone.

SPEAKER_02 16:09

Oh, yeah, sure. Uh, I'm from Coniston. And what I feel like you're I feel like I'm not giving you what you're looking for.

SPEAKER_07 16:17

What I'm looking for is a thread that connects us all. Mervina was very clear that to assume this was an attack of chance would be naive.

SPEAKER_02 16:33

Right. Okay. You're making the web. You're putting the pieces together. I'm attempting to. Uh Argo Hull. Uh, sorry. Nervous. Argo Hull from Coniston. Um, my parents are working class uh, you know, dad's a sailor, mom's a baker, I don't really know how I ended up. Um I'm clever. I make things. Uh I'm an artificer. I was gonna go into that before the mechanics guild thing uh opened up. Honestly, I I'll I'll tell you what I said to Mervina. I there's nothing about me that I think is special. I I I can't I don't like not understanding things, but I I can't imagine why because an artificer.

SPEAKER_04 17:23

There were some things he did there, there were more than just trinkets.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

Argo kind of gnashes his teeth together for a second and says, uh, yeah. Alright, alright, yeah, yeah. So there's like there's some things, there's some things that I can do, and I can't really explain it, and I don't really understand why, and that's very frustrating to me, but other than that, just an artificer. So sometimes I sometimes I want to be someplace that I can see and I can't get there fast enough, and then I blink and I'm there. And sometimes I believe in people, and then they're better. And that I mean, that's just like optimism, right? That's what my mom calls it. Can you can you do any of that right now? Um, I don't see anywhere I want to go. And uh do you guys need me to believe in you really bad right now?

SPEAKER_07 18:15

I mean, who doesn't?

SPEAKER_04 18:20

Maybe it's not so much who we are, but why we're here, Miss Oslick. And I look at you very intently, trying to figure out why somebody so clearly of a high class has decided to become a mechanic.

SPEAKER_03 18:35

I say that was by Steely Glare.

SPEAKER_07 18:40

Is it too novel an idea or a thought that someone who has so much might aspire to more?

SPEAKER_04 18:50

I look at Argo to see if he reacts somehow.

SPEAKER_02 18:54

He kinda furrows his brow and looks around for a second, and then looks at Darius to try and see if he can make any more sense of that than he can.

SPEAKER_04 19:04

Maybe a seat at the council, maybe a trailer, maybe even an ambassador.

SPEAKER_07 19:11

But somehow, a mechanic just doesn't fit. You don't think a mechanic is a brilliant stepping stone to those things?

SPEAKER_04 19:21

If you survive.

SPEAKER_07 19:23

Survive? Yes, it's sure this might be a more deadly way of going about it, but it's also the fastest. And Liv sits for a second. She kind of takes a deep breath. And then she looks each of these men in the eyes and like, can I can I be very honest with you? And I need you to promise that you will not tell anyone.

SPEAKER_04 19:55

As a sign of peace, I sit, I reach for my weapons, which I'm sure freaks everybody out, and I just very calmly take them off and put them next to me.

SPEAKER_07 20:06

And I think you see her shoulders kind of collapse a little bit. Um, a little bit of the facade of having it all together all the time cracks. And she says, at home, everything is planned for me. I have not had a choice that was my own in nearly 15 years. I am expected to helm a great dynasty, and I am the sole heir of my parents. Sometimes pressure like that feels like a cage more than a gift.

SPEAKER_02 20:53

Argo takes a deep breath at that and sits down and looks at this person that he did not expect to understand with nothing but understanding.

SPEAKER_04 21:05

I'm a little suspicious though. Can I roll for insight or something to be if if if Liv's holding? I mean, the queen is a queen diplomat, so like I have said nothing that is a lie.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

Sure, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:16

I just want to know if you're holding out for more, you know, something else. What would it be? Insight? Would it be insight?

SPEAKER_00 21:21

Yeah, you yeah, you can roll inside.

SPEAKER_04 21:25

You know what? It's a nine anyway.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

Yeah, I think I mean, in this state, Liv is very vulnerable and seems to be sharing things with you that she doesn't really share.

SPEAKER_04 21:39

Yeah, you did. No, I just wanted to know if there was more, if there's like another reason. Everything I think she was true. I just uh well, you know, not an a nine. Not a nine. Okay. I turn to Argo and I go, What about you, boy? What brings you to this underground layer of magic?

SPEAKER_02 21:58

Well, first of all. Man. It's uh I assumed the same thing that any one of us would have wanted. It's the opportunity for honor, glory, uh, to serve my home, the the only place I've ever known and and and truly ever felt safe. And also, it's my opportunity to repay everybody who ever believed in me. Like any points at live. Like you. At least I that's what I got from what you were saying. For me, it's it's my mom and dad. I came here to do what a person with access to a mind like mine has a responsibility to do. I came here to be a mechanic. Because I want to help people.

SPEAKER_04 22:57

I think at a younger age I have been moved by what Argo said, but I think the old man's skepticism has a little bit of like a you know, no, I don't know. Maybe my cold. Can I roll for roll for empathy?

SPEAKER_05 23:12

Roll for empathy.

SPEAKER_03 23:13

No, roll for for like skepticism like uh cynicism.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

Yeah, whenever I'm playing, if I'm playing a character and I want to know if they would do something, I roll a D100 and see what the percentage of likelihood is.

SPEAKER_04 23:23

Oh, let's see. D100. Oh Somewhere in me, in this weird cynical heart, a flash of recog of realizing that you know I was once like that. And even though I'm still an old bitter man. I don't know, bitter, but like who's just gone through a lot and has a lot of dreams broken and and you know, don't meet your heroes kind of attitude. You feel something for this kid.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

And even in the dark shadows here, Liv and Argo, you both see that that hope indeed is the last to die.

SPEAKER_07 24:03

Argo, is there anything that you have on you of the things that you make? You did say that it's something you can't figure out, so I under I think what I understand is that it's something you research a lot. What are you after?

SPEAKER_02 24:17

You're you're trying to figure out the thing?

SPEAKER_07 24:19

I'm so I know that I'm not as learned as you. And this may be something that takes research to find. I'm wondering if perhaps you've already done it and just didn't have dots to it yet.

SPEAKER_02 24:40

Oh. Um I guess that's possible. Ooh, that's very, that's very exciting. Argo is going to start again, with like wide-eyed, um, his pupils almost as large as his full moon spectacles. Uh, he throws his pack off his shoulder onto the ground and starts uh digging through it for books and goes, Oh, oh, yeah, okay, wait, I got just the thing. Okay, here, hold this and hold this. Darkist, uh, you hold this one. Don't, no, don't put it on the ground. Just hold it. Yeah, it's very, it's very fragile. There's only one of those. Okay. Uh, and he pulls out a book that he was looking through in the library um and accidentally walked out with, I guess. Uh, and um starts reading from it, takes a few minutes, and uh casts detect magic uh as a ritual on uh Lavinia.

SPEAKER_00 25:26

What book was it that you took this out of?

SPEAKER_02 25:28

Hmm. Magician 101.

SPEAKER_00 25:31

Please do a one at least.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

Yeah, I I do I do think it is some sort of preliminary uh guide through. I think it was the autobiography of another wizard. Um and in it he had written down uh a small, yeah, handful of some of his earlier uh spells.

SPEAKER_00 25:51

So you cast attack magic uh and you notice a few things. You notice a definite general aura of magic um that is not exactly clarified for you. It is it is clear that live is touched by two separate sources of magic. In addition to this attack magic, I'm gonna have you do this. Make me either an arcana or a religion roll.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

Oh. It's probably gonna be arcana for your boy. It's a natural 13. Let me look back at the I think it's a plus five. I'm just double checking. Okay, arcana, uh 13 plus five is 18.

SPEAKER_00 26:39

One of them feels organically arcane. One of them does not.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

Organically arcane. As opposed to synthetically arcane?

SPEAKER_00 26:52

Not necessarily synthetic, but less natural.

SPEAKER_02 26:56

Ah, I see. I see. Okay, okay. Um, could Argo translate this sort of organic um magic chemistry as something in like the fei lineage?

SPEAKER_00 27:09

That organic natural is is likely. You know that fawnlings are supposedly uh from Fei from the Fei lineage, and so it is likely that that you are picking up with that. The other one you cannot identify. But it is not natural in the way that that fei magic is.

SPEAKER_05 27:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 27:28

And then you do sense a strong transmutation magic coming from an item that Lavinia is wearing.

SPEAKER_07 27:39

Huh. Have you seen any of this maybe on yourself? Or have you come into contact with something like it?

SPEAKER_02 27:49

Well, detect magic works in a 30 feet radius around me. So I'm anything nearby is uh is is linear.

SPEAKER_00 27:59

You wanna dial in on yourself?

SPEAKER_02 28:00

Yeah, let's just take a look around.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

Um yeah, you sent two other sources of of magic within two feet, uh, within 30 feet, um, yourself and Darius, both of which are that less natural strain.

SPEAKER_03 28:15

Wait, what? Repeat that. There's wait, wait, wait, no, repeat that. I totally was like, I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. What?

SPEAKER_00 28:22

All three of you, there is a there is a slight radiance of magic that is not identifiable. It is it is not one of the known schools of magic. It is clearly deep and intrinsic to you, but it is not Fey lineage.

SPEAKER_02 28:42

Me? So I think what happens.

SPEAKER_07 28:47

I think he hasn't told the told it.

SPEAKER_02 28:49

I think what I think what happens is Argo uh uh like get scans through Liv uh and goes, oh, oh, there's something uh and describes it the same way as you, Sarah. You know, there's something organic, but also there's this other thing that like, huh, something uh there's something I'm picking up, but uh uh but I but I but I can't I can't put my finger on it. And then when he says uh put my finger on it, he looks at his hands and he starts to see that same similar, and he goes, Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. And then out of sort of distress and alarm, he looks up at um Liv with again with wide eyes. And then out of instinct, he turns and looks at Darius. And when he sees him with this aura, he goes, Whoa, no, oh no, wait, no, no, no, no, no, no. And then he starts darting between each, like all three of us, going, there's there's something, there's something wait, that doesn't make it depressed. Oh, full sentence. There's something I don't understand happening, and that isn't supposed to happen.

SPEAKER_04 29:59

What is it?

SPEAKER_02 30:02

We each have an aura of something that I can't describe, and that's not what Detect Magic is for. It's supposed to describe things to you. It's supposed to say exactly what everything is, so you can catalog it and understand it. And this isn't definable.

SPEAKER_07 30:27

Is there any way of telling whether this magic happened before or after our attack?

SPEAKER_02 30:34

Not right now, not but I'll find out, not without extensive something. I can only see what's here now.

SPEAKER_04 30:43

I lean in, I look at both of them, and I go, so what do we know? Did you all hear the same words? Die.

SPEAKER_07 30:54

Atla. Oh yes, those. I've heard a lot of words. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

SPEAKER_02 31:02

Argo points at Live then.

SPEAKER_07 31:04

Wait, you were out. You you heard it even then? I think it was the last thing I heard before I hit the ground.

SPEAKER_04 31:12

Atla's one of the verses in the infinite hallway. And it seems to be dying. I lean a little bit closer. During the feast, I walked away and followed Mervina to the Traverseum. In Traversium, you see specks of light representing Versus. Many years ago, I used to guard the doors of the Traversium. The specks were always bright, and this is the first time I seen some of them black.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

Would Argo have any sense as to what that means?

SPEAKER_00 32:07

I think the best that you can assume with that is um it is a verse that no longer has contact. Like you have heard of verses losing contact. You all know about that. The very first verse that was discovered, Bael, you know that um after the entire element was returned, they no longer had communication with that verse. Um so only from what you've read, because the traversium is restricted access, baby. Like you're not in there unless you are working in there and have high clearance. Um, so anything you know of that is going to be what is publicly released knowledge. And you do know it is public knowledge that there are verses that no longer have communication. So you might in your brain think that that is what that means. Um, although to Darius's point, he had never seen that before. Even the verses that didn't have communication, he had not seen them be dark on the map before.

SPEAKER_04 33:16

Something is going on, and I don't think we have all the information.

SPEAKER_07 33:24

Do we assume this creature was from Atla or trying to get there?

SPEAKER_02 33:33

Sent to kill it.

SPEAKER_07 33:34

Sent to kill Atla?

SPEAKER_04 33:37

Or Atla's already dead.

SPEAKER_07 33:40

I just thought it'd be it was curious. When you want to destroy something, you say destroy. Not necessarily die. Die Atla. If my intention was to end a universe, I don't know if die would be the word I would use.

SPEAKER_02 34:06

It's exactly the word I would use. Think about think about a city, right? When a city loses all of its people, or or a forest loses all of its trees. It's not a destroyed city as much as it no longer has life. A world, a place works the same way. A place just like a thing, a a living thing can die. A city that loses its people is a ghost town. A forest that loses its trees is dead? A swamp?

SPEAKER_04 34:51

I've never heard of someone killing a whole verse before, but I've never heard so many mechanics being called out at once. Seems we're at a very remarkable time.

SPEAKER_02 35:11

I'm sure there's something. There's gotta be something in one of these books. Maybe one of the ones that I had Errol. Oh! Errol! I left Errol back in the library! I gotta go! I gotta go! Look, it was very nice meeting the both of you, but I I have to leave. We should do this later or something.

SPEAKER_04 35:27

Margo, not a word. Wait, w to Errol.

SPEAKER_02 35:34

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Um, okay. Uh okay. About about this, you mean, right? About the conversation or just the the the attack? I can tell her about the attack.

SPEAKER_07 35:44

You can tell her about the attack, but nothing that happened in this room.

SPEAKER_02 35:48

Right, of course. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 35:51

So what should we do? What should we do now?

SPEAKER_02 35:54

I've gotta go. I've never had a friend before.

SPEAKER_07 36:03

Give me your bunk rooms in case I need to find you. But for now, I I think we should continue as we have been.

SPEAKER_02 36:13

Argo rifles through his pack for a moment and pulls out uh some scraps of paper. He's just got like handfuls of them, and he goes to write down um his his bunk, and one of the pieces of paper uh that he sees is the note that was scribbled out to him, tucked into his dorm. And he holds for a minute and looks between the two of them. While we're keeping secrets, did you get one of these? And he holds up a slip of paper and says, from a friend?

SPEAKER_04 37:00

I pull out my own one and lift it up in the air.

SPEAKER_07 37:04

Liv keeps her arms crossed, but you see her um lip curve upwards.

SPEAKER_05 37:15

Huh.

SPEAKER_04 37:17

What did your friend say, Argo?

SPEAKER_02 37:25

Wait. Is this a trick? You just asked me to keep something a secret. If I tell you this now, will you not trust me?

SPEAKER_07 37:37

Oh, I wish I was that smart. I just rubbed my forehead.

SPEAKER_02 37:43

I think we don't get through any of this without each other. I can't do what you did, he said, uh says, pointing at uh at Darius. I just can't swing a sword that good. So I'm gonna trust you with this. Don't tell anyone. But the guild found out the elements are remnants of an ancient civilization. They're keeping it all super hush hush. Makes you wonder what else they know.

SPEAKER_07 38:24

Can I glance at it and see if it's written in the same handwriting? It is. I didn't ask you about the note.

SPEAKER_02 38:59

And he looks at Darius and goes, Well.

SPEAKER_04 39:16

Why? Everybody share on the notes except the falling.

SPEAKER_07 39:23

How do you seem two of the three of us can't follow directions, so I can assure you, hand to my heart, the note.

SPEAKER_02 39:37

Argo starts packing up his things and goes to walk away. No, I don't like this. Trust goes both ways.

SPEAKER_07 39:42

I already trusted you with my secret. It just wasn't a note.

SPEAKER_02 39:46

I don't know a lot about people, and I don't know a lot about getting along, but I know without trust.

SPEAKER_07 39:52

So I have to share two secrets. My one wasn't enough.

SPEAKER_01 39:56

Argo turns and walks away.

SPEAKER_02 40:01

That stops Argo. He turns around and goes, wait, what?

SPEAKER_04 40:05

You don't often choose who you go to battles with, but you can choose how to stand with them.

SPEAKER_07 40:13

They're looking for a council position. Happy?

SPEAKER_02 40:18

No, I'm not happy, he says with a big grin. No, you have to show us the note. Why? Because are you because I need to check it for handwriting, he says with the big shitty grin.

SPEAKER_07 40:34

Why don't you just ask me if it's if they match?

SPEAKER_02 40:39

Liv? Please.

SPEAKER_07 40:44

She takes it out. She'll show it to you. But you can tell in her face it feels like something was taken from her. Happy? Oh, wait. No, no, I'm not happy. Who is this person that knows all this stuff? I'm trying to find out. And now I can't tell them that I followed the directions.

SPEAKER_02 41:06

You're not the worst at lying. Better than either of us, I'd say.

SPEAKER_07 41:12

I've never lied to you in day in my life.

SPEAKER_02 41:15

Argo's gonna turn to Darius and say, what is the world guard's position on lying by omission?

SPEAKER_04 41:22

We don't talk.

SPEAKER_02 41:24

Ah. So it's all lying by omission.

SPEAKER_04 41:27

We don't talk.

SPEAKER_02 41:29

What am I doing right here? I'm so that's alright, that's abundantly clear. I'm sorry. I have to go. I've left Errol. She's probably well, she's probably already moved on, but that's fine. At least I have to figure it out. I appreciate you both. And he turns and walks away.

SPEAKER_04 41:52

I look at Liv. There are many games afoot, Miss Oslick. I think we should make sure we get our pieces right. I pick up my sword, pack it up, and I begin to leave too.

SPEAKER_07 42:10

I think out of your shut up Argo, she kind of says to Darius, we should make sure he won't be a liability. He's Ernest.

SPEAKER_04 42:23

I'll keep an eye on him. And I keep going.

SPEAKER_00 42:29

Okay, great. So uh you all uh begin to leave the husk. Um Argo, you are running off to Errol, who you've probably appropriately identified as waiting for you somewhere. She did go to get you both sandwiches before this incident happened. Um and uh live shortly after, Darius after that as well. Um let's do where where Liv and Darius were you headed off to?

SPEAKER_07 42:59

My bunk. Yeah, my bunk.

SPEAKER_00 43:01

Great. Darius, you go back. Things seem to be quiet. Folks are studying, nothing seems out of place.

SPEAKER_04 43:10

Do we need to study?

SPEAKER_00 43:12

Probably. Got a written test coming up. How would you like to prepare?

SPEAKER_04 43:16

I'm old and wise. Uh I read the scrolls, much to my chagrin.

SPEAKER_00 43:26

Okay. So let's uh bring in a mechanic that I introduced a while ago, but we can actually now implement here. Um so we do have studying rules, preparation rules for these trials. Uh, scale of one to three, are you just sort of like freezing your way through it, in which case you will not suffer any um exhaustion or anything like that, but you're also going to have some other burden, likely rolling with disadvantage or something? Are you going to just sort of like adequately study, in which case you will be going in no burden, no boon? Or do you want to pull an all nighter and uh study? Overtly, in which you will have a boon, but you will have a level of exhaustion.

SPEAKER_04 44:04

Definitely not an all-nighter, but definitely not a breeze. So I'm gonna go right. I'm just coming in gay.

SPEAKER_00 44:09

Middleman, coming in gay.

SPEAKER_02 44:11

Which is strong and wrong, big guy.

SPEAKER_07 44:16

You're going in by because you're not going all the way. Incredible.

SPEAKER_00 44:19

Um, Liv, you go back to your bunk. Um as you open the door.

SPEAKER_07 44:23

Um, I this is still the same day that I got walloped in the app, right? I can I go to the nurse?

SPEAKER_00 44:32

Yeah, you can go to the metal collegiate. The two planeters have, yeah. So you can absolutely go get some some healing salves.

SPEAKER_07 44:43

I would love to do that. If I have a while, I would have less than half my employees right now. I'm bleeding on the floor.

SPEAKER_00 44:50

Yeah. And you'll have a night of sleep. You'll have a night of sleep before, you know, functionally before you have narratively.

SPEAKER_07 44:59

I don't think I'd be laying down on my bed right now. Like, I need I need to complete some band-aides. I need to cater aid and a hug and a shout out.

SPEAKER_00 45:11

Uh yeah, absolutely. You go to the vitalis collegium, there are um, it is very easy to get like simple tinctures and and healings, like the over-the-counter medicine is very easily accessible to you. An apothecary um can help you out with that.

SPEAKER_07 45:27

Can I say something um obnoxious? In regards to the tinctures we have available, are they up to par with my mother's? What is your mother's par? I think it has to be pretty good. But yeah, I mean, I'll leave it up to you. But knowing like the industry that they have she built an empire on those tinctures.

SPEAKER_02 45:49

They gotta be good.

SPEAKER_00 45:50

The guild houses Solara's greatest minds. Um, you know that it was a guild druid that created the Vialium that allows you to verse hop and not die and all that kind of stuff. So functionally, they are incredible. Nostalgically, probably not as good.

SPEAKER_07 46:09

Aw, they shock. I'll take whatever they have. Okay. And I will write my mom.

SPEAKER_00 46:18

Got beat up in the library today, mom.

SPEAKER_07 46:21

I want to write and request anything Healy Boby that she can send me. Um, I want to send her a tiny bit of whatever they have here to see if I don't know if it's something that they that she can utilize and like make a different strain of. Yeah, just in case she wants to. And I want to, without going into too much detail, write about a friend who has nightmares and tremors, and know if she know has or knows of anything that can help.

SPEAKER_00 47:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 47:05

Cool.

SPEAKER_04 47:06

A friend?

SPEAKER_07 47:07

You're not here.

SPEAKER_00 47:12

Cool. Yeah, absolutely. Um, yeah, you know that um the guild keeps communication fairly tight, but especially with the pledges, they they will allow letters to come in and out. Great. You get the sense that they probably read them first. I will allow if you want to use these can't as a secret message of a language that you have with your mother, I will absolutely allow that.

SPEAKER_07 47:30

Oh, sure. I'll take it.

unknown 47:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 47:33

Yeah, and then other than that, I think just getting a general beat on the um the pledges who are downed.

unknown 47:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 47:44

I don't like it's it's the day of they are both like still down. Still downed, downed. Great. Yeah, you can tell that they're both stable, they are not actively dying, but neither of them have woken up. Great. So in this world, hours are 120 minutes. We haven't established that, but like an hour is not 60 minutes. It's effectively like two hours.

SPEAKER_07 48:13

Great. All right, not as late as I thought. Great.

SPEAKER_00 48:17

Ton things about what we're building. Um, all right. You go back to the wood live, William. It has been probably a couple gongs at this point. It is eerily normal. Uh the remnants of Ash have all been completely cleaned. All of the archivists are going about their jobs. It does not seem like anything has happened here.

SPEAKER_02 48:43

Jeez, that's eerie. Um, is there still the stack of books that we were taking off the shelves so that I could pour through and then shorthand explain to her?

SPEAKER_00 48:56

The docents have returned them.

unknown 48:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:00

But you do see on one of the benches on the first floor with two sandwiches wrapped next to her, is Errol.

SPEAKER_02 49:09

Oh, she is still here. Argo takes like sees her, clocks her, takes like one step, and then like backs up for a sec and is like, uh, I did something wrong. I have to play this smooth. I have to, I have to really nail this. And then he walks up and he goes, What's up?

SPEAKER_00 49:30

Argo! And then she like jumps up at you, uh, throws her arms around your neck, and is just like, I thought you were dead. What happened?

SPEAKER_02 49:40

Oh, oh, it's a it's okay. It's okay. Just hold on, stop. You're sweet squeezing.

SPEAKER_00 49:45

Sorry, don't have your sandwich.

SPEAKER_02 49:46

It's okay. Thank you, thank you. Uh, I didn't think you'd still be here. It's been a long time. Why did you wait?

SPEAKER_00 49:54

I mean, I wasn't just sitting doing nothing. She points at a stack of books that she has next to her on the table. Oh, good. Oh, good. Certainly anywhere else said I'd rather be, but but what happened? They wouldn't let us, they wouldn't let us in for a while, and then and then you were gone. And so I asked people what happened, and they said that you got whisked away and that people died.

SPEAKER_02 50:16

Okay, okay. All right, so slow, slow down, slow down. That's weird me telling someone else that. Um, okay.

SPEAKER_00 50:22

Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 50:22

No, it's all right, sorry. Let's just a lot has happened. Yeah. So we were here. Um, and then this is hard to explain, and it's probably gonna be hard to hear. I'm just gonna give it my best shot. And then he's gonna go on to explain uh as best he can the sensation of the world sort of fracturing and then being caught in this in-between reality, and then this this creature that appeared, and uh i it's it's like decaying, necromantic nature and uh die atla, and uh what it said, and and how uh Argo still hears those words in his head, and and um he describes in in in pretty good detail the appearance of the pledge he couldn't save, the one that died. And so then by the end of it, when the dust had settled, there were there were three of them that were well at least unconscious, and then the three of us. And so then you like verth hop there? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We didn't we didn't go well oh the thought that that's what that was crosses Argo's mind for the first time, and he sort of sinks deeper into his chair and he goes, I don't know what it was, because I've never felt anything like it, but that might have been what happened.

SPEAKER_00 51:51

Or did something come here?

SPEAKER_02 51:53

Something was here, but also not here, because no one saw it when it was gone. I don't, I don't, Errol, I don't know. And that's what scares me.

SPEAKER_00 52:05

That you don't know or or that there are things that can kill us.

SPEAKER_02 52:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 52:12

Okay, well, the way that we stay alive is to just know more than they know, right? To know what can kill us so that we can kill it first.

SPEAKER_02 52:21

Correct. Arm yourself with knowledge. So did you find anything in your readings about uh ancient civilizations? Is this is this about um well not not really, I mean It's okay, it's okay. I was just curious.

SPEAKER_00 52:45

Do you do you think they're gonna test us on on these notes?

SPEAKER_02 52:49

No.

SPEAKER_00 52:49

Sorry, no. Do you think those are our tests?

SPEAKER_02 52:51

No, no, it's no, I don't. Genuinely, I don't. I'm just curious.

SPEAKER_00 53:01

You're scaring me a little Argo.

SPEAKER_02 53:02

Sorry. I'm scared.

SPEAKER_00 53:06

I I think it'll be fine.

SPEAKER_02 53:09

It has to be. It has to be.

SPEAKER_00 53:13

Listen, I mean, we're we're smarter than everyone. We'll be we'll be fine. You and I, we're we're gonna be great. We'll be fine.

SPEAKER_02 53:19

Right. We will be fine. I promise. Let's um let's take a couple of these. I just I can't be in here anymore, right now, just for just for now, which is weird for me to say, I know, but I just gotta get the heck out of here. Can we just take a couple of these books with us? Um the ones that you've gone through that I I haven't yet. I'll I'll catch up pretty quick. And I just want to read somewhere else if that's okay.

SPEAKER_00 53:52

Yeah. Okay, yeah, that that's fine.

SPEAKER_02 53:57

Hey Errol, why did uh sorry, no reason. Why did you want to become a mechanic?

SPEAKER_00 54:03

Well, I am really I don't know why I can do the things that I can do. And there wasn't a lot for me home, and I'm better than what I could be there. And I think that when you have talent and intellect, it is important that you do as much with that as you can, that it is your responsibility to do that. Even if that is just a responsibility to yourself.

SPEAKER_02 54:55

I only ask Argo starts to get a little um he's he's never like loose, he's always a little uh uh uh frigid. Um but Arg Argo starts to get like stiff and he can't look her in the eye even more. And he says I I don't want anything bad to happen to you.

SPEAKER_00 55:26

Uh oh.

SPEAKER_02 55:27

Um To anyone, but I mean I just I get along with you and it's it's not exactly what I thought it would be like here. And I I don't want anything bad to happen to you.

SPEAKER_00 55:57

I was really scared and I thought you were dead.

unknown 56:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:02

Um I thought that this was going to be about studying and learning and showing the things we were capable of. And I still think that it can be. But maybe there's a lot that we don't know. She takes her hand, squeezes it really tightly. Why don't we protect each other?

SPEAKER_02 56:32

He looks her square in the eye and says, I will do everything I can. Now, can we can we get the heck out of here?

SPEAKER_00 56:45

I just Yeah, yeah, and you need to eat this, and she like shoves the sandwich in your Oh my god, I'm so hungry.

SPEAKER_02 56:52

Thank you. Thank you, Errol.

unknown 56:54

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 56:55

Well, Comargo and you head out of the Lipodium. So you finish up the vitalis collegium, you get your bandages, uh, you get your healing tinctures, you have sent your letter, you trudge back to your bunk, you open the door to your room, um, and it is it is dark. There are no lights on because you haven't been here.

SPEAKER_07 57:24

Um I leave them off and I go to lay on the bed.

SPEAKER_00 57:28

And Jax is sitting on your bunk, cross-legged. You sort of like fall, and you know, as you're sitting down, your head bumps his knee. He doesn't react. Where have you been, Slick?

SPEAKER_07 57:44

I think I my heart's beating so fast. Um, I was in the Livoldium researching. I told you that's what I was doing. What are you doing in here?

SPEAKER_00 57:56

It's been all day. Caitlin and I looked at what you wanted. Clive, what happened?

SPEAKER_07 58:06

Um, I will light the torches now. And he sees me bandaged, and she's still trying to hold her shoulders broad. Um, but there is a little bit of a break to them. There was, I honestly, it's been hours. I'm surprised you haven't heard there was an attack. Um while I was something was something something came through and and people couldn't see us, and then they couldn't see it, and I don't know what happened.

SPEAKER_00 58:49

And without a word, and then Jack stands up, walks over to you, and he just envelops you.

SPEAKER_07 59:00

And I'm just sobbing into his chest because I haven't had a second to process. And I'm just repeating, I went down. I thought I died. I thought I died in there. I didn't know. I didn't know it could happen like that. I was so scared. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have ever, I shouldn't have ever brought us here. I'm sorry. And I know it's my fault, and I know that you're pissed.

SPEAKER_00 59:42

Don't make us have this conversation right now, Liv. Don't make me choose between making you feel okay and making you understand how I feel.

SPEAKER_07 59:56

She takes two deep breaths and she stills. And she says, I'm not gonna make you do anything.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:02

You say that now. I don't want to pile on, but this is some real shit you got us in, Liv. I know.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:15

It's important that you know that I didn't mean to. And it's also important that you know I'm gonna do everything to get us out. I know you don't like or trust me right now, but I just miss when you are on my side.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:28

I don't know what sides are at play anymore. I want to get out of this too, but I don't want it to be any of us getting out of here in a body bag.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:39

I didn't think that was an option for us until today.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:42

That's what happens when you're fighting death incarnate, apparently. Look, Kaylin and I are caught in the vortex of your decisions. Let's just hope we can all freaking get out of here. We have a big day tomorrow. You look like you need sleep.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:58

Um, and she just kind of looks at her hands that she kind of left on his chest. She dares a glance upwards.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:06

His face is stoic a concerted effort to be neutral. There are warring extremes behind his eyes, he is still pissed at you for upending his life, and also knows you well enough and cares so deeply enough about you to know that that doesn't help right now. And so, as much as he wants to leave you on your own to deal with the consequences of your actions, there is a thread of care that runs simply too deep that will not allow him to physically do that.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:57

Seeing that war within his face, Liv just melts a little bit. And she says, if I asked you to stay here tonight, would you? I don't like insight. I don't like it. Okay. Well, that's a 10. Not awful. Oh, I lied. That's an eight. Yes, awful.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:20

He takes a hand and puts it below your chin and gently lifts your eyes to meet his. He says, let me let Kaylin know that you're okay. And then I'll come back and sleep on the floor. And with an A, you don't know if he will. He lets lets your chin go. Hold your gaze for a second. And then removes his hand, steps back, turns on his heel and strides out.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:59

She watches the door close, and with that knowledge, or lack of knowledge, I guess, on whether or not he's gonna be there. As she uh prepares for bed either way, her hands are shaking.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:34

Now that day's done, you will stay. So in my arms we can end our day. Sun's gone to bed, moon in the sky Hugh in the night it's just you and I I'll keep you safe I'll keep you sound I'll keep you loud long as I'm long as I drift off now I am here. Darkness or nightmares are nothing to fear They cannot harm you but if they tried No even then I'd be here by your side I'll keep you safe I'll keep you sound I'll keep you long as I'm a long as I'm long as I'm The Mechanics Guild is lovingly created, produced, and played by Sarah Davis Reynolds, Taylor Fagans, Carlina Parker, Ian Prince, Atelia Rogotti, and Clay Westman.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:33

The theme song is composed by Arcane Anthems. If you want to help us out with all those algorithm things, be sure to like, comment, and subscribe on all of the social media platforms to stay up to date with what's happening at the guild. Oh bye.