S3 Ep7: Soldier

[00:00:30] Speaker A: Hi, I'm Gavin Kelly, and I'm playing Clint Brazos, a psion of the Morrigan. [00:00:36] Speaker B: Hello, I'm Gary, and I'll be playing Oliver Bright, a psion of Oghma. [00:00:42] Speaker C: Hello, I'm Solomon, and I will be playing as Andre Briscoe, the scion of Hephaestus. [00:00:49] Speaker D: And I'm bloodied porcelain. I'll be your storyteller for the evening. Good evening, players. [00:00:56] Speaker A: Good evening. [00:00:57] Speaker C: Good evening. [00:01:00] Speaker D: During our last couple of episodes, you were stranded on an island that seemed both paradise and not at all what it seemed, teeming with animals of all shapes and sizes, and home to a single young woman who seemed lonely and in need of company and help rebuilding after a storm ravaged her home. It took you a while to begin to see through the powers of Circe's epic charisma and manipulation, not to mention her eight dots of appearance that could rival some gods. But eventually, you began to put two and two together and confronted her about her little scheme. She relented, acknowledged that she had been trying to trick you, and made a deal, or offered you a deal. If you each agreed to spend a night with her, meaning the three of you, Coda and Alexandra, she would have help you get off the island in record time, rather than leaving you to do it the old fashioned way. Unfortunately, given the backlash some of you experienced from having dropped off the face of the earth for a couple of weeks and not been in touch, and the already strong worry that you might diet C or worse, there were some side effects to you being missing. To you being missing. And in light of those, Andre chose not to partake, not to give up a night on his own, which meant that you were there for an additional week, bringing the amount of time burned to somewhere. Overdose. Three weeks? Close to four. In the end, however, you are able to find yourself gathering up your things on the final morning. There. Alexandra's ship has been repaired. Thanks to a combination of Alexandra and Andre's ingenuity. Koda has agreed to stay back for a few days while you all sail ahead. Cersei has given her word that she will ensure that Coda catches up to you on andoue. The island of the myrmidons we will pick up in the morning before you all leave. As you all are at the beach, the three of you and Alexandra. She has her own myrmidons out and helping to load up the supplies, which Circe was gracious enough to allow her nymph attendants to help you restock anything that was lost during the storm. Alexandra is giving short but concise orders to her followers, ensuring that she is clear about what she wants them to do. Occasionally looking vaguely annoyed when she isn't quite as clear as she should have been. And there's some confusion. So she has to order extra, give extra orders. But for the most part, things are going smoothly if, you know, if looking a little bit like an anthill as they are swarming back and forth to carry things aboard. What is everybody doing? [00:05:33] Speaker A: Clint will watch for a moment as everything is going on, and then lean over to Andre. Hey, Andre, uh, you can see under the sand, right? A little bit. [00:05:47] Speaker C: Uh, more than I can get a feel for what's in the earth around us. Why? [00:05:54] Speaker A: Oh, okay. Okay. Well, you could find bones and stuff, right? [00:05:58] Speaker C: Yeah, I can choose what I'm looking for. I can just, like, let interesting things ping. But it's easier if I have something specific. [00:06:07] Speaker A: Well, you found, like, people bones pretty easily can. Do you think, like, bird bones would work too properly? I kind of got an idea, and, I mean, since there's so many animals on this here island, I was thinking maybe there are a few left around. I'm feeling curious to see if, you know, some of my sort of underutilized potential could be placed into some of them things. [00:06:42] Speaker C: I mean. Yeah, maybe you want me to see if I can find something close by and get us a little something to work with. [00:06:50] Speaker A: Yeah, if you don't mind. I mean, it looks like they're gonna take at least, like, six or seven minutes. Finish loading up? [00:06:58] Speaker C: Yeah, sure. And he will go ahead and utilize echo sounding again, which is a perception and awareness test for me. [00:07:10] Speaker D: Go ahead. [00:07:12] Speaker C: A singular success for any bird bones that are within the two mile radius. [00:07:20] Speaker D: You can feel locations where there might be bird bones. It is worth noting that bird bones are very small, and you're asking for something fairly specific. And if what I believe you are trying to do, Clint, is to raise a bird skeleton, just an unquiet birdhouse, I think even Clint would be aware that, given how small and hollow bird bones are, that if you don't catch a bird, like, right after it's died, you're probably not going to get enough of the bones in decent enough repair to be able to pull off raising one as a skeleton. [00:08:11] Speaker A: As it occurs to Clint, he'll hold on, hold on before you start looking. Maybe like, you know, not bones, but, like, you know, one that fell out of the tree a little too soon, if you know what I mean. There's not recently. [00:08:25] Speaker C: I mean, I could try, but it's less on the surface, more like what's in the earth. [00:08:29] Speaker A: Oh, okay. [00:08:34] Speaker D: Now, if you want to take time to try and search through the forest, you're welcome to do that, but you would be burning more time. [00:08:45] Speaker A: Well, how much time do we think we got after, you know, seeing everybody getting ready? [00:08:51] Speaker B: Well, we've been here for about a month, so we should probably expedite our journey. [00:08:57] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, maybe we could see like that on the way. [00:09:01] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. I look around on that island. I mean, if they're, you know, the island of dead things, you know, allegedly myrmidons out there. Probably other things that are dead, too, right? [00:09:17] Speaker C: True enough. [00:09:18] Speaker A: All right. Well, yeah, let's go. Do they need help packing? [00:09:23] Speaker D: Alexandra looks at the three of you. Well, they're not exactly meant to be servants, so if you would mind helping, that would certainly make this go faster. [00:09:32] Speaker C: I got it. [00:09:33] Speaker A: Let's get to it. [00:09:34] Speaker C: Andre is going to actually activate another technology boon. He's going to activate work smarter, which will cut a menial, repetitive task time in half. [00:09:50] Speaker D: Okay, I think normally that would be used for crafting, but I will allow it. [00:09:57] Speaker C: Yeah, it's like the gamblers were, like, stacking sandbags and doing stuff like that, so I figured similar actions. [00:10:05] Speaker D: Yes. With the three of you pitching in and the myrmidons and the use of the deck, uh, things speed up exponentially. [00:10:18] Speaker A: Well, we might as well make it look easy while we're at it. [00:10:21] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. Audrey already is. [00:10:24] Speaker B: I am not. [00:10:25] Speaker D: I mean, it's not like it takes much to make this look easy. It's literally just picking up and moving stuff. I would say that if. If that particular knack requires activation, don't. Don't. Don't just waste wasting materials at that point. [00:10:41] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. [00:10:43] Speaker A: You just take multiple actions while performing feats of strength. So I figure Clint's doing double the work. [00:10:48] Speaker C: You know, just have to take all of the things. [00:10:51] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:10:52] Speaker D: All righty, then. You all manage to help load the last of the things up into the ship, and then Alexandra gives Oliver a nudge to get on board. You can't help with the next part. [00:11:15] Speaker B: Okay. [00:11:18] Speaker D: And once Oliver is on board, Alexandra, Andre, and Clint, between the three of them, with their crazy ass epic strength, will literally lift the ship up off of the stilts, kind of keeping it up above the. The water line and move it back into the water. It is, thankfully, high tide. She chose this particular time for a reason. [00:11:50] Speaker C: Thank God. [00:11:55] Speaker D: And then you are able to grab ropes that are thrown over the side by the myrmidons and pull yourselves up and inside. [00:12:04] Speaker A: There we go. Race you up. [00:12:06] Speaker C: Oh, it's on. Now. [00:12:11] Speaker D: You all act like this is a game, but, uh, remember, you have to help, uh, ro. [00:12:18] Speaker A: Oh, that's fine. I ain't a problem. [00:12:22] Speaker C: That's fine. [00:12:28] Speaker D: Uh, as you get onto the ship and she begins to set sail away from the island, following a enchanted. [00:12:44] Speaker B: Star. [00:12:44] Speaker D: Map that seems to work, even in broad daylight, given to her by Cersei. Is there anything anyone wants to talk about? Anything anybody wants to do? You know, you've got at least a few days out on the open ocean before, or out on the sea before you find your way to the appropriate island. [00:13:11] Speaker A: So, do we have any idea how this is going to work or are we going to have to kind of fly by the seat of our pants over there? [00:13:22] Speaker B: I'm not entirely sure. Sure. I imagine we try to approach their queen first and gather information and then lay out a petition to assuming what was brought up previously about long dead myrmidons, or just myrmidons who have died in the past not receiving actual funerary rites, that we can provide those for them, and then at that point. Hope she agrees. [00:13:58] Speaker C: Yeah, it's probably our best bet. [00:14:01] Speaker A: All right. I mean, that sounds like a plan to me. I'll keep an eye out for a queen as we get our way over. [00:14:05] Speaker C: There, though something tells me she's going to be easy to spot. [00:14:09] Speaker A: Well, most of them tend to be. Yeah, they like to be noticed. So, y'all got any, you know, like phone games or something? [00:14:24] Speaker C: Phones. Trying to keep my battery life as long as possible, so. Phone games tend to drain the life out of the battery. [00:14:33] Speaker B: Well, I still have the solar charger if you want that. [00:14:36] Speaker A: I was about to say, can't you make one of them? [00:14:39] Speaker C: I mean, yeah, but it would take time and I don't have all the materials I'd need. [00:14:44] Speaker A: You got the sun up there. You got your phone in your hand. How much more do you need? [00:14:51] Speaker C: A few. A few other bits and bobs, Clint. Well, I'll probably build one when I get back to the mainland. [00:14:58] Speaker A: It's a good idea if you want. [00:15:00] Speaker B: To tinker with the one I have and upgrade it. If you're able to do that, feel free. [00:15:06] Speaker C: I might. When I'm not rowing, I'll just. I'll see what I can do. He looks like he is kind of resigning himself to try to keep busy. [00:15:18] Speaker B: All right. Sounds good. [00:15:23] Speaker A: Ok. What about you, mister B? You got any phone games on there? Anything to do? [00:15:31] Speaker B: I have books downloaded that don't surprise me. [00:15:38] Speaker A: Okay. I should be reading more anyways. Pass them over. [00:15:45] Speaker B: Gotta raise my eyebrows. You actually want to read the books I have on my phone? [00:15:52] Speaker A: I mean, I figure you got audiobook versions of them, though, right? [00:15:55] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, if. Course. [00:15:57] Speaker A: Well, if we got a solar charger, we got, you know, audiobooks on your phone, and I. I'm sure we can get a speaker or something going. I think we'll be all right. Might help make the rowing a little bit easier. [00:16:18] Speaker B: Sure. I can see that. Certainly make the time pass faster for me. [00:16:27] Speaker D: All right. So there's going to be an audiobook. [00:16:32] Speaker B: Oh, it seems. [00:16:34] Speaker D: Oliver, what audiobook are you putting on? [00:16:37] Speaker B: Um, let's go. With 20,000 leagues under the sea, of course. [00:16:44] Speaker C: Really? You're putting that out into the world? [00:16:47] Speaker B: It's got to be on theme. [00:16:50] Speaker A: I mean, we've already wrecked once. How bad could it be? [00:16:54] Speaker D: Alexandra looks pained physically as you all continue to tempt fate. I think you all forgot that your friend Coda requested an interesting experience at sea. And we got, uh, nearly drowned and then washed up on a desert deserted island. Yeah. [00:17:19] Speaker C: I'd rather not tempt the fates no more. [00:17:23] Speaker B: Oh, I didn't know if it would count, since it was a book. I can change it. I'll change it to something else. [00:17:33] Speaker D: I think one should always assume that the Moray have a sick sense of humor. [00:17:38] Speaker B: All right. How about around the world in 80 days, then? Better. [00:17:44] Speaker C: It's really less death, so I think that's better. [00:17:47] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:17:47] Speaker A: Sure you ain't worried, like, the 80 days part is gonna come back and bite us or anything? [00:17:56] Speaker D: Less worried about that? [00:17:58] Speaker B: Yeah, we're already at about 30 days at this point zone. After 50. Well, let's just hope for the best. [00:18:07] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah. [00:18:13] Speaker D: All right. And you are all able to set sail. I would like each of you to explain to me what you are doing to help get the ship where it needs to go and get it there in a timely manner. You get to pick a task or an approach or method that you would like to use. This is a little bit like a skill challenge, but it's less about hitting a threshold and more about seeing just how much time you can shave off from Alexandra's efforts. We will start with Clint. [00:19:04] Speaker A: Okay. Given the absence of a challenge in some other direction, Clint is going to see if he can put one hand on one oar and reach over and put one hand on the other and manually row and give the myrmidons a break for just a little while. [00:19:22] Speaker D: Okay. I will say that I'm not going to make Andre roll because I know that he will more than succeed. He would have to extend two orse to give you the opportunity to even try this. But I'm not going to make him roll for it. [00:19:37] Speaker A: Yeah, just take them together real quick for me, please. [00:19:41] Speaker D: Roll me. Let's go. Stamina and fortitude. [00:19:53] Speaker A: Ooh. Okay. That is seven successes. [00:20:11] Speaker D: Okay. Uh, Andre. [00:20:18] Speaker C: Yes. [00:20:19] Speaker D: Setting aside helping Clint, which didn't take you more than a couple of minutes, how are you helping? [00:20:24] Speaker C: Well, since, uh, he's basically one, going to be keeping an eye on things for if anything needs, like, repaired or like, or, like, shored up, he'll take care of, like, repairing that for the remote. But for the most part, he's basically going to be taking care of, like, rigging and making sure that the masts are pointing where they need to be. Basically just taking care of anything that has to do with the safe, any of the sails since they've got the oars and rowing covered downstairs. [00:20:53] Speaker D: Oh, so you're going to be like a one man deck crew. [00:20:56] Speaker A: Got it. Yeah. [00:20:59] Speaker D: Okay. What sort of should I make this? [00:21:10] Speaker C: Um, something physical in athletics, maybe. [00:21:16] Speaker D: I mean, it's cute that you always assume it's going to be something that you're amazing at. Um, let's make it dexterity and then add an extra die. I'm gonna give you some credit for the fact that you do have a. That you do have one type of control on, but you do not have ships. [00:21:40] Speaker C: Yeah, that was the other thing I was gonna suggest was control. I just didn't have ships. So here we go. Four successes. [00:22:01] Speaker D: Not bad. Okay. Did you include your epic in that? [00:22:08] Speaker C: I did not because I didn't have the type of control. But if you're allowing it, then it would be five successes. [00:22:12] Speaker D: I will allow it. Oliver. [00:22:17] Speaker B: Yes. [00:22:18] Speaker D: How are you helping? [00:22:22] Speaker B: I think I am going to retake my mantle as quartermaster and sort of just monitor the crew and the band and everyone, ensuring everyone is well rested and hydrated and fed as needed. Sort of organizing schedules to be the most beneficial and efficient as can be so that things just kind of run as smoothly as possible. [00:22:47] Speaker D: Interesting. This is gonna be a weird die pool, but let's go with. Let's go with charisma and I guess this isn't that weird. Charisma and empathy. [00:23:19] Speaker B: All right, I can do that. [00:23:21] Speaker D: You have to take the time to try and read these largely emotionless myrmidon to see what needs that might need to be fulfilled. [00:23:35] Speaker B: Four successes. [00:23:36] Speaker D: Alrighty. Strangely, Clint ends up being the person who most contributes to the effort to make this as fast as possible. That tireless ability to push himself to his absolute limits kicks in, and he probably spends more time than he really should rowing. After a while, it becomes like a game or a competition to him where he starts his shift with the same time. Some of the myrmidon that Oliver assigns to start at a specific time, and he is still rowing by the time they are called off to to get rest. One could even say that when there isn't an audiobook going, sea shanties end up getting played. And Clint, with his booming voice, practically yells along with the words. [00:24:50] Speaker A: Absolutely, he's pushing himself to the limit. [00:24:57] Speaker D: All right, it takes time. You're out at sea for a little bit longer than anyone anticipated, but far less of an amount of time than you were prepared for. Alexandra had hoped that she could get you there in a few days, though. Had warned that because she had never used the star map and because they were dealing with terra incognita, she couldn't promise that it would only take a few days. She said it could take a couple of weeks. So you were prepared for like two to two and a half weeks. However, you end up arriving after about, let's say, eight, nine days. So just over a week, which isn't bad. And you pass through this point where you all can almost feel the barrier that separates the sea around Onunoe from the rest of the sea for just a moment. Vaguely viscous, like. You can feel yourself physically passing through an almost kind of thick, almost jelly like substance, but it's gone as quickly as it hits you. And in the distance you can see an island I that is dominated by a town. Or you suppose in olden days when it would have been made, could have been considered a city that is built up onto what you realize is probably a mountain, that is the majority of the island. So it's one of those places where the buildings are kind of built up along the side of the mountainous. So it almost looks like this cascade of, like, white running down the sides of it. Where the buildings are built, it's beautiful and picturesque, if very dated. The buildings are built in that kind of typical flat roofed greek style that you all saw in some of the smaller villages back in Greece itself. [00:27:46] Speaker A: After hearing that we're approaching the island, squint will kind of hurry up and make its way up to the deck and is that. Oh, it's purdy looking. Oh, man. How much longer you think we got? [00:28:04] Speaker D: Well, we should be in the harbor. In an hour or so and then will be able to put down a dinghy or two and use them to get. To get in land. I'm not getting too close because I don't know what the water is like. [00:28:20] Speaker C: Good idea. [00:28:24] Speaker A: All right, I'm gonna drink some water and get ready. [00:28:30] Speaker B: Good call. [00:28:31] Speaker C: Yeah. Very good call. [00:28:38] Speaker D: Does anybody want to do anything before you end up in the bay itself? [00:28:47] Speaker C: Andre is going to send another text to Mia because he had been, over the past several days of travel keeping trying to catch back up with the text. He had sentence even when they didn't have service, just to show that he wasn't. Forget that he did forget that he isn't dead, that he is trying to keep up with things even if she hasn't called him back. [00:29:11] Speaker D: Okay, noted. Anyone else? [00:29:16] Speaker B: I'll probably go below deck and try my best to clean up a little bit after being at sea for another week or two because I imagine we're all sweaty and gross and smell like the ocean. [00:29:32] Speaker D: Indeed. [00:29:34] Speaker B: So probably can't do a whole lot, but at most, maybe, like, clean my face. [00:29:40] Speaker D: Okay. [00:29:41] Speaker B: Yep. [00:29:43] Speaker A: Clint will pull out his phone and send his mom a text, and he's all the while the text just says, hey, mom, I rode a whole boat by myself. How are you? [00:29:59] Speaker D: Very cute. None of you who are sending out texts currently get answers. It is worth noting that Clint, you are not left on read. She does not seem to have seen your text just yet. [00:30:19] Speaker A: Gotcha. Clint will also realizing as he looks at the message that he rolled, rode a whole boat. Could be quite vague. Takes a picture and then sends that along as well. [00:30:32] Speaker D: Adorable. [00:30:33] Speaker A: Just to clarify what kind of boat it is. [00:30:36] Speaker B: Ok. Look over his shoulder. It's actually a ship. [00:30:40] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. That probably would have been better to use word wise. Yeah. [00:30:49] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:49] Speaker D: Out of all of the grammatical travesties that happened in that sentence, that's the part that was wrong. [00:30:56] Speaker B: I'm used to all the other ones. At this point. [00:31:02] Speaker D: Alexandra sails the ship pretty smoothly into what you realize is a bay as part of the island. Kind of curves out, um, into kind of subtle points, um, and then, uh, calls for anchor to be dropped, which the myrmidons hurry up to do. Um, they seem restless and keep glancing at the island itself. Uh, now that you are here. [00:31:36] Speaker A: You think they want to come with us? [00:31:40] Speaker D: I imagine probably. Alexandra says, yeah. [00:31:45] Speaker C: Cause they're close. Because this is their home. They're closer to where they get. Well, most of their thought, most of the thinking comes from, I imagine. [00:31:55] Speaker A: Is there anything that could go wrong. If we, you know, give them a little bit of a break and just let them have a good time. [00:32:03] Speaker D: I don't know what happens if I get them too close to the rest of the colony. [00:32:08] Speaker A: Can we take one and find out? [00:32:11] Speaker C: We should probably at least take the one that we got from the village and drop them off, right? [00:32:15] Speaker A: Yeah. And another one. [00:32:18] Speaker D: My intention had been to keep him with my boys. [00:32:21] Speaker C: Oh, never mind. [00:32:23] Speaker B: I think they are your myrmidons, Alexander. So it is your choice on if you would like to keep them here or take them on ashore. [00:32:31] Speaker D: Well, somebody has to man the ship, so you guys go on ahead, and maybe later, uh, I'll take a skeleton crew with me. [00:32:40] Speaker A: It's worth finding out what happens. Right. And maybe they'll have a good time and come back even readier and. And heartier and better refreshed. [00:32:49] Speaker D: We'll see. [00:32:50] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:32:50] Speaker B: I'll look over at the myrmidons. Over the past few days I've spent trying to organize them. Do I get the impression that they are ones for having a quote unquote good time? [00:33:00] Speaker D: No. They are, by and large, not terribly emotional or emotive. It really is a little bit like being around a bunch of ants that just happen to be human shaped. They are very about their task, whatever that task happens to be. [00:33:28] Speaker B: Just kind of nod and squint at Clint. Yeah, maybe. [00:33:34] Speaker A: Wait, I mean, hold on. Do these phones have Google on them still? And Clint will pull out his phone to check something. [00:33:41] Speaker B: I mean, they still do. It's a matter of if anything will come up based on signal. [00:33:47] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, we just got into. Oh, okay. Clint will try and Google up if ants like to party. [00:34:00] Speaker D: Well, I'm not entirely sure what Google will tell you. Hold on. [00:34:08] Speaker B: As someone who is curious and looked it up myself, the first thing I see is, yes, ants like to party, but that is Google AI, so I do not trust it. [00:34:28] Speaker A: If that's the first result that would show up, Clint would just take that as definition from the great divine Internet that, yes, they like scrolling down a little bit. [00:34:40] Speaker B: Cornell University also says that ants do like to party, so I trust Cornell a little bit more. [00:34:45] Speaker A: Cornell, they're the highest in the Ivy League. [00:34:48] Speaker D: You, you, Clint, you get the answer. That it's like parades, but there's something about they have to follow, like a scent trail. It's weird. [00:35:00] Speaker A: All right, all right. Okay. I got a thought that whenever, you know, whenever we get the time, whenever we're done, before we leave, maybe we just throw them a stinky party parade thing. And they'll be happier, I don't know. [00:35:15] Speaker B: Before we fully leave and let that idea ruminate a bit more, should we leave the flowers here for now until we get exact confirmation on how we're gonna go about this? Or should we just go ahead and bring them with us now? [00:35:31] Speaker D: I'd take them with you. Don't you have to have them at the funerary games? [00:35:37] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:35:38] Speaker A: Yes. [00:35:39] Speaker B: It's just who knows what might happen. Worst case scenario, the queen really does not like our idea and burns them all. I don't imagine why she would do that. But in lives like ours. [00:35:53] Speaker A: That's all right. You can give them to me. I'll keep them safe. [00:35:56] Speaker B: Sounds good. [00:36:05] Speaker D: Well, I would take them with you because if you get all the way there and then you manage to offend her, you're still going to have to come back for the flowers. So maybe take them. But one of you make it a point to keep them safe. [00:36:22] Speaker A: Yep, that'll be me. I'll be there. Guardian. [00:36:26] Speaker B: All right. [00:36:28] Speaker C: Sounds good. [00:36:34] Speaker D: All right. She has you all get into a little rowboat dinghy thing. Hands Clint the oars because he has proven that this is, like, his favorite pastime. [00:36:48] Speaker A: Yep. Thank you. Hold on, y'all. It's gonna get rough. [00:36:51] Speaker D: And then lowers you into the water. With the help of a few of. [00:36:56] Speaker A: The myrmidons, Clint will throw his all into it and try and get to shore as quickly as human or inhumanly possible. [00:37:07] Speaker D: Um, Clint, make me. Strength and fortitude. [00:37:15] Speaker A: Excellent. That is four successes. [00:37:30] Speaker D: Not bad. Not bad. You are able to get to shore in pretty record time. It's not quite the mental image I had in my head, which is of the old school cartoons where they'd get into a ship and they'd row so fast that the. That it was a little bit more like watching a speedboat than a rowboat. But it's pretty fucking quick. [00:37:57] Speaker A: Yeah. That's exactly what Clint was going for. He's kind of gritting his teeth and moving the oars as fast as he can to cut through the water. [00:38:04] Speaker D: Your arms are just a little jelly like because you've been rowing a much larger ship for days. [00:38:12] Speaker A: Balance is all off the weight distribution of. All right, we got there, but could have done better. I'll do better on the way back. That's what I'll do. And Clint will start rubbing at his arms, trying to massage the exhaustion and strain out of him. [00:38:30] Speaker D: You all reach the beach, which has white sandhennead. You could see off to one side there are, like proper docks where, you know, you imagine ships are meant to be moored. But you all came in on the shoreline. Mostly because Clint, in his rush to move as fast as possible, didn't really bother to aim for the docks. So he ends up on the beach nearby. But now that you are closer, you realize that these houses are like proper people sized houses, and they extend from just above the edge of the beach all the way up toward close to the summit of the mountain. I would like. Actually, I'm not even going to make anybody roll this. Because, Andre, given who your father is, you realize now that you are closer, that that island isn't an island. That's a volcano. [00:39:34] Speaker C: Ah. [00:39:36] Speaker D: It's not active at the moment, it doesn't seem, but it is, in fact, a volcano. [00:39:44] Speaker C: All right, well, that wasn't what I was expecting, but, uh, neat dad's kind of thing here. [00:39:55] Speaker A: What do you mean? [00:39:57] Speaker C: Well, remember how I said how he sometimes called Vulcan? [00:40:02] Speaker A: Yeah, like how you do with some. Some metal and pipe work? [00:40:08] Speaker C: Well, I mean that he's got a volcanoes, and he'll just, like, point to the inactive one. [00:40:14] Speaker A: Oh, okay. Oh. [00:40:17] Speaker D: Oh. [00:40:19] Speaker A: Is that going to be, like, a problem? Should we. We, like, keep it quiet or something so it doesn't erupt or whatever? [00:40:25] Speaker C: No, I don't think it'll. I don't think it'll erupt unless something makes it, and I don't plan to. And I don't figure that my dad will plan to, so I think we're good. [00:40:36] Speaker A: Okay. It's not like avalanche rules where you can't clap or anything. [00:40:43] Speaker C: Nah, we're good. [00:40:44] Speaker A: Okay. [00:40:50] Speaker B: Anyway, Clint, you offered to be the protector of the flower, so the box is all yours. [00:40:57] Speaker A: Yep. I got it right here. Not a problem. [00:41:00] Speaker B: And, yeah, I think we should try our best to get a move on. [00:41:05] Speaker A: Well, what are we waiting around for? [00:41:11] Speaker D: Okay, Clint has this specially made box to hold the flowers in his arms. And you all are, I assume, headed up towards the buildings. [00:41:30] Speaker C: That is. [00:41:30] Speaker A: I think that's where we're going. [00:41:33] Speaker D: Okay. As you get a close, there is a flurry of activity, and out from several buildings come men and women in armor carrying weapons. And they form up in. Basically, they form up in several lines in front of you to block your passage. [00:42:09] Speaker C: Yep. That's to be expected. [00:42:11] Speaker B: Very quick response time. [00:42:14] Speaker A: That's pretty cool. [00:42:16] Speaker C: Kind of like I have mine in it. So. [00:42:20] Speaker D: I would like Andre and Oliver and I suppose. Clint, Clint, you have academics. [00:42:25] Speaker A: Yeah, a whole one point. Yeah. [00:42:28] Speaker D: I would like all three of you to roll me intelligence academics, please. [00:42:32] Speaker B: You got it, boss. [00:42:34] Speaker C: Coming right up. All right. [00:42:44] Speaker A: I got two successes. [00:42:46] Speaker B: You did it very. I got seven. [00:42:48] Speaker C: I got ten. [00:42:49] Speaker A: Very nice. [00:42:52] Speaker D: You know what? Clint still got numbers, which is awesome. That's a first for him on a roll like this. [00:43:00] Speaker C: Very proud of him. [00:43:02] Speaker D: Clint rolled a big boy number. It's great. [00:43:05] Speaker A: Indeed it. [00:43:07] Speaker D: So we'll start with Clint and his two successes. Clint, you remember from the stories that were told that the myrmidons and this island full of them were created back during ancient Greece. Um, these guys don't look like they should have stepped out of a story about ancient Greece. Can't quite put your finger on it, though. [00:43:39] Speaker A: You know, I think they might be greek speakers. I'm not going to be able to talk to them too. Well. [00:43:49] Speaker D: Oliver, you recognize that, um, the reason why they don't look like they fit in the timeline that they should have come from is that they are wearing, um, like, body armor. Like modern body armor and carrying guns. They also have, several of them have, like, swords and spears. Um, but I. Those are, like, strapped to their backs or whatever. It's the side of Kevlar and proper guns is a little concerning. Andre, with your ten successes, not only are they in Kevlar and carrying rifles, when you look past them and up at the rest of the island, that seems to be one of the only signs of, like, modern technology that's here. You don't see streetlights, you don't see cars, none of that. Not even a Vespa. [00:45:02] Speaker C: Not even a Vespa, huh? Well, I guess I'm not surprised that they probably kept up to date in terms of armament, but I'm kind of surprised there isn't anything else modern here. [00:45:19] Speaker B: That is a good point. Which also makes us wonder where they got the armor and weapons. [00:45:27] Speaker A: I mean, they probably made them, right? That's usually what folks do. [00:45:31] Speaker C: Well, yeah, but someone had to teach them how to actually, like, make modern weapons. It's not exactly the same as just hammering metal together and curing it. It's got to make sure that, that the actual barrel, the weapons, are rifled correctly and that the various parts will work in tandem and not break. [00:45:52] Speaker A: So you think, like, some other folks got here first and showed them how to become a modern military? [00:46:00] Speaker C: That, or maybe they went with other signs who equipped them, and then something happened to those signs and they came back here. [00:46:07] Speaker A: That's kind of sad. [00:46:09] Speaker B: And also agreed. Kind of sad. [00:46:14] Speaker D: Um, one of them steps forward out of the, uh, out of the group and gives you all a long look, state your business. [00:46:31] Speaker A: Are they speaking English? [00:46:33] Speaker D: Uh, no, they're speaking Greek. [00:46:35] Speaker A: Okay. I knew it. [00:46:40] Speaker B: I will step forward. We are here diplomatically, in peace, and would like an audience with your queen. [00:46:53] Speaker D: Names. [00:46:54] Speaker B: I am Oliver bright sign of Oakma. This is Clint Brazos, son of the Morrigan. In this, I'll let Andre introduce himself since he can speak the language. [00:47:04] Speaker C: Yep. Andre Briscoe, scion of Hephaestus. [00:47:12] Speaker D: The myrmidon gives you all along kind of impassive look. Welcome, children of the godsen. [00:47:24] Speaker B: Thank you. [00:47:25] Speaker D: We will take you to Queen Aegina. She will decide whether you are welcome on her island. [00:47:33] Speaker B: Lead the way. [00:47:36] Speaker D: She will turn, or he will turn, and the rest of them fall into formation around you like a box and begin to march up these very narrow, very steep streets. [00:48:02] Speaker A: Are we supposed to go with them, you think? [00:48:05] Speaker B: Yes, they're escorting us. [00:48:07] Speaker D: They've literally enclosed you, so if you don't move, they stop moving. [00:48:11] Speaker A: Oh, goodness. Oh, sorry, Altman. Clinton will get a better hold on the box than the just follow along. [00:48:20] Speaker D: It takes probably a good 45 minutes to an hour. Oliver, you are properly well and truly winded by the time you get towards the top of the. Towards the top of the town. City, whatever this is, to what you realize is the largest of the buildings all the way up near the summit. [00:48:45] Speaker B: Yeah, that makes sense. [00:48:52] Speaker D: The building itself is as clean and whitewashed as the rest of them, but there are hints of blue, like this royal blue trimming here and there. You can see curtains kind of fluttering in the window in that color. The door is painted, is painted that really intense blue. And another myrmidon appears at the door. This one looking. This one is female. She's kind of got those kind of impassive, almost sculpted so as to almost be uncanny, like, they don't quite seem real features. And she talks quietly back and forth with the one who seemed to have been in command of the group. And then she looks at you and turns and disappears inside, but you are left standing outside for a good 1015 minutes. [00:50:04] Speaker A: Is that the queen who just left us on red? [00:50:07] Speaker B: No, that was just another remedy. [00:50:10] Speaker C: Yes. Personal guard. [00:50:14] Speaker A: All right, well, we can just stand here. It's not a problem. [00:50:16] Speaker B: The fact that they had to discuss with each other sort of implies that if there is a hive mind, it's not a total one. [00:50:25] Speaker A: Well, like, makes sense. They got mouths and ears. It'd be. Be silly not to use them. [00:50:33] Speaker B: That is true. Clint. [00:50:34] Speaker C: Yeah. Sure enough. [00:50:37] Speaker A: Clint is beaming at being approved at by two people. [00:50:47] Speaker D: After several long minutes the doors open and you and the group that escorted you cut of parts at the front to allow you to move inside without them. Assuming that you all do that when you are inside a smaller force. These in Andre, make me. Let's go. Intelligence blacksmithing, please. [00:51:28] Speaker C: You got it. 13 successes. [00:51:35] Speaker D: All right. You realize that these guys are also in very modern armor but it is specifically fashioned to look old fashioned. [00:51:44] Speaker C: Ah, nice. [00:51:47] Speaker D: They are wearing like proper traditional greek breastplates and the kind of. I don't remember what they're called but the skirt like bottom pieces and the sandals that lace up along their calves and they lead you through by comparison to the rest of the island. What you realize like really does look like a palace. These kind of tall towering walls, archways, columns everywhere. It's very open air. Once you get past the door you realize that the doors are actually in what is effectively like an outer perimeter wall. And there is another building inside but the way that it was fashioned from the outside they looked like the same building, if that makes sense. [00:52:49] Speaker B: Yep. [00:52:51] Speaker D: And you were led through and out into a courtyard, an open air courtyard where a older beautiful but maybe not as beautiful as someone like Cersei. Older woman who looks like she's in her thirties or so, maybe early forties. She's got one of those like ageless faces where it's really hard to tell is lounging on a like a raised dais that you realize it's supposed to be like a throne but there aren't any actual thrones here because there aren't any actual chairs. It's all like floor pillows and things. And she is sipping from a glass of wine and there is a bowl of olives at her side that she seems to occasionally be picking at the head of the guard that you were escorted by. Steps forward, Queen Aegina. These are Oliver Bright, scion of Ogma, Andre Briscoe, scion of Hephaestus and Clint Brazos, psion of the Morgan. Come seeking your. I'm seeking a word with you. [00:54:28] Speaker A: Were we gestured at? Yes, we'll speak up. Howdy ma'am. Nice to meet you. I'm Clinton more. I'm sorry. I'm Clint Brazos, a scion of the Morgan and these are my friends. Oh, sorry. You know we usually introduce ourselves and I just. I'm sorry. Thought we were. [00:54:56] Speaker D: I would like anybody who would like to. To make a. Let's go. Perception in academics. [00:55:07] Speaker C: Sure. [00:55:08] Speaker D: This makes me Oliver might actually pass a perception check. [00:55:11] Speaker B: I know, I'm like ooh, academics. Some good perception though. [00:55:19] Speaker C: Well. [00:55:24] Speaker B: Two successes. [00:55:26] Speaker A: Two successes. [00:55:27] Speaker C: Two. [00:55:28] Speaker D: Two and one. Okay, Oliver, I really should have given you a bonus auto success, given your history. But Oliver and Clint both realized at the same time that this woman is not a myrmidon. She's a nymph. The crown perched in her hair is in fact not made of any sort of metal. It looks like cleverly and beautifully interwoven flora branches that have been formed in such a way that they almost look like metal and like a proper crown. [00:56:15] Speaker B: Upon being introduced, I will bow politely. [00:56:20] Speaker A: Oh yeah, and Clint will sidle up and bow as well. [00:56:24] Speaker C: Same. [00:56:28] Speaker D: She kind of like passes a look over all of you and then speaks. And you could tell because her eyes kind of linger on Clint for a long moment. Speaks probably to Clint's benefit. In English. Welcome, children of the gods. What brings you to onnoe? It's been a long time since one of yours has come here without explicit invitation. [00:56:57] Speaker B: We come to ask you of your aid, your majesty, as well as protect potentially and perhaps providing some benefit to you as well. We have been tasked by the gods to provide the funerary rites alongside these or alongside with these flowers to 100 souls. These souls need to be tied to the dodecathion. And we thought the best use of this would be to your myrmidon forces. So we were hoping if there have been any absences of funerary rites performed for your subjects that we perhaps could provide that service for you. [00:57:42] Speaker D: And who gave you the impression that you would find 100 funerary games on my island? [00:57:50] Speaker A: Who did? Tell us? That's a good question. [00:57:53] Speaker B: Roughly no one. But when it comes to finding 100 individuals tied by fate to the greek gods, our options were slim and the island of the myrmidons was our best chance. [00:58:15] Speaker D: Anybody who would like to is welcome to make a wits and empathy check. [00:58:20] Speaker A: Ooh. [00:58:21] Speaker B: Alright. [00:58:24] Speaker A: Might as well. [00:58:38] Speaker B: Ten successes. [00:58:40] Speaker A: Wow. Five successes. [00:58:42] Speaker C: A singular success. [00:58:44] Speaker B: Let's go. [00:58:47] Speaker D: All right, Clint, you realize that her expression kind of goes through this weird shift as she hears what you guys want to do. She goes from looking almost bored to stone faced and then it's hard to tell what the last one is. Oliver, you recognize that she goes from bored to concerned and maybe a little nervous to relieved as you explain the situation. [00:59:27] Speaker A: I don't think she's happy with us. [00:59:31] Speaker B: I'll just kind of give Clint a pat on the shoulder. Just give it a minute. [00:59:35] Speaker D: You say it was a lucky guess that you found your way to or that you. That you came to my island. [00:59:46] Speaker B: Not so much as a lucky guess. But more as a educated process of elimination. It was our best option, so we went with it. [00:59:58] Speaker A: A guesstimation, if you will. [01:00:03] Speaker B: Sure. [01:00:05] Speaker D: Well, as it so happens, we recently had a number of our dead brought back. I had planned for an island wide celebration in their honor. Funerary games typically last a week. You, as children of the God, are of course, welcome. [01:00:37] Speaker B: We would be honored. [01:00:40] Speaker D: Oliver, based on your last role, that you all being welcome was very measured. [01:00:56] Speaker A: If they're games, I kind of got to wonder, what do you get for winning? [01:01:04] Speaker B: I don't think they're that kind of game. [01:01:09] Speaker A: What kind of game do you play? Just to play. [01:01:15] Speaker B: The game of life, your highness, we are here on your island, your soil, therefore we are at your service. It would benefit us, of course, to be permitted to help oversee these funerary games, but we are also at your service in any other way that you may require from us. We thank you for your hospitality and allowing us to take part in this celebration. [01:01:45] Speaker D: She gives a little nod. You are, of course, welcome. You and your companions, to participate in the games, so long as one remembers that they are to honor the dead, not ourselves, of course. [01:02:02] Speaker A: Okay? Yeah. Of course. Yes, your majesty. And how does one do that? [01:02:12] Speaker D: Honor the dead or participate in the games? [01:02:16] Speaker A: A bit of both, really. I want to know how the participation leads to the honoring, but also want to know how to participate. [01:02:26] Speaker D: You dedicate your winds to the deceased. [01:02:30] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. [01:02:31] Speaker D: And recognize that you are acting in their name, not your own. [01:02:39] Speaker B: We have also come with a large bouquet for the goddess Persephone. Could we dedicate those to the dead as well? [01:02:50] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Here. And Clintl open up the box to. [01:02:54] Speaker B: Be observed so they may carry them with them to the underworld to present to the goddess. [01:03:02] Speaker D: She looks at the box and for the first time shifts and stands unfolding her legs from under her and lifting up off of. Off of the dais to walk over towards the flowers. She gets almost uncomfortably close, Clint, considering that she does not seem flirty or even all that interested in you. She's hyper fixated on the flowers, but really only the box between you is keeping her at bay. You think? [01:03:43] Speaker A: Nice to meet you, close and personal. And of course, while these flowers are pretty and all, they are no match for your beauty, your highness. And Clint will do his best to attempt to provide some sort of. He has no idea. He's just nervously talking. [01:04:07] Speaker D: She seems to ignore you as she examines them and then stands back and looks at Oliver, who seems to be doing most of the talking for the rest of you. I will permit it. [01:04:27] Speaker B: Thank you, your majesty. It's very generous of you. [01:04:33] Speaker D: You know that you may dedicate a flower for each. But the flower will still exist in this world. So you will have to collect it and take it with you when you leave. [01:04:48] Speaker B: So long as the spirit of the flower makes its way to the underworld. We can accept that. [01:04:58] Speaker D: Yes, of course. I will have a guest house prepared for you. Funerary games begin tomorrow. You should take the time to prepare. [01:05:15] Speaker B: May we ask what sort of games we can expect. [01:05:23] Speaker D: Harriet? Racing, boxing. Wrestling. We usually hold foot races and spear throwing. [01:05:34] Speaker A: Clint is visibly hyped up. [01:05:38] Speaker B: Just immediately, just so I can make sure I get it all down. You said horse racing. And what else, Harriet? [01:05:47] Speaker D: Racing. [01:05:48] Speaker B: Sorry. Chariot racing. And then after that. [01:05:56] Speaker D: Boxing, wrestling, foot races, spear throwing. We also have single combat, but sons are not permitted to participate in that part, as it is more about acting out the great deeds of the deceased, which you are unaware of. [01:06:22] Speaker B: Understood? [01:06:23] Speaker C: I can respect that. [01:06:27] Speaker A: But we can do the other ones. [01:06:29] Speaker D: Like, for sure, so long as you dedicate your performance to the deceased. Yes, of course. [01:06:38] Speaker A: Speaking of deceased, as Clint looks around. Are there ghosts of other myrmidons around? [01:06:45] Speaker D: Not in this particular. What do you call it? [01:06:56] Speaker A: The courtyard that we're in. [01:06:57] Speaker D: Courtyard? Yes, that was the word I was looking for. It's like I just said it. I don't know why I can't remember what it is. Yes, not in this particular courtyard. Though you do remember catching some glimpses of what may have been ghostly activity, like out on the island itself. It was just hard to tell because you were surrounded by people. [01:07:16] Speaker A: More ideas brew in the mind of Clem. [01:07:22] Speaker D: She steps back and claps sharply a couple of times and then waves towards the archway that you came through. Go. You are dismissed. [01:07:36] Speaker B: I will bow again and then turn and leave. [01:07:39] Speaker C: Same. [01:07:40] Speaker A: Then turn and leave. [01:07:47] Speaker D: You are surrounded again by that little contingent of guards who lead you out, and eventually they get you to that front doorway in the outer wall where you are met. Bye. A single myrmidon who gives you all that kind of dead eyed stare. I will take you to the guest house. [01:08:19] Speaker B: Nurse said. [01:08:24] Speaker D: And lead you onward out into the city. The guest house, which you arrive at about 20 minutes later, after some walking, is near the palace, but not too close, but is very impeccably well maintained. You get the feeling that while all of the myrmidons are probably warriors, they are also probably tradespeople. It's two floors. There's, like, five bedrooms in a decent sized, though dated, kitchen. Given that it is designed for cooking in bygone eras. There's no electricity or anything, but the windows are all open to the sea breeze, which keeps the place relatively cool. [01:09:27] Speaker A: Well, it's rustic and not too shabby. [01:09:34] Speaker B: Yes, it is quite nice. [01:09:37] Speaker C: I like it, honestly. [01:09:41] Speaker B: Anyway, we have some planning to do. [01:09:44] Speaker C: I think that would do. [01:09:46] Speaker A: About what? How to do good at games. [01:09:50] Speaker B: Yes. I don't know if the implication is that we should pick which one of us would be best at each game or all of us. Give us a shot and see how well we do, but regardless, we should still find out or at least think up and brainstorm who would be best to at least frontman each one. So just to make sure, I have it all right here, and I didn't miss one of the games that she mentioned. We have chariot racing, boxing, wrestling, foot racing, spear throwing, and single combat. But we don't need to worry about that one. Was there anyone that I missed in that? [01:10:33] Speaker C: Uh, no, I think you got them all. [01:10:35] Speaker A: That's what I remember. [01:10:37] Speaker B: So, uh, who would like to do which. [01:10:43] Speaker A: Well, I mean, I'm good at all of them, so I kind of want to do all of them. [01:10:48] Speaker C: I could probably handle chariot racing. [01:10:50] Speaker B: Or I was thinking this racing, I could definitely. [01:10:54] Speaker C: I'm no good. I'm no good at any kind of fighting without my wrench. Well, wrench, labyrinth, sword, anything. And get banned on this one to swing at someone. But, uh, we're not allowed to do that part. So I could pretty much handle racing if you wanted to. [01:11:12] Speaker B: Yes. [01:11:13] Speaker D: Make me an intelligence at a cult role, please. [01:11:17] Speaker B: I can do that. Where's my cult? There's my cult. That is nine successes. [01:11:35] Speaker D: As you are talking. You realize that it might be worth letting your companions know that while participation is probably very welcome, the use of boons and necks to try to bolster one's performance may tie them up a little bit more tightly with fate to the myrmidons, which could be a bad thing given the history. [01:12:09] Speaker B: Noted. Right. And something also bearing in mind, unless we feel the need that we're going to fail this labor, unless we tap into our scion reserves, it would be for the best if we handled all this with our natural talents. Otherwise, fate might decide that the Myrmidons and our stories are a bit intertwined. And historically, that's not the best. [01:12:40] Speaker A: I mean, historically maybe not, but we are here and we are doing a thing in honor of them and the dead ones. I can't imagine fate's not going to be intertwined at least a tiny amount. [01:12:54] Speaker D: Also important to remind folks, or that you might want to remind folks of Oliver. Those gifts are gifts from your parents which may take away from the dedication to the dead. [01:13:09] Speaker B: Well, that's true, Clint. What we don't want to do is make the bonds of fate tighter because then we don't have as much wiggle room to avoid being tied up with them. And in addition, this is supposed to be dedicated to the dead. And since the boons come from our parents, that will potentially take away from that and sort of ruin the labor as a result. [01:13:34] Speaker A: Okay, so no magical boons. I mean, even if they're just things that are always happening to me, like, I'm just naturally this strong and good. [01:13:43] Speaker B: Looking, if it's something you can't help, then I imagine fate might be a bit more lenient. Maybe that, in part is what already makes the bonds a little bit. But, um, if you can't turn it off, don't worry about it. Otherwise, try your best to avoid, you know, using any of our special capabilities. [01:14:09] Speaker A: Okay, well, so if it's not something I can't turn off, I can use it, and I just have to be naturally good at the game. I think I'm okay with that. [01:14:21] Speaker C: Yeah, it's more like a show of skill and ability and as opposed to, you know, oh, look at all this magical shit I got. [01:14:29] Speaker B: All right. [01:14:30] Speaker A: Makes sense. But I kind of. So while we were talking, I was looking around and I didn't see no ghosts in the courtyard proper. But I kind of got an idea. [01:14:46] Speaker B: All right. [01:14:47] Speaker A: If this is to honor the dead, and I can, you know, see them and talk to them a little bit, maybe give them a handshake and make a deal here and there, maybe not make a deal. We got bad history with that. But, you know, get to know them some. I can try to reenact some of the deeds they've done and give them more honor than a proper outsider normally could. [01:15:14] Speaker B: Um, that, I think, is plausible. It's not directly related to using your gifts within a game itself, so it might not take away from dedicating to them. I do still worry that it might intertwine fate with them tighter. [01:15:39] Speaker C: Just make sure that we don't accidentally break some kind of rule, because, like, the whole thing with the combat, the one on one combat is showing the deeds that the departed had done. [01:15:51] Speaker A: Yeah. And, I mean, that's the thing, right? That's kind of why we can't do it, which is fine. I don't want to step on them toes, but if we can kind of do something similar and like, recreate this epic moment that they carried out in their life and maybe call out their names or, or something to that effect to really sell the honor and of the dead. I just can't help but think maybe that, you know, if not make it better for us, at least make it better for them. If you know who you're honoring, I think it's a little easier to honor them. [01:16:24] Speaker B: You know, I see where you're coming from. That is a good idea. It's just I worry that the Remedons aren't exactly the biggest conversationalist. So I'm not sure how much information we can get about them in order to honor them and their deeds from their ghosts. [01:16:43] Speaker A: But I mean, I'll just ask them here and there when I see them. [01:16:47] Speaker B: All right, sure. We can keep that in the back pocket. And if we feel as if we are performing a lackluster maneuver and might need to pull out an emergency, we can definitely turn to that. [01:17:06] Speaker A: Okay, well, I mean, to be able to just pull it out of our pocket, Imma need to start talking to them sooner than the game happens. That way we can build up some ideas. [01:17:17] Speaker B: I don't think there's any harm in talking to the ghosts. At least I hope not. [01:17:22] Speaker A: So if you want, you can't stop seeing them, so. [01:17:25] Speaker B: Exactly. So sure enough, so. Right. If you want to sort of go about that and just see what sort of passive information and deeds you can come by, then I say go for it. [01:17:39] Speaker C: Wait, hold on. [01:17:41] Speaker A: Okay. [01:17:41] Speaker C: What if they only speak Greek? [01:17:43] Speaker B: That is a good. [01:17:44] Speaker A: Oh, shit. [01:17:47] Speaker C: Fuck. [01:17:49] Speaker A: Clinton is very consternated as he just like, furrows his brows and frowns and stares at the floor for a second. I mean, I thought I had a good idea. Oh, shit. [01:18:01] Speaker B: It's a good idea. It's just, you know, um. [01:18:06] Speaker C: Yeah, it's the little details that constantly get you. [01:18:10] Speaker B: Yeah, the small details. [01:18:13] Speaker A: Well, I mean, what if I tried, like, translating, like, they could talk to me, I'd repeat what they say and you tell me what it means. [01:18:20] Speaker B: I'm just gonna look at Andre and give like a. Give like a kind of like scrunched up look. [01:18:27] Speaker C: It would work, but it's all getting very convoluted and taking a hell of a lot more time. [01:18:32] Speaker B: It would be a game of telephone in a foreign language. [01:18:36] Speaker A: I mean, we're playing games anyways. [01:18:42] Speaker B: Sure. How about we keep photoshopping ways that we might be able to fix that little hiccup there? But in the meantime, focus a bit more on the main games themselves so that we don't run out of time on those, since that is something I think we should still strategize a bit. [01:19:01] Speaker D: Do you have politics? [01:19:04] Speaker B: I think I might have some. [01:19:06] Speaker A: I do. [01:19:07] Speaker B: I have two dots in politics. [01:19:08] Speaker D: Anyone with politics is welcome to roll me wits in politics. [01:19:16] Speaker B: Right on. [01:19:25] Speaker A: That is too successful. [01:19:26] Speaker D: It is wild to me that Clinton has politics, but here we are, four. [01:19:30] Speaker B: Successes on my end. [01:19:33] Speaker A: Hear me out. It's important to care about other people, and you have to know who you're voting for if you're going to be caring about other people. It's your civic duty. [01:19:44] Speaker D: Listen, I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I'm just saying I was surprised. Clint, you are not necessarily terribly far off base at the idea that talking to the ghosts might help, maybe not trying to reenact their greatest deeds, because that is something that their countrymen are planning to do, and it might be seen as insulting to try and upstage that. But knowing the stories of the people that you are honoring is not a bad idea. It might make your dedication during the games in their honor mean more, at least on a. Like a base, spiritual level. You know what I mean? [01:20:34] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:20:35] Speaker D: Their ghosts may feel more connected because you know who they were, and you're not just here to show off. [01:20:45] Speaker A: Excellent. [01:20:46] Speaker D: Oliver. The myrmidons. As you are talking about this, you realize the myrmidons are supposed to be dedicated to the dodecathion and thus generally only get sent out into the world as companions to greek scions. Why the hell is there 100 plus funerary games going on all at once? You can't imagine that there are more 100 myrmidons like, out in the world in the company of greek scions. This right now. [01:21:31] Speaker B: Just sort of rub my chin. Guys. Why exactly are there over 100 dead myrmidons all of a sudden? [01:21:43] Speaker A: Well, the queen said that they just got, like, returned. Like. Like maybe they were either lost or taken away, and then their bodies were. [01:21:52] Speaker B: Brought back all at once instead of over time as they die. [01:21:58] Speaker A: Yeah, Alexandra's got a whole pouch full of them. [01:22:03] Speaker C: Yeah, but that shit, like, that's just her. Most of Aries's kids would be running around a sparta instead of myrmidons. And I don't know too many of the other kids that are running around with myrmidons that ain't associated with war directly, and there ain't that many of us. So. [01:22:26] Speaker A: Clint will pull out his phone and start texting mom. [01:22:30] Speaker D: Okay. What are you texting mom. [01:22:33] Speaker A: Hey, mom. Have any greek scions died recently? We found some things are going on where there's a bunch of myrmidons that kind of showed up at dead all at once. Sin. [01:22:53] Speaker D: You do not immediately get an answer, but you're also not on red, so maybe she just hasn't seen it yet. But you send it off and you can tell that it went through. It did not bounce back like it was on Cersei's island. [01:23:06] Speaker A: All right, and then he'll put his phone away, hoping that we'll get a little answer from her at some point. [01:23:13] Speaker D: Andre, since you were the most recent to join the band, and thus had a little bit more exposure to other scions prior to joining these guys, as far as you're aware, yes, psions have died, but most of them didn't have their relics yet. Most of them were pre visited. Only a handful of post visitation scions have died since Stefan was imprisoned. [01:23:47] Speaker C: As far as I know, when it comes to our numbers to Wendolin, most of the ones that have been killed have been before they could get visited. The ones that are post visitation have been really low in number. We've been careful at least once in my circles, as far as I know. [01:24:09] Speaker A: Yeah, that makes sense. But I kind of just put one and one together on this one and figured if one scion could have a pouch full of them, there's probably a bigger and stronger scion out there, maybe approaching a different level, who might have more myrmidons in a bigger pouch and something bad might have happened. Or hear me out, it might be a good thing where they're like, hey, I'm at a certain point where I no longer need these folks, and they can finally take a rest, or something like that. [01:24:42] Speaker B: Well, the issue with that is they didn't just get sent back, they all died. [01:24:47] Speaker A: Yeah, which is why I was kind of thinking the first one. [01:24:50] Speaker C: And it's also the fact that they all died right when we needed them for the funerary rites. [01:24:56] Speaker A: Oh, no. You don't think, like, the gods are pulling a fast one and doing something bad like that just to help us. [01:25:05] Speaker C: I don't think they're doing anything to help us. [01:25:07] Speaker B: Agreed. I don't think they're inclined to do us any favors. In fact, it seemed to be the opposite back on Searcy's island. [01:25:15] Speaker D: Clint, your phone chimes. [01:25:17] Speaker A: Oh, hold on. And Clint will pull out his phone. [01:25:20] Speaker D: Uh, it is not from your mother. Although when you first turn your phone on, I imagine you've still got your text messages, like, open that app. Yes, you can see that your mother did see your message, but there's a different text message from another number that you don't recognize. [01:25:43] Speaker A: Okay, let's see what it says. [01:25:50] Speaker D: What you get from it is, hey, Clint, your mother asked me to look into something for you. I have spoken to my greek counterpart, and he says he has not ferried a large number of greek kids recently. [01:26:23] Speaker A: Okay, Clint will respond with. How about important ones? [01:26:32] Speaker D: What do you mean by important? [01:26:37] Speaker A: Capable of controlling Orlando palling around with 100 plus myrmidons. [01:26:51] Speaker D: He says no, though he has seen a large number of myrmidons gathered on the shore. They are waiting for their coins. [01:27:04] Speaker A: Oh, dear. Guys, these recently deceased myrmidons didn't have no coins. And, well, I get. Ian gets real upset when he ain't got his coin. What do you. What happens with them? [01:27:19] Speaker B: Point of the funerary games is to dedicate the winnings to them so they can cross over. [01:27:26] Speaker C: Yeah, it's the whole thing. You get the coins on the corpse, that way they can pay the ferryman. [01:27:34] Speaker A: Okay, Clint's gonna respond. Respond. Thank you for looking into this for me. Also, send me your name and photo so I can update my contact listing for you. Thank you. [01:27:56] Speaker D: You get back a picture of. I have to look something up because I'm struggling to remember the name of it. You get back what looks like a picture of a billboard for Gorton's fish. And it's just like a zoomed in picture of, like, the Gortons fisherman. And he says, you can call me Mac. [01:28:51] Speaker A: Clint will save the picture, update the contact listing as instead of random number as Mac. Thanks, Mac. Take it easy and let me know if I can return the favor. At any point. [01:29:07] Speaker D: You get a thumbs up emoji. [01:29:10] Speaker A: Oh, these things have emojis. And Clint starts scrolling through them, distracted. [01:29:14] Speaker D: They do. They're like any other smartphone. [01:29:20] Speaker A: That'S just looking through them. Now he's passed off the information that he can. This guy named Max said, you know, that they're all on the shore waiting for their coin, so we should probably do really good so they get their stuff and cross. [01:29:36] Speaker D: Oliver, I'm not gonna make you roll for this. You have enough intelligence at a call. You're pretty sure if someone named Mack has intimate knowledge of the activities and encounters of the greek boatmen, it's probably Menon and McClear, assuming it's part of your. They're part of your pantheon. [01:30:05] Speaker B: I think that's Manannan McClear. The one we did a labor for, you know, when you first joined us. [01:30:13] Speaker A: Oh, well, I'll keep it as Mac. Cause, you know, that's what he sent, and I don't want to, you know, make him upset if he doesn't want to be known as his real name. [01:30:25] Speaker D: You've also met him before. [01:30:27] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:30:29] Speaker D: I was like, I'm not positive that Clint would remember, but I'm sure that Oliver does. [01:30:33] Speaker B: It wasn't a great first meeting. [01:30:35] Speaker D: It was not a great first meeting. [01:30:38] Speaker B: Right. Well, anyway, I think you do come up with a very good idea, Clint, where if we learn the names and the deeds of these recently passed myrmidons, when we perform one of the games, we could say, perhaps this is dedicated to so and so who did such and such, and that would do more for them. It would be much more helpful. However, I'm also concerned about this sudden, massive amount of deaths that have come out of nowhere, and I think that's something we should also look into or ask the queen about if we can. [01:31:20] Speaker C: I mean, I'll be all for learning what we can, but we don't want to, you know, seem like we're trying to be nosy. [01:31:30] Speaker A: If they don't want to answer, they don't have to. I'm not, like, coercing them or anything. It's like, if we can, and if they can understand you when I'm talking to them, then we just say, hey, this is what we're up to. We want to honor you. Can you share your name and your story? [01:31:47] Speaker B: I also have another idea that might make the process easier for you. Understanding them, Clint. [01:31:53] Speaker A: Oh, what's that? [01:31:56] Speaker B: I am exercising a lot of trust in you with this, assuming it would work. [01:32:01] Speaker A: Okay. [01:32:03] Speaker B: I am going to take off warmaster site, my birthright relic, and hand it over to Clint. [01:32:12] Speaker D: Oh, shit. [01:32:15] Speaker B: Gives me the capacity to understand practically all mundane languages. [01:32:21] Speaker D: Tell the folks at home exactly what warmaster sight is. [01:32:25] Speaker B: Yes, it is a fancy little monocle that I believe is on a silver chain. When worn, it always stands perfectly on your face. It never falls off. And in addition, it gives you the effects of the language mastery knack as well as the ability to spend a number of legend points up to your legend to give some extra dice to any combat oriented command roles. [01:33:04] Speaker D: Excellent. Okay, you have a small, round piece of glass thing that Oliver usually has perched on his face. [01:33:13] Speaker A: I mean. Okay, Mister B. Andre, say something in Greek, please. [01:33:20] Speaker C: He is just. Andre. Will then just look to Clint after being a little bit shocked by seeing birthrights being changing hands so easily and say, hey, Clint, how you doing? In Greek. [01:33:33] Speaker A: Hold on, let me get in place. And Clint will put the necklace on, put the thing up to his eye. All right, now say it again, and he will. [01:33:40] Speaker C: Hey, Clint, how you doing? [01:33:42] Speaker D: And you understand every word. [01:33:47] Speaker A: Um. Wow. I'm doing good. Uh, how are you? And do I naturally respond in Greek as well, or do I. [01:33:56] Speaker D: You do. It's a little stuttery. Um, because the way the neck that's tied to it works is that you. You technically have to, like, hear or see it a bit more. More. My assumption has just always been that Oliver is proactive enough that he studies. So it's a little stuttery for you, Clint, but the more you say it and you get the feeling that the more you hear, the easier it will be for you. [01:34:24] Speaker A: Is this how you know so many languages, mister B? [01:34:27] Speaker B: That is exactly how I know so many languages. [01:34:30] Speaker A: That's incredible. Okay, well, I'll keep it safe and protected, and once I'm done talking to ghosts, you can have it right back. [01:34:37] Speaker B: I appreciate that, letting you borrow it. I would really like that back. [01:34:41] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. I'll make sure that happened, because without. [01:34:44] Speaker B: It, I also can't do a whole lot of the, uh, battle things we. I tend to do to help us. [01:34:53] Speaker A: Oh, well, I mean, here. I mean, it. It ain't the same, but you can hold on to this. And Clint will pull the toothpick from between his lips and offer it out to Oliver. [01:35:04] Speaker B: I'm just gonna look at it. Clint. There's not a whole lot I can do with that. [01:35:08] Speaker A: I mean, if you. If you kind of squeeze and pull, it'll stretch out and you can. It's a spear. It's. It's a stick. It's whatever you need. [01:35:18] Speaker D: Ian lands on your shoulder. Clint. And bites. Here. [01:35:23] Speaker A: Shit. What do you want? [01:35:24] Speaker D: Don't give out your mother's gifts. She wouldn't like it. [01:35:28] Speaker A: We just. We're trading for a minute just to, you know, make it friendly. [01:35:33] Speaker B: Lint. I trust you. Keep your spear. Hold on to the monocle for as long as you need, but then just give it right back as soon as you're done. [01:35:44] Speaker A: Okay? Okay. God damn it, Ian. You're gonna have to help me find these folks. You know that, right? I. [01:35:52] Speaker D: We'll see. [01:35:54] Speaker A: Okay. [01:35:55] Speaker D: You need to remember that your mother is not as forgiving as some. You're already in trouble. [01:36:02] Speaker A: What? [01:36:04] Speaker D: You touch the chair? [01:36:08] Speaker A: Yeah, that's. That's fair. Ian here saying, I'm still upset and I shouldn't tempt fate by giving you the. Which is why he pecked me on. [01:36:18] Speaker B: The ear, so should probably listen to him. [01:36:21] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:36:21] Speaker B: I'm gonna have to hope that Ogma sees the strategic value and letting me give this to you for the time being. [01:36:31] Speaker A: All right, well, let me go out and talk to them folks for a second, and y'all can come up with a plan. [01:36:37] Speaker B: Before that. Let's just quickly assign who wants to lead what games. Andre, you said you were interested in the chariot racing and foot racing. [01:36:46] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm probably better at the chariot racing than anything else. [01:36:49] Speaker B: If we're lucky, maybe before we get to the foot racing, Kota will be a bit back, because I imagine she's very good at that. Clint, I think you're a shoe in for the spear throwing. [01:37:00] Speaker A: I can't deny that one. [01:37:04] Speaker B: That leaves boxing and wrestling and that. [01:37:09] Speaker C: Aquaman's whole thing is throwing hands. [01:37:13] Speaker B: It is. [01:37:15] Speaker A: And when it comes to getting a hold of somebody and tossing them around, I mean, I could throw a dog into the ocean. All right. [01:37:23] Speaker B: If you want to take rest. I mean, he did so throw a dog into the ocean. Actually, that is something he did. [01:37:30] Speaker A: Yeah. It wasn't like a dog dog. It was one of them big wolf things, but it started yapping like a dog when it started flying. [01:37:39] Speaker B: It then got eaten by a kraken. [01:37:42] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. That was sad. [01:37:43] Speaker B: Which was also something we did that showed off Clint being very good at throwing that spear. [01:37:49] Speaker A: Yeah, that's true. I'm good at throwing things. [01:37:53] Speaker B: All right. I guess if you take wrestling, then that leaves boxing to me. [01:38:00] Speaker A: Ain't you been studying stuff like that? [01:38:04] Speaker B: I have, but this would be my debut of actually doing anything with it against an actual combatant. [01:38:10] Speaker A: Oh, shit. If you do you need a spar. We can. We can have it. We can toss hands real quick. I mean, I don't want you going in there, green. You're gonna be rattled like crazy if you go in there. Never been hit before. [01:38:25] Speaker B: I'm just gonna stare at Clint with just such long, prolonged eye contact. I think I'm good. Clint. I'm still sore after last time. [01:38:36] Speaker A: Oh. I mean, that weren't really me, may that, but yeah. Okay. Sorry. I mean, yeah. [01:38:42] Speaker C: I feel like I missed something. [01:38:44] Speaker A: Well, do you want to tell the story? [01:38:49] Speaker B: Weirdly, this is all related to the same moment we mentioned with the kraken, the wolves, and the glowing spear. We were doing a labor for the loa, and we were attacked by Gwen, her pack of Fenris wolves. And during that time, we fought them through a wolf into the ocean, where there was a kraken that we had to deal with a few moments beforehand. And then she kind of commanded Clint to stab me. I convinced him to stabbed me with the small version of his spear, which was more of a very heavy punch, and it sort of laid me on my ass, so to speak. [01:39:28] Speaker A: Yeah, he didn't get up right away for a few minutes. Really? [01:39:33] Speaker C: Damn. Yeah. God, I hate that bitch. [01:39:38] Speaker A: I mean, we can fix her. [01:39:41] Speaker B: I don't think we can, Clint. [01:39:42] Speaker D: Um, what's the plan, guys? [01:39:47] Speaker B: How much time do we have until these funerary games start? [01:39:50] Speaker D: They start the next day. [01:39:51] Speaker B: The next day. Okay, and what time is it around about. [01:39:56] Speaker D: It's, like, early afternoon, so maybe like, one or two. [01:40:02] Speaker B: All right, Clint, if you want to go about talking to the ghosts to learn more about them so that we can pay to greater honor to them. That sounds like a good use of your time. Andre, what do you think about the two of us doing a little bit of investigating to find out if we can determine why all these myrmidons have suddenly passed? [01:40:25] Speaker C: I'm all for it. Let's do it. [01:40:30] Speaker B: All right. [01:40:31] Speaker A: Yeah. I'll go start talking to folks, and y'all do your thing. [01:40:38] Speaker D: Okay. What is Andre up to exactly? Sorry? [01:40:45] Speaker C: Oh, I'm going with Oliver. [01:40:47] Speaker B: Yeah, I think the two of us are going to see we can find out more about all these dead myrmidons and how that happened. [01:40:53] Speaker D: And Clint is just going to go talk to dead myrmidons by himself. [01:40:58] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm going to go talk to ghosts, actually. [01:41:01] Speaker D: Amazing. I mean, that's fine. I'm just trying to. I'm just. I'm just making sure I understand. Okay, we will start with Oliver and Andre. [01:41:17] Speaker B: All right. [01:41:18] Speaker C: All righty. [01:41:20] Speaker B: You think we should start just by asking the locals on if they know? [01:41:27] Speaker C: I mean, couldn't hurt. Not sure exactly how talkative they're gonna be, but not a bad place to start, at least. [01:41:37] Speaker B: Yeah. All right, let's see what we can find, then. [01:41:41] Speaker D: Okay. You. So where would you like to head? Are you just gonna, like, walk along and stop random people on the street? Are you headed for. Are you looking for something specific? [01:41:55] Speaker B: Yeah, if there's, like, a market or, like, town square, that might be, like, the best place for us to go. [01:42:02] Speaker C: If there's, like, a place where they all gather the drink, like, eventually. [01:42:06] Speaker B: Like a bar, probably the best place. [01:42:08] Speaker D: Well, it's the middle of the day, so you're not likely to find a bar, but a bar that's going to be terribly hopping, I should say. However, there is like a marketplace. That's easy enough. Or you could go down to the dock. So those are the two, like, largest gathering that you've seen. [01:42:34] Speaker B: Uh, you're calling this. So you think the docks or. [01:42:40] Speaker C: Well, if those dead Murdoch came in through anyway, it would probably came in through the docks, so probably best to start there. [01:42:47] Speaker B: All right. [01:42:49] Speaker D: All right. You head back down along these very steep, somewhat winding streets towards the bay and the docks area. There are myrmidons kind of bustling back and forth. Mostly male. You notice that there have been just very, very few females. Most of them are male. They're working pretty busily, seem to be focused on whatever their task is. Some of them are pulling in barrels and nets from little boats that come up. They're like dinghy sized boats. They're not terribly large. They're little, small fishing boats, effectively. Some of them are. It looks like they are repairing nets. Some of them are hauling crates back and forth. There's all kinds of stuff going on. [01:43:57] Speaker B: I think you're gonna have to take leave here, considering I can't speak their language anymore. [01:44:02] Speaker C: It's fair enough. And, uh, he is going to see if there are any, like, he's going to just go to one that might be not from one of the fishing vessels, but one that might be trying to oversee the docks. If there's anything that could show, like Rancor, uh, who is kind of in charge? [01:44:27] Speaker D: Um, there doesn't seem to be anyone in particular who is in charge. If you want to look for the one that would probably be easiest to engage in conversation, I'll go with that. Because they are the least, we'll say, bustling. You're probably looking at the couple who, the two or three who are working on repairing what looks like a large fishing net, because they're all sort of, they're having to sit there while they work. They're not up moving things around, hauling stuff back and forth. [01:45:05] Speaker C: I will just head on over to them then. Yeah. [01:45:12] Speaker D: All right. They kind of glance up at you, but you notice that they never really stop what they're doing. And one of them goes, children of the gods. [01:45:27] Speaker C: Honor, Don. Uh, may I assist? And he'll point, [email protected]. [01:45:37] Speaker D: You are a guest. It is not expected that you work. [01:45:44] Speaker C: True, but I am with son of a, the God of the forge. It is often odd for my hands not to be working. [01:45:54] Speaker D: They, they kind of pause and glance at each other and then give a little nod. And one of them hands over one of their weaving tools. [01:46:03] Speaker C: I will take it and then work to assist. Not particularly trained or skilled, but sort of catching on quickly because it's all working with the hands. [01:46:14] Speaker D: Yeah. It's not terribly difficult work. It almost weirdly, and you know this from having sat next to your mom when she. At the times when she was too sick to really be able to do much physical physically, she got into things like crochet. And it's a little bit what this is like. You've got this little, like, shuttle thing, and it's got like, a weird hook piece that you. That you're having to use to begin weaving alongside them to repair the holes in the net. [01:46:53] Speaker C: Fair enough. Then that will be a good basis for him to go off of it as he's just like, kind of net crocheting. And then he will look to them and say, have these docs been busy lately? [01:47:15] Speaker D: At times they are busy. At times they are quiet. [01:47:23] Speaker C: It is just intriguing to me that there are so many funeral games that must be partaken in tomorrow. So many all at once. [01:47:38] Speaker D: Yes. There were a large number of our brothers lost. [01:47:48] Speaker C: Has there been talk as to how or why? Was it the work of the titans? [01:47:59] Speaker D: They again pause and they kind of look at each other, and then the one who's been doing all the talking kind of gives a shake of his head. We don't know. We assume they died in surface to your kind. [01:48:20] Speaker C: I see. I don't know of many of my cousins and the like that have fallen, but it's entirely possible. I unfortunately cannot keep up with everyone with my blood. I'm sorry for so much loss to have happened so quickly. [01:48:49] Speaker D: It is not uncommon for myrmidons to be sacrificed to help protect scions. [01:49:05] Speaker C: I can imagine. [01:49:13] Speaker D: We are the first line of offense, of defense, and the spear of the offense, as we were in the days of achilles. [01:49:36] Speaker C: Fair enough. I would like, for what it's worth, I thank you and your kind for what you do for the children of the gods. I know it is duty, but it is still something to be admired. [01:49:51] Speaker D: It is our fate. [01:49:56] Speaker C: So you say. And he will just continue to help until this particular net is fixed, and then he will bid them farewell before going back to Oliver. [01:50:12] Speaker D: Okay. You sit there for a solid hour, hour and a half working with them, but the additional set of hands make much quicker work of the net repair than probably would have normally happened. And they all give you a very respectful, full nod. As it is finished, one of them gathers up the net and begins to haul it off towards what looks like a storage building of some sort. Probably where they keep the spare things when you are able to return to your companion. [01:50:51] Speaker C: Well, that wasn't as insightful as I'd hoped it would be. [01:50:57] Speaker B: Expected as much. What did you here? [01:51:00] Speaker C: Well, they know that they're used to being sacrificed, as it were, that, uh, cast it out to me for the defense of the psions. But they don't know what. What it was that killed all these, uh, myrmidons at once. [01:51:21] Speaker B: Hmm. Should we try asking the queen? [01:51:27] Speaker C: I mean, we could, but, I mean, would she. Do you think she'd grant us another audience? We're guests, but she's the queen of this place. [01:51:36] Speaker B: I agree. I feel like asking for another audience after having one so recently would not look good for us. [01:51:46] Speaker C: Yeah. Not exactly favorable. [01:51:48] Speaker B: No. Where do we go to next, then? [01:51:54] Speaker C: Well, I mean, we could check out the market. That was pretty busy. Could. Hmm. Gm. [01:52:11] Speaker D: Yes. [01:52:12] Speaker C: Where would actual burials and such and such be taking place? Like, are there effective? I forget if there are there effectively, like, graveyards or graveyard equivalents for greek society. [01:52:26] Speaker D: Um, ish. Although that is a. That is a good question in terms of where they would be. Um, I would like. And. And, Oliver, you could also try this, but it's not your favorite role. Um, I would like. Perception awareness rules. [01:52:47] Speaker B: I feel like I just. I have to try. It's my. It's my curse. [01:52:51] Speaker C: You can do it, man. [01:52:53] Speaker D: You have to try. Especially after I called you out about it. [01:52:56] Speaker B: Yeah. Three tens. Here we go. [01:53:01] Speaker C: Well, I got. [01:53:02] Speaker B: No, that's nothing. [01:53:03] Speaker C: That is, uh. That's the opposite of 310. [01:53:07] Speaker B: Yeah. Three failures. [01:53:09] Speaker C: Yep. One of them being a one. So, you know, two successes for Andre. [01:53:15] Speaker D: Okay. As you think about it, you're not sure where in the island the games would be held or where the bodies and pyres might normally be. However you do, as you stand there, kind of start to look around to try and get an idea and realize that you see, every so often, you will see a myrmidon or, you know, two or three carrying what looks like large cords of firewood down the street. [01:53:55] Speaker C: You know, honestly, it might not also be a bad idea for us to see if we can see where the bodies are being kept, maybe looking until exactly what. What happened to him. [01:54:05] Speaker B: I was thinking the exact same thing. If we can look at the bodies, maybe we can at least gain a cause of death, which could give us some more clues. [01:54:13] Speaker C: Yeah. Cause, I mean, if we see a whole bunch of slash marks or teeth marks, and we could probably guess it's the wolves. But other than that. [01:54:21] Speaker B: But even still, for the, for those on the side of the titans to have attack or have some sort of attack that went after 100 myrmidons at once, it must have been a pretty large operation, or at least a well coordinated one. [01:54:41] Speaker C: Yeah, a lot of logistics going in if they're managing to take out a full hundred of some of the greatest warriors and that walked the face of this earth. [01:54:50] Speaker B: And since Stefan's been locked up there, at least from what I've gathered, attacks have gotten less coordinated rather than more. [01:55:01] Speaker C: Yeah, I think we should go ahead and take a look at that. Uh, follow the people with the obvious pyro logs. [01:55:11] Speaker B: Oh, I didn't even notice them. Could I? [01:55:13] Speaker C: Thank you. [01:55:16] Speaker D: All right, we're gonna pivot over to Clint. Yeah, Clint, what are you up to? [01:55:24] Speaker A: Yeah. Rather than just running out and finding the first ghosts that Clint can find, Clint is going to wander about, taking in observations and seeing where the ghosts like to hang out and see if there's any sort of concentration around town. [01:55:42] Speaker D: Make me a perception awareness. [01:55:45] Speaker A: Sure thing. That is three successes. [01:56:05] Speaker D: All right. It takes you a little bit of kind of wandering around, and you realize that the reason why you only really caught glimpses of them on the way up isn't just because were surrounded by soldiers. At least you dont think that thats the only reason why. You rapidly begin to realize that the other reason why you may have missed them is because they never seem to sit still. Even as ghosts, the myrmidons dont seem to stop working. They are following at least what you would assume are patterns that they probably followed in life. They walk over to a pile of, or to a big stack of crates, look like they are grabbing a crate and putting it up on one shoulder, and then they turn and they begin to walk into a storage building, or they're moving over like they're going to pick up a big bundle of wool and then turn and begin to haul it away. [01:57:06] Speaker A: Are there actually any pallets of wood or bundles of wool being laid out where they're trying to get them? [01:57:14] Speaker D: Yeah, they're following patterns that living myrmidons are taking. You get the feeling that these may have been the jobs that they had before they were dead. [01:57:25] Speaker A: Fantastic. Clint kind of keeps observation for just a little while longer before he decides, rather than just abruptly going up to one and saying hi, he's going to join in on the work if he can kind of fall in line. Finding a pattern or a rhythm with the living and the dead. Like, finding a space between them. [01:57:45] Speaker D: Um. Roll me. Let's go. Wits and empathy. Ooh. [01:57:52] Speaker A: Okay. [01:57:56] Speaker D: See if you can get on the right vibe. [01:58:02] Speaker A: That is not as good, but it's two successes. [01:58:05] Speaker D: It's not awful. You are able to walk over and grab a big ass bundle of wool, and it is really only by benefit of your epic strength that you were able to pick this up by yourself, because these are normally something that takes multiple myrmidons to lift and begin to carry it over towards this big, like, storage building. Like a warehouse. [01:58:35] Speaker A: Awesome. As we're walking along, Clint will start to address a ghost that is also carrying out the same task. What's your name? Do you know that you're dead? What killed you? What kind of stories can you tell us about yourself? And then probably, like, the final question would be, and what's your favorite flower? [01:59:01] Speaker D: Um, how many do you talk to? [01:59:10] Speaker A: As many as we can between now and probably. We didn't really set a time to come back, did we? Oh, uh, I. Clint will go until probably midnight. [01:59:23] Speaker D: Jesus. Okay. [01:59:25] Speaker A: Yeah. Clint very much wants to get a large number of lists or names and deeds and flowers. [01:59:31] Speaker D: Okay, well, I'm not giving you that many names. We'll say that you got a bunch of names. They're all very traditionally greek names. [01:59:40] Speaker B: What? BP. You can't rattle off, like, 50 names in a row right now. [01:59:43] Speaker A: Come on. [01:59:44] Speaker D: BP would struggle with two, so. No. However, you get a bunch of names. Probably a good 30 or so. You get various causes of death. They're very kind of clinical about their cause of death. If you ask for specifics about how they died, though, they seem to struggle to remember. Like, they can tell you, I was stabbed with a spear, but they would probably struggle to tell that. But they would struggle to tell you, like, how they got stabbed with spear. Does that make sense? [02:00:28] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And Clint wouldn't really push. If he notices, like, there's reluctance or hesitance in that direction. [02:00:35] Speaker D: It doesn't seem reluctant or hesitant. It seems almost like they genuinely don't remember. [02:00:40] Speaker A: Oh, wow. Okay. Well, after the first, like, two or three of asking for a little more detail, they'll just like, all right, I'll strike that question from the list here and then move on mainly to, like, their favorite flowers or their favorite animals and things like that. [02:00:57] Speaker D: You get a lot of confused looks. You get the feeling that they probably. Most of them don't have, like, super developed personalities in that way. They do seem to really like ants and other, like, hive insects, though. [02:01:15] Speaker A: Okay. In that case between, like, talking to each one, Clint pulls out a notebook, a sketchbook of sorts that he has, because he does doodle occasionally. And he'll have a going list of names and a little sketch of their preferred insectoid or hive like creature. And he's kind of making notes of, okay, whenever I go and do this or whenever I throw, I'm going to start saying this name and honor them in this way. And he's building up his list of honored names, but he'll also try and find one of the more. If he can tell the difference, if he can find any of the more recently deceased ones. [02:02:02] Speaker D: The ones that you were talking to frequently seem recently deceased. [02:02:06] Speaker A: Ooh. Clint will ask if any of them are part of the hundred. And if that doesn't follow out, were they a part of any recent large group deaths? [02:02:28] Speaker D: That's a little bit harder to piece together. You get the feeling that a number of them did die at the same place and roughly the same time. Like, they died within at least a few minutes of each other. [02:02:45] Speaker A: And do they have any sort of pattern going on with their cause of death? [02:02:50] Speaker D: They're all violent. [02:02:52] Speaker A: Yeah, well, it's not like dead myrmidons would be going out peacefully. [02:02:58] Speaker D: I mean, like, it's all combat stuff. It's, you know, a spear or, you know, having their neck broken or something like that. Like, these are not natural causes of death and certainly not like, accidental causes of death. [02:03:13] Speaker A: Okay. And then using the. The all powerful second point of intelligence here, is there a common thread among the weapon being used for these recent deaths that happened? Cloistered together? [02:03:33] Speaker D: Most of the deaths seem to have been caused by archaic weaponry, though a few of them died to bullet, died to guns. [02:03:46] Speaker A: All right. Okay. And then I guess the last little bit Clint would like to do before going back to our home and meeting up with the crew is to find any sort of funeral mounds or burial grounds where they were or currently are, rather. [02:04:14] Speaker D: Roll me. Intelligence and academics. [02:04:22] Speaker A: Don'T roll that one often. [02:04:24] Speaker D: Well, no, because you don't have much in that particular dipole. [02:04:33] Speaker A: Oh, that's a no. I will use a legend point or a willpower if. [02:04:40] Speaker B: Oh, it's a legend if you want to reroll. [02:04:45] Speaker A: Okay, awesome. Yes, I would like to use legend. [02:04:49] Speaker D: Okay, reroll. [02:04:52] Speaker C: You can do it. [02:04:54] Speaker A: Hey, that's a big difference. That's a two. [02:04:58] Speaker D: Okay. You find out where their bodies are being prepared. [02:05:07] Speaker A: Okay. [02:05:13] Speaker D: One of them is only kind of vaguely aware that he's taking you to his own body. You get the feeling that he may have been one of the people in charge of preparing bodies when he was alive, before he was sent off to soldier. But you managed to follow one of them who looks like he is carrying. Well, follow two of them who look like they are carrying a litter with a body on it. You don't actually get into the building because there are guards around it, but you get to a large building with no windows. That's, like, on the side of the city town thing. [02:06:03] Speaker A: Right? Looking back at the town, can I tell which direction roughly it's in? So that if I was to engage in the games, I would be able to face in this direction as I honor the dead. [02:06:16] Speaker D: Yeah, it's on the western side of the town. [02:06:22] Speaker A: All right, so Clint is piecing together his plan, and he can discuss it when he gets home, whenever everyone else is ready as well. [02:06:38] Speaker D: Okay. Andre and Oliver, you guys get back to the house hours before Clint does. Clint shows up, and it is late. [02:06:51] Speaker B: Did we not find anything after following the dude? [02:06:55] Speaker D: Oh, I'm sorry. My bad. Let's rewind. [02:06:59] Speaker B: I was just like, all right, yeah. If we didn't find anything. That's all right. [02:07:02] Speaker D: No, I'm sorry. That's. That's on me. I transitioned and then forgot. I need to transition back. Back to Oliver and Andre. You two follow a bunch of the myrmidons who look like they are carrying cords of firewood and things, and find that there are effectively rows upon rows upon rows of pyres built on the eastern side of the island, down near the beach, away from, like, a tree line or anything. You assume probably to avoid potential fires. And there are, like, easily dozens already built. [02:07:52] Speaker C: Damn. [02:07:55] Speaker B: They've been busy. [02:08:01] Speaker C: Do any of the pyres look like they have bodies with them or, like, beside them or anything? [02:08:05] Speaker D: No, these are just the pyres. You assume the bodies will probably not get brought out until tomorrow so that they don't, like, sit in the sun or anything. [02:08:16] Speaker C: Okay. [02:08:20] Speaker B: Is there anything we could glean from the pyres themselves? [02:08:26] Speaker C: Um, like, is a pyre a warrior's death or just a standard. [02:08:35] Speaker D: You assume that they're all warriors deaths. Um, just by. [02:08:39] Speaker B: By right of where you are, of them being myrmidons. [02:08:42] Speaker D: Yes. [02:08:43] Speaker C: Yeah, fair enough. [02:08:45] Speaker D: Um, you do, though, see that a bunch of pyres have, like, armor and weapons arranged around and on them. [02:09:01] Speaker B: If we're permitted to get closer. If not, that's fine. But can we see the condition of the armor and weapons, how they look? If they still seem they're in operational order or if they've taken some heavy. [02:09:13] Speaker D: You know what I'm going to ask. [02:09:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [02:09:18] Speaker C: I mean, I'm okay with it. [02:09:19] Speaker D: Perception awareness. [02:09:20] Speaker B: Please help Andre. [02:09:23] Speaker C: I got your Ben. [02:09:25] Speaker B: No, no. That's a lot of nubbins right there. [02:09:27] Speaker C: Oh. [02:09:32] Speaker D: All Andre can tell. Unless he wants to roll. Unless he wants to. Legendary roll. [02:09:37] Speaker C: You know what? I will. [02:09:38] Speaker D: Okay. [02:09:42] Speaker B: You gotta do command roll to make them look better. [02:09:44] Speaker C: Three successes. [02:09:47] Speaker D: Okay, you can't do a command roll because you don't have your monocle. [02:09:52] Speaker B: I can still do command rolls. I just can't boost them. [02:09:54] Speaker D: That's fair. The armor and weapons look damaged. These look like things that they would have used in life, that they are being sent. Probably. Probably being sent into the afterlife with. [02:10:19] Speaker C: Huh. Well, looks like they definitely got used and took some heavy abuse before they got well put down. [02:10:28] Speaker B: Hmm. It's like a squint to strain to see. Still not seeing anything. Can you tell how so if they were, like, bludgeoning or scratching or burns or anything? [02:10:40] Speaker D: You don't see any burns. You do see signs of scratches and crushing damage. [02:10:52] Speaker C: A lot of scratching, a lot of them getting crushed, and lots of bloodstains and heavy amounts of exsanguination. [02:11:03] Speaker D: It looks like somebody probably tried to clean them up, but, like, there's only so much that you can remove, considering that it probably would have dried before they were brought home. [02:11:12] Speaker B: Yeah, well, if there's lacerations on the equipment and armor, that at least implies that it was through a battle instead of some sort of singular, brutal strike. So they all got in a fight? Maybe. [02:11:33] Speaker C: Maybe. Thing is, I doubt they were all in the same place. So something was fighting them? Probably fighting them specifically. [02:11:48] Speaker B: That's what I think of. So many died, then. They were a target. They didn't just stumble into, or. I wouldn't say stumble when it comes to the myrmidons, but it didn't just happen into a battle of something like this. [02:12:03] Speaker C: You think maybe that something was going after things? Protecting scions leave him more vulnerable? [02:12:12] Speaker B: Maybe. I'm not sure. I think this might be all we'll figure out today, but maybe tomorrow during the game is if we can somehow get near the queen, we can ask her a little bit or talk to other myrmidons or individuals who might know more. [02:12:33] Speaker C: Yeah, fair enough. I don't think we're gonna get too much more, so probably should be starting heading back to the house. [02:12:41] Speaker B: I agree. On our way back, I would like to take out my phone and text Alexandra to let her know that we have been granted a guest house on the island and the queen's hospitality has been offered to us and that there will be funerary games tomorrow if she would like to take part. [02:13:08] Speaker D: Sends you a thumbs up emoji. Think I'll stay out on the ship unless you guys need me. [02:13:18] Speaker B: Understood. I'll turn to Andre. I'm. This might be a stretch, but besides the God of horses, do you think Alexander would be good at chariot racing? Or. Like I said, that might be a stretch. [02:13:35] Speaker C: Might be a little bit of a stretch. [02:13:37] Speaker B: Alright, then. I'll not force her into anything. [02:13:44] Speaker D: I love the decision to just not bother asking if she's good at it. [02:13:50] Speaker C: I mean, can't hurt a chick. You don't have to immediately go jump to. Hey, do it. [02:13:56] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it's ultimately her choice as well, so. Bolt the phone again. Quick question. How are you at chariot racing? [02:14:05] Speaker D: I'm okay. [02:14:08] Speaker B: That will be one of the events tomorrow, in case that changes your mind at all. Still your choice. [02:14:14] Speaker D: She replies with, funerary games are usually, like, a week long. You don't even know if it's gonna be tomorrow. [02:14:21] Speaker B: We were told the games themselves start tomorrow, but that is a good point. We don't know which games exactly. [02:14:28] Speaker D: But I'll stick to the boat unless you. Again. Unless you guys need me. I was almost parted from it once. I think I'd like to stay on board as much as I can until this is over. [02:14:51] Speaker B: Understood. Yeah. She really wants to stay with the ship. [02:14:57] Speaker C: Yeah, that's what I figured. [02:14:59] Speaker D: Andre, you did get the sense during the moments when she was able to help you while you were back on Cersei's island with making repairs. You get the sense that Alexandra was relieved to have her ship back. And it might have fucked her up more than anyone initially realized, to see it nearly destroyed. [02:15:23] Speaker C: Yeah, it's very fair. [02:15:26] Speaker D: You feel like it's a little bit like had your father given you your own workshop, and then another God came through and tore it apart with a tornado. [02:15:41] Speaker C: Yeah. Andre's just gonna be like, yeah, maybe let's. Let's let her enjoy being back on her boat again. [02:15:49] Speaker B: Agreed. Yeah. [02:15:51] Speaker C: Very personal and important, that kind of thing. [02:15:56] Speaker D: All right, you are brought food. Um, as you. It seems like the queen assumes that you are unable to cook for yourselves, especially without the aid of, like, electricity and things. Um, and, uh, it is late, and you are kind of just sitting there nursing drinks and starting to wonder if you should go looking for Clint. That Clint finally rolls in at about midnight. [02:16:24] Speaker A: Oh, goodness. Out of y'all that was a long day. [02:16:28] Speaker C: Damn, Clint. Burning the midnight oil? [02:16:31] Speaker A: Well, I mean, it's just starting, so we can get going now if you want, but not a pain. Yeah, I got busy learning a few things, actually. Yeah, I've got a. Here. Clintell produces notebook with names with the basic causes of death, the stories and their preferred insects, the little sketches next to them. I made a list. I mean, it ain't comprehensive, it ain't a hundred, but I. It should be enough to really honor a good number of them while I'm out there and maybe help y'all do the same. [02:17:09] Speaker B: Huh? Good work. And I'll look at the notebook and commit as many as I can to memory really quick, and then hand it back. Or hand it over to Andre if he wants to look at it. [02:17:19] Speaker C: Yeah, Andre will start looking through it and commit a few of them, not having anywhere near the perfect memory that Oliver does, but getting a few. [02:17:29] Speaker D: You're able to commit quite a few names and deeds to memory, but what stands out to both of you is that there are precise causes of death but no context in this list. That could just be because it was Clint who was asking, or it could be a thing. [02:17:51] Speaker B: Clint, were you able to get any, like, circumstances around the deaths, rather than just the cause alone? [02:17:59] Speaker A: I mean, I asked a few of them at the. At the start, and when I did, they kind of thought for a minute, but they couldn't seem to, like, really give me much. I couldn't tell if they were forgetting it or if they just were protecting it or didn't want to think about it, so I didn't push too hard. [02:18:17] Speaker B: Range. Is that normal for the dead, for them to sort of have foggy memories of how they died? [02:18:24] Speaker A: Storytelling? [02:18:26] Speaker D: Sometimes, but not typically. [02:18:29] Speaker A: I mean, occasionally, maybe if they got hit in the head real hard as they were dying, but it ain't like every one of them. No. [02:18:37] Speaker B: Hmm. This is certainly a peculiar circumstance we find ourselves in. [02:18:46] Speaker A: How do you figure? [02:18:48] Speaker B: Well, it's just the fact that so many of them die at once, we can't really figure out the cause. And even the ones who did die don't exactly remember how, which is something you've just said is not the norm. So there's something at play here. At the very least. [02:19:10] Speaker C: I wonder if maybe they'd got, like, ambush, but from what I could see, other weapons, it looked like they got beaten up from use relatively close to when they died. [02:19:21] Speaker A: Yeah, I found, like, most of them that I talked to that died fairly recently and died close together in time. Most of them were taken out by, like, you know, swords and spears and things like that. There were a few guns mixed in there, some. Some gunshots to different places, but it was mostly like, you know, the old school stuff. I tried to help with, you know, figuring out how and why. Just maybe I was asking the wrong questions. [02:19:54] Speaker B: Well, hopefully we can find out more over the course of the week with the games going on. [02:20:00] Speaker A: Yeah. And so, you know, like, dead folks tend to usually stay doing what they used to be doing. Some of them may be doing it, like, actively, but other ones might be looking on from where they're resting. And if we're honoring them with these games, it probably isn't a good idea to, like, address all these names and stuff to the crowd of living folks as much. But if you're gonna be out there, I'd recommend facing west and talking to the dead most directly. That way, your voice carries. You're looking in the place where they lie, where, you know, where they'd have the most chance of receiving your honor or something like that. [02:20:53] Speaker C: Not a bad idea. [02:20:54] Speaker A: Yeah. I just, you know, want to make sure that if we're honoring the dead, it's a whole lot more about the dead than it is the folks that are watching us and, you know, us. [02:21:06] Speaker B: Agreed. That's very thoughtful, Clint. [02:21:10] Speaker A: Thank you. [02:21:12] Speaker B: Speaking of thoughtfulness, as I kind of hold my hand out. [02:21:16] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Here you go. I don't think I need this for any longer. Here you go. And he'll hand back the warmaster sight. [02:21:23] Speaker B: Thank you. So I let out a sigh of relief. [02:21:27] Speaker A: It was real useful, you know. Here. Can you. Can you talk to me in Greek real quick? [02:21:34] Speaker C: Yeah, sure. Hey, Clint. How you doing? [02:21:38] Speaker A: Do I understand any of it still. [02:21:43] Speaker D: No. [02:21:43] Speaker A: Pick up anything? Oh, no. Oh, man. Well, it's gone, but it was a good while it lasted. [02:21:53] Speaker B: Yeah, it does help make learning languages a little bit easier since you kind of have the mental space for it now. Your brain sort of, kind of understands how it works a little bit better. You won't remember anything, but if you study, it might be a little bit easier for you. [02:22:13] Speaker A: Okay. I mean. I mean, we're gonna be sailing again at some point. You think you could teach me a few things? Maybe? If not Greek, like wherever we're going next, you can give me a few words? [02:22:26] Speaker B: I can try, but since I know the languages mostly through the monocle as well, it wouldn't really work too well. It's just sort of intuitive. I can't explain how the difference language patterns works. I just know. [02:22:45] Speaker A: Okay. If you're gonna be the translator, are you able to, like, translate nuance and stuff like that, too? Is it just. I couldn't tell if I was having a hard time because I was having a hard time or just, you know, flubbing up some stuff. [02:23:01] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. The fun thing about, you know, scion capabilities is sort of a perfect translation. It's not like a rigid one for one, where it just kind of does the most direct version it can if I'm trying to use it myself in, like, writings and things like that. But speaking, it flows a little bit easier. [02:23:24] Speaker A: Well, you know, it's kind of weird. I thought maybe just, you know, by being dead and a little bit more separated from the living folks, that they, I don't know, maybe develop a sort of personhood or identity of their own. But there were still, you know, ant, like, even, even afterwards. [02:23:49] Speaker B: Hmm. [02:23:51] Speaker A: I don't know if that matters to what y'all are doing, but I kind of think it's interesting. [02:23:56] Speaker B: It's definitely interesting. Agree to that. But I suppose not entirely surprising that they just remain who they were when they die. [02:24:07] Speaker A: Yeah, that's usually how it goes. Yeah. They don't change too, too much. [02:24:16] Speaker B: There's still some leftover food that was brought for us if you want something to eat late. We should probably get to sleep as the games started in the morning. [02:24:26] Speaker A: Yeah. So before y'all go and get some sleep, do y'all know how y'all are gonna honor the gods once y'all are out there and doing stuff? Are you gonna, you know, stand loud and proud and say names and stuff, or what do y'all plan on doing? [02:24:43] Speaker B: I imagine something along those lines, kind of declaring that this game is dedicated towards and one of the names on the list and say a few things about them that you have, uh, cataloged here and hope that that honors them. [02:25:01] Speaker A: Okay. [02:25:01] Speaker C: Yeah, I was kind of hoping to do that sort of thing. And then maybe, but maybe list a few names all at once and say that, uh, like, the dodecatheon recognizes their service and thanks them for all they have done for us. [02:25:15] Speaker A: What do you think it's really from the Dodakathon or do you think it's. [02:25:22] Speaker C: I suppose I could maybe just say, like, hephaestus because my dad's pretty good about recognizing the people that did put, that put in the work. [02:25:32] Speaker A: Okay. But, Andre, do you do maybe mind honoring them personally, too? [02:25:37] Speaker C: Like, I mean, I was gonna say it too. I was just. Just me and, like, my godly parent because, I mean, it's like, sure, a child of the gods. Good. But the recognition of a God is also, like, better, right? [02:25:51] Speaker A: I mean, yeah, but I wouldn't prescribe the. The gods to be, you know, if they're not being nice to us, I wouldn't assume they're also gonna willingly honor these folks just willy nilly. You gotta. [02:26:02] Speaker C: And I wrong there. [02:26:05] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, just, you know, when. When we're out there, my plan is, you know, like I said, face that direction and say their name, what they did in life. And then, because I made a note of it, like, how they associate with their favorite insect. Like, I'll show you an example. And Clint will stand in the middle of the. The room and using his very boisterous voice, look towards the west. This victory goes to Prytanus, laborer, soldier, father, a man who embodied the wasp and their industriousness in life. May he continue to do so in death and then go on and kick some ass. [02:26:46] Speaker B: You know, I was thinking of something along those lines. [02:26:50] Speaker A: Okay, cool. I just didn't want to, you know, make a mistake. I didn't know if I was right on the track or if I was, you know, going off base because I'm nothing. Not really good on my greek studies yet. And, like, is that, like, in line with stuff? [02:27:08] Speaker C: Yeah. Maybe it also would be a good idea to say. To have a hope for them, like, the hope that Elysium greets them, because, like, the area of the underworld that they go to is indicative of, like, how they lived and how they died and all that. [02:27:23] Speaker A: Oh, okay. So Elysium is the good one. [02:27:27] Speaker C: That's a really good one yet, because otherwise you got, like, the river lethe, and that's where you just forget things, and that's not nice. [02:27:40] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. Yeah. All right. So, you know, append the end with including. May they continue it in death in the field. Is it fields? Is it cliffs? [02:27:51] Speaker C: What kind of. It's the fields of elysium. Yeah. [02:27:54] Speaker A: Okay. In the fields of elysium. [02:27:57] Speaker C: There you go. [02:27:58] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I like that. That gives a little more punch to us since, you know, they're. They're not gone anywhere like, they're gone to, hopefully elysium, but they. They still got things to do. That's a good idea. I like that. [02:28:16] Speaker D: Okay. You all wrap up your evening and head to bed, I assume. [02:28:23] Speaker A: Yeah, it's about that time. [02:28:25] Speaker C: Yep. [02:28:26] Speaker D: All right. You are able to turn in, get decent night's sleep. It's a little warm, but the lack of true windows means that there is a constant breeze that kind of flows in off the ocean and into your rooms. The morning comes early. You are woken up by horns. [02:28:53] Speaker A: Someone hit the snooze button on that thing. [02:28:57] Speaker B: I don't think there is one. [02:29:00] Speaker A: Oh, shit. We're not okay. Yeah. Time to get up. Come on. [02:29:10] Speaker B: And I will get up. Get dressed. [02:29:13] Speaker D: Andre, are you up? [02:29:15] Speaker C: Andre is up and probably already halfway through getting dressed up by this point. [02:29:19] Speaker D: Excellent. For the sake of brevity, we will say that you all are up. You get yourselves dressed, get some breakfast, which has been left in the kitchen for you. Somebody dropped it off earlier than you were awake, it seems. [02:29:35] Speaker B: Hmm. [02:29:36] Speaker A: Man, they are productive here, I tell you what. [02:29:42] Speaker B: All about ant life, I suppose. [02:29:46] Speaker A: I wonder if any of them are uncles. [02:29:52] Speaker B: Didn'T land the first time, Clinton. [02:29:56] Speaker D: To take away a fucking willpower. [02:29:58] Speaker B: You lose a legend for that. [02:30:02] Speaker A: Not a legend point. A full legend. [02:30:04] Speaker B: A full legend point. [02:30:06] Speaker D: Clint is permanently a season behind everybody else in progression. [02:30:11] Speaker A: It's worth it. [02:30:13] Speaker D: All right, you all are able to head down. You realize very quickly, as you join in the progress of the Myrmidons, who are making their way down the games, which is, it seems, everybody on the island. You realize quickly, Andre and Oliver, that they are headed for where you saw the pyres being built. And by the time you get there, you realize that they were nowhere near done. They had. They had built a ton of the pyres. But there are closer to the city, not quite as far off as the pyres themselves are the beginnings of what look like, effectively like a games arena without, like, the actual enclosure of walls. It's just there's stands on either side, and you can see what looks like areas set up for a bunch of the different games. And further down where the pirates are, there is what looks to be a track drawn in the sand or built into the sand around the pyres themselves, like a big circle. [02:31:33] Speaker A: It looks pretty nice, actually. [02:31:37] Speaker D: And there are myrmidons that are down near where the games are going to be. And there are a bunch that are in the. In the stands themselves. And in the place of honor, at the highest point of one of the stands, you can see looks to be probably like a dais, where you would imagine the queen will eventually sit, though she is not currently there. [02:32:12] Speaker A: That looks like where we'll be looked at from. Do, uh. Do the myrmidons in the stands look like they're eager and excited, at least? [02:32:23] Speaker D: No. [02:32:24] Speaker A: Damn. [02:32:26] Speaker D: They don't look, um. They don't look unhappy. They just look like myrmidons, they're very, uh, emotionless. [02:32:38] Speaker A: It's gonna be weird doing all this and not getting, like, you know, heartfelt cheers and whoops of excitement, but we can do it. [02:32:45] Speaker B: I was just thinking this might be the most awkward celebration we might end up being involved with. Yeah. [02:32:53] Speaker C: I mean, when it's called the funerary games, I figured it was gonna be a little dour, but this is just depressing. [02:32:59] Speaker A: It ain't even dour. It's just, it's like being in beige. [02:33:05] Speaker B: Oh, there's something wrong with beige. [02:33:07] Speaker C: Audrey just looks at Oliver. [02:33:12] Speaker B: Anyway, looking out at, like, the actual, I guess, like, game field. Is there any way to tell, like, what game will be for today? [02:33:27] Speaker D: It looks like from the way some of them are dressed, it is going to be probably wrestling and boxing first. You also get the feeling that some of the games last a couple of days just because there's. It takes time to set up and run things, especially, like, chariot races, so they can't get through all of them in one day. [02:33:51] Speaker B: Right. [02:33:54] Speaker C: Audrey is going to pat Oliver on the back. You got this? [02:33:58] Speaker A: Yeah. I believe in you. [02:34:00] Speaker B: Thank you. [02:34:03] Speaker A: Just, you know, if you see a fist coming at you, maybe duck a little bit. [02:34:08] Speaker B: I hadn't considered that. Clint, thank you. [02:34:12] Speaker C: You just got to remember, Oliver, you are a sign of a son of Ogma. This is in your blood. It's not just the training you've been doing. It's in. It's natural to you. [02:34:25] Speaker B: Right. Right. [02:34:32] Speaker D: Oliver, if you go down to join, you are offered the opportunity to dress appropriately rather than get into the arena in your tweed jacket. [02:34:46] Speaker B: I will take up that offer. [02:34:49] Speaker A: What does dressing appropriately entail in the greek fashion? Yeah. [02:34:57] Speaker D: Olympic style, Oliver. Well, no, not quite that old greek fashion, but, Oliver, you are led into, like, a side building, and you are provided with one of those armored leather skirt things and a pair of sandals and no shirt. [02:35:22] Speaker B: Ah, well, all right, then. And I will get appropriately dressed. [02:35:34] Speaker D: Would you like to describe for the people at home what it looks like when all of Oliver, who, like, always wears a suit jacket and a button up shirt and everything comes out in this armored leather skirt and no shirt at all? [02:35:52] Speaker B: Yeah. So once upon a time, if Oliver were to be in this outfit, he would probably look pretty silly. Pretty like, he just does not belong in the outfit whatsoever and cannot pull it off. And he still looks pretty awkward. It's a little bit of the skirt is wearing him instead of him wearing it, but there's also a surprising amount of tone to his musculature. Now. It's almost as if like he's been hiding it behind the suit rather than allowing it to be revealed. But he's got a good amount of, like, leaned, lean musculature that is on display now. [02:36:39] Speaker D: Excellent. Oliver looks maybe not like he was born to be in this particular outfit, but he looks like he really should be showing off a lot more often. [02:36:57] Speaker C: That is not what I was expecting. [02:37:00] Speaker D: It is worth noting, however, that he is very pale. [02:37:05] Speaker B: Its still the case. Very pale. Hes been lathering on sunscreen every single day since leaving the real world. [02:37:18] Speaker D: He is incredibly pale. Looks a little bit like one of the ghosts that yall are about to, you know, see off to the underworld. Just a little. But at least physicality wise, he looks like he belongs here. Doesn't look too in terms of, like, body and tone and whatever. Doesn't look too different from some of the myrmidons that are there. All right. In order to make sure that, that all three of you get to participate in things and have time to roleplay, we're going to basically make this a skill challenge for each of you. And this will take place over the course of the week. The first two days are a combination of boxing and wrestling. I know Clint wanted to wrestle. Yes. [02:38:16] Speaker A: Yeah. Let's do it. [02:38:17] Speaker D: Clint is also offered a chance to dress in the greek style. Excellent. [02:38:32] Speaker A: Clint is very much a bulkier, more physically active individual. Broad shouldered, kind of shelf of a chest. What would be nice abdomen if there weren't so much food and beer that he's consumed over the past few years. And he's quite proud of the little pudge. He's got fair amount of hair, body hair. And definitely looks like an athlete who trains in diets. Dirty, you know, enjoys his food while he's working out. [02:39:08] Speaker D: Muscle. Dad bode. [02:39:10] Speaker A: That's right. [02:39:13] Speaker D: All right, we will start with Oliver. [02:39:18] Speaker B: Okey dokey. [02:39:20] Speaker D: I would like. Let's start with two strengthen brawl rolls. [02:39:33] Speaker B: All right. [02:39:34] Speaker D: Don't forget your epics. Yeah. [02:39:36] Speaker B: And just to throw it out there before the actual, like, round story, I will do what we planned on and dedicating it to a specific name to Myrmidon who's died and saying a few things about them and so on and such. [02:39:49] Speaker D: Excellent. [02:39:51] Speaker B: A brawl and shrimp. That is eight successes. [02:40:05] Speaker D: Jesus. All right, let's do it again because you definitely make it to the next round. Oliver steps into the ring. There's the dinging of the bell. And Oliver. Oliver takes a couple of quick jabs, but they kind of shrugs them off and then just decks the guy, lays him out in one hit. [02:40:26] Speaker A: Hell, yeah. [02:40:29] Speaker B: If I legend point Rudolph, do I believe that I'll tie me fate wise? [02:40:38] Speaker D: There is a chance, but it is a lesser chance than actually using a power. [02:40:45] Speaker B: I will go for it. And could I use a courage virtue for this? [02:40:50] Speaker D: Yeah, I would say so. [02:40:59] Speaker B: A little bit better. Five successes. [02:41:02] Speaker D: All right, this fight is a little bit more, is a little bit more taxing than the first one. You get the feeling that the first guy that you fought was on the younger side, maybe not as well trained as some of the others. The second time, you were with somebody who's a little bit more of a vet, and you guys trade blows a few times, he manages to catch you on the side of the, like, right up on your cheekbone at one point, which kind of staggers you just a little bit, but you come back swinging pretty heavy and hard and managed to, managed to win mostly through raw tenacity. You just lack, like, outlasting roll again. [02:41:55] Speaker B: We're still going. [02:41:55] Speaker A: Let's go, Mister B. [02:41:59] Speaker B: I'm guessing the courage virtually worked for that one role. [02:42:02] Speaker D: Correct. It is one roll. [02:42:07] Speaker B: Five successes. Again. [02:42:09] Speaker D: All right, I. This is another one where you guys are almost evenly matched, but this time, you have learned lessons from the last fight, and you don't get caught. You don't get caught in the face. Again. You actually manage to stagger him a little bit with a quick left handed uppercut and then nail him in the nose, and he goes down. Oh. It is worth noting for those who may be watching at home that these are, these are bare knuckle fights. You are not wearing gloves. [02:42:52] Speaker B: Noted. [02:42:53] Speaker D: All right, one. Let's do another one. [02:42:58] Speaker B: Could I, for, like, the first kind of part of this next round, go a bit more on the defensive, study my opponent a bit more, learn, like, where his, like, weak points might be, and then kind of go back onto the attack. [02:43:15] Speaker D: Um, sure. I will allow you to make a intelligence and brawl role. [02:43:28] Speaker A: Hell, yeah. [02:43:29] Speaker D: To analyze first. And depending on how that goes, it may either take away from his successes or give you some extra dice. We'll see. [02:43:39] Speaker B: All right, five successes. [02:43:44] Speaker D: Okay, now I need you to roll me stamina, fortitude. [02:43:48] Speaker B: Stamina and fortitude. [02:43:57] Speaker A: Don't get knocked out while you're getting hit to figure out how to hit back. [02:44:01] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, that's bad. We'll do one more legend point. [02:44:07] Speaker D: It was all twos, guys. Those are rough. [02:44:10] Speaker B: All twos. [02:44:11] Speaker D: The dice were like, you got cocky. [02:44:13] Speaker B: That's four successes. [02:44:14] Speaker D: Okay, you take a few. Few blows, but you managed to weather them pretty well. Now make me your strength and brawl and add two extra dice to it. [02:44:27] Speaker B: Cool. Five successes again. I missed a five. [02:44:38] Speaker D: This time. You guys are almost perfectly matched. You could tell that this guy's been at this for a while. He's a vet. He is not. He does not have the raw strength that you do, but he makes up for it in experience. So we're going to do one more roll of brawl and strength. No bonuses or anything. Just roll it straight, see if we can break the tie. [02:45:09] Speaker B: Okay. Two successes. I failed all of those. [02:45:16] Speaker D: Oh, yeah. Unfortunately, he wins, but from what you can tell, this is by the second day is when you finally drop out. There was only one other contender after you or that you would have had to fight after him. So you managed to make it to, like, second place effective or, well, third place because the guy that you were fighting goes on to fight the other guy. [02:45:46] Speaker B: Yeah, I'll take it. [02:45:49] Speaker D: But you did pretty good. It is worth noting that while the myrmidons are not the most emotive crowd ever, everybody gets clapped for and there is cheering. It's not as wild as something that you would expect from humans, but there is, like, an effort. And you can tell that while they are, because they are all together, they seem to operate and be more enthusiastic than they tend to be on their own, which might make it a little bit more creepy, but. [02:46:31] Speaker B: Yeah, mostly tune that out and just be content that I did not get utterly thrashed. [02:46:38] Speaker D: All right, Clint. [02:46:40] Speaker A: Yeah. [02:46:41] Speaker D: Strength and brawl, please. [02:46:45] Speaker A: Okay. While this is the previous fights have been going on, can I tell what kind of wrestling they're doing? [02:46:53] Speaker D: They're like greek. [02:46:54] Speaker A: Okay. A little pencration action. [02:46:57] Speaker D: Mm hmm. [02:47:01] Speaker A: Clint will approach this with open hands so as not to harm but to wrestle. That one is only four successes. [02:47:13] Speaker D: Okay. Weird. All right. The guy that you were going up against only got one, so, yeah, you win pretty handily in the first round. Maybe it's a little bit like Oliver. You were a newcomer, so they put you up against a rookie. [02:47:30] Speaker A: Yeah. So instead of shouting the name at the beginning, Clint has accept or adopted to as he's kind of pinned this guy into submission, he's going to stand up and shout out the name of Carillo, the meadmaker, soldier, and cousin, embodying the bee in their ability to create. May they continue to do so in the fields of Elysium. And then he'll raise his hands to try and get a larger cheer out of the audience. [02:48:03] Speaker D: Excellent. You do you get a larger cheer. And when they realize what is happening with you all calling out specific names. Several of the myrmidons kind of disappeared the first time Oliver did it and then came back. And every time a name got announced, somebody would hold up like a shield or a weapon. And you get the feeling that they may have brought some of the belongings of the deceased to be honored. I have a quick question before we move on, because this is a valid thing to wonder. Did Andre or Clint take photos of Oliver in the leather skirt to send to asterobe? [02:48:54] Speaker C: Oh, there's no way. The Andre didn't. He can't let that pass up. [02:49:01] Speaker D: Did you send them right away or did you just. Are you keeping them on your phone to send later? [02:49:06] Speaker C: Oh, I'm sending them right fucking now. [02:49:09] Speaker D: Excellent. [02:49:10] Speaker B: Should be established that Oliver does not know this. [02:49:14] Speaker C: He's gonna learn. [02:49:17] Speaker D: Andre at some point. You don't know which of your cousins did this, but somebody seems to have taught the nymphs at Damon's about. At Damon's farm about anime, because you get one of the, like, wide eyed, anime, like, nosebleed gifs. [02:49:37] Speaker C: Oh, good. [02:49:46] Speaker D: And then you get a message from one of the other nymphs asking how likely you think it is that Oliver could be adopted into the family. He's obviously from the wrong pantheon. [02:50:01] Speaker C: Obviously. [02:50:03] Speaker D: All right, Clint. [02:50:04] Speaker A: Yeah. [02:50:05] Speaker D: Strike the brawl again, please. [02:50:08] Speaker A: Can I offer up athletics instead for grappling purposes to try and toss this one? [02:50:18] Speaker D: No, but I will allow you to have. Looking at your sheet, I allow you to have two extra dice. [02:50:30] Speaker A: Oh, okay. Thank you. That is six successes. [02:50:45] Speaker D: Very good. You put him flat on his back with the first couple of seconds. [02:50:51] Speaker A: Clint will kind of put on a show for that 1st second of this is totally going to be difficult. And give him a chance to fight back. And then just flip him kind of like hook a heel behind the knee, force him onto his back, and then just stand there proudly and shout out the next name, the next profession, their association, and that they continue to do so in the fields of Elysium as he raises his hands for yet another cheer. [02:51:20] Speaker D: Uh, roll again. [02:51:22] Speaker A: You got it. Oh, it's supposed to be two extra dice, and I did not put those on my last one. [02:51:34] Speaker D: Then you can have them on this. [02:51:36] Speaker A: Yes, I will. For five successes. [02:51:39] Speaker D: All right. Much like Oliver, this is the point where things start to get a little bit difficult. This guy does ultimately lose, but it is a much longer fight. You two spend the whole time kind of jockeying for position, trying to hook each other's legs trying to tip each other off balance, locking into these kind of like Ramshorn style grapples, and it seems like you're never going to make progress. And what ends up winning it for you, Clint, is your epic stamina. You just hold out longer than his does. Eventually, his grip fails. [02:52:20] Speaker A: Clint will graciously as he notices his opponent is growing tired. Will weather the storm. And as he sees the weakness in the armor, that moment of needing a breath held to an open palm. Strike to the guys plexus and just knock the wind out to put him down. [02:52:39] Speaker D: Oh, yep. Down he goes. All right, roll again. [02:52:46] Speaker A: You got it. And this time, I would like to add courage, if that is possible. [02:52:50] Speaker D: That is possible. [02:52:52] Speaker A: Excellent. Is that an addition to the two dice, or is that a. [02:53:02] Speaker D: Sure. [02:53:05] Speaker A: We'Re rolling big dice now for seven successes. [02:53:14] Speaker D: All right. Yeah. This is another not, I don't want to say quick, but another very easily technically finished fight. It takes a little while for you to kind of get a feel for your opponent. You kind of go back and forth a little bit, but eventually you manage to bring superior strength and stamina to bear. [02:53:39] Speaker A: Again, most awesome. Do we know how many more fights are left to the victim? [02:53:46] Speaker D: One more tough one. Yep. You are fighting the other person who is won all of their fights. Oh, and he is a big, big man. [02:54:01] Speaker A: Looks up in anticipation at the size of this foe. Readies himself, puffing up, getting larger as much as he can, trying to intimidate him before the battle. Get into his mind, play with games in his mind, but not any sort of power. [02:54:23] Speaker D: Make the roll. [02:54:24] Speaker A: You got it. Courage as well on this one, because we have a point left. [02:54:29] Speaker D: Just remember that you are down a die because you spit one of them. [02:54:33] Speaker A: Yep. So we're down to eight, and here we go. Stick successes. [02:54:40] Speaker D: Not bad. Let's see how he rolls. [02:54:46] Speaker A: But this is a myrmidon. So is it possible, regardless of what he rolls, to put on a show more than to actually try and win so that the myrmidon does come out on top? [02:55:01] Speaker D: Ooh. [02:55:05] Speaker A: Aw. Make it a long, drawn out, bloody. Oh, maybe not too bloody, but a real vicious wrestling match where it gets to the edge, to the middle, sand everywhere, just heaving and tired on both ends until he opens up and allows the weakness to be found. [02:55:24] Speaker D: Wait, are you trying to beat him or let him win? [02:55:27] Speaker A: I'm confused to let him win. I just want to drag it on for purposes of entertainment for the crowd and to make it a real difficult effort. [02:55:36] Speaker D: Uh, okay, here's. I'm gonna. Are you sure. Because if you fail to sell this, it may be seen as an insult, and I think you would know that you have a high enough empathy to understand that. [02:55:53] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't think I have the acting chops to pull it off. [02:55:57] Speaker D: You can sell it to make it look difficult regardless of who wins. But if you try to sell it to. If you try to throw it to make him win, that could cause. That could cause insult. [02:56:14] Speaker A: Okay, well, in that case, instead of making it an insultingly long battle where Flint fails at the end and fails to show off that it fails to sell it, he'll go in for the kill at the end. Not like kill kill, but, you know. [02:56:28] Speaker D: First, roll me a charisma and present I. [02:56:31] Speaker A: Okay, can expression be added to this? [02:56:37] Speaker D: Yes. [02:56:38] Speaker A: Hell yes. We are throwing big dice for fun. Five successes there. [02:57:04] Speaker D: All right, now make me your strength and brawl. [02:57:07] Speaker A: Roll another one. All right. [02:57:11] Speaker D: Wait, was the six from this fight? [02:57:14] Speaker A: Yeah, the six was from this. [02:57:15] Speaker D: Okay, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. We stopped and did so much talking, I forgot. Let me roll for him. Okay, well, the dice certainly have a story to tell. It's a tie, which really sells the fact that this was a hard fight. So roll me one more. Roll me another. Strength and brawl. [02:57:44] Speaker A: All right, we'll use the last dice of courage to just really push this thing. So we're not much left. Here we go. [02:58:03] Speaker D: Six successes, and you pull out the victory at the last minute. He got five successes. You barely, at the last second, managed to see an opening where you realize that you can hook one of his ankles with your foot and pull as hard as you can. And you might be able to knock him off a. Knock him off balance. He's got almost a foot and a half of height on you. This is a massive man. And you manage to. To shoot your foot out, hook around the back of his ankle with your toe, the toe of your foot, and then pull with your leg and push with your arms at the same time. And he goes and he just falls backward like a tree. [02:58:48] Speaker A: Lind, huffing and puffing, stands there for a moment, not quite sure that he's won, before raising his hand. Slowly hired. And the releaser gives out that final name and adds on. And the other valorant and courageous myrmidons, may they find their peace in the fields of Elysium. And then he'll slump down to his knees in the sand. [02:59:20] Speaker D: Excellent. All right, who wanted to do what other things? I know Andre wants to do the foot races and the chariot races. [02:59:37] Speaker A: Clint will be doing the yeeting of the spear. [02:59:50] Speaker D: Anything else? Okay. All right, cool. I'm just double checking. I couldn't remember who all wanted to do what. All right, um, Andre. [03:00:04] Speaker C: Yes. [03:00:06] Speaker D: Uh, we're gonna move to you for the foot races now, actually. [03:00:10] Speaker B: Uh, we don't have to only assign one person per event. Right. [03:00:14] Speaker D: No. [03:00:16] Speaker B: I'll do a foot race as well, then. [03:00:18] Speaker D: All right, Andre and Oliver will both do foot races. Uh, the bright side is that the foot races, there's only, like, three of them, and it's a bunch of people competing at, uh, competing all at once. So, um, I could have you both roll at the same time, which is good, because we're. We have 30 minutes left. Um, all right, I need you both to roll me. Dex and athletics, please. [03:00:41] Speaker B: Uh, that'd be athletics. [03:00:44] Speaker D: What did you think it was gonna be? [03:00:45] Speaker B: I don't know. [03:00:46] Speaker C: Some other skill, integrity. [03:00:52] Speaker D: I mean, that would be worse for him, so. [03:00:55] Speaker C: Oh, no, it's better. [03:00:56] Speaker B: It's better by $1. [03:00:57] Speaker D: Wait, I'm sorry. I was thinking, um, I was thinking of a different one. Sorry. [03:01:05] Speaker B: Uh, four successes. [03:01:10] Speaker C: Uh, yeah, I I only got two. Oliver. Oliver beat me handily on that one. [03:01:15] Speaker D: All right, Oliver, you come in second in the first race. Uh, one of the myrmidons beats you, but barely. It's one of those things where, like, he won because he, he was. He happened to be leaning a little bit more forward than you. He rolled a five. [03:01:33] Speaker A: Yep. [03:01:34] Speaker B: He was a couple inches taller, so when he leaned, it, beat me. [03:01:36] Speaker D: Uh huh. All right, both of you roll again. There's, like I said, there's three races. [03:01:48] Speaker B: Eight sixes. [03:01:52] Speaker C: From Andre. [03:01:54] Speaker D: Five and eight. You two both. Oliver comes in first, and Andre comes in second. Oh, I'm sorry. Audrey comes in third because Clint comes in second. [03:02:04] Speaker A: No, no, this doesn't count, but I'm curious how Clint would do as the note here. [03:02:07] Speaker D: Jesus. Stop randomly rolling. I've got too many things to read. Okay, sorry. Oliver comes in first. Andre comes in second. In the second. Foot race, third and final race. [03:02:29] Speaker A: Make them proud. [03:02:31] Speaker B: Nothing a dice giveth and the dice. [03:02:35] Speaker D: You are both tired by the time you get to the third race, and you end up kind of middle of the pack. But having placed so high in the first two races, you both end up pretty close to the top of the overall performances. All right, back to Clint. [03:03:11] Speaker A: Yep. [03:03:12] Speaker D: Let's go with Dex and Throne for your spear throw. [03:03:19] Speaker A: My favorites, five successes is on the first one. [03:03:39] Speaker D: Okay, you managed to play second. I had one guy who rolled four tens. I don't know how that happened. [03:03:51] Speaker B: I need those. [03:03:53] Speaker C: Can we hire that guy? [03:03:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [03:03:56] Speaker A: Can he teach me how to roll dice? [03:03:59] Speaker D: He has a much smaller. He has a relatively small all diepool by comparison. I just rolled exceptionally well. Let's roll again. [03:04:07] Speaker A: All right. Oh, no. That is. I'm gonna use legend. [03:04:15] Speaker B: How does this keep happening? [03:04:17] Speaker A: I'm using legend. [03:04:19] Speaker D: There was no successes. The only successes he got were from his epics, ladies and gentlemen. That's better. That's eight. Not bad. Yeah, you take first. The guy who rolled 410s last time only rolled one this time. He had a couple of other successes, but he still came in well under you at five. [03:04:42] Speaker A: Nice. [03:04:45] Speaker D: One more roll, please. [03:04:50] Speaker A: That is four successes. [03:04:52] Speaker D: Great. And you place third in the third one. So overall, you placed in the top three every time. [03:05:01] Speaker A: Awesome. [03:05:01] Speaker D: Not bad. [03:05:03] Speaker A: The final one, Clint will call out Nyssa, the gunsmith, soldier and mother who embodies the pistol shrimp and the protection of their community. May she continue to aid those in the fields of Elysium. [03:05:16] Speaker D: Love that. Okay, last competition, Andre. This is the final day is the chariot races. This is the big competition. [03:05:32] Speaker C: Can't wait to flip it. [03:05:35] Speaker D: It is worth noting that, yes, these are chariot races. Yes, you could do this by yourself, but traditionally, chariots have two people in them. [03:05:46] Speaker A: Do you need a hand? [03:05:48] Speaker C: I would not turn it down. [03:05:50] Speaker A: I'm good at directing horses sometimes. [03:05:53] Speaker C: Yeah, I think the horses would listen better to you, and I can just take care of the actual, like, reins. And that works. [03:06:03] Speaker D: All right. [03:06:05] Speaker B: As they're doing it would. I think it would be disrespectful for me as, like, I'm cheering for them, shouting out advice. [03:06:19] Speaker D: Um, not disrespectful. I think you are more likely to have a hard time being heard. [03:06:26] Speaker A: Be loud and proud, Mister B. I. [03:06:29] Speaker B: Was just thinking if there's another way I could help with it. I was just gonna try to do that. [03:06:34] Speaker D: However, Kama, with the plan of having Clint help with the animals and Andre handling most of the driving itself, you get the sneaking suspicion that they are probably very well suited for what's coming. [03:06:52] Speaker B: Right on. [03:06:55] Speaker A: Don't say that. Don't curse us. Don't do that. [03:06:58] Speaker D: BP, I'm looking at your dipoles. I think you'll be fine. [03:07:04] Speaker A: Okay. [03:07:05] Speaker D: All right, I need from Clint, charisma and animal Ken. [03:07:12] Speaker A: All right. [03:07:14] Speaker D: And from Andre, I need. Let's go. Dexterity and control. And I will allow you the full three dots. Uh, I'll consider this a form of automobile. [03:07:34] Speaker C: Alrighty. [03:07:37] Speaker A: Got four successes with the aminals. [03:07:40] Speaker C: Oh. Two. [03:07:42] Speaker D: Uh, like to spend the legend. [03:07:45] Speaker C: You know what? Yeah. [03:07:48] Speaker A: You want me to, too? I got a few more left in the tank. [03:07:51] Speaker C: Uh, I think four is okay for right now. We'll see how we go for the next few races, all right? [03:07:57] Speaker D: Oh, no, this is one long race. [03:07:59] Speaker C: Oh, we're doing this in stretches, I think. [03:08:03] Speaker B: Yeah, you still do multiple rolls and shizzes. [03:08:05] Speaker C: Let's see if we can just come back in the next few stretches after this roll. [03:08:11] Speaker A: It's like Mario Kart. You want to be behind to get the items right. [03:08:13] Speaker B: That's how they do. They hate us. The dice hate us. [03:08:19] Speaker D: All right, that's the first stretch. I'm not going to tell you exactly how well you're doing yet. The pack is still relatively together, so it's hard to tell exactly how you're doing. I need another roll from either of you. [03:08:35] Speaker A: All right, here we go. Three successes on the animal. Kim. Holy shit. [03:08:42] Speaker D: Holy Jesus. All right, this is where the pack starts to break up a little bit. Clint is shouting for the horses. He's watching their lines, watching the sand, pointing out potential problem areas. He knows what is and is not good for their legs and their hooves. And Andre takes all of that advice on board and then some also begins to utilize his more mechanical mindset to take advantage of the unique physics at play when one is riding a chariot over sand and begins to pull well ahead of the crowd. I need another role from either of you. [03:09:30] Speaker A: Here we go. I'll use legend on mine. [03:09:40] Speaker D: Okay. [03:09:44] Speaker C: That is six from Andre and. [03:09:47] Speaker A: Four instead of three. [03:09:49] Speaker D: All right, not bad. You all managed to maintain most of your lead. There is another chariot that is very close to coming up, even with you. It's a little like a head behind in terms of where its horses are, but hasn't quite gotten to the point where it is even yet. All right, that was rule number three. I need one more. [03:10:15] Speaker A: Come on, we can do it. Three. [03:10:26] Speaker C: Trying to see if I can use my virtues, and I don't think I got one that applies here. What are your virtues, valor and vengeance? [03:10:34] Speaker D: Expression. Intellect. [03:10:36] Speaker C: Well, yeah, intellect. Seeing an opening and taking it. Yep, I'll go with that one. [03:10:48] Speaker A: Hell, yeah. [03:10:48] Speaker C: Six successes. [03:10:50] Speaker D: All right, not bad. Um, you again. You're. You get to the point where you were neck and neck with that other. With that other chariot. And Andre looks over and realizes that there is a slight divot in the sand ahead. And if he can just pull to the left a little bit and force the other chariot to have to contend with that divot, it may slow them down and so he does. It is a risk because you could run into their chariot and crash ed, crash both. But Andre takes the risk and gives a little tug on the left rein and manages to force that chariot to have to contend with this relatively deep divot in the sand. So it has to pull off to the side slightly and actually ends up going off the track altogether, disqualifying itself and allowing you guys to win the race. Two thunderous applause. [03:12:00] Speaker A: High five. Come on, you earned it. [03:12:04] Speaker C: Well, I wouldn't have done it without you, man. [03:12:08] Speaker A: Yeah, I deserve the high five, too. Please. Come on. Don't leave me hanging. [03:12:11] Speaker C: Yeah, just slap hands. [03:12:14] Speaker A: There we go. [03:12:16] Speaker D: And as the horses are being led away, the chariots are being removed. You guys watches as processions enter the arena, carrying litters with bodies on them and lifting them up onto the pyres. Pyres which are not yet burning, but they are climbing the ladders with these bodies on their stretchers and laying them out. The sun is going down. It is getting dark. Torches are being lit. You can tell that they are getting into the proper funerary part of the funeral games. All of the belongings of the deceased are being returned to the pyres where they belong. You see, what you assume is friends or potentially family, or maybe just like, their religious figures are climbing up the ladders after the bodies are placed and are taking moments to pray over the bodies and looks like. Place something on their faces. [03:13:31] Speaker A: What are they doing over there? Oh, wait. Oh, shit. The text from my cousin. Those are. They're getting their coins, aren't they? [03:13:48] Speaker D: Oliver? Andre. [03:13:51] Speaker B: I don't know if I was still with them or not, because. [03:13:53] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah, you guys are together. This is after the. After the race and stuff. [03:13:58] Speaker B: Likely. This is probably the official rights. Um, have we kind of been dedicating the. The flowers throughout the week? Or would this be the time where we. [03:14:09] Speaker D: This is the time when you would offer the flowers. You would. You would take them up to each. Each pyre. [03:14:15] Speaker B: You need to get those flowers. [03:14:18] Speaker A: And I'll take these. You take those. And. Hey, Andre, you get this handful here. Let's get to work. [03:14:25] Speaker D: All right. Three of you split up and go from pyre to pyre, placing flowers on them as a woman. Or the queen stands and begins to sing, and you realize that she is singing what is effectively a dirge of sorts. Even though it's not technically a greek style of music. It's a funerary song. It is heart wrenching. It is in ancient Greek. I don't have words for it. But words for it specifically, I couldn't find one, but Oliver. It is Oliver and Andre. It is the kind of song that brings tears to your eyes. She is a beautiful singer, and she's loud, so you imagine there's probably some sort of magic at play to make her voice louder. As all of the offerings are made and the pyres are decorated, everyone climbs down, or not everyone climbs down. A runner goes from pyre to pyre with a torch. And those who are standing up on the platform next to each pyre so that they could reach the top light a torch off of it, off of the one being carried from one to the other, and then place them to the straw and wood that makes up the pyre itself. And each pyre begins to catch and burn. It takes no time at all for the air to be filled with the scent of smoke and ash and for a slow, rhythmic pounding to begin, as the myrmidons who are still alive begin to bang spears and shields and swords in time with the music and begin to cry out and weep. It is the most intense display of emotion you have seen from any of them the whole time that you've been here. You get the feeling that when a member of the colony dies, it is like a piece of everyone here dies with them. So to lose so much in such a short period of time must be gut wrenching in its own way, despite their not normally emotive state of being. [03:17:22] Speaker A: I ain't no expert, but I think they're sad. [03:17:27] Speaker B: I imagine so. [03:17:34] Speaker C: Got on one big guy. [03:17:38] Speaker A: Kind of sad form, too. [03:17:42] Speaker B: Me too. [03:17:48] Speaker D: Following the pyrus burning, they are left to burn until they burn themselves out. There are those who hold vigil, but most return into the city. And the city is filled with the sounds of music and talking and laughter. And there is food everywhere. People bring platters of food out of their houses. The market is just awash in the scent of most greek foods that you can think of and some that you've probably never heard of because they're so old that they haven't been seen in Greece since the ancient days. And the party and what was a deeply emotional, mournful experience just an hour or two before it becomes a. A celebratory atmosphere as people celebrate the passing of their dead into the underworld. Clint, it is worth noting that you don't see any more ghosts now they're gone. [03:19:08] Speaker A: You know how I normally see ghosts? Kind of just lingering about, I think. Well, the folks that were here, if they were honored, I think they might be be moving on. [03:19:19] Speaker C: Yeah, I think we sent them on. [03:19:21] Speaker B: That's good. [03:19:24] Speaker A: Also, I'd like to point out that the divine Google thing was right. And ants do, in fact, like to party. [03:19:33] Speaker B: Um, I suppose like might be a strong word. Wasn't a whole lot of emotion beyond the ending there, but they're most certainly partying. [03:19:49] Speaker A: No, I mean, look at them now. They're having. [03:19:52] Speaker D: Okay, they're feasting and playing music and dancing. [03:19:59] Speaker A: That's an old fashioned party right there. [03:20:02] Speaker B: I suppose you're right, Clint. Ants do like to party. [03:20:07] Speaker A: Jot this down right here that I was right about something. [03:20:12] Speaker D: It is also worth noting that when you guys watched the bodies being brought out to the pyres, it seemed almost parade. Like just a funerary parade. Is there anything else anybody would like to do with the last few minutes that we have? [03:20:40] Speaker A: Think we did a hell of a job, y'all. [03:20:44] Speaker B: I think so. As far as I can tell, it seems like this labor has been completed, although I'm still left with questions as to how this mass of deaths occurred. [03:21:01] Speaker C: Yeah, same. [03:21:02] Speaker A: It's a good point. Do you think we'll get, like, a text from Hades or anything saying thank you or, like, picture of the flowers down there? I'm kind of curious how they made it. [03:21:12] Speaker C: I mean, I personally love to hear from my uncle, but I don't know. He's. He's a very, very busy guy. [03:21:17] Speaker A: You got his number? [03:21:20] Speaker D: No. [03:21:20] Speaker C: Well, I mean, I had his number one time. Might have changed phone since then. [03:21:26] Speaker D: It is worth remembering that you were told that once everything is over, you would have to recollect the flowers because they weren't put on the pyres themselves and then carry them into the underworld. [03:21:38] Speaker C: Right. [03:21:41] Speaker D: So if maybe you'll see Hades and he'll get to tell you thank you on his own. But that is for next week. Thank you, everybody. Everybody, for joining us.