S3 Ep8: Welcome to My World

[00:00:30] Speaker A: Hi, I'm Gavin Cash and I'm playing Clint Brazos, a scion of the Morrigan. [00:00:36] Speaker B: Hello, I'm Gary and I'll be playing Oliver Bright, a scion of Oghma. [00:00:42] Speaker C: Hello, my name is Sticker and I play Coda Masakoi, a scion of Bastet. [00:00:49] Speaker D: Hello, I'm Solomon, and I play Andre Briscoe, the scion of Hephaestus. [00:00:54] Speaker E: Hello, my name is Alex Roberts, and I play Hades, God of the Underworld. [00:01:00] Speaker F: Hello, I'm Aubrey and I play Persephone, Goddess of Spring and Queen of the Underworld. [00:01:07] Speaker G: And I'm Bloodied Porcelain. I'll be your storyteller for the evening. Good evening, players. Hi. Hello and welcome back. Coda. Last we left off, Coda had stayed behind with Circe on her island to work out some personal things. Whether or not she decides to enlighten us is up to her later. But while Coda hung back to spend time with one of the world's most powerful immortal enchantresses, Clint, Andre and Oliver continued onward, determined to complete the labor before the time was up. And the flowers that they had been entrusted with began to wilt. They had, after all, wasted more than a month on Circe's island and were well aware that if they went for too long, they might run out of time. They arrived on the island of the Myrmidons without too much issue. Circe's promise that she would allow them or that she would provide them with the means to steer their without being taken off course proved true. On the island, they were introduced to the queen, who was, by and large, rather dismissive of them, but polite as she did so. She's very good at making it clear that they were welcome on the island, of course, especially as two of them were scions of the Dodecathion, but that she was very busy and had an entire island worth of Myrmidons to look after, and sent them on their way. They each participated in a series of funerary games, from boxing to foot races and spear throwing, and finally the main event, which was chariot racing. They did quite well, placing in the top three in every single event following that, before the funerary games happened, they had a look around the island, did some investigating to try and figure out how all of these Myrmidons died and began to realize that there's something odd going on. They all seem to have maybe not died in the exact same moment, but died close enough together that this huge, funer game was put on. But as far as Andre and Alexandra were Aware there haven't been mass die offs of Greek scions. And the Myrmidons usually serve. Serve Greek scions. So what happened? No one could give them a straight up answer about it. Not even the spirits who were hanging around waiting for the funerary rites to be performed so that they could be sent on to the underworld following the funerary games. It is late. You all maybe not or maybe not exhausted, but you've all got that kind of. We've spent a long day being. We've spent several long days being very busy and do. And completing acts of athleticism and you're. You're all kind of tired. But there were. There was feasting all over the island that you were able to partake in and plenty of wine, as is the custom. And you do have a comfortable house to return to. Is there anything the three of you would like to do that evening? [00:05:32] Speaker B: Yes, as we're sort of kind of like settling down for the night after, like spending the whole day doing the funerary games and we return home and kind of spend some time for ourselves to wind down a bit. I think I'll wait until there's like a moment where Andre and I at least have somewhat a sense of privacy and sort of sit with him. Hey, is it all right if I ask you something? [00:06:06] Speaker D: Yeah, sure. Anything. [00:06:09] Speaker B: I know you're probably trying to keep your mind off of it for the most part, but. How are you doing right now? [00:06:20] Speaker D: I'm okay. Yeah. I mean, there's nothing I can do about it out here. And I have faith in her. No matter what she chooses, it'll be the right choice and I'll be happy for her. It's more than Polton is that it's less about me. And I just want her to be okay. [00:06:45] Speaker B: I understand that. And that's noble of you. I just figured it would be prudent to check in on my friends. I don't want to feel as if any of us have to go through our troubles alone. [00:07:00] Speaker D: Yeah, I get you. And I appreciate it. Honestly, it's kind of weird talking about my shit. Usually everyone's like, thanks for making whatever for me. Axe, Sword. Gun. And then they leave. It's. It's been a while since I've been traveling with a band for longer than a few days. [00:07:23] Speaker B: Well, you're part of the team, Andre. Your thoughts, feelings, opinions just as valuable as anyone else's. And I want to stress that on everyone. [00:07:40] Speaker D: Appreciate that. [00:07:42] Speaker B: Yeah. Is there anything else you want to talk about at any point in time at all. Feel free to come to me or Clincher, Coda or anyone else. [00:07:55] Speaker D: I think there's something I'd like to make clear. [00:08:00] Speaker B: Right. [00:08:03] Speaker D: I am not exactly 100% sure that what y'all are doing is gonna work, but if I can help you make it happen, I will. Stefan did me and my family wrong. Took very important people from us. But if we can show that people can change, that maybe there's a chance that there's an entire group of scions that could actually be helpful to us and show that there can be an issue of nurture versus nature here. I can get behind that. [00:08:53] Speaker B: And I appreciate that. And I appreciate you being honest about how you feel about this. And truth be told, I'm not 100% sure what we're doing is going to work either. But I still think it's worth trying. I still think, ultimately, the product, it's worth the risk if it pans out the way we want it to. [00:09:18] Speaker D: I agree. Nothing worth doing is easy. [00:09:27] Speaker B: No, it is not. I'm learning that every day. [00:09:32] Speaker D: If any other signs with me give you just let me know. Okay. [00:09:39] Speaker B: I'll bear that in mind. But starting to think that if anyone gives me shit, I should probably start to handle that myself. I kind of. [00:09:49] Speaker D: There you go. [00:09:49] Speaker B: Hold up my fists. [00:09:51] Speaker D: Andre's is gonna get this really big smile on his face. I was wondering when that was gonna start coming up. There you go. [00:10:00] Speaker B: Yeah, my knuckles hurt a lot right now. [00:10:04] Speaker D: I can imagine. Doesn't mean that it'll have to be so soon that you start throwing hands again. Just, you know, start no trouble. But take no shit. [00:10:15] Speaker B: Words. I might need to start living by. Good night, Andre. Sleep well. And good work in the chariot race with Clint today. That's impressive. [00:10:32] Speaker D: Thanks. Good work at the foot races and the poxen. [00:10:38] Speaker B: Yeah. Shame Coda wasn't here. She would smoke all of us in that foot race. [00:10:42] Speaker D: Oh, no doubt. But you know, I'm gonna have to show her pictures of you and the skirt, right? [00:10:49] Speaker B: I'm sorry, what? [00:10:52] Speaker D: Good night, Oliver. And then he will close the door you took. [00:10:54] Speaker B: Oh, no. You haven't sent that to anyone, have you? [00:11:00] Speaker D: Don't worry about it. [00:11:02] Speaker B: I. I am. [00:11:08] Speaker D: Just keep your phone handy. [00:11:11] Speaker B: Oh, no. [00:11:13] Speaker G: All right. Was there anything else anyone wanted to do before bed that night? [00:11:21] Speaker E: Nah. [00:11:21] Speaker A: Clint's knocked out. He's enjoying himself after a long, long time of fighting and activity. He's good. He's checked out. [00:11:32] Speaker D: Andre will send another text message. Actually, no, he's going to send a. He's going to call Mia expecting to have to leave a voicemail. [00:11:44] Speaker G: Okay. It rings several times, but there is no answer. How? What do you leave on the voicemail? [00:11:55] Speaker D: Hey, Mia. Just wanted to let you know I'm still going at it. We made it to the Myrmidon island. Finally we did the funerary rites played in the funerary games. I actually came in first with the help of Clint in the chariot race. I just wanted to keep you up to date on what's been happenings and let you know that I'm still thinking about you and that I hope that whatever you're up to, it's not difficult for you, that you're having a good time and things aren't too tough on your end of things. Love you always. And then he will hang up. [00:12:40] Speaker G: Oh, my heart. Okay, Oliver, is there anything else that you would like to do tonight? Or are you going to bed with the anxiety hanging over you that you don't know who has that picture or even what that picture looks like? [00:12:56] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, both of those things for sure. I will check my phone to see if I've received any messages to illuminate me on that. But if not, then I will probably go to bed filled with anxiety. [00:13:10] Speaker C: Okay. [00:13:11] Speaker G: Excellent. You go to bed filled with anxiety. [00:13:14] Speaker B: Great. [00:13:20] Speaker G: You all awake in the morning to the sun coming in through your windows. It is a warm. There is a lovely breeze coming in off the water as per usual. Oliver? [00:13:45] Speaker B: Yes? [00:13:47] Speaker G: Can you please roll me? Figure out which window I have your sheet open in. That would be great. Roll me. Perception and awareness. No, whatever. Your Whatever. Perception and fate. [00:14:11] Speaker B: Perception and fate. [00:14:13] Speaker G: Okay. [00:14:15] Speaker B: Fade three. Yeah. There won't be any auto success for this. Right. Because it's the fate purview and not like an epic. [00:14:32] Speaker G: Well, you're rolling perception. So you don't have. [00:14:35] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Perception is an attribute. Five successes. [00:14:42] Speaker A: Nice. [00:14:42] Speaker G: Not bad. I love your specialties. Please let me roll. Well, tonight seems for now, that the gods of fate are listening. [00:14:50] Speaker B: Thank you. [00:14:53] Speaker G: You wake up with a peculiar sensation that you can't quite put your finger on at first. It's like a tugging almost, but it's like it's tugging at nothing. What it's tugging at doesn't seem physical. It seems like there is something tugging at the core of who and what you are. Sorry, go ahead. [00:15:25] Speaker B: I was gonna say, does it feel like it's tugging me in a certain direction? [00:15:29] Speaker G: No. Well, I mean, kinda. It feels more like. Feels more like something is being pulled toward you rather than you being toward it. Like it's Nothing that could make you move, but it is very clearly something tugging at you. [00:15:56] Speaker B: Okay, how early is it at this point? [00:16:02] Speaker G: It's pretty early. Like, the sun's just starting to come up. [00:16:05] Speaker B: Okay, in that case, I will get, like, half dressed. The. The full suit probably won't come on, but there will at least be shirt and pants. And assuming Andre and Clint are still asleep, I'll allow them to do so and see if I can kind of like follow where the hole is leading me. [00:16:25] Speaker G: Okay, you rolled well enough that I'm not going to make you roll again. You follow that tugging sensation, and it leads you out of the house and through the streets of the city, out to the beach so that you were facing the water. [00:16:47] Speaker B: I'll put my hand over my brow and squint as I try to look out at the ocean, which I know won't go well, but I'm going to try. [00:16:59] Speaker G: You don't see anything that you don't normally expect to see. You see the faint outline very distantly of Alexandra's ship, but nothing else. [00:17:13] Speaker B: Does it feel like the tugging's getting closer? [00:17:18] Speaker G: I mean, maybe you haven't had it for very long. You don't know exactly where the tugging is coming from. It might take a while to sense any real difference. [00:17:36] Speaker B: In that case, for now, I'll go back to the house, and at this point, I'm up. So I'll make coffee, if we're able to, in our kitchen. I know it's a little bit more low tech. [00:17:49] Speaker G: It's very low tech. But there is coffee. If you could figure out how to make it without a coffee maker. [00:17:54] Speaker B: I'll see if I can piece that together. My inside. I feel like you're smart enough. [00:18:00] Speaker G: You're fine. [00:18:01] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:18:02] Speaker G: You go online, say, how do people make coffee when they're camping? Yeah. [00:18:08] Speaker B: But, yeah, I'll do that. I'll enjoy my coffee on the. On the porch, wait for the other two to wake up, and kind of keep an eye on that sensation, See if I notice any changes or amplifications as the morning draws on. [00:18:22] Speaker G: All right, Andre and Clint. You wake up to the smell of coffee and sea air. [00:18:31] Speaker A: Oh, it ain't common for folks to wake up before me and get breakfast, mate. Let's go see what's going on in the kitchen. [00:18:40] Speaker D: Audrey's just going to get up and just stretch and pop like so many joints in his back and in his hands before he heads out to the kitchen. [00:18:50] Speaker G: Uh, there's no actual breakfast. It's just coffee, but it Is hot. [00:18:55] Speaker D: Breakfast for Andre, and he's going to grab some. [00:19:01] Speaker A: Well, I mean, I'll take coffee, but. Oh, shit. Hold on, y'all. I get something made for us, and we'll start cooking. [00:19:09] Speaker B: Calling through the front door. Sorry, I'm not good at making breakfast. So I was gonna leave that to you, Clinton. [00:19:15] Speaker A: Oh, it ain't no problem. I got it. [00:19:17] Speaker D: Probably the same thing. [00:19:19] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:19:20] Speaker G: Would you like to roll me? Intelligence and craft. [00:19:23] Speaker A: Let's go. [00:19:24] Speaker G: You haven't got to do one of those in a while. Make sure that you roll the right type of dice. [00:19:28] Speaker A: Well, it's really hard to roll D6 or D10s or any specific dice with our new command. [00:19:34] Speaker G: I mean, you are rolling D10s with the new command, but that's fair. [00:19:39] Speaker A: That's the app. No modifier. [00:19:44] Speaker G: Oh, by the way, these are cast iron. [00:19:48] Speaker B: Don't mess it up again. [00:19:51] Speaker G: I mean, it's low tech. Of course. It's cast iron. That's not. That's not bad at all. Yeah, you managed to. You managed to whip up something yummy. You have to work with what's in there. So it's. It's very, very basic. It's eggs and. And, like, leftovers from the night before. So there's, like, slices of ham and things like that, but not. Not bad. Pretty. Pretty straightforward. Hey, Oliver, that tugging is getting stronger, a little bit more insistent. [00:20:26] Speaker B: Now take, like, another long sip from my coffee as I'm just kind of, like, looking in that same direction. Hey, guys, do you want to take a trip down to the beach? [00:20:40] Speaker A: I mean, yeah, we can eat and walk. That ain't a problem. [00:20:43] Speaker D: I'm always fine with that. [00:20:44] Speaker B: All right, great. Because I feel like something's on its way to us. [00:20:51] Speaker A: Oh, no. Like another Kraken kind of thing? [00:20:55] Speaker B: No, I don't think it's anything like that this time. [00:20:57] Speaker D: Wait, y'all dealt with a Kraken? [00:20:59] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, kind of. [00:21:00] Speaker B: Loa. [00:21:02] Speaker D: Well, all right. [00:21:06] Speaker B: Does that relate to that time that Clint threw a wolf into the ocean? [00:21:11] Speaker A: Okay, yeah, it was a fun one, but, yeah, we can go down there. Let's see what we got here. Here's your burrito, and here's mine. And here you go. It should take care of you too, Andre. [00:21:22] Speaker G: Great. [00:21:23] Speaker D: Thank you. [00:21:24] Speaker B: Yes, thanks. [00:21:25] Speaker A: Yeah. And then we walk. [00:21:30] Speaker G: All right. You all walk down to the beach. That thread is still stretching off into the distance. Oliver. [00:21:43] Speaker B: With my experience in fate at this point, could I decipher, like, if now that I'm actively looking at it and putting my full attention into it could I decipher what the thread is? As in, like, who, what, or where it belongs to? [00:22:05] Speaker G: I won't say that you know exactly who or what or where it belongs to. You can, however, tell that it was definitely formed by magic, not just by fate. [00:22:15] Speaker B: Gotcha. All right. [00:22:25] Speaker G: Are you guys just going to hang out on the beach, or are you going to talk or do anything, or shall I jump forward? [00:22:32] Speaker D: Andre's looking at it like, are we waiting for something, Oliver? [00:22:37] Speaker B: I think we are. When I woke up this morning, I felt something fate related on its way, but it was far off. Feels closer now. [00:22:49] Speaker A: You got any sort of idea what's coming? Like, should we get ready to fight, or is this a good thing? [00:22:56] Speaker B: I think it's a good thing. [00:23:00] Speaker A: All right. You ain't been wrong about it before. At least I can remember, so. Oh. Maybe I should have made more breakfast. For whatever's coming. [00:23:13] Speaker D: From what I gather, if it's unreal, let us know. [00:23:16] Speaker B: Great. From what I gather, it's a thread forged by both fate and magic. So, with that in mind, I have some suspicions. [00:23:28] Speaker A: What do you got in mind? [00:23:31] Speaker B: I think a friend's coming back to us. [00:23:34] Speaker A: Oh, you think? Is it Koda? [00:23:38] Speaker B: Probably. [00:23:39] Speaker D: That makes sense. Magic and play. Acer. She probably tied her to us and send her on her way, huh? [00:23:47] Speaker A: I hope she's not, you know, all jostled by the water, but I'll be right back. Y'all hold on. Clint is gonna go back to our abode and bring out some blankets and a pillow just in case our friend comes back soaked and battered and bruised and needing comfort. [00:24:05] Speaker G: That's very cute. All right, we're going to pause there with you guys, and I'm going to hop over to one of our other bandmates. Hey, Koda. Hey. You set off from Cersei's in, like, the. At the end of the night, the night prior, you were. She. She pulled out what looked like a tiny, like, wooden toy boat. And you got to watch as she carried it down to the water and placed it very carefully into it and then pushed it out from the shore. And as it floated away from her, it began to grow and grow and grow until it was a full sized trirem, not terribly unlike Alexandra's. Different in some ways. It has flourishes that Alexandra's don't have, but is also somehow seems less than Alexandra's. You can tell that Circe's was shaped from magic, whereas Alexandra's was shaped by hand, by master craftsmen in ages long past. And once it had floated away. She kind of looked over at you and gave a little nod and had you. You had to swim a little bit to get out to it. But it wasn't a hard swim. The water was very calm around you and it was no more than, you know, 20, 30 yards, as opposed to nearly a full mile, which is what it would normally be for a free ship that was kept off the shore. And once you climbed into it, you pulled out a bottle that she had handed you and she had been very clear. Do not open the bottle until you're on the ship and you have used the rudder to shape or to turn the ship in the distance or in the direction that you needed it to go. And you would know where you needed it because there you could see a visible thread running from your chest, like the core of who you are out into the distance. It took you a few minutes to figure out how to use the rudder to steer, and you're nowhere near as used to it as somebody like Alexander is. So you kind of just sort of spun the boat in circles for a couple of minutes before you got the. Got it facing the right way. And then you pulled the bottle out, pointed it at the open sail, and then uncorked it and watched as the sail suddenly filled to full and the ship took off. There's nobody on ship on board with you. There's nobody working the oars. It's just moving full speed. It is well into the next morning by the time you feel like you're getting close. As time goes on, that tugging gets more and more intense and you can almost feel that thread vibrating and you can sense somehow that you are close. [00:27:54] Speaker C: Koda is excited and nervous, but mostly excited. She's kind of been sitting cross legged on the. What is it called? The deck? Yes, the ship, like, near the rudder, like, or at least close enough to the rudder where she's like, oh, I need to shift a little bit. She'll get up and go and do that. But for the most part, she's just kind of been sitting cross legged on the ship, just heading towards her group and just thinking. [00:28:26] Speaker G: What is she thinking about? [00:28:30] Speaker C: About everything she went through during her time of. Cersei. Cersei. Cersei's. [00:28:37] Speaker G: Cersei. [00:28:38] Speaker C: Cersei. There we go. [00:28:41] Speaker G: Yeah. [00:28:41] Speaker C: So she's, you know, thinking about a lot of the pain she's lived through and possibly pain she's caused because of the pain she lived through and her how defensive she could sometimes be. She's also been like, wow, thinking back to when she drank from one of the first cups that Cersei gave her, how much she remembers vaguely, but also very clearly that it was called the purest and the, like, best cleanse you can have. And how much it burned, cleansing her somewhat of all the poison in her, which the poison was her. Pretty much all the bad stuff that's happened to her, some of the negative feelings she's had about herself and, like, just how it all came out in tears and bile and snot and all of that. And she. You know, she's thinking back to, like, wow, that, like, really hurt. But she's like, but did I really have all of that inside me? And I think now she's just, like, thinking through all of this and what she's gonna do when she gets back to her group. And how are things. How have things changed since they have been separate? How has she changed? Well, this. Can she still be coda and not be angry? So she's. She's thinking through a lot of big thoughts and is holding, like, a little crystal that was given to her by Cersei that helps her meditate. So if she starts getting to. She gets into a feedback loop on her thoughts, she's like, wait, hold on. I remember, take a deep breath, think about, well, nothing, and then sort through all the other things. And at the end of the day, she's like, I'm almost making it back to my boys. So, yeah, that's coda right now. [00:30:50] Speaker G: I love that. That's awesome. Koda, you are a million miles away, thinking about all the things that happened, all of the things you want to do, the goals that you've created for yourself, yourself, and how you want to tackle the rest of your life, so to speak. And so you're not thinking terribly closely about what the boat is doing. You're just sort of trusting it to do what it needs to do and occasionally reaching up and, like, nudging the rudder. So it doesn't really occur to you until land is in sight and you realize that the boat is still moving rather rapidly, that Cersei never really told you how to stop. And you can see three figures standing on the beach, and the boat's still going very fast. Those sails are still full of wind. [00:31:56] Speaker C: Huh? She's going to, like, look at the sailor, look at the bag of wind, look at the beach, look at the rudder, and then go, can I wrap my hands around the bag of wind? [00:32:08] Speaker G: It's a bottle, not a bag. [00:32:09] Speaker C: I'm sorry. Bottle. The bottle. Like, she's gonna be all right. So Can I. What's the word? [00:32:16] Speaker G: Cork it. You could certainly try to cork it. See if you could stop the wind from escaping. [00:32:21] Speaker C: Yeah, so she's gonna be like, let me try bottling it or cork in it. So, yeah, she's gonna try to cork it. [00:32:29] Speaker G: Make me just a raw. A raw brawn check. No, strength. Brawn is not a thing in this system. I'm sorry. I run too many systems. [00:32:40] Speaker C: Oh, I see. A raw strength check. [00:32:43] Speaker G: Just strengths. Yes. [00:32:52] Speaker B: Four. [00:32:55] Speaker C: No modifier. [00:32:58] Speaker G: You would have a modifier. You have an epic. I'll allow you to use your epic even though you're not using a skill. [00:33:03] Speaker C: Oh, okay. Five successes. [00:33:12] Speaker G: Pretty good. All right. Yeah. You push the cork back into the bottle and have to kind of. You think you've got it, and it starts to come loose again, and you've slapped the top of it so that it jams it into place, and suddenly the sail kind of deflates and the boat begins to slow down considerably. Which is good, because this happens as the boat is, like, 10 yards away from the shore, and the boys have been forced to kind of, like, back up and split a little bit to, you know, not get hit as the. As the boat rams up onto the beach. [00:33:56] Speaker C: Oh. She'll, like, look at the bottle for a moment and, like, take a deep breath and then go. [00:34:09] Speaker G: Hey, it wasn't a. It wasn't a smooth stop. Coda. You got. You got jostled pretty hard. [00:34:15] Speaker C: Okay, cool. Well, then she'll kind of just, like, hold on to the side of the boat and then peek her head over and go, hi. [00:34:25] Speaker B: Hi. [00:34:28] Speaker A: Well, you made it. Here. I got you. Got your blanket. Got your pillow. You okay? Did you have. You. Hold on. Let me check. You and Klind will get an approach to check for bruises and anything. [00:34:43] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm fine. She'll just kind of. You know when someone's, like, checking on you and you're just kind of, like, stop, but you don't, like, push them away. So she's just kind of, like, squeeze. What's the word? Like, cringing a little bit. But she's, like, letting them check. I'm fine. I just forgot that the boat had to stop, and so I just corked the bottle. [00:35:10] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah. I don't see anything broken. Okay. Okay, good. Well, I missed you. And then he'll throw an arm around for a hug. [00:35:21] Speaker G: Oliver and Koda, you both feel that tension that pulled coda to where Oliver was. You both feel it, like, snap, like a line of string that was pulled too taut, and the pressure and Tension that it created dissipates. [00:35:42] Speaker B: All right, Then. [00:35:47] Speaker C: She'Ll look at Clint, and then for a moment, she looks hesitant, but then she'll just go in for a big hug and go, I missed you guys. Guys, too. Yeah. [00:36:03] Speaker B: That was private time with Cersei. [00:36:12] Speaker C: Enlightening. [00:36:15] Speaker D: Really? [00:36:16] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, like, obviously, the. That whole part, like, the part that was, like, you know, like, sleeping with each other, that was kind of interesting and. Well, not kind of interesting. It was, like, very hot. [00:36:30] Speaker G: Like, very hot. [00:36:32] Speaker C: Like, I tell you what. It was so. And I wasn't even high during it. Well, mostly, but. Oh, my God. It was amazing. Right? Um. I'm happy to see you guys. [00:37:01] Speaker A: We're happy to have you back. [00:37:05] Speaker C: This place looks less haunting than I thought it would be. [00:37:10] Speaker A: Yeah, you kind of missed out on the games. It was. There was a foot race. You would have done real good. [00:37:20] Speaker C: Games. Aren't we supposed to be, like, killing a bunch of ant men? [00:37:25] Speaker A: No. [00:37:25] Speaker B: No, we're not killing them. [00:37:27] Speaker A: It turns out they were already dead, which kind of worked out pretty well. Not for them, but for us. And then we got to put flowers on graves, and. And we fought, and we did racing and. What else did we. I threw a stick real far. [00:37:44] Speaker B: Oliver kicked the. [00:37:45] Speaker D: Out of some people. [00:37:46] Speaker A: Yeah, he beat. [00:37:49] Speaker B: I took part in the boxing tournament. [00:37:55] Speaker C: Did you give someone a black eye? [00:37:57] Speaker A: It was more than that. [00:37:59] Speaker D: Came in third. [00:38:03] Speaker C: Well, you know what they say about third. They say, Mr. B, that third is two times as less. Good. Good as first. [00:38:23] Speaker B: We're just gonna, like, squint. [00:38:28] Speaker C: Good. [00:38:29] Speaker G: Good works. [00:38:29] Speaker C: Right? Because, like, double negatives cross them out, but double positives makes it even better. [00:38:34] Speaker B: You also said two times for the number three, which doesn't work. [00:38:42] Speaker C: I'm working on it. [00:38:45] Speaker B: That you are. Anyway, as Clint said, we took part in some funerary games. We offered up the flowers for the spirits to take with them to the underworld, but then we had to collect the actual physical ones for us to take to the underworld personally. So we need to figure that out. In addition, we also find the fact that over 100 myrmidons spontaneously dying all around the same time to be very suspicious. And we are still looking for answers. [00:39:09] Speaker D: On that, especially given they all died in very violent ways. And we haven't had a whole lot of Greek scions that have been in fights or dying. [00:39:18] Speaker C: Is it something maybe Gwen is doing? [00:39:21] Speaker D: That's what I was wondering. It's just that the fact that these are. These are Myrmidons that were all over the world, so unless she's got a whole lot of friends, and she doesn't seem the friendly type from what I know of her. [00:39:32] Speaker B: And it's also been noted that since Stefan's out of the picture now, the attacks from the Fenrir souls have gotten less coordinated but more aggressive. So I think that is further evidence against her being involved. Although it still doesn't fully rule her out as a suspect. [00:39:56] Speaker A: I mean, we kind of put together that they were all. Well, not all of them, but a lot of them were killed with, like, old school weapons. You know, swords and spears and things like that. [00:40:06] Speaker B: They were definitely in a fight at the very least. We know that. [00:40:09] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:40:10] Speaker C: Didn't we see that there was. In the Underworld, there was a crack or something, and that people were able to cross between underworlds or something like that? I don't. I was not fully paying attention when we were all talking about that. But isn't that a thing that's happening that's pretty, like, not good. Maybe they're crossing through the underworlds and attacking people and, like, coming out. [00:40:46] Speaker B: Maybe, but that's, I don't think, related to this case. Because the Myrmidons were alive, but then all got killed. [00:40:55] Speaker D: It also depends on the particular underworld. I don't think there'd be a crack in Lord Hades Underworld without him knowing about it. [00:41:04] Speaker B: It's pretty notorious for being pretty tight. I don't. [00:41:17] Speaker A: Why'd you have to say it like that? There was so much emphasis. [00:41:22] Speaker B: Because that's what it is. It's. It's like a. It's like a vice. That's how it is in all the stories. [00:41:28] Speaker D: Not helping your case here, Oliver. [00:41:31] Speaker B: I'm just saying. [00:41:32] Speaker C: I know something that was like a vice. [00:41:34] Speaker A: Hey. [00:41:35] Speaker D: Jesus. [00:41:36] Speaker A: Clint goes for the high five. [00:41:37] Speaker C: He high fives him. Oh, I missed you. I mean, I missed all of you. [00:41:44] Speaker A: Yeah, we missed you. [00:41:47] Speaker C: Are you doing okay with all these smart people around you? [00:41:50] Speaker A: I mean, it's not so bad. I had them teaching me a couple of things. I mean, they're not, like the best teachers, but they're still pretty good. I feel like I'm expanding my understanding of the world around us and how I can throw my stick a little further and better. [00:42:05] Speaker D: Came up with a great idea, actually, about how to get some information. [00:42:08] Speaker B: He did, actually. [00:42:10] Speaker A: I did? [00:42:11] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:42:12] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:42:14] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Yeah, I went and talked to ghosts for a little bit. I was, you know, asking them about names and what they did in life and. And their favorite animals. A lot of them liked, you know, ants and bees and termites and stuff. [00:42:28] Speaker C: Like that kind of boring, but hive mind critters? [00:42:34] Speaker A: Yeah, something like that. Kind of like they themselves as hive minded critters. [00:42:43] Speaker B: Right. Well, it has been great catching up. Wonderful to have you back again. Coda. But we do need to figure out our next step here. That being making it to the Underworld. [00:42:58] Speaker C: Okay. [00:42:58] Speaker D: Probably want to go talk to Alexandra about that. She might know more than I do. [00:43:03] Speaker B: I agree. I think either Alexandra or perhaps Queen Aegina. [00:43:10] Speaker A: Yeah, either one of them should help us out, right? [00:43:15] Speaker D: Well, I mean Alexandra might be more inclined to help us out as just as Sion to Sion. Queenie and Gina maybe. [00:43:22] Speaker A: I think we did a good job that we should. You know, if we do talk to Queen and Gina, that, you know, she'd be pretty proud of what we did for her. [00:43:30] Speaker D: Sure enough. [00:43:33] Speaker B: Let's see if we can be quick about this though. [00:43:36] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:43:37] Speaker B: Rule out one possibility before doing the other. And I'll just take out my phone and call Alexandra. Put her on speaker. [00:43:48] Speaker G: Oh, what's up? [00:43:52] Speaker B: Hey, Alexander. So we have finished one part of our current labor and the next part involves making our way into the underworld. We were wondering if you would somehow know any methods as to do that. [00:44:10] Speaker A: Preferably without dying. [00:44:11] Speaker G: Well, I've never been to the underworld, but I know some of the stories. [00:44:19] Speaker B: Any that could help us get there quickly? [00:44:26] Speaker G: Yeah, in theory. [00:44:33] Speaker B: All right, what do you have for us? [00:44:39] Speaker G: Let me. Okay, so the ones that I know about, sacrifice is always a good option. Sacrificing to Hades at or near any sort of like funerary or burial setup usually works. There's a bunch of like caves and if you can find like a really deep, deep cave or a really, really old cave, you might be able to use that to get there. There's certain types of like rituals. I don't know them specifically, but I know that some of the. Some of the old cults, especially cults to Persephone, were kept and performed certain rituals to get back and forth. [00:45:47] Speaker B: All right, that's helpful as I'll turn to the others. Hades was the one that issued the labor to us, so in theory he should be expecting us. So I think giving him an offering might be our best way since. Especially since the funeral pyres are still there. They're burnt now, but they're still the site of a burial. [00:46:11] Speaker G: Oh yeah, well, the pyres aren't going to be it. You're going to need to go to like tombs. There's usually, what do you call them, like trenches, ditches where offerings sacrificed animals and things like that were usually dumped. You want to make your offering there and it should probably be like your blood. [00:46:41] Speaker A: So we put blood in a hole and we'll be good to go. [00:46:45] Speaker G: It's got to be the right. Not necessarily a hole, but it's got to be the right place. But yeah, in theory, your blood and given its divinity and the legend that you carry around with you, you might. You should be able to get there. No problem. [00:47:03] Speaker A: Is like a door pop up or something or. [00:47:06] Speaker B: Okay, I think we'll see once or if it happens, we just need to make sure. The island should have like a tomb for the dead right after they. [00:47:17] Speaker G: Oh yeah, typically there. There's got to be one around there somewhere. [00:47:22] Speaker A: I have a space in it. [00:47:25] Speaker G: Just as a general rule with the way sacrifices and things tend to go, go make the sacrifice of your blood, say a prayer and hopefully something will happen. Like I said, I've never been there myself, but. Great. [00:47:45] Speaker B: Thanks for your help, Alexander, both in this and for just everything in general. Assuming this works and the portal opens, I think this might be the end of our paths colliding, at least for this endeavor. If we see each other again. Well, once again, thank you for everything you've done for us. [00:48:09] Speaker G: Do you want me to stay here in case you come back up on the island? Or are you guys just gonna find your own way home? [00:48:16] Speaker B: That is a good point. If we come back up on the island. Yes, that would be good. If we don't, we can let you know and you'll be free to sail off. If you're okay with that. [00:48:31] Speaker G: All right. I'm not gonna wait for forever though. So if I don't hear from you, at least in a few days, I'm leaving. [00:48:37] Speaker B: That's fair. [00:48:37] Speaker D: We're not going to keep you here forever. [00:48:39] Speaker C: Oh, Alexander. Alexandra, it's. [00:48:43] Speaker G: What's up? [00:48:44] Speaker C: Can I get your phone number from one of the guys? Not for like. Yeah, can I have your phone number from one of the guys? [00:48:53] Speaker G: Yeah, sure. [00:48:55] Speaker C: Okay, cool. Thanks. Yeah. [00:48:57] Speaker B: Curtis back, by the way. [00:48:59] Speaker G: Yeah. No, I saw the boat or the ship. Have you guys looked back at the ship, by the way? [00:49:06] Speaker A: No, and went to look at. [00:49:07] Speaker G: Around look at the ship. The ship has begun to shrink and is down to about the size of like a rowboat now. [00:49:15] Speaker A: What the hell? [00:49:16] Speaker B: Oh, cool. [00:49:18] Speaker A: Jog over to it and just keep watching. [00:49:22] Speaker G: It gets progressively smaller as you stand there, Clint, until it is small enough to fit in your palm. [00:49:29] Speaker B: But are you still dead? Actually, did I even see the bottle? [00:49:32] Speaker G: No. [00:49:33] Speaker B: No. Okay, then. I don't know anything about it. [00:49:35] Speaker A: Just gonna pick this up here and take a close look at it. Hey, Koda, your. Your boat turned into a toy. [00:49:43] Speaker C: Yeah, it kind of started as a toy, and then Cersei kind of let it drift into the water, and it got big, and then she gave me a bottle of. Not air, a bottle of wind. [00:49:56] Speaker B: So. [00:49:56] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:49:57] Speaker B: You still have it? [00:49:59] Speaker C: Yeah, I, like, corked it. That's what made me make sure I didn't run into you guys and smear you across his hand. [00:50:06] Speaker B: So there might still be some wind. [00:50:11] Speaker C: She'll look at the bottle. [00:50:15] Speaker G: What are you looking at the bottle for? [00:50:17] Speaker C: There's still wind inside of it. [00:50:19] Speaker G: I think she's like, I don't know. When does it look like anything? You assume it's still in there? [00:50:26] Speaker C: Yeah, she's like, I'm not sure. It looks like an empty bottle, but I'm afraid to open it just in case it. You know, it did fight you to. [00:50:37] Speaker G: Get to let you cork it, so. [00:50:41] Speaker C: I mean, I was able to squeeze the cork in, and that took a bit of strength. Well, a lot of strength. So I'm sure there's, like, some in there, then. [00:50:52] Speaker B: Yeah. Hold on to that, just in case. It could be handy for the future and the boat, as well. There might still be some magic on that. I don't know if we'll be able to use it, but who knows? [00:51:02] Speaker A: Clint will hold out the boat. [00:51:04] Speaker C: She will take the boat, take the bottle, put it in a bag. Yeah, she should have her bag. [00:51:11] Speaker G: You have a bag that you carry your stuff in? Yes. [00:51:14] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:51:15] Speaker G: Oh, right. [00:51:16] Speaker C: And Cersei told me to tell Clinton. Yeah. And the rest of you guys that if you want to come back, it would certainly be a first. So. [00:51:27] Speaker G: Yeah. [00:51:28] Speaker A: I mean, I wouldn't mind saying hello every once in a while. [00:51:32] Speaker D: Yeah, I'm not doing that. [00:51:34] Speaker A: I mean, I understand that. [00:51:37] Speaker C: Oh, right. [00:51:40] Speaker A: I won't drag you there if I end up going back. Don't worry. [00:51:43] Speaker D: I mean, if you want to go back and we're all just hanging out, then I'll, like, stay on the boat or something. [00:51:48] Speaker A: Yeah, I wouldn't want to force you through that. That sounds like a really boring and lonely time. [00:51:53] Speaker G: So do you guys still need me on speakerphone or. [00:51:57] Speaker B: Oh, sorry. Sorry. Thanks again, Alexander. We'll let you know what happens with the Underworld once we get out and everything. Bye. [00:52:05] Speaker G: Bye. [00:52:06] Speaker A: Bye. [00:52:10] Speaker B: Okay, let's go find a tomb. [00:52:12] Speaker A: Yep. There was the big one that I had us pointing to when we were, you know, doing our honoring of the dead. We can go check that out. I think it's like. What's it called when you got a whole bunch of dead bodies and boxes in a big building? [00:52:26] Speaker B: Mausoleum. [00:52:28] Speaker A: Yeah, something like that. [00:52:29] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. [00:52:34] Speaker A: I don't know if there's a Greek version of a mausoleum, but it's one of them. [00:52:39] Speaker B: All right, let's head that way then. [00:52:43] Speaker G: All right, you all head that way. Quick question. Are you gonna go back to the house and grab your stuff? [00:52:51] Speaker B: Yes. [00:52:52] Speaker A: Yep. [00:52:54] Speaker G: Also, are you bringing all of the animals to the underworld? [00:52:59] Speaker A: I bring Ian. He's probably, you know, cool with it. [00:53:02] Speaker G: Yes. Ian is pretty accustomed to going to underworlds. I'm more wondering if Oliver is planning to drag along the dragon. [00:53:11] Speaker B: Yes. Just because right now we don't know if we're going to be popping back out on the island. [00:53:18] Speaker G: Okay. Interesting. Good to know. [00:53:22] Speaker D: You're gonna want to make sure he's really well behaved down there. From the stories. My uncle isn't exactly super great with people with his place. [00:53:33] Speaker B: I will try my best. [00:53:35] Speaker A: How nice is your uncle? If you happen to have an inkling. [00:53:41] Speaker D: I have not had the pleasure. The couple of signs I met a his have been. I mean, fine. [00:53:50] Speaker G: They'Re all a little dour and gloomy, but. Yeah, you haven't. You haven't met. Haven't met Great Uncle Hades yet. [00:53:57] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, they're kind of downers, but, I mean, that's generally, I would say, to be expected. But here you are, Clint, a bright ray of sunshine. [00:54:07] Speaker A: Yeah, it's true. I mean, sometimes you have to have an exception to the rule. Right? You gotta. You gotta bring some sunshine to cloudy days. [00:54:15] Speaker D: True enough, but, yeah, I haven't ever really had the pleasure to meet my great uncle or his wife. So. This is gonna be interesting. I would definitely say before we get down there, we need to be as full but not miserable as possible because we should not be eating anything when we're. While we're down there. [00:54:39] Speaker B: Yes, good point. [00:54:43] Speaker A: Well, are we still hungry? Koda, have you eaten? [00:54:49] Speaker C: No, actually. Well, I mean, I. Yeah, no. [00:54:54] Speaker A: All right, hold on. I'll make you some. I think we still got some leftovers from breakfast. I'll put together a burrito for you, and then we can get going. [00:55:01] Speaker C: Yeah, I can walk and eat, though. [00:55:03] Speaker A: Yeah, that ain't no problem. [00:55:06] Speaker G: All right, you all pack your bags. Clint makes Koda a heaping breakfast burrito. And you all head off for the tombs. Yes? [00:55:19] Speaker A: Yep. Here you go. Toasted on both sides. And off we go. [00:55:25] Speaker G: Excellent. Okay, when you get to this building, it Is large with high walls around it. And before when there were bodies being prepared and everything, there were like effectively like Myrmidons stationed as guards and things. Now it is quiet and there are very few around here. In fact, as you guys are walking there, the town is beginning to get rolling. Before that you only saw one or two Myrmidons like out in the street. And they were usually the ones who have like, you guess, have jobs that require them to be up. With the dawn now it's becoming a little bit more busy, but you guys are able to pass to these high walls that close in this large building that from the outside looks not exactly like a mausoleum, but very similar, like a closed in space that you would imagine the walls would be thick because they have those box like graves built into them. Passing through the front door, you actually find that it is open on the inside. It's just that the walls are very high, which makes it look like a closed in building. There are in fact above ground graves, but you can also see a number, a large number of in ground graves. The ones that are that are part of the ground all look very old. And most of them don't even have markers any like proper markers anymore. But up as you walk through the rows of graves, you basically walk along like a path that cuts up through the middle to the back that cut a up against the mountain itself, like a cliff, a straight mountain face. And as you get closer, you realize that there is in fact a trench dug into the dirt. It's several feet deep. There's a little walkway that goes up to like an altar behind it. But this looks like this is probably where a lot of sacrifices and offerings and celebrations of holidays where ancestor worship or holidays honoring the gods of the dead probably happen here. [00:58:31] Speaker B: All right. I suppose we just need to offer up our blood into that trench, make sure it's well known who it's for and ask for a path where we need to go. [00:58:46] Speaker A: All right, if you say so. [00:58:51] Speaker G: All right. How are you going to go about doing this? [00:58:57] Speaker C: Oda will take out her bat, which transforms to the sword and go. I can cut very gently all of our hands. [00:59:09] Speaker A: Yeah, sounds good. [00:59:13] Speaker D: Maybe we should do it with something smaller, like the knives I made you. [00:59:16] Speaker C: Oh yeah. She puts her back onto her back as a bat. [00:59:25] Speaker B: Not a bad idea. It's just certain instruments are better than others. [00:59:31] Speaker D: Yeah, good idea. Just need the right tool for the job. [00:59:33] Speaker G: Yeah. [00:59:34] Speaker C: No, it makes sense. [00:59:37] Speaker B: Well, nothing went from nothing gained. And I'll pull out the knife Andre made, slash my Palm and kind of hold it out over the trench for Hades. Please open up a way for us to meet you and deliver what we were promised to do. [00:59:58] Speaker G: Okay, Oliver, you hold your hand out and you wait. And you could feel this, like, anxiety and tension build up in you because nothing's happening at first. And then, like, you get a little frustrated, and out of frustration, you sort of close your eyes and are you're trying to think of what you could have possibly done wrong, going back over the moment in your head. And what you don't realize but everybody else notices is that as soon as your eyes close, you disappear. And when you open your eyes, you are standing in a place that is very dark, and you can hear the gentle and barely there lapping of water. [01:01:01] Speaker B: And can I tell that my friends aren't there around me right now? [01:01:06] Speaker G: Mm. Oh, by the way, spend one of your legend points. [01:01:10] Speaker B: Of course. I am so broke. [01:01:15] Speaker G: Back on or back up top. Andre, Koda, and Clint. You all just watched Oliver disappear. [01:01:24] Speaker B: Will either as I open my eyes and see where I am and that my friends aren't there, I'll just kind of look around. [01:01:35] Speaker G: The one time they're not there to hear it. [01:01:39] Speaker B: Yes. [01:01:40] Speaker D: That's why you did it, you bastard. [01:01:42] Speaker B: Yes. [01:01:45] Speaker A: Well, either he. If he. He went somewhere or he went invisible. And I don't see him standing there. His footprints ain't showing, so I think. [01:01:55] Speaker D: That'S a good sign. And Andre is going to take out his own knife and will do much the same. Lord, Lord Hades, I beseech upon you. Give me passage so that way I may hold a audience with you and with your queen. And he will go ahead and just let the blood drip down. And after seeing Oliver close his eyes, Will close his own. [01:02:22] Speaker G: And Andre disappears and pops back up on the beach next to Oliver. In fact, you two almost run into each other because Oliver has kind of turned a little bit to try to figure out where he is. [01:02:33] Speaker D: Oh, shit. Hey, it worked. [01:02:39] Speaker A: All right. [01:02:40] Speaker C: But you want to go, or. [01:02:43] Speaker A: I mean. I mean, it's not like an underworld. Like, it's a giant cave or anything, right? [01:02:48] Speaker C: Like, I couldn't tell you. It's my first time there as well. [01:02:55] Speaker A: Shit. [01:02:57] Speaker C: Together. [01:02:59] Speaker A: Yeah, maybe together would be better. Yeah. [01:03:02] Speaker C: And then we just kind of like, guess what each other's gonna say. Oh, no, that might be a bad idea, because we're saying this to Haiti, so it might be disrespectful. [01:03:11] Speaker A: Yeah. How about, like, we do the blood thing, and then we step on either side so we're not like, oh, talking to each other, and then we just, you know. [01:03:18] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:03:19] Speaker A: Try and do the thing at the same time. [01:03:22] Speaker C: Yeah. Okay. Three, two. Oh. [01:03:28] Speaker A: One. [01:03:29] Speaker C: One. [01:03:30] Speaker G: Do you both cut your hand? [01:03:32] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:03:34] Speaker G: And what do you say? [01:03:36] Speaker C: You first. [01:03:39] Speaker A: All right. Hades, if you're listening, we're trying to come and talk to you. We followed through. We. We did the flowers. Please, please don't let me fucking wake up in somewhere scary. All right. Come on. Bring me down there. [01:03:53] Speaker G: Do you close your eyes? Okay. As soon as his eyes are closed, Clint disappears. Koda, what do you say? [01:04:00] Speaker C: Hey there, Mr. Hades. We're coming to meet you and your wife. I think it's kind of cool, the thing that you're doing with the flowers and stuff. So, like, I mean, that's, like, really romantic, but. Right. Yeah. We'll be coming to meet you soon, so. [01:04:23] Speaker G: Yeah. [01:04:24] Speaker C: Apologies in advance if I come off, like, rude or something. I don't mean to. I'm working on it. So please be kind. Yeah. And then, like, she'll close her eyes. Trying to think of what else to say, but, yeah. [01:04:43] Speaker G: You close your eyes, and for a minute, it doesn't feel like anything happened. And you open an eye, and you're still up top. You close your eyes again, and you pray a little bit harder internally. And then when you open them again, you are also standing in a place that is very dark. You can't. None of you can see more than a few feet in front of you, but you can all see each other, and you can hear the lapping of water. And I would like you all to make me perception awareness rolls, please. [01:05:15] Speaker D: Okay. [01:05:16] Speaker A: Clint is immediately looking up to see if there is some sort of cavernous maw up here. [01:05:21] Speaker G: It is so dark that you can't tell. [01:05:23] Speaker A: Oh. Don't like it. [01:05:29] Speaker B: One success. [01:05:30] Speaker D: Damn it. [01:05:30] Speaker B: Entrez. [01:05:32] Speaker G: Wow, Andre. [01:05:34] Speaker B: How did I do? Better than you. [01:05:36] Speaker G: Andre, you have twice as many dices, Oliver. [01:05:39] Speaker B: That is a crime. That's a crime. That's illegal. You're not allowed to do that. [01:05:44] Speaker D: You pass this curse on to me, you bastard. [01:05:48] Speaker B: I had to beg the dice. Be nice to me. [01:05:52] Speaker G: Koda. [01:05:57] Speaker C: Yes. [01:05:58] Speaker G: So we have a three, a three, a zero, and a one. [01:06:02] Speaker C: Wow. [01:06:03] Speaker G: Oliver and Andre don't notice anything. Koda and Clint, however, both begin to hear the faint, distant sounds of wailing and mo. [01:06:22] Speaker B: Whose hand am I touching right now? [01:06:25] Speaker D: That's fine. [01:06:26] Speaker B: Okay. Hey. [01:06:28] Speaker C: Well, I hear the wailing, and I. [01:06:31] Speaker A: Hear moaning. [01:06:34] Speaker C: So we're in the right place. [01:06:36] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm guessing it don't sound like the Fun kind of moaning either. [01:06:45] Speaker B: Okay, well, either way, it's our only sign of where we are, so we should probably head towards it. [01:06:54] Speaker A: We have to. We can't, like, just give him a call or something? He heard us while we were cutting our hands, so surely he already knows we're here. We don't. Okay. [01:07:05] Speaker C: I can lead the way, but, Clint, do you want to hold my hand? [01:07:09] Speaker A: Yes, please. [01:07:11] Speaker C: All right. [01:07:12] Speaker A: Thank you. [01:07:13] Speaker G: Andrew. [01:07:15] Speaker D: Yes. [01:07:16] Speaker G: Roll me an intelligence and a cult, please. [01:07:19] Speaker D: That I can do. Hopefully. Maybe. [01:07:22] Speaker B: Fingers crossed. [01:07:32] Speaker D: Well, it's four successes still. [01:07:34] Speaker G: Four? Good Lord. Only one of those was a success. That's wild. Okay. Thank God for Koda's, like, I can lead the way. And they turn and start walking, and you are barely fast enough to, like, have your hands shoot out and snatch the backs of their shirts before they can accidentally step into the water. That is right next to where all of you are. [01:08:01] Speaker D: Oh. [01:08:01] Speaker A: Yep. [01:08:01] Speaker D: Nope, Nope, nope, nope. [01:08:03] Speaker G: You know better than any. Or you should know better than anyone here, given what pantheon you belong to. You don't step into the rivers in the underworld. [01:08:12] Speaker D: Yeah, you don't. All the water in the underworld of Hades Domain Bad. Don't. Don't do it. Don't touch it. [01:08:20] Speaker A: Well, that's just where the noise was coming from. [01:08:23] Speaker D: Yeah, but the thing is, that's the actual waters. The river six will, if you breathe it in, will liquefy you from the inside. The River Lethe will make you forget everything you've ever experienced. So just don't touch the water. [01:08:41] Speaker A: So the water is doing the noise? [01:08:45] Speaker D: Very likely. [01:08:47] Speaker C: That, or, you know, make you forget, like, everything. Or could you take, like, a slight dip and you forget some things. [01:08:57] Speaker D: Well, for what I know about the River Lethe is you basically just start swimming or paddling, and you just keep forgetting things till the end of time. I don't think that the shore shows up again to you when you first enter it. So let's just not test the theory. [01:09:14] Speaker A: But what if there was, like, a book or a game that you played and you want to kind of forget it so you can enjoy it again for the first time? Does that. Like, is there a river down here that'll help with that? [01:09:26] Speaker D: You know what? I can't. All right, Leon, answer that. Because all I know is that Lee just makes you forget. Don't know how much, but. But that's bad enough that I don't want to test it. [01:09:37] Speaker C: Okay. [01:09:38] Speaker B: Is there a way we can cross the river without endangering ourselves? [01:09:43] Speaker A: We got a pocket boat. [01:09:45] Speaker B: By that, I mean A boat or a bridge. [01:09:48] Speaker C: We have a boat. [01:09:50] Speaker A: Yeah. You got your pocket boat, can whip that out. [01:09:53] Speaker G: If you can get Kota's magic boat to work, that is certainly a possibility. Andre and Oliver, given both of you have such high intelligence, and Oliver, you have an awful lot of academics. There are boatmen who travel the rivers. So you could also just wait. [01:10:16] Speaker D: We could just wait. See if Caron or one of his ferryman want come this way. If we want to just keep it simple. [01:10:23] Speaker A: What kind of ferryman? Like, ones with wings or, like. [01:10:30] Speaker C: Carry? Yeah, like a boat or person. [01:10:34] Speaker A: Not as exciting. I was hoping for a little change from what we're seeing, but. [01:10:39] Speaker C: Wait, but correct me if I'm wrong, don't we have to pay them to take a ride or something? [01:10:45] Speaker A: I mean, I got a pocket full of change for Ian here. It usually helps. I'm shit, y'all. Fuck. He doesn't need to know I have that. Don't tell him. [01:10:56] Speaker G: Ian is literally sitting on your shoulder. [01:10:59] Speaker A: Yeah. And Clint is looking away from Ian as he's talking, trying. [01:11:04] Speaker G: Like, Ian has tilted his head, and you all can tell that he has got one of those eyes leveled on Click. [01:11:16] Speaker C: You're in trouble. [01:11:18] Speaker A: Don't. That's okay. [01:11:20] Speaker G: Andre, it is also safe to assume that given the pantheon that you come from, you probably carry your own coins on you. [01:11:28] Speaker D: Yeah, I've definitely. [01:11:30] Speaker G: That was probably something that you were, like, told to do, like, as soon as you had your visitation. [01:11:36] Speaker D: Congratulations, you're Greek. Here's your death coin. Yeah. Andre will just keep his own coins at the ready and will be ready to pay for the others if they don't accept just regular change. [01:11:53] Speaker G: All right? As you are standing there, it doesn't take long for those of you who rolled threes on your perception checks to hear the sound of something moving through the water. [01:12:14] Speaker A: Either there's a person coming or a monster. We don't have to, like, stand on the beach, do we? We could, like, get a little bit away. We don't. [01:12:25] Speaker C: It's definitely the boat person we're waiting for. [01:12:29] Speaker A: I don't have, like, men. [01:12:30] Speaker B: They're just doing their jobs. [01:12:31] Speaker A: They don't have underworld Krakens, too? [01:12:37] Speaker C: I don't know. [01:12:38] Speaker A: I mean, what if a Kraken dies and then where do they go? [01:12:45] Speaker C: That's a great question. [01:12:49] Speaker B: Actually. [01:12:50] Speaker C: Let's think about it on the boat, right? [01:12:53] Speaker D: Yeah, let's do that. [01:12:54] Speaker C: Because don't we have, like, a God waiting for us? Yeah, Well, I guess he's not waiting for us. [01:12:59] Speaker G: We're, like, as you all scramble and talk and are half, half panicked, trying to stay still and figure out a plan. Koda, you turn to look hard out at the water to see what's making all that noise. And you realize as you strain your eyes that you see a barge slowly coming into view. And at the side furthest from you is a tall figure in simple black robes without a hood. And they are using a pole to push the barge up towards the shore. [01:13:45] Speaker C: I think this is our ride. We can't really check the license plate to make sure, but I think this is it. [01:13:54] Speaker A: Would they have license plates, do you think? [01:13:57] Speaker C: No. [01:13:58] Speaker B: Why would they have license plates? [01:14:00] Speaker A: Well, I don't know. Like, I figure if it. I don't know. I'm just talking to hopefully get us through this place without much worry. [01:14:11] Speaker C: Okay, let's make sure everyone's connected to the train, like the train of people, so we don't lose anyone. Yeah. She'll take Clint's hand. [01:14:24] Speaker A: I got another one. Who needs it? [01:14:28] Speaker D: I got you. [01:14:29] Speaker A: All right, cool. I got Andre and Koda on my sides. Here we go. [01:14:36] Speaker C: And Mr. B, please grab Andre. [01:14:39] Speaker A: All right. [01:14:41] Speaker C: Thank you. And then Koda will carefully lead them to. [01:14:49] Speaker G: The bottom of the barge. [01:14:51] Speaker C: Yes. [01:14:53] Speaker B: I still have glowsticks, by the way. [01:14:55] Speaker A: Do you think they'd work here? [01:14:58] Speaker B: I'm not sure. [01:14:59] Speaker A: Let's get on the boat and find out. That sounds pretty useful. [01:15:02] Speaker B: That's true. [01:15:03] Speaker C: I can glow my eyes. [01:15:05] Speaker G: All right. The ferryman begins to push away from the shore. As soon as you are all on. Does anyone speak to or acknowledge him? Or we just moving on? [01:15:18] Speaker A: No. Absolutely. Hey, man, are you doing this job for long? [01:15:25] Speaker C: I know you did not. [01:15:27] Speaker G: Clint, you look over and the man who is pushing this barge looks like a man. And like something has worn at him over an unknowable amount of time, so that he almost looks skeletal, but there is still, like, skin and life there. He. He looks almost like he is caught somewhere between living and dead. But he. He sort of looks over at you with these eyes that are impossibly dark and black. Very similar to the pitch black waters that you were being pushed across. [01:16:24] Speaker A: Sorry, man. It looks like you need a male. You got a name, friend? Hey, talkative bunch. I get you. I understand. Well, we're gonna sit here and enjoy the river. If you need help, I got a long stick, too. I could help push. You just give me the word. [01:16:46] Speaker G: My name, Scion of the Morgan, is fleshiest. [01:16:58] Speaker A: Okay, like, but. But what's your real name? [01:17:02] Speaker G: That is my real name. [01:17:04] Speaker B: Flint. [01:17:07] Speaker A: Fleshius. Okay. [01:17:09] Speaker G: Flegius. [01:17:11] Speaker A: Flegius. See, I heard something wrong. I understand now. Fledgius. It's nice to meet you. And Clint will extend the hand. [01:17:19] Speaker G: He does not shake your hand, but he is using a. A a A pole that is quite, quite long that he is having to constantly have a hand on to keep going. [01:17:33] Speaker A: Mental awkwardly return his hand. Do. Do we need. I thought I heard our friends talking. Do we need to pay you? [01:17:46] Speaker G: Not me. [01:17:51] Speaker A: Who? [01:17:52] Speaker D: Guess we'll wait for the boss then. [01:17:56] Speaker G: You will, Caron. You will have to pay. [01:18:01] Speaker A: Oh, okay. Well, I got this box of flowers I ain't sure he's so interested in, but we'll figure it out. [01:18:12] Speaker B: Meanwhile, in the background, I am pulling a glow stick out of my bag and cracking it to see if it still works. [01:18:18] Speaker G: The glow stick works, but it does not make it any easier to see here. [01:18:24] Speaker B: Okay. [01:18:27] Speaker G: However, it is impossible to miss as you are carried along in this deep, deep, dark river. And you are brought up alongside a stretch of what looks like swampy land. But as you look past that to the other bank of it, you can see a wall of fire. [01:18:58] Speaker A: Hell is that thing? Hey, Flageus, what are we looking at here? [01:19:10] Speaker G: I'm sorry, I can't. Oh my goodness. That is the. I know that no matter how I say this, you are going to make some sort of joke out of it. Clinton. Oh no. It is the Phlegethon River. [01:19:46] Speaker A: The Flickathon River. [01:19:50] Speaker G: Phlegathon. [01:19:52] Speaker A: Phlegethon, like fl. Okay. And why is it made out of fire? [01:19:59] Speaker G: It has always been made of fire. [01:20:03] Speaker A: Oh, so that's like a feature that ain't a bug. [01:20:08] Speaker G: Why would there be insects in the fire? [01:20:14] Speaker A: That's a really good point. I should have thought about that before I opened my mouth. Thank you, Flageus. [01:20:21] Speaker C: What's the purpose of it? [01:20:25] Speaker G: Largely to keep those who don't belong there out. The river that we are on now. And he points into the water is the Cocytus. There on the other side before the fire is the Acheron. The Cocitas is the river of Wailing. And the Acheron is the river of Woe. [01:21:07] Speaker A: Woah. Like. Okay, I gotta stop. W o e. Yeah, like the sadness, not the. [01:21:13] Speaker C: Whoa. [01:21:14] Speaker A: That's really cool. [01:21:16] Speaker G: Correct. [01:21:16] Speaker A: Yeah, I kind of. I put that together. Hey, Fledgius, once we get somewhere, you got like, you know, in case we come back. You got a phone number or something? [01:21:28] Speaker G: No. [01:21:31] Speaker A: Yeah. You don't look like the sort that, you know, rocks a phone. You got like a smoke signal or something that gets a hold of you or do you just, like, make your rounds around over and over? [01:21:43] Speaker G: I suspect at least some of you I will be seeing again very soon. [01:21:52] Speaker D: Good. Nominous. I like it. [01:21:55] Speaker A: Like, later today or. What do you think? All right. Like, if we show back. So I don't know how it necessarily works here, but do you, like. You want a bottle of water or something when we come back? [01:22:10] Speaker G: I'm fine. I just need you to get off my barge so that I can get back to my rounds. But we don't have many souls that require ferrying. But they are still around. [01:22:23] Speaker A: So you can't, like, you know, walk with us or anything? Act as a guide? [01:22:28] Speaker G: No. [01:22:29] Speaker A: Okay. Well, it's been real nice. Fledgius. I guess this is where we say goodbye. And Quintal reach out the hand once more, hoping that now that we're stopped, he no longer has to hold his palm. [01:22:46] Speaker G: He will shake your hand. His hand, it has flesh, but you can feel each individual bone under it. [01:22:56] Speaker A: Clint is very careful, as if it is a fragile thing. [01:23:00] Speaker G: Then it doesn't feel fragile. [01:23:03] Speaker A: I can feel the bones and only really usually feel that on old people. So I'm gonna be real gentle, just in case. Give his hand a nice shake and then let go. All right. Off the boat, right? We gotta. We gotta walk in the swamp. Is that what. Is that what we gotta do? [01:23:22] Speaker G: You will wait here. [01:23:24] Speaker A: Oh, okay. [01:23:26] Speaker B: Where and when do we pick her on? [01:23:28] Speaker G: I was gonna say when he comes. [01:23:30] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:23:31] Speaker B: Everyone. [01:23:34] Speaker G: You all step off the barge and onto. What you realize is just. Even after a few minutes of walking around, you realize two things. One is that this is barren and swampy and there is water all around you. There is nowhere to go. Two, you are not alone on this barren, swampy strip of land. There are ghosts here. You can see them. They are wailing. And some of them are threadbare. None of them really seem to fully notice you, though. They seem to congregate around you like they are drawn to you like moths to flame. [01:24:22] Speaker A: Yeah, this is pretty usual, y'all. Careful where you step. There's folks around you. [01:24:29] Speaker G: Oh, they can see them too? [01:24:31] Speaker A: Clint doesn't know that yet. [01:24:33] Speaker G: Oh, that's fair. [01:24:34] Speaker B: We can see them this time. [01:24:35] Speaker A: Clint, what did y'all like, getting new powers or something? [01:24:40] Speaker D: It's in the underworld. [01:24:43] Speaker A: Oh, right. They're. Okay, well, hold on. And Clint, like, focuses his gaze to look around and try to find the inverse of his power. Are there any other living people? If his power works that way. [01:25:00] Speaker G: I'm sorry, what did you ask? [01:25:02] Speaker A: Clint is Going to. Instead of using death senses to try and determine where ghosts are because we're surrounded by them, Clint is going to see if it works to find the opposite in the underworld. He's going to look around and notice if anyone is alive other than us. [01:25:18] Speaker G: No. It does, however, allow you to zero in on ghosts a little bit more easily. And you realize that while you can see and hear the ones that are up on land with you most easily, you realize, you are startled to realize that there are occasionally ones floating by in the river. [01:25:39] Speaker A: Nope, don't like that. Don't like that. Okay. [01:25:44] Speaker G: Still wailing despite being in the water. [01:25:48] Speaker A: Clint will point one out as it passes by. There's a. There's. There's ghosts out there, too. There's a there ghosts out there, too. They don't. I don't like it. Can y'all see them ones? That one right there. The one that's like crying and. And shaking a little bit there. [01:26:09] Speaker C: I think any that end up in the water are just like that. [01:26:13] Speaker A: Okay. [01:26:16] Speaker G: All of your phones chime. [01:26:18] Speaker A: Oh, shit. Maybe it's mom. And he'll pull it out. [01:26:22] Speaker G: It is not Mom. You have all been added to a new group chat. Oh, and there is a message from a number that some of you have in your phones and others don't. For those of you who have her number in your phones, it is Alexandra. And she goes. She's. She's asking, did you make it? [01:26:42] Speaker B: Yes. [01:26:43] Speaker A: Yes. [01:26:44] Speaker D: Yep. [01:26:46] Speaker C: Mm. [01:26:47] Speaker A: There you go. I was about to say she should probably hear from you, too. [01:26:52] Speaker G: Good. Good luck. I hope you took coins with you. [01:26:59] Speaker D: I'll text back. I got them covered. [01:27:03] Speaker G: Good. It would really suck if you got stuck down there for a hundred years. [01:27:07] Speaker D: Yeah, fucking suck. I'm not gonna let that happen. [01:27:10] Speaker A: Limp turns his phone sideways and looks to his shoulder. Ian, you can't read, can you? [01:27:17] Speaker G: Wouldn't you like to know? [01:27:21] Speaker A: Clint keeps his phone turned away from Ian. At that point, he doesn't need to know that we got coins. And he's a. You know, Andre's got us covered, so we're just going to make sure he don't see nothing. [01:27:36] Speaker G: As you are. As you are texting with Alexandra and Andre, you know that she wasn't kidding. If you had shown up without coins, without a means to pay the ferryman, you would have been stuck on this very piece of land for a hundred years before. Could have gone anywhere. They'd have just left you. [01:28:03] Speaker D: Yep. [01:28:06] Speaker G: As you all are texting, you once again, hear the sound of something moving through the Water. This is bigger than the last one, so everybody hears it. And as you turn, there is another barge pushing up on up onto the shore. [01:28:23] Speaker A: Oh, looks like our ride is here. [01:28:28] Speaker G: But this time, as you turn to it, rather than the barge, but. Or the ferryman being on the opposite side of the barge, he has crossed to stand in front of where you can climb on. [01:28:43] Speaker D: Andre will go ahead and get out. Coins for everyone. [01:28:48] Speaker A: Oh, thank you. [01:28:51] Speaker G: The man that you walk up to, who is waiting to take those coins is tall. He has kind of silver white hair that has been slicked back. And because the lighting here is so poor and it is so dark, he almost looks bald. It's just that his hair is very, very pale. And as is his skin, it all sort of blends into one thing. His eyes are such a pale shade of blue that they almost look white. As he looks you all over, you are still living. You wish to proceed? [01:29:31] Speaker A: Yep. We got a duty to do. We gotta go say hi to Hades. [01:29:43] Speaker G: Very well. Your travels will be interesting, no doubt. You have your passage. [01:29:53] Speaker D: Yes, sir. And Andre will offer his own coins and let the others offer their own. [01:30:02] Speaker G: Does anybody not part with their funerary coins? [01:30:08] Speaker B: Oh, I'm handing that over. [01:30:10] Speaker G: Oliver is like, please take it. Let me go. He collects all of the coins that are handed to him and steps aside to allow you onto the. Onto the barge. More than one ghost tries to follow you. And his. The pole that he uses typically to push the barge around seems to materialize out of nowhere. And he uses it to push them back, rebuking them and earning loud, miserable, gut wrenching wails. [01:30:49] Speaker A: Damn sure ain't a nice place to be down here. I could use a. We should hurry up and be done here. [01:31:00] Speaker D: Agreed. [01:31:03] Speaker G: Huh? [01:31:06] Speaker C: Is there a reason why some people don't have coins? She says, getting on the boat. [01:31:12] Speaker G: Their bodies were not prepared with them or they were stolen. [01:31:17] Speaker A: If we had a pocket full of, like, you know, loose change, would we be able to help any of them? [01:31:23] Speaker G: No. [01:31:24] Speaker A: Okay, if. And then he'll find a place to sit or stand on the barge. [01:31:35] Speaker C: Huh? [01:31:37] Speaker G: All right. He moves back into his place and pushes off from the shore, guiding you toward that wall and river of fire. [01:31:53] Speaker A: Oh, we're not going that way, are we? [01:31:56] Speaker G: Of course we are. [01:32:00] Speaker A: Before we burned to life death, we were pretty close with Flagius. You got a name too, friend? [01:32:11] Speaker G: I am Charon. [01:32:12] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [01:32:14] Speaker D: He is the ferryman here. Andre will not to him with as much respect as his title is due. [01:32:23] Speaker A: Nice to meet you, Karen. You got. I'll ask you later if we survive. [01:32:31] Speaker G: He pushes the. The barge along. You guys grow closer and closer and closer to the fire and then into it. The fire doesn't so much part as it seems to almost be snuffed out in the place where the barge passes, only to leap back to life as it passes by it. So at some points, you are completely surrounded by these flames. [01:33:09] Speaker A: Nope. Don't like this. Don't like. [01:33:13] Speaker D: Paid our way. We're supposed to be here. [01:33:16] Speaker A: We're fine. I'm just gonna look at the bottom of this here boat for a little bit. Y'all let me know when. When we're past this, please. [01:33:24] Speaker C: I got you covered, Mr. Hiron. [01:33:30] Speaker G: Karen, Kuron, a different one. [01:33:35] Speaker C: Question. Does all souls that die who are part of this pantheon come here, or only the ones that. Well, the ones that didn't have the best deaths. [01:33:58] Speaker G: All souls pass this way that are tied to our pantheon. [01:34:03] Speaker C: And is there a good land for the ones that died unjustly? [01:34:12] Speaker A: There's Elysium. I think. [01:34:16] Speaker G: There are a number of places in our underworld where souls go based on the type of life that they lived. [01:34:24] Speaker C: Okay. [01:34:25] Speaker G: But we do not sort them by good or bad. [01:34:33] Speaker C: All right, just making sure. Just checking. I mean, these, like, underworlds that's here, like, we couldn't, like, go and see someone, right? That would be not okay. Or is that since we got right of way? [01:34:50] Speaker G: That is a question you would have to ask for the lord of this domain. I am not him. [01:34:56] Speaker C: Understood? Understood. [01:34:58] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:34:58] Speaker D: He'd be the one that actually would know where they are or where they got where they ended up. [01:35:03] Speaker C: All right, just checking. And she'll go back to staring out over the barge. [01:35:12] Speaker G: All right. As you are pushed along, the barge eventually bumps into land on the opposite side of the fire, and you find yourself on yet another kind of swampy shore. Each of you, as you begin to disembark, are met with the smell of flowers. Faint, but there. And the gloom begins to kind of fall away. [01:35:50] Speaker A: To look up at the smell. And are we still surrounded by fire? [01:35:54] Speaker G: Oh, no. The fire has passed. It is still out there. You can see it, but you have already passed through it. [01:36:02] Speaker A: All right. Okay. It's looking a little better on this side of the fire. Which means we survived. Which means. Hey, Karen. [01:36:16] Speaker G: Yes? [01:36:19] Speaker A: Just supposing that we end up coming back down here to take care of other business if we have to come and see the Lord of the Domain again or anything like that. Is there any sort of cellular device that you might happen to use that we can connect with you to request a ride. [01:36:36] Speaker G: No. [01:36:38] Speaker A: Okay. [01:36:42] Speaker G: The ferryman will find you if you pass this way again. [01:36:46] Speaker A: Okay, but do you like, you know, just talk to people with such a device? [01:36:53] Speaker G: I do not have such a device. [01:36:56] Speaker A: Okay. Do you, like, write letters? [01:37:00] Speaker G: Please step off my barge. [01:37:02] Speaker A: Okay. Sorry. [01:37:04] Speaker B: Come on, Clint. [01:37:05] Speaker A: All right, I'm coming. Come on, Ian. [01:37:11] Speaker G: As you move away from the barge and onto the shore, as I said, the gloom begins to lessen, and you are all met with the smell of flowers. They're faint, but the further you go, the stronger it gets. And eventually you find yourselves standing in the beginnings of a rolling plain filled with asphodels. And I'm going to post a picture of what asphodels look like in the notes channel. [01:37:53] Speaker A: Ooh, purdy. This ain't looking so bad now. I kind of like this part of the place. Kind of sucked getting here, but it's looking better. [01:38:10] Speaker B: Yeah. Just don't touch, smell, or put any of them in your mouth. [01:38:17] Speaker A: Don't plan on eating flowers, but I. [01:38:20] Speaker B: Never know if you. [01:38:22] Speaker A: So we can't even, like, touch. We're smelling them already, but we can't touch them. [01:38:29] Speaker B: Just to be safe. It would be wise not to. [01:38:34] Speaker A: Oh, because we don't know what will happen. It's not like it's a prediction of, like, if you touch them, you die or something like that. It's just we don't know. [01:38:41] Speaker D: Yes, Sorry. [01:38:44] Speaker B: Exactly. And a lot of times when you interact with things in the underworld, you kind of get stuck here. [01:38:48] Speaker C: Here. [01:38:51] Speaker G: As you stand there getting your bearings, there are a few things you notice. One is that you all stand in sharp relief to stand in sharp relief to the other spirits that you see immediately. Most of them are thin and wispy, barely there. In fact, the ones that you can see almost don't seem to have, like, feet and hands and are missing parts of their arms. Not because they were removed, not because they were removed violently or anything, but because they almost seem to just fade into nothing the further away from the core of their body they get. And they are all drawn in towards you. [01:39:49] Speaker A: Well, that's. We got friends. Hello, folks. Nice to meet you. [01:40:05] Speaker G: They don't seem to fully understand what you're saying or that even that you are interacting with them. They're just sort of drawn into you again, like moths to a flame. In the distance, across this rolling plain of these beautiful white flowers, there are huge towering spires of black stone that make up a massive palace. [01:40:44] Speaker C: I assume that's where we need to go. [01:40:47] Speaker D: Yep. Just gotta get through planes of Asphodel first. [01:40:52] Speaker G: You also notice to this. You also notice in. Off. Off to. We'll say to your left. You're not entirely sure if it's west or east or what. Off to your left is a. A space that seems. While this is less gloomy and is. Is pretty and. And almost overwhelming in how beautiful it is compared to where you just were. There is a place that seems almost more alive despite being in the underworld. But it's off. In the distance you see brighter colors. One odd sort of sourceless breeze passes by you. It seems to carry more of the scent of the asphodels. [01:42:05] Speaker D: I think that's the way to Elysium. [01:42:10] Speaker A: That's the good place. Right? That's where I was hoping all them Myrmidons would be gone. [01:42:16] Speaker D: Yep. A place where the heroes and the souls of the righteous are rewarded for what they did when they were alive. This is Asphodel, where most everyone else ends up peaceful. But eh. [01:42:30] Speaker A: Wait. So Andre, when. When you do inevitably, you know, kick the bucket, do you think you're gonna end up in Elysium then? [01:42:38] Speaker D: I hope so. Or if I don't, I end up doing just in the palace doing work for. For my uncle. I just. I hope I get to at least stay useful in my own way. [01:42:50] Speaker A: I can understand that. Yeah. All right, well, let's get stepping, I guess. Yep. [01:43:03] Speaker G: All right. In which direction are you headed? [01:43:07] Speaker A: Up to the palace. Right. Then them black stones. [01:43:13] Speaker G: Yeah. [01:43:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:43:15] Speaker D: I think our best bet is just to start heading towards the palace. [01:43:21] Speaker G: Okay. As you are walking, you notice more and more spirits, more and more ghosts. Some have a little bit more substance and a little bit more color. They seem a little bit more present than others though. They all sort of. And they come, they're dressed in various time periods. Some are more modern. Some look like they are in like ancient clothing, like togas. And they watch you pass. Even the most like seemingly present ones kind of watch you. And they've all got looks on their face like they've. Like they can't remember something. And they're all circled much as you are by those barely there spirits. Andre, if you would like to, you can make a Intelligence and occult. I would even allow Clint too, though it would give. Give you very different information for sure. [01:44:34] Speaker D: All righty. [01:44:39] Speaker A: Well, it's better I was Intelligence a cult. [01:44:42] Speaker G: Yes. [01:44:45] Speaker D: That will be five successes for Andre. [01:44:51] Speaker A: I've got one success. [01:44:55] Speaker G: Clint. From what you can tell, the ones that are flitting around, it's like they have less gravity and importance to them. It's not even so much they're not that they're less here, it's that they're less. They just don't carry the same sort of stuff that. That X factor that's. That others do. Andre. What you know is that in the fields of Asphodel, that is where the unremarkable souls go. It's not that they're bad, it's just that they never really accomplished anything of merit. So they stay here. [01:45:42] Speaker D: Right. [01:45:46] Speaker G: And these souls, out of all of the souls that pass through the Greek underworld, are really the most cursed by the gods of your pantheon. [01:46:01] Speaker D: Even more so than the ones punished in Tartarus. [01:46:05] Speaker G: Yes, because even the ones in Tartarus usually did something worth remembering. [01:46:10] Speaker D: Fair enough. [01:46:16] Speaker G: Though it is worth. It is worth knowing that Tartarus isn't really used anymore. Tartarus was also where the. The Titans were kept. Yeah, they're not there anymore. So. [01:46:32] Speaker D: Yeah, Andre's just going to look around and just kind of wince and look kind of. Of melancholic. Poor bastards. [01:46:44] Speaker A: Poor bastards. Hey. They're floating around, having a good time, it looks like. [01:46:49] Speaker D: Yeah. This is the place where they basically put everyone that didn't do anything worth remembering in their ass. This is the land of the people that they just forget. [01:47:00] Speaker A: So they're just folks that are kind of floating around and. And I think they're not doing anything. [01:47:07] Speaker G: And it was happening. I'm dumb. All right, here we go. And we're back. You all are walking through the fields of Asphodel towards what you assume is the palace of Hades himself. You pass by all of these spirits while the wispy, unremarkable spirits crowd around you and occasionally reach out and touch you. And it feels like cobwebs brushing along your skin as their fingers touch you. Eventually, and you don't know how long you walk, how far you go before you. Before the flowers. Those perfectly white flowers give way to black stones, not unlike walking through a path in someone's garden where they've put down a bunch of pebbles and stones rather than just leaving it dirt. Except that it's a lot, and it expands outward. You follow along through what you realize is. Or what. What Andre realizes as you were walking through it. And perhaps Oliver as well, given his academic knowledge. This may be the field of Erebus. Erebus meaning darkness. And you realize it's kind of a four court and a path at the same time as it leads to the base of the Staircase that heads up to the palace proper. However, before you get to the staircase, you reach a fork in the path. The fork goes in three directions. One heads off into what you can only describe as deep cold darkness that's like oppressive in ways that even the place where you were when you crossed the Styx wasn't. And in the other direction, it leads towards a place where the scent of apples lingers in the air. Sitting at the crossword. At the crossroads, which Andre would know is called the Great Trivium, sit three carved stones with men sitting in them. Each of them has a torch lit behind them. Andre, if you can roll me another intelligence and a cult. Oliver, I will allow intelligence and a cult, but I want you to remove two dice. [01:51:02] Speaker B: Okie dokie. [01:51:05] Speaker A: There we go. [01:51:06] Speaker G: There we go, Andre. Look at that. Big brain power. Getting 10 successes. [01:51:11] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:51:12] Speaker D: Here comes Oliver's 30. [01:51:17] Speaker B: No, I'm losing Oliver. [01:51:18] Speaker G: You are welcome to try, but seven is not bad. Seven's still pretty good. It's not 10, but it's pretty good. [01:51:26] Speaker B: Eyes down. Yeah, I'll take it. [01:51:31] Speaker G: I'm imagining that you two are kind of talking quietly between the two of you as you pass through things, trying to together all the things that you're looking at. Oliver, what you know is that crossroads are important and sacred to the goddess Hecate. And Andre, what you know from your father's teachings and from listening to the stories of other scions and even some of the gods who are known to tell stories at your family's gatherings. These are scions from ancient days. This is Minos, Rhadamanthus and Aikis. And they are here to judge the souls that pass through the underworld, to send them either back out into the field of Asphodel, onward onto the outer edges of Tartarus, which is where the. Where very wicked, but not completely awful and disapproved of souls end up. Or onward to Elysium, the Elysian Fields. This is also where if someone were. When a soul drinks from the river to make them forget, that usually happens here. [01:53:22] Speaker A: You think we can ask these guys for directions? [01:53:27] Speaker D: I think this might be best if Oliver and I take point on this one. [01:53:32] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah, we'll stand back here and be ready to ask him questions too. [01:53:38] Speaker B: All right. [01:53:39] Speaker C: Who are they? [01:53:40] Speaker D: Just so we know, three ancient Greek kings and scions from ancient times. [01:53:48] Speaker A: They must be real. [01:53:50] Speaker B: Yeah, they are. They're like judges. They determine where souls go to which section of the underworld. Down here. [01:54:01] Speaker A: Oh, well, nothing bad's going to happen to you, right? [01:54:06] Speaker B: Ideally not. We're not dead, so there's that. [01:54:10] Speaker D: I still think we should be as respectful as we can be. [01:54:13] Speaker B: Of course. [01:54:14] Speaker A: All right. [01:54:20] Speaker G: All right. [01:54:21] Speaker A: Waiting for. Go get them. [01:54:25] Speaker B: We'll do cl. [01:54:32] Speaker G: So Oliver and Andre step up. Y. Andre, the one that you recognize as Minos, looks at the two of you, and he gestures toward Achis without saying a word. Scion of Ogma, scion of Hephaestus. Why come you before our judgment? [01:55:16] Speaker B: This is Andre's pantheon, so I will let him take lead here. Initially. [01:55:25] Speaker D: We have been tasked with a labor by the lord of this place. We have come to finish said labor in a audience with him. [01:55:44] Speaker G: And do you bring your payment, your proof of labor accomplished? [01:55:51] Speaker D: Yes. And Andre will stow the flowers that were brought along that were used at the funerary rites. [01:56:08] Speaker G: Your friends must also present themselves. [01:56:13] Speaker D: Andre will just look back to Clint and Kota and just gesture them to come closer. [01:56:20] Speaker A: Yep. Right here. Nice to meet you folks. Hi. Hi there. My name is Clint Brazos. I'm a scion of the Morgan. And may I have the pleasure of your three names? [01:56:32] Speaker G: I am Akis, and I am to judge the three of you. And he gestures between Andre, Clint, and Oliver and another man who has thus far been quiet and done very little moving locks. Eyes on Koda. I am Rhadamanthus, and I am to judge you, scion of Bastet. [01:57:03] Speaker C: Why am I judged differently? [01:57:06] Speaker G: Yeah, this is our roles. I am to judge those who do not belong to European pantheons. Really? [01:57:17] Speaker C: I mean. Understood. [01:57:23] Speaker G: Unless you wish to be judged by the same measure as those who are more closely related to the Greeks. And he kind of looks at you and Cody. You could feel that, something very similar to the tug that you were feeling when you were being pulled towards Oliver. But it is like someone is. Without touching you. It's like someone is reaching over and plucking every fate thread you have. Shakes you to your core. [01:57:58] Speaker C: She'll, like, clench her fist around the crystal that was given to her by Cersei's analges. Sure. You can judge me two. Yeah, but I also was here to do the same labor as my group, so, I mean, yeah, judge me all you want. I'm here for judging. [01:58:32] Speaker G: Hoda. Please tell me what your. Let me make sure I've got the right word. What your virtues are and what ranks you have in each virtue. [01:58:48] Speaker C: My virtues are. [01:58:53] Speaker G: Permanent, not temporary. [01:58:56] Speaker C: Copy, Captain. Conviction, duty, harmony, and valor. Conviction and duty are both at three. Harmony's at two. And what's this? Valor is at one. [01:59:11] Speaker G: Okay. [01:59:13] Speaker C: Oh, like their numbers. Numbers or like how much I've used of them. [01:59:16] Speaker G: No, the numbers. The numbers are good. I was asking for your. For your permanent numbers. That's good. Okay. All right. You can feel those threads around you being tucked and tugged and plucked and manipulated just a bit. And there's like a tension that kind of forms around you. It's like your soul is being poked and prodded. And then all at once, that tension releases, and Rhadamanthus sits back in his seat and says nothing. This happens to each of you. So we're gonna go down the line, and I'm gonna have each of you tell the audience what your virtues, virtue ratings are, and which virtues you have. We will start with Oliver. [02:00:12] Speaker B: Okay. I have courage, which is at 2, expression, which is at 3, intellect, which is at 4. [02:00:26] Speaker A: And piety, which is also at 2. Clint. Clint similarly has courage at 3, expression. [02:00:37] Speaker D: At 3, intellect at 1, and piety at 2. And Andre. Andre has double checking, expression at 2, intellect at 3, valor at 1, and vengeance at 3. [02:01:00] Speaker A: All right. [02:01:01] Speaker G: Anyone who has a virtue at 1, you can either spend a willpower to try to bolster that virtue at your core as your threads and strands are manipulated, or you can spend a legend to impress upon the judges that how important it is that you pass. A willpower will effectively allow you to roll your roll. Your legend rating. So four. And if you. If you get at least one success, it'll allow you to pass. There's effectively. You have one option that will allow you to pass automatically and one. One option that will allow you to roll. And if you fail, there will be a consequence. [02:02:07] Speaker C: I'm going to roll. [02:02:09] Speaker A: I'm going to use legend. [02:02:14] Speaker D: Andre will utilize his legend. Given the way I've been rolling tonight, I don't trust it. [02:02:21] Speaker G: Okay, so. So Koda is going to roll. Koda, please roll me four dice. [02:02:27] Speaker B: Oh, no. [02:02:28] Speaker C: Four dice. I'm not concerned at all. [02:02:31] Speaker G: You can do it. [02:02:33] Speaker B: You're going to kill us. [02:02:34] Speaker C: Two successes. [02:02:36] Speaker B: I'll take it. [02:02:36] Speaker C: Thank you. [02:02:37] Speaker G: Right. Okay. Both of the judges sit back, and Minos, from his central seat, nods his head. You are worthy to speak to the lord of this domain. Pass on, but follow only the central path. Any others, and there will be consequences. [02:03:12] Speaker C: Understood? Can I just ask you one question, sir? [02:03:21] Speaker G: Who are you talking to exactly? [02:03:23] Speaker C: The one that was talking to her. [02:03:26] Speaker G: Rhadamanthus? [02:03:27] Speaker C: Yes, that one. [02:03:32] Speaker G: You may ask, I may answer. [02:03:38] Speaker C: All right. How do you decide? No. [02:03:46] Speaker G: Who is worthy? [02:03:50] Speaker C: Yes. Do you just feel it? Do you just know it? You know. [02:04:03] Speaker G: The goddess Hecate has given us Many gifts and many specific roles. There's little else I can say about how it happens, save that this is. [02:04:15] Speaker C: Our. [02:04:19] Speaker G: F. [02:04:24] Speaker C: I see nothing much has changed from being a scion back then to now. Thank you for answering my question. [02:04:35] Speaker G: Minos lifts his hands and gestures past them towards the central path. [02:04:41] Speaker C: She'll go somewhat waiting for the group if she can. [02:04:47] Speaker G: All three, all four of you have been judged worthy. [02:04:50] Speaker D: Oh, sounds good. [02:04:53] Speaker A: Right there with you, Cody. [02:04:57] Speaker G: All right, as you pass along, I would like all of you to roll me. Perception awareness. [02:05:12] Speaker B: Okay. [02:05:21] Speaker A: Does that include Ian? [02:05:23] Speaker B: Nothing. [02:05:25] Speaker G: No, it does not include Ian. [02:05:28] Speaker D: Two successes. [02:05:33] Speaker G: Holy Coda. Just casually rolling eighth sees all. [02:05:39] Speaker A: I got four. [02:05:41] Speaker G: All right, Cody, you are the only one who realizes what's about to happen. It doesn't stop it from happening. But you are just barely able to either brace yourself or dodge out of the way as a massive, massive creature bounds up out from behind one of the. Out from behind a structure in this field. It looks like a almost decorative kind of statue esque thing, but hugely wide, at least 10, 15ft across. And it bounds out from behind it and straight towards all of you. Koda, what you recognize as this huge figure runs towards you is that this is. Is a massive animal with three heads, about the size of a Greyhound bus, but wider. And it is growling and snarling. [02:06:44] Speaker C: Holy shit. Is this. [02:06:49] Speaker A: That this? [02:06:50] Speaker G: Hold on. Are you going to dodge or are you going to brace yourself for impact? [02:06:56] Speaker C: She's gonna brace for impact. [02:06:59] Speaker G: Okay, in that case, I also need everybody. Well, Koda, you have the option to roll either Dex or Strength and Athletics to try and brace yourself against it. The rest of you are just gonna have to roll. Just base strength. No epics. [02:07:26] Speaker B: No epics. [02:07:30] Speaker D: Well, two successes. [02:07:34] Speaker B: Nothing. I rolled nothing again. [02:07:46] Speaker G: And Koda rolled seven. All right, everybody else ends up on their ass except Coda, who just sort of skids backward in the stone a bit but manages to stay upright. What all of you see is a massive black dog with the heads of like a cross between a pit bull and like a Rottweiler, except all three heads are wreathed in snakes and its tail is a massive snake. And there is, as you all hit the ground, this saliva that looks viscous, drips from its fangs or from its teeth and hits the ground and hisses like acid. [02:08:55] Speaker A: Holy. Holy. What the. Is that thing? [02:09:00] Speaker D: Yeah, that. [02:09:01] Speaker A: That server's out. [02:09:02] Speaker B: Yep. [02:09:05] Speaker A: That'S. That's your dog friend from. That's the. I don't look very nice, guys. [02:09:10] Speaker D: Don't think it's a friend. [02:09:12] Speaker B: It's not supposed to be. [02:09:14] Speaker C: Oh, you guys didn't tell me there's dogs down here. [02:09:20] Speaker B: I mean. [02:09:20] Speaker D: Yeah, he's kind of the big one around here. [02:09:23] Speaker A: Does he like food or to fetch or something? [02:09:27] Speaker D: I don't think he's going to really respond to much aside from his master's orders. [02:09:35] Speaker A: Yeah. [02:09:37] Speaker C: Koda will hold her hands up in, like, a. Not a. Well, yeah, surrender, but not, like, all the way above her head, but more of just like a. Okay. Like a placating kind of, like, way to be. Like, for, like, calm down. We're here for a reason. One of those situations. [02:09:59] Speaker G: It is half crouched and growling and snapping at all of you. Like, it is trying to force you backwards. [02:10:07] Speaker A: Clint, from his seated position, will kind of, instead of raising his hands up, will put them out wide as if to welcome it inwards and start. Come here, boy. Come out. It's okay. It's just us. And try to placate the beast. [02:10:23] Speaker G: Of course. Okay. [02:10:28] Speaker A: We're just here to see your dad. I promise we're not going to do nothing. Come here. It's okay. It's okay. You can come here. [02:10:41] Speaker G: Clint, I will allow you to roll charisma and animal Ken, but I'm going to tell you right now, this is not going to work. I'm mostly letting you roll to see how bad it is. [02:10:51] Speaker A: Oh, no, thank you. [02:10:53] Speaker D: Perfect. [02:10:56] Speaker G: I just want to be upfront that this is not something you can really pass. [02:11:00] Speaker B: Oh, no. [02:11:01] Speaker G: So it's not going to be great. Okay, that's two successes. [02:11:05] Speaker A: Can I spend another point of legend? Sure, if you want to tap into expressions. Yeah. [02:11:14] Speaker G: You can't tap into your virtues after the fact. [02:11:17] Speaker A: That's right. [02:11:18] Speaker G: You can, however, spend a legend to reroll. [02:11:20] Speaker A: I will do that. Hey, it got worse, and it's worse. All right, come here, big boy. Come on. [02:11:34] Speaker G: Oh. [02:11:35] Speaker A: Oh. He's getting closer. [02:11:37] Speaker G: Clint, there are drips of that saliva hitting your skin, and it sizzles and pops when it hits. It hurts. [02:11:48] Speaker A: Maybe don't get so close. [02:11:51] Speaker G: All right, we are about to go into not exactly a turn order, but everybody's gonna have, like, one option. But first, while this is happening, I'm going to allow Andre and Oliver to both roll me intelligence and either occult or academics, whatever is better. [02:12:06] Speaker B: We're gonna go academics. Six, ten. [02:12:17] Speaker D: There we go. [02:12:18] Speaker G: All right, Andre, what immediately comes to mind for you is that the one hero you know for sure you remember the story of getting beyond Cerberus was Heracles, or Hercules. He wrestled Cerberus into submission, and that's how he got past Oliver. You remember that, but you also remember all the other stories. Basically, only Hercules bothered to take the physical route. Almost everybody found a way to put him to sleep. What nobody did was try to fight him. [02:13:00] Speaker B: Okay, okay, okay. [02:13:02] Speaker G: That said, we are now going to go into turn order, so everybody is going to have a chance to do something. I would like everybody to roll me. Well, let's do join battle so we can figure out who gets to go first. [02:13:30] Speaker B: Sixes for me. [02:13:33] Speaker G: Join battle is that you just roll one and then you have a modifier of whatever your join battle. [02:13:38] Speaker B: Oh, is that what it is? Yes, as if it were a dice pool. My bad. [02:13:43] Speaker G: It's. I know it's been a while since we've used this. [02:13:47] Speaker A: So that is seven plus five. I've got a 12. [02:13:50] Speaker G: All right, what is it again? You roll one die and then your. And then you have a modifier of whatever your join battle rank is. [02:13:59] Speaker E: Okay, perfect. [02:14:02] Speaker A: We got two 12s. [02:14:04] Speaker G: Unless epics count. [02:14:05] Speaker B: Then it's 13 for me. [02:14:09] Speaker G: Okay, epics do count. That's something you have to factor in. [02:14:13] Speaker B: Okay, I'm 13. [02:14:14] Speaker D: That'd be 14 for Andre. [02:14:17] Speaker A: All right. [02:14:18] Speaker C: Okay, so we have a 13, a. [02:14:22] Speaker G: 14, a 9, and a 12. [02:14:26] Speaker A: That's right. [02:14:28] Speaker G: All righty. We're going to start with who had 14. [02:14:37] Speaker D: Andre. [02:14:39] Speaker G: Andre, you get to go first. [02:14:41] Speaker D: Oh, goody. [02:14:42] Speaker B: Do I have to wait until my turn? Can I call out to him? [02:14:44] Speaker G: You can call out. Talking is a free action. [02:14:50] Speaker D: Well, music. Su beach the Savage Beast, maybe. Yeah, I can maybe get some music out of my orb. [02:14:59] Speaker B: I'll just, like, shrug. [02:15:03] Speaker D: And he will pull out the orb that he's been working on. And I would like to try to get music to come out of it because I know one of the ways I can modify it and, like, move its moving pieces to get it to sing. Basically a very, like, soft and sort of like generic lullaby. [02:15:23] Speaker G: Okay, is that a, like, a thing that you have on your sheet or is this just where we're winging it? [02:15:29] Speaker D: This is me completely nerdy winging it. I don't have a, like, actual instrument on me or anything. [02:15:35] Speaker G: Okay, cool. I will allow you to roll intelligence and your ranks in technology to see if you can make this do what you want it to do. [02:15:50] Speaker D: Okie dokie. Can I also add my expression? [02:15:56] Speaker G: Absolutely fantastic. [02:15:58] Speaker D: Last thought of expression. Here we go. Nine successes. [02:16:18] Speaker G: All right, nine. I see, I see. All right, who had 13? All right. [02:16:34] Speaker B: Looking through my list of things in my satchel, see if there's anything I Could use to potentially help put him to sleep. And I'm not finding much. All right, in that case, I have called out. We need to put him to sleep, presumably where everyone could hear. So I will try to impress that more upon. Let's go with coda, since I think she's good with animals. So can I give her, like, a command roll to do better on what she's going to do? [02:17:13] Speaker G: Absolutely. Make your command. [02:17:16] Speaker B: Command plus charisma. Charisma. I can do that. Where's my command? There it six successes. [02:17:34] Speaker G: All right, Coda, whatever you end up doing, you will have three extra dice thick. Who had 12? [02:17:44] Speaker A: That would be Clint. [02:17:45] Speaker G: What is Clint gonna do? [02:17:48] Speaker A: Hearing the music going, seeing the effort put into putting it to sleep, and hearing the confirmation from Oliver that we should indeed go in that direction. Clint will just take on a very calm and quiet. Not necessarily quiet, but a calming voice trying to soothe and. It's all right. Come on, boy. It's okay. Just lay down. It's gonna be fine. We're gonna be okay. I promise. Kind of keeping himself still keeping his hands down, just trying to talk the beast down because it worked so well last time. [02:18:23] Speaker G: All right, give me another charisma, animal Ken. [02:18:27] Speaker A: All right, let's see. [02:18:46] Speaker G: That's much better. Six is way better than one. [02:18:50] Speaker A: Absolutely. [02:18:51] Speaker G: All right, coda, last but certainly not least, you've been told that the goal is to put it to sleep, and the rest of your group seems to be working toward that end. What are you gonna do? [02:19:03] Speaker C: Okay, can you let me know if this is two different things coda wants to do? So. Not Coda. I want to do serpent's gaze to try to lock eyes with. At least I'll say the. What would be the best head to lock eyes with? [02:19:23] Speaker G: You're the only one on your feet, so probably the center one is the one that is closest to you. Okay. You have to remember these are big. This is a big animal. Oh, yeah. [02:19:32] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. So I want to do serpent's gaze to lock eyes of it and with. [02:19:40] Speaker G: And lock it in place to give your friends time to do their thing. [02:19:44] Speaker C: Yeah, and I will. [02:19:46] Speaker G: Oh, go ahead. [02:19:47] Speaker C: Okay, so then this is probably the second thing kota was going to With. When she was with cersei, she was starting to get into, like, dancing with her swords. So I was going to try to do, like, a snake charmer thing because there was, like, snakes on Cerberus. Go to sleep. [02:20:06] Speaker G: You know what? I think that that's a very cool idea, so I will allow it. Do whatever it is. That you need to do in terms of serpent's gaze. If that's a roll, make the roll, spend the legend. [02:20:18] Speaker C: Yeah, I spend one legend. [02:20:20] Speaker G: All right. And then I want you to do. Let me look at your sheet. I'm going to have you roll charisma. And you don't have art. [02:20:39] Speaker C: I don't to be athletic. [02:20:44] Speaker G: I will allow you to have this. How many dice extra did you get from Oliver? 3. [02:20:52] Speaker C: 3. [02:20:53] Speaker G: I will allow you to use those three dice as if they were art, so you still get your epics from your charisma. [02:21:00] Speaker C: Okay. Okay. Would this be a stunt? [02:21:12] Speaker G: No, this is absolutely a stunt. Okay. [02:21:16] Speaker C: This is a stunt. Okay, Cool, cool. [02:21:17] Speaker G: Yes. [02:21:19] Speaker B: How many dies? [02:21:25] Speaker G: We'll say two. Two extra dice for this and two. [02:21:31] Speaker B: Points of legend back. [02:21:32] Speaker G: Correct. [02:21:36] Speaker C: That. Okay, please, please, please, please. Ten successes. [02:21:44] Speaker G: Holy cow. Go, Coda. Go. Okay, how do you have a modifier of five? [02:21:52] Speaker C: Because it was the two, and then. [02:21:54] Speaker D: You said three extra dice. [02:21:56] Speaker B: No, not three dice. Three extra dice. [02:21:59] Speaker G: Yeah, dice. Not dice. [02:22:01] Speaker C: Okay, let me. [02:22:02] Speaker B: I was like. [02:22:02] Speaker G: Wait a minute. Hold on. [02:22:03] Speaker D: So. [02:22:04] Speaker B: So right now we're down to a seven. But roll three more dice. [02:22:08] Speaker C: Roll three more dice. Okay, Three. Zero. [02:22:16] Speaker G: Okay, Seven. Seven isn't bad. [02:22:19] Speaker C: Seven. [02:22:19] Speaker G: All right, so here's what happens, all kind of at once. Coda locks eyes with Cerberus, begins to do this elaborate dance with her with her sword and the knife that Andre gave her as well, which seems to manage to capture Cerberus gaze at least the central head and one of the side ones. The other one is focused on Clint. And maybe not like bending down to get scritched or anything like that, but it's trying to make sense of what's happening. And at the same time, all of this is happening. Andre is messing with that orb in his hand, pressing pieces and shifting things around and twisting it in his fingers. And you all hear this kind of mechanical click, click, click, click, click. And then a whirring. And you begin to hear the gentle chimes, not unlike what you would expect from a little girl's music box, to begin playing a very soft, kind of nameless lullaby that is somehow familiar, but nothing you could put your finger on. And over time, slowly but surely, the. The creature begins to fall asleep. Its eyes get heavy, even the snakes begin to droop, and it eventually settles and lays down at your feet and begins to snore. [02:24:03] Speaker A: Pos Is a good boy. That's right. You are. Yes, you are. [02:24:08] Speaker C: Don't wake him up. [02:24:10] Speaker A: I'm not gonna wake him up. Look at him. He's sleeping. [02:24:13] Speaker G: All right, that way. Now I want everybody to roll me a dex and stealth to see how well you get past him and we move and we'll move on. [02:24:22] Speaker B: Oh, no. Oh, I do have a dawn still patch. That surprised me. [02:24:29] Speaker A: I do not. [02:24:30] Speaker B: Yes. [02:24:31] Speaker E: We don't. [02:24:39] Speaker A: Oh, okay. [02:24:40] Speaker B: Four successes from me. [02:24:42] Speaker G: Coda. [02:24:43] Speaker A: I got two kota hasn't rolled yet. That was from the the previous roll. [02:24:51] Speaker G: Oh, okay. [02:24:52] Speaker C: 8. [02:24:54] Speaker A: Hey, there we go. [02:24:55] Speaker G: Andre, would you like to spend a legend? [02:24:58] Speaker B: Oh, is that a total failure there? It is. [02:25:00] Speaker D: Yeah, sure is. You know what it we ball? Yeah, I'll spend another leg. [02:25:07] Speaker A: I was getting ready to wrestle. [02:25:11] Speaker B: No, let's not do that. [02:25:13] Speaker A: Oh, come on. [02:25:13] Speaker B: One guy got away with that. [02:25:14] Speaker D: Two successes. [02:25:15] Speaker G: All right, you all managed to sneak by and up the stairs and finish following the path up towards the palace and the massive doors. [02:25:29] Speaker A: Can I ask politely if we can go back for just a second? [02:25:33] Speaker G: Why? [02:25:34] Speaker A: Klintle, stand next to the sleeping dog near one of the heads. Come on, get a picture for me. Come on, use my phone. It's okay. It'll only take a second. [02:25:44] Speaker G: The longer we're here, I swear to God, I'm going to start making people roll again. [02:25:48] Speaker A: Let's go. [02:25:50] Speaker B: I take the fastest photo known to man and then usher him on. [02:25:54] Speaker A: All right, go. Let's go. [02:25:56] Speaker B: No flash. [02:25:57] Speaker G: Jesus. All right. The palace of Hades stands high over the over the surrounding lands glaring down on it from above. The exterior is flat black basalt without windows or architectural features, resembling more of a war memorial than a palace of nobility. You follow this flight of stairs crafted from the same black stone as the field of Erebus, and it ascends a full story in height to the single cavernous opening that leads to the throne room of Hades and Persephone. In contrast to its grim exterior, the palace within is a palace of deep, rich jewel tones glittering with dusky gold and tarnished silver everywhere. The highly polished black marble floors reflect the glories above it, creating the impression of standing midway between riches above and riches below, all out of reach of the petitioner. The decor recalls the reason why Hades was called Pluto the wealthy by the Romans for its sheer opulence within. The tall thrones of Hades and his queen Persephone sit upon a tall dais. His throne is crafted entirely of black basalt inlaid with silver and deep purple jewels. Sitting in that throne is the man you suspect you are here to talk about. You watch as he sits there and blood spills in sacrificial funeral trenches. The blood spilled in the sacrificial funeral trenches, like the one that you saw earlier this morning, drips down from the ceiling above Hades. Would you like to tell them what they see when they look at you? [02:27:51] Speaker E: Absolutely. So, as they enter into my throne room, looking amidst all the opulence, the gems, the gold and everything else, sitting high on top of my throne, they will see a rather tall man, filled out well, a skin that is very gray and wearing a very dark robe, along with a breastplate where the Greek heroes of old would have had brass. This is made of obsidian. In my hair, you see a sprig of lavender as well. And as they enter into my throne chamber, my form is lit from the sconces on the wall, reflecting light off of the gold. And when they walk in, they would be greeted with not only my opulence and splendor, but also a smell of wood smoke, pomegranate, and then just the slightest hint of flower. [02:29:00] Speaker G: Excellent. Beside his throne is an empty throne of white marble inlaid with gold accents and deep crimson and burgundy gems the color of pomegranates. [02:29:19] Speaker A: Wait, ain't there supposed to be two of them right now? Okay. [02:29:28] Speaker E: Who are you? All who enter into my chamber. [02:29:35] Speaker A: Hi, I'm Clint, and these are my friends. We are here to finish up a task you gave us. [02:29:45] Speaker E: Yes, the scions. Please come forward. Show me what you have brought. [02:29:53] Speaker A: Yeah, hold on. Let me get it out here. You got the box? And unfasten. Okay, here we go. And Clint will approach. Come on, y'all. I don't want to be alone. [02:30:05] Speaker B: And he'll step up with Clint. [02:30:07] Speaker D: That's laundry. [02:30:09] Speaker C: Yep. [02:30:10] Speaker A: And then Clint will open up the box with all of the flowers that we had given and rendered as a sacrifice and then collected back again. [02:30:22] Speaker E: And as you step forward, you'll see me dismount my throne, walking steadily towards all of you. The kind of wisps of smoke from the fire, along with what you think might be some remnants of soul, trail behind me as I come forward to inspect your offering. [02:30:44] Speaker G: The flowers that they carry are exactly the ones that you had delivered to them, except that each of them carries a whiff of something that only senses as finely tuned to death as yours, and perhaps your wife's could tell is ash from funeral. From a funeral pyre. They look almost untouched, but they carry the smell of the grave with them. [02:31:20] Speaker E: And I think that's exactly what I am inspecting for as you see me lean down. And the blues, whites, and yellows of the flowers just mirror off of my breastplate. And As I take the smell into my nose, I look at all of you and say, I didn't expect you to complete this so quickly. Inspecting the flowers. How is it that you came to do this in just two months time? [02:31:57] Speaker A: Well, yeah. Go ahead. [02:32:00] Speaker D: We sailed to the island that is home to the Myrmidons, and they had received a substantial number of losses. Enough for each flower, your highness. [02:32:21] Speaker E: Well, that is quite strange to me, as I have seen a few Myrmidons wandering my land, but not nearly enough to merit such a large offering. [02:32:37] Speaker B: We found it strange as well, my lord. We were curious as to how so many of them could have died so quickly within a small timeframe. [02:32:49] Speaker G: Hmm. [02:32:51] Speaker A: Yeah, they. From my understanding, they were kind of waiting around until, you know, we did the funeral games and sent them off right proper. So you might be seeing a few more here in just a few minutes. Once they kind of filter through. [02:33:08] Speaker E: One way or another, I'm sure I will have my answers. I'm going to reach down and grab one of the flowers to inspect it. Mostly just for show at this point, I know that you've accomplished the thing that you set out to do. I saw that you all had a bit of trouble with Cerberus on your way in. [02:33:36] Speaker A: Oh, it weren't no trouble. He's a friendly fellow. He just, you know, he kind of, you know, he's a real good garden. [02:33:43] Speaker E: That he is. Well, it seems to me that you have done what I had asked. However, the. The speed at which you do so does perplex me. But that was not your charge. I'm going to go retrieve the flowers that I will bring forward to combine with these. [02:34:08] Speaker A: We're not early or anything, are we? It's still like on time for everything. [02:34:14] Speaker E: You'll see me walking towards a back area of my throne room, past the sacrificial fonts, saying, no, you are not early. In a way, that was ahead of the assignment I had expected you to take about six months to do. So at least that's the length of time that I. So that I put into these flowers, and I will retrieve a bouquet from the back of my throne room. [02:34:53] Speaker G: As he returns. What you all see is a bouquet that is almost identical to what you were carrying, except that they are faded and muted in color. You can almost. You think you can almost see through them to the armor behind where he carries them, but they look damn near exact. Otherwise, it's like somebody took a shade of what is in your hands and formed it here to wait. [02:35:31] Speaker A: So you got ghost flowers and Regular flowers. That's a pretty neat gift. Should we not talk so loud? Can she hear us? [02:35:43] Speaker E: Well, even if she can, it won't matter. I'm sure she will be quite pleased when she sees what we have to offer. And young sir, if you think this is impressive, just wait a moment here and I'm going to step forward, holding out my hand for the flowers that they had brought. [02:36:01] Speaker A: Oh, yep, Here you go. And Clint will lift the box with the flowers and bouquet inside. [02:36:07] Speaker E: And then what you see is holding the box and one arm, which, given Hades size, looks a little bit small in his grasp. And with the other, I take the ghostly bouquet gently, as if caressing a lover, and putting it in to the flowers to the point where they combine with one another, and then have this almost spectral essence to them. [02:36:47] Speaker C: Wow, you're really romantic. [02:36:52] Speaker E: What do you mean? [02:36:55] Speaker C: Koda of Maskoid, scion of Beset, sir. [02:37:01] Speaker E: It is very nice to meet you. Coda. And I will give you a bow if you have not offered your hand or anything like that. Not all the way down, just a slight bend of the torso. [02:37:18] Speaker C: And still do the same. [02:37:23] Speaker E: I will. You will see a smile cross my face, which to this point has just been kind of stoic, looking over the flowers. I'll look to the rest of you. I don't believe I got the rest of your names for returning this wonderful gift to me. [02:37:46] Speaker A: Go on, y'all. [02:37:48] Speaker D: I'm Andre Briscoe, son of Festus. Your highness. [02:37:55] Speaker B: Oliver. Bright sign of Oakma. [02:38:03] Speaker A: And I'm Clinton Brazil. Like I said, I'm a scion of the Morgan. [02:38:08] Speaker E: I will return a bow to all of you and say it's a very. It's a pleasure to meet all of you. And again, thank you so much. You've done great work for the Dodecathion pantheon with this. I do have one more task for you, and that is to bring these flowers to my beautiful wife. [02:38:35] Speaker A: Oh, okay. Yeah. I mean, sure. [02:38:39] Speaker D: It'd be an honor, your highness. [02:38:44] Speaker E: And I will hand the box back to Clint with care, but not nearly as gingerly as it was handed to me. [02:38:57] Speaker A: Thank you. I'll. I'll take good care of it. Hey, just in case we get lost, you know, trying to find your wife, do you got like a phone number or something? We can text you or call you for directions? [02:39:09] Speaker E: Well, if you get lost in my domain, there won't really be any need for a phone. [02:39:15] Speaker A: I already just see you. Oh, cool. Okay, that does make it easy. But I mean, like, let's say, you know, we Just want to hang out sometimes, sometime later in life. [02:39:29] Speaker E: I see. And I will retrieve a piece of parchment that looks extremely old, almost like the paper is made of hemp. And you will see me retrieve a quill from my robe and write down a number on it, and then hand it to you. [02:39:59] Speaker A: All right. Thank you. I'll get this typed in real quick and we'll be on our way. [02:40:07] Speaker C: One question. Would it be frowned upon if, you know, do you allow people to go to Elysium if they wanted to talk to someone that may have passed? [02:40:32] Speaker E: I see. And just so I am clear, Coda, you are asking for the purpose of visiting while you are here and not after you have passed. Is that correct? [02:40:48] Speaker C: Oh, shit. I don't even. Excuse me? [02:40:53] Speaker A: Oh. [02:40:56] Speaker G: Shit. [02:40:57] Speaker C: I don't even think about after I die. Well, I mean, that's a good question, too. Like, after I die, can I visit other places to talk to people? But also, I mean, like, while I'm living and visiting, if I could maybe talk to someone that may have passed somewhat recently. [02:41:19] Speaker E: I see. I will tell you this as a thank you for bringing this gift to me. I will allow you to see someone within the Elysian Fields. However, in your passing, you will not be heading to there. To that field, you will be in the underworld of your own pantheon, Coda. [02:41:50] Speaker C: Understood. [02:41:55] Speaker A: Wait, so, like, you and your friend ain't gonna be able to talk anymore? [02:41:59] Speaker D: There's a connection between here and the duat. [02:42:03] Speaker A: Oh. So, Mr. Hades, if we were to pass and be on our own underworld, can we, like, you know, visit after that point? If there's a connection between this one and the Duat, surely, like, you know, there's a tunnel between other ones. [02:42:23] Speaker G: To clarify, there are connections between the various underworlds, but it is generally not permitted for spirits to go wandering. Those connections and spirits that try frequently don't show up in either underworld anymore. They tend to go missing. So they are strongly encouraged to stay where they're supposed to be. And depending on which pantheon you're talking about, not all of the underworlds are as connected as others. [02:42:56] Speaker E: And I think to your question, I will say can and should are two entirely different things. You should not venture outside of your own pantheon's underworld. In some situations you can, but there is no promises as to what happens to your soul. [02:43:19] Speaker A: Okay, so it's kind of like a really difficult thing that only super company should do. Got it. [02:43:29] Speaker E: I don't think that their track record has even been that stellar. But again, I will allow you to see someone. I will Provide a entourage for you for that venture. After you have brought this item to my wife. [02:43:50] Speaker C: Thanks. Thank you, sir. [02:43:55] Speaker A: Do you prefer sir or like Highness, or do you even care? [02:44:01] Speaker E: When you've been here as long as I have, the honorifics just fade away. I am the lord of this land. You can address me as such, but I hold no pride in that position. [02:44:17] Speaker A: All right. Hades it is. [02:44:24] Speaker E: That will do fine. [02:44:26] Speaker D: Lord Hades. [02:44:32] Speaker A: Well, it sounds like we're going to be on our way. Is there anything else you had for us? Any, like. Any like partner? Are we going to see you again here in a minute, once we're done delivering. [02:44:44] Speaker E: No, you will not see me, but I will see you. [02:44:48] Speaker A: All right. My hands are kind of full here. Elbow bump or something like. It's not a handshake, but it's something. [02:44:59] Speaker E: I believe if the gesture is offered to me, I am not completely inept, and I will shake your hand. There's a bit of force with it, but not so much, so that would be trying to crush your hand. [02:45:19] Speaker A: Glint will try to match that force equally and give a nice, firm handshake. [02:45:28] Speaker G: Clint, your hand doesn't get crushed. Matching the force of a God grip is not super possible for you, but it's not like he's trying to hurt you. [02:45:43] Speaker B: Mr. [02:45:43] Speaker A: Friendly. Nice, firm grip. [02:45:45] Speaker G: I think I heard Andre try to say something earlier, and he got talked over. Andre, was there anything you wanted to add? [02:45:54] Speaker D: Andre, after looking basically, like, scared shitless for most of this conversation, would go up, and after giving, after basically being stuck in a bow for most of the time, would offer his hand. It's been an honor to finally get to meet you, Uncle Lord Hades. [02:46:20] Speaker E: I will take Andre's hand and say it has been a pleasure. Andre and I will be definitely more gentle with this gesture than I was with Clint. Just kind of reading the general demeanor of the party. [02:46:39] Speaker G: All right, does anyone else have anything they want to say or ask? [02:46:48] Speaker A: Y'all have any barbecues down here? [02:46:50] Speaker B: It's okay. Before you answer that question, I'd like to ask something slightly more pertinent. If it's not too much to request, my lord Hades, now that you have exchanged numbers with Clint, if you ever uncover why all those myrmidons died so suddenly, if you wouldn't mind sending that information to us as well, I think it might be helpful and useful to us. [02:47:24] Speaker E: I see. [02:47:26] Speaker A: Here, I'll send you a text so you have our number. [02:47:30] Speaker E: When you do, nothing goes off, but I will look back to Oliver and say I will get in touch with you and give you whatever information as part. I do not wish to see you fail, if that is what you are asking. [02:47:50] Speaker B: Thank you, my lord. Hey. Also, you said we need to deliver the flowers to your wife. Where exactly is she? [02:48:15] Speaker E: I believe you will find her in the fields outside of the palace. Judging by your path, you most likely passed some of her effects a little bit ago. Perhaps if you saw some flowers or smelled a sweet spring breeze. Those are usually her call signs. As you can tell, there's not much sunlight down here. [02:48:45] Speaker G: Looking back, you begin to realize that you may have mistaken the effects of a goddess of spring being in the vicinity for the Elysian Fields when you first got there, because you're pretty sure that what you passed that smelled like apples was the Elysian Fields would make sense, because it happened after passing judgment. [02:49:06] Speaker A: Well, got ourselves a bit of a walk, then. [02:49:16] Speaker E: Storyteller, is there anybody that I can provide to this group to ensure their passage is unimpeded? [02:49:24] Speaker G: There are a great number of spirits and shades that you can call up at whim. [02:49:30] Speaker E: Okay. I think what I do then is call forward, just with a wave of my hand. And you see two spectral figures step forward, both of them clad in this ancient Grecian armor with their very, very long spears. And this kind of goes ghostly shimmer to their helmets with the long, dark hair that falls down their armor that you can almost see through in this tinge of green. I say, I will provide you these two souls to see you through to your delivery and to take you to the Elysian Fields. [02:50:20] Speaker A: Right. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. [02:50:24] Speaker E: And thank you. [02:50:28] Speaker A: Now, we're just happy to help. [02:50:31] Speaker E: Always hope you did. But now you must finish the task, and then your labor is complete. [02:50:44] Speaker A: And then it's on to the next one. [02:50:50] Speaker G: All right. If there is nothing left that anyone wishes to say or ask, I think I will say. [02:50:59] Speaker E: Well, actually, I'll let the rest of the group go first. [02:51:05] Speaker C: Nothing. [02:51:06] Speaker B: Nothing for me. [02:51:07] Speaker D: Andres said his piece. [02:51:09] Speaker E: Okay. As the spectral warriors step down, start to descend the stairs, and you all do the same, if you look back, you will see me walking to one of the corners of my throne chamber. And then when I am out of sight, you see me retrieving a crown. It looks like it's made of shards of obsidian interwoven with brass and silver. And I will put that onto my head and become invisible, with which I will then follow this group as they deliver my gift. [02:51:50] Speaker G: Love that. Okay, as the PCs turn and walk away, one of you might glance back over your shoulder and Realize that you don't know where Hades is anymore. [02:52:04] Speaker A: See you, big guy. Oh, where the hell. [02:52:10] Speaker G: The as as Clint pauses, trying to figure out what happened, one of the ghostly figures wraps his spear against the ground, and it makes a weirdly loud sound to kind of startle you into moving again. [02:52:28] Speaker A: Sorry. Sorry. Yep, right behind you. [02:52:31] Speaker G: They lead you out of the palace and down, back down the path. You pass by Cerberus, who is awake again and eyes all of you, but does not make any moves towards you. He just sits and watch all three heads and all of the snakes watch you pass. You pass the three spirits of the ancient scions who sit in judgment and back down into the fields of Asphodel and back towards that place where the fields of Asphodel seem somehow more vivid and bright and warm than the rest. It takes a while to walk there, but your guides never flag. They never seem off course. They seem to know exactly where they are going, though they don't speak. And eventually, you reach a place where it isn't just flowers. There is a single tree that seems to have sprouted up despite everything. And sitting under its branches is a beautiful woman, Persephone. Would you like to tell them what they see? [02:53:59] Speaker F: Yes. You see a woman with olive skin and long red hair, kind of the same shade as a pomegranate. I'm wearing a beautiful dress in a dark green, and the dress itself is embroidered with different flowers and vines on it, some of which almost look like they could be more than just embroidery. And currently sitting at the base of this tree and quietly humming a song to myself. [02:54:52] Speaker A: Go on, say hello. [02:54:58] Speaker D: Your highness. [02:55:02] Speaker F: Yes. Hello. [02:55:07] Speaker D: Hello. And Andre will bow a bit. I am Andre Briscoe, scion of Hephaestus, and I come bearing a gift from Lord Hades. [02:55:23] Speaker B: Oh. [02:55:26] Speaker F: Get up and get to my feet and slowly walk towards Andrew. What has my husband given you to give to me? [02:55:40] Speaker D: Clint, if you'd be so kind as to pass the bouquet to me. [02:55:44] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Here you go, bud. [02:55:48] Speaker G: Clint is holding this large box that looks reinforced and quite heavy, but he opens it and ends. Inside is this massive bouquet of Narcissus and forget me nots that are overlaid with this kind of spectral glow where you could tell that there's almost a spectral ghostly version of each flower interposed over the living one. [02:56:21] Speaker F: Hades, smile and reach out to run my hand along these flowers. Always so thoughtful. They are beautiful. We all move to take the bouquet. [02:56:46] Speaker A: Yes, ma'am. Here you go. And happy birthday to you. [02:56:53] Speaker B: I'll just, like, pinch the bridge of my nose. [02:56:58] Speaker F: Thank you. Even though it is not my birthday. [02:57:02] Speaker A: Oh, right. It's that other thing. [02:57:06] Speaker C: I think it's just a nice gesture. Yeah. Koda Masakoi. Koda Masakoi, scion of Bastet. Pleasure to meet you. [02:57:19] Speaker F: Give us. Well. [02:57:23] Speaker B: I'm Oliver Bright, scion of Oghma. It's a pleasure to meet you. [02:57:28] Speaker F: You, too. [02:57:30] Speaker A: And I'm Clint Brazos, a scion of the Morgan. And I'm happy to be here and happy to have helped out. It's a pleasure. [02:57:39] Speaker F: You certainly all put in a lot of work for this. [02:57:46] Speaker G: Persephone. As they give their names. Andre's name and Clint's name don't quite match up, but Oliver and Koda have names that you've heard a great deal over the past year and a half or so. They were part of the group that fought to save the life of Stefan Vargar, who was the scion leading the forces of the Fenris wolves in the quest of slaughtering scions before they could have their visitation and receive their gifts and power. And they have been on Labors since then. To shorten his prison sentence and get him back out into the world, where he will be hopefully a member of their band and able to make up for his crimes. [02:58:47] Speaker F: Well, you two looking at Coda and Oliver certainly have been busy. [02:58:56] Speaker B: That is one word for it. [02:59:00] Speaker F: Well, I certainly hope you both know what you're doing. [02:59:08] Speaker C: I think we're figuring it out as we go, but I think we know the importance of what we're doing. [02:59:19] Speaker A: Yeah, they're both real smart. Yes. [02:59:25] Speaker F: Well, these Labors that you have been on prove your dedication, for sure. [02:59:39] Speaker B: Thank you. [02:59:42] Speaker F: I hope that you find what you're looking for. [02:59:49] Speaker B: I hope we do, too. [02:59:56] Speaker C: Is there anything you want? Oh, wait, no. We're not going back to see sir. How do you say that with sir? We're not going back to see Hades, right? [03:00:11] Speaker F: No, I. I will go see my husband soon. [03:00:15] Speaker A: Yeah, hold on. Let me just this out here. All right? I'm gonna send him a text that the delivery is complete and that he is expecting you. There we go. [03:00:30] Speaker G: As you are. As Clint is tapping away at his divine cell phone, one of the guards that is in attendance with them, Persephone, leans over and speaks very quietly into your ear and informs you that they have Coda has requested, and they have been granted access to the Fields of Elysian, which is very unusual. You would know. This is like. Only someone who's gone above and beyond and really impressed your husband is ever allowed to Go there that isn't like, you know, judged and deemed worthy of going in order to see somebody, though they never gave a name. So. [03:01:18] Speaker F: S. And I will look over at Coda and smile again and say, you really did impress him then. Doesn't let anyone, just anyone, go to Elysium. [03:01:33] Speaker C: Oh, is that not ok? Okay. [03:01:40] Speaker F: No, it is. I. My husband is very particular, to put it lightly. And if you made a good impression, I think that speaks more on him than you, but. [03:02:05] Speaker C: Oh, well, yeah, I'll make sure I don't. I guess things mess things up down there or around there or something. [03:02:17] Speaker F: Yeah. Well, I hope that you find whoever you're looking for in there and get any kind of closure. [03:02:27] Speaker C: I hope so too. Question. So you guys are married? Yeah. [03:02:36] Speaker B: Yes. [03:02:38] Speaker C: How do y'all. Koda will look at the group and then look back and go. So, like, y'all have to argue sometimes, right? [03:02:54] Speaker F: Yes. [03:02:57] Speaker C: How do you. What. It's like? They're literally like the couple. I feel like if there's a couple that I should. Well, not. Sorry. How do you deal with that? Like, you guys being at such. You know. [03:03:20] Speaker F: It'S. We've had a lot of time to figure out all of this and wasn't easy at first. There are many things, but we found what made it work for the both of us. Relationship is something that both people need to be. Both people need to work on and be there for. [03:03:54] Speaker A: What would you say is like the secret in a long lasting marriage then? [03:04:00] Speaker C: Oh, God, I don't get married. But yeah, again, no, no, no, no. It's. It's a. It's a. It's a good question. [03:04:09] Speaker F: Secrets to a long lasting marriage. [03:04:12] Speaker A: Marriage. [03:04:14] Speaker C: Oh, we should have asked Hades too. [03:04:18] Speaker A: Yeah, we should. I'll send him a text later. [03:04:20] Speaker C: Okay. [03:04:23] Speaker B: While this is happening, I'm just going to give Andre a look and then turn back. [03:04:27] Speaker D: Andre's returning the look and as with a long suffering sigh. [03:04:33] Speaker B: Probably do it in years then. [03:04:35] Speaker D: Yep. [03:04:37] Speaker F: Well, I think a. I think it's being incredibly compatible in many different ways. [03:04:47] Speaker C: Mm. [03:04:48] Speaker G: Mm. [03:04:51] Speaker A: What do you mean by that? [03:04:56] Speaker C: Like, would you guys like, opposite a track situation? [03:05:02] Speaker F: Listen now. I mean, I think it really helped that I am here half of the year and it's, you know, I mean, the space. Distance is good, but, you know, the whole saying of distance makes the heart grow fonder. [03:05:24] Speaker C: Yes, yes, yes. [03:05:27] Speaker F: Spending time apart makes us. When we come back together, makes us realize how much we've missed each other and how much we missed that. [03:05:34] Speaker A: Do y'all like, send love letters and stuff back and forth when y'all are apart? [03:05:40] Speaker F: Yes, quite often. [03:05:42] Speaker C: Oh, so you're not on a break when you got. When you leave for six months? That's just. You're on a trip. Well, not a trip. I know there's the history and all that. [03:05:54] Speaker F: Yes, there's. It's might as well be a trip at this point. When I have to. When I go see my mother. [03:06:00] Speaker C: Okay, understood. [03:06:05] Speaker A: Is he going to run? [03:06:08] Speaker F: Amazing. Hades has many talents. [03:06:14] Speaker A: When he gets back or, like, when you come back, does he ever just, like, read them out to you real slow with his real purdy voice? [03:06:21] Speaker F: No, we spend time much differently than that. [03:06:26] Speaker A: I think I understand. [03:06:30] Speaker G: All right. Like, your phone chimes. [03:06:32] Speaker A: Oh, hold on. Let me check this real quick. [03:06:37] Speaker G: That you have a text message from Hades. It says, who is this? [03:06:47] Speaker A: Okay, I could have sworn I introduced myself on the first one. Here we go. Hi, Hades, this is Clint Brazos. Just delivered flowers to your wife. Stand. [03:07:04] Speaker G: It goes to red. And then you just get. I see. Period. You have the wrong number. Period. [03:07:18] Speaker A: God damn it. [03:07:20] Speaker B: Look over Clint shoulder. [03:07:25] Speaker A: Persephone. I think your husband might have transcribed a couple of numbers when he was giving me his. I'm trying to just let him know that, you know, the task has been handled and that you're real pretty and it was nice meeting you both. Do you mind, like, helping me out here fixing this real quick? [03:07:42] Speaker B: Well, whispered Audrey, this is the first time that this has ever happened to him. [03:07:46] Speaker G: Persephone, when he shows you his phone, you know whose number that is? That's not your husband's number. [03:07:54] Speaker F: And I laugh and go, oh, he always had a sense of humor. [03:08:04] Speaker A: Oh, well, I appreciate that, but, I mean, I just want to let him know that the things got done. [03:08:12] Speaker G: I will allow Koda, Andre, and Oliver to make wits and empathy checks. All right, See if you can read into this situation and what just happened. I adore Clint. Normally, I would let everybody roll, but I feel like Clint is the one person in this party who just wouldn't think, like, wouldn't make this leap. [03:08:37] Speaker B: That is seven successes. [03:08:39] Speaker D: I got two. [03:08:41] Speaker A: Clint is fully oblivious, thinking there was just a mistake. [03:08:48] Speaker C: Four successes. [03:08:51] Speaker G: Andre, you're still a little overwhelmed. You are standing in front of a goddess that you are well educated enough on the history of your pantheon to realize that while she is frequently kind of downgraded in importance by, like, modern scholars, by a lot of scholars and people who have just sort of a cursory passing knowledge of the pantheon, where she's mostly just known as Hades, Wife and just known for the one story. You are aware that Persephone is, like, older than most of your pantheon. Like, her origins go back further than the Dodecathion in general do, to the point where, like, people have forgotten what her original pantheon was called, and there are whispers among other Greek scions that fate has had such a strong pull on her and her story has been so set in stone that even she doesn't fully remember where and who she was, where she came from, and who she. She was. She was mostly a death goddess back then. [03:09:58] Speaker D: Though. [03:10:02] Speaker G: What Oliver and Koda pick up on is that one of the features in Persephone at Hades story is another character who causes a lot of problems for their relationship and might, you know, have provided ample reasons for Hades to decide to kind of be a little bit petty and prank her by giving her number out to a scion she's never met. And that's Demeter. [03:10:36] Speaker D: Oh, no. [03:10:43] Speaker A: So, like I was saying, do you mind helping me just figure out the right number for your husband real quick so we can let him know? I don't want to bother no strangers. [03:10:53] Speaker F: I can let him know. It's no worry. But you should definitely continue texting that number. [03:11:00] Speaker A: Oh, if you say, do you know who it is? [03:11:04] Speaker F: Yes. [03:11:06] Speaker A: Would you tell me if I asked? Maybe. Okay. Who am I texting, and are they normally okay with receiving text messages? [03:11:22] Speaker F: I don't know the answer to the second one, but he most definitely just gave you Demeter's number. [03:11:36] Speaker B: Oh, Lord. [03:11:38] Speaker A: I don't think I'm familiar, but I'll. Oh, it's your mom. Okay, I'll. Well, are you on, like, good terms. [03:11:48] Speaker F: With her six months out of the year? [03:11:54] Speaker A: Gotcha. That's the person you have to go to. Okay. Does she have, like, any, like, favorite things that I could send her to help ease this whole awkward situation of just not knowing who she is and stuff? You think like, maybe a picture or something? Or something. [03:12:15] Speaker F: Like, as the mortals call it, a selfie? [03:12:19] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, I could do. That's a great idea. Hold on. Do you want to be in it with me? Sure. All right, come here. And Clint will, like, try and wrap around. Around Persephone, if she is so inclined, and then reach up with his phone and snap a shared selfie. [03:12:37] Speaker C: Wow. [03:12:39] Speaker G: You are able to do that without any problem. [03:12:44] Speaker A: All right, let me just send this along real quick. Sorry, Demeter. I now know who you are, and I am Clint Brazos, scion of the Morgan. It is a pleasure. Hope to talk to you more often. Send. [03:13:04] Speaker G: All right. Is there anything else anybody would like to do or have a conversation with Persephone? Persephone, knowing that they are planning to head to the fields of Elysian, Would you like to go with, or are you planning to stay under your tree? [03:13:24] Speaker F: I think I'm planning to stay under my tree for now. Besides, I have to thank somebody for giving me these nice flowers. [03:13:32] Speaker G: That's fair. [03:13:35] Speaker D: Perhaps Andre would just say, it's been a honor meeting you, your highness. I've met a few of your scions, and they've always been kind to me. I appreciate it. [03:13:52] Speaker F: Yes. Scion of Hephaestus. It's lovely to meet you. [03:14:02] Speaker D: Andre will just get a big smile on his face and just give another bow before he'll begin heading out for the others. [03:14:10] Speaker G: All right, is anybody else. Does anybody else have anything to say or ask? Speak now. Nope. [03:14:20] Speaker A: Do we get, like, any sort of cold bone from you or anything for, like, airing this out? Never mind. I was selfish. I'm sorry. I'm just gonna be with my friend. [03:14:31] Speaker F: You've gotten Demeter's phone number? I think that is a boon Enough. [03:14:38] Speaker A: Yeah. You think she'd be cool with it? [03:14:41] Speaker F: Incredibly. [03:14:43] Speaker A: All right, I'll try and. I'll try and get her to be more talkative. Then we'll see what happens. [03:14:51] Speaker G: Oliver. [03:14:54] Speaker B: You have a lovely garden. [03:14:57] Speaker G: Thank you. [03:15:01] Speaker A: Wait, do you have a phone number, too? [03:15:06] Speaker F: Yes, I do. [03:15:09] Speaker A: You want to plug it in here or should I just slap it in myself? [03:15:13] Speaker F: Sure, I can give you it. [03:15:17] Speaker A: Here you go. [03:15:19] Speaker F: I'll plug it in. [03:15:21] Speaker G: Okay. All right. [03:15:25] Speaker A: Let me just send a text. Okay. Awesome. [03:15:31] Speaker G: Now everybody is going. Yes. [03:15:35] Speaker D: Yep. [03:15:36] Speaker A: Let's go. [03:15:38] Speaker G: Okay. You all walk away from Persephone and her tree. I would like all of you to make me. Perception, awareness, roles, please. [03:15:52] Speaker B: Okay. One. [03:16:03] Speaker D: It's better than usual. [03:16:06] Speaker B: That is true. [03:16:08] Speaker C: Four. [03:16:11] Speaker A: Zero. [03:16:12] Speaker D: Oh three for Andre Clint. [03:16:16] Speaker A: His nose buried in his phone, sending off text messages. [03:16:20] Speaker G: Okay, sorry, everybody. Gave me your numbers again. [03:16:26] Speaker D: Three for Andre. [03:16:29] Speaker A: Clint. Got zero. [03:16:32] Speaker C: Or for coda. [03:16:33] Speaker G: All right, three and four. As you are walking by, you hear. You smell the smell of wood smoke as you begin to walk away from Persephone and the one who rolled a four glances back over their shoulder just in time to see Hades and Persephone under her tree. And Persephone is bent back as if she's being kind of swooned or swept off her feet and kissed very deeply. [03:17:17] Speaker C: Oda will just smile and then focus on where they're supposed to be going. [03:17:22] Speaker G: All right. For the sake of expediency, you all return back to the black basalt path, travel up and past the judges and turn towards where you know the entrance to the fields of Elysian are. Your guards take you right up to the entrance and wave you in through this archway. It looks like there is nothing past this archway, right? It just looks like an archway in the middle of nowhere. On either side of it, it's just kind of black nothingness. More of that black basalt field. But in the archway itself, which is made out of these twisting, curling branches and vines with beautiful flowers kind of growing out of them. Flowers you've never even seen, that probably went extinct long before even like your family lines really got started. Except maybe on the divine side. But past that, you can see these rolling golden fields and bright sunshine. And you can smell sweet apples. [03:18:59] Speaker A: It's a pretty place. [03:19:02] Speaker C: Yeah, I guess it should be. So forward we go. [03:19:15] Speaker A: Who are we looking for anyhow? [03:19:17] Speaker D: I have an idea. [03:19:22] Speaker A: Of who we're looking for or how to find them. [03:19:25] Speaker D: Who we're looking for. And he'll just look to Koda and Oliver and just kind of be a mix of hopeful and pleading. [03:19:37] Speaker C: Um, I was hoping to see if we could see her or talk to Moira, if possible. You've probably heard some about her. Clint. [03:19:56] Speaker A: Yeah, the name's familiar, but I'm having a hard time placing it right away. [03:20:05] Speaker D: Sign of Hera. My aunt, actually. He was important to a lot of us, Stan. [03:20:21] Speaker A: I'll be calm and quiet. Be respectful. [03:20:27] Speaker G: Are you all going to pass through the arch? [03:20:32] Speaker D: Andre is. [03:20:33] Speaker B: I will. [03:20:35] Speaker C: Yeah. [03:20:36] Speaker A: Yep, I'm right there with you. [03:20:38] Speaker G: All right. You all pass through the arch and into a place that feels like summer and springtime and everything good and welcoming about both, all woven into one place. As you look around, the people here don't have any of those shade like qualities. They're not pale. They don't look like they've forgotten something. They look happy and very much solid and almost alive. If you didn't know you were in an underworld, you wouldn't think you were. You wouldn't think they were dead. And there are people all over the place. As you walk through the archway, those of you who knew Moira have this image of her in your mind. This beautiful woman who is vibrant and full of life the last time you saw her. And it is like that memory acts as a beacon and you can see a light that sort of seemed like a halo effect that seems to fall around a specific area in the distance, allowing you to follow it easily. And when you get There. Clint, you may have been a little bit ruined by the fact that you have now met several goddesses, and they have looks that even a scion can't touch. But for someone who was just a scion, the woman in front of you is stunning. She has very. She has striking eyes and kind of the perfect figure and hair that's perfectly coiffed. And she sort of turns and looks surprised. Well. Well, I. [03:22:41] Speaker A: Pardon me, man. [03:22:45] Speaker G: Well, I don't know you. And she points at Clint. But you're. You're a handsome one. I do know the three views, though. Andre, you're not dead already, are you? [03:22:59] Speaker D: Andre is busy trying to hold back tears and failing, and he's just smiling. No. No, I'm. I'm. I'm not. I'm. I'm alive. We. We had to do something for. For. [03:23:16] Speaker G: Oh, please tell me you didn't do something stupid, try to and. And sneak in here. [03:23:21] Speaker D: No, he knows we're here. [03:23:22] Speaker A: He. [03:23:23] Speaker D: He actually allowed us to come here. [03:23:26] Speaker G: O. Well, good. It's lovely to see all of you. [03:23:37] Speaker A: It's nice to meet you, ma'am. I'm Clint Brazos, a sign of the Morgan and a friend of your friends here. [03:23:45] Speaker G: Lovely to meet you, Clint Brazos and Moira, sign of Hera. [03:23:54] Speaker A: Pleasure is all mine, Ms. Moira. [03:23:59] Speaker G: And Moira kind of looks between all of you for a moment and hesitates and then reaches over and wraps her arms around Andre and hugs him tight. [03:24:10] Speaker D: He is going to squeeze her with all he has as he just. The dams break, and he's basically becoming a mess of pure joy as he's just squeezing her tightly to himself. [03:24:25] Speaker A: Oh, come on, now. You're gonna break. Or you squeeze any harder, and Clint will reach over to pat him on the shoulder. [03:24:33] Speaker G: Oh, believe me, he can't hurt me, least of all here. And she just. She's like, sort of stroking Andre's hair with one hand, and she reaches over and kind of finds Kota's. Finds Kota's hand and gives a little squeeze and then the same thing to Oliver without letting go of Andre. Not that I don't appreciate the surprise, but what brings you all here? [03:25:05] Speaker B: I'll turn to look at Koda. [03:25:11] Speaker C: Uh, this. Okay. So I thought this would be a great idea. And now that it's happened, I don't know what to say besides sorry and nice to see you, that you're doing well. [03:25:24] Speaker G: I'm sorry for. Sorry for what? You didn't do anything wrong. I'm here because of my decisions in the moment, and I have no regrets if I ended up here. I obviously did a good job. Well enough to impress not only the judges, but my uncle. [03:25:51] Speaker C: I know. I mean, yeah, either. Nat just misses you a lot. I mean, a lot of people miss you a lot. And I guess. I mean, we're not. I mean, we were together, and then now we're on a break, but I think this is not, like, my way to get back with her or something. I just think it would be really nice if you had things you wanted to say to her that I can tell you. Yeah. [03:26:27] Speaker G: I see. [03:26:28] Speaker C: Like, she misses you a lot. A lot. And I guess I just want it. I don't know. [03:26:42] Speaker G: Answer a question for me first, and then I'll tell you what I. What I might have to say. Is she still fighting the good fight? [03:26:59] Speaker C: Yes. [03:27:02] Speaker G: Do you believe she's still out there doing the work of a hero? [03:27:08] Speaker C: Always. As much as I want her to get a break, but I guess I'm not helping with her getting a break and such, but. Yeah. [03:27:22] Speaker G: Then you tell her, and she kind of very gently extricates herself from Andre's arms for a moment, kind of wipes the tears away from his. From his cheeks, and then steps in front of Koda and, like, tips her chin up so that you meet her eye squarely. You tell her that I couldn't be prouder and that I'm happy and I have no regrets about my decision. If any one of us was meant to go forward, it was. It was her. I saw that in the moment, in a way that. Well, only people with certain gifts that she could have. Glitz over at Oliver, Ken. My fate was to end up here sooner than I think most expected, but that was it. Her fate was to go on and keep fighting because the world needs her. And tell her that I don't give a good goddamn what the gods of death have to say about it. If she wants to come and visit me when it's her time to go, then I'll be here waiting. Not that anyone could stop her if they tried. [03:28:55] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. [03:29:08] Speaker G: We. [03:29:13] Speaker C: And she's going to look at Oliver for a moment and then go. We're trying to. Rebuilt. [03:29:29] Speaker B: Re. [03:29:30] Speaker C: Rehabilitate. What's his name? Stefan. [03:29:37] Speaker G: There's a little blink as she seems to realize that there's more to the picture that she's gotten while in the Underworld. I see. And is that why you're on a break? [03:29:59] Speaker C: Yeah, amongst other things. [03:30:06] Speaker G: Well, it's no wonder. [03:30:16] Speaker C: Well. [03:30:21] Speaker A: I mean, not to disrupt what you got going on, but I'm kind Of curious. What do you do down here now that you know you ain't got no mortal concerns up above? [03:30:38] Speaker G: Primarily, I spend an awful lot of time with other scions. Heroes of old. I had dinner with Hercules. I don't. Time is odd here. I don't know if it happened yesterday or a year ago, but. Yes. [03:31:01] Speaker A: So you just get to hang out, have dinners and chat with your friends. [03:31:05] Speaker G: And remember all of the things that you did right to get here? Yes. While other spirits, the shades in the fields of Asphodel, don't remember who they were, why they were there, or why they're there. We remember everything now. [03:31:24] Speaker B: Sorry, this is none of my business, but was this dinner just for the fun of it a friendly thing, or. [03:31:35] Speaker G: And what business is that of yours exactly? [03:31:38] Speaker B: It's not mine. I just. The question came to mind, and my mouse started working, and I couldn't stop it. [03:31:48] Speaker G: Andre, tell me something. Are you still with that lovely girl you were with? [03:31:58] Speaker D: That's complicated now. We were together when we set sail to start the labor, and then Cersei trapped us for two weeks. Cut off communication when I said I was going to be keeping in touch. And then Oliver had a vision that her mom might be trying to get her into an arranged marriage. So it's all very up in the air right now, and I'm very conflicted, and I just hope that things work out for the best. [03:32:26] Speaker G: I see. [03:32:33] Speaker A: It's all right, though. They've got me there to keep them in good share and kind of move forward in life. It's. They're going to be okay. [03:32:43] Speaker G: Andre. Yeah? You must make me a promise. [03:32:51] Speaker D: Anything. Always. [03:32:53] Speaker G: As soon as you have a free day, you're going to go find that girl and go tell her what happened and how you feel face to face. [03:33:08] Speaker B: I promise. [03:33:09] Speaker D: Yeah? [03:33:10] Speaker G: You're not going to get discouraged? [03:33:15] Speaker D: Never. [03:33:18] Speaker G: You'd better not. [03:33:20] Speaker D: Hey, you know me. I'm hardheaded as hell. [03:33:24] Speaker G: And you know me. I take after my mother when someone disappoints me. [03:33:30] Speaker D: I never want to disappoint you. [03:33:33] Speaker G: She smiles a little bit. Good. That's what I like to hear. Koda, I can't tell you what to do about Nat. I wish I could. Given your choices, I think her. I'm assuming she's upset, and I think that's reasonable. That being said, I think as much as it is important to hold on to those we love and she glances at Andre, it is also important to recognize when those we love need distance or perhaps aren't good for us. Anymore. And you need to give yourself permission to let go if that's what needs to happen for you to be healthy and happy. It's meant to be. She'll come around eventually on her own. You don't have to press. [03:34:36] Speaker C: I. Yeah, Yeah, I. Yeah, I'm coming to terms with that. I just wanted. This is not really, like, our relationship thing. I just know she misses you a lot, so I just wanted to give her at least something. This is not me trying to, you know, like, be like, oh, I found I've got words from a person you care dearly about. Please date me again. No, I. I just want to. I just know that she's hurting a lot, so I just wanted to, you know, message her on the side and be like, hey, you know, we went to so and so, and I just blah, blah, blah, yada yada, so on and so forth. [03:35:22] Speaker G: And I appreciate you being willing to be a messenger for the dead. [03:35:28] Speaker C: Yeah. [03:35:31] Speaker G: No, there's very little that I can do for you all from here. But I think I've got one more trick left in me. And she turns to Oliver. Rumor has it you're dating a dryad. [03:35:54] Speaker B: That'S made it all the way down here. Okay, yes, that's true. [03:36:00] Speaker G: Well, you'll have to tell her that I apologize for this, but I had no other choice. And she reaches over and cups your face and kisses you before you can do anything about it. And Oliver. The world falls away. And you find yourself in a place that isn't the Elysian Fields. Instead, it is a darkened corridor. And you can hear voices and footsteps at the end. At one end, and at the other end, you see a heavily banded. Looks like steel, like a vault door. And as you walk away from the voices, because something tells you that those are dangerous and you shouldn't let yourself be found here. You walk towards that vault door. It's the only other way to go anywhere that you can tell in this hallway. And you get to the door and you realize that there is, like this semi clear, like, multi paned, bulletproof glass window. It's very small, but it allows you to look inside. And inside you can see Andre Koda and Clint. And Clint is reaching out for what looks like a feather balanced on a pedestal. And he reaches out and he looks like he's being very, very careful about trying to scoop it up in his hand. And when he does, there is the shriek of an alarm, which makes him jump. And his hand closes around the feather and crushes it. And you see a massive rip in space behind him and Koda, leading to a place of just pure, brilliant white light. And coming out of it is a tall, muscular form with golden skin and massive white wings. And you watch as a blade goes through Koda's middle. And that's when you wake up. [03:38:42] Speaker B: And do I wake up just like around everyone else again, or am I somewhere else? [03:38:48] Speaker G: You are around everyone else. You are very dizzy. And you can feel something yanking on every thread of fate that you have. Hard. [03:39:03] Speaker A: Come on, friend. Stand. Stand. Back up. It's gonna be okay. [03:39:07] Speaker B: No. [03:39:08] Speaker A: Offers a hand. [03:39:09] Speaker B: I saw something. I saw a lot. [03:39:14] Speaker A: You just got kissed to death, it looks like. [03:39:17] Speaker B: I'll worry about that later. There was a door. A vault door. Need to go to that. Avoid the voices. They're dangerous. Clint, when you pick up the feather, there's going to be an alarm. Prepare yourself for that. Don't crush it. You can't crush the feather. It's bad. And. [03:39:36] Speaker G: And that's when Oliver goes limp. [03:39:39] Speaker D: Oh. [03:39:41] Speaker A: Come on. Hold on. Let's get him up. Oh. [03:39:43] Speaker G: Oh, dear. Well, that may have packed more of a punch than I intended. I'm sorry. He should recover with time. [03:39:58] Speaker A: Clint's just hunkered down and, like, gently shaking him. [03:40:02] Speaker G: He looks a little worse for wear. And he shouldn't be in this place if he's recovering from a shock like that. He needs to be among the living, or he'll get stuck here. So you should take your friend and go. [03:40:17] Speaker A: Yes, ma'am. We'll be on our way. [03:40:19] Speaker G: Thank you, Andrew. Pray don't be sad. I love you very much. Thank you for coming to see me. Go live. [03:40:34] Speaker D: Yes, ma'am. And I'll see you again when I see you. [03:40:40] Speaker G: I'm sure one day we'll meet again. Hopefully not too soon. No. Go. All of you. [03:40:47] Speaker A: Scoop them up here.