Meanwhile, in the moments of the depths of Beradine's meditation, he is whisked away a familiar yet still uncomfortable and alien feeling. The same feeling that brought him to the inside of the lantern the unknown world prior. Once again, you are greeted by the breeze, the strange, almost unnatural breeze around you. rustling of grass. However, one thing is different this time. You have a companion with you, a frumpy cat by the name of French toast. and kind of pinches the bridge of his nose as the sensations of being whisked away uh take him on a wears this time almost stumbling in place and casts his eyes about and eventually lands on the cat that he had warmed to. He turns to it before really addressing the rest, crouching down on old man knees carefully so that he doesn't stumble and looks at the cat's expression um looking for signs of it being startled or surprised by the by its presence here. It's by this place. Cat will sit in the dirt and he will look up at you. It seems that trying to read the cat's expression is extremely difficult. Unless the cat is always in a state of mild discomfort and disappointment, there is a sense of judgment that always seems to linger beneath the cat's eyes, a quiet and calm disapproval of anything that has ever been put in front of its face. Bane nods as if this is the expected result. Uh before softly speaking, uh well, if you uh if you ever don't want to be here, I say walk through that those stones. Stay away from the edges. turn and begin to walk. Uh, taking a bit of a different route this time. Cat does not follow you. He simply sits, but turns around a bit to watch you walk away. He'll approach the edge over here, uh, looking down at where the water stream goes. He had briefly seen Armando head this way and knew that Sirill had earlier looking for any markings. Uh if they had curved anything or dug anywhere. I suppose he's looking for signs where tampering might be uh a prevailing factor. As your eyes scan the scenery, it is made of the same natural yet unnatural almost um indoor or diaramaesque uh garden. However, as your eyes scan the dirt road, you notice that there are footprints. They seem to match Sirill's boots. He nods before turning back. As you turn around and begin to head back, something catches your attention. It is the slightest lapping sound of water, as if somebody had disturbed the pond right beside you. Presuming his um being alone here, he turns towards it, takes a couple steps forward, looks into the water. The slightest surface ripple seems to be extending outward as it dissipates back into stillness. However, something catches your eye. In the center of the pond, a medium-sized trout, pink in color, is swimming in concentric circles towards the bottom, the center of the pond. Think he rubs his eyes for a moment. Your eyes are not lying to you. And as you rub a little bit of the dreerness from your eyes, you can see a bit more clearly that this is in fact a real fish. On closer inspection, the tail fins of the fish seem to be damaged but healed over time as if scarred or sustaining an old injury. He nods to himself. Um, softly thinking of his own long lived life. And though his scares may not be physical, sort of the weariness of age is somewhat reflected here. He looks over towards the cat once again, thinking along the same lines. Yeah, it stares back at you in a almost sphinx-like position. It's a bit eerie. It looks at you with the same disappointment as it always had. He'll consider a moment uh his being pulled here uh sort of abruptly along with the cat and now a fish. But the cat and him and share at least a similar location, but where he was did not quite have fish. It didn't have life to it. Tilting his head, he considers the possibilities. Uh the first being that there's another entryway into this this place. So he casts his eyes around again looking for similar footprints but not of Isil's boots nor Arando's but if there are any foreign uh footsteps through this place. As you scour the area with a bit more focus, you are able to distinguish four footprints. As your eyes travel a bit further towards the path, you can see a fifth set of footprints. Although they are smaller than the rest of your companions. The path north up here or the path to the east? The path up north. You will take a few steps and see if they uh trail off uh towards the tree. Uh presuming them to be Belindas. You get a closer inspection. Uh they seem to be Belindas as they are sholess and a bit smaller but not too much smaller than let's say Sirills. He knows. He look into the pond again. Uh this time looking at the rippling of the waves, the trout swimming in a circle at first uh seeming insignificant, but his recent studies and rings and things of a cyclical nature, prompting some questions in his mind. He reaches down and he touches the water trying to see if it is of a particular temperature or feels abnormal to regular liquid. The water is abnormally warm. It is it as it is as if somebody had painstakingly set a bath for themselves at the perfect temperature. Not too hot, not too cold. The fish doesn't seem to to react. The cat sits and stares at the fish in disapproval and judgment. Brandon casts his eyes to the entryway for a moment before sort of nodding to himself as he begins to take off his shoes and uh slowly remove his clothing, leaving it in a neat pile. It's been a while since he has bathed. Definitely not since he's been here. at least not in a place such as this. And seeing as this is a unexpected return to this spot and he has some privacy, warm water will help the aches of his bones. The cat will look up at your naked frame in judgment and disapproval. Red cares not. Uh he ensures that his things are in a tidy pile. His valuables are uh within eyesight at all times, sort of on the edge of the pool and resting at top the rest of his clothing. And then he will step into the water. Water is calm, perhaps just due to the nature of its temperature. Perhaps something else. It's unfamiliar, but inviting nonetheless, like a sauna or a bath house that you would visit that you would visit but have never been to before. Uh he'll wade in till it's about around his waist uh before uh finding a spot where he can sit down. The pond isn't that deep. Uh probably 5T at its lowest. Um if you sat down, it would be at uh chest or shoulder length along the edges. You going to hang out? sit down, take a bath. The uh Yeah, I'm I'm going to sit down, hang out with the fish and the judging cat. The fish will continue its swim in concentric circles almost as if it is sleepwalking or swimming or sleep swimming. Seems to mosy about on a defined trae trajectory. It pays you no mind. How long are you going to uh be in the pool? Uh about 30 minutes. You will relax and bathe a bit. Seeing that the fish does not pay him any mind, you will not pay his particular mind. As your body appreciates the relaxation and calmness of the pond, you begin to hear something. It's not a welldefined sound. It's It's almost as if your ears aren't the thing that is picking it up, but there is a soft humming almost like a song that is being sung around you. He considers a moment this place being so odd. Usually would sort of give him a sense of unease. But at this moment sort of since he's been shunted here, he hasn't felt that the turmoil his mind has been under is taking a break. I suppose now that he's not in the company of others that the deaths that loom over him aren't holding him quite so tight. The cat will sprint towards the exit faster than you've seen any other cat of its size move. If you have ever encountered a cheetah or a lion, it would be akin to that speed. But for a small cat, it is uh unnatural. Cat will pass through the barrier and vanish immediately. Your peacefulness is disturbed by footsteps from above. He'll call up a little awkwardly, not really having the angle to see. Uh, Armando Sirill Gilligan, if that's one of you, [ __ ] give me a moment. You will hear voices from above. Oh, it's an old man taking a bath. Yes, it looks like it. Uh, greetings thine um arc majestice. Doth thou um give us thine [ __ ] um uh humble acceptance to the great domain. A young woman's voice calls out. He sneers at himself or I suppose towards himself at the uh flipping of a conversational tone to what seems to be an exaggerated one. He'll reach uh just out of the pool and begin to grab at his clothing. He realizes quickly he does not have much to dry himself with, and so settles for not wearing the waist coat, uh, loosely buttons up the shirt, pulls on the slacks, uh, steps into the shoes without the socks, and puts the jacket over his shoulders. Well, two strangers are watching you dress quietly from the top the hill. At this distance, you can see that their faces are adorned with some kind of white mask or cover. Their clothing seems rather modern, almost similar to yours. If you want to speak, I'd rather not be yelling up the hill. Come down. Thy clemency is taken with much gratitude. uh your greatness and I don't think he's u will casually walk down the slope. Man in black will raise a hand and give you a slight wave as a greeting. The woman will do a um a performance of a curtsy that is uh well but poorly rehearsed and um overly exaggerated. He'll nod back uh before speaking. That's an awful lot of fanfare for people walking in when you're trying to bathe. Care to tell me how you got here? We went through the back door, of course. Um, were you not expecting us? No, I was not. Oh, well. Um, thine name. Hannah, stop with the theatrics. He clearly doesn't speak like, you know, who we expected him to be. All right, fine. Um, my name is Miss Hannah and this is Dawn. We are concierges of the pawn shop. She will give a slight bow this time, a bit more reserved than the dramatic curtsy. I am Dawn, as she had said. Um, I am the concierge and she is the janitor who had taken it upon herself to give her a promotion. Right. Well, my name is Barardine Defain. Uh, you said you run a a pawn shop. Not necessarily run, but um we're employees of the sort. The um head honcho is the man whose bell you've been ringing for quite some time. Are you aware of this, Mr. Baradine? I'm aware that someone was listening and I'm aware of fragments of memories that aren't me own and I'm aware that I'm not quite uh sending my messages to whom I expected to be sending them to. But if he's your boss and I've been uh ringing his bell, as you say, I suppose I would apologize for the bother, but I'm quite confused as to how your uh your boss can receive such uh prayers of intent, I suppose, and where you got those fine masks that you be wearing. It comes with the job. the the masks that is. In terms of the confusion, were you looking for someone named Mr. Aladine? Aladdine Leine? But yes, I was looking for him. Well, we've come to deliver a message to you that um this led that you're looking for is uh well uh not within the purview of our business. It seems that um well, you have the head honcho confused for someone else. You'll nod slowly. Um, these revelations just confirming the weight that has been on his shoulders these past few days. And this head honcho, he allows you access to place like these. Well, Miss Hannah here has the skeleton key. She will fancifully ring out her arm and flap it back and forth and remove the large sleeve from her blouse, revealing her forearm. On her forearm is a tattoo of a very ornate ornate set of runes and sigils that make up a larger image of a key. back door access, of course, deliveries and such. I think I'm beginning to put things together. I don't suppose that the head honcho sent you here just to deliver this message? Seems rather excessive to gain access to a place such as this and send two of you to tell me that I've been knocking at the wrong door. So, what is it that he'd want? Well, from someone like myself, perhaps some answers for answers. He is in fact in charge of the domain of fair inequivalent exchange. I guess um the first question would be uh where it is you get your ability to contact us from. Usually those who um aren't powerful arc mages such as yourself tend to cast their prayers towards the house of cards, especially when it comes to um matters of exchange. Bonob doesn't have much of a reputation. It's a bit hard to find, if you will. Erdin twirls his mustache. Um, soft droplets of water coming away in his end. It's a bit of a conundrum, I suppose. Say I'm an old scenile man. I'm not quite from here. As you said, I'd been casting my messages towards someone that isn't within the purview of your boss. Yet, I still reach your boss. Called it a parallel from a different place, I suppose. I've always been a faithful man. I've always held good to tenets of exchange and the sanctity of currency. The art of making deals and balancing them, adjudicating them, punishing those that don't pay their debts. It's been practically my whole life. So, I guess you could look at it as a transfer of skills as allowed such a communication. Not familiar with your boss. I'm not familiar with the house of cards, but in truth, a pawn shop sounds a bit more fitting for the way that this old mind has learned to work. You're unfamiliar with the House of Cards. That's what I said. Are you looking for answers or for me to repeat myself? Um, pardon me for um being taken aback a bit. I just don't know if I believe you. The governing body of the well, what is arguably the largest nation? You said you're not from here, right? Or whereabouts are you from then? A great city called Meritris, but I don't suppose you've heard of it. I can't say that I have. I would have to say I'm taken a bit of back by that considering it's the greatest city to have ever been built. the greatest city city to have ever been governed by a domain of exchange. So you can see the conundrum that we find ourselves in stood here in this field which is a domain that I think you've gathered isn't quite mine. There's a whole lot of mismatches here. Did you wake up in this place? Find yourself here? This isn't yours. I don't suppose it's stolen considering your self-proclaimed faith in equivalent exchange. It is not stolen. I would not lower myself to such a stupid [ __ ] act. Never mind if I knew what I stole was such a artifact. I wouldn't know what to do with it. It was a gift to companions of mine. As far as I'm aware, that is the truth. though some of them are of a unsavory sort when it comes to that behavior. You speak of the Foxian man and the um Delin outside ones who argue over um rudimentary engineering and alcohol. He smiles a bit. See, now we're talking about the same things. I do. He'll pause for a moment with a bit of um there's an aura of resistance to him almost as if he wants to continue or move a bit but is holding himself back and he is gathering his thoughts. The woman next to him will begin to nervously tap the heels of her uh heeled loafers into the ground as if her impatience is now representing itself in little body ticks. Tell me while you gather the confidence or perhaps the words for whatever is on your mind. Uh is this dawn or the house of cards? Are they deities? Are they gods? Do they hold holy reverence? Or do they just stand on the ideals of what could be considered holy? Quite the interesting question. I like it though. A bit poetic to begin with. Uh I'm Don. That's just my name. the my uh godhood I suppose is non-existent. Although I could probably convince someone I'm a god. The house of cards. I suppose there's a divinity to them. They are held as the sacred foundation of the entire Hashian Empire. Although they wouldn't be quick to call themselves an empire. They sew roots and seeds across the entire land. Very nods, satisfied with the answer, at least in his curiosity. I take it you're more of an outsider, the typical um homeless wanderer or pilgrim from a different country. He smiles. I suppose you could say that. Not quite a local Forgive me for my uh thoughtfulness. I am well unprepared to meet such an individual. And do you have any questions or the uh the old man? Uh no, not really. kind of I mean this place is kind of big but you said it wasn't yours so typical woman only judges a man by the worst of whatever domain of magics that he can hold control over curious typical man not good at magic if you had known how long I'd been practicing since I got here. You probably take that back if we were back home. Well, will be a different story. But neither are true or where we're at. This uh this house of cards are the ones that enable the sheets of paper that take currency for an object, some kind of uh teleportation exchange method. Yes. Yes. Correct. Yes. It's a rather recent reinvention of um pretty ancient technology is a combination of um fundamentals of uh the quanta field of study as well as a bit of alchemy. It's quite impressive. They have a very large domain. the very center of the house of cards on which they store what they would hope to be everything everywhere. On this they call from that storage unit and are able to uh move around goods and services. see how somebody with a well feet of technology like that could grow from a quiet border bridge nation to almost ruling the whole world at this point. You know, it's not hard to imagine that it uh has enabled a great many things. Do you mind if I ask about your um leine in your faith and where you're from? He smiles. If in turn you'll answer more questions about this pawn shop and how it operates. I wouldn't expect anything less, of course. Perhaps an answer for an answer until we are either satisfied or unable to come to further terms. I can agree to that. This led you spoke of your questions about divinity lead me to believe that this man is some kind of god where you're from. What are the gods like? Or is this the only god? Should I ask what is the god like? It'd be difficult to call them a man or a woman. They appear as both. It's irrelevant really. They are the only god though rumors of those that held conflicting domains or were prevalent. My interactions with them, as few as they are, would dictate that they are fair, even handed to an insufferable degree impatient. The life, a life lived so long, cares nothing for the tax that it takes on mortals for them to make a true resolution on more difficult issues to resolve. As such, for the most part, Leine allows her great church to dictate many of the terms, uphold many of the tenants, and make good on the deals made within her their great city. Their appearance is rare. I suppose that is the important part of the question you are asking. They are less an active hand and more a founder and called upon in person or personification in extreme circumstances. Give a nod. He seems satisfied. He will gesture with his hand outward, a silent asking of a question in return. I nods this uh pawn shop. You refer to it in contrast to other bodies and have explained what the other bodies provide to those that can call upon it. What are the asks that the pawn shop finds itself answering? We serve a man who is a collector of things. It's difficult to say if there is any um congruency or contiguy between the things that he is searching for. However, there are some people who have a a lust in their heart. Whether it be for an object, a piece of knowledge, almost anything, as a old collector, he is able to provide what they are looking for in exchange for something that he does not yet have. And in so I suppose he um upholds the tenants of well seems to be your faith. I think that um idealism or gods uh in your language is upheld by action rather than societies or uh large groups of followers. I assume that's why your prayers had reached him rather than the house of cards. Are they not taking in the information? Was your faith a choice or was it something that you were born into this society? Was it a deliberate act of free will to follow these tenants? Or are you acting simply to the best of your ability with the situation that you were given for the first time in the comments that Don has made in his observations of Baradine. The response from the old man is not a smile. His brow furrows as the question caught him somewhat offg guard and he considers carefully. A long moment passes before he opens his mouth to speak. That's a tough one because it presumes that I would not have chosen it had I been given a more open choice. To answer the heart of your question, I was born into it. My family all served the church. So I served the church. It was a simple path, an easy progression from a home life and culture centered around something into my adulthood where my life was centered on the same thing. I don't know if I was born on the outskirts of the city or born to a different family if my perspective would have been quite the same. But I do think that my faith is genuine. I would like to say that I would have chosen the same path, albeit I would have wound my way around a bit first. But such a question and hypothetical demands too many variables. It is in my spirit to be a faithful man. That's the best answer I can give you. We'll give a nod. There is some kind of um sorrow in his nod. May maybe not sorrow but u empathy to it. Mhm. Well, does the pawn shop view the House of Kurds as an opposition force, an antagonistic entity to be combed at turns where their ideals and philosophies overlap? Do they fight for the right to make deals with certain people? Pawn shop is an independent uh entity. The House of Cards um while I'd say powerful is an understatement seems incapable of interfering with our business. Their purview is more in I want to say nation building but um I believe it is culture building. They are connectors of cultures and peoples. They're like a they're like the veins in your body but originating from a heart that is the great bridge of Hashi. Their veins stretch outward, seeking to connect everyone to that bridge and bring them together in a universal trade. Sometimes this is fair and equivalent. Often times it isn't. However, that neither troubles nor gets in our way. We don't have a dogmatic view on our principles. We simply live by them and exercise them. So I I don't know if it would be possible for them to be an enemy. making various mental notes. Does your faith in balance um represent itself simply on the outside as uh laws, fiscal exchanges and things like that? Or is there a more esoteric route? something more suppose spiritual about it. I think if you'd asked me this question back home, you would have gotten a different answer. where the routines of the day-to-day and the processes and the culture around me led to I suppose what you said a a fiscal order of operations an acceptance that that was the way things are and because there was no difference that I did not question it since arriving here I would come to a different conclusion It is very much a spiritual piece of me. Whether that be the stubborn nature of an old man or something in the hilarious mysteries of the soul, that part I can't tell you. But balance means something to me in exchanges in life, in all of it. It is a necessary portion of my environment, of who I am. Though, as you can probably guess by your comments on the Foxman and the devil, it's not quite where I'm at at the moment. Why? He will stop himself from asking a second question without an equivalent exchange. Smile. The smile on the mask of the woman will turn over to look at the man almost in a mocking tone as she returns to her leg ticks. He'll extend a hand forward. How do the masks work? I've had brief visions and glimpses at similar things. And if my eyes aren't [ __ ] with me, hers just turned downwards. Was what's the mechanism? You said they were part of the uniform came with the trade. But how do they operate? The man will remove his mask. The woman will join him. People like to see what they want to, especially in others. So, we wear these to simply assist with that. It makes negotiations a lot easier. call it a um I don't know what would you say? It's a it's like wearing familiar clothing. If you want to get to know someone, let's say they're from Ableton, you might dress a bit spiffier than you usually would just to give them a good impression, make them a bit more comfortable. to spill the beans a bit. Um, I don't actually look like this. A little bit uh taller than I usually am. Slightly more handsome. Sets people at ease. Anna, on the other hand, simply changed her hair brown, different shoes. But she's not really a people person. Wow. What? Thanks. Right. An interesting motif. give you a little bit more um about this. Mhm. Not many people can see them. It's very interesting that you can in the first place. Nonetheless, it's my next question. Why are you here? Now, that's just the question, isn't it? Why is this strange old man spouting deities and names of cities that don't quite exist here? The funny part of it is that it's a deal, an exchange in some regard with a woman who asks me to keep her secret and to have my mind hold on to fleeting memories of that exchange. Uh, there's a woman that wears blue. There's Raven here. I believe the others have said her name, but it's a bit beyond me at the moment. Some kind of student from Ableton is the presumption. It is she who gave them the teapot. So as for what I am doing here, I can't quite answer it because I don't quite remember. You'll give a more thoughtful nod and await your question. Does your boss have issue with me extending my prayers towards him? Uh, yes. It's uh rather annoying. There's a small bell on the desk. Typically, it's uh rang to get one of them from the back to uh desist with uh somebody who walks in the front door or the back door, I suppose, if they wander out towards the front lobby. Uh, however, your prayers of such uh ring the bell. Poor Hannah here runs around trying to figure out where the intruder is. Yeah, it's kind of, you know, I it's a hard time differentiating between uh somebody who walks in and uh not or maybe even a ghost. Um yeah, I spent quite a lot of time looking around the bookshelves trying to figure out if somebody stumbled in if I got to shoe them out or there's a malfunction. nods somewhat frustrated with the answer, but he accepts it nonetheless. You have no record of why you're here outside of this deal you made. I presume you have no conscious recollection of it. Why are you still here? Because as one pulled into a world where magic is quite different, I don't believe I have the capabilities or the knowledge to return home. I don't even know where to begin with such a thought. He seems a bit unsatisfied, but we'll nod regardless. You mentioned this bell ringing and Hannah looking after the shop. So, where is the pawn shop located? It's in a domain much like uh this one. However, it is not contained within a bridge between a space and a domain key. It's uh more free floating. Are you familiar with the afterward the land where the memories of the dead go to dissolve? I have heard a little bit. Not a whole lament though. If you envision it like a small pond, the base of a great tree, a tree of life, the souls that make the grass and birds and everything. The roots of that tree will seep into it, sucking from it the common dissolved memories and redistributing it to the new life to give us some kind of common structure. Now imagine upon the surface of that water little bubbles almost like you would find in a swamp few and far between but a couple of bubbles nonetheless. Technically speaking uh that is where the pawn shop is found. Although there are many doorways, we move around a lot. You might find yourself finding its entrance in the back alley in Hashi or the upstairs attic in a small abandoned house in Ableton. It changes every now and then. You know, what is the nature of your discomfort towards my answering my rejection of your question about ringing the bell? I suppose it's a differentiating factor, a a more solid insistence that prayers and deities are less common here. The idea that a prayer would be an annoyance dealt with by a lack is well, forgive me, but foreign. Where prayers are fuel for faith to feed an entity that upholds the ideal that the prayer is pointed towards is a comfort to me. It is a purpose I suppose an outlet where my faith is challenged and where it can be mended. The idea that such a um method of self soothing would bring bother to one who would uphold the ten the very tenants that I am praying to feels discordant to me and I don't quite enjoy that thought. Perhaps a way to find some kind of acceptance in that Mr. Kim and Miss Anna are the ones who uphold the faith I think you brought with you to this land the greatest. But they're not gods. They are people as you and I are. I hope you can understand. Um having respect for that. Perhaps some people wish to be worshiped like a god. They however do not. He nods his acknowledgement. Are you two uh approaching here? The reason that there's a big pink trout in the pond right there points. Um I don't think so. I can't say. I doubt it. Yeah. I not intentionally, I guess. Um, we didn't bring it in here with us unless it's a some kind of space trout that followed us through the I don't think that those things exist. I'm just saying. She will step aside, kind of rest her feet across the edge and kind of look at the fish in the pond. The man retains his stance facing you and focused. What are your goals now? What uh what are your aims? What is it you desire? You're quite odd. Not just in well your circumstance, but um well, how you go about dealing with it for a minute? My entire uh motivation I suppose was pointed towards Sunrest to some degree. Getting into the upper city and establishing myself there either linked with Armando the devil for his investigative abilities and making a lucrative business out of it. But then the time nonsense occurred, and now Sunrest isn't quite a place anymore. Right now, my goals are to make sure I have food by night and somewhere to rest my head. But ideally, I would find a place that I can work, put my skills, what remains of them, to use and learn of your magics as best I can. It is a simple meandering trajectory for an old man that at least presumes that he's close to his death. It would be nice to have enough uh money in my pocket not to be buried amongst the worms. Have a more solid monument to what was a long and well served life. I'll say that's not the answer I expected. Although I don't know what I was expecting. You've come here to die a mundane death. That's um it's a lot to consider. I've been thinking this time. Um old voice in my head polluting the uh the focus I'd like to give your question. So I'd rather address it at this moment while I can. I think I've come up with a solution to your bell ringing conundrum. Your um your faithfulness and heart reaching out for something and the disappointment and the apathy that meets you. Well, I don't think um your god is real here to some extent. Um, I think there might be a method that your uh hunger within your prayers can be satiated. He raises an eyebrow. Uh he tries to school it, but his expression shows that he is unsure that whatever is to be offered is likely a meager replacement for a large part of his life. But at this point, the weight of its absence has fatigued him. Yeah. I'd like to hear what you have in mind at the very least. Perhaps a um a deal to be struck or a membership, some kind of agreement between yourself and pawn shop. You can ask your prayers with full understanding that they are not being answered by the one you want to answer them. And we will be more open to your well uh inquiries or ringing in general. Uh frankly, we haven't been pretty to how they've been answered. just the dealing with the aftermath of their their question, but some kind of agreement. We can come to you can ask from us and in return we will ask from you an equivalent exchange of sorts where the value of such exchange is proposed by yourself. The depth of request matched by the depth of an equivalent ask. a private contractor, if you will. Is slow to answer. His beady eyes scanning the visage of a man that he knows is an illusion for deception that he knows could exist just under that illusion. I would be open to such a uh agreement I suppose under the understanding that I am not ringing a bell for the sake of bothering you. I suppose I will approach the idea with clear intentions as you said attempt not to. He cuts himself off, sort of wipes at his eyes before looking into the man's eyes once more. You have a deal. It's agreeable. The pawn shop seems at least in line with what I would be looking to serve. Bit more of a friendly stance. You will approach bit closer. Hannah seeing this will um unnecessarily quickly get to her feet and dust her smok off. She will give you a bit of a bow. You're lad. Let's um let's have some practice. Let me add a term and you can do the same. The first term that I add is that um our agreement, our presence is to be kept utterly confidential. That includes the u the foxian and the devel outside. any future friends or um well I suppose anybody who who isn't um read in as well. Is there a term you would like to add? He brushes at his mustache. or a condition. I suppose I might um posit this. Uh we do not do arbitrations. Everything is settled within house. He smiles. A sort of familiar uh ethic to him. Arbitration isn't a uh an issue. I'm not going to argue to have another preside over discrepancies. Worth is subjective at the best of times. A similar term then that the information that an old man from a far away place worshiping a god that isn't present is wandering the continent is not information to be sold by the pawn shop to any other party. A mutual confidentiality clause is very agreeable with us. We shall respect it to its fullest degree, even if you do not respect our term. He looks softly offended at the idea of him breaking a term. He looks at you like a potential friend, but also with the caution that you are in fact a stranger. Yeah, Miss Hannah, don't keep us waiting. Oh, right. She will unravel her other sleeve this time, revealing a quite pathetic looking arm. She will tug at the skin on her forearm as it begins to unravel into a sheet of paper. Multiple sheets as they seem to artificially extend and seamlessly mold into the rest of her skin as she keeps pulling. will produce a flat sheet paper that is of different textures and slightly different colors, almost as if it had been paperiermâchéed to a wall over centuries. We'll mutter a few words in her hand as the paper arranges itself into a small rectangle. On its surface is a pattern symmetrical along a diagonal line of symmetry. The symmetry is broken by a white mask in the center, upturned eyes, and an unnatural smile. You will flick it in her hand as the face will now be downward, and the other side of the card will remain face up. A small black line outlining the edge and a white surface on the center. We approach you, the card outstretched. It's a line card. There you go. Even to those library. Yeah. Do you know about the great libraries? No. Oh well. Um, don't lose it. It's given to those who have earned the trust of the pawn shop. uh other private contractors. I suppose it is yours. It's not a thing to give away. Maybe maybe in your dying breath, I suppose. He kind of looks you up and down, realizing that that might be sooner than later. If you have a question, you can write it down on the back of its surface. Depending on the nature of the contract, it'll operate a bit differently. This kind of bypasses the bell. It's a way for you to have direct communication with Mr. Kim. H. It's an interesting uh token and and I'll accept it kindly. I won't leave my person. Your trust is appreciated. Uh he will pull out his debt book and flip it open and tuck the library card uh into the folder of it. She will eye your debt book for a second, a flirtatious smile across her face or perhaps a smile of villain. It's difficult to tell the difference to say, "Oh, that reminds me, Mr. Baradine. She will produce a single eteram. You overpaid. Must return this to you. His eyes go wide. Um, we should be heading out then. He holds the piece in his hand. a little shocked before taking out his coin purse and depositing it in. Takes a moment to sort of brush out his eyes. Let the weight of the exchange sort of pass over him. He cast his eyes to the throat in the pool once more. Something strange about the trout in the pool. It is currently a corpse at the floating in the center. It seems to rapidly dissolve, decay. The flesh will fall from its bones as if it had some kind of unnatural weight to it and will hit the ground. The briefest for the briefest moment, the singing of the grass around you returns as if it had always belonged there, but ceases upon the dissolution of its flesh and bone to the ground. The singing will return once more. It's a very small pink trout. Will rise from the corpse and the ground begin to circle as the corpse fades from existence. Well, that's just uh I think that's all the crazy [ __ ] that I am willing to experience today. He turns uh before he leaves. However, uh he will stop over by the stone and ensure that the box that holds the two rings, the human skull uh and the uh there's one more thing, a brass cylinder. He'll ensure that the box is still there with all its contents. seems unmoved and untampered with. He pops it open, looking at the contents once more. They remain just as you had left them. He consider a long moment. The skull, the name, the odd holy and unholy nature of the twin rings before closing the box. He'll pull out his debt book and flick through it. Um, if it isn't already somewhere within there, uh, he will make a segment and entitle it pawn shop before closing the book once more. You will head towards the exit. Ambassador Ardine, you awaken at the base of a tree as if you had been sleeping there for gods know how long. Beside you is the porcelain lantern. The roots of the tree are gripped around it as if desperately trying to keep it safe. The tree will begin to slowly reverse its growth from a tree back into a staff. In the distance, you can hear your friend Sirill and Arando bickering about something. Gilligan speaking too softly to be heard in the distance, but you can tell it is him. The frumpy cat, French toast, sitting on the roof, looking at you. Same old sense of judgment and disappointment. The staff now rests in your lap. Next to you, the lantern, and there are still two flowers upon the staff. None had disappeared. As the evening encroaches, hunger begins to creep upon the party. A strange thought about the well-prepared and skinned chicken passes through Sirill's mind as a thump hits the roof of Frederick. Sir will begin putting down his various scrap and back into neatly sorted piles of refues. I'm beginning to walk into the back of my brick. I believe you may be back. Come on. Harder that boy. You got to strike me harder with your sword. This ain't no This is survival. What? What did you say? Starts climbing up one of the legs. Come on, show me a swing. Like [ __ ] jump back and drop my sword cuz I'm scared. Oh, nice one. Nice. I peek over the uh towel for Edward. Seems that the sound of the thump was the boot of an old man standing to his feet. Baradine has returned. Is he fully dressed? Yeah, he's fully dressed. Mr. Baradine, I have prepared your ash. believe the other two are engaging in some roughousing play. Sorry, I was outside and you were yelling. I suppose you heard the tree, but you said you had the ash. Yes, I've conducted some experiments in the byproducts of which I've prepared for you in the fashion that Belinda had requested. Right. Um, he'll stick his head back out of Frederick and check what time it is roughly. It is mid evening. It is most likely around 6:00. You have anywhere from 30 minutes 30 minutes to an hour to reach the destination. Proceed with the ritual. He nods it it was a bit of a labor to collect as much ash necessary for this ritual. I understand that in the past you may have had run a foul of the intended instructions for our transport here. And so we've wound up in the far future. Are you confident that you'll be able to create such a circle again? Well, the circle in in this manner at least is a bit closer to what I've been studying. The one that ran a foul, as you said, was some kind of esoteric capacity of that oneeyed man. I don't presume to say that it's because of me that I went wrong, but this is definitely something I know a bit more about. I see. Well, I'll begin gathering it for you while I grab one of these jars that's been vacant of honey. Pardon? Beeswax. And I'll begin gathering the ash. I believe the criminal has. And I'll have it prepared for you as soon as I can. He know it's right. I will trust in your expertise to conduct this properly as you seem quite confident that you can. Well, we're in a situation where not conducting it properly is quite catastrophic. So, trust in a the desperation of a hungry man, I suppose. Well, if all else fails, there is the cat that can hold us over. Perhaps a meal. A light one. I don't think you'll be catching that cat anytime soon. I reckon there's more to him than it appears. Well, the cat is a drunkard and we have wine. We can ply it into some trap. A drunkard? quite some impressive. So, he blinks audibly. Well, I suppose it's uh everyone has their vices. Let's live this. He'll begin leaning down and taking some of the brushes newly acquired and start scooping uh ash into pots. And the others you said were uh roughousing. Uh yes, right outside of the bug. Why? You hear the clinking of swords. I'm not too far away from the derigible. If you recall our conversation with Miss Belinda, there are creatures of danger and if we are looking to leave Sunrest, at some point we may encounter them. I imagine that they are taking precautions to protect themselves. You know what? That's fair enough. It's more looking at it from the perspective that they should be conserving their energy, not expending it on play fighting. Indeed, wise master verd, he'll step outside of Frederick just to have some air and give Sirill some space. and sort of pause to contemplate these past this past day or two and the information provided by Belinda about taking the ash and spreading it in a wide circle, trying to embed the pieces of that process into his memory, not letting it get overshadowed by the interactions with um the two he had spoken with prior. The play fighting abruptly ends as Gilligan's enthusiasm gets the better of him. Lashes out and laps Arando and the neck and shoulder area. He slashes my neck. He kind of taps you on the neck but a little too hard. So you can describe how you react. So he tapped me on the neck with a sword. Yeah. Yeah, it doesn't it doesn't draw blood. It doesn't draw blood, but it is metal. It's the flat soft part of the metal, but it's it's like being hit in the shoulder with a steel pole. As soon as I get hit in the neck, I I instantly like drop my sword. I'm like, "Fuck. Time out. Time out. Stop. You hit me. Hit me right in the neck." He's feeling his hand and then he's looking at it. Make sure there's no blood. Gillian had like a really determined look in his eyes, but then he's his eyes suddenly go wide as he he like realizes what he just did and he goes he like goes to like crouches down to help you up. Oh. Oh, you all right? Oh no, I'm dying. This is it, Gilly. I fall to the ground. Um, that's it. And then I play dead. Dad, wait. I'm just [ __ ] with you. Yeah, you almost nicked me there. Help your old man up. He gives you a hand to help you up. Don't scare me like that. Well, don't scare me like that. You almost cut my [ __ ] head off. You swing like a [ __ ] Oie out there. Well, well, thanks. But I suppose I got too carried away. We should try We should pro probably try this with lock weapons. I think that was great. Uh I think uh if we keep practicing like that, we'll both get better. That way we uh won't be hitting each other like that. Uh uh do I do I see Baradine in the distance? He's just standing there. Oh, [ __ ] Look who's back. Well, hey, old diamond. Look uh look who's back there. Um I don't know what you've been up to. Maybe uh would you uh give a tree a piece of gold cuz you found a stick on the ground or something? Something like that. I suppose an exchange, a understanding. No. Anything insightful? Nothing that puts extra food in our bellies, nor that tells us exactly where to go. But that's life for now, at least. We need to get out of Sunrest. Damn right. I reckon we're just about ready to head off. Yeah. He nods and and you two haven't been wasting your energy. I hope there's an awful lot of uh shocked yelling a second ago. Oh, no. No. Down boy. Uh we just My father wanted to um train a bit, so I was helping him out with that. We were drawing swords. Um I kind we kind of had to cut it early though. Right. Um but either way, uh Sarah's gathering the ash for the ritual, so we'll have something to eat at least. Oh, perfect. Thank God. Where is that son of a serum? Serial exits the back of Frederick with a jar in his hand. Blushes shockly. [ __ ] off. The [ __ ] you got there? Uh, pure ash, Mr. Paradon. Or would you like me to take hold of it until we return to the bliss that Yeah, hold on to it for the moment. Uh, keep it secure with the rest of your things. I see. I will I will begin work on the rake head and the teeth we discussed once prior. You can find me inside. Sir will sit down inside Frederick, place the jar back amongst the others, uh, and he will take out a metal file in the rake head and begin filing off the teeth of the rake. There's a light activity, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. It'll take you about 10 minutes. Is there uh anything I can help with? Luck. Pardon? Is there anything I can help with? Um I I don't believe so. I will not ask you of picking flowers once again, but wood would be welcome. You had that axe still handy, couldn't it? I suppose I can go cut some branches down if that'll help you. Sure. It should help us all if we enjoy a warm meal in a warm place. Oh, [ __ ] yeah. All right. Don't tell me twice. One cigarette and then I'll get wood. Lights up cigarette too close to Baradine. He decides inwardly. He'll um kind of lean over just a little bit. Um so uh I mean where'd you go? What happened for real? Uh, I suppose you'd call it a mumbo jumbo. I was following a hunch. Can't say it led me very far, but to tell the truth, Arando, it's a bit unsettling to be here. At first, I thought it was uh just an adjustment period. And now I guess I'm finding paths for the adjustment to actually take course. All right. Well, at least you uh followed up on what you thought you could find something of interest in. And I'm sure we'll figure our way through. Uh look at we've even got the derigible going now. Um we've got progress. We got Well, I was going to say time, but I reckon we don't call that anymore. No, I think time ran quite far ahead of us, Mr. Armando. Yeah, that's all right. Well, we'll make it work, right? We don't have much choice but to make it work. And Sirill is motivated. Gilligan still seems in good spirits. And we have a strange mascot of a alcoholic omniresent cat. Don't know how to feel about that one, but for now I'm not against it. Damn, I didn't know you drank it. I used to. Not much anymore. A bad voice. Okay. Um, if there's anything you need to talk about or I don't know, uh, you let me know. I understand that you have a ceaseless curiosity, Aranda. Things will be spoken about in time. That I can assure you. But first things first is uh securing our food and then our path out of this place. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. He'll he'll put his cigarette out using his fingers and then put it back in his pack. Speaking of which, got to go get some wood. I'll be back. He nods. Sirill who's been easedropping say together. Your father seems uncharacteristically amicable. Perhaps the travel through time was a good thing for him. Think so. Oh, certainly. He obsessed with whatever whatever missions he put himself on his uh mysteries that he wished to solve. seems to be freed that yolk. He crosses his legs rather effeminently on the the crate he's sitting. Ah, well, that's a dad for you. He gets a sniff of any kind of mystery and get him going. moving p through time. It's just another I suppose. Well, you know, I'm unsure if it's out of loneliness or boredom, desperation for a purpose, but I do welcome the extra hands. Ah, yes. Um, speaking of, do you have any what are you working on at the moment? Perhaps I could uh assist you. I Well, there was something I wish to talk to you about. You mentioned on the return from your fishing endeavor that you encountered at entrance to the soups. Is that correct? Yes. Needs a plateau. It seems um there may be things down there that has like scavengers or anyone else hasn't cleaned yet. So well I imagine that if above ground there was a great battle that was had here in Sunrust and I imagine that some of those not inclined to fight might have sought refuge there. I've also my old master Tiger his laboratory was down there as well. If If wise minds prevail, the suggestion I would highly encourage that we take a trip, explore to see if there's anything left of Salvage that may aid us in our our travel. I don't see why not. You are sort of We could use all the supplies we get after all. Indeed. Perhaps we can approach the topic after Mr. Baradon has completed his circle and secured our ability to eat something other than each other. Yes, we can um continue this conversation when we're once together. I do have a minor job for you. Perhaps you can work alongside your father here as he will pull from uh his tool set uh the whiddling knife that uh he had acquired. I need bark, ideally from vines, but that from trees may due to or long reads. I wish to fashion twine and thereby rope if you like. Uh once you've acquired enough plant material, I can show you how to weave them together. Oh, of course. Yes, I could could fetch some some of those bits of branches and such. It's a simple and mindless task, but it's meditative. It puts the mind to ease repetitive motion. You'll see. He hands you the uh wh um he'll not I'll get to it then. Thank you. Mr. B, do you know where um my father which direction my father went? He points the way that Armando had walked uh that direction, I suppose. See, he's walking back with an arm full of branches. Um. Oh, your turn. That was exhilarating. Yeah, I got some uh got some branches for a cereal there. Mind grabbing some for them. Boy, come on. You What's a big idea? Look like you got something to say. Well, nothing. It's just I've been uh I've got a task of my own. So, I I'll help I'm going to be thinking you out just the uh searching for thing materials. Seems like Mysterio wants to some things to make wood. I mean, not wood to rope with. All right, let's uh let's take this wood in here and we'll uh we'll go and search for your item. There you go. See, I'll [ __ ] put them down next to you. Hopefully, that'll do for you. Oh, nice. Perfect. That's what I'm talking about. His pale weapon crack, the smile on his face. Do you happen to know how to fell a tree? These branches are fine for fire kindling, but for other endeavors, I might need larger logs. Do you believe you can fell one of these ash trees? I probably could, but uh that's going to take some time if you if you want to tree cut down and cut it into logs. I could do it. I suppose you're right. When is Could you ask Mr. Veridine when we are to return to Belinda's shrine, I believe? Oh. Oh, yeah, sure. Of course. All bizarre. Hey Baron, when the [ __ ] are we going to Berlin shrine? Sort of cast his eyes up uh about an hour from now. It's being quite generous. Generous on which side of the spectrum? As in um that's probably the maximum amount of time you could give yourself. Most conservative would be 30 minutes. Yeah. Yeah. He he would have went conservative. About 30 minutes. Armando. Gotcha. About half an hour there. S uh serial. About how far are we by the Beatles walk? 30 minutes. Well, that doesn't give us much time at all. Or Beatles walk. Um, probably 10 on foot 30. Okay. Uh, well, I'm going to take the 10 to do the uh do the teeth and file them into um just rough metal darts, I guess. Got it. you uh you said there was another job from a boy. Well, I'm I'll need a bit more time, but gathering reads or stripping bark from nearby trees. I'm trying to make twine and rope. All right, let's go. There's no no need to process it. Just retrieve it and we can I can work on it later. Got it. There's a big one over here. Some over there. do that wholesome fatherson bark um scraping uh quick time event. That's a big ass tree. You're a small ass man. In fact, all of you are small ass mans. I mean, how much do I need to get? You and Gilligan could lift up one end of the tree, assuming there was another you and Gilligan on the other side of the tree and barely be able to get it into Frederick. Wait, we're just peeling bark. Are Yeah, it's just stripping bark. Oh [ __ ] Okay, never mind. Yeah, you're fine. I thought you were trying to cut the tree down. Like, oh, between the two of you, you're going to peel some bark. Yeah, it's like [ __ ] We're like whittling it off with a kn with a knife that uh Yeah, you can take those same 10 minutes that he was using the um or making the darts. Uh do that. You can get an arm full of bark. Cool. We'll do that. I'll drop off my my load to the Freedick and then I'll like spend the next 10 minutes getting more. I think at uh the 20 minute mark once he once he gets done with um what he's presently doing after those 10 minutes if you're with whatever you return with uh he'll kind of gesture like that's enough we need to get going will take the pile of metal darts and he will come over to Veradine As agreed upon here, I know not where you will store them. I imagine that the pockets pockets that I've designed for you in that jacket should be large enough to hold them. It will. It'll do for now. Uh tell me, Sirill, is there anything you're currently looking for? Any particular item possibility? Uh dinner primarily. I we should begin cooking. I Let's not wait. Wouldn't want to be late. My stomach crumbles. He nods. Get the [ __ ] move on then. Armando, if you would accompany me, please. Oh, [ __ ] All right. Sure. And we will he will head to the top of Frederick. Pat the seat next to him. He'll blush. Um for me. All right. Yes. Run in front of the disc. takes a seat. Sirill will begin gesturing uh how to manipulate the different discs by pulling and tilting. Our hands accidentally touch. Oh, sorry. No words like this. and he'll guide his hands to grasping the uh sides of the uh the disc and trying I hold on to tilting it forward to drive the beetle forward and hold it with both hands. Perhaps you can show Gilly once you've had some mastery of moving this thing. Probably useful that everybody knows in case of of a emergency of course right just need an ashtray up here. He's looking around a [ __ ] He lights up the half smoke he put out. Oh [ __ ] Hurl takes his hands off the uh the disc and lets Armando pat it while he's over. Bit of a rocky ride. However, Armando gets the hang of things. about 15 or so minutes correcting for a few of the uh twists and turns getting over the small ravine. You make it back to the place where you met with Belinda, the root of what once was a great tree on the far east side what once was Sunrest. You make it to your destination, roughly 15 minutes. In front of you is the same place that Belinda had conjured the table and food prior. Nothing remains, however. Well, here we are. won't be able to make a fancy table, but I should be able to call the food. Uh, Sirill, do you have anything in Frederick? A a large desk, maybe some kind of surface that we can do this on, eat from. I hadn't thought of that. I do have my workbench. I suppose I could clear things off, but I will need to I may need to uh acquire some of Young Gilligan space in the souththeastern quadrant of Frederick. Does it have to be a table? If I'm trying to make a circle, I need a flat surface. Presumably, that is relevant. What about the the top of Frederick on top of him? I thought you were suggesting that we not eat on the floor like ends. That's part of it, but I'd rather eat on the floor than not eat at all. So, I figured uh doing it right is more important. He said as an I I thought of it, but I decided not to be racist. It's a new Suppose we could put two uh few of the crates together to makeshift a surface. We did acquire an empty barrel. Is that big enough? Um it needs to be big enough so that one of us could even lay down in it curled up. was the loose instructions that she gave. Oh, yeah. By quick estimation, you realize that you'd probably need something around four crates arranged in a square or something of that um size or area. Why don't we just use the roof of Frederick? Is the roof of Frederick flat? It isn't. It's curved. Um, it's flat, right? Yeah, but it's ash. And then we'd put it on a a higher place so if [ __ ] a stiff breeze comes, we get [ __ ] Yeah. What about like his head? Like the front part the chair and the the That looked pretty [ __ ] in front of the chair and [ __ ] Just teleport buck right under your seat as you're driving. Could you put Frederick's head in the in the scene so I can see it? It's not big enough. [ __ ] Would my Would my workt suffice for size if I was to take it off the wall? You could break it apart. You could take the back out of it. The back is the size. The back is a 2 by two. The front surface is a one by two. You need a 2 by two. We don't need a 2 by two, but if you're looking for a table to do this on top of, you would need a 2 by two. [ __ ] [ __ ] the table. Maybe there's a stone or something around here. I mean, if we got to eat, is it the biggest [ __ ] deal if we get it off the ground? I mean, would you rather [ __ ] die? I'd rather not [ __ ] up the ritual in the first place when we only have one shot at it from the event of ash that Sil managed miraculously to gather. Well, let's take a look around the area, then the conturation. So, I can make it 2 by two. I can only make one by ones. Armando, there is no need. Don't trouble yourself. Let me return and deconstruct that which I had borne into this world. No. Yeah, when you put it like that, [ __ ] All right. Sarah returns to Frederick and pulls out his hammer and chisel and starts. Do you remember the backing? Do you remember the instructions, Chamber? Uh, this was a month ago. It was inert ash. Sprinkle in a circle on a ground wide enough for one of you to curl up into a ball and rest in. Draw out this symbol at a specific time and presumably specific place. Did you write down the time and place? Uh, I did not. Okay, which is why I'm kind of staring at my notes lifelessly currently. Let me see what I got. As I am relying on Master Baradine's expertise in the manner of rituals, I will deconstruct my table and bring him that which he requires. That's going to take you some time. Do you want to spend that time? Unless Baradine tells me otherwise. Um, did she draw the symbol on the ground and that made the table? Are we overthinking this or did she make the table the symbol on it? Is the food going to teleport to this circle and not anywhere that we are? Should the should this hash circle not be inside of Frederick where we can it can just transport the food to? Let me let me let me throw you a bone. Um, she never once demonstrated how to do this. She just gave very specific verbal instructions. This is back in Sris. A pile of rotting food is remains at this shrine while we are starving inside of the back of her. This is why I should go back and watch the episodes to take notes and not take notes during the episode and then presume I'm correct. I mean, you might be correct. I just want to, you know. Yeah, but she used conation for some of the thing. Then it was the same. I think it was qu. Sprinkle a circle in the ground wide enough for a single person to curl up in the to rest in. In the center and Ash also draw the symbol. And then she draws it. She draws it. If you illustrated it with her hand to demonstrate to Baradine, but she didn't perform the ritual, but she drew the symbol, right? Yeah. Baradine knows. Well, I'm saying just for the sake of Baradine wouldn't forget this is he knows the symbol by heart. He can he can reproduce it. It's the instructions that um apparently is the Ash inert inert ash. I I mean do we have Sirill told me here? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. As far as you know I mean let's just you know you have the [ __ ] We have Why are you here? Give it a rib. Uh you said at the site and that that's my entire indication. She just said, "Do this after a certain time." Because she needed time to prepare the food and put it in the location that needs to be pulled from. Why are you not doing this ritual back at the center of town? You hear vague hammering in the background? Oh, that workshop's coming apart. That shit's rolling. We we locked that in. Why are we Because there was this entire impression from this episode that we had to come back here to do it. I don't know what the source of that is. She told you to do the ritual at the exact same spot that she placed the table. She was like here. Cool. I didn't write that part down. Did she? I don't know. I guess I guess so. Yeah, pretty sure she did yet, bro. I'm I'm about to [ __ ] pull my nuts off and the workshop's going to take too long. It's already like halfway through. Yeah. Yeah. I'm I'm tearing the back off of it right now. Well, uh he's Bro, listen. It's been a minute. Suck my balls. Dementia. Actually dementia. Actual dementia. He'll uh he'll look for like indentations in the ground to be sure of the table location, which I I'm 99% sure is here. Um, it's almost miraculous that you were able to overcome your horrible memory at this age. But you can clearly picture in your mind where you had recently eaten the what was it 12 hours prior or something that I'm waiting for to bring the [ __ ] bench so we can do it on the bench. Oh no, it's going to make a table on the bench. Oh, I've never realized the error of my ways. We get to craft a double decker a workbench. Is it going to like noclipip into the [ __ ] workbench and destroy it? Let me know when I've returned with the giant backboard of my I'm so stressed. This this 10 minutes passes as Sir walks over with a very well-cared and crafted backboard to his personal workbench which is effectively the only object that ties his sentiment to this entire universe. See is carrying a piece of its corpse towards you. Right. This is quite heavy. Where do you want this? Uh, put it down on the side here. He gestures against the pillar. Good. Okay. Sit against the pillar and then slowly lowers it down. Sick. Right. If the food arrives and it's on the ground, we'll manage to move it onto that. Sure. [ __ ] it. I will take out the bottle of ash. sprinkling. I could have just I could have just brought a crate if your intention was to bring it back to Frederick. I thought we would place the Never mind. This is your area of expertise after all. Expertise to say, but you're correct. I'm just being sure that Never mind. He realizes he's stopping in the middle of sprinkling an ash circle. Goes back over uh where he started to make sure there's no gaps and then continues the circle. Sir, well, you get the impression that he might not be exactly an expert in this cuz you've met many experts prior. He is not. Looking good, Barry. And then you they go to where Belinda is stood and uh attempt the sigil that she had displayed. Where are you tracing the pattern? Every time we've seen or a lot of the times we have seen um things being cast, it's gestures in the ear. Uh, so it would be facing the circle, sort of hand over the edge of it, tracing the sigil in the ear. As you begin to conduct the mana from your body as if it is a river flowing through your fingers, something that you've gone more and more accustomed to, a strange feeling dawn over your arm, as if a groove had been carved for the water to flow out of. And instead of calmly being rerouted through that path, there is a violent pulling motion. You fall forward into the center of the circle. It's almost as if your arm had been leading you there. Uh the remainder of your mana is drained from you. You have zero mana at the current moment. And the dust that is in the circle will evaporate. a flash of a sharp bright light before it immediately vanishes. Sitting right in front of your face is a large package seems to be wrapped in butcher paper to Gilgan and Armando. It is the familiar scent of baked buck. About half an entire buck. Is that what I think it is? Just like the first time we came out of that cube. That's a buck. The hunger led us to stupid [ __ ] conclusions. He sort of rubs at his arm. Good [ __ ] Baron. You did it. Well, he'll pick up the package and move over to where Sirill was at. You're not picking that up on your own. That's You know what? That's fair. It's a It's half of a [ __ ] book. You know, valid. Uh, it's nicely cut, smells good, and it is wrapped in butcher paper. [ __ ] Get it on the table. Come on. All of us. Let's in tow with others. Knees creek. Well, I had my doubts, but you have indeed procured us sustenance. For that, I thank you. He he nods. Um, as as they're towing as you all are towing it, you can tell that there's not much strength in him. Perhaps less than you had expected as he is favoring one hand uh over the other. and he is more aiding in the stability uh rather than the actual strength of this. But still, well, let's take it piece by piece onto the tray and return it to Frederick where we may meet in shelter from the elements. Then what do the sewers right? Uh yes. Um once Well, Master Baron, you do look like this has taken quite a bit out of you. If you require a rest, I suppose the meal shall do you well. Sewers will not go anywhere. I um as they uh set the package down, uh Berdine will sort of pull up his sleeve and look at um his right-hand wrist, which is where the rings usually appear. Uh he had one quant ring primed. Did that fade along with the mana? Did you not recover those? Did you not unbind those? Uh, no. I We rested. I rebound them and I've expended everything except for one mana up until this point. Um, I had one mana, one quantbound. What's your maximum mana? Uh, four. All of your will be gone. That's Yeah, I'd expended the focus to get it back. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, that ring is gone. He rubs at his wrist. Well, let's uh let's just get going back into Frederick for now. Are you are you okay? He sigh incredibly deeply. Armando, I am hungry. I am tired. My faith is being tested. Breath after [ __ ] breath. This sigil, these magics, they are foreign to me. and the expectation that I am the one to deliver food to your plate and the taxes that it calls upon me to deliver such things are heavy. I do not begrudge that they are. I simply suffer it. Let's get inside and let's eat. Who's testing your faith? This world, Aranda, I cannot reach a god. I do not find people of faith. I can't express the loss it is to hold something close to you that you cast your thoughts and faith towards and have it your entire life and then it is gone. However long you've been drinking is nowhere near as long as I have been praying, Armando, and I don't have the privilege of whispers of the scent upon my nose. Now, shut up and lift. His eyes widen a little bit. Um, all right. All right, then. Um, I know that feeling. Let's, uh, let's open there, gang. Better humors will prevail once our stomachs are full. All three. Now, let's lift. You're able to lift the large hunch of meat as smells extremely enticing and has been well wrapped and prepared for a journey ahead. The backboard of Sirill's workshop is um extremely unnecessary for the task, but there is a little bit of a silver lining in the fact that it does make it slightly easier to carry. Mr. a French toast. We'll look up at the four animals carrying a hunch of another large chunk of an animal with uh judgment and disapproval. As you managed to haul your query back into the back of Frederick, [ __ ] off. Don't give me that look. I guess you don't want me, you little bastard. I got to do something for the next five minutes. Uh S will begin uh finding appropriate tools that can serve as silverware within his [ __ ] tool belongings. I still got to [ __ ] off. Yeah. Mhm. You do then. Uh you have 28 rations. Effective rations. Let's go, dude. Okay. Um 32 if you include the cat. Let's not for now. Let's see. Uh, who wants to track that? I don't. I'll track it. I'll do it. Oh, damn. That's crazy. You want to do it, Rico? Sure. All right, cool. 28 normal for emergency. Bro, we're not eating that cat. I eat Gilligan. I'm If the cat wants to eat, he's going to ask. That [ __ ] [ __ ] gives us a look after bringing in food. [ __ ] you. Don't eat any of them, [ __ ] The cat g look at everyone at every point in time. Bro, I dude balls out and the cat still looked at me with disappointment. And I know that's a lie. Is it like as against my leg. No, I just smelled your rainbow socks and then quickly backpedalled. What the [ __ ] Weird cat. Is the food distributed and everybody eating? Uh, not yet. Sarill is currently looking for silverware. He's going to cut it. All right. Yeah, he's going to portion it out. The cat's on the clock. He's just sitting up there. Has the cat touched any of us? Nuzzled or I don't think so. I'm about to define this cat's secrets when I've slept and have my [ __ ] resources back. It is kind of strange how it's not just immediately pining for the meat like you'd think it'd be hungry, too. How's the cat ever meowed? He just looks at you with disapproval and disappointment on his face. He did drink an entire barrel of wine. I don't know what that what kind of that was canon. I did not know if that was canon or not. What if that's that's for real? Okay. It does sound like a noncanon piece of information. I know. I I I extensively narrated that you did. I guess I just like the bar was like filling up in wine and then the cat was out drinking it. This cat's a person, brother. We're not eating this thing. What kind of person drinks a [ __ ] barrel of wine? A fat. This is This is a legendary beast, man. Good. He's French. I'm going to kill it. I will kill you. Good, bro. I will dismember you by shooting a slice of baked buck at terminal velocity towards your head. Zero. When you lift your finger for divination and both your old man knees crack out to the left and you just [ __ ] go down, brother. That's true. I got no [ __ ] mana. I got nothing, brother. I am I'm tapped. Damn. What am What am I doing here? Where's my grandson? Is that our chef? My name is Chef. Serial has returned. Uh, you said you were getting a cutlery. Yeah. Are you using arrow shafts sharpened for kebabs? Are you using biles? What What's the What's the situation? We can we can do uh arrow shaft kebabs. That sounds pretty [ __ ] actually. Thick. We have a We have knives. They might be covered in tree gunk right now, but we have water. Anybody thirsty? parad will also take some empty olympics uh empty uh alchemical jars. I assure you they have not been used. They are unfortunately still virgin. Um they should be safe to drink from. He'll begin handing cups and jars to me if they want. Banan eats hungrily and messily. His mustache definitely sort of clumping together with meat juices, but uh he he is at the point of exhaustion and hunger that he does not care. Sarah will tap the uh the full wine keg, start pouring it into one of his Olympics, and uh hand that one to Arando and then ask for the one his class, hands it, does the same. Thank you, good sir. And he offers uh Gilligan the wine. Oh. Um thank you, Zero. But um the water will just will do fine for me. I see. Well, Master Berdon, these spirits could raise your own. I suppose I can't [ __ ] hear her. Why not? behind you and takes your glass and u pours himself glass places it on the table will gesture for Gillies. He'll uh sorry what? Uh do you give me your glass? Oh yes. Okay. You will go over to the barrel. Then he will uh fill it full of barrel water and then head back to you. Well, Armando, as the head of this household, I will leave it to you to produce the toast versus he looks down at his wine. Smells like carrots. Um um doesn't smell like No, it smells like a Well, Tormato can smell like carrots cuz he's I'll give him the luxury of just being in whatever state of psychosis he wants to be in. Uh to everyone else, uh it smells like a very deep um berry scent. was very um raisiny, kind of foresty. I'll um stand up uh kind of on the bench. Um well, if I must, um I'll keep it short. I know um Barai wants to, you know, get to his feast. Uh, but I guess um I'm not really good at these uh speaking words to people about how you feel about stuff. But uh I feel like um we've been given a bad hand here. Uh all of us. But I I have hope that in the end we'll truly find out why we wanted to [ __ ] be here and hell left his wine. Now, let's drink. He'll put it to his face, but he'll put it down. Sarah shoots it back. Get thirsty after a long day's work. Ban considers and then follows Sirill's example. uh will uh he'll sip from his class. Not going to down it, but he'll just we'll sip at it slowly. He'll swing at his father a little bit. The water tastes like pond water. The wine, however, tastes pretty surprisingly well. It might have had a better flavor 40 years ago, but the time has still enabled it to retain some of its flavor. And for what what flavor it did retain, it's very pleasant as a deep wine, almost like a port. If you've had a port before, it's very um uh fruity, kind of like fruity chocolate. It's a deep flavor, very pleasant. It's not um aringent or acidic. Along with the wine, the meat had seemed to have been prepared for a journey. It is salted and it is not too chewy. It's almost um crumbly as if it had been slowly dried, less chewy than a beef jerky, but um uh less moist than something that would come out of an It's a meager It's a meager luxury, but it is oh so welcome. sips of it wine. Now, I suppose I should be the one to make the suggestion. As we have salted, travel prepared food. Seasoned for a long journey. Where shall we go? It's a good question. I was just thinking the same thing. Uh well, sounds like regardless we've agreed to go to the sewer, but I imagine beyond that. Yeah. Uh I think there's a couple places of interest. Uh, I for one would like to see Ableton at some point. I concur. I have a great interest in seeing the old port of Mr. Turt before heading out of Sunburst to see if any of his great works have been left behind. But I agree. It seems as though many of you are um have an appetite for knowledge and in my recollections Ableton's great libraries and scholars would serve you with the answers that you may seek. Any objections to that? Well, I suppose um Aleton's a sure destination as any. But do you remember you two mentioning something about the temple near the lake? Yes, the rock artificial men that Shen, the center point to believe had talked spoken a bit about it. I confess I have an interest there too as a much like Frederick a marvel perhaps engineering. My curiosity is peaked. If I may replicate such a thing, I think it would be incredible. At least understand what a man like that is made of. Well, is it on the way? I don't believe it is. It would be a small detour if we are looking to venture to gold vein to resupply. I shoe shine there. [ __ ] that guy. Could be worth it, I guess, to ask some questions, but it seems like it may be one of the last vestages of civilization left in this valley. No, Shushan. No. Yeah. Something rubbed me the wrong way when I first met him. It seems the political sword. Well, we need not interact with him. Hopefully, we can interact with the vendors, the merchants there, who can supply us for the assuredly long journey towards Ableton. Or we provision ourselves for possible dangers that may be at the center of the lake in the temple. It would be good to know what Sam's okay, but I don't even know how I would start that. Speaking of Sam, her her project, it I believe she mentioned that her research would lead her towards that lake I mean the the powder the rocks that you had uh asked me to take a look Yes, I've I've yet to I've yet to do more than just a superficial look at the material, but uh it seems that in this place some stones have magnificent qualities. I am interested once I've reconstructed my workshop to perhaps delve into it a bit further and take up where Sam had left off at least in the alchemical pursuits. Yes. Um, well, there'sn't much left in this valley. That pro that project I would be nice to take it up, I suppose. But um I'm not made to write the idea if it's too much trouble. If this is towards April, of course I I'll travel with you all. In short, her research could be continued in my laboratory whenever and wherever in absence of Sam. It's been 40 years. You're still curious. If nothing else, could you not ask Master Paradigm to check in on her with this magics? I do not see the need to try to track her down, you know. Oh, you misunderstand. I I don't I'm not holding on to the thought of her still being alive or anything. It's very likely possible, if not assured, that she's no longer around. looks a little sadder, he says. Now, why do you believe that? Well, it's it's been 40 years. Most pretty much everyone else is. No, it's hardly 40 years does not seem to be a great gauge of age in this place. [ __ ] I mean, look at Belinda. Belinda, who's once described as a young potter, I believe, was must have been quite young, a contemporary of uh Sam, there's her name. But I've heard of men who have lived over a hundred years. Yeah, like Baron. Not quite. Not there yet. Master Eard had recalled a war that had happened many, many decades before. He gave me his age once. I believe it was surpassing that which I known to be the natural age of well men I am familiar with. Should I then ask your ages? Our ages? How old are you? Well, I suppose um father would know best. I actually s my Sam said once. Oh, yeah. Sam actually helped me out with that once. She said I was about 24, I believe. 24 years old. Yeah, she used her she used definition and you Mr. Mr. Ramon almost 33. And forgive me, but I mean no offense, Master Parad, [ __ ] off. Oh. His somewhat sour mood lightens Arondo's rapid aggressive response that is completely misplaced as always 67. No shot. They are not 67. Sorry, you're like 84. Come on. Don't [ __ ] us. I spent most of my life behind a desk pushing paperwork. My body didn't quite keep up. But it seems like uh you're getting bested by your son by the big bruise forming on your neck. So, I don't suppose you should speak up on anything. I I'm teaching the boy. All right. And clearly I'm doing very well. Well, in years. Your boy is my senior. I am 22 years of age, which is quite an advanced age. What? Really? Wait, that's the most shocking. Wait, what the f? You're 20. Is goofy age like [ __ ] different? Well, my father lived to a ripe age of 32. Old by most standards. What? Oh, so you see that my desired to create wonders and arts and wave myself to achieve longevity at least through misesis of novel creations. My time is not long in this one. Not as long as the wizards of Ableton at least. with their hundreds and 40s of years. I had no idea. Zero, can I ask you? Um, were you born from an egg? No. No, you weren't. I was born of my mother, but other folk here are from eggs. Yeah. Possibly in Half Bloom Valley. Hey, you think that's [ __ ] up? It is certainly no stranger to me than hearing of a man living to 150, 60, 200 years. and the lack of children of srust few would notice. Well, generally when it comes to um children, the shorter a lifespan is, the more rapidly or consistently they tend to have young. If what Armando is saying that they come from eggs and you're corroborating the idea that they lived past 100 to 200, there's a chance that their setup is just slow. That explains the lack of it. They they said though from a I mean Sam said that I I was [ __ ] blown away. And then Belinda, you heard herself. They're [ __ ] born from eggs here. Like what the [ __ ] [ __ ] in that egg. Half moon valley certainly is a strange place. Say that again. Yeah. Another mystery for you two. Well, another shall I start a fire, make comfortable for the night? My arms are certainly aching. And in the morning, perhaps we can venture into the sewers. And then be our own our way, wherever that may be. Yeah. Why don't um why don't you all get some rest? Um, I'll take a first watch out there. He'll pull his sword from the side. Um, and hold it. I'll uh I'll make sure nothing happens. Um, after honestly, when we were inside the teapot and even Belinda spotted how we couldn't win out a fight, it kind of it kind of [ __ ] with um that even someone like her just didn't even see us as a threat. underestimate her, but she's right nonetheless. With sufficient time, I should be able to get some of these crossbows and bows working. I have a means aside from my saber to protect myself, but I am inevitably going to work on some devices that may be a bit more strong than a toothpick shooter like these. pour some barrel on. Uh, is the wine barrel open? There's a little nozzle on the bottom that just releases it out, right? Yeah. Okay. Um, is Gilligan's glass empty? Yeah, for the most part he was he was like uh like drinking it throughout the conversations and he's got it finished by now. So he'll I'm going to dump uh I'm going to dump my wine in your glass and uh All right. Oh, I'll uh I'm going to keep watch uh for y'all. Um get some rest. Tuck her up. When you're ready, I'll uh get a little fresh air. You must stay hydrated. We performed quite a bit of work today. You will crap. Fine. I'll uh with the same glass, I'll um All right, I'll get some uh got some pawn water, I guess. Scoop a big glass. Chug it. Ah, good call. All right, y'all. Uh, you'll get tuckered in. I got you. Then kind of sniffs at the wine. He says nothing about, how have you been lighting your cigarettes so far, Arando? I've just had the same uh Zippo or like whatever the equivalent of that would be. Okay, Sarah's gonna grab some of the sticks after finishing his wine and come outside and start stacking them into a into a fire, I guess. Are we sleeping outside or inside of our room? Is this thing not Is this thing temperature controlled? What are we What are we doing? It's a bit warmer than it is outside. Then again, outside isn't terribly cold. All right. Well, sleep inside. Yeah. I'll bring the sticks back in. Put it in a tinder pile over there. Effectively taking over more and more of Arondo's space with his [ __ ] And uh yeah, he'll spend some time uh relaxing and uh you'll call Gilly over to uh teach him how to how to make uh twine. Ah gladly be your student for this. He's been uh sort of just making himself busy trying not to think about things too much. He'll ask for the whiddling knife back. Take it out from his pocket and hand it to you. Sirill's going to start taking pieces of bark and slicing into strips. And then um with a what his wooden mallet uh he'll start hammering it flat to and he'll begin just you must it you must hammer this these reads these this bark so that you can loosen the fibers. Then he'll after forming them into strips, he'll start he'll take two of them. He'll hold them by each other and he'll start braiding them, pinching the cords together, flipping one cord over the other, and then tightening it and then pinching repeatedly over and over. and just talking to you, talking you through the process, showing you how to how to make a how to make a cold. I see. Having to shake stone like thread it. So, yes, loop them like so. Yes. Once the end of the loop braid, once the end is braided out, wrap it and tuck it and continue with the other threads, always twisting the same way. Just under the course of about 30 minutes, you were able to make a pretty sturdy rope. is a bit thinner than the larger ropes that you have found that have decayed with time and a bit thicker than the crumbled up and ruined bow strings. However, it is perfectly functional and the principles are even more functional if you were able to find better material to do it with. Uh, Gilgan, you'll gain the knowledge Not as not as well as I'd hoped, but we don't want cables. We want cords. And once you bind three cords, you will have a rope. As thus, it's pretty sturdy. If I We made this for ourselves. It's a simple matter, but it's a way to pass the time. Had we some wax or some tree sap or resin, we could perhaps fortify this. It could make a proper bow string for these bows here. But I believe as they are, they should do for some purposes. Um, Armando, are you just keeping watch? Uh, yeah, I'll keep watching. Um, oh, like be at a tree. Uh, you know how like the how the dummies have those sticks hanging out? He's just going to like practice sword defensive moves and just be outside. Got it. Got it. Smoking and swording. Are you guys going to rest and pass the time for the night once good? Yeah. Yeah. So, after the uh bonding moment with Gilly, um he'll be relaxed from both the the whine and the repetitive activity and Sarah will fall asleep on the uh on the bench with Gilgan. No, he'll give him his face. I mean, probably. I swear Zero after Barin's shift could probably take over for his old man. Let him uh catch a breather. And uh real quick, um one we each had like a ration each. So like we're at 24 rashes now. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, cool. Yeah. He'll uh he'll he he'll like sit outside at the uh right before um Frederick. He'll just catch the uh like um relax in the night air and wait for his father to uh his eyes closed. He'll just like rest there sitting and he'll um wait for his father to return so he can take the ship from him. All right, boy. You're up. You got your sword? I do. Yes. All right. Very good. Keep watch. Uh I was mucking out over the by that tree over there. Just doing a bit of training. Maybe you get yourself prepared as well. I will. Well, father. Good wife. Good night. The night is quiet. interrupted by your practice. You're walking around. Seems that you and maybe some light snoring from inside, but it's hard to tell. The only things that make noise throughout the night. He'll do this sword training thing. You hack away at the tree which has large hacks in it already left by yourself and Arondo from the day prior. It's just past midnight as sleeplessness dawn over you. Sleeplessness or Yeah, like the um I could just say you're [ __ ] tired. Okay. The air the or the the the presence of sleeplessness taps you on the shoulder like a taunting maiden. Now you're [ __ ] tired. I suppose I shouldn't be out at you any longer. Will her back in. Maybe I should wake up. Old man see your dad kind of seems like he's had a bad day. Wake up serill. Hey. Hey. Sirill is still twisting two strands in opposite directions till it binds up in reverse. Right. Like just in his his hands are still moving even though there's no twine in it. It's no wonder he's so good at it. Practices his art in his sleep. Hey, Seal. Seal, get up. You need I need you to cover the shift. Well, I suppose I could. Yes. Oh, and uh can you put the rest of the food inside of one of the crates and seal it so that damned cat doesn't take any of our precious meals? Good idea. I will at the ceiling. Hey, where is that thing? Haven't seen it since going to grab some more bark and head outside. The [ __ ] is that bastard cat? Yeah, actually Gilligan's going to suddenly realize that. Wait, I was out all night keeping watch, but that cat's not around. Curio is going to get the better of him and he's going to like look around inside. All of the gold is missing from your pockets. No, I'm [ __ ] with you. That's not all of the cubes. Sarah was uh you got to sit down in the in the pilot seat, the cushy pilot seat, start twining up again. He's probably going to do it for about an hour before he falls asleep. All righty. I'll add Yep. Sorry. Go ahead. No, you after like a minute of searching for the cat, if you feel like you can't find it, he'll probably just be too tired to keep looking and just fall asleep. All righty. That's all. Barine is the first to awaken. Sunlight pours into the back of Frederick. Yeah, he gets up, stretches. Uh, how does he feel after the mana was pulled from him and he is fed and rested? Is it still absent or is it returned in some portion? You reach forward for the river of water and you can feel the tingle on the tips of your fingers. It seems to have returned. There's not a trace of any physical soreness, but a weariness that rests within your arm, but it seems to have returned in its entirety, or at least from what you can feel. He nods to himself, but now it draws back from the river. It waters a unckempt torrent. Or at least that's his impression after the previous night. The grues it had dug through his arm. A softly pulsing reminder of the dangers of such things. The get arrogant is not something he can afford at his age. He will get up quietly uh gathering the loose bits of clothing he had stripped from himself and begin to dress before stepping outside for some fresh air. The morning greets you with the same silence as the night had greeted the rest of the party. The two inside sleep softly, and it is about 8:00 a.m. Before I even open my eye, I uh put a cigarette in my mouth, probably like a 25% sig, and just light it up and get up. Now, you guys are still sleeping. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'll let you know when you wake up. Yeah. Um, he'll hold the staff in his hand and brush his hand lightly over the uh pedals along the top of it. sort of a quiet contemplation before reaching for his debt book, flicking open. His hand hovers over the debt owed to Sirill like a thorn in his palm that he can't remove. He considers a moment before adding a tally next to it. having resigned to indicate the days since that task has been um impossible to fulfill. Whether it ever will be quantified the cost of each day, the interest acred, he is unsure, but a method of tracking is a comfort to him. Even if the actual tax is uh unknown and quite painful. He looks at the slip of paper, the card received from the people the previous night, the library card, the urgings around it. He considers the similar one in Armando's possession that he had mentioned the last time they were in the teapot. before he begins to write on the paper. He gets a few words in trying to quantify the question regarding the ritual Jean had employed the wording of it to create a new branch, a place for his kin and comparing it to the references to the location of the pawn. on shop given the night prior by Dawn. The idea that it rests upon the shared consciousness of all life here in this place settled just below a great tree. But the impact of such things is beyond him, as is the cost of information to get such a wide viewing perspective. Weighing his curiosity against his needs, he sets the small ink tipped quill away, nestles the carrot back into the debt book. Not wanting to acrue another tax upon his mind, he tucks the debt book away in his pocket. Then he waits for the others to awake. Their plans for the sewers to gain more material and eventually head for Ableton seems like a safer route. at least until he can clear his debts. Rest outside for about 30 minutes before Armando stirs. It's almost as if his body is acting before him, lighting a smoke. As the smoke, it will trail up to his nostrils and awaken him. All right, another day. All right. Come on, boy. It's time to get up. Give him a nudge. He rolls over a little. Come on. Looks like everybody else is already up. Let's make ourselves useful. Gilligan awakens. Uh, no. What is it? It's morning. Ready? Sunshining, ain't it? He blinks a bit, grabs himself, and sits up. I suppose it is. So situated. The is already out. Yeah, it sure looks like it. I want uh I'm going to check on everything. Get yourself up and see if we're ready to go. Open the flap and step outside. How's Paradine looking over here? All bald and [ __ ] Contemplative. His hands rest on the staff and he is looking sort of out uh away from Frederick. He doesn't seem to have noticed or heard the door opening behind him. Uh, but he looks better than yesterday. The weariness behind his expression just softened a little as if replaced by different, less heavy woes. Examine you for a moment, noticing that you didn't hear him come out. Um, not wanting to scare you to give you a [ __ ] old man heart attack, he'll just uh Morning, Baran. He turns. Ah, Morning, Armando. How'd you sleep? Fine enough. Looks like we're uh about ready to leave here. The sun's getting up. Uh where's Sero? Probably are in the front or gathering wood. I I'm I'm not sure to be honest. I didn't get ready for her. That's all right. Sounds like uh we're about ready to leave soon. So uh why don't you get yourself situated? I'll uh talk with Sir and we'll get on the road. He'll nod. We're stepping faster and returning to the back of Frederick. There are two characters missing from the back of Frederick. Mr. serum and the cat. Well, uh, he'll look at Gilligan. Uh, did you see where, uh, French toast ran off to? It's the strangest thing, Mr. Paradine. I I was up a good part of the night. I couldn't hear much. Only sounds of some of us, some of you all, you guys knowing and my own sword against the tree. But if the cat did get out, I would have heard it. But I didn't see it even when I returned and roused of Sirill for him to take the to take watch next. It it did dawn upon me that the cat wasn't in here. I couldn't find it. Um you previously described this compartment as open and the uh alchemical stone was in here. Correct. Uh no. No. Uh the the compartment has a series of metal slats and grates all the way down. There's um very slight spacing between the grates. So if one were to sort of foolishly pour an entire barrel of water, it would seep through. Inside here, there was an opening and it is now closed. I don't think anyone has told Barin about the wine uh drinking of the cat. So, he'll just settle in. I suppose he'll uh he'll return whenever he feels like the cat is a penchant for showing up and leaving as it wishes. You think it'll be he'll be able to keep up with Frederick if we leave the sewers or wherever in Gilligan when I was inside the teapot or I suppose we could call it a lantern at this point a French toast was inside with me. You reason how a cat manages to make its way into such a place. I think it will keep up. You say so. Two of you sit quietly in the back of Frederick. Arando stands outside burning the middle and pointer finger of his hands as a cigarette is now just a bright glowing ember in between his fingers. [ __ ] rip that [ __ ] through the filter. And then um I'm going to take a quick glance at the tree that was hackenab. Are the merc still there? There are. Yeah. Cool. There are more of them actually. Oh, nice. As you approach the front of Frederick, you see Sirill. He is spread eagle and his arms are outstretched and he's uh currently sleeping. He's on on stone asleep. It's Fred Eagle. He has diligently kept his watch for the past eight hours asleep. Armano's going to like just [ __ ] take it in for like 40 seconds, man. He wishes he could draw. Um eventually he'll uh tap your your boot. Um uh not to disrupt you there. No. Uh good morning. Uh good morning, Arando. Good mornings to you as well. Um I believe we're all uh up and ready. Daylight's piercing through. Uh I reckon we get on the road soon. Yeah, let's add a mighty on that stretch. I was hoping um in this day uh if you're driving you you want to teach my boy the the way. I I believe that is why I instructed you so that you may bond with him. I've done my best. Oh, certainly Frederick is resilient. I trust in your ability to navigate. I mean, I've only done it once. Uh, but then you were a natural at it. Uh, that's So, are we uh are we venturing to the sewers then? I reckon so. I mean, based on our conversation yesterday, it sounded like um there was a little bit of a stir about the uh the shrine and Ableton and whatnot, but it seems there was no argument against going to the sewers first. So, I I don't see why we shouldn't start there yet. Excellent. All right. He is now wide awake and stretching, letting out a mighty yawn. Your wisdom has Your wisdom has given you some purchase for this seat is the best place to sleep in the house. It's not not even comparable. Yes, I um I did uphold my watch. Uh at least by my recollection must have been the wee hours of morning about five or six of them. But I'm afraid the night prevailed. The [ __ ] are you talking about? Nothing. I will gather my things. Fox. Oh, Master Berdine. Good morning. I hope you are well rested. I did my best to upkeep your watch. I've may have completed about half of it. And you are looking much much better than I seen you the night before. He nods slowly. You seem uh rustled. Did you get some good rest yourself? Uh certainly. He just pushes past it and just starts uh gathering up his toolbox. To the sewers this morning then. All right. So, if uh if it's not that far of a journey, um Miguel, you want to learn how to drive this thing? Take a swing at it. Oh. Um suppose it's a good idea for all of us to know how to operate. Hey, well, I I'll take a I'll try at it. Yeah. All right. I reckon so. And he said I'm uh he said I'm qualified enough to show you the ropes. How it how many people can sit at the front? Is it too comfortably? Yeah, too comfortable. Okay. Um he'll look again to serial. Um I mean yeah if you think I could uh I could do it. I'll show him what you taught me. He waves you on. Have fun. All right. Yeah. [ __ ] Let's do it. Come on, Gilly. This will be a father son experience. Now, first thing you want to do is get drunk. Okay. Okay. That's a That's a joke with the industry boy. You know that one. Oh, I know that one. Well, all right. Tighten up here. All of the vials and glass jars on the table that have been meticulously placed and organized will violently bang into one another as Frederick will lurch backwards almost as if a cat had a bag placed over its head and then correct itself and head southward. Oh, there you go. Frantically, trying to catch them all and like cupping them with his arms. Oh, see easy with it. Don't jerk it like that. Just steady. Okay. Okay. It's moving. It's It moves faster than it seems way up here. Yeah, it's it's supposed to do that. Don't worry. That's good. Wait. So, I move the the front legs first or the Which leg do I move first? Uh, you got to hold this disc here and then as S said to do kind of this and he's kind of guiding you there. Just like that. Now hold it steady now. Just keep it straight. There you go. When do I stop? Do I just keep uh stopping? Huh? He's looking at the controls. He He just He just lets go of the leopard and it just like all the way back. Oh [ __ ] I wasn't wearing a seat belt. The Muriel. You would uh you would fall underneath Frederick roll and spit out the back. I believe he's done before. Oh [ __ ] not again. Damn it. Frederick [ __ ] me out again. [ __ ] Hey, wait. You'll tap on the uh the grate here. Pull the disc towards you and pull the center disc. Pull the disc towards me. Pull the center disc. Got it. Is my father okay? Can he fell off? All right. I'm here. I'm here. Everything's fine. doing a good job. Don't be so jerky with the stick. Keep it steady. I'll do two hands. Uh, okay. If you say so. Two hands. But then how do I keep an eye on this wheel though? I can scale again. attempts to um not jerk it with two hands. Keep us keep steady. You make your way to the stairwell. The path that leads up into Sunrest. A path just before a bridge where you had remembered entering 40 years ago where you were stopped by Zar and strange men dressed in the garb of the Sunrest Knights. It is a different scene now. It is quiet. The road is overran with branches and old foliage. Ian, you noticed that this is the point that you had stopped your scouting at. And just around the corner, further down along the side of the cliff face, is an opening about the same level as the sewers by your estimation. You see that over there, father? That kind of looks like an opening that I might be where we could enter the sewers from. I see it. Yeah. Pull up there nice and easy. The issue is is that the stairwell leads down the cliff face and seems easy enough to traverse if you do not make any sharp moves. Getting to that opening, however, would be quite difficult on foot and completely impossible with Frederick, despite the fact that Frederick might actually be able to fit, although it's difficult to tell at this distance. I wouldn't bet on my skills of navigating Frederick words there though, father. Maybe it's best we disembark here. Hey, you're probably right. Just pull it up over here. Uh he he'll like make an attempt to halt the vehicle. He's grabbing onto something this time. You successfully stopped the vehicle. Frederick is now parked at the entrance to Sunrest as you are on the lip of the bottom plateau. About a 10 minutes travel to the east is a place where you could slide or repel or fall down onto the lip that is sticking out that looks like the entrance to the sewer. So it's like but downwards. Yeah, it's about 100 ft um or 10 no 30 m below you. Gotcha. He'll uh he'll yell to the back. We've uh arrived. Then he'll like turn around like get down from the cockpit and the back. You certainly will hop out. Follow us. So where is this entrance that you've were able to find? It seems we've arrived. It's um quite a ways found though, so we I don't think we can get Frederick in. Is this like a sheer cliff face or is it like rocky? Does it seem like we could climb down rocky? You can slide down. Uh if you [ __ ] up, you can fall down. Um yeah. Did you not Did you not think to tell us about the difficulties that it would take to enter the sewer? No, we we pulled up and we're telling you now. We just saw it just like you did. How would you expect Master Vitadine, no no offense, to traverse such a steep incline? He is not offended. He looks incredulous at the uh incline of the surface ahead. Well, I suppose you have a point there. I could certainly try to fashion a rope of this length, but would take quite a bit of time to gather sufficient bark and then to In short, I do not believe that is feasible for us to enter it. Well, I mean, we're just pulling up to it. I mean, we're just finding out this information now. It's not like we kept it from you. Like, this is the situation we got. Either we [ __ ] try it or we leave. Why don't you uh you already fashion that table once. Why don't you turn that thing into a [ __ ] uh tie Baron 2 and [ __ ] slide him down? Hey, when you figure out a way that this isn't a stupid [ __ ] idea that's going to risk limbs when we're far from anywhere with regular civilization, and that includes risking uh both of you. Last I heard, Gilly, you got your ankles spit out by a [ __ ] great big insect. Uh use some common sense. Find another way around or let's head to Ableton. Get me when you [ __ ] decided. I would try to smile. I concur. I as much as my curiosity and nostalgia for the laboratory of my old master, I I do not believe that it warrants risking any of our lives to traverse this cliff face to be able to access it. All right, let's say [ __ ] it then. All right. Um, I suppose if I could do a quick five or 10 minute assessment of the uh if there is another a safer way down there, but if not, then I'm we don't we can stay we can leave. It's no big issue. Your assessment is pretty bleak there. This definitely looks like a output for the sewer. The rock face beneath it shows a different coloring to the rock face above it, suggesting that um uh poo poo water had most likely flown down the side of the cliff face. Uh there's currently no water flowing out of it. This seems to be an entrance to a sewer. You also haven't seen any other entrance um around the debris of the town that you've been in. You could tie Baradine to a board, and I hope to God you do that, and throw him down the cliff. However, doing so u would most likely cause him serious injury. For use like Killy's just trying to he's out for blood, bro. He already tried to kill his father. He's trying to kill. I don't I paradise. I suppose I I suppose I could rig a pulley system. If only I had a reading. No, this is silly. Let's get Let's get out of here. You'll take his position in the front. Could climb into a barrel and roll me then. Barrel died. Barrel died. That's crazy. Sir [ __ ] taps his umbrella on the top of Frederick. Come on. I am. Let's go. I'm going to take lessons. I'll I'll come up front. I'll take some more lessons. Okay. The paradigm does not address young Gilligan as he enters the back of Frederick. That was out of character. I'm sorry, Sher. I didn't mean anything by it. No, I don't. I'm not about Barrel D. About leading us to the supposed [ __ ] entrance and it's a base jumping cliff that happened. That's canon. Oh, yeah. That's totally fair. That's totally fair. So is So is sliding him down on a [ __ ] tobogen. Uh uh. Uh real talk though, while we're traveling, uh Barardine is mostly considering his um relationship with Faith and how it's altered by the pawn shop. Uh mechanically, he I'm sort of trying to have him reason out how clerical effects can occur here. uh trying to follow the path of indebting mana to produce results. He hasn't come to a conclusion, but that is sort of the train of thought he is on currently. Okay. Yeah. Peeling behind the curtain being like how does how can this work kind of thing is against what you've learned. Okay. All right. Sarah's gonna pull the index out and uh take a look at the map to try to get his bearings as to where they all marked. And uh and pretty straightforward. You head south down the uh slope that is carved into the side of the plateau for Sunrest. And you head further south until you kind of south uh west until you hit a crossroads. Okay. He'll put the index back in his pocket and kind of gesture to Armando to spin the wheel this way to wheel the bug around. He'll do it. No wheel. That should We do have another uh watertight barrel. You think it would serve us well to dunk that in the pond here? And so we have ample supply of water. Oh, [ __ ] yeah. Great idea. Might as well, right? Let's see. So, he'll guide him to uh that river area and uh we'll take some time to get that empty barrel into the water and then drug back up into the back of Frederick. So, now we'll have two barrels of water. Two barrels of dysentery water. Got it. Definitely won't be a problem. And uh then we're off to I guess the crossroads.