And I've brought y'all to a lovely garden with no consequences. Nice, pretty place where we can all retire. So, as a very, very, very broad brief summary... We are overlooking the Garden of Yerlik, a large, luridly coloured, let's call it half forest, half orchard, all kind of Japanese martial art cherry blossom sequence with it spraying blue up the side of the mountain as the blossoms have blown into the side. It looks inappropriate for the mountain cauldron within which it resides. We are picking up with you all stud with the druids who have now returned to their humanoid shapes on we shall call it a currently exposed sort of bluff overlooking all of this. However, this is not a you're about to get blown off where like you could just back away from it and you can have a conversation. It's fine. I just wanted a nice view to start it with.
You are currently in the extreme north. So you all have actual vista in front of you. And I'm going to do something real, real weird here that's going to really throw all of you. And I just thought I'm going to have an entire few sessions of curveballs, right? You can have a perception check, right? And you know what there's not going to be? What? Mist in your way. Whoa. Borealis in your way. What?
There's still enough light to just about see by. Nice. And I'm actually going to tell you things instead of go, nobody knows. Oh, and there's no tears in our eyes as far as I'm aware? Oh, how exciting. No, not if you are under any persistent illusion effects that I'm aware of. You can have your first legit perception check in about 10 episodes. All right, then. 24 total.
Okay, good. 33. 16. 17. Okay, okay, so I've got three tiers. Nice, excellent. Did you even write something with a DZ that high? Like, this is a whole... Yes. Cell rolled a 19, and their bonus is 14. Yeah, I'll reward that, that's fair. So, at the very, very lowest tier here, it appears to be natural in its layout. It doesn't appear to be, like, regimented rows or anything like that. It really does appear to be naturally occurring. There are clumps, there are broader areas, things like that. The trees themselves appear to be wildly differing in age, so there are some older ones which are big, and by big I mean...
excessively large and there are clearly younger ones which are approaching more like a sapling here is what a full-grown tree normally would be in terms of size but they are clearly there are multiple ages here it doesn't appear to start young at one end and go older at the other it appears to be just a sort of large interrelated mass okay In terms of, I mentioned that there was a sort of a soured area towards the middle where the colouring had sort of died off and so on. For lowest tier, yeah, it's clear that there appears to be, the best way I can describe it is, have you ever seen like an aerial, this is a bit specific, but have you ever seen an aerial shot of like a wood that has like a blight or something in it? In a normal set of trees, it'd be like an area where it's either like got no leaves where it should have for that season, or it can be one where the colouring's just wrong, where you have like all of these red trees and then yellow in the middle in like a patch because there's a blight. Here...
There is no colour there. They still appear to be having petals and so on, but they're greys, they're browns. They are, like, colourless. They don't appear to be necessarily dead as such, but even from this distance, you can see there is a clear sort of spreading sickness of some kind from what appears to be, broadly speaking, the centre. Although it does seem to get denser towards the centre, it doesn't appear to have a, like, key tree as well. That's worth bearing in mind. There's not some big earth tree from which all of the others have sprung. Just to be absolutely clear, it is more like a forest. At that stage, jumping up one additional tier, there's movement between the...
It's quite difficult to discern because of the petals that are sort of moving across and so on, and for a while it's like, ah, it could just be... Okay, no, there's definitely things moving around in there. They don't appear to be enormous, to be clear. From this distance, they appear to be kind of. Your ish size, there might be a couple of larger things moving around. Well, normal wild creature size. You're talking between medium and large, nothing bigger. Like anything bigger, you know there is nothing bigger in there. You would just see it. The vantage is too good. The visibility is too good. You know there's nothing that big. However, large is still a decent size. You know, that still can be up to the size of like, yeah, a bear, a large bear, something like that. In terms of the other things to bear in mind is there definitely appears to be more movement towards the edge of that dead area with less movement heading out towards the edges. And for our highest tier...
Through time, all of the beings that have ever existed in this moment. Funny you should say that. There are things that you can see which are a bit odd. One is you are certain that you can see a couple of the trees are actively moving around. Aw, isn't it fun? You're like, I'm pretty certain that's not just like a wind. Yeah, that tree is actively moving through this area. You see movement of both coloured and the non-coloured trees. So like bright blue ones moving and also the sort of greyer, browner one definitely appears to be moving. The distances so far it's quite difficult to discern sort of how they're moving, but they definitely are. And you also have one additional which is...
you think that you are getting half glimpses of potentially spectral creatures in origin, something like that. You're a fairly well-travelled person. We're talking things beyond mundane, you know, there's a plant that's moving. Yeah, that's so mundane. That isn't just someone hiding. It has more like a mirage quality at points where it's like you see a person, then the person is gone and you know they haven't moved. So there's definitely a magical effect at play. Do you mean that the things everyone else is thinking are basically big squirrels, Cell is aware are spectres, or is there another thing? Cell sees... There is another thing on top.
Okay, I am going to be calling them big squirrels. But to be clear, it's because you have gone, I think there's something strange going on here, and you've been focusing in on things that most people would dismiss as, like... Yeah, like, that's the kind of thing we're talking about. You're really, really getting... I'm rewarding an exceedingly high, an exceedingly high DC there. Sorry for the over-description, but it's just, there's a lot at play here, and I wanted to give you all a fair whack. That is about as high as a creature could roll at ninth level. Yeah, like, there's not really much high you can get, so I'll give you that. In terms, then, of the two druids who are there, beside you, they've been staying quiet. However, they haven't been...
I don't know how to put it. You know the sort of reverent silence where you sit and you bow your head and you're making a big song and dance off? I'm being quiet. Not that. They've mostly just basically gestured for you to have a look and have just let you soak it in and let you have a think. For the sake of our own RP, they aren't going to be starting this conversation until you've had a good look and want to like start just to make life easier. So we'll turn over and be like, so are these trees, are these people? I mean, I can see they're walking around. There's a lot going on down there. Can we talk to them?
Is this another culture or community? Are they your friends? Or, sorry, if I'm being disrespectful, are they your gods? Or is there maybe, like, more of a complex thing? They seem quite, this is a very interesting place, so we'll probably not stop blabbling until... Summit Niel kind of looks concerned at Sora for a little while, and then Sora sort of holds her hand and goes, which question would you like answered first? It's already one question, which is kind of, what? At this place, what does it mean to you? Sora takes a moment, considers, turns to Summit Niel and then just says,
Were. I understand you. I do. So more specifically, what does this place mean to you? The Garden of Yarlick is the final resting place for our people. Right. It is a garden that makes thin the veil between where we are and where we will be. Okay. It is both sustained by and serves the spirits of the people who are laid here. It serves as both a resting place and a place for contemplation. Okay. I believe the word oracle may be relevant. Yes.
Is there an oracle here? Do they tell the future? I suppose not the past. That's less useful. Although, honestly, sometimes clarification of historical stuff, it would be really useful. I mean, I've known some people that are fighting... The garden is the oracle. I see. You brought us here to show us something. You see the blight? Yes. This began very small at first, roughly three years ago. It was a small sickness, but then approximately two years ago, it changed, it worsened. Have you got any idea what's happening? No.
This has never happened before, but you speak of these blue veins, yes? Yeah. These are considered a Yerlic mark. It is a sign that the person laid to rest has been accepted by the garden. It should not affect a living creature in this way. It does not function like this. When you say that, when you say they've been accepted by the garden, does that mean they're still animate, or it's just the corpses will get blue veins if they're accepted, as you say? Their remains will show signs of the roots, and then their spirit will be free to wander the garden and converse with those who remain. Right. What happens...
To the ones that are not accepted? This is very unusual, very rare. Normally they are cremated. It is not a sign of necessarily evil. Certain free spirits, independent peoples, may not be accepted, though we do not know necessarily whether it is by their choice or by their nature. Is anyone else, apart from you and your community, aware of the existence of this garden? Sora starts to answer, no, well, of course, as we said, this is a hollow ground. So McNeil says, there has been one. This is news to Sora. Sora's like, excuse me? Do you have their name? Like, excuse me, what?
Yes, the name or what they looked like, maybe? A man. He went by the name Nick. Ellis Tesla? He stayed with us for approximately a year. He spent his time with us and was granted a visit to the garden. Out of character. Do we know what Nicholas Tesla looked like? Yeah, to be clear, after the lightning rails went south in the UK, he went from famous inventor to famous charlatan who ruined the country. Then I will give a physical description of Nicholas Tesla. Yes, this is the one who called himself Nick, yes. Great.
Good call. Right, so Edison stole that research. Well, the notebook that I showed you, that the seed was kept inside, we believe that belongs to this man. He must have taken this seed when he was here. So, by the way, it looks visibly shaken by the news that someone was granted access to this place. Someone near looks actively very, not necessarily ashamed, but incredibly awkward. It has happened previously.
Nick rendered us a number of services and showed himself to be nothing but respectful and measured, but... Not asking you to defend your choices, but what's happened, happened, and it might be that Nicholas Tesler did respect your things, but then another individual, probably Thomas Edison, nicked his research. Some at Newell looks you dead in the eye and says there has not been another here since that was not of our own. Yeah, but obviously Nicholas took a seed. And that is an incredible betrayal. Right. Oh, dear. To take a seed from the garden would be tantamount to... Desecration? Beyond desecration. This would be... You're taking the fruit of ancestors beyond...
be on count. It is a violation I struggle to explain. I'm so sorry. Then let's try and undo his, yeah, betrayal. Right. So very quietly goes, you should have told us of this somewhat, Neil. This is my failing. They're very tense now. Much tension, much unspoken tension between two NPCs that Alex will not be having a conversation between because it would take ages and be boring. Listeners, Alex is...
Beautifully miming, two silent characters just shooting each other looks that just carry such depth of meaning. There's obviously a very long history between them. Honestly speaking, it would just be a disservice. I think so, Alex. I mean, your acting has us all shaken to our core. Obviously, our goal here is to understand what's going on back in our homes.
but this is your place. Is it possible, is it permitted for us to attempt to help you understand what has happened? If we can do that, if we can find a way to help you understand the blight or even take steps on the road to repairing it, is that something we could assist you with? You have been brought here because you asked if there was a way to assist. The rules of our people are such that only those of us who may enter are the people to be laid to rest. All right. Myself, those who I grant entrance as my representatives.
I have no remedy to this situation. The closer one approaches the blight, the greater the desecration, the confusion. You need to understand the garden does not show you what you wish. The garden will show you what it wants you to know. It grows confused and dangerous the closer to the desecration, and to reveal the scope of this problem to our people would be an insurmountable problem. Well, that's also sort of... That's your trial to deal with, so we're not going to... Anyway, but... And I'll turn to the rest of the group. What do you think we can learn here? Like, this is big, obviously. We know maybe this is what, like, corrupted with maybe necromantic magic or whatever. But us walking in there, what are we going to get out of that? It's impossible to kind of say without...
without going there, it may be trying to show visions of what's going wrong in the same way that a show-in in the orb was able to show us snatches of what was happening in ways that we could understand. Like, if you were a member of Sorar and Smittenyell's community and you saw the things that Show-in had drawn, or even if I had seen them without your explanation of what happened in London, it wouldn't have made any sense. But you, having seen the whole story, can understand what those visions meant and maybe put things together. If there are residents in the garden we can communicate with, we can at least ask them if they have anything to tell us or share with us. If there's some connection between people here and...
People out there, maybe they can tell us that. Wild raises a hand, sort of respectfully. Again, in a way that's kind of slightly un-Wild-like, but I think it's worth knowing how dangerous this is. It's a very different thing to take a walk in a park and find out a life-changing piece of information than to go through a trial the likes of which none of us will survive for the same. It sounded like it was some kind of maze with dangerous things in which... Sunat Niel, is it your intention for us to go into the garden and talk to the residents there? Obviously, if the blight is the danger that you say, then perhaps we should not approach the blight. I would value the insight of someone other than myself.
We should not approach in the night. It is a dangerous place, then. There are more than ancestors within the garden now. Oh. There are some within who would be able to confuse you, draw you away, kill you with a word. Most of these are kept at bay by the sunlight. To go in at night, I would forbid. Well, that seems very sensible, then. Well, make a plan, then. You're coming with us, right? I would ask to, yes. Surah immediately volunteers and someone yells like, you know this cannot be. Can't I have both of you? Myself and my representatives, to have both of us. Surah is not a representative of Yelick. Surah is a representative of the Claude One, and as such...
These things are not possible. Fine, and you're having all of us in there, or is there a specific number of representatives that we can bring? I would say all would be better than some. Yeah, well, if there's something in there that can kill us with a word, maybe we do need all of us. This is my thoughts. This garden is about your religion, your faith. Yes. I have a different belief. Would I be in more danger? Would I attract danger to the others? The garden itself does not deal in such boundaries. The creatures within take issue with life, not with factions therein. All right. You are no more nor...
less a target. You said this is a hallowed place to your people. Are there any observances we must take or perform before we enter in the morning? There are a few basic cleansing rituals which we can take. That is straightforward. There are two more rules when entering the garden. The first being you need to respect the garden just because it is sick does not mean it is evil. Of course, of course. If we are able to either cleanse or at the least understand the malady, yes, but to harm the garden itself would be a gross violation. Of course. Also, the garden accepts more than just the people who are laid to rest here.
As we said, it is a garden where the veil runs thin. You are likely to encounter those who have come before who may wish to speak with you, who may wish to warn you, who may wish to converse with you. We don't know. We have very little experience with outsiders, but certainly with Nick, he encountered those that had come before. Do you mean people we used to know? It is possible, yes, certainly for him. Both me and Ben go like, time to crack out the old voices. There we go again. Oh, no, I wasn't thinking about that. As he reaches down and clasps Hamid's hand. Oh, dear. You need to understand, the garden will not show you what it wants. You may see no one at all.
It is as dangerous to ascribe hope to this possibility as it is fear. You must enter with an open mind, not with a need. Cell looks both hopeful and also white with shock. That's two things, two lots of things on a face, and it's such a gangly face. But again, there is a malady within the garden. This is beyond my knowledge. We may encounter things pretending to be things from your past. We may encounter things from your past that have changed on you, are different, I don't know. Do we have any way of knowing if we can trust the information that we gain from this garden?
Because our intent here is to find some information which will help us combat the situation. If we can't trust anything the garden says, or you have no way of verifying the information the garden gives us, then there is no point going into the garden. Wild from the sides of the Zen. It's a very good point. Misinformation is potentially worse than no information. Especially when delivered from the mouth of a dead loved one. Wild gives off a dead eye stare, and it's just... Exactly. I couldn't have put it better myself. I think we all have people from our past that it would be complicated. And out of character, as a PSA for the audience and the players as well, I've been...
doing a lot of thinking between recording sessions about the thing that Alex and I said about like, hey, is Walt and Zulf romantic or platonic? Like, you know, we'll leave it open. I've been thinking about it. And so personally for me, I would not be comfortable role-playing a romantic relationship with a real life historical figure. That's just a very personal decision that I'm making and me having to like role-play it in real time. I'm not saying that that like couldn't be a valid story like option, but it's not one that I personally want to do. Just to be very clear for anyone listening in episodes and stuff, it will be like, you know, a deep platonic connection, but it is not romantic.
Yeah, and for what it's worth as well, it's worth clarifying from my end is this was always going to be, I was going to sort of pick up what Ben was putting down in this regard. Like we said, this isn't something that was pre-planned or anything. So that isn't us having to change anything. That's just, yeah, makes sense to me. I'm fine with that. It scans perfectly fine. I was just going to compliment you and say you've always been good about like romances between NPCs and PCs and you've always been clear about like, it's about like our comfort and cool. Thank you. Apart from Carter, who I never mentioned before is just a hottie, just a massive hottie, but I never brought it up, which I think was a misstep at my end. You know, canonically Carter's a hottie and I misstepped by not making more of a thing with her.
Actually, I mean, we know that's not a retcon. In fact, it's one of those clues where you're like, oh yes, that explains how we managed to get away with so many things. A privileged hottie. People look at that cute baby face and they're like, it couldn't have been him. So I'm going to jump back into the situation just a little while longer, which is somewhat nearly sort of considering what you said about that and so on. And effectively, in a way that you've started to spot his characteristic, goes sort of into herself, like, you know, sort of leaning in, giving a quiet contemplation, really like giving it proper thought instead of just responding. And genuinely after like 40 seconds, like a minute of solid, just quiet contemplation.
To my knowledge, the garden has never lied. It has sought to harm with its truths. Oh, dear. Even with the blight, though the people who appear may not necessarily be the people you once knew, I am aware of no untruths from the garden. If the garden wished to harm you, it would show you a truth that would do you more harm than any falsehood could. Oh. Let it try, honestly, but yes, good to know. Oh, God. Like, cell is just grey, but that's cool. It is incredibly important that I have not explained properly. The garden will respond to what you bring with you. If you head in...
Seeking one thing, it will provide you what it knows you need based upon that desire. If you go in seeking absolution, all that will be known is that the garden knows you seek absolution, not that it will grant you such. Okay. I struggle to explain this. These are concepts that are deep in cultures, and they're not always easy to transfer to people that don't have the background. But I think you've got across the point that is, and I'm grasping and running my hands, stress through my hair, because so is Cell. Yeah, we understand. We may see sad or bad things, but not lies, but truths that could hurt a lot more than the lies, but probably useful truths, and also we might get killed, I think, is also the thing. And don't hurt the garden, except I'm guessing maybe if it attacks you first, like if there's these creatures that could kill us with a word, are we supposed to fight backwards? Okay, so we can. We don't just have to run away. If they say a kill word, we can like...
punch kill arrow through there. You know what I mean? Well, maybe not a punch kill arrow. Yes. I'll put my hand on Cell's, I don't know, bicep. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I keep forgetting about the massive height difference between Cell's lankiness. That's cool. I think we, Cell turns to everyone, I think that we get the gist. We're never going to understand necessarily the cosmology or the deep personal meaning of your culture without a lot more time spent, which would be wonderful. But I think we get the gist. And relatedly,
For any of us, now we know what we know, if you don't want to go in, don't. This is incredibly important, yes. The garden is not to be entered by one who does not wish to be there because... It'll know. Yes. All right. Skrark raises a claw. Just a question. How wide does this go? Am I expecting to see, you know, my parents? Is this just a... How does this... Skrark's kind of struggling to articulate. So McNeill just goes, if you are able to think, the garden will know and will respond as such.
and just sort of gives a vague gesture. Scratch just kind of goes quiet again. Which also scans with, you know, blue veins having all the knowledge of the people that get affected by it. Oh. I think if it's possible for us to learn more information... I've seen this as well. Yeah, with an understandable risk, it feels like a calculated benefit to us. Yeah, yeah. I suggest we make camp, get some food, get some rest, and we'll do a little bit of thinking to make sure we're in the best, you know, possible state of mind before we head in tomorrow morning.
And that feels like a sensible break. Yay! Where people can take a moment, process information, and then basically just join hands and skip in with no care in the world, right? Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Oh, no, that's cool. The sound of us all clicking into our backstory is to check names. LAUGHTER
And welcome back. So, as much as I would love to do a, like, two to three year time jump, I feel like we might actually have some things that are worth discussing across a campfire in a way that I don't think we've had since, like, Grizzop was around? Like, the campfire chat as a thing? As a mechanism? You just said it would be dangerous to take emotional baggage into the following morning, so I feel like this is our last chance to shed at least a tiny fraction of it. Drop your law! So, yeah, with that in mind, what I am going to do is say...
So Summit Neal and Sora have basically, as a courtesy to you, set up a campfire to you because we're druidcraft and so on. It's trivial for them. They have suggested that between you and them, there should be someone on watch all times just because, you know, these are the wilds. But they've also respectfully said that they're going to have their own campfire a little way away because Sora and Summit Neal need to have a little talk. little figure out of what's been going on there. You know, just pick up a few least threads. So you are going to be left to your own devices unless you call them over. They are literally just over there, but they're kind of dealing with their own stuff right now. You just have a campfire overlooking stuff. The only additional thatcher I'll give you is that you are a slight way away from the bluff so that you're not worried about massive crosswind or anything. It's actually comparatively comfortable despite the cold, but again, endure elements are still active. It makes it much easier. There is a faint, almost tint-shifted Borealis as well amongst the garden. It is way more tinted blue.
So like, you know how the Borealis is like full spectrum. This is very heavily blue shifted, but there is a certain quality to it. And for free, you all can see that as the night draws in and the blue starts to sort of show a bit. Yeah. All of the like normal, he says, normal creature movement seems to drop off. And the whole specter movement, kind of like Ghost City. Lots of stuff going on down there. So yeah, technically there is a slight blue glow peeking out over the bluff, which you can see from where you are, but you are away from that and out of the wind.
I don't know, I reckon if we take off one of the ghosts' masks, it'll turn out to have been Mr. Higgins all along. It's just groundskeepers as far as the eye can see. There'll be Figgis again. Yeah, yeah, it's Figgis! Oh, God. Now I'm tempted. God, could you imagine if I hinged the entire campaign on Figgis?
I'm surprised that Brutal hasn't turned up. Yet? It sounds distant shopping. We're going to have the Avengers Assemble moment when all the different little groups pop out of a portal in London when we have a big fight. That would be cool, yes. So, I am now handing over to you because I feel like if you've got any, you know, clear your baggage, basically. Please check baggage before entering the garden. If you have excessive baggage, there may be additional charges in the form of will or thought saves. Thank you. Okay. Azu's going to go and talk to Sel because, as you noticed, Sel went massive gangly face. Yeah.
Oh, this was just me staring at the fire. Hi, hello. Hey, Azu. How you doing? Oh, yes. You're good? Yes. Cool. But I wanted to ask how you were doing because you did not look so good. No, no, you look good, but like... Oh, thank you. You looked upset. You look good as well. Azu, I am old. I've lost people. My husband, he... Oh. You know, it's been, I think, five years now? But, you know, well, I mean, he died of old age.
He was an orc, and we met when he was 25. We had some good years. Sally's, like, staring at the fire. It would be wonderful to see him again. But, you know, the garden wouldn't, you know, it's dangerous to hope, isn't it? Well, I assume my first fiance would probably be dead by now. Any humans don't last that long. She might be in there. I don't know.
I could clarify a few things. But again, it's dangerous to hope. Are we all just sort of round the campfire, right? Unless someone actively says otherwise. I would say that Cell probably wouldn't be talking quite this openly if there were lots of people around. So you've gone off to the side then? Yeah, so Cell's staring at the fire, but you might be on the other side of the fire. Who knows? I mean, maybe you can hear a bit of it. Basically, I don't want to interrupt it. This is supposed to just be a conversation between...
Cell and Azu, but you are saying there's no point hoping and I'm literally a cleric of hope, so I might have opinions about that. That's fair, okay. How about... Cell, you need to hope or I'll be powerless! That's fair. Okay, how about... Cell is probably staring at the fire, Azu is next to them, and I would assume that you may well be within earshot. I think that's fair. Yeah. I mean, you don't want to hope, and then, like, you know, what could he say? What could he say? It's nice being dead. I could tell him his boys are doing okay. Oh. They were last time I spoke to them. Did you have them together? No, no, no. They were his from before. They'd be about your age now. Oh.
They were sailors like him, and they, a little after he died, they took the ship back. They do the trade routes over the Pacific. So, you know, I think with the storms around Japan, they probably have been around the Pacific Islands more than coming the whole way over. That would make sense. They're not fools. I left a letter with Jasper in case they go back. So maybe it wouldn't be accurate for me to tell him that the boys are doing okay, because I haven't seen them for four years. They were doing okay. I'm sure they're doing okay. You know, if I saw them, that would be a bit of a...
You'd like them. I'm sure I would. I mean, I like you, so I'm sure anyone that you associated with would be... They're good lads. I'm sure they are. Anyone that you're looking forward to or not looking forward to seeing? Well, you know, there's always the friends that Hamid and I... Oh, yes. Sorry. Yes. Oh, no. No, I'm also sorry for you in a... Oh, no, I... You know, a condolences way. It's all... I mean, you know, there's so many people, but there's... Well, there's... I mean, those are the people I'd like to meet. I don't know about the people from the village, the town.
They might not be happy. Yeah. That was a while ago, though. You know, they're probably, they're probably like not, this is the veil between worlds, right? Like after like 60 years, you'd have gone somewhere else, right? You know? Yeah. I mean, you wouldn't stick around just for the possibility of telling me how much I messed up. Ah, it's going to be fine. Oh, well, it'll be fine. It'll be cool. It'll be great. I hope you get to see your friends and that they're all happy and stuff. Well, it's, oh, I suppose you weren't, one of them managed to leave a, leave a letter to us actually. And it sounded like they were happy. I mean, Sasha lived a very,
long time, which I'm very pleased about because when I first met her, she was sort of dying. That is an excellent turn out for the books. Those books turned out good. Well done for those books. That's the one that got stuck in the past? Yes, with Grizzop, who was this little ferocious goblin who was a very determined fellow. Those stories sound fun. Yes, I mean, he seems to have died defending Sasha, it sounds like, which I think he would have appreciated. He never did expect to stick around for very long, and it would be worth it to give your life a Sasha. She sounds really cool.
What an excellent character. You two would definitely get along. What a wonderful being. Well done to whoever made that. I'm more worried about seeing people that I don't expect to see there since I haven't seen anyone, you know, from my home for a very long time. Oh, yeah. But I suppose we have to go in there with no expectations, really. No, I'm trying to cleanse the expectations, you know, like sometimes saying it out loud gets it out of your head. So you're not thinking it, you know. So yeah, that's the checking in the baggage thing, which is obviously something that doesn't really, I suppose, airships. That would be a familiar turn, I'm afraid. Anyway, from the out-of-character ramble, yeah, it sounded like your town was doing okay.
It's not the centre of the action. Yeah. I hope that you don't see anyone you don't expect. I hope the same for you. Staring at fire, recommence. Yes, as he sort of sits there to be like, you know, physical, supporting, present stingy. I think at that point, Sol will like, cough awkwardly. I think at that point, Sol loudly declares the word cough. Hey, couldn't help her.
over here. It would be remiss of me to point out that, like, I think you basically got it, but there ain't anything wrong with hope. There is something wrong with expectation. You know what? You can hope. That's the thing that keeps you going, right? Expectation, that's the thing that can disappoint you. It's okay to hope. Thank you, Zulf. The night continue. Are we going to play out the night in real time? We're just going to stare awkwardly quietly. Look, here's the thing is, I need to give you a chance to get stuff off your chests. My chest is lovely and clear. Much later in the evening, Hamid is going to approach Azu. He does not want Zulf or Wild or Skrark to overhear this conversation, so he might well wait until some people are asleep and...
you know, someone's on watch and even kind of thing. Yeah, Azu will happily chat to Hammond at all times. Azu, can I ask you a big question? Oh, those are always good. All right. I know, I just, I feel like what the warnings we've had, it's important to try and address these things if we can before we go into the garden. And I mean, obviously I'm really happy we have our friends back, but it's what we did.
What do you mean? We met Apophis, and Apophis explained why resurrection was banned. and why it hadn't been done in so long. And then we come here and we meet these people who have such a different set of rules. And so much was clearly of what, you know, I was brought up to believe wasn't necessarily true because there's people here and look at how, you know, we were told there was nothing outside. But the reasons, when we met Apophis, it seemed like the reasons against the practice of resurrection was good. And then in the moment, of course, I didn't even question because I just wanted our friends back and the chance to have them back was so...
But did we do the right thing? Well, in terms of breaking rules, I think it's been proven that the meritocrats are not entirely infallible, considering what's happened. So perhaps not all of their rules are good. Indeed. I never paid much attention. I knew they were there. Most of the rules I was aware of, you know, seemed fair and were tailored to... So, for example, when I was growing up, it was, you know, don't kill people, don't steal things, you know, that's all fine and dandy. But I think don't bring back someone who has died before their time. I think that's a much...
bigger question, not one that can have a yes or no answer. And it was important. Oh, I've just realised I didn't really tell you. So the whole process, you had to check if they wanted to come back. That was the whole thing. And I think... Well, I mean, you said Merc didn't, and that's why he didn't with the others, I guess. So I suppose, yeah. But you had to, like, talk to them. Yes. Oh, it was very strange, Amit. But I can't imagine that it was a bad thing to do. I mean, I can't speak for Solf or for Sel, but where I took Carter from...
Did not seem like a good place for him. That's good, and obviously I'm so happy they're back, but if it's okay to bring them back, why... Why not more people? Why not my sister? Oh, Hamid. We were there. We were right there. And we couldn't do anything to help her in the moment. But what if we had her body? We could have... If it's okay to bring back our friends in this situation. What about Aziza? Hamid. And Aziz is going to like... More hand-holding. Hand-holding galore is happening in this episode. And Aziz is going to say, something that I have learned is one shouldn't worry too much about what you should or could have done once it's already happened. We can only affect what we do in the future.
And clearly it is possible that Aziza could have been brought back, but she wasn't. And I don't think anyone could fault you for not doing so because you literally were not aware it was an option. That's true. You have to make the best decision you can in the moment. But you're right. It just feels like so many things that I used to believe. During a scene, just because it will be quite useful for you, Bryn, specifically. Sure. You would not even need to do a knowledge check to know this. One of the things that hasn't necessarily come up but is a factor is the resource cost in terms of doing it in meritocratic lands is...
like, unconscionably vast. And you've seen no evidence of that resource cost. Yes, I think you mentioned at some point, and I can't remember if it was in character, out of character, or even just extraneous world information, that part of the reason it was easier is because of the higher level of background wild magic, essentially. I can't remember in what context you said that. I've lost track of where that's been explicitly stated, but I can tell you that I'm just going to say now that you know for a fact, and this is not me trying to stay in conversation anyway, there is a factor at play here, which is...
you know objectively it would be impossible to do that kind of resurrection of every single person who's ever taken before their time in meritocratic land. It's a physical impossibility, and you know that objectively to be the case. It would be too resource-intensive. Unless you use the Heart of Aphrodite, which didn't have any resource expenditure. And also, they are one of the richest families in the world. And yeah, this is what you both have said are the additional factors at play here, which is a single item and a... I mean, Hammond does not necessarily think through this super logically either. There may be, you know, this is an emotional kind of processing as much as anything else. Because otherwise he'd work out it was the meritocrat's fault.
Well, I mean, if I may be permitted to finish the conversation. Again, I did not mean to interject, but I thought it was an important factor that's worth bearing in mind. And so it feels like so much of what I used to believe just isn't true anymore. I had so much faith in the meritocrats, so much faith in what they taught us, and then during this crisis they've completely abdicated their role. But also, even before that, so much of the system they put in place, I used to think it worked so well, and I've seen so much now that showed me it never did. And I just, you have so much faith in Aphrodite, and it's something that I always look up to you for, and I just don't know where my faith is anymore, except in Hugh and Zolf's cell.
Wild and Skark and everyone, really, I guess, but maybe that's enough. I think it is. I mean, I have Aphrodite as like a... Oh, um... Well, it's hard to explain, but if you don't have a belief in a god, I think the belief in other people is just as valid and strong. One of the reasons that I believe so strongly in Aphrodite is because I've seen... I can demonstrate her presence. I can see the good that she does, that believing in her does for others. Oh, of course, yeah. I think...
There's a lot to recommend all the gods, but it's just never been my path to follow any of them that closely. But my point is, the meritocrats have never proven themselves in that way to me. Meeting Apophis was very impressive, and he was clearly very intelligent, but enough to govern several continents, clearly not. Yeah, I used to think so, but I don't think I do anymore. Thank you, Azu.
For talking to me. Anytime, you know. Of course. And, well, I know I said it before, but I hope you know you can talk to me about stuff as well. I don't want you always taking on other people's problems and never getting to share yours. I know, Hannah. Feeling all right about tomorrow morning? Oh, broadly yes, actually. I'm glad, I'm glad. As long as no one I've killed turns up to have a yell at me, you know.
Yeah, I hadn't even thought of all the people would be bloody murdered. There's an encounter. What's this? Every person who you ever died by your hands in this campaign, in single file, ready to have another go at you. So many blokes and lads. Hammond's going to see all those bubbles. Thousands of blokes and lads, as far as the high can see. That would be quite distressing, but I'm sure they didn't really imply that would be the case anyway. I think that might be a sensible place at this point to... I think we'll be okay, Azu. Yeah. To round that conversation out, and I'd like to... Hammond gives Azu a big hug and then goes to bed. And obviously, over the break, before the next episode...
Bryn can restart Hamid as a cleric of friends. Oi. I'll be there for you if the rain starts to fall. Yeah, you're welcome to that. So I am going to finish on an image, if I may, which is I'm going to jump time ahead a little bit. I am going to sort of briefly explain that your cleansing ritual basically consists of there is a fresh water source nearby. Despite the cold, it seems to run clear, but not warm. It is quite cold, and you basically are expected to.
bathe yourselves one at a time, clean yourselves up. It's not secretive in any way, like Suman Niel does so and it's quite ritualistic, but it pretty much just comes down to, you know, don't track the mud in. But it is careful and it is meditative, but it's not really an RP thing. So what I will do is I will jump ahead to you arrayed towards the edge of the garden with the morning sun now streaming in. And from where you are, you don't see any sort of spectral movement or anything like that. You're just facing the oddest garden that you've ever seen. And Wilde turns to all of you just before you head in and just says, if it's any consolation, I've sort of gone there and come back. It's not all that bad, you know.
Ben's face. I'll close on that. Right, so between now and next week, all we need to do is just take all of our emotional baggage that we've now aired and just neatly iron it and fold it, press it and put it into our cupboards so we can have some nice, old-fashioned, horrific awfulness. Get back down to brass tacks, yeah? Until then, I guess. Bye, everyone. Bye!
RustyQuill Gaming is a podcast distributed by RustyQuill and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Sharealike 4.0 International License. Today's episode was directed by Alexander J. Newell and produced by Hannah Preisinger. To subscribe, buy merchandise or join our Patreon, visit RustyQuill.com. Rate and review us online, tweet us at TheRustyQuill, visit us on Facebook or email us via mail at RustyQuill.com. Join our community on the Discord or via Reddit at r slash RustyQuill. Thanks for listening.