013 - Bounty Hunters - Gilded Threads

Content Warnings
- Visual hallucinations
- Missing People/Disappearances

[Show intro plays]

ROVER

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Remains To Be Seen, the DnD show where one group's past could determine (laughing) the other group's future. I am your host and DM, Rover Elliott, totally not Krillis, pronouns he/him for both. And today, I am here with,

ANNIE

Annie Ruby, she/her.

ELIZABETH

Elizabeth Simpson, she/her.

Jo Mendacium, all the pronouns.

MIRA

Mira G, she/her, sometimes an emu.

ROVER

And who are you guys playing?

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Josie, proud new bird parent.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Corwin, got a new bestie.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Viktor, determined to not feel like shit for the next 48 hours.

MIRA [as UNA]

And Una, who is in the perpetual state of headache.

ROVER [as KRILLIS]

Well! Corwin-slash... (Laughs)

[Laughter]

ANNIE

Oh god.

I need you to stop that, Ro.

MIRA

I swear to fucking god.

ROVER

No, that shit's gonna stay in. Alright, so. Elizabeth, what happened in the last episodes, that we're now all in this type of mood?

ELIZABETH

(Laughs) What a great question. Previously on...we had, quite a lot happened in the last couple of episodes. The highlights included: we called Brian to come clean up our mess, and Brian came with some big, scary news, which is that the bounty hunters might be disbanded. That was a bit of a shocker to everyone, and...ah, I'm getting some headshakes from the crowd. It was a bit of a shocker to Corwin. But it caused a bit of emotional upset to everyone, and also included some other emotional moments, such as Brian handing Vik a newspaper with a picture and the name of Aleksander Aintsworth, which caused Vik quite a lot of emotional trauma.

We then finally left Mechanics Incarnate, but our trauma was really front and center, and we got lost in Oxford, and wandered around for really quite a long time trying to find Krillis. Krillis is Jonny's assistant, who previously worked at Mechanics Incarnate, or does still work at Mechanics Incarnate as well. And we wandered around quite a long time trying to find his apartment.

When we did finally find his apartment, we found the most delightful man. Absolutely fantastic. He baked us pie. He had a pet parrot. Corwin made friends with him, dyed his beard lovely colors. Josie had a really lovely chat with his parrot, whose name ended up being Jazzy. And discovered that Jazzy wanted to come out with us, come on adventures with us, leave Oxford. So we got a little bit of information from Krillis—not just a whole lot, he was mostly exuberant to have us there, but didn't have much new information for us. But we had a lovely chat, had some pie, got some intel, and got a new friend, and are now on our way back out into Oxford.

Oxford gang, let's go!

ROVER

Oxford gang! Alright, so, since they have just left the apartment, what are the plans?

[Birdsong and outdoor ambience begins]

ELIZABETH

I think our plans had been, we wanted to, we wanted to hit a library, get some more information, and look around Oxford a little more, right? In order to kind of take advantage of the time that we have here before we need to get back on the road. I did remember we threw around the idea of doing a little bit of, you know, emergency prep shopping, if we need to go underground. I don't know if we really, if that is a priority yet or not, though.

Yeah, we will see. I feel like maybe we can find something on the way. Maybe we saw some interesting shops while we were walking in circles.

ROVER

Give me a Perception check.

MIRA

Above the table...

ROVER

Hmm? Yeah?

MIRA

There is a delightful market in Oxford called the Covered Market, which...

ANNIE

Oh yeah!

That sounds bitchy as fuck, I like it.

[Dice thunks]

ROVER

The Covered Market in this world will be incredibly cheap, so if you guys want anything now, I will put discounts on them.

ELIZABETH

Let's goooo.

MIRA

Me and my 10 gold.

[Annie laughs]

ELIZABETH

We love a good sale.

ROVER

You and your 10 gold, yes.

I rolled a 14 on my Perception check.

ROVER

Rolled a 14 on your Perception check. You see the Covered Market—no, I'm genuinely, I'm genuinely am gonna say there is a Covered Market. There isn't anything else that you guys would really notice, because we also had, in last episode...Probably. Two episodes ago? Who knows.

We had Una find some new stuff about her being unable to write it down, however, because it was forgotten immediately. Next to that, I will say, even if we don't count it as a full Perception check, I will allow Vik to know the exact way to the Covered Market, and to the second biggest library in the UK.

I'm assuming we're still standing in front of the apartment complex?

ROVER

Whatever you want. Yeah, sure.

Vik is rolling his shoulders, and be like,

JO [as VIKTOR]

Alright, so I happen to know where the library is, if you wanted to go?

Looking at Una.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Apart from that, I don't know. Oxford is famous for being Oxford, I guess? I've not been here that often.

MIRA [as UNA]

I think I should be able to point a way to the second biggest library in all of Britain, for us.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Yep. That, I...yeah. We can both walk next to each other and point the correct direction.

MIRA [as UNA]

Absolutely.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Amazing.

MIRA [as UNA]

It's a deal.

ROVER

Okay.

Viktor's going to offer his arm for you to link in, if you want to.

MIRA

Hesitantly, she does. It's like a hesitation, but then it's like, (noise of assent).

ROVER

Yeah, so you guys can head there. It is quite the, a large place. You're looking at...you can make your way—if you want any reference pics, we're talking about the Radcliffe Camera and the Bodleian Library. Which, because I am bad at speaking, we're just gonna call the college library and RadCam. So you guys are gonna be headed there. So kind of tell me what you are, what you're gonna be looking for. What are the plans?

MIRA

I guess, if we made it to the location, walk and talk,

MIRA [as UNA]

Are we all planning to go in? Or is there anything that you guys in particular want to do?

MIRA

And she would turn to Corwin and Josie, while still linking with Vik.

[Laughter]

Yeah, I turn with her.

ANNIE

Wheww!

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

I wouldn't mind looking at some of, you know, looking at some of the newspaper archives? I'm really curious what's happening with, you know, the disappearances in other parts of the country? Or in other parts of the continent.

MIRA [as UNA]

Oh, if you're looking for a newspaper, here.

MIRA

And the copy of today's newspaper that Una had with her (laughs) just in being passed like, (mimes)

[Laughter]

Passed over to Corwin.

How dare you, Mira. (Laughs)

ROVER

That is amazing. Corwin? You can see your good old friend, Aleksander Aintsworth on the covers.

ELIZABETH

(Squeaks) Ooh! Oh!

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Oh! I—oh. Wow. I—okay. Thank you. Thanks, Una. I appreciate it.

ELIZABETH

She's gonna just kind of thumb through the paper. At this point, I don't know that she knows that that is who Vik was worried, was trauma over. Vik hasn't actually said, hadn't talked about the name Aleks, so she's gonna assume that nobody else knows Aleks, and she's just gonna be like, "Wow. My buddy got a job. Good for him. I hope he's well. Wish we weren't on opposite sides of this thing."

ROVER

Hey, hey, hey Corwin.

ELIZABETH

Hey, hey, hey, hey Ro.

ROVER

Do you want to give me a Perception check?

Is anyone ever reading that newspaper article? I don't think so! Find out in season 4.

ELIZABETH

(Laughs) Has Corwin ever perceived...

[Dice clunks]

Corwin gets a 6.

Oh, for fuck's sake. Nobody reads this fucking thing.

MIRA

It's fine.

ELIZABETH

(Laughing) Corwin has never noticed anything in her life.

ROVER

You know, you know Corwin? It doesn't even occur to you that there shouldn't really be any golden lines on this newspaper.

[Shining chime]

They're there, but it doesn't really, doesn't really spark to you in any way.

What?!

ELIZABETH

Golden lines?

ROVER

Maybe a, maybe a new design around the letters or around the pictures. You're like, "oh, cool!" It doesn't, doesn't ring any bells.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Guys, this is a, this is a really neat, I hadn't seen papers with this design before. It's so pretty. They put so much effort into these things these days.

ROVER

No one else can see it.

MIRA [as UNA]

Oh, you mean the picture? The photograph, as you called it?

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Oh, you know, just the gold accents. All the papers, I always got the cheapest ones, so you know they, just black and white. These gold accents are really...they're so pretty. What a great job.

ANNIE

Josie's immediately getting up close, and being like, kind of looking back and forth at Corwin and the paper. Being like,

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Where?

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Well, just there.

ELIZABETH

She's gonna kind of outline the picture and outline the letters that have gold.

[Shining chime]

ANNIE

And I'm not gonna see it, I assume?

ROVER

You're not gonna see it.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Just those, just those little gold accents. Like I said, just more effort than they used to put in in London.

ANNIE

Meaningful look at Viktor.

Viktor is staying away from the fucking newspaper as if he was allergic to it. But he's trying to kind of still see what the fuck we're pointing at, and be like,

JO [as VIKTOR]

That's just a shitty newspaper. I don't, like, there are no golden...did you look into the sun or something like that? You know? Having a little...?

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Yeah, the rest of us aren't seeing it.

ROVER

Corwin, as they talk about it like this, give me another Perception check with advantage this time.

We're helping.

ELIZABETH

I appreciate you trying so hard to make—

ANNIE

Making sure it works!

MIRA

Just for the record, Una is not looking at the newspaper. She is leading the way.

ROVER

Mmhmm, okay.

ANNIE

Yeah.

ELIZABETH

That is a 14, with advantage.

ROVER

The golden accents around the letters and the picture start to fade…

[Shining chime; rhythmic music begins]

And it fades almost like in a path towards one of the—you can see a picture of Aleks and this Aarakocra, who do not seem to be having any notice that this picture's being taken. You can see on the picture, behind one of the buildings next to that, you can see a pink glow standing there. And then all of the colors from the newspaper fade, and everyone sees the same shitty newspaper that it used to be.

[Shining chime; music suddenly ends]

[Soft city ambience returns in the background, with birdsong and people chattering]

ELIZABETH

Oooooh! Corwin is going to kind of trace the colors as they fade.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

You guys really don't see that? You didn't, it—what? You really didn't see anything?

JO [as VIKTOR]

Ooooh. Did you drink anything? Did you take stuff from strangers? Did you touch something in Jonny's shop?

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Did you eat anything at Krillis's? Did you have that, did you have that pie?

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

I mean, Vik and I both had the pie at Krillis's. Vik's not seeing anything either.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Oh, I'm not seeing colors. Sadly. I mean, I do see colors—you know what I mean! I...

[Laughter]

Fuck.

MIRA

That would explain so much though! (Laughs)

ANNIE

(Laughing) Just Vik's secretly color blind.

(Laughs) He is a dog. Not canon.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Well I mean...okay, it's not the pie. Can you, I'm sorry Corwin, can you bend down to me a little?

And I'm trying to see, if you do, if you do bend down, I'm not touching you, but if you do bend down, I'm trying to see if I can see any shit in Corwin's eyes that’s not going, that's not supposed to be there. Because Viktor kind of at least met one person who, with particular, beautiful eyes, just to see if there's some magic shit going on or something.

ROVER

Give me a Perception check.

Okay, I'm pretty good at Perception.

ELIZABETH

Yeah, Corwin does bend down. She's kind of clutching the newspaper really tightly. She's a little...she's not really used to seeing things that other people can't see.

[Dice thunks]

Viktor's going to look like the grandma meme, but without the glasses. Ooh, that is an 18.

ROVER

18. You're looking into her eyes, and it's this feeling of, you know how, because you were talking about, like, you met someone that had particularly beautiful eyes—

Yeah, I'm talking about Aleks. Hello. (Laughs)

ROVER

Yeah, you know how with Aleks there is these kind of shine around his eyes?

Yeah yeah.

ROVER

Because he follows Apollo.

Yeah yeah, he has this golden circle.

ROVER

Yes, exactly. And you can see that Corwin has a similar kind of circle. It's just not glowing.

But it would track to Viktor as Apollo-coded?

ROVER

At least, maybe...

I mean—actually, that's my fucking assumption.

ROVER

You can assume that. It might also, definitely with the 18, it might also just be another religious sign, but it could definitely be an Apollo thing. But yeah, next to that, you can't see anything from her vision that she's seeing differently, or that is affected by some kind of drug, or anything.

He, quietly observing as he is when he's trying to figure something out, he will take a step back, and then be like,

JO [as VIKTOR]

Hmm. Apollo, huh?

ROVER

Also, Lizzie feel free to add your own stuff because, Corwin.

ELIZABETH

First of all, love that.

[Laughter]

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Apollo? I—

ANNIE

Josie is taking a step away from you, by the way, upon hearing this.

ROVER

Before we go into that, Mira did you want to look at the newspaper?

MIRA

I mean, if everyone is so precious about every issue of this newspaper, and everyone's clutching to every single one of them, I guess I can't read that one either.

[Laughter]

Depends, depends...Una would probably try to take it out of Corwin's hands. If there is a little bit of a tug, she's not gonna pry. I'm assuming we are now standing, cause people are crouching and looking in each other's eyes, so...

I think that would be the second we stopped, yeah. We were walking before that because I feel like you can just pass around a fucking newspaper. Or just fall back and look at something.

MIRA

But yeah yeah, pass the newspaper, please.

ELIZABETH

Yeah yeah, Corwin will let you have the newspaper. If she feels pressure against it, she'll just kind of let it go. She's just kind of trying to figure out what's going on.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Apollo? What are you talking about, Vik? There's, I mean there's loads of Apollo people here. Oxford is an Apollo hub. You know that.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Mmm, that's not why...I feel like this might be a conversation for later. Any other funky things you see, like when you look around? Or was it just on the newspaper? Is it still there?

ELIZABETH

Ro, my love? (Laughs) Do I see…

ROVER

Hello.

ELIZABETH

Dear DM?

ROVER

Hello. Roll me a Perception check, and with that I'm going to Una, see what she's reading.

[Dice clacks]

Now tell me, Una. Are you looking, scanning through it, which is what everyone else has been doing, or are you reading it?

MIRA

I'm actually going to read it this time. If we're taking a longer pause, they're having this conversation in the background, Una would probably just take a moment, be like, "I can remember...I can actually read this newspaper now."

[Crinkling of paper]

So whatever amount of the article you give me in the time frame that they are talking, that's what I'm going to take, basically.

ROVER

Okay. Fantastic. So here is the lore dump from the other side. If you have missed this on the Protectors side, you will now know what happened.

Apparently, there were some attackers in the university, University of Manchester. And this was happening around 1 or 2am. There were some attackers, they were either...they fled from, from the location. The Protectors were there on time to save everyone, to help evacuate everyone out of the dorms, out of the university itself. All the guards, all the students had to be evacuated. And now the entire school is closed for at least a week or two to do the investigations on what happened.

MIRA

Mmhmm?

ROVER

It says that one person sadly got hit by an arrow and passed away. But this was before the Protectors had shown up. So the moment the Protectors were involved, everyone was able to evacuate safely, and they were rescued.

MIRA

Okay.

ROVER

And the one man that died was a bodyguard who was working there currently.

MIRA

Okay.

ROVER

Yeah, and this is what one of the, they interviewed another guard who basically told all this, which they can then write down.

MIRA

Okay. Two questions.

ROVER

Yeah.

MIRA

Two questions. One: So the name Aleksander Aintsworth is in there?

ROVER

You now know the names of all of the Protectors, such as Aleksander Aintsworth.

MIRA

However, Una remembered, well that happened yesterday? No, today. It happened on the same day. Una reads the name Aleksander Aintsworth, and remembers the book that has never been returned to Manchester that Vik let her read on the train.

Yes.

ROVER

That was yesterday, yeah.

MIRA

Yeah. On the train. So Una would read the name, look up at Viktor, if they are talking, not really making anything about it. Going like, "hmmm!" Mind vault, please. However, second thing, you said in a different session, when I glanced at the newspaper for the first time, there is an orange Tabaxi on there, an Aarakocra, who you've described now—

ROVER

Yeah.

MIRA

—Aleks, and someone with a big axe. I think the name was in there, I just never took it down. (Laughs)

ROVER

So we have, the first big picture you can see is them at Darlington Palace, which is the orange Tabaxi that you guys saw. You can see a Dwarf with a spear, whose name is Pierre Ardoise. You can see a little bit taller Eladrin woman with a large axe named Yitri Meadowtwirls. And you can see a picture of Aleks, first getting arrested, then joining the group. And then once they're at Manchester, you can only see a picture of Aleks walking with a fourth or fifth party member named Koltrast.

MIRA

Okay. Sorry, just another very quick one. Does the Dwarf look similar to the figurine that we've seen in Jonny's workshop?

ROVER

Ooh! No. Totally not. This is a completely different man.

MIRA

Different Dwarf, there's plenty. Fair.

ROVER

Yeah. Absolutely. And—oh my god, I also don't fully remember what Pierre looks like for like a face—

MIRA

Don't worry.

ROVER

—because I think Krillis looks really different than Pierre's face.

MIRA

Insert description of Pierre in here, don't worry. Una would point out to everyone as they are having this conversation, at the very end of it, she would point out to everyone,

MIRA [as UNA]

Oh, our friend is on here.

MIRA

And she would point at the orange Tabaxi.

ELIZABETH

Corwin is gonna take that out. She's gonna turn away from Vik, and,

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

The orange Tabaxi? Really? Wait, is the orange Tabaxi working with the government? Is the government sending people after us?

JO [as VIKTOR]

I...

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Wouldn't be the first time. And would make a lot of sense given other events unfolding here. If they're trying to get these Protectors in here to make us illegal, it would make sense that they're monitoring our activities, using them for that purpose. So it's possible.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Yeah, but they're not just monitoring. I mean, they attacked, they attacked us. They attacked me. I mean, how is...

JO [as VIKTOR]

Yeah, I'm going to fucking kick this Tabaxi's ass for that, but I...

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Yeah, that is a good point.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Appreciated. As will I.

MIRA [as UNA]

Did anything happen before you got attacked? Like, did you...because I didn't see him doing anything physically.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

No, nothing. I mean, I observed that they existed. I had Divine Sense running at the time. I recognized that they were Fiend-adjacent, if I remember correctly, but no. I mean, I didn't attack.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Well, so is everyone that works with the government.

[Laughter]

JO [as VIKTOR]

Yeah, I feel like all cats are really... (laughs)

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Officially or unofficially, they're all fiends, we know that.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Exactly.

MIRA [as UNA]

Right. Shall we keep going, or are you all still investigating—did you get something in your eye?

JO [as VIKTOR]

Oh no, we can—I think we can...

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Oh, nothing nothing. It's fine. It's nothing. Yeah. Let's figure out...

Viktor keeps side-eyeing Corwin the entire time. Like, in his mind, "I'm going to figure your shit out." (Laughs)

ELIZABETH

Corwin is not looking at Viktor.

No. Amazing.

ELIZABETH

Like very pointedly looking everywhere else. Like,

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Where'd you say this library was?

ELIZABETH

Like it might be right in front of her, but she's going to be like, "Where's the library?"

(Laughs) I'm sorry!

ROVER

Oh! I completely forgot.

MIRA

Uh oh.

ROVER

The main thing that I probably should have mentioned, which I most likely have mentioned in a different episode, who knows. In the newspaper, there's also the talk about how the House of Six meeting—

MIRA

Oh yeah.

ROVER

—was rescheduled to a couple days earlier, which is now today. And there are definitely lines from the person who actually wrote this about, "Will they finally mention the outlawing of The Wanted Dead, which has been on Tobias' list of things he wanted to do since he became president?" And that the result of that meeting will be at the end of today.

MIRA

Okay.

ELIZABETH

Dun dun dunnn.

ROVER

That is the main things that I can tell you from the newspaper.

MIRA

Okay. Then, yeah, Una would probably point that out to everyone as well as we're talking, walking talking towards the library that might be in front of us by now.

ROVER

Which probably is in front of you by now! But yes, feel free to talk.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Well, the library—oh, there it is!

MIRA [as UNA]

Oh, wow!

ROVER

Well there it is!

[Laughter]

MIRA [as UNA]

Beautiful, gorgeous library.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Oh, that library.

MIRA

There is a bell tower near it as well. It's very beautiful.

Oxford has a lot of towers anyways, like spires.

[City ambience, birdsong and people chattering, continues in the background]

ROVER

Yeah, so Una, give me a History check with advantage.

MIRA

That is a nat 20. I'm not gonna touch it because (laughs)...

ELIZABETH

Nice!

(Laughing) Because it might just vanish? What?

[Laughing]

MIRA

No, because—yeah.

ANNIE

Ro's expression at that was classic.

ROVER

Fantastic. So this library holds millions of printed items. And you know that there's...the mention of, you don't know a lot, suddenly, when you're at this place. It's like, it's almost like an instinct that you just know you are supposed to be here. Maybe not at this time, but that you were supposed to be here.

MIRA

Mmhmm.

ROVER

And it is almost like, if you look at this large building next to this square, it is like your mind can, without seeing the inside of it, you can already picture where what is. And where, which parts of the media is collected that you might possibly be looking for.

MIRA

I think I know why.

ROVER

And it feels so similar. It's like even, even if you guys walk inside, you are pretty sure you can be blindfolded and still you know your way around the place. This has existed for so many years, so many generations, and it feels right for you. And I think that Una would kind of, in her head, also know, definitely from the time that she, that she knows, I'd say that RadCam was not fully of use yet, by the time that you, that you were there. Not of use in the way that it seems to now be, where there is a large fence around it, there are guards all around it. They are guarding something that wasn't necessary from what you know. And I think that those things are the main things that you would know from this place, even with a natural 20.

MIRA

Right.

MIRA [as UNA]

Well, that might be tricky to get in. We might need to use a side entrance.

JO [as VIKTOR]

I really want to go there now. You know usually when they put guards in place, there's something really interesting in there.

MIRA [as UNA]

Yeah, I don't remember, I mean, they would have protection, but I don't remember this many guards around here before. And this place really does feel extremely familiar.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Oh!

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Does it? Familiar in what way? Like you've been here, you worked here or studied here maybe?

MIRA [as UNA]

I think I used to work here. I think...

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Okay.

MIRA

Permission from DM: Can I disclose the profession?

ROVER

Of course you can.

MIRA

So Una would say,

MIRA [as UNA]

I, I think I remember being a scribe for the University of Oxford. And this, well, welcome to my workplace, I guess?

JO [as VIKTOR]

Amazing. Seems to be Bring Your Bounty Hunters To Work day.

[Laughter]

Good that you're remembering something.

MIRA [as UNA]

However...that's very true, I'm very excited to get inside of that place. But once again, I think we might need to look for a side entrance. I don't necessarily want to be causing a commotion in the middle of the plaza.

Just for Jo's knowledge, is the library and the RadCam—are these separate buildings?

MIRA

RadCam is the circular building that you posted.

ROVER

Yeah, the circular building is the RadCam, and around it are four or five other larger buildings with hallways, which is—in the world that we are playing in—the main library space. Give me, because you read a lot, give me a, you are Sir Read-a-Lot, can I have a...first a History check, and then...actually, just do a History check. Yeah, no that makes sense, because we do—

Sweetheart, you can have all the checks from me. Yeah, sure.

ROVER

Give me a History check, and then another History check based on the Knowledge History.

Okay, yeah yeah yeah no, that makes sense.

[Dice thunks]

ROVER

What is your knowing?

ROVER

What is your—how much of the history have you read about this place, Jo?

I, I have a +5 in History, which brings me to a 15, unfortunately. I didn't roll that well.

ROVER

15. I will say with a 15, you have read about this place. Can I have one more roll of History, more about the types of knowledge that you know about?

[Dice clanks]

That's a natural 20! (Laughs)

MIRA

Nice!

ROVER

Ah you're, for—You know what? I'm so tired of Viktor.

ANNIE

Yes. Yes! We are going to destroy Rover this episode, let's go!

(Laughing) I'm so sorry! What the—

ANNIE

Lore dumps all the way into the ground!

MIRA

Lore lore lore lore lore lore.

ROVER

Before this episode, I messaged them, "I really hope y'all roll terribly." No.

MIRA

JK!

ROVER

You're rolling fucking incredibly well.

ELIZABETH

I am doing my part!

Last time I rolled a natural 20 on a bottle of wine! It's like (laughs)...

[Laughter]

ROVER

Okay, so...

Yeah, mmhmm.

ROVER

You know what's in there. You know exactly what's in there. It is all of the knowledge of the Cult of Hades that they have ever had, has all been packed up, stored away, and locked to the point where they want no one to ever have access to it ever again to recreate whatever happened there. Which is also why what happened with the Cult of Hades is not, it's not knowledge to the public. And you have always wondered…that type of knowledge. Imagine breaking into that place.

He's practically drooling. Not really, but (laughs). Alright, then adding to what he just said about guards guarding shit, he's going to sideeye Una, and be like,

JO [as VIKTOR]

Do you know what's inside there?

MIRA [as UNA]

I am pretty sure I might have written some of the stuff that's in there.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Oh! We should go inside.

MIRA [as UNA]

As a, as a scribe. Don't get excited. Not my own writings, however, I might be able to find some things if they haven't moved them about too much.

JO [as VIKTOR]

I feel like, considering that you were trapped in something that has to do with the Cult of Hades, we should really go inside there and see what we can gather. Don't you think?

MIRA [as UNA]

Absolutely. We might be able to access the tunnel that leads into the archive? But I will need to have a wander around with you guys to find out where the actual entrance is now. Might be able to find it easier, but...

JO [as VIKTOR]

Why don't we stroll into the normal library, see what we can find there, and try to be less suspicious.

Because I feel like we're just standing there, looking at this building, a group of people.

MIRA

It's okay. There's loads of tourists.

ROVER

Let's see if the crowd outside has any kind of knowledge about the Wanted Dead stuff.

[Dice thunks]

Oh!

ANNIE

Oh?

ROVER

You know what, I should stop rolling this dice.

[Annie laughs]

MIRA

Oh! That's a good fucking point.

We're not illegal yet.

ROVER

Some of you can see glances from people who have probably noticed any type of Wanted Dead type of...ah, um...Wow, all the words decided to leave.

MIRA

Marking? Symbol?

ROVER

Yeah. Even with the fact that some of you most likely also have weapons and take them with you, they can see people walking around that are not guards, that are not the Protectors, and people are glancing at you. It's not, it's not too weird that people have weapons around, however there are people who are making a note of this as they walk past the building. These are, by the way, the crowd that is at the place? Because currently it is a very, the library's fully open. Access to mostly students and researchers, but there are also guided tours around it.

And the guards aren't looking at you yet. The crowd is.

ELIZABETH

One question quick. Jo, did Vik share, did Vik or Una share that it's Cult of Hades knowledge that's in there? Or are Josie and I kind of just like, these two are really excited about something and we're just gonna roll with it?

ANNIE

Right.

I feel like the conversation happened like we played it out just now, so we didn't really explain more.

ELIZABETH

Cool cool cool cool cool.

MIRA

I mean, Hades is being mentioned out loud. And...

Yeah. Yeah.

MIRA

Right.

MIRA [as UNA]

I can try and walk up to the front door?

MIRA

I don't know if that's gonna do any good. That's me saying that, above the table. But—

ANNIE

I thought we just said we were going to go to the regular library, and let’s not try to walk up to the guards?

Yeah yeah yeah.

ANNIE

Josie would probably try to prevent you from doing that, even if.

MIRA

Oh wait, but they are around...

ROVER

They are around the RadCam. Not around the main buildings.

Yeah, only RadCam.

ROVER

Yeah. Only RadCam.

Yeah, and my suggestion was going into the regular library building, because—

ANNIE

The non-RadCam. Yeah.

—it's the middle of the day. It should be open, right? So I don't think that's too suspicious. And kind of see what's up there, and then come up with a plan.

MIRA

Cool, yeah. Sorry. Cause I just was thinking too much of real world knowledge to what was being said. So I was like, RadCam is a library. That's me. That's me. That's me. Let's go to the side building.

ROVER

Sorry! Yeah no, I'm, we're using RadCam mostly in this world for just that specific knowledge.

MIRA

That's fine. That's fine.

ROVER

I'm changing the whole building. I thought it was cool, and now that is just that.

[Laughter]

MIRA

Perfect.

ELIZABETH

So as we walk, Corwin will probably say, low enough just for us four to hear,

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Alright, share with the class, why are y'all so excited? It's just—

JO [as VIKTOR]

Oh, um—

MIRA [as UNA]

I used to work here?

JO [as VIKTOR]

Oh yeah. Una remembered something, firstly. And I remembered what's inside there.

And I'm trying to inconspicuously point at the RadCam.

JO [as VIKTOR]

You ever wondered what happened to all the knowledge about the Cult of Hades? It's in there.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Is it really? Ooh, that explains all the guards.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Oh, yeah.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Alright so, go into the regular library, try and sneak into the Hades-knowledge library?

JO [as VIKTOR]

I really just...

MIRA [as UNA]

Should be hard enough.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Yeah. And like, I don't know about you guys, but my day is not starting off great? I mean, the pie was nice, but eh. I just want to look at books for five minutes of my life before we try to enter a building that is highly guarded.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

You need to decompress, I get it.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Yeah.

He's going to slowly walk to one of the entrances of the side building. Not necessarily waiting for the others to catch up.

MIRA

Well, you're dragging me along.

Oh yeah, we're still linked!

[Laughter]

ELIZABETH

(Laughing) Yeah you guys are still linked.

I'm going to drag Una away from you. (Laughs) My new friend now.

[City ambience fades away. Soft, ethereal music begins]

ROVER

So into the main, the main library. I will do a very quick summary of what the place sort of looks like. I won't have you go, like, "oh my god, now we need to take 15 minutes to walk to the other side of the building," stuff like that. If you want to go somewhere, that will be all good.

You're looking at pine floors, glass windows. There are, there's stained glass on there as well. Give me a Perception check for the people who want to look at what is on the stained glass. Because there's stuff for that.

Would I...

MIRA

I would just remember.

[Dice clacks, clunks, and thunks]

I don't know if Vik was in Oxford, actually. I don't think we talked about that.

ANNIE

Josie rolled a nat 20 Perception.

MIRA

Nice!

ELIZABETH

That's okay, Corwin rolled a 2.

I have an 8.

[Laughter]

ELIZABETH

We're balancing. It's good, it's good.

I'm channeling Pierre here. I have an 8.

ROVER

An 8, a 2. Una?

MIRA

22.

ROVER

22, and a natural 20. You can see, on these stained glass on the windows, there are all kinds of Dragonborns, either holding hands together or there are two of them which are holding a version of the sun, the other one of the moon. Which is, by the way, these are stuff that indeed Una and Josie both know. And both of you can tell the fact that the Dragonborns in this world, if you are long enough a member, like an official priest or paladin of this world, you start getting scales, and the longer you stay there, you become a full half-Dragon, basically. A Dragonborn, a half-dragon. And that has the whole meaning of like, these are the children of the gods.

For the listeners, we are using the Greek gods, but in this world, the Greek gods are also dragons.

ROVER

Because it's cool.

Yeah!

ELIZABETH

Yes. Yes!

Because Ro is a fantastic storyteller.

ROVER

Thank you. And you can see all these different colorful types of different scales, as they are actually being quite warm with each other, with the world. Except for the fact that any type of Hades insignia? Not there at all. And you can also see that there was never, in these, in these stained glass, that there was ever anything of Hades portrayed in it. Not that it was taken away. It was never there.

And I think Una would know that that was also never really a thing, because Cult of Hades—Cult of Hades?—or Church, Cult of Hades, were never that open to the world. Definitely not in libraries about, "hey, look at us being friends with everyone."

MIRA

Mmhmm.

ROVER

That was never really their thing.

MIRA

They are just misunderstood.

ROVER

Yeah, they're just misunderstood, man! So yeah, you can see them all working together. And that is the type of stuff that you can see there. With a natural 20, there are actually also still half-dragons from Poseidon in there. You can see these kind of, like, blue-green-ish color, and instead of having this kind of—I was gonna say beak, it's not a fucking beak. It's this large—

Snout?

ANNIE

Snout.

ROVER

—snout that they have, is kind of more, like you're looking at a turtle-snap mouth, kind of thing?

Yeah.

ANNIE

Mmhmm.

ROVER

So that is something that you definitely notice, other than, of course, Poseidon not really being an openly displayed thing in the UK currently anymore, because of the Netherlands thing. Yeah.

ANNIE

Josie is noting...upon noting Poseidon, you know, priests or insignia in the stained glass—

ROVER

Yeah, tridents there, everything.

ANNIE

—is just gonna, is just gonna quickly off to the side, just throw up a middle finger and keep moving.

ROVER

Incredible. And in the library space, is there balconies, and on the side of the balconies, above the bookcases, there is stuff written in, it's Ancient Draconic in this world. Not Ancient Greek.

This is a very, very old, of course, ancient version of the Draconic that most priests and paladins speak. I think everyone would know that the only people who still are able to speak or understand Ancient Draconic are the high priests in the temples itself. Yeah. Probably gave way too much information there, but you have it! Congratulations on the natural 20!

No, I love this!

ELIZABETH

That is so cool.

Thank you. That was brilliant.

ELIZABETH

Yeah.

ROVER

So this is, by the way, the stuff that...people can see the stained glass is definitely Josie and Una-related things. Yeah.

ELIZABETH

Yes. Jo and I decided that, yeah, Vik and Corwin are too busy not looking at each other. (Laughs).

[Laughter]

Yeah yeah yeah yeah. Viktor's not looking at Corwin because of all the panic attacks she helped preventing, and Corwin's currently not looking at Viktor because he dared to mention Apollo. What's up with that? But I think, I think visibly for everyone, even if you're not paying attention, the moment Viktor steps foot into this library, it seems like all the stress and emotional damage just evaporates from him.

ROVER

I want to make a very quick mention, also for the listener, people are being like, "yeah, good at worldbuilding". This was actually Anusia's idea.

MIRA

Nice!

ROVER

To turn the dragons into, or to turn the gods into dragons.

ELIZABETH

Ayyy.

ROVER

Thank you, Anusia, for that idea. It's so fucking cool.

MIRA

DM?

ROVER

Yes?

MIRA

Am I...(laughs) I don't know how to phrase that. Cause I know we said it feels familiar to Una, but I would like to give her an opportunity, as we walk in and everyone's taking in what's going on, maybe coming up to some shelves, whatnot, everyone is doing...

ROVER

Yeah.

MIRA

...I would like Una to take a moment and position herself as much in the middle of the whole thing as possible.

ROVER

Yes.

MIRA

And just take it in. Just jog her memory. Is that something that she can do? Please DM?

ROVER

Give me...above table, we talked about the Intelligence and Wisdom saving throws. Which one was the one that did damage, again? Intelligence or Wisdom?

MIRA

No damage would be with a Wisdom save. With a damage would be Intelligence save.

ROVER

Got it. Got it, got it.

MIRA

So we don't—so no Con anymore.

ROVER

Okay. I did an oopsie. Before everyone is in the comments section like, "oh, but it is actually an Intelligence and Wisdom save!" I know. I just like Con more. But yeah, we're doing it the correct way.

[Laughter]

MIRA

It's your world! We can do it the way you want. (Laughs)

ROVER

No no no no, I wanna do it correctly, as well. Give me a Wisdom saving throw.

MIRA

(Squeaks)

[Laughter]

[Dice thunks]

ANNIE

MIRA

That would be...ah, I'm not adding my proficiency to this. That would be a 14, please. Thank you.

[Ethereal music continues]

ROVER

The moment you step foot in this place and you try to take it all in, it feels like...every single detail that your mind knew about this place feels so wrong. Everything about it is like, this...it looks correct, but it feels like...I don't know, you see a table and things have been scratched in it. And you're like, "that was never supposed to be there."

Ooh.

ROVER

You see lanterns now actually being changed into lamps. And you can see that some of the structure of how the archives and the libraries were, the structure has changed, in a way? Some things have been moved to the other side now, and you're like, "Ah, that feels wrong." And it's all so, it's like a wave coming over you. It doesn't do damage, but it is gonna...not the condition Stunned, but it is going to kind of stun and drain you for a moment.

MIRA

That's fine. She can, she can just stand there for a second.

ROVER

Yeah.

ELIZABETH

Does Una outwardly show anything that we might see? Or are you keeping it pretty close to the vest?

MIRA

If you're looking at her, she is definitely, you can see her just looking at things and frowning whenever she sees, she sees things that she considers out of place. She would not necessarily be mumbling that to herself, but it's probably quite visible on her face that she is like, "Mmmm okay, that might be wrong." And then is like, "ah, okay that hurts." It's frowning more than anything. She wouldn't verbalize anything of that.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Not quite the way you remember it?

MIRA [as UNA]

It feels like...it feels like they might have changed some things. I have been gone for quite a while.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

You've been gone for a while? Do you remember when you were here last?

MIRA [as UNA]

I can't give you the exact date of my last visit here, cause I don't remember that. However, I've been...it feels like a part of the routine. You know when you are so used to certain things being in specific places, and then someone decides to come in and just move it out and it just throws you? That's basically what's going on. It was a part of my routine, or at least it feels like—coming in here and seeing the things in one specific way. But now it doesn't seem to be the same way. Maybe the further we look, the more I will remember, and we'll figure this out?

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Interesting. Yeah, maybe as we kind of look further.

MIRA [as UNA]

Are you doing okay?

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Oh! Yeah, I like libraries. Yeah, nothing against a good library, me. Solid places.

MIRA [as UNA]

Mmm I was, I was more concerned about your avoidance of the clerics, when we were first stepping into Oxford.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Oh yeah, just—

ELIZABETH

She's gonna kind of look at Vik and Josie and kind of shrug. And be like,

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

You know, ah, we all have a past, right? So what did we want in this library? What were we looking for? Newspapers and stuff, right?

MIRA [as UNA]

Yeah. Newspapers and...stuff.

Viktor would also not have been in this conversation. He would have walked over to the smallest shelf in the library, that is just labeled "Self-Help."

[Laughter]

To just collect an assortment of books regarding, you know, overcoming trauma, but like—

ANNIE

Oh my god.

—coded to the party. Like, "Mmm, Josie's worried about that thing." In front of Josie's eyes. He's not hiding that. He's like,

JO [as VIKTOR]

Hmm, okay. So Josie's that, and Una's that.

(Laughs) Pocketing books.

ROVER

I can, in my head, I can see Vik just grabbing the DSM-5.

MIRA

(Quietly) Oooh, he's stealing.

ROVER

And then just being like, "okay, so let me just do that!"

[We all absolutely lose it]

ELIZABETH

Five different, four different bookmarks.

ANNIE

Would have been about the 2 at this point.

Oh, definitely.

ROVER

(Laughing) I don't care, even if that has to be edited out! I'm not too sure, but I—I just want to make a knowledge of that.

(Laughs) Taking, just taking mental notes,

JO [as VIKTOR]

Mmhmm, autism, so...okay, so...

[Laughter]

ROVER

Anxiety.

MIRA

May I ask Corwin one question? Cause I think this is a very good moment to do that. Una would probably throw in, and go like,

MIRA [as UNA]

Yeah, and we might be able to find something about the dead person that we've seen on the train. Cause you said you remembered something about that, right? That might be a good lead as well.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Oh yeah, the, the spider puppet person, with the...yeah, they had a chess symbol. Definitely a good idea. Yeah, we can look up and see if there's any...I mean, what better place for reference than a library, right?

MIRA [as UNA]

I mean, you said you've had run-ins with those people. Do they have a name?

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Honestly, I just had the one run-in with them. I was traveling with a friend, and well, I ran into the friend when they were getting ambushed by these people. I didn't...honestly I didn't find out much about them. My friend wasn't particularly forthcoming. But they're bad news. But they weren't...they were human when I met them. For what it's worth. Not creepy spider puppets.

MIRA [as UNA]

And you and the friend...well, I mean, clearly you made it okay. Your friend also managed to go out unscathed?

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Oh yeah, yeah—well. We were both fine. I...the person that they were traveling with didn't make it out of that fight. But I, Aleks and I, we were both fine.

MIRA [as UNA]

You mean...?

ROVER

Do you...?

Can I roll a Perception check?

ELIZABETH

Yes you can! Well, actually I'm not the DM, I'm sorry.

MIRA

How far away did you...how far away did you decide to put yourself?

ROVER

I'm gonna tell you to roll it flat, because on one hand I'm like, "Disadvantage for being involved in all the books. And on the other hand, advantage because it's Aleks."

But I think there's so much going on right now that I'm gonna have you roll it flat and then see what happens.

What do you mean, flat?

ROVER

As in, normal. Normal.

ANNIE

As in no advantage, no disadvantage. Single roll.

Oh, okay.

ROVER

Sorry. I've been listening to Natural Six, which is a fantastic podcast, by the way. And Harry McEntire always says "roll it flat."

[Dice thunks]

I rolled a very flat 18.

ANNIE

Yeahhhh!

ROVER

Hey...was this conversation ever stealthy?

MIRA

Well, I assumed...Una is standing in the middle of the room, not near any of the bookshelves, is how I was imagining that. And then Corwin comes up, and everyone else just went into the shelves and stuff like that. So I didn't realize that Viktor was so close.

ANNIE

Josie is not going into the shelves under any circumstances, by the way.

MIRA

Right.

ROVER

Give me a Stealth check just for the flavor of it, Corwin and Una.

ELIZABETH

I was gonna say, Corwin wasn't trying to be particularly stealthy, but she was, you know, whispering cause it's a library and she has manners.

[Dice clacks]

ANNIE

Right.

ROVER

Yeah, then I would say still do, still do that.

ELIZABETH

But like, she wasn't trying to hide it from Josie or anything, knowing Josie's there.

ROVER

Yeah.

[Dice thunks]

MIRA

That's a dirty 20 on the Stealth check.

ELIZABETH

That's a 10 for Corwin. (Laughs)

I did hear the word Aleks!

[Laughter]

ELIZABETH

I'm sorry!

MIRA

Yeah.

ANNIE

Definitely heard Corwin, yep!

ROVER

You do. You hear, you hear, you know that they're mumbling, and you just hear, "Blah-blah-blah-blah-blah and Aleks." You are all fine. There are many Aleks' in this world.

No, no yeah.

ROVER

No, what do you mean? (Laughs)

Viktor logically knows that there's a lot of people called Aleks in this world. However, this past 84 hours were so fucking insane to him that he's going to take a shot in the dark and just idly walk closer while trying to mimic being very engrossed in a self-help book about sorting your finances.

[Laughter]

ROVER

Now you may give me a Stealth check, Vik.

Gladly.

[Dice thunks]

19 plus 4 is...23.

ROVER

Fuck off. Okay. Yeah, you can do so without the rest knowing, or noticing.

I think he will just appear behind Corwin.

[Laughter]

ROVER

At some point, yeah yeah yeah yeah.

Clutching books. (Laughs)

ELIZABETH

That's fair.

ROVER

So, Corwin and Una, continue your conversation.

MIRA

Well, for—

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

But...

MIRA

Una was not about to say anything after the Aleks mention. Just kind of look at Corwin and then not delve further, so...

ANNIE

That might be it.

MIRA

That might be it. (Laughs)

ELIZABETH

Yeah, I was gonna say, Corwin might just kind of, like, babble a little, like,

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Yeah, you know, we met on the road. Like I met him when he was being ambushed by these people. But that was the only time that I saw these people. I really don't know anything else about them. But I'd love to find out why they were on the train, why they're spooky spider creatures now, and why they're following us.

MIRA [as UNA]

Do they all have the same symbol? Like the knight?

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

They all have that same chess piece symbol on their, on their armor or on whatever they were wearing.

ROVER

Ah, I'm gonna correct you.

ELIZABETH

Please.

ROVER

They, there were kind of like, like a bandage around their arm that has a logo of a chess piece on there. They all have different types of chess pieces.

ELIZABETH

Oh, okay. It's just all chess pieces.

ROVER

So yeah, it's just a chess piece, but it's not continuously the same type of chess piece, basically.

ELIZABETH

Ooh, okay.

MIRA

Ooh. Oooh.

ELIZABETH

Let me correct that. And also, Aleks was traveling with a friend, right? That was what I had in my notes.

ROVER

Yes. Yes.

ELIZABETH

Okay, I just wanted to be sure, cause I can redo that.

ROVER

Yeah.

ELIZABETH

Okay, cool.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Ah, they all had chess pieces on, like, an armband, more or less? You know it's an odd-enough symbol that I feel like it could be connected? Definitely worth investigating. But I really don't know anything else about them.

MIRA [as UNA]

Right. I don't mean to pry, but did they make any of the 22 that you have marked off?

ELIZABETH

Corwin looks distinctly uncomfortable.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

No. They didn't. And I'd rather not talk about it, Una.

MIRA [as UNA]

No? That's absolutely fine. As you said, we all have our little secrets.

ELIZABETH

And she's gonna turn and walk toward a bookshelf, any bookshelf, and she's gonna pull the first book off the shelf that she sees, and be engrossed.

[Laughter]

ROVER

Roll me...

MIRA

(Laughing) You're gonna walk into Vik!

ROVER

Roll me a, roll me a d10.

ELIZABETH

I can roll you a d10. Do you want the extra clunky metal d10?

ROVER

Sure.

[Heavy dice clunks]

Damn.

MIRA

Roll it good.

ELIZABETH

It's a 7.

ROVER

Oh, buddy.

ELIZABETH

Hey, on a scale of 1 to 10, that is significantly better than I've been rolling! (Laughs)

ANNIE

I was gonna say, that's okay! That's like rolling a 14. Yeah.

MIRA

No no! Absolutely. High rolls! (Laughs)

ROVER

Oh, buddy. Seven is such a lucky number. However, you turn around, and you're like, "I'm gonna look at this book." And it's, you're looking through the book, and then halfway you're like, "Ahhh, this is an Apollo book." Close it, put it back, and (laughs)...

[Laughter]

Aww no.

MIRA

(Laughs) Ewww.

ELIZABETH

(Laughing) Ohhh! Puts it back, picks up one from a different shelf.

ROVER

Yup!

MIRA

(Laughing) Self-help shelf, again.

ROVER

Fantastic.

[Laughter]

Josie! What has Josie been doing this entire time?

ANNIE

Yeah. Josie has been kind of following along with everybody else, but her intention, basically, is as soon as we get to, as soon as we get...if, either, cause if we're going straight for the tunnels once we're inside, Josie's gonna wanna stick with them. But if people start to fan out into bookshelves, she has absolutely no interest in following through and digging into research and everything. Clearly there are three people here more qualified than her, in her mind, to be handling the research section here. So she's looking for an excuse to go outside and have a smoke. As soon as people are settled in, if we're not going straight for the tunnels, she's gonna go outside and have a cigarette.

You and me both, Josie.

ANNIE

Mmhmm!

ROVER

Alright. I would like to follow that, and I think this is the moment where we have everyone Deafen, except for Josie.

[Jo, Mira and Elizabeth can no longer hear the conversation]

[Music stops. Outdoor city ambience resumes: birdsong, distant sounds of people talking]

So, is Josie gonna look for a telephone booth? There will be a telephone booth there.

ANNIE

Yes. Yeah, Josie is...I probably, I would say Josie was probably trying to spot one on the way in while they were all looking at guards and stuff and remembering things. So she's going to wait till she gets outside, make sure that they are all engrossed in their own explorations and conversations, and beeline for the phone booth.

ROVER

Okay.

ANNIE

And immediately try to call...I guess probably just try to call Mech Incarnate, to get ahold of Brian?

ROVER

Mmhmm.

ANNIE

Assuming he's still there cleaning up.

ROVER

Rings once, rings twice.

[Phone rings over a staticky connection]

Third time, just...you're at this point of like, "Did he already leave?" And then the phone picks up and is like,

ROVER [as BRIAN]

(Over the phone, with static in the background) We're closed. I feel like that should be known by—

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Brian.

ROVER [as BRIAN]

Hello.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Hey. Sorry about the unconventional way that that had to go down. But you know we had to play it up. I didn't want it to get that way, but Vik is suspicious.

ROVER [as BRIAN]

Isn't Vik always suspicious?

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Well, exactly. Quite. So I do apologize for the slightly stepping a little bit further out of line than we thought. But this way he's not on our trail, so...

ROVER [as BRIAN]

Where are you guys now?

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

We're currently at RadCam. They all want to do some reading. You know that that's not exactly my scene, so I took a chance to step away. I think Una and Vik are trying to do something with getting into the Hades archives. We'll see if we pull that off, but—

ROVER [as BRIAN]

They what?

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Don't worry about it. Una apparently has some memories of being inside there and knows some tunnels. It'll be fun. Don't worry about us. We got one more day in the sun here before we have to go to ground. So I'm letting the kids run free a little bit.

ROVER [as BRIAN]

Make sure you don't get caught. Please.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

I will.

ROVER [as BRIAN]

Good.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

I will. Are you headed back to London after this, for real? Or are you, you finding somewhere else?

ROVER [as BRIAN]

Yeah, I'm, I'm...I made sure that the bodies are taken away.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Appreciate it.

ROVER [as BRIAN]

I'm thinking of bringing Merrick to the Wanted Dead and then await the final decision tonight.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Okay.

ROVER [as BRIAN]

And...we'll see what we do with him then.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

I think I'm...I think I'm gonna try to route these three through to somewhere else, possibly Dover. Anywhere I can get them with a lead that's not London. Because that will keep Vik off the trail. And then, you know, I'll be gone in the night as usual. Are you...are you gonna come? Not right away, I know, but...are you gonna join me?

ROVER [as BRIAN]

I am...I am unsure. I assume you're talking about, you know, country hopping?

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Mmhmm. Well...I, only one, only one place left to hop at this point, unless the De Rolos somehow manage to make it all the way across in their magic, powerful ships.

ROVER [as BRIAN]

I am unsure about your plan, Josie. Your—

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

I know, but Isaiah knows, so you can get it from him.

ROVER [as BRIAN]

Does Isaiah know?

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

He does. It's one of the only things that—

ROVER [as BRIAN]

When was the last time you spoke to him, Josie?

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Oh, this is something we decided 10 years ago. This was something we decided when I first left.

ROVER [as BRIAN]

And you're sure he still knows that you are going...

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

As long as, as long as you tell him to look for me in the spring, he knows what that means. He won't have forgotten.

ROVER [as BRIAN]

I don't know if I can get in contact with him.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Well. (Sighs)

ROVER [as BRIAN]

We are in a situation, Josie, as...I don't know what's going to happen. I can try to get in contact with him, but I'm so fucking certain that that won't be the case. Also, Iceland, really? The only...? I know that the UK is a mess being surrounded by water constantly. Iceland is even worse.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

The further away I get from Denmark and from what used to be the Netherlands, the less chance someone can grab me and bring me back. I'm not going back, Brian. You don't even know. You don't even actually know what it is I'm running from, but you...I will die before going back. And I will take anyone down around me that I need to. Iceland is the furthest away I can get. I'm not going to Russia, so.

ROVER [as BRIAN]

I know. I understand what it's like to run from stuff.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Yeah.

ROVER [as BRIAN]

I mean...(shaky inhale)

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

That's why I like you.

ROVER [as BRIAN]

That's probably a conversation for another time. I need to make sure that Sa—

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Yeah, for when you join me in Iceland, okay? Just—it doesn't have to be soon. I have the rest of my life out there. Just come find me when you can. That's all I'm saying. And, if you can't get in contact with my brother right away, he'll pop up when he needs to. He always does. So just let him know whenever you do hear from him.

ROVER [as BRIAN]

Josie, if this ship goes down, I need people to look after the group that you are currently with.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

(Deep breath)

ROVER [as BRIAN]

And I know, I know your situation. I mean, I don't know your situation. I know, I—you know what I mean. I—

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

I do.

ROVER [as BRIAN]

There is something wrong with this group. And I need someone's eyes on it that I can trust. And between you and me, I can't trust Vik for the life of me.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

No, of course not. (Sighs)

ROVER [as BRIAN]

I know how stressful it is, and I—maybe it's better to have you and Isaiah meet along the road and then go together. With all that's going on in the world, traveling off on your own is the worst, genuinely the worst idea that there is. Please just...take it from someone who—

ROVER

(Normally) And he stops talking for a good five seconds, before he comes in with,

ROVER [as BRIAN]

(Over the phone, with static in the background) You cannot travel alone. Being alone in the state of this world is the worst possible thing you can do. And if, if, if we find Jonny, if we find the person who's after all of these disappearances, maybe the people, maybe...anything at all, and we can fix things, maybe we can fix things for the UK. Maybe we can fix our own reputation. Maybe we can fix...maybe we can just fix something. Being alone—

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

That would be a nice change of pace, wouldn't it?

ROVER [as BRIAN]

—is an issue.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Listen, Brian. I'm...you're not wrong, but at this point, I can't make any promises, and I know that you can't either, so what I will tell you right now is, I'm gonna route these three to Dover. I'm gonna get them in there, I'm gonna get them working on something, and...and I will make my decision then. That's the best I can promise you, is that I'm not deciding right now. That's more than I thought I was going into this call with, so I hope you can take that.

ROVER [as BRIAN]

My biggest issue is traveling alone, so stick with the group as much as you can. If you need to travel to Iceland with multiple people, you do you. I just hope you find Isaiah first before something else does.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

I don't like the sound of that, Brian.

ROVER

He stays quiet again.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

What aren't you telling me?

ROVER

And then he says...give me a Perception check, actually.

[Dice tower clacks]

ANNIE

Oh yeah, baby! 22.

ROVER

22. You can hear that something's dropped in the room that he is in—

[Static over the phone line. Soft thunk in the distance]

Which you've called to Jonny's shop, so it will be in Mechanics Incarnate.

ANNIE

Yeah.

ROVER

And then he speaks again, and says,

ROVER [as BRIAN]

(Rushed) I don't have anything else to say. I, I...I'm sorry. I gotta go.

ROVER

And he hangs up the phone.

[Clattering of phone being hung up. Static disappears]

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Fuck.

[Birdsong and city ambience continues softly in the background]

ANNIE

Josie is...stunned, obviously. Hangs up the phone a bit.

[Clatter of phone being hung up]

And if anyone were looking in from the outside, you see her start to (several measured, deep breaths) breathe really heavily. I mean, like, practically steam-coming-out-of-the-forehead levels of stressed at this here. But then she just (exhale) closes her eyes, and she touches the quarterstaff on her back really quick, and just breathes for a second. And then she turns and steps out of the phone booth and walks back toward the library while petting Jazzy in her pocket.

ROVER

And while everyone is Deafened, that is where we're going to end the episode.

[Annie laughs]

So, this is a, this is a, you know, what happens with the Bounty Hunters on the other side of this call, remains to be seen. What happens with the Protectors next week also remains to be seen.

ANNIE

I love that they don't get to say bye.

ROVER

See you next week, guys. Buh-bye.

ANNIE

Bye!

[Show outro plays]

ROVER

Remains To Be Seen is an original podcast created by Dyaflame Studios and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution non-commercial share-alike 4.0 international license.

Today’s episode was produced by Anusia Battersby and edited by Rover Elliott and Jo Mendacium. It starred:

Elizabeth Simpson as Corwin Duvall
Jo Mendacium as Viktor Valthayne
Annie Ruby as Josie
Mirah Fae as Una
and Rover Elliott as the Dungeon Master

The intro and outro were composed by We Talk of Dreams, and the transcript was written by Elizabeth Simpson.

To get in touch with us and keep up to date with our antics, follow us on Instagram, BlueSky and TikTok @ DyaflameStudios or view our website at www.dyaflame.com

Check out our show notes for additional credits, links and transcripts.