014 - Bounty Hunters - A Fallen God’s Remains

Content Warnings
- 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 the other group's future. I am your host and DM, Rover Elliott, pronouns he/they, and today I am here with,

ANNIE

Annie Ruby, she/her.

ELIZABETH

Elizabeth Simpson, she/her.

Jo Mendacium, all the pronouns.

MIRA

And Mira G, she/her.

ROVER

And who are you guys playing?

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Josie, with a newly slightly elevated blood pressure.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Corwin, pretending she's never heard of Apollo, no never.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Viktor I'm-going-to-figure-Corwin's-shit-out Valthayne.

MIRA [as UNA]

And Una, who is wondering why is everyone obsessed with Aleks?

[Laughter]

ELIZABETH

We just really like the name.

Hey. Hey hey. Hey hey!

ROVER

Well...

MIRA

Hey hey hey! Woah woah woah woah.

Hey now, hey now.

ROVER

Hey, hey, hey Annie? Do you wanna explain why everyone's obsessed with Aleks?

ANNIE

Sure...well, I can just give a quick recap of the last episode and let people fill in the blanks. We, on the way over from Krillis's apartment to find a library, we were headed to RadCam, and on the way, Corwin took a look at the newspaper that Una was carrying, saw some fancy golden lines and other colors in it, didn't realize we couldn't see it. We kind of shared meaningful looks with each other about not seeing it. Viktor then said, "Let me see your eyes!" Saw some...evidence of a previous Apollo connection there, but Corwin is so far evasive.

We got a lore dump in the newspaper, which I don't need to repeat here. Upon arriving outside the RadCam, we rolled a series of insane natural 20s to get more lore than we ever should have.

ROVER

I hate all of you.

[Laughter]

ANNIE

With a nat 20 on History, Una remembers RadCam, knows she is supposed to be there, knows a lot of things about what's inside of it, is unfamiliar with why there would be guards surrounding it, which there are now. Jo, with a nat 20 on History knows that the reason there are guards there is because the entirety of RadCam is filled with information about the Cult of Hades, which is no longer public knowledge, and the authorities are attempting to restrict access to at all costs. So of course, we are going to try to break into them. Una has mentioned some tunnels.

We go into the library and have—where I get my natural 20 moment, looking at the stained glass decorations, the stained glass windows around. We see evidence of Dragonborn priests of all different cults, but there is no Hades and never was. And there are very, very few and only subtle references to Poseidon in there, which Josie flipped them off upon seeing them. And once we were inside, Vik starts stealing everything that's not nailed down, as is their way.

[Laughter]

He does.

ANNIE

Corwin and Una are talking about trying to find more info about the spider corpse puppet thing that we saw on the train, at which point Corwin mentions Aleks, which perks up Vik's ears. And meanwhile, after all, while all that is going on, Josie says, "You know what? You guys all like books more than I do." So Josie goes outside. At which point, some secrets ensued, that only Rover and I on this call know—

[Jo sighs]

—and you know, but the rest of the players in here do not, as of recording.

Rude.

ANNIE

So you have a knowledge advantage on the players at this point, Listener. Hope you enjoy that.

[Soft, ethereal music begins]

ROVER

So we pick back up inside the library. And I, I got—I'm gonna have to tell the listeners, I got a request from a certain, a certain book-obsessed character...

(Laughs) Hi.

ROVER

Who really wants to steal books. And I think I would like that character to roll me a d20 to see how many books they will steal? Perhaps?

[Jo cackles]

In the meantime, I roll a Perception check for anyone looking.

[Dice thunks]

Oh. Oh, I don't get to roll Stealth! Oh, shit. Okay.

[Dice clacks]

ROVER

No. I don't want any modifiers, I just want you to steal books. How many?

15.

[Laughter]

ROVER

15 books.

ANNIE

The dice know.

ROVER

Alright. What type of books are you, are you, are you stealing? Because to remind listeners, you have a Pocket of Holding—

Yes.

ROVER

—for, just specifically for books, in your clothes. Yeah.

For books and paperwork, because there's also blueprints in there now.

ROVER

Yeah.

Yes, so I was at the self-help shelf, and I specifically said I stole four books for each of our emotional problems. And then whatever, what's the section closest to that, Ro? Because I was bee-lining towards Corwin and Una anyways.

ROVER

I, I would say, if you are bee-lining past them, you might have, before Corwin got there, have gone past the religious texts. You might also have gone past...give me a Perception check, actually.

[Dice clattering]

12.

ROVER

You're going past, cause next to, next to the religious texts, there are texts about, about different types of monasteries, where you can at some point see a book that has, on the cover of it, the same type of mask that the orange Tabaxi has. You can see that on that.

Mine.

ROVER

You wanna take one of those as well?

Yeah yeah yeah. That and everything that looks adjacent to that.

ROVER

Okay.

I kind of want to figure out the Tabaxi's shit, yes.

[Papers rustling]

ROVER

Yeah, so you can find stuff about the Tribes of Mercy.

Mmm.

ROVER

And what I like to do with books is, definitely for the ones Viktor wouldn't have read, but for every other character, is that if you spend a certain amount of time reading it, roll me a check and then you can get Proficiency in knowledges about that specific fact. For the listeners, you may or may not have heard about me doing that with books that the Protectors have gotten as well. So yeah, you take a couple books of those, about the Tribes of Mercy. Do you want to take anything about the other monasteries, or more just, just that bit?

No, I think that bit. So I have four self help books, help books, and then I guess nine books—no, what did I roll? 15 or something?

ROVER

Do you want books of Apollo? To figure out what's going with...

ELIZABETH

No mean suggestions!

[Laughter]

I will take one book of Apollo.

MIRA

We are playing DnD together, what do you mean "no mean suggestions."

[Laughters]

Okay, one book about Apollo. For listeners’ benefit, I do have a separate list of inventory that's just shit that's in the pocket of holding. (Laughs)

ROVER

Good. You need to know that. Yeah. Perfect.

Yeah.

ROVER

Okay. Other than that, what do you guys want to do in the library before Josie comes back?

MIRA

Well, is it going to be in that span of 10 minutes as well?

ROVER

Yeah, I'll say so.

MIRA

I will let Lizzie go first.

ELIZABETH

I think Jo has the floor here. Corwin had just, Corwin had gotten, was just going to a shelf. Corwin was ending a conversation and moving toward any shelf.

ROVER

So you picked up the book of Apollo—

ELIZABETH

Yes.

ROVER

—and then were like, "oh shit, this is an Apollo book," close it, put it back, and you turn your head, and Vik's right there.

[Laughter]

ELIZABETH

Corwin startles back, like,

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Ah. Make a noise.

(Laughing) Very deliberately, without breaking eye contact, taking that book of Apollo and slipping it inside the—(breaks off laughing)

[Laughter]

ELIZABETH

Corwin gives the biggest eye roll in the whole world, and turns and walks away.

[Laughter]

I'm gonna go chill with Una, I think. (Laughs) For the remainder of the 10 minutes.

[Laughter]

ROVER

May I suggest something very much above table, and y'all can see what you want to do with it?

ELIZABETH

Yea.

MIRA

Mmhmm.

ROVER

Cause I know that Lizzie and Annie, as Josie and Corwin, also want to I think find, if at all, research about the missing people?

ELIZABETH

Yes.

ROVER

And I think Una and Viktor really want that knowledge of Hades.

Mmhmm.

ROVER

Are you guys all staying together and doing whatever you want as a group? Or do you guys want to split up into two groups that I can follow?

(Quietly, chanting) Split the party. Split the party. Split the party.

MIRA

If people are leaving Una unattended, she will probably just walk by herself (laughs). That's why I said people can go before me.

ELIZABETH

Yeah, I'm down for a party split. At some point, when we think an appropriate amount of time has passed, Corwin would probably go out and see what's up with Josie.

ROVER

Yeah.

ANNIE

I think if you were even headed out to find Josie, Josie would be just about to be making her way back into the library. And also, I think it would be fantastic if, based on something that happened in the secret conversation, if Josie comes back in and the party is already immediately split, before I even get back in there, you two have already gone off to the tunnels.

That was, I was thinking above table…

MIRA

Sounds good.

…that we might, if you are up for it, follow Corwin and Josie while Una and Viktor are just walking away.

ANNIE

Exactly.

Because Una started walking, and Viktor's like, "Okay."

ANNIE

"Here we go!" Yeah.

ROVER

Okay, wonderful. And we start with Josie and Corwin. So you guys meet halfway in the entrance.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Hey, I was just coming to check on you.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Yeah, I was just smoking. It's fine. Alright, where are we standing? What are we looking at? What have we found so far?

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Ah, I mean, Vik's doing what Vik does best and is looking at all the books. He and Una just have gone a bit further into the stacks. I really wanna get to the newspaper archives. I wanna look at whatever information we can find on the missing people.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Yeah, that's a little bit more my speed as well. Let's head that way.

ROVER

I would say you guys are going into a different hallway than—

ANNIE

Yeah, we'll head opposite directions.

ROVER

Yeah. The opposite directions. Yeah, you guys can find your way to an archival space with literally just newspapers from, I'd say, the last 50 to 100 years even?

ELIZABETH

Nice!

ROVER

Like it's a large, large space. And yeah.

[Music stops]

[Archival ambience: Papers flipping and rustling, pencils scratching, soft noises of people]

ANNIE

Um—

ELIZABETH

I—oh, go ahead, Annie.

ANNIE

So, one thing I was gonna ask is, you...Corwin has mentioned Alea being her sister, right?

ELIZABETH

Yes.

ANNIE

That's something Josie would probably be aware of?

ELIZABETH

Yes.

ANNIE

Okay. So I think that Josie's gonna say,

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Corwin, do you know exactly when your sister went missing? Or at least when that disappearance would have been noticed in newspapers? We can start grabbing French papers from around that time, and then English papers from around Jonny's disappearance, and work outward from there, I think?

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

I, honestly I don't have an exact date? It started being reported...I mean, you know, she lives, she lives in Paris and I was in London, so—

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Right.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

It started...I noticed that she wasn't answering my letters, usually she writes back really quickly. So kind of end of September? We're talking, you know, sometime that last week or 10 days of September was when I started noticing that she wasn't answering my letters? It was reported in the newspapers pretty soon after that as well.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Okay. And I guess Jonny would have been around the same time, so let's gather anything we have with political news from that week and see if we find anything that seems suspicious.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Yeah, sounds good.

ELIZABETH

Also, I was just gonna say, I think while they're alone, and while they're kind of...I imagine it would, I mean I've seen newspaper archives, right? I imagine it would take a while of rifling through?

ANNIE

Yeah.

ELIZABETH

So Corwin would probably kind of glance over at Josie just as she's going through newspapers, and just be like,

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Hey, by the way, I just wanted to check in with you about all the bounty-hunters-being-dissolved stuff? I mean...

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Mmm.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

I'm not gonna pretend to understand the context, but it seemed like that was some pretty big news to you.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Well, yes and no. It's been a risk for a long time. I didn't know that the Six were gonna try to move on us that fast, so, but, listen...anyone who's been around long enough, anyone who's been paying any attention in the bounty hunters has a game plan for what to do in exactly this contingency. Everyone, it seems, except possibly Safra. But, you know, it's only by virtue of the fact that you're so new that you don't have one yourself. But you're in good hands with Vik and I, at least.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

No, that's fair. I mean, honestly I'm not really worried about my position here, but it just, I mean, I imagine it's gonna be a bit harder for you two. I don't know, it just seemed like your game plan and, you know, Brian's game plan might have been different. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Yeah. Brian and I have a lot of history, and he, he knows my brother, and that's how I know him. And I was kind of hoping that he would see things a little bit differently than he seems to. And, but I've always been prepared to cut any ties I needed to. It's an unfortunate fact of the lifestyle that we have, so.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Yeah, that makes sense. Anyway, I'm sorry that it...like I said, just from the little bit that I know, I'm sorry it seemed like he didn't have your back in the way that you would have hoped. I hope you know that, I mean, if there's anything, if there's anything we can do, if there's anything I can do, I just...we're here. For you.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

I appreciate that. And, in return, I want to say, I have of course clocked the evasion of all things Apollo, and I just want you to know...if there's anyone you don't have to worry about asking you questions or getting you involved with religion, it's me. So stay close to my side, you'll be alright.

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Thanks. I...genuinely can't tell you how much I appreciate that.

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Vik's nosy.

[Jo gasps]

[Laughter]

ROVER

Ah, that was a middle finger from Jo.

ANNIE

(Laughing) Caught the birds from Jo, yep.

ELIZABETH

Incredible middle finger from Jo.

Annie Ruby, when I get you!

[Laughter]

ROVER

While this conversation happens, can I have someone roll me a percentile dice? See how many minutes you spend on...

ANNIE

Oh! I have to use a percentile?

ROVER

Yes.

[Gasps all around]

ANNIE

My 100-sided metal sphere that weighs about 3 to 5 pounds here.

MIRA

Beautiful.

ANNIE

This is gonna make a great noise, let's see what happens.

It is a die and a weapon.

ANNIE

It's gonna have to be, actually it's not gonna make a great noise cause I'm gonna have to roll it on the carpet, it's the only place I have space, so...

[Laughter]

That is an 81.

ROVER

So while they spend 81 minutes trying to find every single knowledge that they can about stuff—

ELIZABETH

Let's go!

ANNIE

You guys have all day, don't worry!

ROVER

—I'm gonna move to the 81 minutes that happened on the other side, if you wouldn't mind.

Plenty of time to break into shit, so.

ANNIE

Whoo!

[Archival ambiance fades away. Soft, ethereal music begins again]

ROVER

So, the intruders...

Intruders!

MIRA

Excuse me!

ROVER

The intruders (laughs)...tell me...

MIRA

(Gasps) They have the bird! Sorry.

ROVER

Tell me what the plan is.

MIRA

Sorry, I was just very happy that we don't have the (parrot noise) bird with us.

[Laughter]

I feel like Vik has just caught up to Una after stashing the last Apollo book to his pocket. And be like,

JO [as VIKTOR]

So there's tunnels, I heard?

MIRA [as UNA]

Yeah? I just need to have an inconspicuous—

MIRA

And she pointedly looks at Vik.

MIRA [as UNA]

—look around. And I really do hope that you're intending on returning those books, unlike the one from Manchester.

MIRA

And then she'll just start walking around and looking.

Behind her back, he's flipping her off.

[Laughter]

Like, nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah.

ROVER

Can I have a Perception check from Una?

MIRA

Of course you can.

[Dice clunks]

That would be 19 plus my modifier of 6. I am getting a 25 please.

ROVER

Okay. No, that makes sense. As you are, you start saying, "I just need to know where it is," and you look around, and from…

[Ethereal chime, fading into humming, haunting music]

It's almost like it comes from your mind down to the floor, and this blue glow that you saw back in, when you were walking around, starts, just for your sight, leading you through the entire place. And it is, it is, at some point it starts as a little glow, and then they actively also become actual footprints that start walking around through the space, that you can follow towards the tunnels.

MIRA

Few questions. Who else is around? Cause obviously, it's a public library. Who else is around?

ROVER

Let's find out.

[Dice thunks]

There are quite some people in the area that you are currently at. The footsteps actually also walk around people to get to new areas. It seems like no one's really paying attention to you. There's maybe 10 to 15 people in this room and a couple more further down the hall. And the librarian's also there.

MIRA

Second question. Is it the same foot size as Una's?

ROVER

Interesting. Give me an Investigation roll, if you can tell.

MIRA

If I can tell.

[Dice clacks]

I have rolled a 9, plus a modifier of 5, which would be a 14.

ROVER

Could potentially be. It's definitely not the same type of shoes that you are currently wearing, from the shoes that you got from the Wanted Dead. But if you follow them, and you actually step on parts of the remaining stuff, you can see that they are indeed at least the same size as yours.

MIRA

Okay. For the description, upon looking around, noticing now many people are there, stuff like that, if, once Una's focusing on that glow, her eyes just glaze over with the same hue, and she, she just says to Viktor,

MIRA [as UNA]

Um...this way.

MIRA

No like, "I think it's this way." Just, "This way."

ROVER

Mmhmm.

MIRA

And she would start following the footsteps. You said that they're going around people. She wouldn't just follow them step into step, trying to avoid obstacles the best as she can without losing the trace of it, and kind of follow. Also, if she walks past any shelves that look like administrative archives, she probably would make a stopover in there.

ROVER

Give me a 1 or a 2.

MIRA

Ah, 2.

[Dice clacks]

ROVER

Nope.

MIRA

Nope.

ROVER

Not this way.

MIRA

Not this way. Yep, just follows the footsteps, hoping that Vik is following as well.

Oh yeah, with a, with a good amount of distance. He's trying to look like someone that's searching for something in the shelves—on the shelves—and, while having an eye on Una and following along.

MIRA

Yeah, she's also not trying to make it like, following the scent kind of person (laughs). Just walking around.

ROVER

Yeah. So it walks through the entire halls until you get to a sort of congregation room.

MIRA

Mmhmm.

ROVER

And the footsteps walk towards one of the benches that are there, and then they fade into them. And the glow of the footsteps being there is still there, but they—

MIRA

Stop.

ROVER

—stop in there.

MIRA

Facing the bench, or facing away from the bench?

ROVER

The bench.

MIRA

Facing the bench.

ROVER

Facing the bench.

MIRA

Okay. Just come up to the bench. Another glance over of how many people are around, just being like, "oh yeah, I'm just a tourist. Don't mind me." Kind of.

ROVER

Give me a Stealth check.

MIRA

Ooh.

[Dice clacks]

(Laughs) So that's an 18, plus a modifier of 6. That is a 24? Yes.

ROVER

You can, you can see the same thing that was back in Jonny's shop, when there was something that you can move or twist around. You can see a very faint line of that, of being in the, into the pine floors around that bench.

[Haunting, chiming music continues]

MIRA

But is there anyone else around? That was my question.

ROVER

There is not. Not in this room.

MIRA

Not in this room. Relays everything—like, she would not mention the blue hue or anything like that. Her demeanor would have been very flat, actually. And just kind of throwing instructions to Vik, going like,

MIRA [as UNA]

This bench might be leading somewhere. I just need to figure out how to...don't remember right now. But could appreciate some help.

MIRA

(Laughs) There we go.

Before we get into that room, can I ask how long we were walking through the library to there? Was it about 10 minutes?

ROVER

Yeah, 5 to 10 maybe. Yeah.

If it was 10, he would have, on the way, started to ritually casting Comprehend Languages, because I feel like we might need it.

ROVER

Oooh!

Like, mumbling to himself to disguise the spell, but yeah.

ROVER

Okay. First of all, tell me how you cast it. Second of all, what does it do? To listeners. And for me, because I know the main things, but I want to know the specifics.

So it's like, it's VSM. So somatic—

MIRA

Verbal, Somatic, and Material.

Somatic and Material.

ANNIE

Material.

ROVER

Material. We don't do material components because it's just the thing of like, "oh you need all this?" They already have it.

So I feel like the movement or the gesture and the words would be things muttering under his breath, tracing the lines of the book spines. And as the spell catches, only to his eyes, words that he did not understand before, shift, as if you see shadows shifting in the flickering light of a candle, and they suddenly make sense to him.

[Fast, humming whoosh]

And what it does. It's for 1 hour. For the duration, you understand the literal meaning of any language that you hear or see signed. You also understand any written language that you see, but you must be touching the surface on which the words are written. It takes about 1 minute to read 1 page of text. The spell doesn't decode symbols or secret messages.

I would also not understand, like, idioms or something like that. It's very literal translation. But yeah, arriving at the bench, I guess.

ROVER

Yeah.

JO [as VIKTOR]

So, that's a bench. What's the mechanism like? You don't remember?

MIRA [as UNA]

No, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna—

MIRA

And then she would crouch to have a look at the bench.

MIRA [as UNA]

Just, maybe...I don’t, there's no one around us, and I want it to stay that way, so if you could keep an eye out, or if you want to investigate, and I'll keep an eye out? I just kind of want both of us to cover each other that way, if that makes sense.

ROVER

Give me a Perception check, Una.

MIRA

Mmm. That...okay, I'm going to do something I haven't had a chance to do yet. Let me just quickly read it. Because I can boost stuff. So it's a skill check, right?

ROVER

Yes.

MIRA

I have rolled a natural 1.

ROVER

Mmhmm.

MIRA

But, I do get a Heroic Inspiration.

ROVER

Yes, you do.

MIRA

So I would like to re-roll that, if that's alright.

ROVER

Mmhmm. Absolutely. So Heroic Inspiration is basically, if you've used 5e before, the DM can decide, "you get inspiration for this because it's something cool." At least that's what I've always done, that there was just a thing that was cool, and it was like, "okay, get inspired. Have an Inspiration ready." And everyone can have one, max. However, for humans in 2024...in 2024, they're called Heroic Inspiration, and you can use them to also re-roll. And humans in 2024 get a Heroic Inspiration every single day, after a long rest.

MIRA

Yeah. And to add to that, that specific Heroic Inspiration can be passed along. So if I gain a Heroic Inspiration, but I already have one, it's lost unless I give it to another player who lacks one.

ROVER

Okay.

MIRA

That would be a 23. (Laughs) That was a very well spent Heroic Inspiration.

Mmhmm.

ROVER

Alright. So the moment you touch the bench, you can once again see that blue hue, but this time coming off of your hands.

[Echoing chime]

MIRA

Out of the gloves?

ROVER

Yeah, out of the gloves. And then it kind of wraps around the bench until you can see that it just becomes, like it looks like it's supposed to be an illusionary type. And everything that is on that block has that blue hue, and you can see under that—and you're the only person that can currently see that this is all an illusion—are stone stairs going deeper and deeper down into the tunnels.

MIRA

So if Una was to extend a hand to touch the bench, it would actually go through.

ROVER

It goes through. It goes through. You touch it, and it takes a while before everything is fully in that glow, and the moment it is, your hand indeed goes through it.

MIRA

I think it would be fair to say that Una is just engrossed in this, unnaturally, and discovering that the hand is going through, she would just get up, and without saying a word, walking down the stairs, if she is able to.

ROVER

Viktor, Una is walking through a bench into the ground, because you do not see this blue hue.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Hey, would you—is she a ghost? I...

MIRA

There's no reply.

Ah. Can I roll Perception so that the illusion also breaks for me? Or that I can see through the illusion?

ROVER

Give me an Arcana check.

Oh! Oh! Ah!

ROVER

I will do that with an Arcana check.

[Chiming, haunting music ends, light music begins]

Where's my die?

[Dice clatter]

Uh oh. Uh oh. (Laughing) Hang on, how much do I get for Arcana? You know what? I'm going to spend a fucking luck point to re-roll that fucking die.

[Laughter]

ROVER

Okay, cool. So how are you, cause you have a Lucky feat, right?

I have a Lucky feat, which means I get as many re...skill check...I fucking, I don't have the rules open. I can re-roll a d20, essentially.

ROVER

Amazing.

Twice a day. This is less shit.

ROVER

For any knowledge on feats, remains to be seen. We might be doing a bonus content episode about that. But that is for a couple weeks later. You'll know.

(Whispering) We call it OnlyFeats. (Normally) So this is a 19 plus 3. So 22.

ROVER

Yeah, once you, you look at it, and then you're thinking, and then there's a connection of like, "illusion." And then you touch the bench, and you also can go through that. And if Una would ever look up, you can see that the blue hue also goes over the silhouette that is Viktor in that case. Viktor does not see this, but yeah.

[Light music ends]

[Chiming sounds of bell tolling]

MIRA

Una would look behind to check if Viktor was following. She didn't say anything, but...and just quietly extend a hand to lead him down the stairs.

Oh, I'm going to take it.

ROVER

Yeah, the blue hue then goes from your hand, from below your glove, goes over Viktor, and Viktor doesn't see that.

MIRA

Just leading by the hand down the stairs.

ROVER

Fantastic. How are the, how are the party people doing over on the other side, after the 81 minutes? Because they will also be doing some walking throughout the tunnels.

[Chimes fade away]

[Archival ambience resumes: papers rustling, pencils scratching, quiet sounds of people]

ELIZABETH

We're vibing.

ANNIE

Okay. Well, first things first, do you want us to roll for what we find out from the newspapers?

ROVER

Yes! I do. Give me an Investigation check from both of you, with advantage because it's the two of you.

[Good dice tower clacks]

ELIZABETH

Thank you.

[Dice thunks]

[Dice tower clacks continue]

[Dice thunks continue]

[Annie gasps]

ANNIE

Shut the fuck up. Nat 20.

ELIZABETH

Nice! I got a 19 on the die, so that's a 22.

MIRA

For people listening, Ro was taking a water break when the nat 20 has been announced, and we nearly lost the DM.

[Laughter]

ROVER

(Sighs) This is a good recording session for you guys.

ANNIE

Insane. Insane!

ROVER

For everyone's knowing, this is our second episode recorded today.

ELIZABETH

Yeah, this is great. Also just throwing out there, so Corwin is looking specifically for information from French papers related to Alea's disappearance, and also any information from London papers related to Cazur Fell's disappearance, who was the paladin who went missing from the Temple of Apollo.

ANNIE

Yeah. Josie is specifically looking at Jonny and Alea, but is just in generally really using, trying to use them as a jumping off point to find anything about the other disappearances, and find any kind of, even really specious connection of something else that was happening at the same time, that might appear unrelated but that she thinks she could tie in, if that makes sense.

ELIZABETH

Smart.

ROVER

Let's see how we could connect this all, without...the thing is, we have all the newspapers, right? The newspapers would have started around three weeks before this. So we're looking, indeed, end of September, start of October. Reminder, we are currently on the 22nd of October.

And it started with the, the Fell falling, Mr. Cazur Fell. And yeah, you can see, indeed, French papers—do you speak French?

ELIZABETH

I do. Does Josie?

ANNIE

Nope.

ROVER

Okay. So yeah, you can read that the place that she was staying at was also fully investigated, there was no sign of her. They went past all of the...she has made multiple locations, like she helped design them. She was actually a part of designing the University of Paris. And you know that she contributed to not just the work, but also teachings at that school after that, after, once it was constructed.

And people have looked through the university. People have looked through every other shop that she has ever helped design, in a way. And they say that there has not been a lot of, not a lot of signs, but as in…the shops that she designed seemed to either not exist anymore, or have no knowledge of where she would be in that case scenario. And currently, the President of France, Ciel Greenaxe, who's also in the House of Six, has also taken upon this fact, has said publicly to the country that they are gonna be, if this takes longer than a month to find them, that they were gonna look into it with the House of Six, and that they would also, if necessary, get people from the First Void involved.

And the people from the First Void are the, the bounty hunters from Athens.

And they have said multiple times, "I do not want to get bounty hunters involved," because they are also actively kind of against bounty hunters. But that they are very much trying to find her because of the fact that she has meant quite a lot to the city. And I'm pretty sure, I think maybe Alea even designed something maybe for the palace there. I think that would be, that would probably maybe even have been one of her last designs before you stopped having contact with her. That was Alea, that was not even Cazur.

Cazur Fell. So, there's newspapers about the missing disappearances, however Cazur has mostly been a kind of, more of a missing note, rather than a big headline. And the missing note kind of started appearing around 20, 21st of September. And after a week or two, it wasn't even in the papers anymore. I think those are kind of the things you can see on Cazur and Alea.

Who else? (Laughs) Because we have a natural 20 over there, as well. This is gonna be a lore dump.

ANNIE

I know, I'm loving it.

ELIZABETH

I love it.

ANNIE

Like, I literally cracked my knuckles to get typing these notes. The president of France said that they might get the First Void involved. Would the First Void be where Isaiah is connected to the bounty hunters? Would that, would it be through First Void?

ROVER

I think Isaiah would be more with the Rose, which is, which are the bounty hunters in Berlin.

ANNIE

Okay. Right. Yeah, okay, that makes sense.

ROVER

I think you would know this: the First Void, like, Brian doesn't really speak too much about Safra and their story, but you do know that Brian and Safra and Nyx came from the First Void before they got here. Anything else you guys wanted to, were looking for in that moment?

ANNIE

Josie was looking for anything relating to Jonny that we wouldn't have already found. And anything in general...what was, also, what was the name of the prisoner from the Solar Bastion that disappeared?

ROVER

Graham Gallagher.

ANNIE

Graham Gallagher's the other one. So those are really the two that she's looking for, cause they're also gonna be in English. On top of that, is looking…specifically the way she's trying to track this research is trying to find things that are connected that don't necessarily seem connected. Other articles that are happening in the same day, that aren't even about disappearances, but that she's like, "that's significant to this in some way." And for languages, just so you know, it's English, Swedish, Infernal, and Druidic.

ROVER

What you can know with Jonny is, most of the things you know about Jonny, about Jonny's disappearance you already know, because that newspaper was floating around in the past week. We've went through that a little bit. You can find a newspaper that was talking about the fact that he saved a man's life five years ago. And you can find Graham stuff. He indeed got arrested about 10 years ago, and on the headline, I would say there's also this, like, creepy picture of him being actually dragged out, and he has this huge grin on his face.

And with a natural 20, I will say that you can see that he is not holding any type of card set. Possibly, they have already taken it from him, but on the pictures, you can't see that he's holding anything. And he seems to have snuck in, in a way, and gotten out, and already alerted all the alarms. He seems to have actually injured at least three guards. And when they found him, it seemed to have been in kind of this dingy bar that you can't, you can't really see if there's a name of the bar there. And that he was, he was dragged out, but not in a way that he was protesting. It was more of the fact of like, "alright, what are you gonna do with me now?" AKA smug bastard. Smug bastard.

ANNIE

Mmm.

ROVER

And he has been in the Solar Bastion, which is, for geographical sense, if you know—I need to say this correctly— Mont Saint-Michel, which is this kind of small, I was almost going to say island. If you look it up on, on the maps, you'll find exactly what I'm looking at. It is just across the water from the northwest of the country. And it is very located in its own space. And every single, even, there's a harbor there. So there's only access from water. And the, kind of like almost dirt road, dirt and sand road is completely guarded by so many, so many Solar Bastion guards. And if you're looking for connections between them—oh, yeah?

ANNIE

Real quick on Mont Saint-Michel and the Solar Bastion—is, are we thinking, are you effectively thinking that it's this universe's Alcatraz? Since being from San Francisco, I am well familiar.

ROVER

I'm not too familiar with it.

ANNIE

The inaccessible and supposedly unescapable prison.

ROVER

No, not really, because the place was never used as a prison until Graham.

ANNIE

Okay.

ROVER

It is more, the Solar Bastion...you have a natural 20, I'm just gonna yap literally everything that you want to know, now. Here is the entire lore of the campaign! Campaign ends. No.

ANNIE

Whoo-hoo! (Laughs)

ROVER

The Solar Bastion is mainly a research and holding cell for the powers that are within this card set, that is the Deck of Many Things. Plus the Deck of Many More Things. If there's any type of information, on research, on arcana, and magical card sets, they would have it. They have their own library. They have their own, like, there's only a singular dome which is used for the guards and the people who lead, and under that is the prison where they keep Graham. Or where they kept Graham.

His disappearance started showing up also 20th, 21st of September. Yeah, I think that is currently the most knowledge. And you wanted to see if you could find any connections. They have all happened to be reported in the past month. Same with, if you're looking, like, the first reported stuff about, for example, Evelyn Beaulieu, the casino owner, also was around 21st of September. Kind of that timeline. And if you're thinking back on what Brian said about the 19th, stuff had happened on the 19th, then it might have been reported a little bit later. But yeah. That is the main connection that you can find from the people that were reported in it.

And any type of connections, you can't determine. It seems so specific. Because breaking into, for example, the Solar Bastion, and taking someone out of that, or Graham escaping himself, seems so highly unlikely without anyone noticing, because of the fact that they have guarded up the place even more after the incident. The connection is that these were, at least, people that were useful in a way. And with, with Graham, it is...roll me an Insight check before I say too much.

[Laughter]

[Dice clacks]

To kind of see if you can...like, maybe the Insight more for yourself, if you can connect the dots basically.

ANNIE

13.

ROVER

13. You have the question in mind that is, "Did Graham get this stuff for himself or for someone else?"

ANNIE

Hmm.

ROVER

And you can't really determine with the amount of, with the newspapers that you have. You can't determine which one it is.

[Archival ambiance continues]

ANNIE

That is a good lead to follow anyway, as an idea.

ROVER

I think that was most of the lore that I can give!

[Laughter]

ELIZABETH

That was an incredible lore dump, good job.

ROVER

Aaargh! Okay.

ANNIE

That infodump was more notes than I took for three-quarters of last episode, so.

Yeah, no, I was—

ANNIE

That was amazing.

—writing so much!

ANNIE

Yeah Jo was, Jo was handwriting! Furiously.

I was like, ahhhghh!

ROVER

Well this is going to be the entire episode. Next time—no.

MIRA

No!

ANNIE

Last thing I wanna check here, because I think that you already answered this—

ROVER

Yes.

ANNIE

—but I really wanna nail it down and make sure. From everything I can tell—obviously, there's a limited amount that I can tell just from newspapers—but from everything that I can tell, you're saying these things all happened around the 19th and probably were a couple days out from reporting. Is there anything that would make me think that maybe Graham...something happened with Graham, whether it's the disappearance or something else, prior to the 19th? And maybe that, like, do you know what I mean? Like maybe he went missing first, and then everyone else, or just like there was something about him that was happening before that? Because the Bastion is obviously not trying to let information out at all. But is there something more?

ROVER

Give me an Investigation roll on specifically Solar Bastion, how they handled him.

[Dice tower clacks]

This is the lore drop of the prologue! (Laughs)

ANNIE

13.

ROVER

13? There aren't a lot of newspapers on what they exactly did in the Solar Bastion.

ANNIE

Right.

ROVER

They keep that very much to themselves. But what you can definitely see is that there have not been any new reports in newspapers about Graham's behavior or anything Solar Bastion-related. It seems to actually have been quite calm for the past 10 years.

ANNIE

Okay. That is relevant.

ROVER

And if you don't mind, with all of the lore drop, I'm gonna move back to...

ANNIE

(Laughs) Yeah please.

ELIZABETH

Yes, yeah yeah yeah.

[Archival ambiance fades away]

[Chiming music like a tolling bell begins]

ROVER

The lads over there. Hello. So you have been walking through the tunnels for a while. I'm gonna need a drink break at the end of this episode.

Any, any lore in the tunnels, dude? Is there, is there like—

[Laughter]

MIRA

I mean, would it take us 81 minutes to get to the bench and then walk through the tunnels? (Laughs)

ROVER

Absolutely not.

MIRA

So we still have that. Also, I do want to say it out loud: I love how in session 2, episode 2, Una was like, "Ooh, we have this person and this person. What did Graham do?" And everyone was like, "Una, shut up. This is not important right now." (Laughs)

[Laughter]

And I was like, (noises of protest).

ELIZABETH

Una my queen!

ROVER

Oooh, we love Una.

ANNIE

I do wanna say, it's relevant to know that Josie was looking for those things because Una said that. Josie doesn't want to let on that the newbie, that she thinks the new person had the good idea.

Yeah.

ANNIE

But is really doing that because the connections you made, and were trying to get you off it at the time mostly because, "We can't answer that question sitting here in the Bounty Hunters. We need to go out and find stuff out."

The bounty hunters are fickle folk.

ANNIE

But this is very much Una's lead that Josie is following.

MIRA

(Laughing) No no, I'm not—

ANNIE

Josie's not that smart.

MIRA

I'm not upset or anything! I'm just pouting cause I was like, "session 2!" Anyways. 81 minutes in the tunnel, that's what I hear.

We're holding hands.

MIRA

We're holding hands.

ROVER

Una, you don't have dark vision, do you?

[Low, ominous hum begins]

MIRA

No, but do I actually need to see anything right now?

ROVER

It is completely dark in the tunnels.

MIRA

I don't even see the light?

Oh, no problem darling. I got you.

ROVER

Yeah, you can see the blue hue. Yeah, Viktor? Did you want to add anything?

I have Devil's Sight. I can even see in magical darkness.

ROVER

No, that makes sense, because—

I feel like that's the moment where it shifts who's walking one step faster than the other. Like, it's dark in here, okay, let's (laughs).

[Intermittent chiming of a bell]

MIRA

So, can I say, if Viktor is taking the lead, absolutely welcome to. If you're expecting Una to be stumbling, she's not.

Oh, he did not expect her to stumble.

MIRA

(Laughs) Fair enough.

He just saw you kill a guy. He understands.

MIRA

And stab your boss.

Ah! Oh. Yeah. True.

MIRA

(Laughing) Sorry.

Sorry.

ROVER

Una, it, you follow the blue hue further and further into the tunnels, and Vik, give me a Perception check.

I'm not good at those.

[Dice thunks]

MIRA

I would help if I could.

14.

[Eerie, choral music begins]

[Intermittent chiming and low hum continues]

ROVER

You look at Una, and she is so focused, to the point where you, even you can notice that there is, there is something. And for Una, it literally feels like the blue hue is shining off of your eyes into the distance. And you can see perfectly. Every single step you take. The blue hue that was first footsteps are now exactly where you put your feet. And it's like the blue hue flows under every single footstep.

You walk on until there is a large wooden door with quite a sturdy lock on it. Give me an Arcana check.

MIRA

Una or Vik? Cause Vik is technically leading.

ROVER

Both of you.

MIRA

Oh!

MIRA

It is a 24.

(Sighs) 8.

ROVER

Vik with the insane amount of joy, where it's like, "I'm gonna know more knowledge. I'm gonna know more stuff," wants to go to the door. And Una, you can see that there is kind of this, this, I'm gonna say it as it is, because otherwise we're just gonna keep rolling—this abjuration magical sense coming off of it. And before Vik touches it, you can pull them back and be like, "there's something here."

MIRA [as UNA]

There is something here.

ROVER

(Laughs) You know that, with a 24, with something like Arcane Lock or whatever, there is a set password for that.

MIRA

Okay okay okay okay, wait. Is it alright if Una kind of comes back to a little bit?

ROVER

Mmhmm. Absolutely. The moment you kind of come back to yourself, you're gonna have to put a hand either on Vik or a wall, to make sure you kind of know where you are. Because the moment that feeling is gone, everything's completely black.

MIRA

That's fine. Then, I imagine they are still holding hands.

Yeah.

MIRA

So before Una comes back to, Vik would feel a little bit of a harder squeeze on his hand. And Una would say,

MIRA [as UNA]

I think...I don't have magic. I can't get rid of this in any way. But there might be a password involved. Not sure what it is.

JO [as VIKTOR]

So...you don't....I was about to ask, you don't happen to remember? Do you think the password is just "admin?"

MIRA

(Laughing) Admin.

JO [as VIKTOR]

Or "1-2-3-4"? "Password"?

MIRA [as UNA]

Just...allow me a sec.

MIRA

And she would try to focus back.

ROVER

You start focusing in on yourself. Give me a Wisdom saving throw.

MIRA

Ahhhh, that would be a 16.

ROVER

Alright, here we go. You, you say, "hold on for a moment," and you snap back into that headspace that you were currently in, but this time it is much stronger.

[Eerie choral music begins again]

Like last time, it was kind of gradually taking over, showing you around. Now, when you're tapping back into it, it is like, wvhooomp up.

[Unintelligible whispers]

And the voices that you kept hearing start kind of piling up again. And as you speak, a language that you, yourself, do not recognize—nor does Vik, but Vik can understand it nonetheless,

MIRA [as UNA/MYSTERIOUS VOICES]

Seek the death that will remain. Seek the god below remains.

ROVER

And cht-cht-cht-cht, the lock breaks. And Una completely comes back to herself. Probably has not even also noticed that she has just said something. And this voice was like, it was Una but it was...there was something, there was almost an echo around it.

[Whispers fade away]

And the door creaks and very slowly opens.

[Door creaks open]

MIRA

I just would like to add, there would have been a vice-like grip on Vik's hand while all of this is happening, without noticing.

MIRA [as UNA]

What happened?

JO [as VIKTOR]

Um, first of all, if you're trying to break my hand, you're very close to it. And secondly, what the fuck was that?

MIRA [as UNA]

What was what?

JO [as VIKTOR]

Sweetheart, you are speaking in tongues.

MIRA [as UNA]

I did no such thing. What tongues?

JO [as VIKTOR]

I wish I had a record—

I'm not saying that.

[Laughter]

JO [as VIKTOR]

I...

Would I know the language I heard? Because it's not specified in Comprehend Languages that you know what language is translated to you.

ROVER

I don't think you'll know.

Okay.

ROVER

Out of character, it is Ancient Draconic. But I don't, that's why I don't think Vik would, yeah—

I understood that much. That is the sole fucking reason I cast that spell. (Laughs)

ROVER

I did not know you had it. I completely forgot. So yeah.

Yep.

ROVER

Good one on that.

Ah, um um—no, Viktor's going to be like,

JO [as VIKTOR]

Okay, I have no fucking idea...I know what you said because I used a spell so I can understand languages I usually can't understand, but you said something in a language I don't know. I, I don't think I've heard it before.

MIRA [as UNA]

I...

And I relay what Una just said, because I don't quite know if she remembers.

MIRA

Oh. No, Una would probably but in every now and then, like,

MIRA [as UNA]

No, I did not.

MIRA

Like, what? If Vik is saying the sentence back in Common, does Una recognize the sentence back in Common?

ROVER

You...you recognize it, but you can't really determine what from.

MIRA

Okay.

ROVER

You recognize the sentence, and you once again have that feeling of "I know this. Why do I know it."

MIRA [as UNA]

Ah, no, I—that doesn't matter. We should probably just...

JO [as VIKTOR]

Yes. I think we should just...I mean, the door opened, so whatever you did, good job.

MIRA [as UNA]

By all means.

I go first.

MIRA

(Laughing) I don't go first.

ROVER

You go through the door, and there are stairs leading up. And once again there is, this time, a statue where you can, if you walk up, you can walk through the illusion that is the statue.

[Low, echoing music begins]

And this is the exact same shape that, well from the outside, looks like RadCam. And it's funny that around the walls is this scaly-looking swirl upwards as you go all the way to the top. And from the top is this large Draconic mouth open, looking down onto the center of the area. And the moment you get inside, it's thwu-thwunk, as blueish lights come up through lanterns—

[Bells chime]

—four of them throughout the space. And then two more up, and then the eyes that are in this Draconic thing shine blue. As you guys are in the RadCam library, and it is just, on most of the books are black ram sigils.

I think this is the perfect moment where we end this lore episode.

[All sounds stop]

ANNIE

Oh my god!

ROVER

And what happens with this, we'll see next week. What happens with the Protectors also happens next week, because when you're listening to this, it's Sunday. You'll hear it on Thursday. And, the next things remain to be seen, I suppose. Buh-bye everyone.

ALL

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 our show notes for additional credits, links and transcripts.