It's the penultimate episode of the Numenera campaign storyline.
Will the adventurers find out what REALLY going on?
You have listnened before, haven't you?
Knights of the Night
Kotn Actual Play Podcast - 161 Numenera - Quam Shards
[music] Hello, and welcome to Night's The Night actual play podcast. This new manera adventure, Sand Swept, was written and run by your GM Scott. And now, please enjoy episode 161, titled "Quam Shards." Actual play begins 12 minutes 55 seconds. [music] Okay, before we get into the episode and finally resolve the cliffhanger of everyone's waiting for. We have a cliffhanger grown up? Ah, yes, we did. It went through the uh... I was. No, no, no, no. No, this is the... This is the episode after that in which we went down the hill and we charged the fight and then we confronted the fact that the fight is going on between green lizard men and uh... uh... clones of ourselves? Yeah, we did not show. We did not show. Someone that looks incredibly light to myself. It was good for us too. Yeah, actually it's where it really ended. That particular... Doesn't happen very often. No. But let's dive into the feedback. First of all, we had Ari mentioning the KOTN podcast on Twitter as he was talking to the Walking Eye podcast crew. They were about to start a new manera adventure. And so he was looking for luck to uh... All the hall at the moon. And all the characters are playing health. So he was looking forward to having a different view of new manera. You can say better. I don't know that they do it better. Actually they're a good crew. It's a really good podcast. I enjoy it. It's called the Walking Eye. Well, there's good stuff. Try something over a week. I don't try it every week. They do uh... short runs on podcasting. Yeah. We tend to go longer. When we went dressed and they were the podcast I found that was doing it at the time. And they had a feel for what it was like. And then while we were still doing dress then they were doing 12 other things. Probably. They move along a little bit quicker than we do. Who doesn't? Also from Twitter we had Vail Degas who stated the KOTs were great this week. The insane banter back and forth about the naming of the panther was funny. And also a good cliffhanger at the end. You mean the KOTs and the humors? Yeah, actually moved all that to the end of the podcast because... That's why I was calling them KOTs. I've heard them. I like that the best rather than when you repeat. Something that was already in there you put in your brand new stuff. That's what I've been doing lately because some of the stuff I'm cutting out just to make the story flow better as a story is still humorous. But I don't want it to derail the story. Well done. He also said that the sand is all zeros but did the moan get edited out? In the podcast we were talking about that vegetation and animals seem to be all ones and zeros. And someone asked if the sands was ones and zeros and I think it was Mike said the same as all zeros. It might have been Michael. It was Mike. It was Mike. I laughed. And there wasn't a moan because I don't think most people taught it while we were playing. There might have been a moan otherwise. But Vail also said the best actual play podcast out there. Great editing player interaction storyline and multiple game systems. Give it a try. So thank you for those tweets. Matt and you and I are stated that this might help Mike get over his fear of spiders or not. And he included a link to a spider comic which I actually did pass on to Mike. I saw it. Didn't help? No. I'm letting it in. I'm letting it stick to the facts. I don't dispute any of the facts in that comic. But you agree with the ending of the comic? I agree with the ending. Yeah. Okay. But I'll put a link in the show notes or on the page. I don't want to go into it but had we ever talked on the podcast about my theory and spider? I know that we've talked about it while it was recording. Yeah, I remember talking about it. I don't know if it was like pre-game banter. That's right. On Facebook, Richard Watts posted on episode 160 and said anyone else get to the end of the episode and go what? My only complaint is that now I can't wait to see how it ends. We all went home with different theories as to exactly what was happening and we all came back wrong. Yes. We didn't talk about that. So feel free to submit your own guess. What exactly is going on there too? I'm pretty sure I wasn't wrong. Well, you were sort of? I don't know. We ignored it. Yeah, I can't. We all had like three different ideas. All right. You also commented and said I'll join that club. Was waiting for something completely different based on the episode's name and the idea never crossed my mind. Excellent job, Scott. What was the name? Tila 2. Yeah. The number two. You're gonna tell me to do it better. I remember. We discussed that one. This was good choice. No, actually you're really looking forward to the end fight. Damn, you guys are good. P.S. Tom, I'll have to make another iTunes review then. Because you couldn't find it. And I just looked at still a lot in Finland. There's no reviews in Finland. Joshua Grasco also commented and said I'm not sure about the system yet. But I love the world. Yeah. I think that's our general consensus. General consensus. Well said. David Laport posted on episode 159 and said hello, Knights. 159 was great. I'm really looking forward to hear your thoughts on the system. I'm in the middle of a little conversation over the cipher system to use in a more stock fantasy campaign with a couple of players over on Google Hangout and Roll20, which is a system that you can use to emulate dice and for role playing online specifically. We like the simplicity of the task resolution and for my part as a GM, the ease in which the encounters can be created. I have to agree with that. I have found that I don't have to focus so much on the monster stat blocks and the like. I can focus much more on creating an interesting encounter. I also think it's much easier to adjust on the fly with this system than with others that I've GM'd. A lot more observations, but I'll save those for after I've heard yours. On another note, I'm going to join the 9th World Chronicle podcast after one of the original players had to drop out. This will be my first venture into podcasting and I will be drawing on your episodes for inspiration. If you haven't already, take a listen. I think the early episodes are a little rough around the edges, but GM has created an interesting story so far. If this comes across as a shameless plug, I won't be offended if you leave it out of the feedback. It's not my intention. We included more shameless plugs. We've had much more shameless plugs than that. We have no. By Leatherman's. By Leatherman's. That's probably the advantage of our podcast. We should get a sponsorship. If you have listened, I'd be interested in your feedback on the podcast. In fact, I have started listening to 9th World Chronicles, but I haven't listened to enough of them to actually give feedback yet, so I will wait a bit. In any case, I remain a fan of the Knights. I've made it all the way through shit luck and onto your grin. I'm saving Dresden for later. Thank you kindly. David LePorte. Yup. Excellent feedback. You'll enjoy Sugarin and hopefully Justin as well. Other than that, we have no additional feedback, but we do have the fan page which has been going strong. Anybody who listens here on Facebook, there's a KOTN fan page. Feel free to join there and join in on the conversation. Recently, Luke Green put up some YouTube discussions that he had on role playing. Scott McDonald visited medieval times restaurant and posted a picture and was thinking of us when he was there. Can I speak about that one side? You're talking about the fan page. The fan page, I'm sorry. Yes. I'm impressed that we have 71 people that have registered to that fan page. I just think it's cool. Yeah. I'd have to agree. I didn't notice that many. That was just like a handful. It's actually growing all the time. Just today I was on Facebook doing something and I saw a little message pop up because I think anybody in the group can okay members to join the group because it's right now. It's just open. It's a fan group and something popped up and said there was somebody who wanted to join and I just clicked the button and invited them in and that happens routinely. It's growing all the time. Thanks, Jason, for starting it. Yes, thank you. Let's see. We also had Richard Watts asking about his blog page, which you know what? I'm going to put a link. I meant to do that on the fan page, but I'll mention it in the show notes and stuff. Richard has been running a Dresden game. He recently became a player and someone took over as GM, but they have a blog page that talks about their adventures and what happened in the stories and stuff. It's really interesting reading. Good stuff. So anybody that's interested in Dresden, it might be another source where they can... I responded to him and gave him the information. Yes, you did. I appreciated it. Those are the people asked us to look over their aspects and such. See if we have any advice back in the day. That might have been a long time ago, yes. Very interesting character concepts. I, myself, posted a picture on the fan page of Attila Crossing, the one that I've seen many times now. Too many times now. Four times in the last month. I didn't have a lot of time this past week, but if you remember the old movie poster for a movie called The Prophecy, I do not. Okay, well, it involves a mutated bear that represents a bunch of people. But the main poster is just this big bear. No, it's all mutated. I could have used that. Well, that's exactly. I was going to try and find it and try to do something with that. I wasn't... The picture that I posted as I stated was not... I didn't take it. I tried to, but I was driving and it was snowing and on the way back it was dark. So, as I all I got was this blurry shot as I'm driving past really quickly. Not like your crazy brother who would stop. And I was crossing it. But I looked online and I put the highway number in there and the whole thing. And there was a picture of exactly that sign. And there was also a little bit of a story which it's not really a bear crossing. There was one bear that once crossed there and a car hit it. And so they put up a sign that said, it's like in the next 40 feet watch for bear crossing. I mean, I think it's a mile and a half. But I mean, normally it's like for the next 20 miles deer crossing type thing. So really it should be bear crossed? Bear crossed. Yes, it's not a crossing. Just with a history of a long crossing. Yeah, it was kind of funny. But it's definitely the picture except there's leaves on the trees in the background. So it wasn't my photo. Mine were all blurry and snow covered. Just really quick. The last couple of topics that were on the fan site. Ari posted about the Dice Heroes Fate episodes. Those were really good. I enjoyed those as well. Logan Swanson said that he used a Task Force Siren as a cameo in his game. And he also mentioned his girlfriend smokes electric cigarettes. And that he could swap out different cartridges. And he thought it would be a cool thing for Jay who uses drugs to administer different things. No, I thought that was brilliant. That is pretty cool. I might actually use that. Right, yeah. Because that's pretty cool. Oh, look, they would cigarette blue or light blue or whatever. Right, just different cartridges that he could swap for different things that he intakes into his system to perform different spells. Except they're actually... Personally, I'm still a fan of you injecting your eyeballs with the needle. Yeah, I think someone actually mentioned me sticking the cigarette in my eye to achieve that. And I'm not so sure about that. Adam and Donji mentioned anything ghost podcast, which I haven't tried yet. So I don't know specifically what it was, but one of the other fans said it was cool. So I'll have to take a look at it. Then there was a post on gamer resolutions, which a lot of us posted under. And so other listeners can take a look there and post their own resolutions for 2014. I said I was going to get a fiasco to the table. Yeah. And there was much laughing about that, both in my household and on the post. Last but not least, we have Jason McDonald putting out a new video. No means no woman in which he took some shit luck. Soundbits and created a movie about it. Which is a very nice job. Yeah. I'm sure the majority of us saw that. I enjoyed that. I was hoping that Bob's not on Facebook, so I actually made this video. Or that? Yeah. That's hilarious. I sent it to him as well because there was rumors that he was going to show up tonight. And I was like, if he was here, then he would have to have watched it so he could get feedback. Right. But unfortunately, Bob, shoe is not here tonight. So with that, we will get on to the actual episode. Don't forget the KOTN Podcast.com blog site with the little Amazon link there. We're still getting some traffic. We're still getting some money from that. Really? So we appreciate everybody that uses that. It doesn't cost you anything. It gives us a little money. Then Flipboard. RPG. Yeah. So I just got a steady stream of new subscribers from over 700 down. Really? I haven't even checked out the Flipboard yet. Oh, Flipboard. I'm not standing. You can get that on a PC, I guess. I've never tried it. But it's on Android. Is it on Android or on iPhone or iPad? I have it on all my devices. I knew it was there. Really? Yeah. So that's the end of the feedback. And now everyone, please enjoy the episode. This is chapter 11 of the Neumannira story "Sanswept." I'm your GM Scott. And with me tonight on my left is... John playing Sig, a mutant nano, who talks to machines. Thomas playing Felix is strong with Jack who hunts great skill. Mike playing Boz, the tough glaive who fuses flesh and steel. Tom playing Tila, the intelligent Jack who howls with the moon. Jim playing Eshman, who is a mystical nano, who works miracles. Michael playing Nina, a stealthy nano, who exists partially out of phase. A brief recap of last week for our listeners and for our players. You had worked your way deeper into the cold desert. But this is obviously some different version of the cold desert. And just when you walked past the oblisks, you realized that the ninth world or the world as you knew it had changed to some extent. As you worked your way deeper into the cold desert and towards the oasis, you came upon a ridge line which Nina and Felix scouted out rather effectively. Hold on a minute. Intermittently, right? They each had their moments. And what you saw was an incredibly large tree, larger than any normal tree should be in the world. You also noticed a battle raging around that tree with some green lizard-like ab-human battling of a caravan that looked suspiciously like a caravan that came from your city of serenity. As you decided to join the fray and see what was happening, when you stumbled upon the battle, you noticed that the people who were being attacked by the ab-humans were yourselves. Or at least individuals who looked like yourselves because you're pretty sure you're you. And it was all very unsettling. You also noticed that the sultana, Indra, was in the large tree, actually, within the branches up high and was watching the battle take place. And I believe we ended with Nina calling out to her. I want to say. Right. So we can pick it up there. We actually had an initiative order already as the battle is still raging. Nina was the last person to act on the previous turn and she called out. Can you want to maybe paraphrase that or just rephrase it? I might call it so I can just inquire against who the bad guys were. Probably enough. Is it us? She looks towards you and she's far enough away. I think we said it was somewhere in the vicinity of 70 or 80 feet away. So it's not she's not really close, but how high up is she? She'll be a good 30 feet out. The tree itself is at least 80 to 90 foot high and the tree is almost as wide as it is tall. And it's very thick trunk as you can see from your map with a howled out pathway. Almost a perfect semi-circle cut into the base of the trunk where the trail goes through. And that she's probably itself maybe 20 foot high and she's about 30 foot high. So she's at least 10 or 15 feet above that archway, if you will. And is there some easy way for her to get up there? Is this an easily climbable tree? Is there any indication that she went up there to hide or she's being held up there? Or she went up there to look around? She looks at ease up there, doesn't appear frightened. Is there a way easily up there? You're about 80 feet away. Is she standing on a platform on the top of there or is it? It's a creek between where a branch goes off the trunk. A major branch goes off the trunk. She's in that creek, standing in her bare feet. And the glance is evident how she got there. Like, oh, that's an easily climbable tree. She could have just... I'm going to say that I think your main focus was on the battle and yourselves. Or at least looking in a mirror-like thing of seeing yourselves in this battle. So I think you look up at her really quick and there's just not enough time to really process it. There's all that in one turn. But I think it's safe to say that she looks at you and looks surprised. She doesn't answer, she just looks very surprised. Like, something you expect doppelgangers like you do. The right time to respond is that... I think that's where we'll end it for that turn. You shouted out, she looks to you and could you were running as well and you saw yourself as part of the battle. And she just looks at you like, it doesn't double take. We'll pick it up then at the next round. At the start of the next round, we have Indra going first. She looks at you and says Nina, ninth world Nina? Yes, that's me. We met in the blue palace bar. And that's all she does this turn. She's really just processing that bit of information and it's all she can do. So the brown cloaks yourselves in these exact same cloaks that you're all wearing, even you, at least this version of you, is wearing a round cloak as well. They act for their turn. Tila, you attack back with the lizard ab human that has been attacking you with his electric spear that he was using. So you attack back, he staggers back a bit from the blow. You were bleeding profusely on the ground, you stagger up to your knees. Do you think we should call the beta or mirror or something so we know when you're talking about which one? Sure. Any particular one you like? Beta sounds good to me. Beta. So beta boss gets up to his knees and tries to pull out a knife, which he does successfully, and then he whips it over Tila's shoulder and it strikes the lizard in the left shoulder. And it kind of staggers back from the pain, but doesn't lose its balance. Beta Nina is on the wagon and she has a light crossbow that she uses to take a shot and hit one of the lizard ab human. Wait. Beta Eshman is doing something that looks very similar to what regular Eshman would do, in which case he stares at one of the... He grabs his forehead and he goes, "Oh God!" No, this particular beta Eshman actually, his attack is successful. Oh. And the lizard preaches it. Oh, we know it's not. It's head. It falls to its knees. So they're a lot more toughening bruises than us. They're right there, Alfred. Yeah, they're around this. Felix is surrounded by three of the lizard ab humans. What's usual? I made some bad choices here. Yes. Usually I'm like over on a hill exactly where I am right now. And unfortunately he is bashing one of the ab humans with his large crossbow that he has because he doesn't have another weapon available. Disgraceful. Beta, say, finds himself underneath the wagon. A familiar position for him. And seems to be working with some type of, you know, pulling out some type of cipher. He actually has two or three from his hands and he's trying to decide which one, all the while, there are lizards on either side of him with spears. It's been attack formation, but he's trying to fumble through some ciphers and get something. So that is the beta version of the group. And then that takes us to Felix and Sig, the alpha versions. Well, I don't know who I should shoot yet. I know you can play since still. I have 10 feet to go, which I can do and all sorts of stuff. Correct. Can I have some questions that might help? Sure, I don't know if I'll answer them if I don't think he would know them yet. One of the questions I'm having is you're talking about one of the combatants was speaking in a language you never heard of before. No, which ones if it was the ab humans are the, have we heard the beta cells talking in a regular language? You haven't heard the beta. What are you doing? Was it the one going Bas or something like that? Oh, I think in Bas was reaching towards Tila. Correct. And you know what? That's an era in my part. You shouldn't have been able to understand it. You inferred. Well, the name is the same. Right. Exactly. So the name is the same. But maybe there were a few words before after he said Tila and a tongue that you did not understand. Well, that's different. That did not sound like the same tongue that was being used by the ab humans. The damage being taken by the ab humans and the beta uss. Are there zeros flying out or is there blood and dust flying out? Blood and guts. That's a good question. To be fair, blood and guts, but you're still far enough away that you probably can be able to discern whether that blood had zeros and ones in it. And sorry, what was your last question? Is there any of the beta uss down and out for the count rate? Ichabod is dead. No. Ichabod is proudly on, he's riding the four legged southern anneem into battle with the cemetery in each hand and it's just very heroic. Beta. Beta. I know there's a couple down but not dead yet. No, there's a couple down, nobody dead yet. You can tell. That's our one then though. Okay. And that takes us back to Felix who now has a little more information out of his hands. And still no idea if you shoot. Protect or something. I'm very safe. If you're going yet. Made a mistake. Felix, if you're going that last 10 feet up the hill, you're going to, I'm going to require a stealth roll and that's going to be your action for the turn to remain hidden. That's good enough for me. Now to aid in this plus one level because in this desert there's actually some foliage and they are very distracted. So between the two of them, I think it's worth a level. Yeah. One didn't doubt kill the abdomen. That would actually be a thing to do. It's fun to be clear, the abdomen's are wearing clothes that were guard clothes when we saw them with a sultan, correct? Which they acquired after they killed me. No further information presents itself before my next turn. That demon started. I'm not going to shoot myself. They were wearing. Some fucking lizard guys. Pearl as well. But that's not what they were wearing in a sultan's palace. No. And is Doltana wearing any kind of cloak that would match her with any of these. For sure. She was, she's wearing a dress of some sort and she is wearing one of the same cloaks, the opalescent type cloak that these. That's the answer. Yes. Okay. The question I was looking for. Seems to be cloak wise aligned with the ab humans. Who are the guards that are in the Azir's palace from where you came? Serenity. All right. I'm going to crawl those last 10 feet very stealthily. I'm trained due to my flex skill, which I haven't changed this entire game day. And also there's another addition because they're distracted. So minus two levels. The level of difficulty, actually it's not that tough. I think most people could actually pull this off on their own, which is level two. So you don't even have to roll. But the fact of the matter is, I just want to point this out, that if you're going to make it not difficult because of the comment in chaos, you should not also. I understand that people aren't necessarily looking around. They're focusing on their combatant. So I think that that's part of the reason. But also there's, yeah, they have other priorities. And I think that you're right. But I also think the fact that you have foliage. I'm going to give you that extra one. So that's fine. You don't have to make it wrong. That's the elixir. Excited. Sick. My distan activation works on devices. I understand the function of it must be my size or smaller. And I'm pretty sure I know what these electric weapons are used for. So I'm reaching out and switching off the weapons that are about to skew or sig beta. Okay. I dispute the fact that you know what to do. You know what electricity is. But I don't know that you know that how the electricity is being generated. But what type of electricity it is? You've never seen this. So what I have to take a weapon. I'm trained in understanding archical machines. So if it's an easy task for someone who can do that, here I am knowing that. Also, I have points in just understanding new menera trained in that as well. I think instead of giving it, it's a free thing that you can do normally. Yeah. Just you just do it. Yeah. Fun. I think that there's enough gray area there that it's a happy medium. I don't tell you no outright, but you don't really, it'll become a little bit more in here. If someone who didn't know what this device was, picked it up and was looking to turn it off with their hands. How difficult would it be for them to figure out? I think that should be the difficulty of my distant activation. Because it says, you can activate or deactivate any machine you can see within short range. Even if the device has to be touch or manually operated. To use this ability, you have to understand the function of the machine. It must be your size or small. There's nothing about it after I've touched it in. Function of the machine. The machine's function is to damage someone with, yeah. So, I think I misread that. Yeah, I don't think you have to make a rule, but I will say you may only turn off one of the two. Is this something I could apply effort to and perhaps increase the scope of its power? Sure, why not? If you spend three intellect points for the effort, you may set up one additional device. Okay. This isn't three, six, nine, twelve, it's just one time you could spend three extra for the effort. Okay. And that will allow you to shut off both of the electronic functions. The snipers I have aren't going to help in this fight. And I think sick, but beta might have enough to turn the tide. Right. So, go ahead and subtract your three intellect. And you find them at that point holding on to what looks like error. But at the top, there is a metallic type of spear point. And at the base, there's some type of rounded base to it. They'd be like an end cap, if you will, maybe about an inch size. It's grabbing on the air, both of these abhemons are grabbing on the air, but they seem to still be holding the spear. Okay. Okay. And that takes us to the abhemons. Both of them look at their spear and shake their hands once. And then they do something with their hands. There's no button. They do something. What is really interesting is when they move their hands back and forth. And it looks like almost like a holographic interface appears right alongside the spear. And they just press something and do something with their hand and the electricity is flowing again. Lots of action. It took, yes, exactly. It was an action. And the abhemon that was in front of Baita Tila takes the spear and actually, instead of stabbing her, he swings it around, hitting her with the butt of the spear in the head. And she takes a glancing blow and drops to her knees his days, but not harmed in a major way, but definitely took her down. And about halfway through their round, the sultana in drop, she's just screaming out. Everyone just shes your weapons. She spoke in two different languages, the truth and in something else. Something else which seemed to be the language of the brown cloaks, the Baita versions of you as opposed to the language for the abhemons. But the abhemons immediately, their weapons go into the state that you saw when Sig did his new manira. So they shut theirs off immediately, and the Baita versions of you are like staggered, and in some cases they're still holding their weapons up, but they're kind of bringing them half down and she is just screaming out from the tree. The lizard people are extremely disciplined and follow their orders, so that does natural welfare. It is now Eshman's turn. Eshman walks up behind Sig and heals him. You've done this before. Yes, I know. I don't remember how many times I should do that. This is the third time. I have this written down in my second time. I've done Sig once in, like, twice. So far in state, and then we were figuring out everything else was done the day before. Okay, my apologies then. A couple of weeks I've done it already, down a level because I put up where to do it, so it's at two, which is six. Okay. You should consider doing training in here. At thirteen. Okay, I know. Okay. Ooh. This is better than nothing. Yes, it is. Alright, that's Eshman's move, and that takes us to Tila at three, initiative three. Are we dropping out of initiative? Not yet. I'm not sure that you guys want to drop out of initiative yet. I'm defaulting to my brother. This is a combat situation, so I always default to him in combat. And that takes us then to Bas and Nina. So is the lizard man that I was running towards? Was attacking your beta sister? Right. That's who's closest to you. Yeah, he stood down immediately. And your sister is on the ground, your beta sister is on the ground, holding her head, looking dazed. Well, I don't cheat my weapon, but I don't have it up. I'll have it kind of between them. If he makes one flinch or does anything with his weapon, I will strike. Okay. Moving closer to him or staying where you're at? I'm putting myself between the wounded beta Tila and the lizard man. I'm going to say they're at an immediate distance to each other. So unless you're like literally soldering your way, getting him a shoulder and bumping him away. If I'm standing here in front of Tom, then my sword's going to be down here like this and back off pal. Okay. So you can just put his weapon in between them. Yeah, I'm right. And my weapon in between them, but I'm not cheating and I'm not dropping it, but it's not raised. Under this. Okay. So if we go in situations like this, I'm watching his back. So I'm next to him. I'm also really leery of my beta self. I don't want to touch, I might even close or something. Right. That's freaky. That takes us to Nina. Oh, I have a question. Do I have time to look at my beta sister here at all? Is she equipped or geared up? I mean, is there anything I can see up close? As a brother, I'm pretty intimately familiar with my sister. Well, one thing that he's thinking about is the chronometer. Is she wearing her prominent thing that I always keep close by because it's vital to my lifestyle? Nope. Now, she looks exactly like Tila. Right. But there are small things that are different. Like the pack she's wearing on her back. Oh, the pack of chairs not wearing really baggy clothing? No, she's wearing, yeah, she's wearing the cloak of, in the brown cloaks that you were given, or not given that you stumbled upon in the desert. So she's wearing the cloak. She has her hair tucked behind one ear. There's a necklace that she's wearing that looks like it's just a strange symbol that you've never seen before. Okay. So it's, she's no chronometer. There's no chronometer. But she is every bit Tila to look at her. It is her. Isn't that like it's a double aura? Is there the deep sadness in my eyes that I'm now killing beast and she isn't? Well, I can't see her eyes because she's kind of stunned and she's really in pain, but it's her. If Alpha Sister disappeared next to you right now, and without that chronometer, you'd have a really hard time telling difference besides the equipment. I mean, the freckles are in exactly the same spot. The wrinkles near her eyes are not like the laugh wrinkles, you know, not the, because being in the desert and stuff like that, you know, it just, it ages you a bit. So just, she looks just like her. Then I look over at Beta Bos and does he have, I know my mechanical pieces parts. I see why he has them and why I have them, so it's the same way. No, Bos is completely human. Joe's? What? He's not using flesh. And I don't think he would be able to tell what you were asking. I just don't think we're there yet in the fight. Not necessarily, but in his thought process was, there's no chronometer. Maybe that means, and then his eyes flick over to himself and go, "Right." Back to you, Nia. So, Nia's gonna, she's her dagger and walk, like, onto the road, so she has a clear line of sight without the wagon in the way. Right. Walking towards Indra and asking her in a casual conversational tone. Right. Ninth world, Indra. Yes. Um, okay. Where did we last meet? Blue pals? You know that it was first and last. It was the only time you heard about her. It was one time when you were crowsing and you happened to bump into her entourage at a tavern called... Blue pals? The blue pals, thank you. So, you say blue pals to her? Yes. And she's like, "That's really good news." You don't have to die. One second. And so, she disappears behind the tree and starts, well, she just stares behind the tree. Is that good news safe over or good news for all of us? Does anyone have a reason to continue at this moment to be on initiative? No. I don't want to take that ability away from anyone if they wish to stay in it. All the NPCs are not in combat mode, is what you're saying. The beta versions of you are taking deep breaths and staggering up to their feet, holding their wounds. Beta Eshman is walking towards Beta Bos right now because he is, by far, the most wounded of anyone. Tila is shaking her head, trying to get her consciousness back because she obviously was taken out of it for a second. Let's see, Sig is crawling out from underneath the wagon, wearily, you know, looking around very much suspicious of the situation, but not fleeing just yet. So, everyone seems to be not attacking, but just kind of standing down. I'm going to stay in my hiding spot, just in case she goes south. I don't know, I'm here, maybe I died. Right. I'll cut my sword out, but I will not. I can drop out of initiative mode. Right. I'll lay down my other crossbow, so that's a easy reach after I launch my first volley. Oh, this really is a good hiding spot. Yes. Keeping my distance, good distance, remember. I'm trying to make a way to the base of the tree, which is why I'm assuming she's going to... And again, there are a lot of combatants, as far as the app humans are, there's got to be at least 20 of them. The tree, yes. They had branches and they were large. Do they reach close to the ground farther out? No, the closest one is probably about 15 to 20 foot up. 'Cause it intrigued me, I thought that there was something unusual about the leaves. They were mirrored. Yes, and they're not leaves in the sense that they're connected to the tree, but they're aware the leaves would be floating. And they all seem to be at the same, I guess the best way to put it would be, they're already at the same angle. Yeah, the same angle. And right now, the reflection, now that you're closer, because before it was just, it was slight bouncing off of the mirrors and coming back at you. But now they all seem to be showing an image across all the screens. So there's one image, but it's reflected across thousands of these small mirrors. And that would be an image that you see of Indra, the sultana, walking down the back of the tree, which there's kind of a spiral or switchback, I think, is what I was looking for, sort of stairs along the back side of the tree. And she's walking, and that's what you see. It shows her far away, and then it zooms in, there's a close to her face, and then it kind of pans back, and you see yourself standing in front of the tree. It's just a constantly shifting montage of this current scene. But all of the so-called leaves seem to be oriented on the same picture or whatever that picture may be. As of right the second, yes. And Sig, to the point you made, the Sig who crawls out from underneath the wagon does not have a tail. So, yes, I'm making my way around to a thousand before I go to the reality. Apparently, we're out of order, right? We're out of order. Anyone can talk. He walks away from the group but he's extending his hand to Sig to shake it to Greek beta set. All right. And when he notices this, he takes a step back, but he still holds it out and waits for him to approach. Fair enough, what? He's going to continue walking towards the tree and ignoring all the former combatants everywhere. Right. Everyone. He does a like. I woke up with her in, to her back. Sure. I actually been jogs up to be somewhat behind you. Well, first of all, what did the lizard men do? They're standing at what would you could only refer to as attention. But they haven't moved from their spot, they're still... She said, "Stand down in the truth and in the language that is presumably spoken by the beta versions of you." And they immediately went to shoulders back, spear at the side, button that in any kind of electrical mode. You know, the electricity went out of it, but they're still holding on to the invisible shaft of the spear. And that's... they all just stopped exactly where they were. Tila, move Beta Tila, move the other away from this lizard guy and see how badly... If they speak a different language, sister would be a word you have to her yourself. If you said sister, Beta Tila wouldn't understand it. I sure should touch this. That's what that means. Abomination. We don't know if she's an abomination. She looks like you. And abomination. I know. Is Beta Bos anywhere near me? He's about 15 foot behind Beta Tila. And he's being attended to by Beta Eshman, who walked over and is doing some healing on and trying to help him. And he's gonna be catching his breath and some of his wounds are starting to heal thanks to Eshman's abilities. So I think we'll transition to the fact that now the sultana, you see her at the back end of the tree, of the archway of the tree. So she walks through underneath the tree and there seems to be something inside there. Some, maybe an altar. Tough to say. And works her way around it and then works her way to the front of it. And she smiles at you. Eshman says, "Yeah, I thought I was killing you." Sorry about that. She looks really sheepish like, "Yeah, well, sorry about that." I wasn't sure which version of you this might have been. I was hoping that it was the parallel version, but I had no idea if it was or not. So please accept my apologies for the fact that had it been not the parallel version, my men would have attacked you and I can't be discovered. So she just starts kind of blabbering. She seems like she's not uncomfortable, but just a little bit, she just feels awkward would be the term. She's really kind of caught off guard now. There's two youths there. She just looks like she's stumbling over her words. You've never seen her like this. She's usually, well, the sultana that you knew, the injury that you knew, was a party girl. So first of all, that's the first thing is this is not the party girl that you knew. But here she is speaking to you. But even then she seems self-gunned. In the truth. Yeah. It's capable. But more selfish and not at all awkward or stumbling over her words. She obviously is either very genuine or, well, it is a unique situation, obviously. So I think that might have something to do with it. I think I saw a question someone had somewhere like. You answered it. Okay. Great. So yeah, she kind of trips over her words and she's like. So I ask her that you're dead in this world. These are just to come get you. I don't even understand that. Yes. She has to think about it for a second and it says yes. This is the first parallel. No, seriously. I didn't understand that. What? The salt in this world that we just stepped into. This alternate world that we're in now. The beta salt in sent. Visier. The beta visier sent these beta essence to come get the beta her that we're talking to right now. She's beta? Yes. No. I don't know. I'm not beta. She's great. Beta. Beta me is no longer exists. Oh. Wait a second. Did you approach the group at the caravan talking? Or are they run by the tree and I can't hear them? Hanging out with Sig as I am. There it is in the way. There got to be 60, 70 feet away. So it's probably a conversation that you don't quite have. Certainly intriguing. But yeah. Is that a journey? She says that yes. I am ninth world Indra, the sultana. I understand that. You hear if you're all free will. And yes. I'm here. My own free will. I chose to come here and I chose, well, I've chose to rebel against my father. I'm not surprised. I think that's something I mentioned. Right. Yeah. That Nina was considering that possibility that she wasn't kidnapped. Yeah. She says that she came here with my entourage of Olmir and Olmir, the Olmir that were selected for this trait mission were completely 100% loyal to me. So I came on this mission with the idea to escape my father's clutches and to start a revolution here in the first parallel to retake serenity for the cause of good. I was way laid by, as you so wonderfully call it, the beta version of myself and her entourage of Olmir, which she seems to be referring to. So you're like my ancestors to your father and I would like to volunteer lend assistance in any way I can. Well, I am so very, very happy to hear that because the reason, we're not really not here to take you back. The reason I'm here, I know you were sent here to bring me back or bring report to me back. I can't have report to me get back to my father and if it came to it, I would have to kill you, which is unfortunately a situation with the beta versions of yourselves. They're refusing to not report back and they need to be dispatched with. Oh, that's right. I really didn't like your greasy, smarmy father in the way you handle things. He's very smooth, but he's kept us prisoner. He will have us enslaved all of us before much longer, if he has his way and I refuse to have him have his way. I'm going to raise an Olmir army who want to rebel against him anyway. He's enslaved them in the first parallel to some extent. And yes, I mean, I think, yes, go ahead. The trade was that more of like a payoff tribute from that first parallel. The first parallel is paying a tribute of, it's a crystal that powers most of the new menira that the vizier controls. He's basically enslaved the Olmir, at least some of the smaller settlements of Olmir around this tree of life in this cold desert. Her father is demanding tribute in these quamchards and in the enlistment of the Olmir to serve in his burgeoning army. This is where we tend to be ab humans? Yeah. Could we assume the rest of us have gathered around to hear this story? Sure. At this point, everyone's kind of... As long as our beta cells are approaching as well. The beta cells are staying at a distance and look very wary of everything. They're like just looking around, they're confused. You can see kind of their eyes, they might want to run. I help up Tila, so she's standing, and then I point to her and the other ones, beta Tila. Who else could it be? Yes, I am Tila. I point to her and the rest and I make a motion as if they should all gather by the wagon. And when they start doing that, then I join everyone by the tree. I would say that several of them, Tila, Bos, I would imagine Nina are by the wagon. Sig, Felix, and Eshman are kind of not getting as close. They seem to be resisting that a bit. They don't like their other beta friends? Oh, they like their beta friends. They're just looking towards her and in the Olmir, the lizard folk, and being quites. There's still a lot of ways. Yeah. Yeah, but I'm trying to convey to them that it's safer for them all to be together. And give us a moment type of thing. Do you have anything that might be able to be of value in that? You have skilled languages. I do have a skill on languages and persuasion. Okay. Those are both values. Yep. I'm going to say that that is a demanding task, which is level three, target number nine. Persuasion would take it down to two. Yes. And maybe language. Language gives you a plus one URL. Okay. Because it's not specific. I don't know. Yeah. But I know many languages. So it's helped. It makes sense. So add two. The difficulty is six. I'm willing to try that straight up. I rolled a 10 plus the one is 11. So I'm just conveying to them that it would be safer for them to be together and give us a moment to work out this loss. Right. In that case, I'm going to say that sig moves with any clear. I'm focusing mostly on conveying this thought to the beta basket. Right. So it's a sister talking to his younger brother and then he can convey to the rest of everyone else. Sig and Ashman move a little bit closer. They're like within the realm of the wagon, but Felix is still off the side, looking around, not abiding by beta Boz's version of the bench. They can't be the boss. You're not listening to a two four. So the rest of you are now standing around the conversation that's unfolding. With the exception of our Felix, who is also still standing somewhere on the left side. I dig out poorly because beta six not coming with me. So I dig out the book on the southern desert that I have and I toss it at him for, I don't know if it's weird to look at this parallel. Right. And I walk over to the other. Okay. Conversation. Are the only from this first parallel? Yes. They are native to the first parallel. What is the first parallel? It's a version of our world, the ninth world, but with small butterfly effects, if you will. Things have changed slightly since the beginning of time to the point where they're changed to a great degree now, not so much where deserts become verdant fields. It's our world changed ever so slightly. And then there's a second parallel where it's our world changed even more, and then there's a third parallel and so on. But of course, everyone here in the first parallel believe that they're the ninth world and that we are the first parallel from them. That's clear as much. So we are ninth world prime in class to you, right? So we're prime and we are currently in a zone that is we consider first parallel. Yes. On the zone. An entire universe. That's what I mean. That's what I mean. In a way, we're parallel. In one that hasn't been, as you can see, one that hasn't been as handicapped, as hobbled with technology restraints that we have in our current world, in our prime, if you will, our ninth world. I mean, look at this place and she lifts her hands up and you see that on the tips of her fingertips, she has some type of metallic material and she just literally, out of the air, starts pulling things, holographs, and this is over the third hill and this. She watches her fingers. Yeah. Look, I'll just, and she swirls her finger and a plant grows up right next to you. Just blossoms with zeros and ones because you're close enough to see it. And then she just pushes them away. She's like, it's an entirely different world that I'm not sure why you killed your parallel self. I killed her in self-defense because we were ambushed and she waves to you and says something in the language you don't understand. Yeah. And the guards immediately, their, their spirits come back to life, but they're still standing at attention. So they just seem to have taken on a different level of preparedness, maybe. And she walks you through what can only be described as an altar as you go underneath the tree. There's a huge altar there to describe it would be very difficult. It's, it shapes, just fused together and it's, it's a very abstract piece of sculpture, but yet there's a fire burning, holographic, but there's a fire burning in one of its openings near its bottom. And then there is carved into the ground. There's a trough or a top, like that tunnel, but like a three foot deep channel with benches, that stone benches, that kind of line it. So it just looks like it's some type of altar that priests might gather around is the, is the feeling you get as you walk past it. And she walks around to the back, through the back of the tree or what you proceed to be the back, the south end of the tree. And there is a wagon and it's, oh, it's still smoldering. There are dead all near around the wagon dressed in the brown cloaks that you except for Tila are currently wearing. And there is a dead sultama there as well. So there's a group of dead people there. And she just points them and says, I was ambushed. And I killed her in self-defense, but I honestly don't regret it for a second because it just made my life that much more easy and made the revolution that much more easy. Is there a lemurs dimension in vizier that's going to be upset with the first dimension of sultanas? Demise? Right. Um, well, most likely, yes, but he's a much more feeble version than my father. And one, that if I was going to anger one of the two, I certainly would choose to anger him as opposed to my father. Well, let me make an offer to you that might aid your efforts and your revolution. Sure. And that is it would probably be to your benefit to let us take the body of this dead sultana back to your father, you'd be able to conduct your revolution entirely in secret and operate when you do things that you're already dead. Isn't he going to want to blame the death on some of them? We could just report it back. Well, we can blame the death on the mudbirds and the other people, the other ab humans that were attacking the caravans and the burdens in showing. Yeah, the burdens. She definitely, she gets lost in thought for a second, she's mulling over that thought process. Because our options here are to, apparently, join you or die. I can't stay here. I would just like to give, if we go back, I would like to give a sultana less to work with the cybers in his technology to pull in the information from. So bringing a body back is more of something that he could examine or do some sort of a trace on, but I think, I think Boz has an idea here. One that did not strike me, my thought was for you to, to go back more or less undercover and fuel the revolution in the streets. But you could actually bring the revolution from on high. Because if you bring my body back, my body back to the, my father, you fulfill your obligation in a huge way. He would be indebted to you. And that would allow for a level of maneuverability that it's not. I'm the son of a traitor and so a traitor, not a traitor. So, what's the difference now? This is in our world and I don't think we can stay here, but. Oh, that was never my idea for you to stay here. Well, you were, or die here. No, well, yes. I was planning for you staying here in a deceased state, but in a cold. But this is an opportunity for us to fulfill our obligation to your father, forgive you an extra layer of protection and secrecy that would probably give you a little bit more freedom than you were anticipating. And you might have several agents available in the Southern desert. Concerns about our ability to fully convince your father that this is his daughter when it isn't. Well. With all of his power that he can bring to bear, his power is, is impressive. But it's mostly based on observation and information. It's not so much. I mean, he doesn't have the planets. You were going to flake them up though. Exists only in this sick atmosphere. He can't bring back the ones and zeros. They won't work in the ninth world. That says she's not ones and zeros, though. So his name is limited to observation. He's agreeing with her saying he doesn't have the ability because she's like, I don't know every new manira he possesses, what cipher is an artifacts and and all of that. Sure. It wouldn't go wrong. You take that chance. Well, it's your life. So you know, it's a risk to her. It's not a risk. I mean, it's a risk to me and being found out because I need to lay the foundation of raising an army and which you need what time time is my the major thing that I might look at right here because the time does run parallel between the two, but consider sure what mission were we sent on to find? No, no, we were sent to find his daughter. Information? His daughter was never met. As far as he knows, we don't know nothing about us. We were supposed to discover the state of his daughter. No, no, no, no, Caravan. We weren't. Ichabod was the one that informed us his daughter was involved in this at all. We're just in the state of the caravan. We're supposed to read what happened to the caravan. We just want to know who tacked it. It's all he wants to know. Actually, you've been responsible for his disappearance. The mission was to locate the missing caravan and this current had an intro with it, because you're a starter. But we can find out from Ichabod. Is this true? You can bring back a dead bird. Well, yeah. And an escort. One of the Olmere. Yeah. A simple change. The cloak works just as well. Well, I don't know that he knows the individual Olmere, but you could be concerned. I mean, it is the Olmere that was escorting me. Like Taylor said, we dressed him up like he was the other thing. Is the vizier? Oh, no. It is the real Olmere. This was my caravan. So besides me lying there, Dad, which isn't me, these are the, yeah, these are the 9th world Olmere. So my father, the Olmere brought to the 9th world that have been trained. I get that. But why are we assuming that the dead lady in the right colored cloak is not the one that she's supposed to be? Because she speaks her language. People's. But isn't the one that's dad wearing a brown cloak and isn't the one that's standing wearing an opalescent one? Yeah. Well, opalescent is of this world, not our world. True or not? Are you chained out loud? See, you killed her and she, because I'm not that smart. Okay, Nina. Is it your minute, but little ones and zero, zero, zero, close? No, neither are beta aces or aces. Or beta. Can you exist here eating these digital plants? No, there are plants native to this land that you could eat that are not just produced through the technology of this universe, or this particular parallel. I thought the mannerisms, though. As you're all talking, when you get to the backside of the tree, you notice that there is a reflective substance leaf-wise on the back of the tree as well. And here it is. It says, what is this? It says, whatever quam feels is important for us to see right now. Quam. Usually, it's just, yes, quam. The omniscient. Quam, the omniscient. Quam, the buzz in my ears, quam, the peanut, like, brown. Quam, the god. Ask, Ashman, if it's a competitor of his. The omniscient one, the prime mover of the data sphere. Quam. Quam is the living god of this parallel. This is just what quam feels I need to see, and why I need to be aware of. How should you become so familiar with quam and his lands? I've ran this trade mission countless times. I look to Ichabod. This isn't-- I just heard about this. I just heard about this one. I mean, I don't think she could. Can anyone detect lies? Yes. I have lies and trickery. I think this is more, uh, Nina's version. Yeah. I'm just in general, this whole story. I mean, it sounds legit as compared to when her dad was spewing all the crap that he was spewing. Right now. She sounds legitimate, but-- But she also appears to be a lot different than what you remember her to be. Mm. I don't think so, does she? She does. The personality. Oh, yeah. Right. Like, she's in a party. She's more serious. Right. She's-- she's-- this is-- her defense would be-- yeah, I was playing a part. He's supposed to think that, um, the immature, spoiled, brat daughter. I don't want him thinking that, um, sophisticated and plotting against him. I mean, that's-- that would be counterproductive to the whole plot. Shallow Indra is-- is-- it was-- is what works. You know, I'm speaking the truth, literally and figuratively. Real quick. Are they all in there slaughtering the other-- No, they are not. Good. They're standing at attention with their weapons still powered up at this point. Back through the gateway? No, no. Still there. No. No, that's right. Your plans for our beta versions, I mean, obviously, there's an issue as to what they're going to report when they go back to the mirror beta. Well, the revolution must have its martyrs, so, yeah, that's what's going to happen. Couldn't we think of a more clever solution? I'm always willing to listen, but I don't know that there is a conceivable way that this works well. I can't plot against two dictators at once. No, but as you know, an enemy that you know is sometimes more valuable than a dead enemy. Before you arrived, we spoke to your beta versions as you'd like to call them. She smiles at them, has a terminology. Oh, we're playing better than they are. Yeah, they-- they are going to fulfill their mission. They don't see the inherent evil in their tyrant and their tyrannical roar. What was their mission? What was what? What was their mission? Bring back his rebel daughter or-- His daughter, yes, left. She's the more responsible, supposedly, of the two of us, so she-- when she left on her mission to kill me, they were sent to follow. This has been several-- this is several days ago. So-- Sig wanted a way to talk to Sigbaeta. Okay. Well, once-- actually, this might even serve your purpose even better, because now you can work both sides of the game. You can be the daughter to the current weak vizier of first parallel and you can be hidden when we take the dead body of the-- That's what I want to do, but I'm not going to be able to do that if they report back to him, which is why they have to be martyrs to the cause. The beta's were aware that there were two of you? I-- oh, yeah, I just negotiated for killing my own. The beta's were not aware there were two of us until there were two of us. So they have their dead body? Unless we take it. Yes, but they're not willing to go along. Did they think of a group or is there one or two of them that may be convinced? I couldn't even give them all of a stand in a circle. As Felix gives a finger into dimensions at the same time, perhaps, but it's just someone much cleaner if they're not around. I hate to say it, but a revolution has martyrs and they will be remembered, but as far as I'm concerned, they need to go. I've talked to them, I've reasoned with them, I've darned near pleaded with them. Wouldn't that just serve to escalate the problem from vizier data perspective? Potentially, but again, I feel like he's a slightly-- That's what I'm saying is he's a more clever answer to this. Yeah, he's a weaker version of my father. So I don't know how much he's going to continue to risk sending out after his daughter, perhaps. Wouldn't it be easier just to replace your father and assume the throne than try to establish a new order based on blood and what? It's not my father. That's Beeth's father. Oh, that's right. She's dead. Unless we're doubting our story. I'm 9th world. She's alpha. This is me. Beeth is dead. I know. I know. I don't think she's-- Well, everything she's saying is I am-- Right. So I'm talking to her. She's the 9th world. I am the person who-- and she knew-- I just really know how well she has technology and bar properly about the gods. Yes. She knew the bar that they partied at. She-- You see-- Asoteric fact. So, you know, in a big scheme of her life. We're going to probably ask her minute details of what happened that you would think might not have been the same thing. Yes, I know you were. I think something subtle. But we're always thinking. She responds properly. Right. I call her a drink that we-- I'm kind of getting asked that that's her. If you want to step back and call Sig over before he wanders and ask him what? One question I had for Sig is when he looks at that altar in the tree, does he see Numenara and function of some kind of technology or I guess that's what Numenara is? Or is that just a piece of glass? A piece of glass. Right. This area didn't seem any particular louder than the ambient noise, but this particular device and Sig pings his thing. He's probably been trying to-- He's practicing what? His sense of Numenara ability. He's investigating the tree. It's branches. It's the all-ass surfaces. The altar and the tree, I think-- Oh, die 20. Just randomly. Roll one. Die 20. I person live the tree in some kind of form of maybe ambition of Numenara. 13, I have skills of Numenara. That's fine. It was just that you didn't roll one. You ping it and you, again, are familiar for you in this story. You've dropped your knees in absent agony at the amount of old little thing. Numenara. It is so-- it's not a worm, it's not a rebound, it's not coming back at you, it's just a roar of Numenara of which it makes Tila's forebrain, which you thought was the most Numenara you ever saw collected in one place at one time, it makes it literally seem like a drop of sand on a beach. You use vomit, you follow your knees-- I mean, literally, you are over one-- This is more than I've experienced outside of here. Anywhere. Outside of this particular tree, I mean, when I was out there in the desert, I see-- Oh, my gosh. It's probably at least 1,000 to maybe 100,000 more than that. Is there a spell? So this tree-- Yeah. So much more than the two-- Do I see the stuff? No. He's behind a tree. Nina wants to do it, detect magic, but she's taking her time having this detailed conversation. Sure. I'm hoping to get any pluses and dropping hints and seeing if there's appropriate responses based on that one time we had together. Right. As far as that goes, I'm just going to use-- can I double up on the effort? Sure. Absolutely. As we get the roll out of the way, I guess. Yeah. Go ahead. I have a number in my head, so-- Okay, just go ahead. So that should drop at two levels. Two levels? I have a talent-- well, a talent is lies in trickery, I don't know if that I suppose-- The talent applies-- what else applies, I'm sorry? Just effort. Toys. And, you know, knowing-- Can you give two levels of-- That's what I've got. Your second tier now? Oh, I don't know. Do you have a number of two? Yeah, you have a number of two. No, so just one. Okay, so just one. Okay, so you will be two levels. Plus a talent. But there's something obvious that she screws up on other than that. Nothing that you've noticed. So I'm not going to say it there, but go ahead and really shouldn't be rolling, but-- Seven. --after your initial conversation with her, your lengthy conversation, you're thoroughly convinced that this is Indra. This is ninth world Indra. She's telling the truth. By the ambush, she killed the first parallel version of herself, swap clothes, and she's been coming here since she was a babe. She knows the languages. She knows the ulmer. She is ready to start in motion. The gears of the lifelong plan of her is not lifelong, but ever since she realized her dad was an evil tyrant, which was probably at the age of, I don't know, nine or ten somewhere in there, where she really started to have doubts about his ability to be a good rule. It took me about minutes, but I was much older. Right. Everything that you're seeing leads you to believe. I'm so out of it. That's okay. You're doing fine. No, she's-- did she really spot clothes? She said she did. People of this world are wearing brown socks. No. Some people of this world, the beta version of yourselves are wearing brown clothes. The ulmer, which are what you consider the abhumans, are wearing those opalescent clothes. Of this world? They are of this world. Because the ulmer who are dead, if the wagon she's just taking you to, have brown cloaks on. Okay. And so the brown cloaks we found in the wagon that was buried in the sand were brown cloaks of our ninth world. Yes. And, but remarkably similar to the ones that your beta versions are wearing. And the dead ulmer on the ground are wearing. So I don't know that you could draw a really good conclusion from that information. The brown cloaks of the abhumans that are dead were brown cloaks because they were working for the sultan, the vizier, of your ninth world. She's telling us and we're presumably struck our ninth world. Right. And the opalescent wearing are freeman, they're the equivalent of free... From it? Yes. From it. Yes. But the equivalent of non-slave... Yeah. Non-enlisted non... Yeah. Oh, okay. Right. Well, if that's the case then, the beta versions of ourselves really have no love of this vizier, either. Well, we don't know why they're working for him. Yeah. And it says that her beta version's father in this world, in the first parallel, is a less competent, less evil version of the vizier of our world. So were they prisoners or...? I don't know that she'd know that. Yeah. She doesn't know that. She has no idea. And she just knows they won't cooperate. And so that's why she had to turn her... Yeah, we could be a stubborn lot in any dimension. Are there any other... after it's a universe's number of universes? I mean, could we send these people elsewhere? We can't send them back and we can't send them to our world. Right. Well, this is the only parallel I know about it. I've heard talk of other parallels, but I can't travel there. I've never... Something to come back to our world would be bad because, well, you're not a metal man. And that would just lead to questions. I know. Speak our language. Yeah. So it doesn't have a ten. Sure. Are there any signatures to send up and open his eyes and he says, "What did you ask?" I think you got your answer. Yeah, yeah, my answer. And he says, "Okay. Can we get out of here?" I'll dare you to ask my next question. Right. It's simple. You just need to carry one of the quam shards back through the passage. Oh, which? Yeah. The passage that we got. The passage that you went through the outlet... So that's the return ticket. Yeah. The shipping has to make its way up this way. Are the shards in the tree or on the ground? Or the... She said it's amazing. You know, he walked just like in the side because she's thrilling. She's trying not to... Oh, yeah. It's Quam. It's the one for God. It's the one for God. I think I would say from my veneration of Quam, because I believe he is, or it is the one true God in the universe. I believe he may have created the universe. It's like shaking mirrors up. I would say more omniscient than omnipotent. Okay. But only because I haven't learned all there is to learn, there's just... It's unbelievable. It'll open your eyes to a whole new world. This tree is a conduit to it, or it isn't, or what? I don't know that it matters. Well, in that case, I propose a service, and I ask for a boon. And I think, morally, I'm not sure about it, but I think I have a way out of this for everyone. Well, what's here? I'm all ears. All right. The service we will provide is we, the primes, will take the body of beta Indra back with us. We will fulfill our mission, report that the caravan was lost, and present that... And in the, in so doing the attacks of what's been happening in the southern desert, the result was your daughter's body was found. We don't even know that, but... Well, we still return the body. But, see, we have the benefit of, we're only reporting what we found. We don't have to have the full story, but you only put together things. We will leave here with some qualm that we found and not really understand what it is as far as the vizier is concerned, and that will allow us the primes to leave, and for you to do what is necessary to maintain your... Well, it lies. Yeah. So, the boon that I would ask is, will you just demonstrate your ability to use the noumenera this world, and the power of Guam, to interface with the noumenera that is afflicting my sister, and somehow, why understand that a cure may not be possible, perhaps some kind of improved binding or control to manage the viz that consumes her brain. Talking of your sister first before we get any other points, it may seem as if I have control of the noumenera of this world, and I do to some paltry ability. These are barbaric, compared to how the natives of this world long ago were able to control the noumenera, the data sphere, the information all around them. These are poor replacements, and she's pointing to her fingers and the pieces of metal, almost like a mesh that she has on her fingertips. They were able to do things without such primitive accruements. So I do have some knowledge, but my knowledge is just a drop in an ocean of what one can learn, spending a lifetime studying the true greatness and the true wonder of Guam. Well, Stig has pinged your qualm here, this avatar of qualm. I'm assuming it's an avatar, that's what I call it. Sure, this time. She doesn't dispute it. She's connected to Tila, so at least I know he has a connection there. I'm not looking for it here, I'm just looking for something to put a little stop command in there, just or pause command. I will promise that if not myself, one of my, well, are now because you don't get to leave if you're not on board. I mean, I think I've made that pretty clear. In my place is I'm on board. Right. Of course. That's my plan. On board, then I will have one of us, one of the group, the Revolutionary Council, if you will, which is made up mostly of the Omeer. I will have someone look into that particular affliction because it is not an affliction that they have here in the first parallel. It's just, it's not common or even known here. So there should be, firstly, I think Stig is on the right path. Something, I mean, he's had some success. I wouldn't even be surprised if, when Knight fell, if nothing happened. Well, then we would at least need to stay here one more night then. Different universe. Different rules. Right. But that's a, I mean, that's a risk because... And this is where the conversation, you can still talk, but this is where the conversation stops briefly as the screen, the tree, the tree, she calls the tree of life, it displays a desert scene, a desert scene, which is a scene from your dimension or your parallel as opposed to this parallel, which, first of all, is kind of like, wow, that's pretty fucking powerful or amazing. It's looking into another, it's looking into another parallel. And the vision that you get is of the four oblisks that form the gateway into the first parallel that you pass through, not more than three hours ago, something like that. And you see three eon priests riding up on two legged unines, which are the more common means. They're not really the southern desert unines. They're riding, like, there's literally a huge saddle and they're riding on top and you see it kind of zooms in on them and you can see the cloakwork and the garments. It's most definitely from the city of Nailish, so they obviously are eon priests that are in the employ of that particular ruler or that particular city state. And they stop just outside of the four oblisks. I'm not going to have to say for his reaction to, yeah, you can't actually get there. You can get up the tree to, like, these huge branches going out, but the leaves themselves aren't right there at the edge. You have to actually walk along one of them, which you certainly could do eventually if you wanted to. So your view is a little bit distorted because you're kind of in the picture, but you can see a little bit of it. Well, let me say that I'm taking the quam back. Are they talking about these actual leaves or our fruit that comes from? You don't know. It's just quite, she just said quam sharks. So that's just what you know. But the young priest specialist is saying so on. Right. Someone calls out. So they're looking towards them. Right. And so, again, you get that picture, but the picture is so crystal clear. One that looks like he might have a medallion around his neck and he just seems to be the leader or the head priest or the high priest gets off his amine and the other two are talking and they eventually dismount maybe 15 or 20 seconds and she's even heard the sultanist attention is drawn up and one of them takes out what looks to be a metallic base of some type of, it's got to be some type of weapon. I'm going to go up. We're going to close the door. And then another one brings out from his backpack, brings out another one that fits in and then a third one brings out what looks to be some incredibly complex top that the weapon ends of being about probably eight foot long in total, about three foot is the first two pieces and then five foot is the last piece that came off actually like one of the saddle harnesses of the amine. And it turns into a huge scythe that just starts to glow this incredibly deep black night color and the... This is a tool or an artifact commonly known by the young priest. Yeah. I will roll a new manera roll I'm not going to make you waste your time because you've never seen anything like it before, but the high priest hefts it in his hands. It seems it's weight seems to be lie. It's enormous size and he goes to one of the oblisks, not the two that you walk through but one of the ones further back and says something and makes some symbols in the air and then swings the scythe and it slices right through the glass oblisk and it crashes the ground doesn't shatter, but it sliced right through and the black glow goes out of the scythe completely and they start to take it apart again and then walk back towards their amines and they're talking and then they kneel down in a circle and they put it on the ground and they start praying. They're recharging it. What a dick. What's the dangerous expression? Horror. Absolutely. 100% horror. They didn't change the combination. No, I think they're destroying the day way. It would be harder. I hope they're done. If they can't have it, they're recharging it. If they can't have it, no one can have it. It's my torch. Yep. That's where we'll end it. And we'll finish up. Next week. Next day. The two weeks. Stuck in this world. The two weeks. Makes you vomit when I look at this. When I look at this. Try it. The three hours. Thanks for listening to Nights at the Night at Action Play podcast. Visit kotnpodcast.com for more information on this and other adventures. Where you will find character stats, photos, storytelling, props and even a form for comments and suggestions. Or you could email us directly at feedback@kotnpodcast.com. Or contact us via Twitter or leave a message on Facebook. All music for this podcast was created and performed by Zen Audio Smith. If you'd like custom professional music created for your podcasts or business, please visit ZenAudioSmith.com and please join us next episode for more mystery and adventure. I have a theory that we're the betas, by the way, but that's beside the point. That one makes more confusing. Let's not go there. Beta Nina. What's after beta? Alpha Beta? Yeah. Beta Nina is on the wagon. Or Charlie. Only in America. You use care when operating with vehicles and vessels. I can't imagine more. What about in a boat? Do you mean include that? It's beautiful. I drove a boat and I hit a whale. And then they pressed a couple things, made a couple jabbing motions with their fingers, talons if you're being cruel and racist. Then it just exists. Someone think of a really cool name because I've got to create one this week. We have to think of a really cool name of a crystal. It's a crystal that powers- Unobtained devices. No. No. Even I can say no to that. It might take solar resin. Hold on. All of these crystals come from the tree of life. Are they the fruit of the tree? They could be, yeah, life shard. Life shard. Energy shard. Energy shard. Solar shard. Soul shards. Soul shards. It's 2D and D-ish. Because I use that I think in one of their- One of their shirts. What's that? Newman shirt. It's not the same in this world though. I know what you're saying. It's powering the Newman era. But. Ether shard. Eon shards. Time shards. What do they reflect? Right, lithium. Diamond. Radioactive. They're- I don't know if I know enough to name them. Right. I don't know that I know enough to name them. Acian shards. Astral diamonds. Given that they speak in a different language, we've got to be making up a world for the nice world. They are quam shards. They are quam shards. Q-U-A-M, which makes perfect sense now that I thought of it. Not the most elegant name in the world, but it actually makes sense with what we're doing. So she says that- Beta fix. Say it's not coming with anything. Quam is the living God of this parallel. He writes the code that makes the whole world pay. [Laughter] And it's cut right out. I know that's never going to make it the final cut. [Laughter] Okay, unless there's- Gather one to care about first. The ones wearing brown cloaks that speak a different language. The beta versions of you are from this universe. This... alternate universe. The first parallel. The injury who's dead is wearing a brown cloak. Yes. The only brown cloaks still alive are our beta selves. I misunderstood something earlier, so that's fine. No, that's- I blame drugs. Sure. [Laughter] Hopefully it's at least a couple hours. We may have a way to get us to the gauge quicker. I don't know. Well, if I also remember- This is time moves differently here. No, no, no. She said it's exactly the same. Oh, shit. That was- It was expecting it was a new one. We get out there and we drag some of these dead guys back. We'll have a cloak to listen to it. Jim had a good point in time as well. Jim said before it had happened to weapon and they're going to destroy it, which was pretty much on point. And then Tom said they're recharging it, but something that everyone here would know- It certainly teal on Bos very well, but the rest of you, you know, to some extent as well, is that Nilesh, it is a mortal- it is a mortal right now enemy of your city-state of serenity. Well, not the city-state, but- Right. That's right, I don't have to trade her off. So, just letting you know that is something that's very well known, and your estimations of what's happening are probably, at least in your minds, pretty soft. Mad Mule, yeah, Mad Mule-ner, Mule-ner. This is- This is called Mad Hammer. Mad Hammer, Mad Hammer. Mad Man, Mad Man. Oh, he's all mad man. He's like a- he'd be calling to help in the bullpen, just so he can come and just announce the name for you. Mad Mule-ner. And you have to do it in an announcer voice, like it's different. It's Mad Mule-ner. Mike, get over as Spear of Fighters. Wow!