Syndeo Ep.8 "Syndeo Magic University"

Sa.

And we're back to the main arc of Quest Happens. Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode.

It is a wonderful Sunday evening that.

We have gathered to record this wonderful episode with you all. Hope you enjoyed the side quest, part one and two of a New Balance.

Hopefully really, really enjoyed that.

I think that's what we called it, right? A new balance or balance. I don't know. Something about balance. Sure. It was mowing Dads. And so we really hope you enjoyed both those parts.It was a lot of fun. We had way too much fun.

And it has been so long since.

We have all sat together and recorded again. So how's everyone doing?

I forgot how to play.

You forgot how to play dnd?

Who invited this one to the podcast.

I mean, have you all forgotten how to do your voices?

I've been practicing a little today to try to remember Stump, so I think. I think it'll be okay.

Nice.

This is why I have a.

That's why you just use your voice for everything.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's just how. How it works.

I'm in. Missing this. Yeah. I'm excited to be here.

Yeah.

I think it has been like, a month or so since we've actually.

How long has it been since we've done, like, the actual three weeks?

The arc normal.

Yeah, it's been a month since. Yeah, Feels like it's been because we did two side quest episodes and we're every other week, so it's been a month. That's.

Yeah, yeah.

Now there's.

We got to meet a crazy bunny or something.

All kinds of crazy.

Interested to figure out what that's all about.

I don't know if it's crazy. More so, like, I don't know.

Badass.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You owe me a Coke, by the way.

How about a Coronita?

Those are mine.

I don't know if we can play. I don't know if we can play Jinx during this episod episode. Otherwise. Well, I mean, if y' all don't want Esmeralda in this episode, I mean,.

You can't talk until I say your name too.

Oh, dang it.

You're already failing.

There we go.

That's better.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Before we get started and jump back into the Sendayo arc, back into the main quest, the characters did level up last episode. I forgot to say it on the episode, but I text. Everyone was like, hey, go ahead and level up to level five. You made it to the inner rim.You're starting the next kind of part of your Quest. You've, you know, figured all this stuff out. So did anybody get anything? Anything cool going up to level five?I know it's not like a huge jump from four to five, but why don't you let our listeners know what you got?

Tactical Shift.

Tactical Shift. What does Tactical Shift do?

Whenever you activate your second win, with a bonus action, you can move up to half your speed without provoking opportunity attacks.

Nice. So we got the drunken monk, who can do that, basically. And now you have the ability to disengage. That's. That's pretty.

That was kind of like Nick's whole thing and you just took.

I know.

How does that feel, Nick? Having someone else steal your thunder with that?

You know what? I'm a team player, and I'm glad that she has it too.

Just gonna bring us closer together.

We're gonna rock this out. But there's also some cool stuff.Some folks say level five is one of the funnest levels to get to and play in D and D. So those of you D and D players out there, you know, stick in there until, you know, stay in there until.

You can get to level five.

Level five. You're a real, like, adventurer at that point.

Oh, yeah.

I can't wait to finally have fun.

I have. Elui gets a.

Wow.

This has not been fun. Are you getting paid for this?

No. Okay. Are you?

Yeah. I thought everyone.

Oh, get paid.

I have to pay him to show up. Sorry. We needed a third.

Hey, it's worth it.

You gotta do the contract. No, none of that's happening. We're having fun here. Having fun here, folks.

Seriously.

Okay.

Eloi gets a second attack, which is cool. And one of my favorites for the Monk, the stunning strike.

Yes.

I love stunning strike.

So when I hit, if I could use.If I use a focus point or my key, they have to roll a constitution saving throw of 13, and if they don't, they're stunned and essentially they have to skip their turn.

That's sick.

Oh, dang.

So pretty excited about that.

That's cool.

And my acrobatics of hand and stealth.

Are all A plus 8 now.

Holy cow.

The Sam Monk features for you get that dexterity.

Yeah.

Anything else for you, Stump?

I can grapple. I. I got more hit points. O Stump grows like, what did I say? Quarter of an inch taller every level. So that happened a foot.

Oh, nice.

No, not a foot.

Don't be crazy.

That'd be so dull.

All right, so now we're going to kind of catch up on where we left off on the episod Last we left off, you all made your way to the Inner Rim as you were searching for the Wizards Union Hall. That's where you were sent with your quest. As you made your way, you ran into a couple characters that you remember from your past.Past meaning a couple days ago, basically, old Timothy, Clean Cut and Bruce Halfacre were making their way back to the Outer Rims. Out of hiding. It seemed like.

Some things happened.

Bruce Halfacre is now knocked out on the back of your. Someone's horse, Petunia. Right on the donkey, maybe.And you all found out they had stolen or smuggled some of the dog toys, the chew toys, and you all also stole five vouchers from them, and you made your way to the Inner Rim.

Did we steal the vouchers? I don't think we did.

Yeah, we, like.

Well, I thought we looked at him.

And we're like, those aren't ours.

Yeah, I thought we didn't.

Either way, you've got five extra vouchers on you.

Oh, well, we should.

We're keeping it safe.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's just a thief.

Well, you're just.

You're just holding it for them while they're, you know, keep kind of in custody. And then, you know, you kind of took Timothy and Bruce with you all and made your way back to the. Or not back made.You continued your way to the Inner Rim. You made it to the Inner Rim, and you found yourself in the Tilted Expanse. There was a sign that was like, the Tilted Expanse. Congratulations.You made it. And then you were welcomed by a large rabbit folk creature with the, like, Halo energy sword.And as they made their way up, they threw a sing Stone down for communications. And then you all saw Finch, who was live, so it wasn't like a recording. It was like real life.Finch, who apparently had been beaten and questioned and imprisoned, but was able to escape and is now on the run. Doesn't know when he'll ever see you all again, but he's like, please, you have to. Something's going crazy. You have to save Sendeo.Talk to the Wizards. They'll know more. And basically he's like, peace out. I got to be in hiding. And then his friend Sage was sent to assist you all.This mighty rabbit folk warrior, he also.

Gave us an out.

Yes.

So we did not take it.

Yep. Yeah. We said, screw that.

Yeah.

We chose.

That's our boy.

Because we wanted to help out.

Yeah. You could have left Zendayo for good. To another plane.Leaster had conjured Some really, really, really strong magic that would have basically let you all leave. But if we had just a one time thing, Corey would just push his.

Like two foot thick book of plans for the future into the trash can.

Trash cans like, and starting over.

Whoops.

Well, okay. Oh, no. We would have started an interplanar session after that.

Ooh.

But so that's kind of where we are. You all have left now at the Inner Rim. You know, we left off with that.So you find yourself with Timothy Clean Cut, who is like, you have my weed whacker. Saying he would basically assist you all. He was very hyped up from that speech. And you all being like, we'll save Sundayo.And at that kind of like, you know, touched Timothy in a way where he's like, you know what? It really motivated him. And he was like, you, you, you'll have you.

I'll help you too.

Bruce is still knocked out. Sage is there. And you all know that you are in the Tilted Expanse. There is a sign saying Brinkwater is straight ahead.And you know that that is the town in the Tilted Expanse that has or that houses the Wizards Union Hall. So with that being said, welcome back to Cindo, back to the main quest. What would you all like to do?

And we came like, we had just traversed this long, like broken up, dry kind of. We had a weird fight with an owl creature and all that.And then isn't it, Corey, isn't it like there was kind of a ridge that separated and then it's like there's more like trees and stuff.

Yeah, you find yourself now to more like vegetation because there's this big ring that goes around all of Sandeo, you know, in the donut shape world that separates the Inner Rim from the Outer rim. And it's kind of just like wasteland. Yeah, but you were able to traverse that. You got past it and now you're back into some like tree lineage.It's still rocky in this area because, you know, you're kind of blending both types of areas. But yeah, you're seeing more trees, you're seeing more vegetation with a sign that says, you know, further south you will get to Breakwater.

Cool.

And then we've met Sage. And so Eloise says, sage, how did.

You get here and what are your motivations?

I don't think Sage has said anything. Will they say anything?

Oh, have we even met? We introduced ourselves. I don't think so we introduce ourselves.

Yeah, you technically have introduced yourself, but you would assume that Finch at least let Sage Know who to look for, who you all were.

Sage spoke. When we all put our hands in.

The middle, it was just like a quick little.

Yeah, a one liner.

Oh, yeah, but there's been no, like, formal, Like I remember anything.

The voice you did was, like, a very, like, cool person voice. I remember you did a voice.

Do you.

Do you remember the voice, Corey?

Of course I do. I always remember.

Every time.

Of course.

I get every time.

Always.

Okay, so Eloise says, well, Sage, how.

Do you know Finch?

And Sage kind of looks at you all, you know, takes a deep breath, stands up and turns around and begins walking towards Brinkwater.

Oh,.

Sage.

Oh, Sunny.

A few words.

Yeah.

Like, literally doesn't even stop to turn around, look back, just like, sword at the side and just walking towards Brinkwater, you know, straight and just very badass looking.

Okay.

I think they like you very much.

Maybe. Surely she didn't hear me.

Oh, yes, that is probably it.

I don't think her name's Shirley. I think it's. Oh, Sage.

Oh, I see.

Oh, this makes sense, too. Both of you are very smart.

We better follow. Let's go after her.

I. At some point, like, I'm, like, real, like, frustrated and upset by the condition of Finch.So I know we need to go find the Wizards, but I also would like to see if we could find him and help him and.

Or.

Or murder the people who did this to him, too. So I just want to keep that in mind.

Stump would like to break a few heads like watermelons.

Yeah.

4.

Finch. Yeah, please be good for Stump.

That poor fellow.

Help Stomp get frustrations out. You know, take a life or do.

We.

Seem pretty vehement on that?

Well, sure. I mean, these guys, they hurt Finch. And when Stump think about that, he just gets the.

Okay, calm down, big fella.

All right?

Lad stops. Fine.

We'll find them.

See it for later, right?

I pat you, like, on the thigh.

Oh.

What? Ha.

It's just me.

Oh, just you say comfort bat.

All right, guys, I hate to break up this friendly. Yeah, it's me. I'm still here. Oh, yeah. I was awake last time. The. The rabbit person's looking like a small figure now.

Pretty far down the road.

Should we keep up?

Yeah, let's go. Come on.

Come on.

Are you coming with us?

Yeah, I told you that. That Finch fella.

We've got his motivational.

He's bringing his weed back.

Some weed like you've never seen.

Let's go.

Timothy, maybe you should check on your friend. Stop. I think he's Starting to smell.

Is he on the horse?

The friend's on the horse.

Yeah.

On the donkey.

The donkey.

Petunia, come here. Come over here.

Good girl.

Timothy like walks up to Bruce and like, you know, puts his ear up to his nose to like feel a breath or something.

You okay?

All right. He's still breathing. He's just knocked out.

Oh, he just needs shower.

Yeah, we have. We were walking for quite a while.

Do we have showers?

We just have water. I don't. We just, you know, we call bath.

All right.

I tried to take shower, but just go up.

That's true. Stop.

We have to go.

Oh, yes.

So Eloie, he starts walking. Okay.

Yeah. You begin to follow after Sage. Sage has already made it quite a ways down.By the time you all have had your little talk and you make your way, Bruce is still knocked out. Even just walk, you know, riding the back of the donkey. Bruce is still not really shaking too much. Sleeping pretty well.Timothy's really excited to be with you all. You're making away. There is a path that is carved out just from lots of walking and like rocks.You don't really know how the grass situation works here in the inner room. It just looks like you're in wild forest right now. But the pathway does look like it has been walked over as far as grass goes.And there's a lot of like pebbles and like stones that you like walk on on the path that make your way to Brinkwater. Eventually you and like Sage is walking with purpose, like straightforward going almost Terminator style, you know.And after a little while you eventually see this clearing and before you sits this like large almost like mansion looking building that looks like you would picture like a university, like a small college kind of just a big building with some like smaller buildings connected to it. And you see a really large courtyard that's out the front with some like large stairs that lead into the building.So it's almost like a grand courtyard. You see lots of people walking around. You see lots of robed figures. They all seem to be going into this building. You see pointy hats. You see no hats.You see long hair. You see bald headed. You see creatures of all kind. But one thing, they're all wearing robes. That is something they all have in common.Some are carrying staffs.

Are they the same color? They are not the same color.

Good question.

Why don't you roll me a little investigation check there.

Okay.

Roll for colorblindness.

Hilu is colorblind and 8.

A whopping 8.

A whopping 8.

Whopping.

It's a little far away. But you do notice that they are different. You can't quite.From the distance you're at, it's kind of hard to really make out until you're like really up close. But you do see there's some like, like canvas sack style clothing, like very simple brown robes.You do see a couple very extravagant, colorful and like frilled robes. And then you see just like a solid, just green robe on a lot of them. Those are the three that you kind of notice.You don't really notice there's any other types from your distance, but you do at least notice those three different types.

Is there a correlation with the hat versus color?

Nope.

Okay. All right.

Now that you can tell, I mean, pointy hats on all the different type of robe types, you know, hats seem to be more accessories than anything else from your, from this distance that you can see. But eventually you get down to the entrance of this courtyard. When you make it to the courtyard, you see that state stage.Sage is already up on the steps, like talking to somebody in a pretty deep conversation to somebody.

They didn't talk to us.

They seem to be just having like a pretty and not say, intense conversation. But sage still just has that intense look. And this person's wearing a very humble robe, shaved head.It's got like that kind of the monk style haircut where it's just like bald on top, but you have the hair that kind of goes around, you know, like the friar haircut, I guess.

What they call the bird's nest look.

Yeah, exactly. Talking to that person.That person has their arms like, you know, hidden in their cloaks in that almost like prayer looking, holding hands type and that you see them not a couple times. And they lead sage into the building.So by the time you all get to the courtyard at that point you see that sage is now being taken into the union hall. And outside you see someone sees you four walk up, you know, Timothy and Bruce with you, and they run down.

And they're like, oh, hello, newcomers, newcomers, hello, hello.

And there's another monk, very plain robe, just brown robes, that same hairstyle, walks.

Over, he's like, hello, hello, welcome to the Wizards Union Hall. Where do you arrive from?

And he kind of takes a bow.

Oh, do you, do you know this guy? He's, he's, he's a monk.

Oh no, we're of a different kind. But hello, I'm Ilui and we come from the verdant grove.

Oh yes, actually.

And we've come a long way oh,.

From the outer Rim. Travelers, are you? Pilgrims?

I sure we're pilgrims. Yeah, we've.

We've come to pay our respects.

Stump. Don't know what this is, and.

Well, you'll have to forgive our friend here. He doesn't know a. Lots of things are. Yeah, no offense, of course, my lad.

Pilgrim.

Okay, yes, we're pilgrims.

Everyone is welcome to the Wizards Union hall as a place to study. It is a place to observe. It is a place to gain knowledge, to. To speak ideas. All are welcome here. But please. Yes, Eloise, you said what.What are the rest of your names?

You may call me Easy, my lord.

Please. I am not a lord. I'm just a humble servant.

Oh, okay.

I am Easy.

And you?

Oh, Stumpy Stump.

Oh, hello, Stumpy Stump. Very nice to meet you.

So this place is one of those, like, everybody have big brain, big numbers, book too long.

So boring type of place in simple terms. I guess you could say that some are like that here, but there's also some coming to seek that knowledge.

This guy, he just keep going, just talking. Talk what? Oh, sorry.

We need to be nice.

Don't be talking out loud, Vlad.

Like places they make.

Stump feels you're saying the inside things out.

What inside things?

Please let all are welcome to speak their mind here. We love thoughts and ideas of all types. You are more than welcome to share your thoughts and ideas with others here.And that is how we come together as communities and learn.

Well, that's very nice.

Hi, my name's Timothy. Nice to meet you, fella.

Oh, very nice to meet you, sir. Timothy. And your friend here on the. On the ass, Is he okay?

Yeah, well, he was tired and so.

He's very tired.

He's still taking a nap, but we're taking good care of him.

That's Bruce.

Does he.

Is he seeking care? Does he need.

He could use a hand.

He could use soap.

Oh, oh, yes, we could get him.

You see him like clap a couple times and you see a couple smaller, younger monks come down. All human, by the way. They run down and they're like.

Like, we could take care of them.

Yes, yes, we could.

And they kind of scoop them up. Is this okay? We take them, we can bathe them, we can clean them, get them some food.

Child labor.

Oh, they're like 18, 19, like younger.

You know, they're interns.

And Eloise says, Timothy, are you okay with them taking your friend?

Oh, yeah. Scrub them up. I might join them. Actually, can I get some food and I'll just follow them. They'll figure thing.

That's a good idea. Let him stay with him. Oh, Timothy. What's your friend's name again?

Is Bruce.

Oh, that's Bruce, of course. Well, Bruce, 700 and something years old.

I happen to forget you've had a few today.

By the way, we've been looking for our friend Carl. So if you see Carl by any chance pop up around here, you let us know.

We've been looking for that dude for a few days now.

So if you see Carl, let us know.

I don't know where he's at.

Okay, well, if we do, we'll let you know and then. Oh, and Mr. Monks or what, what was your name again?

Oh, yes, my name is Miles. Very nice to meet you, Miles.

Nice to meet you too. And I guess we'll just track you down to see where you've taken our friends here.

I'll be with you while they're going to take them to. I'm going to be your guide through here. Everyone that comes does.Actually, if you're here for your first time, you do need a guide to get through here. No one's allowed to wander freely unless they've been shown around first.

Very good. I like that.

Okay. Yes. And like I said, I'll give you the tour of the place and I'll guide you in. They'll take good care of your friends.

And you see them taking Timothy and Bruce around to the outside of the walls to probably, you know, some housing over there. But Miles kind of gestures you all to make your way up the grand entrance.

He's like, just follow me up here and I'll kind of give you. There's some meetings happening today. So I really apologize. You might hear some shouting and yelling and things.All three factions are having a meeting.

In there right now.

What kind of meeting? Are we allowed to know?

Well, follow me and I'll show you.

And he kind of starts leading you up the steps and you kind of get, you know, you go up these grand steps and you see this really large open room and it is, it is dark blue in there. There's a lot of like crystals shining lights in this big open area. You see the figures with the simple brown robes.You see, see figures with very bright, ornate fluffy robes. And the ones with the bright, ornate fluffy robes have different designs on them.And then you see like the strictly green colored robes and you see them kind of scattered throughout. They all seem to have like their own side.

And he's like, ah, yes, these are the three factions who are meeting today. Things have been kind of going awkward lately, and so they've been deciding to talk about things. Not all the factions get along, but, you know, they.They share ideas here. They talk about things. This is where they come up with the rules and the union rules for Sendaio. But they're having a lot of. How do you call it?Contract issues. And so they're renegotiating some. Some contracts with the dmv, and it's not going well. And so you'll see them so well. Let me show you.You see the ones with the brightly colored robes? Yes. Those are the RTT loyalists.

Okay, someone write that down. Write that down.

Also, I brought my notebook, but I didn't bring a pen.

Also known as the Rum Tub Tugger loyalists.

We just call them the RTT loyalists.

Okay?

They're the ones in the really brightly colored. You see that human standing in the middle there?

You see one who's, like, much larger than all the other humans. He's got ornate rings on his fingers.You see him wearing a necklace, and on that necklace, you actually see he's got, like, a squeaky mouse toy on his necklace that he is wearing. But, like, he's showing it, like, proud and true. And he's kind of. You hear him arguing.

He's like, I told you we need more money. We need more things. It's just not gonna work. This isn't working out for us. He's like. And then Miles is like, that's. That's Felix the Great.He's the one in charge of the RTT Loyalists.

Felix?

Yeah.

He's. Of course, he's not the nicest, but, hey, we respect everyone here, and he is just very passionate. And speaking for the loyalists, one thing.

He needs to know about the.

The RTT loyalists is they're very. They believe that magic does not belong to anyone. It chooses who flows through who it flows through.And they believe they're more of the chosen wizards than the others.

Okay. Those kind of people.

Yeah.

And if you notice the. The ones with the green. All the green robes floating around, a lot of them are elves, but there's other races too. But you see that elf over there?And he points to an elf that.

You see really long white hair. It is a male elf standing very tall, wearing a crown, like a kind of a goldish crown with very cool insignias and carvings into it, nestled cleanly.He's the only one wearing a crown out of the.

The.

The green robed people.

And he's like, those are the roof yoga loyalists. And that is Elethel the Good Alethel. Ele is the name of their leader. He's very wise and kind.

You notice that on his. He is holding a staff that that wizard is. And you notice that there is a squeaky, like, ball toy on the top of his staff that he is holding.And you see him also talking back to Felix the Great. He's like,.

Felix, you do not understand that we are all in this together. We have to come to an agreement. Things are going haywire. We cannot keep doing what we are doing. There has to be changes.

And.

Go ahead.

Yeah, he sounds pretty reasonable.

And Miles tells you.

Yeah. The Rufioga loyalists, they're more of these structured wizards. They're very loyal to each other and to.

To the cause that they believe in.

They also believe that magic should have order. You have to respect. The magic contracts should be put into place. There needs to be order to everything. So you'll find that's why they're a lot more.I feel like, wise and calm. As to where the RTT loyalists, well, they're a little bit more flashy and look at me.

But.

Sorry, that's just me expressing my inner thoughts.

I'm sorry.

Forgive me. I mean, to be more humble. I'm very sorry about that.

That.

Now, moving on, there is one other faction. The three factions that make up the wizards in Sendo. You see the ones with the very tattered robes?

Yeah.

They're known as the fringe faction.

And he points to. Also in the middle, talking amongst all these wizards, he points to a large tortoise creature, female tortoise creature.

That is Elantra. She is a little kooky, but she is the leader of the fringe wizards.

And you notice hanging off of her shell, there are a bunch of those little, you know, stuffed mouse toys that.

Are, like, on strings, just, like, all.

Attached to her shell and it's kind of dangling off.And she's very eccentric in the fact that she's got a lot of, like, handmade diy, like, jewels and crafts, like, hanging from her shell and everything.

Does she make, like, tumblers?

She does not make the tumblers, though.

Okay, what was her name again, Sorry.

Elantra. Elantra, the tortoise female.

And the fringe faction, well, they are a little bit more chaotic. They are not loyal to any side. They're loyal to kind of wherever they feel. They let the feelings flow. They're very experimental as far as wizards go.And they're. They believe that magic is something to dissect and to push the limits on oh.

So which one are you?

I am loyal to the wizards union. I am loyal to all three factions. We are here seeking knowledge and wisdom and to share that with the world.So I am part of the monks that have been basically picked to be the caretakers of this great wizards union hall.

So.

Oh, go ahead.

Oh, you think you smarter than Stomp?

Oh, no. No one is really, truly smarter than anyone. We all know things differently and things that the others don't know.And that's why we learn and teach each other.

This guy, he just talk and talk.

How do you ask him a question?

Well, he could have just said yes or no.

I believe you are of a simple mind. And not as a way to be disrespectful, but as a way that. That is a wonderful thing that you can see the world in many colors and.And you can see the good. Everyone colors.

Wow.

What this guy talking about?

I didn't know.

This is why your name Miles, because you just go on and on.

Well, Stomp, I didn't seem to be.

A little bit spicy.

Yeah.

Still thinking about Finch.

She's trying to calm down.

Oh, did you say Finch?

Do you know Finch?

Oh, yes. Finch is wonderful.

You know him?

Well, we've heard rumors.

What rumors have you heard?

That's one of the things the wizards were talking about recently.

Did they hurt him?

No, no, no, no. They're actually looking for him.

Okay.

Yes, they. They believe things are going weird. You know, they believe part of the DMV negotiations.They believe some of the higher ups in the DMV are actually, like, using some of their employees and things as.

Way to, like, gain footing in the contract negotiations.

Because, you see, the wizards, they're the ones who harness all the magic in San Diego that keep things going, the.

Gravity going and everything.

Because without them, it would be chaos. The wizards are the ones who are imbued to be able to handle the magic and keep things in order. Okay, now, does everything stay in perfect order?No, but that's why they try their best and figure things out. But things have been going crazy, and they believe the DMV is breaking all the contracts, and that's why they're refusing to work at the moment.I don't know if you've noticed, things are kind of going a little crazy back in the Outer rim.

Do you know who hurt Finch?

No, I don't know anything that happened. I just heard them saying something about one of the DMV workers. I heard the name Finch. Something about on the run. I don't know.

Okay.

Wow.

Mr. Miles, sir, could I run that by you again? You said the folks in the green? Yes, those. That's the. Is that an elf king?

I don't know about king, but he's kind of the one in charge of the. The Rufio loyalists.

You would think so.

Rufio, right. And then his name is Elethel. They are the ones who like the contracts and believe in order.

Yes, they do.

Okay. And then the ornate ones, those are the runtime duggers. Those folks believe that you have to be chosen to be a wizard. Is that right?

Yes, they believe the magic chooses you, and if the magic does not choose you, you are not worthy. And they believe some of these wizards here, like. Like the Rufioga loyalists and the fringe.

Faction, they believe they are cheating the magic and forcing the magic to choose them rather than letting the magic choose them organically.

And the fringe, those fellows and ladies, they're the tattered brown clothing. Yes.

Ah.

And the tortoise has a name. Elantra. Wow. I'd like to meet her one day.

Yeah, she is something else. I will say that.

She.

She can go talking on stories for hours, and she is very kind, very eccentric.

Oh, great.

You're more than welcome to meet. You're more than welcome to meet them all. Once they're done with their meeting. I do need to check on a few things.

Here, Here. Follow me back here. And he leads you past this.

And he says, but, Miles, one more question.

Yes, absolutely.

The fringe, do they. Do they side with either Ram Tongue Tugger or Rufio Ugo?

Some have in the past, but they. They believe that they shouldn't be loyal to one side or the other.

Ah, they're open to both.

Yes, they're open to both. Some. Some actually agree with the Rum Tum Tugger loyalties. Some actually agree with the Rufioga loyalists, and some believe in no order at all.So the fringe are kind of just. They play by their own rules. Whatever benefits them, what benefits the world, what benefits the magic.

They're kind of just like free flowing, open to whatever I see.

Thank you for clearing that up for me.

I need to take care of just a few things and I can rest of the tour, but please just follow me real quick.

And he takes you past this hall. As you all are kind of walking past all these wizards, there's a few, like, whispers amongst them as they see this new crew walking in.

They're like anomalies.

Yeah, they know us.

We are famous.

I told you. You were right.

Everybody know how cool we are.

And he leads you past it, through this open door into what appears to be like a waiting room. And now let's take a minute to hear from our sponsor. Here at smu, Sandeo Magic University.

You can take your pick of one of our three wizard factions, each with their own belief system and ways of life.

Now, don't take our word for it. Hear from our three factions as they tell you why you. You should join them.

Hi, Shadwin here with the Rum Tug Tugger loyalists. Look, if you don't already know, then you don't belong with us. But if you do and you were actually chosen by magic, join us. Or join the leftovers.

Yo, yo, this is Rojak with a fringe wizard faction, man. Those other factions are Gnar gnar bobo. With us, it's rock and roll and smoke a bowl. Ha.

Come hang out, man. We'll show you the tricks.

Come hang out with us, your family, bruh. So.

So technically, I only have 15 seconds, so I have to read all of this in that time now. I now only have 10 seconds. Oh, thank you. I. I'm Marcipan Rufiogo loyalist in subsection. Ah, in section 43, subsection 2, 8, 7d.In the acceptance clause, the student ability.

So register with Sendeo Magic University, where.

The magic magic find.

Smooth.

So as you enter this room, it's kind of smaller. It's still, like, very ornate. There's like. It's a tile floor. There's some, like, candles hanging on the side, some comfy chairs.There's plants all in here.There's a door, like, straight ahead of you as you go in that is closed, and a door to the left of you that is also closed, and it's just kind of like a big room. And yeah, he kind of leaves you there, and he. He goes to the left and goes in that door and then shuts it behind him.

He's like, I'll be back. I just have to go run a couple errands. But please, make yourselves at home. Just, you know, relax. I'll be back soon.

And yeah, you just hear. Still hear the shouting and stuff happen. Happening in the big room behind you.

Okay. Can I do a perception check on the room?

Absolutely.

Okay. I got a 19.

Nice.

19.

Yeah. Kind of like I said, this room is very nice. It is very well taken care of. It seems to be like the public waiting room area.You do also notice, like, to the front on that door.As you're kind of being more perceptive about things, you see that that door does have, like, a little sign on it, and it does say the one dining hall, the one ahead of you. Okay, so as you enter this room, like, we'll say to the north, ahead of you, there's a door. It does say dining hall on that door.And the door to the left where Miles went through, it says common room on that door. And then behind you is just back to that room where all the wizards are having their meeting and congregating and discussing and.Yeah, but the room you're in is very lovely. It's, like, a lot of plants, and it's meant to be kind of happy feeling and cozy feeling in there. It seems to be a place.There's a lot of, like, benches to sit on. And that's why he kind of was.

Like, just chill here in the waiting room, guys.

You want to go get something to eat?

Always.

Let's go. Look, Stump very smart. And he notice this is dining hall door. See? Oh, right there. See it say, watch Stump help you dine in right there.

I didn't.

Very good.

I didn't know.

Thank you.

Thank you. Easy. You didn't praise Stump for a good job.

Thank you. You did so good.

Good, good, good, good.

Yes. Clap, clap, clap.

Okay.

Yeah. So I guess you're gonna go exploring.

Stuff goes into the dining hall.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

You go to the dining hall. The voices get quieter behind you as you're now leaving.As you enter the dining hall, you see there are two very large tables that take up the space in here, and they seat, like, a lot of people. So it's like a communal, you know, dining area. There's a lot of plates that have been left on the table.There is a door that goes to your right, and there's, like, another label on it. It's, like, says kitchen to your right hand side. To the left, there's another door that says common room on it as well.But in this big room, there's a lot of, like, animals, like, on the wall. Not like dead animals, but more like they've crafted these animals and, like, out of. Carved out of, like, wood and things.It's more of, like, a statue in honor of, like, life that's been in these woods and stuff. So you see weird elks with horns that, like, curl up and go different ways. You see a rabbit with little antlers on it.

You see.

Definitely looks like a chupacabra on one of them. Some, like, other little creatures that have been, like, carved out.

But, yeah, these iron tables.

And you do see there are people, like, are also There are some smaller, like, younger looking, like, wizards that are chilling in here, too.

But you do notice that, like, the.

Green robed Rufioga loyalists are, like, sitting together at a table and eating. You see a couple of the Rum Tub Tugger loyalists sitting by themselves, eating. They don't seem to be, like, intermingling.And you see them, like, talking, and you. You hear, well, why don't you roll another perception check for me, Stump?

Yeah. That is 11 plus 3. 14.

Okay.

So you.

You kind of hear some of the conversation from, like, the Rum Tum Tuggers loyalists.

They're like, you know what? This. This isn't about contracts anymore. This isn't about money with the dmv. Like, we were getting good money before.I don't know why we got to keep negotiating these. Look, it's about the true philosophies. Our philosophy is the right one. We can't be letting these other ones, you know, write the policies. Right.The way magic should be used.

It's up to us as the true.

You know, the magic has chosen us. We are the ones.

The magic you kind of trails off, but that's kind of the gist of what they're talking about.

Gotcha.

And the. The roof Yoga loyalists are kind of just in their own world, just eating. But, yeah, there's food that smells lovely. You see? You do see that.There's, like, a little buffet set up in this dining hall where food is kind of, like, left out for people to take a plate up, fill up what you want, and then go have a seat. So you're more than welcome if you want to grab some food, you know, eat. There are, you know, know, there doesn't.

Seem to be any alcohol in here.

That you can see, but there is lots of, like, water for you to, like, you know, to drink.

Okay.

And don't worry about. They're not being drinks friends. I've got some here on my back.

You know.

That's right.

So what is our. What is our mission here? Like, so I'm your word, Miles.

Yeah.

Your original mission was from when the DMV that sent you here was that the. They're on strike. The wizards are on strike.Get down here, figure out how to solve the issue, get them to work together, and basically to be like, stop.

Arguing amongst yourselves, because everything's getting messed up.

Yeah.

And they need the wizards.

Odds okay with each other since the.

Wizards aren't working, gravity's going haywire, water's doing what it shouldn't.

Yeah.

Other magic is going crazy. And so yeah. Your original gold goal was to get here and to be like, hey, they're on strike. See if you can help them come to terms.And the other thing was, Finch was like, talk to the wizards. They might know how to help, you know, with his situation. So basically, you know, you're just here to talk to the wizards.But right now, the wizards are in a heavy meeting. Miles is like, let's not interrupt them. Hang out here. I can give you a tour. But he's like, I gotta go take care of some things.So you're kind of left on your own right now in the. So you can explore, hang, whatever you want to do.

But there's some eating in here and not in the meeting. So they seem younger.

Yeah.

So maybe we can talk with some.

Of them, grab some food and sit down next to them and see what's up.

And if Ilui is anything like, Nick, you can bring these people together. So, like, just create a piece of cake. Yeah, it's fine. Just you do you. Let's do this.

Stump grabs, like, a tray, I'm assuming, and get some food. And he looks at EZ and Illui.

And he says, don't worry. Stomp got this.

Oh, okay. Yes, I know that. Oh, just let's, you know, the last few towns we went in, like, it's okay.

Stomp got this. Yes.

Just.

Just be mindful of not.

You know, we'll remember how good he is at things. And he got this.

I know you got this. Just don't be. Don't be rude.

I knew it, too. And I know you believe in Stump.

I do. Don't be rude.

Let's just eat with these folks.

Which ones do you sit next to?

So Stump, 6, sits next to the refiogo green robe guys.

Okay, perfect.

And. And he says, you said they were young, correct?

Yeah.

He says, yo, what? What These up, fam?

Oh, no.

So there's four of them. They. Some.

Yeah.

A couple of them look like maybe 11, 12 years old, and the other two look like younger than.

I hope, 18. Yeah.

Another one looks like about 18. Another one looks like maybe 20, 22, 23.

So this is like kind of picnic table, like, long table setup.

Yes, very long table setup. Like, banquet table.

Stump has managed to sit backwards.

Yes.

At this bench.

And he's like, seem relaxed and cool.

And he's like, so what is the. You got the. The low down, my guy.

And they all kind of turn to look at you. The younger ones are just like, first of all in all, like a giant. Yeah, exactly. But the two olderish ones, they kind.

Of look at you like, oh, hello, visitors. Welcome to the union hall. I really don't know what to say. We haven't had visitors back here in a while, and you are very large. And I don't.I don't know this fam you speak of. I'm sorry? Oh, that's me.

Oh, the ones I write down friends.

With you, These guys, they act like they're so smart. They don't even know fam.

Oh, we don't know fam, but we love learning new languages.

And the other ones, like, like writing down profusely, like everything. Like you're. You're saying they're like taking notes and looking at you, like, with wide eyed,.

Like, like large, strange creature.

Yeah, yeah, Famous, funny accent.

So.

And he, like, leans down and gets really close to, like the 11 year old. And I would like to roll intimidation, if possible.

Oh, gosh.

Okay.

Why so smart guy? Do you know Finch?

All right, roll intimidation.

Okay. And Eloise kind of stared at him.

Like, what he means, he means well, got a 19.

Oh, my gosh.

I'm scaring the crap out of this.

11 Year old, like, yelling at him.

No, it's exactly how I said it.

Yeah.

And I got plus two, so it's 21.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah, see, you know, you say that like you know we know about Finch. And very just like that low voice comes out even lower, you know, and you just see him.

And the other.

One's like, come on, how dare you?

And, like, grabs him and the kid.

Just like takes off running down the hall. The 11 year old.

Why.

Why would you do that, sir?

Now, now listen here, fellas.

Boys, boys and girls.

Boys, yeah.

Now listen here, fellas. He just means to make friends, but his ways are a little different. You like to study cultures, don't you?

Yeah.

Yes.

Well, this one would be a fun one to study. He doesn't mean any harm. Stamp, what are you doing?

These smart guys think they so smart.

We're learning. We're not too terribly smart yet. Is making someone cry a way you greet in your culture?

You'd be surprised. Actually, in the Goliath culture, it's a little bit like that sometimes. But what we really meant to do is to make friends.And can we sit by you and eat next to you? We promise we'll make our big fella.

Here friend behave on the shoulder.

So the. The little one ran off and the other younger one ran off with him. And this older one turns to the other guy.

He's like, can you just go check on them, make sure they're okay? I'll stay here.

And so he sends the other one off to go check on the younger ones.

And he's like, please, please sit. Yes, please. I just want to make sure we're still welcoming. Well, you learn something new every day here and we love that. So, yes, please sit.

What.

What can I do for you?

Well, we just wanted to ask.

And please don't make me cry.

I pat Stump on the shoulders and I'm like.

And he says, oh, sorry. Eloise says, well, first things first. What's your name, son?

Aloysius. What is your name?

Your name is Aloysius? Yes. What an Aloysius kind of name.

Good luck spelling that, Louis.

And you can call me Louis.

Oh, very nice to meet you, Louis. That's a fun name.

These are my friends. Yeah, of course. You've met Stump.

Stump.

I'd like that name. That's a wonderful name.

It is good name. Not, you know, dumb, smart guy name.

Like you.

And I just like.

I'm sorry.

Okay.

Sorry.

You got it. You gotta be nice.

Just.

He know these type of guys. He met these type of guys a lot, especially when stuff was little kid. These type of guys, you think they're nice, but they're not.

That's okay.

Well, he's got some issues to deal with these.

Yes, apparently. We'll talk. I bet. It's okay.

Easy. Would you like to introduce yourself to Aloysius? Aloysius.

Aloysius. My name is Easy.

That is easy to remember.

Easy.

I like that.

Yes. Well, thank you for inviting us and for allowing us.

You kind of barged your way in, but that's okay.

Yeah.

Well, we're very thankful to be here and thankful to break bread with you, even though we might have scared your friend. We're deeply sorry about that. Aren't we, Stone?

I didn't get bread. No one here has bread. Oh, my goodness.

Stomp, would you have a drink, please?

Oh, sure.

It sounds like you need a beer.

Yeah.

And he, like, pours him a beer and sets and sets it in front.

Of Stam so he'll drink that instead of Dog Gulp. It's gone.

Thank you.

Now, Aloysius, we just have a couple questions, if you don't mind. What's all the ruckus about? They seem to be at odds with one another, these wizards. What are they talking about? In their room over there.

Oh, yes. Well. Well, you see, the thing is, they're always at odds with each other.

They.

And he kind of looks over his shoulder.

You see those wizards over there? They kind of think they're better than everyone else. And so they're very hard to get to work with.The others, you know, us and the fringe faction, like, we can work together pretty well. You know, the Rufio loyalists, which is. I'm a part of the. The Rum Tom Tugger group, well, they like to think they should do things on their own.And so the, you know, that was starting to cause some issues. And then the DMV decided they didn't want to pay the contract anymore.

And they were asking too much of us. And for.

Rather than compensating fairly, which we believe, you know, anything extra should be compensated fairly. At least that's what we believe.And so, you know, things are going a little weird, negotiations are going bad, and so that's why they're in there right now. They're trying to come up with new terms.But they also heard that the DMV might be doing some shady things, and so they're trying to figure all that out. Apparently someone's gone missing who used to be kind of the liaison between the wizards and the dmv. I think his name was Finch.

He is a friend of yours, in fact.

Yes.

Oh, yeah. Finch was a lovely fellow.

He.

I've met him several times.

You met Finch?

Yeah, several times.

He comes and goes from here.

Yes.

Like I said, he's a liaison. Anytime we need to, you know, contact the dmv. He's kind of our go between.

Wow.

Stump did not know he was Leon.

Do you know where he is now?

No, I just heard that he's gone missing is all I know.

And they.

They believe there's some, you know, foul play behind it.

Well, Stump could ask. Finch is a deal more firmly.

Oh, no. Hold on.

Okay, Stump, if they don't know, they don't know.

We could ask these other guys too.

No, it's. It's okay.

There's so many chairs.

Have another beer.

One, don't you?

Yeah.

Sir.

Mr. Stump. I don't know what exactly.

Mr. Stump.

Daddy Stump's father.

Oh, well, Stump Junior. I don't know what. I don't know what. What I have done to offend you. And I'm very sorry if I have offended you.But just know, like, you are welcome here. You're always welcome. Everyone is welcome here. And we love meeting new people. And I'm very sorry if you feel offended.I do have some things if you want to take the edge off.

This guy just all fancy Words all the time.

Oh, you gotta give him a chance.

Whatever Stumpy did what he said, though.

Can I, like, I want to try and pull Stump outside for a second. Well, what is it, D.C. so am I. Am I allowed to do that? Okay, so I'm like, hey, you want.

To do it in a second? Side We Stump.

Yes.

Yes. We haven't done the site yet. Together.

Yes. Let's go. Let's go Outside.

Yes, outside the side.

Outside.

You'll enjoy yourself for a moment out.

There talking to my friend here.

You could probably go, like, to the. Back to the waiting room.

Okay, let's do it.

But if you. You might disturb the meeting if you go all the way back outside.

Yeah, so let's go to the. The waiting room.

So you two go back to the waiting room. And so while you make your way back to the waiting room, Aloysius looks to you.

He's like, I'm very sorry if I offended your friend. I do have some spells I could use to calm him down, if you'd like.

Oh, I don't know if that's necessary. Let's see what easy can do with him, and we'll go from there. You know, usually he's not so uptight.I think he's just frustrated, you know, because, well, Finch is a dear friend of ours, and if we can do anything to help to find him, we would love to help out that way.

Ah, yes, I understand. Care for a friend can lead you to do well, to not be yourself. I understand.

And then we'll cut to the waiting room. You make your way back there with Stump, and what do you say?

Yes. Easy.

What?

Easy. What? You have to tell Stump.

Yes. Okay.You know, buddy, I have so enjoyed getting to work with you, and you're, like, one of the kindest people I have had the pleasure of working with.

That's.

That is probably nicest. Guys don't know.

Yeah.

And so I just want to know, like, what the heck is going on? And, like, don't you see?

No.

Can you see?

No. Tell me.

All these guys with their books and their numbers that make no sense, no matter how hard you try to make sense.

Okay, where's. Where's this coming from? I'm gonna be. I'm gonna. I'm tapping into Lauren for a second. I'm a therapist, so where is this coming from?

You know, perfect.

Stump don't like to talk too much about it, but I think we need.

To talk about it because we got to give these people a chance. They haven't done Anything wrong?

Stump is, you know, big guy Goliath. But Stump, his parents, they were not Goliath like Stump.

Oh, no, no.

What were they?

Well, they were like, you know, elves.

I. Okay.

Yeah. And Stump had to go to elf school with elf books and all these things that don't make sense. And all this elves. They make fun.

Hey, you know, you're doing the so smart.

And they trick you.

Yeah.

They tell you things like, oh, hey, big guy, come over here. Can you help me move this? Oh, you're so nice. And the next thing you know, oh, you are in dumpster.

Oh, no.

I'm so sorry.

Well, are there dumpsters here? Have you seen any?

There. There might be.

I think he saw one on the way.

That's not uncommon.

Who's big enough for Stump Dumpsters? This stump. Dumpster. This dumpster.

Flashback.

Flashback. Also, I. I like. I'm trying to pat you, but I'm so short. And so he pets.

Oh, sorry.

And so I just. I understand. There's a lot to unpack here and.

What? I have no bag. Stop. Don't have any bags on you.

Inward, inward baggage.

O. That would hurt.

Yes.

Ow.

And you do this. I just need you to give these people a chance, because these people are not the people you grew up with. This.And if they can help us find Finch, wouldn't you want that?

Okay, but. Okay, if Stump. Right.

If you're right, and Stump and up. Then they'll end up in the dumpster.

In stinky, dark place.

No, I'll help you.

Okay. You help. You help Stomp. You got stumps back.

Of course they do.

Okay, good.

Okay. So you just have to. You have to be cool. You have to be nice. So fake it till you make it, buddy. Okay. And we're doing this.

What he was working towards. Cookie.

Okay.

Didn't get to finish it.

Okay. Well, let's go find you some cookies.

You think Eloise ate it?

Probably not. He's our friend.

We could check.

Okay, we could check.

Can we check?

Yes, we can check.

Okay, let's go.

Okay. So we're gonna be nice. Oh, yeah, we're gonna be nice. And we're doing this for.

And you'll get a cookie.

Okay.

Okay. We're doing this for Finch. We'll try. Okay. You got this. And then I'll just, like, look at you, you know? And I, like, wink.

That's a signal.

You can. You can do it.

Okay. When you wink, stomp. What he do it. Be nice.

Yes.

Okay.

Yes. Okay. All right. All right. And so I Grab for your hand.

Thank you.

And then we walk back in.

And you make your way back through the north door into the dining hall again. And you see Eloise sitting there still chatting it up with Aloysius. And you still, you see your plate.

With the cookie still just chilling there.

Oh, well, welcome back, friends. We've gotten to know each other a little better here. Me and Aloysius.

Hello, Aloysius. And Alois just looks at you and he's got like his fingers pointed at Stump and he's like swirling. He's like like, should I.

Do you want me to.

Should I Just wait up, man.

Okay, okay, Just checking. Just give me the nod.

Stump eyes.

I'll know that. Yeah, yeah.

Stumps eyeing Aloysius and he like very slowly, like grabs the cookie and he's.

Staring at him the whole time, like.

Waiting for him to attack.

Yeah.

Do you eat the cookie?

Yeah.

Then he eats the cookie.

Aloysius, like, you don't see this.

Well, well, can I roll?

Yeah, roll, Roll a perception check.

Okay.

Disadvantage because you are focused on that cookie.

That's fair there. I got a 13 on that one. And what am I rolling?

Perception.

Perception. So, okay, so that's 16.

Okay.

And 20. So I got.

Oh, dang, that's still good.You go to eat it and you do notice that like, Aloysius is like smiling at you, but you also see him like his fingers are like interlaced and he's like moving his fingers around quickly.

Yeah.

But he thinks he has it like under the table, but you see it and you see that like, like for just a split second, your cookie glows right when you bite into it.

Okay. Stump throws the cookie down.

You throw the cookie down. But when you bit into.

Was the most delicious thing you have.

Ever tasted in your life. Oh, and it brought back such a happy childhood memory.

Okay.

When you bit into that cookie.

Okay. You know what actually happens in Ratatouille? When the guy drops his fork. Stump drops his cookie in that same way.

Okay.

And he has like a childhood memory of like, like a nice one. And he's at home, he's playing with his toys. And then he comes back and he's like that.

That was the best cookie Stump ever taste. Stump. See you do something to the cookie.

I. I don't know what you're talking about, but.

And he gives you a wink.

Wink. Being nice. And then I. Yeah, yup.

And he gives a big thumbs up and a smile.

He's like, yes, good.

And then he looks at Easy.

And then I Give you thumbs up. Yes.

Good.

Good cookie.

Yes.

Good cookie. Yeah.

Are you enjoying that stomp?

It sure seems like it.

And Stump winks at Eloi.

Oh, good cookie.

And he winks again.

Yeah, good.

And then I wink at Eluie.

And Lila wishes is like.

I don't know why we're all winking, but I appreciate you all coming and chatting.

I actually have classes I have to get to.

Is there anything else you need before.

I leave, smart guy?

With glass classes, I mean. Yes. This is good that you have classes.

And he says, no, thank you so much. I wish. I appreciate you helping us out.

Yeah, absolutely.

Our.

Our school here, this union hall, it's open to the public, so feel free to walk around, do what you need to do. I wouldn't bother.

The.

The main, you know, the hall where.

Everyone's meeting at the moment. They can get a little riled up in there. Just best to let them finish their meeting. But, yeah, feel free to wander around, check our school.

And this. This union hall is open to everybody. So I'm gonna go first, check on my little brother, and then I will get to my classes.But it's very wonderful to meet you all.

Easy, Eloise.

And Stump.

Stump stops him before he goes, and he picks up the cookie with a bite out of it, and he leans.

Down, he says, give this to your brother. World's most delicious gold.

That's very kind.

I definitely will.

Stump, thinking about what he said to.

Him, which was, where is French?

Yes. Stump is considering the thing. He said. Oh, tell him this from Stump. Okay.

Okay. And he takes the cookie and he makes his way, like, into that common room door.

And I say, you did so good.

Oh, good. It was so hard.

Yeah, but you did so good.

Ah, man. But that cookie, top tier. Can we, like, maybe bring him with us?

The child?

He could be. Cookie guy.

Well, I don't know if we can bring him with us.

We don't have a cookie guy.

That's right.

You're right about that.

I mean, we got our beer guy. We need a cookie guy.

That's true.

And Louise says, okay, what are we doing here?

Well, there's those, you know, bright robe guys over there. Stump could, you know, I don't know,.

Throw a chair at them.

Well, I don't know if that is the best way to negotiate with someone, Stump.

No.

You want to negotiate? Okay.

Yeah. So there's a. Two of the RTT loyalists. Looks like they're finishing up their meal. They're pretty much done.You have the door back down to the waiting room. You have a door to the east that leads into the kitchen.You have a door to the west that everyone's gone through so far that leads to the common room, and that's kind of where you find yourself.

You guys, what are we to do here so we can go explore?

So, yeah, I think we. We talked to Reef Yogo guys.

Yeah.

We need to talk to the others, Bright ropes. We need to talk to each faction, and then if we can talk to each leader.

Yeah, for sure.

And we could also, if you want, we could just, like, you know, go.

Around, crash the party. We could go in there and be.

Like, everybody, listen up.

There's got to be some.

Take a second.

There's got to be some secret passageways and stuff, too, probably.

I mean, it's a university, right?

Right. Yeah.

I'm down for whatever you guys want to do.

Okay. Yeah.

Also, I'm. I hope Stump's not paying too much.

No.

Okay.

Okay.

He's not.

All right. Cool, cool.

He's me.

Stop.

He has dealing.

He's dealing his childhood.

He has some inner baggage.

When I said one of them was cringe, Lauren looked at me, like, so disappointed. And I was like, don't be disappointed in me, okay?

It's because I work with teenagers. And I'm like. And I'm like, oh, man.

Did you.

Did you.

You just go back to work for a second?

Yeah, a little bit. Okay.

So I think we can either go talk to the RTT guys, who are gonna probably be like, oh, we're better than them. We probably didn't talk to the leaders, but I think maybe we might have.

Missed our window on these guys in the cafeteria. Maybe we should go somewhere else.

Go look around.

I'm down.

But the goal is to try to get them to come together.

Yes.

Okay, well, I don't know. Maybe we wait for the leaders to come out of the meeting before we do that.

Yeah.

So we can go look around. Let's go snooping.

Yeah, let's go back to the waiting room and then go through a different door, maybe. Or wait, what was the door in the cafeteria?

So, yeah, in the dining hall where you all are now, there is a door to the east that says kitchen. There's a door to the west that you saw the. The guys just go through.That is the common room, which you also remember that the door in the waiting room also had a door that said common room.

Maybe we should go to the. The common room.

There's only one thing, I think. What did he tell us? He Basically said that these guys think they should do their own thing, Right?

Yeah. The two groups kind of get together, but then the ones think they're better than.

Yeah, the RTT loyalists think they're better.

Sounds like the DMV is legitimately trying to screw them over.

But it would be n. Maybe. I don't know.

Let's just do a quick convo with these folks later.

Yeah, I think. Just getting us so quick perspective. But we're not going to throw any chairs. And I wink at stomach.

The chairs are so easy.

Throw a board here.

Yeah.

Stop.

Let's just look at candle stump. Could really get some heat.

You really could. But we're not gonna. We're doing this for Finch.

Oh, yes. This is true.

And then I wink.

Okay.

Yes. Time for next.

Excuse me, fellas. I had a question for you. I know you don't know me very well, but I'm a friend of wizards, and we just had the quick question, if you don't mind.

And he approaches the RTT loyalist with the ornate situation.

And you see them kind of, like, look at each other and, like, kind of just like. And he turns to you, he's like. Yes, can I help you?

Well, we just noticed there's quite a bit going on down there in the big meeting. And we're just. We're here to just kind of look around and see. And see if there's anything we can do to help. Your calls.What's all the frustration about?

Well, you see, they're not listening to our plan, which is the best plan, which we know is gonna work. And of course they like, no, that plan is too simple. And it's like, well, of course it's too simple. We came up with it, and it's amazing.And so, like, they're just not listening. So that's what's going on, is we're doing all the work, and they want to take the glory for it.

It.

And they know that our plan will work, and so they're trying to find a way to steal it and make it look like it's their plan.

Oh, that's ridiculous. Well, I could ask you, what's the plan?

Easy. The plan is to cut the DMV off. We do our own thing. We harness all the magic, and we set the rules for what the magic.

Should be in Sendaio and not the dmv.

Of course, everything that will benefit that Rum Tum Tugger is high priority. And that's how the world should be.

Wow. Fascinating. So you're hoping to. Not to Work with the DMV anymore.

Exactly.

I don't know why we needed them.

In the first place. Yeah, they gave us money, but we don't need money. We're wizards. We can create things out of thin air. And he's like, watch this.And you see a voucher appearing in his fingers, and then it disappears.

Wow, that's quite a gift you have there, son.

Yeah, magic chose me.

Wow.

Oh, I see. So how do you plan on accomplishing those things?

By being awesome. What other way is there to accomplish it? Like, of course we use our magic, and if they don't agree to our plan.But the problem is, since there's other wizards, you know, we have to work together. And if they would all just come.

To our side, become RTT loyalists like us, things will be so much better.

So we have to wait for everyone. We have to have majority of wizards to be able to do this. And so far it's kind of like, you know, 33, 33, 33. Point, whatever.

Stump looks at easy. And he's like, gritting his teeth.

I'm.

And he's like. He's like, side eyeing. He keeps looking at like the chair that's nearby.

And I'm like getting real close to being like, huh? But I'm just like. And I'm like, should hold off.

But this guy.

And then, yeah, he. Louie picks up on the situation.

He's like, oh, well, thank you for your time. And what was your name, son?

Look, I'm Stefan. This is Chadwin, all right? And you know, we're. We're fourth years here, and you know, we are about to be full time wizards, and so.

Yeah, well, Stefan Chadwin, all the best here. And we'll maybe see you around, so thank you very much.

Yeah, I mean, you're definitely gonna be seeing us around because we're going to be the leaders here one day, so. Oh, yeah, just be ready for that. All right?

And you're ambitious young men.

Oh, my gosh. Do you. Do you. Man, I'm. I'm having a hard time holding my tongue too, so. But I'm like, do you think you would catch. Catch more flies with honey?That's what I say.

What kind of stupid saying is that?

Catching flies with honey. I can make flies appear and just squash them in my hand. It's easy.

Okay.

Stefan, you wouldn't happen to know Felix the Great, would you?

Felix the Great? Of course. He's our leader. He's the one who trains us every day.

And what would it take to get a meeting With Felix the Great. Could you do that for us?

I mean, probably it's going to be Walt after their meeting, but, yeah, I can let them know you're looking for him.

I.

If you wouldn't mind, tell them the Nomolis are here looking for him to just chat.

And once you say the nominees that kind of look at each other like,.

Oh, crap, that's the anomalies. Oh, gosh.

Oh, yeah. I'll definitely. Yeah. Get you a meeting with Felix. That's gonna be no problem. We gotta go. But, yeah, keep. Keep being awesome, y'.

All.

And then, like, get up and just start walking towards the common room.

They've changed their tune.

Well, okay. I think we go exploring and wait for this meeting to be over.

Is there anybody else in this room?

Nope, they've all left.

Okay, you can throw your chair now.

Stumps throwing chairs.

Yeah.

Okay, let's go snooping around.

Yeah.

Common room.

Let's go look.

We go look in the common room.

We're gonna go be Snoopy.

Yeah. All right.

Let me go to the common room.

Sure.

Yeah.

You go to the door to the west, which is kind of. Everyone's went through there. What?

Nathan's wearing a Snoopy shirt.

I'm already snooping over here.

And I know that Nathan wanted a sunny sub thing when the guy was.

Like, yeah, it's easy.

Oh, yeah.

I was gonna make a joke, but I was like, moments pass.

It's too. It's too easy.

All right. As you make your way into the common room.

Gorgeous.

Like, moving on.

Yeah, moving on. Before we get a copyright strike. You make your way into the common room.The wizards that you saw go through, you waited a couple minutes before you went through, so you don't really see them, and they were. And they there. But, yeah, these just looks like dorm rooms to the north, as.As you go to the door to the right, which is the north, there's a bunch of, like, bunks and beds and, like, little dorm rooms with doors to private quarters. There's also a big common area here with, like, a fireplace, a bunch of couches, some small desks, some, like, tables with, like, chess boards.And this is kind of like the main, like, hangout of the common room area. There is a pathway that continues to lead straight through, like, double doors, which continues west.There is also a pathway that heads to the south with, like, an archway and then the big room you are in. And who's the first one through the door?

I'll do it.

Okay.

Can you roll me a quick perception check?

I can do it.

Nice.

Oh, boy. Roll the big D and roll a big old four plus one. No, plus two. So that's. That's a.

A say, can I. Oh, go ahead. Can I roll one to see? Cuz I want to see if there's anything.

Are you coming second? Okay, I'll let you also roll.

I think you're taller than me, so dwarf, right?

Roll me a perception check.

I'm kind of just looking for. Also just like, if there's anything in here that needs. That's important, or if we should go.

Down the corridor, I guess.

Nice.

So good.

I got an eight.

Okay, so we'll start with easy. When you walk in the door, you just catch the tail end of a conversation of some wizards that are making their way, like, into the dorms.You hear, and these are the ones you haven't talked to yet, but you.

Hear, what do they look like?

These are ones. So these are going to be more of the Rufiogo loyalists. And they. Yeah, they're the green rose. They're the green rose rubs.These are one's like a human, one's like a dwarf. And like different species, but you. You just catch the talent. You hear the word anomalies, and then here's some like, blah, blah, blah, blah.But you don't really hear what they say. But then you hear the. The dwarf say, do you think they're ready? And the elf's like, well, what if they remember?And the other guy is like, that's the problem. And they're like, that's the catch. That's all that you hear from the conversation. Then you hear door close.

Yeah, I hear that on a six. Okay.

You would have heard a lot more. So. But that's unfortunately all that you hear.

And I relay that.

What if I remember comrades? What is that supposed to mean?

And then he says, that's the problem.

Yeah. So we. We famous. Yes.

You, Eloise, with your role of like, checking the room out, trying to notice anything special? Unfortunately, no. It's just a very simple common room, dorm room. Nothing really of worth looking. I mean, worth anything in this room.

And you said. So you relayed that to us?

Yes, I did.

Okay. So elui looks at those people because what they. They said, what if they remember? And that's the problem.

And asked if we were ready.

Do they think we're ready down here? Okay, so Eli says, wait here, I'm going after them. And so I would like to sneak up behind those folks as they're walking.

So you heard a door shut like, they went into a room before you all got in. So she heard the last tail end of it, and then a door shut somewhere up.

But I can tell you which door it was.

Know what door it was?

Oh, I didn't.

Just heard. There's, like, a hallway. So you just heard the tail end of a conversation. Like, you caught the glimpse of some.

Robes, the possible direction of where it came from.

Yeah.

So I. I tell you that. Were you gonna train, sneak?

Yeah, I was gonna try to sneak and listen to what else they might be talking about. Okay, go.

Go be snoopy.

Could I. Could I roll a perception to see if I could see which door in the hallway?

Yeah, I'll see, like, maybe which one looks like may have been entered more recently. Roll an investigation check.

Maybe what I check for. I would check for recent footprint dust.

Yeah, this is.

It's a long shot for that.

Yeah, Investigation.

All right, we're gonna do investigation, and I have a whopping negative one. So. Poised for success. 12.

Do you say poised for success? We should make T shirts.

Poised for success with the 12. You don't really see any signs of, like, oh, it was this door. Because there's, like, something dangling from the door, shutting. It's.There's nothing really. Nothing that, like, sticks out. Yeah, it could be any of these 20 doors.

Okay. Okay. And there's nothing really all that cool in the common room?

No, not really.

I mean, there's, like, a cool fireplace.

There's no, like, anything of interest that we might want.

No statues that are glowing. You know, it's very. Just simple. Common room. Yeah. And like I said, you can chill here in the common common room, or you can go south.There's an archway that leads south, or there's a double door that leads further west. So those are kind of your two options if you want to keep exploring.

Gotta go south.

Sure.

Gotta go south. Okay, so we go south.

Okay. So you all decided to go south out of the common room. So as you go south, you go through this archway that leads down a stone hallway.As you get about halfway down this archway way, you notice that there is a door that leads to the right. And you can see, like, it leads to an outside area. There's, like, little windows in the top of this door.And you can look outside and see this, like, it's almost like an inner courtyard, but it's, like, outside surrounded by the building. Or you can keep going south. And you see, as you keep looking south, you can see that it opens up into a room, and there's a lot of desks.And you see, like, it looks like students are at desks working. You see in the distance in that room, you see some people, like, waving their hands, trying to get things to appear in the air.It looks like they're practicing some things. So it looks kind of like a study hall or like classrooms.And so you can keep going into the classrooms or you can go right out this door into a courtyard. Your pick.

What do you think, Stump?

They make these places so confusing on purpose.

I think we just have two directions.

This is the place where all the numbers are. You know, they come out in the books.

You don't like numbers.

The words and the numbers, they go on forever.

Louie leans over to Easy and he's.

Like, we need to get him out of here. If we take him in there, he's gonna scare all the children.

He's really triggered by everything. Okay.

So Eloise says, well, why don't we keep going a little longer and.

Okay.

And see happens. What.

What's what we can see.

So you're gonna go towards the study hall.

We're gonna bypass the study hall so.

You can turn right then and go out that door to the courtyard.

Oh, yes.

Cool.

Absolutely. Yeah. As you turn right, you go out into.

I'm sorry, can we do a perception check to see if there's anything the study hall we should go look at?

Sure.

You girl.

Perception check.

See if you can.

We all see that.

That's a good idea.

Just peek in.

Nice.

I got a 4.

16. 16.

Oh, St. See something that's going to trigger him. He's going to go after what you see.

Sixteen.

Yeah. And I rolled a nine.

Nine. Stump, you see, basically what I already described. You see them, like, trying to, like, cast spells. You hear them, like, shouting words.Some are young, but some are even, like, adults, like, and varying robes. So it's not just. It's all the different, you know, factions in there. And some are, like, yelling out these spells and, like, nothing happens.And they're, like, yelling out these spells. Nothing happens. You see, some kids are, like, yelling out these spells and, like, a spell happens. And, like, yeah, it's exciting.And the teachers are kind of walking around checking things out. That's just kind of what it looks like is they're just practicing spells.The teachers don't really seem to be paying too much attention to whether it's happening or not happening. They're just still kind of like the same, like, just helping them, like, say these words, do this.They don't seem to be like, excited when it works or excited or not excited when it doesn't.

There's nothing worse than a teacher that's lost their passion.

Yeah. Are they saying wing Guardium Leviosa?

No.

Nope.

Nope. Oh, no, no, they're not.

They're not saying that. Not in this universe.

Stump would know.

Yeah, that pushes the copyright lawyer out of the room.

Guardian Weosa.

Yeah, they're saying.

What about Avara Carava?

No, not saying that.

Okay, so nothing there, really. So El is like, turns around and.

Let's go to courtyard. This place boring.

Oh, okay.

Okay.

So.

So instead of going down, like, kind of stop at the door, you know, peek down a little further. Don't really see anything too interesting.You make your way out the inner courtyard door, and as you go, you go down some steps, and you find yourself in this, like, beautiful. Like, there's flowers planted everywhere. There's a fountain up against the wall. This courtyard is kind of shaped like.

I don't call, like, a right angle.

With, like, a curve of pathway that you walk and you see that connects to another door. So as you. You know, you head out west, it, like, curves down south to another door. But in this. This inner courtyard, there is this fountain.And the fountain, it's basically just a wizard standing there with his hands kind of up, up. Almost like he's, like, not reaching up to the sky fully, but they're kind of extended up a little bit.And he seems to be just, like, staring forward. And the water that's in the fountain is actually just shooting straight up in the air.

Okay.

And it's just like a straight beam of water that just goes into the sky.

Cool.

And there are some wizards that are hanging out here, like, some of the fringe wizards. They're out here just talking and hanging out. And you see them both, like, they're doing things with their hands, and they're like. You catch some.Like, sometimes it's working, sometimes it's not. And you see them casting some things. Like, little bird will appear and go away. Like, okay, it's back.And then as you all are kind of, you know, deciding what to do, all of a sudden, both those wizards just kind of stop talking.

And they're like, it's happening.

And then you see the water just fall down from the sky, splash on the ground, and then goes right back up into the sky. And they're like, ah, crap.

It happened again.

Wow. Excuse me. What was that? What. What just happened? Hello.

Oh, welcome.

I.

You scared us. Sorry. Yeah. What you're seeing is not normal things Are wacky right now.

Fascinating.

Well, what.

Do you have any idea for what reason the water just come down like that? It's so strange. Water going down, down?

Yeah, it's supposed to be staying up. Something with the magic.

It's.

It's just flimsy right now. The magic that's holding this up sometimes just stops and then kicks back on.

And well, we don't really know what's going on. I'm sorry, are you. Are you here on a tour today?

Like, I didn't know we were having a tour come through today.

We meant to introduce ourselves. We are Louie and this is my friend.

Well, you've probably heard of us. We're famous.

The famous Louie. I don't know who the famous Lou is.

The. Hello.

Same thing. Like they kind of get like wide eyed for a second. Like, oh, you have no, never, never heard of you.

I'm sorry.

You can roll an insight check if you'd like.

Yeah, like to.

Can. Can.

All of you can.

Yeah, yeah.

You have great killing it tonight.

I got 18, nine.

18.

Stop rolling.

I have negative one on insight, but I rolled a 17, so 16.

So both of you like as he's like never heard of you. It's like pretty obvious he's like had the shocking face, the realization and he's trying to be like oh, oh, oh, yeah.Never never heard of you, Stump.

Stump leans in and he goes, Stump, get it?

You nervous round famous guy like Stump? It's okay, you could just be yourself.

No, I'm sorry. Well, look, I. I'm. We're not really allowed to talk to you. I'm sorry.

Why not?

Just.

We're not.

I'm sorry. Like I can't explain.

Listen, just.

You think you better than Stomp?

No, no, it has nothing to do with that. Trust me. Honestly, we think you all are pretty cool.

But listen, you're gonna have to wait till Elantra is out of. Of the.

The meeting out there.

She'll explain things.

But look, I'm sorry, we can't talk to you.

How long is this freaking meeting?

Trust me, they can. I've seen ones that have gone three days straight, so I don't know.

That's a long three days.

I mean they've been in there 16 hours so far.

So how they go?

Bathroom filibuster. Oh.

I mean they take bathroom breaks. Like they'll rotate people in and out. But I'm sorry, we. Look, I'm. We're talking with you way more than we're supposed to. Look, I'll Leave.You feel free to keep wandering around. Do what you want to do.

But I'm sor.

Sorry. We.

We've got to go.

We.

We don't want him to say anything or not. I mean, we gotta go.

And they, like, turned away just happening here. They know about us.

Yeah.

And they're not talking to us.

Stump could, like, grab one and shake him until he says something good.

That's. We don't. But we don't want to scare them. We don't want to, like, you know, create, you know, what. Do you know what a reputation is?We don't want to create a bad reputation of being, like, the kind of people that, like, threaten people.

Stump have great reputation. Oh, he is the most coolest guy.

That's true.

This is true.

It is true.

So Stump shake him until he speak.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Okay, so.

So yeah, they kind of make their way south into.

Through that.

That door that goes to the south, and they're just like, sorry, we're not gonna talk. So you find yourselves alone in this inner courtyard. The water is back to shooting straight up in the fountain real quick.

Yeah, I. Even though we're the ones that created this. If it. If it goes up, it's for the cat. If it goes down, it's for the dog.

No, if it goes up, it's for the dog.

Okay.

Because the water. The water is rising up. Like, that's how the. The. The gravity causes water to rise.But the Rum Tum Tugger loyalists, the more they pray, and the what the. The lawn stays tall? The water kind of comes back down.

Okay, you're making it sound like this actually makes sense, you know, but it does.

It does.

Water is supposed to go up.

Yes.

But the. The wizards controlling the gravity is what keeps the water at a level. And then what happens in the world can cause it to go higher or lower.The reason the mowing dads want to mow the grass, because the grass. Grass is. Is part of what keeps the water down. Yeah, but if the grass gets cut, the water goes up higher to piss off the cat.

Yeah. Wow. Okay.

Yeah.

You created this world.

I know you did. But it doesn't have no one to.

Blame but yourself and also me and also Nick.

Well, you're right.

Stump goes over to the fountain and he closes his eyes.

Okay.

He goes.

Do you make a wish?

And he pulls out, out one of the dad's vouchers.

Okay.

And he throws it in the water.

And as it hits the water, it just like shoots straight up with the water.

Did you make a way.

He still got his eyes closed.

Are you making a wish? Are you making a wish?

You can't say what it is or it won't come true.

Oh, who has the bag of dog toys? Or did you leave them on Petunia?

Oh, what did we do? I think, think.

I think Stump has the bag.

Oh, no.

Because I think he pulled the voucher out of that bag.

Did you guys take notes?

Yeah, the bag of dog toys came from where from?

Fell off of Bruce Halfacre. And y' all pick that up. And you also took that.

Oh, wait, no, no. You have the bag because you took it from Stump. You were like, I'm gonna keep this safe.

Okay.

Yeah.

If you listen to our own show, you would know.

Oh, yes.

Who listens to those address. Would you have, like, left the bag the satchel on Petunia, or did you keep the bag on you of the dog toys?

Well, I, I, he's got, like, a satchel with him. And I think those would have been something that Eloi would have probably been like, well, these might be kind of important.

Okay.As like, the voucher goes in and, you know, you all are kind of hanging out close to this water fountain that had kind of like the, the strike of the different strike of like, the magic fluctuating. The bag that you, the satchel with the pet toys that you have actually begins to vibrate.You begin to feel all those pet toys in there, like, vibrating, kind of being knocked around in your bag.

Oh, and, and after you guys say, like, oh, did you make a wish? And you say, oh, he can't say anything Stump says or what Stump.

He just sees somebody do this. So this is what you do with fountain, right?

Oh, well, don't waste the money.

Well, this, it is for fountain. If you don't do this fountain.

I know, go broke.

I didn't want this fountain to break.

I did notice that the, this bag here has been moving.

The bag is moving?

Well, the contents therein, the one with the toys. I have a few other things in here in that bag.

Oh, maybe it's like, I don't know, popcorn.

I don't think it's popcorn.

You think it's the toys?

It could be popcorn.

I, I think it's the toy.

And it starts shaking a little bit more violently. And like, you're feeling, it's almost like it's got, like, like an animal's in there, you know, moving around.And as it's like, shaking more, more, the water once again, like, falls down and then like, water kind of goes everywhere here in this, in. In this courtyard. And then the water shoots right back up again and the, the back stops vibrating.

Strange times.

Loincloth is soaked.

Oh, I didn't know how you were gonna finish that sentence. I was a little nervous.

It got washed away. True college experience.

You need stop to smash your bag.

No, no.

Break it. No, we don't make it stop. No, no. It's tough.

I wouldn't want you to break my bag. I've had other things there.

Yes, the popcorn. Very important.

Oh, my goodness.

Okay, well, what should we do from here?

What voice was that?

That's.

That's next. Okay, what should we do so we can go look around some more? They're not trying to talk to us.

Us.

We could go crash the party and be like, can somebody here tell us what's going on?

I am getting a little antsy and a little, like, impatient.

Yeah, I mean, you're starting to get information little by little. It depends on how long you want to hold out gathering information.

We could talk to people. But don't let. Let's ask about the anomalies but not say who we are.

Maybe tell that to Stump.

Don't tell that to Stump.

Tell that to Stump.

Oh, okay.

Because Stump, you know, he's Stump.

He's gonna say. Yeah, yeah. Okay. I can't think of an episode where you haven't like, like, said the wrong thing. Stepped in it immediately.

Yeah.

Where you're like. Well, that's where you're like, this confetti is so stupid.

That's his superpower.

He's stepping in it.

So, okay, so Eli says maybe we'd.

Run back to the library.

Library.

And talk to the teachers and just. Let's do it in a different way. Okay, let's not. Let's disguise ourselves or.

Oh, no, let's put on a mustache.

So actually, actually Elui does have a disguise kit.

Yeah.

Nice. Let's just Stump a one person though, right?

Yeah. Yep. It is a single disguise kit in his bag.

Stump bends down and he like, puts his hand into the ground and he like, pulls out dirt and he just like rubs it all over his chin and like, upper lip and he's like, what you think?

Think Stump looked like?

He, you know, he.

Oh, hey, who are you? Mr. Stump. Oh, different guy, different guys. I was Stump Junior. No, I'm Mr. Stump.

Oh, stop. Senior.

No one never know. He's normally. Stump is not anomaly. Everyone here.

Okay, don't say that either.

Oh, okay, so we go Back to the study hall. You guys want to go.

So backtrack a little.

Yeah.

Back there. And then I wanna. In my disguise kit, I wanna fashion a roll robe and. And look like a.

Which faction?

Which faction?

It's actually going to be.

Take the personality test.

It's got to be the best, actually. That makes more sense to.

Do you guys think Nick is a fringe, or is he.

What does Cosmo say about you?

Yeah, what do you think, Man, I don't know. That's hard. Yeah, that's hard. But I think Elui would be fringe because he's, like, not. He's like, like, maybe more creative and not so flamboyant.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Much contract.

Absolutely. You know, he definitely goes with the flow.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Do you have anything for easy? Like.

Yeah, my disguise kit, I have. I have, like, a burlap sack that I fashion into a robe for myself.

Stump holds up, like, a mound of dirt, and there's a worm wriggling in.

It, and he's like, ah, Stump, help you.

I just. I'm like, disguise.

I'm.

I'm good. Would I just, like, go take, like. I pick, like, a flower, and then I put it in my ear. In my.Not my ear, but, like, in my hair, and I'm like, okay, that'll. That'll.

Where did easy go?

I know.

Who is this?

I'm pretty.

Whoa.

You sound just, like, easy.

Yes.

Oh, my gosh.

But just maybe just a smidge prettier.

We go grab a small tablecloth, and you can put that on like, a toga from the. From the dining hall where no one's at.

Okay. Yes. Okay.

Sure.

Yeah. You backtrack all the way to the dining hall. You find a tablecloth that doesn't quite match everything, but it's a robe.You know, you can make it look.

Big because E is. Easy is a halfling. Yeah.

Small.

Yeah.

And you kind of double track your way back to the study hall as you go in there. Yeah, they're definitely having a class of some sort. It's not like everyone's sitting down, the teacher's teaching. It's.Everyone's kind of freely about the class, doing things. You see chalkboards with, like, spells written out. You see, like, the history of the Wizards 101. And, you know, things like that.

I. I try to turn you. I. I try to, like, stand in, like. It's funny. I'm trying to, like, block.

Block him.

Looks down, and he's like, what?

And Louie is, like, waving at one of the teachers. To get their attention.

Just.

Just like we have a question, you know.

Oh, give me one sec. All right, Students, keep practicing. Yes. Work.

Just.

Just keep working at it.

I'll.

I'll be right back.

Yes, can I help you?

And he says, oh, hello there. We're actually from out of town and unfortunately we've come a little late and we just wondered what is going on inside? What are they talking about?And particularly we heard about the anomalies and that there was a who are they? Discussion about them. Would you mind filling. Filling us in on what's going on?

First of all, that's a lot of questions at once and some pretty. Pretty deep, heavy questions all at once. I'm just a teacher here.I am just here to help these kids, you know, with the flow of magic going through their bodies. I. I try to keep out of the politics. I'm sorry.

I don't know.

Supposed to, like, know things.

I do know things.

I know how to teach these children.

Okay, look, here's the only thing I know.

All I know is I have to.

One day I'm listening to the RTT loyalist. The next day I'm listening to the roof yoga loyalist. The next day, the fringe wizards like.

Yourself have changed the.

You know, what I'm supposed to be teaching these children and young ones here. And so I'm just here to teach.

I don't really care.

Just.

They just tell me what to teach. I help them with their spells and their. Their learning ability to read the spells and to learn the history of their factions.

Like, that's all I do.

I'm so sorry.

It's very frustrating. I'm sure.

It really is.

You teach us about anomalies, maybe.

Look, I'll.

I've just heard that name thrown around. Apparently there's. They're.

Apparently that's who the wizards are looking for.

And they're supposed to, like, fill them in on some stuff. I don't know, something about some big grand mission. But look, yeah, grand mission. That's all I know. So I don't know.

Oh, man.

Thank you, ma'. Am.

If.

Yeah, you're very welcome.

If Stump was normally, he'd probably be like, whoa.

Okay, well, thank you very much.

Probably. I don't even know what Anomaly is.

I don't know. Stump neither. Don't know.

Okay. Thank you.

Yeah, you're welcome.

Look, if you. If you're here to. I know some people like to come to observe classes. If you're here to observe the magic. I'm sorry.They're all fresh so don't get frustrated if they can't make it happen.

But you know, you're more than welcome to stay watching. It's up to you.

I think we're good.

Well, thank you very much, madam. We'll let you back.

You're very welcome. And then you just hear a kid scream in the back and he's like, I made it this pig backwards.Why is there an ass where the face is supposed to be winking from its butt?

They are using language that they shouldn't.

It is a gib.

A gib.

A gib. You get it? Stop.

Make joke.

It's a backwards pig.

Backwards.

Joke.

Yeah.

So honestly, like, she is literally just a teacher. She is just here to teach. That's kind of all she focuses on. She hears things here and there. But she's so you.From the looks of her, she is pretty stressed out. You could tell like this because she's getting orders all her time. There's not like a set. It's like it keeps changing all the time.

Frustration.

So you all can make your way back or you can keep going south. There is another door that exit to the south of this classroom from the outside.You remember there's a lot more buildings still to the west wing of this. You all are kind of in the center. Ish. So there is definitely room for more exploring. You can definitely head back.You're not sure exactly when the meeting's going to end. I mean, you could barge in there. It's totally up to you all to decide what you want to do. There are more rooms to explore, more information to find.It's a lot.

Never.

You totally could lit up.

It's always a good idea.

I kind of. I kind of. Okay. I kind of feel like Corey is nudging us to go.

I'm not nudging you.

Anyway, I think you're nudging us to barge in.

Mentioned that earlier. So I'm saying option.

Like, normally I don't want to do what you're nudging us to do, but I kind of want to do it.

So.

No, I seriously am not nudging. That was just an option that was thrown out. So I'm just relaying all the options that have been spoken out loud so far.

I. I personally.

I'm personally letting you all know there's definitely a lot more knowledge to gain from this place. But there is also, you know, I.

Have not felt nudged personally.

Yeah.

Thank you for standing up.

Same. Same. But I'm also not married to.

Yeah.

So. So yeah, so we Go down through the doors.

Keep.

We keep going, like south.

We're going to the west wing, right?

Oh, or west wing, we're going to.

I mean, yeah, you can go back to where you were, you know, back up north. And then out the door where the garden is or where the courtyard is. Or you can go past this classroom, which heads south.And you do see that it, like, curves, like, towards the west, too.

You were right.

Okay, let's do that.

Yeah. Okay.

So, all right, let's go down here and see what's up.

Go down the curve.

So you make your way south, and you eventually, you know, you go down this hallway. It goes for quite a ways, but you do notice that it does curve. And so eventually it curves to the west. Same thing. Like stone hallways.Like, there's torches kind of lining the walls. This seems to be like an older part of the university building of the.

The hall.

And as it curves to the right, it opens up to this room. And you were at the base of this room. And there's like a circular stairway that goes up.And you notice from the floor looking up, you do see that there's a very large telescope up at the top.

Oh, Stump love telescope.

I do too.

And so there's those stairs that go up. There's also a. A room that pass these stairs continuing to the west, and that leads into the whole west wing of the building.

Easy. Let's go up. Let's go see telescope.

Let's do it.

No, maybe we don't just barge in there, but maybe we go a little stealthy.

Oh, of course.

Oh, yes. Stump is best at this.

Well, I don't know if stomp would be best.

I'm not either, because, you know, I'm pretty clunky. But I'll do my best.

Cool. So Ilui wants to kind of move forward a little bit in a stealthy way.

You want, like, stealthy way up the stairs?

Yeah.

Well, up the.

Yeah, up the stairs and to see if there's a door or an entrance or kind of see if I can get a look on what's going on up there before someone can see me.

Sure.

Roll stealth. All right, anyone going up? Real stealth.

All right, I got it. 14 Plus 2. 16.

Oh, I have to roll.

Yeah.

Lauren's got disadvantage.

I rolled a 15 twice. And I have plus one.

Okay, 16.

Awesome.

Jump is weirdly stealthy.

I rolled a two, but I have a plus eight, so it's actually a 10.

Which dice are you rolling?

Eight.

I know, right?

That monk's got a Lot of nice. Okay, so yeah, you make your way up the stairs.

Try this one.

Maybe like, you slip at the bottom and these two, like, actually go past you. And so you're like, oh, now you're playing catch up with them.But they're leading at such a good pace that it's, it's actually stealthy for you all to be. Okay, cool. Yeah, you, you start making your way up the, this circular stairs and you keep going up closer and closer.You don't really see anybody up there once you kind of get to the top.And once you get to the top, you, you kind of look around first before you just like walk into this open area and no, there's definitely no one up here.

Oh, yeah.

So you're good.

But you do see a very large, like, brass telescope. And there is like this slit in the ceiling that has been kind of carved away that this is like poking out of barely.And there is one of those, like, there's like a big wheel to like turn this thing. And there is like a spot for you to, like, you know, look through this, this giant telescope.And carved on the side of this telescope, it looks like galaxies. And there's a lot of these, like, circles that look like they might represent planets that are kind of carved into it.And that's basically what you see up here. It seems to be just a room holding this telescope.

Stump says, easy, take a look. Take a look.

Okay. Am I able to adjust it to my height?

There's like, there's like a, a multi use, like step ladder.

Ooh, that's handy. Okay, so I do that.

I would like to roll stealth again. Can stump, like, get to where it's just like his face isn't on the other side of the telescope?

No.

Oh, it's too big.

It is way too big to do that.

Yeah.

I can't do acrobatics.

No, it's like, I mean, this telescope, like, is like it protrudes 70ft long. Yeah. Like, this thing was built, like, sturdy.

Okay. And stumps is what you see.

So. Okay, so are you taking a look? I take a gander.

Absolutely. You're dead before you what? As you, like, walk up saving throws as you, like, walk up to, like, put your face where the eye hole goes.Like the whole thing turns blue for a second. And then you see where the eye hole is. It actually grows into three.

What? Okay. What?

Yeah.

And so I think there's one for each of us.

Wow.

This is normally telescope, maybe.

So let's look.

So Eloi approaches And yeah, be all gander, okay. And Eloise says, stomp may I? And sits on his shoulder of course, if he's okay.

And it's weird, like wherever you move like those eye holes like move with you to like. It's almost like it magically knows classrooms.

And having everyone look at us.

Smart.

Yeah.

As you look through, as you look through, it's almost like all your senses in this room disappear to where you were like tunnel visioned into looking through this.It's almost like you immersed into looking through this to where like you kind of hear the sounds of the room that you're in, the echoes of like the classroom and things all that like disappears to where you are just focused on this telescope at first and you're looking like at the stars and it's beautiful. But then like immediately you see that this zooms in super fast to a floating planet and it zooms further in like super fast.And you're always seeing the same exact thing. And when you zoom in, you are now looking at a like very large university building.And you see that there are three people looking through this telescope. But it's not you three. Oh, it's a different three people. One is like an elf, one is an orc, and the other is a female dwarf.And they're all looking through this telescope and they're like talking to each other.Look at this telescope and you're seeing like all these wizards walking around almost similar to the ones you saw, but like their robes are completely different than the ones you are you saw like an alternate universe. And then it like pulls back out and zooms in and you see like that. Now you are looking at another world.

And you see everyone has hot dog.

Fingers and you're looking at this other world and it is all also like round shaped like both these worlds are.

Like donut, Donut, donut.

And it zooms in and it shows like people standing next to these volcanoes, like a different, another three people standing next to these volcanoes.And instead of like scooping up the confetti like you all had to do, they're like scooping up like bunch of pebbles that have fallen out that are brightly colored and like hard pebbles, like scooping those out out and putting those in.

I don't know what to make of this at all.

Stump, the eye he has up to the like telescope is closed and the one that's off of it is open.

He's like, stump, don't get it. It's just floor telescope is terrible.

Open your other eyes. Oh goodness.

Gracious.

Whoopsie whoopsie stump.

And the minute you look in like it the power of threes, it zooms back out. And this time it shows another world. And it's completely destroyed. It is completely falling apart. You see bodies everywhere.It's another round shaped, you know, world and then there's like bodies everywhere. You see large machines like walking the planets and you see a bunch of just like lifeless bodies. Fires, things being destroyed.And these machines are like stabbing through the bodies as they walk. Walk through.

Guys, we have, we have to help this.

It does this another five or six times showing you other round shaped worlds and different like, but it's always like the same thing. There's another three people and another three this.

Similar but different outcome or different.

Yeah, why don't you easy roll me a perception check real quick.

Can I barf first?

Go for bar.

It just seems like the appropriate thing to do. Okay, so perception. I rolls an 18 plus 2.

18 Plus 2.

It's like one of those moments where you kind of like close your eyes for a second. But when you close your eyes, it brings your senses back to this room.Cuz when you're looking, your senses go away and you're focused on what you're seeing. But the minute you like close your eyes, your senses here and you hear like shuffling from behind you.

Oh crap. Okay.

I don't know what to do.

All up to you.

Yep. So who's next? Who's next to me?

Both of us.

Your eyes are closed? I don't know. I mean they're both next to you. Like right next to me.

It's probably stump in the middle and me on the other side.

Yeah.

Imagining just like nudge my elbows.

Whoa.

What?

Yeah, for us to like look around.

Pulls his head away from the eye hole.

From the turns around first.

Not. Not Louie. He's still. He's enthralled.

I feel like easy would.

Yeah, easy.

Turn around first. I see you turn around. You see Leaster. What Sitting there.

That was my first husband.

First crush.

You see him just sitting there and he's like got his staff and he's like his legs are crossed. Sitting on a chair. He's just kind of like kicking his legs. He's like.

I long to hear his voice again.

What do you say? Do you say anything?

I just like wave.

You wave at him. He's kind of got like a serious look on his face.

He had a serious look.

That's true too. This time it's also more of a concerned look as his legs are kind of kicking. He's like, yep. Oh, hello, everyone.

What's the one your name was?

Me.

How do you do?

Happy Easter.

I see. I see you've all looked into the.

The telescope, huh?

Yes, it is.

I. What am I seeing here? It's. It's very.

And awful.

Disturbing.

It's really awful.

And great. But bad.

This isn't the first Zendayo.

What?

What's that? I say, at least.

Crap.

This.

This isn't the first one, and it's.

Probably not going to be the last one.

And.

And.

And as he's, like, about to say something else, you see another wizard walk up the steps. He's like, leester, you know better than to talk to them right now. You don't have the authority.And least her looks over and he's like, damn it, devil woman, don't tell.

Me what to do.

Yeah, don't be mean to Lister.

But she's right.

It's the most stir of us.

She's right.

I'm not supposed to talk to y' all yet. Look, I came here for the meeting. We're here to discuss some situations with the dmv.I just got here, heard you all are here, so I came to check up on you.

But good to see you.

Don't.

Don't forget what I just said. I have to get in the meeting now. Yeah, I'm not supposed to be talking to you yet.

You have to list her. Yeah, we'd like to know what's going on.

We need to know where Finch is.

He must be, like, most important guy here.

One of the most important, yes. You also notice he is not wearing any of the robes like the other factions are. He's got his own rock and blue, like, wizard outfit that he's got.You do remember also something about Finch saying, like, he created a very, very, like, dark magic.

Yeah, that's right.

Saying for you all to leave this planet. At least. She's like, look, I can explain more. Just wait till the meeting's done. I gotta get in there. I gotta share what I know. We're gonna talk.It's gonna be just a little bit longer. Just hold on. All right? Look, you can come in. Listen, they're not going to be too warmed up to you all yet, but I gotta go in there.Feel free to hang out here. Look, what I said, it's true. I wouldn't go looking through that anymore. It's just gonna bring pain and hurt.

All right?

Okay. Thank you.

Don't go looking through that. But, look, if it does Call to you.

What?

You got to look through it, but don't look through it again until. Unless it calls to you.

How do you know if it calls to you?

You'll know.

Well.

Well, look, I got to go. Feel free to keep doing what you're doing, but I got to get.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you, Ler.

Thank you, Lisa, kindly.

Hey, Lister. Love you.

He just gives you a thumbs up and keeps walking down the stairs.

Lister is the best.

Like I said, I'll get back to y' all in a minute.

Y' all come back now here.

Y' all come back now here.

What in the world is going on here?

This is nice.

Fascinating.

Very confusing to Stump.

I think it's time for us to get some answers. Let's go down to the meeting.

Yes.

Yeah.

Maybe we introduce ourselves, maybe we sneak in, but we need to be there.

Let's.

Something important's happening, and it has to do with us, doesn't it?

Guys go in, shake first guy we see.

No, I don't. We don't shake them.

We're gonna be quiet really hard. We're gonna be quiet. I wink.

Oh, yes. Shake nicely.

No. No shaking.

Oh, no shaking. No shaking.

Oh, Cory's rolling.

Oh, no.

Easy.

You're in the middle of talking to everybody, and then all of a sudden, you find yourself in a black room.

Crap.

No.

And all you see is the telescope.

It's calling.

It is calling to you.

It's calling you. Easy. Will you answer?

Is that an NPR boy?

Yeah. What voice is that?

I don't know.

It was kind of like a mix between Barry Gibb and.

I think I was going for Hal from 2001, maybe.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, I don't know.

It just felt right.

Okay, what are you gonna do?

Yeah, what are you gonna do?

What are you gonna do?

I'm like. And I, like, panic and look at my hands and then I, like, look and then.

Can you see your hands?

Yeah, you see, like, yourself and the telescope is up ahead of you, like, where it was, but everything else is gone. It's just you in, like, a black void.

Strange.

He said to only do this if it's calling out to you. And you would know that it's calling out to you. And I know that it's calling out to me.

Yeah. Cuz it literally pulled you in, and you are now in this black void with just the telescope.

I don't like making decisions. Easy. Oh, my gosh. I've never heard that voice come out of you.

Well, it was the telescope. It wasn't Me.

Oh, okay. I was like, E.T. Okay, I will.

Easy phone.

I. I have. I don't have a choice voice. Okay. I do it.

All right. You walk up to it, and as you walk up to it, you look into the eye hole of the telescope. Keep saying eye hole as you look into it.Kind of the same feeling you got earlier where, like, you were just, like, completely focused on what you see. You see, once again, you're out in the galaxy, and it zooms in onto around Donut World.And this one, you know in your heart is the world you are on right now.

Oh, no.

And then it zooms in to the dmv, the one that you all arrive to.

Yeah.

And you know for sure, like, this is the one that you arrived to in the beginning.

Okay.

You see the waiting room. You see the side room that you all sat in, but you see the. This room, it is completely empty. There's no axioms working. There's no Finch.There's, like, all the seats are empty. And, in fact, a lot of them have been turned over.

Yeah, that's what I was.

And it seems to be like, this place has been almost rummaged through.

Yeah. Ransacked.

Ransacked. But it's also very, like, dark in here.

Yikes.

Like, there's still some light, you know, shining. Excuse me. But it is darker. It's not bright lit like it was. And you see, as you're trying to make sense of what's going on, the doors are broken down.You see a chair that is, like, turned away from all the others. It begins to slowly turn around.

I know who it is.

And as it slowly turns around, you see a figure.

Figure.

But unfortunately, it is blocked by shadow.

I know who it is.

Who is it? And as you stare at this figure, it stands up.And even though you can't make out the features, it is staring directly up into the sky, where you are looking down with the telescope, and it looks at you, and you just see, like, this hand come up and points at you, and then it begins to turn and walk. Walk into the darkness and out the door.

Crap.

As you are now, like, you're still watching this, and you're waiting for yourself to be pulled back, but you have not quite been pulled back yet. And the two of you notice that Easy is just standing there in the spot.She was just talking to you all, and now she's just standing there, like, not talking, not moving. So, yeah, eyes are still just, like, glazed over, just staring, like, at the telescope stump and pokes easy on the.

Head and says hello.

And Eloise says, easy.

Hello.

When you poke, like, her body is stiff. Oh, almost like petrified.

Eloise, something wrong.

Easy. Last come back to us.

And you hear steps on the stairway, coming up. And coming up the stairway, you see those two RTT loyalists and that you saw in the dining hall.

Stefan and Chadwick.

Yeah, Chadwin.

Chadwin. Stefan and Chadwin.Except they're also, like, accompanied by, like, four or five other classmates, all wearing those, you know, brightly colored robes. Something seems off. He's got a terrible smirk as he is walking up, and him and his buddy. So this is Stefan.Stefan looks to his buddy Chadwin, and they look at you, Stump, and they're, like, smiling and laughing.

Stump, like, no, he just. He knows. And he starts. He hunches and. Go on, go on.

As you hunch, they. They look at you, they look at each other. And, like, I hear somebody likes trash cans.

Stump picks up easy and, like, kind of she's, like, stiff as a board, right?

Yep.

He's, like, holding her, like, on his shoulder like a boombox. And he looks at you, Louie, and.

He's like, we should. I. I wish. Wendell, what'd you think?

Well, no.

Hello, fellas. Welcome back.

One to help you.

And they yell, get.

Sam.

Test, 1, 2, test, test.

Hey, this is Nick the Reverberator.

Reverberator.

Can I do a small thing that you can cut out? Can I take my sandals off? But in order to take my sandals off, you're going to hear Velcro. So just, like, cut this out. Okay?

Okay.