[SPEAKER_08]: Last time on Roseville Beach and then there is a missing person's vote.
[SPEAKER_08]: It's the only photo of a person up there.
[SPEAKER_08]: It is Gabriella.
[SPEAKER_01]: When did Gabriella go missing?
[SPEAKER_09]: Yeah, did we know about that?
[SPEAKER_05]: There's one tattoo shop on the island.
[SPEAKER_05]: Everybody there vanished.
[SPEAKER_05]: All people disappeared from the tattoo Paula.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm simply floored by the amount of things happening on this beach that we don't know about.
[SPEAKER_05]: There's more to that story, and I'm gonna get it after I find my girl.
[SPEAKER_08]: And the camera zooms out and sees sort of this shadow cast over.
[SPEAKER_08]: Those will be...
[SPEAKER_08]: I have done a great whole thing.
[SPEAKER_08]: I've heard a lot of people.
[SPEAKER_08]: A lot of my own guys.
[SPEAKER_08]: But I...
[SPEAKER_08]: They take a breath.
[SPEAKER_08]: I would do it again.
[SPEAKER_08]: Bends in it warps and it casts your shadow across the room.
[SPEAKER_08]: Up the wall.
[SPEAKER_08]: And you turn to hear a familiar voice, September, you're running out of time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Part two is missed, the thrills upon the summer haze.
[SPEAKER_00]: Together on the beach, we'll turn the night to day.
[SPEAKER_00]: Adventurers on the beach, so come along and play.
[SPEAKER_00]: Roseville Beach, the ghosts like to play Monsters hide, but they won't stay Roseville Beach, with the game that they found We'll turn this town right, back around Blue nose, there's no broken thing that she can't feel At your service
[SPEAKER_00]: magic that comes from moss powers the way she lay I may wish Ari, on this quest you're loving, good some fishy tricks Oh, I'm a real Do gather these three will surely have you transfigured
[SPEAKER_00]: Roseville beach, the ghosts like to play, monsters hide, but they won't stay.
[SPEAKER_00]: Roseville beach, with the gang that they found, will turn this town right.
[SPEAKER_08]: On our way, quickly, over to the old bookstore where a Coven has been meeting.
[SPEAKER_08]: The Roseville Beach Coven has met for many years, underneath the misty moon, which used to be a more prominent bookstore, but now has gone to the wayside.
[SPEAKER_08]: It's been not abandoned, but just forgotten about.
[SPEAKER_08]: More interesting, more exciting entertainment options have popped up around town.
[SPEAKER_08]: you are fresh off of the Leylaine incident where you stumbled across a ticking time bomb.
[SPEAKER_08]: The village depends on you and only you in this moment to save it.
[SPEAKER_08]: one thing that goes through your head, returning to the bookstore.
[SPEAKER_09]: He's putting on a very, very cheerful, light-hearted front, especially since the infusement of the magic of the lay line within everybody.
[SPEAKER_09]: So there's a level of perhaps unearned confidence that is surging through his bloodstream.
[SPEAKER_09]: But as we approach the bookstore again,
[SPEAKER_09]: Arian can't help but remember the palette knife and the odd behavior from that which and how by willingly walking into another which is Coven, Arian is serving himself up on a platter.
[SPEAKER_09]: And how he might need to be a little bit more careful.
[SPEAKER_09]: He feels really good right now because of the
[SPEAKER_01]: She never anticipated to get a taste of magic.
[SPEAKER_01]: She had watched her friends do some magical things, but that was never really hers.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so to kind of have that thrust upon her, I think she feels a little out of her depth approaching what could be a whole group of magical individuals.
[SPEAKER_04]: Alex does not enjoy walking into a large group of witches, as she has very specifically avoided doing so for a couple of years.
[SPEAKER_04]: And all of the other close brushes are not, they do not make her terribly happy about the situation at large.
[SPEAKER_04]: So it's just a constant sort of nervous energy that's probably hopped up with whatever this weird feeling of this energy
[SPEAKER_08]: as you enter into the bookstore.
[SPEAKER_08]: It's as you remember it somewhat abandoned looking.
[SPEAKER_08]: The remnants of your interaction that you had here have been cleaned up and the upstairs September you would know is sort of a front.
[SPEAKER_08]: This bookstore is in Operation Bear.
[SPEAKER_08]: up the flight of stairs to the second floor is where the oven keeps some of its more more of its occult books, but everything of interest is down stairs, which requires entry with a trinket, a token that all oven members have.
[SPEAKER_08]: This is something that you have on your person.
[SPEAKER_05]: I think September's trinkets, and maybe the Coven's trinket at large.
[SPEAKER_05]: It looks like a bus token, but when you examine it, it's actually a TNA coin.
[SPEAKER_05]: Back in the 70s and 80s, there used to be adult bookstores, and they would use coins to let you see things, and the coins would be special, so it's like a heads or tails.
[SPEAKER_05]: and the tail is like a little butt and the head is either a topless gentleman or a topless fem or whatever.
[SPEAKER_05]: So that's that's hers.
[SPEAKER_05]: It's like a little sexy fem with no top on and then a little tail on the back.
[SPEAKER_08]: Even though there's no one that's sort of manning it, you're able to access this back section.
[SPEAKER_08]: That's like behind a little black velvet curtain.
[SPEAKER_08]: And when you enter it with this token, it's almost like a shimmering portal.
[SPEAKER_08]: It reveals like a spiraling stairwell that goes down underneath the bookshop.
[SPEAKER_08]: You start to hear something surprising, something maybe you didn't quite expect a low drum of music, of honestly,
[SPEAKER_08]: It's not dissimilar, Arion, to something that would be played at the Cabana, but it has a distinct, sort of, ethereal tone.
[SPEAKER_08]: Do it.
[SPEAKER_08]: It's actually really similar to your brand, your style of music, mixing the mystic with the popular.
[SPEAKER_08]: At the bottom of the stairwell, you enter into
[SPEAKER_08]: can only be described as a gay club that meets a speaking.
[SPEAKER_08]: It is clearly a secret place where everyone who is here is living their life.
[SPEAKER_08]: They are out, they are proud of being witches.
[SPEAKER_08]: This is a place where they can be who they are without judgment or fear of the world at large.
[SPEAKER_08]: In the center,
[SPEAKER_08]: of this room because it kind of like has several alcoves that spiral out.
[SPEAKER_08]: Think like to your right, there's probably many like leather upholstered couches and there's like a bar that spirals outward and loops back in like lots of standing rooms to the left.
[SPEAKER_08]: Further in is where you would have your practicing chambers.
[SPEAKER_08]: It's where you would have like, I think it's probably like a dance floor out there.
[SPEAKER_08]: But before you get to any of that, you are greeted with
[SPEAKER_08]: a enchantment, a sort of spell that has been inscribed on the precipice of this little like dais in the center, which normally, September, wouldn't have anything else on it, but today has a very special artifact, the Coven's Grimoire, something that only the Coven leader is able to access, around it, is inscribed the following spell.
[SPEAKER_08]: Beneath their feet, I draw the veil.
[SPEAKER_08]: On Roseville Beach, where few men sail, a gift to you who understood my one-true friend, I spare thee victim art.
[SPEAKER_08]: Made from branch and flesh and bone, and sculpted fast and out of stone, or relic.
[SPEAKER_08]: Yes, this Icraft protecting all who practice whichcraft.
[SPEAKER_08]: And when I'm gone, you will still be safe.
[SPEAKER_08]: For there is always another to take my place.
[SPEAKER_08]: Tonight, a new covenant leader will be chosen.
[SPEAKER_08]: There are many factions for you to explore and learn about.
[SPEAKER_08]: Off to the right.
[SPEAKER_08]: There is a new witch in town who is gorgeous and elegant, and carries about her the same presence as Aryan.
[SPEAKER_08]: To the left at the bar is a young apprentice who has sort of secluded himself from the rest of the witches, but has entered their name into the ring and far down near
[SPEAKER_08]: is me.
[SPEAKER_08]: From the antiques and oddity show.
[SPEAKER_05]: All right, tonight, you guys got to get your stuff together, okay?
[SPEAKER_05]: Again, have you out here embarrassing me in front of everyone?
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm not putting my name in for obvious reasons, because I'm still learning a lot, but please just make sure that you're on your best baking, okay?
[SPEAKER_09]: Of course, darling.
[SPEAKER_09]: Nothing but the best.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I definitely won't be putting my name in.
[SPEAKER_04]: So, you, do you, can you give us the light of the land here?
[SPEAKER_04]: Hmm, so, who's her?
[SPEAKER_05]: Oh, do you want to go talk to people first?
[SPEAKER_05]: We could just, I wasn't sure if you guys would want to get a drink and hang out.
[SPEAKER_05]: I know, low your eyes are probably bigger than your stomach.
[SPEAKER_05]: There's lots of cuties here tonight.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, um, I, uh, I, I, I, I'm just gonna stand right here for now.
[SPEAKER_05]: Oh, just right here, okay, um, Arianna, do you want to go meet that cutie in the corner?
[SPEAKER_05]: Because I feel like the energy is kind of similar.
[SPEAKER_05]: And I know that like, you and I have had a really nice time getting to know one another, and maybe that's like a first step.
[SPEAKER_09]: Oh, who do you refer to?
[SPEAKER_09]: Arianna doesn't seem to have noticed this person.
[SPEAKER_05]: September looks at you with a mix of delight and a bit of chiding, like game-recognized game, like I just grabbed his hand and I kind of look over at A-licks.
[SPEAKER_05]: You know, I mean, I've kind of built up a lot of respect for you.
[SPEAKER_05]: I don't know that you want to like put your name in to lead these people because you really don't know very well, but also if you started the club and I wouldn't be um,
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm flattered.
[SPEAKER_04]: Can I smoke in here?
[SPEAKER_05]: Of course.
[SPEAKER_05]: They lengthen your cigarette before you can look for your matches.
[SPEAKER_05]: I take out my big lighter, but it's way too old to just spark the way that it does.
[SPEAKER_05]: I hit it the first time and it does feel like I've put a little jazz into it.
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay, stay out of trouble.
[SPEAKER_04]: Looks directly at Arian.
[SPEAKER_04]: All the accusations.
[SPEAKER_04]: And remember that if you sing, they're gonna know what you are.
[SPEAKER_04]: I will not sing.
[SPEAKER_09]: I will hide my talents for all these wonderful eyes that I will be on my best behavior.
[SPEAKER_09]: I have no intention of dying today.
[SPEAKER_09]: Leave the way, Dollard.
[SPEAKER_08]: So you make your way over to the right to these these captures.
[SPEAKER_08]: And you have people like drinking and smoking and probably doing some like magical drugs of their own concoction here in the oven all the way in the corner shadowed.
[SPEAKER_08]: In fact, you can only see sort of like there's like a shadow down her face diagonally.
[SPEAKER_08]: and you can see her smile and you can see her yellow eyes that glow in the darkness and that is it?
[SPEAKER_08]: And she sort of looks up from what she's reading.
[SPEAKER_08]: She places the book down and she links that you are in.
[SPEAKER_09]: Arian fully takes in this process besage.
[SPEAKER_09]: Can I sus out specifically if they're
[SPEAKER_08]: Why don't you go ahead and make an investigation rule for a goal and clue.
[SPEAKER_09]: Let's put the five in goal and the other five in clue.
[SPEAKER_09]: I imagine that Arian is doing the thing where you clock someone from across the club or bar And you maintain I contact the kind of like weave in and out of the crowd so you're able to
[SPEAKER_09]: Assess, so what's anticipation over your arrival?
[SPEAKER_09]: He's using that to be the kind of like main assessment point of, if she has cocked him as a siren, she would probably keep looking at me.
[SPEAKER_09]: If not, she's probably a normal person.
[SPEAKER_09]: And yeah, I think he's just kind of like watching her gaze as he leaves through the crowd alongside September.
[SPEAKER_08]: She is clearly a magical creature.
[SPEAKER_08]: She is not a human being.
[SPEAKER_08]: You catch this as she takes her hair and she sort of lifts it up and she puts it in a little messy bun, but it's not.
[SPEAKER_08]: It just it falls effortlessly, right?
[SPEAKER_08]: It has like a cascading
[SPEAKER_08]: beauty to it.
[SPEAKER_08]: The way that sort of like a wave would have crashing on the shore as it crashes against her shoulders.
[SPEAKER_08]: There is just the slightest spark of electric speed that sort of stumbles off of her as she does this.
[SPEAKER_08]: This, Aryan, is a seat witch.
[SPEAKER_09]: Arian keeps a note to himself and so continues to go and greet her because it is better to have a potential ally than not in this particular space.
[SPEAKER_09]: And also September is encouraging him to do this, so he can't back out now necessarily without seemingly weird.
[SPEAKER_08]: As the two of you arrive, this mysterious woman sort of just like turns the table, it's a magic spell.
[SPEAKER_08]: She casts and she's able to turn the top of the table as she puts two drinks that we're in front of her.
[SPEAKER_08]: Now in front of you, please sit.
[SPEAKER_09]: That's such an incredible host already.
[SPEAKER_09]: I feel right at home, do you?
[SPEAKER_09]: How could I not?
[SPEAKER_09]: I feel from you, I actually say it a kidnish it?
[SPEAKER_08]: Well yes darling, although a true kinship and you could see she's struggling to find the right words to say as she's pushing down a bubbling anger, I will take kinship where I can get it to these days.
[SPEAKER_09]: You've seen trouble?
[SPEAKER_09]: What seems to be shattering your mind?
[SPEAKER_08]: It is not often that I visit the land nor do I visit another covenant, but these are dark times.
[SPEAKER_09]: Dark times that would pull you away from your home.
[SPEAKER_08]: I have no home anymore, there was destroyed.
[SPEAKER_08]: The men of the silent took it from me.
[SPEAKER_08]: My covenant is gone.
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm so sorry for your loss, it's terrible.
[SPEAKER_08]: I came to Lam's to plead with your... ...Covins later, but... ...when I arrived, she was gone.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, she's been gone, it's really terrible.
[SPEAKER_08]: I... ...covered this, seek to join this one, and perhaps can lead you in... ...a more triumphant era.
[SPEAKER_09]: Aaaaaah, Reyn!
[SPEAKER_09]: Looks very uncomfortable... ...for a moment hearing that...
[SPEAKER_09]: the men of a land had destroyed her covenant, because that usually means that a terrible catastrophe happened beneath the waves.
[SPEAKER_09]: And September, you see Arian's debuter chick.
[SPEAKER_09]: There's no subtlety, it's like a cold air interest of the room, and the math that stands next to you feels different, more primal.
[SPEAKER_09]: So, sorry, don't believe I had your name, Halley, Halley, what happened?
[SPEAKER_09]: I'm sorry to hear the gloss of your coven, where did this occur, and when?
[SPEAKER_08]: she reaches over and as her hand creeps out of the shadows, you see that it is not hidden.
[SPEAKER_08]: She is not hiding what she is.
[SPEAKER_08]: She will never do it that again.
[SPEAKER_08]: She has a staled hand and static electricity follows everywhere she lives.
[SPEAKER_08]: She traces the rim of your glass, and in it you can see a vision from her past, a memory she has chosen to share with you.
[SPEAKER_08]: It was late, a cool night.
[SPEAKER_08]: Everything should have been fine, the ocean was still.
[SPEAKER_08]: My cover was sleeping, and then the men came.
[SPEAKER_08]: their boats and their nets.
[SPEAKER_08]: And they took many of our friends more than I could count.
[SPEAKER_08]: You see, my covenant shares the form of the creatures of the sea.
[SPEAKER_08]: We detest a human body and they were captured, taken gone.
[SPEAKER_08]: Where to, I don't know.
[SPEAKER_08]: I'm sure disaster fell
[SPEAKER_08]: I was the only one left, able to cut myself out of a rope before it caught me as well.
[SPEAKER_08]: All right, you see some of the men on the boat hauling in these giant commercial fishing nets, which in the fishing nets, yes, they have fish and they have these sort of sea nymphs of this oven.
[SPEAKER_08]: As well as like a lot of trash and pollution just things that have been dumped in the ocean, right?
[SPEAKER_08]: And you see a glimpse of somebody pulling it up.
[SPEAKER_08]: It's so dizzy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lou has her arms crossed kind of the same posture that she was standing in after Ariana show so like feet shoulder with a part shoulders back arms crossed just looking around the room.
[SPEAKER_04]: She's just sitting there and she's just looking around and there are a lot more people in here than maybe she was expecting and I think there's
[SPEAKER_04]: equal parts.
[SPEAKER_04]: I would say jealousy.
[SPEAKER_04]: It's not quite it.
[SPEAKER_04]: I think she thinks she's thinking about what her life could have been if these were the first which is she came across and not another.
[SPEAKER_08]: while you're caught in your thoughts.
[SPEAKER_08]: And Lou, you're kind of just like uncomfortably waiting.
[SPEAKER_08]: You actually recognize one of these candidates, Lou.
[SPEAKER_08]: You work some jobs with them.
[SPEAKER_08]: They're a really dependable guy.
[SPEAKER_08]: You've known them for years.
[SPEAKER_08]: They're often the corner.
[SPEAKER_08]: Their name is Bradley.
[SPEAKER_08]: They're the guy kind of secluding themselves from the rest of the covenant.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lou, it takes some very weird and obvious strides across the room.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like boot up, heel down, then toe all the way over to Bradley.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like everybody in the room would notice this just really weird walk.
[SPEAKER_01]: She's obviously trying to be unseen and is just completely failing.
[SPEAKER_01]: And doesn't uncross her arms and then just takes up the exact same stance right next to Bradley.
[SPEAKER_08]: Bradley is nose deep into books and papers and he's writing out a plan for preparation and rituals and he's researching all the previous tasks that were put upon candidates in the past and he's trying to pile up all this together.
[SPEAKER_08]: And then you see underneath his book is a big where did she go?
[SPEAKER_08]: She disappeared.
[SPEAKER_01]: loose slams her hand out on top of all these papers and like a moose the papers aside so that comes more into view.
[SPEAKER_01]: What's that?
[SPEAKER_08]: Uh-oh.
[SPEAKER_08]: Uh-huh.
[SPEAKER_08]: Um.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hello Bradley, nice to see you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know you were which.
[SPEAKER_01]: What's that?
[SPEAKER_08]: Lou, I didn't.
[SPEAKER_08]: I didn't know you were a witch.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not.
[SPEAKER_08]: And they kind of like look back at the entrance with like, you could see concern in their eyes that they've been compromised.
[SPEAKER_01]: Three witches.
[SPEAKER_08]: Okay, wow.
[SPEAKER_01]: They know I'm here, it's fine.
[SPEAKER_08]: Okay, hey, hi, hi, Lou, hi.
[SPEAKER_08]: And they like grab you by the shoulders in a way that's supposed to be comforting, but they just end up shaking you in nervous because they are shaking so much.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, okay, we could stop that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: What is, who's missing?
[SPEAKER_08]: It's not like it's serious, is there I shift up to you?
[SPEAKER_08]: They take one hand off, they sort of like pull you into the other, so they can whisper in your ear.
[SPEAKER_08]: You said you came in with a few other witches, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_08]: Can we trust them?
[SPEAKER_08]: Well, um... Lulu, do you trust them?
[SPEAKER_01]: I think all three, but two out of three.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I really want to trust the third one.
[SPEAKER_08]: As I sort of like, scrunch their face, trying to decipher if they can trust you.
[SPEAKER_08]: Okay, Lou, you have to.
[SPEAKER_08]: You gotta be reloading me.
[SPEAKER_08]: Do you trust all three of them?
[SPEAKER_01]: I met one of them today.
[SPEAKER_08]: I know, Lou, I'm asking you as a friend, as always a person who I, yes, okay.
[SPEAKER_08]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_08]: I, I, do you, I'm so sorry.
[SPEAKER_08]: Do you know what's even happening right now?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, it looks like you wanna leave this oven.
[SPEAKER_08]: Oh, yeah, no, I don't, I really don't.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then why are you preparing to try out?
[SPEAKER_08]: Lou, we can't trust any of them.
[SPEAKER_08]: I don't know how, I don't know where, I don't know when.
[SPEAKER_08]: But two, three weeks ago, one of the people who were building up to lead our oven, the favorite, Anaya, she just disappeared one day.
[SPEAKER_08]: I think the oven might have just,
[SPEAKER_08]: as they like draw their finger across their throat, taking them out.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're looking for somebody, and so I hope they're not dead.
[SPEAKER_08]: I can't help you with that right now, Lou.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're not dead.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I'm just gonna say it right now, they're not dead.
[SPEAKER_08]: We like put their hand over their face in a way that's actually very similar to Alex, as this person who has been so happy there, as long as you know them, now suddenly stripped of that joy.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you go into a situation thinking the worst outcome has happened, you won't succeed in what you're trying to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm being very serious right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Also, Bradley, I don't think that you should try to lead this oven.
[SPEAKER_01]: You couldn't even lead the construction site.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lou doesn't believe that if somebody doesn't want to do something that they should do it, because then she thinks that they'll do a bad job.
[SPEAKER_01]: So if he doesn't want to lead the oven, he should not be the one leading the oven.
[SPEAKER_08]: The words you say will end on him.
[SPEAKER_08]: but not as much as putting any of these other people in position of power.
[SPEAKER_08]: Lou, thank you.
[SPEAKER_08]: No, no, hey, Lou, thank you.
[SPEAKER_08]: I can't have you distracted right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you're more concerned with finding a leader for this covenant, finding a missing person?
[SPEAKER_08]: What would you know, Lou?
[SPEAKER_08]: This is not your world.
[SPEAKER_01]: that statement gets in to Lou because people think that she is just a dumb fool and she knows that's what people think about her.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've lived in this town for 10 years, Bradley, so I know a lot.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you go back to your fun little games and whatever this obstacle course in trial is going to be and I'm going to go do something that actually matters.
[SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: She grabs the paper just in case there's something else on it and then walks away for them.
[SPEAKER_08]: I think it just flips you off as you go.
[SPEAKER_04]: Just fucking smoking pops a look at the grimoire and just like where can I stand where I will attract the least amount of attention and it's gonna go find that corner.
[SPEAKER_08]: The front heart part of the Coven Club is this lounge right at the bar.
[SPEAKER_08]: The middle part is sort of where we do our ceremonies, and then there are our work areas where the Coven can practice witchcraft.
[SPEAKER_08]: And there are people kind of in all the spots, but definitely more towards one of those altcos, some of those practicing areas would be the most secluded section of this club.
[SPEAKER_04]: Slow pays across the bar and it's like under the radar, just do the same thing she's done for years.
[SPEAKER_04]: It's just how much can she minimize her presence in this room full of people who are not mundane.
[SPEAKER_08]: Honestly, people?
[SPEAKER_08]: Don't seem to notice you.
[SPEAKER_08]: It looks in this place, you're ordinary.
[SPEAKER_08]: You're not really anything unique in a place like this.
[SPEAKER_08]: And you make your way into this area.
[SPEAKER_08]: You're here for a while.
[SPEAKER_08]: And almost, it's almost like the world sort of closes around you, right?
[SPEAKER_08]: You can hear just a hum of people talking in festivities or in thoughts you hear rumors, murmuring,
[SPEAKER_08]: people want to lead the cup in, who they think would be good at it, who they think would be bad at it, and then there is something that slides into your field of view.
[SPEAKER_08]: Actually, it drops from the ceiling, right at your feet, a letter.
[SPEAKER_04]: I look up at the ceiling, is there like a hole or a trap door or anything?
[SPEAKER_08]: You aren't unsure of how this actually got to you, whether it was done through sorcery, whether it was done through a trap door, or if somebody was passing by and like through
[SPEAKER_08]: recognize and it's wild alex the thing smells familiar it's a weird sulfuric acidic smell I'm gonna put her cigarette in her mouth and like pick it up and just like surely we can we can make an agreement that alex has like a little shitty pocket knife
[SPEAKER_04]: She's going to use that to unseal it, just like flips, flips it open and just kind of like cuts up in the envelope and then dumps whatever's there onto a table.
[SPEAKER_08]: A letter falls out and then one of these coins, digging entry into the covenant club, falls out as well.
[SPEAKER_08]: The letter when you unfold it and says,
[SPEAKER_08]: Hi friend, I write this with great urgency.
[SPEAKER_08]: I've encountered an alarming number of threats west of the village.
[SPEAKER_08]: Our friend helped me find them before things go out of hand.
[SPEAKER_08]: Don't worry, it's okay.
[SPEAKER_08]: But, well, recently they have been...
[SPEAKER_08]: Um, fighting to get back to Roosevelt Beach, leading me to all the witches across the west side of this island.
[SPEAKER_08]: I don't know what's happening, but I can't deal with it here.
[SPEAKER_08]: I had a witch hedge witch, not associated with any c oven, helped me get this to you.
[SPEAKER_08]: You cannot let this grimoire get into the wrong pants.
[SPEAKER_08]: OS says it will be a disaster.
[SPEAKER_08]: Okay, thank you, your friend, G and OS.
[SPEAKER_08]: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
[SPEAKER_04]: No, no, no, she likes stuff the letters back together.
[SPEAKER_04]: I like fold it up.
[SPEAKER_08]: It like scrabs it back into the odd below It's just like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, she like lights her fingers and just barreds the letter And the letter goes up in flames and you see as it kind of goes up in flames There's almost like a little smiley face of the salamander that disappears in the snow Now, A-Lix, it does not have to be you anyone can enter into this
[SPEAKER_04]: I really think that looking at this coin, I think there's a moment where she's going to zone out and she's going to absolutely reach into our own pocket for the coin that is completely unmarked and just like run her thumb along it and she's going to think about the day that she got that coin.
[SPEAKER_04]: And I think that's going to occupy her for longer than is prudent, and then she's going to look up and try and see what the fuck everyone else has gone because she's not doing this, absolutely not.
[SPEAKER_08]: Alex, as you enter back into the cup and club, you're looking for your friends.
[SPEAKER_08]: The first one you find is a loop.
[SPEAKER_07]: You good?
[SPEAKER_01]: I just think people need to get the priority straight.
[SPEAKER_07]: You need to be both.
[SPEAKER_07]: You look pissed.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you know how September is missing someone?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Bradley fucking proud.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was writing down that somebody was missing.
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't trust anybody in this coffin.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I think that's probably right.
[SPEAKER_01]: He thinks that they killed her.
[SPEAKER_08]: Quickly joining you, Ariana and September.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that was that book that I was reading the other day.
[SPEAKER_09]: Ariana looks like a different person to both of you.
[SPEAKER_05]: are you good?
[SPEAKER_05]: I think September has like, has a look on their face that can only be described as mischievous worry.
[SPEAKER_05]: They sort of lean in, conspiratorally, to both of you.
[SPEAKER_05]: We had a little bit of a strange encounter with Halley over there.
[SPEAKER_05]: And I think maybe you need to show your roommate a little bit of love because he's real in a little bit.
[SPEAKER_05]: That's a terrible pun.
[SPEAKER_05]: But you know what I mean.
[SPEAKER_05]: He's very upset.
[SPEAKER_05]: He's seen some things.
[SPEAKER_05]: And I think Arian could really use the love in the affection right now.
[SPEAKER_05]: And they like try to put an arm around you to comfort you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lou Graves, Aryan, into a body-crushing hug.
[SPEAKER_05]: Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
[SPEAKER_09]: A rean looks to the both of you.
[SPEAKER_09]: Someone is fucking with my people.
[SPEAKER_09]: And I'm not happy about it.
[SPEAKER_09]: And there's a strong intensity in a rean's face as he's reeling from all the realizations that he's just made.
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, seems like nobody's having a good time.
[SPEAKER_04]: Who wants to lead?
[SPEAKER_04]: Because I don't.
[SPEAKER_04]: But we got this funny little coin now.
[SPEAKER_04]: Are you sure?
[SPEAKER_04]: You're so capable.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, and would that make you feel better?
[SPEAKER_09]: She just holds it directly over to you.
[SPEAKER_09]: Oh, absolutely not.
[SPEAKER_09]: I'll try to have far larger priorities.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I don't want it to be Bradley.
[SPEAKER_09]: Why would you trust me with a leadership position?
[SPEAKER_06]: I just have maybe to make you feel better.
[SPEAKER_06]: Well, you hand some in charismatic, and that's usually pretty good in a leader.
[SPEAKER_09]: There's a little thing that steps out that he's like tapping down this little bubbling.
[SPEAKER_09]: frustration with bright bubbly charm.
[SPEAKER_09]: Well, thank you, thank you.
[SPEAKER_09]: I, I, I do think I would be a pretty good charismatic leader, but I'm not a witch.
[SPEAKER_09]: Whoever needs to lead this place has to be a witch, and it probably has to be a witch.
[SPEAKER_09]: It actually knows what they're doing.
[SPEAKER_05]: I know a witch who knows what they're doing, but they don't seem to want to claim the mantle that is being offered them.
[SPEAKER_06]: All three of our heads turned to look at A-licks.
[SPEAKER_04]: The cigarette is now getting close to the end of where she can still hold it.
[SPEAKER_04]: And it's just like, you're obviously pulling on it.
[SPEAKER_04]: Just like, look, I'm flattered.
[SPEAKER_04]: I really am.
[SPEAKER_04]: I, I, I, I, no, no, no, it's not.
[SPEAKER_09]: An unwilling leader is not a good leader.
[SPEAKER_01]: I, 100% agree with that.
[SPEAKER_09]: I mean, there is something to be said about a true good leader, it's not necessarily a person who like wants the power necessarily, but it's at the very least someone who knows and is willing to use that power for the better middle of the group.
[SPEAKER_08]: We don't need to say that in the middle of this conversation, September, everything stops around you.
[SPEAKER_08]: Immanating from the Radiance of the Grim War, your shadow looks up to you.
[SPEAKER_08]: You hear the clock strike, signaling midnight, the final chance to submit for the competition, the shadow looks at you, and doesn't say anything.
[SPEAKER_08]: but you know what it means.
[SPEAKER_08]: You are not strong enough to save Simura.
[SPEAKER_08]: You're not strong enough.
[SPEAKER_08]: You need it.
[SPEAKER_08]: And that person, whoever is going to be the leader, you've seen already these people are selfish.
[SPEAKER_08]: These people are unable to help you.
[SPEAKER_05]: You have to rely on yourself.
[SPEAKER_05]: I think September takes a step.
[SPEAKER_05]: just very covertly toward it and then in like one fluid motion just puts their name in.
[SPEAKER_05]: I feel like their hands shakes a little bit right at the end, but they get it in just in time.
[SPEAKER_05]: I don't know that they're covert enough, but she really doesn't want it to be a big thing.
[SPEAKER_05]: Like this is something she just needs and in that moment I think she just takes it.
[SPEAKER_05]: Takes the opportunity.
[SPEAKER_08]: Lou, you're the only one who sees this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Lou simply does not care.
[SPEAKER_01]: If September wants to leave the cabin, then they should.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is not Lou's care anymore.
[SPEAKER_08]: About an hour has passed.
[SPEAKER_08]: It is now 1am and the trials have begun.
[SPEAKER_08]: There will be a handful of trials, along September, are Bradley who looks more determined than ever to win.
[SPEAKER_08]: Hallie, who knows she has found allies in her cause and may, who looks significantly older, significantly more frail than she ever has.
[SPEAKER_08]: Like she's on the last little whisp of her life.
[SPEAKER_08]: The first trial says, sort of, the keeper of the records, is the right of creation.
[SPEAKER_08]: Every covenant leader must go through this process of making your very own wand, which you will use to lead the covenant.
[SPEAKER_08]: The first one to go is then Bradley, who steps in front of every book.
[SPEAKER_08]: A little bit too,
[SPEAKER_01]: literally just like casual boo out in front of him as he steps to go up there first.
[SPEAKER_08]: He stumbles.
[SPEAKER_08]: In fact he falls like falls to a knee as he looks up.
[SPEAKER_08]: Not at you towards the keeper of records but everyone else looks at you will.
[SPEAKER_08]: You're gonna take a scare here outside.
[SPEAKER_08]: You watch as Bradley approaches sort of this workbench on which there are several ones to choose from and you can see he's struggling back and forth to see which one he's going to take and he grabs one he whispers something into it.
[SPEAKER_08]: and there's like almost a magical spark that backlash is on.
[SPEAKER_08]: This one has been chosen and we move on.
[SPEAKER_08]: May steps up and she's confident.
[SPEAKER_08]: She's a witch of many years, but she is getting older and she reaches down.
[SPEAKER_08]: She picks up a wand that is made of like a charred branch and it's no longer than seven inches, maybe eight inches.
[SPEAKER_08]: and as she pulls it up, she too whispers something into it, and it's sort of like burns her hand, you can smell sort of that burning.
[SPEAKER_08]: Hathley steps up, and Hathley has never used a wand.
[SPEAKER_08]: The Sea Witches, at least the ones near, those will be each, the ones of her oven, do not use arcane devices.
[SPEAKER_08]: So this is a very new processor.
[SPEAKER_08]: She...
[SPEAKER_08]: Deliberately does not whisper anything into it, nothing happens to her, and she takes the wand.
[SPEAKER_08]: September, you approach, and there is only one wand left.
[SPEAKER_05]: The wand looks like it is made out of plastic, almost.
[SPEAKER_05]: It's a little chintzy.
[SPEAKER_05]: It almost resembles a costume type wand.
[SPEAKER_05]: There's glitter in the handle.
[SPEAKER_05]: It does not look at all serious.
[SPEAKER_05]: And I think when September gets up there for a second, their heart drops.
[SPEAKER_05]: They know that this is an official.
[SPEAKER_05]: They know people will laugh at this.
[SPEAKER_05]: But the more they look at it, the more it starts to remind them of the toy sector that their parents bought them as a kid.
[SPEAKER_05]: They used to do pageants and things like that.
[SPEAKER_05]: and it looks like that, but with the top, kind of taken off with a little melody, crown part of the top, that's not there, but she kind of studies it for a second, looks around and disbelief, like, is this for me?
[SPEAKER_05]: And just reaches out and kind of hovers their hand over it for a second, weighing their choices before picking it up.
[SPEAKER_08]: When you touch it, you have to give something.
[SPEAKER_08]: any time you work magic, especially when you are creating something as precious as a covenant, requires sacrifice, requires you to give something of yourself to it.
[SPEAKER_08]: Pick one of these options, or none, give up the happiest moment you've ever experienced.
[SPEAKER_08]: Share a secret that is not yours to tell, offer it a fear giving willingly, or make a vow that you can never break.
[SPEAKER_05]: I think September sits with that for a second.
[SPEAKER_05]: They're acutely aware that they are taking more time than the others.
[SPEAKER_05]: And they come down to a fear.
[SPEAKER_05]: They close their eyes, and they try to whisper it as quietly as they can.
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm afraid I'm just not good enough to be good at anything, a desirable, that being in charge of anyone, not even myself, I'm afraid I'm useless.
[SPEAKER_08]: the keeper of the tombs, congratulate everybody on selecting their wand and instructs them to form their covenant.
[SPEAKER_08]: The three others choose three of their trusted allies who they have found over the past few months to help them with the trials.
[SPEAKER_05]: September, who are your three?
[SPEAKER_05]: I know you're not a witch.
[SPEAKER_05]: I understand, you've already explained this to me, but you don't have to be a witch to be in community and concert with me, all right?
[SPEAKER_05]: We share something, there's something here.
[SPEAKER_05]: That's remarkable.
[SPEAKER_05]: And I don't know, I think, I think maybe this is which is supposed to do.
[SPEAKER_05]: And honestly, at the bare minimum, it would really cheese off, Valley if you came with me.
[SPEAKER_09]: The second you mentioned, Halle, Ory and looks from the corner of his eye glances over at Halle.
[SPEAKER_09]: Under normal circumstances, maybe he would have allied with Hally, but if this, he feels a tug deep within his soul, with a pact that he had made with Atticus.
[SPEAKER_09]: This idea that he must find what is responsible for all the tragedies that rose from
[SPEAKER_09]: vengeance, however justified, may not have the clarity for what's best for Roseville Beach, and then there's a tiny flash of his mind of that look that moment of Odysseus pulling up the nets.
[SPEAKER_09]: And he shakes his head off the capitol, and that won't be true.
[SPEAKER_09]: And he smiles at you.
[SPEAKER_09]: Eyes unclouded for a moment.
[SPEAKER_09]: I think that I would be honored to set by your side.
[SPEAKER_05]: Oh my goodness, thank you.
[SPEAKER_05]: You get a huge hug, and then they bounce over to Lou.
[SPEAKER_05]: So, you know, you're like this place.
[SPEAKER_05]: You think hanging out here is good.
[SPEAKER_05]: There's really cute people.
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm here.
[SPEAKER_05]: You got lots of reasons to join my coven.
[SPEAKER_05]: I know you're not a witch, but you got a word of power with your hammer, and I mean, I've never seen anything as gay as that, so you might as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: What do I, what, what, what, what,
[SPEAKER_01]: Am I going to be like behold into something because I got like a lot of jobs to do?
[SPEAKER_06]: No, no, I mean, you would come here for drinks anyway, right?
[SPEAKER_05]: Uh, not probably usually.
[SPEAKER_05]: Not even if they, I don't know, um, we dedicated more time to embarrassing Bradley.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I just, you know what?
[SPEAKER_01]: If joining your Coven means that he won't be the leader of this Coven, I'm in.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ah, yes!
[SPEAKER_06]: Ah, yeah, Spide is one hell of a truck.
[SPEAKER_05]: They look over at A-Lix and they kind of scrunch up their features a little bit.
[SPEAKER_05]: and kind of like scrunch their shoulders down to smooch themselves into a very cute looking person.
[SPEAKER_05]: Even with the scrunch, they're still a taller than Alex, but they pop over, they do like a little like saunter over, and they poke you a couple of times in your arm.
[SPEAKER_05]: So, I know you don't want to lead a covenant, and that was a smart choice that I unfortunately didn't make
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm a simple person than you.
[SPEAKER_05]: But would you maybe lend you expertise and your dedication and...
[SPEAKER_05]: you are honestly so frustrating your brilliance.
[SPEAKER_05]: Would you, would you mind maybe putting that into play for me?
[SPEAKER_05]: As the Covenant leader, I will, but I will not bother you.
[SPEAKER_05]: You will come and go as you please.
[SPEAKER_05]: I will only seek you out in emergencies and you can complain as much as you want.
[SPEAKER_04]: The pitch, did you, did you do that one all in the fly?
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, yeah, you know, I'm a little scared of you, even though you're much smaller than I am.
[SPEAKER_05]: You have a very intimidating aura, and I'm like equal parts like really nervous around you, but like also like, you cute.
[SPEAKER_05]: So I don't know, you can fuse me to be honest, but it would be great to stop.
[SPEAKER_04]: Why do you do magic?
[SPEAKER_05]: Well, I mean, I do magic because it comes from my heart.
[SPEAKER_05]: It's something that I didn't realize I had.
[SPEAKER_05]: I was living like a pretty regular life.
[SPEAKER_05]: I was not really questioning anything around me and then one day it kind of hit me and it changed everything.
[SPEAKER_05]: It made me think differently about myself and my surroundings and I left everyone and everything behind that rejected me and came here.
[SPEAKER_05]: So I do it because it feels like it's what I should be doing and I don't really have that feeling a lot, you know?
[SPEAKER_04]: chose this.
[SPEAKER_04]: I saw it out.
[SPEAKER_04]: You had it put upon you and right now you're making the choice to tie yourself to it.
[SPEAKER_04]: So what you want.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, it is.
[SPEAKER_05]: I'll be honest with you.
[SPEAKER_05]: I don't know if I'm if I'm the best person for this job.
[SPEAKER_05]: I probably not, honestly, but I do think that I'm capable of
[SPEAKER_05]: wielding the power as long as I have support?
[SPEAKER_05]: I do think I do a good job.
[SPEAKER_05]: I really want to find my partner.
[SPEAKER_05]: And if I don't, well, that's a problem for future September.
[SPEAKER_05]: But if I do, I'll devote everything I got to this.
[SPEAKER_04]: I think you will.
[SPEAKER_04]: And until you get them back, then I will be your third member.
[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, uh, okay.
[SPEAKER_04]: you're getting them back and then I'm fucking off.
[SPEAKER_04]: I just want to be very clear and up front about that, you only need three.
[SPEAKER_04]: You're welcome to come by whenever you want to, obviously, but this, this, it's not for me.
[SPEAKER_05]: But you said I can come over whenever I want.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, you're all right.
[SPEAKER_05]: So you say and we could be friends then.
[SPEAKER_04]: Don't get ahead of yourself.
[SPEAKER_05]: All right, all right, okay, all right, I'll come over.
[SPEAKER_05]: What kind of cookies do you like?
[SPEAKER_05]: Do you like
[SPEAKER_04]: who doesn't you got important things to do and look we're going to find your partner that's the that's the just I'm getting that here just bring it bring it back in you gotta be serious in front of the world yeah yeah gotta be real so serious oh my god I don't even own a blazer loolines over and goes I love strawberry poptarts I haven't had one
[SPEAKER_05]: You've never had a pot.
[SPEAKER_05]: Oh my God.
[SPEAKER_05]: Listen, Alex says that I got a straight enough right now and fly right because it's an important moment, but we're going to have this conversation.
[SPEAKER_05]: Young man, when I get back, I don't, you never had a pot of pot of pot of pot of pot.
[SPEAKER_08]: We're going to fast forward to the next trial, which you have been sort of taken to one of these side rooms, and you've been allowed time to prepare.
[SPEAKER_08]: You don't know what the trial is for, but you've been allowed time to prepare.
[SPEAKER_08]: On the other side of the door, you hear daps, you hear cheers, you hear cries of like, oh no, right?
[SPEAKER_08]: And then you are brought out the three of you.
[SPEAKER_08]: Your covenant is brought into the center.
[SPEAKER_08]: There are several different,
[SPEAKER_08]: stations.
[SPEAKER_08]: And Alex, you would recognize this immediately as being different, magical ingredients or different, like arcane devices.
[SPEAKER_08]: It seems like there's something for every kind of witchcraft here.
[SPEAKER_08]: September, you have been brought to a podium on which the grimoire rests.
[SPEAKER_08]: Now, you have been given through this trial, the ability,
[SPEAKER_08]: to temporarily interact with the grimoire.
[SPEAKER_08]: Otherwise, it will reject all other witches who attempt to use it.
[SPEAKER_08]: This is the right of leadership.
[SPEAKER_08]: We will test your ability to lead your covenant in the magical arts, craft, something to protect yourselves and a further trial.
[SPEAKER_08]: There are a handful of things that are sort of offered as options already, almost like in the table of context.
[SPEAKER_08]: There's potion craft.
[SPEAKER_08]: There is talisman.
[SPEAKER_08]: There are enchantments.
[SPEAKER_08]: on the back of the book written in the margin on the cover, scrolled and written, something that you can observe and no one else can, September.
[SPEAKER_08]: This is written by the same person who wrote those reads, back at the tattoo bar there.
[SPEAKER_08]: It's something about channeling layline magic.
[SPEAKER_08]: And you don't know what the result will be, but it's another option to hear.
[SPEAKER_05]: Knowing that at least two of us are layline touched, I think that's the one that's September chooses.
[SPEAKER_05]: They feel like that's not a coincidence.
[SPEAKER_08]: Now, September, the rest of these have instructions.
[SPEAKER_08]: This one does not.
[SPEAKER_08]: You are going to have to create this ritual, this witchcraft, on your own, and instruct your covenant to do the work.
[SPEAKER_05]: Okay, so listen up.
[SPEAKER_05]: We gotta make something that is kind of infused with that Leylaid magic that we had.
[SPEAKER_05]: I don't think anybody else like knows about that here.
[SPEAKER_05]: So like our chances are pretty good.
[SPEAKER_05]: Lou, you've got your magic hammer.
[SPEAKER_05]: And I feel like if we're gonna construct something that's gonna protect us in a future trial, that maybe that's like where we should start.
[SPEAKER_05]: Like I don't know if maybe like a magical shield would be good because, you know,
[SPEAKER_05]: Or maybe like a horn, like a magical trumpet or something, because I know that that can involve a Rien, but you're a really wonderful singer, and you've got like Samojo and you're singing and you're real special.
[SPEAKER_05]: And then Alex, maybe you could make sure that maybe you could like spell it so that only like the aggressor, only someone who like means us harm, maybe that's the only person who can like hear the sound, and then I
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm real good at potions usually and I like to win mixology and stuff so maybe I could like make an infusion or something like that that would end the effect.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do we all have to make a different object?
[SPEAKER_05]: I feel like you're going to make the first object with your hammer and then a reen can add what he has and then alex can put the spell on the outside and then I'll have the piece at the end.
[SPEAKER_05]: So it's not that we necessarily have to make different things.
[SPEAKER_05]: I feel like it's all of us put not attention into one thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: A sledgehammer is usually good for destruction rather than putting things together.
[SPEAKER_01]: What if I gave this up and it becomes like the central part of the shield?
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh my goodness, would you do that?
[SPEAKER_01]: I do like can around a sledgehammer, but I don't really like having magic.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh!
[SPEAKER_05]: I see.
[SPEAKER_05]: What how would you feel about taking in a little of my magic?
[SPEAKER_05]: I could make a little potion that you can drink, and it'll be temporary, it won't.
[SPEAKER_05]: It'll only be as long as you want it, you can give it up any time.
[SPEAKER_05]: That way you're not just like giving something for nothing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I think I'm giving it so that you become the covenant leader, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: That's something for something.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's true.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you feel better with an equal exchange of things,
[SPEAKER_01]: Also, who's to say if I give up the slut's hammer, then I try to call it again.
[SPEAKER_06]: I don't just call the whole shield to me.
[SPEAKER_06]: I mean, that would be pretty cool.
[SPEAKER_06]: That would be pretty cool, honestly.
[SPEAKER_06]: Can you tell the slut's hammer the idea?
[SPEAKER_06]: Like, could you like communicate with it?
[SPEAKER_06]: I don't think it's sentient.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I can give it a shot.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I hold the slut's hammer out in front of me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, buddy.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know we haven't like known each other for that long, but I was thinking that like maybe you could be used in the process of creating an even bigger, better, magic thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't love sorts.
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you think about that?
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you think does that sound like how you'd want your fate to go?
[SPEAKER_08]: And there is a distinct silence in the room and somebody watching cough.
[SPEAKER_08]: And then there is another distinct silence in the room.
[SPEAKER_06]: I'm not getting anything from it.
[SPEAKER_06]: Okay, that's fair.
[SPEAKER_05]: Maybe instead of telling you what I think you should do, maybe you just tell me what you guys think you can impart to this.
[SPEAKER_05]: A good covenant leader does listen.
[SPEAKER_09]: I like your idea.
[SPEAKER_09]: I think it will be easier for me to execute, but it will be, if you were able to describe to me or chart to me what this sort of boon would look like for that sort of protection that he eats only the presence of the aggressor.
[SPEAKER_09]: And I can try and match that frequency and infuse it onto our sledgehammer here.
[SPEAKER_09]: The fact that it's already
[SPEAKER_09]: Fused with magical properties would just make it easier for me.
[SPEAKER_09]: This is finally the right note.
[SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, in order to roll this, September is you cannot be the one to roll.
[SPEAKER_08]: In fact, you cannot help at all.
[SPEAKER_08]: Lou, Ariana, and Alex must be the ones to do this.
[SPEAKER_08]: September, it is your choice who gets to make the roll.
[SPEAKER_05]: I think Alex is the person that she chooses.
[SPEAKER_05]: She sees the way the other two looked to her and has faith magic, goal,
[SPEAKER_08]: In this case, because you are using Layline Magic, harm.
[SPEAKER_07]: 5 in Magic, 5 in goal, 5 in harm.
[SPEAKER_08]: you craft this shield which uses sort of the sledgehammer as the point of which to hold it.
[SPEAKER_08]: In fact, I think this is less of a small light shield and this is like a tower defense shield.
[SPEAKER_08]: it has a little bit of each of you in its imagery for a rean.
[SPEAKER_09]: It's it's similar to like a Bruno protection in the traditional sense and a rean is tapping into that very very light
[SPEAKER_09]: creating a bullet of protection.
[SPEAKER_09]: So as he's eating alex, he's trying to match the notes frequency to that of protection because the sledge has a device instruction.
[SPEAKER_09]: So what he's doing is finding the right note within the resonance of this metallic device,
[SPEAKER_09]: and finding a slightly adjacent, it almost sounds like steel knocking against steel and finds it.
[SPEAKER_08]: The way that this sort of manifests in the shield is it has almost like a passive harmony to it.
[SPEAKER_08]: When it is struck,
[SPEAKER_08]: It does not have like a claim it has harmony.
[SPEAKER_06]: It's heavy.
[SPEAKER_01]: One person can hold it, but there's a heft to it that I think means that it's going to hold up against a lot.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's sturdy, it's well-made, well-forged, and a steadfast.
[SPEAKER_04]: It can't harm those who don't mean the owner harm.
[SPEAKER_04]: And I think with that, there comes at least a certain level of awareness, even if not out right sentience.
[SPEAKER_04]: It has enough of a consciousness to recognize its wielder.
[SPEAKER_05]: I think while it's not flashy, it is the most cohesive piece that's there.
[SPEAKER_05]: It feels like the people who put it together have a deeper connection and a deeper level of understanding of one another.
[SPEAKER_08]: This item will aid you in the upcoming trial, but it will falter at some point.
[SPEAKER_08]: Additionally, while you are all touched by the lay line, you can share each other's words of power.
[SPEAKER_08]: We're going to fast forward, one more hour, three in the morning.
[SPEAKER_08]: A final trial, one that is pressing to finish quickly.
[SPEAKER_08]: You are entered into a room where there is almost like a whisp.
[SPEAKER_08]: An arcane spirit of the island, something gentle and true to Roseville Beach.
[SPEAKER_08]: It is dying.
[SPEAKER_08]: This is the right of preservation.
[SPEAKER_08]: a Coven leader must protect those within their Covener.
[SPEAKER_08]: There has been a hex placed on this.
[SPEAKER_08]: It is killing it.
[SPEAKER_08]: Save the creature and it will lead you to the final trial.
[SPEAKER_05]: are the effects of the hex obvious?
[SPEAKER_05]: Like is it something physical or does it seem something internal?
[SPEAKER_08]: It's a magical creature.
[SPEAKER_08]: It's not like an animal, it is a spirit of the island that has not taken physical form.
[SPEAKER_08]: It almost looks like a ball of light, and it is currently eating its own arcane signature, like an orborus.
[SPEAKER_05]: I think September kind of cradles it in her hands and thinks about all of the beautiful pieces and places and people that they've met in Roseville Beach and speaks that allowed to the rest of the Coven.
[SPEAKER_05]: I feel like if it's eating itself maybe that means it's hungry for
[SPEAKER_05]: more of that validation and more of that knowledge and we can't just stagnate, you know, we got to make sure we're just not taken from it, but also pouring into it from our cups.
[SPEAKER_05]: So I'm going to think of all the best things and all the reasons why I love this place and how grateful I am to have met all of you and I'm going to think of my love because she's my favorite thing from this place.
[SPEAKER_08]: Are you willing to give yourself a harm to succeed at this magic?
[SPEAKER_08]: Yes, you are weaving magic that can just succeed because you are using the power of your covenant to do so as the covenant leader.
[SPEAKER_08]: But in order to do that, you have to sacrifice something.
[SPEAKER_05]: And would it for you to see yourself like, I see you like we see you?
[SPEAKER_05]: You can take my ride, I see me like I see you.
[SPEAKER_05]: I think like as she focuses on it and she keeps kind of whispering radiance and kind of channeling like into this, you see her right eye go pale.
[SPEAKER_05]: It looms looks like a frost kind of appears over it.
[SPEAKER_05]: You can still see it's still beautiful, it still looks nice.
[SPEAKER_05]: But there is like almost a film, almost like a cataract over the outside of the eye.
[SPEAKER_05]: And she kind of whispers anything.
[SPEAKER_05]: anything to keep it together, anything to get it back.
[SPEAKER_08]: You transfer your own health into your own vitality into this creature, and the hex is not lifted but forced out of it as it is replaced with a new energy, this radiance, and it glows very brightly, and then suddenly takes form
[SPEAKER_08]: also describe the familiar that represents your covenant and yourself.
[SPEAKER_05]: It's a little fennec fox.
[SPEAKER_05]: It has golden fur that represents both the radiance of the word of power, but also the aura that Orion emits.
[SPEAKER_05]: It is both hearty and delicate at the same time.
[SPEAKER_05]: Kind of like Lou, it has a very discerning look on its face that is charming, but also a quizzical similar to alex.
[SPEAKER_05]: But then it has these big ears and this brightness to its eyes that matches the energy that September gives.
[SPEAKER_08]: the little fox jumps down from the table that it's been on.
[SPEAKER_08]: It looks back at you and it puts its paw and it turns around and it begins to walk up the stairs out of the bookstore and on to the beach.
[SPEAKER_08]: Walking west into the forest and delet eventually leads you deep within the twisted
[SPEAKER_08]: roots and narrals of that swamp to a little sea cave that no one on Rosalbeach enters because no one comes back out.
[SPEAKER_01]: This series stars Alexander Christopher as the Game Master, valiant Dorian as Aryan, Dan Pixel as A-Lix Cho, and Kenzie Tartaglioni as Lou Wells.
[SPEAKER_01]: This episode's guest star was Candace McAfee as September Brown.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you liked it, share, rate, and review.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can join our Discord, and make sure to check out our Patreon for this season's character advancements, bloopers, aftershows, and so much more.