Due to some violent content, Parental discretion is advised. In the year two
hundred and forty seven, in the Age of Judges, Vartan was summoned home
after the death of his father. Upon his return, Vartan discovered something evil
fastering beneath the city of Eterno. With the help of some very unlikely allies,
Vartan works to uncover the mysteries of his hometown and put an end to
the nightmares that plague his people. Welcome to ethereal embrace. I'm Baia,
and I'm just gonna go ahead and say it. Chili without beans is just
meat soup. And it's okay to like meet soup. Just don't call it
chile. Day three, the last stop tavern it In. I am supposed
to debrief with Sean and Brie. But if Sean already went to bed,
Huh, something just doesn't seem quite right about this whole situation. And I'm
not talking about what we just did. Yeah, uh yeah. If you
guys could walk me to my room, that'd be great, all right,
So we'll walk up, walk up towards my room, and I'm just gonna
kind of peek my head in the door and see if Sean is still awake.
She is still awake. She's taken her armor off, and she's taken
her boots and stuff off, and she's put them all next to the next
to her bed, and she's kind of getting into like a nightgown. Heye,
Sean, did you get a chance to talk to brief? No,
she did not answer her door when I knocked. Neither did Anneline, and
I didn't want to bother Robin Torman Cody said she he's still been spending nights
in the Robin's room. Annelin didn't answer. No, she didn't have any
of the other doves seen her. I don't know. I've been following brass
Cane all night. Okay, she's just gonna kind of step back out the
door and shut the door. We may want to go bother the robin.
It's unusual for the doves to not all be where they're supposed to be unless
there's something else going on. And if if dove Brie is in there with
him, great, But I don't know. Something seems off. Is the
other room on the way, Yeah, it's on the way, you can.
Yeah, we should probably check Anelin's room, so we'll stop by Anaelin's
room. I'm gonna knock any response, No, no response? Can I
open the door? It's locked? Can you pick the lock? I can
try. My fingers are too big for lock that tiny. I don't know
if I have anything to pick it with. No, Okay, I guess
we can't pick the luck. Nope, all right? Do we bother in
the robin? What do you say by Well, it could be that Aneline
hasn't returned, but you do the pair thing right, So yeah, if
Anneline is paired with Brie, then Brie should know where Anneline is. So
let's go bother pri I'm all for it. Let's do it. That's that's
all you Morgan. All right, So gonna wander on over to the Robin's
room. I'm gonna knock on the door. Oh is that so? Sorry
to bother you, Robin. I'm looking for dove Brie. It's uh,
it's Morgan. One moment and he goes over and opens the door, and
you can see Dove Brie is sitting in a chair by the window, or
she was. She kind of stands up as he opens the door, and
he is holding a book in his hand, reading it, or was reading
it, but stood up chance the door. Hi, Brie, I haven't
had a chance to debrief with you today. Do you have him in it?
Yes, Dove Morgan, I do. Could you step out here gladly?
And she steps out into the hallway with you okay, and I just
kind of pulled the door shut. Have you seen Dove annelin today? I
saw her a couple times out on patrol. Do you know if she's still
out? I don't know. I didn't debrief with her either. There's just
been a lot of weird things going on today, And I mean I saw
a lot of the doves out still, but I mean Sean and I are
in and I don't remember seeing Aneline as we were out walking around, and
she's not answering her door. I just wanted to make sure she's okay.
Would you like me to do a lap around town with you and maybe see
if we can find her? Yeah, Actually that sounds like a good idea.
We can walk Vartan back to his place while we're at it. It's
just not a I don't think it's a great idea for anybody to be out
by themselves right now. Will the robin be okay without your protection? I'm
not sure. It turns out someone broke into his room today. Oh no,
what was anything taken? Or was it a thread against him? What
happened? I believe something was taken, something very high profile to him.
Was it one of those big boxes that we had to carry around for three
weeks as we tried to find our way here? It was a box,
yes, one of as many boxes. It was taken, and I don't
know where it was taken to. It hasn't been recovered yet. I'm fine
if it doesn't get recovered. I don't really want to schlep it back.
I'm just saying Robin's items are really property of the church. Whoever stole from
him stole from God. That is a good point. That's a terrible,
terrible travesty. Yeah, maybe we can look for that while we're patrolling.
I think that would be a good idea. And if you see any of
the other doves, maybe pass the message along that one of the boxes was
stolen. Maybe look for somebody trying to sell magic items. I'll definitely pass
the word. Very good. Now, you wanted to debrief me while we
walk Vartan to his home. Yeah, have you had a chance to talk
with any of the town leaders or anything. Recently, we've been spending a
lot of time getting caught up with tel Mika and Bastille. I know Telmika
is concerned with the killings here in town. Apparently tragedy striking twice as recently
as what it has has caused a lot of concern for her, and she
would like to go to another church in the next town over. She has
a valid concern, but I don't know that leaving is necessarily the best option.
I'm just going to turn to Vartan really quick and just kinda kind of
give a shrug, like, shit, how much do we need to fill
her in on this? And just kind of Vartan, do you think we
need to go in depth in anything or should we just keep this high level
right now? Well, the way I'm thinking, we don't have a reason
to trust her right now. Okay, Vartan's one of the town leaders,
as you know, and he's he has his concerns as well. But we've
been doing a lot of investigating around the entire town and it's I mean,
the one conclusion that we've drawn for sure is that it's not demons these murders
that are happening are definitely related, but not demon related, which is why
we don't necessarily think that Telmika should be trying to move the town. It's
not. It's not worth it to move them. So I think what we
need to do is that we need to help them feel secure here and maybe
fortify a few places. There's a farm you've met Timaran? Yes, yeah,
Timmaran has a very large building, a barn that apparently the people sheltered
in during their last crisis, and maybe we could help to fortify that while
we continue our investigation here. Yeah, I'm on board with that. We
can put two of the doves to help out the rest. Really do need
to be policing the streets to make sure that the homes are secure and no
cultists are trying to invade houses. Agreed. If you don't have any kind
of I mean, do you carry any magic items on you? Yes?
I do? Why in our investigator we're looking for, oh, anybody carrying
uh any items that might be out of place. Hm. My magic items
I've had for a very long time. They're these two daggers and she pats
her side. She said, one's made of fire and one is a vice
does that check out? Yeah, yeah, she's she's had those as long
as I've known her. Yeah, yep, yeah, all good. Is
there any other magic item that maybe you're not telling us about? And then
as soon as she says that, she cast to tech thoughts, No,
there are no other magic items she's not telling you about. Okay, just
wasted dispel slot. But that's fine. What did she think? What did
she think when when I said that, Like, what was the first thing
that popped into her mind? The first thing that popped into her mind was,
well, know that there weren't magic items. But she's also getting a
little bit irritated that she's being interrogated during what should be a debrief to her
by one of her doves. Apologies, apologies free. Like I said,
it's been a strange day. We've come across information that we're not entirely sure
what to do with yet, and it's really up to the leaders of the
town how much they want to share out. The only reason I know is
because I've been involved in the investigation, and I won't break their confidence.
I hope you understand. But for now, suffice it to say magic items
are potentially dangerous, especially if they're newer, and if it's something that we're
unfamiliar with and it could cause a lot of problems for all of us.
Have you been with the Robin the entire time you've been here, Yes,
I would say so. He's never been out of your sight. I mean,
aside from using the privy No. Okay, has he been injured at
all? No? Has anyone taken a specific interest in him or anything he
brought with him? I would say so, considering somebody robbed him earlier today.
Well, I was hoping you knew who. No, I wish I
did know who. I would go recover the stolen goods and bring them to
justice. Well, that's true. Like I said, it's been a weird
day. Even Sean went to bed early. I mean, it's just it's
been a long one. We actually ended up talking to brass Kane. I
got them talking, Brie, I got them to talk. That's progress for
Sean. Yeah, they bickered towards the end, but it was kind of
understandable. I bicker with Sean as well. I'm not at all surprised.
I keep telling everyone she's an acquired taste, but I don't know. Certain
people tell me that it's mean, she's kind of as Vartan. Vartan.
Is this your house here? Yeah? Yeah, that's it? Well,
is there anything else? Or I think that's it. It's been a long
day. I got to wake up early and get back on the investigation.
Sorry about all the questions. Just trying to get a feel for everybody,
and I haven't had a chance to really sit down and talk with you,
so I apologize for that. I accept your apology, and I'm sorry.
I do wear my frustration out on my sleeve. I have a good night
Bartan. Here you too, good night, good night Bartan. I'll see
you guys in the morning. Sweet dreams and Bio, don't forget Bia.
Yes, good night Bia, good night Baia. Okay, it's easier to
you know what. I'll fill you in a bree walk all right? Is
there anything else you want to talk about with Brie while you walk? Or
do you just want to see if you find Anelin out walking the streets?
Oh, we're gonna see if we find Aneline. And I'm just gonna kind
of fill her ind on the weirdness that is Vartan, that he's kind of
all there but in pieces, all right, and just to. It's sometimes
easier just to nod and smile and go along. So so yeah, you
do eventually see Anelin coming out of one of the abandoned houses and then locking
the door, and she's with one of the guards. Ah, good,
I see Aneline is safe. Okay. How late are the doves going to
be patrolling? Do you know, Brie? Probably until maybe one or two
around that time. Okay. Would you do me a favor and just make
sure that everyone is accounted for and uninjured when they come back in for the
evening. Yes, and I do mean uninjured. No scrapes, no,
no cuts, no nothing. Yeah. Is there any particular reason I should
give why we would be doing a full search. It could be related to
the cult activity, but I think that's all I'm at liberty to say right
now until I confirm with the town leaders, and if I find someone with
a scratch, I will detain them until you and I assume Vartan can speak
with them. Yes, please, okay, and be careful if you do.
They could be dangerous. It could be nothing. Well, I think
we should get back to the end now. Yes, our heroes will be
right back after these messages. Hello, listeners, If you are enjoying the
show and would like to take a look at a way to support the cast
while getting yourself some nice perks. Please consider our Patreon. We offer ad
free listening as well as this entire season. If you select the Binge Tire
or hire on our Patreon plus, you'll be directly supporting our cast for their
work, as our team over at Creative Typo have begun to pay our voice
actors for our performances. So check out our Patreon at patreon dot com forward
slash Creative Typo. I would also like to give a big shout out to
our executive producer from Patreon, Nick Mead. Thank you Meed, We truly
appreciate your support. Now back to the town of Eterno, and she gets
back to the end. Robin Torman is just fine reading his book next to
his bed. She goes into that room, not her, and dove Anelin's
room, and yeah, Sean's asleep in your room. When you get back
there, does Anelin come back in? But while I'm just gonna like sit
down in like the bar area and just kind of relax for a few you
don't see her come in. You see a couple of the other Doves come
in, and then you know, you hear them knock on the Robin's door,
but you don't see Anelin come back in. Okay, all right,
Well she's gonna go ahead and make her way up to her room and hopefully
be able to catch Anneline before she leaves. In the morning, she'd like
to speak with her. So you guys wake up in the morning to another
knock on the door, and this time it's brass Kane with gray Stone,
Dovebrie, and Dove Anelin. Hey, good morning. What can I do
for you? Bras Kane says, one of my guards was killed last night
in their home. Do you remember mirror? Yeah? Does it match the
same scenes we've already seen? Yeah, yeah it does. You want to
come with me? Yeah? Hey, bia, Hey, good morning.
Yeah, we're gonna get to go check out another murder, got another scene.
I'll grab a banana for on the way. Hey, you can grab
me one too. Of course, she grabs two bananas and actually with this
news, I'm not hungry. You can have them both. Okay, all
right, lead the way. Dove Breeze starts or asks as you're walking and
says, I did not wake her up before we left. I didn't know
if you would want me to bring her or not. Did you want me
to include dove Morgan in the investigation at this site? Yeah, I mean
we can go back and get some coffee on the way to wake me up
a little. I can go let her know and retrieve her and meet you
at the scene, all right, tell her to or ask her if she
could uh give me some coffee? Okay, I will, and Greystone will
go with dove Bree to get Morgan just because Graystone knows which house mir lives
in, and we'll be able to take them to Meror and meet you there,
all right, So Dovey will go do that while you are walking,
brass Kane says, I don't know how we're going to be able to keep
this under wraps from from the townsfolk. I think this might push them over
the edge. Yeah, I do too. I was already thinking on what
I needed to say to everybody, and this does not This does not make
it any easier as it maybe should. But which edge is? You know
what we need to I guess navigate. So we obviously don't want them to
leave town, as the perpetrator could be among them. It is not a
wild beast ravaging the city. It is a person among them. So being
vigilant is the edge that we want them to jump off, not fleeing for
their lives. Correct. I agree, Hey, you're better than word.
You're better at words than me. By maybe you should be doing the public
announcement. Ah, you know, it's it's one of those things where I
can say things, but I can't necessarily influence people, you know, I
did. I did recently read a book about making friends and influencing people,
but it didn't make any sense to me. You made friends with me,
yes, but we're family. Yeah, you're right. Do we have that
conversation out loud? Yeah, I would say so. Yeah. I mean
it's just brass cane and anline walking with you. Now that's Aline is a
little uh put off by it, uh seemingly, but she doesn't say anything.
She's very quiet. Well, while you walk, so you get to
the house. While you're getting to the house, Dove Brie gets to the
tavern, gray Stone goes to get coffees from Cody, and Brie goes up
and knocks on the door for Morgan and Sean. Morgan will answer the door
and be a bit surprised, Uh, Brie, So a little early,
isn't it. Yes, I need you to to get dressed, please,
there was another murder, Sean, I need you to take over guarding the
Robin and Morgan. I would like you to please come with me to the
murder scene. Absolutely. Somebody tell Bartan, yes, he's on his way
already. Okay, So she's gonna grab all over gear, get dressed real
quick, kind of be fastening her armor as she's walking down the stairs,
and be ready to go. What happened? I do not know. Graystone
showed up here and said that there was another murder and that we needed to
meet brass Kane at Vartan's house to wake him up. So that is what
we did. Good morning, Judge Greystone. He's got like six coffees in
his arm and he's like, could you help me with one of these?
Yeah, let me grab a couple of those from you. Thank you,
you guys, take off. He starts leading you toward the house. Vartan
and Baya. You go into the house and there's no role even needed at
this point to identify it's the same room highlighted among other runes and painted around
the crime scene. You can do a DC fifteen investigation check to figure out
kind of what happened here if you'd like, No, I don't, I
got a five. I got a seventeen. There's broken furniture and sword gouges
in the floor and the walls that show sign of a struggle. This is
the first time you've seen any kind of sword fight involved in one of these
attacks. Low blood splatter spots in the room show that mir was able to
injure at least a couple of her attackers. One splatter looks like, depending
on how the person fell, a very serious wound to their stomach or their
thigh, A big spot of blood is smushed down into the ground, but
there's no other body there, with the exception of Mirror. Is this house
Did we walk by it when we were walking home? This house is?
It is on the southeast side of town, so the so the bottom the
bottom skull, We wouldn't have walked past it. Yeah, it's on the
almost the far southeast side of town. Ann who had this route last night?
I am not sure. I can speak with pre and find out.
Yes, Please, when she gets back, I'll take her to the side
and ask immediately thank you for listening to this episode of Ethereal Embrace, a
Creative Typo production. Vartan, the Furbog Fighter is voiced and played by Adam
Culbertson. Baya Rustin, the half Elf Sorcerer is voiced and played by Tisha
Morgan. The Human Monk is voiced and played by Nari Quack and I am
Nico your GM. Please remember to drop us a five star rating and review
on your favorite podcatcher. Music provided in part by Midnight Syndicate, makers of
the original Dungeons and Dragons soundtrack. If you would like to support our show,
or any of our other shows, you can join our family of patrons
at patreon dot com. Forward Slash Creative Typo. Remember be safe, we
love you all, and stay foolish.