Jason: Previously on Deep Six. Yeah. Fuck you mean according to the gnomes. The gnomes are right. This is how it happened exactly. A lot of people believe that. you know, whereas, you know, the other races and religions would w w would have different accounts of you know the these kind of things. Did they have a flood? Did they have a flood? Roll History Check. No, we didn't have a flood, but we had a big wet day. It was awful. Seven gnomes died. It was the worst single mass catch in the event in history. Fourteen. Not not not that you recall. Okay. The rain was only three feet. Everybody died. You do know that it is kind of one of the big kind of controversies between gnomish and dwarvis culture. is i i is this whole creationist's idea. you wonder where I go when I die Underneath the surface I hear voices Trying to get to heaven, but it's all hell And every day I wake up I still wonder if I'm dead or alive Six feet deep, deep six Sitting in the middle of heaven and hell you enter the library. The familiar smell of old paper, lamp oil and dust fills the air. Somewhere high above, among the shelves built for creatures far taller than any mortal, something immense shifts in the darkness. several books tremble in their place. You are late, did we have an appointment? No, Stonebourne. Do not look at the clock. You are not late by minutes. You are late in understanding. Er love this old man in his riddles. Explanations are the refuge of intelligent people who have not yet learned the difference between knowledge and wisdom. You watch as the librarian descends slowly from a large kind of it's almost like a step or a a it almost looks like he's coming down a series of steps, but it's it's just a a horde of books, right? And he's just kind of walking gently down them. Come closer, let me look at you. Mm you have grown. All the bishops have been dead. Not in that way. Let us not ask miracles of the universe. He just kind of pushes past you. You carry more power than you did when you last stood before me. It clings to you. New spells, new scars, new questions you pretend are not questions. No, I I do have actual questions. You the last time I was here you showed me something. You showed me a ver a version of myself, a different version. I think I met this version. In fact I know I met this version. A future me? I'm not sure, but there were people after me who I don't know, but I have a feeling might be after future me. I'm looking for some help, some guidance. Hmm. Encountering oneself in the stream of time can be confusing, particularly when we make assumptions about what is past and what is future. So i that might not well I don't know. So you're saying that that's not necessarily the future? That's another version. I I couldn't say for certain. These individuals, what did they look like? Well, the individuals that were chasing me were I think some kind of e they looked like elves. they were wearing green cloaks and carried black blades. Just think that that kind of sticks out. and I saw around the same time or there was a Kangaroo? Some kind of warrior using a similar black blade. I don't know if it's just coincidence or whether it's a sign of something. Hmm. Another of the great fallacies we can make in the pursuit of endeavoring to understand the flows of time is that we are the only ones. While I do not know specifically of those who speak, be warned. There are many who traverse the lines of time and not all have the best of intentions. Okay. So you're saying that these people that I've come across might also have the ability to I guess tr I don't know, I guess travel through time or realities? Well how did you encounter them? Well, they seem to be chasing after me in what I would call for lack of a better understanding, I guess, this timeline in my current present. And they said after him, he's the one I want. So I have no dealings with these people before. and when they chased me I fell through I guess a portal that took took me into I guess what I thought was a future. It was like I was in the same place but it was dystopian desert bar and it definitely wasn't the same. And that's where I met. Came across me. I was different. I don't know, more scarred, older. and these people, these elves they chased me through. But they didn't seem perturbed by this, what had happened. Which makes me think that they've maybe experienced something similar before. And future me or alternate me was able to ward them off and bring me back to I guess this current time. but again, future me almost seemed like this was expected, like he knew this would happen. It Thought I was beginning to understand time and how I could manipulate it, but I've got a feeling I'm just dipping my toe in the water. Well it is said that one's intelligence is entirely based on when and where they are standing when trying to perceive something. So do not count yourself out quite yet, young Stoneborn, for what you know now may only be a glimmer of what you may know in the future or what you have known before. Portals We do not open portals. Portals exist. They are everywhere. There's one in this room. Rather We uncover them. Learning to master this technique could be beneficial to you in the future. Let me ask you another question. You Seem to know me very well. When you the last time we met you spoke, you know, like we'd spoken before. Have you met me before? Have you met this alternate me? He kind of moves over to the chair that sits behind the large desk and and begins writing something. And he says, He says whether we know one another is entirely dependent on when the question is asked. I know this doesn't make much sense to you now. But trust that possibly the next time we meet it might make a little more. And you just y you see him grab a quill and begin scribbling something. Anything else you want to ask? He's kind of eyeing the I assume you brought the the manuscript back. Yeah, the book yeah, yeah, yeah. I yeah, I'll give having gone through the book and having read it the last time that I was there, I'll give him back his book. You said that I'm late, I hope that this doesn't mean this is overdue and then I'll hand him his book. I in my experience nothing is either on time nor late. It is where it either is or it isn't. And he he rolls the scroll that he's been writing on, and and ties it with a ribbon and puts a wax seal on it. He says The only thing that I can tell you today is that you mustn't believe that every lesson is waiting inside a book. And he hands it to you and says, Your next lesson. He gestures around after handing you the scroll he gestures around to the stacks surrounding him and he says These volumes contain the the accumulated thoughts of ten thousand scholars, wizards, philosophers, priests, engineers, lunatics, and on regrettable occasions politicians. The lunatics are generally better indexed. But books have taught you as much as they can for now. He reaches behind him and produces a small clay pot, and within this clay pot grows a thin twisted sapling bearing a handful of silver leaves. What is this? It's a a plant. An accurate classification, a respectable identification, entirely correct, and completely inadequate. He places the pot before you. You with little study, you can name it species. You can describe the composition of the soil. You could calculate the arcane energy contained within every leaf. You see him reach out and his his nails, his nails, you've never noticed before they're they're quite thick, yellowed, and pointed. And you see him kind of clawing at the pot around. around the edge and it makes it kind of nails on a chalkboard kind of scrape. Only faintly. But can you tell me why it is afraid? As he does this, one of the silver leaves curls away from him. Make an investigation check. Or yeah, make an investigation check. Seventeen. All right. With a seventeen you're you're you're you're unable to divine anything. Is there anything else you'd want to try? skull day. be nineteen total. Nineteen. All right. so as you kind of focus your mind and as before begin to kind of bend the edges of reality around you, suddenly the effect stops. So you can keep your skull die. You don't have to you didn't use it. Okay. So almost as if like similar to the effect when you use your ring. Yeah. It reversed that action and the librarian says, No spell. That is precisely the habit that we that we must break. Magic is not merely something imposed upon the world. It does not always arrive through force, formula, or command. Some magic must be invited, some must be cultivated, and some will reveal itself only after you have stopped demanding that it perform for you. He said that the plant was afraid and that it curled away from him. What I'd like to do is reach out and just pull the plant towards me and just out of his reach just to see what how the plant reacts. Don't worry, I'm not asking you to become a druid. Verdencia's pigeons may rest easy. And he gestures again to the to the scroll that he gave you. He said He walked towards kind of the tall It's kind of a a t a tallish window behind which r it's really the only light source in here. It's kind of a stained glass looking window, but there are some kind of wobbly clear bits, you know, like you'd see in an old pub or an inn, but you can kind of peer through them. And he walks over and he walks to the tall window overlooking the distant garden district. And you've not actually seen it from this perspective, and actually make I guess perception again, micro perception change. natural twenty. Yeah, natural twenty. That's all right. No, it doesn't matter. Nat twenty's still a nat twenty, even you know, in my book. If it's a nat twenty, it's a nat twenty. so you walk over and two things occur to you. One, you've never seen the garden district, right? You know you you you've yet to go to that side of the city. but you can see very like Verdencia that you've seen so far doesn't have a lot of green spaces. But you can see almost like a almost like a pie, right? This this th this triangle, almost, you know, almost a quarter of the city itself, seems to be this dense, verdant forest or jungle from this perspective. The other thing you notice is you're in the fucking basement. How in the hell are you overlooking the entire city from the basement? beyond the glass terraces of green climb between the pale towers. Waterfalls spill upon excuse me, waterfalls spill upwards from suspended pools, and ancient trees spread their branches across bridges of white stone. It is beautiful. The librarian says in the sunlit garden stands a sanctuary older than the district built around it, the verdant cloister. It is tended by an order who are called monks, by those who notice their discipline and druids by those who notice the leaves. He glances towards you. They consider themselves neither. What did he consider themselves to be then? He kind of smiles at you gardeners. Do not laugh. A gardener understands consequences better than most archmages. An archmage may spend a century learning how to summon a storm. A gardener learns when rain will drown the roots. He retrieves the sealed parchment. from you and makes a slight adjustment to the ribbon that's tied. and runs his thumb over the wax that he put before. and w when he hands it back to you, the wax bears the impression of a branching tree encircling an open eye. Reminiscent of several symbols you've seen within Verdencia. You will take this to Brother Rowan. Yes, I'm aware that Brother Rowan sounds reassuring. He is not. He will instruct you in the disciplines of stillness, observation, and sympathetic magic. He will teach you how power moves through living things and what happens when a wizard draws upon that power first without understanding its cost. You may tell him that your intelligence makes meditation unnecessary. And he's kind of curls his mouth curls into a very When he smiles, the edge of his mouth goes nearly to his ears. And and he just laughs aloud as he begins to kind of chuckle to himself. And as he does, th the literally the walls in this room shake. And he says I have not laughed properly in weeks, and he turns away and kind of waves his hand, and he says one final thing. The residents of the cloister will not be impressed by your spells. They will not care how many languages you read, how many creatures you have defeated, or how many times you have helped save this city. They will ask you to perform tasks you consider beneath you. They may ask you to carry water to sweep paths. Sit beneath the tree until the tree is satisfied that you have learned something. No, I do not know how a tree indicates satisfaction. That is where you're going. You have learned to make the world obey you, Max Stoneborn. Now you must learn how to listen when it refuses. And take the sapling. He kind of turns back towards the window and looks out. If it is still afraid when you return, Brother Rowan is not the one who has failed. Okay. Thank you. I'll take the little sapling. Hey buddy. It'll be all right. I am Groot. You silently hear the sapping screaming in terror. Another leaf folds up like fuck. The sunlit gardens rise above Redencia in terraces of white stone and deep green. Water runs uphill through narrow channels. Trees older than the surrounding buildings stretch their branches across open courtyards, their leaves turning slowly towards the sun they cannot possibly see. At the district's highest point stands the verdant cloister. There are no gates, no guards, no grand temple doors. Only an elderly man in plain grey robes sweeping fallen petals from a path while more petals fall behind him. He does not look up as you approach. You are late. I've been told that a lot recently. ha hello, my name is well, I I assume you know who I am then. I think you know I'm late. I'm looking for brother Rowan. And there is the poor creature that he warned us about, you assume gesturing to the sapling. Three lessons await you. You may use your strength, you may use your intelligence, you may even use your magic. He leans upon his broom. But every action will have a consequence. He gestures for you to follow him. do you follow? Yeah. Okay. Brother Rowan leads you into a circular courtyard surrounded by twelve withered plants. At its center stands a stone basin filled with clear water. Between the basin and the plants runs a web of narrow channels cut into the floor. Three circular stones interrupt those channels. Each stone can be turned, redirecting the flow. The plants are visibly dying. Beside the basin rests a small wooden cup. Brother W Rowan gestures to the cup and he says Give each plant what it needs. Okay, well if there's no water going in and there's plants, then let's go with water. This is probably I hate puzzles. I hate riddles. Just drink the water, fuck I'll I'll take a cup from the I'll take the cup to the basin and try filling the cup with water. Okay, so you fill the cup of water? I don't know, my my ex on high guard, he thinks there's there's gotta be some trick here. It's not gonna be this easy. I'll go to one of the twelve dying plants roundabout and I'll put some of the water onto the plant onto one of the plants. Okay. Make a nature check for me, please. Six. Okay. He fucking hates nature. I don't have the speak with plants spell prepared to well. So with a six, you're only able to kill the plants. To see what you can see with the naked eye, right? So four of the plants have broad leaves and water heavy stems. Four have narrow silver leaves. And four are small flowering cacti. Remind everybody that we're playing Dungeons and Dragons. And we're all gardening. This is a puzzle design for five year olds, and I'm about to struggle over it for the next twenty minutes. The rotating stones in the center of the courtyard bear matching carvings, a broad leaf, a silvered leaf, and a thorn. The plaque on the central basin as you fill the cup says to give all things equally is not always kindness. Yeah. So I think what we have to do is we want we're going to have to separate some of this water out so that the broad leaves will need more water and the silver leaves will need a medium amount of water, and then the cactile will need a lot of water. Yeah, that's that's that's some intelligence there, yeah. If they've got break broad leaves and want more water. Okay. I will allow you to make one more check. Okay. It can either be your choice, yep, nature, investigation, arcana, or insight. or arcana. There's got to be like these are magical plants, surely. Like even if they're gardeners, they're true. So the difficulty is the the D C is fourteen. So you're trying to make a fourteen. Co Six, yeah, that'll be a twenty-four. All right. so you have a sense that the courtyard reacts badly to like everything in here is giving kind of an arcane aura. Mm-hmm. Except the water. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Okay. So you feel like that the water is just an is just natural spring water. Yep. Okay. Is there a way that I could try, like with these channels, to move the stones into a position where Like as I was kind of saying before, like where the kind of broader leaved ones, the the ones that want more water, they get more of the water. The cacti potentially shouldn't be getting any water, actually, to be fair, and then the silver ones get more of a kind of reduced the amount I guess. Like I guess. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. so is that your Yeah, and I think I I I would try and like match this like I don't know if like the the stones matching up means that I have to put them in a certain location so that the broadleaves will channel water into one direction or how that would work. You can quite, you know, easily manipulate that to happen. water moves through the channels in three separate streams, the broad leaves rise, the silver leaves unfurl, and the cacti drink only briefly before their channel runs dry. Brother Rowan opens one eye. Yeah, but as the I think the inscription around the bowl says that you know, equality is not equity and equality are not necessarily the same thing. Good. Equality is easy. You need only stop paying attention. Fairness requires that you notice who stands before you. He gestures for you to follow again. Rowan leads Mac into a dense grove. At its center stands a stone arch, covered in flowering vines. Beyond the arch, perhaps thirty feet away, is an identical opening. Between them lies a path of flat stepping stones suspended over a pool of dark water. As you watch, stones slowly change position. Reach the other side. Okay. can I have a look around He interrupts you. No. No. No look around. I do not know what you were going to ask. It is simply healthy for you to hear the word occasionally. Can Mac have a look around the first stone arch to see if there's any more philosophical teachings that are close? So you're moving towards the arch? Yeah, so like w around the first arch, just to see is there any like helpful man. So have you move towards the first arch, the stepping stones descend and then appear further away from you. Kind of matching your walking pace. Cool. And just having a look around on the arch there's nothing inscribed or anything at all. No, not that you can see. Just mute yourself across. No, because what's gonna happen is I'm gonna jump and then they're gonna move from the wrong way. That'll be hilarious. this is where I call sit under the tree and just be furious for a little while. Hmm. Is there anything round about because there's nothing to say that I need to necessarily use these stones to step across. Is there anything round about me that I could use to cross like to physically I don't know, move something like up blog or anything that could use to no it's completely clean. Okay. Okay. Hmm. If you want to make a check, you can have your choice perception, insight, or constitution or wisdom. let's go insight, just to say. Okay. DC fourteen. Mm. I'm gonna use because it's been weeks and months, I'm gonna use a portent die. Okay. To be like, I don't see anything, have bit of a panic, but then kind of get that vision, that flash of what might help me. Okay. So that'd be twenty one if I use the dice. Cheats, okay. Max, if healthy cheater. He's not going to learn a lesson. If back there's two things back hates, it's being fair and learning spells. So what was the total? 21. Yeah. So you realize that pursuit causes the path to retreat. Alright, fair enough. Fine. So And this waterway. There's there wouldn't be a way to go like go round outside or anything at all like that. Like it would have to be you just have to go over the water. Yeah. Okay. Mm. So what can that do? So I need to get the stones to come to me. So if I take a step back from the edge, the stone do the stones come back? yes. Well that's what that's why I was looking for stuff around. But I think I need this I think I need the stones. Can I swim? Can I swim? Well, I mean I don't know. I I'll be honest, I I've not gone deep enough into Max Lore to see if his dad took him swimming lessons when he was younger, but Do they have water giants in in this world? Maybe. Can I go up to the water and test the water? Like, like I obviously the stones will move away, but as I try and like dip my hand into the water. Okay. As you as you approach the water's edge, the stone does indeed move away. And as you kneel. and kind of test the water, the stone returns. that's ample. As a as come right up to the end or like to me or Mhm. Can I as the stone returns can I try and take a step onto it? You were able to take a step to the first stone? No. Okay. And then so the where how far away is this the next kind of stone to step onto? currently it's a fair gap. Yeah. So it wouldn't be just jump up on okay. So I guess I'll try putting my hand like just again, just a gentle tap onto the water. Just to see if it's almost like calling the stones. Yeah, like, come here. Come to Mac. It it it doesn't seem to come to you're splashing in the water. Right. but after a moment passes, another stone. approaches you. okay. So what I'll do is I'll sit step on the second stone and then I'll just wait patiently for a few minutes and see what happens. Okay. as you're going through this process about eight or ten times, gradually making your way further and further across, Brother Rowan says, You are accustomed to forcing the world to make room for you. That is not a criticism. Sometimes the world must be moved, but when every obstacle becomes an enemy, eventually you will find yourself fighting the road beneath your own feet. As you gently pass to the other side, he rises again and carries on. It's patience. I don't like it, but it's okay. I was hoping the the lesson would be a a big sword. Yeah. How can my how can I make my fist more like a spear? I was hoping to get a third iron so you know we're punching. The f the next courtyard is smaller than the others. There are no elaborate channels or shifting stones. There's only an empty patch of soil beneath a great ancient tree. Brother Rowan gestures towards the silver leaf sapling Mac has carried from the library. Planted. Okay. I'll take it out and take it out and no, no, no. Gently gently kind of put it into this space and put some soil up at the top. Punching. Several several times. So when you bring the sapling towards the soil, its branches recoil. Did you try to remove it from the pond? I mean yeah, would have had to try to take it out of the pot, but we'll say that as you attempt this, the roots tighten around the earth and it seems to be as as it did when when when the librarian tried to manipulate it, it seems to be f curling and shrieking away. Again, looking like th those silvery leaves are shriveling. Mm-hmm. I don't know. I think Matt's just gonna have a stern talking with his plant. Like it's okay little buddy. Do you not wanna live here? What's wrong with this earth? Okay. that's a good point, actually. That's maybe a thing. I'm gonna can I dunno if Mac would get a sense of this, but i does it just look like both are planted in like dirt? Like with the dirt that the plant is in looks similar to the dirt that I'd be planting it into. The soil look looks similar. Yeah. you can make a nature, an investigation, arcana, or inside check. arcana. This is a magical plant, clearly. that would be a fourteen. Alright. the saplings magic strengthens. It it its aura seems to strengthen when it is close to another living plant. So this this this smaller courtyard that you're in is much overgrown. It is you would you would think this is the center and the most ancient part of this garden. And so anytime that you're not taking it towards the location where you were asked to plant this You're essentially moving towards another plant of some variety. And so you can out you can almost feel its aura reaching out to other plants. And it seems to strengthen when close to another living plant. Mm-hmm. Just wants friends. Yeah. Seems like that. Okay. Mac will turn to Brother Rowan and say Does this plant need to go where you want me to plant it, or can I plant it elsewhere? You keep asking where it wishes to grow. You have not asked what it needs beside it. And you recognize that in that area there are not one but three kind of freshly tilled areas t that you could plant something. Okay. So there's three areas to plant it. Would I just could I have a look at like each one in turn and see if there's one that the plant prefers or seems to like better? Buddy system. Mm-hmm. each of the planting locations? Yeah. It shrieks to all of them. It shrieks and shrivels, almost almost almost dying. you see one of the small silver leaves f fall away. Okay, so it doesn't like any of these three spots. I'm supposed to obviously it's it needs to be around other plants. So what is it about the other plants that it likes that it's not in these three spots? Apart from that these three spots are just ancient. It's like having a look around where the plant relaxes a bit more. Is it just that I'm seeing other plants or is there anything in particular about the plants that I'm going to that it seems to enjoy more. It does seem to respond positively to other plants, including the great tree which you are planting it beneath. So, you know, it's you feel that it that it needs connection to something. What's the password? What's the password? It's got the thing. So does it need like does it need to be connected to the roots? Is it like a root thing that it needs, you know, plants connect by roots? The roots of what? Like this great old tree that it likes or other plants. Is that its daddy? Well, no, but like if like it likes other is it that I'm looking at if I look down into the three spots that have been dug. Could I dig a little deeper into one of the spots to see if I can find like a root system or something? Yeah. So so as you dig into those spaces, I assume leaving the Yeah, leave the plant where it's happy. I don't want to like torture. Yeah. So so you place the potted plant near the edge of the garden and you you're quite easily able to dig down and and and find that That the roots of this tree seem to sprawl in every direction from its base. Now that the root system is exposed a little bit more, where it could almost connect to the roots, does the plant seem to like it more or does it so holding the sapling near the roots, you see them voluntary begin to loosen, voluntarily begin to loosen. as the sapling's roots begin to connect with the ancient tree, you feel something connect to you in return. For one moment you experience the garden as a single living organism. So every pulse, every almost breath that these plants are taking, you're kind of feeling that. So thousands of roots and you almost feel it sprawl not only make make a perception check. A fifteen. You feel not only It sprawl outwardly from you and upwards as well as a massive ancient oak, but you feel it below you as well. Thousands of roots twisting beneath Radencia. They pass between buried foundations, forgotten chambers and structures older than the city itself, and far below something vast pulses through the earth. Not a heartbeat. But a mechanism. And each time it turns, almost like cogs on a wheel, the roots recoil. And you see a fleeting image of black tunnels beneath broken mines and pale luminous roots wrapped around an enormous metal door. And then your connection breaks. The sapling releases itself from the pot. Its roots reach into the soil and touch those of the ancient tree, and as they intertwine every silver leaf opens at once. Brother Rowan kneels beside it, and for the first time his expression loses its dry amusement. There you are. is unclear whether is speaking to the sapling or to you. Power can command obedience. Fear can imitate it. Knowledge can explain why both methods work. Presses one hand against the earth. But trust must be offered before it can be returned. You came here expecting to expecting us to teach you a new way to wield magic, but he looks towards the newly planted tree. We have done something far more dangerous. We have shown you when not to wield magic. And he removes a s a single silver leaf from the sapling, but the tree does not recoil. And he offers it to you. He says next you see the librarian he will pretend not to be impressed. A faint smile returns to his face. Beasts such as the librarian are very accomplished liars when affection is concerned. As you begin to leave, stone born The thing you felt beneath the garden is now aware of you too. And it knows someone is listening. as you step away the kind of vines and branches join together, making almost a seamless hedge garden around this area, which may be why you would never notice it before, because it now seems to have no interest, but you know that it's there.

Jay: That brings us to the end of the episode of Daggers and Drams. Thank you for spending some time with us. Whether you're painting minis, driving home from work, preparing for your next session, or simply escaping into another world for a little while, we're grateful you've chosen to join us at the table. If you enjoyed today's adventure, please consider liking the video, subscribing to the channel, and leaving a comment below. Not only does it help us grow, But it helps more adventurers like you discover the stories that we're telling. A special thank you goes out to our supporters, patrons, artists, collaborators, guests, and sponsors. And to anyone who continues to support the show. Your encouragement, feedback, and enthusiasm help make Daggers and Drams what it is. Before we go, a couple of quick announcements from around the table. We're always looking to connect with talented artists who share our love of tabletop gaming and storytelling. If you're an illustrator, designer, map maker, miniature painter, or creative of any kind, Who would be interested in working with daggers and drams? We'd love to hear from you. And if you'd like to support the show, be sure to check out our limited run merch shop. every purchase helps us continue improving the podcast, creating new content and bringing more adventures to the table. If you'd like to learn more about the show, get in touch, or keep up with what we're working on. You'll find everything you need in our bio. As always, thank you for being part of this adventure. Until next time, pour yourself a dram, settle in by the fire, and keep on telling great stories.