S1E32: The Tide Turns

This week on Moonhaven Falls:

The city can finally see the end of the flood in sight

Crossroads Chronicles interviews a traveler who stayed to help

Selene covers magical happenings in The Magic Minute

Ignis gives the answers to last week's wit check

and 

Elara gives some ominous portents in the Omen Outcast

Transcript

Crossroads Chronicles - Frontline Fortitude

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Good morning. Is it morning? Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is Audric Kashmir with the Moonhaven Falls Crystal Network. I think I've forgotten what a full night's sleep feels like. The waters sound like they have mostly retreated from the plateau. The blue vault is no longer buried under forty feet of river water now, just a thin skin of water rushing directly overhead. We are just in time because I can see the faces in the square, and frankly, everybody is grey with exhaustion. Tempers are short, and honestly, I think if I hear one more person complain about their stiff joints and exhaustion, I might just retire on the spot. But something wonderful has happened, as you would know if you've tuned in last week. We discovered that the magical fountain in the square, the one that the dragons gave us, has mild restorative properties when saturated with this much defensive magic. A quick drink of the water is the only thing keeping many of us standing at this time, and Wait, look! There, just at the top of the dome. The water! It's clearing! I can I can see his liver! It's the sun! Oh I'm sorry, I'm a little emotional. This is the first direct sunlight we've seen in over two weeks now, and it's pouring down directly into the fountain. I can hear the cheers from the square even through the thick studio walls. Oh, the end is in sight, people. We held We held. Keep it up. This is Audric Kashmir with the Crystal Network. Good morning to those of you on Bailing Duty. A weary wave to those on Shield Duty. A hearty thank you to the gophers, the mages, and as ever, to my fellow citizens from all walks of life here in the Lost Realms. Welcome back to Crossroads Chronicles. I'm your host, Audrey Cashmere. Now, we've spent the last few weeks living under the shimmering glow of the emergency dome, and watching the waters of the Moonhaven Falls rage against our magical borders. It's been a time of damp basements and flickering lamps, and if I'm being honest, a fair bit of fraying nerves. But while many of us were looking for a dry spot to hide, one traveller, who arrived just before the dome was raised, was looking for something else. Joining me today is a wandering artist and sculptor from the far flung peaks on the far side of the Dragonspine Mountains. Please welcome the Goliath artist, Korth Helfgrinder. Thank you, Odick. Though please, just Korth is fine. Helfgrinder is title for someone back home who spends their days at a forge. I prefer chock or stick to hammer these days. Well, Korth, you've certainly picked an interesting pair of weeks to visit Moonhaven Falls. Most travellers who get trapped by localized environmental catastrophe are well, usually fairly resentful and demanding, but you seem remarkably upbeat. Ah my people have a saying, Odric, the mountain does not care if you are tired. When the dome went up and the flood came down, I did not see a prison. I saw a rare opportunity, the way the magic barrier refracts the moonlight through twenty feet of rushing river water. It is a palette of blues and greens that no painter could dream of without seeing for themselves. But more than that, I saw the people. I have seen the norms holding sandbags three times their weight, seen the town guard, led, I believe, by the formidable Elara Vancroft, standing waist deep in sleuth gates for thirty hours straight, until a mage could spare thee time to lock the sandbags in place and seal it shut. It was it is Starkly magnificent. It has been a struggle, certainly, but you've spent this time doing more than just observing. You've been working on a project over by the spillway when you have a spare moment, yes? I have, yes. I felt a heaviness in my hands that only creation can relieve. What do body aches matter when there is art to capture? I have spent my days with de sandbags and de shield, and my nights carving and painting. I wanted to capture the spirit of that which I was witnessing before the waters receded, and everyone went back to their quiet lives. I have managed a few oil canvases and a medium sized sculpture. Now I understand you brought a finished piece, or a smaller study of it anyway, here to the studio today. I did, yes. Even the prototype is a bit heavy for your desk, but um there.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

I am calling it Tribute to Tribulation. My stars.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Of course, it's that's not just stone, is it? It is a mix. I needed one of the local alchemists to craft the base block for the actual sculpture, but it is a basalt from the river's edge for the base, reinforced with sand from deflood bags. I've used a glow leaf extract for the veins of the light, and uh a bit of this and that for the pigments. The detail of this is incredible. You've carved a line of people, I I can see Marcus the Furblog, uh Graknir the storm giant, quite a number of humans. Their shoulders look like they're literally overlapping, and they seem to be forming a wall. The way you've carved the water, though. Wow, that it looks like it's actually moving, straining against them, but their faces They aren't afraid, they look stubborn. I was aiming for resolute is the highest compliment a Goliath can give, Audric. I saw a grandmother pouring mana into Focal Stone as a young mage stabilized award, their hands shaking, but held together. I saw a minitar forcing down a floodgate, a medusa reinforcing anchors on hinges that were slowly being pushed free as they held back the weight of the water.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

I saw I saw people of every age, of every race and profession disregarding what they knew to become something more. I that is what I tried to catch The moment where the individual disappears and the town becomes a single living breathing creature that refuses to be swept away.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

That moment where everyone said I may fall eventually but not here not now The way the light from the dome and your sculpture catches the water f it looks like the square at midnight, Court it's This is easily the most moving piece of art I've seen in a decade possibly in my entire life you've turned misery into a thing of beauty You're too kind, Audric. But I must disagree. I did not turn anything into beauty. The beauty it was already here in the mud, in the water. I'm merely a mirror. If the sculpture moves you, it is because the people of Moonhaven Falls are moving. I merely provided the stone a little time needed to catch an imperfect copy of that which I saw. You are far too modest. Most artists would charge a fortune for a piece like this. Perhaps, perhaps, but I am a wanderer. I cannot carry three ton tribute on my back over the serpent's tooth. Frankly, I don't think I would if I could. No. These belongs here. And once the dome is lowered and the moonhaven falls, return to their bed, I want these to stay. Perhaps by a bridge or over by desluces, but let it be a reminder that when the world tried to drown you, you simply learn to um the words. Breathe together. Well, I I think I speak for the whole town when I say we'd be honored to keep it. The flood is ending, uh the sunlight through the dome is proof of that. But seeing this it makes cleanup feel more like a victory lap rather than a uh heinous chore. That is the spirit that I saw, yes? The fight it is won. Now comes rebuilding, and believe me, a town that can survive a flood of titanic proportions. Ah! You can handle a little bit of mud. Korth. Thank you. Thank you for choosing to fight with us, truly. It was my privilege, Audrick. That uh moving mountain provided a good story these time, yes. I suppose it did. Um, ladies and gentlemen, that was Korth, Master of Stone and Soul. To our listeners, if you do find a moment, please head to the East Bridge, see this tribute for yourselves. It'll make you proud to be one of us. This is Audrey Cashmere, and you're listening to Crossroad Chronicles here on the Lost Realms Crystal Network.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

Good afternoon, my fellow residents of our submerged sanctuary. I am Celine Meadowlight, and welcome to the Magic Minute. We are currently surrounded by forty feet of river water, keeping us safe and dry, and entirely at the mercy of an experimental dome's integrity. Today, we will focus on the art of living and casting under pressure. Academic news from the Moonhaven Arcane Academy is that classes have officially moved to sub-dome survival. The dean has requested that students refrain from practicing evocation spells near the dome's perimeter. Apparently, a second-year student attempted to cast gust of wind to clear condensation off the windows facing the dome and accidentally created a vortex that spun every desk in the library in a perfect, dizzying circle. So, if you see floating spinning disks drifting past your window, please do not attempt to catch them. You will only increase the velocity of your own disappointment. In our archives regarding local items, I have found reference to a bubble lantern. It is a relic recovered from the basement of the old town hall, but it does not emit light. Instead, it emits a sphere of breathable air exactly three feet in diameter. It's meant to be held by a tether, a marvelous invention. But please, a warning to our citizens, do not try to expand the bubble to cover your entire living room, because it will pop, and then the rapid atmospheric equalization will cause your curtains to fly out the window and, inevitably, toward the mouths of the fishes currently circling the dome. Up next we have the laws of reality.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

Alright, Celine, I am putting my foot down this time, since we are literally currently underwater. Let's talk about the rules of breathing. I've had at least five citizens calling the station asking if it's possible for them to just hold their breath if the dome were to collapse.

SPEAKER_02 11:45

It is possible, and charmingly optimistic, Audric, yet it is a biologically illiterate question. The law of the weave, and of your own lungs, is quite specific. You can hold your breath for a number of minutes equal to one plus constitution. That is all.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

One plus wait a minute. So the local blacksmith, who is remarkably sturdy, can hold his breath for what, six minutes? But our associate Timmy, who used to get winded walking up the stairs, he's drowning in what two minutes?

SPEAKER_02 12:16

Precisely, yes. The weave respects physical resilience. If you push yourself past your limit, you do not just gasp, you begin to suffocate. You have a number of seconds equal to six times your constitution impact, sometimes called the modifier, before you drop to no health. And then you pass out? You fall unconscious, Audric. At the start of your next turn, you would drop to no health at all, and are then dying. It's a very cold indifferent system.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

That's a bit dramatic, don't you think? We're in a magically protected dome. It's basically air conditioned. Why are we talking about suffocation when we're sitting in chairs drinking tea?

SPEAKER_02 12:57

Because, Audric, even in a magical dome, the mite must remain aware of the possibility of drowning. It builds character. It builds anxiety.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

And what about combat? What if a shark or some underwater horror decides to test the dome's strength while I'm trying to I don't know, cast sacred flame on it? Does being underwater change my magic?

SPEAKER_02 13:19

Oh, now that is an excellent question. Under the laws of reality, if you are outside of the water and cast, it will fizzle out upon impact. If you are in the water, that is submerged when you cast, any spell that deals fire type damage is resisted. That means the water dampens the flame, so if you cast a fireball in the water, the water itself absorbs half of the energy upon impact.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

So my fire magic becomes a lukewarm bath?

SPEAKER_02 13:49

Depending on the water creature, yes. Let's not forget the law of resistance after all. Some creatures, our Finn neighbors, for example, have resistance to damage from non-magical weapons. If you go out there with a steel sword and poke at the dome, you will find your strike does only about half the damage it would on dry land. The water is like a heavy blanket. It softens the blow of every swing, arrow, and bolt.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

So to recap, don't hold your breath too long, don't rely on fire, and don't pick a fight with a kraken while holding a rusty butter knife and diving.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

That is a very succinct summary. You're learning, Audric. Good for you. Well, thank you. It just suddenly kind of clicked in a hey, wait. Stay dry, Moonhaven. And please, if you see the giant squid tapping on the dome, do not tap back. It's not an invitation. It's a calculation. I am Celine Meadowlight, and this has been the Magic Minute.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Good afternoon, Moonhaven Falls. This is Igneous the scaled sophisticant. I spent my morning reviewing your contributions from last week, and I must say the sheer mental gymnastics required to conclude that the invisible traveller is a silent fart is, in its own way, quite the leap of logic. I find myself not even angry, merely in awe of the creativity necessary to bridge that particular gap. The official answers to last week's questions are as follows Number one a potato number two a sponge number three The river is frozen number four fog or mist a hole number six the letter E and Number seven The Wind. However, we are nothing if not persistent, yes, like a kitten insisting on climbing the curtains after falling twenty or so times. We shall try again. I have prepared for you seven new puzzles, I have removed the sharp edges and complex metaphors from them for the less abstract thinkers among you, and I find myself oddly looking forward to hearing your thoughts on them. Let's start with an easy one to begin, shall we? A nice gentle start. I have a thousand leaves, yet am not a tree. I have a spine, but no bones. I tell a thousand tales, yet never speak a word. What am I? The first of seven shiny new puzzles for you to wrap your mind around. Do please be thoughtful when turning them in. Poor Timmy is already on his third cup of herbal tea. Let's aim for answers that don't require a priest or exorcist get involved, hmm, nor answers that will get Alara Vancroft agitated. She has enough on her plate at the moment. Until next time, Moonhaven, stay sharp.

Omen Outcaster - The Triple Shadow

SPEAKER_02 16:57

After all, what is a riddle but a mental whetstone Greetings, seekers of destiny, and welcome once more to the Arcane Whispers, Evilara Meadowlight. Nine days have been joined to the rota of fortune, drifting like fallen petals on the currents of fate since the last shimmering resonance of the shattered looking glass faded into the echoes of our valley. Thirty-two weeks now stand between us and the Phoenix's auspicious climb. Today, however, the scrying waters of the Moonhaven have grown turbulent and dark, reflecting not the sky, but the heavy rhythmic beat of a challenge still to come. I have seen a woodcutter returning from the shadowed eaves of the serpent's tooth mountains, speaking of a strange phenomenon. Three crows, black as the void, perched upon a lightning struck oak. They did not fly, they did not cry, merely watched as he passed, their eyes gleaming with a wisdom that felt heavy on the soul. This is the omen of the triple shadow, and it tells us that while our current physical labours, the long nights, the aching muscles, the immediate trials of the hand are finally drawing to a close, a far more profound test is still gathering. The spirit, my friends, is about to be called to the front lines, and mark my words, when the soul is tested, it is rarely a singular event. For trials of the spirit often come in threes. A special note on the triple shadow. You may feel a sense of relief today as a long standing burden begins to lift, but do not drop your guard entirely. This is merely the eye of the storm. A momentary stillness, granted, so that you may draw a breath before the threefold test of courage begins. These trials will not ask you to lift heavy stones or outrun a dangerous predator. They will instead ask you to stand firm in your truth, even if it is unpopular, to keep faith when it is dark, and to offer grace even though you are weary. For those of you born under the sign of the whispering willow, that is, mid spring to early summer. The first shadow touches your roots, the second your bark, and the third reaches even to your highest leaves. As your current season of frantic activity ends, a test of your inner peace now approaches. To weather these three spiritual gusts, you simply must find an anchor that does not sway. Look for a piece of storm-weathered wood in a place of profound peace. When it catches your eye as doubt creeps in, pick it up. Feel its texture. Let its history of surviving the elements remind you that your spirit too is seasoned. The water today sounds like a deep and grounding hum. Listen for it when the wind of the world grows loud. For those of you born under the sign of the soaring griffin, that is, late summer to early autumn. Your wings have carried you through the physical gale. But the triple shadow tests the clarity of your inner eye. You will be faced with three choices one of pride, one of fear, and one of sacrifice. To navigate these, you must possess a clarity that transcends the merely physical. Look for a shard of crystal that seems to hum and resonate with your inner self. Keep it near at hand in a place of likely conflict, and when you are feeling most turbulent, allow your eyes to trace it for just a moment, and let it be a reminder to you to look past the surface of your trials. For you, the roar of the water is sharp, cutting through the fog of indecision like a blade of pure light, and reminding you to keep sight of your long term goals. For those of you born under the sign of the deepening mire, that is, mid autumn to early winter, the triple shadow descends into the depths, demanding that you face three reflections of your own shadow. The trials of the spirit are often just mirrors of our own unhealed. Places as your external work concludes, the internal work intensifies. You may find a fire scarred twig or a broken piece of granite in a location that you regularly pass by. Put this in your pocket. Feel its weight. Feel the raw, transformative energy that was imbued into it. It is a testament to the fact that change can create something both starkly beautiful and deeply profound. The trickling waters of the falls may sound slow and ancient to you today, echoing the patience that you will need to practice. For those of you born under the sign of the frozen hearth, that is, late winter to early spring. You have survived the frost. But the triple shadow brings a different kind of cold the chill of isolation. You may find yourself tested at three times to see if your inner fire can burn without the external fuel you have come to rely upon. Look for a piece of flint, or find your worry stone. Keep it at hand, and let the cool touch of that stone remind you that your warmth is a choice a spark struck from the flint of your own resolve. For you, the water of your life now seems to surge with a relentless, driving power, speaking of the unstoppable force of a spirit that has decided to stale it. Please remember that these are but whispers from the cosmic currents, glimpses of that which may be three shadows may fall, but it takes only a single light to banish them all. The choices that you make, the actions that you take, these are what will define your soul as you carry on into the next season. And may the light of the moon guide your path, and may your courage be as unwavering as the dragon spine peaks, as the triple shadow passes over Moonhaven Falls. I am Alara Meadowlight, and this has been your Bowman Outcast.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

Thank you for listening, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes our episode for the week. I would be delighted to see your answers to Igneus' daily challenge. I do post them on Facebook and Patreon once per day, and there should be a link to both pages in the description. If you'd like to engage with a specific character or just the channel in general, please pop in, say hello, let me know what your favorite segment is. As a reminder, I do release a new episode every Tuesday morning at 5 AM Eastern. I hope you found this podcast engaging, entertaining, and delightful. If you did, I would appreciate it if you'd take a moment to subscribe real quick to the channel or follow the podcast, and a second one to rate it and share it with a friend or a community. It's a simple, easy action, it lets the algorithm know that you listen to and want to continue hearing these stories. Also, please keep in mind that I personally create, edit, record, and produce all of the content for this show, with the occasional guest appearance from my wife and children. If you want to buy any of us a cup of coffee or a bottle of lemonade per month as encouragement to continue creating it, believe me, we gratefully accept. Thank you to all of our supporters. My family and I genuinely appreciate all of you showing your support by tuning in every week, and we'd like to thank you for continuing to do so. I look forward to seeing you all in the comments, and I hope you tune in again next week.