Transcriber: Cole
[Jack de Quidt’s ‘Under the Boughs’ begins playing]
Austin: Nine months before the arrival of the Frost Shepherd, Lord Ephrim stood on one of the many balconies which dot the central tower of the university he calls his domain and stared out at the mess of root stalks and vines and petals cast yellow under pollen sky. Once, a tower like this asserted its value with the simple fact of its presence. Its height provided unique perspective and by dominating the sky itself, it transformed all who saw it into its de facto subjects.
To see the university's tower was to orient yourself by it, and to orient yourself by something is to give it power over you. But here in this new world, from a distance, you might think the whole grand shape of the tower was just one more small branch in the tangle of the rhizome. This moment of consideration was broken when Ephrim’s long standing sovereign partner, Corsica Neue, arrived with an ancient bottle of wine that she pilfered from a dead god’s bedroom.
Austin (as Corsica): Ephrim, we've earned a drink.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): I'd say we've earned a lot more than that, but I guess a drink will do.
Austin (as Corsica): Ten years. Can you believe it?
Sylvia (as Ephrim): No, I can’t. I didn’t think we'd last one.
Austin (as Corsica): The first one I knew we could- we could get through. There are enough of us. Worse come to worse, we'd- we’d figure something out.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): Yeah.
Austin (as Corsica): It's the future I'm worried about.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): I guess… at this point, at least we know there’s a future. I don't think I have it in me to worry that much about it anymore.
Austin (as Corsica): Really? You don’t think all of this could be our doom?
Sylvia (as Ephrim): I- I didn't say that. But at least there'll be something, ya know?
Austin (as Corsica): Yeah. Yeah, I can get behind that. Well, listen. Ten years. You've- you've earned a little bit of a reprieve. Let me handle some of the more mundane stuff. And uh, you keep- you keep lookin’ out towards the future. Sound good?
Sylvia (as Ephrim): Yeah. Just, um… make sure you don’t lose sight of it either, all right, Corsica?
Austin (as Corsica): Of course. Cheers! [breaths a laugh]
[music finishes playing out]
Austin: Welcome to Friends at the Table, an actual play podcast focused on critical world building, smart characterization, and fun interaction between good friends. I'm your host, Austin Walker, and we are back for the epilogue of Hieron playing The Quiet Year by Avery Alder. A lot happened last time. We had a big intro. We talked about how the world is a big root system now forever. We talked about scarcities, and then we kind of just jumped into it. Some big things. One, some big things- one, there- there used to be one sun. Then there were two suns. Then there were a hundred suns. Two of those suns rejoined, became one sun again. That was a good omen. What else?
Severea announced that she would be going to the moon and bringing people to the moon who wanted to go explore the Heat and the Dark. Good luck to them. That hasn't happened yet. But the people are starting to go that way. Uh, Fero announced- Fero announced- Fero decided that he was gonna build some roads to reconnect some of the distant communities. Um, I think there was also something with the Ordennans? Like a- the- [stammering] What was the deal with that stuff?
Ali: We found their mine. We found like-
Austin: Ohhh.
Ali: We found refineries, and then we immediately threw them away.
Austin: We threw the- we did the gravity trick.
Ali: [lightly laughs] We did, yeah.
Austin: We did the gravity trick, of course, of course, of course. Adaire started up a map school, which we'll see how that goes also. [lightly laughs] We gotta get some maps, I guess. Throndir… Dre introduced us to the Weaver King. A gigantic arm appeared. And what else am I forgetting? The fairy ring. There was a fairy ring with a bunch of like mushrooms. Like, a ring of mushrooms appeared. Ali, am I forgetting anything else?
Ali: We … so- [lightly laughs] So, we're building a gondola-
Austin: Right. Right.
Ali: -on a big spider web.
Austin: Good. Yeah. [uncomfortable] My favorite thing. The big spider web.
Ali: Important.
Austin: Important. Good.
Ali: And then a lot of people like to leave the community and go out and explore. Like-
Austin: Yeah. Again-
Ali: Of course.
Austin: Of course. The world is big now. You know? Sometimes you hit that part of your life where you’re like, ‘I'm just going to walk away from the city and go down this big tree branch and see what I can see.’
Ali: Yeah, ‘I gotta get away from these bugs.’
Austin: Yes. Alright. [Ali laughs] So, [laughs] I gotta tell ya, there's more bugs out there. [Ali laughs] It's just bugs all the way down. Alright, so, Art, it is your turn. Do you wanna draw a card?
Art: Alright. It’s draw... one. [typing]
Austin: It is. Gonna pull it up a little bit.
Art: Great. It’s gigantic.
Austin: It is gigantic. If you zoom out more it's a little easy.
Art: It's the Two of Spring slash Hearts. ‘There's a large body of water on the map. Where is it? What does it look like?’ Or ‘There's a giant man-made structure on the map.’
Austin: Hell yeah.
Art: ‘Where is it? Why is it abandoned?’
Austin: These both rule.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Keith: They're great.
Art: Yeah. Can I- can we have a brief philosophical conversation?
Austin: Whenever you- Any- Literally anytime you want. [Sylvia and Dre laugh] Call. I’m at work.
Art: What do we mean when we say water?
Austin: What do we mean? What do you-?
Art: Yeah. Uh huh. What- what- what?
Janine: Coffee, milk... [Austin and Sylvia laugh hard]
Keith: Coffee-milk, juice...
Austin: Coffee-milk-juice. [Keith makes a disgusted sound]
Art: But like, that is my question. Like, does it have to be like H2O?
Austin: What do you have in mind?
Art: What if we had some sort of giant like, sap situation? Like a-
Keith: Oh yeah.
Jack: Yes!
Art: -sap spring?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: [laughing hard] I’ve never heard Jack agree to-
Keith: Like, a really sticky lake. Yeah.
Janine: If milk is water, then so it sap, for sure.
Austin: [resigned] Uh huh. Yeah… Uh huh!
Keith: Sap is tree- it’s just tree water.
Austin: It's tree water. It comes from-
[crosstalking]
Art: That’s what I thought. I just wanted to make sure we were-
Jack: Art, I appreciate you. I appreciate you. And I appreciate you bringing this question to the table. But you did not need to. Of course, fucking sap is water. Let's go! Where is it? [Keith and Dre laugh]
Keith: And how viscous is it?
Art: Um, I mean I think it depends. Hey, how do I get rid of this card?
Austin: I got it. I got it. I'll take it.
Art: Alright.
Austin: I'll take it from you. Boom. Got it.
Art: Where’s a fun place for like, a natural hot springs of sap go?
Austin: Oh, it's a hot spring!? [Keith cackles]
Art: Oh, yeah. Honestly, maybe too hot.
Austin: We’re finally get that hot springs episode.
Jack: I mean the other thing is you could be drawing new branches on this map, as well.
Austin: Yes, please
Jack: We could be putting new space in and around this-
Austin: Yes. This nightmare space. We could always add more.
Jack: The other thing is that we could possibly do is- maybe not in this session cause it would be a nightmare- is if we fill this literally too much for us to add onto, we could presumably-
Austin: Yeah, wh-
Jack: -get a bigger canvas, right?
Austin: I can- It's super easy to do that. I can just do that.
Jack: I feel like, to some extent, changing the size of your page during The Quiet Year game is cheating, but also…
[crosstalking]
Austin: It’s our fuckin’-
Keith: I could-
Jack: We gotta find a space for the sap! Yeah, exactly!
Austin: It's our fucking show, also.
Keith: I do. I do think that it will encourage us-
Austin: But we shouldn’t do it-
Keith: -to utilize the 3D nature of the world to not change the map size just yet.
Austin: Agreed. Agreed.
Jack: Ok.
Austin: Also, we don't even have a map yet. How are we supposed to increase the map size until we get maps?
Keith: Oh yeah. We gotta put it off then.
Austin: Mhm.
Art: But I also think it might make sense if this new sap spring slash geiser-
Austin: [sighs] Oh.
Art: -is kind of suspiciously close to where the Weaver King is. Like, what it's like, right over here?
Austin: It’s your turn.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Suspiciously close. You don’t think it's like, under the- you don't think it is the Weaver- er the weaver- It isn't Weaver King sap?
Art: No, no. It's tree sap.
[crosstalkin]
Jack: How do we-?
Art: I’ve drawn sap-
Janine: Is the Weaver King holding a bendy straw that we haven’t seen? Tryin’ to get a sippy? [Sylvia and Jack laugh]
Dre: Yeah.
Art: We sent our top sap people out.
Jack: Yeah. That's actually my question is how do we learn about this? What happens on the day that this thing is- is discovered?
Art: Oh, that's a good point. And I think the only natural conclusion is that there is- that it's- it's overflowed its- its nook, and there's also like, a little babbling sap brook going all the way down.
Austin: Does the road project hit this? Is this one of those things where it's like, [lightly laughs] Fero, you're diggin’ away-
Keith: [quietly] Yeah.
Austin: -and you just like, catch a smell in the air-
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: -and you like, peek over some of the tree bark.
Keith: No, I'm focused. I keep goin’ until I-
Austin: [uncomfortable] Noooo.
Keith: -until I- until I get a face full of sap.
Austin: Of hot tree sap
Keith: Hot tree sap.
Art: Comfortable. I mean you- I mean if it weren't so sticky, you would be really happy to like, maybe spend twenty minutes in the sap hot tub. [overlapped by Keith] And some people probably do.
Keith: Yeah. Well, not after a hard day's work of shoveling bark, maybe.
Art: Well, I mean it's relaxing.
Keith: Ok.
Art: Kinda.
Austin: Contempt. [Austin and Sylvia laugh]
Janine: No, it's waxing. Like the thing- the thing I keep thinking as you're describing this is like-
Austin: Yeah. Uh huh.
Janine: It’s like a- it's like a hot spring spot, but instead of soaking in a relaxing hot spring-
Austin: Oh my god.
Janine: -you get a full body wax. [Austin and someone groan, ‘ugh’]
Art: I mean that's between you and…
Dre: Yeah. Why not both?
Janine: Sap, I guess.
Austin: And you esthetician.
Dre: Yeah. [Janine laughs]
Art: I don’t know. What colors- I mean like, sap is like, a maple syrup-y color?
Austin: Art. Can I tell you?
Jack: Where are you-?
Keith: It’s unclear.
Austin: It can be any color you want! It can be any color.
Dre: Yeah. Yeah.
Sylvia: Oh god.
Jack: For example, if it was me, it would be, I think, lime green. [Sylvia groans] I have f.lux on. I don't know what color I've been drawing. [Dre laughs]
Keith: Uh, the- you- that you- That’s like a cyan.
Austin: Yeah, it’s-
Keith: I feel like, a cyan.
Austin: Uh huh.
Art: Great. So, let's just- let's just get started here with-
Keith: You mentioned a f.lux before. I had no idea what you were talking about, but it's like-
Dre: Oh. yeah.
Keith: -it's like the thing that takes out the blue light, right?
Jack: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mhm.
Dre: It's- it's- Honestly, it's great.
Art: [quietly in the background] No, that’s fine.
Keith: I can't stand the look of it, and it gives me a- it makes my eyes hurt.
Dre: Oh.
Keith: But I-
Janine: You can adjust it. I used like- I use like, an older f.lux thing which is like, way, way, way more subtle because the- the current f.lux like, automatic settings look awful to me.
Keith: My- Yeah, my phone has a way to like- it basically has like, a one to hundred percent blue light removal that you can set.
Austin: I like that it looks bad because it encourages me to not look at my stupid screen at three a.m.
Dre: Mhm.
Keith: That's a good point. Yeah, that's when I have mine on. I do have it on, and it goes on it like one thirty.
Austin: Yeah, yeah.
Keith: And then it stops at like, seven.
Art: [quietly to himself] There it is. And there's- the parts are shooting up out. [Austin exhales a laugh] And here is the little brook. [Dre laughs]
Austin: Oh my god. Does it flood into the town?! Or just near-
Art: Not yet.
Austin: Oh my God. Art! Art!
Keith: Well, it did this one time, right?
Austin: Art, I don't know that you’ve-
Art: Oh yeah.
Austin: -intentionally done this. My guess is you probably haven't, but-
Art: What?
Austin: I hope that you know that your sap geiser looks exactly like the fun alien Keith drew at the end of Twilight Mirage. [everyone laughs]
Keith: Oh, can we give the geiser some sunglasses? [more laughter]
Austin: We cannot!
Art: Yeah, hold on. I'm on it. [Dre sighs]
Keith: Oh, we can make a lime green sap lazy river, [Austin and Keith laugh] but we can’t- we can’t give a geiser sunglasses?
Austin: [shouting; amused] I can't believe this alien is back!!
Keith: That alien was fun.
Austin: Oh my God. Ok, it's a little different. It's a little different. I’m gonna put this in our Spring chat, but it's pretty similar. [laughs] It's the same color as the alien’s body. [Keith laughs] Which is why I made this connection. Great. What a show we make! Art, so, you discovered a thing?
Keith: He’s got little shorts.
Austin: Yeah. Uh huh. Um… Ok, wait. Spider web gondola was when? Spider web gondola, that was you, Dre?
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: So, that should have advanced during Sylvia’s[1] turn already once. Er no, that- Yes. Ok. That is that happening. Ok. Then this would be the second one. So, that would be a- Ok. I missed these, I think. Boom, boom, boom... boom. One, two, three, four, five. One, two, three, four. Yep. Ok. Alright, so, now I've advanced everything..
Art: Done.
Austin: Art, what are you doing with your- Great sunglasses on the geiser. It makes it like a worm, which is gross. If this is some sort of sap worm, I hate it.
Art: No it's not. That's ridiculous.
Austin: That's silly. Alright. Are you going to discover something new, create a new project or the third one, hold a discussion?
Art (as Hadrian): Hey, should we go- should we like, send some people to see what the Weaver King is doing?
Austin: Alright. So, again, really quick. Hold a discussion. Art, you just set the stage- Hadrian is- Is holding this- is this a real discussion?
Art: Uh, yeah, yeah.
Austin: Ok. So, everyone starting to the right of Art- so, Jack then Ali then me, and I'll be representing Corsica Neue in this, gets to respond with one or two sentences. Art, because you asked the question, you get to weigh in last. So, one more time the question?
Art (as Hadrian): Hey, do people think we should send... maybe like, a team or a delegation out to see what's up with the Weaver King? That's a kind of serious encroachment right there. It’s right by our sap geiser.
Austin: Lem.
Jack (as Lem): Yeah, I think we should send- I think we should send more of a delegation than a sort of team- team. I don't want it to feel like it is being threatened by us because I think it could probably destroy us. Also, I don't want to go.
Austin: [breaths a laugh] Hella.
Ali (as Hella): I would love to know what's up with the Weaver King. And you know, there's no problem with asking questions.
Austin: Corsica Neue says,
Austin (as Corsica): Not only should we send a delega- Mm. Not only should we send a-
Austin: What’s smaller than a battalion, but bigger than a squad?
Keith: [over Austin] Squad. Oh, bigger than a squad.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: Troop. A troop.
Austin: A troop?
Art: Like a company?
Austin: A company.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin (as Corsica): We should move two companies-
Jack: A decade.
Austin: A decade. Oh, a decade. Yeah. God, what a good book series.
Austin (as Corsica): We should move a battalion to set up camp around the Weaver King’s gigantic fingers, and then once that's established, a diplomatic mission would be fine.
Austin: Fero.
Jack: I’m gonna take contempt.
Keith: Um-
Dre: Yeah, I am, too, on that.
Keith (as Fero): I've never met a weaver. What are they like? [Austin, Sylvia, and Jack laugh]
Austin: Adaire.
Janine: For the record, I also took contempt at the thing Corsica said.
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine (as Adaire): I think the second we do anything that looks remotely hostile, the Weaver King is probably well within their rights to smoosh us with its- with the big weaver-y hand. So, maybe not something incredibly stupid. Maybe we- we, you know, send it like- we send someone with a gift that it might appreciate. They like water.
Austin: I’m taking a contempt. Uh... Throndir.
Dre (as Throndir): Yeah, we definitely should not set up a battalion. I would volunteer to go, and why don't I bring… some of the moth people with me? I mean they lived at a village with weavers, and they coexisted just fine. I don't think we need to worry about this, but I don't think it hurts to try and go see what's going on and just to talk.
Austin: And Ephrim.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): Yeah, I'm inclined to agree with Throndir here. We might also want to ask Red Jack about this.
Austin (as Red Jack): Of course!
Sylvia (as Ephrim): Cause he also-
Austin (as Red Jack): I'm already packed. My old friend, the Weaver King.
Art: Red Jack wearing his weaver suit.
Sylvia: We’ve got an in!
Austin: [laughing hard] No, he is not wearing his weaver set! [Austin and Keith still laughing]
Sylvia: Very long sleeves.
Dre: Hanging out with moths and Red Jack. It'll be like old times.
Ali: [nostalgic] Mm.
Austin: Back around to Hadrian for the final word.
Art (as Hadrian): I do think [stammers] a cautious and conservative and diplomatic focused team is a good job, and I think Red Jack is the perfect person to lead up that mission.
Austin: Great. Alright. I'll note the mission hasn't started yet because this is a discussion about a mission. Someone actually has to do the thing to make the mission real. Alright.
Jack: Red Jack is not cautious, but he is weirdly diplomatic for someone who has that little caution.
Austin: It’s true.
Sylvia: I mean he did call the Weaver King his friend, so...
Austin: They knew each other. We’ve seen them-
Jack: They did. Yeah.
Keith: Yeah, but is there any one that Red Jack hasn't claimed to know? [Austin laughs]
Jack: And killed?
Austin: Both. Yeah.
Sylvia: He’s a social butterfly. I don't know what to tell you.
Austin: [in Red Jack’s voice] A social moth. Thank you. [Sylvia laughs; Austin in regular voice] Great. Good sequence. Jack.
Jack: I'm gonna draw a card.
Austin: You are.
Jack: Ok, I have drawn the Six of Spring.
Austin: Mm. Mm.
Jack: ‘Are there children in the community? If there are, what is their role in the community?’ Or ‘How old are the eldest members of the community? What special needs do they have?’ Um, I think I'm going to talk about the old- the eldest members of the community. Because while, you know, the- the experience of Hieron has seen a lot of people experience a lot of- a lot of sort of paradigm shifting events, I imagine that for the elders in the community, they've seen that over and over again. These are people, you know, in their sixties or their seventies or their eighties who have had to recontextualize what it means to live in the world over and over and over again. And Hieron is a world where that can happen as daily as, ‘Oh, there’s a new sun here today.’ But these are people who probably have a much closer cultural memory to the time of the Erasure.
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: Even if it's not something they experienced directly, they might be able to say, ‘Oh, my- my great grandparents remembered that’ or ‘I know a story from here’ or there or whatever. And I think for this to happen- for this great, most recent transformation to happen at a time in their lives when they are now very old and possibly not as prepared for it as the- as the younger people, I think that is something that has to be taken account of in the community.
Austin: What is the- But what are- Materially, what do those needs to look like?
Jack: I think they need some kind of social space.
Austin: Mm.
Jack: That- that is- that takes care of their needs. In the same way that like, Red Jack's bar is probably fantastic, and there are probably a bunch of old- There’s probably like... You know like, those old men who hang out at the Dunkin Donuts, Austin?
Austin: I super do. One of them had a conversation with me yesterday. So.
Jack: Ok. So, like, I reckon there's a group of them who hang out in Red Jack’s bar and just have a great time.
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: But I think there is also like, a larger amount of old people who are just like, ‘I don't want to hang out with young people who are like, drinking.’
Austin: Right.
Jack: ‘I don't know what up is anymore.’
Austin: Literally. Yeah.
Jack: And so, I think that a building is kind of given over to these people. And it is a shared cultural space about memory and recollection.
Austin: Mm.
Jack: About, you know, like, what touchstones- These are people who have been finding touchstones of the worlds they used to live in for their whole lives.
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: How can they be helped, and how can they help themselves find these touchstones in the world now?
Austin: Can I propose someone who organizes this? And you let me know if it makes sense.
Jack: Yeah, of course.
Austin: I kind of like the idea of Devar being behind this or being in charge of it. And being like the young person in the nursing home. Do you know what I mean? Who is like- not that this is a nursing home alright, but like, he has organized this space. And I suspect it's actually, maybe like the part of the archive like, trading house.
Jack: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Austin: Like, there's all this old stuff, and some of these people know- know not just like, what it is or like, can tell you the book description of it, but like, yeah, this person like, had one of these old, you know, journals. Or this person had- literally had this same type of desk in their room when they were growing up.
Jack: Yes, absolutely.
Austin: And so, it's a combination of like, social club, but like, also just- yeah. Yeah.
Jack: Yes. And like, music performances…
Austin: Yep.
Jack: And… Actually, I want to zoom into that a little, actually. If- if I could have a scene with Devar and Lem.
Austin: Totally. Yeah.
Jack: Cause I want to- Ok. So, I think- I think it's- you know, it's the like late afternoon, and there are some old people playing like, cards. Someone is like, arranging some flowers or something…
Austin: Yeah, yeah.
Jack: Someone is playing an instrument in the corner. And I think like, Lem has walked past the door to this-
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: -and seen Devar and then like, walked back and gone in.
Jack (as Lem): How's that book going?
Austin (as Devar) Oh you know. I- [exhales] it's- it’s comin’ along.
Austin: He like, kind of like, gestures around.
Jack: Mhm.
Austin: Also, I think- I actually think Devar is like, on a crutch. I think he got injured pretty bad during-
Jack: Right.
Austin: -the star stuff attack- during the stuff with Samot. I think he actually like, permanently injured his foot or his- what is like, his left leg. And is like- he might even end up with a prosthetic, but in this moment, he's still just like, on a crutch.
Jack: Yeah.
Austin: And so, he's kind of moving around a little bit and kind of like, pulls it over and turns over to face you. And he says,
Austin (as Devar): It got a little busy what with the- this. All this. Plus that book-
Jack (as Lem): Yeah.
Austin (as Devar): That book. I thought it was already gonna be long. This... is a lot.
Jack (as Lem): There’s more to add.
Austin (as Devar) Yeah. So, it's not- I'm not saying it's on the back burner, but I'm saying, you know, it's like, I turned down the heat a little bit.
Jack (as Lem): Yeah.
Austin (as Devar): I'm gonna let it simmer for a little bit, but I'm getting a bunch of new material. These people come in, and they're like- Oh, you know, Jerall, the spoon seller, right?
Jack (as Lem): Right. Right.
Austin (as Devar): He came in. He looked at all the spoons we had, and he told me- he told me we had a spoon here marked from being from, you know, two generations ago, but it's really from seven generations ago.
Jack (as Lem): Oh wow.
Austin (as Devar): And he knows that because all of those trees are gone now... Well, I mean not now- I mean they're probably all gone now, too. But I meant before. He told me that even before all this happened, those trees were all gone, and so we had it marked wrong. And so, that was useful.
Jack (as Lem): Huh.
Austin (as Devar): You should come by though. They… You still have that violin?
Jack (as Lem): Well, I was gonna- I was gonna tell you about that. Um, no.
Austin (as Devar): No.
Jack (as Lem): It got. It got uh- it got destroyed.
Austin (as Devar): Oh.
Jack (as Lem): Some months ago. Like, three months ago. And I… haven't- You know, like the book, I haven't been able to like, replace it, I guess.
Austin (as Devar): Have you not- have you- You haven't played since... Samot? Or-
Jack (as Lem): Not the violin. No. I mean-
Jack: And like, Lem points over at like, I don't know like, a woman playing some kind of stringed instrument.
Austin: [lightly laughs] Yeah.
Jack: And Lem’s like,
Jack (as Lem): Yeah, I mean like, I've played one of those, and we’ve got some instruments in the trading house. But like- [sighs] I want- I want... If I'm going to replace the violin, I want to do it properly. You know? I want to- I want to take the time. I want to maybe acquire it.
Austin (as Devar): Acquire-
Jack (as Lem): Legitimately this time.Um-
Austin (as Devar): Ok.
Jack (as Lem): But yeah, no. It’s-
Austin (as Devar): But let me tell you, we have a good fiddle. I'm not sayin’ I'd give it to you, but if you ever wanted to play, I think the folks here would enjoy it. And you know some old songs.
Jack (as Lem): I do know some old songs. I'll- I'll take it- I'll take it into consideration. Um-
Austin (as Devar): If you just want to play. I'm not saying… There's no demand here. Or it's not even a gift.
Jack (as Lem): It’s just it’s-
Austin (as Devar): It's just.
Jack (as Lem): It's a bit like, um… There's a lot to do.
Austin (as Devar): Yeah. Yeah, I know. I know. I know.
Jack (as Lem): And I want… You know, if it's not gonna be fun for me, I don't know if it's gonna be fun for them.
Austin (as Devar): You'd be surprised. Sometimes one of them gets to talking about some shit. And you know, they are- they’re deep in their feelings. You know, they're just like, talkin’ about the time they had their heart broke by some lake. And it's sad. But the other person, they hear that person- they hear them sayin’, ‘No, the lake was such and such a color or whatever.’ ‘Oh, you know how the pine cones would fill up on the eastern shore.’ And they would focus in on that- the little detail. And you know, it's a sad story, but it's taking them back to a different- a different time. It's not always in the telling; that's wrong. So... You know, even if you come, and you play, and maybe you don't want to play in that moment, maybe you hit the right notes anyway.
Jack (as Lem): Yeah I'll keep that in mind. And let me know if… you know- I'll be next door, and let me know if there's anything you- you need. If that’s-
Austin (as Devar): Yeah, of course. Of course.
Jack: And Lem just sort of like, nods at Devar and gets up. And as he goes to walk out, just like, hears a note to played inaccurately-
Austin: [laughs lightly] Uh huh.
Jack: -and without turning around just goes like,
Jack (as Lem): G-sharp!
Austin: [laughs] Perfect.
Jack: And just like, leaves out the way he came.
Austin: Perfect.
Jack: So, I'm gonna draw like a little... Oh my God. Who drew this amazing Adaire mapping banner?
Austin: Adaire, probably.
Janine: Yeah.
Jack: Was this- did this just recently appear?
Janine: No.
Jack: Or have I just not noticed it?
Janine: It’s just small.
Jack: That's been there for a while? Ok. Um, I'm going to draw a little building inside the…
Austin: The crotch.. [overlapped] of the-
Jack: You know, inside the- No, Austin!
Austin: Uh huh. Uh huh? That’s what I was told!
Jack: Look. We have a decision... We- we can all choose to… [Austin laughs]
Janine: Ok. How ‘bout-
Jack: -you know, to starve that word.
Janine: What if we compromise? What if we use-
[simultaneously]
Keith: Groin.
Janine: -cresh… [Austin and Jack laugh hard]
Jack: You know, in the tree cresh. The tree groin.
Austin: In the tree groin.
Jack: I'm gonna draw this building here, and I'm going to just put a little roof on it.
Austin: Uh huh.
Jack: And I'm going to give it a little balcony cause I think that old people go out- I think this is a building that existed before. We don't have the resources or time to build a brand new building. I don't know. Especially not one like this, but like, I think, you know, people go out and sit on the balcony and sneeze- [laughs]
Austin: [lightly laughs] Uh huh.
Jack: -cause of the pollen clouds.
Austin: [laughs] We have to address those soon, too.
Jack: And complain and then go back inside again.
Austin: Uh huh.
Keith: Scarcity of Flonase.
Jack: That’s a door that I’ve drawn on the bottom. Yeah, there's such a scarcity of Flonase. Yeah. And I think that this is, um... Yeah, I think that, you know, it's a case of like, I think it's something that Devar has always been good at. And it's just like, finding- finding ways to take care of those in your community who might be feeling the upheaval more than others.
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: Speaking of feeling the upheaval, I would like to discover something new.
Austin: What would you like to discover?
Jack: I think that Rosana is- Can we narrate as other characters?
Austin: Yeah. Totally.
Jack: Ok, I think Rosana is walking one day.
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: She has walked out past the- God, the scale of this thing is so fuckin’ big. I was just about to like, make a mark on the map and realized that would be like, [Austin laughs] a four day trip oxen or something. [laughs] Um, she has walked out onto a- uh… I guess she’s come out like, this way. Oops!
Austin: Where-?
Jack: I drew a line. Fuck.
Austin: I've lost you. I don't know where you are. I was too zoomed in, I think.
Jack: I'm trying to do a ping.
Austin: Oh, yeah. Ok. West.
Jack: She’s kind of come out this way.
Austin: Sure.
Jack: Yes. And she’s on-
Austin: The edge, so to speak of that side of the tree.
Jack: Yes.
Austin: Ok.
Jack: And she hears shouting from very, very far away. This is shouting that is very clearly being carried on the wind or something. This is an immediate shouting. And it's someone's voice saying like, ‘Hello, up there! Is there anybody out there?!’ And she looks down, and there's nobody on the branch, you know, below her. And there's nobody on the branch below that. And she pulls a telescope from her bag and peers down to what seems to be a distant tower very far below.
Austin: Mm.
Jack: And someone is holding a- like, a bullhorn on top of this tower and calling up to the university. And what's very striking about this is this is a tower that is slightly different to, but still unmistakably distinctive as part of the Velas skyline.
Austin: Ooo.
Jack: So, I'm gonna put a tower down here.
Austin: Alright.
Jack: And this is gonna be maybe... maybe a Velas.
Austin: A Velas. Not your- Certainly not your Velas. Because your Velas was destroyed.
Jack: No, certainly not our Velas.
Austin: Huh.
Jack: But there’s- there is something down there that Rosanna looks at and goes, ‘That's Velas.’ This is going to be... I'm just gonna draw like, a load of little spires. These look like spikes or mounts.
Austin: They do.
Jack: But what they actually are are distant steeples and spires and roofs.
Austin: Ah, ok. On- How far away is the- is the- Is it-?
Jack: It is-
Austin: It's close enough to hear a bullhorn.
Jack: But- but barely. Just barely.
Austin: Gotcha.
Jack: It’s like, not on the branch below, and it's not on the branch below that, but it might be on the branch below.
Austin: Gotcha. Cool. So, that's in some distance then?
Jack: Oh, yeah. But if it’s-
Austin: Do want to add like, some thin branches in the distance or something?
Jack: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Austin: Awesome.
Jack: I didn't- I just drew a little line around it. I don't know how I feel about that.
Austin: You know.
Jack: Can -I?
Austin: Do you want- do you want me to undo tha- that line for ya?
Jack: Yeah, I just undo that line. [lightly laughs]
Austin: Oop. I moved it, and now I deleted it.
Jack: In the same way we talked about like, a four day journey with oxen-
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: -this would be a substantial journey to reach, but not something that we couldn't reach.
Austin: You know would be useful? Flight
Jack: I know. We could just go down there.
Austin: Love it.
Jack: These branches look smaller, but they are actually further away.
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I gotcha. It’s- yeah, perspective.
Jack: Ok. That's me.
Austin: Fantastic. Ali?
Ali: Hi.
Austin: It is your turn… to draw a card.
Ali: Draw just one card. [clicking] One. Wait.
Austin: Oh boy!
Ali: Oo.
Austin: Oh boy. You got a real one here.
Ali: Yeah. So, my options are ‘There is a disquieting legend about this place? What is it?’ Or ‘Alarming weather patterns destroy something. How and what?”
Austin: Well, and then in the note. ‘Remember to draw all your answers on the map.’ [laughs]
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: Other cards don't have that note.
Ali: This is tough.
Austin: For some reason. [Ali laughs] This one- ‘Please. Excuse me, please.’
Ali: ‘You have to draw this legend. You have to.’
Austin: ‘You have to.’
Art: But it's a map, so your legend can always just be an explanation of other symbols on it.
Austin: Oh my god.
Art: But it has to be disquieting.
Austin: [laughs] Bad.
Art: Pew-pew-pew!
Keith: Tree [inaudible][2] [Dre laughs]
Ali: [sighs] Weather is so cool, but so are legends.
Austin: Both of these rule.
Ali: I know.
Austin: You could combine them. It is not impossible.
Ali: This is true.
Keith: That is like, such a tough thing about The Quiet Year cause it's always like, both of these are awesome or both of these are awful.
Austin: Yeah. [Ali laughs]
Ali: Um…
Dre: Ali, have I ever told you about Paul Bunyan’s dog? If you’re lookin’ for a disquieting legend.
Austin: Oh my god.
Ali: No.
Dre: Ok.
Austin: We can't. [Ali laughs] We can't have a Wikipedia entry where seven different people have different takes on whether or not our dog- our legend dog is real. [Dre laughs]
Ali: I feel like there should be a legend, right? This is the new… this is new legends time.
Jack: Yeah, like new legends cropping up left and right.
Austin: Yeah. Yeah.
Ali: Yeah, the first-
Janine: Seasons of Hieron: New legends is a great name for this epilogue. [everyone laughs]
Austin: God.
Ali: I think that there's a legend that there is, um... there's a big fish that swims downstream from the upside down [laughs] river.
Austin: Oh shit.
Ali: Like, the opposite way. Like salmon do.
Austin: Yeah.
Ali: But the river's already opposite.
Austin: Right. So, wait. So, that means it comes down towards the university?
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: Uh oh. That's a scary-
Ali: Well, it's just a legend, you know.
Keith: Wait, I'm sorry. I think I misheard. What was the legend?
Ali: [laughs] There’s a big fish in the upside down river, but it swims the other way. [overlapped by Keith] The way that you would expect-
Keith: So, it’s like a salmon.
Ali: Right. Yeah. I said- I said- [laughs]
Keith: Ok. So, I- I misheard.
Austin: The word. That- Yeah. Uh huh. [Ali continues laughing hard]
Ali: But yeah, and I think people are like, ‘Oh, we should go hunt it.’ Or like, ‘Oh, what if it comes here, and it tries to hurt us? Or like, ‘Oh, that's- I just wanna go see it.’ And it’s like a fun-
Keith: How did someone get this idea?
Ali: They saw it. [laughs] Or you know, they said they did.
Keith: They said they saw it.
Austin: They said they saw it. Someone said they saw it. Who- who was the first person who said they saw it?
Ali: Um, who would be the funniest NPC?
Keith: And I want to know who backs them up on it, too. [Ali laughs] [Keith uses a fake voice] ‘No, I saw- I swear I saw two.’ [Ali laughs hard]
Jack: ‘No, it's real. It's real.
Keith: ‘It's real.’
Jack: ‘I'm gonna tell Hella.’
Austin: Right.
Janine: I have a suggestion, if it's wanted, but otherwise I won’t.
Ali: Sure.
Janine: My suggestion is that Rix and Rowe have been looking at a lot of old fragments of maps-
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: -which tend to have big weird fish on the outside-
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: -in like, bodies of water and stuff. [Ali laughs]
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: I think maybe got Rowe- Rowe got like, real excited about that idea. [laughs]
Keith: And just said it?
Janine: Maybe it's true.
Keith: Like- Ok.
Janine: Maybe they were- maybe they went up and looked at the lake and coincidentally saw something like that and knew what it was.
Ali: Well, you know, maybe they heard a guy say like, ‘Oh, I saw big fish over there,’ and they were like, ‘Oh, it must be that big fish.’
Austin: ‘Right! From the maps!’
Ali: [laughing] From the map! The survivor.
Austin: Mhm. Mhm. [Dre laughs] And listen. Maybe there's something in there that we can find out. We'll see.
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: Do you want to draw like, a little- Yeah! There we go!
Ali: There we go. That’s not-
Austin: God.
Ali: I don't like that you can't do that. I can just move it. It's fine.
Austin: Wait, what-?
Ali: [quietly] My little Jesus fish.
Austin: Uh huh.
Ali: Well, the tail is off cause you can’t see what you’re drawing.
Austin: Off- Do you want me to line it up? Yeah. You got it. Nice.
Ali: No, I got it. Yeah, I’m good.
Austin: Hell yeah. I just didn't know if it was possible because it's impossible to fucking move things and see them moving. [sighs] Ugh.
Ali: Um…
Austin: Actually, you can move and see it. That's the actual thing, right?
Ali: Oh, that's a shame.
Austin: Weird. Anyway.
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: Alright. So, that's your card.
Ali: Ok.
Austin: What is your action for the- for the round. Or wait- let me advance clocks. Let me advance clocks. Very important. Spiderweb gondola up to four. Map co-op up to five. Moon trip up to seven of eight. And road to Alcyon completes. So, before we actually give an answer to the thing you do, Ali... When a project completes, uh, [reading] ‘If a project reaches zero, the die gets removed, and the project is completed. Whoever started the project gets to tell everyone how it turns out and updates the map to reflect its completion. When a project gets completed, it is assumed that it went successfully and is beneficial to the community. In some cases, it might make sense to have an investigate a project end with a hope dispelled. Even in these cases, the completion of a project should always feel like a step forward, not backwards. This doesn't always mean that the whole community is happy with the results though.’ So, talk to me about your- your road to Alcyon, Keith, before we finish off this uh- this turn.
Keith: Yeah. So, I think- I mean I think it's- it's, um- I don't think we're seeing right away how useful it is on any level, except for like, morale.
Austin: Mm.
Keith: Like, you've got a situation where like, people feel like they can go somewhere even whether or not they want to.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: Where it’s just like, ‘I have been stuck in this tree groin for months.’
Austin: Right.
Keith: ‘And like, now there is at least one road to a different place.’ And so, like, you know, whether or not something more comes from it later, right now it's like, I think a relief that- that people can get to somewhere.
Austin: Right. You should extend the drawing to Alcyon. Which is down here.
Jack: Do we see people coming from Alcyon, as well- Like, does the road immediately start going in both directions?
Keith: Um… hm. So, I think- I think what happens is like, you know, Fero is digging this out- out with the help of other people. I think you like- the way that it gets done- I don't know if this is the best way to do it, but you make one straight line to Alcyon, and then you have to make another one back to like, double the width. Because otherwise it would be too narrow.
Austin: Mhm.
Keith: And yeah, maybe some people are like, coming back as- as it's being finished. Like- like, ‘Huh, let's just follow this road.’ Like ugh. Like, they're probably sick of their place, too. So, it’s like-
Austin: And we know are less afraid of the Spring in general, right? So, there's a degree to which I bet it's just like, ‘Yeah, rad. Of course we’re going to take this road and go places.’ They don't have to worry about the sap, right?
Keith: Right. They love the sap.
Austin: They love it. A good sap bath on your marble skin? Love it. [Ali snorts a laugh]
Keith: It takes a gunk right off it.
Austin: It's a degunking bath.
Keith: It's a degun- and it separates the gunk from the stone.
Austin: The gunk from the stunk. That's what they say.
Keith: [laughing] Oh, gross.
Austin: You should finish this map.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Uh, Ali. You should either- you have the option to hold a discussion, find something new, or start a project clock.
Ali: Mhm. I'm wondering if I should start a project now that we have like Alcyon people here.
Austin: It’s a good- that's a good point.
Ali: [laughs; Austin coughs] I’m wondering what would be most useful or like, what would be most precedent.
Austin: Uh, good question.
Ali: I think there's some aspect of it- as them being like, ‘We're fine.’ [laughs] And then everyone in the university being like, ‘Oh, we would like to be, too.’
Austin: Also, be fine. Yeah.
Ali: [laughs] ‘We're scared of this, actually.’
Austin: Do they…
Ali: So, I don’t know-
Austin: No, go ahead.
Ali: Yeah, I don't know if it's like... like seminars or like- [laughs] You know what I mean? Like, every Tuesday, people can go to whatever the meeting house is anymore.
Austin: Yeah, yeah, no.
Ali: And just get like, basic like, skill things.
Austin: Do they come and give guest lectures at- at Adaire’s map co-op?
Ali: [laughing] I think so. I'm cool with that if Adaire is.
Janine: Absolutely. [Austin and Ali laugh]
Ali: Ok, cool.
Austin: Love it. Uh, let's see. That'll be like a... Do we think that's like, a four step clock to kind of like, continue the map work?
Ali: Yeah, I think so.
Austin: Kind of a lecture series?
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: Right? [Ali laughs] I’m gonna add it to the map. Boop.
Janine: I also just imagine about where this gets proposed and Adaire’s first reaction is, ‘Oh, like a real school?’ [Austin and Ali laugh]
Austin: There we go. Love to have a lecture series. Alright. That is added to the map. Alright. How are people feeling?
Keith: I feel good.
Ali: I'd be up for at least finishing a season.
Austin: A season? Yeah. We can finish up this first season.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: We have four more cards in this first season, I believe. So-
Jack: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ali: Um, yeah.
Janine: Yeah. That’s doable.
Jack: Let’s do that.
Austin: Let's- let's make that happen. Alright. I'm drawing. I drew the Three of Spring. ‘Someone new arrives. Who?’ Or ‘Two of the- of the community's younger members get into a fight. What provoked them?’
Art: Oh no! [Austin laughs lightly]
Keith: I’ve gotta refresh. My Roll20 is like, really not cooperating.
Austin: Um, huh... Thinking about my notes. Thinking about which punches to pull and which ones not to. Hm. So... I don't think I'm gonna cause a fight between two of the community's younger members. But I do think someone new arrives. And that new person is an emissary, and I need to find their name real quick. [quietly] God, is this not- is this not in here? [clicking] Doo-doo-doo. It could just be a new person. I would love for it to be... Ok, well, I don’t know this person's name, but they are the envoy from the Grey Duke. Um, for peop-
Keith: [quietly] Not him. [Austin laughs]
Austin: So, for people who maybe don't remember- which completely fair- there used to be a place called the Buoy. The Buoy was a major city down in the- in the kind of middle of the- not in the middle of the- but it was a place- The saying went that ‘you never needed a map to make your way to the Buoy.’ It was a major settlement city deep in the middle of the stratae and laminae, deep in the heart of Hieron, and one of the major factions that had power there was this- this Grey Duke who was an orc God or a- a- I don’t remember for sure if he was a god, but I'm pretty sure he was a god. And yes, he was cause he was the Duke of Halted Expect- uh, Halted Expeditions and Unexpected Alliances. And I think that the envoy who arrives- whose name is… uh, it’s Teshh. T-E-S-H-H. Two H’s- requires an audience with whoever the leadership is of the settlement. Who is he sent to see? Is it Ephrim and Corsica? Is it- Who does like, a random guard send him to?
Sylvia: Um…
Janine: Probably Ephrim, right?
Sylvia: Yeah...
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: Though like, [clears throat] we did also kind of set up on my turn that like, that power is slipping, so-
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: Hm.
Sylvia: But uh, I am happy to do that if no one else wants to.
Austin: Well, because here’s another version of this, which is instead of having the scene between Teshh and you, we get the scene between Corsica and you, who is like, ‘Oh, yeah. By the way-’
Sylvia: Ooo. [Ali laughs]
Austin: And that might be more fun. I'm gonna say that happens. So, you get called into Corsica’s like, office above the barracks or whatever, and she is- she tells you Ephrim that,
Austin (as Corsica): Message has been sent from the Buoy, the Grey Duke's domain. We've been told that The Duke is gathering people under his banner and that we've been made an offer to become a vassal state.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): Well, that's kind of them.
Austin (as Corsica): It was a threat, Ephrim.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): Yes. I was- I- I was being facetious, Corsica.
Austin (as Corsica): Ok. It's hard to know sometimes. It's hard to know at this part of the-
Sylvia (as Ephrim): No. Yeah.
Austin (as Corsica): Ok.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): It's fine. Did they give any indication on when they- When did they arrive? When did this hap-
Austin (as Corsica): A couple days ago.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): Days?!
Austin (as Corsica): They arrived, and I met with them a couple of times.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): [quietly] A couple.
Austin (as Corsica): We had some loose negotiations.
Keith: Contempt.
Austin (as Corsica): And I felt like it was time to bring you in on them.
Sylvia: Um, before I reply I'm also taking a contempt. [Ausitn laughs]
Dre: Yeah, I am, too.
Janine: Me, too!
Keith: Ok, true.
Janine: Corsica sucks.
Jack: I'm also gonna take a contempt, too. Uh, but I do quite like Corsica. [Austin laughs lightly]
Janine: Corsica’s interesting, but also…
Sylvia: You know.
Keith: Did someone steal my contempt?
Janine: I’m amazed she didn’t break Teshh’s legs.
Austin: Mhm.
Janine: I was already carrying the contempt. I had it in my hand.
Sylvia: Everybody's reaching for these contempt tokens. It’s great.
Austin: Uh huh. I have to make more contempt tokens.
Sylvia: [overlapped] Uh, she just gives-
Janine: This is the most contemptuous game of quiet I’ve ever seen.
Austin: Uh huh.
Sylvia: Could you just give me what Corsica said one more time?
Austin: That it was a couple of days ago and that-
Sylvia: Ok.
Austin: -and that she felt like it was time to bring you in on this.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): It should have been time to bring me in when they arrived.
Austin (as Corsica): It seemed like a military-
Sylvia (as Ephrim): That’s how we’ve been doing this.
Austin (as Corsica): It seemed like a military matter at first, but after some open bargaining, it now seems like perhaps, we can handle things more diplomatically, and so I've brought you in.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): Right. Cause that's- that's my job. Alright.
Austin (as Corsica): Yes. That is your job, Ephrim! You would- Mm.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): It's our job.
Austin (as Corsica): There has been a division for as long as we have run this place. [pause] You do not run our battalions through drills, and I don't expect that of you. And I hope that you don't expect me to understand the paperwork you do day in and day out. But I thank you for that work. When someone comes representing a foreign army, I am going to do my best to understand what they're here for.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): [sighs] I appreciate what you do here, and I appreciate the way you kept our military running, but I- [sighs] Next time if there's somebody who shows up, be it military or diplomatic, or in this case, seems like both, I think we should both be there. But thank you for letting me know.
Austin (as Corsica): What would you like to do in this case.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): Well... We need to figure out a way to defend this place, even though- using its unorthodox positioning, right?
Austin (as Corsica): Ideally. And we've begun- we've built some.... simple defenses, but the positioning is also... a bit of an obstacle. With the right angle, someone could assault us from positions that are hard to even imagine. Especially if they had advanced weaponry, which the Grey Duke very well may. Someone like the Ordennans could have gotten boats into the lake above us and shelled us from there. Something like this Weaver King seems to be able to reach out across the sky itself. So, it's hard to know what good defenses means in three dimensions.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): Right. We'll- we'll send scouts out his direction. We'll figure out where they're coming from. There's solutions to this. I'm glad things are already underway though. Thank you.
Austin (as Corsica): Of course. Prioritize this. We both need to, and if you and I don't come together on it, you know that the others in the council will not.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): Right. So, we'll both make sure we stay on the same page then?
Austin (as Corsica): Yeah. Yes.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): Alright. Thank you.
Austin: I think before she leaves she like- she like, goes to turn, and she turns back, and she takes a breath and like, reaches out one hand to you, to like, do like, that deep handshake, you know like, forearm shake.
Sylvia: Um, there is a like, moment of hesitation before Ephrim does it cause Ephrim knows to still do it.
Austin: Yeah, yeah. Of course.
Sylvia: But he’s mad.
Austin: Yeah, of course. I think she says.
Austin (as Corsica): We’ve brought this place so far. Let's get through this.
Austin: And-
Sylvia: Yeah, I figured we'd just cut there.
Austin: Yeah, totally. Cool. And then I am going to advance clocks. Which includes this moon trip. Spiderweb gondola is one away. Alcyon maps series is up to one. The map co-op finishes. So, let's start there, and then we'll come back around to moon trip. What's up with this map co-op? Does it- What's- what's happening in the middle- Obviously the lecture series has kicked off also, but talk to me about your map cadets.
Janine: Yeah, I imagine- I imagine the lecture series is like, a sort of like, graduation sort of adjacent like, extra credit kind of bonus. [Ali laughs]
Austin: Yeah, continuing education. Yeah.
Janine: Yeah yeah, continuing education. Exactly. [Austin exhales a laugh] So, look. I mean this map co-op was never going to produce, at least not at- one of these people could certainly become the next great cartographer of this world.
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: At this stage, they are not that. This is not- this is not a school that is producing talented even like- even like, scientific minded cartographers. It's producing people who have a basic understanding of the concepts of making a map that someone can use to go to- to Alcyon or to go to a place that’s somewhere and not like, fall off the side of the world or whatever. I mean they don't fall; they would just wrap around.
Jack: [overlapped] That’s a fuckin’-
Janine: But look. [lightly laughs] It’s about-
Jack: [amused] The worst graduation speech I've ever heard. [laughter]
Janine: It’s about fundamentals and basic confid- competence, but also basic confidence in your skills.
Austin: Mhm. [Jack laughs]
Janine: It's about getting out there, and the real- the real teacher is experience. Um- [laughs]
Jack (as Unnamed Person): What's the pay like?
Jack: -someone calls.
Janine: I mean look. Adaire- Adaire made a kind of living selling maps because people needed maps. Like, it was a similar situation of like- Hieron had a bunch of communities, and sometimes people need to get between those communities, and maps are valuable to those people.
Austin: Right.
Janine: So, you can sell a map. Once you make a map, you keep your master- That's probably a big part of this lesson is like, the economics of being a map maker.
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: And part of that is you make your master copy, and then you can copy that map. You can copy it in full detail, or you can copy like, sort of versions that- that are tailored to people. Like if someone is just- is just interested in natural resources or whatever, you can- focus you can focus your copy on like, ‘Here's where these plants are naturally occurring or whatever.’ Shit like that.
Austin: Mhm.
Janine: So, I imagine what happens out of this is like, a bunch of people, even people who don't want to be full time mapmakers, people who just want to be able to handle this on their own as they're doing stuff to just have their own collection of maps. I think people are equipped with the fundamentals of that knowledge. I don't think that solves our map issue, of course.
Austin: No.
Janine: Because those people haven't made maps yet.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: They’ve made like test maps. They've made maps of like the university. The university itself is probably very well mapped right now. [Austin laughs] Because everyone has their like, final exam maps and whatever.
Austin: Mhm.
Janine: Everyone also probably has like a- There's probably a sch- There’s probably like- She probably made everyone learn a school song that's about how brave-
Austin: Oh my God. [Keith and Ali laugh]
Janine: -and smart mapmakers are. It's like- it's like vaguely, loosely describes the adventure of mapmaker, but like, if- if Hella or Hadrian or Throndir was listening, it’s like, ‘That's just- that's just- that's just the moth stuff, and then we went to the Buoy.’ [Austin and Janine laugh] It's just like, about a brave mapmaker doing all this wacky adventure stuff, but it's just like, a brief plot summary of that half of Winter in Hieron.
Austin: Oh my god.
Art: Wait, it's not like a general song? It's like, a specific- [everyone laughs] It's a song about Adaire and everyone-
Keith: It's exaltation.
Austin: Uh huh.
[crosstalking]
Jack: Just let them know you’re the mapmaker.
Art: It’s not like-
Janine: She doesn’t use her name or anything. It's very much just like, [lightly singing] ‘the brave mapmaker does all these things~ [laughs] They help the people need them.’
Austin: Jack, are you- are you gettin’ all this?
Jack: [lightly singing] ‘Old Man’s Chin~’
Austin: Are you gettin’ all this, Jack?
Jack: [from far away] Uh huh. Yeah. Uh huh.
Austin: Ok, good. [Janine laughs]
Janine: It’s just like a-
Jack: There’s a tuba intro.
Art: [imitating a tuba song] Bom, bom, bom, bom- bom, bom, bom. [Austin and Keith laugh]
Jack: [amused] Yeah, exactly.
Janine: ‘They're clever. They backstab.’ Stuff like that.
Austin: Uh huh. Classic mapmaking song. [Janine laughs]
Jack: ‘They got picked up and dropped by that one moth.’
Keith: [lightly singing] ‘Everybody buys her fake medicine.’ [Austin and Janine laugh]
Art: [lightly singing] ‘Mapmaking~’
Janine: ‘Resilient enough to fall onto someone without getting hurt.’
Austin: God.
Janine: Stuff like that.
Art: [lightly singing] ‘Mapmaking~’
Austin: Love it. Love it.
Janine: So, it goes great.
Austin: Perfect. Sorry, I'm drawing like, a little.. group of people to the far east where the Grey Duke is set up and coming from. So, let me just finish that, and then I'll talk about this moon. Uh… These people are not the scale. Just so we all know.
Jack: Very convenient that the Grey Duke is about to cross the garbage chute branch. [Austin laughs]
Austin: I don't even know if this is the Grey Duke. I don't think the Grey Duke would come himself. He's kind of a rule from- from home type of Duke. Ya know?
Keith: He has a home office?
Austin: Yeah. He's like a- he's like, a thin balding Duke with like, yellow tusks. You know? He's brilliant, but he isn't- he isn't tryin’ to lead from the front lines. So, I think it's been, you know, nearly the whole of the first season of living like this, and Severea returns. You know, I think there've been a number of people who have been quietly leached away, bit by bit, who’ve decided like, ‘You know what? This is scary. And this moon trip is probably also scary, but there's a God there, and I trust Severea. I trust the God more than I trust our squabbling leadership or the sap fount or the giant hand of the Weaver King,’ which is so scary to think about. Like, impossibly scary to be like, ‘I woke up one day, and a hand bigger than my city landed near my city, and it's just chilling there right now.’
Austin (continued): And so, I actually think that this introduces a new need. A classic need that we've had in previous versions of this, which is population. Our scarcity gets- A population scarcity is in effect as bit by bit we kind of realize that a lot of people, including some like, young folks who would normally be like, workin’ in the- in the fields or like, helpin’ to explore have left to join Severea’s weird moon trip. I'm curious if anyone has any words for Severea before she leaves.
Keith: [quietly] If she doesn't wanna talk to me, I don’t wanna talk to her. [Ali snorts a laugh]
Austin: [defeated] Ok. [laughs]
Ali: Um, I always wanted to talk to Severea, but I think at this point, it's like, ‘Good luck with the moon. [Austin laughs] Keep in touch! If you could endorse Adelaide, that would be such a huge help.’
Austin: That would sick, yeah.
Ali: ‘I have this pamphlets…’
Austin: Is that a- is that actually a request that you make of her? [Ali laughs] That's not a thing that can be…
Ali: Oh, of course.
Austin: What's that- Let's have that conversation. Where- how do you kick that up with Severea, as she's like- she and like, you know, a hundred horses are being filled- you know, people are cut- you know, bringing all sorts of supplies with them, people are getting into wagons to leave?
Ali: Yeah, I- Well, okay. I'm gonna come into the scene with the assumption that me and Severea are like, kind of cool.
Austin: Sure.
Ali: We at least have an understanding.
Austin: You have an understanding.
Ali: We’re not close.
Austin: Yeah, yeah. You have an understanding though.
Ali: [laughs] And I bet it's like, as- Hella, as someone who is like- who has all that census information is like, ‘Oh, here's a bunch of information stuff for all of the people who are leaving-’
Austin: Sure.
Ali: ‘-that I feel like you should have.’
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ali: Um-
Austin (as Severea): Thank you. You're sure you don’t want to come with?
Ali (as Hella): Oh, no. I- I have friends here. I have a dog now.
Austin (as Severea): You have a dog now? Whe- where?
Ali (as Hella): It’s- My dog is at my house.
Austin (as Severea): Ok.
Ali (as Hella): Or at the University. It hangs around.
Austin (as Severea): Uh huh.
Ali (as Hella): No, but the moon sounds great. You know, great idea with this moon thing.
Austin: [laughs] Does Hella actually believe that?
Ali: I think there’s a part of her that does. She was like- she was there for the first moon part. It was like, ‘That was a good idea on those people.’
Austin: Right. Sure. So, now you're like, ‘Yeah, definitely.’
Ali: There's a part of her that understands the impulse to be like, ‘No, I just-’
Austin: Right.
Ali: ‘I'm just gonna go to the moon.’ [laughs]
Austin: Right. No, yeah. You're totally right. So, I think she's like,
Austin (as Severea): I made- I made the moon. I made Del a long, long time ago, and I was in a different place. And my hope at the time was something like this. Something that would live through the Heat and the Dark. And now, I find myself so curious as to what else could be out there. And I'm not trying to give you the hard sell, but I do think someone like you, with your talents, you could do great stuff out there with us.
Ali (as Hella): I understand that. I also believe that I am capable of great things. I just kind of… Is there gonna be like, a second moon shuttle?
Austin (as Severea): No, no, no. We’re-
Ali (as Hella): Are there gonna be like, moon communications? I will be like- I'll be here to take the moon- I used to drive a ship- a boat back and forth a bunch of times, I can be the- the-
Austin (as Severea): Listen.
Ali (as Hella): -the moon boat.
Austin (as Severea): If you all can figure out a way to come visit Del, we'd love to have you. But our plan is to use a little bit of juice, launch this thing up in the air, break free- break through the bramble, and start a slow orbit. And then bit by bit, we pick up speed, and then we fling ourselves away. And we go until we find something.
Ali (as Hella): Wow. That sounds risky.
Austin (as Severea): Life is risky.
Ali (as Hella): You're tellin’ me. [lightly laughs] I- [Austin and Ali laugh hard]
Austin: Sylvia in the chat says, ‘Fling is so casual.’ Yeah.
Sylvia: It is! [Ali laughs again]
Austin: Welcome to Severea. Severea doesn't take anything too seriously until she extremely takes it seriously. That is her character trait.
Ali (as Hella): That sounds great. I can't leave yet. [pauses and sighs] Well, ok. But, you know, if people are- are in danger or are unsafe-
Ali: No, this is so- Um- [Austin laughs] It's so weird for Hella to be like, ‘I'm not gonna do the thing that you're asking me to do. But I do have a favor to ask.’ [laughing]
Austin: You know, sometimes you gotta make the- you gotta try it.
Ali: Yeah. Sometimes you have to, um- Oh! The lead in is Hella, I guess, being like,
Ali (as Hella): You know I have a position that's very important to me here. Just in terms of- [sighs] I mean I- I don't know. You're better at it than I am, but I- I have to kind of take care of the faith of the people here. At least letting people know that at least one day they'll be comfortable.
Austin (as Severea): That's your- that's the whole- the whole Adularia thing, right?
Ali (as Hella): That's kinda my spin on it, yeah. But yeah. [Austin and Keith laugh]
Austin (as Severea): I don't- um, Adelaide? Yeah? Haven't met.
Ali (as Hella): Yes. Oh, do you not-?
Austin (as Severea): No.
Ali (as Hella): Oh. Oh, that’s a shame.
Austin (as Severea): Tristero, we went back,but-
Ali (as Hella): Oh. Mm.
Austin (as Severea): Different M.O., I gather.
Austin: Different modus operandi, a Latin phrase that I know somehow. [Ali laughs]
Ali (as Hella): Yeah. You know- you know, you gotta take stuff into your own hands. And, uh, that's what me and Adelaide did, I guess.
Austin (as Severea): Well, good luck to you and that whole project.
Ali (as Hella): [lightly laughs] I- I know- I guess you don't know her, so the gods aren’t really tight in a way that I would think that they might be. But, you know… you at least saying, ‘She's right.’
Austin: Uh huh.
Ali (as Hella): [laughing] Or, you know, ‘I have heard of that. And it is- it is true’ would be a great help. And I think would help the people that are going with you who might also be scared.
Austin (as Severea):Oh! You're saying- you're saying to the people- You're saying that I should tell people that- that all that stuff is real?
Ali (as Hella): I'm saying that if they asked you, if you were like, ‘Oh yeah. I know about that’ that would be a big help for me, who's just like a person.
Austin (as Severea): No, no. Listen, listen. The people- I talk to people every day who are torn about whether they want to come with me or not, but if I could tell them confidently- and you're telling me it's real, right?
Ali (as Hella): Yeah.
Austin (as Severea): If I can tell them confidently that if things go bad, there's still a place for them out there... You know, that seems like a win-win.
Ali (as Hella): It's a win-win!
Austin (as Severea): [amused] Convince more people to come with me on my moon trip! And- and get more people to believe in your- uh, your whatever it is. A place people go after they die.
Ali (as Hella): It's like an afterlife. Yeah.
Austin (as Severea): You have an afterlife.
Keith: Her girlfriend's death resort.
Austin: Yeah. [Austin and Ali laugh] My favorite anime of the season.
Dre: [laughs hard] OP is killer.
Austin: It’s so good. God. Yeah. No. That's… that’s uh- I think that works.
Ali (as Hella): Well, I appreciate your support. And really honestly good luck with this whole moon thing. I- you know, I would love to visit with some- one day.
Austin (as Severea): Like I said, that's gonna be on you. But um, would love to have you. [Keith and Sylvia laugh]
Ali (as Hella): Yeah I- you know, I'll see you around. I don't know when.
Austin (as Severea): At some point, hopefully.
Ali (as Hella): Uh, you know. Yeah.
Austin (as Severea): I'll wave, ya know?
Ali (as Hella): Until next time. Mhm.
Austin: Alright. I’m gonna move the moon into the sky. Good negotiation.
Keith: And the horse?
Austin: The horse stays.
Keith: Oh!
Austin: She leaves behind the horse.
Jack: Do we feel the moon leaving?
Austin: It- I think-
Jack: What- what does- How do we experience that?
Austin: So, it doesn't- So, first of all, the moon was not right here, right? The moon was off screen.
Jack: It's a big fucking moon though.
Austin: And so, I think it is felt like, a weird- I think part of the thing is like, this is the first time you’ve felt the tree shake or like, the roots shake the way that- like, there's a bounciness to the ground. Do you know what I mean? Like, the way that if you took a- If you take like a- like a piece of wood or a tree branch, or if you take something less sturdy than that even- If you take just like, a long root or whatever- if you take like, pieces of string, and you move them, they move back and forth. It isn't just like, they've moved, and that's it. And so, I think that there's like a- There is like, a bounciness, especially with you in the- in the crotch- in the crook of [lightly laughs; Dre groans] these two branches here. I think that there is a degree of like- everything... It felt like an earthquake, but it specifically felt like, one where you could look off in the distance and actually see where the horizon is- the rest of your personal branch like, waving. Like not waving, but like, what's the word I'm looking for?
Keith: Swaying?
Austin: Swaying up and down or like side to side as it shakes from the force of the- of whatever's left of this moon lifting off. I’m also imagining it as like, a half circle with like- or not a half circle, but like, the top half of the sphere is complete, but the bottom half has been kind of like, torn up from where it's been impacted. So, you know, great. Looks- looks fantastic. But they get it up there and begin their long journey into nothing. And I just want to be clear, there is nothing else out there. Again, maybe by the time she launches, the Spring- or the second Spring will have grown- or not launches, but like, leaves behind stuff-
Like, eventually this community may meet something, but I'm holding to the thing I said before, which is there is nothing out there in the Heat and the Dark but this. But that doesn't mean that people believe that to be true. I think it's very feasible that you look out in the Heat and the Dark, and you go, ‘There's gotta- There's nothing special about us. There has to be another thing like us out there. If only we could have a big vehicle to move through it in, we should do it.’ And then they do. So.
Keith: So, one of the differences between the Earth and Hieron is that Hieron is-
Austin: Literally-
Keith: -in the middle of a void?
Austin: Yes.
Keith: Where the earth is actually a part of a giant thing-
Austin: Yes.
Keith: -full of stuff.
Austin: Full of stuff. Whereas that is not the case anymore. Or that is not the case in Hieron. Even-
Keith: I mean they've got the moon, right? They can just hang out on the moon.
Austin: That's the thing! They're gonna hang out on the moon. They're gonna move through- through the Heat and the Dark looking for something, and you know, so it goes. Uh… That's my turn. I'm gonna start another clock, I think.
Keith: That was both halves of your turn?
Austin: That was my car- that was my card is what that was. No, that was my card, and then my- my clock finishing.
Ali: The project ended. Yeah.
Austin: The project finishing. Yes. So, I'm gonna start a new clock, and I think you might know where this clock is going. It is a six step clock. And that clock is forces from the Grey Duke arrive.
Keith: Alright. My draw?
Austin: It is your draw.
Keith: ‘Where does everyone sleep? Who is unhappy with this arrangement, and why?’ Or ‘What natural predators roam this area? Are you safe?’ I- Well, I know exactly what natural predators roam this area. Some more bugs! Bugs love-
Austin: Uh huh. Tell me about bugs. Tell me about these bugs. Tell me about how they're unique. Tell me about what's up with their- with their Spring qualities. Are these just big regular bugs or are these new types of bugs?
Keith: I think it's probably both.
Austin: Ok.
Keith: I mean- So, the thing about a bug isn't that there needs to be- I'm pretty sure that this is at- at least has enough real scientific basis to um- to jump into fiction from, but it's sort of like, you know how you get a goldfish, and you put a goldfish in like, a much bigger container-
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Keith: -and it'll get- it’ll fit- it'll match the size?
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: Like, a goldfish can get huge, but it will stay small, if it can't grow any bigger. And bug exoskeletons are like that with oxygen. And now that there are so many more trees and plants, I think that regu- the regular bugs that were just livin’ their lives just are able to get bigger immediately.
Austin: Mhm.
Keith: And on top of that, I also think there are- there are Spring bugs that are maybe weird and different.
Austin: Ugh.
Keith: But like- And not that I think that like, you know, a fifty foot long ant isn't bad enough-
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: -but why not take the chance to have both?
Austin: Uh huh. Fantastic.
Keith: So, I think it’s that.
Art: [quietly] I put some goldfish content in the- oh.
Keith: The goldfish content?
Art: Yeah, they found a giant goldfish in one of the Great Lakes.
Austin: Oh.
Keith: Oh wow. How big?
Art: Oh, you can- It’s the- It's like, as big as this- as wide is this guy's torso.
Keith: Oh, wow. Oh, yeah. This guy- this guy’s big. Yeah.
Austin: That’s a biggen.
Jack: Ah, he's holding it very close to the camera.
Austin: Oh, maybe it's a little one.
Keith: That- well, it's in- fitting in both of his hands. [laughs]
Janine: Yeah, I think it’s a perspective trick.
Keith: I don’t think it’s- [still laughing]
Ali: This is-
Austin: We don't know the size of his hands.
Sylvia: That's fair.
Ali: Photo manipulation.
Art: Fourteen inches.
Austin: I didn't even know that those are his hands.
Keith: Yeah, whoever did tell- In order to tell how big this is, we gotta know the size of this guy's hands.
Austin: We gotta meet this guy.
Keith: Yeah we- [laughs]
Dre: What if he’s Paul Bunyan?
Keith: [still laughing] Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, right?
Keith: I'm starting a clock to meet this guy [Austin and Keith laugh] and see how big- [Dre laughs] his hands are.
Austin: Great. Are we safe?
Keith: No. N- no. No, we're not.
Austin: Ok.
Keith: We literally are not safe. Both narratively and like, literally in our resources, we have a scarcity of safety. We are not safe.
Austin: Janine, I'm sorry. I stepped on something.
Janine: I would have taken a contempt- contempt token for two different kinds of horrible bugs coming about-
Austin: Good. Great.
Janine: -but also, I'm putting that token back because I realize that when I used valuable time to teach students a song about- [Austin laughs hard] cool stuff, that that was definitely a selfish action, and I should have spent a contempt for it.
Austin: Yeah, I'm gonna retroactively spend one on the Grey Duke forces moving in. Ok. Keith, one, you’re gonna have to draw these bugs somewhere on this-
Keith: I will- I will draw the bugs, yeah.
Austin: But first I need to advance clocks, which include uh... map lecture advances. Oop, op, op- Make that bigger. Make that- make that readable. That includes the Grey Duke six step forces. I said six, but I should have actually cleared that. Does six makes sense for people? For the Grey Duke stuff?
Ali, Dre, Janine, Keith, Sylvia: [one after the other] Yeah.
Austin: Ok. And Throndir, your spider web gondola completes.
Dre: Aw, hell yeah.
Austin: Tell me about the- the project.
Dre: [groans] Ohh- Don't- don't put my name on that.
Austin: Oh sorry. Dre, your spider web gondola completes.
Dre: Yeah. There we go. Ok. So, here's the thing. The project ran into some unexpected hitches.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: Because the spider just kept wanting to climb on the strands that we were trying to weave together.
Austin: Yeah I bet.
Dre: But-
Keith: Oh, that's like, the cutest way that that could have gone.
Dre: But here's what we also figured out; that spider doesn't like the weird sap. So, we just have to, you know, oil up the gondola ropes with the sap, and we're good to go.
Austin: Oh my god. So like, you-
Dre: Which- which is great cause then, you know, it- you know- it lubricates everything. So, it's easier to-
Austin: Uh huh.
Dre: We're having a hand crank these- these things across, so they probably move pretty slow. And probably only like, a pala-din or an anchor can probably like, run one for.
Austin: Mhm.
Dre: But they work.
Austin: Draw it on the map.
Dre: No, don't worry.
Austin: I- Mm.
Dre: What? Listen. There's no way what I draw can match up to the weirdness of the description.
Austin: No, you're right.
Dre: So.
Austin: You're right.
Dre: Don't worry.
Austin: Fero.
Ali: Just draw some green lines to show that there’s slime on them. [Austin groans and laughs]
Dre: Yeah. No. A hundred percent. [Ali laughs]
Keith: For what it's worth, I- I shrunk them. I shrunk the web a little bit.
Austin: Oh, thank you.
Keith: [laughing] You’re welcome.
Austin: You still have the rest of your turn, Fero What are you- what are you doing? New project, discover something, hold a discussion.
Keith: Um, I want to go- I want to go to the- to the Weaver King.
Austin: Ok. You want to- What do you want to do there? So, do you want to- Is that a starting the- the journey?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Ok. So, is that- is that a project clock? That seems like-
Keith: I'm not sure. I think I can just go.
Austin: So, that- Is then- So, is that discover something new?
Keith: I think it's discover something new.
Austin: Alright, what do you discover?
Keith: Hm. Is it discover something new? I want to-
Ali: We send Fero alone?
Keith: I want to like-
Austin: Say that again, Ali.
Ali: [laughing] Sorry, I just remembered. There was a- We all talked about that.
Austin: Uh huh.
Ali: Do we send Fero alone?
Austin: No one sent anybody is the thing that happened.
Keith: No one sent anybody.
Austin: You had a conversation.
Ali: Ok.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Everyone was like, ‘We should do a thing.’
Ali: Yeah?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: And then- and then none of those things happened.
Keith: Yeah, and I- Fero said, ‘I wonder what the Weaver King’s like?’ And he's just gonna go find out. And I think-
Austin: Yep. And you're lucky the Grey Duke arrived cause otherwise I was gonna send Cor- Corsica was just gonna do the thing that she said she was gonna do.
Keith: Yeah. I- I think, uh- I don't know if- if discover something new is the right thing. I wanna have a scene with the Weaver King, if that’s-
Austin: That- that's not a thing. So, that-
Keith: [quietly] That’s not a thing?
Austin: Like, to do that you would need to- That's not discover something new because the thing is the Weaver King. I think that's a long term project. That's like a- It might only be four steps, but like, to go on that journey would be a multi-step project.
Keith: Ok.
Austin: Cause it isn't like- in the same way that it took you a while to build a road, even though you're able to turn into a cool vole like, traversing your way to the Weaver King is still a thing.
Keith: Really? Just turnin’ into a bird and flyin’ over there?
Austin: That's an arm, dog.
Keith: Well, yeah. I guess it- it would have to be all the way down to the…
Austin: We don't even know. You don't even know where the Weaver King talks from yet.
Keith: Yeah, that's true.
Austin: So, like, I think you gotta find it.
Sylvia: I hope he talks from his hands.
Janine: [overlapped] I hope it’s the flower.
Keith: Three turns? Four turns?
Austin: I think it's a four turn clock.
Keith: You think it's four turns?
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: Not organizing anybody. I'm just going.
Austin: I still think that’s- Four is pretty small.
Keith: That’s fair. Yeah, it’s like, half of a round.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: It's good. Think of it this way. It might be a slightly shorter distance to- If we're assuming the talking part is in that sort of main weaver trunk, which is not necessarily a thing we should assume-
Austin: Uh huh.
Keith: No.
Janine: But that’s slightly- That's a slightly shorter distance than what the Grey Duke has to travel-
Austin: It’s true. That could time out really nicely.
Janine: -which is a six week and a five way down.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: No, I didn't mean time out. I mean like, logistics wise, in terms of-
Austin: Oh, distance. Yes.
Janine: -distance. Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. Exactly.
Keith: Well, it's a lot easier to fly as a bird than walk as a- as a- What is it? A company?
Austin: A company. Yeah.
Janine: Yeah, it’s four instead of six.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: Alright, let's go- Let's do the four then. I can live with four.
Austin: Ok. Alright, I will move it to the middle here. Boom. [typing] ‘Find and talk to Weaver King’. Let’s do ‘Talk to Weaver King’. Boom. Save changes. Save changes. That didn't do the thing. Why didn’t it do the thing? That says a thing there, and then now there we go. Ok. Um, cool. Alright. Janine.
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: Draw a card.
Janine: Ten, Spring.
Austin: Ooo.
Janine: ‘There's another community somewhere-’ Oh, this is perrrfect. [laughs]
Austin: Yeah?
Janine: [still laughing] It’s fine.
Austin: Yeah? You're laughing like there’s a-
Janine: ‘There's another community somewhere-’ [laughs hard again]
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: ‘Where are they? What sets them apart from you?’ Or ‘’What belief or practice helps to unify your community?’ This is- this is perfect cause I wasn't- I wanted to do something. And actually, the timing works really- works out really well cause I bet Fero sees it, as he's- as he's flying. So, this is also concerning the Weaver King.
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: [laughing] So, ok. You know that the fingers are like, connected with the branch- uh, the fingers of the Weaver King are connected with the branch-
Austin: Yes, I see it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Janine: -of the world tree? So, I think what's actually happening there is that one of the- I'm tryin’ to get the right brush here and the right color, but it's not letting me pick a color for some reason… Um, I imagine that the- one of these fingers at least, if not several of them, is actually extending somewhat beneath the surface-
Austin: Ooo, interesting
Janine: -of the tree-
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: -and is looping back up into the sap and kind of poking out from the sap pool. [Austin sighs]
Jack: Fuckin’ ruined our bath! [Janine, Dre, and Keith laugh]
Janine: Hang on. So, a thing that um- and this could get really gross- I'm not gonna be too- too descriptive in one part of this because it would be really yucky.
Austin: Yeah, please.
Janine: But a thing that's happening is around where these tap roots are sort of reemerging in the sap pool, beings are sort of coming up- washing up on the sap shore or emerging from these sap springs. [Austin sighs] And they are- they don't look really like weavers. I think their proportions are what the people of the Last University might recognize or consider as more, you know, quote-unquote normal. A bit less like, uh- you know, there's an arbitrariness to the proportion of weavers and Weaver Kings, in particular-
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: -that doesn't apply to these beings. These beings are- they maybe have more in common with like, pala-din in a sense because they are like, imposing, and they are- or they can be- Aw, maybe they're more like anchor really. Cause they are- they are basically like bodies of this sap. There is like, a structure in there that's kind of, at this stage, difficult to see because sap I believe is relatively opaque while it's drying.
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: But like, in their extremities, you can see that the sap is- is clarifying and is becoming sort of clear. And you can kind of see like, there's- there's like, vine or something- some sort of like, wickery material in there that’d be kind of skeletal. But um-
Austin: Is the sap hardening around them or is it… flowy?
Janine: It's- it's kind of- it's kind of like, crystallizing, but it's not hard. [Austin exhales] So, they look- they look very lumpy, and then in their like, thicker parts, it's very opaque and probably looks very waxy. But, you know, in things like, I'm thinking like, their fingers, for example- their fingers are probably clear and amber-like.
Austin: Right.
Janine: So, you can kind of see where things are going to go, in that sense.
Austin: Mhm.
Janine: And they're just kind of emerging. And.. I don’t want to say setting up camp cause I don't know that they need the shelter in that way, but I think they are kind of like, forming around this sap pool and then kind of like, hanging out a little bit.
Austin: Love to hear it. Who- So-
Janine: Right when the- I guess it’s sort of where the gondola is showing up, too. But they mostly just kind of hang out on the periphery of things and- and-
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: -seem... ok.
Austin: Great. Do they have a name?
Janine: They do.
Austin: Do we know it yet?
Janine: I think this is maybe just a name of observation that would come up. I think that we can call them the sapkin.
Austin: The sapkin. Ok.
Janine: Sapkin.
Austin: Like it rhymes with napkin.
Janine: The Weaver King has been cultivating sapkins.
Keith: And you can buy them at CVS, and you can register them online, and you can play games. [Janine, Austin, Dre, and Jack laugh]
Janine: Yes. [quietly] That’s-
Austin: Oh man. Ok.
Dre: I'm very excited about the surprise mechanics in our new sapkin game. [Austin and Janine laugh]
Austin: Um, I hate to ask this, but what sets them apart from us? Is there anything beyond just being made of sap?
Janine: I mean I think the thing that sets them apart from- For me, the question, ‘What sets them apart from us,’ there's a degree of like, we've seen weavers before. This is like, a new thing.
Austin: Ok.
Dre: Do- do they talk?
Austin: I guess we haven’t met them yet, right?
Janine: Has anyone talked to them?
Austin: No, right?
Dre: Yeah, fair.
Austin: Like, we've- you’ve- this is- There is a new community. We have not made- we have not spent time with this community yet, so...
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: [deeply sighs] Love to see it. What do you-?
Keith: Oh.
Austin: I advanced all the clocks. What are you doing this turn?
Art: I took a contempt for this. I just wanna-
Austin: Thank you. Good. You know. Someone's gotta.
Janine: Was it because of the sapkins joke? [laughs] Because that's fair.
Austin: What are you- what are you doin’ with your turn, Adaire? Or Janine.
Janine: So, with my turn I think, uh… Oh man. That's tough. We don't have a lot of projects going, so I feel like I- I mostly just want to have projects. I think the project that I would like to start is... I think Adaire wants to go... I can think of a lot of directions she would not want to go right now. [laughs]
Austin: Yeah, I bet.
Janine: Like, towards the spider, towards the mystery army-
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: -towards the sap people. I think a thing that Adaire actually does here is she tries to procure a telescope cause she wants to scope out the weird other Velas.
Austin: Ok. So, is this like-?
Janine: She's like, heard about it and is like… just-
Austin: Do we then- Do you want to even go broader then maybe? Because like, procuring a telescope feels like a one- one thing, and then like, is the next thing going to be procuring a backpack?
Janine: I think it’s- it’s- [sighs] No, that seems-
Austin: My point is like, do you want to do like, supplies?
Janine: Actually, wait. No, sorry. Sorry. This- I- I totally- I'm wrong here. I totally forgot that I had said that the map thing should be a multi-step.
Austin: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Janine: Multi-thing thing. I should actually continue working on that. So, I think that that- What I'm actually doing is- is Adaire starts coordinating teams of like, surveyors to-
Austin: Ok.
Janine: -to go figure things out, and is doing that sort of with the university as a home base.
Austin: So you're-
Janine: Like, sort of organizing people who want to go out to do things and being like, ‘Ok, well, you guys should go over here, and here's your shit, and-’
Austin: So, you're actually becoming a mapmaker? Like, you're actually doing it. You're doing the thing at this point?
Janine: No, Adaire is extremely not doing it.
Austin: Ok, but you know- [laughs]
Janine: She’s doing paperwork.
Austin: Right.
Janine: She's telling everyone else to go do it, and she's hanging out at home with her troubled children and her dog.
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: And Hella.
Austin: What is this new thing being added to the map? What is this new branch?
Keith: This is where I'm putting some bugs.
Austin: Great. Love it. Love to see... it. How long is your clock, Janine? You think it’s a six? You think it’s a four?
Janine: It depends on if we're talking about the organization or waiting for them to go out and come back. Cause if it's go out and come back, I think it's probably a six.
Austin: Yeah, I think we should go up to the come out- go out- uh, the go out and come back.
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: Like, the first wave.
Janine: Mhm.
Austin: Alright, cool. Dre, is your turn, I believe.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Go ahead and draw a card.
Dre: Doo, doo, doo, doop.
Austin: The Queen of Spring.
Dre: Ok, ‘What's the most beautiful thing in this area? [laughing] Or ‘What's the most hideous in this area?’ Um... I think the most beautiful thing in this area is with the like, just huge variety of shapes and suns-
Austin: Uh huh.
Dre: -there is just like- there are certain times of day and-or night where the kind of upside down waterfall just has like, looking almost like, an infinite number of like, rainbows-
Austin: Ooo.
Dre: -just like, tessellating in on themselves.
Austin: Hell yeah.
Dre: Probably also helps to spread the giant fish rumors because-
Austin: Right.
Dre: -like, there's just so many like, just infinite amount of like, colors and shapes like, bending together that it's probably really easy to be like, ‘Oh, fuck! Did you see what moved in there?’
Austin: ‘That was definitely a rainbow fish.’
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: But no. I get what you're saying. Yes. Absolutely. Um, the- Is that a thing that is like- Does that draw people closer to the- to the water more often? Because it’s so beautiful. Like, has it become like, a cool spot that people hang out at? Or even move towards?
Dre: Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I mean I- It's probably- I mean it's probably already a place that has lots of-
Austin: [laughs hard] Sorry!
Dre: -people around it because it's water. Op, what happened?
Austin: Janine in the chat said, ‘I keep seeing the giant fish as a necktie on the jellyfish.’ [Dre and Keith laugh] There's this jellyfish here.
Keith: Very professional.
Austin: [using a ‘rich’ voice] Looking very, very professional.
Dre: Very professional. Listen, jellyfish has a job interview.
Austin: Yep.
Keith: Yeah. ‘What’s your- Mr. jellyfish, what is your greatest strength?’
Austin: ‘Uh, my flexibility.’
Dre: ‘I care too much.’
Austin: [laughing lightly] Yeah.
Dre: ‘I care too much.’
Keith: ‘My- It's my powerful tendrils.’
Austin: [sounding robotic] ‘Bio toxins.’ [Dre and Keith laugh]
Janine: Why is it a robot now?
Austin: [laughing; using a robot voice] Also, I’m a robot now. It's over- overcorrecting.
Dre: Dr. Robotnik came and got the jellyfish. [laughs]
Austin: Yeah. Um, no, I'm with that. That’s good, Dre. I advance these clocks. What do you do with your turn?
Dre: I want to try and go talk to the sapkin. So, I don't know if that is a- [overlapped] discover something new or-
Austin: That is again- will be a discover something new.
Dre: -a project?
Austin: Yeah, like the talk to the Weaver King.
Dre: Ok.
Austin: I mean it could be discover something new, I guess… There’s like, such a- It’s like, one of the things with the system, right, is that like, to- Well, I guess, here's the actual question. What is your goal? Which is probably the question on talk to the Weaver King, too.
Dre: Yeah. They're probably like, one and the same.
Austin: Well, I say this because the goal probably shouldn't be, ‘Talk to the blank’.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: It should be like, ‘What do you want to get out of it?’ Because that would be what the project is, right?
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Or in this case, is it like opening dialogue with them?
Dre: Yeah, I think it's opening dialogue with the goal of, I guess, one, making sure they're cool.
Austin: Right.
Dre: But then, I guess, two, if we know that the Grey Duke's forces are moving in, probably also like, giving them a warning?
Austin: Right.
Dre: Or maybe even asking them to like, form a coalition with us? Or-
Austin: Sure. Sure. How long do you think that is?
Dre: I mean we have the road and-or the gondola, so it's probably not a matter of how long it takes to get there.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: But it's a matter of like, how those negotiations go. So, but I would guess like, how many ticks do we have until the Grey Duke gets here?
Austin: Oh, It's gonna be three.
Dre: I mean can we do like, a-
Austin: I think three works. You see- you know where they are.
Dre: Ok.
Austin: It's a difference between that and finding the Weaver King.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: But like- and it's right here. Like- so, I can do three. I think three makes sense.
Dre: Ok.
Austin: Ok. Boom. And I will advance it once to make it three. Ok. Cool. I’m gonna have to get that conversation. Janine, I’m making you play these sapkin when we get there.
Janine: Fantastic.
Austin: Alright. One more card here. Sylvia, draw the last card of Spring.
Sylvia: I wonder what it's gonna be. I'm so excited.
Austin: [lightly laughs] The King of Spring. One of- One of Ephrim’s many new titles.
Sylvia: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. [laughs] ‘A young boy starts digging in the ground and discovers something unexpected. What is it?’ Or ‘An old man confesses to past crimes and atrocities. What has he done?’
Austin: Hm.
Sylvia: Damn! Ok. Uh-
Austin: Big one.
Sylvia: I really like the first one because digging in the ground here means digging into the tree.
Austin: Yeah. Yeah. And anything in there will be unexpected, right?
Sylvia: Yeah. What could it be though?
Austin: Jack, thank you for-
Sylvia: That’s the problem is when it can be anything.
Austin: Yeah. Jack, thank you for linking Kodiak in the chat.
Jack: I thought it was important to get you know other- other un-digitally altered animals.
Austin: Yeah. Yeah. Mhm.
Dre: Mhm.
Austin: So, what is it? What is found in the ground?
Jack: Could it be something that um- that in the moment of the event, the tree grew up into? Like, a smaller thing that was just like, trapped suddenly within a tree?
Austin: It could be.
Sylvia: Yeah, I do kind of like the idea of like, old Hieron stuff being within the actual tree, but I'm trying to think of like, a good specific one. Cause the answer is not just gonna be sap cause that's usually what’s inside trees.
Jack: More weavers.
Sylvia: [laughs lightly] Yeah. Um... God, sorry. I'm really blanking here. Um-
Austin: One thing to maybe do is to look at- you know, not to power game, but like, is to look at our scarcities and think about-
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: -if there's anything that could start us down a path on one of those. Or look at our resources- look at our abundances, and is there something here that could- that could threaten one of them. But uh, and those again one more time. Abundance: food and water and sunlight. Scarce: flight, community, maps, roads and paths, safety, knowledge, population, and good tools.
Sylvia: I think like, a material like, that they find underneath would probably help with like, a couple of those things-
Austin: Yeah. Yeah, is there some sort of new-
Sylvia: Maybe it’s like-
Austin: Yeah, go ahead.
Sylvia: So, we have- We've got like, a bunch of different like, Hieron-specific fantasy materials. I was thinking like, what if there was some of the Ordennan steel that got changed by the Spring? And like, it basically swallowed that up, and this is what it has created almost?
Austin: Ooo.
Sylvia: Like a new version of it, in a weird way.
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sylvia: It's not like- We don't know if it's less or more dangerous or anything, but it's like, this is half the like, world tree that we're on and then half the steel. And it's like this alloy-
Austin: Right.
Sylvia: -that this kid digging finds.
Austin: Just like, the shovel hits it, and it's like, ‘What is this?’
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: I like that. Is there a- We probably don’t have a name for it yet, but-
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: -we should add it to the map somewhere. Oh my god. These bugs. They're everywhere.
Sylvia: I'll just do like, a little like- I'll make it look like there's like, a vein of it or something somewhere.
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a good idea. So, it’s like, a vein of some sort of new material that we should get a name for, at some point. I need to advance these clocks. Janine, your map lecture series has completed- or wait! That wasn't- Whose- whose was that?
Ali: That was mine.
Austin: Ali, your map lecture series completes. How does that go?
Ali: Yeah, um- you know, successfully, I think.
Austin: Yeah.
Ali: I mean it's tough cause there's like, ‘Oh, we're gonna invite all these people to our community to like, just have them teach us stuff.’ But the flipside of it is like, they’re being respected.
Austin: Yeah. Totally.
Ali: There's two things here which is like, when Janine initially made the- the map thing, I was like, ‘Hey, do you need a shift supervisor?’
Austin: Uh huh. [Ali and Janine laugh]
Ali: Cause that’s how Hella would be. And like, organizing lectures is one hundred percent that.
Austin: Yeah.
Ali: I also think there's part of it with Hella being like, ‘Oh, I could meet people who are the thing that I am.’
Austin: Right. Yeah.
Ali: Which is a thing that like- [laughs] You know, a lot of stuff happened. It's not… You know, she was like, ‘Ok, I'm going to have to keep living my life as Hella Varal,’ but now having the opportunity to be like, ‘Oh, hey!’
Austin: Right.
Ali: ‘What’s up?’ is like-
Austin: We have these similarities.
Austin: Yeah.
Ali: Yeah, it's great. Yeah. So, I think that she's like, really a part of that, and then is also really a part of just like, other sort of like, community building stuff-
Austin: Mhm.
Ali: -adjacent. In terms of just like, ‘Oh, you know, we have this pathway between our cities now and like, we even have, you know, people who live there.’
Austin: Right.
Ali: ‘And you guys live here now and like, yeah.’
Austin: Rad. Yeah, I think that’s a nice- that's a good angle on it that I hadn’t thought about. Cool.
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: Alright. What are you doing with your turn, Sylvia?
Sylvia: Right! So, let me zoom out here really quick. I added- First of all, I added- it's just that little blue bit down there.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: -in the university. That's the medal.
Austin: Nice. Yeah, I see it.
Sylvia: [sighs] I’m tryin’ to think of like- if there's a project I could start. Here's a thing. Should we… [Austin laughs lightly] warn Alcyon on about the Grey Duke maybe?
Austin: You know, maybe.
Sylvia: Like, see if they want to form some sort of coalition there to help deal with it? So, if I could start like, a clock for like, an envoy to go there with the purpose of like, ‘Hey-’
Austin: [overlapping Sylvia] Of- of creating a-
Sylvia: ‘-there’s a threat coming.’ Yeah.
Austin: [overlapping] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally.
Sylvia: Alright, cool. I think-
Austin: [overlapping] How long do you think that will take to set that- to like, put that in motion?
Sylvia: Um-
Austin: Not just to like, get there, but to like, negotiate it out and get everything going.
Sylvia: Yeah, well, we have this cool gondola now-
Austin: [overlapping] We do have the gondola.
Sylvia: [overlapped] -so thankfully getting there will be quicker.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: But I think like… like, last time I went to talk with Tabard about something like this, It was very much like, ‘Yeah, we don't want to be- We don't want to risk things, you know?’
Austin: Right. That was totally their- their vibe.
Sylvia: So, I imagine there's definitely going to need some convincing. Maybe like a… ugh.
Austin: Yeah?
Sylvia: If I say a six, the Grey Duke forces are gonna arrive-
Austin: Uh huh..
Sylvia: I mean no way that it gets here... [sighs] in time but-
Austin: Listen. You never know what might benefit you in the long run, right?
Sylvia: Yeah exactly. Yeah, I’m- [laughs] I don't know if I'm being too like, hard on my idea here by being like, ‘No, this can't be a four.’ [Austin laughs] So, I guess- I guess-
Austin: The reason I would think a four might be ok is that the gondola gets you there instantly, and it's like-
Sylvia: Ok.
Austin: -not instantly- not instantly, but like, you do have a direct line between these two communities. That has been a- That is like, a thing that is a useful thing that players set up, you know?
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: I still think it- you know, the timing still isn't great for you.
Sylvia: No, but a four is definitely better. [laughs]
Austin: Oh yeah.
Sylvia: So, I guess we'll do that.
Austin: University. Well, I'm very curious to see how this turns out. So, here is the state of things. Let's take a look. The Grey Duke has forces arriving in just two turns. Fero, you will get to talk to the Weaver King and have some sort of conversation in a turn. Dre, I'm also gonna make you play the Weaver King. Meanwhile- wait, who was talking to the sapkins? Throndir’s talking to the sapkins in two turns. There will be a uh- an attempted alliance between Alcyon and the university in four turns. The first wave of mappers will come back from their- from their explorations in four more turns. We have on the map: a moon in the sky, a couple of suns, a gigantic Weaver King, a canyon, the city of Alcyon- or the peninsula of Alcyon, a bunch of bugs, some farms, maybe a fish behind a waterfall?
Jack: It's a- it's a legend!
Austin: It's a legend of a fish. You’re right. A mapping-
Keith: The legend of the bow tie salmon.
Austin: Legend of the bow tie salmon. Uh, a- I just wanna describe one of these bugs is the scariest thing. That's all I’m gonna say. [Keith laughs] I’m not gonna describe them more than that because I realized Jack is on the call.
Jack: Nah, I’m- I'm not afraid of bug.
Austin: That's a snake bug, Jack. I got bad news for you.
Jack: Which one’s the snake? This one?
Austin: The North one. Yeah. Do you see the tail wrapped around?
Jack: Well, I mean-
Janine: That’s more like a monkey bug.
Jack: It's more like a- Yeah., it’s-
Austin: Oh, ok. Sorry.
Jack: Prehensile tails- Now, if it like, chittered and propelled itself with that tail now, we'd be in some real trouble. But right now, it's just a prehensile monkey bug.
Austin: Gotcha. There are the new communities of refugees out around all the roads. There are some farms. There is a ugly horse. Whoever drew that doesn't know a thing about horses.
[Jack de Quidt’s ‘Under the Boughs’ begins playing]
Austin (continued): And we got some mysterious mushrooms over here and also distant Velas. Still- still some more stuff to explore and talk about.
Janine: I just figured out what's wrong with that horse.
Austin: A lot, Janine.
Janine: It's back legs back the wrong way. That's the problem.
Austin: Sure. Sure. [Janine and Keith laugh]
[music plays to finish]
[1] The name in the audio recording is no longer in use, hence the audio/transcript discrepancy.
[2] 34:00.