SPRING IN HIERON 05: TRY TO LIVE A GOOD LIFE
Transcriber: Cole
(Recap)
Keith (as Fero): Why were they taking their chances here? What’s the chance to take here? Why are there chances here?
[Jack de Quidt’s “Something” begins playing in the background]
Dre (as Throndir): That’s a… like, really existential question that you just asked.
Keith (as Fero): Sorry.
Dre (as Throndir): That I don’t know if I’m prepared to answer.
Keith (as Fero): Listen. I spent four years gettin’ really into it.
Dre (as Throndir): Yeah, no. Fair. Um, we… [sighs] Turns out it’s really hard to like, feed and shelter 10 different groups of people that have varying levels of getting alongness.
Austin: I guess I should paint a little bit for you, Fero. You left the mark of the erasure. You’ve come back into the rest of Hieron, and here the snow is mostly melted and there are more and more of those strange plants growing that we talked about.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: That are kind of aggressive and a strange new type of life.
Austin (as Chatterchin): Well, good luck. I’ll make sure… I’ll make sure that we stay out of your way help.
Keith (as Fero): I mean, no. You don’t have to stay out of my way. I…
Austin (as Chatterchin): Oh, I will make sure we stay out of your way while you help.
Keith (as Fero): Ok, well, you can do that.
Austin (as Chatterchin): I promise you that’s a favor for you.
Art: I think… I think you know, there’s a part of Hadrian that starting to despair. Yeah, ‘Hey, like,’... every months, he’s like,
Art (as Hadrian): Hey, what’s up? Why? Why are we doing anything? Why can’t we leave? Like, this really seems like this is something you should have figured out by now.
Art: Like, not that confrontational, but like…
Austin: And he like, very patiently walk you through like,
Austin (as Samothes): Yeah, we tried. It doesn’t… It’s not that we didn’t try. It’s that we tried for years and years and years, and instead decided to make a place that we could be content with in here, right?
Art (as Hadrian): Right, but like, is there something I could be doing?
Austin (as Samothes): Yeah, of course.
Art (as Hadrian): Like, is there, you know….
Jack: Lem is pissed.
Ali: So, year 4 is the year that Hella gives out apology cards.
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: Adaire is a little confused. Her whole life has been about like, survival and comfort and like, pursuing comfort. And now she has this comfort and this success, and she has all the things that she has been pursuing for her whole life, and it doesn’t feel right.
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: Um, and she doesn’t really understand why it doesn’t feel right.
[Jack de Quidt’s “Something” finishes playing as the recap is finished.]
Austin: We ready for year 6. Uh, I think this wraps back around to Throndir because Ephrim went before Fero.
Sylvia: That makes sense.
Austin: [overlapping] Sound right?
Dre: Sure.
Austin: Uh, oh boy. This is gonna be a rough one, isn’t it?
Dre: How could this go terrible?
Austin: Oh, I mean, also note which occurrence that was. That was 4-2. I cannot believe we got that perfect fuckin’ occurrence. Ok. So, going in to year 6, what we have is 0 animals. I should note, Fero, um, you could have slaughtered… If you had animals, you could slaughter them for 2 food… for 2 food. And also, at any point, you can decide to sacrifice a named NPC that gets you 2 food, medicine, or fuel or a combination totaling 2 of those. That means that the group stays on, but you get… you lost the NPC. Which is what happened with Morbash. Um, Morbash…
Dre: And Carrot, I think.
Austin: And Carrot also. But Carrot’s thing ended up being really weird. We ended up losing the animals also, right?
Dre: Yeah, yeah.
Austin: Or did we only lost Carrot?
Dre: No, we lost all. We lost everything.
Austin: Yeah, ok. And then Mee Kosh, we also lost everything. Mee Kosh is alive though. Mee Kosh just is living by himself.
Dre: Yeah, that was an occurrence loss.
Austin: Yes, yes. Right. Correct. Correct. So, beginning of the turn, yet again…
Dre: Oh, you uh… you did not roll sickness.
Austin: I did not roll sickness, fuck. I’m sorry.
Dre: Yeah, how dare you?
Austin: Ugh, if only I didn’t have to roll sickness, right? Roll 1d3 to determine the number of sick villagers. Or I guess, is this actually…
Dre: Hey!
Austin: Who does this? Is this… that’s a 1. That’s not so bad. Um, I roll this. The Village Elder rolls this. So, 1 person gets sick. I’m again going to put this on Jerod Shiraz. This keeps happening with the Ordennans. Um, and again, I’m gonna say, Ephrim, again you are like… There are days you cough up blood for no conceivable reason.
Keith: Wait, what are the Ordennans doing?
Austin: They’re getting sick.
Keith: Ok.
Austin: Um, they’re… they are… and it manifests in a bunch of different ways. Sometimes someone’s knee just goes out on them. There are people who have kind of consumptive symptoms. There are people who just like, spend the entire year with like, a brutal headache. And it’s not clear at first what’s going on there. And I think maybe I’ll make it clear here. Hm… [thinking noises] Here’s the second thing that starts happening is, their equipment starts wearing down. All like, the Ordennan steel. Maybe you’re like, doing a sparring practice or something at some point with… in fact, here. I think it’s pretty simple. Like, Blue J has some… some arrows, Throndir that have Ordennan steel tips. And one of them just like, hits a tree and the tip cracks. And it’s like, ‘That’s Ordennan steel. That’s not supposed to happen at fucking all.’ And you examine all the Ordennan steel stuff and you see, ‘Oh shit. It’s all breaking down.’ And that is what is causing their sickness. Ephrim, you don’t fuck around with Ordennan steel, and yet, here you are.
Keith: Um, real quick. What is… what was this 1 for? This was for sickness?
Austin: This is for sickness. So, I’ve applied 1 sickness to Jerod Shiraz and the Ordennan Dissent. Um, alright, so now, we are back to the top of the turn order, right?
Keith: Yes.
Austin: Or the step order. I keep saying turn, but it’s... you know what I mean. Count the dead. No one dead, so that’s good.
Dre: Yay!
Keith: All in all, pretty good year actually. I mean, the food… there’s no food for next year. It’s bad for next year.
Austin: Uh huh.
Keith: But that was a pretty good year.
Austin: That was an ok year, right?
Keith: All the buildings seem to have heat. Everybody ate. Only 1 person… group of people got sick.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: I mean, honestly good call on spending all the food at the beginning cause we would have lost it anyway.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Yes. Yes. Yes. 100% totally.
Keith: Yeah, that was an incredibly consistent turn between the rules and what was happening.
Austin: Totally.
Keith: All around.
Austin: Yeah, it just worked. Yikes. Bad news on the temperature.
Dre: Oh, fuck.
Austin: Bad news.
Keith: Well, ok so, so the real… the good… the bright side is that, even if there was a 2, we would have… we would have only been able to heat one room. So, at least we didn’t waste the fuel.
Austin: So, I’m gonna read this again so that we get the timing right again. [reading and skimming] “First stage determines… determining blah, blah, blah…” So, that’s happened. We already... At the… I[reading] “For example, if there’s only enough fuel for 3 of the 4 buildings at the start of turn 2, then during step 1 of turn 3, a villager in the building without fuel will have died. Death is caused by a lack of supplies or detrimental occurrence.” [repeating] “For example, if there’s only enough fuel for 3 of the...at the start of turn 2, then during step 1 of turn 3...” So, yeah. I think that counts immediately?
Keith: During the start… it says start of turn 2?
Austin: Yeah, so the way it says… it’s like… So, again, for them turns are like, the year, right? So, what it says is [reading] “if there’s only enough fuel for 3 of the 4 buildings at the start of year 2, then during step 1 of year 3, a villager in the building without fuel will have died.”
Dre: Ok, so that’s next year then.
Austin: Right. So, no one’s died yet, right?
Keith: Ok. Got it.
Austin: At the… after the dead are counted, you must roll… But that means that like, if you get fuel between now and then....
Keith: It goes to the building.
Austin: But it doesn’t… It doesn’t.
Dre: But it doesn’t cause ration supplies is step 2. Yeah.
Austin: Right. Like, it’s already… they’re already dead, right?
Dre: Right.
Austin: In a sense or whatever. [reading] “Temperature determines how much fuel is needed… blah, blah, blah.” Uh, yeah. I think this would help if we were using their official sheets that had like…
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: ...we’ve put the fuel in the places. Um, and that’s on Roll20, but it’s like… It was a very confusing mess for me. I couldn’t get it running the way I intended. Um, in any case, what this means is you have what? 1… You have 3 fuel which is enough for 1 building. Throndir, you are the active player.
Dre: Ugh, boy.
Austin: Though is this one of the… is ration supplies one of these things that’s like… It doesn’t...
Dre: So, we have 1 food, 2 medicine, 3 fuel.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: Alright, uh, well, I’ll spend the medicine on Jerod Shiraz.
Austin: Ok, so, down to 1 medicine.
Keith: Do we have… Can we give input?
Austin: Oh totally.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Absolutely. This is a discussion. 100%
Keith: Maybe we shouldn’t give anyone that food. Maybe we should save it until we have more food.
Dre: I was kind of thinking that, too.
Sylvia: Yeah…
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: What’s that conversation… does that conversation sound like this in character also?
Keith: Yeah.
Sylvia: Kind of? Like, I don’t want to do it, but if we have to do it then…
Keith: Like, what’s gonna happ… Like, it would suck if one person gets to eat and… or like 1 group gets to eat and all the other groups are hungry.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: Yeah.
Keith: That fuckin’... that sucks.
Dre: Yeah, that’s a… That’s a recipe for like a lot of resentment.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: I think we can… We’ll get food. Everyone will have food next year.
Austin: Fuel… fuel is gonna be this tougher one. As far as I can tell, here are your choices, in a sense.
Keith: How do we get fuel?
Austin: I mean.
Keith: What the fuck? Do we just have to roll fuel every time?
Dre: Yeah, uh huh.
Austin: You just have to… Yeah, you keep rollin’ fuel. Y’all don’t have a fighter. If you had a fighter, that would help a lot.
Keith: Cause here’s the thing, even if we get… even if we roll 2d6…
Austin: Uh huh.
Keith: That’s 6, there’s 8.
Austin: Oh, no, no. There’s… the most fuel can cost you in a given turn is 6. Because you have 2 buildings, and a temperature at 3 is 3 for each building.
Keith: No, no, no, but I mean, if we have someone… if we have someone go out and roll fuel, they can get as much fuel as they need…
Austin: Yes.
Keith: … but then that would mean that.. Cause that’s what we need to keep people from dying…
Austin: Uh huh.
Keith: But then me and Dre will roll…
Austin: The 1d3.
Keith: ...each 1d3. The most we can get is 6 food. There’s 8 people.
Dre: Welcome to the suck, buddy.
Austin: Yeah. Uh huh. Yeah, that’s a problem, isn’t it? So…
Dre: So… the other thing we could do is like… there’s the sacrifice an NPC for 2 food,
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: … medicine, fuel or a combination.
Austin: Yeah. Which is weird, right? Because right now, you have enough fuel… That fuel is going to get spent no matter what.
Dre: Yeah. Yeah.
Austin: ...is an important thing to remember. You cannot save fuel which means, no matter what that fuel is gonna get swallowed up by somebody.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: But because of that, that means 1 group of people is either going to die or leave at the beginning of next turn.
Keith: We’ve gotta…
Austin: This is the Carrot situation again, right? Where…
Keith: We’ve gotta roll… we have to forget about the fuel. We have to roll food.
Austin: [overlapping]The thing that…
Dre: [overlapping] Yeah, but then we would lose 2 people next turn.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Dre: One from each building.
Austin: Yeah, no matter what.
Keith: But then… but then the alternative is we could lose like 5 people because they’re hungry. And we rolled like, 2 ones for food.
Dre: Hmm…
Austin: You could again.. The other option here is that an NPC… a named NPC is sacrificed for food, medicine or fuel. I mean sure also… I want to be clear if people are listening and like, have notepads out, that there is an optimal way of doing this. I’m happy we are not doing it that way. Or if we wanted to do it that, we could start breaking it out and start runnin’ those odds, but I like doing it in this kind of sloppy way. It’s fun.
Dre: Yeah.
Keith: I think that you know, we fuckin’ need food.
Dre: Yeah.
Keith: If 2 people have to like, if 2 people decide it’s… er 2 group decide it’s too fucking cold, and they want to go find somewhere else like, that’s better than there’s no food. And we can get a ton of food if we roll food once.
Austin: Here’s the other thing, if you drop under 5… if you drop to 5 or under, you can consolidate buildings.
Dre: Woof.
Austin: Uh huh. I’ll read that really quick. [reading] “At any point during any turn… At any point during any turn, the players may invoke a consolidation of buildings.” And this gets really tricker cause it actually costs a lot, too. [reading] “Consolidating buildings is a move where 2 adventurers can combine their villagers into a single building to save on fuel. The total number of villagers involved with the consolidation cannot exceed 5. And there must be at least one spare unit of food available for each villager involved in the consolidation. Villagers will spend a great amount of energy moving furniture and heirlooms through the snow and will refuse to move without full bellies. Be sure to subtract all required units of food from the storeroom afterwards.” So, there’s a world in which you go, “Fuck it.’ Let… your at 8 now? Let 3 more groups leave and then consoli… and save the food to consolidate.
Keith: I… Here’s the thing… Ok, so here’s the thing. This is… this is basically what I was saying before, but definitely, we’re gonna lose some people. There’s no… No matter how it goes.
Austin: You could get an occurrence, as Ephrim notes in the chat… er Throndir? Throndir notes in the chat. There are some positive occurrences here.
Keith: Ok, so barring occurrences… barring things that we cannot control for… someone is going… People are going to… We’re gonna lose people whether we roll or roll fuel. But we… if we roll food, we can roll 4d… we can get a ton of food, if we focus on food.
Austin: Right.
Keith: We can get a ton of food if we… We can’t get a ton of fuel, if we focus on fuel, and then we still won’t have enough food even with us doing a little bit of food on the side. So, like, best case scenario, either way, we lose some people. I think that we should get as much fucking food as we can. I built a gate. Gate’s good. [Austin, Sylvia, and Keith laugh]
Austin: Oh my god.
Dre: Hold on.
Keith: There’s no way any of those animals can break down that gate, for sure.
Dre: Man…
Austin: Uh huh.
Dre: Alright, but shit… Alright, if we fed one person this turn,
Keith: Uh huh.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: And then rolled for fuel… cause we’re gonna lose…
Austin: Oh yeah.
Dre: We’re gonna lose one person from this turn.
Keith: Minimum. Yeah.
Dre: So, then we would only need to feed 7 people.
Austin: 7.
Keith: Which is still 1 more than the absolute most we could get.
Dre: Right, but… but if we feed…
Austin: But you could then sacrifice 1 NPC and keep a group.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Right? Cause you could get a food… You could get 2 food from sacrificing an NPC.
Keith: But sacrifice an NPC is the same as losing them anyway.
Dre: [overlapping] No, it's not. You keep the group.
Austin: [overlapping] It’s not. You keep the group. The group of people stay. Which is what happened with the orcs, right?
Keith: [overlapping] Ok.
Austin: [overlapping] The orcs are still around, but Morbash is dead.
Keith: [overlapping] Well, can’t we roll food and still… can’t we roll food and still do the same thing?
Dre: No.
Austin: [overlapping] You can, but you’re only gonna get 2 fuel which isn’t enough to save anybody. You have to sacrifice 2 NPCs to get enough fuel.
Keith: [overlapping] Listen. You do… Hey, listen.You’re in charge. You do what you think is best.
Austin: Heavy is the head.
Dre (as Throndir): Fero.
Keith (as Fero): Yeah?
Dre (as Throndir): Take this food and go give it to Chatterchin and the gnolls.
Austin: Hmm…. hmm...
Keith (as Fero): Yeah, I can do that. Well, hold on.
Austin: Oh yeah? [laughs]
Keith (as Fero): Is it… I’ll… I’m worried that giving any… any person that we give the food to is going to be the subject of people’s ire. Any… the group that’s eating is the… is all the sudden, everyone’s going to be jealous of.
Austin: Hmm… I see you, too, have played KOTOR 2. [Sylvia, Dre, and Keith all laugh]
Keith: Listen, she’s mad if we give Chatterchin the food or not. [Austin laughs] Doesn’t matter which way you play it.
Austin: You’re gonna get a lecture.
Keith: You’re gonna get a lecture and it’s the same lecture.
Austin: Don’t help people. That is what it’s gonna be. Traya is mad and grumpy.
Keith: Don’t help people.
Dre: I mean, ok.
Keith: Did you know that not helping people...
Dre: I think I’m gonna roll fuel on this turn. I think is...
Austin: Is that the way you’re going? Ok.
Keith: Ok.
Austin: Oh, well, first, we need to decide who is.. Which house isn’t getting the fuel.
Keith: What are the 2 houses?
Dre: It’s mine and Ephrim’s.
Austin: It’s Throndir’s, which is Rosana and the like… the Velasians basically.
Keith: Oh, I understand.
Austin: Chatterchin and Rosette. So, it's the moths, the gnolls, and the yeah… it’s a toughy, isn’t it? It’s rough.
Dre: Yeah. I mean, it’s not for me.
Austin: No, I guess that’s true. You don’t want to lose anybody, right?
Dre: Well, and I mean, specifically like, even if it wasn’t my house, whatever house Rosana’s in is…
Austin: Yeah, don’t want to take that chance.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Um, shout outs.
Dre: Yeah, whenever we get Hadrian out of that sword.
Austin: Yeah, that’d be a rough… that’d be a rough conversation, my guy. [laughing]
Dre: Uh huh. Yeah.
Austin: It wouldn’t be good. It wouldn’t be good. Alright, so that means Throndir’s house is heated. Ephrim, yours is not. At the beginning of the next turn, you’re gonna have to decide who it is that leaves. Unless we get a great one, right?
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Ok. Brr… it’s cold. So, fuel time. So… is that 2d6?
Dre: [overlapping] Roll 2d6 here. Ok. Alright.
Austin: Alright. That’s not bad. So, 7. You’re up to 7. You’re up to 7 fuel. Cause you spend the 3 and you get a plus 7.
Dre: Now, I’m gonna roll for food.
Austin: Yep. The both of you now get to… Throndir and…
Keith: 1.
Austin: Ok.
Dre: God damnit.
Keith: 1, 2. 2 food.
Austin: [laughing] Fuck. Oh my god.
Keith: This is what I was trying to say.
Austin: You’re up to 3… up to 3 food. Uh huh. [Dre sighs]
Sylvia: I got a 3 for the medicine roll.
Dre: Yay.
Austin: That’s good. So, that’s 4 medicine. 3 food, 4 medicine. 7 fuel.
Sylvia: Guys, we got to eat the medicine.
Keith: Is there a people aren’t as hungry occurrence?
Dre: No, everybody’s…
Austin: Everybody… sorry. So, I should mark everyone gets hungry.
Dre: Yeah, everyone gets hungry.
Austin: Everyone has that ‘H’ next to their name. Everyone's like, ‘My tummy’s growling. It’s a lean year. Maybe we shouldn’t have had that giant feast last year. Who could say?’
Dre: No, we should have.
Keith: Yeah, we should have.
Austin: Feasts are good. Feasts are good.
Keith: Well, no because we would have lost all that food we would have saved.
Dre: We would have lost all of it.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Yes, that’s actually 100% true. Yeah, you’re totally right. Um, alright, so Throndir, tell me… Tell me what went good with fuel. What’s the fuel source that you found or the material source? Again, we’re gonna talk really broadly on what fuel is.
Dre: Hmm…
Austin: What’s the good thing that happened? I don’t think a 7 is a 12, but it ain’t… it ain’t...
Dre: Yeah, it’s not bad.
Austin: It ain’t a 1 and a 1.
Keith: It’s minimum 1 year of fuel.
Austin: Yes, 100%
Keith: I mean, sorry, max. So, yeah, no. Minimum one year.
Austin: Yeah, it might be 2 years.
Dre: Alright hold on.
Keith: It could be 3 years. 3 and a half years.
Austin: It could be 3 and a half years.
Dre: So, I think actually where it comes from is like, we made that preservation shed to like, smoke meats and stuff.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: And when you burn wood, that’s where charcoal comes from.
Austin: Cool. Love it. Sure. I like that a lot. So, that paid off, right away. Not only… Unfortunately, maybe it didn’t work out for the food.
Dre: Yeah, well.
Austin: Like, maybe that’s what… Like, ‘Just gonna smoke this stuff down. [role play coughing] Oh no. This is… The pipes are clogged. Something bad has happened in this preservation shed.’ The smoking…
Dre: You gotta wrap the ribs in aluminum foil after 3 hours. Otherwise the smoke flavor is too much.
Austin: Oh damn. Yo, I want some ribs. That sounds alright.
Dre: Yeah, 3, 2, 1, man.
Austin: Totally.
Dre: Smoke it for 3. Wrap it in the foil for 2. Let it rest for 1.
Austin: There you go. Ephrim, what about the medicine situation? You have like a breakthrough?
Sylvia: You know what I think it might be? I think… I had the idea that specifically we might have had a breakthrough regarding at least some of the symptoms of the stuff that’s been affecting the Ordennans.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: Maybe even using the like, previously thought to be unusable peat moss or whatever it was called.
Austin: Oh, that’s really good. Yeah.
Sylvia: Right?
Austin: Yes, that’s 100% good. I didn’t even think of that. It’s perfect.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: And it works. And I think that it confirms something for you. It confirms maybe a bunch of things for you.
Sylvia: Yeah. No, it does. [laughing]
Austin: One, the cause of the sickness… Hmm… I mean, I think this comes through geographically, also. When the Heat and the Dark first arrived... when Samothes 2... when Maelgwyn transformed into Samothes… which is wild to just be talking about this outloud instead of this being the secret shit that is happening behind the scenes in this show… When Cool Ranch… yeah, thank you, Throndir... was trying to hasten the arrival of the Heat and the Dark… I think that his vision of it was hellish in this… I mean, he hasn’t fucking seen Red Dante’s Inferno, but like, was this notion of like, ‘and the fire…’ I mean, we saw this in Marielda when Sabinia, the void nun, showed Marielda on fire with black and purple. Like’ Oh man, this is gonna burn everything away, and it’s gonna be like everything’s on fire. It’s gonna be like a city ablaze.’
And I think that was the intention, and I think that the systems, in a sense, that you know, Maelothes... that Samothes 2 had set up was to produce a sort of, entryway for the Heat and the Dark into the world so that things would catch ablaze. But between this new life, in the plant life, and the starstuff, and the star beings who, both of which seem to be immune to the Heat and the Dark because they are not the same type of life as kind of Hieronic life. The life that is on Samol. They resist that, and so those have presented walls for the Heat and the Dark. Literally in this case, right? There’s this, you know, glowing wall separating the campus from the Heat and the Dark.
And so, instead, it starts burning things from the inside out because of course, if Samol was you know, born by way of the Heat and the Dark, then that means that inside of everything here is some bit of the Heat and the Dark. And that’s truer for some things than others. That’s true for Ordennan steel which was the result of… Ordenna was a result of this experiment from the mages. From the mages at this university who built Ordenna. Um, and who did that in a way creating the mark of the erasure up at Samot’s… sorry, er yeah. At Samot’s fallen tower. Kind of completely destroying all that land and turning it into the island of Ordenna. And then it was also a… it’s in you, Ephrim, right? You have the Heat and the Dark in you now. And so it started to burn these things from the inside out. And being in proximity to them in that moment is bad for everyone.
Um, that stuff gets in your blood. It gets in your breath. It gets in your lungs. And so, the peat moss is a perfect, at least short-term solution for this stuff, right? I think the Ordennans now know enough to not be near the steel that they used anymore, and that at this point, that same steel that is you know, has this anti-magic ability also has a sort of anti-living ability. To those who use it. And I’m sure some will still choose to use it selectively, but so it goes. Um, you have a different problem, though. Because your hand continues to get worse and worse. I think this is the year that it really gets bad.
Keith (as Fero): What’s wrong with your hand?
Sylvia (as Ephrim): Uh, there’s a… Well, there’s a hole in it that keeps getting bigger and is eating me, basically.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: Oh, is this the hole from the end of the last season?
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah. Has not gone away yet.
Keith: Wait, hold on.
Austin: [overlapping] Uh huh. Yeah.
Keith: This is me, actually, trying to remember what happened. Didn’t your hand get cut off?
Austin: So, we looked at the transcripts. We went back, and it did get… it got eaten away inside of the weird like, space where Ephrim killed Samothes 2, but when he returned to this lamina, this strata, it was just a hole in his hand. It was like, literally just like, a hole of nothing.
Keith: Oh ok.
Austin: Like the Vantablack style of nothing.
Keith: Uh, sorry you actually legally aren’t allowed to use that. [laughs]
Austin: I’m sorry. The Vengaboys black. [Dre and Keith laugh hard] That one’s allowed, right? We can use… We have the license for the Vengaboys?
Keith: Yeah, yeah. We can use… We do have,
Sylvia: [overlapping] They’re big fans.
Austin: [overlapping] I heard that they were coming. I heard they were… yeah. [laugh] Um, so yeah.
Sylvia: [jokingly] Everybody’s jumping?
Austin; Everybody. Yeah.
Sylvia: Oh man, ok.
Dre: Just a making [starts saying do-do to the tune of ‘We like to Party!’ by the Vengaboys]
Austin: [briefly joining in Dre’s song] Ok, we have to keep playing.
Dre: Just coming out of fucking Ephrim’s hand everywhere we go. [Austin laughs]
Sylvia: Actually, I think the big turn with this is that like, Ephrim like, before this was wearing a glove, and now Ephrim’s like, right arm is always kind of hidden.
Austin: Interesting.
Sylvia: Cause it’s just like…
Austin: God, was it your right hand?
Sylvia: Yeah, yeah
Austin: Are you right hand dominant, too?
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Ok.
Sylvia: That’s been one of the things that like… I think I mentioned it in the first episode that that was one of the big things he was struggling with.
Austin: Right.
Sylvia: Like, the first episode of this game.
Austin: Right, right, right.
Sylvia: The first session.
Austin: So, still has the hand, but is just…
Sylvia: Is hiding it cause its like, ‘Hey, don’t worry. I’m ok. Just don’t worry about it. It’s fine.
Austin: Yeah. God. Cool. Alright, well, that’s the gettin’ resources part of this step. Step 3… er step 3 was gather the supplies. Alright 2d6 Throndir. Give me these fuckin’ occurrences. 4-2. We just did this one.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: So… so, uh…
Dre: Do I reroll?
Austin: No, I think nothing happens.
Dre: Ok.
Keith: Oh wow. We skipped…
Austin: I’m double-checking.
Keith: So we skipped the food thing happening again?
Austin: [reading] “Some occurrences… blah, blah, blah.” You might reroll… I’m just double-checking. “No occurrences may happen twice.” Uh, do you reroll? You might reroll…
Keith: I’m really worried about this food.
Austin: [reading] “Some occurrences… blah, blah, blah… blah, blah, blah.”
Dre: I can’t see it saying anywhere whether we do or do not.
Austin: Uh huh. “Encouraged to make these decisions in character and as a group.”
Keith: So, while we’re looking this up...
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: We have 3 food, 8 people. That’s…
Austin: ... bad.
Keith: That’s really bad, right?
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: Like there’s no...
Dre: Could be worse.
Keith: It cou… Could it?
Dre: Yeah.
Sylvia: Could it be better?
Keith: How?
Sylvia: Ugh.
Keith: I guess we technically could have less food, yeah. But…
Austin: I’m searching the internet for this. Uh…
Dre: There’s not anything in the optional rules.
Austin: No, I just checked all that. Yeah. Um, I think we’re just gonna decide this cause I don’t see anything. Nothing pops up very quickly here for me.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: How do y’all feel about it? I could go either way, honestly.
Keith: How many occurrences have we had?
Dre: [overlapping] We’ve had one every turn..
Austin: [overlapping] This is… yeah, so this would be the 6th, right?
Keith: How many good ones have we… how many good ones…?
Dre: Zero.
Austin: None. None.
Keith: [overlapping] Before you tell me…
Austin: None.
Sylvia: We haven’t had any.
Keith: Ok.
Austin: Which means that each new one is a better chance [laughing] to get a good one.
Keith: Yeah, fuck it. Let’s roll again. Here. That’s my…. That’s here. That’s my metagame opinion is that...
Austin: That’s your argument?
Dre: But there’s 36 occurrences.
Keith: Yeah, whatever. Let’s do it. Let’s fuck it. Let’s let as many things happen as possible.
Austin: I think this is actually… This is actually… Here’s what I’ll say. I kind of like framing it this way which is like, you’re about 3/4s of the way through the year, Throndir. And you’re like, ‘Nothing has happened.’ Bad things have happened. You didn’t get as much food as you wanted. Like, that stuff has happened, but there hasn’t been one of those big moments this year. And sometimes in life, not all the times, but you can be like, ‘I’m gonna make something happen this year.’
Dre: Oh good. Ok. good.
Austin: And I’m putting it on Throndir. Throndir, do you want to make something happen this year? There’s some good stuff in here. There’s some bad stuff in here.
Dre: There’s some bad stuff…
Austin: There’s straight up stuff in here where you lose a person. Straight up.
Keith: Here’s the thin… At… we have… We have 5 food, sorry, 3 food. 8 people. 5 people are about to die. Or leave.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: 5 groups.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: So like, that’s the… I don’t think we can do nothing.
Dre: Hmm.
Austin: Alright. Alright, Throndir, give me that roll then. Are you convinced? You’re convinced.
Dre: God, I mean, I hate it.
Austin: Uh huh.
Dre: I hate it.
Austin: Give me that roll.
Dre: I definitely hate it.
Austin: Then don’t do it. I mean, like, do what you think Throndir does here. But I want the camera to frame it such. Like, if Throndir, at this moment, as many people do in long years of cold, are like, ‘No, I want to do the stable thing and take my L and move on.’ That is a moment for him as a character, do you know? This is like… We talk… I’ve talked to you about like, Throndir as video game protagonist. I go, ‘What’s Throndir?’ ‘Well, he’s a half-elf who… is a half-elf ranger, so he has a big pet dog named Kodiak.’ Which one, already halfway there. ‘Then he becomes a vampire and also a bounty hunter type character. And also he can talk to the ghost of an ancient, like, troll king.’
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: ‘And also..’ It just goes and goes and goes.
Dre: Listen, I’m just livin’ my best life.
Austin: I get you. I’m here with you. Listen, I made Corsica Neue who is literally designed as the Bethesda protagonist. Is just like, ‘Oh yeah, She wears Ordennan armor and also is undead. And also is the leader of the fighter’s guild. And also is…’ Like that was… I’m 100% who that character is meant to be, and so I’m here for it. Um, but I think that means there’s a distinct… there’s a moment there then, in which someone like Throndir goes like, ‘No, I’m gonna… if I go out and do something, it could get worse.’
Dre: Oh, you know what? It is no.
Austin: Ok. Why?
Dre: The conversation that Rosana had in like, year 1.
Austin: Hmm… Uh huh.
Dre: Year 2? Where she was like, it’s great that you have all this stuff and all this responsibilities you want to do, but like, people here need someone.
Austin: Ok. Yeah. So, you just stick around and let the year past. Alright, time for me to see who gets sick. There is no zero on this roll unfortunately. 2. 2 get sick. Uh, let’s see who it is.
Sylvia: I guess medicine is our best resource right now.
Austin: Yeah, that’s not so bad, right?
Dre: [overlapping] Yeah, it is.
Austin: So, I mean, hey, how about this? It’s actually some of the Velasians. Um, I think it’s you know, Velas and… of the groups here, at this point, which is humans who worship Samothes, gnolls who’ve lived in the woods for their whole lives, moth people and weavers, the undead, halflings led by this badass warrior, but who also have historically lived in the woods… not recently…. I think it might be halflings and humans here. Orcs, the Ordennan soldiers and then the Moonlighters' guild. It is the people who have the least familiarity with kind of roughing it who one, the lack of food hurts them, and two, I think explicitly, it’s like, some of that meat goes bad. It wasn’t smoked all the way through, and while it’s totally fine for the Chatterchins and the Rosettes of the world, but the Rosanas? Not so much. So, that is… it is Rosana and the kind of Church of Samothes folks. The Creed of Samothes folks. And then it is the halflings who both get sick. And now, that is the end of that turn. Yikes. We are back around. So, Ephrim, you have choices to make here immediately because ‘brrrr, it’s cold’ means that one group leaves.
Sylvia: Yeah. Um...
Austin: [interrupting] And again, you could sacrifice as the player here, as the co-narrator, not as Ephrim, but as the co-narrator, you could make the choice to sacrifice an NPC here and get some food, medicine, or fuel.
Dre: We have to sacrifice… well, to get fuel… I guess are we past the fuel part?
Austin: I… the fuel would not keep this group here.
Dre: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Austin: But it would add to your stockpile of fuel or food or medicine to be clear. Do you know what I mean?
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Like, you could say well Corsica Neue…
Keith: [interrupting] How much food?
Austin: 2. 2, it’s 2 for losing an NPC. Um, but again this like a narrative decision, not a Ephrim… I mean, it could be an Ephrim’d decision if you’re like, ‘I’m going to kill Balion Wythe and take all of her… metal and turn it into…’
Sylvia: [interrupting] Probably not.
Austin: But probably not.
Sylvia: Probably not. Um, yeah. I don’t know if I’m gonna... I don’t know if I want to sacrifice anybody right now.
Austin: Ok.
Sylvia: If I’m being honest. I… Do I pick… I pick one group, right?
Austin: You pick 1. So, it’s the group will leave. Yeah.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: And will have suffered losses here, right? This will be… They will remember this. Pour one out for telltale. Like, they will not have been provided for and will have made the decision to leave.
Sylvia: I… My two like, the two options I’m weighing here, and I’d love…
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: …for opinions from the rest of the table is either, Balion Wythe and the people from Rosemerrow or Jerod Shiraz and the group of Ordennans. Um, the Ordennan one, I don’t know about actually, having just figured out that...
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: I just realized.
Austin: ‘We’ve cured you. Peace!’
Sylvia: Yeah.
Dre: Yeah.
Sylvia: Um, I just trying to think of like, what’s the most interesting group to not like us. [laughs] Um…
Austin: I… I kind of like the halflings here.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Because…
Sylvia: It could be… the Moonlighters’ guild maybe.
Austin: Could also be that. It could also be like, ‘We’re gonna take out chances out there.’
Sylvia: Yeah, yeah.
Austin: And then they get to be a force that’s like, throughout the rest of this season… is like, not quite Advent from Twilight Mirage, but like, ‘yeah, we were never really built for society like this anyway. You know? We tried being scouts for a few years, but in our hearts, we’re thieves.’ You know?
Sylvia: Yeah. Uh, I think I’ll go with the Moonlighters' guild then.
Austin: Ok. I do… if you want me to do a counter-argument for the halflings, I can also do that, but...
Sylvia: No, I definitely want to keep the halflings around cause I think that having both the halflings and the gnolls here makes for a more interesting narrative, in general.
Austin: Cool. Alright, so then. Blake Bromley, still alive, leaves with the Moonlighters’ guild. I’m gonna say Highwater, who is your kind of personal Moonlighter, right? Your… one of your… what’s the word I’m looking for?
Sylvia: Disciple?
Austin: Disciples, yeah. Perfect. Um, is leaves with them, but stays in touch with you, right?
Sylvia: Ok.
Austin: Um, is still a contact for you. Um, but like, she does… she does go with them. Um… or I mean, I’ll actually put that in your court. Does Highwater stay or go? Do you want someone in the Moonlighters or do you want a disciple with you?
Sylvia: I think I’d actually rather have *them stay.
Austin: Ok. Do you remember… is Highwater they/them or she/her?
Sylvia: Highwater… Sorry, Highwater is she/her, I believe.
Austin: Ok.
Sylvia: Um, yeah. And I just… I think that partially it’s just like, Ephrim doesn’t have the energy to deal with political machinations like that anymore.
Austin: Yeah. Fair, fair. And it’s just like, just stay here, Highwater.
Sylvia: We like, we need every hand… like every set of hands we can get. And Highwater’s talented at killing things and defending places I presuming.
Austin: True. Yeah. Alright, so Blake Bromley and the Moonlighters’ guild heads off and I think it is basically what I kind of said as them a few moments ago, which is just like,
Austin (as Blake Bromley): Yeah, we were never really cut out. Like, we were glad to help while we could, but we’re gonna take our chances out there. There’s… for each one of us, we can just go to any settlement and make do. But if you’re asking us to like, move stuff around and do farming like, we’re not good farmers. We’re good… we find our way, you know? And we do it alone more than together, so have a good one. You know. I hope, I hope you do well because if you do well, that means we get to do well.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): Uh huh. Yeah.
Austin (as Blake Bromley): We’ll always have the weird place we went to underneath Rosemerrow that time, right?
Sylvia (as Ephrim): Yeah. You know, I’m… I’m glad I didn’t follow through on the many empty threats I made that day.
Austin (as Blake Bromley): Me, too. [laughs]
Sylvia (as Ephrim): Take care of yourself, Blake.
Austin (as Blake Bromley): You do the same. And just… don’t tell Throndir I took all the good ribs. Bye!
Austin: [laughing] And then…
Sylvia (as Ephrim): Hey! How old are… Oh my god.
Austin: [laughing harder] And then they leave. Um, alright. I should roll for… for temperature. Oh, we should also advance all of our things. This means that Rosana is 2… is 2 hungry, which means needs to eat food and is 2… 2 sick. Chatterchin, 2 hungry. Rosette…
Keith: Wait!
Austin: [overlapping] 2 hungry.
Keith: 2 is…
Dre: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. She just got sick. Oh yeah. No. Alright, yeah.
Austin: This is the beginning of a turn, right?
Dre: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you’re right. You’re right.
Austin: Or no. Does she not… does that not advance? No, it does.
Dre: No, I think it does.
Austin: It does.
Dre: I think the way we’ve been playing it, it does. Yeah.
Austin: Yeah. Totally.
Keith: I thought 2 hungry was dead.
Austin: So, yeah, at the beginning of next turn, anyone who is 2 hungry will be dead.
Keith: And then now we can give food.
Austin: You can feed… one food will clear that hungry all the way. Yeah.
Keith: We could feed 4… 3 people.
Austin: 3 people. Uh huh.
Keith: Jesus Christ.
Dre: Or we could sacrifice someone and get 2 more food.
Austin: And then let’s see what the temperature is. 3 again.
Sylvia: Fucking god.
Dre: Great. Well, glad I got all that fuel.
Austin: Ah, yeah… [laughing] yeah. Absolutely.
Keith: Yeah, both buildings were great.
Austin: Boom. Down to 1 fuel immediately. Uh, let me start making notes. Year 7. This is year 7, right? Yeah. Temp 3. [typing] Food, medicine, fuel minus 6, right away. And occurrence. There we go. [exhales] Oi… So, 3 food, 4 medicine, um… Ephrim, it is your turn. You are active.
Sylvia: Ok.
Austin: Who gets fed? Who gets medicine?
Sylvia: Oh my god. Ok. Um, sorry. How much food do we have again?
Austin: 3. You have 3 food.
Sylvia: 3, ok. Um… oh. I was looking at...
Keith: [interrupting] Wait, wait. Hold on.
Sylvia: ...the year, not the storehouse.
Austin: Uh huh.
Keith: Shouldn’t we have… I… so I got 1 food.
Austin: Yeah. Throndir got 1 food.
Keith: Plus didn't we just get 2? For the sacrifice of the…
Austin: No, no one sacrificed.
Sylvia: No.
Dre: No.
Austin: That person didn’t get sacrificed. They left.
Keith: Did we sac… I thought we sacrificed them.
Austin: No, Blake is still alive. Blake did not die to give anybody anything. They just…
Keith: Oh.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: Then… then what was them leaving for?
Austin: Not having heat.
Sylvia: [overlapping] That was just didn’t have… that was just…
Austin: Not having fuel.
Keith: Ohhh.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah. Yeah. This is what I was saying that last turn was like, hey, you could sacrifice somebody to get a little extra, which you could still do.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Keith: We could be.. I mean, here’s the thing. We either do that or we lose 5 people.
Sylvia: Yeah. So, we…
Austin: [interrupting] You’re at….
Keith: [interrupting] Groups.
Austin: Yeah. Yeah.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Keith: Yeah, we should…
Sylvia: Um, we could [laughs] … I feel very bad because we haven’t really had a scene with them ever, but Balion Wythe...
Austin: Yeah…
Sylvia: …like… they’re a folk hero from what I can tell.
Austin: Yes.
Sylvia: And folk heroes do kind of sacrifice themselves for things.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: So, we could go with that. How’s everybody else feel?
Keith: Sure, that's fine.
Austin: Yeah. I… I… She was someone who lived on the page last year, just as Chancellor Lutz’s kind of like, bodyguard and romantic, in the broadest sense of the word, like, partner throughout his life. And she led his personal guard away the day that he was killed… um, or taken to the study by Arrell. And intercepted a group of Ordennan anchor who were coming to hurt the… Rosette and the moths. Um, and so, yeah, I was like, ‘Oh, maybe I’ll toss her name here, maybe she’ll show up.’ But I could see her doing this. What’s it look like?
Sylvia: Oh man.
Austin: And what do you get for it?
Sylvia: I mean…
Austin: Food?
Sylvia: …going with food. We’re getting food.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: Um…
Austin: So, with Morbash, it was just like, hustle. It was just like, worked through sickness. I mean, and Balion is also sick.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: I mean, here’s the… yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Sylvia: I think this is an actual act as opposed to how Morbash died cause I don’t want to just do that again, obviously.
Austin: [overlapping] Ok. Yeah.
Sylvia: I think that this is some form of heroism that Balion’s performed,
Austin: Uh huh.
Sylvia: And she like… in doing so, seals her fate. I’m not entirely sure what that would be. Maybe…
Austin: What if it’s… I mean, I just mentioned that she’s already beat the anchor once, right?
Sylvia: Uh huh.
Austin: The Ordennan anchor. Maybe there is a… One day, from the you know, the top of the central tower, someone, maybe Blue J, is you know, playing scout up there and sees the smoke of the Ordennan anchor approaching. And is like, ‘Yo, we cannot let them come through here. They will kill us all.’ And Balion Wythe leads a group of anyone who can fight. Even though she is sick. Um… then leads, you know, I think it’s everybody. Everybody goes out to confront the Ordenna anchor, and there’s a fight. And it’s not decisive, you know. She doesn’t single handedly kill every Ordenna anchor that there is left, but you fight them off. And she takes a fatal wound, and when they flee, they leave behind their supplies, which include… which are for you know, it was a big group, and the Ordennan anchor don’t eat unfortunately, so it wasn’t like, 7 food, right? Which is what an army of their size normally would carry, but there were human leader inside of that group of anchor and for them, there were 2 rations, right? 2 units.
Sylvia: Alright, so that brings up to...
Austin: That is my proposal.
Sylvia: Yeah, I like that a lot.
Austin: So, that brings you up to 5 food.
Sylvia: Brings it up to 5. Ok.
Austin: Which is still not enough.
Keith: Not enough by a few.
Austin: By 2, in fact.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Um, yeah.
Sylvia: Ok. Um...
Austin: Remaining, for people listening cause they don’t have the list that we have in front of us, Rosana, Chatterchin, Rosette, Corsica Neue, and Jerod Shiraz. There’s a world in which this is both. This is Jerod Shiraz also, who gets… who like, co-leads this fight, but I also like having her around. I like having… and this is the problem is, we’re down to it, and I like everybody here.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Boy, sure would be cool if those people in the fucking sword were around, right? They’d be helping.
Dre: Hmm…
Austin: Think about all those extra rolls you’d get.
Sylvia: Fucking freeloaders. Um… [Austin laughs] Living in a sword all day.
Dre: Gettin’ close. I gave that book. It’s supposed to happen sooner.
Austin: Yeah, year 8. This is year 6, right?
Dre: I thought we were in year 7.
Austin: Is this year 7? This might be year 7. This is year 7.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: Alright.
Austin: Get through this one.
Keith: Um… hold on. I have a question.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: Not… I’m just… I’m gonna type it just in case.
Austin: Yeah, sure. Oh, you typed it somewhere else. I thought you typed it…
Keith: I sent it to you, yes.
Austin: To me.
Keith: To Austin.
Dre: Oh.
Keith: I probably didn’t have to, but...
Austin: Yeah, it’s important that… That was actually worth typing to me.
Keith: Yes, yeah. That was just in case, so um… So, I’m just gonna… I’m just gonna play it like I don’t know that. Yeah.
Austin: No, you should… Fero knows it, right? Didn’t Samol say that, or did I tell you as a player.
Keith: I told me as a person.
Austin: Ok. Ok.
Keith: Unless Samol told me, I guess that’s possible, but I don’t remember it that way.
Austin: I don’t think he did. I’m gonna say it here so that we’re all on the same page. Um, the thing that… Keith sent me a thing saying, ‘you told me how they get out of the sword, do Sylvia[1] and Dre know?’ And the answer is no, right? I didn’t tell you how they get out of the sword, right?
Sylvia: No, I don’t think so.
Austin: So, when the sword gets rebuilt, they still have to leave. They have to choose to leave paradise. Um, I will make it clear to them when they get to this year inside of their game that they can leave. And they will have to make that choice, and that might happen in staggered. I don’t… I truly do not know.
Keith: What are they doing? They just get to… is it just… [overlapping] they get to roll for how sick everything is? Like how much…
Austin: Yeah, so like… No, they don’t get to roll at all. They.. here’s what we’re gonna do there is just have a bunch of conversations about how sick it is. And I’m gonna be like, what do you want? What do you want to have happen? What scenes do you want to have? And then we’re gonna have those scenes.
Dre: Geez.
Austin: And like, let’s say there’s a door Hella can’t lift, well guess what? Just come back tomorrow and try to lift it again.
Keith: That sucks. Listen. Honestly…
Austin: [interrupting] It’s cool in there, honestly.
Keith: Honestly, in character,
Keith (as Fero):I… I spent 4 years having a pretty ok time…
Austin: [overlapping] Yeah, compared to this.
Keith (as Fero):...hanging out with… hanging out with the planet.
Austin: [overlapping] You did nothing. You had it alright. Yeah.
Keith (as Fero): And he spent… dude spent that whole time trying to convince me to come out here. And this fucking sucks. This sucks!
Austin: [laughing] It does. It was way better in the snow.
Keith (as Fero): I didn’t… everything… He told me to come here and help and it’s just like, everything’s going wrong. Everybody’s dying. Nothing I’m doing is doing anything. Fucking, what am I even doing here? And then they’re just in paradise?
Austin: Well, you… I mean, I don’t think you know the paradise part. You just know they’re in a weird sword, right?
Keith: Uh, yeah… well… maybe I know.
Austin: Oh, hmm… Red Jack has been clear. Red Jack has been like, ‘Oh, it’s pretty cool…’
Austin (as Red Jack): It’s pretty cool in there actually.
Keith (as Fero): How cool?
Austin (as Red Jack): I kind of… it’s dope.
Keith (as Fero): [overlapping] How dope?
Austin (as Red Jack): The weather is always like a nice spring day, except for when it’s like a nice autumn evening.
Keith (as Fero): Do you want back in? Do you want me to like hit you with this thing real quick? You want in there?
Austin (as Red Jack): Well, it’s not made back yet, so it would just hurt me a bunch. [Sylvia laughs]
Keith (as Fero): Oh, shit.
Austin (as Red Jack): Unfortunately. [Dre laughs]
Keith: [using Fero voice]: Is this how you sound?
Sylvia: [mocking the Red Jack voice] Just be very rude.
Austin: [using Red Jack voice]: My name is Red Jack, yes, this is how…
Keith: [using Fero voice]: Are you sure this is how you sound?
Austin: [using Red Jack voice]: Absolutely. I’ve been listening to the last season to remind myself.
Keith: [using Fero voice]: Ok, you sound like you’re having a hard time with it.
Dre: Shit got meta really fast. [Keith laughs]
Austin: [using Red Jack voice]: Yes, yes. I’ve been to many worlds. [using a regular voice] Um, no, but I’m curious, Throndir and Ephrim, do you like… Fero is upset. Is there any attempt to right him here?
Sylvia (as Ephrim): I mean…
Keith (as Fero): [interrupting] It’s easy to live out there by myself. Why am I doing this to me? Like, it’s… everyone’s just dying. Everyone should just go and try to figure it out on their own.
Dre (as Throndir): Yeah, but some people can’t figure it out on their own.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): There’s...
Keith (as Fero): [interrupting] There were… They never tried. They never tried to. Or maybe they did. I don’t know.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): There’s kids here.
Dre (as Throndir): Yeah.
Keith (as Fero): The kids can stay with someone. Or whatever. Kids are smart.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): Look Fero, you can… you can… It’s here like... we have not stopped anybody from leaving here. That’s fine, but I… we have better odds against whatever the fuck is eating the world than we do alone. Like, we have better odds together than we do alone.
Austin: I mean… this is funny, right? We… Keith, you and I, you said this in the group chat, this isn’t a surprise when I bring it up here, but we did say like, oh, is there a wor… You said, ‘Hey, I’m considering changing characters’, right? ‘I’m considering a world in which Fero walks away. And just not come back.’ And then, you and I were like, ‘well, let’s do the Samol bit and see how it feels’, right?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: And it turns out that Samol is really good at convincing people to do things when he is being like, nice and encouraging instead of being a grumpy asshole the way he was at the end of the last season. Um, but we… I don’t think I had considered the possibility that like, Fero comes back here and is like, ‘fuck this.’
Keith: Yeah. He said… he was like, ‘You can go… you can try and do something.’
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: And I… and it turns out that I fucking hate it here.
Keith (as Fero): I hate trying to do this. It’s not fun.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): Not everything has to be fun. Not everything has to be great all the time.
Keith (as Fero): But it’s not just not fun. It’s miserable. I’m miserable. Are you not miserable? Doing this?
Sylvia (as Ephrim): Of course.
Keith (as Fero): People are about to die. They’re so hungry they’re dying.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): I’m dying.
Keith (as Fero): Yeah. That’s what I’m… that’s what I’m saying.
Dre (as Throndir): [overlapping] I know, I died already.
Sylvia: No, that’s like, ‘pull out the hand and show that the whole hand is gone’ moment. Like..
Austin: Oh yeah. Is it all gone? Like, how bad is it?
Sylvia: It’s all gone.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: The hand is completely gone.
Dre: Also, wait. Does Fero know that Throndir died in the fight against Arrell? Round 1.
Austin: I don’t think so. No.
Keith (as Fero): You seem fine now.
Dre (as Throndir): Yeah, cause I’m fucking undead, Fero.
Keith (as Fero): Is that like a bummer for you?
Dre (as Throndir): I mean, dying sucks. I don’t know if you’ve died before. It feels terrible to be…
Keith (as Fero): [overlapping] Been close.
Dre (as Throndir): To be burned alive and to feel all of your like, parts of your body like, burn away and be on fire. It’s… it’s awful. And like, I don’t… I don’t blame you like, I made a choice.
Keith (as Fero): I would be shocked if you blamed me. I had nothing to do with that.
Dre (as Throndir): But it… It sucks that you were just digging away when it happened.
Keith (as Fero): I was trying to help! Trying to help. Turns out it has never helped. Ever! For any of us. Why are we doing this? [Austin sighs exhaled] Have we ever done anything but make things worse? Ever? This whole time?
Dre (as Throndir): Yeah, yeah. Yeah, when I was with Adaire and Hadrian and Hella, we saved a whole village from being murdered and slaughtered. By the Ordennans.
Keith (as Fero): Well, maybe they’re better at helping then. Cause that doesn’t happen when I’m around.
Austin: It’s like, you know when you see that tweet when someone says like, ‘They’re right… they’re so close. They’re so close to getting it.
Dre (as Throndir): Fero, we wouldn’t have made it through that first year if you didn’t show up with food and medicine.
Keith (as Fero): Yeah, I had more… I had more food on me than I ever had in the 2 years since I’ve been here. I’ve been here for 2 years, and I had more food just on my back from…
Dre (as Throndir): Yeah, cause you were only feeding yourself, but then you’ve fed other people for a year. You helped people live for a year. [Fero groans dissatisfaction] That’s not nothing, man.
Austin: I’m gonna sweeten the pot a little bit. Um, because I want this to be a choice. Fero, you finish this conversation, and then I’m gonna sweeten the pot because this is… No one makes a decision like permanently… ah, maybe not no one. Um, if this…
Keith: Fero makes a lot of decisions really quickly.
Austin: You’re right. You’re right. He does. And so, I am gonna actually have to intercede here because I think the person who intercedes would know that. Um, there is… you get an image in your head of another place where there’s less people, all said. LIke there’s… this is a pretty big community. We haven’t used a specific number, I mean, earlier I was like 700 orcs. And I was like, that’s a lot, but then I was like, hmm…. That might… Like, how many people are there on a college campus, right?
Dre: Yeah.
Sylvia: Hmm…
Austin: Um, hundreds? Thousands? Thousands, right?
Keith: Thousands. I went to a small school, and it was like...
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: …1,100 people.
Austin: Right, actually.
Keith: It was a small school.
Austin: [typing] I’m just trying… I’m quickly trying to look up how many people were at my undergrad.
Keith: There’s schools… there’s schools in my… in Massachusetts that have like, 35,000 people.
Austin: Yeah, like B.U. is huge, right?
Keith: Yeah, U. Mass Amherst has like 60,000 people. Like, it’s crazy.
Austin: Yeah, that’s like, wild, right? So, let’s say like, between 5 and 10,000 people here. Um… let’s say it’s closer to 10, right? It’s a large town. It’s a lot of people, right? Um, and...
Keith: Amherst, by the way, 29,000 people.
Austin: That’s still a lot of people.
Keith: So many fucking people. It’s crazy.
Austin: Um, let’s say actually, just say 5. 5,000 because it is the Last University which means that like, it’s not… it’s prestigious in a way that’s like, [makes snobby, rich person noise] Actually like, how many people… [typing] How many people go to Harvard… er live on campus in Harvard?
Dre: Harvard is bigger-ish. I don’t know about on campus though.
Austin: Yeah, but like…
Keith: It has 22,000 students. Um...
Austin: But what’s the on-campus…
Keith: On-campus is seven...
Austin: 98% of people live… wow, yeah. Ok, yeah. So, yeah. Let’s say 5,000. Let’s say 5,000. Um, you get a picture of a different place with only a few thousand people there, right? Um, and it is… and this just like, literally enters your mind. There’s like a projection here. And it is another.... It’s actually… there might be more people all said surrounding it, but it is the vision of the world that you’re kind of talking about. Of people taking care of themselves. There’s a similar sort of inside and outside, except that it’s flipped, right? There… here there is the outside wall that is like, the white, shimmering starstuff that keeps everyone protected, and then inside there’s the campus walls, right? There is the outside wall that keeps everyone as protected as possible from like, the plant life and the starstuff, but does not protect from the Heat and the Dark, and people just gotta make it on their own.
I think there’s actually way more people there. Um, and in fact, some of those streets become, I mean, it’s like… It’s a bunch of abandoned buildings. It’s a bunch of like… it’s a huge collection of abandoned um, uh… like, city streets basically? Um, and then in… there’s like, kind of a garden-y district on a… on almost like, a plateau or like, a um, a cliff face that’s overlooking the sea, and that has the white starstuff wall. It does not encircle the whole thing, in terms of like, above and below, but it does provide a kind of big wall around it. And everyone in there is living the fucking life. Is just living it well, effectively. And they’re working on whatever they want to work on, and they’re well resourced.
And at the heart of it all, and I think you just realize like, it’s a picture of Velas, and it’s the garden district has been surrounded by this white wall of starstuff… is Arrell. Um, is Arrell. And you don’t know how he’s projecting this into you, or into your mind. Though I imagine someone like Sunder Havelton would know that, and probably eventually finds this, though not in this moment, that there is something that he is us… there has to be some sort of close-by projection that’s doing this. This is not a thing he could do, even with all of his power as the wizard, from the garden district of Velas directly. He’d have to have something here that's helping him transmit it. But he shows you that in the garden district, everyone can… is living in a pretty fucking easy life, and people can come and go as they please. And out in the fish district, which used to be kind of like the suburbs of a sense.
And even into the sun district where there were just you know, miles of city streets of abandoned buildings, like, people are making do. Um, and they’re suffering out in the fish district and in the sun district, but they are… they are on their own out there and some of them make it and some of them don’t. And the ones who do, you know, they do. And the people who are living in the garden district are livin’ life to the fullest. And I think he shows you just the like… this could be your house, here in the garden district. Likie, this could be yours. It’s all ready for you. Um, I don’t know what he does to show you that. What’s a thing that Fantasmo knew about Fero that would be like, ‘Oh, yeah. This could be yours.’? Like, ‘this is a symbol of Fero.’
Keith: Fantasmo.
Austin: What’s something that would be like, this is Fero’s.
Keith: Um… maybe I told him about my uh, little house in the cave?
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: And then about the furniture that I had made.
Austin: Yeah, that’s what it is.
Keith: And so there’s furniture that looks like how I make furniture.
Austin: I think maybe even… I think it’s even further than that. I think it’s like, you can see that some of it is literally yours that was recovered. Um, from… from your old home. I think you can tell that cause it’s been fucked up, and it’s been… someone’s rebuilt it, and so like, you can tell, like, that’s not the real wood. But the rest of it’s right, like… did that get burnt at some point and they rebuilt it? So, yeah. You get…
Keith: Is he inviting me? What is he doing?
Austin: Yes, he’s inviting you.
Keith: To go… to leave here?
Austin: Yeah. You want a place where things work? It works for me here. It works for us here. I’m the wizard, like… Um, and you can come and go as you want. Ya know? It’s almost more like… and I don’t… this is about camera work, right? This is about like, having the sort of… it’s a breezy… you’re kind of… the camera is rolling through these city streets. Um, through the garden district, around all of the… it’s like, it’s green. It’s… there’s lots of trees. Um, you know, you hear the sound of birds calling. Um, and it just feels like, open door. You know? It will always be there for you. And I just… I bring that up as a reminder because I recall that Fero was more positive on Arrell than the rest of the group was.
Um, and I suspect that that is something that was reciprocal. Specifically for this reason, which is that, Arrell and Fero both do see a lot of… benefit in being self-sufficient and being alone. Um, Arrell’s whole story is that he stopped believing in the ability to help others. And so, there’s like, a degree to which he’s like, ‘yep’. You know? ‘ I’m gonna take this moment.’ He senses in this moment because he’s watching what’s happening here, which is creepy and bad. Uh, but he’s watching and he’s like, ‘Hey, yeah. Agreed. Come live here where we built our society around that in the face of the apocalypse.’ I’m not saying you make that decision right this second. In fact, we could call it here even, if you’d like to sleep on it. But I… I did want to sweeten the pot in a way that’s like, ‘yeah, [inaudible]...’
Keith: I… No. I know what I’m doing.
Ok.
Keith: Uh, Let’s for just… for framing, let’s… we’re wherever I have… I keep my stuff, that’s where we’re…
Austin: [finishing Keith’s sentence] we’re having this discussion, yeah.
Keith: … talking. And I grab my stuff, and I’m like,
Keith (as Fero): I’m gonna go about half a mile out. I’m gonna help. But I… I don’t live here anymore. I don’t live in this place.
Austin: Do you still live within the white starstuff wall?
Keith: Um...
Austin: Or do you leave the wall? Because that’s like, the real question. Like, that’s the question.
Keith: How far… I mean, how far out is it?
Austin: Throndir and Ephrim, you have like a gut here?
Keith: I guess, there’s this whole… like, there’s this big hill in the cemetery.
Dre: A couple miles?
Austin: Yeah, there’s… it’s out there. It goes for a little bit. Um, so yeah. I think it’s within the wall. I think if you’re going a half-mile out, you could probably even go out a little bit further and still be like, ‘Oh, I’m part of the larger area.’
Keith: Yeah, ok.
Austin: But I’d like you to draw on the map where that is.
Keith: Um, I probably go up to where, near where I was before.
Austin: Like the cemetery?
Keith: Yeah…
Austin: Like the hill that the cemetery is on?
Keith: Yeah, I’m gonna zoom in and draw a little campfire. I’m gonna go…
Austin: Hell yeah.
Keith: ...just exactly where I mean in a sec.
Austin: Ok. Ephrim and Throndir, what are you… How do you…? I mean, so, Fero just leaves one day basically, right? That night, in the middle of that, you leave, but then you’re still around. Like, how? Do you just pop back up one day?
Keith: When I find… when I have food… when I have extra food... I go and I look for food, and then when I have food, I go give it to them. And if I find a few like, you know, I give it. I don’t… I can make fire. I don’t need a lot of fuel.
Austin: But you’re not, so like… but you’re not going out on expeditions with them. That is the difference.
Keith: No, no, no. I am. I’m…
Austin: Ok.
Keith: This is more of a narrative thing, I guess.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: I just don’t want to fuckin’ live there anymore.
Austin: Ok.
Keith: I don’t want to live with these people.
Austin: Ok. Ephrim and Throndir, y’all doing anything in response to this? Respond or relation to this.
Sylvia: Honestly, at this point, this is kind of just what Fero does.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: Let him. [exhaled laugh]
Austin: Let him go.
Sylvia: Like, not let him go. If he wants to come back, I will welcome him back, but...
Austin: Right.
Sylvia: I’m not gonna… put in all the time and effort convincing him to do something that’s gonna make him miserable.
Austin: Sure.
Dre: We do not know about the Arrell stuff, right?
Austin: No.
Dre: Unless Fero has told us, yeah?
Austin: Right.
Dre: Ok.
Austin: Um, god. Where were we in this turn? That was like, right away, right? We still have to figured out...Yeah.
Sylvia: We still got to figure out food and stuff. [Austin laughs] I like...
Austin: Yeah, uh huh.
Sylvia: ...so… So, it’s either… sacrifice someone…
Austin: [finishing Sylvia’s sentence] To get 2 more food, right?
Sylvia: To get… to get 2 more food.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Keith: You mean a second person? Is that what we’re sayin’?
Sylvia: Yes.
Keith: Ok.
Austin: Yeah, we’ve sacrificed Balion already to get enough food for the halflings, or to get 5 food. You’re up to 5 food now, and there are… there are 7 groups, right? 4, 5, 6, 7. Yeah.
Dre: I mean…
Austin: [interrupting] Let’s do the easy one first. Are you healing Rosana and the halflings?
Sylvia: Yes.
Austin: Ok.
Sylvia: Like, definitely for sure wanting to keep Rosana alive.
Keith: I… Um..
Dre: Yeah.
Keith: Sorry, I just sort of remembered, a bit.
Austin: Yes.
Keith: Um, I guess… So, I guess the thing mechanically with me being out here is that like, I don’t ever lead a turn.
Austin: Ok.
Keith: So, I don’t make… I don’t make decisions.
Austin: [overlapping] I like that. I like that a lot.
Keith: But on the expeditions...
Austin: [overlapping] I appreciate that.
Keith: ...my dice still…
Austin: [overlapping] Yes.
Keith: …count.
Austin: You’re still like, ‘Yeah, I see them leaving. I’m gonna hop on with them and go out.’
Keith: Yes. That’s the thing.
Austin: Or whatever, but like, yeah, I actually like that quite a bit.
Sylvia: Oh no, Fero’s following us as this weird, horse man again.
Dre: Yeah, a weird horseman just comes out of the mist...
Keith (as Fero wholetaur/fulltaur): Hi. Hello.
Dre: ...and is like, [mimics Keith’s wholetaur/fulltaur voice] ‘Hello.’ [Austin laughs]
Keith (as Fero wholetaur/fulltaur): Beautiful day.
Dre: [mimics Keith’s wholetaur/fulltaur voice] ‘I know where food is.’
Sylvia: I… I definitely picture that thing doing the backwards talking from like, Twin Peaks.
Austin: Oh my god. That’s…
Keith: Dude, that’s the fucking… so ok. When I came up with the thing I had just finished watching Twin Peaks The Return, and I… the way I described how this thing works…
Austin: Yeah, this is 100%. Get ready.
Keith: I said… I was like, ‘This guy basically can do like, what Dougie can do.’
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: Oh my god.
Keith: Like, he’s Dougie. The guy… Like it’s… This is… The guy on the back is like a horse defense mechanism, so it’s actu… This thing is just a horse, except it has enough intelligence for to make this guy like, talk just well enough to convince everyone around him...
Dre: [groaning] Ugh, god.
Keith: … that he’s ok.
Sylvia: That’s so good.
Austin: And those exist! [Keith laughs] So, wait, wait. This is the thing that we should… I should point out.
Keith: Oh, yeah. We never talked about this.
Austin: Fuck. Fuck.
Sylvia: What?
Austin: So, like one day, you’re out with Fero, and you see one of these things walking through the woods. You’re like, ‘Fero, stop. Fuckin’, quit it. Knock it off.’ And then Fero’s like, ‘I’m right here’.
Keith (as Fero): [using wholetaur/fulltaur voice] Not Fero.
Keith: No, I say,
Keith (as Fero): [using wholetaur/fulltaur voice] Not Fero.
Austin: [laughing] And it’s not. Those things just exist in the world now.
Keith (as Fero): Cause there’s… now there’s 2 of them.
Dre (as Throndir): Oh, phooa.
Keith (as Fero): You can see one, and I’m already one.
Sylvia (as Ephrim): Great!
Austin: It’s… that’s so… that’s part of what Fero does now is when Fero does really well with a transformation, the world… those things go into the world. Whatever he becomes.
Keith: I make up a thing to be, and if I get… if I do well enough then it populates the world.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: I have a very important question that you guys might have touched upon, but I need to know… Are all the people on the horses the same or does it vary from horse to horse?
Austin: You know, we didn’t.
Keith: It varies from horse to horse.
Austin: It must vary, right?
Sylvia: Ok.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: It’s almost the same as like, you know how like, different patterns have different names? I bet there’s also like, a type of guy that associated… like it’s as varied…
Austin: Yeah. Right.
Keith: It’s as varied as a horse’s coat can be, which is very varied.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: But it’s like, oh, this sort of... I don’t know what you’d call it, but like...
Austin: This is one that looks like Aaron Eckhart. Or whatever.
Keith: Yeah, yeah, but like a calico is a cat. Let’s put it in a horses can be calicos, like, ‘oh yeah, Calico horses have the guy that’s sort of like Aaron Eckhart.
Austin: Right. Exactly. [Keith laughs] Our show is…
Keith: And I do like...
Austin: … so good.
Keith: I do like Aaron Eckhart as one of them.
Austin: Yeah, I don’t know why I went there, but…
Dre: What’s that hor...? Is it…?
Sylvia: He’s got a good face.
Dre: … Pa… Palomino? Is that the….
Austin: Sure.
Dre: Is that the calico horse? No, it’s something else.
Austin: It’s something like that though, right?
Dre: Uh, I mean, a palomino or palomino...
Austin: Palomino, yeah.
Dre: ...is a type of horse.
Austin: But it’s not a calico horse.
Dre: Yeah, there is a… there is like a spotted horse.
Austin: I typed calico horse. Oh wow, there’s a crossword clue.
Keith: Equine coat color. Uh…
Austin: Pinto?
Keith: … how about… there’s um…
Austin: Pinto horses?
Keith: Pinto. Yeah. Pinto
Dre: Pinto might be it.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, because they’re painted.
Keith: Pinto’s pretty close.
Austin: American paint horse.
Dre: Yeah, it’s pinto. Yep.
Austin: There you go.
Keith: Pinto horses have Aaron Eckharts.
Austin: There you go.
Keith: And it’s like… and the different Aaron Eckharts are just as different from each other as the different patterns on a…
Austin: Right.
Keith: …pintos. But you can still tell like, like, ‘Oh the jawline here indicates that this is a… [Austin and Keith laugh]
Austin: ‘This is definitely an Eckhart right there. That’s definitely.’ Yeah, ok great. Uh, who is… who is… starving to death?
Dre: Look at these cool horses.
Sylvia: [long exhaled sigh]
Austin: Or who is sacrificing themselves?
Sylvia: Yeah, uh…
Austin: Remember they might not… they could just leave. That’s the other thing.
Sylvia: Yeah. Ok, yeah. They don’t have to die. I forgot.
Austin: You could just be like, ‘I’m not feeding them. They’re going to leave.’
Dre: Ok, do the gnolls… I feel like with Fero leaving,
Austin: Oh man.
Dre: ...the gnolls are either like, yeah, see that guy. Fuck that guy. Or they’re like, oh that guy’s finally gone. We’re definitely staying here.
Austin: I could go either way.
Dre: Yeah, yeah.
Austin: My gut is… my gut is the response to this is like, ‘Oh yeah. Of course this is what Fero would do.’ But they’re…
Dre: He.. yeah.
Austin: I don’t think that they would like to leave.
Dre: Yeah.
Sylvia: I don’t want them to leave either, if I’m being honest.
Dre: I don’t want them to leave either.
Sylvia: I really like the gnolls.
Austin: Yeah, I don’t think anyone… what I will say is no one here wants to leave that’s left.
Dre: Yeah. Alright, could we go ahead and feed Rosana?
Sylvia: Yes. For sure.
Austin: So that’s 1. That brings us down to 4 food.
Sylvia: Um, I would like to feed… the…
Dre: Yeah, are we just gonna like, fucking snake draft this, Ephrim?
Sylvia: I don’t know. I really don’t know. I’m trying to think of like, who I’m cool with like… either getting rid of or like…
Austin: Or sacrificing.
Sylvia: Or sacrificing, yeah.
Austin: Again, we have that moment where like, does Jerod Shiraz also sacrifice her life to secure some sort of future for the Ordennan Dissent? For the people who left Ordenna?
Sylvia: I… I like… My… My gut is kind of leaning that way...
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: ...but I’m looking for other options here. Um...god.
Austin: Uh… here’s one…
Dre: We… yeah.
Austin: So, I have one that’s cheating.
Sylvia: I love cheating.
Austin: Oh no. No, I don’t. No, I don’t. No, I don’t. No, I don’t.
Sylvia: Aw…
Austin: Sorry, Adelaide is gone which means that if Corsica Neue dies, she dies. She doesn’t become a ghost, sadly.
Dre: Damn.
Austin: I was like, Corsica Neue could die and become a ghost! That’s dope, but that’s not… No, that actually doesn’t work.
Keith: Wow, what is the ghost of an undead even like?
Austin: It’s just a ghost.
Keith: Oh.
Austin: Yeah. Not as exciting.
Keith: [inaudible, overlapping] ...like an extra…?
Sylvia: [overlapping] Hey, you went to Nacre. You saw that.
Austin: Right.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Um… yeah.
Keith: Yeah, shit. Fuck. But what if it was cooler? [laughs]
Dre: Do the orcs peace out?
Austin: They could.
Dre: Like, if anyone is.. Is making this like, a Fero-esque argument of like, why the fuck are we here? We’ve like, done this on our own forever.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Dre: I could see the orcs saying that.
Austin: I could.
Sylvia: And going back to, I mean… the Archives aren’t still around, right? Are they?
Austin: Oh, who knows?
Sylvia: But yeah.
Dre: Yeah.
Keith: [overlapping] No, we all flooded them.
Austin: [overlapping] They… Things went really bad.
Keith: Remember?
Austin: Yeah. Well, that was like the one part of it. That was the key part of the Archives that was like, the place where the orcs were created specifically. Um, but there were still part of it that, I mean, they got torn through partially by the Heat and the Dark and stuff. I could imagine them being like, we’re gonna go back and see what’s left. Um… and leaving…
Sylvia: [interrupting] Like, it’s been 7 years, right?
Austin: [overlapping] Yeah, yeah. Exactly. I can imagine that.
Sylvia: [overlapping] So, they don’t know how much has changed.
Austin: Which again, Benjamin is 17 now. Is an important thing to think about.
Dre: Oh man.
Austin: Y’all are all 7 years older than you were the last time you played these characters.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Dre: Oh.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: Yeah, especially cause like, we talked about...
Keith: [overlapping] Does Throndir age?
Dre: Throndir is probably aging now.
Austin: Throndir ages, yeah.
Keith: Oh, Throndir does age.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: I forgot, in the fall, I gave up agelessness to the wordeater.
Austin: Yes, yes. Though also you’re undead now, so that’s real…
Dre: That’s true.
Austin: …You’re a weird vampire. An emotions vampire, which we’ve not seen prop up at quite yet.
Keith: [overlapping] Oh sick, so like, you’re like Pennywise?
Dre: [overlapping] Yeah, I’m just power gaming at this point. You know, as like, ‘Aw, lost agelessness. Now I gotta be a vampire.’
Austin: ‘Yup. damn. Shit.’
Dre: I read that game faq, [Austin laughs] and it said this is how you get the optimal perks.
Austin: So yeah, I think… I think it could be the orcs. Um, it could the Ordennans. It could be… It could be the moths. It could be...
Dre: I don’t… I think the Ordennans don’t fit.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: As leaving. I feel like. Just cause of the reason they’re here in the first place.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: It feels weird to me for them to leave.
Austin: Like they were here...
Dre: Without something have happened.
Austin: They’re here as like, a moral stand, to some degree, right? Like, I think Jerod Shiraz specifically sees this as like, an opportunity to give back, after hurting people and trying…
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Work towards some sort of degree of restorative justice, right? Of like, ‘Hey, the people who I work for… I tried to work from inside Ordenna to minimize conflict. That didn’t work. Now we all want to get this off of our conscious. Conscience.’ Um, could be orcs, which would leave a couple of orcs behind. I think Morbash would stay… I think Devar would stay…
Dre: Uklan.
Austin: Um… Uklan. Or sorry, not Morbash. I meant Uklan. Morbash is … Morbash ain't goin’ anywhere. Morbash is in the ground.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Uklan Tel would stay. And Devar would stay. I will say that the like… looking at these groups, Rosana and the Velasians and the Church of Samothes, the Creed of Samothes are just kind of like… they’re people. They’re humans. They are, I think, one of the more populous groups here. And they come from all walks of life. I will say that there are… they wish there was a like, ocean closer. They are the ones who are most like… They most wish that they could be back in… Actually, I bet… So, this is the… I… Maybe, here’s another conversation. They wish they could be back at home. I’m sure the halflings wish they could be back at home.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Though you just fed the halflings, right? You sacrificed Balion. I guess, you could also sacrifice Balion and the halflings could bounce, which is a thing we could… we hadn’t thought about.
Dre: But I like what Sylvia said about having the halflings and the gnolls. Like both here.
Austin: Yeah, yeah. Um, I could imagine some of the Velasians. I could imagine like, Rosana stays, but the Velasians leave.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Um… I think Chatterchin and gnolls want to be here. I think Rosette and the moths and the weavers want to be here. Though I can imagine them going to maybe try to retrieve the weaver king, who did not come with them?
Dre: Oh shit.
Austin: Um… because… or maybe it did. Maybe it did. But I don’t know how you’ve been feeding the weaver king. If so, you know? Maybe it did and that’s a thing we should think about is like, how do we feed the weaver king that could help people. That could be a good medicine roll in the future.
Sylvia: Hmmm…
Austin: And maybe it’s in the underground garden waiting to get the right type of water.
Sylvia: Yeah, uh…
Austin: Gotta make a call here.
Sylvia: Yeah. I… we do. Um…
Austin: It’s all interesting. That’s the other thing I want to say. Is like, having someone leave here puts them out in the world where they can still be interesting. So, that… everything should be on the table.
Sylvia: I think I’m gonna go with the orcs, just because I specifically want there to be a reason to seek out the Archives again when we get past this.
Austin: Sure. Ok.
Sylvia: Because I’m really interested in seeing what like, I don’t know… What orc society looks like after of this has happened.
Austin: Totally. Alright, so the orcs leave. I… yeah. We’ll find out what they look like later, I guess. But like, I think it happens slowly, the way orcs… I think it happens in a really, kind of natural manner for them. They get curious. The snows have stopped and it still storms, but they’re orcs. They can take some rain, right? And they start hearing word, you know, uh… the Golden Lance shows up and says that they found a group of bird people to the north.
Or they visited Kanton, the wharven city to the southwest, and people there are starting to pick things back together, and so… there’s something in the culture of the orcs that says, ‘Ah, I’m curious. Did anything new wash up? Did anything from, you know… did artifacts in all the chaos that we didn’t know exist, become available?’ And so, over the course of this year, there’s no announcement. There’s no like, ‘and then the orcs left.’ They just leave, right? In little groups at first. They take after Morbash, and they get going. And I think they leave behind again, a kind of 1 department, which maybe we should draw here somewhere. If someone wants to add like, the Orcish… it’s not an embassy, it’s like an Orcish trading house, where like, Uklan Tel and Devar and maybe a handful of additional orcs like, remain.
But the rest go out, and they slowly begin to return to the remnants of the Archives as their homebase. Which have been like, completely grown over by um, greenery. Um, and I think unlike the goblins and the snow elves, they do still stay together as a society. Because they’re not built on that core central conflict the way the goblins and snow elves were, but they aren’t… so they aren’t as scattered to the winds, but they’re still kind of scattered to the winds because they’re all off being archivist explorers more than archivist like, collectors in that same.. Or archivist like, um, scholars in that same way. They’re back to like, ‘we have to rebuild the horde, in a sense.’ Goodbye to the orcs. And so then, everybody else eats.
Sylvia: Yeah. [sighs]
Austin: Nice work. Um, but so that’s all your food is gone. So, 0 food, 2 medicine. 1 fuel. 0 animals. Ephrim, what are you doin’ this turn?
Sylvia: God. I don’t know.Um… 6 food, right?
Dre: Yeah.
Sylvia: For next turn. Oh no, but good. But next turn, it’s not dire. No one’s gonna die next turn.
Austin: No one will die next turn, correct.
Sylvia: Ok, I might…
Dre: Yeah.
Sylvia: I think we need to go for fuel.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Ok. Give me your 2d6 on fuel. Which means you’re not getting that bonus 1d6… You’re not getting any medicine this turn then, right?
Sylvia: Um…
Keith: I thought you do both.
Austin: No.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Oh yes, you do.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: You do.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: You do. My bad. Hey. 7 fuel.
Sylvia: Ok.
Austin: That ain’t bad. That’s up to 8.
Sylvia: That’s not bad at all.
Austin: You’re safe.. Unless a bad occurrence hits.
Dre: Oh buddy.
Austin: Right?
Sylvia: And then…
Dre: Hey! There’s 3 food.
Austin: 3 food, 2 food, so it’s 5 food.
Sylvia: And 2 medicine.
Austin: Plus 5 food. And then 2 medicine. That’s an alright turn right there.
Sylvia: Ok.
Austin: Alright so that brings us up to… Wait. How much medicine? 4? So, you’re up to 4 medicine. You’re up to 5 food.
Sylvia: Ok.
Austin: Which is still not enough for everybody, but no one will starve next turn. 1 person will not get food which I’ll let you decide when we get there. Um, anything else that we have to roll here? I don’t think so.
Sylvia: Um…
Austin: What’s this look like? What’s the food? What’s the big fuel supply? 7. I mean, again, not big, but it’s big compared to some of these rolls.
Sylvia: Hmm, I wonder if it’s just kind of like, a result of 1, a lot of the kids that were originally here…
Austin: [overlapping] Yes.
Sylvia: ....have grown into adults, and...
Austin: [overlapping] Yeah…
Sylvia: ...2, we have less people here now.
Austin: [overlapping] They’re 17 now.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Or if they were 10 then, they’re 17 now. If they were 13 then, they’re 20 now.
Sylvia: Yeah. So this is one…
Austin: [interrupting] You could have been born here, and you’d be 7 now. There are kids, this is all they know. They don’t remember a time before the return of the Heat and the Dark. Before the arrival of these plants, but for the stars. They’ve always looked at the starstuff. And they’ve always had the internet. They don’t remember a time before Facebook. It’s unbelievable. These kids.
Sylvia: They’re always looking at their phones. [laughs]
Austin: They’re always looking at their phones!
Sylvia: This Fortnite thing? The dances? Have you heard about it? [Austin laughing]
Austin: I can’t believe like, Benjamin and Blue J always doing the ‘Take the L’ dance.
Dre: Ah, everytime they’re flossing, I wish they were flossin’ their teeth.
Austin: That’s what I’m sayin’.
Sylvia: Ugh. God. But yeah, I think it is just more of the thing where it’s like, ‘Oh, we’ve gotten through so much. We’re working better as a community now.’
Austin: Yeah. Yeah. I like that a lot. Um, Fero and Throndir, do you want to talk about food at all?
Keith: Um, yeah. I do.
Austin: Let’s hear. How do you… what’s your food solution?
Keith: I… I have a… I have a pitch for my food solution.
Austin: I’m excited to hear it.
Keith: Can I, because this is a different game…
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: Can I use this as an opportunity to have scored well enough on a like, on a transformation roll to make…
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: Can I just make up an animal that exists now?
Austin: Totally. Yeah, I’m fine with that.
Keith: Ok, now the second part of my pitch is, can I also be um… no, I’ll, you know, I’ll just pitch it. And then you can tell me if it’s bad. Uh, do you know… you guys know bear’s head tooth mushrooms?
Austin: I don’t.
Keith: You should google them. They are… They look… They’re like a fluffy… They’re like a mushroom that looks kind of like cotton candy.
Sylvia: [overlapping] Oooo~
Austin: [overlapping] Oh, that looks… oh yeah. I see.
Dre: [overlapping] Oh yeah. That’s nice.
Keith: Ah, they’re edible. Uh, mostly.
Austin: AKA Hericium, apparently.
Keith: Um, what if I made an animal out of mushroom?
Austin: Interesting.
Keith: And here’s why. Here’s why this is weird…
Austin: [overlapping} I’m listening. Yeah.
Keith: …and cool for me. Mushrooms have seasons, and so this is a seasonal animal. When it’s not in season, it spores.
Austin: Oh, that’s really cool.
Keith: And the other thing is, mushrooms are un-domesticable. So, this is a wild, can-only be a wild animal.
Austin: [overlapping] Love it. Ok, which is very in line with… Ok.
Keith: You have to… this is a forgeable cat mushroom.
Austin: Is this… so it’s more like a… is that what it is? It’s like a cat? Like a wild cat? How big is it?
Keith: You know, I… [laughs] I actually… yeah, I guess it’s a cat.
Austin: Wait, did you say something else?
Keith: No, no. I…
Austin: Did you say calf, and I heard cat?
Keith: I said cat. I said cat, but I… I hadn’t like… I hadn’t decided on cat. I just said cat, so I guess I was feeling cat mushroom.
Austin: I guess so, it’s like a jungle cat? Like, how big is it?
Keith: Oh, so… Um, between… it’s not like a… it’s like a… Have you ever seen a lynx in person of something like that? It’s like the size of…
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: It’s like twice…
Austin: I’m still gonna google it.
Keith: It’s like twice the size of a… of a full-grown house cat.
Austin: Ok, Ok. Um, here’s.. So, here’s how the seasons are going to work this season cause it’s spring. We’re going to cycle throughout the season between a wet season and a dry season. Um, and as we get closer to summer, the dry season gets longer and longer. So, are they spores when it’s dry or when it’s wet?
Keith: Um, fungus likes wet.
Austin: Ok.
Keith: Um, technically...
Austin: [overlapping] Also…
Keith: ...Technically the season for these is late summer...
Austin: [overlapping] Sure.
Keith: ...but this is a made-up world...
Austin: [overlapping] Yeah, it is.
Keith: ...so fuck it.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: Um, this is a late spring/early summer mushroom.
Austin: Yeah, ok. So, wet… So, wet season is when they show up is what you’re saying.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: When they show up in their… in their cat form.
Keith: Cat form.
Austin: Got you. Ok, cool. I love it. And so like, those start inhabiting the nearby jungles and forests. And they make for good eatin’. Cool.
Keith: You can pickle ‘em. You can fry ‘em.
Austin: Stick ‘em in a stew.
Keith: [overlapping] You can pick them off the ground. You can, yeah, you can… [laughs] You can just… You can just pluck ‘em.
Austin: Hell yeah. Um, cool. I’m also gonna add… One second, I’m gonna add this little… uh, boop and boop. And that is the orc trading place. Sorry, I just remembered I needed to add that. Um, uh, cool. Throndir did you have something to add there or is that… does that add up? Is that like, and then also you…
Dre: No, I think that adds up.
Austin: Yeah, ok. Cool. Awesome. Is it occurrence time, Sylvia?
Sylvia: I believe so.
Austin: Ok. Do you want to give me a roll?
Sylvia: [sighs] 5-6.
Austin: 5-6. Let’s see.
Dre: Aw, christ.
Austin: Oh my god.
Keith: Geez, what is it? What? What is it?
Austin: We have to figure out how this works for us. Oh my god.
Keith: This sounds bad. I don’t know where the occurrences are listed.
Austin: [reading] “Severe accumulation of snow has caused a roof to cave in during the night. When the snow and debris is cleared, one villager is found dead. Their face contorted and mouth full of snow. The roof can be repaired at a cost of 3 units fuel. No villagers will choose to consolidate into this building.” Um, Ephrim? Which roof was it? Uh, and I think… Here’s my suggestion. Is it’s not snow, it’s these plants. It’s not the fungus. The weird, new greenery. The stuff that Alyosha is making down in… down below that no one knows that’s what is it. But that is what it is.
Sylvia: This doesn’t take out the whole group, it just kills the NPC, right? Or…?
Austin: Uh, the way it’s written, I mean this is the decision for us to make as…
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: …people hacking this game.
Keith: It says one villager.
Austin: Right, so I mean, so… the way the game is written, you’re just supposed to have 10 people. It’s supposed to be 10 villagers.
Keith: Right.
Austin: Where the villager can be a stand in for 5 or 10 people. The fact that we have them standing in for like, 700 people is not the way it should be.
Sylvia: So, because you specifically mentioned the weird plants...
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: …that Alyosha’s been like, making with the Heat and the Dark…
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: ...to my understanding. I think…
Austin: Uh, he’s making it with Samothes 2’s blood.
Sylvia: Ok.
Austin: Using the Heat and Dark forge specifically which is very… it’s a combination of weird shit.
Sylvia: Well, I was thinking that it would make… it would be… [sighs] I was thinking maybe somebody who’s been affected by the Heat and the Dark in some way.
Austin: Sure.
Sylvia: I was thinking either Jerod and the Ordennans or Corsica.
Austin: Yeah. I think it could make sense for the… for the… hmm. I mean I guess the thing there is.. So, I want to be clear, what’s up with this plant life and maybe we… we touched on this a little bit more on Fero’s side of the game than y’all… It is like the anti-Heat and the Dark.
Sylvia: Oh ok.
Austin: It and the starstuff are, because of how they are created… they’re both created to be something that could beat back the Heat and the Dark, right? The stars were not finished unfortunately. But… that’s part of why they’re not particularly helpful. And also, this could be stars, too. A star could have landed somewhere, which is the worst. Uh, but they are both meant to be like… I mean, again, cards on the table in terms of narrative, right? I could imagine a world that could resist the Heat and the Dark made of the stars. I could imagine Hieron run through with these plants to such a degree that all mortal, sentient life is wiped away. Until at least something new comes out of the ground that is like a plant person that can be alive. But both of them are sort of like, ‘Yeah, life can continue. Just not the life that’s existed already.’ Right? It’s like, you know how the end of Lord of the Rings, they go off to the west? To like, whatever the next world is, right?
Sylvia: Uh huh.
Austin: Um, what if it came here instead, and was like, ‘nah, this is ours now.’ That is the starstuff. That is the plant life. So, yeah, I… it could still be those people, but it wouldn’t be because of their connection… Or if it...
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: ...is their connection to the Heat and the Dark, then maybe what it is is like, the plants… you know how the Heat and the Dark senses life and tries to consume it? This could be the Heat and the Dark notices… or the plants sense that emerging… er sense that residue of the Heat and the Dark from the Ordennan steel and is like, gotta kill that.
Sylvia: I kind of like that.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: Uh, but again, we have to figure out if that kills the whole group. Um…cause that’s...
Austin: [interrupting] That seems like a lot, but also...
Sylvia: That’s a lot.
Austin: But also seems like it could be… I could go either way with it. Again, kills could be scatters.
Sylvia: Yeah, I just… I re… I know we evoked ‘Annihilation’ a lot…
Austin: Yeah, we did. [overlapping] Yeah, we did.
Sylvia: …last season, but I do really like the idea of just waking up one day, and there’s just a bunch of flowers in the shape where Jerod would be.
Austin: [finishing Sylvia’s sentence] Jerod Shiraz was. Yeah.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Keith: Wow. Where the red ferns grow.
Austin: Fuck off. [laughs] Um, yeah. Yeah. I like that. And I… and I think there’s probably a way to do it actively, too, right? Which is like, this happens in the middle of the night, and she finds it. Right? Um, you know, maybe down in the underground garden or the subterranean menagerie or in the tunnel system that’s been growing. And confront it, in a sense, right? She like, pulls it. She almost like, unroots it, and is like, ‘Oh, you’ve broken through, and you’re coming for us.’ And it doesn’t think. Like, this is… again, the stars have minds. The starstuff, the wall, I don’t think does in the way that we talk about minds anyway, but the plants, as of right now, there’s not like a single mind inside of the plants or something like that.
They are… this is a thing that grows, and it is unlike… mortal, sapient life as we know it. Um, but I still imagine this moment of like, confrontation of the other. Confrontation of this thing that is unlike human-life. And even Jerod Shiraz who has, you know, stepped away from the Ordennan kind of, fear of the other, is still like, ‘Oh, this shit’s coming to kill us. I don’t trust it.’ And then, makes… takes action. And I think like, ‘Annihilation’, the film, it is best that we don’t show that action on screen in this moment, and instead, yeah, it is just like sunlight flittering in from a grate or from you know, part of… down the hall or whatever, and the blooming Jerod Shiraz. Shout outs to Jerod. Name crossed. One day, we’ll hit a good one, right?
Dre: Nope.
Sylvia: Oh no. We’re pretty much done.
Keith: Sorry, did you… did you decide whether it was just… Jerod?
Austin: It’s just her. It’s not the whole group.
Sylvia: Phoof.
Austin: Yeah. Which I think is like, is there something on her that… in fact, maybe it’s something like you know, Jerod Shiraz had that close relationship with one of the stars during um, during the Rosemerrow game. Which we didn’t decide if they’ve shown up at all, but I kind of like the idea of like, her having something made of starstuff on her that like, shock-killed whatever this thing that was coming for everyone was. Do you know what I mean? Like, a little dagger or something?
Yeah. Or like even something where it like, the plant life tried to overtake it…
Austin: [overlapping] Yeah.
Sylvia: ..but it just like, repelled it…
Austin: [overlapping] Yeah.
Sylvia: ...so violently.
Austin: It still manages to kill her, but it can’t kill everything else.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah. And it kind of like, it freezes it in place in a sense, right? Like, it’s this creeping, crawling vine that’s gonna like, take over everything, but it actually kind of just like… you know, it’s not green when you find it. It’s all… it’s all like, dried out wood. You know? Or like, dried out and flattened plant life. Cool. Good. Great. Time to roll for sickness. 3. We have more than...
Sylvia: [overlapping] We have 4 medicine.
Austin: Huh? Yeah, you have 4 medicine.
Sylvia: We have 4 medicine.
Austin: Sure. That’s true. That’s true. Um, I’m gonna say it is Corsica Neue. It is Rosette and the moth people. And it is the Ordennans. For Rosette and for Corsica Neue, it is… for the moth people and the weaver, it’s like, we really need to get this fucking weaver king back up and running. Like, we’re at the end of our natural lives. We’re moth people, and we’re not in enough of a situation to where we can like, keep up with the repopulation. Um, and with Corsica Neue, it’s like, we don’t have all of the supplies we need to keep up our undead bodies. Which we primarily get through stuff that’s like… it’s ointments. It’s cleansing agents and like, we had some of that stuff.
There was some of that stuff in the storeroom. We were able to make some of it, but without being able to like, live in the world, go get what we need, you know, use you know, facilities to make more of it, you know, the body starts to waste away. Um, and then Jerod Shiraz’s… or not Jerod Shiraz, but the Ordennans I think maybe some of… there’s like a residue. There’s like, ‘Oh, this thing has been trying to kill us for a year.’ Um, and there’s some left over from that. So, that is where we are at the end of turn 7. At the end of year 7, and uh… it is not soon after the 8th year, when the sword is remade.
[Jack de Quidt’s “(Welcome to) Aubade” begins playing in the background.]
As the year begins to wrap on, the storm gets closer and closer. And I think it is communicated to you in different ways on different days that that means the blade is getting close to being repaired. And when it is time to go, you will all get on a boat and ride into the storm.
And you will know it is time to go when the lightning is striking the sea at an incredibly rapid rate. Um, you could theoretically try to go now, but it might not go well. And the better… the lightning storm is, the more fierce the lightning storm is, the better the connection is. Um, and it’s closer than it has been. It’s like, slowly kind of like, wafting it’s way closer to the island.
And, you know, I think that the um, the people in the shrine explain to the people in the town. Even the people who don’t got to the shrine… like, word gets out like, ‘Oh, oh oh. Those new people are gonna leave. Ok.’ And there’s some conversation about like, there are some people are like, ‘Oh, I wish I could go.’ And I think you probably get people asking in the church like, ‘But wait. I was born here. I wasn’t killed by the sword, shouldn’t I be able to go.’ And they explain, I mean… Lem, maybe you even learn… figure this out. That’s like, ‘Oh, no. If you’re born here, you’re a part of this type of pattern, and it will not go well for you to leave.’ Um, it is not a compatible thing.
In fact, it just… you… that the way... that way out just doesn’t work for you. It is not a like, ‘you go out there and you’re hurt.’ It’s just you would go out there in the boat, and the rest of you would disappear, and you would still be on that boat if you were born here. It just… this connection is not… doesn’t work that way, unfortunately. But I don’t think most people want to go because they’ve heard what’s coming out there, right? Um, and over the course of the final couple of weeks before the storm is at its peak and the gate is open, the door is in its place, so to speak, the blade is put back together, I think Samothes comes to each of you individually. I think… this is clear, Samothes goes to you first, Lem. One day, there is a knock on your door.
Jack: I think Lem’s just ready. The door just opens.
Austin: Yeah.
Jack (as Lem): Oh, hello.
Austin (as Samothes): Hi. [long pause]
Austin: And there’s like, immediately a quality of Samothes that you can recognize as being bashful. Which you’ve never seen before.
Jack (as Lem): Oh, what is it? Are you... ?
Austin (as Samothes): The storm is close. You’ve seen.
Jack (as Lem): Yeah.
Austin (as Samothes): You’ll be leaving soon, presumably?
Jack (as Lem): [exhales] We’ll see. We’ll see.
Austin (as Samothes): Well, in case you do decide to go, I… There’s something that I would um… You have something.
Jack (as Lem): I do?
Austin (as Samothes): You do. It was in with your stuff. Maybe you never even unpacked it. We got all the stuff when you came through and put it in boxes and made sure you… all your stuff was together. And there’s something you have that I would um… [sighs] There’s this mask.
Jack (as Lem): Oh my god. Oh my god. You want the mask? It’s bad.
Austin (as Samothes): No, it isn’t.
Jack (as Lem): It’s… it’s…
Austin (as Samothes): Lem…
Jack (as Lem): It takes control of you, and it makes you see things. No good has come of that mask.
Austin (as Samothes): I know the mask’s history very well, Lem. It will let me speak to someone who I care about very deeply. And when Chapter closes this place after you leave, that will be it. [long pause] That will be it. There will be no other way in, and there will be no other way out. [long pause] Lem, I want to speak to my husband. Please let me have the mask.
Jack (as Lem): You’re not coming with us?
Austin (as Samothes): Lem, I was killed by this thing. There is no… No. No.
Jack (as Lem): Well…
Austin (as Samothes): I’m of this place now.
Jack: Lem just goes back into his… into his office. Uh, and just opens the top drawer in his desk, and it just contains the mask. It’s the only thing in that like...
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: ...all the other drawers are just like overstuffed with papers. Uh, and he just… he just pulls it out, and the mask just rattles in the drawer.
Austin: Uh huh.
Jack: And he takes it very carefully, and he hands it over to Samothes. Uh, and I don’t think he knows what to say.
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: I think that the intensity of their relationship, of Samothes and Samot, is one that we, making the podcast, know.
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: But I think Lem can’t begin to… can’t begin to… I think Lem is just like, how could I refuse. And gives… and gives the mask over.
Austin: He thanks you. He says like,
Austin (as Samothes): This means a great deal. It means a great deal. And uh, hell, I don’t even know if it’ll work, but if it does, I’ll put in a good word.
Jack (as Lem): I’d appreciate that.
Austin (as Samothes): You uh, you should leave with them.
Jack (as Lem): Yeah?
Austin (as Samothes): Yeah. You… you’re welcome to stay. You’re welcome to stay and keep reading books and keep work the pattern and keep goin’ to the theatre, but uh…
Jack (as Lem): It’s been so bad.
Austin (as Samothes): Yeah. You get in a rut.
Jack (as Lem): Yeah.
Austin (as Samothes): And a change of scenery helps. It worked for me.
Jack (as Lem): [laughs] Yeah. Well, try not to get stuck in a… you know.
Austin (as Samothes): It has been really good to get to know you.
Jack (as Lem): Likewise.
Austin: He reaches out and gives your shoulder a little squeeze.
Austin (as Samothes): I wish I had something else to give you. I… [laughs] I really do. If you need anything, let me know.
Jack (as Lem): I’ll keep that in mind. I think I’m good for the moment.
Austin: And he kind of like, takes the mask and caresses is too strong a word, right? But like, enjoys the feeling of holding it. And like, touches the edge of it, the kind of like, the corner of it, and the kind of thinnest parts of it, and like shakes it up… Not shakes it, but like, you know. [Jack and Austin laugh] Shakes it up and down in his hand. No.
Jack: Moves it in his hands. [Ali laughs quietly]
Austin: You know, kind of like, weighs it. You know? Like, ‘ah, here it is.’ And then walks away. Um, I think it’s another different day when he comes to you, Hella. It’s probably like, after you’ve trained with Hadrian, but Hadrian’s gone on to go do some other bullshit before you’re doing… before you’re like at work. And is like,
Austin (as Samothes): I’ll walk you to uh… to Adaire’s. I need to talk to her, too.
Ali (as Hella): Oh, sure. Yeah, I… Um, picking up something at the store?
Austin (as Samothes): Dropping something off.
Ali (as Hella): Oh. Ok. Well, yeah.
Austin: Um, and on your way, he’s… He beats around the bush with you. Um, and then I think finally he’s just like,
Austin (as Samothes): So, it seems like y’all will be leaving soon. It’s not… I’m not complaining. I mean, I’m not… I’m not saying...
Ali (as Hella): [overlapping] Uh huh.
Austin (as Samothes): ...I don’t appreciate the company, but I know who you are.
Ali (as Hella): [laughs] Oh. Yeah, I just… I don’t know that it makes sense to stay.
Austin (as Samothes): No, it doesn’t. If I could leave, I’d leave. Shit.
Ali (as Hella): Oh. You don’t even want to like, try?
Austin (as Samothes): I’ve… I did. For a long time.
Ali (as Hella): Oh.
Austin (as Samothes): Like immediately. For years and years and years. It’s all I wanted to do.
Ali (as Hella): Yeah.
Austin (as Samothes): And it doesn’t… it doesn’t. It doesn’t. And that’s the thing. Hmm… [small laugh and a false start] I had a choice to make which was keep… keep this place vulnerable and theoretically leave open some line of connection to the outside world or protect people here. And there’s a lot of people here. It’s not the City of First Light.
Austin: Sorry, he wouldn’t know that.
Austin (as Samothes): It’s not Marielda, right?
Austin: Or he would know the City of First Light by now. He would know that. Someone would have told him that, right?
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: But he says,
Austin (as Samothes): It’s not Marielda. But it’s… there are people. They count on me. I count on them. It’s… I like it a lot. And it would be wrong of me to, on a whim, decide that I should continue to have some limited connection to Hieron. And so, I need you [signs]… I need… need is strong. I… Hella, I… Look after Hadrian. It has been a long...
Ali (as Hella): Wait, wait.
Austin (as Samothes): He…
Ali (as Hella): Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Austin (as Samothes): Yeah.
Ali (as Hella): You’re… you’re cutting off your connection to Hieron?
Austin (as Samothes): It’s that or let everyone here face the Heat and the Dark.
Ali (as Hella): Yeah, like everyone else is doing.
Austin (as Samothes): You’re not going to ask me to let these people die. [Ali laughs] You’re not. [Austin laughs] I spent so long letting people die, Hella. I spent so long. That’s the whole thing. The whole thing was I was ready to let it all die. Right?
Ali (as Hella): Ok. Right, so you’re telling me to go outside and take care of Hadrian until he dies?
Austin (as Samothes): Or stay. I’d be happy to have you.
Ali (as Hella): There’s still churches to you out there. You don’t want to just…
Austin (as Samothes): What? I have very limited power. Hadrian hears me. [Ali sighs] Sometimes… sometimes he hears me. Every now and then.
Ali (as Hella): No, right. You’re… I… you’re right.
Austin (as Samothes): I’m not… Where I am here is not what I am there. I’m an echo. I’m less than an echo. I’m a… I’m a misheard sound. I don’t even know. You say there’s churches out there. Ok. I’ve heard from people...
Ali (as Hella): Ok.
Austin (as Samothes): ...that that might be true.
Ali (as Hella): Ok. Ok. The people in my life who have hope… had hope in you, so this is a great goodbye. This is great… It’s fine. No, it’s fine… I knew it, I just… I… this is why we gotta talk.
Austin (as Samothes): The alternative was I don’t say anything, and no one knows but him. He gets out there and he stops feeling this connection one day. And you know Hadrian doesn’t tell anybody that. And he has it all by himself. And he just holds that alone. And so, yeah, I’m putting it on you, and that’s unfair. This… that’s the thing it is. I have done so much worse.
Ali (as Hella): No, it’s fine. I just… Can I tell you something?
Austin (as Samothes): Sure.
Ali (as Hella): Cause I just feel like, I meet a god, he tells me I’m a jackass. I meet a demigod, she thinks I’m a friggin’ idiot. I meet you… now this.
Austin (as Samothes): Yeah.
Ali (as Hella): It’s gonna be great to go home.
Austin (as Samothes): I wish I had a better answer. I’ve had a lot of time to think it over. [inhales, exhales- long pause] It’s… It’s the first thing.. It… there isn’t anything outside of it. Honestly? I don’t even know how long this starstuff… Samot gets a lot of wild ideas.
Ali (as Hella): You know, Adaire says this thing about bedside manner… in that like, it’s important how you talk to people.
Austin (as Samothes): Yeah.
Ali (as Hella): And I get that you’re upset. But I’m just tryin’ to go to work.
Austin (as Samothes): Yeah.
Ali (as Hella): I’m sorry.
Austin (as Samothes): Hmm… hmm. I hope you have a great day. I’ll uh… I’ll see you all off when you leave. I’m guessing you’re gonna leave together. That’d be weird if you all took different boats.
Ali (as Hella): [laughing] Can I take my boat?
Austin (as Samothes): Sure. Yeah, whatever boat you take out there is yours.
Ali (as Hella): Well…
Austin (as Samothes): And anything else you need, we… Let me know.
Ali (as Hella): [laughing] Hey, Samothes?
Austin (as Samothes): Yeah.
Ali (as Hella): How are you gonna know what I need?
Austin (as Samothes): I have a way.
Ali (as Hella): Sure.
Austin: Do you find a dope outfit in your room that night?
Ali: [laughing loudly] I would like to.
Austin: Yeah, uh huh.
Ali: I would.
Austin: What’s that outfit look like?
Ali: LIke, I don’t have a keyboard, so I can’t google.
Austin: Ok, well.
Ali: I would say like a year and a half ago, NikeTalk had the… not NikeTalk, just Nike.
Austin: Uh huh.
Ali: Um, Nike had this like, black and gold line of athletic wear.
Austin: Uh huh.
Ali: Um, and I’ve tweeted it before. I retweeted it recently.
Austin: You did.
Ali: But it’s just like, a very good like, coat with a gold zipper, and like, some gold accents. It’s very good.
Art: Not enough companies do flashy zippers. It really helps a garment a lot.
Austin: That’s true. Great.
Ali: But yeah, Hella having this like, great adventuring gear windbreaker that looks great. She’s happy with it.
Austin: Perfect. I’m so excited to be… for people to see this thing. [Ali laughs] It’s good… It’s good non-armor wear, right?
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: Gotta sometimes not wear armor. Alright.
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: Um, and he leaves you there and then goes to find Adaire somewhere inside. Where are you inside?
Janine: Um… uh… I think Adaire is probably like in the staff lounge. I think she’s probably...
Austin: Ok.
Janine: ...like, hemming someone’s mini-cloak.
Austin: [overlapping] Um, I think you probably hear like…
Janine: [overlapping] Cause it just doesn’t fall on the right of the…
Austin: Hmm, yeah. Sorry you cut out for a second. I thought you were… you stopped talking.
Janine: It’s fine.
Austin: Um, you hear a knock like, a couple of doors down, and then another knock, and it’s like, Samothes is like,
Austin (as Samothes): [grumbling] Oh, excuse me. Adaire? Ok.
Austin: And then like finds his way into the room with you. And he says,
Austin (as Samothes): Adaire! Stayin’ busy!
Janine (as Adaire): Always stayin’ busy.
Austin (as Samothes): Gotta stay busy.
Janine (as Adaire): Gotta stay busy.
Austin (as Samothes): I, uh, I have a favor to ask you.
Janine (as Adaire): Uh, what can I do for ya?
Austin (as Samothes): So, you’re gettin’ out of here soon.
Janine (as Adaire): Uh huh.
Austin (as Samothes): Which… that’s great. I, uh… you have a way of getting things done. We both know that. Sometimes just stuff happens. Adaire can get something done.
Janine (as Adaire): Uh huh.
Austin (as Samothes): Uh, there’s a letter that I have to get delivered, and it’s impossible for me to deliver it. Cause I’m here.
Janine (as Adaire): That’s fair.
Austin (as Samothes): Could I give that letter to you? And could you…
Janine (as Adaire): Totally. Yeah.
Austin (as Samothes): ..get it… alright.
Austin: And he gives you like, an envelope with like a seal. Like a wax seal on it. Uh, and on the front it just says… [pauses] I think it says, ‘Dad’ on it. I don’t think he says father or Samol. Or does he have some nickname? Hmm… I think it says… No, I think it just says ‘Dad’.
Austin (as Samothes): I have no idea where he is. He like little… every now and then, sense if he’s near the sword, I guess. But uh, I have no idea. I don’t even know what Hieron looks like anymore, really. Uh, and I don’t know if… I don’t know if there’s time to get this to him, but if someone can do it, I thought maybe you could.
Janine (as Adaire): Sure. It’d be good to see him again.
Austin (as Samothes): Would it? Last time you wound up in here.
Janine (as Adaire): I don’t know. He’s kind of fun. He’s like… he’s kind of weird, and it’s fun. That’s all.
Austin (as Samothes): Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Janine (as Adaire): Listen, he’s better than my dad, so… I think you’re doin’ ok.
Austin (as Samothes): Yeah. He was good.
Austin: He like, catches himself, bad. Like, he’s right on the ledge… of tears. Uh, and he says,
Austin (as Samothes): I hope you got something out of all this.
Janine (as Adaire): [laughs] I don’t know. I feel like that’s the kind of thing you figure out a few years down the line. I don’t…
Austin (as Samothes): Yeah. Well, so the thing is that’s weird is, you know, I spent a lot of time… My dad made a lot of things, and he made a lot of people who made a lot of things. And then a lot of it was shitty. A lot of it was real bad. And so, I spent a lot of time being like.... [exhales] resentful of his impulses to make stuff regardless of what it did to other people. What it did to me. What it did to me. I don’t… I didn’t care about other people. I’m not gonna lie.
I was resentful because he would make stuff and didn’t think about how it would impact me, and I never, never… I never thought about what it could do for me. Or how to make it something that was both of ours. And I just want to let him know that yeah. I figured out why it’s cool to make stuff. This place was good, and uh, I hope you took something from this place, too. I don’t know. I really like this place. Is there someone who should… keeping runnin’ it? When you leave? Do you have like a manager or something that you think could carry it on?
Janine (as Adaire): Uh… That’s a good question, you know.
Austin: We can fade there. You don’t have to invent a new person, unless you know.
Janine: I don’t… I mean, I… to be honest, I think attitude… I think Adaire’s attitude is probably that like, a lot of the people who…
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: … have… especially the people who’ve grown up here...
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: ...who maybe wouldn’t have a trade of their own that they were already established in when Adaire was putting up her ‘now hiring’ signs.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: She might find them a little bit on the complacent side.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: Like, they don’t have that hunger.
Austin: That edge.
Janine: Like, she wants them to hunger.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: Um, she wants them with an edge. I think maybe… I think she maybe jokingly says, like,
Janine (as Adaire): Yeah, if we get back. and we like, kill someone whose got a really good store or something, you send them here. They’ll probably take care of it.
Austin (as Samothes): Uh huh.
Janine (as Adaire): I guess maybe that won’t work? If…
Austin (as Samothes): [overlapping] There’s a window. There’s a window.
Janine (as Adaire): [overlapping] When that thing is up, if there’s… Ok, so we have to kill someone really quick after we get back. Ok. Ok. I’ll keep it in mind.
Janine: She’s mostly kidding.
Austin: Yeah, and so he’s… he is also, but it’s good. It’s… he’s killed a lot of people in his life. [Ali laughs] Um, Hadrian? It is like, the day before you have to go. Maybe it’s the day you go. Everyone else is like, already at the docks.
Janine: [interrupting] I don’t get a favor?
Austin: If you want a favor, yeah, you can get a favor. Yes.
Janine: Everyone else got a favor.
Austin: Sorry, that’s me. I’ll offer you a favor, too.
Janine: I think Adaire would ask. She would very like, if he says like, if you need anything, she immediately is ready with like… [Austin laughs] magic daggers.
Austin: Sure. Yeah, of course.
Janine: Shoot your shot, you know?
Austin: Shoot your shot. Get magic daggers, and we’ll figure out what they are later. But yeah, of course.
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: They’re in.. .They are just like, in the luggage or like, on top of the luggage the next day.
Janine: Dope.
Austin: Yeah. Um, So, where does… where does Samothes find you, Hadrian?
Art: Um…
Austin: On the day that it’s time to go. I want to clear, you’ve spoken with him between the last conversation, you know what I mean? He’s… you do still talk to him every week in the lead up to this, but he hasn’t… this scene hasn’t happened yet, is all.
Art: Right, um…
Austin: Oh… one second. I need to know from Jack. [typing to Jack, who was no longer there] Alright. Where does he find you?
Art: Aw… that’s a big one.
Austin: Yeah.
Art: Um, is the shrine of Sabinia the right… the right answer?
Austin: Sure. Yeah, yeah. Maybe in that little room that’s connected to the other world?
Art: Yeah.
Austin: Which now is like, connected enough to start to actually feel connected.
Art: But people can’t communicate back to me, huh?
Austin: Um, not in… It’s…
Art: [overlapping] Do we not want to open that?
Austin: Yeah, it’s not conversation, right? It’s not like, ‘oh, we’re talking.’ It’s still… You can see in… er you can see out, but there’s no way to be like, ‘Yes, I here what you’re saying. We’re having a good conversation now, you know?’
Art: Sure.
Austin: And I think mostly what you see is, you see over the course of this like, final year, what you get the picture of is like… I guess this is important for you to see and know… is there are people working on the blade, partially working on it with you know, hammers and anvils, partially they’re working on it with magic. And the people working on it with magic include Sunder Havelton, Uklan Tel, and Benjamin.
Art: Oh.
Austin: And also Benjamin is at this point, depending on your count, between 18 and 20.
Art: Um, I’m firmly on the side that we established he was 10.
Austin: We did, and then a thing that happened is… I’m also on that side. He went into the bubble, and spent years in the bubble. And so, he spent 2 years in the bubble apparently, is a thing. I’ve not gotten to this part of the relisten yet, but he same out older than he went in. Um, but that’s still like, what is bubble time? You know what I mean? Like…
Art: I mean, we gotta find out what bubble time is. [Ali laughs]
Austin: We gotta, at some point, right? I mean it’s… It seemed very positive for Benjamin, right?
Art: Sure. I mean…
Austin: Um, but… but yeah.
Art: But I… oh. Hmm… well…
Austin: Be in between… He’s a young adult. He’s between 18 and 20.
Art: Sure. Um, and of course, I’m not...
Austin: [interrupting] And also, and also, and also, none of us know what it’s like to live like, starving to death in a weird, abandoned camp… like, university campus for 8 years. So, like, I don’t know what being an 18 year old in that world is like, you know?
Art: Uh, yeah. Um…
Austin: But for me, it was being deeply irresponsible, and I bet Benjamin is not that. In that same way. A little bit irresponsible. Still a teen, but…
Art: Ok, but this… I’m not just finding this information out. I’ve know this for…
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Art: So, this is…
Austin: [overlapping] This year.
Art: …this is a contributing factor to Hadrian’s um, like…
Austin: [finishing Art’s sentence] Feelings. Yeah probably.
Art: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah.
Art: Great, um, cool. This is gonna be… This is…
Austin: So, maybe we, yeah. We don’t have to have that scene there. Maybe that’s a bad place to have that scene.
Art: Yeah. Well, cause… but I mean, it probably means Hadrian is spending more time there and…
Austin: True. Right. Right. Actually, I like that a lot. You’re standing in this place where you can look out and see your son and your friends, but you can also just go get on the boat now. And you’re not doing that.
Art: Right. He...
Austin: So, I think he… I think… Samothes finds you there.
Art: Oh. This is… There’s just so many implications about this.
Austin: Yeah.
Art: This… what… what have I been saying? What have… it’s not important. That’s not the scene we’re doing right now.
Austin: I… Here’s the… I think maybe the easiest thing is like, it’s very hard to communicate out because they’re working on the blade.
Art: Sure. Um..
Austin (as Samothes): Hadrian.
Art (s Hadrian): Yeah?
Austin (as Samothes): Runnin’ late.
Art (s Hadrian): I just… I just… I like spending time here.
Austin (as Samothes): I understand. Um, yeah. It’s good to be able to see the world. How are you feeling?
Art (s Hadrian): Um, are… are you coming with us?
Austin (as Samothes): Hadrian. I wish I could. You know I wish I could. I wish I could walk back into Hieron with a cape and a glowing sword and lead a charge into the Heat and the Dark, and find a new, beautiful world to live on, and you know that. You know it’s not. That’s not… That’s fairy tales. [Art laughs softly] I don’t get to go back. What I get is for you to go back. That’s… That’s the best I’ve had, in terms of touching that place in a long time.
Art (s Hadrian): And there’s.. There’s nothing we can do? We can’t trade? We can’t…
Austin (as Samothes): No. No. [pause] Red Jack and I thought the same thing. We tried it. No.
Art (s Hadrian): I’m scared. I’m scared of what comes next.
Austin (as Samothes): Hadrian.
Art: I’m like, acting with my head. I’m… sorry. [laughs]
Austin: You go ahead.
Art: I was doing like, I realized I was doing acting with like, the… we’re recording. It’s like, but it’s like the look up, right? It’s like, Hadrian has his head in his hands, and when Samothes says that, he like, he raises his eyes, but he doesn’t, like, change his posture.
Austin: Yeah. I think Samothes walks over and embraces you. Like, big, real embrace. And like, pulls you close and says,
Austin (as Samothes): People like me, we don’t get to pick. We don’t… I didn’t give you the power I gave you because you did well in school or because you were chosen or because.... You had the capacity in you. You had it in you. You still do. You are a leader, and you are faithful and you’re proud of your friends. And it is ok to be scared.
Austin: And he lets go and steps back a second, but like, holds onto your shoulder.
Austin (as Samothes): It is a terrifying world. You know, for a while there we taught people that the Heat and the Dark was a curse. An evil magic that was obscuring the beauty of the real world beyond Hieron. And it’s not true. That is all there is. Forever in every direction. And then there is us. All we have is us. And that is… I don’t know. I think that’s… I think that’s beautiful. I think it’s naive. I think it’s… It is the most us thing there is. To look around. To see that there isn’t anything else. And then to find each other. [pause] And that is why the thing I’m about to say is really hard, Hadrian. You talked to Chapter, right?
Art (s Hadrian): Yeah.
Austin (as Samothes): When they protect this place, when they… when they put up the shell or the shield or whatever you want to call it. That’s gonna close… That’s gonna… I will be as distant as I have ever been. And I’ve been pretty distant, I know. You will always have the warmth of my love, but it will not be [sighs] It will not be a living warmth. It will be a memory. [pause and exhale] I could not let you go without telling you that I’m sorry it took me so long. But I couldn’t bring myself.
Art (s Hadrian): I understand. Of course. Of course I understand.
Austin (as Samothes): I made you this sword. [laughs] It’s a stupid thing.
Austin: And he gives you the… Do you remember the golden blade you found? That…
Art: Yeah.
Austin: ...then bad… that Maelothes turned into shitty bad sword?
Art: Yeah. Uh huh.
Austin: Yeah. He made it into a new golden sword, and it like, as you touch it… Actually, you know what I think he probably did is? I think he and Chapter built it together. And it’s like, the same golden bottom half, but then the starstuff up top.
Art: Oh. That’s cool.
Austin: Yeah. Um, he’s like,
Austin (as Samothes): You gotta be real careful with it. Special sheath. [Art laughs] It’s… [pauses] It’s a sword. It’s a… It’s… You don’t get to swing this at the Heat and the Dark and you win. You know, but um, I made a lot of weapons in my time, and the thing that I learned is it’s… When you give one as a gift, when someone looks at it, they look at it and go, ‘Ok.’ It isn’t about who they can kill with it. And maybe it should. [Art laughs] For Hella, it’s probably… It probably is. For Hella. If you gave Hella a new sword, she’d be like, ‘Who could I kill with this?’ And that’s probably the smart way of doin’ it.
Art (s Hadrian): I don’t know. She’s really into the sword she has.
Austin (as Samothes): Yeah. It’s a good sword.
Art (s Hadrian): Is it?
Austin (as Samothes): Hmm… no. [sighs] The… the thing people think of is, ‘who can I help with this? Who can I save with this? What does this make me look like?’ And the thing I want this to do for you is I want people to look at you and go, ‘That’s Hadrian.’ I want them to look at you and think of you, not me.
I cannot ask anything of you. [laughs] I don’t have a favor. I don’t have a… You’ve given so much already. I just want you to remember. Remember your faith, but to have some in yourself, too. And to hold my care and my pride for you in your heart. And I… Love your friends, and [sighs] Remember that out there, this place isn’t special. You can do anything out there. You can do anything. Promise me, Hadrian, when you get out there, [laughs] this is it. This is the favor.
Promise me you will not get out there and consign yourself to living well. You have done many things to help people, but there are times that you hide behind a desire for safety. Or behind the shield of loss. The end will find us whether we cower or not. There is no reason to be fearful. So, above all else, try to live a good life.
Art (s Hadrian): I promise. [long pause]
Austin (as Samothes): You ready? You have any questions? I’m sure you have a lot. I’m sure I…
Art (s Hadrian): Yeah, I don’t have any questions you can answer. I… I… I would just ask you everything. I want to know what to do. I… what you would have me do when I get back? What do I do after that? I would… I would ask you all of the things I’ll never be able to ask you again. But I hear you. I have to do it on my own now.
Austin (as Samothes): You don’t have to do it on your own now. You’re about to get on a boat with Hella and Lem and Adaire, and I’ve seen through this sword. I don’t know it all, but I see the sort of people you’re surrounded by. I see… I don’t know, but I’ve seen the son that you have. I’ve seen Rosana. Protect your friends, care for them, lead them. And let them do the same for you. Take it from me, do not do anything alone.
Art (s Hadrian): Thank you.
Austin: And I guess he walks with you to the docks.
Art: Yeah.
Austin: Briefly, there’s someone else at the docks, and it is Adelaide. Uh, is everyone else there already? I’m guessing yes.
Art: Yeah.
Austin: They’re just tapping their foot Sonic-style, [Ali laughs] being like, ‘Where the fuck is Hadrian?’
Austin (as Adelaide): So, Hella.
Ali (as Hella): Yeah.
Austin (as Adelaide): You gonna miss me?
Ali (as Hella): Wait, you’re not coming?
Austin (as Adelaide): No. Why would I go back there?
Ali (as Hella): You’re bored here. You’re like complaining all the time.
Austin (as Adelaide): I’m only complaining all the time because it annoys you. [Ali and Austin sigh] Hella, you want me back there?
Ali (as Hella): [laughs] Oh man, Um… [laughs] I mean, no. But like, you filled the silence for a very long time, and it… I just thought you were coming.
Austin (as Adelaide): Yeah. I… Hmm. I could be convinced, but…
Ali (as Hella): [laughing] I don’t know. You just seem like a, you know, a mover and a shaker, right? You really just want to be stuck in this sword looking at this beach.
Austin (as Adelaide): It’s a nice beach. I don’t know what happens if I go back, Hella. I could… I don’t know.
Ali (as Hella): Oh, he didn’t give you like a talk?
Austin (as Adelaide): No, I mean… [exhale] He doesn’t know either. I could go back and the place I was could be nothing. And even beyond that, [exhale] you know what I wanted. I wanted a world like this. And I admit, I was a little messy in how I wanted to bring it about, but this is a place where people can live their lives for as long as they want. And I’m not queen here, but nothing’s perfect.
Austin: And she smirks.
Ali (as Hella): I mean, it’s your life to live. It is what it is. Whatever. I mean, it’s fine. It’s fine. You don’t have to come back. I mean, the people outside can’t live their lives as long as they want, and like, I thought, you know, if you think of yourself as all powerful and clever and smart or whatever, you might want to come back and like…
Austin (as Adelaide): You’re not gonna tease me into this, Hella.
Ali (as Hella): [laughs] You don’t know that.
Austin (as Adelaide): Maybe if we were already on the boat.
Ali (as Hella): It’s on it’s way.
Austin (as Adelaide): Yeah. I… Hmm.
Austin: She’s like super conflicted. [Ali laughs] Um,
Austin (as Adelaide): What happens if… What happens if I come back with you and then people… Hella, people won’t… They’ll blame me for a lot. And I’ve done some things, but there are lots of things I didn’t do.
Ali (as Hella): Are you kidding me? I’m going back. And also, I was blamed for like, half of that stuff. I mean, you don’t have to. We could just use all the help we could get.
Austin (as Adelaide): You think I’d be help?
Ali (as Hella): I think you have the capacity to help. I mean, what’s the point of this? What would have been the point of this whole time? If you want to stay, you could have got a house across town. You could have lived with Ginny.
Austin (as Adelaide): Ugh. Ugh.
Ali (as Hella): Didn’t she like, go to Nacre fuckin’...
Austin (as Adelaide): Ginny’s… uunnn… No.
Ali (as Hella): Yeah, exactly.
Austin (as Adelaide): Ginny’s fine. Ginny’s fine. [Ali laughs] But… she was a fantastic first mate for Brandish, but…
Ali (as Hella): I’m better than fine.
Austin (as Adelaide): Yeah. [Ali laughs] Yeah.
Ali (as Hella): God.
Austin (as Adelaide): Yeah. Pretty fine, but better than fine.
Ali (as Hella): You do whatever you want. You had opportunities you missed out on, too. It is what it is.
Austin (as Adelaide): I’m serious that if I come back with you, none of know what happens. I could come back, and then that’s it. I’m gone. And then you still don’t hear my beautiful voice in your head anymore.
Ali (as Hella): So, it’s like a lose-lose, or it’s like maybe a win-lose? If you want to roll the dice.
Austin (as Adelaide): If I stay here, I get to live, which… I think is pretty good. [Ali laughs]
Ali (as Hella): Fair. I don’t know, you know. I figured you wanted to take the gamble, but you don’t have to. It’s a big decision. I’m trying to tease you into getting out.
Austin (as Adelaide): I know. I know.
Ali (as Hella): I’m not gonna ask you.
Austin (as Adelaide): I know. Why?
Ali (as Hella): Because.
Austin (as Adelaide): Because?
Ali (as Hella): I mean, [sighs and laughs]
Austin (as Adelaide): It’s cause other people are here? Do you wanna like, go behind a different boat, and you can ask me?
Ali (as Hella): No, cause it’s the point. It’s the point. I know that you… The point is that I don’t want you to be there.
Austin (as Adelaide): You don’t want me to… You don’t want me there? That’s the point?
Ali (as Hella): That’s the point for you.
Austin (as Adelaide): That’s… There are lots of points.
Ali (as Hella): [laughs] I think you’re smart. And I think you would help. But if… Hmm. [laughs]
Austin: Uh huh?
Ali (as Hella): If there’s a risk, I get it. But like, there was a risk when I pulled you in.
Austin (as Adelaide): Yeah, there was. [Ali laughs] There was a risk when you were falling in, and I was tryin’ to keep that from happening. I guess, the dice rolled alright. It’s been fun. I’ve come around on boats. I know it’s weird, Nacre is a port city, but I was never one for boats.
Ali (as Hella): Yeah, exactly. You don’t think about it, that you never saw more of Hieron?
Austin (as Adelaide): I saw a lot of Hieron. I got a pretty good perspective on all sorts of people. See, this is the thing. I’m gonna come back, and then you’re gonna resent me. Here you don’t have to do that. Because here we’re just weirdos on this island together. If I come back with you, you’re gonna hate me.
Ali (as Hella): Why would I hate you?
Austin (as Adelaide): If you don’t hate me, your friends are gonna hate me. If they don’t hate me...
Ali (as Hella): You don’t know that. We literally don’t know. Whatever plan you had, whatever plan you made me do... remember when you made me do that?
Austin (as Adelaide): It was a very good plan.
Ali (as Hella): It was sort of. It was fine. But like, just do that, but not shitty. Just do that again, but not a shitty version of it. Can you do that?
Austin (as Adelaide): I don’t know. I could come back and not be able to do anything.
Ali (as Hella): Well, let’s see. You don’t want to see…
Austin (as Adelaide): Let’s see, and then the Heat and the Dark comes. And then what? Then we die. And then we die, and you’re teasing me.
Ali (as Hella): And then we die. I’m going back. And I’m gonna die out there. And if you want to be in the sword, you can be in the sword. But I’m dying out there.
Austin (as Adelaide): I’m the queen of death. You can’t die out there without me.
Ali (as Hella): Is that?
Austin (as Adelaide): Let’s roll the dice. [Ali laughs]
Austin: Alright. Let’s roll the dice.
Ali: [laughs harder] Oh noooo. This is gonna be the first sword roll?
Austin: Uh huh. This is the only sword roll. [Ali laughs, Janine sighs] Everyone, you know… I think Adelaide… Adelaide gets her stuff together pretty quickly. It’s weird how close her stuff was. [Ali laughs] the whole time. It’s… I guess just has really great, you know, messengers running that stuff. I don’t know. Um…
Ali: She has a great luggage set.
Austin: She has an incredible… Oh my god.
Ali: She’s just like, luggage cubes, and she keeps stuff in it already. She’s like, picking them up.
Austin: Uh huh. Ready to go. Um, and everyone boards the boat. It’s your boat, Hella.
Ali: Uh huh.
Austin: Y’all repaired the boat, right? It’s not leaky anymore?
Ali: Yes.
Austin: Ok. Good. Um, you have to go off into the storm. Any words?
Ali: Um… I don’t know. I think we’re like, at least for Hella, at least, I feel like she’s leaving with the people she would want to leave with.
Austin: Yeah. The lightning is closer and closer. The sea gets shakier and shakier. Everyone said their last goodbyes, also by the way. I want to make sure I’m not like… If anyone had anything else to say, that was the time.
Janine: I feel like Adaire would maybe like, wave at like…
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: There would be like some cute shop girls in half capes.
Austin: Uh huh.
Ali: [laughs] Aww.
Janine: She’d like, wave, and then be like, [sighs]
Austin: I think Chapter’s also there to see y’all off. Is kind of quiet, and um is… I think [sighs] I think they unfold their wings which is like, a weird salute, I guess, for you. They don’t explain that, but that happens. Uh, and then, yeah. The waves are rocky, and the lightning is striking off in the water, in the distance. And the rain starts coming down harder and harder. And you have to manage it. Hella, your captaining the ship. Want to give me a roll?
Ali: [laughs] Ok, I’m gonna pull out my onscreen keyboard.
Austin: So, I think this is a 2d6 plus, this is a defy danger, right? Um, how are you doing it? What does Captain… how does Captain Hella try to navigate the storm and find the like, weird lightning gate?
Ali: Oh, I’ve literally failed every boat roll I’ve done this fucking game. Um, I [laughs]
Austin: Uh huh.
Ali: I think it’s the thing where like, we’ve talked about Hella all year feeling a storm and feeling disconnected, and then like, righting herself. Um, but I think that she just keeps leaning into it. Like, whatever’s pulling them, she goes that way instead of being like, ‘Oh, we have to like, be safe.’ Right?
Austin: Yeah. Is that like, what is that? What stat is that?
Ali: Is it constitution?
Austin: It might be, yeah.
Ali: That feels like a constitution.
Austin: Kind of like, do we just have to fucking bear it out. We just have to fucking grit our teeth and get through this.
Ali: Right, yeah, exactly.
Austin: Yeah.
Ali: Cause they’re going into a storm. Like, it’s not like an avoid the storm sort of thing.
Austin: No. 100% no. Um, and like, it’s not even clear like… Do you get hit by lightning? Are you not supposed to get hit by lightning? We’re just supposed to go into this fucking storm? Are you kidding me? Ok, cool. So, yeah. That feels like constitution.
Ali: Ok.
Austin: Constitution has 16, so it’s 2d6+2. That is an 11.
Ali: [whispered] Thank you god.
Austin: The lightning strikes, and it strikes closer and closer. And the thunder is roaring. And you’re in the sea, and you look back to Aubade one more time. And the lightning strikes, and it is gone. And then, there’s a current that takes your boat. And it is… you know, you look back forward, and you realize you’re no longer even on the sea. You’re… you’re in a river just outside of the university's environment. Just past… I mean, you can see the shimmering shield of the university. It’s… you know?
It looks like the one that Chapter showed you inside except here it’s surrounding all the towers and walls of the university off in the distance. And you are in the boat, and you are in a river and… You’re not at the sword. You don’t know where the sword is. You’re just at the closest body of water. Uh, and Hella, you’ll notice that Adelaide isn’t here. She isn’t in the boat. Um, but you can still sense her. You can still feel her presence, and not from the sword, but from Hieron. You can… It feels like how it used to feel.
[Jack de Quidt’s “Something” begins playing]
Um, and you can tell that she will be in touch. And like, no one’s there to see you all. Right? Like, they put the sword back together, but they don’t know… Like, ‘Ok, the sword is together. Cool.’
It’s probably been together for a little while, you know? Cause of the way time works. And so, it’s like they’ve been sitting and waiting and hoping, and now you’ve shown up off to the west somewhere. In a river. You’re able to like, dock the ship. It’s a storm here, too, but like, you’re able to get the ship to dock, and tie it down and all that. And I guess walk towards the university? Is that what y’all do?
Art: Yeah, it sounds as good a plan as any.
[Jack de Quidt’s “Something” finishes playing out]
[1] The name in the audio recording is no longer in use, hence the audio/transcript discrepancy.