Marielda 02: The City of Light Pt. 2
Transcriber: Zoe [0:00 - 10:10], Cole [10:11 - 1:55:00]
Austin (as the Narrator) [slight drawl]: Pala-din. I heard somewhere in the old tongue it meant to serve. But those things, those men of living marble, they didn’t serve Marielda, they severed it. Before they’d arrive the different districts blended one to the next—
[Marielda by Jack de Quidt begins under voiceover]
Austin (as the Narrator) [slight drawl; cont.]: —you’d spend a morning under the Canopies, slide noontime to a lunch near Christopher’s humble parish, and move in the eve towards a balmy get-together at the black sand beaches of Slow Point. But once the Pala-din arrived those vague borderlines became distinct, drawn in bold by patrol routes, etched in by the hard, stone glares of our new voiceless overseers. Now, that didn’t stop some folks from moving when they needed to. But for most of us, we learned our place, kept quiet, went about our business. The Pala-din didn’t need to touch us direct, they disciplined us by presence alone.
[Theme music volume increases and plays to end]
Austin: What’s the, what’s-, what do you do, Nick? What else is up with your turn?
Nick: Ohhhh, boy. Well, that changes, so-some of my ideas.
Austin: [overlapping] Hah, yeah
[Janine small laugh]
Nick: I would like to have a discussion about--uh, alright, I’m going to ask a question, the question is: What do you think we should do about these stone men, if anything?
Austin: Right, I should, I--for new listeners I should be clear: the pala-din are like, marble guards, like, kinda like, uh, Roman statues, like Classical statues in marble, but they move robotically. Um, not robotically, not like, in fits and starts, like, they move without, without vocalizing what their intention is, um, and cleanly commit acts of violence with very little, no reaction to what they’re doing.
Keith: [overlapping] Sort of like man sized Apokine?
Austin: Yeah, totally, totally.
Nick: Uh, yeah, okay, so that’s my question, so I guess it goes to Austin.
Austin: Um, oh boy are the nobles happy about this. Finally, our Lord has returned and offers uh, a show of his love for us.
Keith: Ugh
Austin: Um. We should, we should value them and behave in the ways, but this is a reminder of what our Lord requires from us.
Janine: I think the pants men are sweatin’ a little. Like, sweatin--
Austin: [overlapping] Oooh
Janine: And collar pulling, cause like, there’s a wall, sure, but as much as, as much as the people in the town are peekin’ out at them sometimes, there’s no way they’re not, like, peeking in. And how do you miss, like, big stone dudes walking out of the water, the like super dangerous water and just kind of, um, cleaning house?
Austin: Mmhm
Janine: So, they’re probably less thrilled than normal about being, being trapped. I’m gonna say that’s, that’s the stance.
Keith: Yeah, they must have felt like their luck has run out after being ignored for--
[Austin/Janine laugh]
Keith: Five months?
Janine: Maybe they’re just hoping no one’s gonna mention them cause they’re rel--they’ve relative, seem rela-- seemed relatively harmless. They’re just the group of fashionable strangers up in the north--
[Austin/Keith/Nick small laugh]
Janine: No one’s gonna mention them to the weird stone boys.
Austin: They’re very fashionable, to be fair. Uh, Art?
Art: ‘Now my great, great, great grandfather fought one of these stone men back in his day.’
Austin: God damnit
Art: ‘And they, they just dispatched him in no time, it’s what drove my great, great grandfather into the woods in the first time--in the first place-’
[Austin laughs in background]
Art: I think we need to be very suspicious, and not take these gentlemen for granted.
Nick and Austin: Or granite.
Austin: Or granite. Great! Good. Good, great.
Keith (as a character, unnamed): I used to go in there everyday and read and now they won’t let me in, this is bullshit. [out of character] Oh, they’re everywhere, huh?
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: Oh, boy.
Keith: They’re not just in the library.
Austin: [overlapping with Keith] There are uh--there are...300 of them? 400?
Keith: 300 of them!? What uh-- many people are there in the city, like 10,000? 2,000?
Austin: [overlapping] Yeah, 10,000, something like that. There are a bunch. They’re never, you’re never not seeing them, now.
Nick: Is there...do you think the people of this town would recognize what that tower is?
Austin: No.
Nick: Okay.
Austin: The people from outside might, the, the exiles might.
Nick: Sure.
Austin: But the people inside do not.
Nick and Austin: [overlapping] Uh.
Nick: Alright so my own answer to my question…
Austin: Yes
Nick: I guess is uh, I think we should do something, but uh they’re really scary, so I don’t know what.
Austin: Yeah...Uh I’m gonna introduce a new, a new, based on them- a new resource that’s lacking, which is privacy.
Nick: Uh huh
Janine: Mmhm
Austin: They’re everywhere.
Janine: They’re staying well clear of Hedy I noticed that.
Austin: Yeah, they’re not fucking with, with, Canopy...Well I feel like they’re not, like, in Canopy Row, but they are, uh, they do like their walk around the, the exterior.
Janine: Hmm
Austin: Um-
Nick: I mean, yeah.
Austin: They haven’t gone in yet... Alright. Next turn, uh, also real quick Art, Art, I did notice um, now that I’m looking at it, that the Samothes symbol you’ve drawn here has a different, is different than the one in Dungeon World Season One?
Art: Yes. Yeah, I, I, it was, I mean, it’s honestly not a like, careful plan of mine and more like, having fun with the drawing tools in Roll20, but yeah, it’s different. Uh, in Dungeon World Season One it’s a circle and, uh, this is a little subtle and impossible if you listen to it as a radio play but the new one has, uh, wha-, uh, has lines at like nine, eleven, twelve, one and three? Like a clock?
Austin: [overlapping] It’s like a sun--it’s like a sun rays.
Art: Yeah, it’s like sun rays but they don’t go below the sun equator, the sunquator?
Austin: Hm, yeah. Um, huh. I got a--I got a pretty good one here. Ten, Summer. “You discover a cache of supplies, or resources, add a new abundance. Or. A scarcity has gone unaddressed for far too long. Start a project that will alleviate that scarcity.” Hm.
Janine: That is a good one.
Art: Hmmm
Austin: Hm.
Keith: This is either--either way this is nice.
Austin: This is nice, either way. But I think I can make it interesting and shitty for us, too.
Keith: Great.
Janine: Oh good. [laughs]
Keith: I was hoping, I was like, man, really need to fucking put a stick in these spokes.
Austin: Let’s see. Or maybe I could just be good.
Keith: Yeah!
Art: That’s a good expression, Keith.
Keith: You’ve already got the Pala--thank you. I don’t know if it’s an expression.
Austin: [overlapping with Art] Uh, let’s add...
Art: If you made it up it’s good, I’ve, it’s an expression now.
Keith: Awesome. Let’s use it. Everybody, say it, all the time. Wait, say it when applicable.
Art: No, no, I getcha.
[Janine/Keith laugh]
Austin: Oh, here we go. Yeah, okay. So, uh, one day in the middle of the summer in the high high heat just east of where the dead body is, at that big old rock where the water comes out...uh, there is what starts as a scuffle between some of the exiles who have begun to make camp to the north of the city walls, who are growing in number more and more, uh, and who can now really be called a uh, like a refugee camp of their own. And a number of city dwellers who are going to collect fresh water from that rock. And there is a uh, uh, it doesn’t come to weapons but it does come to blows and then very quickly the Pala-din arrive and kill the exile and there’s a new abundance and that abundance is security.
Janine: Oh no, the pants boys, though!
Austin: Mmhm
Keith: Wait, all the pants boys?
Austin: No, no, they killed the-
Keith: Just the one
Austin: [overlapping] They killed the one
Keith: The one that was in exile.
Austin: Yeah there are too many of them to just kill all of them at this point, or like you could but that would be like, a different thing, is I guess the thing.
Keith: Yeah.
Janine: But also the ones that are alive don’t have fresh water now.
Austin: That’s correct, that is ours now...“ours”
Nick: The new abundance is fancy pants.
Austin: And did we...yeah, we have fresh water, we don’t have privacy but we now have security! That’s a good trade, right? That’s what people think.
Nick: Oh god.
Janine: Right.
Art: Oh. [Austin laughs]
Keith: Look at us. Turning everything into the way things are. [Janine laughs]
Austin: That’s us. Welcome to Friends at the Table. The world is terrible. [Austin and Keith laugh]
Janine: But at least we have nice pants.
Austin: Uh un. And there is something else. Which is, so my turn to do a thing is I’m gonna discover something. I’m going to discover- I am gonna, once I- First I’m gonna drag one of these bodies- one of these pants boys over here. Uh, there is a small bridge that people spot coming from the elf camp to the northwest, across that river.
Keith: Uh hm.
Austin: That is like- it’s- it’s elevated above the water so that it has like, enough breathing room that it isn’t like, catching fire or maybe there’s something with the- with the building materials. But it’s not- it’s letting- it connects to the outside world.
Art: Oh shit.
Janine: Hmm.
Austin: I’ll draw it once I remember how to draw things in this- in this game. Uh, who’s next?
Janine: Me, I think. Right? Uh, oh! This is actually super, super perfect. [Art and Janine laugh] Ok.
Austin: That totally worked out.
Janine: Uh, so “either outsiders arrive in the area, why are they a threat? How are they vulnerable?” Actually, this isn’t perfect for the reason that it should be.
Austin: Oh ok.
Janine: “Or outsiders arrive in the area, how many? How are they greeted?” Um, I know the easy- the easy thing here is like, well, the elves are building their bridge. I don’t know if that bridge is done yet if we just noticed it.
Austin: Oh, the bridge is done.
Janine: Oh, is it? I thought you said it was like they were-
Austin: No, it’s done.
Janine: -making- Ok.
Austin: Bridge is done.
Janine: Hm..
Keith: Elves are fast at bridges.
Austin: Elves are really good at stuff.
Janine: That’s fair. It’s probably like a suspension bridge, and they like shot arrows off the-
Austin: Right, we- the important thing is we just discovered it. Like, that’s the- they didn’t just start it.
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: They didn’t start a project. Yeah.
Janine: Well, ok. I have a thing I want to do, but I can still do that as the second part. And this- I can’t ignore those elves. Like, that’s just silly.
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: They wouldn’t just build a bridge and then be like ‘Ok, we’re gonna go to Denny’s. Bye.’ [Nick laughs] Um, ok. So, what’s the- These are- the difference between these is weird.
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: Why are they a threat? How are they vulnerable? How many? How are they greeted? Um, I don’t know that I know the answer to the first one, so I’m gonna go with: How many? How are they greeted? I’m gonna say, there is like, a dozen. Which is, you know, enough for the party to be stable
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: Like, enough for them to not just be like, completely destroyed by whatever they come up against, but also not like, a ton. Not that like, if they did get wiped out that community would just be boned.
Austin: Right.
Janine: Um, so you know, there’s about a dozen of them. They’re probably greeted by people- shit, would they be greeted by the pala-din? Cause aren’t they like, up in that area from your turn.
[crosstalking]
Austin: Yeah, maybe. I mean, they’re- They’re wherever they need to be.
Janine: I guess just it’s like a week later.
Austin: You know?
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: We have security now, right?
Janine: Um, that’s true. But that’s- I don’t- I don’t know that I want to jump right to that cause they’ll just-
Austin: Ok.
Janine: -kill them or something. So-
Nick: Would the pala-din consider them a threat?
Janine: Hmm. I don’t know.
Austin: Probably not 12 of them, right?
Janine: I’m gonna say that they probably are met by like, someone who’s gathering water for Canopy Row.
Austin: Hmm, sure.
Janine: So, maybe they like skirt around the outside of that wall to duck back into-
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: -you know, however people get out to go to the forest or something like that. Uh-
Austin: I guess- one thing to think about is like, totally the- the pala-din let those people stay to the north until they got into a fight over the water, right?
Janine: Uh huh.
Nick: Oh yeah.
Austin: So- so that’s interesting.
Art: And if they’re the will of Samothes- I mean, they were trade partners for a long time.
Austin: Right.
Art: It’s not like this is like- who? What?
Janine: Yeah, so they might just be letting that go.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: So, they’re greeted by someone who’s just like, got water buckets, you know, on a yoke on their shoulders, and it’s maybe tense and that person just kinda decides to you know- they do that sort of thing where it’s like, they pass each other kind of slowly, and they’re both like, looking-
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: Just like, sizing each other up, and the guy with the water like, passes and then just walks a little bit faster back to Canopy Row to tell everyone.
Austin: [laughs] Good.
Janine: Um, which is not much of a greeting, but you know? That’s how things go.
Austin: A nod is a greeting, yeah? That’s-
Janine: Yeah. Um, so the thing that I had in mind, I want to do discover, even though I think we’re very discovery heavy.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: But that’s cause they’re fun. Um, so it’s like late at night, and there are these two sort of figures that appear on the beach in the south, and they sort of make their way through the like, that crumbling section of the wall that has that sort of security theater style fence across it. Just like, it’s not really doing anything, but it makes people feel better that it’s there. And it’s still there somehow. Um, and they make their way to Canopy Row. And it’s these two guys. They are completely naked. They’re also like, wet. They’ve been in the water, and they’re alive.
Austin: Fun.
Janine: Uh, and they’re also holding a ball between them.
Austin: Oh.
Janine: They’re not really holding it, like they were holding it at one point, but now their hands are sort of fused to it. [Austin makes an uncomfortable noise] And it’s the ball that was retrieved from the rubble after the purple dinosaur friend-
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: -uh, came and attacked. You know, that got thrown in the water, and they say that they were on the obsidian peaks.
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: And that the wealthy people- they per- the way they see it is, they think that the wealthy people you know, thought of another project to do with the boats and then just kind of forgot about them on those rocks.
Austin: Good.
Janine: Cause they don’t know what actually happened.
Austin: So, do they like, float back on those weird orbs?
Janine: Well, they found- they found that orb just kind of like- they heard like, a hum and it was kind of fading in and out. And they looked down, and the thing is kind of like, bobbing around in the water, and it’s- it seems fine. Um, so they fish it out, and like, at this point, it’s just these 2 guys. It’s Thaddeus and Rodmund Mung. They are brothers.
Austin: The worst names.
Janine: And they’re brothers- they’re like, wealthy enough that they were chosen to do this boat shit.
Austin: Right.
Janine: But not so wealthy that they didn’t have to mine obsidian.
Austin: That they didn’t get chosen. Yeah.
Janine: Um, so they see this like, orb-thing. The other people are dead at this point. They are waiting to die because they’ve just been forgotten, essentially. Or you know, they can’t get out there. Uh, and they have this orb, and they realize eventually that they’re not dying. And they’ve got this- they’re just sitting there on these rocks with this orb.
[crosstalking]
Austin: Like, they’re not starving to death?
Janine: They just say, “Fuck it’ Like- yeah.
Austin: Like they’re not-
Janine: They’re not starving to death. They’re not-
Austin: Or like, dying of heat stroke?
Janine: -dehydrated or anything. Yeah.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: So, they eventually each put a hand on this orb, and they like, use their belts to strap their hands to it or something to make it secure. And they decide to swim. And they make it. Except their hands are like fused to the glass casing, and they bring the orb back to Canopy Row because the rich people, again as they- they think that the rich people abandoned them, so ‘fuck them, we’ll give this to you’. Um, and there’s probably some discussion about like, we got rid of this thing, we think it’s evil. But also, it seems to be very useful.
Austin: Hmm.
Janine: And Hedy is probably there and probably says something to the effect of like,
Austin: Oh, does Hedy talk?
Janine: [overlapped] Wicked things could be very useful. Oh yeah, she talks. [Austin makes uncomfortable noise] She talks, but it’s like- she talks, but it’s like when you let the air out the neck of a balloon when you’re kind of stretching it. [Art laughs quietly in background]
Austin: Uh huh. Oh good. Good.
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: Ok. You gonna reflect this-
Janine: So, she probably laughs and she probably like, gestures vaguely with a kind of taffy-like limb-
Austin: Uh hm-
ART- Ahh.
Janine: -um, at the forest and to herself. And at the- [laughs]
Austin: No. I’m good.
Art: I- Ugh.
Janine: And at the neck and says,
Janine (as Hedy): You know, wicked things can be very useful.
Austin: Uh hm.
Art: I was so close to being through that without- without that happening.
Austin: Uh huh. No, that’s fine. Same.
Janine: [laughs] That’s my discovery.
Austin: Oh good. Thanks. Um, do you want to reflect that on the map?
Janine: Yes.
Nick: Hey-
Janine: I’m not entirely sure how.
Nick: I just- I just thought of something.
Austin: Uh hm?
Nick: Uh, since Hedy came out of a tree, can we nickname her, Hedy Lambarr? [Austin exhales]
Keith: Yes.
Nick: That doesn’t work on multiple levels. [Janine laughs]
Austin: No. Nope. [Nick laughs] Uh, cool. Good. Good and cool. Uh, alright. I dropped the- the project. Art?
Art: Alright. Let me draw a card here. I don’t think- uh, it’s ‘a project fails, which one and why?’ And there’s only one project right now.
Austin: Uh hm.
Art: Um, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to let those projects fail. And ‘something goes foul and supplies are ruined. Add a new scarcity.’
Austin: Hmm.
Art: Yeah, right?
Austin: So, that could either be changing an abundance to a scarcity or introducing something new that is scarce.
Art: Something new to be scarce? Oh boy. I don’t- I’ve got this.
Austin: I always believed in you.
Art: Uh, the pala-din surrounding both the library slash univer- uh, not- the library slash school and the university tower are-
Austin: Uh hm.
Art: -forbidding any kind of passage and entry and are kind of like, very quietly policing people who used to hang out there. And it turns magic from an abundance-
Austin: Hmm.
Art: -to a scarcity.
Austin: Ok. Interesting.
Janine: Hmm.
Nick: Oh man.
Art: No one’s comfortable doing it anymore. It gets you a visit. Someone knocks at your door.
Austin: And then visits- Does it ever turn to violence or does it- What happens to people who disagree or who- not just disagree, but people who try to keep using magic?
Art: Um. they just kind of- they just kind of walk off, you know? They- they go to work one day-
Austin: Hmm.
Art: And then not. I mean-
Austin: They don’t come back?
Art: They don’t come back.
Austin: Ok. But it’s not that magic stops working. It’s that there is a- a forced- uh, embargo on it. There’s like-
Art: Correct.
Austin: It’s verboten. Ok. Alright. Um, what do you do?
Art: I would like to start a project.
Austin: Good call.
Art: Yeah, thanks. I think people should look into the- I think people should investigate that dead body. I think we should gather a posse. [Janine laughs] And look into it.
Austin: How long do you think that will take?
Art: Um, I mean, we’ve let it sit for a while. The trails gone cold. [Austin laughs] I think it’s probably- it’s probably a six-weeker.
Austin: six weeks?! Ok, so like, we have to imagine that’s 6 weeks of like, deep investigative like, The Wire work, right? Like-
Art: Yeah.
Keith: Yeah. Yeah.
Austin: So, then, who’s dead that- that they care this much?
Art: Um-
Janine: Maybe that’s the problem is no one noticed anyone’s actually gone.
Austin: I guess, but like, why is this just- why is this dead guy getting this- getting 6 weeks of attention? Versus-
Keith: And why now?
Austin: Right, which is- I’m not saying don’t do it. I’m saying I like that it’s taking 6 weeks, cause of course it would. It’s taken forever to get on this case. But what happened that- that brought them to say, ‘We have to commit resources to figuring this out.’? Did someone important die? It’d be like, someone finally go look at that body, and go like, ‘Oh shit. It’s so-and-so.’
Janine: Hmm.
Austin: Even if it’s so-and-so we haven’t met yet. Like, even if this is a new character.
Keith: Holy shit. This is Mr. Marielda.
Austin: I hate you. [laughs]
Janine: Son of the Founder.
Austin: Right.
Art: Um- Let me uh- Let me peruse our existing character list to see if I like any of them.
Austin: Uh, to- to go over those again, there’s Tamsyn who is the kind of like, ad-hoc leader of Canopy Row. Um, there is Hedy Braum who is the- is the stretch lady. It can’t be her cause she just did a scene. [Janine laughs] There is Christopher who is-
Art: Sure.
Janine: [laughing] She’s been dead this whole time. That’s also good.
Austin: That’s- yeah. [Keith and Austin laugh] Christopher who is Samot’s teacher. There is the- there is [laughs] the Misters Good Pants. Uh, one of which is already dead. There’s Winsley Cartwright who is the alchemist who was the diplomat with the- with the um, cobbins.
Art: Um-
Keith: Are- Are all the cobbins dead? Or just the ones in the library?
Austin: Just the ones in the library.
Keith: Ok.
Austin: They still live on the beaches, I think.
Keith: Ok.
Art: I think it’s Winsley.
Austin: Yeah?
Art: Yeah.
Keith: Hm.
Austin: Ok. I could see how that could take 6 weeks cause like, some people think it was the cobbins. Some people think that it was the pala-din. Some people think that it was the elves. Like, there’s a bunch of different people it could be, and you’d probably really easily show your- kind of show your biases when you uh-
Art: Yeah.
Austin: Cool. Keith?
Keith: Hello.
Austin: Oooo. King of Summer.
Keith: King of S.
Janine: That sounds fun.
Austin: Oh shit.
Keith: Summer is fleeting. Discard the top 2 cards off the top of the deck-
Janine: Oh god.
Keith: -and take 2 actions this week.
Austin: I’ll discard these. And peek at what they are. Uh, they’re- they look like they’re- one of them was the jack that we’re getting rid of. One of the-
Art: We all peek at them or are you just peeking at them?
Austin: Yeah, you can peek at them. We’ll just- let’s just peek and just real quick-
Janine: I don’t want to know. I don’t even want to know.
Austin: Ok, you don’t want to know.
Janine: Uh un.
Austin: Oh, that one’s bad.
Keith: Yes. Four of Summer’s not good. So, glad we-
Austin: Neither is the jack.
Keith: Oh ok.
Austin: The jack is bad, too.
Keith: Alright. Not- not a big- not a huge loss. Alright.
Austin: Hey. You dodged two bad things. You dodged- one of the cards is basically like, predators are about and those suck. And the other one’s like, ‘oh, old people. Uh oh.’
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: It’s tough to deal with old people when there is not enough resources. So, hey. Good job. Bad job-
Janine: Summer is fleeting, but merciful.
Austin: Yeah. Bad job, summer’s over. This is the last card in the summer.
Janine: Oh.
Keith: Holy shit.
Austin: Um, I think- But uh, go ahead and- but you get two actions. That’s something.
Keith: I do. I do get two actions.
Austin: So, what do you want to do, Keith?
Keith: Oooo [exhales, then sing-song] Ooooo, what do I wanna do? Alright. So, I want to start a project.
Austin: Uh hm.
Keith: I would like the project to take 5 weeks.
Austin: Uh huh.
Keith: And I would like the project to be sort- uh, developing a uh- safe and secret learn- learn- learnin’ club.
Austin: Why is it- How? Ok. So, like an underground learning club?
Keith: An underground-
Janine: Hmm.
Keith: And underground learning club that the pala-dins do not know about.
Austin: So, where do you want this to be? Club- [inaudible]
Keith: Uh, I want it to be- I think right outside the nets of Canopy Row.
Austin: Uh hm. How long did you say you thought it would take?
Keith: I said 5 weeks.
Austin: Yeah, that seems right. That adds up to me. Other people, that add up too?
Janine: Yeah.
Nick: Sure.
Art: Sure.
Austin: Ok. Yeah.
Keith: Um, my- my other thing is going to be um- I want to discover something. What was the- a pala-din has discovered a pamphlet. They don’t know whether it was from in the town or came from the elves or the Pants Boys, uh or someone from in the town made it, but it says-
Austin: Uh huh.
Keith: It’s a- it’s a Samot pamphlet. It’s like a, ‘Here’s what-’
Austin: Oh.
Keith: ‘Here’s what this guy’s about. Huh?’
Austin: Interesting. Where is that at?
Keith: Right sort of- right at the wall, sort of equidistance between the bridge and the tower.
Austin: Huh.
Keith: The fallen tower.
Austin: It’s just one pamphlet?
Keith: Um, yeah. It’s like-
Austin: Ok.
Keith: It’s like a- it’s like a crumpled up, on the ground of the street, ‘Oops, someone dropped it’ or ‘someone tried to throw it away, but we found your shit’ pamphlet.
Austin: Ok. Fun. Cool. Cool and good.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Alright. Nick, it is your turn.
Nick: Okie-doke.
Austin: Hm.
Nick: 10 of Autumn.
Austin: Oooo.
Art: Oh.
Nick: ‘Harvest is here and plentiful. Add an abundance. Or, cold autumn winds drive out your enemies.’
Austin: Ooo.
Nick: ‘Remove a threatening force from the map in the area.’
Janine: Oooo.
Nick: Oh, boy.
Keith: Wow, that’s a really, really strong card.
Austin: Yeah.
Nick: Oh man. I- There’s a real obvious temptation for the second one.
Austin: Uh hm.
Janine: Yeah.
Art: Oh, I- if you’re talking about the one I think you’re talking about, I don’t know that it’s a good idea to get rid of them. They’re bad, but they’re- but they’re…
Keith: But they’re what?
Nick: They’re servants of a even potentially- well not worse, but powerful…
Austin: Let’s be careful not to-
Art: Who ostensibly wants to protect us.
Austin: Hey. Wait, wait. Let’s be careful not to hold a discussion here.
Nick: Oh, right.
Austin: We are not allowed to actually-
Nick: You’re right.
Austin: -have that discussion unless Nick has the ‘have a discussion’ thing.
Art: Quite sorry.
Austin: Because communities- communities are fractured and don’t get to communicate in a easy, fun way.
Art: You’re right. I’m sorry.
Nick: Ok. Um, I was actually sort of planning on doing- or trying something like this anyway, so I’m gonna pick that second one.
Austin: Uh hm.
Nick: Uh, and I’m gonna take it literally. What’s gonna happen is suddenly, um- well, not suddenly, over the course of a day, the area around the tower starts to get cold.
Austin: Hmm.
Nick: And it doesn’t get- it doesn’t quite get winter cold, but it does get that- that cold- that autumn crispness that is like, just on the other side of comfortable without like-
Austin: Right.
Nick: -a heavy sweater or something. The- the wind whips around this tower. And uh, leaves from unseen trees start- are caught up in this wind. Like, dead, decaying leaves. And piece by piece, along with the leaves, bits of the- like, little stones bits of the pala-din join the leaves in this whirlwind whipping around the tower.
Austin: So, it’s just- Is it just the ones at the tower?
Nick: Just the ones at the tower. That’s sort of my compromise, I guess.
Austin: I- I think do what you want, but-
Art: Yeah, don’t compromise with me. I was breaking the rules.
Nick: Well-
Austin: It’s a very Samothes thing to say, Art. [Nick and Janine laugh lightly] It’s very lawful of you. [Nick laughs again]
Nick: This is- [Keith laughs] Yeah, whatever. No. No. No convincing.
Austin: I do think it’s interesting. I think cause that’s an-
Nick: Um, yeah.
Austin: Yeah.
Nick: So, uh, yeah, like bits until- little bits join the leaves in this whirlwind, piece by piece until all of the pala-dins around the tower are gone. Um, and over the course of the week, every- anytime any new pala-din- like anytime… others try to approach the tower, the same thing happens to them. The wind whips up out of nowhere, and they’re carried off, pebble by pebble up into the sky.
Austin: I’m gonna leave these like, little remnants.
Nick: Yeah, that’s good. Yeah, yeah.
Janine: Uh hm.
Austin: A little somethin’. Alright. Cool. Uh, I will reduce clocks. Alright. So, what’s your action?
Nick: My action- my action is after the uh- So, towards the end of the week, the pala-din stop- like they just give up at trying to get back to the base of the tower. The door opens at the base of the tower. An elderly man and an elderly woman step out. The man is human. The woman is an elf. And they make their way to Canopy Row. And they start inviting people into the tower to learn.
Austin: Contempt. Is that discover something new or is that a project you’re starting?
Nick: I- I don’t know, actually. [light laugh]
Austin: That sounds like more like of a project.
Nick: Ok. Yeah, that’s what I was leaning also. Um, so let’s say 2 weeks for that? Um, to sort of-
Austin: I think to teach the people of Canopy Row magic is gonna take a long- I think that that’s-
Nick: Well, no, no, no, no. That’s not- The project is just convince them to come. Period.
Austin: I don’t think- well then, at that point you should make a longer project to- because the result of the project should be that it changes something on the map.
Nick: Oh, I see.
Austin: Right? Um-
Nick: Ok, um- alright. In that case, teach people- to teach people of Canopy Row magic.
Austin: Yeah.
Nick: Actually, oh shoot. Can I go back just a little bit.
Austin: Yeah, totally. Absolutely.
Nick: The- the woman goes to Canopy Row. The man goes to uh, the Golden Zone. Whatever we ended up calling that. I forget. The eastern-
Austin: I think we just kept calling it the Golden Zone.
Nick: Ok. [laughs] Gold Zone. Um, so let’s say- let’s see. Teaching magic, even basic magic, to someone that has not attempted any of it is an undertaking, I can imagine. Uh, 8 weeks?
Austin: Uh, 6 is the cap. 6 is the cap for-
Nick: Oh, it is.
Austin: Yes.
Nick: Oh, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ok. Well-
Austin: Cause it’s supposed to be a die. So, 6 is fine.
Nick: Yeah, I forgot about that.
Austin: Yeah.
Nick: Ok, 6 weeks.
Austin: Ok. Uh, ready for this. The 2 of Autumn. ‘Someone returns to the community. Who? Where were they? Or, you find a body? Do people recognize who it is? What happened?’ Huh.
Keith: Hedy comes back. [laughs]
Austin: Well, I mean she is- She never-
Keith: That’s is.
Austin: Oh, god. That would be-
Keith: No, a second Hedy.
Austin: [uncomfortable noises] Oh, ugh. [Janine and Keith laugh]
Art: All sorts of dead people could come back. [Janine laughs]
Austin: Huh. It’s- [sighs] God, I don’t know which thing to fuck with here. Hm.
Janine: [laughing] There’s so many.
Austin: There’s so many you could fuck with here. [sighs] Oh boy. Where do I want to- where do I want to start? Alright. It is Hedy. And it’s not just Hedy.
Art: Hmm.
Austin: Do you remember the- how people started going into the woods-
Art: Hmmm.
Austin: -after other people got lost?
Art: No.
Nick: Hmm.
Art: [quietly and uncomfortably] Yeah, I do.
Austin: Some of those bodies- some- sometimes some people keep- sometimes people go into the woods, and now instead of losing a number, they come back with another. A dead body that they found. And at first, this isn’t much news because like, ‘Yeah, people- yeah, ok. Phew. Mystery solved. People died in the woods.’ Um, and then they find Hedy’s body. And I imagine that she’s up in the netting, looking down, watching as they pull her perfectly normal body out of the woods and back into Canopy Row. And one of them shoots her a glance of distrust and anger. And she slithers away.
Janine: Just one of them?
Austin: One- the one who is like, smart enough to know that she’s up there, you know?
Janine: Hmm.
Austin: She’s good at hiding. I’m gonna move these- I’m gonna flip these arrows around to represent people coming back in from the woods. [Nick laughs] But now they’re dead bodies. So, I’m gonna also turn them horizontal. My second thing is gonna be starting a project- Um, it’s a- it’s a project outside the gates, actually. The group of- of refugees and exiles who have settled to the north have begun building off of that- that watch tower that they have. They have that like, broken down watch tower. Um, and they are in the process of turning just that into the center of a new, little township with proper houses and proper like- their own entire infrastructure outside of the- outside of the wall.
It’s not anything to like, write home about. It’s not like, super well-done stuff. It’s not made out of good materials. It’s made out of like, scraps of rock and um, aw- actually, maybe that’s better. I’m gonna rewind a little bit. It- it- uh- It takes people, I think, a while to see what they’re doing. Like, no one really pays it any mind until they recognize the arch- the architectural stylings of the cobbins. With like, the strangely placed stone structures with like weird overhangs and outcroppings that don’t really- that look excessive and- and unnatural. Um, and it looks like the cobbins have begun building a settlement with the exiles to the north.
Janine: Hm.
Austin: Think 4 weeks makes sense for that? Like, a month of hard building?
Keith: Uh-hm.
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: Ok. Uh, that’s my turn. Janine? Oooo. Queen of Autumn.
Janine: Oh boy.
Austin: Oh, fuck. [laughs]
Janine: Oh boy.
Nick: Oh no.
Art: Oh.
Janine: Oh boy.
Austin: Jesus Christ. Janine.
Janine: ‘Disease spreads through the community. Choose one. You spend a week quarantining and treating the disease. Project dice are not reduced this week. Or nobody knows what to do about it, add health and fertility as a scarcity.’
Austin: Good.
Janine: [sighs] Um- [someone whistles] Here’s the thing. This seems like a community that knows how to quarantine. Or at least-
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: -certain people in this community seem like they are very aggressively quarantining things already.
Austin: Yes.
Janine: Uh, so I think the disease probably comes from- I mean, it probably comes from the- from the Golden Corridor or whatever we’re calling that. And they’re probably- You know, no one’s gonna like, openly admit that, but that’s where it’s starting. Uh, and the pala-din are probably very quick to- I guess the word might be like, ex- excise- excise-
Austin: Hmm.
Janine: -the affected people from that community-
Austin: Uh hm.
Janine: -and put them somewhere. But it probably throws things into complete fuckin’ chaos because like, ‘Where’s so-and-so? They were supposed to work on this thing today.’
Austin: Right.
Janine: ‘Oh they’re just gone? Ok. That’s not good.’
Austin: Where- where do they get put? That might be a good thing for the map.
Janine: Yeah. I think… What’s the old university being used for now that the pala-din have taken it over? Is stuff still happening there?
Austin: Stuff is still happening there.
Janine: Ok.
Austin: Um, Sam- some of the devout of Samothes are there now. Studying.
Janine: Ok. Uh…
Austin: But like, maybe that’s still kinda good. That’s still kind of a cool place to take somebody.
Janine: I was thinking about the old um- the thing that was like a boarding school where the children were kept.
Austin: Oh.
Janine: Cause thinking about, they disperse the children and put the sick people there instead.
Austin: Uh hm.
Janine: And it becomes kind of an infirmary thing.
Austin: That’s interesting.
Janine: But that’s because this place is already- they already have a lock-down on this place.
Austin: Right.
Janine: I want a place they already have a lock-down on that they’re already-
Austin: Yes. And they’re also-
Janine: -very in charge of.
Austin: -that’s also outside of Golden- the Gold Zone. So…
Janine: Yes.
Austin: That’s kind of a-
Janine: Which like-
Austin: That seems right.
Janine: Also- also, there’s like a- there is something bad there like, if this started in the Golden area, and they’re taking it out of the Golden area, then-
Austin: Uh hm.
Janine: -if they can’t for whatever reason manage it, that becomes also a big old problem. I’m gonna put these children down with fake Hedy and the boys.
Austin: Ok. I have another question. What’s this disease look like?
Janine: [laughs] Uh, there’s an easy answer here, and I think I might just go for it.
Austin: Uh hm.
Janine: I think your fingers start getting really, really long.
Austin: [uncomfortable] Uh hmmmm.
Janine: And then your- like your toes, and like, basically all your extremities get even more extreme.
Austin: Uh hm.
Janine: And then it kind of creeps inward and… and makes that part more extreme. So, you eventually just kind of like, everything about you gets like, not bigger, but longer.
Austin: Cool. Good. Good and cool. Alright, so what’s the other thing you do, Janine?
Janine: Uh- [exhales]
Austin: Find something, hold a discussion, or start a new project.
Janine: Yeah. I think- I think there’s- you know, I know I spend a lot of time on Hedy. I’m very fond of her. Uh, I think Canopy Row needs to have a fuckin’ talk about how her body was found, but she’s also just here.
Austin: Uh hm.
Janine: Like, that seems like a thing maybe- uh, that would- would- someone would be talkin’ about that.
Austin: Uh hm. So, what’s the question? Or the statement you make?
Janine: I’m gonna go- I’m gonna start with a statement which is that uh… Something needs to be done about quote, unquote “Hedy.”
Art: We should bring the pala-din in to question her. Something isn’t right.
Keith: I feel like a really good way to have avoided suspicion would have been for other Hedy to have, you know, not looked like Hedy, or not told us that she wasn't Hedy. So, we should- so, something’s weird and bad.
Austin: Nick?
Nick: I- I think we should uh- let other Hedy explain herself first. Uh, she has been nothing but helpful. A little weird, [Janine laughs] but helpful since she’s been here.
Austin: In the middle of the discussion, someone drops a bucket of water down. Not spills it. Drops it. And when your eyes go up, it reveals an elf in loose clothing who says,
Austin (as unnamed elf): Give her to us. We are where she belongs.
Art: Alright.
Austin: They leave the bucket behind, also.
Janine: Free bucket.
Keith: We have a bucket now.
Austin: Free bucket. Free water. [Nick laughs]
Keith: Abundance, bucket.
Austin: Uh, it’s a- Oh, wait, wait, wait. It’s a bucket of the lava water.
Nick: Ooo.
Janine: Oh, well, that’s mean.
Austin: I mean, it holds the lava water.
Janine: Oh, that’s good.
Austin: Alright. Art.
Art: ‘The strongest among you dies. What caused the death?’ Or ‘The weakest among you dies. Who is to blame for their death?’ I’m not sure I know who either of these people are.
Janine: [overlapped] This card’s a really good one.
Austin: We can invent them. Whatever.
Keith: Yeah, make them up.
Art: Ok. The- the human man who came out of the university tower.
Austin: Uh hm.
Art: His name is something good.
Austin: Uh, let’s see. What’s a good name?
Art: Uh, oh no. That wasn’t a human. We haven’t met a human from the university yet. I don’t have like, a-
Austin: Yeah, we have. We have. Sunder. Sunder was from the university.
Art: Oops. Ok. So, humans in the university have cool verb names.
Austin: Yeah. Or at least she did.
Nick: She had a last name, too, right?
Austin: Havelton.
Nick: Havelton, yeah, yeah.
Austin: Sunder Havelton.
Art: Oh my god. Oh my god. [Keith laughs in background] I can’t even talk to you right now, Keith.
Austin: I hate Keith. Keith sounds like a dying seal. [Keith keeps laughing]
Art: Or a really happy seal.
Nick: Keith sounds like what I imagine fake Hedy to sound like.
Austin: Good. Yeah. That’s right.
Keith: We just gonna let that hang there? We not gonna explain why I was-
Austin: Yeah, uh huh. You don’t fuckin’ get it.
Keith: -dying. [trails off laughing]
Austin: Keith says, ‘There are 2 types of people in this world. The Haveltons and the Havelton-nots. No, the Havenoteltons.
Keith: No, the Havenoteltons. [laughs]
Austin: The fucking worst. [Nick and Keith laugh] It’s even worse.
Art: Bolster. I like Bolster.
Austin: Bolster is good.
Art: This man is Bolster [mumbles] Mrrrmmmrrr.
Austin: Valentine. Bolster Valentine.
Art: Love it.
Austin: Bolst- Ok. Bolster Valentine.
Art: What caused the dea-
Austin: And he’s dead?
Art: Yeah, he’s dead.
Austin: He’s dead. [Janine and Austin laugh] Ok, good. [Keith laughs]
Art: Uh, I’m saying he was the strongest who- but who the fuck knows really?
Austin: Right.
Art: Uh, what caused the death?
Austin: Hey, magic’s good.
Art: He was doused in lava water.
Austin: Ugh.
Nick: Ugh.
Art: He’s found-
Austin: Fwuggh.
Art: -in the Golden section, cause that’s where he went, right? He was the one who went over here?
Nick: Yep.
Art: So, he’s found just about here.
Austin: Ok.
Art: And- and he’s just- he- cause as we’ve learned from the bucket we just discovered, the lava water stays hot even outside of thing. So, he’s like, found in like, a little puddle of lava water. Just completely burnt up.
Austin: [deep inhale] Christ. Alright. Do you want to add that to the map, I guess? Or we don’t really need to. He’s dead. We get it. He’s dead. You know what? I’m gonna- I’m gonna copy and paste-
Janine: It- A little body in a puddle of lava might-
Art: Yeah, and that’s about how burnt he is.
Janine: I put the bucket also.
Nick: And also there’s-
Austin: He is- Yeah, good.
Art: He’s so burnt, his torso is basically unrecognizable. [Janine laughs]
Austin: Christ.
Janine: This is a good town. The nice- this is a nice place to retire.
Austin: Uh hm. We built a good place to live. Yep.
Art: Yeah. And uh, I think we have a fair number of projects. So, I’m- I would also like to have a conversation.
Austin: Ok.
Art: Is the- is the trouble our town is experiencing evidence that we have been abandoned by the divine?
Keith: If anything, there’s too much divine. We got these granite soldiers walkin’ around being all jerks all the time.
Nick: I don’t think we’ve been abandoned because the fish rocks continue to rain down on our city.
Austin: [laughs] Good.
Keith: All praise Samothes and the fish rocks. Also, fish rocks!
Austin: Oh my god. I think Christopher preaches that this is a test. This is a challenge. That Samothes challenges us, and this season- this whole year has been a challenge of our devotion. But he still remains.
Janine: Um, I think the- the amount of sweet, good god-favor has- is like, probably the same, but there are more people like, he- you know, he carved out this little place for us, and now there’s also all these other people. There’s fuckin’ cobbins over there. There’s fuckin’ elves over there. There’s like the Pants Boys, and they’re makin’ a town with the fuckin’ cobbins. And like, there’s only so much- so much favor to go around, and we’re getting some of their non-favor, and it’s maybe making shit worse, but that’s not- that’s not Samothes’ fault. That’s- that’s the other people’s faults.
Austin: Hm.
Art: You think this is abandoning by the divine powers?
Austin: Oh my god.
Art: My great-great-great-great grandpappy was born in the last days of the divine war. And he had to sit through his whole life never knowin’ the- the direct intervention of the gods. It was a rough life. And it’s- it’s arrogant for us to assume-
Austin: [quietly] I hate-
Art: -that we are- we have it as bad as those people. Shoot.
Austin: Good. Shoot.
Keith: Contempt. [Austin and Janine laugh]
Austin: Keith, it’s your turn.
Keith: Hello. One card. Ok. Let’s do this.
Austin: Ooo.
Keith: This is a long one. This is a long one.
Austin: The Ace of Autumn. What is this? Oh boy.
Keith: Ok. ‘The community becomes obsessed with a single project. Which one? Why? Choose one. They decide- uh- they decide to take more time to ensure that it is perfect. Add 3 weeks to the project die or drop everything else to work on it.’
Austin: Oh shit.
Keith: All other projects fail.
Janine: Hmm.
Austin: [laughing quietly] All other projects.
Keith: ‘If there are no other projects underway, the community becomes obsessed with a grandiose vision. Hold the discussion about this vision in addition to your regular action for the week.’ Holy shit.
Austin: So, not that one. Yeah.
Keith: Not that one. Ok, so, here’s what it is. I think clearly the thing that we become obsessed with now is the investigation of the first murder.
Austin: Ok. [Janine and Nick laugh] Well, because of the second murder. Because of-
Keith: Because- uh, exactly. Directly because of the second murder.
Austin: Right.
Nick: It makes sense.
Austin: So, it’s gonna go up to 5 weeks?
Keith: It’s gonna go up to 5 weeks.
Austin: Good.
Art: No one said it was murder. I think it was Keith who did it. No one said the- the wizard was murdered.
Austin: [laughing] You think he was carrying lava around? [Janine and Nick laugh]
Art: I’m sayin’ on- if this was Law & Order, Keith did it.
Austin: Uh huh. Ok.
Art: Chunk-chunk. I’m taking a point of contempt.
Austin: Good. Uh, cool. So, which one? Or wait, we did that. Ok, so what’s your second thing? What do you-
Keith: Uh-
Austin: Oh, let me update clocks, and then you can do your thing.
Keith: Got it.
Austin: Alright, 1 more week to the school. 2 more weeks to the university. 4 more weeks for the body. 2 more weeks for the outside place. 2 more weeks for Samothes.
Keith: Ok. So, I would like to… start a new project.
Austin: Yep.
Keith: And I would like the project to be um… I think that- I think that…. Now that the people from the forest have started coming back, I think there should be renewed effort to gather even more wood.
Austin: Hmm. So you’re basically talking about deforestation.
Keith: We’re talking about deforestation.
Austin: Get that-
Keith: What we’re- we’re talking about- we’re talking about that as a consequence of like, [using a higher pitch voice] ‘well, we got- we got stuff to build.’
Austin: Ok.
Keith: ‘We got- we got stuff to build.’
Austin: Ok. How many weeks of- of-
Keith: Two. Three.
Austin: Ok. So, you’re-
Keith: Three weeks.
Austin: Three weeks.
Nick: [using a high pitch voice] If we find in the course of building this stuff we happened to uh- bulldoze the entire creepy forest, uh, you know? Whatever.
Austin: [using a voice] ‘Right, we gotta build houses. We gotta build houses. Everybody needs a 3-floor house.’
Keith: Listen, the idea- No one- No one’s even thought of the word sustainable yet. Like, that’s just not- [Janine and Austin laugh]
Austin: That’s fair. And true. Alright. Um, Nick? The 9 of-
Nick: Nine-
Austin: -of Autumn.
Nick: -of Autumn.
Austin: Oooo.
Nick: Oh. [Janine laughs]
Janine: Oh.
Nick: Uh, ‘the community works constantly, and a result a project finishes early, or a group goes out to explore the map more thoroughly and finds something that had been previously overlooked.
Austin: Oooo.
Nick: Hmm.
Austin: So, to go over the projects we have currently, there’s 2 weeks on the- including this one, so one more week after your turn- next turn- the outside exiles will finish their town. Um, 4 more weeks for the body. 2 more weeks for the university- again, that’ll finish next turn. 1 more week for the- this week the underground school will finish, and 2 more weeks for Samothes. So, mid-next week, that will finish.
Nick: Uh, here’s a couple contempt points. [laughs]
Austin: Oh boy.
Nick: Um, I’m gonna say the murder investigation finishes early.
Austin: Ok.
Nick: And it’s because during all this like, hard investigation, the actual culprit steps forward and confesses.
Austin: Who is the killer?
Nick: The killer is uh, Christopher.
Austin: Oh shit.
Nick: Uh, who killed Winsley Cartwright as further act of penance over his guilt of you know, his- his former teaching of Samot. And as a- a way to- because- What was the last thing he- he did a previous penance type thing, right?
Austin: He was taking care of the kids. And he like, adopted the orphans- not orphans, but he- he brought the kids into their like- that school.
Nick: Ok.
Austin: That is now-
Keith: He also prayed a lot.
Austin: He prayed a lot. He prayed for 6 weeks.
Nick: Oh yeah. He had that prayer- prayer um- Ok, so-
Austin: Did he also kill the- the wizard? Um-
Nick: They-- they don’t know yet.
Austin: Ok. But-
Nick: He didn’t- he didn’t confess to that.
Austin: That’s what I’m saying. He didn’t confess to killing Bolster Valentine.
Nick: No.
Austin: Ok.
Nick: He confessed to killing Winsley because he represented you know, the enemies of- of Samothes. He represented uh, gaining knowledge through undivine ways.
Austin: Hmm.
Nick: He was looking so hard for divine assurance after his previous atonements. Um, and nothing came.
Austin: Hmm.
Nick: Uh, so he took matters into his own hand. And also, he revealed that he felt that he was responsible for uh, the- the downfall of Marielda.
Austin: Ok. That brings his- his sermon into a new light, right?
Nick: Right.
Austin: Like, he sat with that sermon and was like, ‘Hmm, I can’t. I- These people need me to confess. So that they think it’s me and not them.’
Nick: Right.
Austin: ‘They understand that that’s not- that’s on their- it’s not on their heads.’ I actua- I actually kind of like that also, because maybe he’s lying. Who knows? We just know he confessed.
Nick: Yeah.
Austin: That’s really good. Ok. Uh, I will reduce these clocks. Keith, talk to me about that underground school that is now complete.
Keith: Um, [clears throat] so I think um- I think that the way that it works is you’ve got some people from Canopy Row and some of the new members of the Golden Zone-
Austin: Uh hm.
Keith: -along with a wiz or two and a kobold or two.
Austin: Uh hm.
Keith: Uh, sort of- I guess leading the- leading the charge on ‘Hey, let’s- let’s do some learning.’ But I feel like because there’s- because there’s so many uh- there’s too many- there’s fi- there's fingers all over it, and now it’s nasty. It’s still good, and people are still going and learning, but I think that there’s a lot of like, red tape to even get in. Just because there- it’s like there’s a paranoia of like, literally anybody could tell-
Austin: Right.
Keith: -at any time.
Austin: So, wait. Is it secret? It’s a secret school.
Keith: It’s secret. Way secret.
Austin: Ok.
Keith: Um, it’s secret cause it’s bad. They’re doin’ a bad thing. Uh-
Austin: But like, a cool bad thing.
Keith: A cool bad thing, yeah. Like a- like protesting or smoking. [Nick and Keith laugh]
Austin: Ok. Those are the two. That’s it? That’s all you’ve got? [Keith laughs] Those are your two bad things.
Keith: Yeah. Don’t- don’t smoke.
Austin: But do protest?
Keith: But- Yes. Yeah, do that. Um, yeah, so I think that there’s a lot of red tape. There’s a lot of like, being really cautious about who you let in. There’s a lot of politics cause kind of everybody thinks it was their idea.
Austin: Right. Of course.
Keith: They’re- and so they’re all like- it’s like a- it’s like six teachers, and they all think they’re the principal. And they also, think that every single student is about to rat them out. So, uh- that’s what- that’s what happens. But it’s still- generally a good thing. People are going, and they are learning stuff. They do have some books. Um, so-
Austin: Awesome.
Nick: It’s like that old saying, ‘Too many principals in this learnin’ mushroom.’
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: That’s what they say. Say it all the time.
Nick: Also we’re-
Keith: They say, ‘higher education is a trip.’ [Nick laughs] Ha, ha! Get it?
Austin: Yeah.
Nick: Yup.
Austin: Got it.
Keith: They’re high cause they’re high cause the mushrooms. And then it’s a trip cause the mushrooms?
Austin: Oh my god. Uh huh.
Nick: I get it. Yep.
Austin: Cool. Nick? [laughs] What do you do at the end of your turn?
Nick: Uh, I’m going to start a project.
Austin: Ok.
Nick: Um, it’s gonna be a project of 1 week.
Austin: Ok.
Nick: And the project is going to be delivering Other Hedy to the elves.
Austin: Ooo. Ok.
Janine: Hmm.
Austin: Love it. Love it. Love it. What’s that look like? Do they- Are they like hunting her down?
Janine: Yeah, I’m taking a contempt point.
Nick: No, you know, I think… I think Hedy wants to go.
Austin: Huh.
Nick: I think Hedy uh, sees the fear in everyone’s eyes now.
Austin: Hmm.
Nick: Well, more than usual. [Austin and Janine laugh]
Austin: Ok.
Nick: And uh, wants to like, try to set things right. And either won’t or can’t explain-
Austin: Uh hm.
Nick: -you know, how or what exactly she is.
Janine: Hmm.
Nick: Uh, so she feels like the only- the only response for the- for the betterment of the community is to-
Austin: Right.
Nick: -go with the elves.
Austin: Cool.
Nick: And so if she actually runs up a posse herself to help her get there.
Austin: Of like, people who she actually can-
Nick: Yeah, people- people she trusts.
Austin: Right. Cool. Um, alright. Next turn. Back to me. Lot of projects are gonna be clearing up this uh- this turn. Alright. 6 of Autumn. Hmm. ‘Introduce a dark mystery among the members of the community, or conflict flares up among the community members, and as a result a project fails.’ Hmm. Uh, I think now that there is this other school that’s- that finished today and now that one of the two leaders of the university have been killed, um the attempt to recruit people to go to the university school of magic fails in a spectacular way.
Which is there is a liter- literal wizard duel in the streets between members of the university to the north uh, and the- the underground school of magic here. And it finishes when, in the middle of that duel, members of that third university, the old university, the old- the campus here, show up with pala-din and side with the underground school here and kill the lady who had stepped out previously.
Janine: Huh.
Nick: Oh wow.
Austin: And then they like- there’s this moment at the end of that, where they turn and look at the uh, the underground school- the pala-din and the- whoever's at that other school now- the- the Samothes school-
Keith: Uh hm.
Austin: Um, ooo. Is that a real person? That’s a cool name. Who the fuck is-? Oh, there we go. Maelgwyn. It’s Maelgwyn.
Janine: Hm.
Nick: That’s-
Austin: M-A-E-L-G-W-N.
Nick: That’s from Harry Potter.
Austin: Yep. Well, Harry Potter’s-
Art: It’s an evil penguin. [Austin and Nick laugh]
Austin: It literally means Princely Hound. Ooo, ok. So, it’s- it’s a uh- The person who- who will kind of leads the pala-din out is a- an incredibly handsome man who has [someone whistles] kind of shoulder length, blonde hair and like, a deep tan and like, cutting blue eyes, and like really physically built, but doesn’t carry any weapons and walks amongst the pala-din wearing um, kind of whatever the- the equivalent would be of like- So, in the church of Samothes, there are like, ordained ministers, like Christopher, but there are also just like, the parishioners and of the parishioners, there can be people who like, donate their time and who like, belong to the church, but are not part of the brotherhood. Uh, and so-
Nick: Like an altar boy or something.
Austin: Yeah, like above altar boy, but like-
Keith: Like deacon?
Austin: Like a deacon. Like in a different-
Nick: Sure. Ok. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Austin: In a non-Catholic church it would be like a deacon. Um, and he is dressed like that. Uh, and he carries like, this like, the- the kind of air of Samothes with him. People talk about him as being like, Samothes’s presence in the city. And he kind of gives the- the scholars and magicians from the southern school- the- the uh... the underground one a look of contempt and like, threat. But then like, stomps away with the pala-din. So, I’m gonna delete that project. And then a bunch of projects wrap up. And let’s talk about what happens to those.
Keith: [overlapping] Oh boy.
Austin: Nick, what happens to Hedy?
Nick: Um, before we get to Hedy, I just want to say, fuck yeah, wizard duels.
Austin: Wizard duels are dope. They’re really cool.
Nick: Ok, so Hedy. They get to um- Hedy and the posse get to the elves’ encampment.
Austin: Uh hm.
Nick: The elves thank the uh, the posse for deliver- helping to deliver her safely. But they say that- and they say, ‘we will take her from here.’
Austin: Hm.
Nick: ‘Rest assured. We will help her. She will not be harmed. She belongs here. But we cannot include you in the proceedings.’
Austin: Ok. You want to just like drag her up there maybe?
Nick: Yeah.
Austin: Do you have access to her? Janine might be the only one with access to her.
Janine: She might be super like, broken cause she’s a whole bunch of different lines. Yeah, I’ll-
Austin: Oh, she’s super broken.
Nick: Yeah, shoot.
Janine: I’ll uh- I’ll work on that.
Austin: You take care of it? Ok.
Nick: Ok.
Janine: [laughing] Yeah, I’ll take care of Hedy.
Austin: Good. That’s good. Uh, outside this-
Nick: I mean, she’s already super broken, just in different ways.
Janine: [laughing] Yeah.
Austin: Aww, poor Hedy. Uh, outside, I think the- the- this is like a good- this is a good story. The cobbins and the exiles like, manage to- to team up successfully and built a little- a little encampment village. Um, maybe even bigger than like a little encampment village. It’s been a number of weeks. I think that they manage to build a new little settlement. Um, god. What’s the name of this place? Let’s see. Janine, I’m lookin’ at this- this thing that you sent me. Janine sent me a manmade feature name generator among some other name generators-
Nick: Ooo.
Austin: -but it’s just a list- as far as I can tell, this one if just a list of real places cause the first thing I got was Madison Square Park [Janine laughs] which is just a real park. [Nick laughs] that used to be near where I worked. Um, let’s think of a- I like cove. Is there- is there- is it a cove up there? Not really. But I still like it as an element. Um… oh wait, I think I want a burrow. That’s what I want. I want like a ‘something’ burrow’.
Nick: Ok.
Keith: Is it underground?
Austin: No. But like, a burrow. Like a city borough, not like a deep-
Keith: Yeah, like an underground city.
Austin: Or maybe it is- maybe there are parts of it that are- that are underground. I don’t know how cobbins live. Maybe that’s the thing with cobbin stuff is that like, on the top, it’s just a fucking mess, [Keith laughs] but underground it’s like, ‘Oh, this is really nice actually.’
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: ‘Thank you.’ Um-
Keith: Like, all the houses of the cobbins have been building in the city, no one even checked that they like, ‘Hey are you gonna have these? We’re building these for you.’ And no one ever checked it out cause it’s like, these are too fucking small for anyone. But you go inside, and it’s like, ‘no, this is dope.’
Austin: This is dope. I’m gonna call is Emberboro. So, that’s one of the projects that finishes. The other one- so the ground shakes and swells. And there is a flash of light from the- the volcano where Samothes has theoretically made his- his home. Um, and the tower to the- what had been the northwest of the city where the uh, the university mages lived, is swallowed into a hole in the ground. And now there is just a massive pit there that- Some people swear they can see lights at the- the- in the depths.
If they go there late, late, late at night when it is the darkest and you look in, you can see just, almost like twinkling stars of red. Uh, and out in the ocean, the same thing happens. Obviously you can’t get out there, and it’s just the- the fire-red water is suddenly like, falling down into a deep hole in the middle of the sea. And that happens one night. And then the next morning, everyone wakes up to a strange smell [Art laughs quietly] and to a strange sight, as smoke pours across the sky and strange buildings appear.
Um, it takes a couple of days to get used to it, but there are these buildings where you can go and manufacture things. Huge metal stamps can be configured in a number of set ways to produce objects like- like silverware and- and wheels. Different buildings have different focuses, but it’s really easy to- to turn the store of materials which appears at regular intervals and doesn’t seem to have a source other than a strange system of chutes and- and uh, what are- what are they called?
Keith: Ladders.
Austin: These chutes and ladders. Also, ladders. [Janine laughs] Hm. The things that move and you stand on them, and they can- you can move. You can put something on them and pull the-
Keith: Conveyer belt.
Austin: Conveyor belts. Uh, and like, overnight there is industry in Marielda. Uh, and it never smells the same. It- it has kind of a like, [exhales] I guess everything already has kind of weird, burned-everything smell because of the fire-water all around you. But I think especially in the Golden- the Gold Zone and near the- the hospital, there is just like, the- constantly the smell of things burning. And of like, new- like, fresh metal. Like you’ve opened up something, and it’s just like, oh, this- has like a real- You can almost taste the nickel in it. Um, the good news is, I think that this clears up the obsidian uh, scarcity. And it adds a new abundance which is um-
Keith: Stuff.
Austin: Stuff, but I think just like, manufacturing. Industry.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Production. Alright. Uh, and a new project starts. Um, and then I’m going to- The- the exiles in Emberboro are the ones who discover it and they report it. Which is- which is nice. There is, all the way up on the northwest here, an army gathering.
Nick: Uh oh.
Austin: Alright. That’s my turn. I’ll start adding that army. Janine, it’s your turn.
Janine: Uh huh.
Austin: Oh. Uh oh.
Art: Uh oh.
Austin: Uh oh.
Janine: Uh, a project finishes early.
Austin: Oh shit.
Janine: Which one? Why?
Keith: Ooo.
Janine: If there are no projects underway, restlessness creates animosity. Animosity leads to violence. Who gets hurts? Well, we have projects underway, kind of.
Austin: We have 8? We have a project-
Art: No, you have 2. You covered up 1.
Austin: Oh, we have 2. We have 2 projects underway. Yes. You’re right. Yeah, it’s up to you.
Janine: Is it up to me?
Nick: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, this is your card. A project finishes early. Which one? Why? There are 2 projects.
Janine: [laughs] I know.
Austin: Ok.
Janine: [laughing] I want the big one to finish early, but the problem is the big ones are your things, and like, these cards are like a take-
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: -like you finish it, right? Didn’t we establish that?
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: So, I don’t know that I can take that out of your hands.
Austin: I could tell you what it is, and you could tell me how it goes.
Janine: Ok.
Austin: You want me to tell you what it is.
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: Ok. So, it’s the Samothes one you’re finishing early?
Janine: Yeah. Yes, yes.
Austin: So, you get to tell me how Samothes uses this power.
Janine: Uh hm.
Austin: Again, this happens in- I think this is really interesting that it happens like, back-to-back with the industry because I don’t think in the minds of the people here they can even differentiate these things as two separate things. Like, this is just the week this happens, right? Like, on a Saturday, the industry showed up. And the next morning-
Janine: Uh hm.
Austin: -things begin rearranging themselves. The city folds in on itself in places. And some people have shorter walks to work the next day. But I don’t- I don’t know- You tell me who benefits from this in this instance of it. Um, this is clearly also not a thing- I think like, it happens over the course of the week.
Janine: Ok.
Austin: .So, like, it’s not a thing that- it’s not a thing that can only happen once. This is a thing Samothes can do now.
Janine: Ok, so it’s like, a bunch of changes that are sort of gradually taking place. So, the city’s like gradually shifting and my role here is going to be to pick a specific change?
Austin: Yeah, I mean you could change this whole map if you want.
Janine: [overlapping] Sounds sort of specific like-
Austin: [overlapping] If you want to change this whole map, Janine, you go for it.
Janine: [overlapping] That would take a very long time.
Austin: It would take a very long time. But like talk- I guess, talk in broad - broad steps, and we can imagine what that looks like.
Janine: I mean, I know exactly what I want to do.
Austin: Uh hm.
Janine: Um, I want to put Emberboro in the middle of the- the Golden Section.
Austin: Ooo. That’s really good.
Janine: And that’s much more- that’s much more centrally located for those cobbins that are still on that beach, too. So, that’s very convenient.
Austin: Boom. Double cobbins.
Janine: It’s definitely a shorter trip to work for them.
Keith: Cobbins can all be- Oh, should you move the co- Yeah, the co- Yeah, great.
Austin: I moved the cobbins.
Keith: Now all the cobbins are friends. That’s great.
Janine: Like a fuckin’ cobbin district goin’ on here.
Austin: Uh hm.
Keith: Like, ‘aw, I miss my cousin…’
Austin: What’s the cob- What are the cobbins named, Keith?
Keith: Uh-
Janine: Uh, Tim Cobbins.
Keith: Uh, Tim Cobbins? [Austin and Keith laugh]
Art: Get out.
Austin: I fuckin’ quit. [Janine laughs] Art, do you want to start a new podcast? Jesus Christ.
Art: Friends at the Pun-free Table. [Janine laughs]
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Ugh. [Nick laughs]
Keith: Listen, there’s a booming industry down at the wa- at the waterfront. They have a mudsucker proxy. Alright, nevermind. Bye!
Austin: That’s actually, you know what? I might- Bye. Wow.
Art: Oh my god.
Austin: I hate this podcast.
Art: Oh my god.
Keith: I hate it. I’m so sorry. I let it-
Austin: Ali, uh, can you do me a favor and delete this WAV? Just delete the whole podcast. [Nick and Janine laugh]
Keith: I fuckin’- I feel like I lead the whole show down a dark and twisting alley and we ended up at Mudsucker Proxy, and I’m so sorry.
Austin: I hate you. I hate you. [Janine laughs] Alright. Janine, what are you doing? Oh, uh, actually, Keith.
Keith: Hello.
Austin: Do your thing.
Janine: Right, the- Yeah.
Austin: Woods.
Keith: What’s my thing? Oh right.
Austin: The woods.
Keith: Cause yeah, ok.
Austin: What happens with the woods?
Keith: Um, so I think what happens is first, I think we have an abundance of wood.
Austin: Yeah, totally.
Keith: Which is- which is great, but immediately irrelevant because now we have these buildings, right? Like, well like- the wood is great, but it’s so much harder to make a cabinet out of wood than to ask the factory for a cabinet.
Austin: Can I tell you something really cool about that wood?
Keith: Yeah, what’s up?
Austin: It can’t be rearranged by S- by Samothes.
Janine: Hm.
Keith: Oh, so that- everything that is made out of that wood is staying that wood?
Austin: Yeah, uh hm.
Keith: That’s awesome. Ok, great.
Janine: Canopy Row just keeps getting better and better.
Austin: Uh hm.
Keith: And so, in- in addition to- in addition to that, we’ve- we’re also losing people again to the forest. But I don’t think anybody’s worried cause they’re just like, ‘Eh, give it a month. Give it two months. They’ll be back. If there’s any stretchies, well, you know, we won’t dig them out of the tree this time.
Janine: I mean, their bodies will be back, right? We determined like, it’s the bodies that come back. It’s not-
Keith: Oh, ok. Well, I guess-
Janine: Right?
Austin: Yeah. No, it’s-
Keith: -there’s still- there’s till concern, but-
Austin: I guess we haven’t seen any stretchies in a while, right?
Janine: No.
Keith: Yeah, I guess not.
Nick: Yeah.
Keith: Uh, but-
Art: But aren’t some of them in the trees that we’re cutting down?
Keith: I think- Yeah.
Austin: Yes, some of them have been in the trees.
Keith: Yep. I think uh-
Austin: I’m just expanding Canopy Row a little bit to- to reference this.
Keith: I think the- I think the- the hope then is that as- as the forest gets smaller and smaller, less and less people are being taken, but also like, ‘Hey, when the people do disappear, maybe we’ll- maybe we’ll find them before it’s too late.’
Janine: Hmm.
Keith: ‘Uh, maybe someone will- maybe someone will come back.’
Austin: So, does the forest shrink at all, or does it- does it keep up with the increased fores- increased uh, effort to- to get wood?
Keith: Um, I think that as the strongest tool that we have to fight the powers of Samothes, it definitely gets smaller and smaller.
Austin: Ok. Cool. Good.
Nick: I don’t know how to make that shrink.
Austin: Boop.
Nick: How do I- Oh, there we go.
Austin: Boop. [light laugh] I just literally just dragged the thing down from the top, [Keith laughs] and now it’s tinier. [Janine laughs]
Nick: Ok.
Keith: I like how they’re harvesting from the back.
Austin: [laughs] Yeah, like ‘Listen, let’s go from the back forward.’
Keith: We need to keep- Yeah, but we need to maintain our window view. [Austin and Nick laugh]
Austin: Ok. Good.
Keith: They don’t have much in Canopy Row. They’ve got that.
Austin: Uh, ok. Janine, what’s your final thing?
Janine: Um, I have a q- Ok, I have a thing, but I- it requires me asking a question of like, the nature of this industry. Is it industry that is just like, weirdly self-running or is it like-
Austin: No.
Janine: -where people go and work there and produce things?
Austin: People go and work there and produce things. It is- it is tools for people to make things. It is not automated.
Janine: Ok.
Austin: Uh, the cobbins move there very quickly, I think. Like, like, the day after it’s there, cobbins are like, ‘what is this stuff? How do we use it? How do we start making cool shit?’
Janine: So, are the cobbins the ones who are working there? Or is it cobbins and also people and also-?
Austin: Uh, there are pala-din, I think, scattered throughout but who, as long as no one's like, fighting, they’re not interfering. No-
Janine: Ok, so wait- So, it’s just the cobbins and the pala-din?
Austin: No, I think anybody can go there.
Janine: Oh, ok. Ok. Alright.
Austin: But like, I’m just making the characteriz- characterization of the cobbin as being like, the first ones to go and check it out immediately.
Janine: Ok. Um… Ok. Well, I’m gonna say- I’m gonna start a project.
Austin: Uh hm.
Janine: And that project is going to be training the children to go work in the industry because those children were sent home from their- their sort of-
Austin: Uh hm.
Janine: -schooling situation and like, they’d been there for a while.
Austin: Yeah, they gotta do something, right?
Janine: For- and you know, and there’s- there’s a lot of shit going on and it’s really hard to have to keep track of kids again.
Austin: Uh hm. How many uh-?
Keith: And the one thing the school didn’t teach them was how fundamentally wrong it was for someone to put them to work. [Janine laughs]
Austin: Right. Correct. [Nick laughs]
Janine: Um-
Austin: Um, alright.
Janine: So, I think for putting them to work, it’d probably be like- you know, what’s a- what’s a good like, training probationary period for them to kind of get settled? It’s like, 2 weeks?
Keith: One week. They’re unskilled laborers.
Austin: Oh my god.
Janine: Well-
Austin: Sure. Yeah.
Janine: -they’re- they’re small. They might have to get like, you know, special shit to- so they can see the machinery and whatever. Might take some like-
Austin: Right, they have to build their special shit first.
Janine: Yeah, they might have to like, figure out- it’s not just like, training them. It’s also like, ‘Ok, how do I make sure this place actually works in a way-’
Austin: Good.
Janine: ‘-that we can take advantage of this thing- of these- this workforce in the best way. Where can we put these tiny people to use?’
Nick: They have to round up all the phonebooks for them to stand on.
Austin: Anyone taking contempt on this? No? Ok.
Keith: Oh, yeah. Sorry. No, I totally- I was- I forgot that- [Janine laughs]
Austin: Ok.
Keith: I forgot for a second that we do that. Yeah, for sure.
Austin: Art?
Art: Hold on, I’m drawing my contempt marker.
Austin: Uh, 7 of Autumn, Art.
Art: Uh, ‘A project just isn’t working out as expected. Radically change the nature of this project. Don’t modify the project die. When it resolves, you’ll be responsible to tell the community how it went.’
Austin: Stealing a project.
Nick: Oh, boy.
Art: We only have one project? I can steal-
Austin: No, I started a new Samo- I started the new Samothes one, too.
Art: So- so I-
Austin: Samothes stays workin’.
Art: I could steal the Samothes project.
Austin: Sure.
Art: Or ‘something goes foul and supplies are ruined. Add a new scarcity.’ I’ve- I’ve added a scarcity before.
Austin: Uh hm.
Art: Um, alright. I’ll do-
Austin: So, there are 2 projects. There’s the industry, and there’s the Samothes.
Art: I’ll do one- I’ll uh, you know, it’s just not working out with those kids, you guys. [Janine and Nick laugh]
Janine: That’s fair. [Janine laughs]
Art: They’re not good. They keep fallin’ into the machinery.
Janine: [uncomfortable] Ugh.
Nick: [uncomfortable] No.
Art: Uh, yeah. People. That’s the reaction it gets. People don’t like when their kids die, it turns out. [Nick laughs]
Austin: Ok. I guess that’s fair.
Art: Yeah.
Keith: People like when their kids are productive until it leads to their child dying.
Austin: Hm. I guess that’s fair. Alright.
Keith: If we mirrored how the industrial revolution went by immediately putting children to work, we can then mirror it by having someone that hates that destroy the factories.
Austin: Right. Good. Well, we’ll see what happens once that- that finishes up. Uh, what’s the final thing? What are you doing with your turn, Art?
Art: Uh, I think I’m gonna start a project.
Austin: Uh hm.
Art: I think it’s the trial of Christopher.
Austin: Ooo.
Nick: Ooo.
Art: I think that’ll take 2 weeks?
Austin: Yeah. That sounds fair.
Art: I mean, we don’t have a really complicated legal system, right?
Austin: No. Well… I bet Samo- the- the church does.
Janine: I mean, he also did confess though.
Austin: Yeah, but you gotta- you know, we have weird legal systems in this world. And if you remember the last legal case that took place in this world at the end of the first season included one of the defendants becoming a prosecutor, so- [Janine laughs] Um, so yeah. Is it- is it- is the trial in the church or is it among the people?
Art: Uh, I think the trial is kind of where uh- I think there’s a- there is a courthouse.
Austin: Ok.
Art: Uh, which I’m gonna have to draw.
Austin: Yes.
Art: And I think it’s sorta up here, but I mean, I’m gonna draw it, so-
Austin: Uh hm.
Art: There’ll be a permanent thing here. But it is uh- not the judge and not the jury, but everyone else in service of the court is a pala-din.
Austin: Oh jeez. Ok.
Art: They’re- they’re, you know- they’re bailiffs- they’re- they’re making everything work.
Austin: Are they the judges?
Art: They’re not the judges or the juries.
Austin: Oh, you just said that. Ok.
Art: Yeah.
Austin: Are they the lawyers? [light laugh]
Art: Uh-
Austin: Are there lawyers or is this a- does Christopher have to defend himself?
Art: Christopher has to defend himself, and- and the prosecution is done by a- by a non-rock person.
Austin: Uh, could it Mal- Maelgwyn. Maelgwyn, the-
Art: Yes.
Austin: -dude from the church who led the-
Art: Yeah.
Austin: Ok.
Art: I love it.
Austin: You want to draw that courthouse?
Art: Yeah.
Austin: And you said 2 weeks?
Art: What does- what does a courthouse look like?
Keith: It looks just like a school, but it has pillars.
Austin: Ok, right.
Nick: Co- yeah. Columns. Pillars.
Austin: Ok. Keith? Draw your card.
Art: Oh wow. If you google image search courthouse, literally everything has pillars. [Nick laughs]
Austin: Yeah, people really love fuckin’ classism here.
Janine: Especially lawyers.
Austin: Hm.
Keith: Sorry, like classism? Or classicism?
Austin: [laughs] Cla- classic- classicism? The classics. Cla- Yeah, classical architecture. Alright.
Keith: The 8-
Austin: Ooo.
Keith: 8 of- 8th- 8 of- Autumn 8.
Austin: Autumn 8.
Keith: Uh, ‘someone sabotages a project, and the project fails as a result. Who did this? Why?’ Or ‘Someone is caught trying to sabotage the efforts of the community. How does the community respond?’ Oh boy.
Austin: 3 projects. Courthouse, uh, trial. The impending conclusion of- it’s not children, but something’s going on at the factories. And the Samothes project.
Keith: Ok, so, here’s what happens. The trial of Christopher fails because someone else also admits to having killed uh, Wins- Winsley. What’s his name?
Austin: [laughs] Is that what the guy who confesses sounds like? [Keith laughs] ‘It was me. I killed uh… I killed Winston. Winston? Winsley. Win-’
Keith: ‘Win-’ [Nick laughs]
Austin: ‘Winsome. Winsome.’
Keith: -sley.
Austin: ‘It was me, I did it.’
Keith: ‘I killed the- I killed the outside guy.’ [Janine laughs] And they say, ‘Are you sure?’ And you say, ‘Definitely, I’m sure. I did it.’ And this guy, this guy’s- this guy is someone from Canopy Row. Silch Nightly.
Austin: [sighs] Silch or Zilch?
Keith: Silch.
Janine: Or Slich?
Austin: Slich. Silch?
Keith: Snitch- Snitch Nightly.
Austin: Snitch Nightly? The guy who confessed is named Snitch Nightly. [Janine laughs throughout following]
Keith: Yup.
Austin: That’s- that’s him. Add him to the list.
Art: I don’t think we can trust Snitch.
Keith: He said, ‘I killed the guy. I killed the outside guy, and I killed the wizard.’
Austin: Oh, I have to write- [typing] Also, Christopher confessed to killed Winsley. This is whole- this is a whole situation happening here. So, it just throws the court into disorder, Keith?
Keith: Yeah, totally. We can’t- we cannot try this guy for murder when there’s now a second suspect-
Austin: Good. Great.
Keith: -with eq- with like literally the same amount of proof as the first one.
Austin: Ok.
Keith: Cause they didn’t finish the investigation-
Austin: No, that’s true. They didn’t.
Keith: -cause Christopher came forward.
Austin: Yep. Uh, Art what happens in the uh- in the factories?
Art: Um… I mean I think it’s just a- it’s a just a much grimmer, sadder version of- of all of this. That the- the children do keep getting- there- there is a complicated, supervisory structure put in-
Austin: Ok.
Art: -by concerned parents. And their legal advocates. But-but what do you do? You can’t make kids less clumsy, so it happens, you know. They- they’re whittled down. They’re- they’re maimed. It’s- it’s often terrible. But the factories work. It’s- it’s a- it’s a… It’s a good source of production.
Austin: Great.
Art: And it’s a good allocation of labor from a- from a very utilitarian perspective.
Keith: I think one of the most apt things that we’ve done in this whole game so far is the idea that everyone’s mad the children are working in the factories and dying, so what they do is they hire a supervisor to watch them die. [Austin laughs] Instead of do anything.
Art: Fewer are dying than in the pre-supervisor days. The supervisors can- can point to some data.
Keith: Right, but even the parents are going like,
Austin: Can they over the week?
Keith: ‘Well, our hands are tied. Kids are just clumsy.’ [Austin laughs] And not like, ‘Don't let them into the factories!!’
Janine: Child care’s hard when the church isn’t providing it for free.
Austin: Yup, it’s true.
Art: Yeah.
Austin: Everyone’s busy. Everybody’s got work to do. Alright. Good. I advanced the other clocks. Art, what are you doin’? Er- no, it’s Keith’s turn?
Art: No, it’s my turn.
Keith: [overlapped] This is the second disgusting world that looks exactly like ours.
Austin: Is it or did you just get to go because you finished that project? Cause that project finished.
Art: N- er-
Austin: Yes.
Art: Yes.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Yes. So, Keith, what are you doing with your- your action this turn?
Keith: Um, well, I draw- I draw card, right?
Austin: You did that already.
Keith: Ok. I did that part, so my action-
Austin: And that’s how you fucked up the court case.
Keith: Oh, well then, duh. Action is start a new investigation on the-
Austin: Oh my god.
Keith: -on the murders. [Austin and Janine laugh]
Austin: This is just-
Keith: It’ll only take one week cause we got a lot of the pieces in place.
Austin: Uh huh.
Art: Wait, what did the c- oh right. The cards are the thing there.
Austin: Yep. Ok. New investigation. Not a new trial. A new investigation.
Keith: New investigation.
Austin: Ok cool.
Janine: Maybe even a- Well, I guess, I can’t say.
Keith: We’re done with trials. There’s no fuckin’
Austin: Ok.
Keith: It’s too late. We fig-
Austin: Ok.
Keith: We find the murderer, and that’s it.
Austin: Ok, Nick. Your turn. Draw a card.
Nick: Ok.
Austin: Huh.
Nick: Oh.
Austin: Interesting.
Nick: Interesting. Uh, ‘The parish arrives. Who are they? Why have the chosen your community and for what?’ Or ‘A small gang of marauders is making its way through local terrain. How many are they? What weapons do they carry?’ Ooo, ok.
Austin: Interesting.
Nick: I’m gonna pick the second one.
Austin: Ok. Who are they? What weapons do they carry?
Nick: Uh-
Austin: Er how many are- not who are they. How many are there? What weapons do they carry?
Nick: There is- uh, alright. I’m gonna say it’s a gang of about uh, eight-
Austin: Ok.
Nick: -to ten.
Austin: Ok.
Nick: It’s kinda hard to actually get an accurate count because they’re really wiley and- and sneaky.
Austin: Hm.
Nick: Uh, the weapons that they wield are- are various, but they’re all- they’re not ostentatious. They’re- they’re very solid and good and utilitarian, and the only decoration they have at all-
Austin: Uh hm.
Nick: -is the symbol of Samot.
Austin: Ok. What’s that look like in this era?
Nick: I don’t- I don’t know.
Austin: Uh, so in the-
Nick: Uh, cause I don’t remember what it looked like in the other arc.
Austin: -in the future it’s- it’s a book and- and overlaid with a goblet.
Nick: Oh, right. Ok. Uh, let’s say in this era-
Austin: Uh hm.
Nick: It’s just the goblet.
Austin: Ok. Um, so then what is- er I’ll advance clocks. Keith, [small laugh] talk to me about the investigation.
Keith: So, the pro of having something be done in 1 week is that you can resolve it right away, and the con is like, ‘Oh, I didn’t think of it. Of the thing.’ Um-
Austin: Yes. That is- that is- [laughs]
Keith: But, so now, here’s- [Nick and Janine laugh] So, now after- after that bit of honesty-
Austin: Yes.
Keith: -here’s the thing that I’m thinking of while I say it.
Austin: Hm.
Keith: I think all signs point to Christopher having committed the murders, but also not enough signs point to Christopher having done the murder.
Austin: Both of them or just the first one that he confessed to?
Keith: Just the first one.
Austin: Ok.
Keith: Um, I think that there’s- there’s enough there to go, ‘Ok, Christopher did this. But-’
Austin: But- Yeah, go ahead.
Keith: -like, maybe not in as direct a way as like Christopher went out, brought this guy outside the walls, and stabbed him in the throat. Like, I don’t- like, but he also still did it.
Austin: So, like enough evidence where like, people believe he did it, but not enough evidence to convict?
Keith: Um, yes.
Austin: Ok.
Keith: Um, and I- and I- I… I think from the second murder- or the second death, I think that they say, ‘Yes, this is a murder. Um-’
Austin: He definitely didn’t just drop a bucket of lava on his head.
Keith: ‘He definitely didn’t just drop a bucket of lava on his head.’ And the only thing- the only- the only lead that they were able to find is, ‘Ok, well, the- uh-’... The mage house, is gone, right?
Austin: Uh hm.
Keith: The wizard tower?
Austin: Yes.
Keith: Yes. Uh, then, I think- I think the only lead that they could have- that they have right now is- the thing that everybody can say is that like, ‘Hey, everybody uses that bucket, right? That carries the- the lava, but the people that use it the most are the pala-din.’
Austin: Do- do they? I guess they do. Sure.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: You said it.
Keith: They do.
Austin: Ok.
Keith: I said it. They do.
Austin: So, they’re blaming the pala-din. Gotcha. Ok.
Keith: Uh, yeah. Yeah. Um-
Austin: Ok. What’s your- or is that? That was the end- It was Nick’s turn. Nick, what- did you start a project or find something? Not yet.
Nick: Um, ok. I’m gonna discover something.
Austin: Ok.
Nick: And what I discover is a small party of elves-
Austin: Hmm.
Nick: -standing in the uh, the sort of town center of Canopy Row.
Austin: Ok.
Nick: And with them is a small, completely featureless creature. And the elves start gathering people around. You know, like ringing the- the town meeting bell or-
Austin: Uh hm.
Nick: -you know, whatever- whatever the- tradition is. Um, and once- once enough people are gathered around, the uh- the small creature, who is wearing elf clothes, but like, children’s clothes.
Austin: Uh hm.
Nick: Like, about the size of a child, climbs up onto the shoulders of one of the elves and does so in a somewhat disconcerting way. Like, skittering comes to mind.
Austin: Ok.
Nick: It’s very quick. Um, and she’s immediately up there, and she’s standing on- on the shoulders, but the- the elf is standing there stoically with his arms crossed, not you know- doesn’t seem to be flinching under weight or anything.
Austin: Uh hm.
Nick: Um, and the creature says,
Nick (as Other Hedy): Hello, everyone. You knew me as Hedy. Or, Other Hedy.
Austin: [laughs] It’s her. It’s Other Hedy.
Nick (as Other Hedy): The- the elves helped me realize what I am and my capabilities. I want to help you. I want to rebuild this wonderful city. I want to help the friends that I made here. I was a strange, misshapen creature. I still am. And though many of you are frightened of me, you still welcomed me into your community. Partially because I was the copy of someone you trusted, which, I still didn’t- don’t understand why. But the elves have discovered- have helped me discover my abilities. And I would like to use them to help you.
Nick: And with that she steps down from the elf- elf’s shoulders, but when she steps down, her leg extends to meet the ground.
Austin: Contempt.
Janine: Ugh.
Nick: And she takes her- the other step, and her other leg extends to meet the ground, and in great strides, she walks over to the net and immediately and very quickly stretches her arms up and fixes multiple holes that had, you know-
Austin: Good. Uh huh.
Nick: -gone there while she was away, and no one was maintaining the net.
Austin: Good. Cool.
Keith: [imitating Other Hedy] ‘The elves have taught me to be even better at fixing nets.’ [Janine and Austin laugh]
Austin: Good, ok. Good. Good. Uh. She’s creepy. This is- this is- [sighs] Ok. Alright. Uh, ‘A natural disaster strikes the area. Choose one. Either: you focus on getting everyone to safety. Remove and abundance and a project fails.’ Or, ‘You focus on protecting your supplies and hard-work at any cost. Several people die as a result.’ King of Autumn.
Art: [overlapped] More like King of Fall, am I right?
Austin: You just moved Hedy into the nets. And that was the creepiest.
Janine: [laughing] She’s like peeking out. I love it. [Austin and Keith laugh]
Austin: [sighs] God.
Janine: [using a high-pitched Hedy voice] ‘I’m back.’
Austin: Do I want several people to die or what’s more interesting to have-? I think this project fails. There is- that chill wind from before comes back, and it- Above the uh, the army encampment to the northwest where Samot’s army gathers, you see a storm, and it gets closer and closer. And the- the snow starts to fall over the northwestern part of the kind of river slash sea that- that separates the continent from the island. And the water begins to freeze, building a natural bridge.
And one night, as the storm is getting closer and closer, as it’s approaching the city itself, the volcano explodes again- er not explodes. [light laugh] That would be bad. It erupts again, and the heat in the water- you know, more lava flows down into the water and the heat rises. And the nights from then on are warmer than usual. And though the kind of northwest becomes this like, frosted, almost tundra, the cold weather never gets to the island because Samothes has like, dedicated to keeping the heat up. But whatever it was he was working on before is now stopped. Whatever his last gift was.
Art: That’s what everyone loves. Nice, hot nights.
Austin: Uh hm. Yep. That’s what everyone wants. The warmest, hottest, shittiest nights.
Art: Good ol’ hot Autumn nights.
Austin: Um, and it glows more.
Art: It’s what people love.
Austin: It also- [laughs] Yeah, hot- un, I love it. Love a nice, hot- hot Autumn night. I also think it’s just like- It- there’s more light pollution now. Like, the sea is even a brighter yellow than it normally is. And so just like, there’s just always this- it- The nights just don’t get as dark as they used to. My second thing is I’m gonna start a project. Cause we have no projects right now, and that’s always a bad idea. I’m gonna start amassing an army. Maelgwyn-
Art: Oh, good call.
Austin: Uh, Maelgwyn calls on all of the able-bodied adults to begin to form up into-
Keith: Oh, the children can’t do this one? [Janine laughs]
Austin: No, they can’t. They’re busy- they’re busy building weapons for the adults. They’re building swords.
Janine: You said able-bodied.
Austin: Right.
Janine: Not-
Austin: Yeah. [laughs] Yes, exactly.
Janine: It’s- it’s tough.
Austin: Um, and it’s going to take-
Keith: There’s gotta be some ripped kids working in those factories.
Austin: Ok, yeah, but only able-bodied kids can-
Art: Fewer than 40% of the kids are getting hurt at the factory. I mean, you guys are really blowing this out of proportion.
Austin: Any able-bodied uh, any able-bodied kids can come, too. Um, to where the exiles used to be. And that is where uh, the army will- will begin to form. Alright.
Keith: Um, how many- how many turns? Five?
Austin: Uh, I think Five?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Five is what I wrote. I think that that takes like- a lot of time to recruit people.
Keith: How many cards do we have left in the-?
Austin: Uh, 1 more in this month. So, Janine? That’s you, I think.
Janine: Ok. ‘Someone leaves the community after issuing a dire warning. Who? What is the warning?’ Or ‘Someone issues a dire warning, and the community leaps into action to avoid disaster. What is the warning? Start a contentious project that relates to it.’
Austin: Ooo.
Janine: Ok, I’m gonna say that Tamsyn is gonna leave Canopy- She’s still alive, right?
Austin: Oh yeah. She’s alive and like, has kind of risen to- to prosperity over the last year.
Janine: Ok. Um, so, Tamsyn doesn’t like that Hedy is back.
Austin: Sure.
Janine: And Tamsyn says like,
Janine (as Tamsyn): Look, she says she’s helping- that she wants to help. That they want to help. But like, [sighs] we’ve got a lot- [laughs] there’s a lot. There’s a lot of things happening, and this is a really scary, really weird thing that we shouldn’t just be ok with compared to all the other things going on that like- You know, she shouldn’t- she shouldn’t be here. The elves want to take her. The elves took her. She should stay with the elves. The elves should also maybe leave. Like, we don’t want anything- I don’t want anything to do with this.
Austin: Ok.
Janine: Um, but Hedy’s, you know, she fixed that net, and you know, people maybe kind of missed her a little bit cause she’s been there for a while. And kind of got used to her even though she’s really icky to look at or listen to.
Austin: Uh hm. [Keith laughs]
Janine: [laughing] So- so maybe Tamsyn try- Tam- what? [laughing] I already forgot.
Austin: Tamsyn. Tamsyn.
Janine: She already tries- She tries to start something, but everyone’s just like, ‘No. Just, you know, it’s fine. She’s owned up to it. It’s- it’s cool.’ So, uh-
Austin: So, Tamsyn bounces?
Janine: Tamsyn bounces.
Austin: Ok.
Janine: Maybe Tamsyn joins the army.
Austin: Yeah. That’s fair.
Janine: She’s able-bodied.
Austin: She is able-bodied. Ok. Uh, alright, so what’s your action? And then we’ll-
Janine: Uh, coinciding with Tamsyn’s display, sort of once Tamsyn bounces and- and the community has voiced its support, um, Hedy’s gonna start a project.
Austin: Ok.
Janine: To help. Um-
Austin: Are you putting help in quotes?
Janine: No. Not at all.
Austin: Ok.
Janine: I’m putting help in normal voice.
Austin: Ok.
Janine: With normal punctuation that isn’t around it.
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: Um, [Nick laughs] so, Hedy’s- Hedy’s gonna go into the forest for uh, you know, a week’s probably fine- No, 2 weeks. 2 weeks.
Austin: 2 weeks. Ok.
Janine: I don’t want to say it next turn, so it’s-
Austin: What’s she doing? Like, what’s the project? She’s just helping getting wood?
Janine: She’s helping. She’s just- she’s just- she just says like-
Austin: Ok.
Janine (as Other Hedy): I’m gonna help.
Janine: [laughing] Like, she doesn’t say it like that. But she says-
Austin: And they were like, ‘Oh, cool. She fixed that net. So, yeah. We’re cool with you doing whatever you want.’
Janine: She’s- you know she says- she says like,
Janine (as Other Hedy): Look, I’m really-
Austin: Ok.
Janine (as Other Hedy): I’m really touched that you guys supported me there because you know, that was-
Austin: Ok.
Janine (as Other Hedy): -that could have gone really bad for me, and I- I’m glad you guys were there- were there for me. Um, I know about this thing in the forest, and I want to go- [Austin and Janine laugh] I want to go get it. And it’ll help. [laughs]
Austin: It’ll help. Ok.Good. That’s good.
Janine (as Other Hedy): Bye.
Austin: That’s totally gonna work and be good and good.
Janine: [laughing] Yeah. It’s fine.
Austin: Alright. Cool. Cool. Art? We’re into winter. Ooo, it’s blue.
Janine: Ooo.
Art: ‘In preparation for the coming year, the community begins a huge undertaking. Start a project that will take at least 5 weeks to complete.’
Austin: Hm.
Art: Or ‘Go pound sand.’
Austin: Yeah, no “or” here.
Art: A project that will take at least 5 weeks to complete.
Austin: And it sounds like it’s a pretty unified project.
Art: I think they’re gonna try to put some uh- some towers on the wall to repel this invading force.
Austin: Uh hm. Ok. That sounds good. 5 weeks?
Art: Uh-
Austin: Or six?
Art: Five.
Austin: Boom. Five. Ok, cool. Alright, what do you do with your- with your action? I’ve already reduced the other clocks.
Art: Um, my actual action. We haven’t had a discussion in a while.
Austin: We haven’t.
Art: Let’s have a discussion on- on the industrialization of the city.
Austin: What’s your question? Or your statement?
Art: It’s- it’s- oh, I have to start with a statement, that's right.
Austin: Or a question, but-
Art: ‘I really prefer how things used to be, you know? I really like knowing where the, you know, where my stuff came from. That- that a person did a whole project at once. These mass-produced swords, they feel- they feel cheap and insubstantial.’
Keith: ‘My eyes hurt. My throat burns. It’s too hot.’
Nick: ‘I know there’s some drawbacks, but I think it’s good. We need some progress on this island. I- I move to call this- rename this place Progress Island.’ [Janine laughs once]
Keith: [laughs hard] Contempt. [Janine, Austin, and Nick laugh]
Austin: An elf arrives with a second bucket.
Austin (as unnamed elf): ‘Destroy those buildings, or there will not be enough time to prepare for what comes next.’
Janine: Does- does he leave? Is that it?
Austin: Yeah. But he leaves that bucket. You got 2 buckets now.
Janine: Does he dump it this time? Or does he just leave it.
Austin: No, he leaves it.
Janine: Ok.
Austin: He didn’t dump it the first time either.
Janine: Oh ok. Um-
Austin: This time he leaves it by the- No, I think they like Canopy Row, so-
Janine: Hm.
Austin: There we go. 2nd bucket. Southern- southern bucket. That’s also the name of the tavern there. [Janine laughs] The Southern Bucket. [Nick laughs] I’m gonna add it to our character’s list.
Janine: ‘Now- now look. Back in my great-great-great grandmother’s day-’
Austin: [laughing] God damnit.
Keith: Contempt. No, that’s fine.
Janine: ‘It cost 2 weeks wages just to get a single tiny, glass figurine to sit on your goddamn fireplace. Now, you can get it for like, it’s- you know, it’s not- it’s still kind of expensive.’ But it’s a lot less expensive than it was for her. ‘And I like that. I like having- I like tchotchkes. And I like- I like having things. I like having things at a price that I can afford. I think factories are good.’ [light laugh]
Austin: Alright. Keith, it’s your turn.
Keith: [exhales] I’m scared of winter.
Austin: Me, too. Oh boy.
Keith: ‘Somebody goes missing. They’re alone in the winter elements. Choose one. The community organizes constant search parties, and eventually the person is found. Project dice are not reduced this week.’ ‘No one ever hears from that person-’ or ‘No one ever hears from that person again.’
Austin: Hm.
Keith: Ooo, that’s rough. That’s rough.
Austin: Uh hm.
Keith: That’s a rough one.
Austin: I’m shrinkin’ it and movin’ it out of the way of any projects.
Keith: Um-
Nick: I have a feeling they’re all gonna be rough ones.
Austin: Oh yeah, winter. Winter.
Nick: Yeah.
Keith: Uh, what’s- that Mael-guy?
Austin: What?
Nick: The mail guy?
Keith: Yeah.
Nick: Mr. McFeely? What?
Keith: [laughs] No, no, no, no, no.
Austin: The mail guy?
Keith: Yeah, it’s like M-A-E-L- Maeldrun.
Austin: Maelgwyn. Maelgwyn.
Keith: Maelgrim. [Nick laughs]
Austin: Ugh. Maelgwyn.
Keith: Maelgwyn.
Austin: Yeah.
Nick: You know, the mailman.
Keith: Maelman goes missing. Uh, he’s out with the army, right? That’s where he was.
Austin: He is training the army, yeah.
Keith: He's training the army.
Austin: Uh huh.
Keith: And uh, so here’s the thing about what happens when you’re training an army and building camps and scouting perimeters-
Austin: Uh hm.
Keith: -is that uh, he didn’t come back at all.
Austin: Ok.
Keith: Uh, but he told everyone- he said,
Keith (as Maelgwyn): The most important thing is to keep training. Keep fortifying. Keep at it.
Keith: And no- no one has any time to look for him. And he just doesn’t come back.
Austin: Hmm.
Art: Gonna take a contempt.
Austin: Me, too. Uh, your action this turn. Oh, I’m gonna advance the clocks actually. Uh, Janine, your clock hit zero.
Janine: So, uh… so Maelgwyn disappears, never to be heard from again.
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: But Hedy comes back-
Austin: Yep.
Janine: -with a lot of other ‘others’.
Austin: Ah, good. Good.
Janine: A lot. For every- for every person whose body was found, like- whose like actual body was found-
Austin: Uh hm.
Janine: -there is another of them. And for some of them, there are a couple ‘others’. And like, they’re slightly smaller than the other ‘others’. So like, the ‘others’ where there’s only one, they’re- they’re fairly large. You know, Hedy is a- is a fairly large- or was… is? I don’t know. [laughs] When fully extended, Hedy is quite large. Um, but the ones that- that are sort of multiples [laughs] are sort of multiples-
Austin: Uh huh. There’s like- they’re-
Janine: They’re a little smaller.
Austin: Uh hm.
Janine: They’re more like shrubs, you know?
Austin: Uh hm.
Janine: They’re- they’re kind of reduced. [Nick laughs] If you stacked them on top of each other, they’d be about the same. So, she brings- it’s not an army, but it would be considered like, a reasonably scaled like, mercenary force. Um-
Austin: Hmm.
Janine: And they are- they’re not armed because they’re- they just came out of trees. But they look like they are ready to- to take up arms-
Austin: Ok. Cool.
Janine: -with their really long, gross taffy-arms.
Austin: Good. [Nick laughs] You want to make a- make a bunch of them down there maybe?
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: Good.
Janine: See, I told you she was helping.
Austin: Sure.
Keith: ‘My name is Hedy, and that’s not Nerds Rope.’ [Austin and Janine laugh]
Austin: ‘That’s me.’
Keith: ‘That’s me. Please don’t eat it.’
Janine: I don’t imagine her that bumpy. I imagine she’s much like- she’s smooth, but it’s like-
Austin: Oh. Don’t. No. No.
Janine: -ripply.
Austin: Ugh. [Nick laughs] Alright. Whose fuckin’ turn is this actually? This is Keith’s turn?
Keith: My turn, yeah.
Nick: She’s more like- she’s more like Red Vines.
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: What are you doing?
Nick: Except peach colored.
Austin: What are you doing, Keith?
Keith: Um, I guess- I guess I would like a uh- I would like to investigate the army that’s up there.
Austin: Ok. That’s a good idea.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: How many weeks do you think it will take to scout that?
Keith: Um, I think 3 weeks.
Austin: Yeah, I could- I can get with that. There we go. 3 weeks. Nick, uh draw your card. [light laugh] Ah, well. King of Winter. The Frost Shepherds arrive. That’s the end of the game. I think- I think that the scouts you sent out, they see them first. The chariots don’t pick up dust this time, but snow and ice and sleet, and as it pours out from behind them, it does not fall softly back to the ground and instead it rises up into the sky. A whirlwind that turns into a wintery hurricane. It builds in speed and strength, and it moves out in front of Samot’s forces, covering the barren ground in ice and then reaching the river of fire. A collision that seems to tear nature itself apart.
The bells ring and the horns call. All of Marielda moves into action, but what follows is the story of the projects that went unfinished. You know, if- if the scouts had made it back in time, then maybe they could have hurried preparations or told you what exactly it was you were preparing for. But instead the scouts are run down, trampled, left to freeze in the snow. If the towers had been finished, the watch towers, then maybe you would have seen that the traitor Samot’s forces were arriving not to the north, but to the south first. But you didn’t know that until… the elves arrived. Their stoicism finally broken, fleeing into Canopy Row, begging for refuge from the vanguard forces that used their bridge to cross while the river was still cooling. If- if Tamsyn had been able to fully prepare her troops, then the fighting may have started out on the field instead of inside the city itself where so much damage was done. The siege lasted weeks.
But while much of the city suffered, Canopy Row survived. As Samot’s forces could not have predicted, Hedy and her group of long-armed weavers which moved through the cracks and swung from the netting, driving Samot’s most decorated phalanx out of Canopy Row. The strange, glowing orb that the brothers Mung brought back from the obsidian glaciers, the one that was supposedly imbued with the healing fire of Samothes himself, it- it brought back hundreds from the brink of death until finally, they lost track of it. And there was something else, too.
While Samot’s forces freely devastated the buildings of northern Marielda, they seemed unwilling to torch the wooden structures of the Canopy. One man swears he saw an officer chiding a subordinate for even bringing up the possibility. No one knows why.
But while Canopy Rows survived, things were grim for the rest of the city. It seemed like it was only a matter of time, and then some time in the fifth week, at the break of day, a second sun rose on the western horizon, cutting through the snow and clouds and offering a vision of a bright, blue sky. It rallied the troops who joined from basements and attics, who re-armed themselves with old weapons, long forgotten, and who unified as a new front. The remainders who were dedicated to saving Marielda no matter the cost. And that afternoon, they were joined by a surprise set of allies. A second batch of pala-din who walked out of the sea. A statuary in motion. A violent monument to the power of Samothes himself. Except instead of holding spears, they carried long arms. Wood and metal and fire. They held these weapons tight to their shoulders and flung the sun’s own light made material at the occupying army.
The rays of fire burst through Samot’s men, and in their indiscriminate dedication to victory, the pala-din harmed nearly as many of Tamsyn’s remaining soldiers as it did the invaders. Thousands were killed. A population decimated. But Marielda was free. Free to grow and change and reconfigure itself into something new. The smoke and iron of industry went to work, as did the dreams and prejudices of mortal folk.
And then some 15 years later-
Alright, uh. Captain Hitchcock. You hear a familiar sound. There’s a uh, a thing that they used to give you in the calvary which were these uh, metal plates that strapped, or kind of affixed to the bottom of your cavalry boots. And they said that it was something to do with the stirrups to make sure that they stayed in or something. Um, but when you were in the corp, a thing that you learned was that you always knew when a cavalryman was coming. Even when they were off their horse cause you could hear the clanking of the sound.
Clank. Clank. And then you hear a door open. [Door opening foley] Clunk. [Jack de Quidt’s “Marielda” begins playing in the background] Closes. And then some lighter clanking because the metal is hitting hay now, but there is still a metal ground underneath it. Clank. Clank. And it’s getting closer. And the door opens. And there’s a man with no nose wearing the uniform of the Golden Lance wondering why the train is slowing down. What do you do?
[Jack de Quidt’s “Marielda” begins going hard in the background]