Sangfielle 33: Passage on the Jade Moon Pt. 2
Transcriber: robotchangeling
Austin: Sangfielle is a series that draws on elements of dark fantasy, horror, and gothic fiction. As such, a list of content warnings will always be made available in the episode description.
Jack (as Pickman): Where's Lyke? Where’s Virtue?
Art (as Duvall): Mm. [Austin and Keith laugh] I don't know. Well...Virtue has come into some...new opportunities.
Dre (as Chine): Oh, good for her.
Ali (as Marn): [positively] Mm.
Art (as Duvall): Yeah, I think so too, maybe. And Lyke is pursuing other interests at the moment.
Austin (as Bucho): What is this bug?
Austin: Points up at the moth that’s circling you.
Art (as Duvall): Um, the moth helped me find you all.
Ali (as Marn): [positively] Oh.
Dre (as Chine): Oh, hey!
Jack (as Pickman): Oh, good.
Keith (as Lyke): Hello.
Ali (as Marn): How's it going?
Keith (as Lyke): I'm seriously injured.
Jack (as Pickman): Lyke, who did this to you?
[Music begins: “Sangfielle” by Jack de Quidt]
Keith (as Lyke): I...I mean, in a sense...the most literal sense, it's self inflicted. But it is the result of, um...I guess a broad disagreement about is it okay to become Vampire Queen.
Ali (as Marn): Ohhhh.
Janine: Yeah.
Jack: Pickman slowly turns her head to look at Duvall. [Ali and Janine laugh]
Art (as Duvall): That's...yeah, that's right.
Austin: As you approach the riverboat, you see the name of it painted in big, you know, gaudy letters. It is called the Jade Moon. And it strikes you, perhaps, that this is a gift for you, for the service you rendered. For a detail we have not raised, which is while Queen Virtue—sorry, Vampire Queen Virtue—is becoming Vampire Queen Virtue, you also...you helped ensure that but also left some bugs in there.
Art: Sure.
Austin: And in many ways, this is your gift for doing that. A safe and pleasant return trip on the Jade Moon, a luxury steamship that seems to have some connection to the Sleeping City and the Structure. So—
Jack: Huh.
Austin: As the schedule says, it says: “Schedule, ongoing. False war tournament, begins Night Two. Lessons available, ask Hazard. Day Three: arrive at Bridge Cathedral. See Deacon for medical services. One night stay.”
Jack: Oh.
Austin: Day Six: arrive at Cantbank, resupply and shopping available, one night stay. Day
Seven: dance lessons, day. The Broken Quartet live, evening. Day Nine to Eleven: remain inside. Day Twelve: departure available. Day Thirteen: false war finals, true false war format, evening. Winner takes all. And Day Fourteen: final arrival, scuttling.” And then underneath that, it says “Breakfast available, lunch at noon, dinner later.”
Sylvia (as Hazard): You know, you seem like you've been in the thick of some interesting things. You, uh, run into any devils down Sapodilla way at all?
Keith (as Lyke): Yeah, s— yeah, several.
Jack (as Pickman): Yes.
Sylvia (as Hazard): See… [sighs] I'm kinda on the lookout for someone. I feel like you'd know if you met them. They make an impression.
Keith (as Lyke): What’s their name?
Sylvia (as Hazard): Can't tell you that. Wish I could. Can't tell you that. I know they've got one horn. That's about it.
[song ends]
Austin: Welcome to Friends at the Table, an actual play podcast focused on critical world building, smart characterization, and fun interaction between good friends. I'm your host, Austin Walker. Joining me today, Andrew Lee Swan.
Dre: Hey. You can find me on Twitter at @swandre3000.
Austin: Ali Acampora.
Ali: Hi! You can find me over at @ali_west on Twitter, and you can find the show over at @friends_table.
Austin: Sylvia Clare.
Sylvia: Hey, I'm Sylvi. You can find me on Twitter at @sylvibullet and listen to my other show Emojidrome wherever you get your podcasts.
Austin: Janine Hawkins.
Janine: Hey, you can find me at @bleatingheart on Twitter.
Austin: Jack de Quidt.
Jack: Hi there. You can find me on Twitter at @notquitereal and buy any of the music featured on the show at notquitereal.bandcamp.com.
Austin: Art Martinez-Tebbel.
Art: Hey, you can find me on Twitter at @atebbel, and apropos of nothing, the original All-Starr Band was basically just the E Street Band. It's the whole E Street Band here. [muffled laughter]
Austin: Huh. And Keith Carberry.
Keith: Hi, my name is Keith J. Carberry. You can find me on Twitter at @KeithJCarberry and find the let's plays that I do at youtube.com/runbutton.
Austin: As always, you can support the show by going to friendsatthetable.cash, [laughs] where you can find all sorts of things. Let me recommend that even for a single dollar you could listen to the Clapcasts. [Art laughs] If you want to know why Art brought up the All Starr-Band, you might want to pay a dollar to listen to the Clapcasts. If you want to hear us listen to the most wanted and most unwanted songs ever, quote unquote.
Keith: And you should want to do that even if you don't know it.
Austin: Especially.
Janine: If you want to know why I'm gonna be saying the word “yahoo” 16 times during this one session. [Jack laughs]
Ali: Ooh.
Austin: Do all your shopping, dot dot dot. And I won’t— you’ll have to listen.
Janine: At Walmart.
Austin: You have to— well, okay, well now Janine said it. Janine said where you can do all your shopping. [Dre laughs] One dollar to hear— to listen with some of us as we listen to some truly outlandish shit and hear our live reactions. It was a really fun Clapcast. Five bucks if you want to get Bluff City, Live at the Table, a bunch of other stuff, and so on. So, go check that stuff out. The Sangfielle postcards have also been going out, and they're sick as hell, so. But shoutouts to Jenn and Chris who are doing just incredible work on those, IMO. We are today picking up our game of Heart: the City Beneath by Grant Howitt and Christopher Taylor. Our principles, as always, are on another page for me to pull up. [Sylvia laughs] Here they are. I should put them up top. Ask questions instead of planning; evoke an atmosphere of wonder, horror, and humanity; build and break tension; pay attention to what everyone at the table wants, long and short term; and to play to find out what happens. When last we recorded, we all were on a boat, and the boat was pulling in to the Bridge Cathedral, which is a Triadic Pyre temple, a sort of Cathedral to the Fire Alight aka the flaming, the fiery god? the burning? the burning god. The burning god of iron trains, I believe. So, the last thing I described is y'all pulling up to this cathedral. As a reminder, this cathedral is this kind of massive bridge that houses a number of train lines passing through it, crossing over this very wide river. Which means, again, this cathedral is like miles long. Like, as a reminder, this...in certain places, this river goes over two miles in width. I'm gonna say this is a place where it's about two miles wide, which means that this is a single structure, this like monstrous tall structure, where theoretically it could house a number of trains, one of them being the Fire Alight, the burning god among iron trains, which seems to be a scary thing to think about. If we've seen...we have seen some scary trains, and this one is calling itself a train god, and so that's kind of scary. Or it's called that by the Triadic Pyre and others. That—
Keith: But does it also call itself that?
Austin: I don't know. You’d have to ask the Fire Alight, I would think. The water itself, as you near, does begin to boil. There seems to be a lingering heat here. And according to your schedule, you're here for a night, staying overnight, and you're picking up a deacon from this place. I believe I gave the name Etienne— did I give Etienne Alize? who is the Deacon of the Blood here and is gonna be coming aboard once y'all make, uh...make, you know, dock. “Make dock” is wrong. What's the phrase I'm looking for? [Janine and Sylvia laugh] Make land? Make...make, uh...
Dre: Just dock? Just dock?
Austin: Yeah, but there's another word. There's a phrase like “make blank.” Make landfall. I guess dock is fine. [typing] Dock verb synonym. Anyway, what are y'all doing? Drop anchor?
Keith: As soon as we make dock, I've gotta get to the doctor. [Austin and Janine laugh]
Janine: I don’t like make dock.
Keith: I have to make doctor.
Dre: Yeah, I also have to make doctor. [laughs]
Janine: Me too.
Austin: All right, well, make doctor is different. [Austin and Janine laugh] That's, yeah. You like literally pull up to the— as the, you know, boat docks and the planks kind of land, the stage opens up for people to get on board and some people to leave here. I mean, you make out the doctor in line pretty quickly. I guess maybe you don't. I don't know what your doctor recognition skills are. But there's someone carrying a doctor's bag. They are drakkan, or he is a drakkan. This is Etienne. He has kind of pale yellow green seahorse skin and, you know, nose, face, that whole situation. It's this kind of like sickly, sickly green with a pair of like pince-nez glasses, but very— I guess they're— I guess they'd be big to be on a seahorse person's nose. Or maybe they find a nice small ridge to fit on there. And a little black hat. Or it's not a— I guess it's probably a pretty big black hat, 'cause now I'm thinking about a seahorse person needing to wear a hat, and in my mind, their heads are pretty big, so this hat will be pretty big with kind of a wide brim. Dressed in all black, kind of...it's a long black coat that you might mistake for robes. And that's also just kind of how he carries himself. And he is waiting in line and kind of sees the two of you. Is anyone else waiting for medical attention? Sees the three of you waiting—
Austin (as Etienne): [annoyed sigh]
Austin: And is just like already annoyed at the idea that the patients have not been taken care of before he's been brought on board.
[0:10:17]
Keith: Oh, not annoyed at us for being hurt. That's good. That’s a good sign.
Austin: Uh, a little annoyed that you were being hurt.
Keith: Oh, okay.
Austin: And I think like, as he's checking in, he is like:
Austin (as Etienne): In the past, I've said that I'm to handle all new emergencies, not old ones.
Austin: And the usher, whose name I've written down somewhere here...uh, buh buh buh...Teak is like, you know:
Austin (as Teak): We can't handle everything, can we?
Austin: And the doctor just like groans and hands the coin and steps aboard and walks like right up to the three of you, and is like:
Austin (as Etienne): I will be getting my things in order. You can find me this evening.
Austin: And then walks past you onto the ship. So yeah, you can get healed up a little later tonight. [laughs softly]
Keith: But I'm so hurt now.
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Uh huh. [Keith and Dre laugh]
Jack: (??? 11:15)
Dre: Chine's whole body creaks and moves in ways it's not supposed to. [laughs]
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: I'm actually—
Austin: Didn't give you a second look either, by the way.
Dre: Well, that's good, hey.
Austin: Yeah. Uh huh.
Janine: I'm actually not that bad off. I probably could have gone to the other guy, but I just… [Austin laughs] To be honest, I just...
Austin: Better chances with this one.
Janine: I'm just trying to heal three Blood Stress, I don't need like…
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Janine: I think I need a lollipop more anything else. [Austin laughs]
Jack: This guy is is Blood Stress and Fallout only, right?
Austin: This is Blood Stress and Fallout, correct. But there are some other things here. You know, maybe you get a little flyer as, you know, you wake up this morning, that's like, here's what the services will be available at this stop, and it's like a list of...it's a list of like sights to see within a day's walk. You know, it's like they've printed these out with the, you know, local tourism board or whatever, whatever this county's leadership is. And, you know, there's like a museum of rocks, you know, a day and a half away, and there's like a bunch of...there's probably a little town the other direction by a day, and mostly it's about what's here that you can kind of get up there and get back. The big stuff is the cathedral. The two big healing things here for people who are— who need some additional stuff. There is a D6 Echo healing place here, which is...it's described as sort of a sauna or...really it's a...it's kind of like a hot spring, but it's not a spring. It's just a part of the river where the burning boiling water isn't as hot as it is everywhere else and seems to have been blessed? or touched by this train god? and being in it seems to, depending on who you talk to, heal Echo Stress or purify it by burning it away. And that's D6 Echo. And then there's also just the altar, the burning altar among altars for the burning god among iron trains. That is a D10 Fortune Stress. So I will drop these all into the chat so that we can see them. The doctor will be remaining on board for the rest of the journey, whereas these other things are just while you're docked here.
Jack: Mm.
Austin: There's also stuff around, as always. Like, if you wanted to...I don't know. I don't want to say rob this—
Jack: Rob the cathedral.
Austin: —this very important cathedral, but there are like resources around, and if you want to look around and look for— if you tell me you're looking for something specific, there's a chance it's there, you know?
Jack: The Fortune Altar.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Jack: Can that clear Fallout or is it only a Stress clear?
Austin: Yes.
Jack: It can clear Fallout?
Austin: The way Haunts work is that anything that's a D6 or above can clear Minor Fallout. Anything that's D8 or above can reduce Major to Minor or clear Minor.
Jack: Oh, perfect. Okay.
Austin: I believe it can also clear...I guess I don't know how to clear Critical Fallout, because we don't deal in Critical Fallout, ‘cause Critical Fallout tends to be death or end of character type shit.
Jack: Yeah.
Austin: We haven't gotten there quite yet. [Sylvia laughs]
Dre: So, here's the thing. Normally, Chine wouldn't like proactively choose to, as you put it, rob a place.
Austin: Uh huh.
Dre: But what Andrew is realizing and reading the rules is that to fully clear Major Fallout, it looks like you have to have a D8 and then a D6 resource.
Austin: That is correct.
Dre: Uh, I don't got that. So… [laughs]
Austin: Do you think Chine's first instinct is “I'm gonna go scrounge some stuff up,” and not “I'm gonna ask my friends to see if they have anything they can spare”?
Dre: Um…
Austin: This is me just being like—
Dre: Yes.
Austin: I don't know Chine that well, so you tell me.
Dre: No. Yes.
Austin: Okay.
Dre: Yes, it is that for sure.
Austin: All right. All right. Well, what's that look like? And is anyone else doing similar things? Should we...should we try to group this up so that we don't do six different robbery scenes in a row? [Sylvia and Dre laugh]
Keith: I mean, I could always use some Occult and Religion resources.
Sylvia: Same here, honestly. I was also gonna ask around about the devil that I'm looking for, and so like...
Austin: Sure.
Sylvia: Can probably snag something. I've got a skill that makes me good at stealing.
Austin: [amused breath] All right. Well then, y'all head up the stairs. I imagine there's like stairs kind of carved into the riverbank’s kind of stony walls here, the sort of bank of this wall or of this river that go up to the kind of cathedral. And it's a weird thing, because you can just see all the way into it from from the outside, right? Like if it runs east-west and you're to the west of it, ‘cause you've docked on the western bank, and you kind of climb up from the kind of furthest out to the west, you know, kind of on the plain that runs, you know, back towards Sapodilla. You can just look into it as if you're looking into a huge train station. And then like, I would imagine the main doorway in for visitors is probably connected to that stairwell up, and, you know, kind of if you go in through there, it's maybe not as like awe inspiring or terrifying, but like looking through it from the end, this is a mess of train tracks that lift and change heights. There are a number of trains here right now that are just like, as if they’ve pulled in the station and then been raised up on iron hooks and chains. Some of them are on raised rails that move up almost like a roller coaster track. The whole place is just a mess of loose rails and wires and chains. And the higher levels of it seem as if— and you just see people, you know, of the Triadic Pyre walking around on these loose rails, like— or I guess they're not loose, to be clear. They are like anchored down at a certain point. But when you see someone basically tightrope walking across a train rail, you know, 100 feet in the air, 200 feet in the air, that is a wild thing to see, right? And that’s just like, they're moving around almost like people who work on ships, right? Almost like, um...what are those called? Why am I blanking on that?
Sylvia: Is it just shipwright?
Austin: No, like the people who like just— who are up in the netting of ships and stuff.
Sylvia: Oh.
Austin: There's a specific name for that. But, you know, you know, that sort of person, the sort of person who leaps around. And like, they're just doing that, like moving around there, taking care of certain trains that move through here, and have this like completely alien relationship to all of this. Also, again, lots of fire. In the kind of hometown Blackwick one, there's some fire, but there's a lot of smoke. Here, it's like lots of fire, and a lot of it is smokeless. You don't know what they're burning, but it's...for as much stuff that is burning here as you can see, you would imagine this place should be filled with smoke, and somehow it is not. So yeah, that is the...that is what you're taking in. You can see what you would think you would call the primary altar, kind of at the top most level of this place, kind of on the kind of eastern wall. So it's across this kind of long, miles long cathedral that you're in. Here on the bottom level, I think you probably have a number of laypeople who are just, you know, devotees. There are parts of the ground here that are glass that you can look straight down into the boiling water, you know, through. And then there's huge parts of it that are nothing, that are like the bridge, so to speak, is just train track. And it's a bunch of different train tracks running back and forth. But there are probably little chapels built into this massive cathedral also and little side chambers, and there are people who live here, so. Where are you going? Who you looking for? What do you want to— what do you— what's your first...what's your first thing you do as you take all that in?
Dre: So I'm carrying, uh...Chine is carrying it with them.
Austin: Mm. Mm-hmm.
Dre: And the way they are carrying it is that like, Chine has them inside of his— like, underneath his poncho, with just like their head poking out.
Austin: Uh huh.
Dre: Is there a particular place that it is like drawn to or seems like pulled to?
Austin: No.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: You. Is trying to— I mean, this...you have learned quickly that if you were turning to it to be your compass…
Dre: Yeah, it's not. That's not how it works.
Austin: It is only doing that for you.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: It is looking to you for the same, except more so, right? Like, it's looking to you for food. It's looking to you for understanding. It's looking to you for social cues.
[0:20:06]
Dre: Sure.
Austin: So like, yeah, it doesn't do that for you.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: In this situation. Unless you have a move that tells me otherwise.
Dre: Mm-mm. No, I don't. Um…I guess where Chine would go would be to try to find someplace where like, I mean, I guess they could get like, quick Cleaver work, like something they could do in a day.
Austin: Mm.
Dre: You know, whether that's like, take care of like some nuisance creature or consult with somebody. Or like, just like play bouncer at a day for a bar. Something like that.
Austin: Yeah, no. So, I think that there is a, um...there is like, clearly, you recognize it as someone who does work like this, that there is someone who is like, recruiting for odd jobs effectively in front of...god, I imagine this place does— ‘cause it's so big right? That I imagine it does have its own weird sociality to it, right? There probably are, if not bars, parts of the cathedral that are, you know, your sort of like restaurant where people are hanging out and places where people get tools and places where people shop for their needs or are provided for in that way. And out in front of a group of people there's someone with a clipboard, a woman similarly in a sort of like close fitting black suit, who is calling out tasks and prices basically. Who is like, you know:
Austin (as job giver): Four coin to clear the soot from the Overgrown Swan’s third wheel.
Austin: And someone’s like:
Austin (as person): Ooh, ooh, ooh! Me!
Austin: And so on and so forth. And at some point, I think that she does explicitly say like, you know:
Austin (as job giver): There's an infestation on the Blue Wind. More annoying than anything, a little dangerous. Any takers?
Austin: And everyone kind of like, [groans] because it means going on board a train, which is scary, even for people who worship them, and presumably clearing out this question mark, question mark, question mark, infestation?
Dre: Yeah. Uh, yeah, Chine shamble limps forward.
Keith (as Lyke): [hushed] Start the bidding high. [Dre laughs]
Austin (as job giver): I don't recognize you.
Dre (as Chine): I'm not from around here, but I'm a Cleaver, so if you've got an infestation...
Austin (as job giver): Ha. A Cleaver. Do you have experience with gandies, then?
Dre: Um...
Austin: Gandies are—you know, I don't know if you have experience or not—but they are the creatures that the...that the Structure, like, produces to take care of the trains. And also sometimes they're hostile. Jack, am I getting this right? The gandy dancers?
Jack: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah?
Jack: Yeah, I think so. They’re hostile. They take care of the trains. They take care of the tracks. And sometimes they are neutral, or what passes for neutral, and sometimes they're not.
Dre (as Chine): Yeah, I'm familiar. What...are these giving you certain kind of trouble or you just don't like looking at ‘em or…?
Austin (as job giver): Mm. They have...sullied the Blue Wind.
Austin: She like nods up in the sky towards one of these trains that's been lifted on hooks, and it's sort of been like...it's lifted on hooks and far enough away from other trains that it seems as if they...the sort of creature that these gandies are—which are these kind of insectoid multi-legged beings—like couldn't leap from this one to another one. It's almost as if this train has been kind of quarantined away.
Dre (as Chine): Alright, so, what is...like, what does sullied mean? They like just shit all over the train or what?
Austin (as job giver): Do you want the job or not, Cleaver?
Dre (as Chine): Uh, what's the pay?
Austin (as job giver): A day's work. [thinks for a moment] Eight coin.
Dre: Out of of character, I’m assuming that's a D8.
Austin: D8.
Dre: Yeah, okay.
Austin: Yeah, mm-hmm. And I think that this is gonna be represented in a single roll, effectively. This is going to be effectively like a...like an Endure or Kill check, if you're...I guess that depends on what you're doing here. It's Risky, whatever it will be, and it will be Risky and Technology or Religion.
Dre: Okay. Um...I'm gonna use my—and you tell me if you think this works, but I would like to haggle for a higher price—
Austin: Let’s do it.
Dre: —but I want to do so by invoking my Storyteller move.
Austin: What is your Storyteller move?
Dre: Once per session, when you're tracking a beast, you can declare it to be a renowned beast. You've heard tell of it before. [Sylvia laughs] Tell what is so dangerous about it or repeat a legend of its exploits. This increases the beast’s Protection and its damage— or, its Protection by one, its damage by one step, and any resources gathered from it by two steps.
Austin: Yeah, sure. So what's the story you tell?
Dre: Um…
Austin: Also— I mean, I guess it's true. This is how the Course works, baby. [Dre laughs] This is like, they didn't know how dangerous it was. You somehow have heard, oh, the Blue Wind? and have heard now that the gandies on it are especially dangerous or something.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Or that it's not gandies at all. It's something else. Like, I don't know. You tell me.
Dre: Um...yeah, I think it's gandies, but I wonder if there is something unique about the Blue Wind, and maybe this is something that like, Chine just overheard from Pickman or something. Or there's...or they sense something that has gone wrong with the Blue Wind that has almost like...I wonder if by quarantining the Blue Wind in this way, it's cut off the train and subsequently the gandies from like, something that would keep it more stable.
Austin: Mm.
Dre: Or make them less aggressive. And now since they're cut off, and they feel like trapped, and they don't know what's going on, that makes them become like more aggressive and harder and more dangerous to deal with.
Austin: Yeah. I think— okay, here, what I’ll— I'll meet you halfway on this. Or not halfway, but I'll say that, like, that technique probably normally works. But you remember a story you heard from out west, you know, across the mountain range, where someone tried this specific thing with this specific train and its specific gandies, and the opposite thing happened. Is that like, by cutting them off, they became enraged and, you know, especially violent, as they are wont to do. This whole thing is also like a nightmare, because what's happening here is...it's not clear. I guess you don't know what's happening here. But you know enough to know that the Shape Knights were able to like capture a train once or kill a train once. And here is a church to the trains. And the trains seem to be letting themselves come aboard here, right? Or are not fighting this as far as you can tell. And so this is like an entirely different...the idea that a train would be lifted up by hooks and attended to by people is outside of the realm of what the kind of common understanding of trains is. I think that that is fair, Jack. Correct?
Jack: Yeah.
Austin: Okay.
Jack: Yeah, there's something strange happening here. And it seems like that the...the trains, this has got to be a really good deal for the trains, for the trains to go along with it.
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: Or the is more powerful than they say they are, which Pickman and I think the Shape Knights don't think is true.
Austin: Right. Mm-hmm. So yeah, so I think maybe, do you spin that story basically? That like, by doing this, you've fucked up?
Dre: Yeah, yeah.
Austin: All right. Well, I think she says:
Austin (as job giver): All right, all right. Ten. I'll go no higher.
Dre (as Chine): All right, fine. Ten. That'll also save you—or save somebody—from a bunch of burial cost.
Austin (as job giver): [sighs] We don't bury our dead here, Cleaver.
Austin: And, you know, a fire— you know, a tongue of fire sprouts behind her.
Dre: Okay, well—
Austin: Reminding you that you are in the flames— the Fire Alight’s temple.
Dre (as Chine): Sure. Okay. It'll smell better. [Sylvia, Keith, and Austin laugh]
Austin: All right. Um, well, the thing is, I said it was going to be Risky, but then you gave me this thing that makes it harder for you.
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Austin: So… [Keith laughs] This increases the beast’s Protection by one, its damage by one step, in any way. It doesn't say it makes it— it doesn't say that it makes it. At this point, though, I feel like we should play out that fight, because you've made it a fight instead of just kind of like a single roll. You know?
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Are you going up there alone?
Dre: I… [sighs]
Austin: I guess the rest— who else was with you at this moment?
Dre: Yeah, I mean, if Pickman was here, I'd asked her if she'd want to come with, but I don't think she's here, right?
Austin: Didn't sound like it.
Jack: I don't think so. I think Pickman...Pickman wants to go to the altar to get some Fortune Stress sorted—
Dre: Sure.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Jack: —and has the resources to do that, so I think is probably still on board the boat. But if you wanted help from Pickman, you could always go back to the boat and ask. It's up to you.
Austin: I mean, the the altar is here, right? So there's a chance that maybe you're being kind of taken to the altar for that Fortune heal while this is happening.
[0:30:05]
Sylvia: Since this woman seems like kind of like an authority figure here—
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Sylvia: I think Hazard would want to talk to her, so I could conceivably also have been in the area.
Austin: Totally.
Keith: And I did say that I was gonna come and try to steal some resources, but then Dre wanted to do it by getting a job. [Jack, Dre, and Austin laugh] So I don't know where that leaves me.
Austin: Eh, still here.
Jack: I mean—
Dre: I mean, you know, now you can just rob a train instead of robbing a church.
Austin: That’s true.
Keith: I guess that's true. I guess I can get stuff on the train.
Austin: That is true. You've done it before.
Keith: Yeah.
Jack: I kind of like the idea of Pickman not being involved.
Austin: Yeah, same.
Jack: Of Pickman being in a cabin with a headache. And then these people who are not experienced with gandy dancers boarding a train.
Austin: Yep. What are you—
Keith: I’m so hurt, though. I'm Critically Injured.
Austin: Uh huh. You're not critically injured. Or I guess you are. The name of the thing is Critically Injured?
Keith: The name of the— yes, the name of it is critical, but it’s not a Critical...
Austin: But it’s not a Critical...it's not a Critical Fallout?
Keith: Fallout.
Austin: Okay. What do you want to ask this person, Sylvi? Or Hazard.
Sylvia: I want to ask if they've seen any devils come through recently, like people not from here. Travelers, specifically.
Austin (as job giver): Travelers pass through all the time.
Sylvia (as Hazard): Yeah, this one would stand out.
Austin: I think she looks at you...she looks at you with a squint. Like:
Austin (as job giver): In what way could anything stand out here in the Bridge Cathedral?
Sylvia (as Hazard): I mean, this might be giving me my answer then, because I feel like you'd know. But I gotta do my due diligence.
Austin (as job giver): Tell me who you're looking for.
Sylvia: I think I'm gonna hold up the card that I have with the mark, the like kiss mark on it, and be like:
Sylvia (as Hazard): A devil with one horn. Like I said.
Austin (as job giver): A devil with one horn. That doesn't seem particularly unique.
Sylvia (as Hazard): Eh.
Austin (as job giver): People break their horns all the time.
Sylvia (as Hazard): A devil with one horn who carries himself like a very important person and seems to have people react that way too.
Austin (as job giver): I don't think I've seen the person you're looking for. But I mostly deal with the people who live here and work here.
Sylvia (as Hazard): Okay. Thank you for your time.
Sylvia: Just leaves, like. [laughs]
Austin: Uh huh.
Sylvia: Okay, you don't have anything for me. [laughs softly] Actually, wait. I'm gonna Colombo here.
Sylvia (as Hazard): One more thing.
Austin: Uh huh. [Dre laughs]
Sylvia (as Hazard): Is there anybody around who would deal with people who are coming through?
Austin: Um...I think— [chuckles] I think she says:
Austin (as job giver): Yes, I think the person who unfortunately has to deal with most of the rotters who pass through here is— oh, actually, I'm sorry. You just missed him. He just left on the train, I believe.
Sylvia (as Hazard): [sighs] Ain't that always the way it goes? Well, you have a lovely day, ma'am.
Austin: But is clearly talking about Etienne, the Deacon of the Blood.
Sylvia: Oh, perfect.
Austin: Yeah. All right. Anything else before Chine fights stuff? [laughs softly]
Jack: Um…
Austin: Or is Chine recruiting other people to fight stuff?
Art: I didn't come off with the looting group.
Austin: No, you didn't.
Art: But I am interested in just like having an experience here. But I'm not sure it needs to be like, narrated.
Austin: Sure.
Art: I think Duvall can have a life outside of the camera of the show.
Austin: Yeah. Uh huh.
Art: But, you know, if we're doing like a quick wrap up montage, [someone laughs softly] just like Duvall trying to have like a brief spiritual experience here.
Austin: How’s that go?
Art: I don't know, probably bad.
Austin: Is there, uh...you know, I think I could speak to something here though, which is interesting, which is that the Structure and the Shape have an interesting relationship that we haven't really ever unpacked. And here in a place where the Shape is so concentrated, or some part of it or some version of it is so concentrated, I think that you can...there's like...there's a sense of something similar here to what you felt in the Sleeping City. But it is...it is like just out of tune, right? It's sort of like being in a big state, where there's a similar accent, but you can tell the difference. Like, there's a difference between a Philadelphia and a Pittsburgh accent, right? There's a difference between a North California and a South California accent. But there's still also...there are still affinities between those things, right? And so like, that is the...that is an analogy for what this place feels like. The sort of raw...the ways in which— and this is kind of echoing some of the stuff we've talked about with gods before. Some of the ways in which one can become two here feel similar. There is an efficiency at work here. There is an elaboration of any individual thing here, right? A train can do so much more than what you might even think it can do, right? It can carry so much more than what came before it. It can move so much faster than everything that came before it. It is...they are impressive to look at here. You know, one of them drives past you. Not drives, but you know, moves past you at incredible speed, and it is striking and moving in a sense. But you also get the sense, as it moves across these thin rails over the boiling water, that it could all come apart here at any moment. It's all just like a bad, you know, hour away from this whole place being ablaze. And this place seems to like it that way. It likes to be so close to the spark. It likes to be that close to it all falling apart. The Sleeping City was not like that. The Sleeping City had all of that, but it also felt like it was leashed somehow or built on a sturdier foundation, was...all of that energy was directed into particular shapes, particular directions, particular, you know, modes of being that were not so wild. And I can imagine, you know, that that hits Duvall maybe differently than anybody else in the party. But that kind of contrast comes into relief for you. No rolls involved. Someone else was saying something. Jack, you were saying something.
Jack: Um, yeah. Do we want to do my quick visit to the shrine before the fight?
Austin: Sure.
Jack: Or do we want to do that afterwards?
Austin: But is it happening after the fight? [brief pause] Like, time...like—
Jack: I don't know.
Austin: Because the world—
Jack: It could be happening— oh, go on.
Austin: Yeah, go ahead. The thing I was gonna say is like, do we...we don't want the thing where we say it happens after the fight and then for like Chine to get killed. And then for us to now retroactively be like, “And then Pickman had a totally simple and unemotional visit to the shrine.” [Austin and Jack laugh softly] Maybe it's happening during. Maybe it's happening alongside?
Jack: I think it’s— I think, you know, we leave the boat at the same time.
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: You described this place as being like miles long, right?
Austin: Yep. It’s two miles long and probably...it's probably thinner than that. You know, it's mostly width and not height or— or it's also height, but not length, but still.
Jack: Chine, Hazard, and Lyke are like, “Well, off we go. We're gonna go see if we can get a bit of work,” and Pickman’s like, “Alright, I'm gonna go off and go to the shrine,” and they go their separate ways.
Austin: Yeah. They put you on like a handcart that they begin to cart you up to the shrine along with some other visitors. Like, it's high up in the sky, and they just have people working hand carts, pushing up and down to lift you on this rail. At a certain point, the rail stops and you come to a halt, and chains come down and lift that entire like section of rail and wood and like wooden ground up to another level where it hooks into place, and then they begin to handcart you forward again.
Jack: Oh my god.
Austin: At one point, you drop, like you go down a rail like to pick up speed, and they just use that speed to lift you up another two floors basically, you know? We're doing like Portal shit here. We're doing— we are truly doing roller coaster shit to get you around this place. But eventually, yeah, you come to the— and while this is happening, I can imagine this is the background where Duvall is like having this strange religious experience connecting to everything. This is Chine, you know, being put onto a platform to be raised up to go deal with the Blue Wind. This is...I don't know quite yet what Lye is going to end up doing here, but also there in the background doing shit. So yeah, but you get there. You get to this massive altar. And it is, uh...god. It is an altar in name only. It is an engine that you can't find the edge of. As you move your eyes over it, they can't quite...it just...you can't see the end of it in its presence. And you're like, “Well, okay, if I'm gonna keep looking that direction, it's gonna stop.” And like, as you turn around, like, it's still behind you now. It's like as if it's enclosed you when you're in its presence. The only way to get distance from it is to step away from it backwards until you can kind of hold it all in your eyes, in your sight.
Jack: Ooh.
Austin: Do you know what I mean? But to get close enough to make an offering and to get its blessing, it has to surround you in this way.
Jack: Great. Yeah.
Austin: And it's on. Like, it's an engine that's running.
Jack: The heat of it.
Austin: You know, can see the pistons moving. The heat is— yeah, the heat is happening. It is it is spitting flames. There is a furnace that is burning. You recognize, inside of the furnace, there are like...you remember the eternal embers that…
Jack: Oh, yeah.
Austin: One of which Lyke had? There are like a bunch of those in there, and they're slotted in very carefully in a way that they were not in the train wreck that Lyke found one in. But yeah, it is a very powerful thing to be in front of.
[0:40:12]
Jack: And the offering to remove a Minor Fallout is a D…
Austin: 6.
Jack: It's a D6?
Austin: A D6 resource, yeah.
Jack: Hmm.
Austin: Or D6 of a resource, right? You know, if you...if you have something that you can break down.
Jack: Yeah. No, I think Pickman just takes the pouch of Sapodillan coins—
Austin: Mm.
Jack: —that she took from the, uh...I assume I pick this up in...after we robbed— either we took them from Blick [Austin laughs] or took them from inside the Interred Citadel.
Austin: Probably from Blick, I think. I think that's right.
Jack: And I'm just gonna pour them into the...into the furnace. That's a D6.
Austin: That's a D6. What happens here? Does it respond specially to you, Pickman? Or are you just one more thing, you know, in the light of the furnace?
Jack: It's weird, right? Because like, on the one hand, I don't think Pickman thinks this is a god. Pickman doesn't really worship the, uh...the fiery...what's it called? The fiery engine? The flaming engine?
Austin: This is the Fire Alight.
Jack: This is...and even their great fiery...even their great flaming train is not something that Pickman thinks of as a god.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Jack: But also definitely, in her cosmology, that doesn't really matter.
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: You know, the thing that the Shape is is so intensely powerful that, you know, it doesn't matter what name you're calling this thing. Perhaps there is some acknowledgement. No, there's not. [Austin laughs softly] A train this big doesn't care about Shape Knights.
Austin: No. No.
Jack: Just burns. Just melts down completely.
Austin: Oh, do you know what I think maybe does happen? ‘Cause it's not about you at all. It's that the...your sanguinary array, your— and your iron worm respond back.
Jack: Oh, the parasite? Oh, yeah.
Austin: Yeah, the parasite. Or maybe it's both, in both directions, right? There's a sort of like...there's the sound of something exhaling from deep within you or throughout your armor in relief at being so close to the furnace. Like, the opposite of what it would feel like for us to go in front of a really hot furnace, you know? Where it's like, oh my god, this is— I'm sweating.
Jack: And it’s just disconcerting.
Austin: This is like, ah, a nice breeze. You know? Yeah, uh huh.
Jack: Big wave of nausea for Pickman.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Jack: So this removes the the Fallout. Is it a— it's another cost to remove Stress, or do I roll?
Austin: Uh, it would be a different cost to remove Stress.
Jack: It would be a different cost to remove the Stress.
Austin: Yeah, you'd have to— yeah. When you get rid of Stress, you similarly do the same thing you just did, except then you roll the die and subtract that many Stress from the related thing.
Jack: Oh, yeah, no. I only have three, and I'm about to get one Fortune Protection back, so.
Austin: Right. Sure.
Jack: That feels a little safer.
Austin: So you're getting rid of Unlucky here to get rid of— or, that’s the Minor one?
Jack: Yeah, I'm getting rid of Unlucky: “Things are going to get worse before they get better. You cannot use Fortune Protection.”
Austin: Mm. Mm-hmm.
Jack: So I'm going to get rid of that, and I'm gonna, um...boost up my Fortune Protection.
Austin: There you go. Lyke, have you decided if you're gonna help Chine fight this thing? Or are you going— er, fight these things?
Keith: Oh, boy. Well, who’s—
Austin: Or are you gonna rob some stuff?
Keith: Who is going?
Austin: It sounds right now like it is Chine. Hazard, I don't know if you've like connected to this group in that way quite yet.
Sylvia: Yeah, I don't know.
Austin: This could be an opportunity if you notice it happening and like want to get a cut. But you—
Sylvia: That's kind of what I was hoping for.
Austin: Yeah. And— but if Lyke’s going, that also gives me a bit of an in, because I have met Lyke before.
Austin: This is true.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: So yeah, maybe you just see them suiting— not suiting up Lyke, but getting Lyke ready to go on this raised chained platform.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: That could be an opportunity.
Keith: And I think I'm a little bit grumpy about this. I don't think that this is what I had in mind when, like, I— it really feels like Chine would have said like, I gotta go get some, like, stuff. Like, “I'm broke. I need stuff.” And I've got my big sack full of shit, and I'm like, “Oh, yeah, I also feel a little light.” [Dre, Austin, and Keith laugh] And then now we're signed up to like go on a train to like do a job, and it's like, I was just gonna like take something from the church or something. But, but, this seems really dangerous.
Austin: I mean, do you have that conversation? Is this the conversation that you're having when Hazard walks over?
Keith: Uh, that works for me. Yeah.
Dre: Sure, yeah.
Keith: I definitely think this is something that I would have said. Like, I wouldn't have just been grumpily like [grumbles].
Austin: [crosstalk] Let’s hear it. Yeah, I want to hear it.
Keith (as Lyke): I just— I feel like I have a job now. I didn't...
Dre (as Chine): I mean, you don't...you don't have to. I’m not like...I'm not forcing you.
Keith (as Lyke): You're...I can't just not...you're gonna get yourself killed. Or at least if you did, I would feel really bad about like going to the bookstore or something.
Sylvia: I think like this is when I like walk up, and I'm like:
Sylvia (as Hazard): What are you guys up to over here?
Keith (as Lyke): Oh, hey, Hazard. We’re… [sighs] Chine signed us up to go on the train. Do you know Chine? This is Chine.
Sylvia (as Hazard): I don't think I've had the pleasure. Nice to meet you, Chine.
Dre: Chine waves as bunches of muscles and bones pop in ways they're not supposed to.
Sylvia (as Hazard): [disconcerted stammer] Mm. [Keith laughs] That regular for your pal?
Dre (as Chine): Uh, no, that's why I have to do this, so I can afford to not be this.
Keith (as Lyke): Yeah, this is for doctor money.
Sylvia (as Hazard): And...okay. And so you were gonna go…
Keith (as Lyke): Yeah.
Sylvia (as Hazard): ...help out, 'cause...
Keith (as Lyke): Right.
Sylvia (as Hazard): Because your friend was in rough shape.
Keith (as Lyke): Well, like I was saying, this whole place is full of doctor money.
Dre (as Chine): Yeah, but like, this is what I do.
Sylvia (as Hazard): Listen, I'm happy to tag along if you need somebody to keep an eye on your pal. Or make it a little easier, I don't know. But, uh...
Keith (as Lyke): Uh, it's gonna be dangerous. Is that okay?
Sylvia (as Hazard): [scoffs] Yeah, sure. What's wrong with that?
Keith (as Lyke): I don't know. [slowly] A lot of people don't want to die.
Sylvia (as Hazard): Eh, well. I mean, I don't— I mean, I don't either, but I'm not expecting to.
Keith (as Lyke): Right. Okay.
Dre (as Chine): See, that’s, no.
Keith (as Lyke): Yeah, that's the big difference.
Dre (as Chine): They’ve got a good attitude.
Keith (as Lyke): Yeah.
Dre: Does Hazard carry any like visible weaponry or anything?
Sylvia: They've got a pistol and a revolver.
Dre: [impressed] Okay.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Dre: Okay.
Sylvia: A filigreed revolver, a very fancy revolver.
Keith: Oh, hey, I have...
Dre: Do you like carry that in a way that's like out, like on your hip or something like that?
Sylvia: Yeah, I think now that we're off the boat, I do.
Dre: Okay.
Sylvia: I don't think that they're like at the like card table with it like visible [Dre laughs] and like on the fucking table.
Dre: [intimidating] “You sure you want to make that bet?” [laughs]
Sylvia: Yeah, exactly. Like, let me see what's up your sleeves.
Keith: If it's visible enough, I'm gonna take out my gun, and I'm gonna say:
Keith (as Lyke): Gun twins!
Keith: Because I also have a filigree revolver. [Keith and Austin laugh softly]
Sylvia (as Hazard): Ay! Gun twins!
Keith (as Lyke): Gun twins.
Sylvia: Then I do a little spin on my finger. Like Revolver Ocelot.
Austin: Like Revolver Ocelot. Yeah.
Sylvia: Yeah. [laughs]
Austin: Uh huh. Yeah. Yeah, uh huh. We know.
Sylvia: Yeah. [Austin laughs]
Keith: The first guy to ever spin a gun. [Austin and Dre laugh]
Sylvia: I mean, you know.
Keith: Revolver Ocelot.
Austin: You haven’t gotten to Metal Gear Solid III yet. You don't know if that's true or not. [Keith and Sylvia laugh]
Dre: That’s fair.
Keith: You can go to youtube.com/runbutton to watch… [Dre and Austin laugh]
Austin: That’s true.
Dre: Uh, big heavy thump as Chine’s heavy rusty bloody poleaxe hits the ground. [Sylvia laughs softly]
Dre (as Chine): Alright, so, who's coming?
Keith (as Lyke): Us two.
Dre (as Chine): Okay.
Sylvia (as Hazard): Yeah.
Austin: Sure. All right. You are the— once it's clear the three of you are going, and, you know, the kind of attendants, you know, get the go ahead from the job boss and kind of get a thumbs up, these chains that are connected— again, in my mind, it's like, you know how railroad track is just like on some boards?
Keith: Mm-hmm.
Austin: All...it's just like a...it's just like a big section of that being like cut away from the rest of it, lifting up via chain, again, a couple of chains on each side basically. So it's like kind of hard to balance as they lift you up on this thing. And just like dropped on top of the Blue Wind to find your own way in to deal with whatever's in here. You can hear noises coming from inside. [Dre sighs]
Keith: Now, this is the— gonna be the problem, is...am I remembering that the gandies are Technology?
Austin: This whole place is Technology, Religion.
Keith: Technology, Religion. Okay. Well, that's fine, then.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: Oof.
Austin: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Dre: Um, quick question, Austin. What tier of the Heart are we in right now?
Austin: We are in tier two.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: Good for you. Two Protection, right?
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Across the board?
Dre: Yeah. Um, yeah, I...I think Chine just kind of like, um...I think first it like pops out from underneath Chine's poncho, and they both jump in together.
Austin: No final words. No, uh...no, like, “Follow after me” or...
Dre: No, I mean, they got...listen, they're grownups, and they have guns, so.
Austin: [laughs softly] Uh, yeah, of course. Um, it's dark in here at first, right? Because...because you're kind of lifted away from the ground floors and such. But then light starts to come in from the various jets of flame that are across the cathedral’s interior, and it's almost like lightning is striking, but it's whenever one of these jets of flame goes up, you can kind of see down this, this, you know, row of train cars, right? I think it's probably like three cars here, right? There's the main engine, which is at the far end. There is the kind of caboose that you're on. And there's a single passenger train between the two, right? Obviously, more cars will get added to this thing at some point—or less, sometimes just the engine runs—but for whatever reason, that's what's been lifted up here right now. Presumably, that means that like, these are the ones that they couldn't safely clear out and disconnect or whatever. But here you are jumping down into the caboose, and you can immediately see a number of shapes in front of you.
[0:50:49]
Dre: Okay.
Austin: In the distance. It sounds like you have a thing you're ready to do.
Dre: Well, I was just gonna remind you—and I feel like whenever we get into combat or Delve, I'm reminded that Chine is the most D&D-ass character we've maybe had at Friends at the Table.
Austin: [chuckles] Mm-hmm.
Dre: But I can see in the dark.
Austin: Oh, right, yes, of course. So then you see it very clearly. There are two gandy dancers, one in the— or I guess two of them in this next, the kind of passenger car in front of you. Here in the caboose, there's lots of luggage around you that has not been unpacked or taken anywhere quite yet. So that's like your immediate surroundings. And again, one car in front of you are two of these gandy dancers, which I keep comparing to Chryssalids from XCOM in shape, or the keepers from Mass Effect. And then, and then, in the engine room, you see what the renowned version of this is, which is it's like four or five of them that have combined into one thing but have not given up their individual like heads.
Sylvia: Uh...
Keith: Gandy king.
Austin: They’ve just kind of been— yeah, it’s the gandy king. [Dre laughs] And just kind of been like stuck together, grown together at the muscle. And not in any sort of order, right? Like, so it's not like, “Oh, it has two legs.” It's not even humanoid. It's kind of— but it's not a ball, either. Nothing as smooth as that. And in fact, you're not even sure that it's a permanent connection. It could move. It could slide around a little bit. It’s like, you think they're connected by musculature, but they may as well be connected by magnets the way that they're moving around. So yeah, that's what's in front of you. What do you do?
Dre: Um...yeah, so there's the two smaller ones immediately in front of me and then the bigger one in the hall?
Austin: More or less.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: You know, 20 feet in front of you, but that's basically immediate in the way of...the theater of the mind that we all play in.
Dre: Yeah. Um...yeah, no. Chine dives in.
Austin: All right, what do you do? You just swinging that poleaxe?
Dre: Yeah. Um, and I have a new tag on my weapons, because of because of It.
Austin: Mm.
Dre: I get the Bloodbound tag.
Austin: Oh.
Dre: On my weapons, which lets me mark D4 Stress to Blood to roll with Mastery for the rest of the situation.
Austin: Oh, damn.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Okay. Is that because what's happening is it is helping you fight?
Dre: Yeah. It's like basically we're working in concert together.
Austin: Incredible. Very fun and scary that this being that came from a god egg or whatever is helping you fight monsters basically the second it's born.
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Okay.
Dre: Hey, you said it was looking to me on what to do, so.
Austin: I mean, it is, and that is the tragedy is that I'm describing! [Dre, Austin, and Sylvia laugh] Um, okay. I guess give me a Kill check. These— you’re going after little ones is what I'm guessing.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Also, wait, are you doing the Bloodbound thing? Are you marking D4 to Stress?
Dre: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Austin: To roll with Mastery? All right, give me that D4 first, and let's see if you get more Fallout.
Dre: Okay.
Keith: You're gonna...you're gonna get yourself more hurt trying to get money for the doctor.
Austin: Wait, that's wrong.
Dre: I did that wrong.
Austin: That's…
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, you did that wrong.
Dre: Um...
Austin: Just roll D4.
Dre: Okay. Okay, so I take zero.
Austin: That’s two, but your Protection is two, so you take zero, so you don't even have to roll Fallout check.
Dre: Oh! I also forgot that It has a move called Pounce?
Austin: Uh huh.
Dre: Once per situation—
Austin: Uh huh.
Dre: Select an adversary I can see. That adversary marks D6 Stress as my companion leaps on them.
Austin: All right, so one of these two gandy dancers?
Dre: Yeah, yeah.
Austin: Okay. Well, give me that D6, then.
Dre: Great.
Austin: Okay, only— hey, listen.
Dre: It’s a baby.
Austin: It’s the first time we've seen this thing in combat.
Dre: Yeah, it’s a baby.
Austin: You rolled one. You know, the way that we've described these gandies before is that there's a couple of different kinds. Both of the ones that are here in front of you are the kinds that have kind of like small tools, you know, wrenches, screwdrivers, etc. And I think that It bites into the gandy with its four jawed mouth, and then it gets kind of smacked away with a wrench and kind of like, you know, dips into one of the kind of seating, you know, arrangements. You should go ahead now and give me your check, your Kill, Religion or Technology. Do you have either of those? Yeah, you have Technology, right?
Dre: I've got Technology, yeah.
Austin: Okay. And there's nothing else that I'm forgetting that you have that we should remember that you have?
Dre: [laughs] Um, let's see.
Austin: I don't think so.
Dre: No.
Austin: I'm double checking.
Dre: I don't think so.
Austin: You could mark D4 to Echo and gain Brutal and Weird if you wanted.
Dre: Yeah, but I...so like, on a mechanical level—
Austin: You think that that’s—
Dre: I don't need that—
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dre: ‘Cause my poleaxe already has that, but I also…
Austin: Gotcha.
Dre: I think, like, Chine is still in this fucked up like stuck in between place.
Austin: Yeah, I'm with you.
Dre: So.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: That makes sense.
Dre: Kill Technology with Mastery.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Dre: Is this Risky, Dangerous?
Austin: Uh, it is...no, against this little one? This is regular.
Dre: Just Standard, okay.
Austin: This is Standard. Yeah. That is a success. Take no Stress. Give me your ridiculous damage.
Dre: Let's see. Since this is Brutal, I get to roll twice. Oh, good. Okay.
Austin: Wow! That's— you rolled a one and then a seven. That Brutal really pays off, huh?
Dre: Yep.
Austin: All right. So, that seven hits, and there used to be a gandy there. [Dre laughs] Even with the bonus from the previous— even if I— even if I give these ones the Wild Hunt special bonus, it doesn't matter. You've crushed them. Or not Wild Hunt, whatever. Blood, uh...Storyteller. You absolutely...you've devastated these things, or this one thing. Um, Hazard and Lyke.
Sylvia: I—
Austin: There’s violence happening below.
Sylvia: Yeah. I have this very funny mental image in my head of Hazard hopping down there the very— like, the second [Austin laughs] that Chine turns this thing until like dust basically.
Austin: Yeah, uh huh.
Sylvia (as Hazard): Oh, so I shouldn't have been worried about anything, huh? [Austin laughs]
Keith (as Lyke): Well, the big one’s still there.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: It is.
Sylvia: I'm trying to think of stuff I can do here, because when you said those domains, I realized I have literally no skills that can help, unless we really think I could talk down the gandy dancer.
Austin: You can roll whatever you want to roll, Sylvi.
Sylvia: I know. I know. But I was gonna—
Austin: What do you got? We should go over this, ‘cause we haven't seen Hazard in action at this point.
Sylvia: Yeah. Do we want me to like go over my skills and stuff?
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: Or should I just talk about what I was thinking of doing here?
Austin: Talk about— give me your skills and domains, and then...we don't have to go over your abilities. Those can come out in play.
Sylvia: Okay.
Austin: Maybe.
Sylvia: So, my skills right now are Compel, Mend, and Sneak. And then my domains are Haven and Occult.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Sylvia: What I was...I had a couple questions that lead into like if I can do something here, and my question is about Chine's Fallout that they've got right now?
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: What level are those?
Dre: They’re both Major. [Sylvia sighs] One is Blood and one is Mind.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: Okay. Okay. Then I can't do my cool power I wanted to do.
Austin: Lyke has a Minor, right?
Keith: Sorry, what do I have?
Austin: A Minor—
Sylvia: Do you have a Minor Fallout?
Austin: Do you have a Minor Fallout?
Keith: No— uh, yeah, I do have a Minor Fallout.
Sylvia: What is it?
Keith: It is the Ravening Call.
Sylvia: [laughing softly] Oh my god!
Dre: [laughs softly] Just normal guy stuff.
Sylvia: Okay, so, I do have a move that can— that allows me to transfer a Minor Fallout from any target to another target if I'm touching them both.
Keith: Huh.
Sylvia: Or both targets must be within arm's reach of each other. I have a skill that means I can do it without the target receiving it.
Keith: So you can make the beast that's been following me in my dreams and haunt— and hunting me and haunting me...instead follow...
Sylvia: Follow the gandy dancer instead, which I don't think is... I don't know if that's gonna be as helpful right now in this situation.
Austin: I don't know!
Sylvia: But that is a thing I could try here.
Austin: It's interesting, certainly.
Keith: I don't know. Well, Austin's definitely trying to get me to turn into this beast, so maybe we should get rid of it. [Dre and Sylvia laugh]
Austin: Yeah, definitely. [sarcastic] Calling on its power as a weapon would definitely stop you from becoming it. [laughs] That would put an end to that arc real quick.
Keith: Okay. It's true that if you did this, it wouldn't do anything except make it hear [siren in distance] a distant howl. And I don’t—
Austin: That’s true.
Keith: I don't know that it gets scared like that. I don't know that it doesn't!
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, you don't know that it doesn't, either.
Sylvia: That’s the thing. Like, I'm down to give it a shot, if you guys think it'd be a fun idea. I can—
Janine: Everything’s scared of something.
Austin: It’ll be scared of something. Right, right. Well, it does say...it does— I guess doesn't say that it makes you scared explicitly, does it?
Keith: It says: “Nothing yet, besides a distant howl.”
Austin: Yeah, yeah.
Sylvia: Okay, so I'd be doing foley work for the gandy dancer [Austin laughs] is what I'd be doing here. Um…
Keith: Yeah, it’s fine. It’s fine.
Austin: I would— if you succeeded, you would have an effect. Did you know what I mean?
Sylvia: Okay, yeah.
Austin: I’d let you make a roll, and there’d be an effect.
Sylvia: I might give it a shot, then. Because I can— I roll Mend plus Haven for this move. I don't…
Austin: Right. That's just a move you do.
[1:00:00]
Sylvia: It just says that.
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sylvia: In Transferral, yeah.
Austin: I think you...I might want you to roll Sneak instead— oh, you have Sneak, so that’s fine.
Sylvia: I have Sneak as well, so I can do that too.
Austin: Yeah, 'cause the part of it would have to be like getting close enough, sneaking up on them so that you could do the kind of...‘cause what's this look like? What does doing that spell actually look like? Are you—
Sylvia: Uh, so…
Austin: Oh, it says they both have to be within arm's reach of one another.
Sylvia: Yeah, so I...the way I misread— I misread this actually when I put it in, when I picked it, but I think it could still work like this. The way I— when I read “within arm's reach of each other,” for some reason in my head was like the person doing it has to be touching both parties.
Austin: Yeah, I also imagined that at first.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: I mean, you don’t literally have to be doing it, but you can do that for sure.
Sylvia: I like that, because it— or like, it being— or like, Hazard being a conduit for the—
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Sylvia: —whatever’s happening here. Like, the transferral itself like has to go through them.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: Because also that just—
Austin: I think it’s fun, ‘cause if things break bad, it's very easy—
Sylvia: Exactly.
Austin: —to see how they would break bad. Yeah, uh huh.
Sylvia: Yeah, yeah, for sure. Um, so yeah, I don’t—
Austin: And you want to do this to the remaining regular gandy dancer, not the gandy king at the end of the...
Sylvia: I mean, I could try to do it too either. That's up to the party here. The thing is, I’d need Lyke in range, so I don't necessarily want to put Lyke in too much danger if they’re not comfortable with it.
Austin: Right. Lyke?
Keith: And this is to...this is to do that same move?
Austin: Here’s what I’ll say, exactly, the thing that's gonna happen. I can tell you exactly what it is, right? Right now, fighting the gandy king is Risky. It will become Standard if you successfully pass the Ravening Call onto it.
Sylvia: Okay.
Austin: Because it will be consumed with fear that the Ravaging Beast will show up to fight it.
Keith: This is Mend, so does this remove the Ravening Call from me?
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It transfers it away.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, a hundred percent.
Austin: Okay. All right!
Sylvia: This is where I reveal that I've made a healer.
Austin: Yes. [Sylvia and Austin chuckle]
Sylvia: ‘Cause a lot of this stuff is also like, I can roll Mend plus Haven to remove D6 Stress from people. This is— that's the Broker Major ability.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Sylvia: And then all this, Transferral and Inflict, the two skills that let me do this? Those are like sub-abilities of it.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: So yeah, that was—
Austin: That means we have a split party with healers in both of them now, incredible.
Sylvia: [laughs softly] Oh my god.
Austin: I guess we already had that that with Marn, so we have three healers. No one should— no party should ever go without a healer. I just can never put Lyke, Hazard, and Marn in the same party because the other party will just be...
Sylvia: We finally learned team comps. [Austin laughs] So yeah, Sneak plus Haven is what we landed on?
Austin: Yeah, let's do it.
Sylvia: And this would also be Risky?
Austin: I think Lyke has to help to make this work—
Sylvia: [laughs softly] Okay.
Austin: —because of having to be nearby. Because like, it means that you're sneaking past the first gandy to get to the gandy king and place hands on and do the transferral, you know?
Sylvia: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Maybe through a window or through a...through a...I don't know, from the shadows?
Sylvia: Yeah. I like the idea of it. I mean, we'll see. We'll see how well I roll here.
Austin: Right. I guess, also, wait, wait. This should be Risky, because you're doing it to the gandy king.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Right? So yes. Sneak, Haven, plus one, but Risky. So it's a tough roll.
Sylvia: [sighs] Okay. Just checking to make sure...
Austin: Is there anything else you can do to make it easier?
Sylvia: Mm, I don’t think there is.
Austin: Also, Keith, you were good with helping? You were good with that?
Keith: I am good with helping, yes. I'm gonna help.
Austin: Okay. Okay.
Sylvia: [exhales] Okay. I'm just gonna roll it.
Austin: Mm-hmm. [brief pause] Aw.
Sylvia: Aw. I got a five.
Austin: So close. That’s amazing, 'cause you got a one—
Keith: Sorry, I said— I mean not gonna help. I'm not gonna help. [Dre and Keith laugh]
Austin: Uh, too late. You got one, three, five.
Sylvia: I rolled a ten.
Austin: You got one, three, five, ten. Yeah, uh huh.
Sylvia: But the Risky got rid of it, so.
Austin: The Risky got rid of the ten. Unfortunate. Well, I mean, this is...I mean, both of you take...um, I guess, Hazard, take Blood Stress here. Oh, I guess I should roll that, huh? ‘Cause I—
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: I'm the one who has the creature in front of me. Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. Here we go. Oh, boy. Oh, brother. Okay. [chuckles sympathetically] [Sylvia laughs nervously] Take six Blood Stress, Hazard.
Keith: Yikes.
Sylvia: I will take five.
Austin: Okay, take five.
Sylvia: I have one Protection.
Austin: Oh, that's good.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Um, the...oh my god. It's fine. I'm gonna ignore the fact...I'm gonna ignore one of the elements of this thing. [Sylvia laughs] So you go ahead and take—at least on this attack, for both of you—you take this five, as these gandies kind of grip their claws into you. Like, you reach out to touch it, and you realize, oh no, it's touching you, right? It's grabbing you and pulling at your arm and trying to yank you in front of it to where you’ll be an easier prey.
Sylvia: Yeah, okay.
Austin: Lyke, you take— what is— Ravening Beast is Echo, right? You’re gonna take…
Keith: Uh, yeah.
Austin: Just D6 Echo. Take two Echo as the Ravening Beast calls to you from within your mind.
Keith: [whistles] That’s unlucky.
Austin: Oh, damn. And you immediately got Fallout, huh?
Keith: I did.
Austin: Huh. Weird.
Sylvia: Sorry.
Austin: I wonder what it could be! [Austin, Dre, and Art laugh]
Keith: It's called the Ravening Beast.
Jack: Ahh.
Austin: It is.
Keith: [reading] “Emerging from a patch of shadows, [Austin, Jack, and Sylvia laugh] the Ravening Beast that has been hiding in your mind appears. It will attempt to maul others, but its primary motivation is to consume you utterly.”
Sylvia: Oh no.
Jack: Ohh.
Keith: “Fighting off the beast does not remove this Fallout, but it has no further effect until you upgrade this Fallout—see The Ravening below.”
Jack: God. The train shakes.
Sylvia: I'm sorry.
Keith: And then it says next to it, “Immediate.”
Austin: Yeah, it's immediate, and here's the actual thing that happens, is there is like— and I think this is the most fun fucked up way this could happen. We— ‘cause we introduced a gandy— we introduced the gandy king and being like, “Oh, yeah, the gandy king. What a sick monster.” The transferral goes so bad.
Jack: Oh my god.
Austin: It doesn't move the Ravening Beast into the mind of the gandy king. Hazard, looking up from the ground in front of it, you see all of that kind of magneted musculature start to like—
Sylvia: Oh no.
Austin: —shake and vibrate and undulate. It starts to— the whole gandy king, all of its many mouths start hacking and coughing. And then, pulling itself through their mouths, arrives the Ravening Beast, howling, a sort of sleek, black, bloody canine in front of you. Well, the gandy king’s been dealt with, everybody! [Keith laughs]
Sylvia: All right! Uh, mission accomplished. Let's get out of here!
Keith: Uh…
Sylvia: Oh, geez.
Austin: What's the scariest “awoo” you've ever heard? [Dre laughs]
Sylvia: Ah, man. A lot. There's been a lot to choose from, honestly.
Austin: It’s like an “awoo” in the very— [menacing] awoooo.
Keith: I used to hike...I used to hike at night. I lived in the woods. And my backyard was next to like a hiking trail that went up a very small mountain, the smallest a mountain can be before it stops being a mountain.
Austin: Uh huh.
Keith: And...and you just hear noises when you're hiking at night in the woods, and you just— you can— [Austin chuckles] you literally cannot really explain what the noises are.
Austin: Sure, yeah.
Keith: There's not wolves where I live really. [Austin laughs] Like, it's one of the things...it's one of the things where like someone will be like, “Oh, we spotted a wolf,” and it made the news, you know?
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Keith: So it's like really rare to see a wolf in New England. But what we do have is a lot of different kinds of frogs, and a lot of those frogs’ defense mechanism is to make a loud noise that sounds like a predator.
Austin: Sure.
Keith: Some of the scaredest I have ever been in my life was like walking through the woods at night and hearing the horrible growl of what I know is about a one and a half inch tall toad. [Jack and Keith laugh] But it was still terrifying. So that's what it is. That's the scariest— [Sylvia laughs] that's the scariest howl I ever heard in my life.
Austin: Great. Yeah.
Keith: It's genuinely an intimidating noise.
Dre: Oh, yeah.
Austin: I believe you. I'm not saying...yeah, uh huh.
Sylvia: Also, just so people don't think we forgot, I rolled for Fallout and didn't get one.
Austin: You did, and you didn't get one. You're good. You rolled seven, greater than your five.
Keith: Two!
Austin: Which is good ‘cause of how the Ravening Beast is here. Yeah?
Keith: We didn't say, I rolled a two on two.
Austin: You rolled a— you got two Stress and then rolled a two and got Fallout. That’s true.
Sylvia: Every time that happens to one of us, it feels like Roll20 is just like laughing.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: This is the first time, I think, for me, it's happened.
Sylvia: Welcome.
Keith: I don't think I've had like a really dumb Fallout before.
Austin: So what are you doing, y'all? I guess, Lyke, let's start with you here, maybe? As the Ravening Beast, uh...I guess we saw you last kind of on this inside slash outside— I guess we didn't get a clear picture. Were you all— were the two of you—
Keith: Yes, I was inside.
Austin: You were all inside, so yeah, you're now in the engine room—
Keith: ‘Cause I would’ve had to be—
Austin: Right, close enough.
Keith: Arm’s reach.
Austin: Yeah, mm-hmm.
Keith: So, here's what I'm going to do. I'm immediately going to take my tar.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: And burn it.
Austin: Your slow burning tar, yeah, mm-hmm.
Keith: I'm going to quickly burn my slow burn tar. Sorry that I'm quickly burning what I know is meant to be slowly burned.
Austin: Come on, burn quicker!
Keith: For six Resistance.
Austin: Wow, you got the full six Resistance from— this is from your Sacrifice, right?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: You destroy a resource to get this extra shield, this extra Protection—
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: —as a result of casting a spell. All right.
Keith: And I am going to...let's see. Can I roll Evade Religion on my Aterika’Kaal knife? Because I have— this was a sort of like sneak up quickly sort of thing to get me close to where the Ravening Beast now is.
[1:10:06]
Austin: What is the thing— but what's the thing you're trying to do?
Keith: Uh, attack it with the knife.
Austin: Oh, the Protection will not work for that. Protection— that sacrifice is for spells.
Keith: Oh, it’s just a spell. Oh, okay, so, no. Then, no.
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Keith: Then I'm gonna use my unarmed attack, my, uh...
Austin: Which is your fire stuff?
Keith: Yes.
Austin: Okay. You're not going to use your other new thing.
Keith: Uh, it is weaker right now?
Austin: I see. Is it?
Keith: And I don't exact—
Austin: No, no, no, it's not. It's not.
Keith: It’s not? It’s not?
Austin: It's not, ‘cause your unarmed...your unarmed attack is only a D4 by default.
Keith: Oh! Then I'm going— then I am gonna use my new thing.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: You're right. It is a D4 by default. Okay. So, I do have a new thing, tentatively titled Kiss From the Rose. [a couple people snicker]
Austin: Okay. That's not what it's called in the Heart book, everybody.
Keith: No. And I just very cursorily rewrote this to fit what we're doing. But this is my...this is my new Aterika’Kaal spell. With a touch, I can conjure barbed vines under the skin of those who oppose you. This spell functions as the following weapon: Kill, D6, Piercing. If the target is at least shin deep in water—and then asterisk, ‘cause I don't know if we're changing that—it inflicts D8 damage.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: But I can't imagine there's anything that it's knee deep in anyway, so.
Austin: Maybe it's like “surrounded by plant life” is easier?
Keith: Yeah. But I thought that it—
Austin: That makes more sense than the Drowned— this is the Drowned Queen or whatever move from the...right?
Keith: Yes, this is...yeah. Yeah.
Austin: Yeah. Well, it's neither of those things right now, so, D6.
Keith: Right, exactly.
Austin: All right. Give me your...I guess, what is this? This is...it doesn't say what it is, right? So this doesn't have a roll.
Keith: It is a D6 weapon. It says it functions—
Austin: I know, but it doesn't have a...unlike a lot of your spells that are like “Mend plus whatever,” so this can be flexible. I think Evade does make sense here, in the sense that you're trying to get—
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: It’s like you're trying to touch the Beast so that you can do this.
Keith: It's with the touch, so I can even be pushing away from it. Like...
Austin: Right, as long as you get to touch it first, right?
Keith: Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. But like, you can be like trying to escape it as long as you get a hand on it in the process.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: So yeah, go ahead and give me Evade and then Technology or Religion, which you have Religion. This is Risky. So Evade plus Religion. This had to turn into a whole fucking thing, huh?
Keith: I— can I even win this? No, I can win it. I just have one die to do it on, right?
Austin: How could you not? You— wait, wait, wait. No, you have plenty of die. What are you talking about? You have Evade, you have Religion.
Keith: Evade, Religion, minus one from Risky.
Austin: You have the default plus one. Yeah, but also have a— by default, every roll starts with one die.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: So you're rolling three, and you're losing one.
Keith: Okay, okay.
Austin: So it is a loss, but it isn't a…
Keith: Okay.
Austin: Risky’s Risky. Risky is hard.
Keith: Risky’s Risky, yeah.
Austin: Like, it truly— those numbers are bad. [Keith laughs] Okay, but when you—
Keith: Those numbers are bad.
Austin: Haha! Hahaha! When you roll two two one, there's very little anyone could do for you.
Sylvia: Oh, god.
Austin: Unfortunately. Unfortunately. And this thing does how— D8? From fractal teeth and blackstone claws? That's no good. That's no good!
Keith: But I have six Protection.
Austin: That is true. [amused breath] [Keith laughs] Uh, I just need Duvall to know someone else is having a very unlucky day today, here, while you're just kind of basking in it all. I rolled eight. I rolled eight on a D8, so you still take two Blood here. Chine— not Chine. Chine's doing fine. We'll go to Chine in a second. Lyke, roll that Fallout test on that and hope it doesn't hit two again. Unbelievable!
Sylvia: Oh my god. [several people laugh]
Art: Oh, if only I were there to observe this. [Austin laughs]
Keith: No, ‘cause if...I truly believe that if—
Austin: Yeah, me too. Me too.
Keith: —Duvall was here, I would be succeeding and Duvall would be failing.
Austin: [laughs] We’ve been looking at luck all wrong. We really have. Where's the pizza come from? It comes from Duvall. Duvall brings the good pizza.
Keith: Right.
Austin: That's where the lucky pizza comes from.
Keith: It’s just that everyone else gets a slice before Duvall can. [Sylvia laughs]
Austin: [sympathetic] Oh, oh. All right. Well, you're gonna get some Minor Blood Fallout here, which is rough, ‘cause this is not what you...this is not how any of this was supposed to go.
Jack: Aw.
Austin: Fuck.
Jack: You should’ve brought a Shape Knight.
Austin: You should’ve brought a Shape Knight, probably.
Janine: I just want to underscore, this was all for doctor money.
Jack: Yeah! Yes!
Austin: This was all for doctor money, yeah. Again, in my mind, what was gonna happen was Chine was going to roll a very easy Endure roll [Sylvia laughs] to get exactly enough to make enough money to get some good healing, and that was gonna be easy. It was gonna be light work. Or to say, “Does anyone have a D8 resource I can borrow?” I did not plan any of this. You can tell, ‘cause the name of this train is the Blue Wind, which like, what the fuck ever. [Jack laughs] You are Limping. You are Limping. You are slowed. If someone or something attacks your party, they'll attack you first. If there's any question over who arrives last, it's you. All checks involving rapid or stealthy movement become Risky, Lyke.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: As it gets at your, you know, your heel.
Keith: I think we just have to escape, but it's not my turn anymore.
Austin: It’s Chine’s turn.
Sylvia: I could try my cool move again. [laughs softly]
Austin: Chine. Your friends are...it's not going well for them.
Dre: Oh, yeah.
Austin: And there's still a gandy between you and them.
Dre: Hmm. Okay.
Austin: And that gandy’s confused at this point, I would add.
Dre: Yeah. Is it confused enough that I can just kind of like bypass that to go to the big bad?
Austin: I mean, you— I think you have to still make a roll of some sort here. But I would let you try to do a little combo situation, you know what I mean?
Dre: Sure.
Austin: I think if you hadn't yet used Pounce, I think that would open up that possibility.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: But if Chine wants to flex on ‘em a little bit right now, I'd be happy to let Chine make a couple rolls in a row, 'cause we've gotten a lot of the Lyke and Hazard show. [Sylvia and Dre laugh]
Keith: And it wasn't a good show.
Austin: That was a tragedy. It's weird they put those on TV these days.
Dre: Yep.
Austin: Just raw tragedies.
Dre: Yeah, yeah. Um, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think...yeah, I mean, at this point, a combo of both big monster down there that has gotten even more bigger and monstery-er…
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Dre: Plus, like, how not a thing that first one was.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: I think Chine at this point is like, okay, forget this little thing. Oh, um, hey, you tell me if this works.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Dre: Might go into my bag of tricks again. So with my Fractured Form move, I get my swarm of small insects and animals?
Austin: Yeah, true, you do.
Dre: Can I just have them?
Austin: Once— yeah, once per Delve, you may use your adoring swarm as a piece of equipment. I think it's fun to have you use that equipment to distract—
Dre: Yeah, totally.
Austin: —this first gandy so you can get past. Yeah, once per Delve. Yeah, absolutely. This isn’t a Delve, but I still think it's a— it’s sort of a Delve. It's sort of a fight. It's a situation, certainly. I'll let it happen.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: What are the bugs, again? Tell me about your adoring swarm?
Dre: You know, I think it probably changes as we go from place to place, so like, what do bugs and small rodents look like in this area?
Austin: Here, good question. Is it too corny for it to be like a bunch of literal fireflies of some sort?
Dre: What about fire ants?
Austin: Or should we go like more like— ooh, fire ants is good. Sure, they just come crawling— I don't know how they get here, though, ‘cause of how we're—
Keith: Different vibe.
Austin: It's a different vibe.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: It’s a different vibe.
Dre: Yep.
Austin: But yeah, let's do that. They come crawling in through the windows, down the chains.
Dre: Yeah, I mean, they've been crawling up.
Austin: And—
Dre: I mean, they're my adoring swarm, so they probably just been, you know.
Austin: They've been coming in this whole time, and we didn't realize.
Dre: Yeah.
Keith: Adoring or enduring?
Dre: Adoring.
Austin: Adoring.
Dre: Adoring. They love me.
Keith: Okay, that's what I thought.
Austin: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Do me a favor and just give me a D8 roll.
Dre: Sure.
Austin: Not a D8. I guess it says Delve D8, but it doesn't say Kill. Give me a D4 roll, because they don't have Kill, so they'll be...okay. Some— yes, it's distracted enough.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: As these ants crawl up on it and begin to go to work. Still alive, but yeah.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: You pass by it. And what do you do with the Ravening Beast?
Dre: Okay. Um...so does it have its grip on anybody or anything like that?
Austin: It's clawed at Lyke, and I think it's probably like...it's on its grip, but it has command of the situation. Do you know what I mean?
Dre: Okay.
Austin: It's, um, you know how a wolf can kind of do the thing of like moving around a person or a target to kind of keep them penned in? It's doing that in like the tight quarters of an engine, of an engine room, moving around Hazard and Lyke. It's aware of you. You’re not going to s— I mean, I guess if you rolled Sneak, I would let you try to sneak up on it.
Dre: Eh.
Austin: But, you know, I don't think that's a very Chine-like maneuver, right?
Dre: No, definitely not. I just wanted to make sure that like I didn't need to get anybody out. I mean, I guess we're all in direct danger, right? But I wanted to make sure that I didn’t need to get anybody—
Austin: You’re all in direct danger.
Dre: —like directly disengaged first.
Austin: Yeah. Yeah, mm-hmm.
Dre: Yeah, no, I think Chine just goes for it. Probably does some cool like running off the wall stuff.
Austin: Sure. [Dre laughs] It’s tight quarters for that, Chine, I gotta tell you.
Dre: Eh, okay, fine.
Austin: You've been in the train. It's not— we don't got— I don't know that you have the sideways room. Also, Chine's big. In a bigger space, I think you could run off some walls.
Dre: Yeah, okay.
Austin: But I want to...I don't know how I would animate this.
Dre: Also, my joints are all fucked up still, so.
Austin: I guess I would figure it out.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: I guess— though that might be in your benefit of running on walls. I don't know. [Dre laughs] Do some acrobatic type shit. All right, give me your roll. This is, again, Kill, Religion or Technology.
Dre: Uh, Risky?
Austin: Risky, yes.
Dre: Okay.
Keith: Is this a move or is this just Kill?
Dre: No, this is just Kill.
[1:20:00]
Austin: This is just Kill. This is just Kill with a big-ass weapon.
Dre: This is what’s-his-face yelling “kill” on Family Feud Kill. [Sylvia laughs]
Austin: Right. Steve Harvey.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah. Success at a cost.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: Take Stress.
Keith: Yikes.
Austin: Give me your damage on that big-ass poleaxe.
Dre: Uh, four.
Austin: Four. Four. A little bit of it gets through. It's going to— [chuckles] it's going to do seven back to you.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: Which turns out to be five. This is a whole thing. Y'all gotta get out here.
Keith: Yeah.
Dre: Actually, I'm gonna use my In the Blood move to take it as Echo.
Austin: Ooh. Sure.
Dre: And I also have plus one Echo, so I only take two.
Austin: And you have plus one Echo Protection. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That makes sense. No, you take four.
Dre: Oh, four, right. Right, sorry.
Austin: I had already done the math on that one.
Dre: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Austin: Yeah, I’d rolled seven and subtracted the two when I said five.
Dre: Yep.
Austin: So. [laughs softly] Go ahead and give me your Echo Fallout test.
Dre: Hell yeah, let's go.
Keith: God.
Austin: So you took Minor Echo Fallout.
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Austin: That's great. This isn't how this was supposed to go at all.
Keith: All right. I can get us out here in one...in one.
Austin: This is true. You can do that. Uh, let's see here. I have to give Dre Echo Fallout. Ugh. Great. Oh, this one's easy. Which is just, this is a classic. This is Conduit. You know, it cuts through your Echo Protection, Chine. You no longer can use your Echo Protection. Something about this thing's claws. Like, you get your blade in it, and it gets its...it gets its like, its claws into you in such a way that feels like it's separating you from the protective parts of the Course. It feels as if you still feel the cool or even, you know, strikingly cold touch of the Course’s river. But you don't feel that encompassing, you know, enveloping sense that you're submerged in it anymore. That feeling leaves you, and you feel cold and naked. You did cut it, though, which is...that ain't bad. I think this is first time we've seen someone actually hit the damn thing.
Keith: Yeah. It is.
Austin: So.
Keith: Well, it's only the second time anyone's tried to attack it.
Austin: True. True. It’s only the second time it's ever been fully on screen. I guess that’s true. It came up at the end of Oratorio too, but...
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: You know.
Keith: Uh…
Austin: Lyke, how are you getting people out of here?
Keith: I'm gonna use my, uh, get people out of here move. I'm gonna use my Stone Chorus move to open a portal to my new, you know, permanent domain.
Austin: Yeah, let's do that Discern Religion, then.
Keith: That is a Discern Religion. Discern Religion, okay. And this is no longer Risky.
Austin: This is not Risky, no.
Keith: Uh, I wouldn't hate help on this one. And I think that that would probably be like distracting the beast while I roll this?
Austin: Yeah, I would allow anybody to do that.
Sylvia: What are you rolling for this?
Keith: I'm rolling Discern and Religion.
Sylvia: Oh, I don't have either.
Austin: But you would be— you could add with different stuff, Hazard.
Sylvia: Okay, cool. If I could help— would like any of my domains apply here?
Austin: Compel would work.
Sylvia: Compel would also work here for distracting?
Austin: You have Compel. I think that that idea of being like, “Hey, look over here!”
Keith: Yeah.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: While Lyke is doing this spell.
Sylvia: Sure, I'm good at being loud. I’ll fire my revolver in the air a couple times. [laughs softly]
Austin: Yeah, that's cool.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Hey, everyone else who happens to be at this cathedral? [Sylvia laughs] There's a fight happening on a elevated train here.
Keith: [laughs] That is a seven.
Austin: That's a success with Stress, right?
Keith: Yeah, but I don't know what that means.
Austin: I do. You're— the Ravening Beast is still here, Keith.
Keith: Right. Sure.
Austin: So it's just gonna swing on you again. Take seven Blood Stress as you—
Dre: Man, this thing is rough.
Austin: Uh huh.
Keith: No Fallout.
Austin: Phew. That's good. Wait.
Sylvia: Did you—
Austin: How are you rolling against two?
Keith: I don't know. Oh, I didn't click away.
Austin: Yeah. Do you want to— okay, I'm giving you the choice here.
Keith: Well, what is that? Is that…
Austin: I guess it would have been...it would have been Fallout, right? Or no, it would have—
Keith: Been no Fallout.
Austin: You would have been under.
Keith: Yeah, I rolled under.
Austin: You would’ve been— oh, yeah. So you can keep it. You can keep it.
Keith: Yeah. Okay.
Austin: No, wait, is that right? Rolled under is bad. Equal or under is bad.
Art: Yeah, under is bad.
Austin: So you would have gotten Fallout here.
Keith: Yeah, well, like I said before, I want to roll again. [Sylvia laughs]
Austin: Okay. Go ahead and give me a roll again. There’s a chance it's Major this time.
Keith: No, it's Minor.
Austin: Take Minor Fallout.
Keith: Still Minor.
Austin: It’s Minor. Still Minor. I cannot believe this.
Jack: Is this Keith’s third Fallout? [Sylvia laughs softly]
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Today. Right?
Keith: I have—
Jack: In the train? In the train car?
Keith: Yeah, in the train car.
Austin: In the train car.
Art: Yeah, but go look at the chart. He had it coming. [Jack and Austin laugh]
Keith: No, I wasn't that— I was not that far behind. I was very average. I was very average. I think I had quite a bit more Fallouts than it seemed.
Austin: Uh huh.
Keith: I just didn't have any at crucial points.
Austin: Yeah. I think that this is you have been...at this point, the beast gets a hold of you by the back of the neck, like almost like lifting you up like a pup the way it did while dragging you away from the Oratorio, and begins to just kind of like shake you back and forth, and you hit yourself on the various engine room walls. And then when it lets go of you, you kind of get away and crawl through this gateway.
Keith: This is unbelievable.
Austin: But you are Battered. You are Battered: your offensive combat actions are Risky. Fine dexterity cannot be used.
Keith: It's fine, ‘cause I'm just writing Chine and Hazard a invoice for all this shit.
Austin: Jesus. I'll post this here. The good news is the place you're going can...I don't know, help a little bit, right?
Keith: I can't. But I can't help.
Austin: No, you can't because of being fucked up in so many different ways at this point.
Keith: Yeah. Well, I have the Major thing that says I can't heal, can’t roll Mend.
Austin: You can’t use Mend. Yeah, you can't roll Mend. But you can still get the healing from this place, right?
Keith: Yeah, yeah.
Austin: Let's— as you go through here, what's this place look like, as you— as everyone else— I'm guessing Chine and Hazard step in this vine door also?
Dre: Chine does not.
Austin: All right.
Sylvia: Uh...
Keith: No?
Dre: No!
Sylvia: I was gonna joke about being like, “Nah, I can take it,” but Chine seems to be actually doing that. Um...
Austin: Do you say anything as they— as Hazard and— oh, I guess, Hazard, do you go in or is it just Lyke?
Sylvia: I mean, I was gonna go in because I wanted to like see if I could help Lyke out. [laughs softly]
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah, fair.
Sylvia: So I think is just like:
Sylvia (as Hazard): Come on. Are you coming?
Sylvia: Like, right before the door like closes I guess, but I don't think...
Austin: Chine? And you just let it close in front of you.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: All right. Let's move the camera around here a little bit, [Sylvia laughs] and we'll come back to this in a second.
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Es and Marn, are you just having a nice day out on the deck right now? What's going on with y'all?
Ali: I think so, yeah.
Janine: Yes, just waiting my turn to see the doctor guy.
Austin: I think the doctor might be in now, Es, by the way, if you want to go get stitched up or...I don't know, 'cause you said you don't even need all that. You just need a little...yeah, what do you got, three Blood Stress? Yeah, that’s easy to take care of.
Janine: Yeah, I got three Blood Stress. I was just gonna do it ‘cause like, while I'm on this boat I've mostly finished the work I wanted to do. [Austin laughs] Like, I'm still picking away at it, but like, you know, this is...like to meet new people. Like to get out there.
Austin: Yeah. Uh huh. Now that he’s set up, his bedside manner is a little bit better, Etienne’s. Etienne’s. And, you know, he's like:
Austin (as Etienne): Now, what is it you need? Hmm?
Janine (as Es): Oh, just a…
Austin (as Etienne): A little battered, a little bruised? [Janine laughs softly]
Janine (as Es): Just a checkup, just to heal up some scrapes.
Austin (as Etienne): All right, take a seat. Take a seat.
Austin: He's like, he has his bedroom, and then across from that is a like makeshift like, uh, you know...why am I thinking— why can't I think of the word for like a doctor's room? Like a...
Janine: Office?
Austin: Oh, I guess a doctor’s office.
Janine: Examination room?
Austin: An examination room, yeah, yeah. With, you know, a chair set up to lay back in and a number of, you know, things on the walls that are like paintings of bodies, and he has a...I think he probably does not have a full sized skeleton, but he has, in fact, a number of little ones, like desktop anatomy skeletons for various types of people, various species from Sangfielle. And yeah, give me your— what are you paying with, here?
Janine: Um...what do I need?
Austin: With the note that you will roll whatever you pay, right? So.
Janine: Oh. Yeah, okay. I think I'll pay...can I pay with my Desolate pre-Panic sconce? It's a D4.
Austin: Oh, sure. Absolutely. Takes a look at this. [Janine laughs]
Austin (as Etienne): Where did you get this?
Janine (as Es): Oh, you wouldn't believe me if I told you.
Austin (as Etienne): Ah, tell me, tell me, while I get your vitals.
Janine (as Es): [laughs softly] Uh, well, it was like a upside down— well, it wasn’t really upside down. It was like a half buried, um...horrible place.
Austin: [laughing] You were in the— you were in the inverted Castlevania castle? Holy shit.
Janine (as Es): It’s like an upside down, buried, weird, bad place.
Austin (as Etienne): Oh, you know—
Janine (as Es): And they had a bunch of crap like this.
Austin (as Etienne): I hear that more than you would believe, hmm? Say “ah.”
Janine (as Es): Ah. [Sylvia laughs]
Austin: Give me your roll. Okay. Well.
Janine: Oh, that’s… [laughs]
Austin: You rolled a one.
Janine: Ah, that’s funny.
Austin: That's how it goes sometimes, but hey, take the one. That's how it is.
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: You know, it’s a totally—
Janine: Better than nothing.
Austin: You said earlier, like, “I mostly need a lollipop.” You mostly get a lollipop, you know? [laughs softly]
Janine: Yeah. I mean...
Austin (as Etienne): Take a— There are treats by the door. Take one if you'd like.
Janine (as Es): What flavors?
Austin (as Etienne): Uh, there are six or seven. Banana. Chocolate.
Janine (as Es): Mm-hmm.
Austin (as Etienne): Um...raspberry. Um...savory. Just generally, general savory treat.
Janine: Uh...what? [laughs softly]
Dre: Just tastes like soy sauce. [laughs]
Janine (as Es): Like salt or meat?
Austin (as Etienne): It's savory. It is savory. But I don't make them.
[1:30:00]
Janine: I guess having like a salt lick flavored lollipop makes sense in a world where there's like goat people and stuff.
Austin: Yeah, goat and cow people, or like buffalo people? Hell yeah.
Janine: Yeah, yeah.
Janine (as Es): Okay, so that's four.
Austin (as Etienne): Mm. Fish.
Janine (as Es): Uh.
Austin (as Etienne): And also, there is...another one.
Austin: What's the other one? What's a good final flavor? Ap—
Janine: Caviar.
Austin: —ple. Apple caviar. Apple hyphen caviar. [Janine laughs]
Janine (as Es): I'll take an apple caviar.
Austin (as Etienne): Of course. Now, it may be the last one. Make this decision, thinking, “Is there someone else on board who really wants the apple-caviar more than me?” If not, then you should take it.
Janine (as Es): I mean, I'll keep it in my pocket for a day, and if you encounter anyone who wants it more than I do, [Austin laughs softly] you send them to me.
Austin (as Etienne): I will.
Janine (as Es): We'll talk it out.
Austin (as Etienne): That sounds good.
Janine (as Es): Okay. Lovely.
Austin: “Do you want this half melted apple-caviar treat?”
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: “It’s been in my pocket all day.” All right. Marn, Duvall, Pickman, anything else y'all want to do before we figure out if Chine is about to die?
Dre: With that kind of attitude.
Austin: Also, Chine, do you want to put up a flare for help? The answer is no, probably, right? This is how— this is who Chine is?
Dre: Um...I mean, as you pointed out, there is a fight happening above town that has involved like, you know, guns being shot and demon monsters roaring.
Austin: They were sending you to go do that, of course. This is the thing, right?
Dre: Yeah, no, that’s...
Austin: But, yes. And I did say Pickman notices this. Duvall does notice this happening.
Dre: [exhales] You know, maybe my flare for help will be me getting thrown out a window. Who's to say?
Austin: Sure. It's totally possible. Sounds like you got a dice roll in mind. [Dre laughs]
Art: When it's time to help, of course—
Austin: Of course.
Art: Duvall will go.
Austin: I see. [sighs] All right, well, it sounds like, Chine, we’re up for that roll again, huh?
Dre: Okay, yeah.
Austin: No one else said shit, so.
Jack: Well now—
Austin: What do you do?
Jack: [laughs softly] I don't— I'm trying to think. It's a massive train yard.
Austin: It is.
Keith: And no one knows it’s happening.
Austin: Train yard cathedral, yeah.
Jack: I think the other thing is—
Austin: Uh, people know the fight is happening, but it's not...
Jack: I think if Pickman knew it was Chine.
Austin: Right. Right.
Jack: But it's just a fight in a...in this headquarters.
Dre: Um, you know, I...I don't have like any like equipment or like a move or or anything that would go up as like a signal per se. I think the closest thing I can think of would be like It making some very distinct horrible wailing noise.
Austin: Pickman, I mean, there are— this is the thing, is there are monstrous sounds coming from this train, for sure.
Jack: All right, fine.
Austin: And they’re not gandies.
Jack: No, I’ll go. Helmet.
Austin: But I'm not— uh huh.
Jack: Helmet on Pickman, you know, fighting whatever, a flu temperature. You know, points up at the train and says:
Jack (as Pickman): Get me up there.
Austin (as workers): Uh...
Austin: They look around to like the job hander out-er person.
Jack (as Pickman): Come on. I don't want anything. Get me up there.
Austin (as job giver): No pay? You're saying you'll help ‘em out for no pay.
Keith (as Lyke): [distantly] Well, don't be hasty.
Austin (as job giver): I need you to say it in your own words. For the record, with witnesses.
Jack (as Pickman): Yep, I'll do this for free. Get me into the train.
Austin (as job giver): Heh heh. All right, bring her up.
Austin: Once again, you're raised up on a different piece of railroad, basically, lifted up by chains. Chine, you hear a loud sound from above you, [laughs softly] as a Shape Knight is dropped on top of the train.
Dre: Oh, that’s fun.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Jack: Yeah, Pickman drops through the, uh, [laughs softly] through the hole in the top of the train.
Jack (as Pickman): Alright, Chine, what's going on?
Dre (as Chine): [sighs] Lyke fucked it up.
Jack (as Pickman): Uh huh.
Keith (as Lyke): [shouting in outrage] Me?! [Sylvia laughs]
Austin: Lyke, you're in a different realm. You can't hear that.
Keith (as Lyke): There's no way to even misinterpret this as being my fault! [Dre laughs]
Austin: Lyke’s not here, everybody. Just for the record.
Keith (as Lyke): You can— you can hear me through the rift! [Dre and Austin laugh]
Jack (as Pickman): Where’s Lyke?
Dre (as Chine): Uh, portal.
Jack (as Pickman): He portalled out, and you didn’t?
Dre (as Chine): No, I have a job.
Jack (as Pickman): Your job was to presumably kill the gandy aboard this train. This is a Ravening Beast. [Sylvia and Austin laugh]
Dre (as Chine): Yeah.
Keith: See, this is why, exactly why Pickman shouldn't’ve come to help. [Austin laughs] Chine chose this.
Austin: Oh my god.
Dre (as Chine): You think it would just stay?
Jack (as Pickman): Chine.
Dre: Chine weaving in and out of like blows.
Austin: Yeah! Yeah.
Dre (as Chine): You think it. Would just stay. On. The. Train?
Jack (as Pickman): Not interested in you, interested in Lyke. We can deal with this later. You're badly wounded. We have to get you out of here.
Jack: What's your Blood Stress, Dre?
Dre: Zero.
Jack: Okay, cool. Um… [Austin chuckles] What's your Mind Stress?
Dre: Everything's zero, ‘cause the only Stress I had was Echo, and that cleared when I got my Minor Fallout.
Jack (as Pickman): This thing is gonna kill you. This thing is gonna kill you. We have to leave now. It is not interested in hurting you.
Austin: I mean, right now— sorry. Let's be clear. It is interested in hurting Dre.
Jack: Is it? It’s interested in mauling Dre, right? Doesn't the move say it’s...
Austin: It’s interested in mauling Dre, yes. But I would say that if something was interested in mauling me it would be interested in hurting me.
Jack: Okay. It— [laughs] But if we leave, we could reasonably assume that this thing won't come after us, right?
Austin: Right. But will it be here when the portal opens back up and Lyke and Hazard have to come back within the hour? Maybe.
Jack: [sighs] Okay, fine.
Austin: You don't know. It’s up to you.
Jack: All right.
Dre: Wait, they have to come back within the hour?
Austin: That's how that move works. Yeah.
Keith: Yeah, I have one hour in the portal.
Dre: Okay. What happens if you...is it Animorphs rules, or...?
Austin: They get stuck there.
Dre: Okay. [laughs softly]
Austin: Yeah, they get stuck there, and they're somewhere else on the map. I know where they are on the map of Sangfielle in this sort of like—
Sylvia: Lyke becomes a bird forever, with Animorphs rules.
Austin: [laughs] Yes, like To—
Sylvia: Tobias.
Dre: Tobias.
Austin: Tobias? Toby—
Dre: Yep. Uh huh.
Austin: Tobias, yeah. Okay.
Jack: Okay. All right. I'm gonna say:
Jack (as Pickman): Chine, you're being stupid. We need to run.
Jack: And I'm gonna roll Kill Technology.
Austin: On the beast.
Jack: Yeah, just like—
Austin: Yeah, okay.
Jack: Buying time, taking a swing.
Austin: What are you doing? You're not— sorry, Jack, you're not rolling Kill Technology.
Jack: [chuckles] That’s true.
Austin: What are you doing? [Dre laughs]
Jack: Yeah. Walking down the train towards the Ravening Beast and firing the espignol as a melee weapon.
Austin: Okay, so not as a ranged weapon. You're firing this— you're doing the close range version of this gun.
Jack: This has Brutal.
Austin: That is Kill, Brutal, Loud, Tiring, right?
Jack: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Art: Wait, uh, to pause for a second. I explicitly said Duvall was going to come when help was obviously needed?
Austin: Oh, I’m— okay. Well, help is needed.
Art: All right, well, I guess I'm coming in right after this.
Austin: Okay. Yeah. Well, this is...you’ll have seen Pickman coming on board, certainly, and that can be a good enough...
Art: Yeah, I'm just 20 paces behind Pickman.
Austin: Yeah, okay, got it.
Art: We came from different places. I didn't feel like stopping.
Austin: You also gave your “I'm not here to collect the check” consent to the job lady?
Art: Yeah, who cares?
Austin: [laughs softly] Okay.
Art: Who even knows what resources are anymore?
Austin: [laughs softly] Okay, good. All right, give me your Kill Technology roll. You’ve nothing else you're adding to this, right?
Jack: Are you helping me, Chine?
Dre: Uh...
Austin: It'd be hard to imagine how they aren't.
Dre: Yeah, yeah.
Jack: And this is Risky?
Austin: This is Risky.
Dre: Well, okay, hold on. How good at this are you?
Austin: Ve— as good as you could get, right?
Dre: I don't know. I'm rolling with Mastery.
Austin: Has Kill and— oh my god. [Dre and Austin laugh]
Jack: I'm not rolling with mastery, but I have Kill and Technology, and I could appreciate the help.
Dre: No, yeah, I will help.
Jack: Listen. [Austin laughs] Oh no! [Sylvia and Jack laugh] This is a fucking money pit. Oh dear me.
Austin: [into hands, pained] Oooh! Aaah!
Jack: Okay. Do we want to do— is this a fish dream? [laughs]
Keith: [laughing] I just wanted to steal a book from the church!
Austin: Aaah!
Dre: You didn’t have to come with!
Austin: Aaaah! [Sylvia laughs]
Jack: You should have gone through the portal!
Dre: I didn’t have—
Jack: You should have gone through the portal! Nobody here is in a good place when it comes to talking about blame.
Austin: Pickman, take one Blood here from this failure.
Jack: No, I don’t take any. I have four Protection.
Austin: You have Protection. How do you have—
Dre: Oh man, that fucking rules.
Austin: How do you have four Protection? Jesus Christ. And then Chine, you take eight.
Sylvia: Oh my god!
Dre: Well, I take six, but...
Jack: I think Pickman just says:
Jack (as Pickman): You should have gone through the portal.
Austin: Right, well, this actually makes perfect sense, since Pickman, you're walking up and shooting your gun.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: And Chine is the one between you and the Beast. Even if you don't hit Chine directly, you're in a safer position here, so to speak. Chine, give me your fucking Blood Fallout resist.
Dre: Oh, we're good. We're good, we’re good, we’re good, we’re good.
Austin: Hey, no Fallout, somehow. This thing is clawing at you, and Pickman is shooting a gun in here. Duvall, they're fighting down there. You've stepped on top of this train now.
Art: All right. [Austin laughs softly] I mean, I think it's like Duvall kind of like peeks his head up and sees what's happening and tries to like...I guess I don't have Sneak, so I'm not gonna sneak any-goddamn-where. [Austin and Jack laugh, then groan] But I have a new...I have a new ability I'd like to use.
Austin: Oh?
Art: I took Annihilation.
Austin: Oh.
Keith: That sounds like...good.
Dre: Uh huh? Yeah.
Austin: Yeah.
Art: “Against heartsblooded people or creatures, your touch functions as a Kill D8 weapon.”
Austin: Yeah.
Art: “As you use it, your flesh roils and cracks, but the swarm repairs as quickly as it is unmade. Your opponent doesn't have that luxury.”
Austin: Damn.
Art: “Against any other targets, it functions as Kill D6.”
Keith: I got so one-upped.
Art: And I—
[1:40:00]
Keith: I took a D6 touch weapon the same week that Art took a D8 touch weapon.
Austin: [laughs softly] Uh huh. Your touch—
Art: And I took a minor ability that also gets at the Debilitating tag and causes crystal to coalesce around your targets.
Austin: I really hope this works. I truly—
Art: Yeah, me too.
Austin: This would be great, wouldn’t it?
Art: I don't have any skills about this, though.
Austin: You got— oh, wow, you don't have anything here for this, do you?
Art: No.
Austin: You have Technology domain.
Art: I tried to take Kill a while ago, and you talked me out of it.
Austin: Why did I do that? [several people laugh]
Keith: Yeah, I tr—
Art: ‘Cause you knew!
Austin: I probably said, “Oh, you can use something else to kill, can't you?” You're sure you—
Art: No, I tried to take, like, 'cause this class just doesn't get it.
Austin: Oh.
Art: None of my like minor abilities get Kill or Hunt or anything. Oh, I guess I could get Hunt.
Austin: You could get Hunt.
Art: But that one felt bad. [Austin laughs softly] So I just like took the one that gives you Kill, and you were like, “Don't take that,” and I listened to you.
Austin: I probably said, “Oh, you should take something that gives you another bonus also,” and that's probably how you got something cool. And now—
Art: Probably, but now here we are.
Austin: And now it would be great for you to have Kill, huh?
Art: Yeah. Or Hunt, honestly. I’d probably make a case for Hunt.
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: You boarded this train, and you don't have Kill.
Austin: Or Sneak or Evade or Endure. Like, these are the ones that are like, you can really easily make the case, you know?
Art: Yeah, but um, you know.
Austin: But Art can also just declare that he rolls a six.
Art: Yeah.
Austin: If he wants, right?
Art: Which I think I'm gonna do here.
Austin: I think that makes sense.
Art: Yeah. So this is a six.
Austin: Uh huh.
Art: I don't roll it, right? It's just a six?
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Then let's just say that it's a six.
Art: So it's a six.
Austin: You succeed but take Stress.
Art: And it’s a...is it heartsblooded or not?
Austin: It’s heartsblood— this is about as heartsblooded as you can get, my friend.
Art: Alright.
Austin: Um, take D4. I mean, take— I already rolled it, so you're gonna take D4, but let me see how well this goes to tell you where you're gonna take that D4.
Art: All right.
Austin: Or, sorry, to take that four Stress. So what are you doing? You're doing D8 damage, and it's—
Art: Plus Debilitating as crystal coalesces around my target.
Austin: Right. [sarcastic] Debilitating, a tag we of course all know exactly what it does.
Jack: Mm.
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Austin: By heart.
Art: I'm honestly sick of talking about it. [Austin and Jack laugh softly]
Austin: Once per situation, when you inflict Stress with this item on one or more targets, the next attack made against them is rolled with mastery.
Dre: Ooh.
Austin: That's fun. What is the crystal that's coalescing?
Art: Um, I'm not sure, 'cause I don't know that I understand what's happening.
Austin: Is there not flavor text on this that's— I guess we read the grossest part.
Art: Your body is unHeart. It burns through the parasitic world of meat and bone.
Austin: Oh, this is the Structure breaking through, then. Right? That's what this is.
Art: Yeah, I think so.
Austin: Right, so instead of crystal we can— I mean, we could think about this crystal as the sort of biomechanical stuff that you talked about, right? This is the like, suddenly, the Ravening Beast is taken by right angles, right?
Art: Mm.
Austin: You know, everything that was curvy about it straightens. Everything that was tangled untangles. And it turns out bodies need to be tangled sometimes, right?
Art: Sure.
Austin: That is part of— things twist and turn and need to be flexible.
Art: Having your body sort itself.
Austin: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And I think these crystals, then, end up being...I mean, it's called Dark Flowers, which is really fun. But you can flavor what those look like any way you want. They don't even need to be crystal necessarily, but you can tell me if there's a particular vibe that you want to evoke here. Anyway, do— and also you should do this damage.
Art: Sure.
Austin: Hey, that's not bad. That's five. Most importantly, you have...you have halted it sort of in these crystals, giving the next attack mastery. But it does also whip out at you as it's doing this, or as you’re— how do you— you're just like touching it? You're just walking up to it calmly and touching it to do this?
Art: Yeah, I think that sort of works with like the...the Unorthodox Method thing.
Austin: Right.
Art: The rolling a six by automatic. It's just like—
Austin: Yeah.
Art: Just like casually walks up and just like touches it.
Austin: Hand on cheek.
Art: And it starts burning away.
Austin: Yeah.
Art: And the stuff that doesn't burn starts to like...you know like how a lightsaber cauterizes the wound?
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's that.
Art: What if instead of cauterizing the wound it like made the wound a jagged pixely mess, you know?
Austin: Love that for every one of us. It in similar casual fashion just bites into your neck. [chomping sound]
Art: Yeah, that’s fair.
Austin: Right? So five Blood here. You have no Protection on that.
Art: Four Blood.
Austin: Oh, sorry, four. I was looking at—
Art: You rolled four. I rolled five.
Austin: I rolled— you rolled— yeah, so four. Sorry. So that brings you up to six Stress in Blood. Give me your Fallout test. Hey, no Fallout! Look at that twelve! Duvall rolling well.
Sylvia: [laughs softly] Duvall kept the— yeah, I was gonna say! [laughs]
Art: I ate the whole pizza before I came. [Austin and Keith laugh]
Austin: I want pizza now. Um, hey, what's going— Chine? Pickman?
Dre: Yeah, no. I… [Austin sighs] Look, listen. If Duvall can do this, I can do this.
Austin: Uh huh. Wait, actually Pickman I'm gonna do a thing I never do, which is I'm gonna say: don't you have a thing that can heal Blood?
Jack: Yeah, I do. It removes Blood Stress. This is why I asked Chine beforehand.
Austin: Uh huh.
Dre: Ah.
Jack: And I was going to say: do you want me to remove some D4 Blood Stress from you?
Dre: That does sound great.
Jack: Okay, excellent. Yeah, this says, “Once per situation, you can bellow an order and remove D4 Blood or Mind Stress from a nearby ally.” Uh, Pickman’s order is:
Jack (as Pickman): Leave the train now.
Dre: So if I...
Austin: You don't have to listen to the order to get that healing.
Dre: Okay, yeah, that’s what I was gonna ask.
Austin: You just get that healing. [laughs]
Jack: I mean, I want to be really explicit here. Pickman's goal was get into the train and extricate Chine.
Austin: Right. Right.
Jack: And she sees all of this as a costly and violent waste of time.
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: That's four.
Austin: That’s four. Heal four.
Jack: So you lose four Blood Stress.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: A costly and violent waste of time is a great just elevator pitch for Chine, really. [Jack and Dre laugh]
Austin: That's a great name for this episode, isn't it?
Art: Well, it's gonna be part two of something else.
Austin: It is.
Art: We usually don’t change the...
Austin: Well, we don't know how the rest of this arc is gonna go, do we?
Jack: Well, this is gonna be part two to four of this arc. [Austin and Jack laugh]
Austin: At this fucking rate. I'm looking at this boat schedule I have and shaking my head. God.
Art: It's just gonna be seven episodes. Who cares? [Keith cackles]
Jack: Ah…
Sylvia: Gonna turn out—
Jack: We’re gonna go into this with a knife and cut whole sequences that just never appear. [Austin laughs softly]
Sylvia: It turns out the boat trip is gonna be the finale.
Austin: If you want to make— uh huh. It might be, at this rate! If you want to make a train god laugh.
Janine: I was gonna say holiday special. This is a...
Austin: Yeah, uh huh.
Janine: Holiday special is just the boat where everything gets worse all of the time for seven days.
Austin: God. [Dre and Keith laugh]
Art: It’s gonna be all of the holidays at this rate. [Janine laugh] We can put out one of these on Thanksgiving, one of these on Christmas.
Jack: [singing] Do all your shopping.
Art: We could do a Martin Luther King Day on this. [Austin sighs]
Jack: [singing] At Walmart! [Austin and Jack laugh]
Austin: God.
Jack: All right, Chine, go ahead. I mean, I'm fucking, just, head in hands.
Dre: Um...
Austin: Chine, what are you doing?
Dre: Okay, so.
Austin: What's going on here?
Dre: I…
Austin: You get mastery on this roll. You already had mastery on this roll.
Dre: Yeah, so do I get anything extra?
Austin: Wait.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: No. So maybe someone else should use this. I'll save that mastery for the next attack. It doesn’t have to do with you.
Keith: A holdover mastery?
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: It’s a holdover. That feels unfair.
Dre: Okay, here's my concern, and this is like a we make a podcast slash table talk concern. Like.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: Chine very much, as a character, is going to go toe to toe with this thing until either they are dead slash can't fight or this monster is dead slash can't fight.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Dre: I am worried...me as a player is worried about like, one, is that just gonna turn this episode into a slog? And two, like, am I— like, are you dropping hints about like, hey, this thing could really fuck you up, because like, it just could, but like Chine has a chance here? Or like, is that you trying to say like, “Hey, don’t do this.”
Austin: I mean, you're already all pretty fucked up.
Dre: You know?
Austin: No, no, I'm not dropping hints.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: This is a rare situation where you know exact— you could be doing the math to know exactly how much health this thing has left, so I'm just gonna tell you.
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Because everyone has access to the Fallout sheet. The Ravening Beast is Risky, Resistance ten, Protection two, and it does D8 damage, right? That's like strong, but it's not super special or anything.
Dre: Okay. Okay.
Austin: You have it down to five Resistance, currently.
Dre: Oh, pshh.
Austin: But you've been picking at it for quite some time, and you only have it down to five.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: So. But listen, one big hit.
Keith: Yeah, Duvall just did most of that, right?
Austin: Right. Correct. So like, one big hit at this point could swing this whole thing. Like, you could do seven damage to it, and it would be done.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Right? ‘Cause it would get through that two Protection.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: The question is: can you do that?
Dre: I mean, I can.
Austin: Yeah, I know that you can, it just hasn’t happened yet.
Dre: Yeah. Okay.
Austin: And sometimes luck— sometimes the pizza box is empty.
Dre: [laughs softly] Oh, man.
Austin: So. Also, the other gandy should probably come back into play, I’ve realized now. I think you've...it has killed the rest of your things. Maybe I could say that the— your— that It is keeping it separated from you at this point. Maybe that's the best way of dealing with it. I guess It is like howling at it or yapping at it to kind of keep the gandy scared and in place.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: Also, just again, to reemphasize. Pickman, this whole situation is fucked up. They shouldn't be lifting trains up on chains and cleaning them out of gandies. You don't like gandies necessarily—
Jack: Mm.
Austin: —but this whole situation is fucking weird.
Jack: It's fucked up from top to bottom, right? Because…
Austin: Yep.
Jack: And I shouldn't even be on this fucking train. I saw… [Austin and Dre laugh] I saw people in distress fighting in a train. I boarded the train, and I found my friend Chine fighting gandies in the train. You know.
[1:50:08]
Austin: At this point, fighting the Ravening Beast, so that's good. All right, Chine, you're giving me another Kill.
Dre: Yep.
Austin: Another Kill Technology roll here, right?
Dre: Yeah. Um, could Pickman help me on this?
Jack: Yes. I mean…
Austin: Yeah, totally. As long as—
Jack: Yes, but we should leave the train.
Austin: Yeah, mm.
Dre: Oh. Okay, then you're not gonna help me on this.
Jack: No, I'm gonna help you, but I'm going to do it saying:
Jack (as Pickman): You are being obst—
Jack: No, I think Pickman wouldn’t even say obstinate.
Austin: [realization] Oh.
Jack: Oh.
Austin: I'm gonna be an ass in a second right here, actually. ‘Cause I realized a thing.
Dre: What?
Austin: You don't have Technology.
Dre: What do you mean?
Austin: Where do you get Technology from?
Dre: What do you— like, me? Or Pickman?
Austin: What move...Chine. You ate something that gave you Technology once, and we didn't uncheck it.
Dre: Oh, shit.
Austin: Uh huh.
Dre: Are we sure?
Austin: I'm gonna let all those other rolls stand. I'm looking for anything here that would give you Technology. I don't see it.
Dre: Is it not—
Jack: I mean, I will—
Dre: Is it not one I just took when I...hmm.
Austin: You would need to have put down Explorer to take Technology.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: I vaguely remember you eating something for Technology last time.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: Maybe I'm wrong!
Dre: Yeah, 'cause that's not one of the domains I can take from the start. Yeah, no, you're right.
Austin: I have no idea what you ate for that, but I do vaguely remember that happening last session?
Dre: Yeah. I'm just double checking that, ‘cause I'm wondering if Occult is that same way. Yeah, I think Occult is that too, so.
Austin: [groans] That makes sense as to why you have so many domains compared to other people.
Dre: Yep, mm-hmm. I think those were both from the last session.
Austin: Yeah, that makes sense.
Dre: Yeah, I don't think I was just carrying those for like five...arcs. [chuckles]
Austin: Arcs. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, well, that makes this— that makes that mastery that much more…
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Important, right?
Dre: Sure. So I am getting help from Pickman?
Austin: It sounds like it, right?
Dre: Okay. Are we still in Risky? Okay.
Austin: Oh yeah. This thing is innately Risky, yeah.
Dre: I was just making sure we hadn't upgraded to Dangerous. [laughs]
Austin: No, no. No, that's like...we don't need to get into the math, but it's rough, like, point like as this is showing right now. Chine, three Blood.
Dre: Okay.
Jack: An extra Blood Protection from me.
Austin: Then no Blood!
Dre: No Blood.
Austin: Look at that. Pickman, seven Blood.
Jack: That is three Blood.
Austin: Uh huh. As it swipes between the two of you with— I guess there's three of you around it now, right? So it is just like clawing out of its— but it's also being crystallized in, right? So maybe this isn't Blood. Um...let’s just keep it. I already said it, and you already have good Blood Protection, right? So. So it is just— it is clawing at you in ways that actually maybe don't make sense. You know, it is attacking you from the shadow, right? You're like, “I'm safe here,” but it's reaching out from shadows that aren't near it as if it's blending with them and can emerge from those. And that's how it's trying to get out of this crystal form, right? Or out of this kind of crystal prison. No Fallout from Chine. Minor Fallout for Pickman. This has become a whole thing.
Jack: It has, but I don't need to go to the Blood people anymore.
Austin: That's— yeah, true. True enough. [sighs] This is easy. Because of the surprise here, Pickman, you are Disarmed. Drop what you're holding; you may lose it depending on where you are. It just goes like—
Jack: Oh, great, yeah.
Austin: You know, sliding along the ground here as this attack takes you by surprise. You lose access to your good gun for the rest of this fight. Duvall.
Dre: Oh, wait, I need to roll my damage.
Austin: Oh yeah, roll your damage. No, no, you don't. You failed.
Dre: No.
Keith: Yeah, you failed.
Dre: Oh, I did fail!
Austin: Yeah, you failed.
Dre: Shit. Okay. Yeah, yeah, no.
Austin: Yeah, you rolled a five.
Dre: No, yeah.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: It mixed up in my head. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Dre: Oh, let me check something.
Keith: There was a six there, but you don't get it.
Austin: You don’t get it 'cause of the Risky.
Dre: Yeah, no, I was getting mixed up.
Austin: Uh huh.
Keith: Yeah.
Dre: Let me check something, 'cause I think—
Austin: Wait, also, I think you rolled one too many die also still. I don't think it clicked yet. Because you don't have...it still rolled four die, right? Oh, you got mastery. You got Mastery.
Dre: Mastery, yeah.
Austin: That's where that— that's where that other one comes from, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.
Dre: Let me— I think because my equipment has Tiring on it that does something when I fail, I'm pretty sure.
Austin: I think that's...oh, is it when you fail? I think that was when—
Dre: When you fail an action, the size of its Stress decreases by one.
Austin: For the rest of the thing.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: So from now on, you're doing only a D6 with it.
Dre: Yep.
Austin: Instead of a D— Okay. [deep breath] Duvall.
Art: Um, I’m sorta...I mean, I guess I would get the mastery if I rolled to...
Austin: Yeah, you would get the mastery. You could just continue to do the thing, right?
Art: Yeah, I could just keep trying to touch it, use—
Jack: It's not a once per situation?
Austin: No, that's a weapon.
Jack: Oh.
Art: Yeah.
Keith: [laughs] It’s a good weapon.
Austin: Yeah. Uh huh.
Art: It really doesn't say that I can turn it off, either. It seems like I hurt everyone I touch forever. I don't…
Austin: No.
Keith: No, no.
Austin: Well, hmm…
Keith: You have to choose to use it, if it works the same way as Kiss of the Drowned Queen.
Art: It doesn’t—
Austin: I think what Art is saying is it does just say “your touch functions as…”
Keith: Oh. [laughs]
Art: Yeah, it doesn't say you do something.
Keith: Oh, mine says “With a touch, you can.”
Art: No, no “can.” [Keith laughs] There's no choice words in here.
Austin: Buddy.
Art: I'm just constantly unmaking things.
Austin: Yeah, and I guess the thing it’s literally doing is the Annihilation thing. Or not literally, but in the book— the reason it's called Annihilation is because it's doing the thing what happens in the book and film Annihilation, right?
Art: Yeah.
Austin: Of remaking something in this way? That's fucked up. Anyway.
Art: So I guess I'll use the mastery to try to do this again. [Austin laughs softly] And that'll be it for me. Then I'll leave. [Sylvia laughs]
Austin: Uh huh.
Jack: Uh huh.
Austin: You just reached up with your other hand— this time you have to roll.
Art: Yeah, this time I have to roll.
Austin: Unbelievable.
Art: But it's, um, I don't have a skill, but it's a Technology you said? I have that one.
Austin: You have Technology, yeah, uh huh.
Art: And I have mastery.
Austin: Uh huh.
Art: Can I get some help here? Anyone...
Austin: Anyone left to ask? [laughs softly]
Dre: I mean, yeah, sure.
Keith: No, they’re all dead.
Austin: ; All right.
Art: All right, I'll take the…
Austin: Give me the roll.
Art: And it's Risky, you said? Risky.
Austin: It is Risky.
Art: I could have taken that spell that makes things not Risky, but I really liked the idea of unmaking things. [Jack laughs]
Dre: Sure.
Austin: It's working out so far.
Art: Why should there be something instead of nothing?
Austin: Why should there be? Yeah. Hey, that's a success at a cost. Give me your damage.
Art: [excited shouting] Oh, no, it's a ten! It's a ten!
Austin: Oh my god, you rolled the thing. You got the thing, didn’t you?
Keith: You got the six.
Austin: Is that what it is? It's whenever you roll a six.
Art: It is. It’s a ten.
Austin: Yeah.
Art: If it’s a six, it’s a ten.
Austin: If it's a six, it’s a ten.
Dre: Damn.
Jack: Oh my god. Kill them, Duvall.
Austin: So yes, this is Sacred Geometry: when you are rolling to inflict Stress on a Delve or adversary or to remove Stress and you roll a six, a number sacred, take your—
Art: No, no, this is Majestic.
Austin: Oh, sorry.
Art: You roll to resolve an action and roll a six—
Austin: Right.
Art: —count that dice as if it rolled a ten.
Austin: I see, I see, I see, I see, I see. Right, sorry. This is the— the other one is the one where you add— right, right, my bad. So it's a ten, so that's a critical success, in fact, which I believe is going to boost your damage by one, I believe is what happens when you do a crit. So it was a D8, right? Now it’s a D10.
Art: Now it's a D10.
Jack: [laughing] Oh my god.
Austin: I believe. I'm gonna just double check that before you roll this. Kill and Desolate. Uh, da-da-da-da-da. Where is this? [typing] Critical success, succeed dramatically. Yeah, increase outgoing Stress dice by one step. So it’s a D10. Here.
Jack: Yes!
Austin: And that's an eight.
Art: Only eight.
Austin: More than enough. [Jack sighs in relief] What— describe this moment for me, Duvall.
Art: Um, I think it's the like, it's the same thing again, it's like...and maybe it's like he was knocked over by the bite.
Austin: Yeah.
Art: And he just reaches up with his other hand, and he pushes, and he expects to get like resistance.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Art: And instead it just like, keeps going?
Austin: Uh huh.
Art: Like, just as high as his arm can reach. If you can imagine, if you're like on the ground, you probably just go all the way through the leg, right?
Austin: Sure. You know, um...I like your description of this before as being kind of a glitchy polygonal mess. You know, imagine like a Winamp visualizer of that, where it like pulses and moves with the beat. But there's a song playing that you can't hear, right? And it's pul— the whole Ravening Beast begins to pulse with that and then finally shatters. And, I mean, you're gonna get what was in the Ravening Beast. Keith, you do not lose the Ravening Beast or the Ravening Call as the thing, right? It specifically says that?
Keith: No, it just lies dormant in case it gets upgraded.
Austin: Oh, that's all.
Jack: And now it hates us. [laughs softly]
Austin: Uh huh. Great. Obsidian heart, definitely not a beacon to draw more in, D12 Occult. [laughs softly] And also fractal teeth and blackstone claws. Which I guess that's its equipment, but I think...I think that gets to be a resource that falls here too.
Jack: I mean, there’s three of us here, right?
Austin: Uh huh.
Jack: And I'm not letting Chine, you know.
Austin: What about? What? You’re not letting Chine what?
Jack: I'm not letting Chine be like, “I'm taking all the pay for this.”
Dre: No, I'm not. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Art: No, Duvall picks up the heart, though, and...
Austin: Oh, yeah?
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Weird.
Art: Puts it in the breast pocket of his jacket and straightens, straightens up.
Austin: [laughs softly] Really thought you were gonna say “in his chest.” [Jack laughs]
[2:00:01]
Art: No.
Keith: Do I feel that the thing has died, since it's sort of attached to me in a way?
Austin: I don't think so.
Keith: No, I just gotta wait?
Austin: I think not from this.
Keith: I’m gonna wait out the hour?
Austin: You're gonna— yeah. Or I don’t know. You tell me. But I love the image of Lyke coming back and not knowing what's gonna be there.
Keith: Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, I'm not gonna know what's gonna be there, ‘cause I'm gonna come back and see three people when I thought it was only gonna be one.
Austin: They might be gone. It’ll be...an hour is a while still, probably, right?
Keith: No, that— if I had come back right away, it would...
Austin: Oh, I see.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. The three of you who are still on board are able to leave now.
Dre: Uh, I don't want to leave yet.
Austin: Okay.
Jack (as Pickman): All right, I'm out. I'm leaving.
Art (as Duvall): Yeah, that’s— this has been fun. Bye.
Jack: What are the additional tags on that fractal teeth and blackstone claws? It's D8...
Austin: It's just D8.
Jack: Okay, cool.
Austin: Yeah. I guess it's a...
Dre: Do like both of us get some of that?
Austin: I think as a...it is D8 together as an Occult resource. I think you could split them into...
Jack: No, Chine's gonna get paid by the lady. Duvall and I did this for no pay.
Dre: Okay. No, that's fair. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's fair.
Jack (as Pickman): Goodbye.
Jack: Pickman just, I think, just like jumps from the train onto a lower like gantry or something. Storms back off towards the boat.
Art (as Duvall): You don't even want to talk about what I just did? That was pretty amazing I think.
Jack (as Pickman): Yep.
Dre (as Chine): I'm very impressed.
Art (as Duvall): All right. I'll see you back at the boat.
Jack (as Pickman): Bye.
Keith: I think Duv— did Duvall do ten out of the eleven total damage done to the—
Dre: Uh huh. [Keith laughs]
Austin: Uh huh. Which is what its damage total…
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, uh huh.
Keith: Or one higher than it.
Austin: Yeah. I mean, we don't— you're not accounting for damage Resistance there, but yes. The answer is yes. Why aren't you going yet, Chine?
Dre: Um, ‘cause one of my beats is to perform a rite at a place of power.
Austin: Sure. I'm gonna say the gandy got the fuck out of here, by the way.
Dre: Okay, that’s fair.
Austin: I think that that's fucking fair after seeing what Duvall just did to this thing. Just like the leaps away into the running river below, takes its chances.
Dre: Mm- hmm.
Austin: You know, scuttles back up on shore a mile away. What do you— what ritual are you doing?
Dre: Sure. Um, Chine's ritual is that they sit down and open their book of fairytales.
Austin: Mm.
Dre: And they dip their pen into the blood of this beast.
Austin: Mm-hmm?
Jack: Yo.
Dre: And write a fairy tale.
Austin: What's the fairy tale like?
Dre: [sighs] Um, I think it is mostly a, like, just Chine's attempt at a flowery retelling of this. It's not very flowery. [laughs]
Austin: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Dre: But it's like...it...I think Chine's attempt at being flowery is when people put “ye olde” in front of things, trying to say like, oh, this means it's medieval. [Art and Dre laugh]
Austin: Right, uh huh. And like, do you go through the sort of like…
Dre: Oh, I think the—
Austin: More people keep coming to try to fight this thing?
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Like, is it a beat for beat?
Dre: And I think the other part that makes this a rite is that I think, while Chine is doing this, It is eating.
Austin: The remains of the Ravening Beast.
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Great. And maybe one of the gandies that got killed.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Fantastic. Just:
Austin (as creature): [growly eating] Om-rom-rom-rom. Rom!
Dre: Mm-hmm!
Austin (as creature): Rom-rom-rom-rom.
Dre: It said it was hungry earlier.
Austin: Uh huh. This is— yeah, okay. Sure. Sure enough. Um, ah...yeah. Okay. Check that beat. I think that that's...you know, give me, um...just give me a D10. I want to see if this connects to the Course in any way. Oh, that's a crit.
Dre: Fuck yeah. [laughs]
Austin: That’s a ten. A ten. Where was this before? As you—
Dre: It was here when it was very important.
Austin: You find yourself writing two stories at once. You find yourself having finished, and you're like, “Wait a second. There's a second story here.” And the second story is about a great Cleaver, who refused to back down and who fought everything she could, who fought every— you know, it's sort of, um...the structure of the story has both a, I guess kind of Beowulf-y, in the sense of like this escalation of hunts, but also a sort of...not a call and response, but there is a refrain structurally in the telling. And it's like, “And then she would go on to fight again. And then she would go on to fight again,” or, you know, “and she would heed the call. She would heed the call.” And each time the story you've written is like more detailed about how you’ve...or how this Cleaver has gained a, you know, an increasingly impressive weapon or a new bodily form or function. And finally the kind of end of it is that she realizes that there is an endless amount of things to hunt, that there will always— not only will there always be another thing to hunt, but that in giving her life to the hunt in this way, she has started to recognize that everything can be hunted, that everything is a worthy hunt. And in a final act of humanity, she removes herself from the world and takes herself to a vast forest, a forest so tall it touches the moon, and that she lives there for the rest of her life for fear of knowing someone else, because to know someone else will be to raise her arms against them. And you don't remember writing this, but the Course flew through you and produced this story. And you're not sure if you're like, is the Course talking about me? Or is this a real thing? Uh, Keith.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: And I guess, well, Lyke and Hazard. You’re healing at this place, presumably?
Keith: I have nothing to heal here, so.
Austin: Oh. What?
Keith: It only heals Echo, Supplies, and Fortune.
Austin: It doesn't heal Blood?
Keith: No.
Austin: Oh.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Okay. I guess that makes sense. It's not a healer, it's a...it's a...
Sylvia: I might be able to help out? I was gonna ask if I could do my Transferrall. It says I can't like take a harm from myself, but it doesn't say if I can take one on, like if I can give...take like Battered from Lyke and transfer it to me.
Austin: I think you can take it to you. I think you're allowed to do that.
Sylvia: Yeah. Okay, cool. I might do that, then.
Austin: Uh huh.
Sylvia: Just 'cause I feel bad about, uh...how that all went down.
Keith: No, it's not...you don't have to take my Battered.
Sylvia: Well, I also have a thing that I can just get rid of it with when we get back to the ship.
Keith: Okay. Well, maybe.
Austin: Wait, do you? What's the thing?
Sylvia: Oh, I just meant talking to the doctor.
Austin: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I see.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Yes. So yeah, what's that scene look like, then? As you...I mean, you're here. You're at Aterika’Kaal’s place. Aterika’Kaal continues to grow. You both show up kind of battered here, in one case literally Battered, because that's the name of the Fallout.
Sylvia: I think like Hazard’s like:
Sylvia (as Hazard): Okay, they didn't come through. That's— [deep breath] they're probably fine. They’re...Chine seems strong.
Sylvia: They say, as if they’ve known them for more than two hours. [laughs softly]
Austin: Also, you’ve just walked through a portal into a weird garden world.
Sylvia: Yeah, there's a...just a lot of like…
Austin: Uh huh. You met these people yesterday.
Sylvia: But I think they see that like...the way Battered was described it was like Lyke’s dominant hand is like messed up, right?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: That is...I thought that was Critical Injury.
Keith: Uh, no, no.
Austin: I guess it’s both of the—
Keith: It’s both of them, yeah.
Austin: Yeah, yeah. Right. It’s both of those, yes. [laughs softly]
Sylvia: Okay. Well, I was gonna take on Battered, and it would just be a Mend plus Haven Standard roll to do so.
Austin: Yep. Go for it. What's that look like? It’s a success, no Stress.
Sylvia: So I can...what I was thinking is that it's similar to how it works with someone else, except I don't have to put like my hand on a second person.
Austin: Right, you're just—
Sylvia: I just kind of like lay hands. The way I'm picturing this specifically happening is like that when I like touch Lyke on the shoulder—
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Sylvia: His hand snaps back into place while my hand like breaks basically.
Austin: Fuck.
Keith (as Lyke): [noise of disgust]
Sylvia: And it sucks, like...
Keith: I'm saying. That’s Lyke going ewww.
Austin: But you've done—
Sylvia: Hazard’s sore.
Austin: Uh huh.
Sylvia: But it’s, you know.
Keith (as Lyke): My nightmare’s not gonna pop out of you now, right?
Sylvia (as Hazard): No, just the hand thing. [pained] Oof. [Sylvia laughs softly]
Austin: Got it. Great. All right, I've swapped it over to Hazard.
Sylvia: Cool. Thank you.
Austin: Lyke remains Limping, Critically Injured, uh...Mend.
Sylvia: Oh, if you’d prefer me to take Limping, by the way, I could also do that.
Keith: Oh, no, it's not a…
Sylvia: It's also a Minor— instead of.
Keith: I don’t mind either way.
Sylvia: Okay, cool. [Austin laughs softly]
Keith: Honestly, I probably shouldn't have two things that make it Risky to do any move.
Sylvia: Yeah, that makes sense.
Austin: Uh huh.
Sylvia (as Hazard): So, are we gonna...we should probably get back to— where are we?
Keith (as Lyke): Oh, this is like, um...this is a place where I keep...this is a, um...I guess it's [Sylvia laughs] like a little world for my plant friend.
Austin: Who crawls on your shoulder in this moment.
Sylvia (as Hazard): S— okay. Sure. You know, I'm not in any position to be asking questions right now.
Keith: You don't happen to have any Echo, Supply, or Fortune Stress?
Sylvia: No.
Keith: You've barely rolled, as a character.
[2:10:00]
Sylvia: Just Blood. Yeah, I’m just hurt.
Keith: Yeah.
Sylvia: Like, physically.
Keith: Yeah. I think, Austin, you probably remember a lot of Blood healing happening here, because I was doing Blood healing here.
Austin: You were doing the Blood healing.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah.
Keith: But no, that's it. That's all I can do.
Keith (as Lyke): Anyway, thank you for taking my battered hand.
Sylvia (as Hazard): No, yeah, no problem.
Sylvia: So do we just want to sort— like, I don't have anything to do here, if you— like, out of character I'm saying this.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Uh huh.
Sylvia: If you have anything to do here, Keith.
Keith: No.
Sylvia: Okay. Do we want to just fast forward to—
Keith: Yeah, yeah. We can just— we can fast forward, yeah.
Austin: Uh huh.
Sylvia: Us coming back, since we're short on time?
Austin: All right. You're— yeah, let's just say, yeah, that's a good idea. Okay. I was going to note that you could also heal Keith's Blood Stress, Lyke’s Blood Stress, but I don't know if you want to offer that service also, Hazard.
Sylvia: I mean, I can. Do you want— like, sure. I might as well.
Austin: Only 'cause Lyke’s— it's at seven, which is not nothing.
Keith: It’s really high.
Sylvia: Oh, okay. Yeah.
Keith: I didn't know you could do that.
Sylvia: ‘Cause I guess everyone else lost a lot of their Stress through Fallout, so.
Austin: That’s what happened. Yes.
Keith: Yeah, I did— I also did that. It's just that the last thing that I did was not get Fallout for—
Sylvia: Yeah.
Keith: Wait, actually, did I take...did I just not remove that?
Austin: Yeah, wait, did you?
Keith: I think that was…
Austin: You may have forgotten to remove it.
Keith: I think that was Battered.
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was Battered.
Keith: Yeah. That was Battered.
Austin: That was Battered. Get rid of that.
Sylvia: Okay.
Austin: You're good. You're good. You're good.
Keith: [whistles in relief] All right. Great.
Austin: Yes.
Sylvia: Okay.
Austin: All right. So then, yeah, y'all come back out and find Chine writing in a book or finishing writing in a book, while Chine's creature kind of sits or continues to eat the remains of the— the final remains of the Blood-starved Beast. Or not the Blood-starved Beast. That's a Bloodborne boss, Austin. [Sylvia and Dre laugh]
Jack: Oh.
Austin: The, uh, the other one.
Keith (as Lyke): Hey, you got it. The Ravening Beast is gone.
Austin: Ravening Beast.
Keith (as Lyke): You beat it? You did it?
Austin: It howls in your mind.
Sylvia: Does Chine need healing? ‘Cause I could also do that, if Chine has any Stress that needs healing.
Dre: I mean, I have two Blood Stress.
Sylvia: I'm gonna— might as well. Show of good faith after all that.
Austin: Yeah, uh huh.
Sylvia: Eh.
Austin: I guess give me your roll. Three D10, right? Oh, look at that. Nine. No Stress.
Sylvia: Heal two D6. Or one D6, one D6.
Austin: One D6, one D6, yeah.
Sylvia: Thinking the wrong type of game.
Austin: Which again, you are beseeching Ribbadon, by the way.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Keith: Aren’t we all? [Keith and Sylvia laugh]
Austin: Uh, where does this go? 'Cause you're not taking this Stress on, you're kind of shuffling it away magically.
Sylvia: Yeah. I think that there's like...
Austin: Is it in escrow?
Sylvia: [laughs] Yeah, maybe. I'm trying to think of like what it could— like, if it— like, it's hard to think about things in the like…
Austin: Debt terms, basically?
Sylvia: Debt turns, yeah. But I was thinking like yeah, it being sort of like taken to be like theoret— have some sort of theoretical value elsewhere.
Austin: I love it. Yeah.
Sylvia: To Ribbadon.
Austin: It’s in the flow. Someone else will need that harm at some point. All right.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Battered and bruised, you come back off the ship. “The ship.” The train.
Sylvia: Chine, roll a D6 to heal, by the way.
Dre: Oh, sorry.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: For the thing.
Austin: Lyke, I'm going to respect the thing you said earlier, but maybe I’ve forgotten because of how long this has gone, which is you wanted to rob something up here, right?
Keith: Yeah, I guess. [laughs]
Austin: Do you or don't you want these encyclopedias?
Keith: [resigned] Yeah, I do.
Austin: You get a D8 Haven Awkward resource, which is a briefcase of encyclopedias.
Keith: D8 Haven. Okay. Sure.
Austin: It's awkward to carry around, ‘cause it's a heavy…
Jack: Oh, great. The encyclopedias.
Keith: It’s not that the materials are. It’s not an encyclopedia of awkward things.
Austin: No, yeah, it's an awkward briefcase.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: It's all the J through K. It's just like, you know, 30 J through K volumes. You don't know if that's because these are like the demo ones that the salesman leaves with people as a freebie.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Or if this is the one that sells the least or what.
Keith: Got it.
Austin: So go ahead and write down 30 J through K encyclopedias.
Keith: And...okay, that's great. I love that. Number 30, J through K encyclopedia. Okay, yeah, sure.
Austin: You get your coins, Chine. What was it, ten?
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah. Take a D10 resource that is like, uh...I don't even know. Cathedral, Bridge Cathedral scrip. Actually, I know what it is. It is D10 worth of their scrip that they use here is heatless chips of the endless embers.
Keith: Oh no.
Austin: They’re just like, they don't have the heat in them anymore, but they still glow. It's a bag full of them. So that's fun. That is a Religion tag. Or Technology. Actually, that's probably a Religion Technology, given their situation. People back on the boat: how's it going? Sorry that this happened. I didn't expect it. We kind of rolled into it.
Keith: Literally rolled into it.
Austin: In many ways. I'm guessing some people are gonna get more doctor care.
Keith: Yeah, I want to go to the doctor.
Dre: Yeah, same. [laughs]
Austin: We're gonna abstract that out. Give me your pay.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: And tell me what you're paying for, and we’re just gonna roll it.
Keith: So, I'm gonna pay… [sighs] I got a lot of things to pay with. So, what is a D— what can I do with a D8?
Austin: That's a Major.
Keith: That's a— it reduces a Major to a Minor, right? It doesn't get rid of a Major.
Austin: Correct. It does not get rid of it, no.
Keith: So I'm going to pay D8 to reduce Critical Injury to Minor.
Austin: Mm-hmm. What are you paying with?
Keith: I'm gonna pay with my encyclopedia.
Austin: Etienne just starts looking through them, is like:
Austin (as Etienne): I really wish this was L through M, but yeah, I'll take it.
Keith (as Lyke): Okay.
Austin: So go ahead and reduce that. I'll figure out what it reduces to.
Keith: Well, I'm actually gonna just...so—
Austin: Are you just gonna pay it all the way down?
Keith: I'm gonna spend— I have so many. I have a lot of resources still, so I'm gonna just spend them.
Austin: Yes.
Keith: I got rid of my map. I have my map on this, but I did use that last episode.
Austin: You did use that last time, yeah.
Keith: So, um, what— I remember you updated us on how splitting resources works.
Austin: Yeah. It basically just goes down a die. So like, what are you trying to split?
Keith: What would I get if I split a D8?
Austin: It would be a D6 and a D4.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: If you can split it. Not everything can get split.
Keith: Well, I have tarnished jewelry, which could be plural.
Austin: Yeah, I'd say that’s— let's call that plural, and then you end up with like— the remainder is like a D4 ring of some sort.
Keith: Okay. Well, I'm going to use the D6 to get rid of Limping.
Austin: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I see what you're gonna do.
Keith: And I'm gonna use my last two D4s, the leftover tarnished jewelry and the wicker finger—
Austin: The ring.
Keith: To get rid of the Minor Critical— whatever Critical Injury would have minored out to. To leave me with the Major Ravening Beast. [laughs]
Austin: Uh huh. That's all. [Sylvia laughs]
Dre: Sure, yeah.
Austin: Uh huh. Great, done.
Art: Otherwise, if we just trade a resource, we get to roll that die and get that much Stress off?
Austin: That is correct.
Art: All right.
Austin: But note that you now have a bunch of people in the party who can do that for free if you're looking for certain types of Stress reduction.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Art: All right.
Sylvia: I can reduce on any type of Stress other than Supplies.
Austin: See?
Dre: So he can—
Art: We haven't (??? 2:17:40)
Dre: Can the deacon only do Blood? Right?
Austin: Deacon can only do Blood.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: Correct. We can get Echo back in the temple. [Dre laughs] And you can get, uh...you can get...what's the other one? What's the— what do we have on board? I thought I said this, but I’ve...I mean, I did say it, but I also have it written down somewhere.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: We can get other stuff here on board. Uh, buh buh buh buh buh...
Jack: Is Mind right? Just from, uh…
Austin: Mind and worse Blood, but yeah, Mind. D6 Mind from the dining hall.
Dre: Oh, right. Yeah, so I can't clear my Major Mind Fallout with the dining hall.
Austin: That is correct. Not yet.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: There will be a buff to that once the band comes on board. Eight episodes from now, at this rate.
Dre: Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah. So—
Austin: They're on at the next stop. They truly are. They get on board next stop. Anyway.
Dre: I just want to clear my Major Blood Fallout of Blooded.
Austin: Uh huh.
Dre: Which is like my body being all messed up.
Austin: Yeah. So that’s a D8 resource, which now you have, these chips.
Dre: So, can I combine…‘cause it's a D8 to get it to a Minor and then a D6 to remove the Minor?
Austin: You can combine that and the wicker finger to completely clear it, yes.
Dre: Okay, so the chips and the finger.
Austin: If I'm doing the math right.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Correct, yeah.
Dre: ‘Cause it’s a D10 and a D4. Okay.
Austin: Yep.
Dre: Cool.
Austin: Yep. Done. Not going to do a big scene here, but oh my god does Etienne have a lot of questions for how you got to be like this. [Keith laughs]
Dre: Don’t worry about it. Sure, I'll tell him the whole story. I don’t mind.
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He loves to hear about it.
Keith: [laughs] (??? 2:19) Hey, you already wrote it down, kinda.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, that’s true. All right.
Dre: And I—
Sylvia: I just have— oh, sorry, I thought you were done.
Dre: You said there's Echo in town?
Austin: There is Echo back in— yes, yes.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: The…
Dre: I guess can I clear my Minor Echo Fallout on the way out of town?
Austin: Yeah. I mean, you have to go back in the cathedral, which is a whole emotional thing. Or maybe it's not, maybe you're just dead still on it. Go up to the thing that I described that Pickman went to before, this engine that surrounds you. This feels— I will say, for you, it will feel strange because of your connection to the Course. This is..it's not the anti-Course. In some ways, it's connected the Course in a real way, but it is not...it feels in opposition in its structure, right? All of that free flowing curviness brought to bear for the sake of, you know, production and efficiency and...it's not evil necessarily, but it isn't...it's strange to you.
[2:20:04]
Keith: I'm actually also gonna go do this.
Austin: [laughs softly] Okay.
Keith: While I can.
Austin: Just tell me what you're spending. Yeah, while you can. [Keith sighs]
Dre: I will spend my...'cause this is D6, right?
Austin: This is D6.
Dre: For a Minor.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: For a Minor.
Dre: I'll use my compass.
Austin: Okay.
Dre: Which is technically under equipment instead of resources, but is that okay?
Austin: Uh, yeah, you can get rid of your compass, absolutely. RIP to that compass. That compass is great. You're sure about this?
Dre: Um...yeah, I mean, I'm kind of desperate, and I need that D8 to get rid of this other Major Fallout, so.
Austin: Yeah, that makes sense. Alright, sounds good.
Keith: All right, I'm just gonna sell my revolver to reduce to Ravening Call.
Austin: Okay. No more gun twins.
Sylvia: Aw.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Okay.
Keith: It's fine. I never used it anyway, literally not once.
Austin: Mm-hmm. You toss it into the furnace. It burns up, and as it does, you can hear— you can sense the beast kind of withdraw a little bit. The awoo is still there, but it's further— it’s deeper back in your mind.
Sylvia: It’s lowercase awoo now.
Austin: Yeah, exactly. [faintly] Awoo.
Sylvia: Does anybody else have Fallout stuff, or can I just do mine really quick with the doctor?
Austin: You can totally do yours.
Sylvia: Yeah, I just have this one resource.
Austin: Uh huh.
Sylvia: The D6 secondhand wedding ring.
Austin: Right.
Sylvia: So, that's what I give him.
Austin: You slip it off your finger. Which, by the way, the reason I have not made you change that since you are part of the Caravan of the Coin or cursed thereof—
Sylvia: Mm-hmm.
Austin: —is ‘cause you've been wearing it on your ring presumably— or your finger this whole time presumably, right? Or have you not been?
Sylvia: Yeah, might as well. Um…I actually hadn’t—
Austin: ‘Cause if you haven’t, we could do this move and see what happens.
Sylvia: No, I— let's do the move, ‘cause I haven't…
Austin: Okay.
Sylvia: Oh, I deleted it by accident. Hold on.
Austin: That’s okay. Members of the Caravan of the Coin are cursed to have their goods shift and change when not under observation. Whenever you end a Delve—but in this case it's, I think that's what just happened, in a way that we did not intend.
Sylvia: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Roll one D10.
Sylvia: I got a ten.
Austin: You got a ten. You can increase the die value of every resource on your sheet by two.
Sylvia: God damnit.
Jack: Whoa!
Austin: Shift all domains by one, and you can increase one piece of equipment’s quality by one.
Sylvia: [sighs] Okay, damn. Wait, so, equipment is different.
Austin: That's your blade or your revolver, yeah.
Sylvia: Oh shit.
Austin: So that’s gonna become a good revolver if you want it to or a good blade.
Sylvia: I’m gonna— oh. Oh, I might take good blade, actually.
Austin: Yeah? Okay.
Sylvia: I...mm. No, I’m gonna take Good on the revolver. You got me with the…
Austin: I got you. Uh huh.
Sylvia: Yeah. And so when we shift the domain, this would go from Haven to Occult, then?
Austin: Yeah, I believe that that is how we're...I think I'm just gonna go down the line effectively, right?
Sylvia: Okay, yeah, I figured.
Austin: So that means that whatever that ring— that ring was a Haven thing. Now it's a Occult thing. As a reminder, the Caravan of the Coin was cursed by Ribbadon—you can go back to the earliest episodes to hear us read about this—the frog god of wealth. Until they return the silver coin that they first borrowed, they cannot hold onto the same thing. At the beginning and the end of a journey, it will change unless they hold it in their mouth. I was gonna let you do the ring as like, you're wearing it. You always have physical connection to it.
Sylvia: Yeah, but it—
Austin: It won’t change. But hey, it did. Let's say it does. And in this case, you rolled a ten on this chart, which means it goes up from a D6 to a D10. What is it?
Sylvia: Yeah. Um...
Austin: Also, just for the record, bad rolls on this are miserable.
Sylvia: Oh yeah, they suck.
Austin: Especially if you have a lot of resources.
Sylvia: I'm glad that I've rolled the ten when I have only one thing.
Austin: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Sylvia: I'm kind of thinking of it like I want it to have some like...well, I know that like it's supposed to be like morphing, obviously.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Sylvia: But I want it to have some similarity there.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: So I'm trying to think of something that's still in a ring shape. And I think like—
Austin: I mean, it could just be different ring even, or a...
Sylvia: Yeah. I think it's like a weird like branch shaped like a ring or something instead.
Austin: Oh, I love that. Yeah.
Sylvia: Like, it's not like a ring someone forged. It's something that looks natural.
Austin: Yeah. And I think it's like Etienne looks at this and goes:
Austin (as Etienne): What is— oh.
Sylvia: I might not give it to him, since it's so expensive now, actually.
Austin: I know. What are you gonna— you’re gonna give him the blade instead?
Sylvia: [sighs] I might just roll with this for a bit. [laughs softly]
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: How does splitting again? The D10 would go down to a D4?
Austin: Yeah, if you can split this magic ring, even. I don't know that you can.
Sylvia: Yeah. I wouldn't know like...yeah. I'm not entirely sure.
Austin: You could have like a little bit of—
Janine: It’s like a jewel you could pop out or something?
Austin: Yeah. Are there still jewels in it?
Sylvia: Oh, true. Well, if we're going with this thing where it's become like a weird like plant thing, I think maybe the jewel could have turned into like a fruit or something on it.
Austin: Ooh, that's fun. A little berry.
Sylvia: Yeah. So, what— when I'm splitting a D10, what does it go down to?
Austin: If you're splitting it down to a D6, that means you're subtracting a D2 each time I guess, so yeah, it’d go down to a D6.
Sylvia: A D6? Okay, cool.
Austin: Or, no, sorry. It’d go down to a D4, right?
Sylvia: Ah, yeah, okay.
Austin: D10, D...I mean, you're— what do you— when you say split it, do you mean you're splitting it into a D6 and some remainder?
Sylvia: I'm trying to lower it. If there's a— if I can get a D6 and yeah, I'm just trying to get like a D6 and not be completely have nothing left, since this came up to D10.
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Then you would end up with a D4 left, if you're spending D6.
Sylvia: Okay, cool.
Austin: I believe I'm doing that math right. I believe, ‘cause it's by step, effectively. D4 to D6. D6 to D8. D8 to D10. It's a D10.
Sylvia: I'm gonna say that I'm keeping the berry part and giving the ring?
Austin: Sure, yeah. Strange berry.
Sylvia: Just in terms of like, yeah.
Austin: And I think I'm wrong. I think you keep D6. I think I've just done that math in my head. I think it's D6, so.
Sylvia: Okay. Cool.
Austin: Yeah. All right. And so yeah. I think he slips it on his finger as soon as you give it to him. It’s as if he's recognized something here that you didn't, that you don't. He's like:
Austin (as Etienne): Eh, don't worry about it.
Austin: All right, any other paperwork? [Dre laughs]
Sylvia: I can't think of anything.
Austin: Okay. The boat unanchors and continues down the river. [Sylvia laughs softly] As we wrap up, I'm gonna paint a little bit of a picture of where you're arriving next. The next day on this trip is just fine. Everything, you know, goes great. But sooner than later, you find yourself, the next day, pulling up to Cantbank. Cantbank is a...there's something happening here that I think is maybe interesting. I hadn't realized it until today. The places you stop...the river is long, but the places you stop are tall. It's as if there is a sort of...something is happening here. Maybe it's social, maybe it's magical. The things next to this long river inherit its size, but they inherit it in height instead of in length. Here, built directly into the side, this bank of the river that goes right into a kind of cliff face, a really tall mountainous cliff face, is a massive scaffolded city made of every little thing you can find. It's like a bird's nest but a city. Cantbank is one of the greatest trading towns in eastern Sangfielle. Things move in and out of it, both from the river but also across the kind of plains to the east. This kind of thing goes out into a plateau and then out east into the furthest reaches of Sangfielle. Things are— things just find their way here in Cantbank. This is an excellent supplies place. A couple of things to spot as we come to a close. The first is that prowling along the kind of scaffold of this place, along the kind of loose poles and ladders and kind of outcroppings, is a kind of mid-sized black cat, like a big black cat, like a panther. No one seems bothered by this. Everyone seems fine with it. It looks down at the boat in interest. The second thing is that someone gets aboard. It is a Shape Knight, and the first thing they do is begin to ask around for one Pickman.
Jack: [weakly] Great.
Austin: Mm-hmm. You had that bounty hunter.
Jack: Oh, yeah. [sarcastic] And you know what they say about Pickman, loves Zevunzolia.
[Music plays: “Sangfielle”]