THE MOON CROWN

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EPISODE 08 TRANSCRIPT

CAN'T STEP INTO THE SAME RIVER TWICE

INTERRUPTING BROADCAST
distorted

There is no one love - love - like you-

INT. - A ROOM OF AN INN

CHESS

echoing

Is it over? Everything back to normal out there?

CHESS

echoing

Thank the gods.

CHESS

echoing

I need to know if I can trust her. I need to know it's… Her.

Maybe I'll ask about something from before we knew each other.

CHESS

echoing

Do you remember how we met?

LOU

???

Those recordings you liked. Classical, right?

CHESS

echoing

Yeah. Yeah. I'm glad you're back.

CHESS

echoing

No, don't! I'm - I'm just glad you're back. That's it.

LOU

???

Come on.

CHESS

Lo? Are you awake? Are you still feeling… Yourself, today?

LOU

???

What'd you call me..? Lo?

CHESS

Uh, yeah, about that.

I told Henrik and Tala. About your name. Look, we haven't exactly been on even ground with you. LAMB knows everyone's name, but - just wait. Please. After everything with Lamb, her threatening us, I don't think it's fair for you to-

LOU

???

distorted

FAIR?

CHESS

Calm down.

LOU LO

???
distorted

You want me to calm down? Do you know how dangerous that is?

CHESS

Yeah. I do. Better than you. Anyway, I need to get ready, but let me know if you need anything, okay?

???
distorted

Okay.

SFX STATIC

???

Can you hear me?

Dammit.

SFX: KNOCKING, THE DOOR OPENS AND THUNDER CAN BE HEARD RUMBLING, ALONG WITH RAIN OUTSIDE.

HENRIK

You should finish packing.

???

Already done.

HENRIK

I need to ask you something before we go, and this is going to sound strange. Do you remember wandering around the city with Chess a few weeks back? You stopped at a cafe?

???

What...? Oh, yes!

HENRIK

You… do.

???
distorted

You don't exactly go out very often! Sorry, I - I… Don't. Remember. All that well. Memory's not sound. Hasn't been in some time. I do recall Chest and Tala were so serious that day!

I thought you were feeling worse?

Why?

HENRIK

Nevermind. What are you holding?

???

Some sort of artifact. I'm not skilled with these ancient devices, and I thought it might be fun to repair it. I have the tape recorder sorted, so I imagine it's similar.

HENRIK

Let me see that.

Oh, I know this actually, it's a handheld transceiver. I haven't seen one of these for quite some time. How much did you pay for it?

???
distorted

Practically nothing. They had a box of them. The shopkeeper said they're unusual to come by, but useless. Like most of what they find in those archeological digs.

HENRIK

You get them pretty easy where I'm from… Standard issue. I mean, you could! You could get them.

Not any more, of course. Or, I suppose you can now.

Well, that was centuries ago. Who knows what's happened to blow out the elec- the… The parts.

???

You had access? To these? Where you're from…?

HENRIK

It's not much use on its own. You need two of them. Careful what you say over it if you get it working.

???

Henrik, hold on.

I've been… Thinking. About how much risk there was in you fighting that.. New entity.

I hadn't thought about how it could be that dangerous. Not until we were there! Standing over that caved in ruin.

HENRIK

All this time, and you’re thinking all that through now. That's great. Wonderful.

distorted

I'm sorry. Truly! I mean that.

HENRIK

Stop.

???

I'm... Sorry. And then there's the knife.

HENRIK

Stop.

???

It might seem like it. Well, even the first time we met-

HENRIK

Stop.

???

Maybe that's not the best example.

HENRIK

We’ve already talked about this.

???

I wouldn't have hurt you that first night. It wasn't me. I need you to understand that.

Also, the alchemist at the apothecary said ipecac would only make you feel ill. And vampires can't actually get sick. And he tried to sell me arsenic! And now you actually are ill.

HENRIK

We can talk about this later. Just. Stop.

???

This is my fault.

HENRIK

You didn't actually cause any of this. We went with you, not for you.

Though… I can't speak for Chess.

???

How could you say that? You survived, but now you've been sick for months. And… And I, I never considered that was a possibility.

HENRIK

Enjoy it. You’re the first to see it happen. Why not write it down! Isn't that what you do? Keep notes of everything?

SFX: LO(?) LAUGHS BITTERLY.

HENRIK

sighing

That was cruel. Now, I'm sorry. Look, I'm already packed and I'm gonna go for a drink.

???

This early in the day?

HENRIK

Nerves. I don't like going anywhere by boat. Being on the water like that makes me feel sort of… trapped?

???

I know what you mean... It'll be alright.

HENRIK

Lo?

SFX: THE RAIN CONTINUES TO FALL

???

What's on your mind?

HENRIK

Give me some time. I'll tell you when I'm ready to talk. Then you can try and apologize again. Okay?

It's not all bad. I'd forgotten how the sun felt.

See you on the ferry.

SFX: A DOOR OPENS, THEN CLOSES. HENRIK’S FOOTSTEPS GROW QUIETER.

???
distorted

I tried. I tried...

Lou!

Where in the hell are you?

SFX: “AU CLAIR DE LA LUNE” PLAYS. STATIC. WAVES SPLASHING, ALONG WITH TWO SETS OF STEPS WALKING ALONG A WOODEN DOCK.

LAMB

It's so misty. The lights are pretty like fireflies in clouds. Strange, how we can't even see the river from here.

CHESS

I can see it just fine.

TALA

Looks a bit shaky.

CHESS

Wha- Hey! Stop sneaking up on us!

LAMB

Hmm. Your wings look like a cloak.

TALA

You like them? Maybe we can find a way to give you your own.

LAMB

No… Thanks.

So, how do we even find this ferryman of the dead? You don't actually have to. Die. Right?

TALA

Is there something wrong with being dead?

LAMB

Ah, well-

TALA

No, Goliath, please, don't apologize. It's annoying. Anyway, I think you know the answer to that, don't you Chess?

CHESS

with a sigh

Follow me.

TALA

You'll have to pay with blood, of course.

CHESS

Stop teasing her.

LAMB

Even in the jellyfish glow.

CHESS

Give me your hand.

LAMB

What are you - CHESS! Holy fuck! Are these spirits? A bridge of spirits?

TALA

I've never seen anyone do that. Fascinating. The ferryman can't get any closer?

CHESS

Come on. Slow. There you go.

TALA

What about me?

CHESS

Ugh. You'll be fine.

TALA

Oh, so you can tell the future too, can you?

CHESS

These ferrymen only exist between worlds, and yes, you need to be dead to get there. Or… You could manipulate the dead. I've never tried this before.

TALA

You had us walk on a bridge you've made, and you’re not even a carpenter? You could have told me!

CHESS

UGH. You're not actually alive! You could have made it there on your own.

TALA

I wanted to see how you two would manage.

LAMB

I can see it! Incredible.

HENRIK

Now that. Is amazing. Can you. Ahhh - Can you control the undead?!

CHESS

They're not the same kind of dead. I told you this would be easy for me, so I believe you owe me something.

HENRIK

Fine.

You.

Don't eat anything they offer you here, and don't drink the water.

LAMB

Of course.

I'll be in the cabin.

SFX: CLICK. STATIC.

LAMB

distorted in some parts

Psychopomps. Psycho. Pomps. I suppose I should act excited. I've never seen one.

I'm recording this for later, for posterity, you. Might. Say. They're frightening. I'd say beautiful, but… This sort of thing isn't really my cup of tea.

Chess says this ferryman goes by Manduyapit.

The further in we go, the more the river resembles something like water, tinged with crimson and ink. It is… Fantastic. In its own way. And…

Familiar.

Something buried in all of these memories. There's something unnerving in all of this. How does one leave the Goliath Peninsula, if a person can only get through these spaces with ferrymen? We are traveling through a liminal space.

Not the kind you run across when walking in an empty hall.

All those creaky floors. Or otherwise, silences that stretch over your ears like gauze wound tightly around your skull.

This is not the kind with corners you can't seem to escape winding mazes of walls, with their locked doors. Maybe oak. Stained. With shadows.

Dark fissures that seem more like scars, signs of things you'd rather forget.

No. [No.] No.

This place is not. [Is not.]

Like those. [Like those.]

At all.

I'd liken it to the state you enter, between dreams and consciousness.

SFX: STATIC

Flashes of consciousness-

SFX: STATIC

LAMB

The kind you sit in when your mind rouses from sleep, and yet. Your body is paralyzed.

Where you are anchored within yourself, as something crawls around you in the darkness.

SFX: STATIC

And a cloak of empty silence.

SFX: STATIC

LAMB

A thing that you can feel, that you can sense, that makes your heart race as you try to will your mind to wake.

SFX: STATIC.

By something that wakes me in the evenings… Without reason.

SFX: STATIC.

LAMB

A bedfellow.

I have that same sense-

LAMB

One that creeps onto your chest to watch you in the dead of night,

-of being watched all the time.

LAMB

heavy and shivering with excitement.

Being listened to?

LAMB

As you lie there

trapped,

trapped.

Inside of yourself.

LAMB

You know it, don't you? These breaths of vulnerability. Isolation.

But. I. Am not. Alone.

I am never alone.

LAMB and LO in tandem

I haven't been alone for a long time.

LAMB

That familiar to you? Your words. Exactly.

I hope you listen to this, and internalize it Llewelyn.

I never meant to frighten you. I understand you! BETTER THAN ANYONE! I’ve felt your FEAR, your anxiety? And I promise, I'm going to take care of you. Until you can escape whatever hell you're in.

I can play by your rules, if you just get. Me. To my body.

Otherwise?

Come back…

Please.

SFX: CLICK. STATIC.

LAMB

Nearly a week! Lou, I'm tired of this.

SFX: STATIC.

LAMB

How long am I going to be here? 10 days? Lou. I haven't been in your world for this long!

SFX: STATIC

LAMB

distorted

Lou? Lo…? Lowelyn…? Lowelyn Goliath! Come back… Come back to your body!

…This is ridiculous…

SFX: RUMMAGING AROUND IN A BAG. CLICK, A TAPE RECORDER PLAYS BACK A RECORDING.

recorded

The place where we were - reassigned - our family name. The Goliath Peninsula.

SFX: RECORDING ENDS.

LAMB

Reassigned…?

SFX: TRANSCEIVER STATIC. A DOOR OPENS AS CHESS WALKS ACROSS THE CABIN.

CHESS

What are you doing, hiding in here?

SFX: STEPS AS THEY WALK ONTO THE DECK. WAVES. CREATURES CAN BE HEARD FROM A DISTANCE.

LAMB

I needed some time with myself. I just want to rest.

The moon…

CHESS

Hmm?

LAMB

A single moon and it's… And it's nearing an eclipse.

CHESS

I think we'll still have time to watch it once we get there.

LAMB

I'd rather not.

CHESS

Hey, wait a second!

TALA

You've come to join us.

LAMB

You’d drink me under the table.

HENRIK

drunk

Wwwwant t’ wager?

LAMB

Lord, what is this, ethanol?! No, you silly pup. Unfortunately for you, I don't make bets I can't win.

SFX: “AU CLAIR DE LA LUNE” PLAYS.

LAMB

This again. How long until we're away from it?!

HENRIK

YOU! It's fucked to finally meet you. Are you going home, then, specter? Come to say goodbye?

LAMB

laughing

You think we've just met? I told you. The alchemist tried to sell me arsenic. No. You four aren't rid of me just yet.

TALA

You look like you've got something on your mind.

CHESS

They're circling the boat. I don't think spirits are supposed to swarm like this.

TALA

Oh.

CHESS

Lo, don't. The dead are drawn to their loved ones… Arnel might-

LAMB

Ligaya...?

CHESS

What's that?

LAMB

LIGAYA!

SFX: A MAELSTROM CRASHES AROUND THE BOAT.

HENRIK

What the hell?! Hang on!

LAMB

No, please, please!

HENRIK

TALA! HELP ME!

LAMB

She's right there!

TALA

By the Gods! How is she so strong?!

LAMB

Get off me! Please-

SFX: SPLASHING, LAMB TUMBLES BACK ONTO THE DECK.

LAMB

She was so close. She was so close!

CHESS

Hey, look at me.

Lo… Your EYES-

LAMB

Get. Away. From me.

SFX: STEPS AS LAMB RETURNS TO THE CABIN.

HENRIK

Chess, breathe! Slow down. There you go.

Now, let me talk to her first.

SFX: STEPS AS HENRIK WALKS INTO THE CABIN. “AFTER YOU’VE GONE” WITH MARION HARRIS PLAYS QUIETLY IN THE BACKGROUND.

HENRIK

Whatever you saw, it's not worth getting dragged into the underworld.

LAMB

What? You wouldn't look in the water, Henrik? Wouldn't take the chance to see your loved ones again?

HENRIK

distorted

No, actually. I'm not seeking out oblivion. When it comes to immortality. You have a long time, a long, long time to find ways to trick death.

God, you haven't even thought of that, have you? Spent all that time trying to resurrect yourself and didn't once think about resurrecting someone you love.

LAMB

distorted

Gods.

HENRIK

What?

LAMB
distorted

There are Gods here. Jesus wept. Henrik! How often do you let that slip?

HENRIK

I-

LAMB

Thought so. Of course, all these religions bled across realities. Persistent, aren't they?

Relax, I don't care! [distorted] Worship what you will.

Well, since you witnessed that, and we're going to be around each other for a while… You were married, right? The wedding band. Even Lou noticed.

I lost my chance. To say goodbye. To my wife. I was at this absurd ball with my parents. My brother. And…

For a while, I thought, maybe she wound up here? I was so ready to come along. But seeing her in that river-

Well.

HENRIK

Don't mistake this for me accepting you, but I understand how you're feeling. I really do. Maybe try thinking about it this way You, Tala, and I are here. And we're not really alive. That alone goes against how things should work, doesn't it?

And now you know your wife is here. That you can actually see her. I don't have that much, but that doesn't mean I've given up.

LAMB

What is that? That music?

HENRIK

distorted

Don't bother.

I remember you asking if I could hear it.

LAMB

distorted

I haven't heard this before.

HENRIK

distorted

Of course you haven't.

LAMB
DISTORTED

This isn't… Au Clair de la Lune.

HENRIK

distorted

De la Lune? What are you talking about?

LAMB
DISTORTED

This isn't the song I hear! How can you be smiling when that thing is trying to talk to you?

HENRIK

It's the song that was playing on the radio when my wife and I were in the bunker. Everything started crumbling around us, and…

You know what we did?

We turned on the radio, and we danced. What else could we do?

So, that's her you’re hear-

SFX: STATIC.

LAMB

distorted

Henrik, don’t be fooled. That's not your wife in those frequencies.

SFX: STEPS AND A DOOR SWINGING OPEN AS CHESS ENTERS THE CABIN.

CHESS

How are you taking control?

LAMB

Control?

HENRIK

Chess-

CHESS

This needs to stop.

LAMB

distorted

Chess. All you ever have is questions. You think I'm in control, Puppeteer? I don't even know we're Lou’s- Oh, sorry, Lo has gone.

One brief moment of guilt, one last… Feeling, everything she felt, holding that knife. After, of course, reliving the worst day of my life.

And then, the next morning… I had a recording.

SFX: CLICK, A TAPE RECORDER PLAYS BACK A RECORDING.

recorded

Chess and I met through one of the academy’s weekend markets. They sold those liminal artifacts, the ones that are pretty much useless? Well, he was looking at these old records. He likes the ones labeled… Classical?

SFX: RECORDING ENDS.

CHESS

How long has she been using that?! No, she left it behind!

LAMB

distorted

It's been weeks. Weeks of your nonsense. Your idling. And who knows how long it's felt for her!

CHESS

Weeks…?

LAMB

distorted

I'm doing my best to keep her safe, which is more than I can say for the rest of you.

Do you know how many of these INFERNAL RECORDINGS I've heard?! She overwrites the tapes! Has to. But that doesn't matter with me.

SFX: A BELL RINGS. STEPS AS TALA WALKS INTO THE CABIN.

TALA

We’re here! Well, now. The energy in here is wonderful. What did I miss?

LAMB

Nothing of note.

HENRIK

We've got to find somewhere to stay tonight.

CHESS

Let's stop at a place where I can buy a few things. I need to make an amulet.

TALA

The tide is quite low here, isn't it?

SFX: THE DOCK IS OVERTURNED AND EVERYONE IS THROWN INTO THE WATER AS ANIMALS SCREAM AND HOWL AROUND THEM.

TALA

HOLD ONTO ME!

HENRIK

Your- LEGS!

TALA

I don't NEED them right now!

CHESS

LO - UGH - LAMB, where are you?! What are those things?!

HENRIK

Some kind of water ogre! They prey on fishermen and the like - that's all I know!

LAMB

I - Berberoka! Lou’s memory - it’s so CLEAR.

CHESS

Get away from the water. HENRIK, get up! Shit!

TALA

fighting the Berberoka

Well, how do we ward them off?!

CHESS, the spirits!

LAMB

Ah - Decapods?!

TALA

Push them back with the spirits!

CHESS

I'm trying!

LAMB

What in the fuck is a decapod?!

HENRIK

A CRAB!!!

LAMB

Then FORM a damn CRAB!

CHESS

Out of the spirits?!

LAMB

It'll scare them off!

CHESS

FINE!

LAMB

Steady, now! They're sinking back!

THE WATER RUSHES BACK AS THE BERBEROKA RETREAT INTO THE RIVER.

LAMB

How’d you like that?

TALA

out of breath

That was exciting. The boat was quick to vanish, and they didn't even bother to help!

Ah. Where did my legs go?

LAMB

out of breath

Them… Them being in the river. This size is not normal. It's too much depth. Why are they out here?

TALA

If we weren't in this pocket of perception, I'd be worried. I've heard that entities start railing against their nature when a world collapses.

I did tell you, I've met others like you.

Like… Us.

They're not usually so talkative.

LAMB

And… and Lou knows that! God almighty… She's - she's hiding things from me…

SFX: CHESS LAUGHS SNARKILY.

LAMB

Laugh all you want! We could have drowned!

TALA

Somehow… Even the stars seem different here. The constellations are all wrong. And the moon-

LAMB

I suppose reality is utter nonsense here.

We need to move.

TALA

No, you don't understand! I remember exactly what the night sky looked like when I was on the peninsula. Every part of it. We're somewhere else entirely.

LAMB

What do you mean? We’re lost?! YOU WANTED US TO COME HERE!

TALA

I don't know where “here” is!

LAMB

The Goliath Peninsula!

Sorry, but frankly, you can’t have memorized the stars all that well.

TALA

When you’re locked in a room, waiting for the next trial of injections, with only a bed and a window, you don't have much else to occupy yourself.

Did you just say…

We’re on the Goliath Peninsula?

LAMB

Where in the hell else would we be?

TALA

distorted

The Balor Peninsula… Henrik, where do you believe we should be?

HENRIK

distorted

The Skuld Peninsula.

LAMB

I CAN’T BELIEVE WE’RE HERE, RIGHT NOW! God dammit. We should have gone to the kingdom!

TALA

How many moons?

LAMB

What?

TALA

Just tell me how many moons should there be?

LAMB

Just-

TALA

How many do you remember in your world?

LAMB

Four!

TALA

Are you sure?

LAMB

When I was a child… I had dreams of four. I wasn't the only one. As you'd expect, no one believed us.

But I knew at some point…

We had four.

TALA

Seven.

There should be seven.

LAMB

That's-

TALA

We all. Start. With seven.

The summonings were slow in my world, and we had databases, history, photographs.

CHESS

What’s a… faux-to-graph?

TALA

Agh, have a look for yourself! Before you start, no Chess, that is far more reliable than a painting.

You three are lucky I even have one of those! We didn't keep physical copies of photos in my world.

SFX: ”THUMB” BY MONOPHONA PLAYS IN REVERSE.

TALA

Not when I was alive.

LAMB

I thought we were ESCAPING Bakunawa! YOU’VE LED US INTO A TRAP!

TALA

The Balor Peninsula only ever had all of its moons. I didn't know it was possible for them to summon in these spaces!

HENRIK

Let's… Let's find shelter.

SFX: STATIC.

INTERRUPTING BROADCAST

T minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6-

Static.

SFX: “THUMB” BY MONOPHONA PLAYS NORMALLY.