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Episode 275: Lorwyn and Shadowmoor are introduced to our Students!
34 Plays1 hour ago
Hello, Podwalkers, and welcome back to another episode of the Goblin Lore Podcast!
It's the New Year and we are excited to be back on Lorwyn/Shadowmoor for a whirlwind trip through day and night. Today Alex and Taya continue going to through the main story (see two episodes ok for part one)
We love Seanan and you should always check out her DVD Extras!
https://seananmcguire.com/blog/2025/12/08/out-of-this-wood-the-dvd-extras/
We also finally have a Linktree with all of our discounts/resources including how to join our Discord
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As promised, we keep Mental Health Links available every episode. But For general Mental Health the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has great resources for people struggling with mental health concerns as well as their families. We also want to draw attention to this article on stigma from NAMI's site.
If you’re thinking about suicide or just need someone to talk to right now, you can get support from any of the resources below.
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988
- Veteran's can Press 1 at anytime to be taken to the Veteran's Line
- Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741-741
- International suicide hotlines: A comprehensive resource list for people outside the US.
- IMAlive: Click Chat Now to access a live online network of volunteers through instant messaging.
- TrevorLifeline, TrevorChat, and TrevorText (LGBTQ+ crisis support): 1-866-488-7386, or text “Trevor” to 1-202-304-1200
- Trans Lifeline (US): (877) 565-8860
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Opening and closing music by Wintergatan (@wintergatan). Logo art by Steven Raffael (@SteveRaffle)
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Host Background
00:00:29
Speaker
Hello, Podwalkers, and welcome to another episode of the Goblin Lore Podcast. ah We are back to talk about lore that also involves goblins. It's it's exciting.
00:00:42
Speaker
Yeah. Suneer is a very fun goblin. Yes. Yes. Suneer. I really should ask Seanan how exactly to pronounce that.
00:00:54
Speaker
Yeah, that would be good to know. Well, I guess I could just listen to the audio version of the podcast. I'm guessing it's Suneer. Yeah, that would be a good way to do it. Listen to the the audio podcast, which are available for all Magic Story currently. It has been coming out for a little while, which is super cool, but Anyway, um I suppose we should introduce ourselves.
00:01:17
Speaker
I'm Alex. Off topic already, Alex. oh we are We are back. We took our holiday break. I did ah i did a little solo episode, but now we are we are back in true form, getting off topic before we can even introduce ourselves.
00:01:33
Speaker
um Yeah,
Social Media and Mental Health Discussion
00:01:35
Speaker
I'm Alex. My pronouns are he, him, and I'm not really on social media. So if you want to hear my voice, I'm on the podcast or I'm the God Lord Discord posting about sandwiches that I'm making, which is a thing I'm doing this week.
00:01:48
Speaker
All right. and Hey, I'm Taya. Pronouns are she, her, they, them. You can find me at Taya Transcends on Blue Sky. When I'm not taking a break from my mental health, I just took about 10 days off of Blue Sky. And before I went back, I muted like 25 words. So i'm it's slightly better, but there's still, there's too much awful going on and nothing I can do about any of it.
00:02:13
Speaker
And it's very frustrating. Yes. Yes, it is. But as I um said, we are here to talk magic story because the lower one story started coming out um right before we took our
Magic Story Overview
00:02:27
Speaker
break. We recorded our last episode with the two of us was us talking about the first episode of lower one story because that was all that was out at that time. um Since then, the rest of it has come out.
00:02:39
Speaker
so we've got like we've got seven main stories, correct? And then five sides or was of three sides? You know what? I totally, they released the side stories later and I never actually went back to read them. So I don't know. Fair. We will, I'll say I have not read them because I'm, I'm behind on the main story and that's kind of what we're, we're focused on today.
00:03:03
Speaker
um When we get through this, we'll we'll see where things are at. Maybe we'll talk side stories, too. it be I do need to read them, though. Yeah, absolutely.
Seanan McGuire's Magic Contributions
00:03:11
Speaker
um Also, a I have not read it, but I know, like, Shannon does the, like, little extra notes. DVD extras. DVD extras is what she calls them. Yeah. ah Where she goes through the story.
00:03:26
Speaker
um And then has her behind the scenes commentary on ah every couple of paragraphs. She'll have something to say, which are usually quite amusing. nice So that absolutely something to check out if you're you're enjoying magic story. But yeah, this and and she does that all every time she does magic story. Right.
00:03:46
Speaker
Yes, that's Shauna McGuire. um i suppose if for for for folks who are like for the full name for for her for her full name, if you're looking her up, has done a bunch of magic stories, been on the podcast a few times, which is always fun to ditch chat with her.
00:04:01
Speaker
Also has a book coming up that covers it for the Strixhaven story that if you still haven't preordered, I think the window is closing, but might might be open by the time this goes up. And if not, you can look into that later. Yeah.
00:04:16
Speaker
Seanan just posted about this on Blue Sky like yesterday that the
Magic Book Delays and Author Involvement
00:04:20
Speaker
the pre-order window that affects like how many copies are printed closed today, I think, but you can still pre-order it.
00:04:28
Speaker
It just won't change how many are printed at this point. Yes, which if you had kind of been following along, you may you may have heard this, but this was – Pre-Odors 4 opened before, and the book was supposed to ship in February. February, yeah. And there were so many that they actually pushed it back to April to create a better window for them to to make more books, and I think it's just a better window for a book to release or something. Like, it sounded like it was a really good sign. Well, it's considered when the set is coming out, so that is – Which makes sense. That is more convenient, yeah.
00:05:00
Speaker
um They also, and do not get mad at Seanan for this because she has no control over it, they also raised the price like $2 a copy. That sucks. Yeah, that's totally the publisher. Don't get angry at Seanan about that.
00:05:17
Speaker
but So it's a cool it's a cool thing that Magic is going to have a print book again for the first time in many years since the the last kind of not great printed book.
00:05:29
Speaker
um i check That's, yeah, saying a lot. Yeah, there there is. but i mean, i did get we did get one more story after the book that shall not be named. um i think or what Well, I guess Eldraine might have come up because that book came out after Eldraine, I think. So I think it was the last because then they, then they quickly canceled the Theros Beyond Death ah story. We, we, we got a slideshow for that set. We never got any video story. Yeah. We didn't even get story. And then, and stories came back. Fortunately, it had been going good lately. It's been awesome. I've got, they've been bringing in a bunch of great writers to write these different stories. I have total faith in Sean in writing a book that we are not going to have another Ravnica issue. Oh, yes. Yeah, absolutely. There's that, too. I mean, there's a bunch of issues there, too. But I i firmly believe one of the issues is simply the guy had the person who wrote that didn't have a lot of experience writing that type of stuff. Well, that and just wasn't a magic person where Shannon is very much a... Yes, Shannon both has is rooted in that, has played magic, has involved in magic, but has also written a bunch of magic stories already. And so it's it's it's great that she got, the A, we get this book back, but B, that they're bringing an author like Shannon who has the experience to do it well.
00:07:02
Speaker
Yeah, ah I'm super excited for it. All right.
Favorite Lorwyn Factions
00:07:06
Speaker
um So, you know, we're like 10 minutes in and we haven't even gotten to our question of the week yet. Oh, that's right. We have a question.
00:07:12
Speaker
Yeah. ah So, um and I had to make the stipulation because it would be too easy for us both to pick the answer. So it's other than goblins, what is your favorite Lorwyn faction?
00:07:27
Speaker
ah Mine is the elementals. I love how the elementals look on Lorwyn Shadowmoor. ah They have such cool designs. The fire elementals look amazing.
00:07:40
Speaker
ah I just, yeah, they're, you know, they don't have a whole lot of story about them. you know, we get, we get a little bit of a cameo from one of the named elementals in the, the main set story.
00:07:55
Speaker
um But yeah, so we don't get a lot of, So this is really purely art based. And I've always loved them since the first time I saw art of the original Lorwyn set and I saw Aisling and I'm just who I love these designs.
00:08:16
Speaker
Yeah, um the elementals on Lorwyn have always felt like more they fit there more aesthetically than in the specifically in the story. But just like this plane that has this like wild sort of night and day magic changing things back and forth. Yeah. Just the idea of there being sort of these wild elementals, like of wild variants of the the art and the vibrant colors and things. Like I remember, like I i stopped playing initially right before the first lore went set. So when I came back many years later, i ran into like a horde of notions somehow. It was just like, what happened? Like, not in like what happened in a good way? Like, this is really cool. I'm like, what is this?
00:09:00
Speaker
And so, yeah, the the elementals on Lorwyn have, i thought havevo I've always thought have been pretty cool. um my My first answer that I thought that I felt was kind of cheating.
00:09:11
Speaker
um So I had a second answer, which actually was elementals. But my first answer was the the changelings. Oh, yeah. I just, yeah I love, a they do they've done some really cool things with them. There's some really fun characters. aesthetic things, some fun story things. like their new design instead of being like little blobby boys that they actually have more form now. Yes. i i I do like their design in this set.
00:09:40
Speaker
They've got some great design. There's some colorless ones, which is really cool. um But even just sort of aesthetically or, or more Vorthos-y evoking certain story types like Crib Swap, um, is evoking sort of a, a story, an old time dark sort of fairy tale type of story from our world that is sort of evocative of Lorwyn and Shadowmoor, really more Shadowmoor even, but,
00:10:09
Speaker
that the the The type of fantasy that Lorwyn and Shadowmore are trying to represent. So I love some of that stuff. But then from a mechanical standpoint, the changelings just being really good um hole fillers for decks and mechanics for when you're building typal decks and you really need to have enough x you know creatures of X type in having these shapeshifters that represent every creature type that can kind of fill in those gaps. I also find really mechanically interesting, both from a limited standpoint. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. From a limited standpoint, they've always been super interesting when they appear.
00:10:50
Speaker
Some of the ah master sets have had changelings in there to help smooth out some of the typal...
00:11:05
Speaker
Yeah, that was play like Modern Masters 2, I think. One of the two or three, I want to say, did that. Because I remember there was a few in there that, again, I like for like some commander constructed decks too. certain Certain creature types, if you're trying to build round, it's hard to get 100 cards for your deck or you know enough creatures to fill a deck. But there's some solid changelings, depending on what you're doing. A taurian mauler... is never going to be mirror entity is always always good yeah yeah and there's there's a handful of other just like solid you know role players in giving in different colors that you can just slot in you put that and that can help your you know whatever weird creature type you're trying to build you're building that unicorn deck you're building a horse deck or something i don't know
00:11:56
Speaker
I am a sliver purist, though. I do not allow changelings in my sliver deck. ah Slivers have gotten enough attention over the years that you really don't need that. Although we haven't seen them in a decade other than the sliver...
00:12:12
Speaker
the ah The one sliver referencing card that we got in Edge of Returnies. Forgot about that
Nightmare Beast Encounter
00:12:20
Speaker
sliver. Oh, wow. that makes That makes that card feel even more weird. Not weird, but...
00:12:25
Speaker
um um ominous yeah if you're if you're not a sliver player perhaps i mean I mean if you are you recognize that there are a problems so an ominous positive perhaps if you are a sliver player
00:12:47
Speaker
um So, yeah, so we left off the end of episode one. um Sinar had woken up some kind of giant nightmare beast that exudes darkness. And when we pick up ah story two, ah the gang is running away from said nightmare beast. yeah i had i i i'll be honest like i haven't actually caught up on the story so i was i jumped into this like all right let's start reading and love the literally the very first sentence of of story two is sanar was the first to turn and bolt
00:13:23
Speaker
not out of cardis out of self-preservation yeah uh ah And then I'm probably going to, when it comes to Sonar lines, I'm going to read Seanan's commentary on these just because we're usually pretty good. So ah her comment on this line was, impulsiveness can cut both ways, moving toward danger or looking for an exit.
00:13:44
Speaker
Or booking it for the exit. Very nice. Yeah. well Yes, and this this is a fun, i don't know, this is a fun way to kind of to do this too, because you have, each one is okay, and Kirill was close behind, and you're getting this like character development of each person to how they decide the situation requires us to just run.
00:14:09
Speaker
And this is also the first time we get mention of Kirill's species, and they are a vampire. I think I mentioned it when we did the chapter one story just because ah I think it was hinted to. I might have. um I don't remember since I hadn't. That was like a month ago now. And I think there was a I think there was an article that specified that. Oh, specified that. Yeah. I can't remember. But yeah, it's not mentioned in the story until this point, though.
00:14:39
Speaker
Yeah. um Specifically.
00:14:43
Speaker
But yeah, Kiro takes off um and they're like going through a tunnel and they're like, not sure if ah this is going to able to follow us. or um and but a Kiro also you know thinks like, well, it could be like a cat or a ferret, which flexible ribs. And um and I'm just like, ah yeah, I guess that's that's definitely Laura Hold trying to do you know, anatomy analysis while they're running away from me. Yes, like you just in the moment trying to, you know, trying to logic, they're trying to trying to pick at some puzzles while you while you're doing the more important task of running. Yeah, and then we get Abigail who can't hear everyone screaming but could see the beast and knew why everyone was running away. And
00:15:38
Speaker
yeah and
00:15:44
Speaker
Yeah, and then Tam is kind of leading, you know, bringing up the rear as they all run away. and they run back through the gate that they came through, ah which should, you know, bring them back to the Lorwyn side, except the darkness is now seeping over from the Shadowmoor side.
00:16:08
Speaker
ah they they woke up, um and we'll learn more about them later, but they woke up the elemental incarnation of Shadowmoor from its nap.
00:16:18
Speaker
So ahead of schedule, it's going to start changing the boundaries between Shadowmoor and Lorwyn,
00:16:28
Speaker
which are now, ah yeah as we find out just a little bit later in the story, when we Bridget is... you know Normally the boundaries are pretty set now ah and they remain fixed for years.
00:16:42
Speaker
yep and and that allows people to kind of pick where they're going to be but this is throwing all of that off yeah um also it's it's kind it's interesting too where like this plane has more than most this plane has some you could say weird mechanics compared to because then you even get as they're as the characters sort of meet up after after they're running um who who was it who says night and day don't behave like this? Abigail. Yeah. Yes, that's right. There is Abigail says, you know, night and day don't behave like this. And Tam's response might, maybe not on our cavials here. The rules seem to be different. Yeah.
Lorwyn's Unique Day-Night Cycle
00:17:24
Speaker
And, and it's like, I think this is a, both as ah in part of the story, but also as a telling this story, because Lorwyn was a long time ago and we haven't revisited it since.
00:17:35
Speaker
So, the the people who are most of the people who are reading this just like these four characters probably don't know how lore when shadow more work um and so this is a good way to a set up like hey it behaves different than last time but also explain all of the here is how it behaves and here is how it's different from last time to the
00:18:01
Speaker
o And then they see a Kithkin, you know, motioning them to run over. And it talks about um her leading them through some standing stones and into a forest. And they notice that everything has these swirls on them. and And swirls occur naturally in the landscape in Lorwyn's Shadowmoor. It's just part of the...
00:18:27
Speaker
aesthetics of the plane. But what here they see is it's reminding the students of the Phyrexian symbols that appeared right before the invasion. So they're all kind of freaking out.
00:18:39
Speaker
of Yeah, and sort of, again, in the mechanic thing a little bit, in verse two, you you have, maybe inverse is not right there, but you had a Brigid who, there was some mention that every time they went through a patch of darkness, yeah, here's every path to the woman took them through patches of darkness, and she winced when she saw them step into the shadow, only to relax when they emerged.
00:19:03
Speaker
It was like she expected something to happen when they went into the dark. which of which more that that more than anything told them they were right to have started running. And so it's like for the people of this world, there is a significance to the night and the day that isn't the the visitors like these four are not beholden to specifically, at least within themselves, which we get more of as the story progresses. um But there's still this sort of it changes the environment as well.
00:19:37
Speaker
Hmm. Yeah. um But as we can see here, it does not affect people that are not native to the plane. They are able to step in and out of the shadows, ah which comes in very handy because, you know, who knows what they would have transformed into if they had gone into the dark and transformed into their shadow more sides.
Meeting Key Characters: Brigid and Marlin
00:20:05
Speaker
So, yeah, they finally get through and meet up with ah the Kithkin, who is Brigid, one of the ah main characters from the original set story. ah And um also known as the Heroes of Kinsbell. So she is Kithkin...
00:20:30
Speaker
that ah lost or had her connection to the Thoughtweft damaged during the story of the first set. um And so she's kind of a sort of an outcast among um ah Kithkin society. Like they'll tolerate her, but it makes them feel weird having her around. And then she feels weird because they feel weird.
00:21:00
Speaker
It's kind of ah it's a really interesting thing that Seanan covers a bit more in detail in her commentary. There was some stuff I didn't know about from the original story that I thought was interesting. But um so, you know, as far as people they could run into on Lorwyn, she's, you know up there high on the list of good people they could have run into.
00:21:25
Speaker
Because there are a lot of jerks in Loroy. Yeah, that's that is a whole thing. Yeah, especially the elves, which we will get more of them in episode three.
00:21:41
Speaker
And then we switch to the fairy city, Glenelendra. um And we pick up with another major character in the story, Marlin, who was a major part of the story in the first set.
00:22:01
Speaker
Marlin is now Queen of the Fae, but she looks like an elf. And the fae on Lorwyn's Shadowmour, they're described as about the size of an adult human's hand.
00:22:16
Speaker
So they all like flutter around her ah and ah follow her around everywhere since she is the queen. But she looks very unusual. She's like a hybrid elf fairy.
00:22:34
Speaker
No, and yeah, and this this was interesting too for for me because I'll say I i have not read the original Lorwyn story. um So I knew some of the characters just from from cards and a little bit from bits and pieces here and there. But this intro gives, at least for myself, gives me enough information to kind of understand who she is and kind of what she's doing and how she played a part in the story previously.
00:23:03
Speaker
Yeah. um I have only read summaries of the initial story, ah original story, and it's a pretty long story. so um you know, I might not be most of what I'm covering related to the original story are all from Shannon's notes because her notes are very good on where things came from the previous story.
00:23:27
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's super helpful. But like in here, I found out Marilyn was an avatar of Una. So una Una was the fairy queen previously. And the big villain of the Lorwyn Shadowmoor block. yep and I remember like her, Una's plan had something to do. So previously, Lorwyn would change to Shadowmoor from the Great Aurora.
00:23:50
Speaker
Which happened like every 300 years or something like that. Yeah, and Una conspired to basically break the system to try to control the plane, from what I recall.
00:24:01
Speaker
And this kind of referenced that a little bit, and then Marilyn broke away from Una and stopped her plan. and it At least that's that's kind of what it relates here, and then...
00:24:13
Speaker
That's ah how Meryl end up becoming like the new queen of the fae. Yeah. um but And it talks about this a little bit here. like As an avatar of Una who rejected her maker so verificely, it was difficult for her to properly connect to her subjects.
00:24:32
Speaker
Uh, so she's still, even despite being decades, uh, since she's become queen, she still feels a little out of place among the fairy. Yeah. It seems the, um, Glen Alendra, the, the location was apparently adjusting, to accommodate her to because then it it says here as an avatar of the former fairy queen who had been created to mimic an elf it was unclear how far the adjustments would go the the palace had taken the better part of a decade to expand enough to grant her access to all of its spaces o um so yeah so she wakes up in a um bed of uh
00:25:13
Speaker
foxglove blossoms or something, which is a very bad potent portent to her because that is something that Una used to um do all the time was create clouds of these flowers.
00:25:26
Speaker
And so she's, she's starting to question whether she's going to lose, problem lose control or if Una's coming back somehow or something. ah and so And then we're introduced to Rhys, another major character from the um original story, and yeah Commander All-Star Rhys the Redeemed. ah Yep.
00:25:56
Speaker
If you like your tokens. like Yeah, and one-manac commanders. Yeah, and one-manac commanders. Um, but, uh, he shows up and when we get a little background of, um, he should not still be alive because apparently Lorwyn elves are short lived, uh, unlike, like every other plane. Um, Seanan's note says, uh, 30 to 40 years on average.
00:26:25
Speaker
So, Reese should have been dead a long time ago. He should have been a long time since the, cycle was broken. um But he's still alive, and we find out it is because he has made pact with Marlin ah that if she ever starts turning into Una, that ah he's going to have to offer.
00:26:49
Speaker
And that pact is keeping Reese alive. Okay.
00:26:58
Speaker
And so it talks a little bit about that. Well, at this point, they talk about them having a pact. They don't talk about what I jumped ahead a little bit. They're talking about what the pact actually is. But yeah, yeah. It talks about, oh, yes. Reese is far older than any elf is meant to be ancient by any standard of their once shared people.
00:27:15
Speaker
um Oh, and here's a line. Marilyn was born of Una and Una had been the rot at the root of Lorwyn Shadamore's very heart. The death of the old fairy queen had been a gift to the world given at great cost. And Marilyn refused to allow herself to follow her creator's path into cruelty.
00:27:33
Speaker
So, um so then we get it a quick cutaway to the little blue fairy that has been popping up all through the story so far. ah And they were listening in and they flutter off.
00:27:50
Speaker
ah So then we cut back to Strixhaven where Liliana Vest is getting very agitated that someone has knocked on her door.
Liliana's Emotional Journey
00:27:59
Speaker
Yep. ah yep up Yeah. And then we get to see ah Johnny.
00:28:08
Speaker
yeah Yeah. But of course, Liliana immediately knew what Johnny wouldn't just show up for a friendly visit. And it turns out that the reason that he is there is to tell Liliana that Jace has died.
00:28:22
Speaker
If you remember back to the end of the Dragonstorm set, Jace tried to do something with the Gemma Becoming and fractured into a bazillion pieces into a black hole, basically. So we'll find out in Reality Fracture what the hell happened to Jace, I'm sure.
00:28:39
Speaker
yep ah But i do I do love how that starts, too, because... she she asked him who died and then his response how did you know and i just i love her response of i've been a necromancer for a long long time it's not always about zombies and cackling in the moonlight sometimes it's telling people you weren't fast enough and that just because you can make them get up and walk around doesn't mean you can bring them back so she's like who died and then he just replies chase yeah um
00:29:14
Speaker
Which you can tell that you can tell Seanan enjoys writing Liliana. Yeah.
00:29:25
Speaker
And she really gets the snarkiness. you know, Liliana absolutely has that. I've lived for over 300 years and I don't have time for anybody's shit attitude.
00:29:38
Speaker
Yep. Yep. Which is which is fun too, because often, you know, the long lived characters, the not paying attention to time and sort of, but Liliana is kind of the other way around. Yeah. I've lived for too long to deal with this nonsense. Just cut to the chase. Yeah.
00:29:58
Speaker
Uh, so, and Liliana is just in complete denial. Uh, you know, ah Johnny's like, did you hear me? And, um, And she says, I heard, i just don't believe you.
00:30:11
Speaker
Yeah. There was no body. He's not dead. Jace Bellerin wouldn't die without leaving a body is what she says. And then of course there is something else he needs to tell her too, about what they were doing.
00:30:23
Speaker
Yeah. um I like this. ah So Bolas escaped and she drops her teacup. Yeah. ah yeah Because, yeah, Liliana is not on the best terms with Bolas.
00:30:39
Speaker
Mm-mm. Having last ah betrayed him the last time she saw him. Yep. ah And causing his D-Spark.
00:30:52
Speaker
um And then Dina barges inside and like, oh, by the way, four of your students are missing. Yeah.
00:31:02
Speaker
yeah Liliana turned away from Ajani and tortured her student professionalism settling over her like a shroud. yeah What happened? ah
00:31:16
Speaker
So that's the end of episode two. And then we go on to episode three, ah which picks up back ah back here where Dina is explaining to them what happened.
00:31:31
Speaker
ah And
00:31:36
Speaker
um so Dina brings them out to the site where they disappear. And I like this is that Liliana starts doing some necromantic rituals ah to ah to see what's died around the area recently. And then she says, like Jace, they aren't dead. Lots of little things died here today. Bugs, rodents, pests, but nothing as large and of complicated as a student.
00:32:00
Speaker
And I love Ajani's response. Thank you for that incredibly compassionate update. Yeah.
00:32:09
Speaker
Yeah. And then Liliana's response to that is, my, you've learned sarcasm in our time of heart. Kitty cat, it suits you.
00:32:18
Speaker
And then he does his part to look for signs of the students. Yeah. And finds part of a, part of Lorwyn fairy outfit.
00:32:34
Speaker
Yeah. And they, the little back and forth and then finally Liliana just says, you're hinting at Lorwyn. You think one of one of their fairies letters, my students astray. Yeah.
00:32:47
Speaker
And they have some more back and forth about, know, planeswalkers and how they act. And the Johnny's was like, which are you want? Which do you want right now? Your students or your pride? And my student says Liliana without hesitation. So it's really showing, you know, how much she's changed ah since becoming a professor that that actually was something she didn't even have to think about.
00:33:10
Speaker
yup Yeah. And um so then he says, you know, then I'm sorry, I can't take
Ajani's Plans and Liliana's Limitations
00:33:16
Speaker
you with me. There's a stable open path between Lorwyn and Chandelar. If I can get them to Chandelar, I can bring them back here.
00:33:23
Speaker
So this you I'm not sure. Is this our first confirmation or did we know previously that Liliana had lost her spark? ah This was the first confirmation as far as I know. Okay.
00:33:36
Speaker
So yeah, then it apparently, she said Tam is from Chandelar. So Chandelar would be fine. We find out where Tam is from. So she's a, um she'd be a Xanthrid Gorgon then being from Chandelar. Yeah. Oh, and is this our first confirmation that there are interplanar students at Strixhaven? Yeah. There are, and we actually have a um a line from Shannon on this. Gorgons, like Leonin, are not found in Arcavia. So this explains how Tam can be expanding school. she's put a She's part of the Cross Planar Student Initiative, just like the students you're going to meet in Omens Chaos.
00:34:13
Speaker
ah And then she's picking up the book, and you'll learn more than you ever wanted to know about how that program works and how their dorms replicate the conditions of their home planes.
00:34:24
Speaker
so Perfect. That's, that's awesome. So yeah. Also I am really happy to see a Johnny back um and getting something to do to focus on not wallowing.
00:34:38
Speaker
Yeah. ah So yeah. So Liliana ships him off to go find her students. Yeah. And this is interesting. like Tell Dina, Oh, let's go back to campus and Johnny will find them.
00:34:53
Speaker
Yeah. Well, and this is this is kind of fun, too, because this is we get a couple moments here where we get to see like Johnny and a planeswalking from outside. So you like the opening a lot of the story is if Dina was unsettled by having the large lion man give her commands, she was too relieved of being able to hand off responsibility for the missing students. to care.
00:35:15
Speaker
um but But then at the end too, you have on the first step, he started to glow on the second step. He was gone. And so i was like, we got to see from someone else's perspective, what it's like to watch a planeswalker just,
00:35:25
Speaker
well Watching a Johnny specifically, we've gotten that before. All planeswalkers have like their own signature walk. ah And Seanan even mentions this too. i i remember it because Tezzeret melts into a pile of metal when he planeswalks.
00:35:42
Speaker
oh and Kind of like the Terminator 2000 liquid metal thing. ah And Raoul disappears in a bolt of lightning, of course.
00:35:54
Speaker
yeah ah And Seanan mentions that Nahiri turns into a stone turns to stone and crumbles away, and Shondra sort of self-immolates, and so on. Ajani lights up like a firefly's ass.
00:36:09
Speaker
but
00:36:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:16
Speaker
Yeah, I think they've described Ajani's planeswalking before, where it kind of just disappears into a golden light. Okay. Well, that's cool. I guess i hadn't I hadn't realized that, that that's a it's a different thing for everybody. And and often, a lot for for a long time with the sort of Gatewatch era, the stories were always with their perspective. So you didn't see them externally. you would be okay You'd be with Gideon as he's killing himself, walking back and forth. I guess you got to see a bit of it during the Invasion block, which you skipped. Oh, that makes sense.
00:36:46
Speaker
Or that sets, because yeah because it was like the Planeswalkers getting together and walking apart. I know there was some mention of it in there. That makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. um But ah
Guidance and New Challenges
00:37:00
Speaker
so. Yeah.
00:37:03
Speaker
yeah After he leaves, then we ah were back to Lorwyn. Yeah. Back with our students and getting some information from Brigid, who still doesn't like realize that they don't know or don't understand what Lorwyn and Shadowmore like, that they really don't have any clue what is actually happening.
00:37:24
Speaker
ah And then it talks a little bit about the architecture and the way that the Kithkin city is laid out, which I think is pretty cool.
00:37:35
Speaker
Yeah, because they get to Goldmeadow, which is a location that showed up in a bunch of cards. So that's that's one that's familiar for me, having still having not read the story. I definitely recognize Goldmeadow.
00:37:49
Speaker
Yeah. And then we get a, this is where we get something i mentioned earlier is that they mentioned it like something offhand about it being Bridget's home. And and she's like, no, I don't live here.
00:38:04
Speaker
um i make the locals a bit nervous. What my con connections, connection to the thought left all mangled up and half severed. They don't like it when I stay too long.
00:38:17
Speaker
like Carol blinked. This was the second time she'd mentioned the thought weft and the urge to ask what she meant was almost irresistible. Common sense and the visible discomfort on Tam's face told them to resist anyway. So they swallowed the impulse.
00:38:37
Speaker
So we get we get ah ah some line from uh cenar which is there's a little buzzing thing in the woods where we came from and it was flying around and so we chased it and then there was this big hole and we fell down the big hole and landed in the middle of the big menu and then we were in spirals everywhere which was really really cool only when the landscape starts making symbols everywhere sometimes that means evil robots will come out of the rifts in the sky and kill your friends if it's an art without pausing to take a breath appreciate you uh clean per You know, role-playing that or... Yeah. it is for Representing that in in real life.
00:39:12
Speaker
Yeah. Also very goblin behavior. It's like, so so where are you from? And then just just vomits an entire paragraph. Yeah. Yeah.
00:39:24
Speaker
And it's like, Brickhead looked at him blankly. ah What our friend means to say. We were on a field trip. He spotted an unfamiliar creature and was compelled ah To get a closer look at it, and Tam said, you know, then Tam kind of explained, and then we've, we've creature led us to a hole and we fell through. And from here, as Senar said, we landed in the meadow outside of the Dolman gate.
00:39:45
Speaker
Yeah. um And then they describe what the thing was and Bridget and knows it immediately that it's a Lorwyn fairy. ah and is like, well, I'm going to bring you to Marlin. ah She's a friend of mine and Queen of the Fairies. So if anybody knows what's going on, she probably will. Yeah.
00:40:07
Speaker
yeah And then you get Senar, again, being very gobliny and just like sort of... asking kind of what seems like an odd question at the moment like can fairies talk yes of course why don't we ask the fairy then what said frigate what asked the others in unison um And ah the, and then Seanan's commentary, and this is a goblin I have to commentate on this, is a scenario is intentionally written as behaving like a person with ADHD. I have ADHD, Seanan's comment, although I do as well. He pays attention to his surroundings, even when he should be paying attention to something else. And small creatures will almost always catch his attention, attention even when someone else has yet to notice them.
00:40:53
Speaker
So he he's one of those, ooh, squirrel. Yep. Yeah, and so then, because the only one who noticed that this fairy was there, and then as they look at it, started to laugh.
00:41:05
Speaker
It was a bright and merry sound that grew louder and louder as it went, filling the space entirely. And then the alarm bells started ringing. Yep. ah Which, Isilu, the name of the giant beast, ah a nightma um night beast, is walking towards the city, and The city is quickly turning into a Shadowmoor equivalent, which, you know, Kithkin and Lorwyn are your friendly neighborhood hobbits.
00:41:35
Speaker
And Shadowmoor and Kithkin are like all of those hobbits have severe paranoia and think everybody is out to get them. Like if you're not part of the thought left, you're an enemy.
00:41:50
Speaker
ah And so it starts getting a little violent in city. the city and And Bridget's just like, well, you know, I told you I was going to take you to Marlin, but I have to stay here now and help. So you're going to have to go on your own, give some directions and then tells them to leave. ah And like, as soon as she turns out the door, do not listen to her. if they, if they call for her, them to turn, if she calls for them to turn around, that person isn't me.
00:42:27
Speaker
Yeah, giving them a little bit more of a understanding of what this means for the people of this plane. the The difference between night and day, Lorwyn and Shadowmoor.
00:42:40
Speaker
And especially for Brugib, because one of the things that mentions earlier is that she did not transform during the previous one. So she hadn't been her Shadowmoor side as far as we know.
00:42:54
Speaker
ah which was another interesting bit that Shonen pointed out, which I thought was really neat. oh ah But everybody starts running because the Kithkin are going mad.
00:43:11
Speaker
ah
00:43:14
Speaker
Yeah, Brigitte, one of the things she mentioned is she said, I have to help the city. The locals welcome nomads during the day, but Shadowmoor locals aren't nearly so friendly.
00:43:25
Speaker
So she wanted to try to help. We don't know exactly who the nomads are, but they are clearly like outsiders who are not. I think they're probably the other people like her that don't quite fit in the Kithkin society. OK. That makes sense.
00:43:39
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah.
00:43:42
Speaker
that was just my guess of what a nomad was. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's fair. Yeah. Either way, it's, it's folks who, who would likely be in danger when the kith, if the kith can turn.
00:43:57
Speaker
And so she went to help them and well, she gave them instructions on how to get to Glenelendra and sent them on their way. Mm-hmm.
00:44:10
Speaker
And as they're running away, ah you know, they're kind of, they they see Bridget transform into the big bright eyed Shadowmore version of the Kithkin. And they're like kind of just observing what goes. Abigail began signing the figures in the dark didn't seem to be evil so much as they seemed scared. Like pests that think they've been cornered by some larger predator. They were attacking to protect themselves. I'm almost sure of it. Bridget was a threat. And so they stopped her.
00:44:40
Speaker
Uh, and Sean has quote us here. Abigail is taking a very even handed view of shadow more for someone who's just encountered it for first time. Nice job, Abigail. Yeah. Cause you know, that is, that that is one of the main things, you know, as part of the Lorwyn shadow more, isn't just the light side and the dark side as far as like good and evil. It's, you know, they all have their pros and cons. Like, you know the Lorwyn elves are super racist and murdery.
00:45:08
Speaker
ah and ah shadow more elves are to have a different perspective i believe yeah uh yeah the shadow more elves are actually the nice ones um so ah we get to see um them once again running away um um
00:45:36
Speaker
And then they're like, okay, what direction are we going? um And Tam says, do we, said Tam, or are we going the right way? And our ass and to each said, Tam, don't you know how to tell the direction?
00:45:47
Speaker
Never needed to. He said, goblins don't count on directions. As long as we know the way we're going is the right one. And Seanan's comment on this ah Santa Texas warning, personal philosophies can sneak up and surprise us sometimes. Yeah.
00:46:07
Speaker
yep
00:46:09
Speaker
sua then they They do manage to find the Wonderwine River, which they were told is one of their the landmarks they needed to find and cross.
00:46:20
Speaker
And then, like, how are we supposed to cross that? And then Abigail's like, ah I can fly? yeah But she can only take one person at a time. Yeah.
00:46:36
Speaker
And so she she flew them over. Yeah. And then, so we get some more walking and. Yeah. And ah we get, we get a line that I, I, I'd love Shannon's writing, but this is a very Sean in line. And I love this. So it's like right at the end of this section too. So they get over and they're kind of talking. So Carol said, the four should be, or the four should be this way. Carol said, and sort of walking. And then the line, the others followed as did everything to come. Yeah.
00:47:06
Speaker
Uh, yeah ah And Kirill starts getting a little tired because he had been trying to or they had been trying to run ahead and starts falling behind everybody.
00:47:21
Speaker
And somebody reaches out and starts trying to strangle them. ah ah Which doesn't work particularly well on vampires because they don't need to breathe.
00:47:36
Speaker
ah but But then they pull a ah a dagger on their neck instead, ah which is ah much more effective than trying to strangle them. Yes, a little more of a concern for Kirill. Yeah, yeah. ah And...
00:47:55
Speaker
Then they ask, ah the the captor asked what they know and said, well, my first name is Carol and I know my friends are going to be worried about me. ah The elf went, what? You said you wanted to know what I know and those are the most important things I know. Can you tell me your name?
00:48:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:17
Speaker
Uh,
00:48:20
Speaker
And then, so we're introduced as the elf's name is Luluen. And Luluen takes Kiril captive and starts marching them off to the elf city. And that's where chapter three ends.
00:48:38
Speaker
Yeah. And so now we've we've got... one student captive, three separated from that one and a Johnny on the way, apparently. Yep. ah Johnny on the way. uh,
00:48:52
Speaker
ah so it'll be interesting to see how that goes.
00:48:59
Speaker
Uh, it's, um, yeah. Anytime you split the party, it's usually bad things start happening.
00:49:09
Speaker
and, um, being kidnapped at knife point by um one of the super racist elves is probably not the best thing that could happen to you. Probably not.
00:49:22
Speaker
Especially on a world where you still don't know but much about what's going on. or what's going on
00:49:31
Speaker
But that's, ah yeah, that's the next two chapters. Yeah. So we'll take us a few more episodes to get through all of these. Yeah. We'll come back next, uh, next episode and cover the next, uh, next few chapters.
00:49:47
Speaker
All right. Yeah. Uh, well yeah follow Follow along you know next week. if you're If you're enjoying the story, it's all available. except there's the side stories. Also check out Shannon's DVD extras. that's That's a cool thing that that she does. It's just fun to get that extra perspective and some of that extra context.
00:50:08
Speaker
yeah so all All cool stuff that's available. and We'll be back. Thank you for listening. We can be found both on Twitter and Blue Sky at GoblinLorePod.
00:50:18
Speaker
Check out our link tree for our Discord and our discounts. We appreciate you listening and welcome feedback via social media or Discord. Until next time, Podwalkers, remember that goblins, like snowflakes, are only dangerous in numbers.